GRIT: The Real Estate Growth Mindset

Episode 103: From Having an Active Job to Having Passive Ownership of Everything with Jeff Cohn

For most business owners, success means financial gain.  And the more time and effort they put into their businesses, the more money they make. Yet, success in this business means getting more life back for some. 

If your business requires you to have an active role in its day-to-day transactions, it becomes your job. Business owners should aim to build a business that they can one step away from and will generate long-term passive income for themselves.

Brian Charlesworth joins Jeff Cohn, Owner at kwELITE, as they talk about building businesses that will eventually require minimal active participation from the owner, how Sisu plays an important part in achieving that goal, and how to ensure brokerages thrive in the future by expanding into ancillary businesses.

Top Takeaways:

01:49 What Jeff loves about Sisu
07:29 Jeff’s greatest passion
11:05 How true leaders serve
11:48 Why he launched The Team Building podcast
13:19 What the Team Building Summit is about (and how to get $100 off on tickets!)
24:00 Three ways for individual agents to win 
25:39 The evolution of ownership
26:48 Where is the industry going in the next five years
29:54 What brokers need to do to survive in the future
32:29 How to make consumers convert to using your ancillary services
33:22 What can small team owners do to start building ancillary businesses
35:58 The magic of getting agents to support ancillary businesses
37:43 The role of future agents


Get in touch with Jeff Cohn

Website: https://www.theteambuildingsummit.com/
Instagram: @JeffMCohn
Podcast: The Team Building Podcast

About the guest:

Because of his early entrepreneurial aspirations, Jeff Cohn owned and operated many enterprises and earned his Eagle Scout award - before he finished high school. His two years spent working as a missionary in a remote part of Brazil served as an added proof of his tenacity. He then took up Business Administration with an emphasis in management from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. 

Jeff got his real estate license right out of college in 2006 and spent his first six years selling real estate full-time.  In 2011, he made more money than he had ever dreamed of, but he realized he wasn’t living his best life. He was spending too much time in his active role that he didn't have much left to do anything else.  He learned that if he fired himself and replaced him with ten more people to do his role, he could make more money with less time and energy.

In 2014, Jeff stopped selling and built a team called Omaha's Elite Real Estate Group.  The team grew from 70 to over 700 transactions a year in 6 years and was the #1 team globally at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in 2019.

Today, Jeff is a nationally renowned speaker and host of The Team Building Podcast.  He is also the CEO of a tech-powered Keller Williams market center in Omaha, NE. His passion for providing exceptional service to his clients propelled him to establish ancillary businesses in Title, Mortgage, Insurance, and Investing. His objective is to expand these ancillary businesses into 100+ locations across the country.

 

Episode 102: Building a Business vs. Building a Practice with Bobby Moats and Erin Leff

There are two ways to build a business in real estate. One, you can build a practice which you can grow, but then it dies when you decide to leave. Or, you can build a business which you can also grow and integrate processes and systems in it so that it will continue to thrive even after you’re gone from it.

If you want to build a business, you need to decide which way you want to go and how you want to do it. Then you need to choose if you want to do this by yourself or do it with someone who already has a team.  

Whichever route you choose to take, don’t let your fear of failure take over you.  Because in order to grow and be successful, all it needs is to have the courage to take the first step. 

Brian Charlesworth joins Bobby Moats and Erin Leff of The Moats Team at Keller Williams as they talk about the difference between building a practice vs. building a business, what the Moats Mastery training is all about, the value of building an ISA team, and so much more.

Top Takeaways:
06:37 What does expansion network mean?
07:27 What is the key to their team’s growth?
09:53 The problem with hiring high-producing agents
10:37 Why the Moats Team highly prefers new agents
12:33 The single most important investment you can make
13:57 The hardest shift for most real estate business owners 
17:13 Why top Rainmakers should figure out a way to get out of the day-to-day production
19:03 What does the Q1 numbers say about our current real estate market? 
21:26 What should a real estate business owner do to stay ahead of the game?
23:50 How did the Moats Mastery Training came about
36:06 One of the challenges in building an ISA team
42:10 What the Onward Faster podcast is all about
46:28 Bobby and Erin’s last piece of advice for anyone who wants to build a real estate business

Get in touch with Bobby Moats and Erin Leff

bobby@moatsteam.com

erin@moatsteam.com

About the guests:

 

Bobby Moats is the Co-Founder of The Moats Team at Keller Williams and is the Director of Agent Labs for the KW Labs Team at KWRI where he works closely with KW Agents, the tech team, and Leadership to define and expand the agent lab experience, as well as to promote the agent lab discussion. 

