Stuck at $10M, Low Referrals, and Database Growth Tactics

Summary

Stay Paid Podcast: Episode Summary Title: Stuck at $10M, Low Referrals, and Database Growth Tactics
Hosts: Luke Acree and Josh Ste
Release Date: August 4, 2025

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of the Stay Paid Podcast, hosts Luke Acree and Josh Ste delve into real estate business challenges faced by agents and entrepreneurs. Through live calls from listeners, they tackle issues related to business growth, lead generation, referrals, and effective database management. This episode, titled "Stuck at $10M, Low Referrals, and Database Growth Tactics," provides actionable insights and motivational strategies to help listeners overcome plateaus and accelerate their business growth.

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Caller 1: Tom from Maryland – Overcoming Low Referrals and Optimizing Lead Generation

Timestamp: [00:55 - 15:28]

Tom's Challenge:
Tom, a partner in a five-member real estate team, shares his struggle with increasing referrals from clients and his sphere of influence. Despite hosting events, creating videos, and conducting open houses, Tom is contemplating shifting away from paid lead sources to focus more on referrals.

Key Discussion Points:

• Current Strategies vs. Desired Outcomes: Tom is heavily invested in traditional lead generation activities but is uncertain about their effectiveness until reviewing results quarterly or annually.

• Database Management:

  • Closed Clients: Approximately 350-330.
  • Sphere of Influence: 50-75 trusted contacts.
  • CRM Database: 2,500-3,000 contacts.

• Revenue Metrics:
  Last year: 34 units totaling ~$11-12 million.
  Current Year: 8-10 units totaling ~$3.5-4 million monthly.

Hosts' Advice:

• Focus on Activity Volume:
  Josh emphasizes the need to "double" the number of daily calls and interactions. He suggests that increasing activity can lead to a higher conversion rate from existing strategies.

• Expand the Relationship Bucket:
  Stephen recommends expanding the sphere of influence from 350 to 800 relationships, allowing for a larger base of potential referrals.

• Prioritize Simplicity and Consistency:
  Cody highlights the importance of reviews and consistent events as pillars of a successful referral strategy.

Notable Quotes:

• Josh Ste: "If you're making 50 calls a day, you should be making 100." [06:21]
• Cody Smith: "Having 60 reviews is huge for getting calls directly because we're the top-ranked person." [10:11]
• Josh Ste: "Comfort is the enemy of progress." [26:03]

Actionable Takeaways:

1. Increase Daily Outreach: Aim to double the number of daily calls and touchpoints.
2. Expand Your Database: Actively work on growing the sphere of influence to enhance referral potential.
3. Leverage Reviews and Events: Utilize positive client reviews and host regular events to strengthen your market presence.

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Caller 2: Mark from California – Breaking Through Business Plateaus

Timestamp: [15:46 - 28:51]

Mark's Challenge:
Mark, a solo realtor with over 20 years in the business, feels he has hit a plateau at $9-10 million in sales. He seeks strategies to reignite his business growth without a supporting team.

Key Discussion Points:

• Current Operations:
  Maintaining a solid book of business through past client relationships and referrals.

• Ambitious Goals:
  Aspiring to reach $20 million in sales.

• Expansion Efforts:
  Introduced probate services to diversify and stabilize revenue streams.

Hosts' Advice:

• Define Clear Goals and Metrics:
  Josh recommends setting monthly goals and breaking them down into daily activities to achieve the annual target.

• Assess Activity Levels:
  Stephen suggests evaluating current prospecting activities and identifying capacity constraints.

• Leverage Existing Services:
  Exploring additional pillars like probate can create new revenue streams and support growth.

Notable Quotes:

• Josh Ste: "Most people, when they communicate, they're just like, this was a terrible inspection. I don't want to hear it's a terrible inspection." [34:09]
• Stephen Acree: "Most people, when they communicate, most inspectors think they just need to be better." [33:04]
• Josh Ste: "What’s important is you have the discipline to be the better version of who Mark can be." [26:03]

Actionable Takeaways:

1. Set Specific Monthly Goals: Break down the $20 million target into manageable monthly objectives.
2. Enhance Prospecting Activities: Increase the volume of daily calls and outreach efforts.
3. Diversify Service Offerings: Continue developing probate and other recession-proof services to stabilize income.

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Caller 3: Lisa (Natasha) from Rhode Island – Standing Out as a Home Inspector

Timestamp: [28:39 - 42:01]

Natasha's Challenge:
As a home inspector, Natasha seeks to understand what real estate agents look for when hiring inspectors. She aims to differentiate her services to become the preferred choice for agents.

Key Discussion Points:

• Business Operations:
  Running the inspection company with her husband, handling about 10 inspections weekly, aspiring to double capacity by hiring another inspector.

• Value Proposition:
  Providing comprehensive inspection services, including specialized areas like radon testing, to offer a one-stop-shop for agents.

Hosts' Advice:

• Enhance Communication:
  Emphasize proactive communication with agents and clients to facilitate deal closures.

• Streamline Services:
  Offer additional services and reliable partnerships to make the inspection process seamless for agents.

• Focus on Value Addition:
  Position inspections as a means to help agents close deals efficiently, rather than just identifying property issues.

Notable Quotes:

• Stephen Acree: "What you're doing for the agent is you are bringing them efficiency, time savings." [35:13]
• Cody Smith: "Having multiple sources of inspections takes a ton of mind share off me." [35:40]
• Josh Ste: "Communication is the first value proposition. Second is time saved." [37:40]

Actionable Takeaways:

1. Proactive Agent Communication: Develop strategies to inform agents about inspection findings before clients react.
2. Expand Service Offerings: Incorporate additional inspection services to become a comprehensive resource for agents.
3. Market Value Proposition Clearly: Highlight how your services help agents close deals faster and more efficiently.

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Caller 4: Christina from Tennessee – Launching an Online Educational Business

Timestamp: [49:20 - 61:01]

Christina's Challenge:
Christina is in the early stages of creating an online platform aimed at educating parents and children, specifically targeting low-income families. She seeks guidance on turning her concept into a viable business.

Key Discussion Points:

• Business Concept:
  An educational platform offering resources and recommendations to help parents support their children's education at home.

• Monetization Strategy:
  Considering a subscription model but uncertain about pricing and business structuring.

Hosts' Advice:

• Define a Clear Niche:
  Narrow down the target audience and specify the exact educational needs being addressed.

• Develop a Comprehensive Business Plan:
  Outline the total addressable market, revenue projections, and operational costs to ensure feasibility.

• Leverage Existing Knowledge:
  Utilize her background in education to create valuable, targeted content that addresses specific pain points.

Notable Quotes:

• Josh Ste: "What you need to do is you have to go back now and go, hey, I need to now map out what my daily activities will be." [25:37]
• Cody Smith: "How do you make the agent win, how you can make the agent when it's taking things off their plate." [35:48]
• Josh Ste: "Your job as the sale is essentially, people have a desire they want to achieve and a pain point that's keeping them from getting there." [53:03]

Actionable Takeaways:

1. Identify and Narrow Down the Niche: Focus on a specific segment within the educational market to tailor services effectively.
2. Create a Detailed Business Plan: Include market research, financial projections, and a clear monetization strategy.
3. Utilize Educational Expertise: Develop content that directly addresses the unique challenges faced by low-income families in supporting their children's education.

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Caller 5: Natasha from Texas – Evaluating Physical vs. Virtual Business Presence

Timestamp: [42:01 - 48:51]

Natasha's Challenge:
Natasha operates a firm handling tax preparation, life insurance, and Medicare services virtually. She contemplates opening a brick-and-mortar location to increase profitability but is unsure of the financial implications.

Key Discussion Points:

• Financial Considerations:

  • Rent: ~$2,000/month.
  • Revenue per Client: ~$450.

• Potential Client Acquisition:
  Believes a physical location could attract more clients through walk-ins.

Hosts' Advice:

• Cost-Benefit Analysis:
  Calculate the number of additional clients needed to cover rent and other expenses.

