This Industry Makes More Millionaires Than Anything Else (And It’s Not Sales) | Andy Elliott

Summary

Podcast Summary:

Andy Elliott's Elite Mindset Motivation and Sales Training
Episode: This Industry Makes More Millionaires Than Anything Else (And It’s Not Sales)
Host: Andy Elliott
Guests: Gordon Watson & Steve Powers
Date: September 11, 2025

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Overview: Main Theme and Purpose

This episode explores the real estate industry as the most consistent creator of millionaires, even more than sales or financial services. Andy Elliott, joined by veteran real estate coaches Gordon Watson and Steve Powers, unpacks real, actionable strategies for both established agents and newcomers. They dissect what it takes to break past mediocrity in real estate, emphasizing discipline, systems, and mindset. The pair also offer a free “Blueprint” document detailing how to become a top real estate performer.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power and Accessibility of Real Estate

• Google’s Answer: Real estate and financial services are the top millionaire-creating industries, but real estate offers faster, easier entry and scalability.
• Gordon and Steve’s Credibility:
  • 40+ years in real estate
  • Over 8,000 homes sold between them
  • Over 150,000 one-on-one coaching calls with agents
  • (00:00–02:19)

    “If someone isn’t in the field right now, they can’t teach you what works in the field right now.” – Andy Elliott [01:58]

2. The Reality Behind Real Estate Success

• Myth-busting: Rejecting “get-rich-quick” charlatans and the myth that you don’t have to work hard.
• Critical Stats:
  • Average agent sells 12–20 homes/year.
  • Average coached agent (elsewhere) plateaus at 25–30 deals/year.
  • Their students commonly exceed 100/year.
• Core Reason for Stagnation: Lack of duplicatable systems and real leverage.
  • (04:03–06:49)

    “Their systems aren’t duplicatable. There’s no leverage. We are business coaches. We teach people how to compress the admin and increase the prospecting and profitability activities.” – Steve Powers [04:38]

3. The Four Daily Activities ("Four Ps") for Real Estate Success

• Practice objection handling
• Prospect in multiple ways (they teach 25+)
• Present to buyers or sellers
• Do price reductions
  • (04:49–05:14)

    “Those four Ps every day—you’re going to make millions.” – Steve Powers [05:14]

4. The Skills Gap: Separating Top Producers from the Rest

• It’s Not About Age or Background:
  • Success comes from discipline and following a plan—not age, gender, or years in the field.
  • (08:51–09:41)

    “It doesn’t matter if you’re 19 or 70... The older you are, the more life experience, the more you realize what you have to do to succeed.” – Gordon Watson [08:53]

• Discipline & Self-Management:
  • Real estate attracts those who want freedom but lack self-accountability.
  • Key is to measure by appointments, not busyness.
  • (11:28–12:32)

    “If you’re spending the day doing realtor stuff and planning on Facebook, and you’re confusing activity with achievement, that’s the biggest issue.” – Steve Powers [12:09]

5. Mindset: The True Differentiator

• The Napoleon Hill Quote:

  “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, he can achieve.”

• The Recipe Analogy:
  • You must stick with a plan long enough to see results; belief comes before achievement.
  • (13:41–14:43)

    “Most people want to switch the last two words: what the mind of man can conceive and achieve, he can therefore believe. It doesn’t work that way… If you don’t believe you can do it, you’re not going to do it.” – Gordon Watson [14:26]

6. The Market Right Now: Why Real Estate Is Ripe

• Low-Hanging Fruit for the Skilled:
  • COVID era required no skill; today, top 5% of agents handle 95% of deals.
  • If you don’t skill up, you’ll be out—a big opportunity for those with the right approach.
  • (07:10–07:51)

    “If you do learn what you have to do to be in that 5%, it’s low hanging fruit. The professionals who have the skill set are dominating.” – Steve Powers [07:34]

