Referrals vs. Reels, Million-Dollar Branding, and the Business Exit Plan

Summary

Stay Paid Podcast: Referrals vs. Reels, Million-Dollar Branding, and the Business Exit Plan

Release Date: July 7, 2025
Host/Authors: Luke Acree and Josh Dyke of ReminderMedia

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Introduction

In this episode of the Stay Paid Podcast, hosts Luke Acree and Josh Dyke engage with real estate professionals and entrepreneurs, addressing their most pressing questions about business growth, marketing strategies, and future planning. The episode emphasizes actionable insights, leveraging referral networks over social media, building a strong personal brand, and planning for a successful business exit.

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Caller 1: Deb from Michigan – Staying Relevant Without Heavy Social Media

Timestamp: [00:31 – 13:01]

Deb's Challenge:
Deb, a seasoned real estate agent and broker, seeks advice on maintaining her industry relevance without being tethered to social media platforms. She feels overwhelmed by the constant influx of information and wants to focus her efforts more strategically.

Key Discussions:

• Leveraging Existing Networks:
  Josh emphasizes the importance of nurturing her current sphere of influence, which already contributes significantly to her business.

  "You're already at the level where you've segmented down to A list, B list, C list and you have different ways that you're keeping in touch with them..." ([03:17])

• Client Events Over Social Media:
  Luke and Josh advocate for organizing client events as a more personal and effective method of engagement compared to social media. Examples include pie giveaways on Pi Day and summer barbecues, which foster direct human connections.

  "What beats social is actual human to human interaction." ([08:52])

• Utilizing ReminderMedia's Resources:
  Deb highlights the effectiveness of the ReminderMedia magazine in her client interactions, appreciating its role in keeping her top-of-mind without relying on social media's transient nature.

Notable Quotes:

• Josh Dyke:

  "Social media is good because it gets you known like and trusted in a certain medium. But it is not the end all be all to helping you close the deal." ([07:00])

• Deb:

  "People like gifts and you can't do that necessarily directly through social media. And that's why I think the magazine has been something that I've enjoyed as part of my business." ([11:19])

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Caller 2: Nicholas from Connecticut – Leveraging Life Events and CMAs for Listings

Timestamp: [14:16 – 23:32]

Nicholas's Challenge:
Operating in a high-demand, low-supply market, Nicholas seeks strategies to convert magazine engagement into more referrals and listings, particularly focusing on life event-driven moves such as relocations and divorces.

Key Discussions:

• Life Events as Listing Drivers:
  Josh explains how life events like divorce, downsizing, or relocation are significant triggers for home listings. He suggests using ReminderMedia's "Likely to Move" feature to target these events effectively.

  "We have found that ultimately, whether you're in a low inventory market or high inventory market, what usually drives real estate listings is life events." ([15:31])

• Offering Valuable Tools:
  Nicholas is advised to incorporate free home equity reports within his magazines, providing tangible value that prompts potential clients to engage further.

  "Offering a free home equity report can transition the conversation to business talk effectively." ([17:00])

• Daily CMAs for Increased Listings:
  Josh recommends adopting the "CMA a Day" method, where Nicholas conducts a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) daily to generate more listings consistently.

  "A CMA a day generates a listing for you." ([20:27])

Notable Quotes:

• Nicholas:

  "Here in Connecticut, we have some of the tightest supply in the country. Listings are, you know, diamonds here." ([14:50])

• Josh Dyke:

  "The key is not that I actually want them. I mean, I would love for them to take the time to go scan the QR code and get input their address. The actual key though is it gives me the transition to be able to go talk to them about business." ([17:25])

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Caller 3: Claudell from Arizona – Securing Luxury Listings

Timestamp: [23:43 – 32:14]

Claudell's Challenge:
With 12 years in real estate, Claudell aims to elevate her listings into the luxury market (average $1.5 million and above) but struggles to penetrate this segment despite employing standard prospecting methods.

Key Discussions:

• Targeted Farming Strategies:
  Josh advises Claudell to focus her marketing efforts on neighborhoods that match her desired luxury price points, ensuring her outreach aligns with her target demographic.

  "Do not choose farms that are under 600,000. Choose farms that are 600,000 or more." ([26:12])

• Brand Audit and Presentation:
  Both hosts stress the importance of a cohesive and upscale personal brand. This includes having a professional website, high-quality social media presence, and marketing materials that reflect luxury standards.

  "A full design brand audit... and then find those luxury agents that you admire and compare your Instagram feed to their Instagram feed." ([31:52])

• Strategic Networking and Partnerships:
  Claudell is encouraged to immerse herself in high-end circles, such as country clubs and upscale restaurants, and consider co-listing with established luxury agents to gain credibility and exposure.

  "Can I run an open house for some of these agents that have high end listings and run their high end open house to get my foot in the door?" ([30:20])

Notable Quotes:

• Josh Dyke:

  "Trust comes from a lot of different things, but a lot, a lot of it is competency and visibility." ([25:58])

• Luke Acree:

  "Affluent people tend to like nice things. They're going to want to see those what their aspirations reflected in your social media, in your marketing, in the quality of the print materials." ([31:52])

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Caller 4: Courtney from Montana – Planning for Retirement in Real Estate

Timestamp: [32:21 – 46:54]

Courtney's Challenge:
Having built a successful real estate career, Courtney is contemplating retirement. She seeks guidance on both the financial and emotional aspects of transitioning out of full-time real estate, ensuring her clients continue to receive top-notch advice and maintaining her legacy.

Key Discussions:

• Intentional Retirement Planning:
  Josh underscores the necessity of clearly defining retirement goals through detailed planning, including income requirements and lifestyle aspirations.

  "Write out the plan, get really clear on what you want." ([37:26])

• Building a Sellable Business:
  The conversation highlights the importance of treating a real estate business as a sellable asset, similar to practices in other professional fields. This includes maintaining a robust and well-managed client database.

  "Real estate agents rarely are able to do that one pain point. I see why." ([35:51])

• Mentorship and Legacy:
  Courtney is encouraged to find mentors who have successfully transitioned into retirement and to consider legacy projects, such as her website idea to aid individuals with disabilities.

