KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Breaking Borders The Secret to Expanding Your Business to the U.S.

Episode Date: September 6, 2025

Friday Focus is your weekly mini-series from KGCI Real Estate On Air—a deep dive into one theme, broken into tactical, easy-to-implement episodes. Every Friday and Saturday, we unpack the strategies, scripts, and systems agents use to win more business—without the fluff.Catch every episode in the series to get the full picture, and put these moves into play by Monday.SummaryThis episode is a comprehensive guide for entrepreneurs looking to scale their business to the world’s largest and most dynamic market. The discussion reveals that success isn't just about having a great product; it's about a methodical, data-driven approach to navigating an unfamiliar legal, cultural, and business landscape. You'll learn the key steps to setting up a U.S. presence, from understanding legal and tax complexities to tailoring your brand for an American audience.Key TakeawaysDeep Market Research is Non-Negotiable: Understand that what works in your home country may not translate. The episode emphasizes the need for extensive market research, including understanding local customer preferences, consumer behavior, and your competition, to ensure your product or service has a clear demand.Navigate the Legal & Tax Landscape: Discover that a single legal mistake can cost you a fortune. The discussion highlights the critical importance of seeking local legal and tax advice to properly structure your business, understand labor laws, and avoid unnecessary liabilities.Tailor Your Product & Marketing: Learn that successful global companies don’t just translate their brand; they localize it. The episode provides a blueprint for adapting your product, pricing, and marketing strategy to fit the unique cultural nuances and expectations of the U.S. market.Build a Local Team & Network: Understand why having "boots on the ground" is essential. The discussion emphasizes the value of hiring local talent who understand the culture and language, and building a strong network of local partners and mentors who can help you navigate the business environment.Topics:Expanding business to U.S.Breaking bordersInternational businessU.S. market expansionGlobal business strategyCall-to-ActionReady to take your business to the next level? Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform and start your journey to a U.S. expansion! Ready for more? Subscribe to KGCI Real Estate On Air and grab the Always Free Real Estate On Air Mobile App for iPhone and Android. Inside, you’ll find our complete archive, 24/7 stream, and every Friday Focus mini-series—ready when you are.

Tactical, focused. Just like a top producer. Here's a sample from this week's Friday focus on KGCI, Real Estate on Air. This is everything they never told you about real estate with the AI Queen Carrie Sovay. Sharing the tech, tools, and lead gen strategies that top producers won't tell you about. Now, here's your host, Carrie. Hey, everyone. Welcome back.

I'm your host, Carrie, and I am with a very special guest, Lauren Cohen. And she is a international lawyer, public speaker, bestselling author, entrepreneur. Like, I feel like the list goes on and on, Lauren. And what she specializes in and why she's here today is investing and relocating to the US, which is what everybody wants to learn how to do these days. I feel like there's no shortage of. real estate agents, not even just, you know, investors, but like, and our clients, but real estate agents that want to relocate from Canada to the U.S.

In fact, that's how we met. Somebody within my organization wanted advice and guidance on this. So you're providing that to her. So thank you so much for coming on today, Lauren. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm excited to be here, actually. Even though I got to say, usually I'm selling the warmth in Florida.

and I heard that it's snowing in North Florida today. So, you know, it's not snowing here in South Florida, but it's not exactly a heat wave. Okay. So you actually live in Florida now. I do. You're Canadian now. I am.

And I was, because obviously, like, I use AI for everything that I do. I don't know if you know much about me. But so I had AI do all my research on you, of course. Because we just met. And just met an interesting story about your, at the time husband came up. So why don't we start there? Always the fun part.

Let's start there. So everybody can understand why you're doing what you're doing and why you want to make an impact and help. So yeah, you got support. It was February 2nd, 2007 and got married January, December 31st, 2006. We went on our honeymoon to Thailand. My ex-husband now was from Canada originally, and I didn't know that his status was not very kosher here. I had no idea about that. So we went on our honeymoon to Thailand and on the way back from our honeymoon at Chicago O'Hare Airport, the government, the USCIS or Department of Homeland Security actually said, your husband isn't admissible to the U.S. They actually went like this, Kerry. They said, He's gone like this to the U.S. government went too many times.

And we're going like this right back to him. And I was like, what? What's like sitting there standing? I was like, what? Like I couldn't believe that this head of Homeland Security at Chicago Airport was doing that. It was super high hand. I didn't know what was going on. I was in the process of getting my green card.

I didn't know that he had all these issues. And basically he had sold illegal Rolexes at Cavendish Mall in Montreal when he was young. and he had been pardoned by the Canadian government, but I didn't know this either. Partons from the Canadian government are not accepted for immigration purposes in the U.S. And so he was put in immigration jail, expeditiously removed and subsequently deported.

And here I am in the way back from our honeymoon. And they said, you can go back to Florida on your own, but he's not coming with you. And I was like, this is fun. So, you know, it was never really a good match. That's a whole other plethora of reasons for that. And he was sent to, where we flew in from, which was Osaka, Japan, and then sent back to Canada.

Came back here. And we continued this literally charade for a few months and then got divorced. But when I got my green card, I actually had to go to Montreal to get it because he, we were still married and I thought he was going to get a green card. And they would not, he was inadmissible. They wouldn't give it to him. But I had to go to Montreal because he wasn't allowed in the country. So, yeah.

So I literally went through my share of, you know, know what. Like, I went through everything. I did TN, NAFTA visas, H-1Bs. I did different visas, and I finally did get my green card, but he did not. And we got divorced in the process of that for a whole other, as I've said, plethora of reasons. But it really showed me, you know, who knows what's going to happen now, because there's a lot of talk amongst the immigration bar about Trump and what he's doing. But at the time, it really showed me how kind of vulnerable we are. And especially, I didn't really know much. I was working in house. I was doing corporate in health care law. I didn't know much about immigration other than my own process. And I decided it was time to become an expert. And that's what catapulted me into doing what I do now. And I wrote a book called Finding Your Silver Lining in the Business Immigration Process because that's what I did. I found the silver lining in the adversities. Yeah. So when they say you can't really like feel for your clients until you've been there, it's really true because I really empathize with them. no matter what their plight, no matter what their challenges, no matter why they want to leave

Canada or whatever, I've been there, been through a lot. And I'm not kind of, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth and I wasn't born American. So I've been through it all. Yeah. Well, my business coach has a famous saying and he tells me this all the time, because you're most qualified to help those that you once were. Right. Exactly. Very, very true. This is actually, I feel like I feel safest when I'm seeking out advice or help from a professional who has walked in my shoes before. There's a level of trust that's built a lot quicker. Yeah.

So, yeah. It's a big deal. It's for sure a big deal. I mean, I think it's kind of like when you go to those business coaches and they've never run a company, but suddenly they're experts at coaching you. And I'm like, you know, like, what? What are your qualifications? Like, well, you got lucky and you got into business coaching. But yeah, it's kind of, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

And I feel like I really can identify with my clients because of what I've been through. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so I want you to speak to real estate agents right now because this show is geared. I'm sure we get like your buyers and your sellers listening to this. but most of our audience is agents. And I mentioned already a lot of agents that I'm coming across that are Canadian, want to immigrate down to the U.S. Places like Florida, get their license there, work there.

And I've had this, this has been brought up to me several times, but like I'm the type of person where I deep dive into everything. So if I don't have the time, I'm like not even stepping close. to it, which is why I'm so glad to me back, because now I can just send them to you. What I'm talking about it, but guess what? Lauren does, and she's an expert, so you need to talk to her. Absolutely. Are there different ways that you can go about getting your visa or citizenship or however this works? And do you focus on one of those specifically? Sure, absolutely. So, thank you for the question. So first of all, I got my real estate license here right after I got my green card,

And I literally didn't use it until I joined DXP. And now I'm a really good referral partner because I don't know how to write up a contract if it hit me in the face. But one of the biggest advantages to getting your license in the U.S. is that it takes between, I'm actually doing, I think you're joining me on Thursday. I'm doing a global realtor mastermind talking about the ease of transition into a U.S. license because it takes between 50. it's 180 hours like I think in Texas, but generally it's 50 to 70 hours. Like in Florida, it's 63 hours. How long is it in Ontario?

It's like to get my license, I feel like it can take you a year or something. Okay, and it's Humber College or something like that. And it's not an easy task, right? And the reality is that the market down here, I mean, so first of all, it's 10 times a size. The opportunities are much greater. The cap rates are higher. You've got investment opportunities. the challenge is that getting your real estate license requires you to have a social security number.

You can take the course. That doesn't require it. But to actually sit for the exam in most states, particularly Florida, does require you to have a social. So how do you get that? Well, you have to get a visa to get a social. Or maybe you happen to go to school in the States or something like that. But not everybody did. Okay.

So for the most part, you need to get a visa. Now, people always ask if I get an E2 visa. which is based on a substantial investment in a non-marginal business, which is more like a traditional investor visa. If you get an investor visa, I can get my real estate license, right? Yep. But guess what? You can't do anything with that real estate license unless you happen to be the spouse of the visa holder. Why? Because your visa is tied to your business. So let's say that you're setting up a pizza shop and I pick on pizza shops all the time. Pizza shops, what does a real estate license have to do with running a pizza shop?

Nothing. So that brings me to my signature program, which is called How to Immigrate Through Real Estate. Several years ago, at the end of COVID, I was advised by someone I met from, he's from Ottawa. He lives here at Little League that my friends don't want to think. They want to streamline process. So I was like, okay. And then I had so many real estate investors coming to me, caring, saying, how do I not buy a pizza shop? Who wants a pizza shop, right?

So I was like, okay, there's got to be a way, because most immigration lawyers will say you cannot get a visa through real estate investing. And if you were to, then you would need a lot of doors because otherwise, where's the business? Because you have to be running an active business. So I turned the model on its head and created this program where you use real estate investing as a path to this visa.

And in our model, which is a comprehensive custom-built business, we build the real estate license into the model. So for example, somebody like you who has a big following, let's say that you wanted to do this, we would build your coaching business and your speaking business and perhaps your investing business. And guess what? You need your license in order to be able to execute on da da, da, da, da,

and we build this business that incorporates the license. So now you can work with buyers, sellers, and investors, whereas before you could just have your license. license to do referrals or get the passive income like from residuals, right? Yeah. But with this model, you can actually work as a realtor within the scope of your business model. But it takes that customization to build it.

And that's why I created this because it is a constant question. Thursday is the first time we're doing this event. We're going to be doing it once a month. But it's because of the demand. Like there's just so many people asking, asking how. do I get my license? What do I do with my license? Why can't I use my license? Okay, so I love this. And I'm actually going to get the link from you after to some of your stuff. So check out the description below wherever you're watching or listening to this podcast, because I will be sharing

links to sign up for webinars and learn more about what Lauren has to offer. Okay, who is this for? Like who is this service not for? It's not, okay. So listen, I'm a concierge, right? So it's not for somebody that's looking in my mom's words for cheap and cheerful. It's not for somebody that's looking for the easy way out, but it is for somebody that doesn't want to run a franchise or a business or a pizza shop. And rather wants to actually have an asset,

real estate, and build a viable legacy opportunity. for their family, for themselves. And God forbid you decide you don't want to continue with the visa. Guess what? You still have the asset, the real estate, right? So it's not for somebody that maybe has a super successful business in Canada. I offer that service as well. Okay, we do offer any business owner that wants to bring their business here or start a business here,

expand their business here, or buy a franchise. We can do all of that. But this model is for those that don't. don't want to do that or don't have that or especially those that are in the real estate space or real estate game in Canada or anywhere for that matter because at the end of the day, the rules apply, the same rules apply no matter where you're coming into the country. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So let's take me for instance because I take you. I feel, okay, so I have this business. I have like a couple of corporations here in Canada.

everyone kind of knows that my, my org, my personal organization at EXP, handles all of my sales and I'm just getting referrals at this point. Like I'm kind of leading. Sounds like me. So yeah, like my business isn't, you know, buying and selling anymore. And they're established businesses. But me and my husband have decided we definitely want to relocate to a warmer state, eventually because we have large dogs.

It's expensive to travel with them. So if we could just in the next three to five years, maybe even sooner, just completely relocate somewhere with better tax incentives, you know, stuff like that. And this is this is going to be, people are going to align with this. They're going to, they're going to totally agree with me here. I know. Okay.

Can I move my existing corporations or what I have to start? or new ones, like how would that work? So the beauty of that is that it doesn't impact you in Canada. So your Canadian companies can continue to make money. You just have to pay tax on them. And we have cross-border tax experts and all of that. So there's no reason for you to have to bring them south. What you can do is incorporate maybe one of them as a general partner of the companies that we set up here.

So there's a connection and a correlation. It really depends on your tax situation. And one thing I say whenever I speak, I don't comment on taxes. That's why I have tax experts, right? I pay them. That's about it. Okay? That's as far as it gets.

So there are a lot of advantages of moving to the U.S., especially for people that are making a decent living, because your tax situation is definitely going to improve, okay? And people are always scared, and I may as well address this elephant in the room. There's two things that people that are the most common questions right now. We know that one of them is about the, dollar because it's a nightmare, right? And the other one is about healthcare.

Those are my two most common questions from Canadians or concerns. So it's not like I can say, oh, I'm going to sweep my magic wand and the dollar's going to be at par, because even though sometimes we do offer at par promotions, that doesn't help you overall. One thing I say, and I have a great currency exchange partner, I would be happy to introduce to you to share with your tribe as well, is that. It hits the first time. When I moved, the dollar, the Canadian dollar was at an all-time low when I sold my house at downtown Toronto.

And I lost a lot of money. But you know what? That was, I don't know, whenever, 2001, 2002, something like that, it's over. Now every dollar I make is here in the U.S. As soon as you invest in a property, your return is going to be in U.S. dollars, right? So that's one thing that we can overcome as much as possible. And we can save a really a great deal on exchange. I just saved a client.

They bought a $600,000 property and we save them $15,000 or $18,000 compared to the other currency. Okay? Exchange. The second health care, there are options. Don't be scared. It's not as bad as it seems. And it's actually in many ways better because you actually can go and get what you need. My son had an MRI in, I want to say August, and out of pocket, because there was some issue with the insurance, I don't know.

Anyway, it doesn't matter. It costs me 300 bucks. Okay. It's a lot better than waiting months and months, right? Okay. So those two things being said, Carrie and her husband want to move to the U.S. What do we do? Well, we're going to figure out where, Carrie, and what's your husband's name?

Ricardo. Ricardo. Does Ricardo, by chance, speak Spanish? No, he's Italian. Oh, okay. Okay. Cool, cool. You'll meet him in Miami if you're going to be in Miami.

I will meet him in Miami. So Carrie and Ricardo want to move to Florida. So and obviously continue with their business that they've built in Canada. This is a very, again, very common question. We would get you into a business for you, like I said, we would probably buy a co-living property, invest in a co-living property. It's my favorite type of investment right now, just to clarify what the heck that is. It's basically glorified student housing. So it's taking a single family home, or maybe it's not.

Maybe it's like, let's say a three or four bedroom house, it can be as little as 1,600 square feet and turning it into a six or eight bedroom rental. And you rent each room as a room, just like student housing. And it can be extraordinarily lucrative. And guess what? It creates affordable housing, which then is very positive for the U.S., very well received for a V. and is very lucrative. So now you can invest as little as 200,000 in one of these properties.

Your total investment, of course, we're going to get you financing, can be as little as 200,000 total out of pocket to get a real estate-based visa where you can use your real estate license in the U.S. And I'm condensing all of this because I know we have limited time, so I'm trying to get it all out, right? Okay. You know, I'm fast, but I'm not that fast. But anyway, the point is that we would buy one or two of these properties to get you started. But with you, you have all these other lines of business. So we're not going to be dependent just on the rental income. We're going to have coaching and speaking and all these other lines of business that you've built and your residual income and your team and your referrals. And we're going to build that into a

model down here that you can replicate what you're doing in Canada, pretty much. Hey, that's what I do. I can't help it, okay? It's kind of like, I really, really, people are like, why do you work so much? Because I love it. I'm a single mom. I have a 14-year-old. Thank God, I can actually leave him for hours out of time. But I love it.

I love making a difference in people's lives. I love finding solutions. I love the fact that I can get somebody a U.S. real estate license without them having to sit on their hands and not do anything with it. Yeah. I have a question. One of my big goals is to have some kind of non-profit for animals. Okay. It's not a route that I could take instead of a company.

No. Okay. So you can build a nonprofit. So what we could do with that is we could buy real estate to house this nonprofit and house the nonprofit as part of your business model. Because you need either an office or a place to bring the animals. Like there's a lot of, the business needs to be for profit. but we can build a nonprofit into the business.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I love this. And just for anybody listening, especially the Canadians, we're actually going to be doing a co-hosting a webinar in February. We haven't locked down a date yet, but we're going to do that soon. So if you follow me, make sure you're watching for that registration, because Lauren is going to be there to answer all of your questions and kind of give you like a bigger picture.

and show you what's what's all involved here. So make sure that you definitely participate in that. I get a couple of questions. I have a couple questions. I just want to warn you before you ask them, if I say I can't answer, it's not that I'm trying to be rude. It's that I'm not allowed to impart like legal information,

okay, but I'm trying to be open and give ideas. None of this is legal advice. I just have to clarify because, you know, at the end of the day, I have licenses in two countries. I have to protect myself. So are you using?

using AI in your business and your legal business. Absolutely. We use AI. And first of all, I have voice issues. Okay? I have bloody long COVID. I've had it for three years and I cannot record videos. So if not for that, whatever the heck it is that makes up my voice, you know,

Hey, Jen or something. I don't know. I don't think I'd have any videos out there. So, so absolutely. I use chat, GPT for like everything. Like the other day, I couldn't remember a word. What's the word for this? It's like, oh, I'm like, oh, yeah, that's the work.

So I use it for everything. We, as a, since I'm an attorney, if I draft articles or blogs or posts or emails or whatever, I always edit because I don't want to put it, you know, it's not 100% reliable. It's, but definitely AI, if you're not using it, you're going to be left in the cold. Yeah, I only ask because lawyers either fall into two categories. They're all about AI and how it can support. their business or they refuse to use it at all. But I'm not like a typical lawyer because I'm worth like the general contractor.

So I'm not actually doing like I'm not moving all the heavy lifting. I'm making sure the heavy lifting is done. So if I don't, if I'm not able to see the value of AI or all like, you know, I started using Amazon before Amazon was popular to use. And I used to be interviewed people like, what's your favorite app? Amazon every day of the week. Why? Because I don't have to go to the store.

and buy the thing. It's efficient. If I don't like it, I go back to Whole Foods and then I end up spending $50 or $100 on crap I don't need. But it's like, I don't care. It's fun. Okay. So I think that really and truly, you have to embrace change. And even though I'm a lawyer and I went to law school, I kind of was forced into being an entrepreneur. And I created this program that most lawyers are like, what? Like, how did you do that? I'm like, I don't know. It just happened. you need to think outside of the box. Yeah. So I work with, so I have a corporate lawyer obviously for my businesses here in Toronto.

And he's all about it. So yeah, he thinks that it's the future. And I trust people more. They're more open-minded. I love working with open-minded people. Absolutely. You know that they just had a cruise. It's called the marketers cruise.

I've been on in a few years. I didn't go this year because next year I'm going on a cruise with 80 real estate investors from across Canada. So I had to make a choice and that was my choice. So anyway, this cruise is 500 people. In some type of like coaching, speaking, it would be great for you, Carrie. Coaching, speaking, like authors, all kinds of different types of businesses. It's a great place to get amazing resources and one of my resources,

and maybe you can even help me and have a resource is we do not get enough engagement on LinkedIn. I'm sorry, on YouTube. And YouTube is my number one. source for non-traditional referrals. Like I just signed up a client from the Czech Republic and I'm not even focusing on the Czech Republic. But it's, you know, YouTube is so important and I welcome anybody that you can refer because I feel like we're just not getting out there.

And sometimes it's about the message, getting the message will often to the right number of people and being on this kind of a podcast with you who has the following, whose people will ask the questions and getting that exposure because at the end of the day, it's always about how you get to the masses. And AI does help with that for sure. Yeah, absolutely. So believe it or not, my YouTube has my smallest following of a couple thousand. And I find it's, I, this is my theory. I think it's because my audience is real estate agents and they can't find an hour for a lot more, which is why I turn it, I repurpose everything. into short form and then that just hits 10.

Right. Bight size. Okay. But what I do, I am, what I do in YouTube, I'm happy with the growth because a year ago, I had 20 followers. Wow. 2000. Yeah.

And it's been organic and it's been very steady and very reliable. Every time I open the app, I open it every day, I have a couple of followers, a handful of followers. I have to be super consistent, Lauren, videos. my podcast videos and and then I have my I do those once a week and then I have my videos about AI I do once a week and then my shorts that I that I put across all the other channels also go into YouTube shorts. I'm super happy with it. I built a GPT that will build my video scripts for me, my titles, my descriptions, my tags, okay? And then I run everything through vid IQ to fine tune it.

Have you used Vid IQ? No. Okay, use that. That's an AI platform specifically for YouTube. Now, a lot of the ways that people get a love follow as quickly as they like advertise their videos. I just never done anything like that. YouTube is like a completely separate beast than anything else. However, it is going to be very important factor in being recommended and discoverable by

AI search engines. Whatever I'm doing, it's working. I'm getting recommended. I'm happy with the slow burn. Put it in the hair, right? But like all I use is AI. And maybe one day I'll hire somebody, but God damn, it's expensive. And the reason I do what I do is because leverage is so freaking expensive. Yeah. what we do in terms of content creation. I made it my literal business, my bread and butter, to figure out how to lower the cost of that leverage by using AI everywhere. Mark. I will look into that.

Thank you. Definitely check that out. Which cruise are you going on? You mean shipwise? Yeah, you said you were going on a real estate. Yeah. Right. So you've heard of wealth genius?

Yeah, that sounds familiar. It's like Keyspire. It's a real estate investor. group. And Courtney and Melanie Atkinson are a part of that. They're Calgary. My partner is in Calgary, actually. But so this guy, Mario Lamar, may know him.

He has a podcast called the Top Five Real Estate Questions or something like that. Anyway, Mario, I've been on these cruises and Mario started, this is the first year he's doing this cruise and it's for mostly Canadians. there's 80 people, 80 people in the group going and it's like I have some colleagues going. I'm a sponsor and it's really just to learn about investing in real estate mainly in Canada and believes and then of course the U.S. So I'm the U.S. side and I'm really looking forward to it and it'll be fun. So I don't even, we're going on a carnival ship, but I've been on 52 cruises. So I've gone a lot of cruises. I was afraid of ships and I went.

to go on my first ship to speak at build for Veronica in August. I was like out shitting myself. I was like, my God, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was the ship's really big. And I just didn't know. I didn't have never been on one before. Which ship was it? It was like the new, this line.

But it was like the newest and largest ship that they had. So there was that. Maybe next year I'll go with you guys and speak at build. Yeah, 100%. you should. I want to connect you with everybody because I feel like this is this is the the past I'd say five years. This has been the hot topic among agents themselves. Forget about like my neighbor that wants to get the hell out of here because he hates Trudeau. You know what I mean? Like I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about agents and they just want to build a business in the U.S. or Mexico.

That's another one. I'm losing one of my girls to Mexico next. But no, she's still going to work with me. She's just going to be there. Well, I mean, the problem is, look, we're both Canadian, even though I'm also American, but, you know, I'm still more proud to be Canadian. Thank you very much. So, Canadians, and there's no offense to anybody, okay? I love you all. But you ask a lot of questions, and there's a lot of fear.

And people don't know how to take the first step, okay? I mean, look, think about it. You've gone to school for a year or a little less in Canada to get your real estate license. That's a big commitment. This is not as much, well, it's obviously a commitment, but it's a lifestyle opportunity. You want to live, I mean, I look outside. I'm freezing today. I'm wearing like a warm jacket yesterday.

I was wearing like fur because it's like 65 degrees, which is like 20. Yeah. Or 18. Okay. Look, okay, and I know that it's like, you know, minus eight or some crazy number up there. And I'm thinking like my body adjusted and I'm spoiled, you know. And it's just, I've been here since 2001. I cannot imagine living in Canada again because it, for nothing else than the weather.

Now, I'm Jewish. So now I have this anti-Semitism that is running rampant across Canada. That's another driving factor. But people, Canadians have a lot of fear. And it is scary. I know it's scary. But if you have the right people guiding you, it's going to be way less scary. And the other thing to remember is getting your visa does not mandate that you move.

Getting a visa means you have opportunity and you have an insurance policy in your pocket. And guess what? God forbid, if COVID comes again and there's a mass mandate, you have somewhere to go. Yeah. Okay? Because that's when we were so busy at the tail end of COVID. like two winters ago, it was insane. A hundred inquiries a day because people were like, get me out of here.

So I think it takes time. Some people come back a year later. But if you don't start the journey, you're never going to make it. So at least take the time, learn about your options, come to the mastermind, set up a call with me, and let's figure out how to actually make this your reality. Because the only thing stopping you is you. And you speak for a living. You know that, drill.

Yeah, 100%. Now, what would you say? I think you gave me a number earlier. What's like high end, you know, worst case scenario, how much would this cost them? Including your down payments on real estate between two and 250. Okay. Do you... U.S., U.S. U.S. do you find that agents, real estate agents in general, are reluctant to invest in themselves? A hundred thousand percent. I come across all the time and I have some theories on this, Lauren. I think that real estate is truly unique in that it is one of the only careers and businesses that you can build with zero investment. A hundred percent of the time, yes, it's true.

right. So there's no risk. Yeah. So you have like that's that's the standard not having to invest. So I think they need to be reminded the potential after the investment is made. Do you have any success stories that you can share with me on Canadian agents that have successfully done this, use your formula to do it, and scaled their business or built something of their dreams. So we only started this process two years ago. Everybody is at different stages. Some have been in status for a year, some less than a year. It takes about six months.

We have people that are making money. I have only worked with two realtors so far, and both are currently in process of getting their visas. like the applications were just submitted. So the short answer is no, but the law answer is that we don't just abandon ship when you get your visa. Okay?

And most of the time, lawyers, they just kind of do what they're supposed to do, no offense, but they do. They do their little thing, and then they're like, have a nice day and come back to me

if you want a green card, you want a renewal. But with me, it's a relationship because I live, eat, and breathe for this. Like I, I care deeply about results and I want everybody to be successful because this is my baby. It's not just I'm getting to a visa.

I created this model. It's mine. And actually now there's even an option to partner with us that we take a 10% interest in the business, which expedites the whole process because it's going to help you get financing more quickly, get your tax IDs more quickly, get access partnerships and all kinds of different real estate options. So that's something we're just launching now. So all they can say is we'll be with you through the journey. I love this.

And you are an EXP licensed agent yourself, which means that you can have your clients partner with you that you have invested interest in their success after. Correct. They start trading at the U.S., which is super important. Like just because you get down there and then you're like with that full do I do. It's a lot. Building a business from scratch, question for you, is it any different building a business in Florida than in Canada? Oh, yes. Okay.

