Dustin Brom (0:00)

This week is like a 2024 year in review. I'm going to be breaking down what worked and what didn't work. I'm going to share some stuff in my personal life, some lessons that I learned, mistakes that I made, and what I learned from it going into 2025. Let's go. The Massive Agent podcast with lead generation tips and strategies to get you more leads and sell more homes. I love to buy houses. I like to sell houses. It takes brass balls to sell real estate. Wait a minute. The leads are weak. You're weak. I better. Better. Oh, have I got your attention now? Here's your host, Dustin Brom. What is up, guys? Welcome to episode 361 of the Massive Agent podcast. I am your host, Dustin Brom, here in Salt Lake City, Utah. And today I'm feeling very reflective. Not like shiny when the headlight shines on me, but like I'm. I'm reflecting over the year. I'm thinking back to this crazy year that we've had in 2024. And so today I'm going to do something a little bit. A little bit different. So this is like a year in review, a recap of the year, but from a personal standpoint, I'm going to share with you some of the stuff that I'm currently doing, some of the stuff that I have been doing, what's working, what isn't working, mistakes I've made, things that I've done right, all that good stuff. So let's jump into it. First off, by the way, like, this whole year in review thing, the whole point is so that. So you can have some new perspective going into the next year. One thing that I'm going to say up front, one major lesson that I learned this year was how important it is to be flexible. Because last year I made all these New Year's resolutions. Like, I remember mid December, I went and got a hotel room downtown and I spent a day and a half like, you know, with a whiteboard and like all these giant Post IT notes. I look like a damn conspiracy theorist is what I look like. The only thing I didn't have was like the yarn connecting things, you know, on the, on the wall. But I had all these post IT notes taped to the wall and stuff. And I was just planning my year out and I had all these New Year's resolutions and, and plans for the year, and some of them absolutely blew up, you know, just a week into the year. But I had to be flexible because in hindsight, it was such a blessing and so start with this. Sometimes what you're praying for, you'll get, but it looks completely different than how you, than how you think it'll look. So just be flexible. So here's, here's where I'll start. Here's what I'm reading right now. So I'm going to go into like, what I'm reading, what I'm watching, what I'm eating, what I'm doing well, what I didn't do well, all that stuff, we'll just jump into it. So what I'm currently reading, I'm reading buy back your time by Dan Martell. If you're watching YouTube, buy back your time. Dan Martell. This is my third time reading the book. Incredible. It says, get unstuck, reclaim your freedom and build your empire. If you are burned out, if you are trying to build a business and build some leverage for yourself, you need to read and, or listen to buy back your time. I'm reading it for the second time this year. What am I watching right now? I'm watching Yellowstone. I'm watching Lioness. I'm about to start Landman. Is it Landman. And I realize, like, the only that I watch is, is Taylor Sheridan shows. And by the way, I watch like two or three a week. It's not like I'm watching a ton of tv, but when I do, I sit down with my wife at night. We watch some something on Paramount. Plus Yellowstone. Lioness, by the way, Lioness Season 2, Episode 1. Holy. That's all I'm going to say, no spoilers, but that was one of the most intense episodes of anything I've ever seen. And if you watch season two, episode one of Lioness, you know what I'm talking about. What am I eating? I eat a very high protein diet. I get about 185 grams of protein a day. That's my goal. So when I'm tracking and weighing and scanning all my food and putting it into the MyFitnessPal app so I know exactly how many grams of fat, protein and carbs I'm getting in a day, I'm making sure that I'm getting 185. Um, lots of reasons for that. But I also eat clean 90% of the time. Uh, the other 10% of the time I just enjoy. Like, I'll still have donuts, I'll have ice cream, I'll have pizza. Like, I'll just, you know, have a giant, drippy, greasy cheeseburger from time to time. I'm not trying to be perfect all the time. But 90% of the time I'm trying to eat as clean as I can, which to me means limiting any seed oils that might be in it. Trying to, you know, not eat anything with seed oils, artificial dyes, just artificial bullshit. I try to have real food that's, that's clean, organic. We primarily get organic stuff. I'm blessed that we're able to do that because there's just so much trash and poison in, in our food these days. So that's what I'm eating. What am I doing well or what have I done well in 2024? I've certainly, I've spent a lot more time with my kids than I did in 23. My wife and I do regular date nights at least every other week. We try to do it every week, but regular date nights, which has been incredible for our relationship and our marriage, which in turn has really helped my business. I, I don't think you understand. Some of you do, but some of you, I think you all understand from one side of the coin or another if, if is just not right in your relationships. If is not right at home. Your business is suffering because you're, you're distracted. It's