KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Leaving a Dead-End Job for an Uncapped Real Estate Career

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

Welcome back, Real Estate Rockstars. Today's guest is Chad Vaughn. He's been an agent since 2018, but spent his first two years trying to switch from part time to full time and leave that 95. And now he's been full time since 2020 and just hit his 100th closing. Here is what you expect to learn in today's show. What Chad did to finally make that leap from part time to full time. Why it doesn't matter what you say in your content. what two pieces of leverage Chad swears by in his business and the two most painful lessons learned from closing 100 transactions. Chad is out of Orlando, Florida. He is a solo agent in last year. In one of the hardest years for real estate, he closed 28 transactions and 10 million in volume. And you guys will see in the first few minutes that Chad is just filled with modern day wisdom,

super good nuggets coming at you from all directions. And you can tell you. he's a pro with his content. His audio video setup is legit. So go over to YouTube. Check it out. And guys, while you're there, subscribe, obviously. Real estate rock stars, please welcome Chad A. Vaughn. Okay, Chad, you started out as a part-time agent, shifted to full-time and built your business entirely off of Instagram. How did you do, how did you use Instagram to build your business from the ground up? Yeah, I mean, when we, when I started in real estate, I was new to the area. So we had maybe lived in central Florida for about a year, maybe. And at that point, we had two very little kids. So we did not have a big social network or a social life at all. So working full time in my cubicle job, I didn't have the opportunity to go meet a lot of people. There was just, there wasn't the time and capacity. So really, in my, in my license, I think probably like most agents, I realized that that class was not super valuable in terms of learning how to become or be a real estate agent or to transact in real estate. So I used that class actually for two weeks from 6 to 10 p.m. to work on building my Instagram because I knew that that was a way that I could reach effectively an infinite amount of people for free even while I was still at work.

So I focused really heavily on building a local presence and our local following there from the beginning. Because I mean, I started out with nothing. I, you know, if it wasn't for real estate and it wasn't for work, I probably wouldn't even be on social media all that much. So it's not really kind of my natural inclination. But I knew that that was an opportunity for me. So I just went all in before I was even licensed on that. And what does going all in look like? Well, it depends on the time.

So at that time, I mean, even five years ago in 2018, social media looked a lot different. And the kind of things that I posted at that time, I would never post now, but they were effective for me at the time. So I think part of social media is understanding the platform and understanding how people consume and what they want and what they expect. But I mean, at that time, it looked like I was posting every single day on Instagram. And so at that point, really videos was not much of a thing. There was long form video, but it wasn't like it was today. And that was even at that point, I think stories were either brand new or just coming out. So it looked like me the night before I would find something to post.

So, you know, at the beginning, I didn't have anything for my own business to speak of. So it would be some sort of an article or statistics or an awful market update or something like that that I could put together the night before. I would write it up. I would grab usually a, if you scroll back far enough on my Instagram feed, you'll find. Oh, I'm going to. Yeah, I can't wait. Stock photos from like Pinterest or whatever. And I would put these up with with some.

stuff. But I was the most important thing is I was there every day. I was posting every single day and I was speaking with authority that I was borrowing. I didn't have the authority. I didn't have the confidence. But I was posting as if I did, not saying that I was something that I wasn't, but speaking with confidence in those posts. And my first couple of transactions, my first deals came from responses, I guess stories were a thing, because they came from responses to a poll in one of my stories. And so I think from there, that really opened my eyes. I'm like, dude, people like, people that I have otherwise not known, um, that don't know me are trusting me, uh, to transact with me in real estate, uh, through Instagram. And like, this, this is something where I have to give

100% of my attention. I treat it like my office every day. If you were, going all in today. Like if someone wants to be like you, they want to leave their part-time job, they want to go all in on Instagram. You mentioned how it was different back then than it is today. What would you say to that person? Do it, first of all. And the manner by which you do it is largely irrelevant. So kind of the point that I was touching on before is like my content was horrible.

And the, I think the consumer expectation. even five years ago is probably different. But what you post is much less important than that you post and that you do it with consistency and that you show up. So I think the biggest thing that you can be on Instagram is consistent. A lot of people, you know, I work with a lot of agents who want to grow with their social media and want to grow on Instagram, but don't want to do too much or they don't know what to say or they don't feel like they.

have the authority or should be talking about this type of stuff and they get analysis paralysis and they get so in their head of like what can I post what can I say what should I say and that they end up producing absolutely nothing and if you are not going to be doing some of the other more traditional ways to build real estate business and there's nothing wrong with those things door knocking, cold calling, whatever. Not for me personally, but they're effective. For me, it's Instagram. So when if Instagram is going to be your primary vehicle to build your business, you have to treat it like it's your business and like it's your office.

