Blaze Your Own Trail - From Small Town to Real Estate Success with Shae Spitz

Starting point is 00:00:02 Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. My name is Jordan Mendoza. I'm your host, and I've got a very special guest today. Her name is Shea Spitz, and I'm going to have her tell you a little bit about who she is and what she does today. Hello. Well, thank you, Jordan, for having me on the episodes, or you wanted me just to kind of dive on in and tell you, like, my story. Yeah, who are you? Where are you from?

Starting point is 00:00:28 What do you do? And then we're going to, my favorite part of this show really is taking a rewind. So we'll do that in a second. But yeah, what are you up to you in the world? Where are you? And who are you? Yeah. So Shea Spitz, I am a mompreneur real estate agent.

Starting point is 00:00:41 I have three little ones. Been to my husband. It'll be 10 years this year. We have been together for 15 or 14 or 14, I don't know, 14, something like that. And then we have three kids, 10, 8, and 5. And I am originally from a very small town called Newman Grove, Nebraska. And I live in Columbus, Nebraska, or outside Columbus, Nebraska. hometown is a population of about 600 people, not 600,000, but 600 people.

Starting point is 00:01:07 And the town I live closest to is about 25,000. So real estate agent, one of the top agents here in our area, top 250 in EXP nation worldwide as well. So that's a little bit about me. Awesome. Appreciate you sharing that. And like I said, a second ago, my favorite part of this show is really, it's taken a rewind and getting deep contact. into our guest story and their journey. And so in order to do that, we're going to be mosey and back on through to that 600, 600 folks,

Starting point is 00:01:39 person, town. So what was childhood like? Let's talk about, you know, the formative years. So elementary, middle, high school years. What type of kid were you, Shea? What type of things did you get into? Right. So I have parents married, still married, both really my whole family is from there, still lives

Starting point is 00:01:59 there. I mean, my dad's side of the family when we have Christmas, we have 120 people in one house. Like, I have a very big family, very, very family oriented. My dad was a farmer. My mom's side was as farmers. My mom worked in a manufacturing for 31 years. So I, you know, we lived in the same house my entire life. My grandparents lived in the same house my entire life.

Starting point is 00:02:21 And very blessed when it came to family for sure. I have an older sister than it's myself. And I have a younger brother and a younger sister. I was more of, I took on more of like the older child role. I was probably a lot more level headed, a lot more chill, relaxed than my sister and my other siblings. My sister definitely made, blazed my trail to make it very easy for me in all reality. I, no, honestly, I was a very good kid.

Starting point is 00:02:51 I didn't drink all through high school. Sports was my number one focus, had a boyfriend all through high school. But I was very focused on anything. that I committed myself to, like I was focused. I was actually, I actually started my own business. And I didn't realize that I started my own business. I mean, I knew it, but like looking back, it's just kind of wild that I was 11 years old when I started my own business. Like, I had been babysitting before that. But I wanted to actually truly start my own business. And I told my mom that. And at 11 years old, I remember, I wish we could find the clip art. But I remember sitting

Starting point is 00:03:24 at the computer that was back when clip art was a thing and created a flyer. for dog boarding because we lived in the country and I printed it out, took it out to mom. I said, this is what I want to do. And she's like, okay, sounds good. So we went to our cat shed is what we called it. It was like a free for all. Cats kind of like we're in and out. But anyway, junkie shed. Went out there. I cleaned it out and I remember taking a saws on, cutting a hole, putting up chicken wire, putting down plywood for the flooring, like all these things, had a little space heater for the heat. Well, I stayed very, full. I charged $5 a day. I had about three dogs a day. And so at that age, I mean, I was doing

Starting point is 00:04:06 pretty good. And then after a year, we made enough money, which I'm pretty sure my parents just paid for it, to lay concrete. You know, a couple years later, we made enough money. And they help, you know, they let me buy more heavier duty penning than chicken wire. But anyway, to this day, my sister now runs a huge dog facility, a boarding facility at our home place because she ended up buying the home place from my parents. She tore down my old one because apparently it wasn't good enough and built a beautiful facility that they hold, I don't know, like 30-some dogs now. It's 24-7 surveillance, heated and cooled. I mean, all the things. So it's interesting, you know, that was 22, 2, 23, 24 years ago.

