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Brian Buffini
You got a minute?
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I want to talk to you about the art of spending money. There's three elements to spending money. Just like my man Morgan Housen says, first of all, it's the psychology. The psychology of why you spend your money on what you spend. The next thing he talks about is the status trap. It doesn't matter if you have your name and likes. There's a status that can be associated with it and an identity you can find in it. And then ultimately he talks about the happiness equation. You know, people say money can't buy you happiness. Morgan Housel actually has a happiness formula and how your money can buy it. So join me today in our today's episode on the art of spending money. In today's Blueprint, I'm going to talk about the art of spending money. Now, there's art and there's science. Many of you know I have a great friend at Dave Ramsey, been on the Ramsey show dozens of times. I was just there a couple weeks ago. And Dave Ramsey is more of the science of spending money. He's the guy cut up the credit card, get the budget, stop doing stupid
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stuff with your money, okay?
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And so he's very much the science of it. Here's the numbers, here's the reasons to do it, here's the logical stuff. And he's the best at that in the world. Today I'm going to focus on the art of spending money. And I got three major points for
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you, as I always do.
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I'm going to talk about the psychology of spending. So we're going to talk about psychology more than we are about tactics. Then we're going to talk about the status trap, which is exactly now it's psychology into identification. And then I want to talk about the ultimate goal of money. Perhaps I can give it to you. Maybe you've never heard it before. I'd never heard it said so well until I read this book. Now, again, like, Dave Ramsey is one
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Carol Fodderick
of my best friends.
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Brian Buffini
So here I'm talking about someone who wrote a book on money. They have to be good, so I don't tick off Dave. So his name is Morgan Housel. The book is the Art of Spending Money. For those of you watching on YouTube, you'll see I'm holding up the book. And by the way, those of you who just listen to the podcast, why don't you join us on YouTube. I'd love to have you. We shoot all these now for you. They're all done live. They're all broadcast formats. So it's a really fun watch. So check us out. I have Morgan Housel in a couple of weeks coming to our Buffini Coaching Live. And so for those of you who ever experienced that, you know that I'll have 20 or 30,000 people join in virtually and at this amazing studio we go to in Vegas and it's this totally interactive experience. I'm going to do a great message on how to succeed in the second half of this year. But I'm also bringing in Morgan and he is brilliant and he covers the art of spending money, not just the science. So July 30, 9am Pacific. Why don't you set your calendars and then register? So register so you can join in live. Just go to the Brian Buffini show, all one word, the BrianBuffiniShow.com and then BCL. And the BCL stands for Buffini Coaching Live. And you'll get to hear Morgan and he's one of the most sought after speakers in the world. I paid 100 grand to get them there. You get to hear them for free. So why don't you join the BrianBafiniShow.com BCL July 30th and come spend 60 minutes with Morgan. Come spend another 60 minutes with me and we'll get you right for the rest of the year. So let's talk a little bit about what Morgan's going to teach. And the first thing he's going to talk about is the psychology of spending. You know, spending has a complete psychology to it. Do you know that there's actually a chemical release in your body when you spend money? It actually releases the serotonin, the feel
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Carol Fodderick
good, the feel good juice, the feel
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Brian Buffini
good hormone, it surges through the body. Some argue, not me, but some argue that that hormone runs stronger with women than it does with men. However, tell me that a man at a truck store buying a new truck is not getting the serotonin and I'll call you a liar. Right. So we all like to spend money. It feels gratifying. It feels like you're making progress. Even people who are broke, behind on their bills will spend money for that little hit. I know I'm behind. I know I shouldn't, but I need to do something for myself. And so there's a whole psychology of spending. And what Morgan does in the book and what he'll do live at our Buffini Coach and live is he explores past experiences. Our past experience shape our psychology. It also brings up our insecurities, how we feel about ourselves, how we think people are feeling about us or judging us, and then the emotions that shape our fundamental desires. And so ultimately spending is deeply personal rather than a mathematical equation. And that's why you need both. You need art, you need science. You know, someone says, brian, how'd you become so driven? Well, I was always a driven little guy. I had a job when I was 8 years old, so I was always driven. How did I become so driven like I am today? Well, there's a lot of influences and I'm not going to, you know, say this is a psychosis, but I'll tell you a story. When I was 12 years old and I'm going to change the person's name because he's still alive. But I had a buddy in school when I was 12 years of age. I don't know what the grade system is in America. What grade would I be if I was 12?
