Blaze Your Own Trail - From Acting to Real Estate with Kelly Johnston

Episode Date: October 20, 2021

About Kelly: Kelly Johnston is the Founder of the 4X Formula Podcast and the Quick Commission Accelerator and the Author of the newest Real Estate Training Book called ATTRACT which is now on Amazon. He has been practicing Real Estate sales since 1997 and have come to believe that our business is ever changing. The old ways don’t work anymore. His goal is to create an army of 4X Agents doing Real Estate the right way affecting our communities in a positive way and make a lot of money. It took a long time to figure it out and now have figured out how to simplify the Real Estate business...check out his podcast on iTunes, or Stitcher or Google Play to enjoy some free training...otherwise go to our website at www.4XFormula.com to learn more!! In this episode we discuss: Kelly's upbringing What sports he played Always being the short kid Moving out at 18  And much more! Thanks for listening! Connect with Kelly: https://linktr.ee/kellyjohnston.training Grab a copy of his new book ATTRACT on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1988925819 Connect with Jordan: LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanjmendoza/⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/therealjordanjmendoza/⁠ Clapper: ⁠https://clapper.vip/jordanjmendoza⁠ Join my Facebook Group: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/linkedintrailblazers⁠ Website: ⁠https://www.blazeyourowntrailconsulting.com Installing strategic sales systems & processes will stop the constant revenue rollercoaster you might be facing which is attainable through our 6 Week Blazing Business Revenue Coaching ProgramBook a discovery call with Jordan now to learn more! Are you an entrepreneur?Join my FREE Group Coaching Community where we have live calls, Q&A and more! Our Trailblazer Ecosystem also enables you to network with other entrepreneurs and creator hub eliminates multiple subscriptions and logins creating a one stop shop to take action!Use code: FOUNDING100 for 12 months access FREE and Founding pricing for life! (While Supplies Last)Join now! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Are you ready to find out how to blaze your own trail? Welcome to the Blaze Her Own Trail podcast with your host, Jordan Mendoza. In this podcast, Jordan interviews people from around the world to find out about their journey to success. If you're looking for valuable content with actionable advice, you've come to the right place. And now your host, Jordan Mendoza. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. My name is Jordan Mendoza and I'm your host and I've got a very special guest today. His name is Kelly Johnston and I'm going to give him just a second to tell you a little bit about who he is and what he does today.

Very cool. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me be here, Jordan. I really appreciate him. I'm honored to be on your podcast to be amongst all the guests that you've had. I've been listening to it and you've had some amazing people on there. and I get to be in that company. So I'm very humbled to be here.

So thank you. My name is Kelly Johnston. I am a licensed real estate agent still practicing today, 23 years in the business as of April of this year. And I work with my wife, who's been with me for about 10 years. And we have a great little business pumping out constant volume. I have never missed a month getting a commission check for over 17 years. I've never missed a month.

I still, I have a consistent business. And now I've taken over the last three years, I've put together a real estate course for real estate agents. So I'm still in the middle of a lot of stuff. I believe there's four pillars to real estate. We could talk about that in a bit, but the first pillar is in, and people can access that, become a member,

and so we can talk about that later. But my mission right now is to take all this, experience and all the struggles that I went through and all the struggles that I've actually helped other agents go through and translate that into a course. It's easy to digest and easy to apply and anyone can do it. So I'm really excited about that part of my next part of my journey of my life. I love it. I love it. And so for the people that see this on YouTube later, they're going to see that you've got a bright green and blue sweater on, which has the best logo in the National Football League to Seattle Seahawks.

You know, it's funny. I think we realized that we were both Seahawks fans, I think, after a conversation. And that just adds to it, man. That makes business easy, right? When you're a Seahawks fan, then you can relate to other Seahawks fans. So, all right, my favorite part of the show, man, is we're going to rewind. We're going to take it back to the adolescent years from elementary through high school. So if you can share with the audience some context, you know, where did you grow up?

And, you know, what kind of kid were you? Sure. Yeah, man, I grew up a small town still here in the same town. I remember riding my bike around and not seeing much stuff. And now it's all infilled in. Now as an adult, I remember all the changes that happened in my little city. But when I grew up, I was always short. I'm five, five and a half now.

But I was always the short kid. I was the kid back in the day when when you'd have the group. of kids and you know and then there'd be the two smallest kids in the front holding the sign up for the for that was me I was one of those kids every single year. Anyway I was a short guy but I was scrappy and and I just always kind of operated like I had a chip on my shoulder all the time. It was just always felt like something was against me all the time and grew up on a farm where it was a first generation farm. So it wasn't like it handed down, you know. We started, it's called scrambled acres at the time. We sold eggs. And anyway, I was the oldest. And so I had to get involved

with a lot of the daily activities to help out my parents and two younger brothers. My middle brother, we're about 17 months apart. He was kind of like regular size and I was short. So we're like very competitive, you know, in our lives all the time. So I believe I brought better out in him because of that. And he brought better out of me because we were just constantly competing all the time and scrapping and all that. And I didn't spend much time inside. But it was a good life. Like it was a happy life.

