KGCI: Real Estate on Air - How to Differentiate Your Real Estate Brand

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

Summary:This episode is an interview with Sam Basel, a branding expert, who shares actionable advice on how real estate agents can build a unique and memorable brand. The discussion focuses on moving beyond standard branding clichés and developing a clear, authentic message that resonates with a target audience. It provides tactical advice on identifying your unique value proposition, creating a consistent brand identity, and communicating your message effectively to stand out in a competitive market.

Seven-figure success starts when you start thinking like a CEO. Welcome to the John Kitchens Coach podcast Experience. This is your host, John Kitchens. You're ready to think bigger and transform your business into a path to lasting freedom. What is happening? Sam, how are you doing, buddy? Doing fantastic. It's a beautiful day of the mountains.

And I always, you got the best eye candy out there. Right. Yes, I am blessed to live where I live and be able to share the views that I get to work with all the time. So yeah, happy to represent Colorado. Yeah. No, it's really cool. It's awesome. And kind of aligns perfectly to kind of the conversation that we're wanting to have today. And, you know, you piqued my interest last year going to this conference. I had never heard of it. And I was like, okay, what is going on? And, you know, you came back. and we did a podcast, just kind of broke down all of the takeaways and everything from, from the conference and really started to put something on my radar that I have always known to be true. And we were, you know, talking about this before and just the speed at which things are happening and, you know, just, just empowered with AI. But I think it's more of the question. And, you know, Joel and I did this conversation at the, at the end of, at the end of the

year coming into the new year about you know the bezos question right what are the things that won't change right and you know the thing that will never change because it goes back as far as we've ever existed is is the power of story and storytelling and so you really put that at the forefront of my mind in that conversation and and so you headed back again this uh this month or so month or so ago to a month ago. And so might become an annual thing here to be able to kind of break down and share kind of the takeaways. And I would love for you to, you know, just kind of, you know, share what 1,000 watt conferences. I know they're changing their name, but really what it is and how it got on your radar. And now I see why, you know, it did and

why you're continuing to go back. Yeah. Great. Yeah. So 1,000 watt is a company, a marketing company I've been around for a while. I found out about them, gosh, maybe 10, 12 years ago, and they actually were influential and helping me create my tagline just on some of their podcasts, the way they were thinking and what they were doing. My tagline of helping people make wise real estate decisions.

So that flavor really resonated with me from the get-go, kind of following them casually from time to time. They put together this brand and marketing summit, and now you mentioned a name change. it's going to be called signal, which I think is perfect for what they're trying to do. And that is help the real estate industry find the signal within the noise. So really excited for that. Signal is what I'll be calling from now on.

But I think you can find the information on the event, which is a little bit vague for next event. It's still in the planning stages, I believe. But they're coming to Denver in 2026 of June. I don't have a location yet, but keep that on the radar. Yeah. It's definitely on our radar. So definitely one to dive in. So yeah, let's, let's unpack, you know, the takeaways, kind of, kind of the theme. And I think, you know, has 1,000 watt signal. Is it real estate industry? Is it just marketing as a whole? It is real estate focused. Definitely real estate focused. It applies to just about any industry.

but the room is full of real estate industry people. That's what 1,000 Watt is really focused on, and that's their niche. But, yeah, definitely real estate focus. The event had people from PropTech to Zillow, to builders, to national builders, to all the major companies, chief marketing officers. We had Wendy Forsyth from EXP there,

got to connect with her a little bit, representatives from like Sirhant was on stage, got to meet someone who consults with Sirhant on his marketing and branding. So definitely big hitters in the room. There was a good mix of team leaders and individual agents as well. They were just the entire gamut of the real estate industry was there, all focused on marketing and branding. So some of the main themes, if we want to dig into that, some of the big picture stuff, you know, I took all my random notes, put them through AI and had it spit out some themes. And I thought the themes were dead on to what happened there. So get the right prompt, get the right output. And I'm really pleased