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What grade would that be?
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6th grade. So I grew up on the other side of the tracks. I'm a house painter's son. This kid, well, they were from the other side of the tracks than me. Rich family. And Ireland was a poor country at the time. I had really no exposure to wealth. Their family lived in a home with 12 foot granite walls all the way around. They had a couple of acres in the city. Today that property might be worth $15 million in Ireland. So I get invited to this kid's birthday party. Now we hung out in school, we played ball together. I go to his party, I bring a little gift. I save up my money to buy a little gift. Okay, I walk in, there's food and stuff like I've never seen. I had never had a birthday party growing up, never. It wasn't even something our family did. It didn't seem to be make any sense. And there was no money for it. So I go to this kid, they've got a clown blowing up balloons. They've got cakes and all this food and everything else. And they're having these games. And then the parents come outside and they say, we're having a treasure hunt and they're going to have a treasure hunt. And they've buried money in the backyard. 1 pound notes, 5 pound notes, 10 pound notes, 50 pound note and 100 pound notes. So this is like $200 almost 50 years ago. They blow the whistle and kids start running around the place. Well, the poor kid who would work for his dad for 5 cents on the weekend is running around manic. I want to find a pound. And next thing I know, I hear somebody shout, I got a pound. I Get more manic. I got a fiver, I got £20. Now I am sprinting around like in a circle, not actually looking, just like spinning around the garden like in a total panic. And I'm missing out on everything. And then all of a sudden I look around and people are falling over laughing, including the parents. There was no money, there was no treasure hunt. It was a ruse to take, have a fun at the poor kid's expense. So I maybe have cried my life three or four times, but I cried on the way home from that party that night and I remember tears streaming down my face. I walked home and I went, that's never going to happen to me again. And that's never going to happen to one of my kids again. Now I would say I've grown a lot in the last 50 years. But don't think that's not part of the psychology that drove me. My psychology where I'm going to make sure my kids are in a spot that I never was. And that's one of the things I've done financially. And my kids are like, dad, I'm good, we're good, we got houses, you're doing great for us, we're in great shape, we love what we do, we have a career. But that that 12 year old sometimes still resurfaces. Does that make sense? What does that got to do for a guy who had his own private jet for 17 years that a 12 year old birthday party can still resurface during a recession? These are the types of things that shape us. That's one of many stories. Everyone in this room has a story. Everyone watching, everyone listening has a story. The second thing that Morgan gets into is the status trap. Now the status trap breaks down the difference between spending for utility, the things we actually need and the things that make your life better and the status which is buying things to impress people. I have a little phrase that we used to say people spend a lot of money on things we don't need to impress people we don't know. And then we put it on a credit card. They say the more, the more you were snubbed while poor, the more you'd like displaying your wealth when rich. And I don't know that I've fallen into that trap because I bought a jet so I could be at my kids games. You know, that's why I did. I could be in two cities every day. But I would say this, my wife would tell you I could never find a house big enough. You know, I grew up in 710 square feet. You know, our average home for 25 years is 12,000 square feet. Now we homeschool six kids and whatever else, and we've always had big homes. Okay. Just downsize to 6,500. Feel like I'm in a bungalow. Okay. And so does. Where does that come from? Probably part of the background of where I came from. Is it status so other people will see me? I think I'm past that in my own life because I've been at the top of the mountain. But I'll tell you, it definitely shaped my formative years, for sure. Then I want to talk to you about what Morgan talks about, which is the ultimate money goal. And when I read this book and I saw him and I went, I believe that because the ultimate money goal is ultimately where you want to end up with money, that it should actually facilitate the life you want. A life of kindness, a life of humility, a life of simplicity. I find that what my wealth buys me today is my time. And I have to work real hard to get to simplicity. Sometimes I drive down the PCH here in San Diego, and I pass four beaches on the way, and there's a guy with this giant big chair on top of his VW wagon, and he's there every day. And I drive by in my AMG Mercedes with the windows down, playing music. And I often look at that guy and I go, I wonder, which one of us is richer. I know he doesn't have a job. His skin's like mahogany. He's sitting in the sun all day long. He's got a cooler with him. And I'm like, that might be the rich man. And so that's really what we're after. They say money can't buy you happiness, but Morgan has the formula for happiness, actually. And he says this. Now listen closely. Happiness equals circumstances minus expectations. Circumstances minus expectations. You know, the truth of the matter is, yes, I have some drive, and I have this and that, but when I really think about it, I had
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a super happy childhood. We had nothing.
