KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Dominate Your Market with Service with The Real Estate Virgins Podcast

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

Good afternoon, and today we are introducing two of our good friends and colleagues, Mr. John Michael Perez and Jordan Brown. They are born and raised in South Texas. Their friendship blossomed during their high school years. Their journey started with humble beginnings as they worked as waiters and aspiring touring musicians to make ends meet. They hone their skills in the real estate industry, rising to prominence as top agents in their market. Yet their mission goes beyond personal success. John Michael and Jordan are deeply committed to coaching and training. fellow agents and empowering each individual to thrive in their real estate career. They also created a real estate podcast called the Real Estate Virgins. And it's basically for real estate agents that want to thrive instead of survive where

they can share tactics and strategies to make six to seven figures as real estate agents without further ado. Here they are. And yeah, perfect. Joining us on our podcast with a very similar theme. Welcome, guys. Hey, I'm glad to be here. What's going on, y'all?

Thanks for having us. This is cool. I got to say out of all the interviews, Shane and I have ever done, this is the first time we have like four people on. So this is going to be a lot of fun. There we go. It's true. That is true. We haven't done before.

I like that. Let's see how much we can talk over each other, huh? I know. I have a counter or something. That'd be hilarious. So, John and Jordan, welcome to the show. I actually didn't realize that you two had been friends since high school. So let's start there.

Like when you guys were high school buddies, like did you ever see that like this day would come or like tell us a little bit more about your journey? No, I didn't like John Michael the first time I met him. Straight up. We were in a, he was he was starting a band and I was already in it. I was in a different band and he came up to me and he goes, he goes, hey, you should really think about joining my band. And I was like, no, man, I'm good. Like I'm already in one. Just met this kid.

And he goes, he looks. he looks me like dead in the eye he goes you're going to regret not joining my band and he walks off oh dang salesman already yeah i was like what a loser and then fast forward and uh fast forward a few years we got to tour the country together in a metal band that was fun um you know we worked really hard towards our our dreams at that time of being rock stars and almost got there you know we had some record offers and then things fell apart, but thank God they did because we wouldn't be where we're at now if that, you know, if we would have achieved what we, or pursued what we thought we wanted, you know?

I agree. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That very, John, do you recall that story? Yeah. Yeah, I recall it a lot differently. It was from a, from a, uh, a friendlier aspect, you know, I was, I did say you're going to regret it, but I wasn't being serious, you know, uh, but, but those were fun times. And, And honestly, you know, we had a lot of obstacles that we had to go through, you know, in California breaking down and San Antonio breaking down. And, you know, we had pennies to our name. And some nights we would only make $20 each, you know. And that $20 had to go towards gas and food.

Dang, John's on that. But during those times, it was a lot of learning lessons that helped us now for sure. We got to see each other at our broken. and now when we're doing the best that we've seen in our lives, which is really cool. It's a good journey of our friendship. Well, definitely tested your friendship early. So, like, obviously you're kind of giving us a little bit of what it was like

and obviously scraping and get by and everything. But, you know, at that time, you're hustling and making the sacrifices. I mean, what was the dream? What was the goal at that point? To be professional musicians or? Yeah, I think ultimately what we wanted to do was be able to get signed by record label and have you know the way that works is in our in metal it's already such a a subdivided genre of music that you're eliminating 80% of the worldwide audience immediately so then it's everyone's

battling for the 20% of the remaining audience that's there and a record label helps in that regard just because that's they put you on better tours they you know help promote your your record launch and things like that. But what they don't say is how parasitic those contracts are. So if you're already eliminating 80% of your possible audience, you know, getting a 13 or 11% royalty after you repay the initial investment they make in you, that's tough. And so we were faced with a really challenging thing of, you know,

we have a record offer, but do we really want to, pursue this now that, I mean, I was newly engaged. You know, John, John and I were at a really pinnacle point in our lives. We were 25 and it was, do you want to wait three years to get started on this dream that you've worked so hard to get up to? Or is it time to reset and reinvent yourself? Interesting. Were you guys both on the same page? No, I didn't want to give up, honestly. I think Jordan started seeing the writing on the wall as well. But at the same time, you know, we were all in and everything that we do we go all in and and uh and so and it's a benefit for sure but it's also um it's also a detriment because you never know when to actually let go you know

and for us you know we have a high amount of loyalty to whatever we commit to and um and so it was really hard to let go of that dream uh but what what ended up happened was, is that, you know, I got into real estate a few years ahead of Jordan and I googled how to become a millionaire. Third option was real estate. I remember back when I was growing up, my one of, one of, both of our mutual friends, dads used to always pay for food for us. And that was something that was very emotionally attached to me because sometimes I didn't know where our next mill would come from. And so I remember he was a real estate agent. And so I decided to get in real estate. Jordan was actually my guinea pig. He was my first client. He ended up buying a house from me.

I went, man, that was so easy. This guy didn't do anything. I could do that. This dude made seven grand and all he had to do was get some paperwork signed. But anyways, so a few years later, he decided to join up with me. And then he joined my team. And then I left that team due to some leadership later. Yeah, due to due to some leadership. differences and started my own team elsewhere. And he just, he was, he saw the writing on the wall on that situation and joined up with me and ever since we've been together. I'm like John's little puppy dog and just follow them everywhere. It's worked out for you both. I mean, and I guess I'll pose this question to both of you.