Erin Leff is the VP of Growth of The Moats Team at Keller Williams.  She is highly regarded for her ability to address complex sales, operational, and internal challenges through well-defined plans, thus increasing revenue for the company.  She has been promoted due to her strong leadership skills and sales management abilities.

 

Episode 101: How to Understand People Better Through Understanding Yourself First with Jon Cheplak

What is the single most important factor to a real estate business’ growth?  Is it having the best leads? Or having the best sales managers on the planet? How about having the most amazing systems and tech? 

While having all these would be great, none of them would matter if you don’t have people.  That is why focusing on human resource, human development, and human attraction is crucial for scaling a real estate business.

Brian Charlesworth joins Jon Cheplak, Real Estate Broker/Agent Speaker, Coach and Consultant at Cheplak Live and CEO of The Real Recruiter as Jon shares how he discovered that his superpower is understanding human behavior and what it takes to be a true leader. 

Top Takeaways:
05:21 The 2 types of operators
08:45 Jon’s mission statement
14:12 The difference between Jon’s coaching organization, Agent Academy, and Cheplak Live
14:46 The good thing about anxiety
21:31 The value of giving
23:29 Why you don’t want to recruit based on your company’s culture 
26:12 What Sisu is empowering team leaders to do.
29:42 How to overcome the challenge of getting yourself out of production
30:45 Why you should get into rooms where you don’t belong
34:03 The worst question to ask the person you look up to
34:34 What does “trust equals capacity” and “control equals fear” mean?
35:35 Why understanding must come from the heart 
38:33 What should real estate business owners do to prepare for the impact of high inflation rates? 
43:51 Why leaders should change their interview process
46:07 Why the future of the traditional brokerage is in trouble
49:58 Jon’s final piece of advice

Get in touch with Jon Cheplak

Website:  https://cheplaklive.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joncheplak

About the guest:

After many years of success in his real estate sales and leadership career, Jon had a vision to change the real estate industry. He observed managers were thrown into a leadership position without proper training. The few training that existed then never focused on the growth of the leader as a human being and discovered what got in the way of their success. 

Through his own growth process, Jon realized that growth has to come from the inside.  Managers need to develop skills, but without doing the work on the inside first, results will fail to show on the outside.  

This was when The Real Estate Recruiters was born. It is a company designed to serve, lead, and inspire leaders that want to have a positive life experience in the real estate industry and transfer that experience to their agents.

For the last 12 years, Jon Cheplak has served as a speaker, coach, and strategic leadership consultant to CEO’s, managers, and agents who are operating a highly successful real estate business throughout the US, Canada and Europe. 

He is also an author in numerous publications including Real Estate South Africa, REM Online, CRB Magazine, Brokers Insider, Real Estate Professional, Realty Times, Frogpond, and author of the book Interrupt The Pattern.

Episode 100 with Spring Bengtzen, CEO and Owner of the Utah Life Real Estate Group & Associate Broker at REAL Broker LLC

Most people who come into real estate think it’s going to be fun.  They’ll have the freedom to earn as much as they want and have control over their schedules. Yet, soon enough they realize that to be successful in real estate, you have to work all the time.

When Spring Bengtzen began to grow her business, she felt she had to be everything to everyone until eventually, she felt exhausted.  She then had to decide whether she wanted to scale back or scale up.

That’s when Sisu came into the picture. Sisu was actually built for Spring to help her put systems in place to successfully scale her business.

As GRIT celebrates its 100th episode, Brian Charlesworth joins special guest, Spring Bengtzen, CEO and Owner of the Utah Life Real Estate Group & Associate Broker at REAL Broker LLC as she shares her journey, how Sisu helped transform her business, and what her new coaching company, Scale Up, is all about. 

