A (7:20)

That's so easy.

C (7:22)

But it's all about that whole entire planning in advance that you're important enough to me, and this is important enough to me. And you know, if anybody ever asks me, you know, wow, that feels like you know an awful lot about me, I will tell them because that's my job. If I can't add value to you, then it doesn't make sense for us to have a conversation. So you're important enough to me to make sure that I do my homework, but you know, not on ultra personal things, but you want to personalize it as much as humanly possible. And then after you meet with anybody going through this, you want to measure your impact. So write everything down so that the next time you're looking at it, you know what your next course of action is going to be. Because I think the follow up and follow through, people really drop the ball and that's when you miss out on unbelievable opportunities and it just really makes a difference. So that's one example of an action plan. But if you do it with your personal life too, right? My family, my husband's Italian, I'm Irish, so we fight really well. They yell a lot. And. But between the two of us, he's one of nine kids, I'm one of six. We have 54 nephews and nieces. You know, it's this real chaos. I get to be the favorite aunt because I give people money. But I was trying to think about it. We do this November birthdays with his family because there's like 17 birthdays in November or something. And so I thought in advance in October in my action plan, what can I do to make everybody feel like a million bucks at this birthday besides make cheesecake, right? And so I planned in advance, I brought a camera and I took pictures of every single family, their individual families. There were four generations there. And I brought pictures. I took pictures of every family as their individual family. So, you know, one's the family that's outside throwing the football back and forth. There's another that's over by the wood stove trying to get warm and somebody else sharing a book, and then the foodies in the kitchen and all that. But I took pictures of their entire family. I developed them myself in black and white. And I wrote what I saw was so special about each individual family. And instead of giving them money for Christmas, I gave them all these framed pictures with a description of what I saw that was magical about their family. And still today, and this is a long, long time ago, still today, they'll tell me that was the favorite gift they've ever received. And a few of those generations aren't here anymore. So, wow, really is that thing that you get to hang on to? So it's when I'm looking at that action plan, I'm thinking, how can I make this a wow experience? How can I make that person feel like a million bucks? How can I make them feel like they're really heard? And it doesn't matter what's going on in the world, it doesn't matter what the market shift is, they're always going to remember because you put them first. It's kind of, I'm having a compound interest in a human being. And so, but this, I'm not going to remember everything. All of us aren't going to remember everything. So it's making sure that you write it down and then you really do pay attention to the follow up and follow through. How many times have we been supposed to follow through and then we drop the ball, we forgot we wrote it down on a napkin. You know, whatever happened, this makes it so that you can stay on track the whole time. And I've been doing it a long enough period of time that as you keep doing it, you can improve it all the time. As far as the dirty dozen goes, I started with that to try and be more effective. Find a dozen people that work on the business, not in it. So appraisers, home inspectors, mortgage companies, insurance companies, coaches, find out from them, where do they see shifts happening in the marketplace? Tell me everything that's going on in insurance that's gone on over this past year and what you see coming down the pike so that I can be a good forecaster for people, right. And I can give part of my job as co chair is to be a good forecaster for our people. But I want to make sure that it's a valuable conversation when I have a conversation with anybody, that I'm adding value to them by giving them really solid information. And you want to have the 30,000 foot view, the 2,000 foot view, the street level view. And then it's really important to have a perspective on yourself. What are you good at? What is it that you should be concentrating on that you know, that you'll be able to get a better return on investment than anybody else. You know, there's people out there that are ridiculous with math and love all the details. They're probably going to be better with investors than the personality person. Right. So, you know, you're drilling that down during the six week action plan, but you're paying attention to those dirty dozen. I do the same thing with them that I do with my clients. What's really important to them, what's, what are their dreams? What are their goals? I'm going to help them achieve them. So instead of asking for where's the, where's the free tickets to the game or where's the food for the open house, I'm literally, hey, I'd love to catch up with you once every four to six weeks. You share with me what's going on from your perspective. I'll share with you what's going on from my perspective so we can serve people better. But I want you to share with me your dreams too so that I can help you to get from point A to point B. And so now you're always adding value to them every time you get in front of them. So they're, you know, it's only a natural reaction that they're going to want to do the same in return. You make sure they have a good reputation, Google them, friend them on Facebook. But, you know, it all goes back to those dreams. One of the guys that's on my group is into marketing and public relations. And a long time ago my whole family does martial arts. And so a long time ago he shared with me that one of his dreams was to become a black belt. That he had wanted that since he was 8 years old and he finally achieved it at 45.

A (13:07)

Wow.