As you were kind of transitioning into real estate, like what was the hardest part about it for for each of you. Jordan? You go first. You have more of a lengthy history in real estate. And I think I can provide context just within my own struggles from there. But you've been in it longer. You've seen a lot more diverse markets and things like that.

So you kick us off there. I would say from the very beginning, I had very little belief in myself due to the fact that my parents never owned their own home as well as a lot of my sphere were young people. And so when it came to building relationships with people that could actually afford or sell a home that they already owned, it was very hard for me to build relationships with those people from the very beginning. But then after a period of time where I started building belief, I actually owned my own home, I purchased my own investment property. I could start talking from a place of actual ownership within that experience. And so it was a lot more easier for me to have those conversations.

and then, yeah, so pretty much that's pretty much what was the hardest part from transitioning from a musician to real estate. Hardest thing for me was knowing when to let go of my other job. You know, I think a lot of people can relate that when they're getting started in real estate, there's a rude awakening that you've got to put work in and treat real estate like it's its own job. And if it's not, if you're working a nine to five or another job that you're trying to transition out, of recognizing when that right time to jump is is really difficult because you're always battling in your mind if you're if you're like me i overanalyze everything like crazy i it's hard for me to just really stick to a decision and be like this is 100% what's going to happen because there's

so many variables and for me it was i took i took the sale uh i went i had a really good career at a telecom company i say really good career it was okay i had i had a good life And I just, I went home and I hated everything about what I was doing. I didn't feel good about myself. It was hard to see a future doing this for a very long time. And I didn't get any satisfaction from the job like I do in real estate. So I knew it wasn't going to be my forever position. And so I went from full time managing at a store to going back part time into sales while I got my real estate business going.

And I did that for a year. with the sale of my first real estate transaction, I paid off my remaining balance on my car. That then put me in a position where I was like, okay, I've got about six months worth of reserves to make something happen. So then I felt good about quitting and going full time. And that's whenever I saw the massive result change from being part time into full time. And if anyone's listening who is in that position where they're questioning when to go full time into it, this is when I knew. It's when I was on the sales for it at this part-time job, getting calls to go do real estate stuff and I couldn't do it. So when that job was interfering

with what I really wanted to do, that was my cue. Silence. Yeah. Mike drop, Jordan. Bro, you put a quarter in me. I can go all day. That's awful lot. I'm sorry. You guys know me? No, no, not at all. I just, I thought I had frozen because, you know, lately it seems like technology is not my friend. But also, you know, it's interesting because being, you know, being with the brokers we're with, you know, it's like people feel like, you know, we can have our day job and do real estate. And it seems like some people actually develop that as something that works for them.

But for you, because of your goals and wanted to go all in and, you know, to get where you want to get, you felt like that was never an option. Yeah, I knew that eventually I had to go all in. Like John was telling me, you got to, you know, he's a big David Goggins guy. And he was like, you got to burn the ships. Like whenever your backs against the walls, when you're going to perform. And there is true to that. But getting to that point to, I mean, I was, I had, you know, car payment.

I have a mortgage. I've got a wife. Like, I've got all these things I have to take care of. So I can't just make irrational decisions. So while the results were there once I did go full time, getting up to that point to make the jump was was really difficult. Yeah, well, you know, it's interesting. You actually brought up a good point. You can see if when you have a partner or family, you know, you have your wife and everything, like, yeah, burning the ships.

But then, like, you know, if your wife heard my, you know, John Michael's saying that, like, what? No more friend. You're going to, he's going to make our decisions. I hear you have to make a good decision for the family. So like, because I like that mentality of burning the ships because I always think of it as like a crutch. Like people use it as a crutch. Not everybody. Because, I mean, we have someone on this call.

who's highly successful with his other, you know, job. And I get why he does both, right? But it's like for a lot of people, though, they do want to cross over and it's a crutch. And so I think burning the chips is appropriate. Yeah. I think we're speaking from the perspective of these, you know, these guys that are, you know, for me, I was a waiter, right?

Sometimes I would make $19 a day, right? So like, like, that's a major difference from having a solid. job and then going straight into real estate. And so for me, it was like if I quit my day job, which sometimes I would make $19 a day day and put that towards higher income generating activity, it made so much more sense. And so sometimes if you're coming from that perspective and your job is really just barely paying the bills, like then sometimes higher income generating activities might be more worth your time. Yeah. Well, and there's the other part, Jordan, that you brought up,

which was interesting, because you said you worked in telecom, you were in a store. Like, you were, like, physically in, like, you're physically on site doing your job. Yeah. And so that also makes it very difficult to then, to your point, like, you're, you're in the store, you're working. You get a real estate call. You can't, you can't deal with it. Right. Yeah. And it's interesting because I feel like, you know, with the pandemic, how kind of the work, the corporate workplace, has changed a little bit as well. And honestly, I think that's something that for me has helped out is, you know, I don't have to go into the office like Monday through Friday now, right?

It's you have that time where you can work remote, you can work at home. And so that allows you to then potentially focus on or potentially do two things at one time. Yeah. And I think if you're in that position where maybe you're slowly phasing out of that job or getting, you know, whatever that situation is, if you have another job, be good. to your people, and you can use that as a way of prospecting too. One of my most recent under contracts is a client I've been working on for three years that I met at 18, sorry, at this telecom company.

