Blaze Your Own Trail - From Physical Labor to Global Real Estate Leader with Mike Miedler

Episode Date: September 16, 2021

About Mike: Mike believes the emotional connection a buyer has with their home and the memories they make while living there is what makes homeownership so special. Named CENTURY 21’s president and chief executive officer in January 2019, he is a leader in residential and commercial real estate franchising, brokerage, and management. A 21–year plus veteran with the CENTURY 21 brand, Mike has served in numerous positions throughout the company including Chief Growth Officer and Senior Vice President of Franchise Sales. Prior to his tenure in these growth roles, Mike was the Vice President of Operations at C21 managing business such as awards, events, commercial and a referral platform. Mike understands that buying and selling a house can be the most complex transaction a person ever makes, which is why he is so passionate about helping the more than 136,000 independent sales professionals affiliated with CENTURY 21 defy mediocrity every single day as they transform the homebuying process from just a transaction to an extraordinary experience for their clients. A graduate of West Chester University of Pennsylvania, Mike prides himself on living an active lifestyle, which includes everything outdoors like swimming, running, snowboarding or just the park as long as it’s with his wife and four daughters. In this episode we discuss: Mike's upbringing What kind of kid he was His love for sports Some lessons from Wrestling The College years Starting from the Bottom Wearing multiple hats How the pandemic impacted Century 21 And more! Connect with Mike: https://linktr.ee/mikemiedler Thanks for listening!! 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. I'm your host, Jordan Mendoza. and I've got a very special guest today.

His name is Mike Meadler, and I'm going to have him tell you who he is and what he does today. Hey, Jordan, appreciate you having me on today. It's a pleasure to meet you and certainly your audience as well. I'm actually the CEO and president of Century 21. That's the real estate company, which happens to be in 85 countries, 146,000 sales professionals. We like to think of ourselves as the originator. in the real estate space, not just franchising, but innovators in the way that this industry has kind of gone about itself and grown and delivered the dream of home ownership around the

globe. So it's a pleasure to be with you guys here today and looking forward to a great conversation. Love that, man. And we're going to get into that later in the show. I mean, just some of those numbers you threw out are just phenomenal. But my favorite part of the show, Mike, is I love to rewind. I want to go back. I want to find out about Little Mike, right? Back those adolescent to high school years. Well, we'll kick it off there and really give the audience some context. What kind of kid were you, man? Were you into sports?

Were you more into academics? Let's hear some stories. Well, it's funny. Yeah, I would probably put myself more on the line of, you know, the kid who couldn't pay attention in class. In fact, my mother loves to remind me that, you know, one of the lowest scores that I used to receive in school was the ability to practice self-control. And so, you know, you and I were joking earlier in the show.

You got five kids. I actually have four daughters. And, you know, one or two of them have similar traits to me, which is kind of that, like, you know, energetic, like keep it going, can't sit still in class, can't really focus all that much. And, you know, more so they have my wife's smarts and good study habits. So they do well in school, but not for that, you know, that nervousness of just wanted to be in the action. I was a decent student, I would say, not as good as maybe some of the others in the class,

but I think it kind of speaks to the fact that, you know, there's a little something for everybody. I don't think necessarily, you know, needing to have a perfect formal education score or, you know, tenure is necessarily going to make the person. I think it all evolves in, you know, getting and finding something you're truly passionate about and that you can connect with and that, you know, you find yourself really enjoying every single day. I think that's where, you know, your true brilliance can come out. So I was, I was definitely into sports, you know, it was more like, hey, where could we play some wiffle ball, stick ball, you know, two-hand touch football on the streets.

We had a group that, you know, lived on a couple blocks. And there was probably about, you know, I would call it about 60 to 70 kids in a three-block radius of where I lived and grew up. It was a very suburban town in, you know, right outside of New York City and in the suburbs of New Jersey and just had a really fun upbringing and, you know, tried to be outdoors as much as I could. Awesome, man. Love that. So got a question about Wiffle Ball. I don't know if you've probably never been asked us on an interview before, but duct tape on the ball or no duct tape? Not on the ball, but all over the bat. In fact, you know, I go to my mom's house a lot, which is just, you know,

know, across the county, and we still have a lot of sports equipment sitting in the basement, me, my brother, my sister, and one of those duct tape whiffle ball bats is sitting in that basement right now. Love it, love it. So now you have to, promise me, Mike, when you go to moms, make sure you put duct tape on the ball. Try that out. And watch that sucker go. Watch that sucker fly. Exactly.