Starting point is 00:04:55 that I started that. It's going on to this day. So that was always fun. That's great. But yeah, that's kind of where that started in our, and that's a small little town. It's not like,

Starting point is 00:05:05 and people will travel. People travel hours to take them to my sister's dog boarding facility now. And we had, I mean, we had regulars back then. And I don't know why or how I thought of it, but I did. And I wish we could find that clip art,

Starting point is 00:05:16 but we, it's gone. No, that's great. Well, that's, you know, really,

Starting point is 00:05:21 and our audience knows when we hear stories like this, this is what, trailblazing is all about. You know, entrepreneurship is about taking an idea and making it become reality. And the fact that you had the wherewithal to come up with the idea at 11 and now it's still a thriving business 22 or 23 years later, that's pretty awesome. And so I see why you said you blazed the trail for your sister because you're like, hey, I literally gave you the blueprint. Like this thing worked, even though we're making 15 bucks a day, maybe she's doing 15,000 now, right? But you gave her the foundation, right? So did you get a royal?

Starting point is 00:05:55 check, Shea? No, I know. I always, I give her a hard time about it all the time. I'm like, I should have kept interest on it. Like, I should have kept a percentage, whatever, you know, but. Minority ownership. I mean, I know. Something.

Starting point is 00:06:08 And after I graduated high school, my younger sister took over. And then after she graduated, my mom just because we just had so much business that people kept coming. We actually had a different, we ended up opening like two or three more so we could hold like six at a time. And then when my sister bought the home place, she just tore it all. down and built a new one. So she had the clientele. That's it. Yeah, she had the client base, right? You guys just built it for her, just kind of plug and play. Put in the new stuff and

Starting point is 00:06:35 have a thriving business. Now, that's a great story. And so you mentioned sports was a big part of your childhood. So what sports did you play? First of all, and then I'd love to know maybe two or three lessons from the sports that you played that will actually translate into real estate and why you're so successful today. Yeah. So I did volleyball, basketball on track. That's really all we had. We didn't have any of the other sports for girls anyway.

Starting point is 00:07:01 And basketball was my favorite, but I was very competitive. And all of them, I went to state for track hurdles, both hurdles, and never did place. But honestly, like, one of my biggest takeaways from sports is the challenges that do come with it and just keep going. Like, it's, you don't want to stop. but I also remember, like, we had a coach in basketball who never played basketball his entire life. And it was a small town, so they just pick whoever they can to coach, you know. And I remember, like, going to our coach after hours and we were like, you need to make us run more because, like, we are dead. We are dead.

Starting point is 00:07:38 We are getting ran out. Like, we're good and we had good talent, but everybody was just murdering us when it came to endurance. And I remember going out of our way. It's kind of like entrepreneurship. Like, you have to go out of your way to. get the things that you want. You can't wait. You can't just sit back and wait and let somebody else, you know, take over and make you do the things that you're supposed to do. So that's one of my biggest takeaways is like, I mean, nobody likes to run. Maybe people do, but nobody wants to go through

Starting point is 00:08:05 and sprint and to the point where you're like throwing up. But we went to him and we're like, you have to make us run. Like that's got to be part of because I can go do it on my own afterwards, but it's everybody else. It's the entire team that we need to have everybody involved. And there are a couple other times where, yes, you need to listen to your coach, but there were a lot of other times where we'd be playing sports and he'd call out certain plays. And I'm like, what are you talking about? I'm like, no, we're doing this way. So you kind of got to take the leadership and kind of roll with it. But you do need to also listen to your coach as well. But I remember there's many times where you just kind of have to take the authority and obviously be respectful, but like you are not

Starting point is 00:08:42 out here playing. Like, I don't know what he was saying. I just remember a handful of times where I'm just like, that doesn't make any sense. Like this is the, this is what we're going to run. everybody and then of course I get chewed out at the side but it worked you know so couple those are kind of my two takeaways is that you're going to have to step outside your comfort zone and do the things that you're not going to want to do yeah yeah you have to and sometimes you have to be vocal again doesn't mean that you won't get in trouble later I was always in trouble in school uh I liked break dancing in the halls more than I like going to class so that was kind of an issue but um so let's talk uh after

Starting point is 00:09:19 high school because you mentioned you grew up in the small town like you grew like went through high school in the small town did you decide to leave the town to go to college did you decide to stick around locally did you decide not to pursue that route i'd love just to know what you did after high school yeah so i initially went to un l i'm a big big homebody so u n l's university of nebraska lincoln which is about two hours from my hometown and still then i was traveling back home every weekend um i was i you know i didn't drink. I didn't really socialize. So I ended up actually transferring halfway through the semester. And at that time, I had a boyfriend who was also back home, which we ended up breaking up at semester. But anyway, so I went to the closer Northeast Nebraska community college, which is about

Starting point is 00:10:07 45 minutes from where I live. So I guess I left my hometown, but not really. And anyway, did that. Ended up going into nursing school because I want to help people. Like, I was always the that everybody would come to for advice, whether personal or whatever the case may be. So I was like, well, I need to go help people. So I got into nursing school, got accepted the first time. And as we were going through it, I had to draw blood, realize that wasn't for me. So got out of that a whole year, a whole year of nursing. And I was like, ooh, not for me. So ended up getting out of that. And I then went to Wayne State, which was a little bit further from my hometown. And I ended up getting my bachelor's degree in human service counseling for psychology. I love psychology.

