Seven figure success starts when you start thinking like a CEO.
Welcome to the John Kitchens Coach podcast.
Experience this your host John Kitchens.
Get ready to think bigger and transform your business into
a path to lasting freedom.
What is happening?
Everybody, man.
Thank you guys.
Tuning into another episode of Expert Mentors Live, and we've
got Mr. Jim Pruitt in the house.
What's happening, brother?
Hey, how you doing today, John?
Thanks for having me on.
I appreciate it.
Uh, so yeah, just, uh, just kind of catching up in the real estate
world here and, uh, we'll, we'll kind of kick it off here and just
kind of tell you what's on my mind.
So,
ah, but, uh, I, I, I
cannot wait.
Well,
cannot, I, I'm
kind of a basic person, so I, I, I'm talk all about the basics, but I was
thinking last night, uh, you know, why is it that 87% of new agents.
Fell within the first five years of getting into real estate business.
And so I, I think about that a lot when I'm training agents or doing whatever.
And so I, I really think it boils down to kind of just the real basics.
And so what I wanted to talk about today is just kind of the basics of real estate.
We see so many shiny objects out there.
You know, we get phone calls all the time of people wanna drag us
this direction, Hey, we've got this thing that we can do for you.
It's gonna make you, make you successful.
And really most of those things just spend your money.
There's not a lot of, yeah, not a lot of, uh, substance or a lot of those things.
So, you know, as real estate agents we're kind of gullible in that way,
you know, so we think that, Hey, if there's an easier route, let's do it.
And I think it just boils down to the basics.
So, um, you know, just starting kind of my thought process.
A lot of agents have been, uh, started in another business where
they were an employee, and I think the first shift is a mindset.
So it's really a mindset change of coming from an employer employee relationship to
be in being the CEO of your own company.
So I think we, we talk about, you know, that mindset is huge and uh, a
person just has to really say, Hey.
I now I'm the CEO, what does a CEO of a company do?
And when I started out, I actually took little yellow posting notes and stuck
them on our whiteboard and said, okay, now I'm, I'm the CEO, I'm in charge of hiring
and firing, so I'm the human resources.
I gotta pay the bills.
So I'm the accounting department.
And so that started kind of part of our systems is where we, uh, made, and
we're gonna talk about some systems, but we made kind of our, our, our CEO
chart of, of everybody in the company.
And where I could then move that job.
Okay.
I want, I don't wanna pay bills anymore.
We've grown.
Now I can assign that to an employee, uh, human resources.
So, well, you know, one person in our organization may, may have four or five
or six sticky notes, but, uh, that's kind of that, that mentality of how we're
gonna grow our business in the future.
But, uh, so I think basically getting set up correctly in the very
beginning and, you know, getting your accountants, getting your, your, your.
You know, checking with your, your, um, financial advisor, your, your, your, you
know, all those pop folks, your attorney, make sure you get your corporation set up.
Uh, and there's really just a lot of getting that, those steps set up
before you even think about selling real estate in the very beginning.
Um, and one of the things I kind of like to, to tell people is I bet you
the co, the, the CEO of Coca-Cola, he probably doesn't have a Gmail account.
Okay.
When I, when I get emails from another agent,
I know where you're going with this.
Me too.
I'm gonna say I agree with you.
Go ahead.
Yeah.
That has, you know, so and so at Gmail or God forbid, a OL, you know, whatever.
But, um.
I think one of the first things an agent should do is get their
own URL, and it's not hard to do.
I mean, it's very inexpensive, so get your URL so it, it lends some
professionalism right up front.
When I get emails from those agents, it's just like, okay, I don't how
long, you know, so I have to go start searching on the internet
to, to try to find those agents.
First of all, so the next step is there are tons and tons and tons of free
websites that will advertise you Zillow realtor.com, and how many times somebody
sends me an email with a Gmail account.
Yeah.
Go out
and try to find 'em on the internet and you have to have a
search warrant to even find them.
Yeah.
You know?
Um, and so I think that basic, just getting taken advantage of all of these
free websites that, that, and if you just punch in a, a address on a listing and see
all the websites that shows up on and go build a profile and it's all free Zillow.
You can, you can send Zillow a. A, uh, a Excel spreadsheet of your
cells, and they'll load 'em up for you so you don't even have to load
'em up, you know, all your past cells if you don't have 'em loaded up.
But, uh, you know, that's the
biggest thing, right?
Like, I mean, even, you know, and, and I always tell people, you know,
if you can get your name, get your name, and like, like, you know.
Get your kids' names.
Right.
'cause then you'd be able to have it.
Like I have, you know, I first thing, right?
I bought, I bought, you know, domains for all of my kids, right.
First and last name.
And so yeah, being able to, to have that, I mean, it, it's, it's
something that's really simple, but it, it makes a big impact, right?
When you see something coming across from a professional standpoint, you
see an, at Gmail, uh, you know, like you said, you know, at aol, at Yahoo.
So it's, it's, it's really, you know, important.
To, you know, the little details, um, that you don't think.
Matters, but it does matter.
Right?
Right.
And then of course, the most important ones, having a Google profile.
And then as we, we, you know, everybody has a Google profile, now
we're talking about AI and how do we get profiles in AI and how do we get
artificial intelligence to recommend us?
So I, I went in just the other day and I've got about a 10 page.
I went into chat, GPT, and I said, how do I, how do I arrange this?
So I show up in everybody's.
AI searches that I'm the agent today should call.
And there's ways to do that and I'm investigating that now.
So that's what we're looking at.
But, uh, and I think using one, one important issue to talk about
is making sure you use the same picture across all of your different
uniform
consistency.
You wanna be, you know, the same picture so they don't look at
you in six different places and think you're six different people.
That's the same.
So consistency throughout, throughout all of that.
Yeah.
Bios, everything.
Consistency really, really matters.
Jim, real quick.
I gotta, I gotta, I would love your, your take on this.
So we know that that failure rate, right, we're talking 87%.
Mm-hmm.
Do we know the failure and success rate of.
On a team or trying to tackle this on your own.
Yeah.