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We couldn't afford birthday parties. We had five brothers. So whatever the oldest brother wore, you were going to wear one day. But when I really, really reflect on it, I can think about the lack and what I didn't have. But I think about the truth of the matter is the happiest I was ever in my life was as a child. My mother used to say. She said, I love Jesus. But just so you know, I do the loaves and fishes trick every day here in our house. And my Mother would use very little. She'd feed us, she'd feed the neighbors, she'd feed the neighbor dogs. And I don't know how she did it, but she made it work. So when I read this book, I found it to be very freeing for myself and very freeing for people I coach to talk about the psychology of spending, to understand that there's a status trap we don't want to get caught in and what the ultimate goal of money is. Money can buy you happiness, but it won't be the stuff and it won't be the status. It's ultimately buying you that peace of mind and putting yourself so that you have simplicity and peace of mind. So there you go. That's the blueprint for today. A few personal stories along the way. I hope you get the book and I hope you join us for Buffini coaching live on July 30, 9 o'. Clock. We'll make it worth your while.
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Ethan Butte
Welcome to Ask Brian. My name is Ethan Butte. I spent the past three years studying real estate team and brokerage models. I recently joined Buffini and Company to serve as chief ambassador. Thank you for welcoming me into the organization. Thank you for allowing me to ask Brian.
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Brian Buffini
Hey, this is. This is a hoot.
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I enjoy our conversations.
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Ethan Butte
Yeah, me too. It gives us a chance to bring the blueprint to life a little bit more and in different ways. And I selfishly enjoy the opportunity to, like, learn about specific nuggets in there that I want to dive deeper into. And the first one is like learning more about your perspective on art and science. I would just observe that culture in general favors science right now. And I don't know how long it's been that way. Perhaps you have some thoughts on that, too. But by that I mean measures, metrics, algorithms, predictions. Like, we're all obsessed in this zone. But, like, true art isn't predictable. It's just, you know, so. So when I think about Morgan Housel's the Art of Spending money and the bias toward the art side, which you did talk a little bit about in the blueprint, it made me curious. Any observations you have about art versus science in the work that we do.
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Brian Buffini
Sure.
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Ethan Butte
Or in the life that we live.
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Brian Buffini
Well. And then you tag it into money. So if you think about it, money is a very simple thing. It's numbers in an account, it's numbers on a spreadsheet, it's numbers in a stock fund, it's numbers on a Zillow,
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or whatever somebody does to find out
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what their house is worth. It's green pieces of paper. So why all this strife? So why all this struggle? So why is it considered the number one separation in divorce is because all that data and all those information, all those zeros mean totally different things to different people. And money is emotional. It's family of origin, it's freedom, it's control, it's reward. It's all of these things. So the truth of the matter is the science with money is the most basic science there ever is. Income less expenses equals profit. It's the money is that it is what it means. And that's why the art is so important, the psychology of it. If I have time, I'll tell a story, which I used to tell events all the time, where my wife and I, she grows up in the south. I grew up in Dublin, Ireland. We get married, we go on our first time grocery shopping. And when we get to the house, she takes the little brown paper bags and folds them up in little packages and stuffs them between the fridge and the wall. You know, those little gaps, this. And I say to her offhanded, because, A, we didn't have grocery bags like that in Ireland, and B, we didn't have refrigerators. We had little. What Americans would call an icebox. Okay, okay. We didn't have refrigerators. So I said, man, why are you doing that, hon? And I don't. You know, that's what we do. It's what we do now. We were a new we. And I go, okay, but, you know. And I went into realtor mode and mansplained, which I didn't know my first week of marriage is not a good thing to do.
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Carol Fodderick
It's always bad.
