agentXcel with Chris Bowers

Our whole business is helping people settle into a place where they can set down roots and build memories. But what happens when we decide to move ourselves and our business to a whole new state? That's what my guest Desireé Cosby did when she decided to relocate from The Land of Enchantment to the Grand Canyon State! But while she was starting new here in Arizona, she still had a team and a successful business running in New Mexico. What she's learned since is a power that we all could learn from: having the confidence to trust your team and your clients that no matter where you are, they and their business is your number one priority. We have a great conversation about not letting Limiting Beliefs drive our practices and embracing success even when it's in a different time zone. About Desireé: Desireé has been primarily serving the Chandler, Gilbert, and Queen Creek communities since 2017—while simultaneously managing a team in Albuquerque, New Mexico. One of Desireé's favorite parts of the business is helping people make such a significant purchase. The process can be confusing and overwhelming, so Desireé likes to ensure that her clients' best interests are always front and center. As a member of The Santistevan Group, Desireé is incredibly proud of the New Mexico team she built and honored to be part of such a successful and client-oriented team. You can connect with Desireé Cosby at https://www.facebook.com/DesireeCosbyRealEstate/ Quotes and Takeaways: "I think we all get in the habit of thinking that everything is happening because of strictly us and if we are gone, then that no longer happens. I mean, to some degree I'm still guilty of thinking that my clients are wholly dependent on me and if I wasn't there answering their calls and showing the property that they would just find someone else. What I've learned is that your people are ultimately your people as long as you take care of them. If you can put people on your team in place that will treat your clients as well as you treat them, then your clients trust that you're looking out for them, and they'll continue to trust you to help them with real estate." - Desireé "I was just kind of tripping myself up by saying too much. I found that my clients didn't want to know all the details, they just want to know that they're being looked out for, and they trust me to do that for them. In turn, they trust the people that I trust with them. The foundation is trust." - Desireé "I think when you've built a reputation that you do right by people, agents are comfortable referring you. And so I built a different type of referral business, you know, as in regards to Arizona." – Desireé

To make it in our chosen profession, it takes hard work and dedication to get through the tough times that we all are eventually going to face. While staying the course might be the right thing to do at first, when do you make the decision that the course that you're working on just isn't working for you? My guest this week is Fred Weaver, and he's been faced with that decision many times in his career. His superpower is knowing that change can be a good thing and not something to be afraid of. For him, change is just a reality of the business when things aren't working the way expected. It's finding what works for the market and for himself that is important, and it's a lesson that we can all use on our own paths to success. About Fred: Fred is a founding co-owner of Group 46:10. He has been working in the financing and real estate industries since 2001. Fred began his real estate career by working for a large wholesale bank as a processor and rate/lock specialist for home mortgages. After 2 years in the business, Fred transferred from the banking side of home loans to the mortgage side. In February of 2008, partnered with Kevin Kauffman and founded Group 46:10. For over 10 years, Group 46:10 was one of the most successful real estate teams at Keller Williams Realty. In 2018, Group 46:10 partnered with eXp Realty to continue the growth of their company. You can reach out to Fred through his website at https://group4610network.com/ Quotes and Takeaways: "I think the teams that have the longest standing track record of success are those that have an owner operator who at one point or another generated more business than they knew what to do with and they were forced to go out and hire more people out of not wanting to cap their business. The people that say, I just don't like this anymore, maybe I should start a team, or they just love leading and coaching and mentoring, I think that's a harder road to go down. An owner, operator, lead generator, who at one point or another just generates more business, those type of teams, in my opinion, typically find a little more success." – Fred "Too often people are trying to model their entire world after somebody that they look up to or just take one person's approach to investing. But rather than trying to copy a person or their methods, what people should be asking themselves is, 'what can I emulate,' or 'what do I want to take away from this person?'' – Fred "If there's a way for us to collaborate and work together and maybe improve your life then we should probably explore that. I would hope that somebody else out there that like is listening that thinks they can improve my life would reach out and like want to explore something as well. I'm open to opportunities and possibilities and I think that's what it's about: giving back and helping other people and kind of paying it forward." - Fred