But I do remember a lot of things growing up. And I noticed a lot of different things. And one of the things I think was that my parents, in the early 80s, the interest rates, I don't know if you know about this or we're around or even would understand it, but they went up to like 21%. And wow, that's high. I didn't know that. Yeah, it was crazy.

It was a crazy, crazy time. And like, I remember my parents couldn't even pay the feed bill just to buy the feed because their mortgage payments went up so much. And now they're trying to sell with interest rates all crazy. and, you know, it was just a very, very stressful time. And that went on for a little while. My dad had a challenge with alcoholism. He just didn't handle stress very well.

And my mom had to work. So now I'm home. She taught me how to cook meals. I was cooking roast beef dinners when I was nine years old. But she just taught me how to clean toilets and how to do things just to help her out around the house. But that was because I was the oldest. I had to just kind of help out and step in. But the biggest thing.

I remember is the stress. I remember the arguments. I remember the, you know, no one was hurting anybody, but it got violent, you know. And I remember that because I was the oldest. And I carried that. And so I think early on, I mean, it could have went two different ways, but I think early on what it did for me is it created a motivation that would kind of percolate and surface later in my life. and yeah, that was good at sports. My sport was soccer. I know yours was basketball. And funny enough, Kelly, I actually played soccer and baseball for 12 years.

Oh, wow. I didn't actually even play basketball besides like streetball or, you know, with the church leagues and stuff like that. That's really where I played. But the other ones, it was, I think my mom was more interested in the other two. And I didn't like playing either. I actually liked going and selling the candy bars more than I like playing the sport. You know, that's how passion. I've always had a passion for sales and just communicating with people.

Oh, that's cool. Very cool. Yeah, I played 12 years of soccer as well. And then, of course, you get past school and then you just start working and surviving and whatever. And so then sports take a sideline. But I actually thought I was going to be a soccer player. I thought that I was going to make it. And like when I was in grade four, I was on the school team playing with the grade seven. And I was short, I was just this little tiny, like it was ridiculous. It must have looked at incredibly ridiculous. But I, no one could get the ball for me. I would just go up and down the field and all these big guys would be lumbering around me and I'd be able to trick them and stuff like that. But I remember that. And then I thought, oh, I want to play hockey. And we didn't have any money. And my mom said, well, I think there's a raspberry farm around the corner. You could just ride your bike over there and see if you can pick some berries. And if you can make enough money to play hockey, then yeah, you can play hockey, right? And so I had to pick the berries. and I went nuts.

I had a goal. I remember, you know, talking to this lady, and I mean, she probably looked at me and going to, how are you going to reach all the bushes? You know, I was just a short little guy. I was 12 years old, and they did pay for me to go to a hockey camp. I'd never put on skates before,

but I want to play hockey. And so I put on the skates, and I went through this camp, and I mean, I literally had to learn from zero. But I got most improved player at the end. which was really cool and I was able to kind of figure out how to make it happen after that. And so I played two years, the second year of hockey, I couldn't pick enough berries to buy new equipment. So I, you know, my feet were numb coming out of my skates because I'd grown a little

bit. And it was just ridiculous. And I just couldn't pick enough berries to play anymore. But it was, that was a great experience. But what I loved about that and I take from that is my mom said, you know, I can't do it for you, but you can go do it. figure out a way to do it. She threw a solution out there and I went after it. And I made it happen. But, you know, couldn't keep it going. But I do remember that as a lesson back in those days.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you had a goal and you went and accomplished the goal. Like that's huge, right? And that showed you that you can do something, right? On your own, like you can get this done. So what I want to know, man, and I know the audience has got to be curious as well. What was the consumption to bin ratio when you're picking raspberries? Was it like you eat one, put one in the basket?

Because I'm sure you put, you could have probably paid off three years with a summer camp with all the ones you probably ate. You know what? If you've ever picked raspberries, there's thorns on those bushes, man. Like, you're working through those. There used to be. Yeah. You used to be, Kelly. Now they have all these like weird ones.

Because it's funny, it's funny you say that. I was at a berry pass. This is when my oldest, almost 16 was, I think he was maybe like six and my other one, I think another one was maybe three. And like, I grew up in Oregon. So every bush you picked, you're getting cut up, sliced up, blood everywhere. You couldn't tell if it was blood or juice. And then I went to this berry patch.

I literally stuck my arm in like so, like hesitatingly. And my arm touch and I like jerk back and there was no thorns. There was no thorns, Kelly. And you know how weird that is? Having a bush that traditionally has thorns and then it doesn't? I was showing a house the other day and it was and this is like here I am. I'm 52 years old. I mean, this is what, 40 years ago.

And I was at this house and I looked at this bush and it was raspberries and I'm like, there's no thorns on it. I had never even known about this until honestly, this is probably less than a month ago. And I was showing up. I'm going, that's awesome. Who invented that? they're amazing. I would have love that. But that was the thing, like bringing back the competitive spirit, my brother was picking with me too. And I had to beat him. I had to get to the

end and I had to pick more berries than him. So two things had to happen. I had to beat him, but I also had to make enough money. So I did eat a couple for sure, but I was so focused on the end result, right? Like I had to beat him. And there was a cute girl also. She was at the next line. I knew if I got done, I'd get to see her a little bit when I got to the end of the row. But it's funny how things like that can motivate it. That's right. Yeah, the smallest things can motivate you for sure. All right. So what happened next? So you played you played through high school. So what, what happened after high school? Did you, did you go to college? Did you start working? You know, what was the route that you ended up taking? Yeah. High school was just really,

you know, I just kind of, I worked hard. I was one of those people that didn't come easy for me. not a scholastically smart type person, but smart enough. You know, numbers were pretty good for me. Math came pretty easy to me. But I got through it. But near my high school years, I started getting into acting. Someone had thrown me into something. I can't remember what it was.