I, I don't know those percentages, but I encourage everybody when I
talk to 'em, if they're getting into the real estate business that you,
you will, you know, it's stacked.
The cards are stacked against you.
Yeah.
You need to join a team and, and I've had success with a couple folks on my team
of, uh, Austin, when he joined me six or seven years ago, he actually started
the front desk answering the telephone.
Filling out listing contracts before and, and, and before he went full time.
And Ellen, uh, the latest one that joined the team, she was, uh, set, she was my
receptionist and listing coordinator.
Yeah.
So she had probably written.
I don't know, a few hundred purchase agreements, you know?
Yeah.
Before she even took her course.
So I've had some success even training from the very beginning of getting
that, that, that, uh, experience from answering a phone to talking
to the people, to filling out the purchase agreements from one side.
'cause it's, you know, you, you, you fill out a purchase agreement
and the first thing you do is you.
Just put these numbers basically in here and let me review it, and then
it's why am I putting these numbers?
Or why am I putting this in certain blanks on the purchase agreement?
So it's from filling it out to understanding why you're filling it out.
Yeah, and I think that that's a good experience.
So I don't know what the percentage is on the failure rate, but I'm gonna say it is.
Substantially higher for a single agent failure rate than it is
an agent that joins a team.
And so I, I recommend anybody I talk to, uh, wherever it's at in the United
States or wherever, uh, join a team first.
Yes.
I, your chances of success are so much greater.
Yeah.
You, you and I are in the same camp on that.
And I think too, uh, I loved what you said, right.
You know, a lot of people kind of, kind of get in second, third
career, um, you know, they've been.
You know, corporate world, employee, most of you know, maybe most of their life.
And so that's, the odds are even stacked even more against you, right?
So you and I are all about probability.
So how do I increase the odds in my favor, right, for probability, for
things to be, you know, more successful?
And I love that.
You know, get on, get on a team that dramatically will improve,
improve your odds of success.
Um, I think too, you know, if you, if you are definitely of, um, an employee,
you know, career background instead of, uh, you know, a, a hunter gatherer
type of career, sales career, 10 99 career before getting in, you know, you,
you just gotta kind of, kind of weigh those, weigh those things out because.
You know, when you're or if, if, if you've never owned a business before.
Right?
Right.
So, you know, you're, you're wearing all of the hats, the sales, the marketing,
you know, uh, the, the janitor, the, you know, the, you know, signing the
paperwork, you know, balancing the check, checkbook, just, just all of
the things that you have to take into consideration, getting into real estate.
You're still spinning all of those plates, so.
Getting on a team is gonna give you that leverage to where you can
just hone the skills to be a, be a professional, but also, you know,
the sales and marketing skills.
Right.
Exactly.
And then of course, uh, you, you, you're a big, you're a
big proponent of this is, uh.
Creating your business plan and setting your goals, you know?
Yeah.
Uh, where are you gonna be, you know, one year from now, five
years from now, 10 years from now?
So your one year should be more targeted.
Your five years is probably gonna have a wider variance for, you know,
and your 10 years is even gonna have a, a wider variance at the end.
And it's always gonna be honing in.
You know, it, your 10 years gonna look more like a zigzag line where your one
year should be more straight, you know?
Uh, and so knowing what your, what your goals are, and of course, you
and I've talked a lot of times about my goal sheet, and we have goals,
and I know exactly where I'm at.
Uh, with my goals at, at any time where, where we have, uh, I've, I've created an
Excel spreadsheet that I can tell you, um, how many weeks are left of the year,
what percentage of the year is over, uh, where I'm at, uh, on reaching my
goal, not only on our dollar, uh, sales volume, on the number of transactions,
dollar volume is more important than, than the number of transactions.
What our average sale is and trying to raise our average sale so we,
you know, we can close more, um, you know, get gross commission income.
So, uh, I think that, that having those goals and setting those goals and
then reviewing those goals frequently.
Uh, and, and putting those down in writing.
If, you know, if you don't put it out in the, in the, in the
universe, it's not gonna happen.
So I'm a big believer you put it out there, you work toward it.
It's going to, it's gonna happen.
And knowing where those goals are at, I think is, is very important.
Yeah, yeah.
To, to, to being successful in, in real estate.
Yeah, you gotta have, you know, kind of the guardrails in what we're
working towards and, and, you know, where we're at, what improvements,
what, what, what adjustments, what things we need to have in place.
Um, 100%.
You gotta have, gotta have the plan.
And I think the part that goes along with that for me is that, that
it, it, it, I went to a, I don't know, it was a training somewhere.
What it was that the guy was, I thought he was.
Kind of arrogant when he said it, and I thought, you can't do that in real estate.
I thought that, you know, he said, if you have open 24 hours on your
social media, change it right now.
You are giving people permission to contact you anytime of the day or night.
You have no life.
Uh, the book you recommended 168 hours, you know, 168 hours in a week.
What are you gonna do?
How are you gonna divide up that 168 hours in a week?
Yeah, you're gonna sleep 60 to 70 hours and you have a hundred hours
left for your job and your family.
And how are you gonna divide those out?
When I change my schedule from nine to five on my social media
and I try to live by that.
Now of course there's times I have to do things.
You know, after hours and so forth.
Sure.
But it absolutely opens up more time for your family, your,
your, your, your enjoyment of your life and what you wanna do.
And so I think that balance that most people in the beginning.
Don't get that balance.
And I think you have to strategically plan for that balance in your life,
uh, and, and so that, that you don't burn out, that you show up every day.
The most important I got when I first got in real estate, I asked the,
the attorney that closed most of our loans, Hey, gimme one helpful hint
that I should do in real estate.
He said, show up every day and do something.
It wasn't, it wasn't hard, but I, you know, here most, most
people that fail, they don't treat it like a, like a company.
Yeah.
They treat it like a part-time job.
So they just wait.
They sit back and wait for, for things to come to them.
And you have to get out in front of that.
And you, you have to, you know, uh, I read a book early on.
It said Contacts Sprout contracts.
Yeah.
I wrote that down that you told me that one time.
And I was like, man, that is, that is spot on.
It's you, you've got to make those contacts.