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Brian Buffini
The old fridge is right from the 80s. We got married in the 80s. And I go, you know, there's coils at the back of the fridge that get hot. If you put this paper here, it could start a fire. And on top of that, it doesn't look very good. Well, you would think that I just
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said the most horrendous thing of all time.
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And I'm like, oh, my gosh. We're like. We're just off our honeymoon. And I'm like, we can't talk about the brown paper bags. She got upset. My wife is not a person to get upset. I didn't know until a few months later when I went down to visit her grandmother and grandfather that they had brown paper bags stuffed by the refrigerator, too.
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Theirs went back.
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Like, you could tell. No one had ever used them for decades. Right, because it meant something to them. Because in the Great Depression, following the Great Depression, people saved newspapers, they saved paper, and they save twine as a commodity. Now my wife has no idea why in 1990, she's stuffing paper bags by a refrigerator. But her family's been doing it for three generations. And I thought to myself, wow, if we have a difference over brown paper, maybe we have a difference over green paper too. How does my money stay? How does my family view money? My father was self employed for five generations. The Puffinis were house painters. My father used to say, well, George, when are you getting paid? Well, hopefully Tuesday. And then you say to my mom, but I'm not telling you which Tuesday. They're self employed.
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Carol Fodderick
Right?
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Brian Buffini
Yeah.
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Her dad worked in the Air Force, so he came home at the same time every night, wore the same clothes to work every day, got paid every two weeks on the same dates by the federal government. They took their vacations on the same days. And she marries a self employed guy. So I learned from the brown paper, I go, we're going to have differences over green paper. And it doesn't matter what the science is. The art is how do I create with my wife a way for us to go through this together so that she emotionally feels right and I emotionally feel right. And then we have a system together that supports it. And I would say, like I mentioned, Dave Ramsey and I are great friends and he's great at cutting up the credit cards and doing all that stuff and how to run a budget. My wife and I do that budgeting system differently based on art, based on how she grew up in the south and I grew up in Dublin, how she grew up in a structure and I grew up in a freelance entrepreneur. And so we've developed our way of doing it.
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And so far it's worked out pretty
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well because we've done the money thing pretty well. But it is more art than science. That's why I love Morgan's work. That's why I'm so excited he's going to be at Buffini Coaching Live. Because it also gets down to the fact of what do I value and why do I value it? And so that's the art part. And in this case, I think art and science are equal. 50, 50 partners.
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Ethan Butte
Yeah. The what, what do I value? Like in the blueprint? I was thinking a lot about the hole that's in some people that they're trying to fill by shoveling in impulsive or compulsive purchases that never really go anywhere. It reminded me of something I read about, about a Week ago that you may or may not know about. So I just want to introduce you to the issue what you think about it. It's called dopamine sites.
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Carol Fodderick
Oh, yeah.
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Ethan Butte
Okay. So Gen Z, South Korea. This is where it started and how it started. I know you're plugged into the Korean culture, so like maybe you know about these. But their sites, for anyone watching and listening, that isn't familiar. They're websites where you can shop, order and track things that are never going to come. You don't actually pay for them. You're not buying anything. It's just their sites set up to order food, shop and order food, track the order. So these kids are doing this in order to like get that dopamine hit of I found the sweater or I ordered the burrito or whatever they're doing. And the sites are designed to actually take no money and deliver no products. So like, yeah, yeah.
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Brian Buffini
So wonderful world.
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Ethan Butte
Dopamine hit like an interesting thing.
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Brian Buffini
I like that.
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You know, I like that.
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I mean, look, we have a. We have a deal going on right now. Culturally, you know, we have the pay now, pay later process where people are buying culture tickets that way.
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Ethan Butte
Multiple very large companies have set up to do this in plugged into the e commerce space.
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Brian Buffini
It's insane. And the interest rates and kids are pay now, pay later on a pizza and it's heading nowhere good. The real key is to understand what's the psychology behind it. Why do you need that? Also the psychology behind what benefits are from restraint. You know, Arthur Brooks. So I had a chance to do some. I spoke at Dave Ramsey's conference recently, had dinner with Arthur, brilliant guy. And he said something that he is studying very deeply, which is in our world today, there's no room for boredom. And boredom has a very powerful place in the world in the ability to think, in the ability to be able to process with things that are happening all the time. We have no boredom in our lives. Our phones are with us 24 7. We have on demand TV. We have. I mean, and I'm guilty of it.