  "Find mentors... And the give back phase is so important because so much of the happiness in our life... it's because you are giving back." ([44:29])

• Diversifying Income Streams:
  Josh suggests exploring passive income opportunities through real estate investments, such as owning rental properties or engaging in real estate flipping.

  "You have access to the deals before most people do. You understand the market before you know better than most people." ([42:35])

Notable Quotes:

• Courtney:

  "Retirement looks like to me just not being in real estate full time all the time and being able to have the opportunity to travel and not worry about your business." ([35:49])

• Josh Dyke:

  "One of the most important things... is that you can't hit a target you don't know exist. Get really clear on that and you're going to knock it out of the park." ([42:28])

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Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Throughout the episode, Luke and Josh provide nuanced advice tailored to each caller's unique challenges, emphasizing the following overarching themes:

1. Leverage Existing Relationships:
   Building and maintaining strong relationships within your current sphere can often outweigh the benefits of expansive social media presence.

2. Personalized Marketing Over Broad Advertising:
   Client events and personalized outreach foster deeper connections and trust, which are critical for sustained business growth.

3. Strategic Targeting for Market Segmentation:
   Focusing on specific market segments, such as luxury listings, requires tailored marketing strategies and brand positioning.

4. Future-Proofing Your Business:
   Planning for retirement involves not only financial preparedness but also ensuring your business remains a valuable and sellable asset.

Closing Remarks:

Josh and Luke conclude by encouraging listeners to take immediate action on the insights shared, emphasizing that actionable steps differentiate top producers from their peers. They invite listeners to engage further through social media, email, and YouTube comments, fostering a community of proactive and informed real estate professionals.

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Notable Closing Quote:

Luke Acree:

"The difference between top producers and mediocre producers in every business is top producers take action. So if you heard something today that you know you need to act upon in your business, do not wait." ([47:33])

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Connect with Stay Paid Podcast:
For more insights and to participate in future episodes, visit remindermedia.com/ask or follow them on Instagram at Stay Paid Podcast.

Transcript

[Josh Dyke]

Foreign.

[Luke Akery]

Today, we are answering your burning questions in real estate, business marketing and more. On these episodes, we take live calls from listeners of Stay Paid like yourself. And if you want to have your questions answered live on the show, make sure to follow us on Instagram at Stay Paid Podcast. Send us a message saying you'd like to come on the show. Or you can visit remindermedia.com ask and submit your questions there. My name is Josh Dyke. I'm the chief marketing officer of Reminder Media and joined as always with Luke Akery, president of Reminder Media.

[Josh Dyke]

Yes, it's good to be back. We're going to give you real world advice from in the trenches. Not only do we run Reminder Media, which has, you know, hundreds of employees and thousands of clients, we've been through the ringer a few times, still go through the ringer. We also have a real estate team, Acre Brothers Realty, that we get to run, which is awesome. So it gives us real world insight. We're alone. Yeah, we're alone today. Unfortunately, Steve and Cody actually have to run their team, but we'll try to bring those insights to you. And we have a great, great lineup today of questions. So a lot of good stuff. Yep.

[Luke Akery]

We're going to go to our first caller today, Deb calling in from Michigan. Deb, welcome to Stay Paid.

[Josh Dyke]

Well, Deb, that's it. That's. Yeah, that's a prospect right there. You got to close that deal live on the air.

[Deb]

Never happens.

[Josh Dyke]

That's fantastic.

[Luke Akery]

We like that. We like the realness of it.

[Deb]

You can edit it out.

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah, that's great. Deb, welcome to the show. We are so excited to have you. What is your question? And I always like to ask people, like, what's the struggle that you're facing right now? And I'm sure there's many like we all face that is preventing you or you think you need to overcome to grow your business that we could help with.

[Deb]

Well, I'm a seasoned agent, associate, broker, and I'm always thinking about how to make myself relevant in the industry and there's a lot of information out there we can consume every day. It's sometimes overwhelming. And really what I want is, is I don't want to spend all my time on social media and I want to stay relevant. And obviously AI is kind of in the mix. So what advice would you have for me to do, to follow, to not be chained to the social media? And yeah, I know that I can hire an admin. I've done that in the past to do things for me but for myself, if I want to stay plugged in, what does that look like?

[Luke Akery]

Yeah, I relate to that. Not wanting to have to spend all day on social media.

[Josh Dyke]

You would think because I'm a millennial, I enjoy the social media aspect, but I feel like Josh and I, we just were the latter of millennials or millennials. Yeah. We missed the wanting to post on social, so now we force ourselves to do it. It's such a great question because I do believe there is a, I don't want to say lie out there, but I think there is a mistruth that's going around that goes, you have to be on social media and you have to be advertising yourself that way to stay relevant in today's world. And I just don't think the stats back that up. I think you don't have to do that. When I'm curious for you, can you tell me, like, how much of your business right now, like, how much volume you've done in the last year, where your business currently comes from?

[Deb]

Sure. I do about 25 transactions, about 6, 7 million a year. Right now I do 10 million. Yep.

[Josh Dyke]

Okay.

[Deb]

I'd say about a third or better comes from my sphere of influence. And then I also have lead, you know, sources that I, I'm partnered with.

[Josh Dyke]

So, yeah, so when you, okay, so when you say staying relevant, what does that mean to you? Like, what's the, do you fear you're missing out on deals right now because you're not on social? What's driving this to make it such, you know, top of mind for you?

[Deb]

Well, I've been in the business for a little while, and I'm competing against younger agents with less experience, so they're better maybe at presenting their self on social media than I am. You know, I'm more conservative, I think, but I want to make that work for me. And, you know, I belong to network groups. You know, I attend events, you know, you know, I do, you know, I do all the normal real estate stuff, but, yeah, I, when I see a younger agent, maybe they're more glamorous or, you know, whatever the case may be. That's kind of what I'm talking about. And I don't necessarily, I, I actually have AI created a new profile for me. I'm not sure if I like it. I'm, I, I need to be real.