So that's awesome. So when it came to sports, you know, when you got into high school, did you play on, like, the high school team. And if you did, I'd love for you share with the audience, what sports did you play? And then what would you say the biggest lessons that you learned back then that you would still apply to business today? Well, I love that question, Jordan. So I did. I, you know, I played football. I wrestled and I played baseball. I think my freshman year and then I wound up getting a job in the springtime. But anyway, I, you know, I think one of the biggest lessons I had in sports and there were multiple, right? I had some amazing coaches.

guys who knew the sport really, really well, but we're also what I would call, you know, really good disciplinarians. I don't want to call it disciplinarians, but they really instilled focus and kind of a process around the team. And you couldn't veer outside of that process. In fact, you know, I'll just share a quick story. God, my mom would crack up if she heard this. But I remember wearing a bandana in high school a lot to football and football practice.

And the coaches didn't like it. They didn't want anybody stepping outside of like what the regimen was. or looking any different. And, you know, I wore it onto a bus going to a JV game. And I remember getting suspended for an entire week from football, which was like, as you can imagine, if you played high school sports, you know what that would be like. And created an upster in my family and with my father and my mom. And, you know, but I just remember knowing, look, you follow the rules, right?

And, you know, you were just a cog in the entire team. And every single person, you know, wasn't any bigger or better than the team. It's kind of like, you know, what Bill Belichick does, right? Even though, you know, Brady and TB12 showed the world that he's got some amazing talents, I think what Belichick does with instilling in the team and that process, no matter what players in it, they follow it. You do it the same way and you'll find success. And so I thought that was, you know, one of the better lessons that I had from a sports perspective.

I also learned how to lose, you know. Wrestling is an extremely humbling sport. And I was, you know, wrestling at the varsity level when I was a sophomore and getting what I would call fed to the lions a lot and learned how to lose at an early age and really try to, you know, get a lot of those life lessons and learning lessons from losing. And I got to tell you, you know, in wrestling, there's nobody else to blame. It's you and the other person out on that, Matt. And so, you know, no matter who it is, you know, you got to step up and you can't blame the coach. You can't blame your other teammate. you can't play in the ref.

It's it's you versus the other person. Love that man. And love those lessons. So when you finish school, where there are aspirations to take sports to the next level? Is that something that you were striving for? Or did you go, you know, on the academic end? Yeah, you know, I kind of, I wanted to play football.

And I gave very serious thought to walk it onto the team. I had a couple of discussions with the coaches. But I wound up picking up a club sport, rugby, which is, it's gaining more and more popularity in different areas. I think probably down in the Atlanta area, you know, in Georgia, they have, in fact, there's a great collegiate team called Life. Life is a chiropractic school. And they, they were always an amazing rugby club. Is that because they can fix each other after the games? Right. Exactly. A lot of beat up. But, you know, it's gained a lot in popularity. And, you know,

I think that it showed again, it taught me a new sport. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, right? I had to learn new skills. I had to learn new rules. I had to have a coach really kind of walk me through that process and, you know, give you not just the technical skills, but the mindset skills to play in that game. And so it was a lot of fun. We had a fun career.

I would like to say that we outperformed or out punched our weight. We were a division two school in the rugby club universe. and wound up going to the Sweet 16, which had big D1 schools like Penn State and Cal and U.S. Naval Academy and just a bunch of amazing other athletes and colleges that we got to compete against. Again, learned a lot of hard lessons in how to lose and lose well, but it was a fun experience for sure. And do you think that the lessons in wrestling helped you lose easier, right, than some other people?

No doubt about it. I mean, look, everybody I think, you know, when you play sports, or in life, you're going to run across a lot of competitive people. But again, when you really can, when you look at that wrestling world and really have to kind of just deal with what you personally did or what you personally could have approved upon, it really shines the light on trying to improve yourself as an athlete or an individual when you're wrestling and there's nobody else to blame. So yes, absolutely.

I, you know, to this day, I have lessons and I remember things so vividly that I kind of say, look, this was a major setback in my career or in something I wanted to accomplish with my family and didn't and said, you know what, you can get there. Today just wasn't the day. Yeah. I love that perseverance, right? It's just like you got to get up and you've got to keep going. And one thing I tell my clients all time is, I don't care what it is. If it's wrestling, if it's rugby, if it's business, you've got to put in the reps, right? You've got to become a practitioner of whatever it is you're doing. And so I'd love to find out what you became a practitioner of after college, right?

So you had an amazing rugby career. You got to travel a little bit, which I'm sure that was exciting to be around these bigger schools. And your eyes are probably lighting up because of these places that you guys are playing. And so I would love for you to touch a little bit, like, how was that experience for you? And how did it translate, you know, later in your career when you did start to travel for business? and you had those opportunities to kind of know how to act as a professional back then. Did that kind of help pave the way for later in life? Yeah, I think absolutely it did.

I mean, you know, you always have to be conducting yourself as a professional, whether it's, you know, you see some of these athletes who are traveling into the Super Bowl or into the game, you know, they're there for business. I mean, they're dressing the part, they're playing the part. They're, you know, their mind is focused on obviously the business or the sports at hand. but it's also how they're representing themselves and their teams, right? And that's why I think it goes back to that that one life lesson I learned with wearing the bandana. Like, you know, you show up and you treat it like a job and you're very serious about the way you approach it and the way you go about it.