 

Top Takeaways:
02:20 How Spring discovered the power of choice
06:57 What was it like to be in the “messy middle”?
08:56 The most important thing to consider when you’re jumping from being an agent to business owner
10:19 How Sisu helped Spring put systems to build her business
14:55 The 2 “Who’s” to focus on when scaling your business 
17:33 How Spring doubled her business
19:22 One of the biggest mistakes a lot of people make when they hire a VA
22:06 Why joining Real Brokerage was the best decision Spring ever made
26:41 What Scale Up is all about
28:29 What motivates Spring the most today
29:33 Why a lot of team owners are now considering going into the ancillary space
30:40 Spring’s words of advice
32:50 Sisu’s mastery workshop 

 

Get in touch with Spring Bengtzen
Instagram: @springbengtzen
Website: https://springb.com/

 

About the guest:

When Spring Bengtzen was 20 years old, she had a terrible accident that left most of her body burned.  Her condition was so bad that she wondered if she was going to die.  Until a doctor told her that only she can decide whether she fights to live or give up and die.  That’s when she realized the power of her choices.  Once she made up her mind to keep fighting, that’s when she started healing.

Two years later, she went into real estate. She worked her way up and successfully grew her business. She was listed as one of REALTOR’s Magazine 30 under 30, and had the opportunity to join Keller-Williams. From 2010 to 2019, she built and grew her team to become the largest in Utah.  

In 2021, Spring joined REAL Brokerage, a tech-powered real estate brokerage for agents and teams. She has also launched a coaching company called Start Up

Today, Spring Bengtzen is a successful Real Estate Broker, Mentor, Entrepreneur, CEO, and Owner of The Utah Life Real Estate Group, leads the top real estate team along the Wasatch Front. 

Episode 099 with Ty Voyles, Co-founder and CEO of Fulcrum Properties Group

Most real estate professionals have a sales background, which is critical especially in a highly competitive industry. While some have a knack for finding solutions to problems and implementing systems, which is essential in increasing a real estate business’ bottom line.

In Ty Voyles’ case, he had both.  Though his journey was not as straightforward as most, he was able to combine his sales skills and passion for creating systems which resulted into a successful real estate career.

Join Brian Charlesworth and Ty Voyles, Co-founder and CEO of Fulcrum Properties Group, as they discuss how Ty’s entrepreneurial background played a role in his transition into the real estate industry, his insights on having good and bad leads, and what he thinks is the real solution that the entire real estate industry is driving towards.

Top Takeaways:
07:09 What made Ty decide to go into real estate
13:49 Why most real estate agents have businesses that don’t transition
16:40 Is there such a thing as a good or bad lead?
18:43 How does Ty's team generate leads today?
20:13 Why most agents have gone away from making open houses as their lead source
21:12 Why the team model is taking over the industry
22:01 Why the real estate space needs more specialization
25:56 Why Ty prefers to automate as much as he can
35:43 Ty’s advice to young team leaders who want to take their business to the next level
36:11 The single biggest factor that held Ty’s team from moving forward
37:21 The one thing to focus on to really double your business
37:49 Why building an ISA team is incredibly challenging
40:12 What people want when it comes to their home needs

 

Get in touch with Ty Voyles
Email: ty@fulcrumpg.com

About the guest:

Ty Voyles came from an entrepreneurial family.  He worked as a Yellow Page salesperson from high school until a year after college.   After that, he started doing project management for a software company where they built systems that kept flight simulators and training manuals in line with production aircraft. 

After 7 years, he left that job and worked at the Library of Congress.  Eventually, he realized that this was not a career he’d like to pursue.  So he started doing volunteer work building sustainable roof gardens.  

Although Ty enjoyed what he was doing, he had to take a 60% pay cut to do so.  And he realized that there are a lot more opportunities to make more in real estate. That’s when he decided to pick up his real estate license in 2009.

As an agent, has earned several designations such as a Five Star Real Estate Professional, a Zillow Premiere Agent, a Trulia Top 1% Agent, the Washingtonian's Best Agent of 2018, and a Washingtonian Top Agent every year since 2016. 