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Like I can no longer watch a
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movie on a regular tv. And if there's an ad, what, you know, I'm watching Maverick.
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What do you mean? No, this is where he blows up the ship.
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You know, it's like, no, no, it's cornflakes.
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No, I can't do cornflakes.
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Yeah. And so we've all become that. But just like that boredom piece is not there. That dopamine is needed for people. I just think what the Psychology of money gets to the root of is why are you doing what you're doing, understanding your motivation behind us and ultimately understand what makes you happy. When they say money can't make buy you happiness, it's true, in fact, and I've gone from very poor to very rich and I don't equate my happiness journey with the very much. When I think of the happiest seasons in my life is when I was a kid in Ireland running around with my third level handover red sweater from my oldest brother to my second oldest brother to me patched up on the elbow. I mean, just whatever, you know, and my mother knitting socks or whatever. When I think of when Beverly and I first got married and we're just, you know, new family and trying to make rent and, you know, pay the first mortgage and thought we're arms and lawyers, 710 square foot house, you know. You know, I've had homes with 2000 square foot guest homes. And so the fact of the matter is the psychology of money and the psychology of success to me are, are finding out what matters most, understanding that that's where your treasure lies and then building a life that supports that with the science part of it.
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Ethan Butte
So I'm glad you brought up your childhood there because that was another thing that stood out is like some of the happiest days you've had when you had, by some standards, the least you've had. And of course, I think most people, when they think about the blueprint and what was in there regarding your childhood, that birthday party story is going to stand out. I guarantee someone is already told that point in this episode. Somebody's already told someone else about what they just heard, you know, five, ten minutes ago about that birthday party story. You know, I'll, and I'll connect it to a really cool formula that you shared there too, is that happiness equals circumstances minus expectations. And so you, of course the expectation was I'm going to walk out of this thing with like, you know, £100 or something. The circumstances were there was nothing to be had. And so you left very unhappy. The parents, meanwhile, were very happy. They did this to delight themselves. Anything else stand out to you about that story and how that left you in the moment and why it stuck with you?
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Brian Buffini
Well, you know, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it, but it's interesting, after I shared that story, I would say number one, it did drive me for a while. You know, I had, I brought my kids, my mom died last year and my mom used to end their podcast for 10 years, and my sister did a eulogy. And all my kids, every one of my kids made it with their spouses, and it was a brilliant time. And my sister said, and there's my brother Brian, who, when he was in high school, was making more money than my dad. And all my kids are looking down the aisle like, what's she talking about?
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Carol Fodderick
I go, that's a story for another day.
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Brian Buffini
I did have businesses.
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I was. While I was in high school, I was making more money than my dad. So I became a pretty driven puppy around that. I definitely had that drive of, hey, I'm gonna make sure I set up my family, you know, that they're. They. They have the options. What I wanted to do was set up an opportunity for my kids and my bride to be able to have the freedom to do what it is they felt called to do. If God's given you this gift, you go pursue it, whether it. Whether it's a highly compensated thing or not. Go be the most valuable member of society. You can use the gifts that you've been given, and then hopefully I can be the sponsor for that. And that's all been done, which is great. I would ultimately tell you that the lessons from it were, number one, I made peace with it, which is very important. Like, I haven't thought about that in decades. And it does. That's not stuff that drives me anymore. The next thing is, it reaffirms something. I was raised a certain way, a man of faith a certain way, but I also saw, like, how not to be rich. And as it turns out, like, they weren't that rich. I mean, they obviously couldn't afford to
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Ethan Butte
bury money in the yard.
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Brian Buffini
Exactly right. But also the lack of graciousness and so on and so forth. And just I tell people all the time, if you're a person of resources, you have a responsibility to act a certain way, because people already have built in, oh, you're a rich jackass. And I don't think people become a jackass when they get rich. I think it just reveals the jackassery
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that was there all along.
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Ethan Butte
Yeah, agree.