Starting point is 00:10:53 It's very, very interesting to me. But I've always worked also. Like I've always, like I said before, like when I commit to something, like I am dedicated. Like I don't like to not do something. So when I was going to school full time, I was also working full time at an insurance agency and also bartending three or four nights a week. So my number one goal was to walk out of college debt free. I did not want to have college debt. So between some grants and me paying off my debt while working and going to school, I was able to do that. I got my bachelor's degree in human service counseling because again, I wanted to help people. I thought I wanted to be a counselor. And I got an internship that I actually got paid for, which wasn't a thing back then. But I ended up doing that and they hired me on.

Starting point is 00:11:40 So I was a case manager for mentally ill adults. And I did that for about five or six years. And it was a very rewarding but not a rewarding job because no matter how hard I worked or how like how full my caseload was if my caseload was beyond what we were supposed to be having or if it was less, I was getting paid the same. And that was kind of like my breaking point. There's a couple things that happened in there where I found one of my favorite consumers dead. That was a whole thing. That was that was really hard. And then the other thing is like my caseload was always like 28 to 32 where the average, like our maintaining position was like 22. And some of my co-workers were at like 18, 20. So I remember going to my boss because I loved what I did. Like I commit to it

Starting point is 00:12:24 100%. And I went to my boss. I said, hey, like I know our threshold is 22, you know, for case managers. But I'm at like 28, 30, 32. Can I actually went to her and I said, can I get like a bonus for everyone, every client that I would have over the 22 because I wasn't making anything. I was making $25,000 a year. I had two kids, a mortgage, you know, those kinds of things. And I was like, okay, well, if I want to make more money, in this career or this field, I'm going to have to go back and get my master's, which was going to be another $30,000 to what, make $15,000 more.

Starting point is 00:13:02 I was like, that's not math thing. So I actually approached my boss and she's like, no, we don't do that. And I was like, all right, I'm out. And so in the meantime, I had actually been taking my real estate classes because my husband and I, we can kind of backtrack a little bit, but we started renovating properties. Well, you'll probably want to go back and dive into why that happened. But so yeah, I mean, I remember approaching her. And I mean, because it doesn't hurt to ask.

Starting point is 00:13:26 You always need to ask. And she said no. And I'm like, well, I'm out. Because if I'm doing 32 and my co-workers doing 18 clients, how is that fair? and we're probably getting paid the same. So I just, I didn't like somebody else dictating what my worth was. That was the entrepreneurship coming back, right? You're like, wait a second.

Starting point is 00:13:47 You know, tell me how much I can earn. Like that seems to be. Well, right. And for those who are listening, I mean, I remember interviewing with other jobs. And I was like, I am just the perfect fit for this. Like, how did I not get that job? How did I not get this job? Blah, blah, blah, blah.

Starting point is 00:14:01 And you never know why you didn't get something. You can't connect the dots. moving forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. Because if I would have got those jobs, I probably wouldn't have taken the risk to go out and get my real estate license and do that 100%. You know what I mean? So like, I had interviewed like five other jobs. I'm like, I am such a good person. I'm, I pick up easy on things. And I just kept asking God, like, why? Why am I not getting these? And I remember thinking to myself, I'm like, I know there's a reason. I just have to trust it. I just have to trust it.

Starting point is 00:14:34 And so, like, looking back, I'm like, that's why. That's why God did not let me get these great jobs because jobs are just overbroke. Love it. Love it. Well, I'm glad that you recognized your value and the fact that you could bring in more revenue for your family, right, two kids, mortgage. I mean, it's important that you're able to do that. That's why people go to work, right?

Starting point is 00:14:57 As you want to be able to provide for your family, make life better, save money, all the things. So the fact that you recognized it and then that you were already had a plan in place where you were already doing this real estate thing on the side and being able to get that license, I think that's incredible to A, be able to recognize it and be able to take action and leave, right? Because for some people listening to the show, you might be in the place that Shea was in. You might be in a role literally where you're doing 60% more work and you're getting 30% less pay. And that math, like she said earlier, it doesn't math. It doesn't add up.