with this. So the common themes were prioritizing emotional connection. So shifting your focus from selling real estate to addressing the emotional motivations of your clients. So working on their feelings, not just their needs. They make decisions based on emotions and justify with logic. I'm pretty sure you've said that once or twice, John. So it's so true, right? So we had EXP rally season. So we had, you know, out with Jacob and Elizabeth out in Seattle, which so proud of them and the event that they put on. It was, it was first class all the way. And we had you know in you you've had the you know opportunity to to tune in and listen to her and i always say she's a storyteller that just happens to sell real estate and and really you know everything

that um everything that is what we're talking about in the direction and really leading the way but she shared that video um that every everything that you just talked about there, right? The emotional connection of really putting yourself in that house and all the memories that that house has produced. Was that the video with the pond that she talks through and it's a little bit longer of the video? Not that one.

So she did one here recently to where she was, one, she wasn't feeling well. So she didn't really want to talk on camera. So she just kind of walked through the house. But the house is in, was in a cul-de-sac. back, but she pulled the story out of there from, you know, the cellars on the kids growing up there. The basement was a place. Their house was the place that all the kids came to. So as the kids were growing up through their teenage years, like every, every weekend, right? All the kids were at her house. But they just, it told a story, told the story of, you know, Christmas and

holidays and anniversaries and birthdays. And she just did it, you know, everything that you just talked about right there. It was the emotional connection. It was funny. Leanne, I think Leanne had seen it before, but she played it. She played the whole video at the rally. And you could just, I mean, it was dead silence. And Leanne, you know, just joking, right? I'm not crying. I'm really not crying. You know, and it's just because it was that emotional connection. And that embodies everything. Just when you were saying that, that's where my mind just went. I'm like, that's why it's so good, right? Because she was prioritizing the feelings. I love that she used that. George, I used an example of a somewhat more standard home in a cul-de-sac.

I didn't see the video, so I don't know how standard it was, but you don't need a flashy, big, beautiful home in order to create a unique story. Correct. So that's really important to differentiate. Obviously, when you have a big, beautiful storytelling home, then, you know, that makes the storytelling a little easier, a little more eye-catching. but it works both ways. And people making decisions on normal homes versus the luxury space,

they're still making decisions on emotions and justifying with that logic. Yeah, I love it. Good. Moving on. So next theme was defining your brand's identity. So diving deeper into what makes your business different and communicate it clearly. You've got to uncover the core emotional value you offer that will resonate with your ideal target market. So the more clear you are on who you are, the more you can share that and be authentic

and attract and speak to the people that you're trying to reach. So how does that apply, like apply that to you and your market, in your brand? Yeah, well, for me, I work and live in a place that people go on vacation. And I'm thrilled and blessed to be able to do that. But the people that buy typically have that same story. I've been coming there for years. I always wanted to have a place and now is my time. I'm ready to buy a place so that I can bring my kids and my grandkids to the same place

that I have emotional tie with and can pass on that legacy of this beautiful place in the mountains. So my brand identity is Alpine Legacy, which fits perfectly with that same story. that was done on purpose to match up that common story with the name of my, my company, my brand by my team to match that up. So who's your target market? What are you trying to sell? Who are you personally? And how does that all fit together? If you can make that all fit, well, it resonates and will attract those same people back to you. So I'm thrilled with the people I get to work with. They're all on vacation and want to bring more people to you. So that's just a fun story to be around all the time. And in the emotional connection is how they feel while they're there. Exactly.

Yeah. So I get to play tour guide and showcase my mountains quite often. And originally, when I jumped from my original career in college, my major was recreation and leisure studies with adventure tourism as a minor. Didn't really see how that applied to real estate until lately it's been clicking a whole lot more that I still help people get recreating in the mountains and creating memories and going and do fun things in a really special place, and I get to do real estate on the side. So it's been fun to see that tie together. Yeah. Yeah. It's the whole thing, right? Like, you're something that just happens to, right? And so it's just, it's a really good connection once that clicks for you. Awesome. Yeah, definitely. So you can build that for whatever

you want to attract and who you are and building that all together is defining your brand's identity. So move on to the next one, we got creating compelling personas and avatars. So along those same lines, you know, developing distinct personas within different levels of buyers and sellers. So it was really, you know, it wasn't just mentioned at the conference. It was drilled in deeply. So if you have, you can split your buyers into three different categories, whether they're first send homebuyers, people looking to make a change or people looking to downsize or whatever they are, you can take them deeper. Like what within those categories sets them apart so you can drill into exactly what they're

thinking and feeling and build your message to match. Yeah. It's so important, right? It has to feel like you're speaking directly to them and you're the only one. And it's, you know, it's not the blanket. It's more of a precision approach. Beautiful thing now, I think, you know, where you start to layer in AI, you can do it at scale. Whereas before, it was really, really hard.