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Brian Buffini
However, I think there's a responsibility, and I think that responsibility, you're going to see more and more of it. Like, you see what's going on in New York right now politically and. And society, and I really understand it, because to me, New York City is the most ostentatious, pretentious city in the world. And they stuff their. Their money down your throat and they make TV programs about it and what watch and this and any other. And then you have people who can't pay their rent. So it's no doubt that people who can't pay the rent are becoming very, very unhappy with the people who are ostentatiously wealthy. So I just think there's a responsibility to it. And so a little off the subject there, but I will say that experience that was like, okay, sometimes experiences are how not to be. And many, many, many decades ago, I long surpassed that kid's parents in any kind of economic standing and I would be fair to say I surpassed them in any kind of character standing. And I've tried to be a good example with those resources. So at the end of the day, all the adversity is always good for you.
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Ethan Butte
Yeah. Well done. Well said. Thank you for allowing me to pick your brain on the art of spending money by Morgan Housel. I look forward to joining you at BCL. I look forward to hearing what he brings to BCL. If you're not signed up yet, the BrianBafiniShow.com BCL absolutely free to sign up. Absolutely free to join us for that virtual event. Some folks can even join us in person. Appreciate the opportunity. Looking forward to it.
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Brian Buffini
This is fun.
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Garrett Carroll
Yeah.
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Brian Buffini
Well, we're on Coach Em up on
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Carol Fodderick
location live in Maui at the site of our peak experience event. The best of the best are here. Great people, great producers with some great questions and I got nothing better than Carol Fodderick. She is Canada's own. She's been with me a long time.
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Brian Buffini
Tell everybody a little bit how long you've been in real estate, how long
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you've been with us.
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Garrett Carroll
So 23 years in real estate. I started as a front desk perception so now I'm a team leader and a brand new broker owner which has been exciting. And Buffini and company in coaching for 10 years.
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Carol Fodderick
Wow.
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Garrett Carroll
10 years this year.
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Carol Fodderick
So give people a little size and scope of the kind of business and all the stuff you do and.
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Garrett Carroll
Oh goodness. Yeah. So currently running a team of 23 producing agents and nine support staff. And then on the brokerage side which we opened last July, we are the first, first Ontario's first working by referral brokerage.
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Carol Fodderick
Let's go.
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Garrett Carroll
Just signed our 41st agents as I was waiting to come in today. So really exciting.
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Carol Fodderick
You're killing it.
- [27:17]
Brian Buffini
Yeah. Thank you.
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Carol Fodderick
Production. Great people and it's been very exciting. And you've also been part of our client advisory board. I have been giving us feedback and helping us get better. We have some Very exciting things on that.
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Ethan Butte
Sure do Y so great.
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Brian Buffini
Here it is Carol. I you know at this stage again
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Carol Fodderick
you answer more of my clients questions than I do.
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Brian Buffini
But what can I do for you?
- [27:35]
Garrett Carroll
So my question is a little bit personal, a little bit professional. So I would ask you Brian how you give counsel to somebody that is in a season of their life where I'm a little bit worried that my professional real strengths might be at odds with some of my most cherished personal goals. And I'll walk you through what I mean. So my coach would tell you that my real strengths I'm an entrepreneur. Peggy Alecander, my one and only, love her, she's the best. So cheaper than therapy. I always tell people so, so you know Peggy would tell you that I am an entrepreneur first and foremost. I am perpetual, I am rapid, I am spectrum global and I just, I have loved building a business. I have loved being in the season of you know building a brokerage. And so I'm 43 years old, I've been doing this for a long time now and I team in Canada that yeah almost number of top five on the Toronto Real estate board which is of a lot largest MLS in the world. We do 600 deals this year. Wow, killing it. And I am married to a man, Brian, who is the love of my life. He is just has been so supportive in everything you could possibly imagine professionally, personally. And he turned 59 this week as we arrived here in Maui and he's ready to get off this crazy train that we have been on for a while now. And so you know my biggest personal goal would be to be the best possible wife that I can be to him. And I, I don't want to, I don't want him to be that guy at the golf club sitting alone at the bar eating a salad. I want to be there and, and you know the next 15 to 20 years in my business I know are going to be amazing but the next 15 to 20 years of his life are going to be pretty awesome and I don't want to miss a minute of it. So.