So I very much looked at it like my job and I think that anybody starting today needs to do the same thing. So if you don't show up to your job, you get fired. So every day you need to show up. You need to make sure that you're building relationships with people. It is social media. So I think a lot of people treat Instagram like a billboard. instead of a coffee table.

And by that, I mean people advertise themselves. They want attention. They want eyes. But they're not willing to do the work of making relationships and developing those relationships and being proactive in communicating out with people in their community and people that they want to transact with. So my advice to somebody, 20 minutes later, my advice to somebody starting Instagram today would be be consistent.

Don't get too in your head about what you're posting. Just post. And secondly is make sure that you are treating it like a relationship, like a coffee table, like you're sitting down at Starbucks with a friend talking. Consistency is an issue that I hear, you know, everywhere. It's all over. So, and before we hit record, you were talking about structure systems, whatever. Do you have a structure that you fall in to stay consistent?

or are you relying on motivation? What do you think is the reason you were able to stay consistent and so many people aren't? This is one of my things. Consistency is not a matter of motivation. It is a matter of discipline. So I think that with anything in the reason I think that most agents not only don't succeed in real estate but don't, or not only don't succeed in social media, but don't succeed in real estate at all, is we tend to wait for motivation or confidence instead

of deciding to be consistent. So when I was starting my business, I was less motivated than I was determined to get the hell out of my job. It was a good opportunity and I was grateful for the job that I had because I needed it at the time and it filled a very important and necessary gap in my life. and I've gained business out of it today. So it's it served its purpose and then some. But I hated what I did. And I was incredibly focused on getting out of there. And so there were days where I was not motivated.

I was exhausted. And but that's irrelevant. Because just like if somebody, if you're in an office job, you don't show up on the days when you feel like it. You don't show up on the days when you feel motivated. And for some reason, we tend to lose that mentality when it comes to this. And I don't understand what that disconnect is, but I think it's a general lack of discipline. So it's a decision every day that how am I going to show up? For me personally, I do not, I don't function well with like batch content, content creation.

I know that's super effective for some people and people have like a robust schedule. and maybe on this days, they post this type of content. That doesn't work well for me personally. I find that a little bit, I don't know, I find it difficult to get excited about that. So I tend to keep a list of topics that I want to talk about. Sometimes they're from transactions. Sometimes this morning I was getting ready for, actually I was getting ready for this podcast. When I was looking at, hey, yeah, and I was looking at some of the numbers.

And I realized like, oh, okay, like I'm about to close on my 100th. transaction. Wouldn't it be cool if I created a video of like, you know, the, a couple things that I've learned from these hundred transactions, you know? So I think that there's, there's, there's inspiration in what we do. And I think that if you're doing content that requires creativity, you need the space to be creative for me. So I create that space, but I don't allow myself not to show up. Not showing up is not an option. So it's just a decision of how am I going to show up today and what that's going to look like. Okay.

So you hated what you did. So you had a strong, motivating factor to run away from something, which is powerful. And I feel the same. I was in the Army for six years before getting out to pursue real estate full time. And I was running away. And that lit a fire under me.

And so, and I don't know how much we want to like, you know, go philosophical. But there's a lot of people who are like comfortable, you know, they're in a job that they don't hate. They don't love it. They would like to be successful in real estate, but they don't have that either running away from or maybe it's a dream that's not big enough to run towards. I don't know. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think that it may be

the follow on question is at that time you were running away from something that you didn't like. So was there a point where you hit where you're like, I'm losing some of this? Or is it the discipline by that point was so deeply ingrained in you. It wasn't a choice you gave yourself. It was just an action that you lived. Yeah, I think for me personally, it was a little bit of both. So I think your motivation changes. So then once I left that job and left a consistent paycheck, my motivation was like, okay, if we're going to pay the mortgage and we're going to keep these lights on, I better continue to work with consistency and with a sense of urgency. You know, so I think that living living in a job that is dependent, your income is 100% dependent on your output is scary, but is incredibly motivating.

That keeps you moving. I do think that a lot of people are super comfortable. So I think that part of it, there's a couple of different things. I think, number one, the thing that I do love about real estate is there's a variety of different ways that you could deal in this industry. So if you're a kind of person that wants to transact a couple of deals a year and like you don't need more than that, you don't want more than that, then do you treat it like a hobby? You'll get paid like a hobby. Maybe that's all you want. And that's perfectly fine.

There's nothing wrong with that. But if you want a high level of success, it requires a high level of output. And you have to hustle and you have to work. And again, it's not about feeling like it. It's not about feeling up to it. It's making a decision and being true to the commitment that you've made to yourself or to the people around you. And, you know, it really does come from within. I think that a lot of people when they come into real estate, most people come into real estate from a job, from a, from a career where you have a job description, you have a task list, you have things that you are told what to do.