Yeah. And so, like, I met them changing out a SIM card for them and just casual conversation. So I made that other thing work for me in that regard. And plus, many, many of my clients are people I worked with that were coworkers of mine. And because I didn't treat them like trash, like telecom company wanted me to, like they knew I was, I was going to take care of them. Absolutely true. I, you know, this happened to me is like a coworker sits right next to me. They have an investment property here in the Bay Area.

They were trying to, they were trying to get their tenant out. And they had no idea how to do it. Fortunate enough or not fortunate enough because we had to go through it. Jane and I had experience with that. We had an eviction lawyer. I hooked them up. And it's like once they finished that process, like and they're looking to sell they're going to come reach out to me because we've already

built that relationship. So that's just a fantastic point. Yeah, it's a great way to plant seeds. I mean, I will not knock. Only you as your own individual knows when it's going to be the right time to completely leave. But make use of the time if you can. Make solid relationships, have real estate conversations with as many people as possible because at the end of the day, whether you're at that job or if you're out in the field, the conversation is what's going to lead to the opportunities. Yep. That's so true. And planting seeds is a term that I use. I love that term. So, well, that brings up a good point though. I mean, it's pretty obvious that we're all the

relationship type business people, right? And in the last couple of weeks, I've had this conversation with both a mentee and also with another colleague. You know, it's like, you know, there's people in this business that just want to, you know, go blast, you know, whatever kind of marketing they can to rope in as many people as they can. But they just want to do transactions. they don't really care about the scenario or building the relationship. And I'm just not that way. I know there's more than one way to do things. And I'm not making it right or wrong.

That's just not my style. And I feel like in getting to know you guys, I feel like you're both the same way, correct? 100%. Yeah. I mean, relationships is the best lead generating, in my opinion. Just because, one, you have more credibility and trust. And the transaction is a thousand times easier when you actually know this person.

and you have a relationship with them as compared to the cold calling or door knocking and you just barely know them. Now, that's not to say that cold calling and door knocking don't work. You know, you got to call a thousand calls to maybe get one closing. But the thing is, is that for us,

it's just so much funner. We enjoy our day to day when we have genuine relationships with our clients. And finding new ways to build relationships with our community and our neighbors is is just a fun way to do life. Yeah, and we also heard it today that this perspective is that when you're prospecting in that way where you're cold calling or your door knocking, again, it's not that it's ineffective, but it's an uphill battle to gain the trust to earn that transaction versus inbound leads.

They've already determined that they may want to work with you. There's so much less of a convincing that has to go on that I'm the person you want to work with. They're going to answer questions that I asked because they're the ones who called me. They're the ones who inquired about working with me. I'm not calling them out of the blue interrupting their day. They're trying to get food on table for their kids. And I'm calling to talk about if they know anybody trying to buy or sell. And again, it's not that it doesn't work, but it's a numbers game at that point versus if I can take that time and create content that's always lead generating for me in the background, even whenever I'm asleep, that's the route I'm going to go.

Yeah, totally smart. Well, you know, it's talking about, you know, kind of your network and referrals and how you do your business. I mean, I saw that recently you started the Lighthouse Collective. I mean, it's awesome to be passionate about your faith and not be afraid to share with the world, especially with just everything that's been going on in our country lately. Talk to us about that. Well, you know, that was just another opportunity for us because I genuinely felt like God was talking to both me and another. partner Roberta about building a community for agents that are within that are Christians that are

leading with their faith. And the thing is, is that just to be honest, you know, agents in general are leaders within our community. And if we can spread the good word within our community, I think there's just such a powerful opportunity to be that lighthouse within our community, to have integrity, to have a good heart. And so if we can literally build disciples within the United, within the world, actually. It's just such an awesome opportunity. And so, and not only that, build relationships like with more real estate agents, like-minded real estate agents and just become better people. And no, I love that. I mean, how far are you going with this? I mean, are you meeting up? Is it something you're doing online? Is it something regional? You're

starting chapters? I mean, what's the, what's the goal with that? Well, so the goal really is actually to go national eventually. Right now, you know, we've got, it's funny because last, last week we had an event and 10 people canceled at the last minute and 15 people still showed up. And I'm like, whoa, you know, like people really genuinely want this. And I got, I got what seemed like 15 text messages after the event all saying, hey, man, I really enjoy what you're doing here. Thank you for inviting me. There was so much value. And it's really cool to hear stories. And I jokingly call it AA for realtors because people are bringing their problems.

People are bringing their problems and just seeing how that we can work together and bring Jesus into their life. And not only that, but how can they share the word and be servants within the community? Because I believe true leaders are amazing servants, you know, or have a servant's heart. art. Oh, I totally agree with that. And that's awesome too, because I know for, you know, some of us, especially because real estate could be like a seven-day thing, right, 24-7. I feel like you're kind of, you know, you're opening the door to getting that accountability to circling back. I mean, I was recently having that conversation about the fact that I don't make enough time for faith in spirituality lately. You know, not like, so I feel like if you're rolling it into real estate,