And I ended up winning a little award in grade eight. And I kind of started to pursue that a little bit and got it to some shows and stuff. And then after that, I thought, okay, I'm going to go to college. I'm going to be a teacher. And my parents couldn't pay for it. So I had to, I got a couple scholarships, not much because I wasn't really, you know, and I wasn't also, there was nothing sports-wise that I could get into to get some money or anything like that.

So I had to kind of keep working in a job and then try and go to college. I moved out when I was 18. I couldn't handle it at home anymore. I had to get out. I don't know. It wasn't like it was hell. It was just like I needed to. feel like I had to do everything for myself anyway when it came to get my own car to

playing hockey like I just talked about or anything that I needed clothing, whatever. I had to get it myself. So I'm like, well, I gotta do it all myself anyway. I just want to be on my own and create my own independence. For some reason, I don't know why, but it was so important to me and I moved out when I I was 18 with a buddy. And so now I'm paying rent and buying groceries, working. trying to go to college to try and learn the basic stuff to see if I want to take it further.

And I'm like, man, I'm working night shifts. I'm falling asleep during classes and trying to make it work. And then they're saying, well, in order to get this diploma, you got to take these other courses. And I'm like, well, I got to pay for those courses. And it's already tough anyway. And they mean nothing to that diploma. I'm like, ah, enough of this. So I started doing some shows.

And everybody, I remember going after doing some shows. shows and and I started to get a little bit well known. They're writing about me in the paper a little bit and comparing me to Michael J. Fox back in those days. I don't know if you remember him, but we were kind of, I don't know, kind of similar. And anyway, all my friend, and there was no internet you got to remember back in this time. All my friends are saying, yeah, I'm going to get an agent and I'm going to start doing some TV and stuff like that.

And we, you know, you know that talk, right? Everybody's talking about all their dreams and all of the. kind of stuff and I thought you know what okay I'll go do that how do I do what do I got to do and I learned about this book that you had to get that had all of the names of all agents and all the people that were involved in the movie business or TV business and I got that book and and then they say well you got to get some pictures done so okay I had to figure out a way to get some pictures done anyway long story short I got an agent and I got some parts in a

couple TV shows and and me not have heard of them neon rider a long time ago and another show called Border Town. I had lead roles for those episodes. And that's kind of my claim to fame in my town. People, oh, you're the actor guy. Now that's all faded now. Now I'm the realtor. But when I was doing that back in those days, pumping gas,

just couldn't have a really good job because I had to go up for auditions all the time. But I remember coming back and friends saying, oh, I'm so jealous. And I remember thinking of my mind, all you guys were talking about it. Like, you were talking about all these things that you needed to do to kind of make it in acting, but none of you did it.

Like you never did the stuff. I just innocently and just thought, oh, well, that's what I have to do. If I'm saying I'm going to do it, then that's the things I got to do. What are the steps? And I went and did it. And I got some parts. And anyway, that was just another thing in my life, you know, where after a while I kind of just got jaded with the acting industry and all that and decided, no, I don't want to be

famous. I don't want to be on People magazine. I don't want to, you know, it's either that or starving, right? There's no real middle ground in the acting world. So yeah, anyway, but that's another little part of my life. And so then I kind of floated through life, you know, doing shows, working in jobs. At one point, I had four jobs. I was teaching acting classes and waitering and landscaping. And now my goal was save up money so I can have a coffee shop. And this was before Starbucks and before any of that stuff. I thought, what if you had a coffee shop? that people could hang out and be like a pub atmosphere, but it's coffee. And you can make the drinks really cool, get your dollar per customer up and all that.

And I was living a bunch of guys and put this little idea together in my head, started searching for it, bumped into somebody, and we ended up opening up a coffee shop. And two years later, that was my first bankruptcy at that point. And then I got into real estate right out of that. Well, awesome, man. Well, you know, it seems like one thing that's been very consistent is you've been very disciplined, right? And I can see at 18, you being ready to go out on your own because like you said, you were the oldest of three. And here you are when your parents are, you know, trying to put food on the table for you. There are days when you're having to already be parent-like, where you're already having to raise yourself in some sense, but not only. that but have to actually raise a couple other humans as well. So yeah, I can definitely see by 18 where you're like, I'm just ready. You know, I'm ready to go out. There's the only differences that I'm going to be paying rent to somebody, right? Like you're already, you're already doing all the