And you can, you can dive a little bit deeper quicker to be able to understand that avatar and be able to understand that persona and really what they're going through. You know, we were talking about, you know, Jacob and Elizabeth, but, you know, Jacob on the topic call, mastermind topic. call last month he was he really broke down like he knew the personas in the three different categories of luxury right who's going to buy the entry level luxury who's who's mid tier who's the uber like what do they do what are their personas what's their living situation like what are they thinking so i think being able to to really dive into that is i mean it's critical to be able to have that one-on-one conversation exactly yeah solving the problems before they think of them so that when they're ready to solve that problem you're there with the answer already right

Right. That's a great distinction, right? You get out ahead of them, and they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah. So along those same lines, leveraging AI for clarity and differentiation, not necessarily sameness. You know, if you just plug in a basic prompt into AI, you're going to get out exactly what everybody else is getting out. So there was a lot of talk at the conference about if AI is not used correctly, everybody's going to trend towards the same. same. And how are you supposed to stick out in that sameness? You got to use AI correctly and use it to differentiate your brand and find your uniqueness in that output in order to differentiate and use AI the correct way. So you got to create that unique voice that cuts through the noise and that signal is part of that. Man, there is so much noise. And I think just, I don't know if it's

one thing, the more I've been thinking about this, but I think it's a combination of them, right? So it's like you said, your brand and is it authentic to you, represent you? For me, brand just means reputation. When I see Alpalan legacy, what do I think? When I see Sam Basil, what do I think, right? What's the reputation? And then how does that align to who we're best equipped to serve, right? What is that avatar, the problems that we want to help people solve?

and then how do we then you know build to emotionally connect with them so like you know the four things that the three previous things with the AI it's a combination right it's it's everything it's not i don't think it's just one i think you got to you got to keep putting the ingredients in to get the right sauce out the one thing and um stringer and i were talking about this and it's the one question right that I think we need to be thinking about is that how do we then now align and communicate with the AI empowered consumer, right? And you think about this, as they're getting smarter, there's a good chance that they could start to outpace us. Yeah. So I think that's where, back to the first thing, the storytelling, the emotional connection, the things like

that will be able to play at their heartstrings, even if they are way more informed than they ever have been before. And truth be told, they're probably going to be a lot smarter than most agents, you know, very soon, if not already. Same kind of concept as when Zillow came on the horizon for the real estate industry, we no longer were the gatekeepers to the actual homes. People were coming in and knowing what stove was in what kitchen and where this bedroom was compared to that bedroom was and what was in this part of the house and there's no way that real estate agents can keep up with all of that when those buyers are coming in so knowledgeable about those three or four or five properties that they are so interested in so you know we're no longer

the gatekeepers to the properties i've even heard agents recently saying it's not my job anymore it's not my responsibility or that's not my core value of what i'm offering in this situation is actually finding you the house it's everything else around giving you the house that you're looking for. Right. So bring me what you find online. And I think the same thing is happening with AI that, like for instance, I just had a buyer client of mine who was trying to word things out, like what he really wanted

in regards to an inclusion. And he actually said, okay, here's what chat GPT gave me. Let's just put that into the contract. So they're already using chat GPT and other AI in order to help the process. So we've got to stay up, you know, that one step ahead of them knowing what is going to be good for them and maybe not good for them when they can use AI to help and when that's not going to be necessarily in their best interest. So, yeah.