And I think, you know, certainly I learned a lot of lessons in some of those sports and all that kind of propelled me, I think, in my business career. but but I will say this you know I when I first kind of got out of school I didn't really have a lot of direction you know I was a I joke around I was a criminal justice major and I I thought I wanted to be in the FBI I thought I wanted to be like you know Fox Mulder I think I watched too many episodes of X-Files and and you know I think sometimes you have to like just kind of take a step back and view the world and kind of take a look at yourself inside and figure out what it is that really and truly excites you. You and I were just talking a little bit about this earlier,

but we're in people business, right? It's a personal business. I think being around and with people and doing that sort of thing kind of gave me this energy, this enthusiasm. And I wound up going into a people facing business. So I think it's important to really take those life lessons, you know, learn from your experiences and your travels and meeting with others and figure out how that's going to relate to what you want to want to,

want to accomplish later on in your career, your business, or your life. So I love what you said. You said you got to take a look inside. You got to take that introspective look at yourself. So I would love for you to share with the audience. It was, did you do that in any way outside of just taking a step back physically? Meaning, did you take an MBTI assessment? Did you take a class on EQ? Did you take a strengths finder's assessment to kind of look and figure these out or did you just do it from the first the original way that I mentioned because I'm just curious and then I'd love your thoughts if you did it the kind of more untraditional way what are your thoughts on professional development as it stands today in some of these assessments that are

out there to help people in their journey yeah I mean that's a great question I think I did it more the untraditional way and I think you know I'll get back to that in a second but I think there probably are good hacks, good shortcuts to what you just mentioned in taking, you know, some of these assessments and looking at, you know, what your personality is lined up best to suit with. And, you know, there's, there's probably a lot of advancements in those types of testings and educations that you can bring to yourself to find out what, you know, you might be really good at or what, what truly drives you. But, you know, I did it the old fashioned way. I, you know, I was raised in a blue collar family and I did a lot of blue collar work from, you know, the time I was

growing up through even after I graduated college, trying to figure out what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. And, you know, my father always instilled in me a couple of what I would call real, you know, kind of hardcore and interesting disciplines throughout my life. And, you know, I just followed those. And I think a lot of them line up with what you said earlier, Jordan. And it's just like, look, at the end of the day, you got to find something you're excited about. And you got to go out and work real hard at it a single day and put in those reps and do what it is that it takes the activities in order to bubble up towards success. So, you know, I, I joke with people. You know, maybe this is a question for later on down the line, but I'll get into it now.

Like, I kind of found myself into my current role. And I say that by I started at Century 21, about 23 years. Actually, it is 23 years ago this month. And I joke with people that I got started in the mail room. I knew I didn't want to keep doing roofs with my father anymore. I knew I was done with the physical labor and I didn't want to be sweating it out in the sun and I wanted to figure out a way to, you know, build more for myself and the family that I would eventually have. And, you know, whatever way that was going to come, it wasn't going to be in, you know, that hard work that is putting roofs over people's heads. Now, I do it in a different way today. It's in a real estate business and, you know, hopefully providing that dream of home ownership. But, um, you know, you know,

You know, I knew I didn't want to do any more physical manual labor, and I was going to find a job in an office in a industry that I could really, you know, kind of figure out how to learn it and move up the ranks and do the really hopefully big at one point in my career. I love that. I mean, that says a lot about your self-awareness, right? You were aware. And I think you and I are similar in the fact that we're both more extroverted. We get our energy from being around people from that outer world.

And I don't know about you, but like I worked for my dad's landscaping company before I got the job in multifamily housing. And it sucked not being able to talk to anybody all day. Does that resonate with you? Like I had to run, I had to run a crew. I had to run a crew of people that, and they didn't speak English. So I had to learn Spanish because they weren't from here. And I had to literally drive, do 35 houses the day. But I didn't get to speak to anybody.

So I was the same way where I found that. job I was like do you have benefits all right I'm getting hired there and I'm gonna work my way up the ladder so that really resonates with me a lot because you were gonna do whatever it took and listen from your story that we've heard wrestling's not easy folks okay if you're listening to this wrestling's not easy rugby is not easy construction landscaping those are not easy so his determination his grit his perseverance it didn't matter what he did next I felt, I feel like Mike, you were going to do it and you were going to do it well and do it, put in those reps. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And Jordan, say it out loud. I landscaped all throughout college with a crew of guys and it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed, you know, I enjoyed that time. And look, I have some really good friends, the person who landscapes my property, who have tremendous businesses. It's not to say that you can't be an entrepreneur and make a whole heck of a lot of money in those lines of work. I just knew it wasn't for me.

100%. That's it. That wasn't going to get me going every single day. I know what does get me going. And it was more in kind of line with what I'm doing today. But again, I found that out by accident. Like I, you know, I joke. I got started in the mail room at the very bottom level of the organization.