- [29:20]
Carol Fodderick
Well, we're not in too dissimilar a place.
- [29:22]
Garrett Carroll
I thought of that as I was thinking about this question.
- [29:24]
Brian Buffini
I'll give you an example.
- [29:25]
Carol Fodderick
I was at the Bhavini Coaching live about a year ago and I had about 150 people come up to me in line, give me a hug and say changed my life and saved my marriage. I have four vacation homes, our rental properties and my quality of life's never been better. And I turned to my assistant, Jeanette, and I said, you know, it's great that we. What we do changes people's lives.
- [29:46]
Brian Buffini
And I said, I probably have the
- [29:47]
Carol Fodderick
worst quality of life anybody in the room. And it's all by the design I have. I have big gifts like you do. I have a great passion like you do. Turns out I'm very good at it like you are. And there's different seasons in life. Right. How old are your kids?
- [30:03]
Garrett Carroll
8 and 10.
- [30:04]
Brian Buffini
So they need mom around a lot.
- [30:06]
Carol Fodderick
And 600 transactions means there's a lot of people need you around. Yep. And this team and this brokerage and so on and so forth. So what did I do? Well, there's a season of sacrifice, and you've been in a season of sacrifice. And I know your husband's a golfer, he's probably on the course today, but there's a season of sacrifice. The next season of sacrifice has to be the discipline of a plan.
- [30:29]
Brian Buffini
So.
- [30:29]
Carol Fodderick
And I'm going to share this tomorrow at our event. So I have spent the last 12 months since our last peak experience moving heaven and earth, build out a detailed plan of where I want to take the company, what the legacy of the organization is, what I'm going to do for the clients in the industry, and then also my role in that. Once I examined that, I said, man, the same thing that got me here
- [30:53]
Brian Buffini
isn't going to get me there.
- [30:54]
Carol Fodderick
The same stuff I did for 30 years to build this iconic brand isn't
- [30:57]
Brian Buffini
going to help me in a new
- [31:00]
Carol Fodderick
era of consolidated real estate companies with high tech AI and the world that we live in. So what did I do? Well, I started basically going on the recruiting trail and to build structure in place. And as we speak, you know, a week ago, Mr. Darren Dawson, who I've been working with for two and a
- [31:19]
Brian Buffini
half years, our new CEO, super excited. We have a new COO coming.
- [31:23]
Carol Fodderick
I have a gentleman who's worked in
- [31:24]
Brian Buffini
the company doing multiple roles who's now
- [31:26]
Carol Fodderick
going to just specialize as cfo.
- [31:28]
Garrett Carroll
Wow.
- [31:28]
Carol Fodderick
I have a guy that I've been recruiting who's one of the top in
- [31:30]
Brian Buffini
the world as CRO.
- [31:32]
Carol Fodderick
So.
- [31:33]
Brian Buffini
And then I have a couple of other people.
- [31:35]
Carol Fodderick
So we're bringing a brilliant plan that's now got my clarity and I'll be teaching this tomorrow.
- [31:40]
Brian Buffini
I now know exactly what I want
- [31:44]
Carol Fodderick
and I can tell you exactly what it is. My legacy is not personally, it's the company. The working by referral philosophy, the working by referral methodologies. Now, where our clients are, the Stars, not me. Our coaches are the co stars and a future facing tech enabled company boom. That's the criteria for all decisions.
- [32:03]
Brian Buffini
Now I'm going to still be around
- [32:05]
Carol Fodderick
because this is what I'm supposed to do for the rest of my life. I'm just not doing it to the volume and the dependency of what I'm doing now. So I'm willing to invest more money to broaden the people who support the business to fulfill the plan. Maybe make a little less money in order so I can use my gifts. But first and foremost it's me and me and mom who's now grandma. We have five grandbabies. I have a house in Hawaii that needs to see me more. I have a golf game. We just joined this club across street. We have, we've got all six of our kids as members.
- [32:38]
Garrett Carroll
Wow.