other things. You're learning how to cook. You're learning all the basics that a lot of people don't even learn until they leave, but you've already kind of had that foundation. So that makes a lot of sense. But I think, you know, you talked about the chip on your shoulder a little bit earlier. And I think that's probably what has kept you pushing in every venture that you've done, right? And so I know, I know we'll get into it here in a second, but you had mentioned about the, you know, the first bankruptcy being having to do with the first coffee business. So that, that business failing, obviously, you know, we're talking right now. So I know that wasn't the, the end of your story. So can you share a little bit about what happened with that, you know, how did that kind of go south? And then what was the

next thing on your list? What was the next thing you wanted to tackle? Yeah. So, you know, now I'm 28 years old, roughly. You know, I'm kind of like, oh, wow, what do I do now? Like, I can't really go back to school. And I got to figure out something, you know. And this thing has not worked out. The reason that the coffee shop didn't work out, even though it had so much potential, was I had the vicious triangle thing going on with partners. and one bad apple. And so there's a long story to that, but I learned so much in that.

And that's when I met my wife. We'd dated, we were kind of friends for a while. And then we kind of connected again while I had this coffee shop. And when we connected again when I had that coffee shop, that was it. We never separated from that point on and we're still together today. and um but she she was there during the tough times i remember when i proposed to her it was okay so when i'm finished this bankruptcy you know let's get married kind of thing um so very romantic obviously you know

i'm a very romantic guy there was only there was only one place to go and that was up brother so right so so she was doing it based on the forecasted potential yeah i i don't know she lost something yeah listen you know it worked out right you're like this is it You know, we've got one direction to go, so take it or leave it. Can't get any worse than this. So yeah. And then so then my buddy who had known all my life since we were seven years old, who was in real estate. And he used to come into the coffee shop.

And he was one of those kind of Tasmanian devil type people. Like he just, he's just crazy. Stir stuff up. And it was just, everything was a mess. And it was just chaotic. And he still to this day is like that. But he needed. me to kind of help organize him and take care of some other parts of his business. So he brought me on

and I started off as an assistant working for him and kind of going through the, you know, the bankruptcy and all that. And Nicole and I were living in a basement suite. Just kind of just starting out. We have one car. I had to drive her out to 45 minutes away to her job and then use the car for the day. Go back out, get her. And, you know, we just, we just kind of were just starting we're just you know just kind of fumbling our way through and um really in survival mode really and i i'd never not been in survival mode still to this point and it wasn't until later on in life where i actually felt like i got past survival mode and um i became comfortable with it and so you think about all those things like even acting like you you get

paid a ton of money but then then you don't get paid a lot of any money for a long time while you're doing auditions and just kind of work in minimum wage and and then you get paid a bunch of money and like it was there was always survival it was always coming in chunks and I finally said to myself one day I have to I have to change some things and and and figure out a plan that's going to get me out of this that's good yeah that's that's good and that's a good realization to come to that you needed to make that change. I mean, I think you saw the cycle enough times to to finally realize like, maybe I can do this differently, right? Maybe there's some things that I can institute that that would help me along the journey and not have to go through the struggle because I think

for you, it was almost just part of your day to day. Like it was just something that you had always been used to, right? And sometimes the way to get stable, and I don't even want to say sometimes I'll even take that back and say if you want stability in your life, you have to face instability in order to find that stability. Right. So I think it was something that had to have clicked one day where you're like, all right, I don't need to do it. I don't need to do it the hard way anymore.

Let me try to map this out and figure it out. So what was that epiphany? And then what did you do next to just start to create some sense of normalcy? Yeah. You know, I really, because when I start, started with this gentleman as an assistant. If you think about it, another failure, right, or another thing. And I had the self-image of a pregnant aunt at the time.

It wasn't very, you know, I could overcome and fake it a little bit, but it was there. And I knew I had to get past that. There was a time where us as partners, because we did become partners, where I was like, You know what? Like, I'm doing everything here. And he went off.

He went off on a different path. We're not in our life, each other's lives anymore today. I came to this realization that I had to slice him out of my life. Very influential person through most of my life, but not in a good way. You know, when you grow up in a tough life or where it's in survival mode all the time, you don't always make great decisions. He was a person that had to cheat the system all the time. He had to find cheats to make things happen.

That's kind of how I can sum that up real quick. I won't get it deep into that. But basically, I learned all the wrong ways to build a business from this person. And one day I woke up in it and the line of normal was way over here. And I'm like, wait a minute. Like, this is not like, why am I thinking this is okay? hey, or normal, or why am I accepting this? I'm just becoming an enabler.

He became a person that became an alcoholic. And then that turned to drugs. And he started, and then people started hanging around. And I was still the good guy. I never got involved in drugs or anything like that. And everybody knew it. And it was all good. But I became the enabler.

And so then I'm like, wait a minute. What patterns am I setting here? Like, my dad, like all that stuff. And then I thought, you know what? I've got to realize this right now. I've got to slice it out. This is not good for my life. I had a new daughter.

She was barely a year old. And I'm like, no, I can't. I got to slice this off. So I did. I made the realization. And now I got to go off on my own and I got to rebuild again. But I'm going to rebuild it right this time. And so I did.