And that's where I started. And I was putting in the hard work and the reps there and being really inquisitive, really enthusiastic and just trying to work as hard as I possibly could so that I could get that next opportunity. I love that. And it reminds me of an acronym I learned in I think this is 1999. I was working for this sales organization and they put and this was like a meeting to get everybody to go out and sell. We did business to business sales. And so the guy puts on the whiteboard, he writes up there, PMA equals OPM. And I'm looking at this like, what? What is going on? And he says, so what do you think positivity brings? And we're like, positivity. Yeah, you're right. It brings positive. What else is it bring? Well, let me show you. You said positive mental attitude equals other people's money. Right? Because if you've got a positive attitude, people want to be around you. They want to do business with you. Does that make sense? Like if they like you, 90% of sales is because of you. If you don't believe in you, you're not going to sell a dang thing. But if you are confident and you've got that positive attitude and you're out for building relationships, not transaction. the money's going to come.

I love that approach there. Out for building relationships and not transactions. I think the very best people, whether it's in my industry in real estate or other great salespeople that I've seen, they are literally out to gain the relationship and improve the people that they're working with because they really have that innate passion and belief in their product or what they're selling. And they're trying to improve that person and then the money follow. And, you know, I have a saying it kind of lines up well with kind of what we're talking about here.

So I'll say to you. And if I'm going too long, let me know here. But we call it at century 21. We call it the 121% rule, right? And I say the first 50% no matter what you do in life, whether it's, you know, my daughter who's, you know, on the JV tennis team or my other daughter who's on the dance team or whether, you know, it's applying to your homework and your schooling or a sport you're going after or in business. in life in general, if you apply the 121% rule to anything you do, I think you'll be successful. The first 50% is exactly what you said. It's your mindset.

It's your attitude. It's the positivity. It's having gratitude towards and around the people that you surround yourself with. And I think there's some very basic ways you can go about having a really positive mental mindset. And number one is hanging out with other positively mental people, right? Like you're in a good mood. You're well-spirited. You're not mired in the news and all the negativity and the social media and the bad stuff that's out there.

You're thinking about all the positive things that outcomes in your life or what you have already and you keep that front and center every single day. I'm a big believer in working out. So for me, the way to clear my mind and get really positive when the day starts is I jump on the Peloton. I ride my bike. I go for a run. I work out physically. For other people could be, you know, praying or meditating, reading a book, doing something. something spiritual. Whatever it is that clears your head, get in that positive mental mindset from

the second you wake up until the minute you go to bed. And if you do that, you're going to have such a huge lead in life. The next 50% Jordan is what I call your skills and your techniques. And so we all have different skills and techniques, every different job, every different sport, anything you're going to try to accomplish in life. You have to have specific, you know, skills that you're going to do in order to complete that and be good at it. And you said it earlier, it's just getting up and putting in those reps every single day. And the more you do it, the better you're going to get. And so to me, it's like you can't stop educating yourself, whether that's reading a book,

listening to a podcast, you know, mastermining with other professionals in or outside of your profession and just pushing yourself forward. Because, you know, what we do every day outside of rocket scientists and, you know, brain surgery, it's not really that difficult. There's nothing you can't teach yourself in order to gain a skill. So that's the next 50% is continue to push yourself forward. The last and probably the most important, the last 21% to round out the 121% rule is just getting up every single day. And like you said, putting in the reps and doing the activities, the hard work that's going to get you to where you want to go. And, you know, I believe if you do those three things,

anything you're trying to accomplish in life, you will succeed. And I completely agree, Mike. So what I heard from you there was mindset, right? Mindset is super key, lifelong learning. And the last and final one is consistency. Right. If you've got a positive attitude, if you look at every day as an opportunity to learn and grow, and you do that consistently, the 121% rule is going to positively.

affect your life. I believe it. Right? I mean, like, why wouldn't it? Right? Because there are too many people that are out there and they're grumpy and they're unhappy. Well, guess how you change that, folks? You've got to get happy. You've got to find a reason. Like gratitude, we make it a lot more difficult than it is. I'm going to give the audience, if you don't mind, Mike. I'm going to give the audience, literally, anyone that listens, grab a sheet of paper. Okay, and I learned this from Steve Harvey. Okay, grab a sheet of paper. I want you to draw a line down the middle. Okay, and on the left side, I want you to write down the things that you are grateful for.

And on the right side, you need to write down the things that you want in your life. Okay, and what you do, every day you wake up and you don't discount anything, food, water, shelter, like those should be on there, relationships, right? All of those things need to go on that list. and what you're going to notice is that when you do this on a daily consistent basis, the things that you are, you know, that you have, that you're grateful for, they're still going to be there. But the things that are on the other list are going to start to shift to that other list, right?

And it's because you're taking that daily inventory, right, from a positive perspective and you're showing and putting that gratitude out. I love it. I love it, Jordan. So hopefully that's helpful for everybody. I love that 121% rule. And that is crucial. And if you've got, you know, as many salespeople, if you have with that in mind, there's no, you know, wonder you guys are crushing it.