this giant negative energy that's just sucking your, your focus. It's, it's sucking your energy. It's, it's just, it's not good. But when you show up to get work done, you show up to the office or you show up to, you know, to get, to get shit done and you feel great about what's happening at home, you feel great about the relationships you have. It's just, it's like a wind in your sales. So some of you, some of you are focused on the wrong thing. Like you think that the problem is your business is suffering, but that's really a symptom of something deeper. You've got to get what's happening at home fixed and improved and worked on. And for some of you, it's not going to be easy. Actually, for none of us, it's easy. It's not easy for any of us. It can get easier for sure, but I think a lot of us need to take that way more seriously. Doing well, health and fitness, something that I did this year, a big adjustment. I used to go to the gym in the afternoons, so I'd go at like 4:30, 5:00, sometimes 5:30, but I wouldn't get home till like 7 or 7:30. And so, I mean, my kids start getting ready for bed at like 8:30. And so I was just Missing a lot of time with them after school. And I told myself, well, you know, I've got to go in the afternoon because in the mornings, you know, I've got to work. Right? Well, I. My wife convinced me to switch it, and so I dropped the kids off at school every day, at least every day that I'm in town anyways, drop the kids off at school, go straight to the gym. I meet my wife there. I'm now able to work out with my wife because before she was working out in the mornings, I was working out in the afternoon. We never work out together. And so now I spend a lot more time with my wife. We can work out together. And I'm getting my workout done in the morning, even though I'm starting my work day a little bit later now when the kids get home from school. It's just so much better knowing that I've got the. Got my workout out of the way. I can cut the day short if I need to, to spend time with the family or do something. And it's just been so much better. So moving my gym time from the afternoons to the mornings has been incredible on, on so many levels. That's something I did well this year. Uh, what did I do poorly? Well, at least the last couple months, or last few months, even social media posting, like, I, I've got, I just got burned out. An uninspired, I guess, or bored with, like, I'm, I'm trying to figure out what inspires me to do moving forward. And like, I'm also trying not to be too hard on myself with this because, you know, ideally I post every day and I try to put something in my stories at least so that people can, you know, there's still, there's still some connection there. But as far as like posting a reel, posting a video, doing a post to my overall audience, I'm not doing that well lately. Over the last couple months, not consistently. It's been a while since I posted, and if I'm being honest, I got burned out, uninspired, and bored. However, this is one of those situations where I feel like I'm taking a big step back. I feel like I'm taking a big step back, actually, to take a few giant steps forward because I know what I want to do moving forward. I'm working on hiring a videographer that's, that's in the process right now, looking for a videographer that I can have full time. And that's going to open up so many, so many possibilities. And I could do so much more like, so my YouTube game can be improved. The quality and quantity of the content that I put out there could be so much better and higher level and it's going to take less of my time to do when I have a videographer doing it for me. So that's, that's something that I'm doing because social posting, I just, I've screwed up the last couple months for sure. Something else I've done poorly this year, money management. Like I'm, it's just, it's been one of my weaknesses. I'm not the worst by, by any stretch. I'm not the worst but there's, there's certainly things that I. Areas that I can improve when it comes to managing my own money and I can't really like there's no one big financial mistake that I made or anything like that that I can think of. But just overall I know I could be a little bit smarter, more intentional and delay gratification more in order to do specific things and reinvest and all that. So that's something that I don't think I did very well this year. I traveled a lot. I don't want to say that I traveled too much, but I mean I spent 45 or 50 nights in a hotel this year. Just first off, it's expensive, you know, because most of that was not, you know, sometimes I, I get paid to go speak at events, but sometimes I'm paying my own way. And you know, that, that adds up of course because I'm a, I'm a fancy traveler. I'm not staying in a Motel 6. That' damn sure. And I'm not flying in the back of the plane either. I'm high maintenance when it comes to travel. I'm willing to pay for it, but that shit adds up. So I don't even know if I'm doing that poorly this year. It's just, it's, it's been a lot. So as far as travel this next year, I'm absolutely going to. But I'm going to be more picky and more intentional about when and how and how often. So what am I learning about? Okay, so currently learning about peptides and bioregulators. This, this. If you're not into health and fitness, this could be some really nerdy. But peptides. I'm not even going to try to explain it. You can Google it, you can ask ChatGPT what peptides are