There's a good chance that if you were to ask any professional real estate agent what motivated them to get their license, it was because this is one of the best ways to make money through hard work. While this might be true for most of us, what keeps us is the chance to work together and build networks and community and share that success with other working professionals so that we all can make money together. My guest this week is Marshal Nathe, a good friend and collaborator who believes, like I do, that our true strength as agents is not going it alone to reinvent the wheel, but sharing what works so that we can all get the most out of this crazy market we love to work in. About Marshal: Marshal is the CEO and founder of Bridgestone Homes, and also part of the Hague Partners of Real Estate Agents. His company is involved in domestic sales as well as international development in Costa Rica, as well as an investment division which operates on long term rentals, Airbnb's, and fix and flips. He is also a former offensive lineman for the Arizona State Sun Devils. You can reach out to Marshal through his Instagram at www.instagram.com/marshal_nathe Quotes and Takeaways: "I'm comfortable saying that I originally started real estate because I wanted to make a lot of money, but I knew I had to be good at what I did. I knew I had to take care of people and really have a passion for providing value that they wouldn't have otherwise. When I achieved that, the money came." - Marshal People tend to think about real estate as almost a competition, like it's you versus me. What you and I understood from day one when we started our transaction is that this is a group effort. We're trying to get you a good situation and we're trying to get my buyers a good situation. So, it boils down to: how do we make that happen? We work together." - Marshal "With the market how it is, and how difficult it can be, if you can make money now and you're successful now, just wait until it goes back to normal, and you should really be kicking ass." - Marshal

So often when you're a working professional, you feel the need to take on all aspects of your success upon yourself. How often are we told that opportunity is waiting for those who are willing to seize on it, as if it's only sheer willpower that is needed to be successful? My guest this week is here to tell you that seeking help and realizing you're not alone is crucial to realizing your own truth and truly finding the success you're looking for. Dustin Runyon is a Psychological Coach and Real Estate guru who's made it his mission to help professionals realize how we're all in this together, and seeking help is not a crutch, but a crucial element of finding achievement and serenity in our chosen careers. About Dustin: Dustin works both as the head of a Real Estate team and as a Psychology Coach who specializes in results coaching for working professionals. With 7 years of coaching experience, Dustin is focused on helping his clients create the mindset for constant success. He is also the founder of the Dustin Runyon Real Estate team out of Lake Havasu City, AZ, where they are the Real Estate Company for agents and customers that is dedicated to delivering the dream of home ownership. You can reach out to Dustin through his website, www.dustinrunyon.com Quotes and Takeaways: "Asking for help is a superpower." – Dustin "The advice I would give to an agent who is struggling in their profession is, straight up, get with a team. The fastest way to success is to get in an environment where people are already succeeding." – Dustin "I have a desire for things to be easy, and asking for help makes things easier." – Dustin

It didn't take Kyle long after getting his real estate license to realize that if he put in the good work, it was a great way generate wealth. But he still wondered, was hard work going to be enough to give him the financial independence that he wanted for his future? My guest this week is Kyle Keller, team leader for the Kyle Keller Team, and he's sharing with us his business superpower: generating passive income through solid real estate investment. Our conversation takes us from his early days reading Rich Dad Poor Dad between college classes, to his thoughts on market supply and the future of real estate in Maricopa County. Kyle is here to help with some solid real estate know how on this week's agentXcel Podcast! About Kyle: Kyle is the Team Leader of the Kyle Keller Team and has been selling Real Estate here in the Greater Phoenix Area since 2001. He is also an Associate Broker at Keller Williams Realty Professional Partners. A native of Arizona, Kyle is also an active real estate investor who has fixed and flipped over 70+ homes and owns 10+ rental properties. His focus is providing his clients with the highest level of customer service. For Kyle, communication is key! You can reach out to Kyle at https://www.instagram.com/kylekellerteam/ Quotes and Takeaways: "I want passive income. I mean, most agents are just helping people buy and sell real estate. We don't have 401K's, or we don't have retirement plans. So, unless you've built a team and sell it at some point, or you're buying rental properties and building wealth for yourself, you're probably going to have to keep working. You're going to be a realtor forever." – Kyle At some point until you have to figure out when is enough, right? I'm kind of at that point, trying to decide that right now: I'm 42 years old, my kids are 13 and 10. And so, trying to just put things into perspective. I want to be at all the games for my kids and not be so focused on real estate all the time that you miss out on everything else. It's easy to do. But, if the market changes and it goes down, and with-it real estate income goes down, if I have rental properties, I'm going to be protected that way." – Kyle