I feel like that's actually going to get more people like myself that haven't been actively participating as much as they should, you know, to come back, to come back in. But I agree 100% the whole thing about having a servant's heart. I'm all about serving people. It's always been that way. And I think that's why those of us that serve have had a lot of success. I think that's true the right approach. It was funny. I was at the gym yesterday and there was a janitor there. And he said, hey, man, I really like your sweater. It had some words on it or whatever. And I go, thank you so much. He was like, well, what do you do if you don't mind me asking? And I told him I was in real estate and he and he sort of downplayed himself and said, oh, well, you know, I'm just a

janitor, you know, I just clean up around here. And I said, dude, you are so much more than a janitor. I was like, you are, you are serving the community. You are doing huge, massive things and you don't even realize it. And he goes, man, you, you like changed my day, you know, like, and so, and I told him, his name's Daniel. And I told him, like, hey, if you ever, if you ever feel like fill down or feel anything like here's my phone number you know and and the thing is is like even in the minute the mundane minial task like jesus didn't do didn't go and have huge conferences in front of millions of people and he wasn't on tv all the time he was he was washing people's feet and he was and and he was just helping the poor like he wasn't doing crazy things i mean besides

miracles uh which are pretty crazy but but as the normal human being you know he wasn't doing like massive things every single day, you know? Yeah, he, he wasn't. And that, that's an awesome story that you just shared because, you know, it's, it's something that we, we, like Shane and I have noticed with, with agents that we've coached and helped as well is, like, especially with newer agents, I feel like sometimes they, they come and they say, well, I don't really know, like, what my value is, like, in terms of, I want to get on social media, but I don't know how to.

I don't know, you know, you know, what message to share. I don't know. And it's one thing that we always try to encourage them and your janitor story is perfect. is like, don't discount yourself. Like, everybody has, everybody has a story. Everybody has things that they've learned that they've gone through that have brought them to, you know, this point that they are today. And, you know, you may feel like sometimes, you know,

I've realized this before in the past too, is like, you know, maybe in my media friend circle, the things I know, maybe my friends also know. And so nothing is really new to them. But what I think people sometimes miss out on is like there's such a bigger audience out there, especially with social media, that like not everybody knows the things that we, that we know or that we've gone through. And so the story, the message that we have, will have value, will have an impact for, for others out there. And it's important for you to share that.

One thing I loved about our training yesterday, we had Connor down from Dallas and Suman spoke as well at our Austin event. One thing I loved about what Suman shared is that, you know, if listeners aren't familiar with his story. He absolutely crushed his first two years in a brand new state during the pandemic with no sphere, nothing. And he was brand new licensed. One thing I loved about Sumin's humility in this is when he's telling this to this roomful of agents,

he says, so, if you do have a history here, if you do have a sphere here, you're already a leg up from where I was. And so you just said it. Like, don't discount your own story. Some people go, man, like, I'm a native Texan. I don't have this move across the country experience. Being a native Texan is an experience. It kind of gives a story as to why you chose where you live within your own state

versus, you know, the decision to move is maybe a completely different reason. Why would people want to live in, you know, at this certain place within their own state? That's a story. So you're right. You may not have the same story as someone else, but it's going to resonate with someone within your audience. Yeah. It's true.

How did you guys meet Sumin originally actually? Because that's how I met you guys. I saw you in San Antonio. How did you meet Sumin? We had him on our podcast. And I know John met him at Redhorn, which is a coffee shop. I messaged him. I wanted to get him to get on our podcast. And I met him up with him at this coffee shop that's close by to us.

And so we had an awesome podcast. And basically he met up with me. I knew he was going to pitch me. I knew he was going to pitch me. And I was I was ready to say no. But he painted a vision that I couldn't say no to. And that's the thing is like, I am not loyal to a brand. I'm loyal to value.

And so when people can bring value or show me a vision, it makes sense to me. And it makes sense to me. then I'm not afraid to take a chance, you know. But once I am loyal, I'm loyal to a T, right? And so like, it's hard to break that bond. And so it's so funny being where we're at now compared to a year ago. Because if you would have told me that we'd be where we're at, bro, I was so against it. I don't even know how to accurately describe it.

I would like make fun of people and Facebook comments who were with, with, uh, EXP and all that jazz because I was just so over. I was like, oh, they're just a recruiting brokerage. I had every stereotype that that you've probably heard from everybody or seen online. I was that person. And so meeting Suman made it to where he was like, oh, like he's not hard selling me to make me a number. He wants, he can see what my strength is, amplify that in a way that my business is greater. Our partnerships are greater, and it makes a really big impact on my future.

Everyone wins when we're all winning. It was the craziest concept for me to grasp. And now being on the inside, it's like, I get it. John and I went to build in San Antonio, and on the trip there, I told John, did I not confirm this? I said, let's confirm everything we think we know about this brokerage. let's find our reasons not to do this. And we went, and it was one of the more eye-opening experiences I've ever seen. I know that at every conference, every brokerage throws, there's energy in the room,

everyone's excited about the brand. But we would ask random people in the elevator, give me your honest opinion on working for EXP. And every single person did this thing where they would pull out their phone and go, look at this. And they would show us their stock option. they would show us their stock awards. They would show us their revshare. They would show like what team they're involved with.

And they were excited about it. And people would say this is how I'm putting, I'm getting awarded by my broker and putting my kids through college. I'm retiring my parents. I'm buying my parents their dream house. They were making dreams happen that were beyond what served them. And it just completely changed my perspective. And I was like, wow, there's incredible options out there.

I remember meeting you guys there up in that sweet. It's funny how we just totally met. Well, just like you, Jordan, you know, me, I'm a talker too, so, you know, talk the way. What are you saying? Am I talking a lot? Oh, no, what you said earlier. Hey, man, I'd say be like me, just be proud of it. Yeah.

Hey, it's gotten me to this point so far, right? I use that same defense. I use that same defense. Yeah. Well, it's funny because when we went to that first event, I was, we were trying to find out what was wrong. Like, we were trying to like, hey, we're asking everybody, what could you improve, right? And, and, and what's really cool is that we've been able to fill the gap with some of those problems that we, we found from the very beginning, you know, like that maybe, maybe throwing in person events or building relationships when it comes to groups, building a tribe, building a community. And so that's, one thing that we're really trying to do is really bring together a spirit of togetherness, really. And so that was one thing that we saw that we could fill that gap in. And so we're constantly in that pursuit of building a better community within our local area as well.

I think what's different about John and I's approach as opposed to someone else is we're not afraid to do the work ourselves. I think a lot of people get scared to create what's missing. and that's the issue. They don't want to, they want it to already be in place. They want everything to be perfect. And then they just plug in. You have the opportunity to create something.

And John and I saw that and we're like, you know what? We could be the missing link that people are, you know, that some of the concerns that we've heard about, about feeling lost or like no sense of community or something of that nature. And we're like,

why not us? Why not we take it into our own hands? And let's, let's take the reins on this. And it's really turned into something. beautiful that we're just continually growing. Well, here's the thing. A lot of agents, they're going to always, the grass is always going to be greener on the

other side, you know? And so for us, it was like, how about we look at it from a different perspective? And the grass is always going to be greener where you invest your time and where you invest your value, right? And so, like, why don't we invest our time where we're already at and help where we're already at grow and just come from a servant's heart? Like, how do we make this better, right? And so with the systems, with the processes that other people have already built.

And so that's really where our heart is, you know. And I love that. And I think that's one of the things I really admire about just our organization, the Wolfpack, too, is to your point, John, is like, you know, like we can focus in on our local markets, our local teams that we're building community around here. But then we have a whole just networking group of, of ideas, of resources, of tools, of people that have already gone and done things. But yeah, there might still be gaps to what you're saying, Jordan, right?

And then so we take what's there, we identify the gaps and fill it in and make it even better, right? And then can just continue to share that with others in our group and just make everybody better through the whole process. And I think what's cool is when you can start seeing it click for people. Like when they're when they're in it and it's new, I mean, I went through, I went through a phase like that myself where I was like, dude, I don't know. Like if I understand everything. But when you start plugging in and you let go of certain ideas that you have in your own mind and it's more about the community and building, things fall into place. It's like things have always worked out. Whether it's within my business, like my own personal production, whether it's building a team, whatever it is.

We've been so lucky, blessed, filling the adjective with the right pieces falling into the right place. and it's just really cool like whenever I start getting a little bit panicked where I'm like you know what my my pipeline's starting to dry up a little bit I get a call randomly and it's a new buyer or something it's like I need to stop worrying about stuff and just focus on the head down and focus on the work itself because like John said the grass is going to be greener where you invest your time because if I just if you're just hopping to the next thing and next thing you're not giving anything to time. time to become what it should be for you. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep. It's interesting.

We had a, we had Michael Valdez on our, on our podcast late last year. And I was sharing with him on that podcast, a story of, you know, like I've talked with agents. And, you know,

I said, they always come in and they ask, okay, what can you give me? What can you give me? What can you give me? And Valdez had a great, like, response that he shared with us. He's like, well, I always turn that back on them and be like, what do you want to do?

What do you want for yourself? What do you want to do you want? what do you want to achieve and make for yourself, right? And we can help support you through that. And you're right. Like a lot of agents, I think sometimes they come in. They're like, okay, what can you do for me? And if they don't feel like they're getting what they want, then they'll just continue to hop and hop and hop and nothing ever gets done for them. It's almost like whenever a seller hits you up and they're like, oh yeah, my realtor didn't do anything for me. And you're like, was it the realtor?

you've had you've had how many realtors in under a year yeah okay at some point maybe look in the mirror yeah yeah and that's so true i mean as an agent like what are we doing to create our environment and better our environment um yeah i agree it's cool to it's cool to be able to pitch things I like the way that the Wolfpack set up because you can pitch ideas off each other to prevent some group think that happens where you're in a smaller space. You know, if like we have,

we have even a group or within the organization that is focused on one thing, like we're growing in a different area. And so being able to talk with four other individuals who are in the same boat or on the same team and talk those out, get me so much further than me trying to figure it out on my own.

And so when you take away the competition of the way that the model lets us do this and the collaboration gets to take over, it's a game changer. It's a game changer. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about production, huh? I want to talk about some production. Is that cool? Yeah.

So yesterday I actually had to talk about increasing referrals based off of building more loyal clients. And a lot of times what I see is agents, once they close a deal, that's pretty much it, right? They don't follow up afterwards. They don't talk to them very much. And really a huge opportunity to build more loyal clients is to reignite the excitement after the closing. And so how do we do that? And for me, it's like, you know, six months after that closing, I send some type of celebratory selfie video that says,

hey, just want to let you know, it's been six months since you purchased that house, right? I'm still super excited for you. Or I'll send another handwritten note, you know? And the thing is, is the reason why we try to build loyalty with clients that have already closed on deals is that. Oh, am I lagging? Sorry, guys. You're back. Oh, man, I was on a roll too.

We were just saying you were heating up. Oh, I was heating up. Okay, where do we stop? It was the six months after that. We lost you after, yeah, the six months, the video, and then the six months after that, that's where we lost you. Yeah, just so there's so much importance in reigniting that excitement, even after the closing,

due to the fact that when you build loyal clients that remember your service and remember the way you made them feel, they will actually send you out to more of their referral, send more referrals out to you. And so just reigniting that excitement is pretty much summarized what I really talked about yesterday. Bless you, Shane. Thank you.

Sorry, guys. I didn't get a chance to mute allergies have been killing me today. As you can probably hear in my voice. Look, so John, Michael, I mean, we obviously, we've gotten together before in a podcast and talked about this stuff. And yeah, I'm a big fan of that. And for me, it's like having the birthday gifts. And, you know, I was doing a house anniversary for a long time.

And then it got a little tough because I had some guys doing different things. And so I was trying to, for me, I decided, which your way is great. There's a lot of different ways to do it. I decided to honor like, you know, birthdays and, you know, important anniversary, things like that. But keeping that excitement and staying engaged. But because you want to and because it's like that whole servant thing, right? Like that goes back to like, you're there to take care of them. and make sure they're doing good.

What I hate, and I get approached as a consumer, I hate the follow-ups to see how can I make money off this guy now? You know, and that's why I sometimes I almost have like that imposter guilt in my head before I reach out to someone I haven't talked to in a long time. Sometimes I have that weird voice in my head like, oh, this is going to be weird calling them out of the blue. They're going to think you want something, right? Because you're carrying the guilt of other people that don't have your heart.

And so it's, I like hearing that from you because I know from you, it's off. But, you know, you've probably been on the receiving in from consumers, or not consumers from other businesses, right, as the consumer. And you've probably had that weird feeling before, right? Well, this is why me working with clients that are already relationships built is so important beforehand, right? And so me following up six months later is just another touch that I've been doing two years before the closing. you know and so it's something it's not and i'm coming from a place of how can i help right i'm never coming from a place of i can't wait i can't wait until they send me another phone i know that about you i know i know i know that about you but i'm saying like i feel like sometimes i if it's someone that

haven't been in touch with enough and then i'm reaching out because of how i've been approached and it makes me a little nervous and i like the fact that i know from you it's coming from the right place but no i love that i love that i also try to make if i'm going to touch on someone who I don't have that that prior relationship with or even if I do I try to come from some place of adding value to them to where it's like hey I saw this and I thought of you so we we got a one of our title reps over at Austin title shout out to Reagan she's a rock star she sent john and I a thing that showed that a local it's called calahari it's in round rock it's the world's largest indoor water park.

They were doing a huge discount on their daily passes, and it was going by city. So depending on what city you were in, a certain day was or a certain set of times was yours to go get a discount on. And I took that and I went, man, I'm going to text every single person that I've sold a home to and say, hey, great opportunity for you and the kids. I saw this and immediately thought of you. I hope you guys enjoy. That's a value ad.

That's a touch. And I didn't ask them for anything. I didn't put it in a way of like, hey, look what I did for you. Now give me a referral. But what it does is it shows that I'm thinking about them and that I haven't forgotten about them post transaction. And that's what's going to separate me from whoever else isn't doing that. And Shane, I was going to say that's one thing I love about how kind of you have approached

your business also with your All About You form that you send out to clients, right? Because it's one of those things where it's like, you know, you're really getting to understand them better as you're going through the transaction. But then you also get a chance to know their interest, their birthday, their hobbies, their kids, things like that, like what their kids like to do. And it just actually then it provides that natural like connection points, right? Or you don't like if you don't really know how to reach out to them or if you don't have something you, you, off the top of your head that you can like text them about like you can go back and refer to what you've learned about them and like initiate the conversation that way. It's true. Well, the other thing, too, is that then if it comes to gifting, then you right know what their favorite things are. So it makes it so much more special when it's like, oh, man, he knows that I prefer pizza over Starbucks or something. You know what I mean? Or, oh, my God, he sent me like Lakers gear and I'm totally like a Clippers fan.

You know, it's like, I just, oh, okay, well, Michael, that was just a random generalization, Michael. You and I both like the Lakers versus one player. But I'm just saying it's, you know, it just, I feel like it's, Because now you're knowing your audience, you know, your clients, you're knowing your clients. And it's a little cheat sheet. Like, because you can't remember everything about everybody. Like people you engage with a lot, like people that are in your circle already, you'll remember naturally most of what they like. But I mean, when your database is 4,000 people, like you can't possibly remember all this

stuff. And so that's why I think that that form has been great. And I've been really going above and beyond with it because I felt like for a while, I felt like the team wasn't really being, you know, diligent about getting, those out and getting all that back. And now I've made a very important first step to make sure it comes in and I'll even follow up with the clients before we even sit out a listing agreement. Like, hey, have you, you know, and that's, you know, just like reviews, I feel like that's the place where I'm not getting enough reviews. We have to do it during the process when we have a

good exchange. And too many times we were busy in the transaction. We wait until afterwards when they're busy moving. And then, yeah, you get some reviews, but not as many as you should. And it's awkward to try and get one later. So I think that that's the, another point, you know, when you're in a good moment, is ask for that review. That's so true. I notice that in my business, too, like, where I'm sitting there and I'm like, you know what, they've got a lot on their plate. I'm going to wait until things chill out to ask for a review.