all about. But there are certain compounds that are for the most part relatively safe and side effect free for the most part. Right. Unless you overdo it. But they can help heal injured muscles, they can help repair organs, they can help you burn fat and lose weight and all this stuff that's, it's incredible. So peptides, it, it's like this new frontier of, of health and nutrition. Uh, I don't even, I wouldn't even say it's the new frontier. It's like it's current. The, the next frontier is this bioregulator thing where you can actually like take pills that go and like repair your liver, for example. Like you could take one, a bioregulator that repairs your liver, your heart, certain organs, certain parts of the body. Like, it's just, it's mind blowing that I barely know enough about to be dangerous. But I've been taking some peptides to heal a shoulder injury. Been doing some other. There's a peptide that helps make you tan that, that I learned about on a podcast on one of Ed Mylett's podcasts actually with one of his guests. And so a lot of the, a lot of the people that I look up to, like they, they have very high level, very expensive doctors and. Doctors is such a catch all term. What the hell do you call them? Like, because I don't go to the doctor. I go to the, there's like a wellness clinic type thing. I don't know what you call it. Like they're, they are doctors, but it's not like the doctor where they're like, you know, with a stethoscope and all that. I don't know. I got to think of what they're called, like a wellness center where I do, I do blood tests every three to six months to make sure that like my cholesterol and testosterone and hormones and like all this stuff is optimized, which has been incredible. Like that's something that I got right starting a few years ago for sure. That's life changing. That I highly recommend. And I mean hell, if you've, if you haven't gotten a blood test, you, you need to like, you need to have your blood tested, have a full panel if you can, so you can get all the data right, not just your blood tested for one or two little things, but like all of the data points and like, what's it called? Blokes? Blokes, I think it's called like get blokes or got blokes I believe. That's not what I use because I go to a place locally and do it. But I've been learning about this thing called blokes that they'll come to your house and, and draw your blood and you get the test back and all that stuff. So that looks really, really cool. Get blokes or got blokes, I would look into that. What else? I'm also learning about AI and something that I've really done a lot this year. I use Chat GPT all the time, every day for something. And I've even taught my kids how powerful it is so they don't ask me to Google stuff anymore that they ask me, hey, ask ChatGPT this or how do I do this? Let's ask ChatGPT. And that's pretty cool. Something that my son, my. He's 10. He is. He has to write a book report. And so his teacher, his, to his teacher's credit, his teacher told us at parent teacher conference, she's like, look, I don't care if he even reads it. He just needs to understand what the book's about and do the report to the best of his ability and summarize it. And so my wife asked like, well, can he get a summary from ChatGPT? And she says, absolutely. What's so cool about that is this teacher understands that. Now I'm going to give my opinion, but my teacher agrees with this. She's like, look, it's more important to her that my son learns how to use the resources available to him rather than memorize a bunch of bullshit to write a report that he'll, you know, never need to know again. And it's like some, it's just some bullshit story, right? But she understands the power in him learning how to ask and learning how to prompt the, the AI tools that we have available. And she sees that as more educational than the book report itself. She's just got to check the box, right? For obvious reasons. So that's super cool. My kids love Chat GPT. They use the little like, I, I pay for it. So I think it's what, 30 bucks a month for the chat GPT premium. And so I don't know if the free version can do this. Maybe it can, but on mine you can, you can talk to it. Like you can literally have a conversation back and forth, back and forth, back and forth with Chat GPT about anything. And so my kids do that about Pokemon cards or how to, how to build this thing or like crazy facts about history or whatever. And just so cool AI is going to be if you're not already at least dabbling on a regular basis with the tools available. And, and look, there's so many tools available that are like super advanced, that are way over my head already. But I just use chat GPT because that's what I know. But what it's going to do for us this next year, like pretty soon it's going to start being able to do marketing stuff for you like creating graphics or you know, designing websites. And if you know how to do it, it can already do that stuff. But it's going to make it easier for the masses this next year. And I'm. You've got to take AI seriously. You can no longer afford to bury your head in the sand when it comes to AI tools. I'm also learning more about money management and investment because it's just something that I haven't been the best at and I know I could improve at a lot. What am I planning? What am I planning for in 2025? I am planning to hire more people. When I think to. When I look at all of my business friction or the problems that