So I've seen it that, you know, my clients are all using AI. And I think that's commonplace across the gamut of the industry here. Yeah. So. Yeah. So the next comment. summary here is telling stories, not just features. So shift your messaging to tell stories about homes like we've been talking about with Georgia and her process. There was a lot of talk about

there's even sessions on how to create a story and how to create your story. So that was really helpful workshop style sessions that were really, really good at that. So you're connecting with customers through narratives that align with their goals and tell stories about the problems you have solved in the past. So all good stuff to put into your marketing and showcase not only on homes, but on your branding and on your website and in your social media about the stories that you've been through and have solved with in the past. So that's all.

That's so good. That's so good. Right? Because it's the things that they can't find out about you, right? The proof that you could actually help them do. one, do what you say you can do, but also truly help them in their situation because, you know, they believe, even though it's naive to think this, but they believe that they're the only one going through this situation, right? It's their situation is unique, which it's not, but it is unique to them. So I think being able to tell stories of how you've helped people, maybe not just like them, but similar in the same situation, overcome whatever it is that they were trying to overcome.

Yeah, that's kind of a human condition, isn't it? We only see in our own little world of what's going on and helping people see that they're not alone in those situations, whether it's a home purchase or how they view their business or anything like that. That's more of a human thing that actually leads right into the next comments, you know, making authenticity a brand pillar. So if you can share that authentic stories and struggles

that previous clients have gone through that you've helped solve, you're going to resonate with more people that are solving the same problem. I love that. You know, I mean, you know where what I believe to be true, Sam, and, you know, it's all about trust, right? You know, no matter what happens with real estate over the next five, 10, 15, 20 years, it'll always come down to a decision of trust. And then, you know, my definition of trust is just authenticity times time. And I love that as.

I've never heard it phrased that way, but it makes so much sense, right? One of your, one of your core pillars must be authenticity. And just be authentic. I mean, we live in such a transparent world that, I mean, you can, I mean, we're seeing it every day in full people, you know, being exposed. And why, why play that game? Just be, just be who you are, your authentic, genuine self. Yeah.

People's BS meters have been off the chart. for years now, but now people are seeing AI and going, is that AI generator? I'm not sure I trust that anymore. Like what's real, what's not. The more real and more authentic you can be with just using your voice and being on camera and sharing those stories, that's what's going to build that connection. There's just something about the real human experience, whether you're in person or over video. That's something I'm learning and needing to get better at myself, just had a conversation yesterday with somebody that was viewing some of my content, and the one they liked the most was the one I felt like I did the worst act.

Always. It always is that way. Yeah. So it's just an eye-opener. Like the perfectionist needs to go away and just be authentic and share about what's important to you, what you're passionate about, and what you're trying to do to help people. And that's going to resonate with people. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. I love it. So good. So those were the six summary of all of the different speakers. There was back-to-back speakers for two full days of content. So there's no way we're going to get through all of it. But I had a few other one-liners that I'd love to pull out. Yeah. Absolutely. Let's see. We talked about that already. So one of the comments made by Jimmy Mackin, if you're familiar with Jimmy Mackin, he said, if you get better at social

media, you get better at communication, marketing, sharing values, and authenticity. It is the tide that raises all the boats. So the effort in your branding and marketing really should be on that social media because it's going to help you in all aspects of your business. So I thought that was really a good, nice, tight little quote there. I love that. Like, I mean, say that again, because I think that right there, and I always look for things that will help lift other things, right? Like what we talked about at KT, like the nine essential skill sets of a CEO, and there's one that will help at least seven of those critical, you know, skill sets that we all must possess. And that one is crucial conversations, right? Conflict resolution, being able to have a difficult.

conversation with another human being that improves your leadership that improves your sales that improves your negotiation that improves your marketing that improves so many things by improving one skill set in what you just said right here like that might have been a light switch for me sam honestly so like say that again because i think this more more people need to understand this and we already know that those that are excelling at a world class level on social media, their business is thriving. Yes. And so that, that has been the flagship for the last three, four, five years. And you can see those that have been consistent and they get better and better and better. But say that again, because this was, I mean, selfishly for me, this is a light switch.