7. Lead Generation and Systems

• 25+ Ways to Find Business:
  • Success in modern real estate requires social media, door knocking, and more—not just cold calling.
  • Most trainers are outdated.
  • (09:45–10:25)

    "If you don't meet the people, you can't make an appointment." – Steve Powers [10:25]

• Avoiding the Cubicle Trap:

  “Everybody gets into real estate because they don’t want to be locked in an office. Then they go get themselves a cubicle and never leave.” – Steve Powers [10:25]

8. Proof: Real Client Transformation

• Case study:
  • Agent in Hoboken, NJ, improved from $550k to potentially $1.1 million/year after a year of their coaching.
  • (11:42–11:25)

    “He’s worked with us for a year... Here we are in July—he’d already done $800,000.” – Gordon Watson [11:25]

9. The Blueprint: Free, Practical Step-by-Step Guide

• Download Link:
  • They created it at Andy’s request for listeners wanting actionable steps.
  • Not just theory—documents the precise systems and processes they teach.
  • (07:56–08:51; 15:04–16:10)
• No Excuses:

  “Everybody’s good at this, okay? So get that blueprint. Check it out. It’ll change your life.” – Andy Elliott [17:04]

10. Getting Started in Real Estate: The Barrier to Entry is Low

• Startup Cost: About $2,000—one commission check.
  • (16:33–16:44)

    “I tell a brand new agent you need to have a budget of about $2,000 to get into the business... That’s one commission check.” – Gordon Watson [16:33]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Discipline over Freedom:

  “They go into real estate because they don’t want a boss—but they don’t consider themselves the boss.” – Steve Powers [11:39]

• On the Power of Mindset:

  "If you cannot control your thoughts, this is the wrong business for you." – Gordon Watson [14:44]

• On Business Focus:

  “Is what I’m about to do for the next hour the most profitable thing I can do? If the answer isn’t yes, then do something else.” – Steve Powers [12:17]

• On Industry Shifts Post-COVID:

  “Now, 95% of transactions are done by 5%... If you’re not learning what you have to do to be in that 5%, you’re going to be out of business.” – Steve Powers [07:24]

• On Real Results from Coaching:

  “We get them from the 25 to 100 to 500.” – Steve Powers [16:06]

• On Action vs. Inaction:

  “Ships are safe in port, but that’s not what they’re built for. We’re salespeople.” – Steve Powers [10:37]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–02:19: Guest introductions, industry overview, real estate as millionaire-maker
• 04:03–06:49: Dispelling get-rich-quick myths; secret is systems
• 07:10–07:51: State of the market—why skilled agents are thriving now
• 08:51–09:41: Why age and background don’t matter in real estate success
• 09:45–10:25: Modern lead generation (25+ methods)
• 10:25–10:40: Real estate cubicle paradox
• 11:28–12:32: The discipline divide—difference between top producers and the rest
• 13:41–14:43: Mindset and the Napoleon Hill recipe
• 16:33–16:44: True startup cost and accessibility

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Additional Resources & How to Connect

• Download the Free Blueprint:
  Link in episode description; system to go from average to top producer (step-by-step).

• Follow Gordon & Steve on Instagram:

  • @theofficialgordonwatson
  • @theofficialstevepowers
  • @watsonpowersone

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Tone & Style Note

Andy and his guests are direct, high-energy, and practical, emphasizing tough love, accountability, and evidence-based advice. Their no-nonsense approach debunks industry myths and provides both motivation and a blueprint for real action.