And however those contacts are where, you know, a lot of people can do it.
Social media, some people can pick up the phone and cold call.
That's not me.
Uh, I wanna put myself out there and let people know that I'm available, that
I'm professional, that I'm trustworthy.
Um, I gotta review this week.
That said, I was very professional and down home.
So, uh, I guess that that is how, kind of easy to get along with, but professional
enough that they, that they, uh, noticed.
Yeah.
But, uh, so I think that that, uh, you know, that that is, is
that's pretty spot on.
Yeah.
That's, uh, that, that's, that's, that's spot on.
That's really good.
Kind of, we
kind of hokey whatever, you know, you can call it whatever.
I, I, uh,
earth Good, good, good people.
That's, that's, uh, that, that's kind of where I think of, I think of that.
Well, the gentleman here
in town that he and his partners, they took an old 1887 building and, uh.
Converted it to a, uh, hotel.
Um, they've got a. Uh, courtyard by Marriott flag, but, uh, he, I'm on a
riverfront development committee here, so I'm involved in the, in the riverfront.
And he asked me, he said, Jim, I want you to write a letter, uh,
from the riverfront and if you would just use your generalisms in it.
So I guess that that was a compliment in a, in a backhanded kind of way, I guess.
But, uh, so anyway, I, I think that, uh, yeah, that, that's, um, where
it's at, but, um, and I think that kind of the next step, I think after
you've, you, you know, some of that is.
I think real estate boils down to two things, relationships and systems.
Mm-hmm.
Those are the, the two things that, that you can forget everything else.
And, um, people try to make it real hard.
Uh, relationships.
You gotta build and maintain those relationships.
You gotta get those contacts so you can get the business.
Um, and, and whether that relationships build your, your sphere
of influence and your sphere of influence, as everybody knows is,
you know, that 25 or 50 people that.
If you are doing nothing, you can call them and just have
a conversation with them.
That's easy to talk to.
Hey Joe, what are you doing?
Hey, I'm kind of slow in real estate right now.
Have you heard anybody thinking about buying or selling?
Hey, appreciate it.
Hey, run into you.
Buy your beer or something, whatever, you know, so that, build that at SEO, but.
So you building and maintaining those relationships and even
after those, after the sale.
I have a VIP group, uh, for all my past clients and I do
about six giveaways a year.
And that's just another way to, to kind of foster those relationships so
I don't just sell 'em and forget 'em.
Uh, and you know, we kind of just update stuff on that VIP group from time to time.
But then the, uh, the systems, uh, and I'm a huge, I'm a huge systems guy.
I mean, if, if A happens, B happens, B happens, C happens.
So we have checklists even down to the order of the papers in the folder
when we go on a listing appointment.
Uh, I know.
That somebody can make my listing folder and when I open it up, I know
what order the paper are gonna be in.
I know what's in there.
I know what it is.
So, um, and, and the systems, and I read the book.
The E-Myth revisited one of the first books I read when
I got my real estate license.
Uh, and it's why most small businesses fell and what to do about it.
And so those, those, um.
Systems, it talks a lot about systems of Mrs.
Smith baking cherry pies, and she was really good.
And then her family life fell apart and then she went home to take care
of the family and hired somebody and the pies weren't the same.
So it's really explains how, why systems are important and, and your systems.
It's a living, breathing document that is ever expanding.
It's you, you'll never be done with your systems.
It changes from day to day.
Uh, sometimes, uh, legal things make your system change.
There can be all kinds of reason that your systems change, but.
Just, um, start with your systems and you are always refining,
uh, refining your systems.
So, you know what I, when I'm talking about systems, um, you know, it's for
predictable and repeatable results.
Yeah.
So, you know, when we have a closing, we push a button, it sends letters
out, it sends a request out for this.
It does, uh, you know, all these, you know, with CRMs that they're
pretty easy to do now, uh, when I first started in real estate in 1992.
We didn't have computers.
We didn't have cell phones.
And I've even written offers with carbon paper.
So I've got my very first book that I did.
I called it the Plan, get With the Plan, and it had buyer letters
and it had seller letters that we typed on a typewriter and we.
I folded 'em up and put 'em in an envelope and licked a stamp.
I put a stamp on 'em and sent 'em out.
But it was like, that was the very first system that I ever created.
Yeah.
And
I've still got the, I've still got the three ring binder with the samples in it.
I even printed postcards back at that time that, that follow up postcards.
And it was for every, every kind of, I had three or four reasons that I would
send these postcards out in a series.
So that was the very first.
And then of course we know computers and all that made it a whole lot easier.
But, uh, yeah, this, uh.
I, I, I, I love that.
And, and, um, you know, definitely proponent of, of systems and, you know,
what is the system to create systems.
And so being able to, to have that framework, but I couldn't agree
with you more Emmy, revisit it.
And then, you know, chapter one of C check checklist, manifesto.
You don't need to read the whole book, just, just the first chapter
gives you an understanding of.
Why checklists are so important, but the E myth revisit, it will get
your head around systems thinking.
And then obviously you can go deeper down the rabbit hole.
But you talked about relationships.
What is kind of, kind of the go-to like, like for, for you, if you were say, Hey,
you know, you need to dive into this, you need to, you know, read through this,
um, or always have this in the back of your mind when it comes to, you know,
focusing in on, you know, building, having world class relationships.
Yep.
So.
I'm, I'm a people person.
I like to, I like to, I mean, press the flesh, you know, I like to shake hands.
I'm, you know, I see people, I, I, I'm, I try to approach 'em and I try to
build those relationships with, um, you know, maybe a little bit more in depth.
Uh, with the people.
Uh, I'll give you an example that, um, I walked in a little bar that we had
here in town and, and, uh, as, as I'd go down the bar, I'd, you know, I'd
talk to everybody, smack everybody on the back, Hey, how you doing today?
And, uh, there's a guy named Corey that was in there, and I didn't
know Corey very well, but got to know him real well years later.
And he said, Jim, he said, I used to think you were such and
such when you walked in the bar.
You know, you, you talked to everybody.
He said.
Then I got to know you and I realized that's just who you are.