exist within it or the limitations that I have, I have people problems. In other words, the problems are a lack of people. And so I'm planning to hire a lot more, put people in the right seat faster and know getting that full time videographer that I talked about 2025 is going to be a big year of hiring and scaling through people because I, I believe that's, that's what we should all be doing, right? Using systems, processes, platforms and people to, to build leverage. And that's where I'm currently at and I believe that's where a lot of you are at too. A lot of you are thinking you have certain problems or limitations that could be solved by people and I hope that you see it that way. Some good decisions and bad decisions that I made in 2024, should I start with the good or the bad? Let's start with. I'm going to start with the bad, right? I already told you I made some poor money choices. Just money management, stuff like that. Sometimes it's like, okay, well I had this. Where the hell did that go? And it's just like it's just gone because I just wasn't on top of it as well as I should be. I can't really. There wasn't like one big disaster or anything like that that I can, that I remember anyways. Time management. I'm pretty good with time management but I got a little lazy at least the last few months with time management where I just didn't stick to my calendar as well as I should have. I didn't time block as well and as diligently as I could or should have. And so that's something that I did not do very well this year, at least in the last half. I think I'm better than most, but still, like, I know that there's a lot of room for improvement because there was, there was just wasted time. Another bad decision, not hiring more and sooner. Right? That there's certain things that I should have hired out sooner. There are certain things that I still need to hire out and just haven't yet. And when I look at it, those are not wise decisions for a business owner. Good decisions. I told you how I switched going from going to the gym from the afternoon to going in the morning because now I can do it with my wife when I think of good decisions. This didn't happen this year. I met my wife in 2011, but I chose well. I chose a partner that like she. I couldn't do half the stuff that I, that I do without her support, without her like pushing me and, and being there behind the scenes. Like having the right spouse is a cheat code that you cannot overstate. And, and so I'm very blessed that I chose well. I'm blessed that she chose well also. And then I think the biggest glaring good decision for me this year, this is, this is where my 2023 resolutions just blew up. You know, a week into the year was choosing to leave exp and join real. And I've been at real now for what, nine months? Is that right? What is it, the 11th? Yeah, nine months. Like exactly nine months. Next to getting my real estate license and next to joining EXP six years ago, joining Real now has been the best business decision, best business decision I've ever made. There's a lot of reasons for that. I will be doing a recap and a summary of all this, like once I hit one year. But the amazing people that have come into my life as a result, the financial opportunity that I now have, it's hard. That's all I'm going to say. Leaving EXP and joining REAL was absolutely one of the best decisions I made all year and in my career in general. Some lessons, let's wrap it up with this. Some lessons that I've learned this year. When you level up as a person, you attract higher level people. This is something that leaving EXP and joining REAL helped me with. And it's not necessarily the companies, but the process of rebuilding, like I've. I had to reinvent myself. I had to push back on Limiting beliefs I had, I was challenged on certain things and I was also proven wrong on some of those limiting beliefs that I had. I'm trying to figure out how to word this in the right way, but there were, there were certain, there were ways that I would do things at my old company that, that I realized, wait, I don't need to do that anymore. That's just creating more work. It's creating more friction. It just doesn't need to be done at all. I also realized I was selling myself short in a lot of ways. And what's cool is when you level up as a person, when you're, when you're forced to improve and learn and level up as a person, you attract better, higher level people. And so I'm extremely grateful for. There's so many new relationships that I have because of this move, because of the brokerage change that never would have happened at my old company. And some of these relationships, these are the best people, like high level people, like some real badasses doing really big shit in business and life that I just wouldn't have been connected with otherwise. And that's been incredible. Just to see the amazing people that have come into my life that I'm now partners with and connected to and work with and talk to on a regular basis. It's really humbling and amazing how that can happen. So another lesson. Be bold. Be bold, Take a leap. You know the right decision, but you're also very good. We are also very good at just putting excuses in the way, like, well, you know, yeah, but I can't do that because this. I can't do that because this. What if you just decided to take the leap and go with your gut? What's the worst that could happen? You make the wrong decision and then you have to reverse it. Okay. Like when