• Test the Waters:
  Consider subleasing or temporary rentals during peak seasons to evaluate the effectiveness of a physical location.

• Assess Operational Overheads:
  Factor in utilities, cleaning, and potential need for a receptionist when budgeting for a physical space.

Notable Quotes:

• Josh Ste: "You have to do the math of how many clients you need to break even." [44:06]
• Luke Acree: "When we started, it wasn't... we created a fake magazine, walked into an office and started to get like, okay, hey, that actually works." [61:01]

Actionable Takeaways:

1. Perform a Detailed Financial Analysis: Determine the number of additional clients required to justify the cost of a physical location.
2. Pilot with Temporary Spaces: Test the viability of a brick-and-mortar presence without long-term commitments.
3. Evaluate the Return on Investment: Compare the potential increased revenue from a physical location against the overhead costs.

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Conclusion

This episode of the Stay Paid Podcast offers a wealth of strategies for real estate professionals and entrepreneurs facing growth challenges. From optimizing referral systems and expanding databases to differentiating service offerings and assessing business expansions, listeners are equipped with practical advice to elevate their businesses. The hosts emphasize the importance of increased activity, clear goal setting, proactive communication, and strategic planning as cornerstones of business success.

Final Thoughts:

• Action Over Analysis: Embrace a proactive approach by implementing the discussed strategies rather than getting bogged down in overthinking.
• Continuous Learning: Utilize resources like podcasts, AI tools, and business mentors to refine and adapt your business tactics.
• Community Engagement: Engage with the Stay Paid community for ongoing support and knowledge sharing.

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Join the Conversation:
If you have burning questions or need personalized advice, submit your queries at remindermedia.com/ask or follow the Stay Paid Podcast on Instagram. Get featured in upcoming episodes and take your business to the next level!

Transcript

[Josh Ste]

Foreign.

[Luke Acree]

To Stay Paid. And today we are answering your burning questions in real estate, business, marketing and more. On these episodes, we take live calls from our Stay Paid listeners. And if you want to have your question answered, head on over to remindermedia.com ask. Submit your question there or you can follow us on Instagram. We are at staypaid podcast. You can send us a message on Stay Paid podcast on Instagram and we'll make sure to schedule you to come on to the episode and have a lie. You're a live questions answered. My name is Josh Ste. I'm the chief marketing officer at Reminder Media and I am joined as always by my cadre of co hosts, Luke Acree, president of Reminder Media, Stephen Acre and Cody Smith of the Acree Brothers realty team. Gentlemen, we are going to get into our first live caller. All right, we got Tom from Maryland calling in. Tom, welcome to Stay Paid.

[Tom]

Hey, how you doing?

[Josh Ste]

Good, man. Dude, we are doing fantastic. Tom, it's great to have you on the show, man. Love having you on. I would love to. So you're in real estate from Maryland. Love to hear from you. You're obviously trying to grow your business and what are the big pain points or what's the question that you are trying to answer in your business to go to the next level?

[Tom]

Yeah, I mean, the big thing right now that we're looking to do is kind of just hone in on basically like referrals from clients and then our sphere of influence and stuff. I mean, we pretty much do a lot of events, videos, open houses. We're trying to get away from those paid lead sources. But, you know, it's kind of one of those things, like a double edged sword.

[Josh Ste]

Sure, yeah. What is the struggle right now? Like, so you're doing a bunch of good stuff, but what's like the real pain point or what's the frustration? I mean, if I could just solve this or this is what I want to know, am I doing right?

[Tom]

I mean, it's one of those things where I feel like right now you don't know if it's working until you go back and actually get through. Like, I think right now it's like my head's down, I'm driving, driving, doing all the Legion activities, do the follow ups, do my daily tasks and then, you know, I guess time flies. So when you actually review it quarterly, bi, annually, yearly, whatever it is, and you see that it paid off, that's kind of when I realized like, okay, that strategy did work. It's just taking that leap of faith and saying, you know what, I'm not going to spend money on, you know, online leads, and I'm going to actually allocate that money back to referrals or clients.

[Stephen Acree]

Nice. And, Tom, are you on a team? Do you run a team? Are you independent? What are you doing?

[Tom]

No, I'm. I'm on a team. So there's a team of five of us now. They're. I'm a partner. So I ended up. Was on a bunch of teams, but basically me, my wife, and then a couple friends.

[Stephen Acree]

Okay, gotcha. Very cool. What was your production last year? And then, you know, what are you tracking for this year?

[Tom]

Yeah, so last year was 34 units, right. Over, I think, 11, 12 million. Okay, then right now we have eight units closed for me personally, but I have two basically investments that I'm working on, so it's kind of keeping me a little bit more busier on that end. And the. The residential side, do you have a.

[Stephen Acree]

Specific goal in mind for this year?

[Tom]

A lot of my goals, honestly, are based off of not closed units, but volume.

[Josh Ste]

So that's where it should be. That's where the money is. You know, close units means nothing.

[Tom]

Exactly. So that, you know, you do 100 units and do, you know, 30 million or do 10 units? To do 30 million, either. Or is your.

[Josh Ste]

Is your pain point that you're. You're doing all these things. I'm trying to understand the pain point, but you're doing. You're doing all these different things and you're trying to figure out, are you putting your money and time into the right area? Like, is that the pain point for you? Of just like, hey, I have all these things. I feel like it's going well. But am I missing something from a Legion strategy? Like, is that the big question?

[Stephen Acree]

Right.

[Tom]

Yeah, I mean, essentially it is. It's like, you know, have a couple, obviously, colleagues and friends that actually I play ball with and stuff, and they're a big team out in Morgantown, and they. They were telling me they're cutting their spends back from $8000 a month to 4000. I' like, well, I'm only spending about 3000 in a month in terms of online spend. So I just cut that back and then put it towards, you know, my, you know, clients, which it seems like obviously a trusted referral instead of a cold call or warm call.

[Stephen Acree]

Yeah, yeah.

[Cody Smith]

And where are mainly your leads coming from? Is it that repeat and referral business?

[Stephen Acree]

Right.

[Tom]

Yep.

[Stephen Acree]

Yeah. And then like, is. Is eight transactions. Is that 8 million? Is that 2 million, you know, what's that?

[Tom]

Right now we're right at I think three and a half.

[Josh Ste]

Three.

[Tom]

Yeah. So I actually had a closing yesterday, so that I might be over 4 now.

[Stephen Acree]

Okay. So and then GCIs, you have 3,000 expense. What's the, the gross income coming in.

[Tom]

For eight transactions right now we're, I mean with the, the one that just closed is probably putting us close to like 9, $10,000 a month right now.

[Josh Ste]

Nice.

[Tom]

So I mean, when, when I go back and like look at some of the, the spend, usually I'll do quarterly, kind of just a feeler. And then I'll really review it towards the end of the year, beginning of the following year. And usually my spend's not as high as I think it's going to be now, if that's from partner with lenders, business partners, whatever for events. And you think that you're going to spend, you know, two, $3,000 for a big, big event and you end up only spending 700 or so like that. But that's, that's kind of like the, the pain point I guess is going back to you. You put everything into one basket, put things into three. I know like all the coachings and online sources and stuff say, hey, pick three and then go and run with it. It's just, you know, how much do you put towards one another? I mean, because online leads are more of. I almost consider them at bats because the more you have, the more chances you are to close. But, you know, how much is enough? Like, you know, is your conversion rate 20 conversations to each close or whatnot?

[Stephen Acree]

Yeah. So your number one thing, I mean, you got eight transactions, right. So like obviously you can do more with sphere and repeat and referral business going to go back. Like it digs into the question of how many people are in your database, you know, what is your plan of action to hit them. But I mean, you want to focus on pillars. You don't want more than three pillars. Right. Unless you can delegate that out. And so you have room for other pillars, but you definitely have room more in your repeat referral sphere of influence game with eight transactions. So tell us, what are you doing daily and how many people do you have in your database? What are you doing to drive that business?