- [32:38]
Carol Fodderick
Just started playing golf with the kids. So I know exactly what I want and I'm building the structure to get there. Once you have the plan, we're going
- [32:47]
Brian Buffini
to help you because it's going to be even. It's going to be a lot for
- [32:49]
Carol Fodderick
your coach because the kind of business you built. You're going to find out about the Buffini brokerage solution. You're going to find out about this brand new tech solution. Not just Bowl Trail, Buffini Mode. Bowl trail with ask Brian AI so every team member, instead of asking you
- [33:09]
Brian Buffini
30 years of every training of every team, they're going on a listing appointment rather than Carol.
- [33:13]
Carol Fodderick
They want to list it too high. It's going to be Ask Brian. Everything I've ever said, everything I've ever done, here's the questions to ask them.
- [33:21]
Brian Buffini
Here's the email to follow up with.
- [33:23]
Carol Fodderick
And for the first time ever that you'll be able to use our system to track everything.
- [33:26]
Garrett Carroll
It's amazing. I'm really excited for that.
- [33:28]
Carol Fodderick
So you've built something spectacular.
- [33:30]
Brian Buffini
You're extraordinary.
- [33:31]
Carol Fodderick
You and I come from hardscrabble background.
- [33:33]
Garrett Carroll
We do.
- [33:34]
Carol Fodderick
It creates this drive that the world celebrates but it's hard to live with because we're almost, we almost have this giant muscle from where we came from and at some point in time we're okay. The boogeyman's not coming to take it away. Your kids are going to be fine.
- [33:52]
Brian Buffini
You have a husband who's like the
- [33:54]
Carol Fodderick
red light on the dashboard.
- [33:55]
Brian Buffini
He's a little older than you.
- [33:56]
Carol Fodderick
He's in a different season life going, hey, you're brilliant. You're one of the best I've ever seen.
- [34:00]
Brian Buffini
Thank you. You're probably the most like me, I've
- [34:03]
Carol Fodderick
ever met in the whole problem.
- [34:03]
Garrett Carroll
Wow, that's a big statement.
- [34:04]
Brian Buffini
Well, whatever that means.
- [34:05]
Carol Fodderick
Good and bad. There's downsides to that, too, but we're going to help you. The new tools we have, the new structure we have, but also a little more advanced pieces. There's some people I'm going to get you exposed to, to. To help you build this plan and this clear vision, just these next three days to get this vision. This is what I want the business to look like. This is what I want my life to looks like. And here's what I'm willing to do to get there. Okay, honey, I need 12 to 18 months to get there. And then every month there's a countdown clock. And in the meantime, here's the trips we're going on, here's the vacations we're taking, here's the weekends away. And it starts to build up in this.
- [34:41]
Brian Buffini
So now he has something he can
- [34:43]
hang on to because he's heard this before.
- [34:44]
Garrett Carroll
Well, he's tried to quit, and I refuse to accept his resignation. Literally. So it didn't go well?
- [34:50]
Brian Buffini
No.
- [34:51]
Carol Fodderick
So, listen, I know exactly where you are. You're in a great spot and you're excited. I watch on your social all the time. I see who you're recruiting all the time.
- [34:59]
Garrett Carroll
It's been great.
- [34:59]
Brian Buffini
And you're going to have more and
- [35:00]
Carol Fodderick
more of that, but we're going to build teams, structure personal people. You already have so much of this in place. Yeah, but what you really want, what you really want, because even this, it's like what he wants, what the kids need. The real thing is what does my Garrett Carroll want?
- [35:15]
Garrett Carroll
Trying to be authentic to my real strength.
- [35:17]
Carol Fodderick
Yes.
- [35:17]
Garrett Carroll
Yeah.
- [35:19]
Brian Buffini
Well, thanks for spending some time with us today.
- [35:21]
I hope you enjoyed today's episode. I hope you learned something. Maybe laughed a little, maybe give you something to think about, maybe something to do.
- [35:29]
I'd also like to give you something
- [35:30]
to do, which is can you like this show, subscribe to this show and
- [35:34]
share it with a friend.
- [35:35]
Carol Fodderick
We're trying to get the word out
- [35:36]
Brian Buffini
to provide a positive, encouraging message to people and maybe you know, someone who could appreciate what we shared today.
- [35:43]
So thanks for joining us today, and we'll see you next time on the Brian Buffini Show.