What if your superpower was convincing people that you had a superpower? I'm talking with Frank Klesitz, founder of Vyral Marketing about using effective marketing to get your foot in the door with clients. Being able to successfully market yourself and your business is only the first step of being in business, once you do get that bite, you also have to be able to follow it up with an effective pitch to help the client understand all of their options that you, as the professional, are able to provide them with. Our conversation even has a few examples of his ideas in practice, an added bonus to a great conversation. About Frank: Frank Klesitz founded Vyral Marketing, an Inc. 5000 awarded advertising agency for entrepreneurs in professional services (mostly real estate), leading 65 employees to help 500+ clients stay in better touch with their database to increase sales with education-based video marketing. Connect with Frank: https://www.getvyral.com/ Quotes and Takeaways: "The marketing funnel and the sales funnel are essentially trust, need, help, and hurry, We must have a way to build trust within the market so we got to put out videos we got to have reviews, we got to have all this soft fuzzy stuff that as business owners we hate because they don't drive sales now, but like you got to actually build trust with people over the long term. A lot of getting there is by doing a podcast like this or putting out videos and working things out." – Frank "If someone's going to give you money, they'll be online checking you out, seeing your competence and how you present yourself, how you speak, and seeing what you have to say. The way you sell the intangibles through certainty, like the more certain someone has been buying the intangible, the service is usually the higher price of elasticity of what they're willing to pay." – Frank

This week I have Bobby Lieb, the mayor of Central himself! Bobby is a veteran in the industry and has been a valuable mentor and teacher to me over the years. There's been a lot of changes in the real estate market recently, each side advocating to do things 'their way.' It can be good to see what's been proven to work and to get some rock-solid fundamentals, and Bobby is an expert in that. His superpower is sticking to and intimately knowing a certain geographic area. Bobby knows this neighborhood inside and out, but it didn't come without hard work and dedication. Getting your name out there through constant marketing, doing the work and being contactable as an expert in your area will get you the kind of respect Bobby has accumulated over the years. About Bobby: Bobby Lieb's name is synonymous with North Central Phoenix real estate. He has been the top-selling realtor in North Central Phoenix since 2001, having served the market since 1993. He has also ranked as HomeSmart's #1 Top Performing Realtor every year since he joined them in 2011. This includes his sales not only in North Central Phoenix, but also in the Biltmore, Arcadia, Scottsdale, and Paradise Valley areas. Connect with Bobby https://homesmart.com/real-estate-agent/arizona/phoenix/5171-bobby-lieb/Welcome Quotes and Takeaways: "Selling homes on busy streets is not an easy challenge. But when you sell one, and you can put a sold sign on that busy street that has 75,000 cars going by day, you couldn't pay for that advertising. It does pay and people see the signs, and even if they haven't talked to you a little while, if they see your sign, they know you're still in business." – Bobby "I know every house in this area that's sold, I know the schools, I know all the churches, the restaurants, you name it. Hire the best person that area, and don't go for the glitzy ads and the papers and TV because you're just getting an agent that doesn't even knows your area doesn't care. They're just there to sell your house, make some money and move on to the next one. Whereas I think there's a lot you can value having an agent that really knows the market in your area." - Bobby

On this week's episode, I'm excited to be joined by my friend Kevin Kauffman. Kevin's been in the industry for a long time, and has had many starts and stops, but he's always been able to see the bigger picture and push ahead. That's where his superpower lies: his ability to build connections and to realize when something isn't working, and the aptitude to shift to something different. His whole career has been about using the connections that he has to build success, and further expanding upon those connections to include the best in the business. Kevin is a prime example of a working professional who is not afraid to try something new, but keeping perspective to know when it might not be the right fit for him and his priorities. About Kevin: Kevin Kauffman is the co-founder of The Group 4610 Network with eXp Realty, host of the Kevin and Fred Show, a podcast for real estate industry. Kevin and his business partner Fred Weaver have a reputation for connecting people through their mastermind and large group style events for the outsiders & mavericks who want more and are willing to think differently than everyone else. Connect with Kevin https://www.facebook.com/KevinandFred https://www.instagram.com/kevin_kauffman/ https://kevinandfred.libsyn.com/ Quotes and Takeaways "I don't go into relationships asking questions for pure personal gain. There is a genuine curiosity and just wanting to know. People respond well to that." – Kevin "I've realized that I'm a resource for realtors. I can help agents and brokers explore areas of their business where they're leaving money on the table, or they're leaving opportunity on the table, or they're just not aware of something. I'm not the Mr. Fix it for all of it, but I probably know who is." – Kevin

Most realtors have a superpower when it comes to running their business - one thing that they are REALLY great at. On the agentXcel podcast, Chris Bowers is interviewing some of the top-performing agents across the country as well as agents who are on the rise. Selling real estate is what we're good at, but investing in real estate is our passion.