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This summary covers the full depth of the conversation, giving you the core strategies and insights, complete with illustrative quotes and timestamps for self-study or team discussion. Ideal for agents, businesspeople, or anyone considering a real estate career.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, guys, what's going on? It is Andy Elliot. Now, I know you see, a lot of times I don't have friends or people on my podcast or on a YouTube video because I like to teach you guys. These two people I have here today with me, Gordon and Steve, they've been in the real estate space for over 40 years now, by the way, have nothing to sell. Okay. They're going to give value. Right on. Actually, one of the best industries in the world, which is real estate. If you go to Google right now, she's our mother, and you type in what creates more millionaires than anything else in the world, it's going to give you one or two answers at any point in time. It's going to give you the real estate space and the financial service space. In the real estate space, it's easier to get up to speed and make more money faster and kill it. And really, these two together have sold over 4,000 homes over their period in real estate. And more importantly, the average person in real estate sells anywhere between 12 to 20 homes a year is what we were talking about. Average, right. Which we don't be average. Their average student sells over a hundred. And so I'm like, okay, let's share some heat. So, guys, by the way, Gordon, right here, this is Steve. I'm gonna go this way. And I just want you guys know, we got Gordon, we got Steve, and I asked him to let it rip. So 30 seconds.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. How do you guys know each other? How long you've been together? I know you got a brokerage. And then let's get straight into value and rip. Grab a pen, grab a piece of paper, and, Gordon, why don't you kick it off?

[B]

Well, Steve and I both got in the real estate industry coincidentally in 1986. We met in 1992. We started following the same mentor. And then it's like our careers has paralleled each other because we both started coaching in 1996.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And. And then I resigned first. And then Steve resigned. After myself, I started my own coaching company. And. And then after Steve resigned, I came to him and I said, man, we would make a great team. And it's going great ever since.

[A]

I love it. And so. And you guys have a brokerage in Oklahoma as well, right?

[B]

I have a brokerage.

[A]

You have a brokerage?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I run a team.

[A]

Yeah. So really important to know this, because I think this is important. Still in the real estate space, still slanging houses. Not a guy that used to do it. That sharing and teaching. What Used to work a long time ago. If someone isn't in the field right now, they can't teach you what works in the field right now.

[B]

I'm in the trenches every day.

[A]

Yeah, I just want to share that with you. And I love that about you guys, because you're not theory teachers. You're applicant teachers. You're still doing it right now, so let's rip. Steve, why don't you take it home? Start us out with value from the beginning. Anyone watching this, by the way? Two. Two people. One is someone who's in the real estate space is like, man, you know, I want to scale. I want to grow. I want to make more money. I want that edge. And then number two, maybe somebody who's not in the real estate space who's thinking, you know, maybe I need to switch industries. Because if you're in the wrong boat and you're rowing really hard. Well, if you row hard, get in the right boat, and you can make a lot of money. Hey, guys, every day I see in the comment section that people are like, andy, how can I train with you? How can I get close to you? I'm a sales leader. I'm in sales. I'm an entrepreneur. I'm a business owner. Listen, if you want to coach with me, I want to help you. Look, there's a link below on this YouTube video. If you just go down below, there's a link in this YouTube video. And basically, if you click on it, all I ask for is your name and your phone number, and it says, what do you want to learn from me? And by the way, it gives me permission to reach out to you. If you'll fill that out, I will personally reach out to you, and we will make a game plan. Now, listen, I want to say it one more time. Let's get back to the video. If you've been watching my content, if you want a breakthrough, if you want to change your life, you want to go to another level, whether you're broke and you're trying to look for the breakthrough, or you're at the top of your game and you operate from the state of madness like me, and you're just a psycho for learning. I am that coach that wants to push you hard. And so if you're ready for a breakthrough this year, go down, click on that link, fill out the information. It gives me permission to reach out to you. We're in a new era, right? And I always laugh at it. And I say, man, you give me the right to push you. I promise you, this coach is going to change your life. So go click on that link. I love you guys. I'll reach out to myself, fill out your information. Do it right now, and then let's get back to the video.

[C]

That's it. Because one of the things that Gordon and I always talk about is there's a bunch of charlatans out there. They're, they're get rich quick, but they don't understand the work it takes the skill set. It takes the amount of effort it takes to actually be successful. And real estate's the easiest business in the world to be successful.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

You just got to set one appointment a day, five a week. Go on three, take two, you make 200,000 a year. We specialize in the agents who are currently in coaching, and they're stuck at 25, 30 deals a year for five years because they really don't have a coach. They got a trainer.