So I want to get back to the mailroom, though. So let's talk a little bit about, let's talk a little bit about like your first week at Century 21. What was that experience like? And if you asked yourself, then would you be in this seat now? What would you say to yourself? Yeah, no, I'd say no way. wouldn't even have been on my radar. And I got to say, it was exciting.

It was fun. It was the first time like, you know, somebody put me behind the computer and said, all right, you know, go ahead. We're going to pay you to do this, right? And I was in this office of thousands of people in a big corporate campus. And, you know, it was just, it was a lot of fun and a lot of excitement. And, you know, there was a lot of people there that I looked up to as mentors and tried to find

the folks that I believed were defining. success in my company and in the business and and tried to emulate them, tried to follow what they were doing. As you said earlier, like try to figure out how to dress like them and, you know, kind of almost mimic what their styles were in order to, you know, try to improve upon myself. And so, you know, it was a fun time. I learned a lot. It was high energy, just a lot of enthusiasm.

And it was, it was a great learning time for me. And, you know, I developed a lot of different friendships over the years and mentors over the years and relationships over the years. And I, I always say this, the best thing about Century 21 is really the people inside of Century 21 because real estate is absolutely a people business. But I've gotten a great fortune to have met entrepreneurs literally in every nook and cranny around the U.S. and quite candidly around the globe and just gotten to see so many different cultures, so many different marketplaces. so many different ways to have success in business and in life through meeting some really, really great professionals. I love it. And would you mind, it might take you a little bit, but if you can share with the audience,

name each of the roles that you've held prior to the one you hold today. Yeah. So I literally, like I said, I've probably almost done, you know, without simplifying it or oversimplifying it. I've almost done almost everything that you could, right, inside the shop. It's kind of like the owner of the business who, you know, started sweeping the floors, right? And learn to do everything along the way in the organization in order to rise to the level of owner and entrepreneur. And for me, you know, I literally, like I said, I used to be in contract negotiation where I was renewing franchises.

I started a referral group under the, under the organization for holding. licenses across the U.S. and figured out how to get people paid. I was in operational roles where I ran events and helped supported the learning and marketing. And I think most importantly, where I probably got the most amount experience is in selling and trying to grow the network and really having to go up against objections every single day on why this might not be the right thing for me or or why I don't necessarily want your brand, right? And I think that really, we're all constantly in sales and every organization has to have a sales team out there, being the, you know, kind of the front line in order to push that brand or push that company

or push that business forward in order to gain customers. And I think it really showed me a lot about the world, but it really showed me a lot about business. in general and, you know, what it means to, uh, you know, take rejection and deal with that and have to, you know, transfer it into and harness it into positive momentum for me and my team in order to continue our momentum in growing the brand. So, uh, you know, I, I, I, I almost did everything. I've touched everything at least. Um, but I really found a lot of my experience, a lot of my excitement and enthusiasm in that development role. in the sales world.

Now I ask you another question here. So how many other people at Century 21 have held all of those roles that you've held? It's a great question. Today, there might be... Just a couple? Yeah, there might be a couple. Not many, though, right? So, I mean, it's just proven the point that you are where you are because you put in the work.

You put in the reps, right? You've held all the roles. I mean, I love what you said about sales because no sales, no revenue. You know, like, bottom line, you know, people are like, I don't want to sell. I'm like, you are selling every day regardless if you want to or not. You're either selling yourself or you're selling a product or the brand, right? So we're always selling. So when it came to sales, having the, you know, adversity with through sports and things like that,

did that help you develop that tough skin when you got these nose? Because I'm sure over the years, the nose, the dollars involved in the nose, I'm sure changed. But as we know, I don't think if it's millions and millions or if it's thousands, a no, still a no, right? It's still, you know what I'm saying? It's still a no. But can you tell how you kind of dealt with the shifts in the size of contracts and deals? Did that change at all for you? Or because of your upbringing and things that you've experienced, did that help prepare you?

Yeah, no. I mean, certainly, you know, as the playing field gets bigger or the competition more intense, it gets more fun. it gets more fun, but it gets it gets definitely more competitive and you got to be on your game and you got to, like we said earlier, you really got to sharpen those skills and really work double time and putting in those reps in order to win some of the bigger stuff. I want to get back to the nose though, because I think in life, right, I mean, we're all social animals and I think, you know, rejection is just so difficult to deal with with every one of us. And, you know, whether you're in sales or not, like you said, you're out there selling something every single day, whether it's your yourself or your vision or a project you're working on. You know, you're always in sales. And I think. Or taking your wife to the restaurant, your kids.

Do you know what I mean? Like, we're selling and we're negotiating. And brother, with the amount of kids that we have together, we are being negotiated with 24 hours a day. It's funny you say that, right? because, you know, we talk a lot about negotiations in life. And I think it's Karis who said it. You don't get what you deserve. You get what you negotiate.