[Josh Dyke]

I, I, I totally understand that. Yeah. I mean, here's the way I think about it, Right. Because I only answer questions on, okay, how, how do we think about it? From a reminder, media's perspective because we have our own company then we have Acre Brothers Realty which you know, we're trying to run and stay relevant in. You already mentioned a part of it which is in business you can get leverage and leverage comes from people in systems. And so I would encourage you to think about but it sounds like you already have is are there people or systems that I can implement in my business that they can take over that pain and stress and and yes they are doing like I'm the subject matter but they're helping guide me so I don't have to overthink it because it's kind of the paralysis by analysis and then you can give them the things that you're willing to do or not because you can build a great profile and not have to be the personality. I think that's, you know, you can build a great profile based upon education, you could build a great profile based upon personality. So that's one way to think about it. But I actually think they better for you just hearing you out in the way I go to is look this business is relationships. So social media is good because it gets you known like and trusted in a certain medium. But it is not the end all be all to helping you close the deal. So if you're not going to do the social media aspect you should one have just a basic presence so it shows professionalism and builds trust but you should lean in heavier to where you're getting your business from today. And ultimately you hit the nail on the head is there might be a younger person that's more glamorous, that is showcasing themselves well in social media but ultimately the consumer is going to make their decision based upon trust and that trust comes from a myriad of different things. You're just going to have to showcase that trust through your natural avenues. Right. So your database I would immediately go to well, what's your touchpoint system for your database and are you at the level you probably are but are you at the level where you've segmented down to A list, B list, C list and you have different ways that you're keeping in touch with them and you're treating your A list and you know who they are and you're treating them better because you're reaching out on their birthdays, even their kids birthdays. You're, you're throwing client events that you're bringing them to but you lean in deeper to the things that you enjoy and you naturally do because if you think about it this way and I think of Garrett Maroon Right. He's a agent in Hampton Roads. I mean, he closes like 80 plus deals a year from 300 people in his database. So not a massive database, but has been in the industry a long time. Those are all real relationships. And each of those people know six other people. So each of those people are connected to six other people. So he has leveraged, keeping in touch with them with Popeyes and client events and text messages and phone calls. He does social stuff. But no offense to you, Garrett, if you listen to this, his social is not very good. Meaning, like he doesn't get a ton of engagement or anything like that. I do not believe social is driving. Driving his business, but the guy is a top producer because he's actually doing the. At the real thing, which is the relationship. Yes. And so I just want to encourage you that I don't think you have to. So if I would tell you stop worrying about it and lean in and take all that energy of worry and all that stuff and lean it into your actual touch point system and get really good at that. And if you go and you stay worried about it, then do what entrepreneurs need to do, which is get leverage. And leverage is people and systems. And you might have to kiss a bunch of frogs to get that leverage. Meaning you hire somebody, they don't take the stress off you. You don't like that they're producing, go on to the next person. Like, it's so hard in business. And you can probably attest this, like, we have gone through so many people and you hate to do it because you feel like you're bad at selecting people or what am I doing wrong? I'm a bad leader. But no, sometimes you just have to go through a ton of different people to find the fit or a ton of different systems to find the fit for you. But you can't do it halfway. You can't settle on somebody that's not really fulfilling what you need. So that's my thoughts for you there on that question.

[Deb]

Well, I did find Reminder Media, obviously, and it's been. The magazine has been extremely helpful.

[Josh Dyke]

Thank you.

[Deb]

Yep. And it's always something I give to my new clients when I meet them in the first time. And the clients that are my A list, they get the, you know, magazine as well, to show my appreciation for their business. So that's very helpful. And I know I'm probably not utilizing all of the services that you have. That's something I'd like to do.

[Josh Dyke]

But are you doing client events right now?

[Deb]

I have in the past, I Don't anything planned immediately.

[Josh Dyke]

Consider so with Acre Brothers we do four a year and. But they're, they're simple, right. So one was PI day. On PI day, which, what is it, March 14th or something like that. Yeah, you know, so on PI day we handed out pies to our sphere. It's that simple. Invited everybody and I think we invited hundreds. But we had like 90 or so show up to get a pie. Right. Then we have. Yep. Had them come to the office, took pictures with them, all that stuff. So that was one second was is coming up we're doing a summer bash which is just a barbecue so you can get a local park. Right. Picnic shelter, grill out, burger, stuff like that. And then normally it's we rent out an ice skating rink or we'll do something like you could do things like pictures in the park or you know, like Santa or stuff, you know, around that like. But there's a ton of different options. Usually they rent out an ice skating rink, you know, for their big one where it's like 700 bucks but for four hours or something like that. And their whole sphere comes. But the point I'm trying to make is try to throw in a client event. Because what beats social is actual human to human interaction. I believe that it beats it. So social. What I want people to hear that are listening to this, I would love for you to be on social. It will help you. It's not going to hurt you, but you don't have to be. And that's the big thing. But what you can't do is be in the middle where you got all the stress and anxiety. You're not really moving on it. But you keep thinking about it. It's like no, just accept, hey, that's not going to be my business model. My business model is I'm going to actually know like and trust the people that I have relationship with. I'm going to have 250 solid people that I text, that I call, that I invite to a client event that I send my magazine to. And that 250, I mean if they each know six people, I mean that's thousands of people right there and that's plenty to get. 10 million in volume. Plenty.

[Deb]

And people like gifts and you can't do that necessarily directly through social media. And that's why I think the magazine has been something that I've enjoyed as part of my business. And you know, it makes me more relevant, you know, and remember and memorable because it's something that they have. Social media comes and goes Every day.

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah. And it's only going to get more noisy with AI. Yeah, it's only going to get more noisy. Now, keep in mind also, because here's an extra tip for everybody. Listening is social is perceived a lot of times as marketing, so you're going to naturally have to showcase to your clients your expertise of marketing. So just that you're not on social doesn't mean that you can't advertise their properties on social. All right, so it's like you're gonna have to make that distinction clear for your clientele. But I would just tell you, yeah, lean into your sphere, where the business is coming from. You're doing, you know, a lot of transactions, which is awesome. And good volume. I don't think it would take that much more to drive it up to 10 million, but it will take a little bit more consistency of. Okay, doing a client event, leaning into calling quarterly to each client and tracking, you know, the referrals you're getting from them. That's what I would encourage you to do.

[Luke Akery]

Awesome, Dan.