C (13:08)

And so I ran into him in, in Manu's probably a year before he tested. And I brought him, I cut him up handle and I tied it to a rope and a weight on the bottom because you have to break a brick when you test and you roll it up and down, it strengthens your forearm so that, you know, actually 90% of it is psychological. But even psychological feeling like you're prepared makes a difference too. Right. So I brought him that to work on rolling it up and rolling it down and strengthening his forearms so that he was prepared. I brought him a book on what it means to become a black belt, the whole mind, body, connection and the things that are working. And I wrote down the top things that I felt you really needed to do in order to stand out. I was the first person he called when he tested.

A (13:58)

Wow.

C (13:59)

Right. So. But it's because they were heard, right? And. But there's no way for you to do that if you don't stay organized with what you're doing. And so some of those people that are part of your dirty dozen, over time they might lose interest. They might not be putting the effort in. They might not be sharing the same. It's okay to take them off the list and, you know, bring in somebody else. I recommend that you have a couple people tied to government so that it's. It doesn't matter if that's the planning board or the mayor. Right. So that you know what's going on in your community as well. And that makes a huge difference in where you're going to get a return on investment. And people know that you're serious about wanting to, you know, if you could get paid based on how well liked and well respected, because respect is important in that too. That respect comes from putting the effort together. So I would make that suggestion to anyone, I can tell you, even the top power brokers, some of them, they'll say that they only do it once every three months, but it's still the biggest difference maker that they've had, along with having the people that, you know, imagine you're talking to an insurance company and you find out that they're going to be pulling out of a state because of fires or hurricanes and tornadoes. Is that a good thing for me to go have a conversation with clients if I'm in that marketplace?

A (15:18)

Yeah, right. So true.

C (15:20)

Or if there's another opportunity.

A (15:22)

Yeah, it's. I mean, good gosh, rewind that people, and listen to it, because if you just do that, you will be successful. So much gold in there. It's like, I think about some of the key principles, principles that you are sharing is one is, you know, being intentional and proactive versus reactive. And you are just so intentional with that action plan where most of us are just not intentional. When our feet hit the floor, we don't know where we're going, we don't know why we're going there. But then you are sharing about. It's kind of like if you could give any advice to people, it's give more than you take. And you'll never want for anything in your life if you just give more than you take. And then consistency. Like I just. This oozes from you of this is something you have been doing. I mean you sold your first house at 13, so I don't know if you started at 13 or not, but this is something you have been doing time and time and time again. And it's like those principles, if you give more than you take, if you're intentional and proactive, not reactive and you stay at it for years upon years upon years, you will have success. I'm curious, how do you structure in your life that follow through? Because you're mentioning like systems, take notes, stuff like that. But where most people fail is not the knowledge. It's almost like they have the head knowledge but not the heart knowledge. And the heart knowledge is what actually moves you to do it. Like why is Tammy different that you've been able to stay consistent where most people, they just can't, they're just not able to stay consistent in it. What, what do they need to do?

C (16:57)

Well, I think there's a couple things you need to know what you want, why you want it and how bad you want it. Because that'll probably tell you you're on the right path, right? And you're on the right track. But I think if you add one more thing, who benefits if you succeed, that no matter what happens, you'll be able to stick with it. So that will help you with the self discipline. You know that if we went to go work out, right? There's 5% of the population has natural born self discipline. But if I'm going to meet somebody at the gym, I gotta go now, right? So you know that accountability piece I think definitely makes a difference, but and this is going to sound as old fashioned as you can possibly get and you use whatever resources you want to use. This works for me and it's, you know, what's the best plan, the one you'll do? So I actually keep an Excel spreadsheet on everyone and what's my next course of action with Them so that I have that picture in my. And it's in front of me all the time and I take notes on every person so that I review it before I'm going to get in front of them again. That's piece one. And this is going to sound as old as you can possibly get. But you know what, the phone can distract you. And so everybody keeps everything in their phone. My whole entire business is in my phone. I get that. But get a day timer. An old fashioned handwritten daytime, not only timer.

A (18:16)

No, no, I'm just kidding.