Starting point is 00:15:35 And I found myself there. I was in corporate for 15 years. I was doing training and development. Eight years in the same role, jerks were getting promoted left and right. And I was adding even more value year after year and getting 3% raises. And I just was like, the math is just not adding up. Things are costing more. Kids are increasing.

Starting point is 00:15:56 Like more kids are coming for some reason. And like we need more, we need more revenue, right? But, you know, we have to take inventory, folks. We have to take inventory. And we have to know what our ultimate goals in life are. And if your goal in life is to just be mediocre, then stay in the job. Right. Because that's what you're going to get.

Starting point is 00:16:16 But if your goals are bigger and if you have a passion for helping and you really, truly want to get to the results that you want in life, then you've got to take a risk. And your risk was leaving. I'm out of here. I've got this real estate thing. And now I would love to transition into why home renovations? Like where did that whole thing come from? And I'm sure that that made you want to become an agent. So you could probably.

Starting point is 00:16:46 So I want to go back. I want to go back to what you said about helping. Because I went to nursing and I did psychology and counseling because I wanted to help people. And I will tell you, I have helped more. people now being a real estate agent, not just buying and selling homes. Like, that's not what I'm referring to. I have been able to help people more now, financially, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, all of those things now that I ever have been or ever was able to as a counselor. Because as a counselor and a nurse, you're really helping people one-on-one. Well, when you can get out

Starting point is 00:17:18 there in the community and you have the money to be able to commit to donating your time for nonprofit organizations or whatever it is, you're helping so many more people. And I have have that a real mom's community here locally where, you know, there's like 20 of us. And I love seeing them thrive. And without me shifting and taking that risk and getting to where I'm at, I would never have been able to start that and help these other women grow. So I kind of wanted to go back to that helping thing. Like we think, you know, I went into those careers thinking I wanted to help people, which I did. But I didn't realize how much real estate was going to allow me to help others, not just buying and selling, but in a whole different realm.

Starting point is 00:17:58 Yeah, you can reach and impact people in community, but also nationwide and globally. You know, real estate's a global business. It can be. So that's great. So what was it that got you and your husband to start thinking about renovations? Usually what I hear is just like, well, my husband's a handyman or I was the handyman and we just started fixing her own thing. And we're like, maybe we could do this somewhere else. I don't know if that's like or if you watch.

Starting point is 00:18:22 No, that's a stop. Or if it was like, you know, Chip and Joanna, you like watch some of the. these shows and they inspired you. Well, so yes, yes, essentially. That's kind of what it was. Like we liked watching it, but my husband was an electrician. He had a good job. He had the insurance and he liked what he did. It was fine. But he called me and I was pregnant with our second. And he called me. He was like six o'clock in the morning. He's like, Shay, I really, there's this real estate conference in Omaha. It's a free three hour session. Let's go to it. I'm like, all right, sounds good. Well, from that moment on, I started contacting real estate agents in the area.

Starting point is 00:18:57 Now, keep in mind, like, I came from a very small town that I didn't realize people actually moved on an average of like five to even 10 years because everybody I knew has owned the same house since I was little. And so why I even thought about getting into that. But anyway, so I started making phone calls to lenders and other real estate agents, just kind of sitting and talking to them. We went to this three-day course. Then they got us to pay $200 for a, I'm sorry, three-hour course. Then they got us to pay $200 for this three-day course. Well, by the time that three-day course came around, I was like eight and a half months pregnant. Very uncomfortable.

Starting point is 00:19:32 And we were sitting, it was, I don't know why I can't ever remember the name of it. My husband gives me a hard time with it, but it was a fortune builders. Thadmaryl, Paul, something, I don't know. Anyway, so we did this three-day real estate investing class. And it was a $25,000 investment to buy into their program. Now, keep in mind, I was making $25,000 at the time per year. So we didn't have extra money. We just bought our house.