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah, it's been awesome. Deb, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you on for being a client of Reminder Media. So that is fantastic. And then let's connect on social because I would love to give you some free social content. So that would take some stress off of you. That way you don't have to be the personality, but you can at least use your. The content we have for your social to look professional. But let's connect on social media. I'd love to give you a free couple months of that to help you out.

[Deb]

I was going to share my magazine that I had.

[Josh Dyke]

That's awesome. We got to have more callers like Deb calling to the show. This is fantastic. Yeah, look at that. That's fantastic. You're doing the Start Healthy magazine. That's a perfect example of what we're talking about. Has nothing to do with real estate. It's a health magazine. But people do business with people they know. Like and trust alike is built oftentimes off of rapport and commonality and reaching people on things that they're interested in, not on things that you're interested in. That's like the whole premise of the magazine is like, hey, I'm not just trying to sell you all day long. I care about you. And, you know, I thought you would enjoy this. I thought you would enjoy this health magazine. And that oftentimes gets people to choose.

[Luke Akery]

Are you calling people after they get the magazine?

[Deb]

That's a good Idea. I'm probably not. You know, I should.

[Luke Akery]

It's a great way to connect. Yeah.

[Deb]

Not wait for them to call me. I should call them. Yes. Hey, did you get your magazine?

[Josh Dyke]

That's exactly right. Deb, you've been awesome. Let's connect on social. I'll hook you up with that free social content just to help you there. But call those clients after getting the magazine and add a client event. I think it'll be very fruitful for you. You heard it here at first, ladies and gentlemen, if you have Michigan referrals, send them over to Deb. She will help them appreciate you to have a great one.

[Luke Akery]

I'm going to bring in our next guest here, Nicholas.

[Josh Dyke]

Hey, Nicholas, man, thanks for coming on. Stay Paid. Would love to hear from you. What in your business is kind of your big struggle right now? Or what's a question that you have that we can help you in growing your business? Yeah.

[Nicholas]

Thank you guys so much and respect to everything you guys do. Love the podcast.

[Josh Dyke]

Thank you.

[Nicholas]

And I've had the magazine now for almost a year, which, which has been great. Always amazing feedback and I try to steal some from. From my family so I can keep even more to myself.

[Josh Dyke]

There we go. I love it.

[Nicholas]

So here in Connecticut, if you've been paying attention, we have some of the tightest supply in the country. Listings are, you know, diamonds here. And what I'm trying to focus on is maybe what you guys have seen or done or what other agents have done with their magazine to bring in more referral and listings. It's so life event driven right now in Connecticut. Really, no one's moving unless it's job, relocation, divorce, things like that. A few years ago, everybody wanted a home here with 3% interest rates. So the focus is definitely listings. But diving deeper into not just the, hey, I got your magazine, you know, and you start a conversation, but maybe a landing page, a QR code, something that drove traffic to referrals or more listings.

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah, this is such a good question. And I even think for everybody listening, it applies even outside, even if you don't use our magazine for any that you're doing, whether it's an email, a postcard, whatever you're doing. Because we have found that ultimately, whether you're in a low inventory market or high inventory market, what usually drives real estate listings is life events. Like you're saying you can kind of think about it as the D list, right? Divorce, death, downsizing. Someone gets dumpsters, meaning they're renovation, you know, renovating stuff, diapers, diamond Rings. So in your interface with us, you have something called likely to move. So I would leverage that. So upload as many addresses as possible. It's not a perfect algorithm. We include it for free. It's usually 24 accurate, but it looks at those life events and it scores your addresses to tell you who's likely to list. The biggest thing we're seeing that's driving listings for us is utilizing on the magazine ability to offer a free home equity report. So you know, this idea, like we just sent one not too long ago that said, for Acre Brothers, Lynchburg homes have gone up 30k. Want to know what your homes were? Scan here. We send it to 429 people, I believe, in our sphere, and got 33 scans from that. And so the idea is when you put that on your mailer or when you put a free home equity report in your email that you send, what I would encourage you to do is reach out and use the magazine, of course, as your intro. But more importantly, you want to point to that item of value that you're offering. So if I'm calling you Josh, it's just like, hey, Josh, was thinking about you today, man. We haven't caught up in a while. Just wanted to touch base, actually. Reason why you popped in my mind. I just got my latest magazine. It reminded me I'm sending you a gift. It's something I send all my best clients. I hope you've been liking it, man. How's life been going? How's your week been going? Whatever that intro is based upon, your relationship with them, and then go, hey, one thing I wanted to point out that I'm getting a lot of people interested in is people really want to know what their home's worth. Because, as you know, home prices have just skyrocketed over the last so many years, and people are sitting on so much more equity than they even realize. And so I put a free tool on my magazine that if you ever want to know what your home's worth, you can scan that QR code right there at the front of your magazine, and it will allow you to find out what the Internet thinks your home's worth. I can follow up with you, give you, like a professional cma, but it's just a free tool that you get access to. I don't know. I mean, what's your best guess, Nick, on what you think your home's worth today? And so I'm just using it as a way to reference getting me in to the business conversation. Like, that's the key, the key is not that I actually want them. I mean, I would love for them to take the time to go scan the QR code and get input their address. The actual key though for me is it gives me the transition to be able to go talk to them about business. So I'll give you another example. So maybe I don't have the free home equity report offer that I'm referencing as an item of value. Maybe I just reference that, you know, hey, Josh, man, you know, you're one of my best clients. How's, how's your work been going for you right now? Like, how's things in your world? Work wise? And Josh will tell me and then he'll naturally reference back, well, Luke, how's yours? You know, things going? All I'm trying to do is get into the conversation of business and I'll go, oh man, the market's super interesting right now. As you know, like inventory is so low. Very, very few people are selling their homes. But the people who are selling, man, they're getting so much for their home and they're sitting on so much more equity than they realized. In fact, I don't know. Did you have any interest, Josh, on like knowing what your home's worth? I did. What are your plans? Real estate wise? Buying, selling, investing. I have a lot of people doing investing right now. I don't know if investing's ever been in your, your wheelhouse, but you doing anything? Buying, selling, investing?

[Courtney]

No.

[Josh Dyke]

Okay, no problem.