[Tom]

Yeah, as of right now, have around 323, 30 in terms of what I'm going to call closed clients. Then outside of that, there's roughly another 50 to 75 trusted. I'd say sphere of influence people that I'll touch and then you have, you know, the 2500, 3000 people in the actual CRM.

[Lisa]

Wow.

[Stephen Acree]

What are the stats you pulled up in the last podcast for how many you should get for each person in your database?

[Josh Ste]

Yeah, it's like 7%. About 7% of your database is going to transact over the next year. So, you know, if you have 2500, you said in that it's not, it's not really your relationship bucket, though. That's your lead bucket. Yeah.

[Cody Smith]

You were saying relationship bucket was what, like 400, Tom?

[Tom]

Yeah, right around there.

[Josh Ste]

Yeah. So if you had 350 in, that's 24 and a half transactions. Right. So you're, you're looking about 25 transactions you should pull out of your sphere this year or that are going to transact, I would say out of your sphere, you're not going to get 100 of them. I mean, to me, Tom, what I'm hearing is like, it's awesome, dude. I'm proud of you. You're basically doing everything right. I think to me, it comes down to like, now you got to get really fine tuned into the activity. That's where my gut goes, is you. You have the right things that you're doing. So now it's just a volume game. So what limits volume? Time, money. So time and money are your limiters. And so the thing with referrals for 350, 400 people in your database, that's easy to hit. That's not going to keep you busy. So you need to grow that database, which means those 2, 500 people, what is your metric per month of how many people you're adding to your relationship bucket? And that should be a metric that you are tracking because what you focus on expand. So how do you get the 350 to where at the end of the year, we're in May right now, when we're, you know, talking to you, how do you get it to where it in, you know, December this year, you're at 800. What would that take to get 800 relationships? Not just acquaintances, but relationships. And it's like, that's a metric I would track if I were you to go, how do I get my bucket of referral and repeat business? As Steve is saying, relationships to grow. And that only comes from what you're saying. The at bats is you're calling these 2,500 people, which is fantastic. You're doing that. How many are you taking into the relationship bucket per month? Not the transaction bucket. Right. Some will turn into transaction, some will not. But how do you take those into the relationship bucket and grow that? Because you're doing the right things. So if you do, in my mind, if you focus on referrals, you focus on paid leads, you focus on maybe one other pillar, call it geo farming or open houses or something like that. Then you just try to grow this current bucket that you have from 350 to 800.

[Stephen Acree]

What was our pillars for last year? Like the number one source?

[Cody Smith]

Yeah, the one I was gonna say for repeat referral. It's really, I guess two. But one we, we talk about often actually is reviews. How many reviews do you have on.

[Tom]

I believe Google, I think I might be crossing 20, 30. I honestly don't know. I know I got one in from this closing yesterday, so.

[Josh Ste]

Nice.

[Tom]

That's good.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah. I would focus in on that. That changed our world in getting to being the number one review team here. But having I think we have 60 reviews now, that is huge for just even people like calling you directly. So we'll get calls directly just because we're the top ranked person.

[Stephen Acree]

Yeah.

[Cody Smith]

So that can add to like that bucket of getting more leads into your system. And it also just connects with your client that way. And then secondly, you said you do events, so how many events do you do a year?

[Tom]

Right now we have usually two big events as a team and then per. Let's say agent we have about. It depends on the agent, but four is what I plan for this year.

[Cody Smith]

Great. Yep. So that's another thing that we change. We do four year and our spend is really only about 4,000 5,000 for the year on events, but it gives you that reason to call. And then we have like a full marketing plan for each event to get touches throughout. So using those events to re talk to your sphere every quarter. Like I'll call people up now and they'll be like, oh, you're calling about the event. I just got the postcard for it. Yep, 100 man. How's everything going? You gonna come this time? You know, and it just as an easy conversation because you're not asking what.

[Josh Ste]

Am I calling them about.

[Stephen Acree]

Yeah, right. But there's something, there's something deeper here because like you have all of the right things happening. So you have events happening with your team. You've got 2500 people in your database from like online leads and so forth. You've got 400 people in sphere. So there's an obvious, like we've got a problem with action.

[Josh Ste]

Yeah, it's activity.

[Stephen Acree]

Exactly towards them. Because you should 100%. I mean, you should be able to rock out 24, 36 transactions from what you're telling me is in your database. And so that's why I'm just curious. I'm trying to dig into, like, what are you doing daily on those activities? Because help you out. There's a couple podcasts you're gonna have to listen to right after this with all of these pillars that we're talking about, because we broke it down with Tim Bush, now he's on our team, and he goes over his. And then Nick. What was Nick's last name?

[Josh Ste]

Luke Harrison, I think, out of Michigan.

[Stephen Acree]

You have to listen to those two podcasts because it will break down their activities.

[Josh Ste]

We can send them to you, Tom. We'll send you the podcast. But it is. It's like, I would get into, like, if I'm giving you my plan, it's exactly what Cody and Steven are saying. It's basically, you're doing all the right things. You're not doing enough of them. Yeah, like, that is it. Now, obviously, I'm surface level because we don't have all the time in the world to dive into your business, but if I'm you, I would go. If you're making 50 calls a day, you should be making a hundred. If you're doing 12 touches to your sphere, you should be doing 24. It's like, you're. You've got to up your volume of your activities because I don't want you to change what you're doing of, like, where your focus is, because you're spot on, man. Everything you're telling us, I'm just like, dude, that's why you're winning. That's why you are producing. That's why you have a team. Like, you are top in the. And, you know, you're probably, what, top 1%, top 5%, at least in the nation. So you've got it all. But you're not doing, like, Tim Bushnell, at least when, you know, I'm coaching every week. It's two to three hours of prospecting every day. It is, you know, it is like. And that's just one of the many things. Activities that he's doing every day. And so I would just look at what is your activity that you've done from now till May, every single day. What's your average of calls per day? What's your average of outreach? What's your. And then just. I would just double it.

[Stephen Acree]

That's not important.

[Josh Ste]

I would literally just double it.

[Cody Smith]

What you talked about, like, spending More. It's not. It doesn't sound like it's a lead issue.

[Tom]

That's right.

[Cody Smith]

As far as where we're at, because you've got the leads. I mean, you got 2500, foreigner, sphere of influence. You've got everyone you need to talk to. You just need to talk to them more.

[Tom]

Yeah. Well, dude, I guess the question is, is do it. Do I? Do I? I guess I'm not asking for the referral is probably what it is. I mean, a lot of it's just kind of blatant, like, do more calls, ask for the referral, ask for the business. That's.

[Josh Ste]

Yeah, because the number one killer, man, the number one killer of people in business, myself included, is you overthink the strategy. And we just interviewed Lennox Scott, who is like the leader of John L. Scott, like the 20th largest brokerage in the nation. And the simplicity in which he talked, it was almost hilarious hearing him talk, how proud he was of just sending out a card to people on their anniversary and getting all agents to do it. Because simplicity wins. You have. Don't overthink your spend. Don't overthink where your focus is. Go and look at your metrics of how many dials you're making, how many times you're asking for referrals, and just double. And let's connect. Let's connect on Instagram because we got to get on to our next caller, but let's connect on Instagram, Tom, because I think we could huddle offline and even go deeper to help you. But, dude, I really appreciate you coming on the show. This has been great. I know it's been helpful to a lot of people. You're doing all the right things, man. Just double down on the activity. I want to talk to Tom in December and hear he say, hey, I did 50 calls a day. Now I'm averaging 100, and I've been literally close. 16 in the last 15.

[Tom]

Yeah.

[Josh Ste]

Three months.

[Tom]

Awesome. I appreciate it, guys. Yep.

[Josh Ste]

Appreciate it, Tom.

[Luke Acree]

We'll see you.

[Tom]

See you.

[Luke Acree]

All right, there you go. If you want to have your questions answered live on the air, make sure to go to remindermedia.com ask. Submit your questions there. We're going to go to our next caller now. Mark out of California, the beautiful state of California. Mark, how you doing? Welcome to Stay Paid.