And there's a structure around and then you get into this. And it's all of a sudden, you wear all the hats and no one tells you what to do. And it's 100% on you. And so I think a lot of people are waiting and looking around like, okay, I need, where's my checklist? Like, where's my task list? Where's my, where's my syllabus for this day? And that's not how it works. It's a matter of making it happen on a daily basis.

What is the structure, what does the structure in your life look like? What does your life look like? I don't know. What do you mean? Like on a daily basis? Yeah. Yeah. Like what's a day in the life?

Oh, a day in the life. I mean, it changes. It changes. So I have a wife and two little girls. They're in elementary school. My wife's a teacher. So generally, they're all out the door quite early in the morning. So that gives me a pretty early start to the day.

I work from home. So I'm not commuting into an office or anything like that. Um, generally speaking, the first part of my day is, uh, devoted to content. Um, so I definitely spend time on, um, what am I going to create that day? Maybe it's scripting something or maybe it's just kind of like ideating of, hey, I'm going to go to my new listing. I'm going to do a story and walk through it or whatever, something like that. Um, so it's a matter of what, what am I putting out today? Um, and then a lot of my day, honestly, I'm, I'm not great with keeping a super rigid structure. Um, um, Um, it's not, I find that, I don't know, I don't like it. I don't like that. I don't like a lot of. Well, it's like, it's funny because the creative seem to not like that. Like when I talk to the people who are like, um, I do content creation and I need to

create a space for, you know, and the energy and the whole thing, they're like, I don't, I don't do structure so much. But then I'll talk to the guy who's like cold calling and he's like from eight to eight 20. I do this from eight to eight. Yes. Yeah. It's just, it's funny. It's different personality types per marketing.

Yeah. And there's value in both. Like I would love to be a bit more structured and say, hey, from this hour to this hour, I sit down and I do X, Y, and Z. And again, kind of going back to what I previously said, like, I could if I had the discipline and desire. But frankly, I don't. And I would, the way that I prefer building my business and jittering my business doesn't require that. Well, I'm curious, too. So in the beginning, of course, when you make that transition, there's like a lot of fire and hustle and grind that goes from the build. But now, I mean, you're about to close 100 transactions. Congratulations. You are at a place where your Instagram and your YouTube seem to be,

you know, operating. They're like, they're working. They're turning it out. So is this at this point, have you pivoted? Are you like planning on doing this for the long term? Is this like a longevity play? Or are you still like pushing really hard for X, Y, and Z? And once at that point, then what? That's a great question. For now, like, I love what I do. I love what I do. The reason in the last year,

my focus has shifted a bit from Instagram to YouTube, not that I'm shifting away from, but I'm adding to, is that creating content for Instagram, like I love that, but I do it on my own. So if you're creating your own content, it is a real grind to do it well. and to do it at scale.

And so kind of, as I've also said, the, I think the threshold and the quality expectation of what people expect is much higher, you know, so people that I, when I started, what I was doing Instagram Reels to start with, I was exclusively pretty much doing lip sinks and stuff like that. And I hate when I see them come up in my memories and like, like, dude, I can't wait to go. I'm going back that far. We're doing it.

They're like, oh, Pat is so, it's, it's cringe, but like that was at the time, that's what everybody was doing. And, you know, those silly things, that's what grew my following on Instagram. So I don't love watching it now, but I'm grateful for it. But all that to say, the shelf life on Instagram content is quite short. So you're putting out a lot of content and it's a, it is a relationship nurturing mechanism. and it's really important. And Instagram is my most valuable CRM. So it's very important to maintain the relationships and build new relationships with clients and potential clients.

But the play and the shift to YouTube is more for longer shelf life content. So again, again, higher quality there than would be on Instagram more time, effort, money that goes into it. But for me, that is more of the long play. So having a significant and a strong local presence when it comes to YouTube so that I am the guy in this area. Yeah, Evergreen. It's so cool. That is one of the things about YouTube. There was a time where I dabbled on YouTube and I'll still, like, go and check my videos

that I posted years ago. And there's like, people are still watching them. It's so crazy. Whereas like, just like you said, with Instagram, it's like, you post something and like, you know how when you scroll, it's like, that's it's it's done. It's not even if they watched the whole video, great, but like it's really not. It's just a freaking flick. Ridiculous.

Yeah, a lot of Instagram honestly is luck, you know, like some things, some things that pop really just, you're like, what? That had no business performing that well. Right. And that's some of my best performing content is like that where it's like, why? This is so stupid. But, you know, it's just how it is. you can't really, it's a system that we all try to game and like, okay, what's the algorithm hack?