[Luke Akery]

And when you, when you pair that up with the people that are on your list with that likely to move score, that gives you, you know, priorities in terms of who to target, who to call. And then also if you are using our QR codes, even if they don't fill out the form to find out their valuation, we'll show you who actually scanned. So that's trackable at the recipient level. The other thing I was going to say, in addition to some of the ideas of these follow up calls would be like take advantage of the personalization. So again, anything in any marketing, the more personalized you can make it, the more effective you can make it. So utilizing your front inside cover letter to personalize to groups of people or even specific people having even like the ads, you can put a different ad on for this group than you can for this group. So hyper personalizing, that is going to not only make it stand out more, but it's going to give you more talking points like Lucas say, and actually gives you something to reference back to just for the Excuse to have that conversation.

[Josh Dyke]

How much volume have you done so far this year? Or did you do in 20?

[Nicholas]

24 to be 22.

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah. 22 million. Yeah. No, you're units, okay?

[Nicholas]

It's always between 6 and 8 right now, but 6 and 8.

[Josh Dyke]

Okay, so you're good. So you're doing well. So how do we drive it to 10? How did you drive it to 15? One action. I would. Have you ever done a CMA a day?

[Nicholas]

No, not a day.

[Josh Dyke]

Okay, a CMA a day generates a listing for you. So I would do the Jimmy Burgess method, which is a CMA a day. So pick somebody in your database, use the magazine as your starter, whoever you've uploaded there because you built rapport and reciprocity with them. Hey, just reaching out to you. I know we haven't caught up in a while. Or, hey, you know, I know we talked last week, whatever your situation is for that person, and go, hey, Josh, a lot of people are asking me right now what their home's worth. Hey, wanted to offer you a free CMA of what your home's worth. And then basically lead into giving them a free cma. A way to do it is a lot of people will reference the Zillow Zestimate, or they'll reference, like, Redfin. So they'll say, hey, Josh, actually was just looking online, and I saw that your home on Zillow was estimated to be like 700,000. What do you think of that price? And that gets them in to saying, oh, it's more than what I thought, or it's less than what I thought. You know, you're opening up with, hey, how's it going? You know, we haven't talked in a while, whatever the situation is, but you're referencing that Zestimate. What do you think, Brian, my realtor, one day sent me a message that said, hey, Luke, a home, you know, basically a mile up the road from you, sold for X. What'd you think about that? Your home's probably worth this now because of it. What do you think about that? And he got me in a conversation, and then it's like, hey, I can get you a CMA for you. But now you're vetting out. But the idea is, one, doing that one day won't help you at all. Doing that over your whole database will help you. Like our listings are coming from, I think we have 109 closed and pending this year so far with our team of five. And where it's coming from is just the. Every day we're Calling. Either it's the database calls or the texting for the CMA or the Facebook leads that are being generated now. That's what I would encourage you to do. So it sounds like you're doing a lot of the right things, but it's just. Are you making calls to your sphere right now? Are you calling everybody? Yeah. Okay.

[Nicholas]

I have a session at 1pm today.

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah, beautiful. So offer a CMA a day. That's what I would do. And then if that is not producing enough for you to get you to 10 million, then you got to get your database bigger. So then let's talk and maybe we can talk offline. Let's talk about adding another lead pillar to fill your database. Right. So if your database is 100 right now, I'm just making this up and you're making your calls, you're doing everything right. You're generating 7 million. Okay, we got to get that to a thousand. Well, how do we get that to a thousand? You either get it to a thousand by asking the current hundred to introduce you to six other people, which is the first step. But then second would be, hey, we got to add on geo farming or we've got to add on Facebook leads. If you're a guy who can call Facebook leads might be a great one for you because it's helping us. Google and Facebook are helping us tremendously. And I can walk you through that if you're interested in that. And you don't have to use us for it, but we can at least show you. I have a whole training on Facebook leads that we can get into. If you connect with me on Instagram, we can set up a time. We can go through it.

[Nicholas]

Appreciate it.

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah, man. Nick, thank you for joining the show, man. I really appreciate that. I think that's. I hope that helped you. I know it's super helpful for everybody listening in, but really appreciate it. And let's connect on social media.

[Nicholas]

Of course. Keep up the good work. Thanks, guys.

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah. Thanks, brother.

[Luke Akery]

Our next caller that we're going to bring on Claudell. Claudell from Arizona. Welcome, Claudell. Welcome to Stay Paid.

[Josh Dyke]

Claudell, how we doing?

[Claudell]

Good morning.

[Josh Dyke]

Good morning. What's your biggest pain point in business right now? What's a question that we can help answer for you that you're trying to overcome or struggling with?

[Claudell]

So I feel like within my prospecting, I'm missing something, a step that is not getting me into the higher end listings that I am looking for, essentially.

[Josh Dyke]

Okay, so you're trying to move your price point up how long have you been in the business?

[Claudell]

12 years.

[Josh Dyke]

12 years. Okay, and what do you like, what's your current price point right now?

[Claudell]

Mid five hundreds to a million. But I'm trying to get over that bump of a million.

[Luke Akery]

Over a million.

[Josh Dyke]

Okay, so you're in a, you're in a high end market. What's a luxury to you? What, what's the price point for luxury?

[Claudell]

Our price points here for like I'm in the Sedona area, Verde Valley, and it is on average about 15 and higher.

[Josh Dyke]

15 and higher. Okay, awesome. So I'm curious, what do you think is holding you back from getting the luxury listings?

[Claudell]

Oh, that'd be a great question. That's why I'm here. Because I'm not sure. I mean, I'm, I'm prospecting, I'm doing, you know, lead generation postcards, cold calling, open houses, you know, the whole thing. But it just seems to be missing something that's not getting me in front of the sellers that are at the higher end.

[Josh Dyke]

Okay, where are you?

[Claudell]

I've had a couple, but it's not like regular business, if that makes sense.

[Josh Dyke]

Yep, makes perfect sense. What are the, I called it like the, the list. What's the target that you're going after right now? When you're saying you're doing the postcards, you're doing the calling, all that stuff. Who are you tend to be sending the cards to? Who are you calling on?

[Claudell]

Kind of following up with those like around just listed properties in our area so that I can get them, like, hey, they're contacting me to say, hey, this was just listed. Can you give me some more information to try and get other sellers or other neighbors maybe thinking about selling as well?