Oh, yes. It's so in Canada, there's a lot of bureaucracy, right? Okay. Here's an example just as an analogy. So I have my real estate, I'm sorry, I have my law license in Ontario and my law license in the U.S. Okay. It's not in Florida, but it's irrelevant. Okay.

So my law license in Ontario, I pay about $2,000 to have an inactive license because I don't use it. I just pay the law society every year to have this license because I went to law school at Osgood and I don't want to give it up. Okay. I pay $400 to be an active U.S. lawyer. 400. Okay. And it's just like that analogy on its own to me is indicative. Like look at 63 hours versus a year to get your real estate license.

It's all about the bureaucracy and the regulations and the regulatory nightmare that you often deal with and all of the reporting and all of the like where, you know, how you set up your website and get it. Yes, it's much easier to run a business in the U.S. every day of the week. I love that. I love that. And is it fair to say that if you know how to get clients and. in Canada, you should be able to apply the same concepts to get in Florida. I wouldn't say that it's not the same. And anybody that tells you that doing business in the U.S. is the same is lying to you because it's not. There's a lot of things that you have to adjust to. Banking is different. Healthcare is different. There are things that you take for granted

and you think, because I'm in Canada, oh, we're just north of the border. Like I took political science. I learned and communications, mass communications, I learned all about American everything. But until you're here, it's not the same. And there is a learning curve. And there is a lot of stuff that happens in the process. When you have children, how do you, you know, the schools. And there's there's consideration. So I don't want to minimize that. But at the same time, everybody else has done it and you will have friends and you will have people that care. And if you move to a place where there are Canadians, like where I am, you know, I'm now setting up a, like I'm setting up a mastermind for Canadians in Bocca Raton. We've had our first meeting because

we want to help each other to be successful, right? So you'll, you'll, it's a, it's a friendly place. You're not going to move to some place that isn't friendly to Canadians. And that's what also we help with because, you know, some, some people want to move to Texas because they have family members or whatever. So don't worry. It's not business as usual, but it's not, it's not like overwhelmingly scary either. Yeah, I love that. I love that. It's all about finding somebody you can trust that can guide you through, which is why I wanted to have Lauren on today and why she's going to be speaking to my organization and my network of agents because I want to put somebody in front of them that knows their shit, basically.

I don't know my shit by this point. I'm in a lot of trouble. Okay, so closing thoughts. I think everybody should like imagine themselves in the warmth right now. Close your eyes, you're on a beach and you can hear the water. You're in Florida.

You're on the, are we on the Gulf or on the ocean? No, we're on the Atlantic Ocean. Yeah, we're on the ocean. ocean side. I think we're in Miami. Well, it's soon to be called the Gulf of America, by the way. Just saying. And you really feel at peace and you like you're where you should be. Yeah. And you're surrounded with friends that want to see you win in business and in life. And you're finally living your life on your terms. Okay. Those are the possibilities.

Anything is possible. Anything is possible. Look at my life. look at Lauren's life. Look at everybody's life. Anything's possible. And I will do anything I can to help facilitate getting you connected to the right people to make your perfect life happen. So Lauren, thank you so much for coming. And don't forget everyone, register when you see those videos for our webinar workshop that we're going to have in February. Make sure to register for that. It will not just say. point. You need to meet Lauren in person. She's so lovely to talk to. So down to earth. And thank you so much, Lauren, for coming on. I appreciate it. My absolute pleasure. Thank you, Carrie, for having me.

I stuck the link for the mastermind in our chat. And I'm going to be in Toronto in April. So maybe we can do some event at a live event together. Let's do it. Fantastic. All right, perfect. Have a great evening. Thank you for the opportunity. Bye for now. Thanks for listening to everything they never told you about real estate. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. To connect with Carrie or for more information about her coaching program, check out Carriesovey.ca or at Carrie Sovey and Associates on Instagram and TikTok. Thanks again for tuning in and we'll see you next time.