Good. Good. So if you get better at social media, you get better at communication, marketing, sharing values, and authenticity. It is the. tide that raises all the boats. That was in Jimmy Mackin's closing statements to his session, and I was right furiously to catch up with that. Yeah. What a way to wrap it up. I think he's, I think he's 100% spot on.

Yep. Because you do. And I think about it just in the, in the quick, the beautiful thing that I love now is that your stories can go long. So like I'm not trying to condense down into 15 seconds that I can kind of let a, let a thought kind of roll out. but no i mean you do you do improve with your communication you're definitely going to improve in the message that you want to relay to your target audience and and and where they're

meet them where they're at the authenticity is is absolutely critical right who you are online should be who you are offline and and vice versa but yeah aligning to do you say aligning to their values or providing value? So just sharing your values. So the communication, the social media part, all, you know, helps you share your values and communicate that. So I think that's what he's trying to say. Gotcha.

That's so good. So good. Good one, Jimmy. That's a good one. Yeah. If you don't know Jimmy, follow what he's doing because I love his, the voice that comes across in his marketing. It's authentic.

It's about as authentic. you can find out there that actually is doing the job of marketing and getting people to respond. So I really like Jimmy Steph. You're engaging. Yep. This one that resonated with me is stop all the advertising about the agents and about real estate, speak to the customer through pattern interrupt and stories again. Again, the story's theme is definitely there, but figure out a way to differentiate the content

that's coming across to stick out, do something different, and tell the story. So people, you know, again, the sea of sameness, if everybody's talking about agents and accolades and awards and why I'm the best and why this agent is better than the other agent or this company is better than the other company, no buyer and seller really wants or needs to hear that. They're just scrolling past it. It's not stopping the scroll. Speak to the customer through a change in your patterns or change in the pattern that

everybody else is doing and bring them back to those stories yeah it is it's the you language right and um being able to to put it in into you you know hey if it was just like this morning i heard and i may have shared i don't know if i shared it with you um just random sometimes it's actually whoever pops up populates i just i hit i hit sin but uh i think it was the uh the motivational piece where i was talking about um uh uh your life is either like a forest or like a garden. And it brings me back to leadership principle that when the game switches and you become a chess player instead of a checkers player,

you actually become a gardener. And you're cultivating a garden and your people are part of the garden. And you've got different people, different things in your garden. And you've got to make sure that something's not overgrowing and blocking sunlight from the other items in your garden to continue to flourish and grow. you got to pluck the weeds you can't let the snakes in you got to you know you just really got to become a true gardener um as as the game progresses and so i think that was like even this morning trying to to to share that difference it's like well you if you are like this then you should

think about this right instead of you know man you know i thought about this i did that and it is it is a conscious effort to switch to that you language. Or even putting it in a third party or this person over here talking about this person, then they realize that they resonate with that person, whether that person is fictitious or not, but putting it in such a way that doesn't point the finger back at the messenger or the person that is reading the message, but a third party so that they can resonate with and identify with that third party.

So, yeah. Yeah. So I don't know if your audience, our audience today has a lot of experience with creating stories. But there was a, Jessica Sweezy is one of the main copyrighters at Thousand-a-Lap, phenomenal writer. And definitely recommend following her and checking out what she's got, what content she's putting out. But she went through the storytelling structure and really a journey of three kind of stops on the, on the story, creating the promise, making me care up front, giving that emotional what, it's kind of like the hook of the story. So creating that promise and making me care

up front, finding out what happens, what's the progress that you go through? So things that are going on in the story. And then what's the payoff? What's the end result? What's a transformation or the feeling you want people to get out of? You take people through those three structured things that you'll help create more stories around what you're trying to communicate yeah so i i mean i love that because it it um um kind of makes me think you know hook hook story offer right but it also in the offer creation process it's identifying their pain or pleasure which you know my direction right where we want to be a painkiller not a vitamin company so we want to find their pain and default back to the only thing we buy we buy results so I need a result to make this pain go away

however what what process are you taking me through what's the bridge that I'm going to cross from my pain to where my pain's not there right so but I love how you articulate how the hook is articulated with make them care like why would I even care why should they care and this is the bridge that the path that you're going to walking me through. And when you do, when you get the other side, this is the transformation. This is the payoff. And I love that that word transformation. Jacob and I were talking about that as well. And that was the intent going into their rally the way that they built the day. They built the night before. They built the day. They built