C (18:20)

I'm not kidding though. Get a day timer so that you're making an appointment with yourself. Book off those four hours for the whole entire year. So you just made that appointment with yourself. Write it in pencil so you can erase it and keep that block of time. Leave a message for your clients or anybody that's listening. I'm not available right now. I'm working on my business so I can serve you better. And now I'm making sure that I plan in advance. I'm making that appointment with myself. So I have that daytime. When I see that that appointment is with me, it's set. But you know, little things to help you to stick with it. You know, close your eyes and picture. How's that gonna, how's it gonna feel when you get to take your whole family to Disney? How's it gonna feel when you get to put your child in a school that you wanted to put them in? Whatever it is that you have for targets or goals and you can do it with your personal life too. One of my goals right now I'm in, in training to become a master in Taekwondo. And so my goal is December 2025. I know, you know, looking at that six week action plan, what are the things you need? I need more speed, power and snap. I'm a little older than I was when I first started, right. And so I need to pick up my speed. So I'm doing 15,000 steps a day because less Tammy means faster Tammy. Right? So I know that that's one of those things that I can do to increase speed, having more snap. I'm doing much more weight training because that power will give me that snap and that power will help me with it too. I took it all the way to the point and I've been doing this for a long time, but I took it all the way to the point. I have to do forms against imaginary opponents with a couple of different weapons at that test. And I'm testing every six months prior to. But I'm. And I have to do it to music. And, you know, I'm a Boston kid, so it's Aerosmith. Dream on. But I slowed it down, so I have somebody that's phenomenal with being able to do that. And he slowed it down to 50% speed, 75% speed, 90% speed, and then 110% speed so that I can practice my forms, you know, because I'm using bong souls and swords. That I can practice my form at a slower pace till I get really effective with it, and then I can speed it up. But I know that that's something I need, and I know that's from the sublime to the ridiculous. But if you do that with all the facets of your life, you know, even with your personal life or even with your clients. Right. Rate yourself on relationships. On a scale of 0 to 10, where are you? If I'm at a 7, how do I get to an 8? What's going to make that relationship better? What's going to improve that? Am I not following up with this person as much? Have we lost touch? Are we not staying as connected? You know, that's not a bad reason to pick up the phone. Hey, I feel really guilty. We haven't been connected for a while, and I just noticed a couple things you're doing, and I just wanted to say great job, or I'm sorry that's going on in your life. Is there anything I can do to help? Right.

A (21:25)

Wow. But, yeah, I know one thing. I heard you. I wanted you to share this story is like, you're big on, you know, the intentionality so much. So you mentioned, like, your phone, you set it aside because a phone could be a distraction. And, you know, before you know it, I think you made the joke in Wisconsin. You were like, you get on there for work, and then somehow you're on Instagram, and before you know it, you're buying something on Amazon and you're like.

B (21:48)

That'S exactly what I was going to say.

A (21:50)

You talk about, like, I think this is also ingrained in the exit cultures, why you're so good. It's like, it's all about relationships and people and then also having fun. And you do little things to do fun in your life. You tell people how you wake up every morning, like, what you did.

C (22:05)

Well, so I don't sleep with my phone. I. People sleep with their phone. And there's a great book, it's called Stolen Focus. And it'll tell you that you get driven to distraction. And every Time you get distracted by your phone. It doesn't matter if it's telling you something's going on with Facebook or Instagram or whatever, you lose 20 minutes because you were being productive and now you're not. So you're supposed to be controlling it. It's not supposed to be controlling you. Most people sleep with it. So I see them that they wake up in the morning, they return all their texts, and all of a sudden they're on Instagram or Facebook or whatever it is that they have for social media or all social media. And then they're on Amazon buying something, and they haven't even let their feet hit the ground. Right. I don't bring my phone into my bedroom. There's only a couple things that that bedroom is used for. And so when I wake up in the morning, I actually have a Batman alarm clock, and it literally, the bat signal goes onto my ceiling, and it tells me it's time to save Gotham.

A (23:02)

That is so awesome. I love that. Time to save Gotham. So, you know, part of your role as co chair is you have to be a good forecaster. Right. And so you're leading a really big brand in real estate with thousands of agents. And can you share a little bit about what you're seeing in the industry right now? Like, I don't want to bring us down. I've mentioned it on other podcasts. There's politics, there's changing commission laws. There's low inventory, high interest rates. You know, half the industry is not closing a deal. There's all this doom and gloom. What are you seeing where the industry's going? How would you encourage agents today of what they should focus on? Just some ideas.