[A]

Yeah. Why do they get stuck?

[C]

Well, because their systems that they're taught aren't duplicatable. There's no leverage. We are business coaches. We teach people how to compress the admin and increase the prospecting and the profitability activities. Because there's really only four activities a day. And you guys should write this down. Number one, you need to practice your objection handlers every day. Number two, you got a prospect, and there's lots of ways to prospect. We have 25 different ways to find business. Number three, you got to practice present to either buyers or sellers. And number four, in 2025, you got to do price reductions. Those four Ps every day. You're going to make meals.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, Steve and I got sick and tired. No one told you I saw an opportunity. We were, we were watching these quote unquote gurus telling people you don't have to talk to anybody. And you can make hundreds of thousands of dollars. You know, just sit around and the money comes into you. Smoking mirrors.

[C]

It's like full.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

That's not true. That is not true. Guys, you've got to work. Okay? I'm not. Steve and I are never going to tell you that you don't have to work and money is just going to flow in. But you've got to know how to work. You've got to know how to do it. The average agent will hit a plateau, and you may be one of them. Right now, it's going to hit that plateau. 25 or 30 deals, and then why do they get stuck there? Because it's all about finesse. It's all about finesse. Once you hit that point, you now you've got to have systems, you've got to have structure. And that's what Steve and I bring to the table. Because Listen, Steve sold 4,000 plus houses over his career. I sold 4,000 plus houses over my career, plus another 2,000 with my team. So I've done over 6,000 sales. So not only do we teach it, we've done it. I challenge you to find very many people out there in this industry that are supposed to be the gurus to tell you what to do, that have actually done it or done it to the level that Steve And I over 8,000 homes sold and closed between the two of us. Over 30 years of coaching real estate agents just like you. Every single day, over 150,000 half hour coaching sessions, one on one.

[A]

Wow.

[C]

Hold on. No wonder I feel so old. We've done 150,000 half hour calls. We don't charge enough.

[A]

Question. Well, number one, you guys, I told you this real estate creates more millionaires than anyone else. Why? Why is now a good time to stay in real estate or to get in?

[C]

I'll tell you, it's never been easier to discover the exact things you have to do to make money. During COVID anybody with a real estate license, essential oils in the sign sold the house.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

There was no skill set required.

[A]

Right.

[C]

It used to be that 90% of the transactions were done by 10% of the agents. Now it's 95% of the transactions are done by 5%. We know what to do to be in that 5%.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And so if you're not learning the what you have to do to be in a 5%, you're going to be out of business. But if you do learn what you have to do to be in that 5%, it's low hanging fruit. Because in this market, the professionals who have the skill set are dominating.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And the halftime agents, the ones that are kind of playing, they're dying.

[A]

Yeah. And I just want to tell everybody really quick, and there's nothing to sell here, so you can't buy anything. But they did create something. And I asked them to do this because I wanted them to share with you. I asked them to create what's called their blueprint. Right. On how people crush it and kill real estate and give that away to you guys for free. And so it's basically how to create top performers. Right, Right. And so if you want to get in real estate or if you're currently in real estate, it's very simple. And you want to learn from these guys, their blueprint, how they kill it, the step by step. All you got to do is go down to the description box below. I told them I would put their link down there. All you have to do is click on that and then you can download that and you guys can check that out now and you can have it for free. Doesn't cost you nothing. So go download the blueprint. Important. Age, young, old, you know, male, female. Does it really matter in real estate?

[B]

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

[A]

I mean, you're, you're 19, 20 years old or you're, you're 70 years old. I mean, honestly, I've got a guy.

[B]

On my team right now that started when he was 19 years old. And before he was 20, he was averaging five sales a month, not a year a month. Okay. It just it that. I'll tell you this. The older you are, the more life experience you have, the more you've been knocked down, the more you realize the reality of what you have to do to succeed. Sometimes the younger generation will come into the business and, and not realize, hey, listen, I gotta work. I just think it's just easy money and I can just show up for a couple hours and then run to the bank and make a deposit. And, you know, so you got to learn, you know, and the school of hard knocks, you know, will sometimes train you up.