leading up to it. You know, the whole experience that they created was it wasn't just a EXP rally. It was it was something different. It was it was it was something way different. But it was experience in a transformation that you went through. And so I love kind of pulling from everybody. It feels like that's where I feel like the power and the beauty of even like Satori, right? With boozy is that you can pull all of these little things and you kind of mash it together to what's right. And I see a lot of different you know, know, angles or, you know, folks take some things in the way that you structured that. So that was, that's really good. Yeah. Certain parallels resonate if there's just different words used by different

perspective. So yeah, I really enjoyed that just because a great storyteller herself and then walking people through that. Obviously, she could do a better job of this process. But those are my notes. So I like it. I love it. So a few other quick notes from, I think it was Jessica's talk where these notes came from, but let someone else speak. Brand storytelling can be powerful from a third party. So getting testimonials, getting other people to talk about your brand. Let the audience work a little bit. Build connection by letting them fill in some of the gaps on their own so you don't have to tell every step of the story in order to get hooked in and i think there's an art form to that that i haven't mastered myself but i thought that was fantastic you know

you've seen some of the stories some you know even looking at commercials on the tv or or programming that don't necessarily share that brand but they tell that story and let you feel in the gap that that brand is going to solve that problem or be there to accomplish that so that that was pretty fun yeah that's really good so here's a line for you if you experiment enough success is inevitable so yeah i love that say say that say that one more time if you experiment enough success is inevitable like you can't miss just can't miss yeah you can't miss yeah so that goes back to um that the whole inevitability thinking, right, creating the conditions to where success is just going to happen.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Good. Humans will not go to what is best over what is comfortable. That one resonated well, too.

So, yeah, logic doesn't always win is what is talking about. One of your pain points, that's what they're going to gravitate towards. How do we get the pain to go away? That's what they're going to go away. that's what they're going to go towards. Comfortable, yeah. Things will not go to what is best over what is comfortable. So.

Well, that's the whole, you know, sell them what they want, give them what they need, right? It's the whole kind of thinking there as well, because you know human nature, right, just because of our, you know, reptile brain wired to protect ourselves. it's no different in you as a runner i know you feel it i get i mean literally i could go a quarter to to a half a mile in my brain and my body's like stop stop stop stop stop and it's just because we've done it for so long it's like yeah shut up right you'll you'll be quiet here in a few minutes

and you just keep you keep pushing through it because you know that that you know mechanism that protection will um will go we'll go away if running got a lot easier for me when I just expected the pain and ran anyway. Yes. Yeah, you know it's going to happen. So you just like, okay. Yeah. Keep moving.

Keep moving. Here's a line that I thought was funny. And I'm sorry to the original author, but a way not to set your price is to tell three agents that they are competing against each other to get the listing. Do not take their suggested price. So I thought that was fun. little aside, but it's totally true. You know, people's high listening all the time.

So, so Mark Davidson and Brian Barrero, they're kind of the heads of a thousand a lot, went through a section for, let's take some practical processes. How do we gather their stories? How do we get information about the property so that we can build the stories? So a few questions to ask sellers right up front, whether that's through a questionnaire or in a in-person interview. So what were your greatest?

memories at the property. What are your favorite features of the house or what were your favorite rooms? Where do you take your guests to first? Where do they gather when they come to your house? Those are places that you want to build stories around. So identify what the buyers are going to want from the property or what they're going to gravitate towards at the property and that's where you start to build those stories. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, you need, I mean, it is. And that's through conversation through questions, you get what you need to be able to craft, craft the story. You need those. And then you can layer in some personal experiences on top of it into, especially when you

start to tell the story. Then you can layer in not only that, but you know what the hot buttons are. So since the conference about a month ago, I started using this, I created a few more questions and basically have a two-page questionnaire for the homeowners. And I've taken all of their answers. Take it right back to chat GPT to create the story that matches with all of those comments and information to the Souther was able to give. And so it really has been working for me to help create those stories.

We'll make Eric proud. We'll start taking them and put them into Hoosie. Good call. And being able to get that. Yes. I am I yes I need to get that into Hoosie not necessarily chat TV too then I can layer in all the other things that come along with it so good let's see other more practical things Kat Toray is a is the lady who is working with Ryan Sirhant on his branding

actually had a pleasure of meeting her sitting next to her at the at the table for a while fantastic individual phenomenal with words that's what sticks out to me about her she's really good at drilling things down into good summaries but she had a couple of really good practical advice here so like surveying your favorite clients about the process of working with you kind of like your process of unique ability that you've shared with us at kitchen table so survey your favorite clients about the process of working with you and find similar themes and build advertising and voice to your brand from those testimonials and stories from your clients. Yes. Yes. Yeah, unique ability. I mean, that sounds just like the unique ability question

putting out there. Yeah. Yeah. Other comments from Kat were brand magic is cast in the unexpected moments. So be ready to capture those unexpected moments and when things happen you don't plan for. That can be real impactful. sharing those with the next people you're trying to attract. So back to the item of trust that you were talking about before. When you over-commit out of love, you erode trust when you can't deliver. So I'll read that again. That was a deep one.

So when you over-commit out of love, you erode trust when you can't deliver. Yep. so being careful with that yeah it is it's it's it's something i don't know if it's more now just just because there's so much noise right now and i i kind of default back to one of the mental models you know always say yes until you have to say no that's a slippery slope because you can you can overcomit in a hurry and i think i think it's it's okay to say yes As long as you have to layer in a couple other mental models in there, right, that it's moving you closer and not further away from where you're trying to be.

It's going to help me row the boat faster, right? If I say yes to this, it's going to help make the boat go faster. So I think there's a couple of things that you still want to filter that through. But, I mean, you can get yourself overextended out over your skis a little bit if you're not careful. So I love that. And I love how that's put out of love. Because most of the time we do, we say yes, because it is out of love, because the person asking us or whatever, we care about them. We genuinely have a connection. We love them. And so we say yes. And when we, you know, we can't deliver. And then that does. That that breaks, breaks trust because that becomes your

brand as somebody in your reputation as somebody that can't deliver. Right. Yeah. So managing expectations for yourself on what you're committing. to and knowing that being able to make those decisions on the fly of what you can deliver and what you can't and making sure those expectations are are shared and communicated. So it's no longer an expectation, but something you can actually follow through with. So, yeah, that's just something that's, I don't know how do you train that, but I think that just comes with practice and knowing yourself and being able to make those decisions on the fly in the moment of.

Yeah. Well, I think it comes back to kind of what. But DeVecchio shared with us, right? The art of the art of saying no. Yep. And, you know, and sometimes it's, it's not no forever, but it's no for right now. Goes back to one of my favorite Richard Branson stories. And I think it was, Darren Hardy was the one that was sharing that kind of told this story,

is that he had some, some, you know, clients. And Darren had just interviewed. Branson for when he was still sitting in the seat at Success Magazine. And they're like, hey, you just talk to him or whatever. You got a connection. We would love to get him to an event. And so he called up, got, you know, Richard's assistant and said, hey, we've got clients, got this great event. They're willing to pay, da, da, da, whatever for him to speak.

And she said, you know, I appreciate you reaching out, but the answer is no. he's got his clear priorities for this quarter and nothing else will get in the way. And then so Darren goes back and then they sweeten the deal. Darren goes back. They sweeten the deal. Darren goes back. Essentially, I forget it was absurd what they were going to like, like literally he had to leave Necker to their air. The jet would sit.

He would come off. They would pick him up. They would take him for an hour. They would take him back and he would fly it. Go back. Still said no. Wow. There's a line to my priorities this quarter.

That's just the point. Yes, it is. Choosing what's best when there's a lot of better still lingering out there. Yes. So finding the best. That's so good. Good stuff. Well, one of the last sessions was with a group of guys up on stage talking about turning your brand beliefs into action and boil it all down.

Two principles that I thought resonated with me personally. That's why I wrote them down was just to simply be kind. and help people. I thought that would resonate with you too, John. Yeah. Yeah. Brand beliefs into action. I love that.