Starting point is 00:20:00 We just got married not too long ago. We have our second one coming along. And as you know, or I would assume you know, daycare is expensive. And it was very overwhelming. And we didn't have that money. I was like, even if we wanted to, how are we going to do it, Adam? And so anyway, I didn't go to the third day. And keep in mind, like, when we went to this event, we actually ended up staying at his

Starting point is 00:20:21 stepmom's parents house because that's how much money we didn't have. We couldn't even afford to stay in a hotel. hotel room for two nights. So we actually ended up staying at his stepmom's parents' house in Omaha. And by the third day, I was like, I can't go. Like, I'm exhausted. I'm bloated. My feet hurt. I was like, we're not doing this. He's like, oh, okay, whatever, whatever. So he goes to the third day and he calls me, or maybe it was that Saturday night. I don't really remember. He's like, Shay, we really need to do this. I'm like, Adam, like, where are we going to get this? He's like, well, we could take out credit cards. We could increase the credit limit on our current credit cards.

Starting point is 00:20:54 and I'm like, geez, okay. I mean, I guess. So yeah, I mean, I think it was that Saturday night that he opened up like three credit cards. I opened up like two credit cards. We both increased our credit card limit on our current credit cards. So like most of the credit card debt was zero percent interest for the first 12 or 18 months, something like that.

Starting point is 00:21:13 So it wasn't costing us interest, but still, I'm like, how are we going to make, how are we going to pay this off in the next year? Well, anyway, so we hit the ground running hard. Like we had our second kid, obviously took a little. bit, actually we didn't take any time much. But we spent a lot of time, like we both went to work full time. We'd come back home, you know, be with the kids, put the kids to bed. And we'd be up late at night, studying these training videos and doing this and doing that. And I just remember like super late at night. We're both exhausted. Like it was a lot. We ended up getting our first deal because

Starting point is 00:21:43 I mailed a letter to a neighbor because it was wintertime and I noticed that there weren't any tracks going in and out of the property. Dead serious is how I got my very first one. One mail. sent it to them, said, hey, I'm interested in buying your property. They got it on a Thursday. We looked at it on Saturday, had it under contract by Monday. Huge project. Huge project for a first time flip. It wasn't just cosmetic stuff. Like it was huge. I ended up private money lending for my grandparents, $100,000. So we had to convince them. We sat down in front of them, talked to them and convinced them to basically lend us $100,000 to do this project at 10% interest. And then we also took out a home equity line of credit against our primary residence. And then we also did a construction loan through a lender who to

Starting point is 00:22:27 this day I still work with. So three different types of lending on our very first project. So it was a lot. Fortunately, it was only like two blocks from us. But I mean, that first year, fortunately, we were able to get that $25,000 paid off within like 14 months, I think is what it was after we sold that property. And we never looked back, you know. And but I was talking to some friends, today about it. And honestly, like 98% of the people in this world would never have taken that huge risk. When you're making $25,000 a year and you're taking out credit card debt, not knowing if it's going to work or not, and you're getting people in your ear like, oh, that's too risky. Like my dad, who's a farmer, love him dearly. He supports us, obviously, to this day. But I remember who's a

Starting point is 00:23:11 farmer, he's like, Shay, I wouldn't get into real estate. That's pretty risky. And I remember thinking, like, dad, your income is 100% dictated on the weather that you cannot control. That's what I was thinking. I didn't tell him that. But he's always supported us. but you get a lot of people who are like, and most people didn't know that story until about two, three years ago. They didn't realize that how much of a risk that we took on. They just thought that we had that money or that we just were able to do this all magically, you know, like the work you do in the dark is what's more important than what you do in the light. 100%. Yeah. Well, I appreciate you sharing that story and giving the deep context. And that's what

Starting point is 00:23:49 trailblazing is all about is you have to be a risk taker you have to go against the status quo because no one's going to believe in your vision as much as you do right and if you don't believe in yourself you're not going to get there and we learned so much through that first one and the thing I joke about most is the number one thing that we learned is that my husband and I will not put a handrail on stairs ever together again like we fought a lot that was that was like the make or break of our marriage. Like we might get divorced after this one because it was an old two-story home. So nothing was square. Nothing. And so like on the one side, I'll never forget, like we cut this side a little bit and then this was way off. It was horrible. So that was not us. We also learned that we

Starting point is 00:24:32 won't ever do any of the work ourselves in any of our projects. So you will learn a lot. Hey, those are some valuable lessons. And so are you still, is that still part of your business today doing flips and renovations or is it if you guys kind of slow down on that? We definitely slowed down on that. I do and I will if it makes sense. But like to me, it doesn't make it our ARV is not as high as maybe many other states. So like our profit margin is a lot narrower. And then by the time you're paying like holding costs, if you pay yourself and then taxes, capital gains, unless you're holding it longer than a year and doing a 1031 in exchange, you know, things like that. But we don't. I mean, I've had three in the last year. It's just one.