[A]

Yeah. So well, and when I think if you know how to generate leads.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Or if you know how to find the clients. Right. You said buyers and sellers. And you guys said you have 25 different ways that you guys do that.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Is that normal?

[C]

No, I mean, it's not.

[A]

Yeah, that's what it's.

[C]

Most of them are. You go, there's some trainers out there. All they want you to do is be on the phone all day. Well, that worked 20 years ago when we had a home phone and everybody picked up. Now you're on the phone for an hour with an auto dialer and you're talking to four people an hour. Gonna have a hard time. You got to be on social media, you got a door knock, you got to do everything to go meet the client. And we show people, especially in the blueprint that we develop, how to go meet the people. Because if you don't meet the people, you can't make an appointment.

[A]

Huge.

[C]

It's it. Everybody gets into real estate because they don't want to be locked in an office. And then they go get themselves a cubicle and they never leave.

[A]

Yeah, that's a cage.

[C]

You know, ships are safe in port, but that's not what they're built for. We're salespeople.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The thing, guys, if you decide to get involved with us, we're going to tell you the truth. We're not going to fill you full of lies and smoke and mirror to try to get your money. That's just not what we do. We're going to tell you the truth, and we're going to show you lots of examples of other people that follow what we teach. I just got a wonderful text from a gentleman that I coach up in Hoboken, New Jersey. Okay. Experienced veteran agent last year did $550,000 in income, which I think we can agree.

[A]

Yeah, pretty good job.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. He's worked with us for a year. He's on pace right now for 1.1 million. He's already 800,000. And here we are in, what, July, he'd already done $800,000.

[A]

It's insane.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

What's the difference between people that are really good and the people who don't do good? Like, is there any key traits that you see with these people that are.

[C]

It's discipline.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

They go into real estate because they don't want a boss and they don't consider themselves the boss. They don't have to answer to themselves. They go home and they tell their spouse, I worked all day. But they put in one hour. If you're going to go to work, you go to work. If you guys want one hint, come up with a daily plan that's based on making appointments. Nothing else matters but making appointments. You make five appointments a week. You go on three, you take two. It's money. But if you're spending the day doing realtor stuff and you're planning on the Facebook and you're confusing activity with achievement, that's the biggest issue because most Realtors, they're active all day, but they're not achieving anything because they're not doing the things that are required to do. So take your day schedule, flip it, and say, is what I'm about to do for the next hour the most profitable thing I can do? And if the answer isn't yes, then do something else.

[B]

And I want to add to that too. Steve, that's spot on.

[C]

That's the best point I've ever made.

[B]

I was just getting ready to tell you, man. That was just fire.

[A]

It's like income producing activities. Right?

[B]

But get this, get this, guys. See, you could do everything right it's kind of like let's take it out of real estate for a second. Let's say you're fat and out of shape, okay? So you get with somebody like Andy, and Andy says, eat this, do this, and you do everything he tells you to do. And then you go stand in front of the mirror the next day, do you look any different? No. You stand in front of the mirror in a week, do you look any different? No. You give it three months of doing what you're taught to do. Do you look at it differently? Yes. So I think the biggest thing that keeps people from really succeeding or separates the two is their ability to follow a plan, to keep their mindset positive and give it time to work. Most people don't give it time enough to work. And they start, you know, they'll try it for a week or two or maybe even 30 days, and they'll say, forget this. This doesn't work. I'm going to go try something else. And they keep starting over and starting over and starting over. When it takes time, you guys have got to follow a plan. And when you work with. Steve and I are one of our coaches, we're going to hold you accountable. We're going to remind you of what you need to be doing every day and keeping you encouraged. You've got to be able to control this up here. If you can't control your head, you're in trouble. When you walk into my training room, you'll appreciate this in my office, first thing you see on the wall is a quote from Napoleon Hill. How to think and grow rich with the mind of man can conceive and believe he can achieve. Here's the challenge that the average person has. If you look at that like a recipe, like if you're making a cake, you got to put things in a certain order in the right way if you want the cake to turn out. That is a mindset recipe. What the mind of man can conceive, we can all conceive doing a lot of business and believe there's the hard part they can achieve. But what they want to do, Andy, is they want to switch the last two words. What the mind of man can conceive and achieve, he can therefore believe. It doesn't work that way. If you don't believe you can do it, you're not going to do it.