Today, Ty is the Founder and CEO of Fulcrum Properties Group.   Fulcrum has continually been on the top 10 Keller Williams teams in the country, as well as a top 100 team across all brokerages since 2019.  Ty has also served as a Mastery Coach for KW MAPS, was a founding agent advisor for KW LABS, and has served on multiple Agent Leadership Councils. 

 

Episode 098 with Gaurav Gambhir, Co-Founder and Owner at The Condo Shop / TCS MGT / Rentphilly.com / Mega Realty / Go Commercial and Partner at Keller Williams Center City

Selling real estate is like an extremely strong contact sport. You need to go out there, talk to people, establish rapport, and build relationships with your contacts.   And the more contacts you make, the better chance you have for a successful business.

For Gaurav Gambhir, making it in real estate proved to be more challenging. He was an immigrant who didn’t know many people at that time and English was his second language so he didn’t feel confident speaking in front of crowds.

Yet, he found a way to grow his clientele by managing people’s assets.  He figured that if he can maintain a relationship with them, then he will be the top choice to get the opportunity once they decide to sell or rent their property. 

Join Brian Charlesworth and Gaurav Gambhir, Co-Founder and Owner at The Condo Shop / TCS MGT / Rentphilly.com / Mega Realty / Go Commercial and Partner at Keller Williams Center City, as they talk about Gaurav’s journey from starting a small team of 4 agents up to now where he has 60 agents doing 1500 transactions and $365 million in volume. 

 

Top Takeaways:

03:38 How Gaurav ended up in real estate
10:37 The competition you really need to worry about
12:35 Why would a team owner want to get into property management? 
17:27 Gaurav’s plan to provide a “solution in a box”
21:45 Why you should always focus on providing a better experience to your clients 
24:29 What does “serial entrepreneur” mean?
25:24  An overview of Gaurav’s team structure
27:27 Why Gaurav prefers to automate as much as he can
35:25  The importance of building an ISA team
39:25 The things you should focus on now to stay ahead of the curve
43:41 Why you shouldn’t look at teams as someone who takes things away 
44:50 Why percentage means nothing

 

Get in touch with Gaurav Gambhir

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ggambhir/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ggambhir1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ggambhir1/

About the guest:

Gaurav Gambhir comes from a family of entrepreneurs. He’s been doing support businesses on the side since he was 15 years old.  So when he started working as an IT professional for a real estate company, he decided to try real estate during weekends to earn some extra money.

In 2007, he took a leap of faith, went into real estate full-time, and joined Keller-Williams as his first brokerage company.  Eventually, he and a friend decided to start a new brokerage company and a property management division along with it.  They were able to grow the company towards 70 agents in about 18 months. 

Two years later, Gaurav had the opportunity to buy a company called the Condo Shop in Philadelphia. He then built TCS Group which services real estate investments, renovations, and property management.

Today. Gaurav is a partner and Operating Principle of Keller Williams Philadelphia. In total, he oversees 600+ agents and employees. His team is currently the ninth-largest Keller Williams team in the country.

 

Episode 097 with Matt DeCoursey, CEO and Founder at Full Scale and Startup Hustle Founder and Host

Being an entrepreneur is a rewarding experience, but it also comes with many challenges. From marketing strategies, hiring the right people for the job, to finding systems and technologies to support the business’ growth, entrepreneurs today have to be resourceful to tackle these problems.

Yet some were able to overcome these challenges before and are willing to share their experience so others can learn from it.  It’s only a matter of asking the right people for advice so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes they did. 

Join Brian Charlesworth and Matt DeCoursey, CEO and Founder at Full Scale and Startup Hustle Founder and Host, as they talk about Matt’s journey from starting a business with no money or experience to launching several businesses that have generated millions of dollars in revenue.  Matt also shares how he uses his podcast as a platform to help other people find success.