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah, this is such a good question because everybody's trying to raise their price point. Do you, do you have agents that you look at right now that are getting the luxury listings? What do you think they're doing that's different than you?

[Claudell]

Oh, I am not sure. It just seems like they're always busy and I feel like I'm busy too. But it's, it's. They're constantly coming up with those higher ends and I'm not sure.

[Josh Dyke]

And you're not sure what they're doing.

[Claudell]

I tried to talk to a couple of them and they're like very standoffish.

[Josh Dyke]

About offering support or mentorship and they don't want to give the secrets out. They don't want to take their.

[Claudell]

Exactly.

[Josh Dyke]

So, okay, and then what would it do to your confidence if you were comp, you know, constantly getting a 1.5 million dollar listing, much better, I'd be up there.

[Claudell]

I mean, I feel confident now as already, but it's just how do I approach and get. Get them and get in front of them, I guess is, I mean, if I get in front of them, I think I can do it. I know I can.

[Josh Dyke]

Yep.

[Claudell]

But it's just getting them to call me or for me to reach out to them and get that content, that first contact going.

[Josh Dyke]

Yep. So, you know, okay, so I love it. So I love a lot of the things you're doing. I think you are doing the right types of activities, but probably just need to be refined in terms of who you're going after. This is where my brain goes to. If you're making the calls and you're sending the mailers. Right. Whether it's postcards, magazines, emails, whatever it is, my gut goes to the people that you need to be targeting, need to be in the range of the price that you want. So in essence, like when I help people choose a farm, if they have a $400,000 price range and they want to get to 600,000, I tell them, do not choose farms that are under 600,000. Choose farms that are 600,000 or more. Because based upon that cumulative effort of stacking the bricks of marketing, you will get in brand awareness with them. So I think of Frank Isolde was a great interview we had. Frank's a client of ours, he's in New Jersey. His average price points like 1.2 million. I think he's on the luxury side. He's one of Coldwell Banker's luxury agents. A couple of things that Frank does extremely well is not only does he farm to the areas of those listings. Right. The price points he wants, but Frank talked about, he goes down. I think it's the country clubs, the restaurants in town that where the higher end people go. He is constantly, do you remember this from the interview? Constantly down there in those places. So the way I think about it is kind of a threefold. And then Josh, you give your take. I think you got to have the right list. So what are the 1.5 million homes or greater in your area? Do you have that list and have you built a marketing campaign on that list? You've got to be where those people are. So what country clubs do they go to, what restaurants do they attend? How do you show yourself in those areas? Are there networking groups? And then you've got to also represent yourself and get opportunities strategically with people or things that matter to those. So I would audit your brand right now. If I search you on social, if I, if I Google, you know, Natasha right now, do I see a brand that represents someone that can market luxury listings? So if I Google you right now, am I going to see a headshot that represents that? A website that represents that, Am I going to see a social presence that represents that all those things aren't the end all, be all, but they matter. So I would have an action item for you of audit your brand by googling yourself and then see yourself through the lens. Because people who do high end, right, they, they do business with real estate agents because they trust them. So it's a high degree of trust in the transaction and so they want to see trust. Trust comes from a lot of different things, but a lot, a lot of it is competency and visibility. And so you've got to be out where those people are. And then last but not least, I would think about how do I strategically align. So can I run an open house for some of these agents that have high end listings and run their high end open house to get my foot in the door? Can I make that happen? That's a great way to do it. Can I co list with somebody so it's less threatening? Right. And can I bring somebody else into the deal to mentor me and get them in tied into one of the listings that I do because it's worth sacrificing that commission? And can I, you know, go into a certification for luxury marketing? Right. Or something like that? I think there is a certification out there for luxury agents that you can do. Can I do that to position myself with credibility? That's almost more for you than it is even for them because it will influence your confidence. So that's where I go with this.

[Luke Akery]

Yeah, no, I mean 100%. I mean I lean into, from the marketing perspective, obviously the brand. And I had, I quick googled you real quick here and I saw like, I don't think you have your own website, right? You're using your Berkshire Hathaway.

[Claudell]

No, I do.

[Luke Akery]

You're on your own. Okay. That does not show up on Google when I search Claudell Johnson real estate. So that's something to look at and make sure that you have that option optimized that you can actually find you Instagram. I checked your Instagram. I love that Luke brought up Frank Isoldi. Go look up Frank Isoldi. His website is called I the. Let me pull it up. Yeah, the isoldecollection.com so right there, there's luxury feel in his website name. Go look at his Instagram. His Instagram is full of images, high quality images of luxury homes, aerial shots, drone footage. So a lot of this stuff might be sounding like, oh, man, I gotta go get a drone. Well, if you want to get into luxury, obviously the first thing, the networking, building your list, building the relationships. But as those people look for you, affluent people tend to like nice things. They're going to want to see those what their aspirations reflected in your social media, in your marketing, in the, the quality of the print materials that you're handing or sending out, the quality of your emails. Really should go through a full kind of design brand audit, like Luke is saying, and then find those luxury agents that you admire and compare your Instagram feed to their Instagram feed, your website to their website, your headshot to their headshot and start to try and model some more of those, you know, looks and feels in that overall brand.

[Josh Dyke]

Yep, gotcha. Okay. Awesome. This was fantastic. Claudel, thank you so much for joining. Really, really appreciate you coming on the show. And let's connect on social because we'd love to make sure we can help you as much as possible. But really appreciate you coming on and hope this was helpful. Yep.

[Claudell]

Have a great day.

[Josh Dyke]

You too. Bye.

[Luke Akery]

We are going to welcome in our next guest, Courtney from the beautiful state of Montana. Courtney, welcome to Stay Paid.

[Josh Dyke]

Great to have you on the show. Is Montana, is that where Yellowstone is the show? Yellowstone? Yeah.

[Luke Akery]

I love the aesthetics of the. Oh yeah, that's a Montana house.

[Josh Dyke]

I bet. I bet houses are expensive out there, right? Is real estate really expensive in the main places?

[Courtney]

You know, we think it is until we look at the rest of the country and I'm shocked at the prices everywhere and I have international clients, so Europe is way more expensive than we are here.