And, you know, I find myself with my first graders, right? Sometimes it's blatantly obvious they're negotiating with me about that if I do this, can I have chocolate after dinner or dessert or whatever, right? And but how many times are we negotiating with our kids and our spouses and our family that we don't even recognize it, but we are, you know, it's just it's a life skill. But back to the, back to the nose. I think it's important to point this out, right? We don't like to get rejection and we do all the time,

whether it's your first grader rejecting you telling her or him to, you know, go do their chores or get their homework done or something else, right? So in sales, that's why I think it goes back to that attitude is like, you've got to really be passionate about what you're doing, what you're working on, the product or service that you have, because you're really just trying to improve somebody else's business or their life or what they're trying to accomplish by bringing what you provide into their lives, into their equation. And so that's why I think it's really important that you find something you're ultimately passionate about.

You know, in real estate, obviously I believe that, you know, real estate is, you know, the dream of home ownership. There's no bigger financial decision or financial transaction that somebody's going to go through in a lifetime. It's not more emotional either and that it's a place where people are having, you know, their greatest memories, making some of their most intimate moments, raising families, you know, et cetera, et cetera. And so I, you know, I believe obviously in what real estate is and why it's important for our communities and our marketplaces and our families. But no matter what you're doing, what you're selling, you got to really believe in that product and that service because it will help that rejection. it'll help the nose get a lot easier to just put to the side and understand that once you get involved with a client's life, you're going to improve it. 100%. No, I love that. And it's really thinking about the bigger picture, right? Thinking about your why.

Like, why are you doing the thing that you're doing? Is it to help transform someone's life? Absolutely. Right? Like, you know, we bought a house four years ago. And like you said, it's been so great seeing the value rise. and knowing that that is part of our net worth, right, is this equity that we have into this place, you know. And so I agree with that. I think, you know, homeownership is such a beautiful thing, but it's also one of those things like my parents were never homeowners, you know. And I get to do that now, and I get to have that and change that, you know,

part of the generation, you know, and instill that into our kids. So, yeah, I'm a real big believer. and that as well. And Jordan, think about how important, you know, home could be, you know, you're renting home as well. So like I, you know, if you're not at the stage of home ownership yet, that's fine. Always aspire towards it. But to your point, think about what the home is meant to people literally in the last 12 months,

right? I mean, we've done everything from home. You're working from home. I'm working from home. My kids were homeschooling from a while. One of them still is, you know, it's become our restaurant. It's become our home gym. It's home has become everything.

And so, you know, the importance of our house, our habitat is just so important. You said it earlier, you know, food, water, and shelter, right? I mean, it's like, it's, it's one of the necessities in life. And so it's really been an interesting, you know, what I would call 18 months or so or 12 months or so here in what's happened around the world and what the home has come to mean to everybody. Yeah. So this question I've been waiting to ask, March, 2020 comes around. Media is blowing up. Businesses are starting to shut down. Things are starting to happen. What's your first thought? Yeah, I mean, I'd be lying if I didn't say panic, right? I mean,

so, you know, we, I remember we sit in 280,000 square feet about 15 miles from where my house is in suburban New Jersey, right in the New York City train line. And, you know, I remember it was, whatever the Friday was, it was like March 14th or 15th, somewhere in there, 16th, somewhere in there. And I remember our company said, hey, look, you know what, guys, you know, for safety sake, we're going to kind of shut down for a few weeks. We're going to assess this thing and we'll see you guys in about a month. And here we are a year later, right? And, you know, I got to tell you, obviously, everything just froze up.

Business started falling off the face of the earth. You know, our brokers, owners, professionals got really, really nervous. And it wasn't just from a business standpoint. It's like, you know, what is this going to bring to perspective to our loved ones? And what does it mean? And how do we keep each other safe? And so, you know, we were very fortunate in the housing industry. You know, after kind of May went by, I told you this dynamic took off where the housing

market has gone crazy. What was really, really interesting, though, to me was that Jordan, If you remember, China went into this early in, call it November before we did. And we have a humongous presence in Asia and China specifically. And I remember in April and even May, we were getting together and mastermining and just trying to be there for one another and understanding where the market was and what we could do to hang on and survive and try to push forward. You know, that perseverance that you talked about earlier. And we were talking with our folks in China and they were saying, hey, look, guys, like it's early. And believe it or not, once we got this thing kind of under control, once we understood the

process, once our people kind of figured out where this was headed, once we focused on our local communities and our families, things started to open up. And we realized it wasn't going to be as bad as we maybe thought it was. And now our business is back to where it was pre-pandemic levels and moving really, really fast. And so, you know, there was a little bit of a glimmer of hope and a light at the end of the tunnel. And I think that's continuing to move on here. And I'm hoping that, you know, obviously with vaccines and herd immunity and hopefully some nicer weather coming and, you know, obviously case numbers going down and restrictions loosening up. I really, really hope like everybody does that, you know, we see some type of returns and normalcy here within the next few

months. And I'm really optimistic. I'm an eternal optimist as you probably are as well. And Just hoping that, you know, we continue to move onward and upward here. I love it. And I love how you guys, I mean, instantly took action. You know what I'm saying? Because, I mean, you hear the stories and you see in the media, it's like these companies just, you said you froze, but at least you woke up, you know. And some of these, like, literally just, they just fell off the face of the earth. And these companies just don't exist anymore.