And so there's, there's kind of, sometimes you can be too open and feel
it, you know, with, with, with people.
But that's just who I am.
And that's, you gotta be who you are in real estate.
So I think those, those relationships, um, it's, it's.
Paying attention to the people.
Listening to them.
Talking to them and letting them answer and making them feel like
that you care about that person.
Yeah.
Okay.
Making them feel special in that moment, I guess.
Um, and so those, those relationships that, that, you know, we build and some of
them are more in passing, uh, but I think.
Uh, you know, those are kind of go in with that SOI or those,
my sphere of influence people.
Yeah.
And so, uh, you know, and then there's relationships that I have on social media.
Um, so, you know, we do a lot of ads on social media, and I think through
the first six months of this year, we, we, with our, with advertising
our, our properties for sale.
And then just ads that we have, uh, for top of mind awareness for
me, we had 306,000 impressions on the first six months of this year.
Yeah.
So we probably spent 12, 1500 bucks doing that.
Uh, but we do a lot of just social media, just so kind of top of mind
that those, those are sort of, you know, second tier relationships.
It's just like, you know, people that you, that you know of but don't really know.
And then there's people that just see you online.
You know, it's not a, what version of am am I to you?
What version am I to that person?
I'm a different version of me to my wife, you know, so that we have
those relationships and there's different versions of ourselves.
During those relationships.
So, uh, the people online see what other people have said about me, you know, with
reviews and that, that type of thing.
So, um, but I, I just, you know, I just think that you just have
to constantly be, be making those contacts so those relationships form.
Do you, do you, so, you know, kind of going back to, um, you know, hug your
customer, Jack Mitchell, and, you know, it's, that book really changed the way
we, we looked at, um, our clients and because it's, it's the, the mixture of
professionally and personally relevant.
So do you have like, um.
I, I, you know, whatever you think of of Clinton, he could always make you feel
like you were the only person in the room.
Mm-hmm.
And he could recall things, but he had a little system right.
To where, you know, his assistant or whatever would always be
capturing little, little nuggets, little items of, of relevance.
I know kind of the cheat codes now with the wearable AI to where you can just, you
know, be present in the moment, but it's gonna capture everything to where then you
can kind of recall and start to collect.
Personally relevant information.
Mm-hmm.
Um, do you have kind of a go-to system or is it just you, you can just kind
of remember things about people or?
My mine's all visual and I don't know why it is, but I can recall
things and visually see that.
And, and my recollection if of, you know, I can remember
occurrences, I can remember.
Places, you know, that, that, yeah.
That we've, where we've met, where we've done things.
So it's, it's a visual recollection for me.
And so it's sort of like, I got a scam.
It's like, okay, we, I met that person and we were there, and then that, then
it all kind of comes back to me of what was, you know, what we, what the
conversation was, what took place on that day or when we were in that space.
Uh, and it was, uh.
So I've always been a very visual person in, in, in remembering things.
Um, you know, so I, it, I have, have a harder time with things that
I don't see, things that I hear, I don't recall as well as seeing.
So I, if I'm in that situation, then I can recall.
You know, later on, oh yeah, we were here and we were that, and
this is what we did, and, you know.
Yeah.
So I think it's a, it's more of a visual recollection for my, for me, instead
of, uh, instead of a tape recorder.
Mine's more like a video recorder than a tape recorder, I guess.
Yeah, that's good.
That's good.
Yeah.
Everybody has that and I think being able to tap into it and, and, you know,
whatever, whatever that process is, to be able to, to recall, I mean, I think can
deepen, you know, the relationships which.
It's all about how you make people feel and, and then in return, the reciprocity,
you know, kicks in, especially in this game, in, in real estate.
So it's fantastic.
I mean, I, I, I love this because this is fundamental, right?
We talk about getting back to the basics.
I mean, everything you're, you know, we, we've un uncovered so far is exactly,
you know, the foundation, right?
What are, what are you rooted in?
What's the foundation instead of, like you said.
Um, you know, chasing the next shiny object, you know, perso,
perso has, you know, the, the concept of half-built bridges,
right?
And, you know, real estate agents are notorious at building half-built bridges.
It's, it is like, you know, being here in Pittsburgh, it's
essentially like seeing all of the bridges and they're all half built.
That reminds me of a, of a real estate agent's, most real estate agents'
careers, and I just, I love that concept that he, he came up with,
with, with the half belt bridges,
right?
Right.
Well, and and I think that goes right along with that.
You gotta be who you are too to everybody, you know.
Yeah.
If, if you can't impersonate somebody else that's, that's successful,
I mean, you, you can copy off of them and do the things that made
them successful, but you can never.
Talk like them or answer like them or, or whatever.
You can use a lot of the, the, the skills, but you have to be you and you know, yeah.
It, it, you know, and, and part of, part of my, my market allows me to, but
I wear blue jeans to work every day.
I mean, you know, uh, I'm just, or just try to be approachable.
Uh, and so, uh, I am kind of who I am, you know, and, and it took me a long
time to, you know, it's like, well, I want to emulate that person, or I wanna
be, you know, that, and it's, it's, people will do business with it 'cause
they know you, like you and trust you.
Yeah, that's right.
And, and so just be who you are.
And the other flip side of that is once you know who you are, is know your value.
Yeah, your presence should add value to any transaction, right?
Yeah.
Just your presence and knowing, knowing your value in that transaction.
Um, and I think that the hardest thing for new agents is expressing
their value and saying what needs to be said at the right time.
So it's difficult to say uncomfortable things.
To people we don't know well, and a lot of times we're in a situation
we may have just met a seller and we're in a, in a interview.
Uh, but saying those uncomfortable things that need to be said
is what they're paying us for.
Okay, we're, they're not paying us to be a tape recorder.
We've all seen those tape recorder agents where you could set a tape recorder down
at the listing presentation and whatever the seller says, the, that tape recorder
runs back and puts that on the MLS instead of saying, you know, Mr. And Mrs. Seller,
here's the reason that we need to discuss this, or whatever, whatever the topic is.
Uh, and so, uh, you know, once you know your value, uh, to the situation
and can articulate your value.
To someone, um.