Starting point is 00:25:17 know that it was like, okay, if it's easy and it makes sense, then we will. And the most recent one, it wasn't supposed to be a flip, but we bought it as a rental and then it caught fire within three months of the tenant living in there due to them smoking. So we, and that was January of 2024 and we just sold it two weeks ago because I had to fight insurance for a long time because they refused to pay. You got that off the books for sure. I'm sure you were, it was a very exciting time to be able to get that one. Very much so. So let's talk about your transition into real estate, right?

Starting point is 00:25:52 So here you are, you're eight and a half months pregnant. You guys decide to invest into your first flip deal. You go and beg and borrow and get the financial means necessary to get this done, and you end up paying back the 25K. So at that point in having the success in the first deal, did that encourage you to get your license? and like, well, if you can renovate these, I could probably sell these things. Like, that's probably a little bit easier than all this fighting that happened with us

Starting point is 00:26:21 and all the headaches of having to do the other side of things. So is that kind of what spurred it? Or were you already planning on becoming an agent? No, I wasn't planning on becoming an agent. Actually wasn't until like our third or fourth flip where I decided, I really liked this. And it wasn't just because we were selling them on our own essentially, or I would pay somebody who would basically do the paperwork. work. But we were, yeah, we were, I just, it wasn't until about the third or fourth one in that I was

Starting point is 00:26:49 like, I think I could do this. You know, I, I really like it. And that was kind of when I went to my boss and I asked her to basically get paid on top of the threshold. And she told me no. And I'm like, all right, I'm, I'm not going this direction anymore. Like, this isn't going to be sustainable. And I remember going through college and everybody was like, oh, if you're doing social work, don't do it for the money. And I'm like, oh, I love people. It'll be great. I love. I love. people, but no, doesn't make sense. I mean, no, you have to live too. But so yeah, I mean, that's kind of where it all started. And I went to, I was doing classes. I was working in Norfolk, driving 25 minutes home, going the opposite direction, another 25 minutes and doing

Starting point is 00:27:28 classes two nights a week from 7 o'clock at night to 10 o'clock at night while raising two kids. I mean, so it was a lot for like four or five months. And I got my real, I took my test. And I said, okay, if I passed this first time, I'm going to commit to it 100%. Like I'm diving in. Pass my test. I hugged the lady. She was so cute. And then I gave my three week notice.

Starting point is 00:27:51 And I remember sitting, it was July 9th, 2018. I remember sitting in a cubicle. This was kind of before like online leads and internet leads and stuff. But I remember sitting in the cubicle and I'm like, holy shit, now what? I thought there was going to be a list of sellers and a list of buyers and I could just pick and choose. And that is not how it is. That is not how real estate. goes. So it's all about connections and giving back in the community and things like that. So

Starting point is 00:28:15 yeah, it was, it's been a journey. I mean, obviously I've questioned my sanity and what I was thinking here and there, but I've never looked back. Love it. And so you're seven years in as an agent. Currently, folks, she is with EXP, which I've got a client of mine who's a top 250 agent. His name's Jamie Parker. I don't know if you know Jamie or if you've seen him on the EXP events, but he's based here in Atlanta. And, you know, I'd love for you just to share why EXP? Because what I learned about them is there's a lot of different really cool profit sharing benefits and referral benefits and all these different things that attracted my client over to them. But I'd love to hear it just from you. Like, why did you pick them? And, you know, were you with any other agencies prior to them?

Starting point is 00:29:05 Were you with a couple before you found them? And then what's that process like? switching agencies because there's probably some real estate agents that listen to the show and they're like, man, this sounds like a great agency. I'd love to switch and how do I do that and what are the benefits? So I love to you just to give some insights there. Right. So I was with pretty much the same company prior. They had switched names three different times. So when I first joined, it was home real estate, then they transitioned over to Berkshire, Hathaway and then they went over to Keller Williams. So it was the same group of people, but just different names. There was some personal reasons.

Starting point is 00:29:41 I chose to kind of walk away from that company. But the reason I chose EXP, because I did look around quite a bit, it's about the connections, like Brent Gove is one of my sponsors. And he is probably the most amazing person. So Brent, if you hear this, shout out to you. But what really drew me to EXP is because I feel and think so much bigger than like my typical small town, 600 people, you know, like that's where I'm from. And I'm like, I want to be bigger than Newman Grove.

Starting point is 00:30:09 I want to be bigger than Columbus. I want to be bigger than Nebraska. Or at least have option or opportunities bigger than Nebraska. And there's a couple different real estate agencies like Berkshire Hathaway and Nebraska Realty who are here in Nebraska. And they do a great job. They have great connections. They're very well known.