[Mark]

Excellent. Thanks, guys.

[Josh Ste]

How are you? Mark, man, it's great to have you on the show. I really appreciate you calling in, willing to be part of this. Would love to hear from you. You know, I've been asking People, what is the big problem that we can help you with? I mean, I'm sure there's a myriad of adversity that you're facing or struggles to try to grow a business, but what's the main thing that you think is blocking you from going to the next level?

[Mark]

So I've been in business for over 20 years. I've. I have a good, solid book of business. I'm doing quite well, but I think I've hit a plateau. Right. I need to figure out how to get that energy back, how to get to that, you know, over the hump place. I'm a solo realtor. I don't have a team, and I have always just kind of gone on gut and spirit. Right. And I know that there are statistics about, you know, how many touch points I have to have and how many calls I have to make, but I've never actually sat down and made that plan, so. So I'm just looking for a way to create that plan of calls and touch points and that. That can break me out of this plateau and put me over the top.

[Josh Ste]

Yeah.

[Stephen Acree]

The good thing, good news is so many people are in your position, brother. Like, there's every time we talk to people, it's the same exact thing. And I'm talking like veterans. Like, we sit down with the top 20 at KW all the time, and it's the same thing. They're like, they're crushing it. I mean, these are top producers, and we're like, what's your system? Well, I'm using Excel. You know, how many calls you make? I have no clue.

[Luke Acree]

Right, right.

[Mark]

You know, like, I've been in it for so long. I just stay in touch with my past clients.

[Josh Ste]

Right? Yeah.

[Mark]

And I get the referrals and things are moving.

[Josh Ste]

In other words, you've been going by your talent, and now you want to Increase your talent 10x fold by using systems and leverage like that. That's the key, man. It's like you're a solo preneur where you are the person that is doing everything, and now you got to figure out how do you get other things.

[Tom]

To do things for you.

[Josh Ste]

Yeah. So that. That's awesome. I would love Cody to hear your take on this. I mean, you're the operational guy. You're running all the operations. How do you walk that through with agents?

[Cody Smith]

Yeah. So my first question is, so, Mark, what are you currently doing to keep track of everyone?

[Mark]

I have my CRM that everybody goes into. It keeps track of all of my conversations, communications, emails, that kind of stuff. And you know, I'm old fashioned as well. I have my daily, you know, list that I just write everything down. I need to call Fred on Friday. You know what I mean?

[Josh Ste]

And.

[Cody Smith]

Awesome, Go ahead.

[Mark]

Yeah. No, no, no. So, so it's for me it's just about making sure I stay in my to do list and stay in my CRM and am reaching out to people.

[Josh Ste]

Perfect.

[Cody Smith]

And what are your, so you're at a, at a position of plateau. What's your goal that you're trying to get to? Like, do you have a goal in mind that you want to get after?

[Mark]

Yeah, I'm trying to get to. Hang on one second, I'll, I, I, I have my spreadsheet. Right. So, so I'm trying to get to 20 million in sales and.

[Josh Ste]

Right.

[Mark]

And right now I'm at like, I've, I've plateaued between nine and ten. Right.

[Josh Ste]

Okay.

[Mark]

So, so that's kind of where, where the, the, the new spot that I'm trying to reach.

[Josh Ste]

Yeah.

[Stephen Acree]

And just so you know where we're at in the market, the reason we have these questions coming up, just like your question, is because the market has restricted and everyone that doesn't track what they're doing to get to their goals is in the same exact spot. Well, every single person is like we, we just don't have as many transactions. So more action, it's not what people want to hear, but more action has to take place, which is why tracking is so important. So we were just on with someone else who had the same, you know, kind of problem, like what are you doing right now? And if that is leading to a certain result, we really just have to double it. And if we look at that, we go, there's a certain capacity, you know, to the number of repeat referral business that you're going to get in your database. So we may have to look at adding another pillar to your business. And so the next question, you know, would be really like what are your pillars? Is it just repeat and referral sphere of influence business or do we have other business coming in?

[Mark]

So I'm also, so I was around in 2008 when the market crashed. Right. And I had to pivot and do short sale and foreclosure prevention. Right. And that's what kept me afloat for those years. I've also opened sort of a probate. I've added a probate component to my business because that's kind of recession proof. Right. And trying to systematize working that up into a larger Pillar in the business as well.

[Stephen Acree]

Okay, so what does it look like to systemize that?

[Mark]

Well, I'm getting the cases. I've kind of. We have a system for calling all the administrators and executors and, you know, adding, you know, home cleanout services and, and adding, you know, hey, you inherited this house and there's a beehive in the chimney. How do you get that? Like, you know, all the, all the care services that, that someone in that position may need. And so now we're trying to just get the word out about that as an additional pillar.

[Josh Ste]

That's great.

[Stephen Acree]

Yeah, it's great. How many deals have come from that this year?

[Mark]

We've gotten, we've gotten two close so far this year.

[Stephen Acree]

Okay.

[Mark]

And you know, the pipeline is starting to fill up, which I like, you know, because normally you contact these folks they just filed, Right. They have to get authority from, from the court. So it's going to take a while. And at the same time, can I.

[Josh Ste]

Step back, Mark, and ask you. Because all that's really good and I think you are doing actually great stuff there. I honestly do, from a marketing perspective. But getting to the genesis of your question of basically, I need to develop the plan, right. And so, Cody, you're spot on. Like, what's the goal? I'm plateauing at 9 to 10, I want to get to 20. So then you go, what Stephen's saying, which is, hey, well, what has gotten you to 9 or 10? You need to know that. And that basically then tells you, all right, if I'm getting a 9 or 10 with this activity, you must ask the question, can I do more of the current things I'm doing and get double, or am I limited by bandwidth? I physically cannot do more or I physically don't have enough leads coming in for my database to do more. So there is a natural barrier that then goes, I need another lead pillar. And then you have to do the same process. What's my goal for this lead pillar that I'm going to try to get, what are my activities that I must do daily? And so we don't have time necessarily on this full call to go in. But I would be asking you the question of we're in a month, what is the goal for this month? So you have your annual goal, but what is the goal for this month? And then reverse down to what are the activities that you are doing weekly that you are doing daily down to what you are doing hourly, if not within 15 minute block. So if I was auditing your business Mark, what I would ask is tomorrow morning, do you already have your calendar set for tomorrow of the activities you will be doing, or are you more reactive versus proactive? Right. It's the Stephen Covey type methodology. But you gotta begin with the end in mind. And what I'm hearing from you is you have the big goal, but you're not going back now and going, hey, I need to now map out what my daily activities will be. And the only way to do that is to essentially go, here's my goal. What am I doing currently that's getting me to X? Do I have the bandwidth to do more of that? If I don't, what other lead pillar will I commit to? And a lot of the hard part of this is there's not clear answers. So when you do the rebate or probate thing, I mean, and you do this whole avenue there, none of us know how, what that's going to generate. So you have to make your best educated guess to set a target and your best educated guess to set activities and commit to it and stick to it. Most people go, I don't know. So they don't ever set the target. And you hit a target that doesn't exist.

[Stephen Acree]

Yeah. And it can be educated as well. So going back to that. So just make sure you dig into the lead source that's actually working for big teams, it's working for independent agents.

[Josh Ste]

And use Chat GPT to find that out. Like ask Chat GPT. You know, what are the conversion rates normally for these? Like if open houses, for instance, if I did open houses, how many open houses do real estate agents, big teams usually do in a month? What's the conversion rate of that? Usually if you ask AI, have you ever used AI Mark, Chat GPT or Gemini, stuff that like. Yeah, but awesome. Everybody is. So you can ask that, but to me, I just go. Because obviously we don't have all day to dig into every nuance. But. But you are like, you're doing so well, you're just not. You gotta have the discipline to do the things that you probably don't like doing, which is actually sitting down in the mundane tracking. Got him there, Luke.

[Mark]

I'll tell you.

[Luke Acree]

I'll tell you his reaction.