[Josh Dyke]

Okay. Wow. Yeah, that's pretty crazy. Well, I would love to hear from you. What is your big question or struggle in business something that we can help you with?

[Courtney]

So I've been in real estate since I got out of college and there isn't really any education on how to handle real estate as a realtor and your taxes or how to set yourself up necessarily to retire. And when I mean retire, I don't mean your retirement account. How do you mentally prepare yourself to not do this job anymore, this career path, because you get so ingrained with your clients and helping people that it's hard to turn that off as well as it's a passive income and you're able to write off so many things that you wouldn't be able to do if you completely separated from real estate.

[Josh Dyke]

What a great question. I love where your mindset is because most people are focused on the here and now, transactional, but very few actually think about retirement. And it's a known fact in the industry, real estate agents don't retire. And they don't. They aren't able to sell their business. You know what I mean? Where doctors or lawyers, financial advisors, insurance agents, they all are able to sell their practice. And usually for multiple, you know, for multiples that are great. But real estate agents rarely are able to do that one pain point. I see why. And then we'll get into more questions for you on your question is, I think real estate agents tend to be very transactional, not in their belief system, but in their actions. So they, they call their clients past clients. You know, you're not a past agent. You shouldn't have past clients. They don't think of their book of business as something they do annual reviews with or they have a recurring touch of point with. You obviously do because you've been doing it, you know, a while. But that's where they get to the end of the road. And you go, a financial advisor is selling their book of business, their client base. Right. A doctor is selling the patient base. And real estate agents, they don't take care of their database in a way that it becomes a sellable asset. Like you should be thinking, I need to manage these people. So one day I could literally, if I wanted, doesn't mean I will, but if I wanted to, I could go sell these 300 clients that I have to another agent that would pay a good multiple on them because of what I've done with this business. Amy Stockburger is someone who comes to mind. She's the number one team in South Dakota and she is buying books of business right now from real estate agents and growing that way because it's just such an opportunity. But all that being said, I would love to hear from you. So you've been in it a long time. When you think about preparing for retirement, you had two kind of ways there. You had the mental preparation and then also the real financial income. Which one are you struggling with more and what does retirement look like to you?

[Courtney]

Retirement looks like to me just not being in real estate full time all the time and being able to have the opportunity to travel and not worry about your business.

[Josh Dyke]

Okay, do you have a team of agents right now or no?

[Courtney]

No, I've tried that here, and it just has not worked out.

[Josh Dyke]

Okay.

[Courtney]

So that was my initial plan, so that you're both taking care of people all the time, but nobody works the same way that I do that I found I even had somebody this past week that wanted to talk to me about getting started in real estate from an investor point. He's a younger guy, but I didn't get to meet with him, and I haven't heard back from him. So that's the kind of thing that I keep seeing where they're just not very assertive, not very proactive. My clients, past clients, current clients, people that know me, call me all the time. I work with England Volkers, which is an international company. We look at ourselves as advisors, not salespeople. And so my clients look at me as their fiduciary advisor, and they will call me perfect everything. So I don't think I could ever part with being needed that way.

[Josh Dyke]

I think you sound like my dad who's a pastor. He's like, he'll never retire from being a pastor. What does the time horizon look like? Is it 5 years out? 10 years out? 15? Is it it tomorrow? What. What's the time horizon for this retirement that you're hoping for?

[Courtney]

I don't know if you saw my golden retriever walking around behind me. My husband said we have to wait for him. We're not going anywhere until he's not gonna be sad that we're gone for a whole month. So there isn't really a set horizon. It all depends on Biscuit.

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah. All right, so Biscuits. Making the decision there. You know, I think, like, what it. Where I go in my mind when it ever comes to, like, goal setting and what do I need to do to prepare for something? You got to get very intentional on what you want. And, you know, I think it'd be very productive for you to sit down and basically write a letter to yourself where you tell yourself, this is what I want my retirement to look like. Income wise, this is what I want it to look like. Freedom wise, this is how much real estate I want to do. Because it is very hard to execute on things that are unclear. And when you confuse, you lose. And so I want to encourage you that the only way to prepare yourself is to get intentional about what you want. And the only way to get clarity on what you want is like anything, it's like writing a paper in college. What first comes out is not what you end up with. Unless you want a bad grade, you refine it so you. You Sit down. You write a letter to yourself of going, hey, this is when I want to retire. This is what I want to be able to do. This is how much income I want to make per month. And then you start adding details to that that enable you to go, okay, you know, there's. There's activities you can do. So you could hang your license and referral status, and you could find one or two trusted agents in the area that you trust that are as good as you. And I don't know if that exists out there, but if that are good as you, and you build a partnership with them, that you refer them, and you work out a deal where they give you 1% or they give you, you know, whatever that deal is that you've worked out, but you have a set avenue and plan. You can go down and start working that strategy of going, okay, this is what I want to do. I want to find a trust agent. You could also go the route of. And I know you've tried it, I want to build a team under me, and I want to bring someone in that I can pass my book of business to. And the reason why I want to do this, because if I'm reading you correct, Courtney, you really love your clients and care about them, and you're nervous of the treatment that they will get from somebody else. So maybe more control is better where you bring in a young Josh Dyke who wants his gung ho. He wants to be great. And you.

[Luke Akery]

Thank you for calling me young.