And that was in early 2000s, about 2001, I would say at that point. Awesome. So what did that next, you know, we'll just call it like the next decade you know what what did that look like the the ups and downs and and then you know here in a little bit we'll get into kind of what today looks like and in you know the four X formula and you know the stuff you're doing with content and all that yeah for sure um so yeah it was it was um i mean i had i started to understand i started learning i started going to seminars. I started reading tons of books. I got into a reading habit like crazy. I started just

filling my brain, filling my brain, filling my brain. At the tape, at the time, I was listening to tapes and CDs. Now it's all, you know, on the iPhone, but, but at the time, you had to really kind, you had to have stuff, you know, you had to keep it in your car. Like, it was not as easy as today. Like, it's just so easy to flip on a podcast now. But back in those days, you had to be very intentional and pay money for a lot of this stuff. There's so much free content that's amazing today that people can tap into like your show. And I wish I had that back then. But anyway, start to fill my brain, fill my brain, fill my brain and learning how to build businesses. And I started to do what they taught me to do and implement. I was an implementer. That was one thing

that I could say is if someone said, here's this, you know, they could simplify it and I could simplify it in my mind. I knew I could implement. And so I would and I would implement it. And so I built up the business. I brought on another partner and sat down with him. I remember telling him the goals. I said, in order for me to bring on a partner, we need to hit this kind of goal. We need to make over $300,000. And he just came from a warehouseman job saying, well, gosh, I make $40,000 a year.

If you make over $300,000, that means I'm going to make X amount of dollars. That would be amazing, but I don't really believe you. And I'm like, well, that's fine. You can choose to or not. Anyway, that year we hit 320 and that was my first time doing it. And all of a sudden, bam, this belief kicked in. And okay, I can do this. Now I can amp it up.

Now I can start to do this and I can start to do this. And all of the possibilities start coming into your brain and you're going, what if I did this now? Got licensed some mortgage broker. Start creating a mortgage brokerage company. I took over the back end of the office and I said, I don't want to be bothered by anybody. I just want to be on my own.

a separate entrance. I don't want to be walking through the hallways, getting caught by the coffee talkers. I just want to put my head down and work every day and pound it out. So we did. And now, now, so it was great. I came to that realization and it was a, it was a new level. But what I was doing is what they taught me to do. And that was to build a big business, build a big team, have 30 to 50 listings and pump it out there. And yeah, it was great. It was very successful. But I had money coming in and then money coming up money coming in money coming out and then 2008 hit and 2008 affected everybody I don't care who you are if if you're in the real estate business during 2008 2007 to 2009 I would say that two years stint for sure like and then there was the recovery

period but if anybody was in the real estate business in any capacity at that time I think you still probably get shivers when you think about that time frame and percent Yeah, not just from a real estate from if you had money in stocks, if you had money in 401K. If you had money anywhere, yeah, you felt the effects for sure. And, you know, there's a lot of states became rental states, you know, like they couldn't even get mortgages and stuff. And anybody who had a lot of money capitalized on it, but really, it was a tough time. And I had just bought a real estate company in 2007, a year later, 2008 hits. And then 2009, I had been fighting because of the ex-partner, there was some messiness with taxation and stuff like that.

And I had been fighting for almost 10 years with the Canada Revenue Agency on money I knew I did not owe, but they said I owed. And it was because of the messiness from the last partnership. Anyway, long story short, they started clamping down hard. So not only am I trying to survive now, I've got... you know, 27 agents at the time that owe me a ton of money. My receivables went from zero to over 100 grand within like two months, three months. Sorry, oh, it was about five months altogether, actually. And just all these things.

My partner started, you know, figuring out how he could get out of it. There's all these things going on in the world started clamping down, clamping down, clamping down. Canon Revenue agency comes in, tells all my staff, do not pay this guy. were guaranteeing 100%. I don't know if you can live on zero. It's pretty hard, right? And it was my only way of income.

My wife wasn't working at the time. And so that was a very trying time to get through that. And got through it, you know. But there was a point where I couldn't get out of that debt that they made up. And I was right, but it would have cost me another $50,000 to $75,000, just to prove I was right. I didn't have that anymore because they clamped me down now. So by 2014, I tried everything.

I tried so hard. I worked my butt off to try and just pay them. I sold everything I had, paid them. And in 2015, I started over again, all over again. But this time, I knew. I, you know, I, um, I started to understand where my brain was wrong. And the big business, I was starting to question that a little bit,

even though that looks like success and it's very easy to look at that. That person's got 30 to 50 listings. They must be really successful. And I started to question that a little bit and dig into that a little bit. And so I sold the company to these guys. I said, basically, give me enough to wipe the slate clean. You can take it over. I don't care about what I'm losing or whatever.

Because I know if I'm free and I can dump that off my shoulders, I can start doing real estate. I'll make that back in my first year. Whatever I'm losing on that, I'll make back. I know I will. And I did. And so I dumped it. And my wife and I went, I said, all I want is I want an 11-day vacation with me and my wife for us to go away, recharge our batteries, come back.

And we're going to, and we stayed in the office. we actually sold to them, then we stayed in the office with them. They were worried about us. They thought I was going to be a bad influence because I'd be all jaded and stuff. I was fired up. I was like, I don't have any of this weight anymore. I can now run. I'm not carrying 45 whiners on my shoulders anymore.