So what do you think the difference is between you guys and them? Was it just so afraid that they just didn't know what to do? You know, I've been thinking about that. Like, how do you just go from a big organization to just gone? Yeah, I mean, it's so interesting to me. You know, I made mention to my wife. I was out on the road a couple days ago, and I made mention of a restaurant that we used to love going to. And it was literally boarded up, closed down, like done.

And I think, you know, unfortunately, whether it's, you know, travel or, uh, or food and dining or, you know, movie theater, like a lot of the entertainment space, like these folks have to figure out how to, you know, diversify and, you know, really think outside of their normal comfort zone and get really creative and what they did. And, you know, we see a lot of restaurants who are just doing some really cool, unique, fun, interesting things. And I know times are tough for them, no matter what, you know, nobody's having an easy go of it. But they're surviving and they're moving on and they'll be able to take advantage of what's at the end.

But it just shows you that like life can deal you, you know, down cards at any moment. And, you know, things that might seem unthinkable can happen. And I think we've always got to be ready to pivot and figure out what's next and not say, oh, well, we'll just keep doing it and hopefully we'll get through this. No, you got to figure out how to reinvent yourself, whether that's, you know, a big business or from a personal perspective in order to, you know, stay with the pace at which the world comes at us right now. With technology and, you know, everything else that goes on in the world, you really have to be nimble in the way that you approach your business and yourself as an individual and a professional. 100%. Yeah. I love that you said pivot because the people that pivoted well in 2020 are still around, right?

the people that didn't figure out how to pivot or lacked creativity or innovation, right, or didn't reach out for help, which is a lot of people failed. They're afraid to reach out for help, you know. And so I want to get your thoughts on social media, you know. I know it's really over the last decade. It's changed, right? And I think it's, from my perspective, because I have some clients that are real estate agents, it's changed the game for them from a visibility standpoint.

point in a I don't have to go to these chamber of commerce you know what I'm saying like I can reach way more people by showing up with my strengths if I've got a great video presence I can speak and educate and add value and then that turns into organic business so I'd love to hear your thoughts on you know what it was like before social and then what the impact of social media has had on century 21 as a whole yeah I mean I you know I I enjoy social media I I use a couple different platforms. And I think the first thing you have to do with social media is, Jordan, figure out what works and what you like.

And don't try to be, you know, like, don't do every single one halfway. Like, figure out one or two that you really like and enjoy and get value in and go all in there. So, you know, we have real estate agents that, you know, from Instagram to Facebook to now TikTok, do, you know, and the latest and greatest one now. is the new podcast, which I'm sure you're fully up on. Oh my God, I'm losing track of a clubhouse. Clubhouse, right? Yep.

So pick the one that really is going to reach out to your sphere and that you can associate with and go all in there. And we have folks that do a tremendous amount of job, a tremendous job, are super creative with it and like attribute all their success and all their customers to social media. And I'd say part of it is like, don't just put up the boring old marketing. Don't just put up the for sale sign. Like we have a guy out in San Diego who does an amazing job, guy named Gabe Mendez. You know, if you remember the ocean spray TikTok where the guy on the skateboard, right?

Yep. He created, he created like a rip off of that having to do with real estate. Like I'm sure so many others did. And it was just got so many rave reviews from his customers and from people who want of becoming customers because of it. So I think if you've got some creativity in you, and I think if you can bring a little bit of value, use one of those social media outlets,

and you can really do some great marketing and reach a lot of people without having a, like you said, in the old day, sit at the Knights of Columbus meeting or the Rotary meeting or, you know, be visiting and, you know, dropping off candy kings at your, you know, at everybody's doorstep, right? It's just, I think social,

media is obviously here to stay and you can get a lot of business out of it if you know how to use it and you do well. Yeah. And I think that goes for anything, right? For the audience, I don't care if you're a real estate agent, if you sell medical equipment, right, no matter what, if you lead with value, right, and you've got, you know, you have to have some life in you, right? You've got to have a personality because that's what's going to educate or entertain people. And then, you know, don't try to sell. Like, do the opposite of selling and you will sell more. You know that? I think that's like the biggest misconception.