I, like, I've made a ton of mistakes, there's. As I'm, as I'm doing the notes for this episode, like, I'm trying to think of all the mistakes I made this year. I'm sure that there's a long list. I can't think of them because I just, I just made the mistake and I just kept moving. And you just kind of forget that you even made those dumb mistakes anyways. So be more bold and take a frickin risk. Go with your gut, no matter what that means to you. And something that we can learn from the NAR changes this year, how important it is to be flexible and to roll with the punches. Do you remember to start this year, how Freaked out everyone was about these NAR changes. Well, you know, buyer's agents aren't going to get paid anymore and blah, blah, blah. Well, now the vast majority of agents that I'm connected with that I talk to on a regular basis, the buyer's agents, are making more money now than they were prior to the rule changes. Isn't that amazing? Not every single one, but for the most part, I'd say like 80% of them are telling me they're making more money now. They didn't. And a lot of them didn't think it would play out that way. But because they were flexible and they went to work and they practiced and they made some adjustments, they're now being rewarded for it. So be flexible. There's still agents that are so stuck in the old way of doing things that if you. You're tripping over dollars to save pennies. Stop it. Be flexible. Be willing to roll with the punches. You're going to need to do this next year. There's going to be more changes. There's going to be more stuff happening, more lawsuits and rule changes and, and, you know, tweaks to the way we do business. You should expect that. So just know that on the, on the end of that, you know, at the end of that could be a lot more money, a lot more fulfillment, a lot more fun and a better career, better relationships, everything. So be flexible, right? Don't be so rigid on what your goals are and the way you think things need to be done. Right. Sometimes you're right, but sometimes you are absolutely way off. I hope that's been helpful, guys. That's a recap of where I'm at, where I've been, what I see coming, and I hope that's helpful. So I am extremely excited going into 2025, extremely optimistic. It can't have 2025 cannot get here fast enough. I know 2024 was a rough year, a tough, lean year for a lot of agents. And the stats reflect that. Right? So it's not just you. Everyone felt that everyone had, for the most part, you know, most people felt some sort of. What do you call that, like where things retract, a retraction in business and profit and all that stuff. And look, if you've survived it, if you're still here, if you're still moving forward, 2025 should be a much more profitable, much more fulfilling, much more full of sales year. I mean, we're just seeing that. And now that the elections in the, in the, in the rearview mirror, there's a ton more optimism economically. That and a ton more clarity. Now that I think will help the real estate market. Who knows what's, what the hell is going to happen with rates? Who knows? But I think people are done waiting for rates. They're ready to act. And I think we're going to see a ton of economic growth moving forward now that the election is in the past. So be optimistic and get ready. If you survive 2024, you've earned the ability to have one hell of a 2025. Make sure you reflect for yourself on what's been going on with you and know where you're at, know where you need to be, know where you want to be. Go with your gut and take some leaps. Take some damn leaps. And if you don't know which leaps to take, look at the people that have already done the thing you want to do and ask them for advice, ask them for guidance. Say, hey, I want to. I'm here, you're there. How do I get there? And they'll help you. And then you have to take the action. No one's going to do that for you. I hope this was a great episode for you guys. I hope you learned a lot. As you're preparing for 2025 and you're thinking about what you need in your tool belt, I highly recommend you bring KCM on board. Keeping current matters is something you need in your wheelhouse. It's something you need in your tool belt. It if you. It's like having a crystal ball ahead of most all, most other agents, especially all the agents in your market. You're going to know what's happening, why it's happening, what to do about it, how to position yourself, how to position your buyers and your sellers and your investors for what's coming. With a new administration coming in with a bunch of new economic growth that's about to happen, I can't think of a better time to. I can't think of a time where agents need keeping current matters more than right now. And you can try it for free by going to trykcm.com BAM. And speaking of which, with all these, with all the changes and all the just the new stuff that's about to happen, just how different 2025 is going to be. You need to be around other great agents that think like you do, that are ambitious, that are doing shit that you can network with and BAMX is the solution. Go over to nowbam.com and join BAMX. When you do, not only do you get access to their community and their referral network, but all of their online training and their courses. Discounts on BAM events, but save yourself some money, use Code Massive at checkout and get yourself a discount off of bamx. Thank you guys so much for watching. I'll see you next week. Take care. Sa.