[Mark]

That's the stuff that, that I absolutely did as a new agent, and that's the stuff that when I first got in the business, how do I do this? And I did exactly that. But over the years, as you get more into servicing your clients, that individual stuff just kind of fell away. So this is, this is Kind of. This is a fantastic comfort reminder.

[Josh Ste]

Comfort is the enemy of progress, my man. You are making enough money to be comfortable. So what Cody got at in the beginning, your goal is not clear enough. It's not big enough. 20 million is. Okay. What does 20 million mean to mark? What does 20 million get for Mark? And if you're satisfied, perfect. Do you have a family? Do you have an extended family? Do you have friends? Do you have a church? Do you have people that you should be giving to? Because if you want a life of success, it's about you. And 20 million, if you want a life of significance, it's about others. And so it's like, what? I would challenge you, Mark, and we should connect. I want to connect with everybody that comes on the show. We should connect on Instagram. I would just go, man, you got it, dude. You have enough talent to where you can coast and get 9 to 10 million. Most agents can't do that. What you need to decide right now is do you have the discipline to be the better version of who Mark can be? Which is going, hey, I'm going to actually set a goal. I'm actually sit down and do the work the maps out, because you know what to do. I can tell just talking to you. You know what to do. You just got to go do it. Which means you need a bigger significance.

[Cody Smith]

Why is your why big enough to get the 20 million? Because if you want the spirit and the energy to do it, you got to create that by having the biggest why possible.

[Josh Ste]

Mark, we're gonna have you back on the show. Have you back on the show December 2025. Let's have him back. I'm gonna get Chris to have you back on the show, and I want to hear that you took the time to actually map out your day, even if it's not perfect. The enemy of movement is usually lack of clarity. When you have clarity, you can execute. So what happens to people is they try to set a goal, and they're not sure what they should set. Lack of clarity. So what do they do? They do nothing. What I'm telling you is the top producers, what they do is they just. They just decide. They just go, well, I'll choose this as the goal. And then they learn, wow, I set a really stupid goal because they start doing the activity, and they realize, okay, that's not gonna work. But guess what they learned, and they iterate and they pivot for the next time they get wiser. So, Mark, we're gonna have to let you go to get onto the next caller. But, man, let's connect Instagram at Luke Acre, Facebook. But I would love to talk to you, man, and see if we can, you know, push this and get you back on the show and, and really take you to 20.

[Mark]

Love it. I appreciate you guys. Thanks so much.

[Josh Ste]

Yeah, thanks, Mark. Have a great one.

[Mark]

Take care, guys.

[Josh Ste]

All right.

[Luke Acree]

Thank you so much, Mark, for calling in. Remember, if you want to get your questions answered live here on the podcast, you can go to remindermedia.com ask and we will make sure to schedule you to get you here on the show. Our next caller calling from Rhode Island, Lisa. Lisa, welcome to Staypay. Thanks for, thanks for joining us.

[Natasha]

Thank you for having me.

[Josh Ste]

Lisa, we are excited to have you on State Paid. I'm excited to have all guests on State Paid, but I would love to hear because you're a home inspector, so I would love to hear from you, like, what is the big pain point or, you know, what's the thing that you want to know that you believe could help you grow your business?

[Natasha]

So I would love to know, like, what real estate, what are real estate agents looking for in terms to hire us? Like, what would make me stand out to get them to say yes, I want to hire Lisa and her company to come do our home inspections.

[Josh Ste]

Yeah. What a great question.

[Luke Acree]

I wish we knew a couple of real estate agents.

[Josh Ste]

Yeah. Yeah. For you, we got two of the best real estate agents on the line. Can you give us a little bit more background, though, on your business? Like, how well are you doing? I'm not super familiar with the home inspection business. Like, is it revenue per month or is it inspections per month that you're doing? Can you give me some comparison of where you're at and how the business is going?

[Natasha]

Yeah. So we've been in business. My husband and I own the company together. So we've been in business for eight years. And, you know, per month, you know, we're, we probably do about 10 per.

[Lisa]

Week.

[Natasha]

Which is, you know, about average for a real, you know, for home inspection company in our business at this stage in our career.

[Josh Ste]

So how many do you think you could do per week? Because obviously you're, you want to get more real estate agents to send you business. So how many do you think you could go to? What's the kind of ratio there? You go from 10 to what?

[Natasha]

So in, in the past when we had our, had an inspector, we did probably 20 per, you know, 20 per week. So we want to get to that point where we can take on More and hire another inspector as well.

[Josh Ste]

What does that mean for you and your business like for you and your husband? What's the big driving factor? Is it, you know, freedom? More freedom to scale your business to make more money? Like what would that mean for you and your business go from 10 to 20 or 20 to 30 a week?

[Natasha]

Yeah. So it would, it would actually be able to, you know, being able to hire someone else would alleviate some, you know, some off of my husband. He could then you know, train more people as well. Give him time out to go out and market more as well. I do a lot of the marketing myself but I think having the home inspector go out and do it as well makes a difference. Like I have my radon license and do that as as well and fill that void if he can't do it himself.

[Josh Ste]

I love this. It's such a good question. I'm going to turn it over to you, Stephen and Cody because I think you guys can give some really great answers but because you're actually real estate agents. But I love this question too because I already think you're focused on the right thought which is the relationship and how do I go and build relationships and deliver more value to the people that are going to feed me the business. So I give you kudos on already your thinking from a marketing standpoint. But Stephen, what's your take? And Cody.

[Stephen Acree]

So I'm curious Lisa, what, what do you think the because you're doing a lot of business already, what do you think the number one driver is for agents to use you right now is.

[Natasha]

Basically being, you know, relationship being very knowledgeable and doing, you know, trying to be the one person contact that if you don't do something yourself then you're going out and hiring that expertise other inspector that can do something. Like we don't do septic here in our franchise but other people do do that. But so I hire someone out to do that for our clients. So it's being a one stop shop basically.

[Tom]

Yes.

[Stephen Acree]

Number, number one mistake that I've noticed in every other business is the same with mortgage. Like we just started our mortgage division and everyone thinks that it's going to be based on how good of an inspector they are, how good of a mortgage lender loan officer that they are. And the truth is is that's just expected. And so what the people think is like I just need to be better right at what what I'm doing. And the truth is what do agents, what are they actually after? Just like you and your business, you're after more revenue in your business.

[Josh Ste]

Yes.

[Stephen Acree]

And so you want to scale this so you can hire out more leverage. All of that is great stuff. The agent is in the same exact boat. And so most people, when they communicate, most inspectors, like, we've gone through plenty of inspectors and we use a couple in the business. The ones that we use know how to communicate to the client so that we can get the deal closed. But the communication with the agent needs to all revolve around, I am going to get you more business. I'm going to look, make you look like the badass in the business. Right. So that you can close this deal, so that you can generate revenue for your company. And if your focus point is on, hey, I'm going to add in septic, it needs to not be septic just because you need, you need septic so that you can close the deal. That's what the agent needs the septic for. Right. So, like, I would encourage you obviously, to get that if that's a pain point that you're hearing from agents of not using you. But don't mistake that it's not just being a good septic inspector. Who gives a crap, right? I give a crap.

[Josh Ste]

No pun intended.

[Stephen Acree]

I give a crap for that. But I want ultimately deals closed. And if your focus point with the communication of the agent is, this is how you drive more business, this is how I can drive more business for you. Oh, you'll pick up so many agents using you. But we have people that are just like, when they communicate to their clients, they're just like, this was a terrible inspection. I don't want to hear it's a terrible inspection. You know, like, like every property is a great property at the right price. So I want to go, how do we make a deal happen at the right price? This needs to be done. I don't want you to dodge the fact that it needs to be done. I want you to communicate why it needs to be done and how you can get it to the finish line on price. So maybe it's like, I actually have a contractor for you to install this septic system that is much more affordable than most of the septic contractors out there.

[Josh Ste]

Oh, that's good.

[Stephen Acree]

Providing so much value to the agent to actually drive the deal to the finish line so that they can get paid.