I can now kick butt. And so anyway, during that vacation, that 11-day vacation with me and my wife, we sat down. Now, she's now licensed with me for about two years. And we broke down the business. and we took what worked, took what didn't work. We figured out how we were able to maximize. We figured out how to create efficiencies. We figured out where our business was coming from and why.

And like we literally drilled down on everything. And that was literally the birth. I didn't call it that at the time, but that was the birth of the 4X formula right there. Love that, man. And listen, that your story and journey is the real, reason why you're on the podcast. Why? Because you have blazed your own trail. And I know we had this conversation offline. And I just want to share this with the audience because everybody gets in this

place. All of us face this syndrome where we get caught in her own head, where we're wondering where our value is and where our worth is. And I remember specifically saying to you, I said, what's stopping you from coming on my show now? Yeah. Right? And you didn't have an answer. Because when you told me that your journey, that's what trailblazing is all about. It's going against the grain. It's losing everything and starting back over again. It's not giving up. It's taking an 11-day vacation that was paid for from the company you exited to build your empire.

That's what trailblazing is all about, man. Yeah, yeah. It is. So let's talk. 11-day trip. You guys are freaking mapping out history here. you're doing it the right way and this is where, you know, the 4x formula is born. So give the audit some context.

What is the 4X formula? And how can this help other realtors or real estate agents that want to add more value that want to grow a business the right way? Yeah. You know, this is such a passion of mine. And I know it's going to take a long time, you know, this is kind of my preamble to this. But I know it's going to take a long time. time for people to kind of catch on to this because it goes against everything that's being

taught out there right now. And what's taught out there is honestly, it's the ego business. It's building it for the sake of building it. Like taking listings you shouldn't even get. Like it's, it's inefficient. It's costly. It's, you know, to me, I have now come to this place in my mind and you get older and hopefully you get past the warrior stage where you're fighting everything and you're battling all the time and you're, you know, you're worried about competitors.

I'm not worried about competitors at all. I support competitors. I have new guys in another office. I'm talking them through stuff. Help them out. There's, there is a, when you have a mentality of understanding where you know what you're capable of, then you don't need to worry about competitors or anything like that. It's, you know, the whole thing is predicated on.

You've got to be good at four things. So there's four pillars to real estate. So there will be four books. I'm working on the first one right now. And the first pillar is in, is in the best. back end right now. So if someone becomes a member right now, they can have access to that. And the first pillar is called attract. It's all about attracting business. It's not about getting business. You can get business, but you want to attract the business to you, figure out how to do that.

And there's activities that are specific to that that are efficient that will get that business, get the phone ringing for you. Yeah, you got to do some stuff. It's not going to happen by accident and it's not going to happen by sitting by the phone. But there are specific activities to do on that. I talk about mindsets, I talk about goal setting, I talk about why, I talk about how to how to get in there and become neighborhood specialists. There's tons of tactical things to do and I have 24 tools that have designed to help people look fantastic, leave behinds for their clients, and then tools to keep them on track and systematize their business so that nothing is falling through the cracks. It's all about systems because if your business is all about you and then you're not there anymore, you don't have a business. and so really important to put the systems in place.

So that's kind of what I've built it on. So attract, attain is the second pillar. So that's about winning the business, getting good at winning the business. How do you win it? And then serve really well and then retain the business. So that's your client retention systems. When you get really good at serving and retaining, you don't even have to worry about attract and attain anymore.

And that's the place to, you know. And so I call that a 4X business. there's a lot of, I was a 1x or a 2x agent in my mind. Like when I throw rocks at, you know, how businesses are built out there or what's being caught out there is all about getting tons of listings, all about building this enormous business, build a big team, have billboards and spent tons of money marketing yourself and creating a brand for yourself. And you hear that all the time.

I went to a course. It was 18 grand to build a brand, just to build a brand, create a bunch of brochures and talk about your story and all that's great. I understand that. But you build a course. a brand, you can build a brand through social media now. And it doesn't cost a lot of money. You can do that through video and telling your stories. And there's lots of more effective ways to do that without spending 18 grand on nice brochures. I mean, yeah, do some nice brochures.

We don't need to spend 18 grand. Anyway, but and the other part of it is, is you don't need 25 to 50 listings to make a lot of money in real estate. You know, my wife and I, our plan was, we trimmed it all down. And it's 8 to 15 at the most. And we maintain them and we sell them. And the right listings and they're good listings and we attract buyers off those listings. And that's how we roll our business. I believe, and this is the 4x formula right here, every listing should turn into four commission checks. Every listing should turn to four commission checks.

So if you take that mentality now, how efficient can you run your business and where do you put your activities and results? And now that's the rudder to steer all your decisions on where you choose to go after business. So, um, and that is. is far more effective, far more profitable. I make a half million dollars a year and it's just me and my wife and I don't need a team. I don't need buyers agents. I can shift, you know, a lead over to some guys and get a referral. But I can I can pound that business out, still have lifestyle and still enjoy,

you know, time with family and make over a half a million dollars in real estate. I love it. I love that formula, man. I think I think it's a smart formula and I use a similar formula in in my business, obviously I'm not selling real estate, but I think that framework really can translate into any business, right? Because if you're not creating content around your business, how are people going to find out about you? Right. So how are you going to attract the right people to you? Right? If you're not showing up, if you're not putting yourself out there. And like you said, with social media and with, you know, a device at our fingertips that's more powerful than, you know, the computer that, you know,

President Nixon had in the White House. Like, I mean, there's a, there's a million things that you can do with these, with these devices, right? So, you know, I love the formula and I can see how putting it together and having, you know, a systemized, optimized approach that's duplicatable. I can 100% see how you could create a sustainable business.