C (23:40)

Sure. So a couple things. First, mindset is four times as important as the activities you do. So if you're concentrating on the news and you're concentrating on all the doom and gloom instead of what I can do about it, you're going to be in trouble. Always focus on the solution, not the problem. I could actually see a couple good things coming out of the changes that have gone on with the lawsuits and all the. All the fun that's out there. And you can be driven to distraction and stay focused on that, or you can focus on where you want to be and where you want to go. Right. And so I think a couple good things that are going to come out of it is finally, we'll probably have more uniform rules across the country. And, you know, you think about it. I live in Massachusetts. We lovingly call it Taxachusetts. And the problem, up until a handful of years ago, it was only 24 hours to get your real estate license. 24 hours to represent the biggest investment most people will ever make. Now it's all the way whopped up to 40. So, you know, we're out of control. But it's different across the entire country because every state wants to get the revenue that they're going to get from it. But what if it was more uniform? Would there be a lot more respect for a professional industry if it was more uniform, if the continuing education was more uniform? Imagine if you went in, you know, and that there were certain standards that were required in order to be able to be part of it. Imagine if you went into the emergency room today and the nurse that was giving you an IV had only done it one time before.

A (25:11)

Yeah.

C (25:12)

How you feeling?

A (25:13)

Not great. She's going to poke you with the needle.

C (25:15)

Yeah, but they have. I'm stabbing myself probably. But they have a uniform requirements. They have uniform requirements. They might have some things that are specific to your company or to your hospital or whatever it is. Right. But, but there's the more uniform that is, the easier it would be to send referrals across the country, the easier it would be to be able to do all that stuff. Right. So a handful of places that I think just to pay attention to, it depends. You know, real estate is 80% local, 20% national. But if I have a 30,000 foot view and I can see some trends and then I can see the trends, the 2000 foot view, what's happening in my state and then the street level view of what's happening in my own board, the areas that I represent, and then I know what I'm good at, I'm going to succeed no matter what. You could drop me off by helicopter anywhere. And as long as I got that information, it's not the data, it's what we do with that data. Right. What do we do with that information? So, you know, they think that we're going to have just under 4 million transactions this year, but we actually had 720,000 transactions that people were buying investment property and they bought it privately.

A (26:25)

Wow.

C (26:26)

So if I knew that, which I know that, right. If I knew that, I would be finding out. That was a lot of people that were from the great resignation. They went out and used their own funds and bought properties and rehabbed them so that they could actually help with even a housing, housing affordability. And they became, some of them became landlords, some of them, you know, buy rent, repeat we're seeing a lot of trends in investing in real estate. They call it pigs, passive investment groups. And there are ways for people to invest in for literally as little as 10 bucks to $500 to all of these unbelievable groups. And some of them there's amazing tax write offs. We did a, an opportunity with our people that we presented in front of them because part of exit is residual income and we want them to be able to build true family wealth. And so we found a group that invests in apartment buildings. And what they do is they buy class B apartment buildings and turn them into class A so that they provide everything and give this place the most unbelievable facelift. It was originally, it was required that they had to put $50,000 down. Now they've shifted it. We have a financial advisor that's helping them so that they can literally get unbelievable tax benefits from it. And it's an investment group and they have investment clubs too. And you can now they can put in as little as $10,000. But these guys are actually guaranteeing a 7% return. And the last time it was a 14% return. So there are unbelievable amount of investment groups and investment clubs out there. And the reason I want to bring it up to realtors, not only because they should be buying the product and getting a return, but if you find people that are involved in any of these clubs or that are interested in any of these things, chances are they're going to want to be an invest faster if they had an opportunity. Right? So finding out what their real estate dreams are and finding out where they want to go really does make a difference. International business, there's about a billion dollars worth of referrals out there across the country for international business. And there are people that are moving out of the country or that are buying second homes that are able to satellite from home for a lot of the days so that, that we're seeing a shift in that. So that's something that you definitely want to pay attention to. And senior business, there are a huge amount of people and it depends on what your town or what your community is. Some of them are allowing for another property to be on someone's property so that seniors can move. Well, that means that they're probably selling from where they are, right. To go over. So there's windows of opportunity there. Most of them want to move closer to family. They don't want to see grandkids on FaceTime. Right. And there are even some reverse mortgages. Everybody has a negative connotation when it comes to that, but they're insured by HUD now, so they're FHA insured loans that you'll never have to pay back more than what the house is worth. So even if there's a market shift, there's an opportunity. So all of these high level things that you pay attention to is another reason to be able to have a conversation with somebody and find out what it is they really, what it is they really want. People move because of their circumstances. And that's why this action plan of keeping track of what's going on in somebody's life, you know, you start to use social media for what it, you know, it's, you can use it in the reverse too. Not just sharing all the things you're doing, but finding out all the things that other people are doing so that you can make sure that you're adding value and giving them some opportunity and some options. From a real estate perspective, almost 40% of agents that are out there are looking at another solution. They don't feel like they matter and so they're looking at moving. So if I'm a broker and I'm listening to this, if you knew that 40% of the people in your marketplace were going to be moving, right, wouldn't you say this is a great time for me to be marketing to them? I mean, that's a pretty good, that's pretty good odds, right?