And you know, you can make yourself crazy doing that. And I would recommend not caring all that much. But my content, my strategy on Instagram has changed exponentially over the last few years. So it's a much more something that I can, I'm more comfortable with and that I can sustain longer now. Yeah, longevity. Such a thing. It's after those first, because you know, you come out the gate hot and you're like terrified. And then there's the point where it's like, I can't do this forever. At this speed, this amount of effort, like burning both ends, waking up at four, working until, you know, whatever the time is, like ridiculous. And so then it's like, how do I have longevity in my world? But what you were saying with Instagram is your CRM and the power of the algorithm. So this is like my kick lately. And I am actually curious. Do you pull, your, at what point do you pull contact information from people on Instagram into a CRM or do you? Yeah. So usually it's at the point where we're going to meet. So I leverage,

calendally to do that. So if we're, if we're getting to a point where I'm talking to a potential buyer or seller or whoever on Instagram, I am not saying like I'm not talking to you unless we get onto a scheduled, calendarly conversation. That's, that is not the play. Um, but it is having that conversation and then to say, Hey, our next, our next step is to set up a buyer discovery call or a listing consultation or whatever.

And here's, here's a link to my calendar, grab a time that works for you. And, and then we'll get going in that direction. Um, and so on that link, like, that is how I collect that information. Um, so if it is somebody in that. sort of a setting. And it kind of depends on the situation. I got a phone call actually this morning from a guy who is potentially maybe looking at investing in a property locally.

So at the end of the call, I just told him like, hey, why don't you text me your email address? And then I will set you up and we'll start looking at some properties that kind of meet your criteria and see if it's going to be a good fit. So it's just, it's looking for the natural ways to collect it. and not just to collect it, but it's, hey, I'm going to do this because you're providing me this. I'm going to provide you this thing of value that you need or that you want. And that totally makes sense. And it's very authentic, organic. Like, it feels not salesy,

which is your goal, right? Let's not ever be salesy. The only reason I brought it up is because I recently had my Facebook disabled. You know, my Facebook with the 5,000 friends, my pictures since high school, like all the connections, all of the, And I fought it for a couple months. And no, it's like permanently disabled. And that is actually terrifying because for me, at least it wasn't Instagram. It could have been worse. I really do feel like I'd have more, you know, DMs, more conversations in Instagram.

But still, I'm like, it blew my mind because I'm like, oh my gosh, so much data, so much, you know, potential business in X, Y, and Z form lived in that platform that I had ultimately no control over. And then what you said too with the algorithm where it's like, you know, who knows what it's, it just feels like it's such a out of our control in a way. And so that's been my thing on my mind lately is like at what point are you, you know, whether it's through many chat where it's like comment for my free, whatever, and then try to get the information just so you have it just in case. And I was just curious where you were out with that. Yeah, I think, I think that's a really good point. And there's so many ways to collect information.

So I think there's always, you have to be providing some kind of value or a reason for someone to be giving it. No one's just going to opt in to like, hey, spam me. That's so annoying. So I do think that it's really important, though, to build an email list for the exact point that you made. I mean, even if you are using a system like MailChimp or whatever, you don't really have full control and access to that. So it's not a bad idea to back up that list every once in a while. But I think that having that email list is incredibly important. I can't remember the statistic,

but it was like, it was people that are on your email list are 30 something percent more likely to transact with you than somebody that's following you on Instagram. So that getting in front of them on a consistent basis, one of the agents that I mentor on my team, he, you know, he does great with Instagram and does,

great with YouTube and has a great social following. So about a month or two, maybe a month or so ago, I encourage my, hey, you have to start doing an email list. You need to pull all your people together and get a newsletter together, monthly, biweekly, something, and just get consistent with it. And so it was a thing of like, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say. And so I had the same conversation with him that I just had here is that it really doesn't matter so much what you say. the matter, what matters is that you're there and you're consistent and that you are in their inbox. My personal philosophy is that even if you don't open my email, but you see my name in your inbox, there is value in that. So I don't care if you don't open it. I mean, I'd prefer you open it,

but you know, you know what I'm saying. So he's telling me off of his first two emails, one of his clients that kind of fell out of touch is now under contract, like within three weeks. You know, So reviving those relationships where you can only go so deep, but you're opening up new avenues of conversation that are, to your point, that are within your control. Yeah, I totally agree with you on the, I don't even care if they open it. It's the ping. It's like, oh, Shelby exists. Cool. She's still there.

Listen, my emails have so many typos and stuff. It's probably better that they don't open it. Just know that I'm there. And if you need me, I'm here. Dude, that would actually work really well, though, as like a subject to get them to read. It's like, please don't read this. Don't bother. Don't waste your time.

I might test that. That's a good idea. I'm going to do that. Let me know what your open rate is. Also curious about, you know, you mentioned you have leverage in the form of transaction coordinator and a videographer. And a videographer is something that I, you know, people are like talking about, but I've never like gone into the weeds with.

So I'm curious, like, where did you find your videographer? How much do you pay them? what do they do? