KGCI: Real Estate on Air - A Journey of Transition and Success

Episode Date: April 29, 2025

Hey everyone. This is Real Estate Riches podcast, and boy, is it going to be rich, full of the wealth and the tips and the tricks of all kinds of successful agents, because that's what you want to be, right? A business builder who has success in their business, well, that's what we got going on here. And I'm going to have all kinds of agents, men, women, younger, older, sharing all their stuff because there's technology, there's just, how do you build your business? There's so many questions, right? So let's learn from some of the best. Gather your wealth and build your business. That's what this channel is all about. And I'm excited to bring it to you. I'm Kathy Burns and I'll be your host and stay tuned. Let's get at it, right? Hey, everybody. I'm Kathy Burns and I'm

here with Elizabeth Riley who I'm really excited to have on the podcast today because we have similar models of that we love to do like being early. And we're going to talk about that. So stay tuned and welcome Elizabeth. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm so excited. I was just talking with Elizabeth and I was watching a podcast. She was on yesterday with Michael Valdez. And I was just so intrigued with the first thing started with being early.

And even today, she's 10 minutes early. I was on here already because, you know, we were just talking about it. You need to be prepared. What if something goes wrong, right? I do not operate well being. reactive. And so yeah, you just want to make sure that you're set and your camera's working and your sound's working and I value people's time. So absolutely, I want to be here prepared before even they're here. Right. Me too. So I love that about it. And then when you went further on to

talk about this organization, I'm thinking, I was just thinking, I'm speaking, I'm speaking in Cabo next week, so I'm excited about that. And I was thinking how when I first got in the industry in 2006, no one helped anybody. The collaboration was non-existent. And it's like, they're just throwing you to the wolves to go figure it out. And I'm thinking, this is a very interesting industry that you don't get direction. It was interesting because you and I think it sounds like we've been in business about the same time.

And it was a sink or swim type of mentality. And they would say, next, we'll just go get more. And for me, that. was so backwards because I think if you develop the people that you have, the people that are loyal, the people that are in your world already, it's so much easier, I guess it's that 80-20 rule. It's just so much easier to focus on the people that are there instead of continually, you know, reinventing the wheel and hoping for a different result. So for me, I was in that same environment and it's, I look back at that time and I even looking about things now and conversations I have,

I was a brand new agent back then. Yeah, right. Who knew I'd be a top producer? So then everybody I'm in conversations with now, I think of that too. Well, I was in your shoes one time. Maybe you're the next producer. Maybe you're the next top producer. The big producers, I don't even think, are in the industry yet.

So you just never know who you're going to come in contact with and cross paths with. Right. I agree so much. And I tried to create collaboration because the internet was newer for Facebook was newer, business pages especially. And so I started teaching all these agents tech. And I was way older than a lot of them. And I'm teaching them how to have their Facebook business pages.

And not a one was sharing how to do the business. God for phone codey back then, because you at least get some calls coming in because that's exactly how the business was done. And I didn't stay long at that firm. I switched over. That was Colobanker and I switched over to Remax. And they two, offered a little bit of training, not much.

Everyone was very tight-lipped, office doors closed. And I'm like, what's going on behind that door? It was crazy. I was a model where we really talked about collaboration and sharing. And it was funny because what one person says and actually does where I was recognizing quickly, it was two very different conversations. And I love to teach. I love to, I'm an open book.

I don't want to be a coach, but I find myself in that. capacity a lot of times. And so I would always raise my hand. Oh, I'll teach, I'll train. And we had a course that they wanted you to follow along page by page. And I was laughing because I would read this. And no wonder nobody was really getting into production because nobody really did that. And so the productivity person or the head of the class would leave the room. And I'd look around and I tell everybody, okay, close your books. They'd look at me. What do you mean? Close your books. I'm going to show you what I really do on a listing because what you're reading. in the book is not real life or maybe it was at some point, but we've evolved in times of

changing, especially in the real estate. If you think about the real estate environment now, they're changing monthly, right? So I would always close the book and just say, okay, this is what I do because it's not competition to me. It's when we all win, we're all succeeding in a bigger way. Yeah, you mentioned that yesterday. We're not competition. When you look at the numbers of agents in an area, you're really not competition. You're really not competition. You may work with the same few agents over and over that are the hustlers that top percent. And but most of the time, even when you teach the class and you teach jewels, good stuff, they don't go necessarily and do it.

And they may do it their own way. They may reinvent it. Who cares if you hear how I do something? Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And I think there's lessons too because you might do something one way that either aligned with me or it doesn't. And if it doesn't, we were talking about this earlier, there's lessons in that too. Lessons in knowing what doesn't work for you.

Lessons in knowing what isn't really authentic to the kind of agent or the kind of person or the kind of leader you want to be. And so I think in every situation, I'm always listening for the lessons to see where it might apply to me. Yeah, I agree. Mike Ferry was really big about making all these cold calls. And I had a lot of pressure where people were saying, you need to get on the phone and make calls like that. I go, that's just not my style. I'm an in-your-face.

I'm in-person. Let's gel together, right? But I quickly figured out that I needed to figure out my needs about who my target market was, the price point, because I was dead broke when I started. I had no one helping me. I was selling off my stuff on an eBay store to get buy. So I really had to figure it out. And I didn't have time.

But I also didn't want to have that panic in me where a buyer or seller, feeling she's just going to make a paycheck. That was not the agenda. And so I needed to figure out who my target market was, what my price point could be that would work for me, who was not working it and who was working it, was there a sweet spot out there and I found it? That's what I pursued. And that's how I really helped myself build my business. And it became all referral and repeat business because I nurtured it too. Well, and I always talk about other agents in the industry in the way that I don't see it as competition either because who is on the other side of a transaction?

Clients are going to come and go. Right. But the likelihood of me being up against or collaborating with another agent on the other side to get our clients to the closing table, that's pretty high. So the great agents are going to still be around. the agents that are really focusing on their business in the right way are going to be around. And it's not often that I go up against somebody. My business is such now that it's referral based for the most part.

And so people usually just call me to list. They don't necessarily have me come interview to list. Although the last month, twice, I've gone up against four other agents, which was really funny because it's not typical. And in two, in both situations, one happened to be a very good friend of mine who's actually actually the same company. And we were the only two expe agents and the other ones were Compass, Sotheby's, the luxury piece with KW and all luxury type clientele. But we were the last two standing.

And what was funny was when we had talked to and I had talked to the client about the one I won and I said, what was it, you know, that you chose to work with me? And she told me a number of reasons. but one of the other things she said is there were a number of the people we talked about and they talked negatively about their competition. And you and this other person who happened to be a friend of mine, you even said, and she said the same thing. You cannot go wrong with any of these agents because they're all well established.

They've all done amazing things in their craft, in their industry. We're all going to do similar things. You just really need to figure out who you align with who you mesh well with because you're going to be working with them from start to finish. And I just thought it was interesting that you had a number of these agents that were talking negatively about the same people that would possibly be working on another side of a transaction. And where's the positive in that? So it was a little bit of a lesson for me as well.

It's let's lift each other up not only in our communities, but lift each other up so the industry shows better. Yes. Totally agree with that. Sometimes you'll be in a situation with a closing or whatever. from start to finish, the other side is very opposing. Gives so much grief. Isn't collaborative at all.

Like send you an email instead of saying, hey, here's a text to let you know. I sent that email because you don't always see all your emails. Right. And it gets very tense. Or they're really bad making their clients feel like your repair inspection report was just horrible. And we need a fortune for this. And I'm like, let's just work what's fair. so that we got four sets of happy people there,

buyer, seller, agent, right? I want everybody happy at the closing table. I want everyone to feel like it was a fair quality transaction that we're all happy about. We've always been in those situations too, especially those of us that have been in the business for a long time, that there are some agents that just get in the way of a transaction. And I never want to be that agent,

especially when we were experiencing so many multiple offers. And I don't know about other markets. Our market is starting to see more of that again. We're starting to see more than a little bit here. Right. And I want to be one of those agents where the listing agent says, oh my gosh, we have all these offers. Here's what they all look like, even if they're all equal.

But I've worked with Elizabeth Riley in the past. I know it's going to be smooth. I know she's a fair negotiator. She's a solid agent. And I know we're not going to have any problems getting to the closing table. I want to be that person. Yeah. And so I remind the agents that I train and coach all the time.

It's not, you're not combating the other person. It's let's come to the table and be collaborative because what is that saying? You attract more more with honey than vinegar or something like that. Yeah. Fees with honey than vinegar. It's the same thing. I want to be in a, I don't want to be in a stressful environment. We're already dealing with stressful situations when you're working with clients that this is usually their biggest asset.

So yeah. Let's put the stress level down. Let's all have a, like you said, make sure all parties are happy and they've had a great experience. It doesn't have to be win-lose. Right. Totally agree with that. And I can hear myself. I even did a video recently where I said, I was so excited that so-and-so agent was on the other side because I knew it was going to be, we were going to be able to get this to the closing table.

You just knew because everybody had an incentive to work together and you knew their style, which is so big. It's a good feeling. So tell me what you're thinking about AI and technology, how that's going to affect a lot of the agents that aren't embracing it. It's like the buzzword. AI is the new buzzword. And I think we've experienced AI in all areas of our life for a long time. And maybe we haven't recognized it and maybe we have.

And I've talked to a lot of friends that are, I'd say experts in AI. It's hard to say that because AI is evolving every day as well. But they are a lot further along. then say little me. But a friend of mine who is well versed in AI and he teaches all over the country said something that was really thought provoking for me. He said AI isn't going to replace the real estate agent, but the real estate agent using AI will. And I thought that was super powerful because I think we get, again, those buzzwords and people get

fearful. And instead of being fearful and not doing anything and freezing, it's okay, what can we learn from this? how can it complement what we're already doing? Because real estate is very relational. Yes, there are those people that are transactional. But for most of us, it's very relational if you think about it. And so that's not going to replace any of it.

There's still going to always be a very valuable space for us. But you still want to be cutting edge. You still want to be making sure that you aren't being left behind. We're not using the MLS books anymore. Those agents that are still one of, to rely on the MLS books are probably out of the business because technology evolves and you have to be willing to evolve with it. And I just think that's another iteration of what AI is doing. Yeah, I do too. Well, I think that AI is literally changing our world. It's a tidal wave that's going to

happen no matter what. And like you said, it's the agents that embrace it. I will be here. It's the agents that don't that won't last in my mind. Right. And I'm seeing it in my kids school. I have four kids, right? And chat GBT and AI, that's all the big thing too. And I've really encouraged them. The chat GBT, some of it is really powerful. But the other, you can tell it's so robotic. It's not you. So just keep the, continue to keep the human element in whatever you're doing and whatever your business and utilize AI to help, you know, focus on what's most important in your business. Your business is going to look different than mine and then somebody else's. And so we're going to use it in a way that helps us. But our business, again, is 100% referral. And so we're not going to take that human

element. We're not going to take that relational touch. We're not going to take that coffees with our clients out of the equation to try and get one more deal or one more sale. The people are going to be the ones that are referring to the business, you know, long past the latest AI or technology piece that comes out. And the piece for the way I see it with AI is that it is a, it's like an assistant that's going to simplify your business. So that you can. run more efficiently. That's where I'm really seeing it. Give me the efficiency to run. Help me with my social media so that I can think it through. I don't have to waste the time to come up with the content. Tell me the best times. Tell me the SEO so that I can hand it over to my people that I'm