Top Takeaways:

02:07 Why Matt considers himself a “recovering” serial entrepreneur
05:15 How Matt got started as an entrepreneur
11:09 Why “knowledge in” is not meant to be kept
14:31 Matt’s definition of a startup
16:20 What the book: Balance Me is all about
24:56 Matt’s take on the importance of giving
29:38 The best advice Matt has received
31:57 The difference between being genius and being crazy
33:58 Matt’s advice to anyone who wants to start their own podcast
48:25 Top reasons why people turn podcasts off
54:54 Why you should make it easy for people to help you

Get in touch with Matt DeCoursey

Full Scale
Website: https://fullscale.io/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fullscale-io/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fullscalekc/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fullscalekc/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fullscalekc?s=21

Start-Up Hustle 
Podcast: https://startuphustle.xyz/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-hustle-podcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/startuphustlexyz/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startuphustlepodcast/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/startupsxyz
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDXy14X95mzCpGSHyDvvoVg

 

About the guest:

Matt DeCoursey believes that he was born to become an entrepreneur.  He used to paint address numbers on curbs in high school and do other entrepreneurial activities growing up.  Matt had a pretty successful career until he was 30 years old when he found himself unhappy because his work needed him to travel a lot, so he decided to quit his job.

Thirteen years ago, he started a concert ticket buying and selling business online.  All he had then was an extra room in his house that he could use as an office and a credit card with an $8,000 limit.  

Yet, even without money or experience, Matt understood a market inefficiency when it comes to secondary ticket sales.  He used this as an opportunity and built the business, which eventually generated $30 million in revenue over the next eight years. The business also enabled him to launch the businesses he has now.

Today, Matt is the CEO and Founder at Full Scale and GigaBook, Forbes Next 1000 Recipient,
and co-host of one of the biggest podcasts for entrepreneurs out there, Start-Up Hustle. He is also the top-selling author of “Million Dollar Bedroom” and “Balance Me,” as well as the co-author of “The Realist’s Guide to a Successful Music Career.”

Matt’s passion is to talk about entrepreneurship, business, and commerce and has made it his mission to help other entrepreneurs become better versions of themselves and guide them to find success. 

 

Episode 096 with Kenny Truong, Founder and Team Leader at Fast Real Estate

Some people go into real estate as sales people, while others are in it to build a business.  And for those who choose the latter, most of them would agree that starting their own business is not for the faint of heart.

Yet, for those who have what it takes, building a real estate business is a very lucrative endeavor.  Most especially for those who are able to scale at a massive rate in a short span of time.

In Kenny Truong’s case, he knew how to leverage technology and tools in such a way that he was able to scale his real estate business from 56 Million to over 670 Million in sales in less than 2 years. 

Join Brian Charlesworth and Kenny Truong as they discuss the things that Kenny did in order to scale his business, and end up running FAST REAL ESTATE which is the #1 highest producing sales team at EXP Realty, the #1 fastest growing real estate company in the world.

Top Takeaways:

03:47 How Kenny first started in real estate
05:04 The story behind the FAST brand
06:57 Why he prefers to post on Instagram stories over any other platform
11:14 When did Kenny decide to build his real estate business
13:23 Most innovative agent of the year by INMAN
15:17 What Kenny does to attract agents to join his team
23:36 FAST REAL ESTATE’s org chart
35:59 How FAST REAL ESTATE is going to hit 300% growth this year
36:05 Why retention is key
42:16 Kenny’s last piece of advice to people who are building a business.

 

Get in touch with Kenny Truong

Website: https://www.fastagents.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kenny_fast/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FastAgent/?ref=page_internal

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fastagent/

 

 

About the guest:

Kenny Truong came into real estate fresh out of college 12 years ago.  After working as a real estate assistant for a year, he got his real estate license and started working for a boutique company.

It took him over a year to make his first sales.  After several months he was able to sell 24 homes. His number kept growing year over year that he quickly became the #1 agent in Washington State. 

On his third year in business, he focused on marketing and branding and decided to post on social media using the hashtag #FASTAGENT.  From then on, the name stuck and he was sometimes referred to as Kenny “FAST”, which became a fitting description to his straightforward approach in delivering results to his clients.

Kenny has ranked as the #1 agent in Oakland since 2011 and was named INMAN News’ Most Innovative Broker/Agent in 2015.

Today, Kenny Truong is the Founder and Team Leader at Fast Real Estate where they focus on surpassing their client’s expectations by leveraging local market knowledge combined with systems and technology to help them through their buying/selling journey.