Because like you said, you're not in it to try to look good based on a bunch of listings. You're attracting the, right customer avatar that's going to add value to your business that you're going to be able to refer but you're also going to be able to help in turn one into four. I mean, to me, that that's a brilliant formula. Yeah. And you know, if you, if you, if you actually, you can study this in any market people. This is free advice right now. In your market right now, there is more efficient business to be operating it. Right now it's there. You just got to figure out and uncover it. So do,

look at the stats, figure out where 40% of the sales are happening right now. And I'll tell you, it's within a hundred to 150,000 dollar price point, you know, maybe 200,000 difference, but there's a range there that is, that is 40% of the sales going on right now. So if 40% of the sales are happening right now in that price range, that's probably 40% of the buyers buying in that area, right? So that's where the formula works. So you go after that business.

So what kind of product type is it? And what kind of like is it townhomes? Is it, you know, is it single family homes? Is it a gated community? Whatever it is for your market. Figure out what that product type is and then drill down on that and then become a specialist in that. Nothing else. Focus hard in that.

You'll get business and other, you know, parts of the market. For sure, you will. It'll come to you. But if you focus hard on that and then attracting buyers because of most, amount of buyers are there anyway, why would you focus anywhere else, especially if you're starting out in real estate? Yeah, 100%. And to me, if there is a plug-in-play solution, which essentially is what you've developed, right? You've developed this plug-in-play solution, which says you start here, you do this next, you do this next, you do this next, and you will

get results, right? And I think that's something that a lot of people lack because there's so much noise, right? There's so much noise out there. There's so many people telling you to do this and to do this, but I, uh, I like the way that you simplified it because this is something that anybody can pick up, you know, and say, all right, let me go ahead and put it. Let me institute it, right? Yeah. And if you take action, that's going to create momentum, which is going to create consistency, which is going to create results. I mean, that's just the way that business works in general. Yeah. Absolutely. And if you're going to take action anyway, and you're putting time out anyway, why not put it in a place where you have the best chance of having the best amount of success?

And while you're doing that, you're planting seeds at the same time for future business in the best business area that you need to be focusing on. So what you're doing is you're creating that circumstance of constantly planting, constantly planting. You can't, I always say to people, you know, you can't grab a blade of grass and. pull on it and make it grow faster, right? Like, you can't do that, but you can control the planting. You can control the planting. You don't know when it's going to germinate. But if you're constantly planting, constantly planting, constantly planting,

you'll never have to look for business. That's exactly it. Yeah, that's funny. I was just telling something the other day, I'm like, you know, some of the business that I'm seeing today is from seeds that I planted 15 months ago. You know, you never know, like you said, when you're going to reap a harvest. because you never know. I mean, especially when it comes to social media,

there's been plenty of people where I've literally posted a piece of content. They didn't like it. They didn't comment. They didn't react. But I got a message asking to jump on a call, right? And so there's plenty of people that are just watching that aren't actually going to react. So, you know, that's really, really good advice, Kelly. And that's advice that I would give to anyone listening.

I don't care what business you're in. you're a flower salesman, if you want to be a professional athlete, you just have to start somewhere. You've got to start creating, you know, because what happens when you create, you then get to look back at that and say, wow, I can see the progress that I've made. I can see how my first video was versus my 10th. And you start to see that progress. And every little bit of progress gets you better over time. Absolutely. And you know, planting, when we talk about planting if we're still on this theme for a second. Planting happens all the time. It's not when you're, when you've got a little brochure that you're going to drop off at a door

or you're standing at a kiosk and you're meeting people or you're at an open house. That is not all that is something, that is definitely planting, but you're planting seeds when you're in a restaurant and how you treat that waitress. And you're planting seeds when you go through the drive-thru and you're talking to that person there. You're planting seeds in every single part of your life all the time when you're volunteering and what your attitude is about it and when you're helping out in your church or when you're when you're the dad on the sidelines at your son's soccer game how you're operating there are you being constructive or are you being destructive are you being a person that's attractive or a person that's repulsive are you you know how are you

operating in all parts of your life in every single way you you never know where business is going to come from ever ever ever and you're never off if you're in a real estate business for sure and just about every other type of business. But definitely as, you know, I'm speaking to realtors right now, you know, you are never off. You really are. You're off when you're sitting in front of your TV at 9 o'clock at night and you've shut everything down. That's when you get to shut off. 100%.

Yeah. And you never, because you never know where you're going to meet your next client. Right. I mean, I've met him on the basketball court. Literally just play, you know, playing pickup basketball and then that turns into a conversation. Right? Well, if I would have been, to your point, if I would have been a jerk on the basketball court, you think that conversation never comes up?