Starting point is 00:30:27 But I was like, but that's going to limit me to Nebraska. Like I don't want to be confined to just Columbus or just Nebraska. So that's when I was looking bigger and outside. and I found EXP. And then the benefits of the profit share. So I could, you know, bring somebody else on and basically mentor them or lead them or guide them or maybe not even at all. But from California, they join underneath the meat.

Starting point is 00:30:53 I get a portion of their capping, which is typically $16,000. But then the other benefit of it is once you become an icon agent, EXP royalty, you actually get $16,000 back in EXP stock. You have to do some points and whatever. else you got to do on there, but like you're essentially paying a couple hundred dollars or a couple thousand dollars in total per year to be able to do that. And I also, and that stock is also another added benefit of setting up your financial future. Now, not going to be, not going to be a deal breaker. It's not going to make you rich when you go to retire. But most agents don't have a future plan.

Starting point is 00:31:31 They don't have a retirement plan. So if you could at least be with a company who's kind of putting money into there as EXP stock and the more agents you bring on, the more deals you close, the more money you put into there, obviously it's just going to increase. That's just another added benefit. Plus, like the profit share and, but the biggest thing is honestly the connections that EXP has brought me. There's over 90,000 agents with EXP Realty. You're in 26 different countries. And the opportunities that I have been presented with the last two and a half years far exceeds anything I would have ever been able to do going with another brokerage. And another brokerage, could I maybe do more transactions? I don't know. You know, maybe.

Starting point is 00:32:06 maybe, but I doubt it because I'm kind of, I feel like I'm kind of at my own individual max, unless I'm bringing other agents on. Like last year, I did 72 transactions, just me myself. So like, probably not. But yeah, that's kind of why I chose to go the EXP route because they're just, they're so much bigger and more open mindset than just Nebraska. Like, I don't want to be just Nebraska. Love it. So you love the feel of a small town, but you want global reach, right? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:32:39 So that's kind of a lot of. And I want the opportunity to go travel and to these events and have those connections. Like we went to Cabo here in March for an EXP event. We went to Miami. And I know other real estate agents or agencies have those big events too, but I could probably find an EXP event to go to every single day throughout the entire year, like if I really wanted to because you could just go all over the place, meet so many different people. And that's really what business is about is networking. It's not what you know. It's who you know.

Starting point is 00:33:11 100%. Yeah, that's a big portion of it is connection and community. And so one of the things that I'd love for you to share is seven years in, you've got last year, 72 transactions. There might be someone listening that has zero transaction because they've thought about becoming a real estate agent. So what would be three tips that you could share with either an aspiring agent, maybe an aspiring flipper, you know, or someone that's just like they're stagnant in what they're doing and they're just looking for something else, looking for a positive change. And who knows, you might be able to encourage them to come on your team and work with you and actually work with a place that's in 26 countries with 90,000 agents and plenty of benefits. So what were maybe two or three

Starting point is 00:33:58 tips you could share for those categories. Well, so in any business whatsoever, but especially as an agent, if you're just new to the business, people are like, oh, work your sphere, work your sphere. Nope, screw that. Don't work your sphere. You will get burned. Your family, your friends are not going to work with you. And you can't fault them for that because it is one of the biggest decisions of their entire life for majority of the people out there. And they're going to want to work with somebody who they know, knows what they're doing and that they can have complete and 100% confidence in it. So erase that. And don't take things personal. Business. I'm sure, Jordan, you can attest to this. You cannot take things personal when you are looking to start your own business. You have to weave out the negative mentality and the

Starting point is 00:34:39 naysayers because you will have people who doubt you. Now, for me, that fueled the fire. I'm like, all right, because when we started flipping, no joke, we had a friend who laughed and was like, all right, I'll believe it when I see it. Well, fast forward to this day, he's been in prison like three, four different times. And my husband and I do very, very, very well. Now, we didn't, we're not not making a living off our flipping, but we certainly make a living off of real estate. But so, like, you have to shut out the naysayers. You cannot go to other people and ask their opinion on what they feel you should do, because I guarantee you the people that you're going to are not doing where you, what you want

Starting point is 00:35:18 to do. So you're never going to be criticized by somebody who's doing more than you. You're only going to be criticized by those who are doing less than you. So one, do not get the opinions of others because you're going to have a hundred different opinions and you're not going to know you have to trust your gut and you have to trust your instinct or your intuition or your purpose in life, whatever you want to call it because you just have this burning desire and you just have to take action. You cannot be afraid to fail because you have to fail. I have failed more times than I have succeeded. I can tell you