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah, exactly. Your. Your incentive to him is, hey, Josh, you're going to have to hustle. You're going to have to do all the things that real estate agents do. But over time, I want to pass my book of business to you. And in order to do that, we'll have a deal where, you know, you work out a commission split, where you continue to feed them for the rest of time all your book of business with your relationships. But that's a trusted person that you've worked something out with that you build up. So those are, you know, first step would be you got to get clear on it. And then you the big driver for most people, maybe it's not for you, is the income side is. Okay, how do I. Because you had mentioned taxes, like in the tax perks, I think you said, of what you get writing off. Do you have a good tax, real estate tax attorney. Okay, awesome. Like, I would encourage you, like, are you currently like an LLC or an S corp or llc? Okay, perfect. So LLC that elects to be an S Corp in taxes is how you are, folks. Okay, perfect. So it's like, I would encourage you that, you know, this is more the income side and we're not tax attorneys by any means, so please do not take our financial professional advice seriously. Go get a good tax attorney. But the way I look at it is I go, hey, in real estate, you have such an opportunity to build passive income. So when you get to that place of retirement. So like Acre Brothers, right, We do a lot of real estate where we're selling. We've done 109 sales so far this year with five agents on the team. But we also do a ton of real estate investing, flipping. But our goal is holding real estate. So we have hundreds of units that we own. And I think real estate agents, they fail. And this is maybe not for you, Courtney, but for the listeners, is you have access to the deals before most people do. You understand the market before you know better than most people. And you have an opportunity to invest yourself, to invest in the product that you're helping clients invest in. And I would encourage you to do that if you can and you have the means. The reason why I asked for the S Corp is because you can set up, you know, your own 401k. You can set up the, you know, Roth IRAs and stuff like that, you know, and so I just want to know kind of how you were structured there to make sure, passive income wise, you might lose the perks when you're not a full time realtor. But if you take advantage now and you get clear on your goals, okay, I want this much in my 401k. I want the. I want to own five properties that produce this much income. Now you can get clear in your activities that, you know, I've, I've done.

[Courtney]

A good bit of that. I have a solo one.

[Josh Dyke]

Awesome.

[Courtney]

401K. And then we have two Airbnbs.

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I'm proud of you there. What?

[Courtney]

Keep my son.

[Josh Dyke]

What do you think? 3.

[Courtney]

And he wants to start investing in real estate too. So that's our plan going forward.

[Josh Dyke]

Would your son come into the business to be your transition plan? No, he doesn't want to. He's like, I can't do it. Yeah.

[Courtney]

Went through the real estate class. Refused to take the test after the class.

[Josh Dyke]

Yeah, yeah.

[Courtney]

I think so many people think real estate is easy. They see people make money and it looks easy, it looks fun. They see all the glamorous videos and this kind of thing. They don't know what is behind the scenes, all the hard work. So we see a lot of agents here, especially because it's so seasonal and you have to be good at saving your money from this time of the year until October is kind of when we end. And then you go do other things like travel November through February.

[Josh Dyke]

But it's the structures. Yeah. Like, most agents are not. Like most people do not treat. They quit their 9 to 5 and don't realize that, you know, you got to show up more than a 9 to 5 for your real estate business, especially in the early years. You've got to do that. It feels to me like you're doing so many things right and like all of us, and fear's too strong of a word, but there's this unknown of this next phase. And I really believe, like, if I'm you, I would write down and maybe it's a, you know, decision for you and your husband. You write down what you want it to look like. And then in life, you know, you have AI now you can go ask. So go ask ChatGPT, right? Or Gemini or one of these AIs, what it thinks. But really important is to get mentors. And mentors are usually people who are a little bit further down the road than you that have what you want.

[Courtney]

He's in his 70s.

[Josh Dyke]

That's beautiful. Exactly. That's what I would encourage you to do, is find some people who have entered into that retirement phase that have done this transition that you're looking to do over the next years to get into more travel and get their thoughts on your plan. And, you know, then I would also encourage you, as we wrap up, is one of the most important things, and this is something I learned from reading and listening to Ray Dalio, is that you kind of go through phases in your life. You have the build phase, you have the maintain phase, and then you have what's called the give back phase. And you're in the give back phase. Right? You have knowledge, you have some resources that a lot of people don't have. And the give back phase phase is so important because so much of the happiness in our life, at least this is what I believe it's better to give than receive. And a lot of times when you feel unfulfilled in things that you're doing, it's because you. You're not giving back enough. Like, you don't have. And you probably have this. But this is just as an encouragement to you, is as you write out your plan, think about what's the legacy that Courtney wants to have in her community with her clients. And how do you give back to that next generation, the next up and coming people or the community that you're in? Because that's really fulfilling. But this is a great question. It gets people thinking in a way they don't normally think.

[Courtney]

I have a website idea that I came up with a client 20, 30 years ago somewhere in there to help people with disabilities become abled bodies. So that is my give back plan.

[Josh Dyke]

I love that. Yeah, that's, that's so fantastic. Yeah, I would encourage you. You have a good tax attorney, sit down, write out the plan, get really clear how much income you need, how much you want to travel. Things can change, but you can't take action on things. You can't hit a target you don't know exist. And so get really clear on that and you're going to knock it out of the park. And when I come and visit Montana, I'm going to have to look you up, Courtney, because I really want to go there. After watching, after watching Yellowstone, I really, I really want to go there. So this is fantastic, Courtney. Thank you. So if you're on Instagram and Facebook, can we connect? It's at Luke Acrey. I would love to connect with you. If I can help you more and you know, build a relationship, that would be awesome. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

[Luke Akery]

Thank you.

[Courtney]

Thank you.

[Josh Dyke]

See ya.

[Courtney]

Bye.

[Luke Akery]

Well, if you would like to get philosophical or spiritual with us, you can get featured on Stay Paid live here on the show. Go to remindermedia.com ask and submit your questions there. Thank you so much for listening. We we're going to have all the show notes for this episode as well as the video over@staypaid podcast.com and if you enjoyed this episode, head on over to YouTube, give this video a thumbs up. Leave us a comment, let us know what maybe some of your questions are there or what you thought of. Well, some of our guests today asked here on the show if you want to get a hold of me or Luke directly, you can email [e-mail] and of course you can follow us on Instagram. We are at Stay Paid podcast for this episode of Stay Paid. I'm Joshua Steik.

[Josh Dyke]

Guys, I'm Luke Hay Cree. So there you have it. Those are real answers from real people that are in the trenches just like you every single day. We want this show to be insanely valuable. So please comment on the YouTube videos and share your thoughts on some of the questions that people are asking and give them your advice, because how cool would it be if we created kind of this whole Q A environment where people are giving their answers to the questions as well. And if you hate Josh and I's answers, let us know that too, because that would be great for the algorithm. So controversy is always good. Appreciate you guys. Remember, the difference between top producers and mediocre producers in every business is top producers take action. So if you heard something today that you know you need to act upon in your business, do not wait. Do not get paralysis by analysis. Take action. Take action on that today.