People are like, I have to sell people. I'm like, how about you just educate, lead with value? And if people like you, they'll reach out. I think that's just it, right? I mean, look, you know, there's people with the creativity and the fun stuff. I think that that goes the extra mile and really gains the viewership. But if you just, like you said, if you just bring value by educating, I think that's like 75% of the battle. 100% that is it all right well we're getting close to time here i know you've got a busy schedule

but i want to really find out from you you know in your life in your career and you talked about this through your adolescent years you had some great coaches and great mentors i would love for you to share just a couple people in your life that have been really influential in keeping you on the straight and narrow and you know helping you during tough times and it's just been there to give you that great advice. Yeah, you know, obviously my parents. I mean, my father just instilled a great work ethic in me and my brother and sister that, you know, I don't think could be replaced.

And my mother always brought, you know, just the fact of really treating people the way that you wanted to be treated, right? And treating everybody with complete honesty. But, you know, I've had, I've worked for a lot of former presidents and CEOs of Century 21 and inside of Realgie, which is our parent company, who've shown me the ropes, you know, from Rick Davidson, one of our past CEOs to Tom Coons, who was one of our past CEOs, Alex Perillo, same thing inside of our company. But I also think it's beneficial in life to learn from people who are in your line of business and in your work and trying to emulate them

and really find out what they're doing and kind of learn from that. And that could be formally or informally. But I think it really helps people in life when you have a, coach who is maybe coming in from the outside looking into what you're doing or what you're trying to accomplish it and trying to take it from a different perspective. So, you know, I've been coached by multiple people in my life, both formally and informally. And I think it, you know, even Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, all these elite athletes or actors or professionals that are really at the top of their game, while they look like they have ultimate success and don't need to learn or know anything more, they have people behind the scenes coaching them,

pushing them, you know, towards what they're trying to accomplish and trying to help them on that path. And so I would say no matter what, you know, in the spirit of always trying to learn and train and educate yourself, have somebody looking at what you're trying to do from an outsider's perspective and help push you in that right direction. And then ultimately, I really think, Jordan, it comes down to something you said before, which is what's your inspiration, right? Like at the end of the day, when you wake up and you get into the fight every single day, what is inspiring you to do it? For me, and I'm sure for you as well, like my family is my inspiration, right, trying to put my kids through college, give them a better life than I was raised

with and so on and so forth and try to get them, you know, everything that they're looking to accomplish as individuals and set them up for that success. For other people, it could be, you know, putting a kid through school, could be retiring early, buying an investment property, taking a dream vacation, giving more back to their community. Whatever it is, I think you've got to look inside yourself and recognize every single day why you're inspired to get up and put in those hard, hard reps that you and I talked about throughout the show. Love it, man.

I love that. And I want to find out what's one book that you've either read recently or maybe you're currently reading that you would recommend to the audience? You know, I say this all the time. I recommend a book by Michael Gerber. It's called the E-Mith. And again, this is more for what I would call, you know, your smaller entrepreneurs. And there are many of them out there, right?

They're what drive this country is the small to medium-sized entrepreneur and the people that they hire in their local communities and how they push the economy forward in their local marketplaces. But the E-MIF talks about not working in your business every single day, but work on your business, that that 10,000 foot level so that you understand what your goals are, what success looks like, and trying to write the recipe so that others can do it. And you're not the one chopping the wood every single day or like you and I talked about cutting the lawn or bringing the shingles up to the roof. It's how do you create a business that's scalable

that you can leverage and really help raise up through you working on the business and not having to be involved in doing the hard work every single day. Man, I love it, and it was so timely because my good, our mutual friend, Jesse Todisco, he gave me that same advice for my business recently. He's like, you've got to train people in to do these programs that you have so that you can operate from the outside looking in, right? So you have that, you know, that viewpoint, like you said. So now I'm going to definitely, I was already going to do it because that's my buddy, you know,

and he handles my money, so I'm going to take some other advice from him. But now that you've said it, now I've, you know, there we go. Got to get the book. So I'll be getting that, folks. I'll link that book. No, we're not getting paid by anybody, but we'll link it as a resource and the show notes for everybody. And I would love to just find out, you know, for the audience, besides just going to, you know, Century 21 Homes.com or whatever the website is, they can find you there.

Is there any places where you're active where you like to engage with an audience or community? Because I'm sure some of the listeners are going to say, man, what a story, what value, what fire Mike dropped a day. We may want to DMM or just say thanks for all the values. So we're the best platforms that you're hanging out on. Yeah, I'm on LinkedIn from a professional world and more on the personal straddling the personal line. I'm on Instagram as well. So feel free to find me at any one of those places. I do talk a lot about business there.

but you can definitely connect with me. Awesome. We'll make sure those are linked down below, so watch your DMs. We'll start blowing up when the episode goes live, Mike. Hey, this has been a privilege and honor and a joy hosting you today on the Blaz Your Own Trail Podcast. You are a true Trailblazer in all the sense of the words, my friend.

Jordan, I really appreciate the time. It's been fun being with you and your audience, and I love the mindset. Keep it up, man. Thanks, my friend.