You're, you're going to make more money in the end.
Yeah.
You know?
Absolutely.
Uh, and it's, and you know, I like this job really well, but if I didn't
get a paycheck, you know, at the end of the transaction, you know, uh,
I, we, we could do something else.
We, we wouldn't be, you know.
Do something
else.
Yeah.
Profit's not a dirty word, you know, so we can make a profit.
I, I, I love, uh, I love that and I'm glad you you brought that up.
I, I forget it was, um, it might have been Ryan Dice or somebody was like,
I don't want to hear your goals.
I wanna know what your value proposition is.
Like, your goals don't mean anything to me if I don't know what your value is now.
Now we know your value proposition.
Now I can help you with your goals.
Right.
And I just loved how, how, how he framed that.
And I'm like, dang man.
That, that is like, what is the value promise?
What's the value that you bring to the marketplace?
And you know, does that value align to the starving market?
What does that value align to?
And you and I've talked about it and it's the kind of the couple,
you know, in the absence of value is when people question price.
And, and then again, value unarticulated is value unappreciated.
And so being able to, to know the value that you bring to the market
is super, super foundational, basic, if you wanna call it.
But it is like it is the thing that you're constantly have to be thinking about.
Right, right.
Hey, quick pause before we keep going.
This market is shifting fast, and if you've been feeling the
pressure, you're not alone.
But here's the thing, it's not going to slow down so you can catch up.
I've opened a limited number of executive one-on-one coaching spots this month for
agents who are ready to stop spinning their wheels and lead with clarity.
If that's you, head to John Kitchens coach and let's make it happen.
Now, back to the episode.
Yeah, it's, um, and, and being able to articulate it in more
than one way when people ask.
'cause there pe everybody's gonna be different and you know, it can't
be a standard canned an answer, a canned answer, but you can have
several standard canned answers that.
You.
Okay.
This is the situation.
This one applies.
You know?
And I think just being able to, to practice that.
Um, I went to, just a quick story.
I went to Frank College's drag racing school on a motorcycle
several years ago, and.
You know, he told us to practice it in perfect timing.
Perfect practice makes perfect bad practice makes bad.
Yeah.
So whoever you had to, you know, they would start to buy for you.
But you reach over with your right hand, grab the clutch, reach down with your
left hand, go put it in first gear, come up through neutral, put it in a second
ear, you know, wide open, throttle, flick your wrist, do a burnout too.
I mean, it's all of that stuff.
And he told a story that there was a guy that was terrible
and he came back the next year.
And he said, oh, you must have bought a motorcycle.
You've been, you've been, you know, you've, you're, you're a
thousand times better than you were when you were here last year.
He said, Nope, I've practiced this every day sitting on my couch multiple times.
Mm. And, you know, that's when you know it.
It's, it's, so, it sounds kind of corny to stand in front of the
mirror and practice some of your.
Your conversations that you need to say to a buyer or seller, but it's you,
you need to, it's playing a movie in your head and so you've got the movie,
it's just stored somewhere and when it comes, comes time for that movie.
You just push play on that movie and it comes out.
You've practiced it enough times that it's comes, it just, it just flows
off the, your tongue and it just goes.
So you've got, I wanna, sometimes you don't wanna feel
like you're watching yourself.
Yes.
I love that, Jim, because, you know, for me, um, growing up,
you know, playing golf, right?
So like, I, I, I, I learned a lot of things that can, can be of,
of great, great value, but things that can kind of hinder you.
Like I have the ability to just close things out, right?
Because I grew up learning, you know, let go of the last shot, move on.
Mm-hmm.
Be in the present the next thing.
So like, I'll put things in a box and I'm, I'm, I'm really good at that.
And so, um, but I, I remember hearing stories about, you know.
Golfers that would, you know, elite level golfers that would like, would
went away to like to fight the war and however many years they were away.
But then they come back and then they, they.
Break par Right.
Right.
From coming out.
And they're like, did you practice while you were over there?
And it's like, no.
Yeah.
Every day in my mind.
Yeah.
I, I, I, I visualized every shot, every, every angle,
every, every mark of the swing.
Everything I could, I could visualize it in my head.
I was practicing every day, right?
So I physically wasn't hitting the golf ball.
But every day I was practicing in my mind.
And that always stuck with me to, to your point, right?
It's, it's always, you're always practicing, you're
always going through it, right?
Um, to, to really maintain that, that level.
Yep.
So, um, and, and that, and besides it was just fun to go fast on a motorcycle too.
So that was, well, of course
that too.
But, uh, I've always liked speed and noise.
I want to hear my gasoline burn.
But anyway,
yes.
Uh, um, so I think a part of that is, uh, you know.
Working the difference between working on your business and
working in your business.
So we get so bogged down.
I think a lot of times just working in our business that we don't
have time to work on our business.
Yeah.
And so, and I think everybody understands the difference, but you know, when you
get a call and you go show property and you write an offer and then
you're, you know, you're, you're, you're doing certain things and, and,
and I'll kind of insert here that.
If a person wants to make, you know, $416,000 a year, you've gotta be worth
$200 an hour for 40 hours a week.
Uh, and that's $416,000 a year.
Um, so you've got to work on the parts of your business that make you money
and hire out the things that are, are less than $200 an hour, but working.
You get so busy working on this deal and then another deal comes and then
you don't have any time to work.
On your business.
And that goes back to those goals and plans and that, that sort of thing
is you have to schedule that time.
I'm a slave to my calendar, okay?
You have to be a slave to your calendar.
Uh, and, and, and both of my, my listing coordinator and my transaction
coordinator have access to my calendar, and I do what my calendar says.
So they put something on there.
Uh, I, I, I look in the morning, okay, what's my day?
Or sometimes, you know, the night before I look, okay,
that's what I gotta do tomorrow.
I get up in the morning, I look at my schedule again.
Kind of, kind of prepare myself mentally for okay, that appointment,
uh, that's that, okay, let's, let's run through that in my head.
How's that appointment gonna go?
Uh, and then, you know, kind of through the day, uh, uh, but scheduling all
of those things, uh, is, is and, and so you gotta schedule time to work.