 

Episode 095 with Sajag Patel, Founder and CEO of BOLD Real Estate Consultants

Everyone has their own journey.  From the outside, we can look at someone else’s journey and wonder why theirs seems easier compared to yours.  Why is it that some people are more inclined to be successful, while others are doomed to fail? 

Yet, the most successful people are usually the ones who have the biggest challenges and go through multiple failures before they came to where they are now.

As the saying goes, the success you see is only the tip of the iceberg.  In Sajag Patel’s case, he had to go through struggles, changes, doubts, bankruptcies and so much more to be where he is today.  

Despite the challenges thrown at him, Sajag never quit.  He had a clear vision of where he was going and built a plan around that.  But beyond achieving financial success, it is using the money he earned to serve other people and help change their lives for the better is what brings him happiness and inspires him to do more.

Join Brian Charlesworth and Sajag Patel as they talk about Sajag’s journey from being a software engineer who offered to work for free for the first three months so he could get the job, to being the Vice President of Segments for Keller Williams Realty Inc. 

 

Top Takeaways:

03:21 How Sajag got his first intern opportunity
08:01 How he took a failing business that was doing $600,000 and turn it to $1.3M in 3 years
10:11 What led him to real estate
11:26 How Sajag came to Keller Williams
14:38 What is “Red Day” and what is its impact on Sajag’s life? 
23:05 Sajag’s “crazy” daily routine
23:55 The book he considers his Bible
24:10 How he scaled from 5 doors in 2018, to 103 doors in 2022
31:44 What is an executive coach?
38:04 The value of having a coach
40:16 The greatest gift you can give someone
42:49 What’s it like to work with Gary Keller
46:07 What makes Sisu so powerful?
49:17 What does the future look like for KW?
51:16 Sajag’s one piece of advice

About the guest:

A former Senior Software Engineer,  Sajag began his career in real estate with an independent broker in 2009. After 6 months, he transferred his license to Keller Williams and he became Rookie of the Year in his first year. Looking to take his game to the next level, Sajag went through the KW MAPS BOLD, and his business went up that year.

Sajag partnered with KW MAPS Coaching in 2015 to coach the top agents in the field.  Since then, he has become an Executive Coach, as well as a Head Coach. In 2019, Sajag joined Monica Reynolds and Fritz Pollard to revolutionize MAPS with the mission of altering human trajectory and changing lives.

Today, Sajag is the Founder and CEO of BOLD Real Estate Consultants.  He is also the Vice President of Segments for Keller Williams Realty Inc., where he is in charge of leading the growth and development of its established real estate market segments that include KW Luxury, KW Commercial, KW Land, KW New Homes, KW Military, KW Young Professionals, and KW Sports + Entertainment.

Episode 094 with Louie Hamner, Founder of Vanguard Title Insurance Agency, LLC

Louie Hamner grew up in Indiana in a farming community with 12 other siblings.  Growing up poor, he came to a point in his life where he decided that it was not a life he wanted to live.  So in the summer of the 6th grade, he started earning money for himself by catching fireflies for a penny.

He was able to pay for his school books and bought things for himself with the money he earned. At his young age, this taught him the importance of hardwork and grit.

Years later, Louie started his career in the title industry. But after a couple of unfortunate events, he ended up getting fired from 2 companies in 7 months.  He remembers wanting to quit at that time but his father advised him not to unless he tries again someplace else.  

From 2005 to 2012, he started to build his own title business. And in 2015, he merged with Keystone Title to create Vanguard Title.

Today, Louie Hamner is the Founder of Vanguard Title Insurance Agency, LLC. He also focuses on inspiring people through his motivational talks. He's also ventured into a new area of breathwork, which he shares with people in hopes of impacting their lives in a massive way.

Top Takeaways:
02:07 How Louie’s childhood plays into who he is today
11:09 How did he end up in the title business
11:53 What was the “career limiting move” that got him fired from Fidelity?
27:28 What he realized about people who love their job
34:25 What the merger with Keystone Title was like
36:04  How he came to terms with his limiting belief
38:48 The importance of practicing empathy
48:45 What other opportunities opened up for Louie after he sold his business
51:19 How practicing breathwork changed Louie’s life