going to have do that. Right. And efficiency is the keyword that you just use there. Yes. I think those that just rely on it and say, okay, this is going to take over my business. I don't think those people are the ones that are going to see the results that they're hoping for, but supplemental, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So tell me about your AHA group, your AHA group. I loved it. Oh, AHA clubs. Agents helping agents. It's a grassroots effort that just organically came to be. People love community. People love collaboration. People love coming together. And I love the production piece, but I'm doing things very different than the next person. And so we just started bringing brainstorming, masterminding together. And what started as a simple mastermind, let's all come together

and talk about what you're doing and talk about what you're doing. And oh, well, that would be really cool if we had a panel on that. And we could learn a lot from the new agents. So then let's do a rookie panel. And it just evolved from there. And so agents helping agents is, again, a hog club. We just started doing it in Austin, Texas, a number of years ago. We do it monthly consistency is key in everything I do. So we're doing it monthly. We're making sure we're doing it the same place, the same time. It's not the same topic. It's all production focused. It's brokerage agnostic. I don't care. If you're a brand new baby agent, I don't care if you've been in the business 30 years. We don't care what brokerage you're with. If you want to come mastermind, you want to come add value and you

want to participate or even just listen, you're invited. And so we just have different topics. And then we ask the question, what topics are interesting to you? AI was a. topic that was on everybody's radar. And again, there's some of that fear or curiosity or not really knowing. And so we said, AI is a big topic. Let's bring in one of the best I know. And that's Phil Stringer. Phil Stringer's out of North Carolina.

And I've gotten to know him over the years. And he said, absolutely, I'll come in. And that room was packed. And it was so fascinating. And it was hands on opening up the playbook, not keeping back the secret sauce, saying this is what you need to know. Because you alluded this to this. earlier, Kathy, you said, not everybody's going to do what you tell them to do anyway.

Right? So we do that every single month. And we had an expert in on disk, the disc profile analysis. And what's really cool about that is every single person before they attended took a very in-depth disc assessment with motivators and leadership so that they could into the class with their own personal disc perform and understand, okay, this is how I operate. This is how I see things. and we were talking about how to motivate others without the use of money, right? Is that a valuable topic in the real estate space? Absolutely. You're sitting with yourself.

You're sitting with your buyer. How can you use the personality assessments and understanding the different profiles to motivate them or motivate the other side, not using money? So it was a fabulous class. So we do things like that because it's all learning and taking the step further and understanding how we can better our not only personally but professionally as well. So when you do that, are you charging? Like he just flew in for free or are the people paying to be a part of it? What's happening?

So I talk about failing forward quite a bit. This is one of those areas where I failed forward quite a bit. I used to not charge anything. And what I recognize really quickly is you get what you pay for and then people aren't really invested because free is free and, oh, something came up or I'm going to go on a listening or a lunch or something and then all of a sudden we would have a lender or a sponsor that would bring in lunch but everybody that said they were coming didn't show up so it wasn't really a great use of anybody's time and so then i started charging something small not to make money i pay

me personally i pay for the room there's other spaces where you don't have to pay right uh i wanted to be consistent we have it at the board of realtors here in austin and i wanted it at a place where everybody was going to be able to come to and as we grew because we used to do it in one space and then we got too large for that space. And it just causes, it causes a little bit of chaos when you're having to move around. And then people are like, I showed up here. And so anyway, I paid for that space every single month to be consistent. And then I was trying to figure out, okay, I'm not trying, we're not trying to make money on this thing. I'm not even really trying to break even. So I wanted it to be accessible to everybody.

And everybody has different financial situations. Even 50. $50 is a lot of money. So we usually do, depending on what the topic is, with Bill, because we were trying to offset some of those costs, I think I charged $20. But usually we charge anywhere between $10 and $15. We have a sponsor. The sponsor comes and brings food for everybody. But again, we want to keep it small enough so that it's accessible to everybody, but there's

still a little bit of accountability there. Yeah. So it's from 10 to 20, I would say, depending on the topic. And we have a lender come in. The lenders or the sponsors, they can't pitch, they can't sell. They have to come in and add value. I don't want a lender to come in and say, our rates are this today and we have this.