Starting point is 00:35:50 I'm so much further ahead in life than I've ever been at all. You know, even looking back a year ago, two years ago. I'm like, holy moly, like I've made tremendous steps to where I'm at today. But if I wouldn't have done this, I'd never be here. And then if I wouldn't have done this, I would not even be any further. So it's taking those chances and taking those risks to get to where you want to go. And it's not, it's not a clear path. Okay, keep that in mind. It's not like I've said, hey, this is where I want to go. And it's just been a straight line. Because no, I still don't know where I want to go. It's constantly changing. Like I have an idea of what I want my life to be like. how am I going to get there? I don't know. Like, I also have a goal to retire my parents with $10,000 a month.

Starting point is 00:36:31 Or they say by the time they're 65, how am I going to do that? No idea. Because they're not going to just let me give them money, but I'll figure it out. It's top of mind, you know? So there's just a lot of things that I put out there that I don't know what the path is going to look like, but you have to learn to enjoy the journey. It's not a destination because so many people think like, oh, I want to become a millionaire. Okay, well, if you woke up today and you won the lottery, and you're now a millionaire, is that going to make you satisfied? It might make you pretty happy for a little while, but over the long run, you're going to be miserable.

Starting point is 00:37:02 Most people who win the lottery, lottery end up bankrupt, a lot of people end up committing suicide because they have all these friends and families who come out of the woodworks, and then they blow it all, and then they lose it all. But if you're creating the journey and it takes you 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 years to get where you want to go, you're going to enjoy that a little bit more.

Starting point is 00:37:24 So I think there was a lot of advice. I don't know if that was just a second. Perfect. Perfect advice. Yeah. So folks, if you're listening, just remember that the path is not going to be straight.

Starting point is 00:37:37 I would actually argue that entrepreneurship looks more like a three-year-old's pictures. It's like a bunch of squiggly lines and things going everywhere and stops along the path and unexpected detours and moments of fear. crying and laughing and it's just all of it combined. It's like a whole life experience that you do literally every day. And then the brave ones wake up the next day, ready to do it again. So, you know, I know that there's going to be a lot of folks that hear your story and journey, and they're going to get inspired. And so I want to make sure that I can prepare them and get them to the right place to connect with you. There's going to be women that hear this and say, how inspiring a mom that's doing it, that's putting in the reps every day, who has failed more times than she's succeeded, still has a smile on her face and still loves it.

Starting point is 00:38:32 I want to be that. So where's the best place people can connect with you? So you can actually just follow me on Instagram, Shea J Spitz. And so it's S-H-A-E-J-Spitz, S-P-I-T-Z. And I also want people to know that no matter how long you've been in the business, it doesn't mean it's all going to be smooth sailing. here on out because it's not two years ago I went through a mental breakdown that I can't even explain to people how bad it was I was sleeping hour and a half a night that was when I made the transition from Keller Williams to expe royalty um it was shortly after that I had this horrible

Starting point is 00:39:05 mental breakdown and I ended up losing like 18 pounds I wasn't sleeping I wasn't eating it was horrible and I was five years into it I was doing very well in business um but I still had a huge setback but I I go back and I say every setback is a setup for a comeback that's it so very true you know it's not about how many times you fall it's about how many times you get back up and so the fact that you're able to go through something hard and then pick yourself dust yourself back up and get back on the trail uh that's why you're on the show because you're continuing to blaze trails i appreciate you taking the time out of your your busy schedule to come and add value to our audience and any parting words before we wrap up today um you know people

Starting point is 00:39:51 always say get comfortable being uncomfortable, but one of my other favorite quotes is be uncomfortable being comfortable, because if you are comfortable, you are not growing. Love it. And I will leave the audience with something that our mutual connection, Ken Jocelyn says all the time, is proximity is power. So one of the biggest things that I heard you say over and over and over again was community. And so folks, make sure when you're blazing a trail, it doesn't mean. you have to do it on your own. And so invest in yourself, invest in community, and you will have a lot more success on the trail

Starting point is 00:40:29 than you would have had if you wouldn't have done that. So thank you so much, Shea, for coming and adding value on the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. Cannot wait for the episode to air, and I hope you have a great day. Thank you so much, Jordan. Thank you for having me. My pleasure.

Blaze Your Own Trail - From Small Town to Real Estate Success with Shae Spitz

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