But then they're not as excited. They don't, they don't remember, like, all the little things that, like, led up to that moment and they're, you know, that raw emotion has kind of worn off. And now they're moving in. They're worried about unpacking boxes. And then it's kind of like, oh, yeah, like, yeah, yeah, it was a good transaction versus you're in the moment and you're like oh my god Jordan went above and beyond we're so we're so thrilled like the the reviews that I did that with versus the ones I did and I think are

super apparent yeah it's all monotone after it's closed yeah Jordan it was great and dude the other reviews people are all fired out they're like we're going to name our next baby after him we love Jordan after it's like library voice Jordan was actually really good he actually that actually i didn't even think about it that way that's true see for me the review and the other thing for referrals and the thing is is that when i was coached when i was with a certain coaching company they always talked about asking for referrals and reviews during the transaction even if your support staff was on the phone during a good exchange when there's a good exchange ask for referral when there's a good exchange ask for a review i'm i'm guilty of not doing that

often enough no so i hate reminding people hey can you send me a testimonial? Oh, it's horrible. It's horrible. I feel so lousy. I'm like, please, leave me a good review. I need it. Yeah. I will say, though, if you do own a Facebook group, so my Facebook group, if I get somebody within that Facebook group to sell or buy a home, I asked them in the background, hey, do you mind just putting a good testimonial on the Facebook group. And it's almost a hundred percent guarantee somebody's going to reach out to me because someone else is talking. And basically what we're doing is leveraging other people's credibility, you know, when it comes to a testimonial. And especially in a forum where

everybody is asking for recommendations. And so Facebook groups, if you ask for the back end, like in the background, hey, do you mind just posting something on this Facebook group? It's actually very valuable. that's a good tip yeah and i gotta be better about i haven't been doing as much with facebook i gotta get better about that um yeah thanks for sharing that tip so you know i was actually just thinking about something and just obviously we're having so much fun time is flying but i wanted to actually give you guys a chance to mention your podcast and just talk a little bit about that you know yeah jordan what do you think sure uh yeah real estate virgins podcast we have been going for i believe like a year

and a half now or something like that. 50 plus episodes. We try to do one every single week. We do top producing agent interviews from various brokerages around our area that share different tips, topics, stories of success, failure, everything in between while also sharing our own experiences to market update information. What we're seeing is boots on the ground agents. We picked the name, I just got asked this earlier today on my mentee call, why we named it real estate virgins. And I feel like everything that we, that we were looking at when we were trying to name it, we were like on Spotify. And if you just type in like real estate agent podcast, none of it had any like, I don't know, like pizzazz or like sexiness, you know. It was just like some real estate something or like home this or that.

And it was just like, man, I want to make some that has like a tiny amount of shock value that when you hear it, you go what the heck is the. this. And so, and honestly, it kind of aligned with when we first started. We wanted to fill the void of information for newer agents. That was kind of the whole game plan. I remember being that day one agent and being like, man, aside from this training that my broker is putting on, I don't have any like real world application or experiences that people are sharing with me. So when John and I met, we were like, how do we eliminate or like minimize the gap from brand new agent that doesn't know anything to production? And I think it's just sharing stories. I think it's sharing like how different methods of winning that that we found to be. And there's, we've had people on who

are complete opposite of us. We've had like Pauly C on who Cole calls all day. And he's had success with that. So it's not just like one size fits all. You're going to hear how we do it. and that's it. We try to get a good variety of people. And we're also just meeting a ton of good agents, like a ton of good people. That's how I met Suman. And when he was so forthcoming with this information and so valuable to an audience

that he doesn't owe anything to, it was just like, man, like those are the kind of people I want to collaborate with and talk with. That's awesome. Well, I really noticed today, even though obviously I've been on it and I knew about it,

but I really noticed today when I was reading your bio on the podcast how similar it is to what our mission is, you know, like we're pretty aligned in that way. Absolutely. Yeah, but I appreciate the opportunity to be on it. It was great. You guys are awesome. I love your intros and how you guys work off each other. Yeah. You know, Michael and I are getting a lot better together, you know, just we haven't been together as long as you guys have.

Him and I've only been working together about three and a half years. You guys are like, what, 25 years now? Hey, how old do you think we are? Well, you're like, aren't you like right around between 28 and 32 somewhere in there? No, we met in, I think, junior year of high or a sophomore year of high school. Oh, high school. Yeah. Actually, oh, you did stay high school.

My bad. I was, my head I was singing in elementary school. But I don't know that I don't know that I could have hung out with John in elementary with that attitude he had. I'm just kidding. I was when the band thing happened. So how long have you guys? been working together? About six.

Oh, well, we've known each other for about 16 years, but I mean, in our, yeah, but from the, from every aspect, you know, musicians working, you know, and also real estate, uh, all combined about 16 years. Yeah. It's been super fun for sure. It was cool because like the, the little things that we did in the band boy days are what's helping us in our real estate careers. It's no different.

Like John and I were kind of. of the pushing factor behind the band. John and I are the pushing factor in our real estate business. John was so, like John, like he knows this, but like for the listeners, we would, we would go to like Florida. I think we were playing in like Pensacola. We don't know anyone in Florida, but what did we do? We went to guitar center.

John pulls out his laptop. He starts adding and messaging people who are in Pensacola who look like they would listen to our music, invites them to our show. instead of having zero people at our show, we would have 30. That's marketing. That's introduction. So that same application is what has translated into his business doing so well. So it's no different.

Like he was a connector then. He's a connector now. And we all have our strength. That was never my strength. But from an organizational standpoint, like I put our CDs together. I designed our merch. Like I did a bunch of the stuff that, you know, you know, that John maybe didn't want to do or like couldn't do and vice versa.

So we've always just been a really solid pair. And I think that's translated into why we make such a good, good team. Shane, I definitely am seeing a lot of parallels. We're just in year three. So, you know, 13 years from now, we'll be where these guys are at too. That's awesome. Hopefully there is at that time. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Well, the thing is, you know, building an awesome relationship, like Jordan and I is, is we've gone through the ups and we've gone through the downs. And, you know, we've, you know, we've lost 30 grand overnight on an investment property, right? Or 40 grand, something like that, you know, and we got through it, you know. And, and I, you know, that might not be a lot to some people. That might be a extreme amount to some people. But the thing is, is like, we've gone through the, the flat tires and having no money to, to figure things out. And, you know, that when it comes, to building relationships, sometimes it's the best way to build a strong relationship is to get through the hard times, you know? And even so, like on a more local sense, like sharing the

transparent moments of you going through hard times with other people may build a relationship quicker, you know, or being more transparent with some of your newer relationships with not being perfect, because at least from my perspective, I don't want to work with a robot. and I don't want to have a friend that's a robot, you know? And so when people are more transparent with each other about their ups and their downs, it's an easier opportunity to build a better relationship. Yeah, like John said, we went through an investment that where we were projected to make six figures each.

And then we were about five weeks off from when the market started to double interest rates. And we went from that projection to, I can't remember if we broke even or if we lost just a little bit. And it was like, that could have ruined a lot of relationships. That could have, that could have charred a lot of people. But John and I had,

it's so good to have good partners with you because we understood that we were in the same boat and that we were going to take lessons from this and move forward because John would, you know, I remember John called me and he was like, this is like a super, so sorry if I'm sharing like more than I should, but John told me he goes like, man, I feel bad because I feel like, you know, we partnered on something that didn't work out.

And I'm like, bro, we're in this, we're in the same thing. I wouldn't have partnered with you if I wasn't up for the risk. And I think having that basic understanding in a partnership is so important to where it's not on John to make sure that things work out. We're in this thing together. And we went through a bad investment together. And we're on the other side and we're still kicking. We're still bros.

like it all works out and like if another opportunity comes up i'm still going to partner with john on something because i've seen that the extreme swing of going from winning to losing and how we handled it was just so it could have been so different and so i'm just i'm just very thankful for the for the partnership that we have yeah we we've had our similar situation already together. So we got that one knocked out too. I think the guy still loves me. I don't know. But no, thanks for sharing. That's actually true. That's actually true. Yeah, the challenging times, the hardships, like, you know, even, yeah, and that goes across the board. I mean, I went through some obviously major health stuff a couple years ago and then just through some, you know, bad business dealings.

And it's interesting to see who's left standing in your circle. That's when you see who your true people are. I mean, sometimes you kind of need that to happen. Like, you know, people say, maybe there's more lessons to learn and I right thought I'd learned enough lessons right but uh but holy molly um humble pie there with learning more lessons but yeah they say bad things lead to good things and i believe that if you can weather the storm then that's someone that should be in your circle and uh i'll go to battle with this guy anytime absolutely when you go through that you know that you'll ride for him yeah and it's just it's being it's being refined through the fire right it's it's funny Like I will always remember what my,

one of my church youth pastors told me is like one time during a sermon, he said like, you know, if you ask God for grace, he's not going to just automatically give you grace. He's going to put those people, those situations, those experiences in your,

in front of you so you can learn how to show more grace. And so it's, it's, no, it's amazing to hear about just you guys and your partnership and how far you've come. And it's, it's really an inspiration to hear that. So thank you for sharing that.

We usually, like to end the podcast with our guests on one question. We've touched on some themes about this, but if you two were building your real estate business again today from the ground up, how would you both go about doing that? What advice would you have for agents that are looking to do that? Jordan, you go first. It hasn't been that long, brother. Come on. No, I know. I know. And I think that's the thing is I'm going on year four. So it's not like I'm so far removed that my situation is completely different now than it was back then. The only two things that you can really build on, in my opinion, are relationships and communication. It's really that simple.

I think having intent with what you're saying and with your daily actions is also really important, time blocking, making sure that you're putting priorities on, like as John said, real estate income generating activities. And I think for the first, first few years, I was trying to figure out what that was. And so knowing what I know now, I would have just hit the ground running and, you know, nose to down to the grindstone, just knocking out content, forging solid relationships. And, and that's what I would, that's what I would do day one. I like that. How about you, John? Honestly, you know, I had a lot of lessons from the very beginning that I wouldn't change because I feel like I needed them.

them, you know, I needed them to get through them. On a more specific sense, I started videos from day one. I did videos from day one. And I wouldn't change that. However, I didn't put those videos on YouTube. And I feel like if I would have started putting those videos on YouTube from the very beginning, my YouTube platform would be a lot bigger. And, you know, I'm starting seven, eight years later, you know? And unfortunately, I am behind on that. So that's one thing. And then, like Jordan said, relationships, you know, and just coming from a place of value instead of coming from a place of here's the house, look at it, you know? And so that's, that's one thing that I would, a couple of things I would change, actually. Nice. Nice. Check them out. Thank you guys. Yeah, actually,

I feel like I got to know you guys even better. Like, this was great, honestly. Like, you know, because we've talked, we've spent time, you know, but this is, this is great. I appreciate it. Thanks for having us. Yeah, this is awesome. Thank you.