I want you to add value. Teach us something that we can take into the field when we're talking to our. I love that. Because there's a lot of education behind the scenes that none of us know about besides rates. And I can call my lender and ask for rates. I don't want that. I need something that's going to make me more efficient in my job and more successful in talking to my clients.

And then we have it from 11 to 1. So it's two hours. And we break it down easy. The first 15 minutes, first of all, real estate agents are always late. Makes me crazy. So I know we're going to start at 1115 because it starts at 11, but they're not going to be there.

So we have music. We get everybody excited. Everybody's networking. If you don't know somebody, meet somebody new. 1115, we have the sponsor come in. 1130, we start. And the speaker has an hour and a half to present,

ask questions. network and things like that. And what's been great is people saw what we were doing here in Austin. And then they were reaching out saying, well, can I do this here in Baltimore? And can I do this in San Antonio? And absolutely. So they're popping up all over the place now. And what's me come in? Or if I have something like, Russ Leggin was in Austin, who's our growth director. And I was like, hey, Russ, you have so much amazing value to add. Will you be one of my speakers? And so he was our speaker for AHA this past, I think it was last week. And so. when you figure out icons or other people from other markets and you bring them in or if they

happen to be in town or they're driving distance, it sets the tone for an expert in a different way. Yes. Yes. So I'm speaking in Austin. They're also used to me in Austin. And I will add whatever value I can add, but I'm only as good as I am. I'm surrounded by amazing people doing things bigger than me. But say I go to Dallas and they can draw people in because a little bit.

Elizabeth Riley's coming to speak or I can go to North Carolina. So we're all reciprocating that and we have all ha's jumping all up all over the country. And it's been fascinating, but also exciting to see because it's really all about R&D. It's rip off and duplicate. Yes. I appreciate the will. I love that. I love that.

I was just thinking we need to start a mastermind local because I was thinking there's many agents that are hungry. I did a panel last week. My daughter was on it. and another agent, she's a younger agent, I think she's 25. And she has been doing so well on Instagram using ManyChat to capture those, that business. She's done $30 million in the past few years just from Instagram, all attracting to her. So I said, we need to do where we present this to a group of agents agnostic, where we just share this out there.

I'll talk about AI as just a thing to understand. and my daughter came in and talked about how to create the prompts. And there were probably 41 agents in the room. It was free. A builder provided lunch. And they had so many questions. And I realized they were really clueless about a lot of tech. And this was all different age groups.

Some were using AI quite a bit. A couple had heard of many chat before. I had never heard of it. Yet I kept seeing a familiar theme in the Instagrams, where someone would say, if you're interested in that, say this word. And I'm like, something's going on there. What is that? And then I thought, we need to know how to capture our leads, especially now.

Instead of paying all this money, let's do something where we're bringing them to us. Right. You add value in a different way. And like you just said, you had 40 people in there. What happens when you open that up and you start marketing it as a collaborative space where you're learning and growing. And it opens up relationships. It opens up for referrals.

It opens up all sorts of things. And so, yeah, I love, it's been a fun concept. Like I said, it just organically happened. We just started doing it because we would all, let's all get together. Let's meet on this month and what, just going back and forth. And so I love that because people are hungry for that knowledge and information. And what I like to do is I like to put different people in front of the rooms. And I tend to push a little bit.

For example, I have two really dear friends that are amazing at farming. Amazing. Like they command their neighborhoods. I think they each own about 45 or 48% of their farms, which is unheard of. Wow. They both farm differently. So there's not one way to do everything, which when I was starting, everybody said, well, if you don't do it this way and you don't check this box, you're not going to be successful.