[Cody Smith]

So for an agent, this, I mean, he's spot on. It's like how to make the agent win, how you can make the agent when it's taking things off their plate. So the having the multiple source of inspections is nice where if you can do termite, well, septic and the inspection, I've got one person I'm calling, I'm sending up one thing through everything and that takes a ton of mind share off me because I've got my one person. And then when I ask them, they do it. Like, I've got tons of different deals going on. I need to know that I can depend if I call you that it's going to be able to get done, that I'll have to reach out to someone else. That helps the agent win. And the communication piece is that second piece.

[Josh Ste]

Imagine.

[Stephen Acree]

Yeah, Imagine getting a report in front of you with a bunch of red flags and you just send that to the client immediately. And then the client calls the agent and they're upset because they're seeing so many red things on this report. Instead of you going, I'm going to call the agent first, I'm going to say, hey, this did come up with a lot of points on the inspection. These are the things that I think are big deals that need to be handled. These are the things that aren't as big of a deal. I'm going to call the client, I'm going to talk to them about that and just let them know this is where they can solve the problem. But this is what you're going to run into with the client instead of the client calling us and going out of this deal. You know what I mean? It's terrible, right?

[Josh Ste]

This is so good. Go ahead.

[Natasha]

Is where you're at. Do the clients actually attend the home inspection where we're at? I would say like 99 of the time the client is there.

[Josh Ste]

Sure.

[Stephen Acree]

Yeah. Probably over 50%.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah. I would say it all depends on the pitch. So what I always say is, hey, if you're going to go, you want to go for the last 30 minutes so the inspector can walk you through a summary of exactly what's going to happen. And then that's like, that's why it's so important I get the right inspector that I trust that can communicate well of saying like, hey, hey, there is this foundation issue and we definitely want to check it out. But the great news is everything can be fixed in a home. And that's what we're going to go for. I've done with this a million times. It can definitely be fixed. We just need to look in to see what the severity is and we go from there.

[Josh Ste]

So let's think, guys, for practicality, right? Because all that you're saying is phenomenal. So now put yourself that Lisa, the inspector is coming to you to tell you she does that. How would she communicate that with you to try to earn your business? Because that's really. Now the bridging of the gap is now you're telling Lisa what she should be doing for the agent, which is spot on. So now how does she go communicate that as a value prop.

[Stephen Acree]

Yeah.

[Josh Ste]

To her agents in the area to try to get 6, 10 more agents giving her business. Business.

[Stephen Acree]

Yeah. So you almost identified, I think, when you said 99% of your clients show up to the home inspection, what the pain point really is. You probably have a lot of people walking away because they're showing up and going through it with you and not identifying the true problems and pitching it in a positive way. So if you're pitching it to the client, going just what you just said, which is, hey, you know, I run into the. I do these inspections all the time. All of this can be fixed, and these are the items that I personally would focus on to the client. So when you go to the agent, what Luke is saying, how do you actually acquire that business? What's the pain point for the agent? Deals dropping out. What's. What's deals dropping out mean? It means revenue to the business. And so you go to the agent and go, hey, I'm not a normal inspector. I'm. Look, you have to just be a good inspector in this business. I understand it. I'm the best. Right. I just love what I do. I'm the best inspector run into. But the difference between me and others is that I actually focus on getting deals to the finish line, which I know that's what you're all about. You were about receiving revenue in your pocket, just like me. And that's what I want to focus on. So here's the. Here's the bullet points of the things I do. So when I walk through with your client, trust me, everything is going to be a positive. There are negatives to every inspection report, but there's a solution, and that is the positive. And I'm going to communicate that to your client. But I'm not only going to communicate that with your client, I'm going to communicate that to you before the problem even, you know, comes up with your client. And then even further, you go, what I want to do, what I do for other agents in this business is I actually set up their script to their clients so that they show up. They really should show up 30 minutes at the end of the inspection, and that way they're not seeing the two hours, seeing the problem of the inspector going through the house also. That takes time off your plate.

[Josh Ste]

Yep. Let me give you. Because we have to get on to our next caller here in just a minute and I want to give you kind of a summary because this is such good. And then, Lisa, we can always connect with you offline. But the way I would think about it for you, Lisa, is I would think about it in two value props. Communication is the first value proposal. Second is time saved. Right. So, so what you're doing for the agent is you are bringing them efficiency, time savings, the whole thing that Cody talked about. You have multiple things you offer, you communicate so they don't have to worry. You can handle all that. But your biggest value prop is in your communication to the real estate agent's client. And so, like, that's how I would if I'm you coming off of this, because I'm a marketer. Right. What I'm hearing Stephen and Cody say is, hey, these are the value props. And so my brain's going, okay, how do I frame that into a mailer? How do I frame that into an email that goes out? How do I frame that into a social media post, let alone the script that I'm going to share with the agent? And I would frame it in like, how do I share with agents that the way we communicate is different? Most agents, they lose you clients, we help gain you clients. And so it's like go down that road. Do you use AI at all right now? Yes. Okay, awesome. So AI could really help you with this. And you, you know what, be great is take the transcript of this call, put it into AI and it will frame up for you, this for you. And but my point being is like, you gotta block it into what are the three things that Lisa's inspection company does differently than every other company? And it's gotta be bullet pointed and really easy because that's what you take to your husband that he can deliver in a script. That's what you take to your next home inspector that you hire that they can do that. This is the three point difference that we bring to the table. And most, where most people fail is they think doing it. Being a good inspector is the key. It's not everybody's a good inspector. It's communication because we got to get the deal closed. And that's the difference. So, Lisa, you have been phenomenal. Let's connect on, on social Instagram at Luke Acrey at staypay podcast. Shoot us a message we can always set up a time outside of this, but. Awesome. Thank you for coming on the show. I think it was really helpful for a lot of people.

[Luke Acree]

Thank you, Lisa.

[Tom]

Thanks, Lisa.

[Josh Ste]

Thanks, Lisa. Have a great one.

[Stephen Acree]

Bye.

[Luke Acree]

Awesome. Remember to get your questions answered here live on Stay Paid. You can go to remindermedia.com ask submit those there. We'll schedule a time for you to come onto the episode. All right, I have to cut in here before this next call because we actually lost the first half of the audio in the recording. But this is Natasha. She's calling in from Texas. She has a firm that handles tax preparation, life insurance and medicare, all of which she mentions can be serviced virtually. Yet she feels like she would be more profitable if she were to open a brick and mortar location. So in the first half of the call, we find out a little bit more about her business. We find out that rent in her area is going to be about $2,000 a month and each new client is worth about $450. So we're jumping into the conversation halfway through where Luke starts breaking down what she would need to produce in her business in order to cover the cost of a physical location and become more profitable.

[Josh Ste]

So you would need at least four clients to just cover your rent. So you would have to assume that you're losing 48 deals minimum a year just to cover your rent expense. Now that's not util. That's not everything else that's involved in an office. Right. Cleaning and, you know, all the other stuff that comes with it. So that's my question to you. Do you think you're losing 48 deals? Definitely. Like, you would need to, like in my mindset. Right. Would be you always want to look for like a 5x7x if you can. A minimum would be a 3x, meaning you. You spend a dollar, you make three. Right. So that's a minimum criteria. Most healthy businesses are, you know, for the great businesses are massive. Right. You know, you're 14x to the dollar you spend. So my question to you would be, do you think. So let's just do the four. Do you think you would get 192 new clients because you have a physical location over the year?

[Lisa]

I do. I feel like I would be able to get more clients if they could walk into my office.