[A]

You're finished.

[B]

So you've got to get your head right. If you cannot control your thoughts, this is the wrong business for you. If you can control your thoughts and you can Believe. And Steve and I will absolutely help you to believe. If you can believe, you can do it. We can lead you to production beyond your wildest dreams.

[A]

That's 80% of cells is belief, right?

[C]

That's it.

[A]

Yeah. So super important in this link below, it's called the blueprint. And you know, you want to learn real estate and the cool thing, since it's free, just download it, read it, study it. I've read it. It's life changing. A matter of fact, it'll really work for any business. But these guys are pros and experts in the real estate space. And so if you want to learn from them, from Steve and Gordon on how to literally create, you know, a hundred plus deals per month, which is what their average student is getting from real estate.

[B]

Per month.

[A]

Oh, per year. Well, they turn your annual income to your monthly income. But. But 100 a year. You said 12 a year was what the average or 25.

[C]

Average is one deal a year. In California, 60% of the agents I believe didn't do a deal last year. The average agent, when they amortize it, it's like 1.4 deals. The average person in coaching is doing between 12 and 25 and then they're plateaued.

[B]

That's with the coach.

[C]

Yeah. And we get them from the 25 to 100 to 500.

[A]

I love it. Well, guys, listen, number one, learning about real estate, it's something you have to know. It's not even for grabs. I guess that's something you want to know. You have to know everybody's going to buy a house at some point. Everybody's going to do business at some point. And the cool thing is, is that really there's no real startup in this, right? I mean other than getting your real estate license, like there's no startup.

[B]

It costs. I tell a brand new agent you need to have a budget of about $2,000 to get into the business. I mean, until you're ready to go about 2,000 bucks.

[A]

That's huge.

[B]

That's one commission check.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. So everybody watching this, make sure, number one, what's your Instagram channel?

[B]

It is.

[A]

I know they don't use it a lot, but they're starting to build it. So I want you to go check them out. What is it?

[B]

So each of us have our own Instagram.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay. It's the official. I'm the official Gordon Watson.

[C]

I'm the official Steve Powers.

[B]

And then we have Watson Powers one as well.

[A]

That I love it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So guys, give them a follow on Instagram. You're welcome to DM them if you want to reach out to them, direct message them, and most importantly, download their blueprint. That's it. I put that link below. You guys can go down there right now. We're at the end of the video. Just hit blueprint, click that button and you guys can print that out and study it. There's no excuses. You're not an exception to. Yeah, a lot of people, you know are good at this or that, but they not good at this. Everybody's good at this, okay? And so get that blueprint. Check it out. It'll change your life. And I love you guys. Give them a follow and if you know someone in the real estate space or wants to get in, share this video with them. So I love you guys and we'll see you in the next video. Hey, guys, thank you so much for watching the video. You're the true 1 percenter. How do I know that? Because most people, they never finish. Winners live where quitters quit. Most people didn't make it to the end, but you guys did. That's how I built my life. So I want to say thank you. Don't stop. Keep up the training. Remember I asked share the video. Make sure that you guys subscribe to the channel so you get the newest stuff the fastest. Set up the notification so it hits you right away and make sure you go right into another video. Nowhere else but with me, Andy Elliot. And if you want to train with me, go to trainwithandielliott.com right now or click the link in the description box below. I'll reach out, we'll make a plan.