So these two agents are both in my market. They farm completely differently, different. They are complete different personalities. And one of them was, I said, well, you come teach on this. No, I don't want to get in front of people. And I'm like, you're going to get in front of people. And we're going to encourage you to do that. And what happened is all of a sudden she recognized how much value she brought to the table

because what she was doing is just second nature. She didn't really think that it was that valuable. And now all of a sudden, she's seen as one of the experts now. And now she's got more of a confidence level when she's talking to people in teaching. And so it's also another. way to lift other people up and encourage them to share their gifts in a different way. So I always try to put everybody up. Now, at AHAs, I don't put anybody up that's not with our company, right?

Because there's so much amazing collaboration within our company. But a lot of people, anybody's invited to come and we have a lot of fun with it. That's great. I was just going to ask you something. She went right out of my head. Oh, S. A disc profile. You said you were an S.

and I see you as so much of a D. I'm adaptive, right? That's valid. You have to, I've done this a long time and I've learned to be adaptive in different ways. And especially with sellers, buyers and sellers, you're sitting in front of the table. I do a pre-listing packet.

And I've done it for many years. And the whole reason I did it starting out was to figure out if I didn't know who the person was, this is before my business was all referral. I didn't really care what was what they filled out in the pre-listing packet, but when I showed up for the appointment, from what they did do, I could figure out their personality, right? And that way, I didn't have to stumble through everything to try and figure it out. I could already figure out and be really intentional in my

conversations. Over the years, most people don't realize this. I'm very much an introvert, very much, but I can be very adaptive because I have to be. I have to be in my role. I have to be with my children. I have to be as a leader in this company, but I am a very high S. And it I'm a it's s d I lead with my s but my d and then my d i can be adaptive but it's mostly d i used to be something different and so when i went through success coaching i'm a success certified trainer we had to go through a very in-depth disc profile and it actually messed with me for a while to the point where when they had me on stage talking about this they said what did you take away from that and i said i was just existing because i was lost at where i was in my personality and when

once I realized that your personality strengths can change over time and true be adaptive in a different way it was freeing in a way so I am a very high S surrounded by very high Ds so a lot of times my deal come out yeah because when I was watching that and you said a high S I'm thinking boy I haven't heard S in there to the level of the D that I kept hearing in that interview yesterday and I have always been a high eye with almost nothing else existent. And I was in personal development for a long time and recognized the sabotaging effect of just being a high eye that I needed to understand the other styles. And it really helped me in my business. It helped me in life, really, understand it.

And when I realized how I could bring my D up, my S is there, but my C is almost non-existent. My C is non-existent. Yes. I need C's in my life. because that piece is an important piece. But I find it very important in business to know your desk profile to recognize different styles and to see how I can work so that I'm solving their needs more than my need, right? Right.

Well, and it's listening more and understanding. You mentioned the podcast yesterday. Who was I on there with? A very high deed. Yeah. So one of those things, you've got to. in situations like that, you've got to learn how to match, right, and mirror who you're with. And I do that well because I've done it for so many years in real estate, right?

And he's a very high D, very high eye. And I adore him. And I know him so well, too. So it's one of those things where when you know somebody you're super comfortable, you know where you can just jump into a conversation. But even if I didn't, I would still mirror him a little bit because a D is not going to put up with my, if I'm wanting to be a high S at the moment or wanting to be a high, I would lose him. So I've learned how to just adapt where needed.

Yeah, that's great. Elizabeth, this has been wonderful. I really appreciate you being on here and sharing all this knowledge. And I look forward to seeing you in person. I will actually be in Cabo for a couple days next week. So we'll make sure that we meet face to face. That sounds great. I appreciate it.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. It's been a fun time. And I always love meeting new and great people. and so I look forward to connecting further down the road. That's great. Thanks. Bye, Kappi. So thanks for joining me on this episode of Real Estate Riches.

Wasn't that great? I'm sure you've got a nugget or two. I know I did. So if you liked it, please subscribe below, share it with everybody. Make some comments. We really find that invaluable. And if you're thinking that you would love to talk about this a little bit more, let's schedule a business strategy call.

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