Yeah, the big one there, yeah, I mean, go out of our way, you know, definitely to serve and help people, especially if we're equipped to serve and help,

right? Because we have the experience. We have, we have the ability to do that. And then, you know, the big one just, I mean,

be kind. Right. As I say, be nice. it says be kind and there's there's there's a there's a there's a big difference there is a big difference yeah i love that man i i got i've got two pages of notes sam this is so so good um and i've seen it in you and your evolution is um it is what we always say and and perso shared this the other day and you might have been on a call when he said it he's i think he said it a couple

times and keeps coming back to what won't change what will not change the best marketer will always win the best marketer will always win the best storyteller will always win and no matter what happens and i and so i think it takes um minimum standard of commitment to becoming a world class marketer but you might have to tip tip toe into the obsession and when you when you have at least a strong commitment a borderline or a full on obsession with marketing you're i mean you're on a journey it never ends and knowing that you're inevitably you're stacking the odds in your favor to where success will will yeah that's it resonates with me and my journey that i've been on recently because my entire career, I've been around real estate for quite some time and I always thought just

doing the right thing and doing it over and over again would bring me success. And to some level it has. But I've noticed over the last few years as I've really focused on marketing and being around and you and other big movers in EXP that if I don't showcase what I have to offer, nobody's going to know about it, except the people that have already worked with me and the people that they tell. So if I want people to be coming to me more, if I want to build my business, if I want to build a bigger life and have a bigger vision for my life, I've got to be able to share what I know and what I can help people with and so that I can help more people. Yeah. So. Yeah. So good. So I focus more. You know, I'm willing to spend the money and go to a conference and learn just

about marketing for a weekend. And that's, it's been really phenomenal for me. So I would say, I would say, bad investment of of money and time as well as becoming a better human being that's probably the two best investments that we can make right now yeah agree yeah investing in marketing investing in being around people and being around people that resonate with who you are that's always a good investment so always good that's not just a thousand a lot but I'm going to say that's also good for the kitchen table too. Yes. Yes. It's part of my career over these last few years coaching with you is coming to the kitchen table and connecting with like-minded individuals that are

doing big things and really expanding my vision for what's possible for me and avoiding a lot of the potholes and pitfalls that I've been hidden and didn't realize I could actually avoid them. So it's been very good for me. It does. It helps navigate the terrain, collapse time. And you said big things, and it's not always about big things in business that helps resonate, but it's big things in life, right? Big things in their relationship, big things in their faith, big things, just big things in general. And, you know, it's the, once you see success, it doesn't matter what discipline it is, but when you see success in that discipline or equity of life, you know, there's,

tends to carry over right how you do anything is how is how you do everything and so big is a relative term big is sure wherever you're coming from big is is a relative term growth is what's important if you're moving forward and and expanding and growing that's that's really the goal because if you're not growing you're dying right it's only one it's it's binary and so it's either it's either forward or there ain't standing still. And no, it's good. Sam, I really appreciate you, you know, taking the time to digest all the takeaways and, you know, how you're applying it and then be able to come in here and share. I'm looking forward to the event in June next year to be able to get out.

I think everything, because everything that you're sharing, it feels right. And I think it's it's super, super important for us as as leaders, entrepreneurs, marketers, you know, to stay out at the forefront and where, you know, the trends are going, but the things that will always, you know, stand the test of time. And that's connecting with another human and really listening and understanding what they're trying to accomplish and then being able to provide a solution. Excellent. Yeah.

And for whoever's listening to this and wants to come to this event next year, I've been toying with the idea of creating those magical moments. So if you're all coming to Colorado, we're going to create some sort of magical moments. Oh, we have to. So we'll figure that out. We'll tease that out now. I'm not sure where it's going to look like yet. We'll make it happen.

I love it. That's awesome. Sam, I appreciate you. And look forward to connect you soon. Sounds good. Thanks, John. See you guys. That's a wrap for today.

I hope you got something valuable from this episode. If you did, hit follow and visit John. kitchens.coach for more ways we can work together. See you on the next episode.