On your business to say, okay, these are my goals, these
are, where do we want to go?
So I think, you know, you, you have to decipher, uh, you know, di
differentiate the, the time that between working in and on your business.
And I think a lot of times we get, um, we get distracted by.
Noise stuff that doesn't matter.
Um, you know, if, if one of my, one of my gals that are in here and we're working on
something and they'll say, you know, if I, I kind of get distracted on something, on
a computer or somebody texts or something, they just say, squirrel, get back to it.
You're, you're not chasing squirrels right now.
You gotta stay.
We gotta stay on this.
So I think blocking out a lot of the noise, a lot of times, um, you know, a lot
of times you, you know, you have to know.
Your business, and you have to know your competition, but you don't have
to be so engrossed in your competition that you lose, you know, yeah.
Your side of where you're at.
Okay.
I'm aware that what they're doing and so forth, but, uh, a
lot of that stuff is just noise.
Blocking out that noise, like we talked about, uh, is just.
Turn that, turn that noise off.
Put on blinders.
What, however, what you wanna say it is just focus on what's in front of you,
what's important to you, what's important to your business for you and your family,
uh, and, and your, and your business.
So, blocking out that noise, I think is, is very important.
'cause we, we, we, as realtors.
We, we get distracted so easily.
You know, I think that's just, just part of it.
And I think being able to block that out, uh, is, uh, is really, uh, important.
And then, uh, one of the notes I'd made here was that, um, you know, when you work
on your business, um, you need to be in the right rooms with the right people.
Uh, and so I can, I can pinpoint back, uh, years ago that.
I, you know, I was with a small local company and then I had
a re max office for 10 years.
And some of the rooms I got into at that point changed my life.
And that continues to happen with the, the, the acquaintances you make at a high
level and the rooms that you can get into.
And some of 'em are virtual rooms or whatever, but you know, and, and
the people you, you're able to meet that's like, you know, everybody's,
it's like, wow, that, that person, so they're, they're, everybody's
trying to pull everybody up, I think, you know, in real estate.
So trying to get into those.
Same rooms with people that, that are doing better than you.
Um, so you can emulate them and see what, you know, how are they
doing that, what are they doing?
What's, you know, and, uh, part of that's the mindset part of it, you know?
So I think, uh, really getting into some of those right rooms is very important.
So, so important, right?
I mean, you can, you collapse time and it's, it's the true
essence of, of mastermind.
I mean, I mean, geez, I mean, it's one of the laws of success
from Napoleon Hill, right?
In the, in the Laws of Success story that he, you know, series that he put together
actually before Think and Grow Rich.
And it was actually the, the laws of success.
That, that, and then the conversations that form, you know, the book Think
and Grow Rich, but one of the laws of success is Mastermind, right?
Yeah.
You know, 2, 2, 2 minds create a third, um, you know, three minds create
a fourth and, and so on and so on.
You can really just, you know, um, you know, find different angles, find
different little, um, even to your point, right, to, to reframe, um,
you know, just different, different ways to articulate your value, right?
Like, like you were saying, and, and just, man, there's nothing more
powerful than getting around a group of like-minded individuals that are,
that are just really pushing each other to be the best versions of themselves.
Right.
Exactly.
And then, um.
One of the things that I think, um, that, that, that my agents on my team, that some
of 'em have started at the front desk.
And like I said with Ellen a little bit ago, she's probably written
hundreds if not thousands of purchase agreements before she got her license.
I think that most agents don't understand the purchase agreement.
Now, if you screw up a listing contract that's between you and your seller,
you know, and that's on you, and you'll pay for that, and that's whatever.
Okay?
But you, you know, the listing contract, but the purchase
agreement's between, you're not a party to the purchase agreement.
It's between a buyer and a seller, and you're, you're writing that purchase
agreement or you're receiving it.
I suggest everyone read their state's purchase agreement or the purchase
agreement they use at least once a week.
I read and read and read that purchase agreement, have a better
understanding of that purchase agreement than I believe anybody in
my market or anybody I deal with.
I had a situation the other day with a, with another agent, and I pointed to a
certain part of the purchase agreement.
I said, per this section of the purchase agreement.
And he's like, I've been in a business for 15 years and I didn't understand that.
It's like, read the purchase agreement, you know, if you don't know it, highlight
it, ask somebody a question, you know?
So I think it's pretty, pretty basic.
Um, you know, I mean, that's about as basic as you can get is reading the
purchase agreement and knowing what the purchase agreement says so you
can have a complete understanding.
Uh, you know, one of the things we do is a pre-listing, home inspection.
Fortunately, in our state.
Uh, the purchase agreement states any property defect previously
disclosed by a seller should not be a basis to cancel the contract.
Hmm.
So
right up front, we just, um, do the pre-listing home inspection, attach
the summary of the inspection if we, we, sometimes we repair items.
But, uh, we'll attach that summary of the, uh, home inspection
to the residential seller's Disclosure is addendum number one.
Now it's being signed by the buyer.
When they write an offer, you know, we know buyers buy on a motion.
They're, you, it, it's easier to hit 'em right in a jaw at the time they're
writing the offer with any negative news than it is 10, 12, 14 days later,
you know, after they've got an accepted offer going back to work, uh, getting,
uh, everything for their lender, thinking about moving and so forth.
You know, when they want $5,000 for $500 worth of repairs.
That, that we headed off in the very beginning just by, by.
Um.
Attaching that to the, that, uh, to the, uh, seller's disclosure.
So, um, you know, but I think the purchase agreement, you just got,
you have to know it and read it.
Yeah.
Reread it and read it again.
So, um, but, uh, and, uh, we talked about, uh, talked about some books
earlier, the E myth, a couple of 'em, uh.
Profit first.
Yeah.
Tells everybody how to get their, their money in order.
Uh, profit First book.
I've got it right here in my drawer.
I've gotta keep it around my drawer.
Uh, refer back to that.
You know, that's the first problem that new agents get into is tax issues
when they spend all the money and then.
Uncle Sam comes calling and they don't have the money to, to pay their taxes.
So that profit first really, really works well.
Choose your enemies wisely.