[Josh Ste]

So you're definitely. This is. So you're just seeing how. And we answer questions here. The show the way I just would answer for my own business. Right. With Reminder Media and with Acre Brothers. So if you believe there's 192 deals out there, then I think you have a valid argument. And here's why I say that the reason why is you're serving a senior population. They prefer physical because of trust that comes in the rent. $2,000 a month is really not that high. That was a lot lower than what I thought it would be. So that's fantastic. And it's not that many clients you need to break even. And there's a lot of intangibles that you will definitely get if you pick the right location. Because location everything in real estate. And so what I would encourage you to do, my game plan would be is there any way you can test it? Is there any way you can not have to go full in and test Maybe for open enrollment season you do a sublease for open enrollment season. This is just my thinking. If I was like okay, Acre Brothers, we're gonna, you know, we don't have a physical location. We're gonna go and get a physical location for Medicare. Can you test it? And there's a place you could do a sublease for 98, six months where it's now you're calling special open enrollment. And that way you don't have to go all the way in, but you can test your theory. And maybe there's a place you could sublease a office building. There's these we work spaces. Right. That you can do and stuff. Like I would look into that avenue. That's a good.

[Lisa]

That's something I have not thought about. So thank you for that. I'm definitely going to look into it. It because my busy era is from my busy season with Medicare and taxes is from October to April. So that's six months. So yeah, I need to see if maybe I can find somewhere maybe you.

[Josh Ste]

Can sublease or partner up with somebody that could feed you business. Maybe a real estate office like Acre Brothers, right. They have extra rooms and they have people coming in and going and you can go to them that has the space and say hey, I'll pay you three hundred hundred dollars a month to be in there. But the only thing there that you have to be careful of is signage is really important to you. Right. And, and being out in the community, you just don't need a room. You need, you know, like a location. Signage. Not everything, but at least you. You get both advantages for your test. And then the other thing I would think about for you is that hey, sit down in, in. It's the mundane work of business that few people do but is so important. You don't just have rent. You have rent, you have utilities, you have cleaners, you have. Do you need a receptionist or not? Like, there's things that a physical location makes you bring to the table that maybe is, you know, more expensive than you're thinking. And then you just got to do the math of how many clients you need to break even. And then here's the big question that I'll end with, and we'll let you go, is then look at that money spend and go, if I just took this money spend and put it into the marketing of what I'm currently doing, right? One is you got no defocused. So now you're not focused on two things. There's a massive gain in that. Now you don't have to worry about two things. You're still doubling down on what you're doing. Well, and so I would just like, my question would be, is, and then Steve and I talk about this all the time when we're trying to get into new ventures. Can we take this money we're going to spend on this new venture and put it into the current cup that we already have going and fill up that current cup and why go somewhere else? Even though it's tempting, It's a shiny object. Why go somewhere else where our current cup's not full? You only move to the other when your current cup is overflowing, you have excess. Like when your cup is just overflowing. It sounds like you might be at an overflowing stage. You're kicking butt, Natasha. Like, you're a great entrepreneur. So congrats to you with all the things you're doing. But you're already. I can tell by your personality. You know why? Because you're doing Medicare, you're doing tax, you're doing the other thing you said that. I forgot already, but you're doing already. Yeah, Life insurance. You're already doing three things right. So my gut tells me you haven't mastered them all. That's what my gut. And that's not a knock on you. That's just me and my experience of business.

[Lisa]

Of course, I've been doing that over 20 years. But life insurance and Medicare, I'm, I'm still.

[Josh Ste]

Exactly. Now you're trying to introduce a whole new mastery of physical versus virtual. And I have cautioned. I would caution you there, so I would do the test. Natasha, you are amazing. What a great question for the audience. Because it is. Yeah, it is interesting in this world because you got the exps in real Estate that are all virtual. And then you got the Keller Williams that have physical locations. It's like, should I be physical? Should I not? And obviously it's nuanced, but. Great question. Connect with us on Instagram and I can't wait to hear what you do. Tell me what you do. Okay. Because I want to. I want to know. We will.

[Lisa]

And thank you for your suggestions. It was great talking with you guys.

[Josh Ste]

Yeah, great talking with you too. Thanks, Natasha.

[Lisa]

All right, take care now. Bye. Bye.

[Josh Ste]

What a great question from Natasha. That's awesome. Like, we don't normally get those types of questions with office space and stuff.

[Luke Acree]

Like that and that. I mean, what you walk through there can be applied to any decision that you're making.

[Josh Ste]

Right?

[Luke Acree]

From that perspective.

[Cody Smith]

Yeah, you're spot on, Luke.

[Luke Acree]

Make sure to get your questions answered live here on the podcast. You can go to remindermedia.com ask and we will schedule a time to get you on. Joining us next is from Tennessee. Is it Chrisini?

[Lisa]

Hi, it's Christina.

[Luke Acree]

Christina.

[Josh Ste]

Christina. Well, the third time's the charm. You get it twice. Christina, it is awesome to have you on Stay Paid. Can you share with us your question or what's the big struggle that you're facing that we can maybe help you with?

[Lisa]

Absolutely. Thank you all for having me. So my question is, how do I get a small business online started and with an educational focus?

[Josh Ste]

Okay, interesting. So you want. So have you started the business yet? Like, is it currently an actual form business or. And this is just more the marketing side getting it online, or are you talking starting the business in general?

[Lisa]

Starting in general. So we have a concept already, but, like, taking those next steps to actually make it into fruition.

[Josh Ste]

Okay. Yeah, this is. Okay, this is a great question. So there's a lot of places we could go here. I would want to know a little bit more. More about the idea. Right. So what is the actual business that you're thinking of starting?

[Lisa]

So it's my husband and I, we're working together. And so what we want to do is have an online platform for parents and children. So, like, helping the parents learn how to access materials and utilize them better with their children at home and also helping children be better prepared for school and different things like that as they venture out into their next steps.

[Josh Ste]

Okay, so what would you classify that as, Josh? Like a thought leadership, Like.

[Luke Acree]

Like an educational platform, like an lms, Like a learning cert. Like a learning with.

[Josh Ste]

Can they take courses on this platform that you're going to create or is it you're giving them recommendations of content they should have for their kids on.

[Lisa]

Schools, the latter recommendations of things you can do with their children. I was an educator for 20 plus years, so that's awesome.

[Josh Ste]

Thank you for that.

[Lisa]

So I've seen a lot and over my time, that's where I wanted to focus on more of those aspects. In particular low income families that don't have access to getting to, you know, great facilities and things like that.

[Josh Ste]

But how would you make your money? Like, what do people do? They, Is it a subscription to the content that you're offering? Is that what you're thinking? How are you going to make your money? What are you charging people or what's your thought process there?

[Lisa]

So that was kind of where we were thinking, but that's also kind of where I would need some help as well. Like, how can I actually turn this into a business? Like, I have the idea, but as far as, like, where can I go? What would this really look like? I'm still working on that part.

[Josh Ste]

Okay. Yeah.

[Stephen Acree]

So you absolutely have to come up with like the biggest pain point. I mean, you've been in education for so long, so you understand the pain point of parents. And then you just got to say, you know, what would they be willing to pay for this subscription model? And then you're gonna have to break that down because you're gonna have to go into, what is it going to cost us to get this platform up and running with engineers creating the platform. Maybe it's you guys creating the platform because this is a very much a equity play and not a cash flow play. So there's gonna be a lot of money out on, you know, the table out of pocket until you can get up to a number of subscriptions to pay for that. So you're going to have projections, you're going to have to have projections out for at least probably five years, you know, to go. At what point will we be cash flow positive on that side? But you got to start yet with the pain point. Seems like you have the pain point, but then you just have to backtrack and go, what, what would someone be willing, what would a parent be willing to pay?

[Josh Ste]

I would also add that your like, first step, always. Right. Is understanding, like, who is my ideal target audience?

[Lisa]

Okay.

[Josh Ste]

And what is the pain point? I'm solving for them. Like sales 101 is essentially, people have a desire they want to achieve and a pain point that's keeping them from getting there.

[Lisa]

Okay.