A (30:39)

Yeah, that's crazy.

C (30:40)

And 27% of realtors are looking and saying they don't know if they're going to still be here two years from now. So I would be paying attention to that too. 90% of the offices that are in the United States have 10 agents or less. A lot of those people are great for being able to fold into your office if you own a brokerage or a great opportunity for you to acquire. A lot of them don't want to be caught up in all the changes that are going on right now. They don't feel like they are prepared. A good chunk of them the owner is making, still generating a tremendous amount of revenue, listing and selling real estate. A lot of them really honestly are an agent owning a brokerage. Right. And they'd probably be happier back being an agent and not having the responsibilities because they never really crossed over that line. Some of them are afraid of technology or the other things that are out there. So the most important thing is make sure that their business philosophies match yours. Don't do it. You know, I joke around all the time that, you know, if we had a Weight loss competition. I'm a very competitive person. I'd probably wire my jaw shut to win and. But the truth is that a lot of these people that you could acquire, you probably could acquire 1 in 3 of the people you have a conversation with. But the reality is make sure that your business philosophies match because you do not want to tank it. You want to take the best from both companies and make it into something really great because you could acquire somebody just because you could. And it might be not the right move, you know, so you have to make sure that your intentions are in the right place too. You know, there's a very big difference in our organization. We pay attention to transformational leadership, showing people who they can become. Right?

A (32:27)

Okay.

C (32:27)

The whole entire organization was built on human potential. But there are companies out there that are strictly transactional and they're not paying attention to the human element at all. They would not fit with us. And so you really need to know that ahead of time. What is your, what is your culture? What is your model? They don't have to pay exactly the same. You can always figure out those type of semantics, but you do need to make sure that you're ethics and your business philosophies match.

A (32:55)

That's such a good word because I find that applies to almost every avenue. I was literally having a conversation yesterday with some members of our executive team telling them that to be an incredible executive, you have to be values based, principle based, not. And what gets you up a ladder in a business is you're good at reading people, you're good at selling people, you're good at influence. And it's very difficult when you get around an executive table to speak your belief, which is based upon values and what you truly believe and not kind of go, well, is this person receiving it right? Is this. And you kind of want to change what you're saying based upon what the table is feeling. And it's like, no, no, no. To be an incredible leader, you just have to be values based. I'm sharing this because I believe in these principles and values. And you know, I'm not subject to your opinion. You think about your relationship, your marriage, your spouse, something like that. You want to have common values, otherwise you will apart. So what a great word. Even in buying brokerages, same type of idea. It's got to be values based because that's a company that will last the test of time. This has been amazing, Tammy. Like, I feel like I. We're just getting started and we're already 35 minutes in, I'm like, oh gosh.

B (34:08)

It'S been a master class in discipline and action for sure now. We really appreciate you coming on.

C (34:13)

Well, thank you.

B (34:14)

Absolutely. Before we close out, let people know how they connect with you.

C (34:16)

You well at TME Bonnell or Tammy Bonnell, T A M I. Or you can text 85377 and punch in T A M I. That's my first name. Hit send and you'll get my mobile business card sent to your phone.

A (34:32)

Oh, that's awesome.

B (34:32)

Love it. Well, thank you again so much for coming on and thank you all so much for listening. You can get the show notes that will include all the links that Tammy mentioned there as well over atstay paid podcast.com you can also get the videos of all of our episodes there. If you enjoyed this episode and want to show your support, you can head on over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Drop us a five star review along with a comment. We will read it here on the show. And the best way to show your support is simply share this episode with somebody that you know. If you want to get hold of me or Luke, you can email us@podcast remindermedia.com and of course you can connect with us on Instagram. We are at Stay Paid podcast for this episode of Stay Paid. I'm Joshua Steich.

A (35:06)

And I'm Luke Akerie. Tammy, thank you so much. I did not disappoint. I know we have been trying to get you on the show for a while and I'm so glad we did. Guys, please, please, please re listen to this episode and go listen to the first 15 minutes because the gold that was dropped there in the first 15 minutes I believe will change your life. You are literally hearing from one of the greatest leaders in real estate right now and she just gave you the formula that's driven her success. And it's my action item for this episode. Sit once a month for four hours and work on your business, not in your business. Do an action plan and be intentional about the impact. And then who's your dirty dozen right now that you're going to reach out to? Who do you have in your your dirty dozen that you know you're going to reach out to? Those are your action items. Remember the difference between a top producer and mediocre producer. In every business, it's top producers. Take action. Take action on that today.