Um, on, on that was a book that you, you recommended.
You probably got it right there.
I've got it right here in the door.
I got it right here.
Right here.
Got it.
All your marks up.
Yeah, I got, got mine right.
Got mine right here.
And, and I could tell you I didn't understand it until I read
that book that, um, so I, um.
I was working in a, in a manufacturing firm as a, as a production control,
and they took us to the cafeteria one day and froze our wages.
Um, I came back with my boss and I said, well, that really, you
know, that really bites, you know?
He said, yeah, but what you gonna do about it?
I didn't realize that that was my enemy.
Mm-hmm.
Not him.
That statement that my boss made.
Yeah.
What are you gonna do about it?
When I was reading, choose Your Enemies Wisely.
I was like, huh.
That was my enemy.
Yeah.
That's what motivated me.
Yes.
That, that saying right there is what got me to go.
What am I gonna do about it?
I'll tell you what I'm gonna do about it.
I'm gonna get my real estate license.
I owned a, I owned a duplex at that time, had bought a, you know,
bought a piece of real estate and I thought my brother-in-law was a
commercial real estate appraiser.
And, uh, I thought, well.
What am I gonna do?
So I went and got my real estate license and, and, uh, five years in one day.
So I was fully vested in my, uh, retirement account at that company.
I jumped out, jumped in with both feet and, you know, uh, and jumped in.
But that was really, really eyeopening.
I love that story.
See, when you're re that book and you're, you're highlighting
and your underlining, it's like,
huh,
I figured out what my enemy was.
Yeah.
What got me to where I am today?
One step, one comment.
It's so, it's so powerful and, um, I mean, I love that and, you know, it's,
it's one of those things too, right?
It got you to make that jump and get you where you're at.
But now even kind of at the, you know, kind of the season of your
career, it's still important to have
Yeah.
You
know, that enemy and I, and, and I love that example because
PBD talks about it in there.
It's like, listen, it's not always a person.
Mm-hmm.
But it's more of a, you know, that kind of, that idea, that concept that, you
know, um, and you can group a bunch of people into there, but it's more
powerful than when it's not a human.
Right.
It's, it's more of a, a concept That is so good.
That is so good.
Yep.
So that's, uh, it's, it's, you know, it's neat to identify it and
go, okay, yeah, that's, that's, you know, that was the point in my
life that, that something changed.
And so one of the, one of the other notes I made, made here, and, and, and this is
not original to me, but uh, uh, fear is a negative emotion created by belief that
something is gonna harm you in the future.
Okay.
And we're, we're frozen by fear a lot.
Yeah.
You know, and that's what we was talking about, getting back to being
able to say what needs to be said in a listing presentation about a house,
about whatever it is, and you know, how is it gonna harm you, you know?
They're not gonna eat you, they're not gonna beat you up.
You know, you may lose a listing by telling the truth, and if you didn't get
it, you probably didn't want it anyway.
Yeah.
Okay.
If the people aren't gonna, aren't gonna be receptive to, to, you know, the, um,
to, to, to hear my experience, you know, you're not paying me to sell your house.
You're paying me for my experience.
All the learning that I've done to get me to this point.
You know?
Yeah.
And so, yeah, it's, it really, you're paying me to sell your house, but
it's the experience that I gained to get me to this point, to get me
here.
Yeah.
Uh, and, and so, and that's where knowing your worth at that point,
getting back to knowing your worth.
But I think a lot of people get frozen in fear of like, oh, I can't say that.
You know, they, they'll get mad at me, or they're gonna, you know.
So what, you know?
Yeah.
So what you, you've gotta, you've gotta say it in a polite manner and
you know, where it's, where, you know, you can't, you can't just be gruff.
But yeah, it's, um, it's, um,
you know, Jim, the, the other, the other thing, and you kind of
alluded to it a little bit, and.
You, you do this just about as well as, as anybody I've ever
seen, and it's, it's really being a true ambassador for the community.
You talked about, you know, kind of on the Waterfront Development Committee.
Yep.
Just everything that you're a part of.
I would love for you to, to unpack that.
'cause I think that's one of the, the biggest things that a lot of,
a lot of agents miss is, you know, 'cause that unlocks a lot of doors.
Um, yeah.
You know, the more that you can plug yourself in and, uh, I would
love for you to kind of unpack and share that and then like.
Where to invest that time versus man, that's kind of be more of
a hobby, but this is where you can really make a difference.
Right.
Or you know, gain more influence or influence others.
Right.
Well, I'm very fortunate to live in the town that I live in.
Madison, Indiana is one of the coolest towns that if you've
never been here, it's one of the coolest towns you've ever been to.
I describe it as halfway between Key West and Mayberry.
And so for you young agents, Mayberry was a fictitious town on TV with Andy
Griffith, where everybody left their doors unlocked and that sort of thing.
So Madison's a town of 13,000 people.
So.
Uh, where, where you have the old, the old section downtown, we have 133 blocks on
the National Register of Historic Places.
That is the largest contiguous area in the United States.
Then we have the hilltop area.
We drew, we kind of grew to our geographic geographical boundaries.
We're right on the Ohio River between Louisville, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio.
So, um, the, the up on the hilltops 400 foot bluff, that's where
the fast food restaurants, high school and that sort of stuff.
So we have a really, just a really cool downtown area.
So.
First, I'm very fortunate that, that I get to live here, or I chose to live here.
Um, I, there was an old man named Forry Douglas.
Uh, he owned a clothing store here in town, drove a Cadillac.
He had a, he was a, he was a cat about town.
Wore a little, uh, gold chain on his vest and stuff.
So he was on the Riverfront Development Committee.
And, uh, just when it first started, uh, and asked me, he said, Hey, uh, would you
help me put some bricks in the riverfront?
So we went down.
And took bricks out of the Cadillac, out of the trunk of his Cadillac, and
we had a brick pooler, and we took some of the bricks out of the sidewalk
and then we put an engraved brick that somebody could buy, you know,
have their name or their birthday or whatever on it, and we pound 'em down
in there and got to talk with him.
I said, Hey, I wouldn't mind being on this committee for you.
This is, this is kind of cool, you know, on the riverfront.