[Josh Ste]

And your job as the sale. Right. Which is value, your job is to come in and say, hey, I have this service, I have this product, I have this platform that can eliminate this pain point and help you achieve this desired outcome. So in your case, the way I think about it is go, hey. You're basically coming in and saying, hey, parents. And I'm just making this up right here. But hey, parents, you're not sure what curriculum you should choose to educate your kids, or you're not sure what school system is the best school system, or you're not sure how to pick the right tutor, tutor for your kids. Should you even hire a tutor or not? And so these are like pain points, because what's the reward that the parent wants? Their parent, the parent wants the kid to thrive, be successful, get into a good college, right? They, they want all those things for their kids. So what I don't think you've quite defined it is you have all this knowledge. Yeah, but you need to choose what piece of the knowledge is it that people that you're going to offer and you need it. There's, there's riches and niches. Right. So a niche is like, hey, not a niche is, hey, I want to help parents with the education of their kids. A niche might be, hey, I want to help parents that are taking their kids into high school make the transition from middle school to high school or make the transition from high school to college. And I'm going to focus in on parents that have kids that are graduating high school that need to get into college. And I'm going to offer a specific tutoring. Like, that's more the niche. So I don't know, obviously all your skill and your background, but you got to determine what is that niche that you are serving. And then you've got to go, is the target audience big enough to be able to go sell into? So like in, in when you're pitching on like Shark Tank, right? Have you ever watched Shark Tank? They talk about the total addressable market, which no investor cares to hear about. But the reason why they talk about that is because that shows the volume opportunity that's out there. Because the last thing you want to do, and we talk about this in real estate all the time. When you go and start to farm a neighborhood, you don't want to farm a neighborhood where no home sell, right? You look at this neighborhood and everybody lives there till they die. There's no total addressable market. Nobody sells. So the market is zero. So it doesn't matter how good the product is, how good the marketing is, it's zero. And so for you, it's, hey, what is the niche and how big is that niche? Is there an actual opportunity here? Because you know you're not going to sell to. Maybe you'll sell to 3% of them, right? 1% of them. I think in real estate we have, you know, tens of thousands of real estate agents as clients that we sell to from a marketing perspective. And we don't even have a percent of the market. Like, we don't even have a percent. So the market is big enough with 1.5 million real estate agents that we can actually have a business in it. So for you, it's, hey, you've got to define first, what is the actual value that you're bringing? You're bringing education, but education's too broad. I can go to Google and get education. I can go to chat GPT and get education. You're too broad there. So you got to hone in what is the education Then that will tell you who's the audience?

[Lisa]

Okay.

[Josh Ste]

And then you go to basically, where is this audience and how do I reach this them? So for us, right, we go, hey, the audience for us is real estate agents. The niche that we started out to play in is referral marketing within real estate.

[Lisa]

Okay.

[Josh Ste]

And then we have to go, well, where do we find agents that we can reach out to that have a, a strong desire for referral marketing? And for us, it was lucky because you can find them online, you can go and find their rosters and where do they meet? They meet at their company offices. So what did we end up doing? We started to reach out to office managers, managers to get into the office meetings. And it's like that's how the business is formulated, is essentially, hey, take your idea. Who is the audience you're trying to serve with, what value proposition, where, how big is that audience? Is it big enough to actually where if I close 1%, I could make a living and then from there, or 10% I can make a living and then from there, where are they and how do I reach them? Okay, and that will take you to. Oh, I can reach them through Facebook ads. I can reach them through meet and greets at the mom groups. I can meet them through. And it will start business plan wise. You'll start now going, hey, Luke, will you invest in my business? Because here's, here's what we're doing. We're trying to serve these people with this value prop to solve this pain point. And the way we're going to reach them is we figured out that These people with this pain point that need this value prop meet here and I'm going to get, I'm going to go meet them here. And I've known, I've tested it and I know that for every 10 meetings I meet them here, I earn three clients and then the investor goes, okay, so if I invest $50,000 with you, you're going to get this much because you're going to be able to go to this many more meetings, you're going to be able to serve this many more people. Like, that's how the business formulation kind of works. Who am I serving? What am I giving them? What pain point am I solving? How big is that audience? Where do they meet? How do I reach them? That's what it is.

[Luke Acree]

The knowledge, like in terms of the actual mechanics of starting the online business hold you back. You can go to YouTube and find hundreds of videos of literally people walking you through how to start an online business using chat GPT will, will literally walk. So you have the cool idea, you have the, the important idea. So don't let the mechanics of that hold you back either. Once you've gone through the process of, of defining all of the things that.

[Josh Ste]

Luke talked about, your idea is just not fleshed out enough. Enough, like we can't help you enough here because you don't really have the, you don't and you know that. So right now, you know what? I would label you a consultant.

[Lisa]

Okay?

[Josh Ste]

Like what you are is your consultant because a consultant has a bunch of industry knowledge. So it's like if I went, if I left Reminder media, I've been doing marketing for 14 plus years, right? I could go be a consultant to other marketing agencies because my expertise is I been in marketing agency world and marketing world forever. But I don't have a product I'm selling. I don't, I don't really have a business I'm selling me. I'm the, I'm the sale, I'm the product. Like my knowledge. That's where you're at right now is you're the product, you're the consultant. You could go offer your services to parents as a consultant to help guide them. But you have to define what the product is that you're offering. Otherwise you're a consultant. That's not a bad thing that I know a lot of people in consultants, but that's the stage you're in right now is you don't have a business necessarily. You have a consulting business at best that you can scale. But I think there's more there under the surface. And. And I hope you dig into it and let us know. You gotta friend us on social because I hate having these people on and having to end the relationship. I would love for you to connect on social and let us know what you come up with and feel free. Chat us more of your questions as you're going through it.

[Lisa]

I appreciate this. You've all given me some things as I was talking to you that I was thinking deeper about. So this is perfect and exactly, you know, I'm starting and so this is. Is great information and I appreciate everything. So thank you all.

[Josh Ste]

Yeah, we love you coming on. You are the heartbeat of America. As they say, it's a small business. That's why we exist. So really appreciate you coming on. Stay paid.

[Lisa]

All right, thank you.

[Josh Ste]

Bye bye. What a great question. Yeah, like there, it's what the hard part is, is the paralysis by analysis. Right. In those phases. It's like she hasn't sorted out fully her idea totally fair. And nobody has their idea fully sort out.

[Luke Acree]

When we started, it wasn't. We didn't have the magazine correct.

[Josh Ste]

It was.

[Luke Acree]

We created a fake magazine. One version of it, walked into an office and started to get like, all right, hey, that actually works. Produce the first one and then get. See if we can actually scale it. Before.

[Josh Ste]

Oh, what a great job. Right at the first, when it was Healthy Pet magazine, before Reminder Media and all that stuff, like, he was thinking because he wanted to do like, like pet supplies online and all that stuff, he was thinking, how do I reach, you know, the. How do I reach the pet owners? And he was literally driving down the road and saw a billboard for a veterinarian.

[Luke Acree]

Yeah.

[Josh Ste]

But here's the magic to the whole story. The magic told story is he turned around and went to the veterinarian's office and sat in that lobby for a couple hours and asked to speak to the vet and. And literally spoke to him. And then lo and behold, you know, years later, Healthy Pet, you know, and got, I think two thirds of veterinarians across America to. To send it to their, you know, pet owners. But it's like that. That the key nugget of that story is had the idea and just immediate. Most people would go and keep thinking about. He just turned around and went and sat in the lobby for two hours so he could talk to veterinarian. Right? Yeah.

[Luke Acree]

Awesome stuff. So good, everybody. Thank you to all of our callers that called in and got their questions live. Another reminder, you can go to remindermedia.com ask to submit your questions. We'll get you scheduled here on the show. You can also go to staypaidpodcast.com for the show Notes of this episode. And if you enjoy this episode, head on over to YouTube.com reminder media. Make sure you're subscribed to the channel. Give this video a thumbs up if you want to get hold of me or Luke [e-mail] and of course you can find us on Instagram.

[Tom]

We are at Stay Paid Podcast for.

[Luke Acree]

This episode of Stay Paid. I'm Joshua Styke.

[Josh Ste]

Guys, I'm Luke Acrey. What a great episode. Please get your questions in. This is awesome to do. I hope it's helping a lot of people 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 do in your business, take action on it.