Ever, never, never comes up, right? So, yeah, I think you have a negative conversation about it. And it's actually going to undermine a lot of things that you just did to build business and plant seed in other areas for sure. 100%. Well, hey, this has been awesome, man. I know a lot of people are going to get value out of the struggle, man, because I'm a big believer that adversity gives a strength, you know, and,

when we're able to share that and be vulnerable with it, it also starts to instill strength in someone else that's dealing with that same struggle. So I applaud you for agreeing to come on. I know I had to pull your arm a little bit to do it. But man, when I tell you, there's going to be someone that listens to this that's a brand new agent or that's a veteran agent or someone that thinks they've got the right business model and they're going to hear your formula. They're going to institute it and someone, I don't know who it's going to be, but someone's going to send you a DM on Instagram or reach out to you on LinkedIn

or all the other links that'll be in the show notes for this show. And then I want you to text me, Kelly, or send me something that says, you're right, this impacted. Because all we need to do, brother, is impact one. That's it. We can impact one person with this message, mission accomplished.

Absolutely. Because you have now given them the confidence that they can also blaze their own trail. Yeah. And that's why I'm here day. And that's why I love your podcast, too. It's, you know, it really does give a lot of hope to people and, and make people feel like, you know, these very successful people, but everybody has a story. And when you get to hear that story, it's just like, wow, okay, all right. I relate to that.

Like, the stuff I've been through, you know, it's, yeah, whatever, but maybe it can serve other people a little bit. Oh, it can, my friend. It serves others better than it serves us keeping it inside. I can a thousand percent attest to that, you know. So, so in addition to Instagram and LinkedIn, where are other places that people need to come check you out and, and see some of this amazing content you're creating? 4xformula.com. So real simple, 4xformula.com is a website. You can actually have access to the podcast there. There's a free ebook for you. Go get it. It's totally free. Just type in your email and we'll have it to you within 10 minutes. And it's called the Quick Commission Blueprint. So the foundational principles is in that book.

It's definitely a game changer for a lot of people because it talks about how to drill down to the best business within that book. But then the course, and I hope you've opt in to become a member after that. Right now, I've got it at a ridiculous price. If I can talk about that, I don't mean to sell. Yeah, go ahead. It's 67 bucks. And it's, I mean, that's silly. But the reason I've put it at $67 is I don't want anybody not to be able to do it because of money. And I'm going to, like, I want to help new agents because I want new agents to start correctly. Or maybe there's an agent out there that's just been kind of struggling and just not ever getting out of survival mode. And if you just feel like you just kind of on that hamster wheel and just not ever getting that consistency going on in your business, I want to help you.

And I want it to be affordable so you're able to do it. You can stop and start anytime. So the thing is, though, if you stop and if I've raised the price and you want to start again, it's going to be the new price. If you stay a member, if you stay in at that price forever, I'll never raise the price. I love it. Yeah, I've got two new lessons that are all just in the middle of editing right now that are going in. So I'm constantly adding new lessons and adding new tools into it right now.

So we're into attain. We're starting to add stuff into attain. A tract is basically done. and I'm going to shoot a couple new videos for a tract as well. So it's like Netflix. I'm just going to keep adding stuff for the members, keep adding new tools. I'm going to bring on some guests to train on certain areas that maybe I'm not as strong on training on. So I'm going to bring that in.

I've been interviewing people for that. So anyway, that's the 4X formula. And really it's a membership right now. So just come on in, be a member, and it's affordable. And stop anytime. And I got a book coming called Attract. In the middle of that right now, we're just going through some editing, that that's going to be out soon. So look for that.

And yeah, I think that's everything. The podcast, 4X formula, on all the different things. So by all means, please check that out. We've got a YouTube channel, lots of free content there and free training. Right now, I'm kind of doing these Kelly's truck talks because I'm so busy right now. We've pounded out probably 30 deals in the last two and a half months. my wife and I while producing content for this course and writing the book and doing all this stuff and doing interviews like this. But I just, I want to make sure I'm still giving

value to people. So I'm having to do it in my truck while I'm driving around. So quick three, four minute episodes called Kelly's Truck Talk. And it's all about relevant stuff that's going on in the industry right now. So that's on YouTube. So for 4X formula. Yeah, Facebook, Kelly Johnson dot training. If you're a new agent, go to real estate learning center. Real estate agent's learning center. That's a free Facebook group I've just created. So by all means, come on in there and let's talk about stuff and help you out through your journey. Awesome, man.

Well, this has been phenomenal, folks. If you want that commission blueprint, absolutely free, the link will be in the show notes. Make sure you download that. And then also for 67 bucks, it's a couple it's a couple lunches, folks. It can really help you, you know, give you this 4X form. and I think the most brilliant part about that, Kelly, like you said, is it's lifetime access. So as the content gets added, you're going to have access to this library. Make sure you check it out.

Kelly, it has been an honor and a pleasure having you on the show, my friend. And I'm sure we'll be staying connected and, you know, helping and partnering where we can. Absolutely. And I want to come up to Atlanta one of these days for a football game. And I love to connect with you if I ever do that. That'd be awesome. Oh, absolutely, man. Whenever the Seahawks are in town.

Yeah. You bet. You betcha. Thank you so much.