He said, okay, I'll keep you in mind.
Well, he called me one Tuesday morning.
He said, we voted gin last night.
I said, voted me into what he said, riverfront development committee.
That was nine years later.
So nine years took me to get on that committee.
But, um, so I think that that, that you have to be excited
about something that Yeah.
That you can talk to people about.
And fortunately for me, it, it's, and I, I think that exp
hit the nail on the head when.
When they, they, they talk about being involved in your community.
That's one of the, the, the important things, uh, to, to exp.
Um, and, and so, um, you have to find something that you love.
I'm a, I'm an avid boater.
Uh, we're on the river.
All we can, you know, all the time we can get out there.
Um, so the Riverfront Development Committee.
Suited my personality.
So we raised the money, uh, for projects that we kind of designed a project.
We raised the money.
Uh, we started out brick by brick, block by block.
And now our latest project was about $4.2 million.
We're getting ready to start phase three, uh, next, uh, next
July, right after the regatta.
But, um, so I think giving back to your community is very important.
Um, you know, your community supports you and so whether you know.
What I do is non-confrontational.
I couldn't, I know I, some agents serve on like the, the, uh, the, uh,
city council or planning commission.
You couldn't pay me to be on those because those, there's,
there's arguments all the time.
Yeah.
What I do is fun.
You know, we get to do the fun stuff.
We get to, to raise money, uh, with different events that we have.
And, and so, um.
Just being able to, to, to contribute to the beautification
of our riverfront to the town.
Uh, I, I think I've been the, the chairman of that committee for, uh, I
think I've been on the committee for 26 years, been chairman for about 20 years.
Uh, so it, it started out very small when we didn't hardly have
much money at all and, and now.
You know, we're, we're, we're, we're, we don't have a lot of money, but we're
raising funds by different mm-hmm.
Different, uh, events and, and different things.
And we're able to, uh, we've got, um, community foundation, we have
two or three, uh, accounts set up in the community foundation
where people could donate to that.
So, um, you know, it's a give back.
You know?
Yeah.
As, as you know, our buddy Andrew says, you gotta make enough deposits
in other people's lives Right.
Before you make a withdrawal.
That's right.
And so this is just one of those deposits that, that we make Yeah.
For the community and the city and that, that sort of thing.
So I love it.
It's, it's a ball.
Yeah, we, you know, one of the best strategic moves we ever made was
getting connected in with the Chamber.
And the reason we got connected in with the, with the chamber is because that's
where the economic development committee office was inside of the chamber.
So we walked by the economic development Committee office every time we
walked into the chamber for whatever committee that we were going to be on.
To your point, where does it suit well?
And some of the most important relationships, strategic
relationships, were developed by being on committees inside of there.
And I mean, it, it really forged our relationship with our banker.
Right?
Um, he was actually chair of the, of, of, of the chamber, um, one year.
And we really got wherever he needed our help.
We, we were like, we'll be there.
We helped him, but it unlocked.
Such goodwill with him that our banking capabilities, you know, skyrocketed just
because of our connection and being able to connect with other small business
owners and you know, just some really, um.
B relationships inside of the community, but none more important than being
able to stay in tune to the economic development committee, knowing what's
coming, what are they trying to do?
That allowed us to be really strategic, and it is, to your point, right?
We were adding value by keeping everybody in tune what's really
happening in the real estate market.
And so we weren't just going there to take, we were going there
to, to give not only time, but, but information and resources.
So I've always loved that about you.
Um, how important and critical it is getting connected inside of the committee
and, and, and inside the community.
But like you said, it, it aligned to you perfectly.
It's a cool, cool thing that you guys get to do.
So I think it's super important.
Yeah.
And there's, there's no no really arguments, you know, with the
public, you know, so you're not putting anything negative out.
Yeah.
It's all positive, you know, so, uh, and, and being able to be the
chairman, you know, we get to, we get to make announcements and stuff and,
and uh, you know, and it's usually in the news and headlines and, and so
it's, it's, some of it's, you know.
Uh, for, for personal gain and, you know, uh, but it's really for the
love of, of helping the town in the riverfront and, you know, where, where
we spend a lot of time on the river.
Yeah, it is.
It's um, it's really, really cool, you know.
Um, Jim, any, any other final thoughts to kind of, kind of wrap
up to, to bring this all together?
I mean, I loved everything we, we touched on, I mean, geez, I
got a page of notes and just a, just a great refresher of Yeah.
Staying, staying grounded in, in the fundamentals and in the basics.
Right.
Well, and I think this may have been something you said one time,
the difference between amateurs and professionals is that amateurs
will do it till they get it right.
Professionals will do it till they can't get it wrong.
You know?
That's true.
So I think that that's, we, we've got to just keep, keep practicing and, and making
sure that hey, we're the best, the best real estate person we can be the best
person we can be in general, you know?
Yeah.
It is.
It's so, so good.
Um, and such a, such a great reminder in, in a lot of the things,
um, that, that you really shared.
So spot on, Jim.
I appreciate you brother jumping in here and, and, um, well
I appreciate, appreciate your time today, John.
And nothing, nothing too earth shattering.
It's just, uh, you know, uh, uh, you know, we try to think we
can have a whole bunch of stuff.
Really.
You need a, a pen or a piece of paper and a telephone and you can be successful.
Yeah.
And it's, um.
You know, we need to be reminded more than we need to be told.
And, you know, keep things as simple as possible.
I was, I was on a webinar last night and um, she kind of broke down, but
the last was simple and she goes, uh.
You know, it's, it's, um, so simple.
Your grandma can understand it.
Right.
And I was like, God, that's good.
That's
good.
Yep.
Keeping it, keeping it simple.
Yep.
Awesome, brother.
Well, I appreciate you, man.
You know, really, um, what the whole Expert Mentor Series is, is all about is,
um, you know, individuals like you that just pouring back in and, and, um, you
know, reminding us, uh, of the frameworks and keeping us grounded on what we need to
do to be the best versions of ourselves.
Appreciate it.
Awesome.
We'll see you guys.
Thanks.
Thanks, John.
Thanks for tuning in.
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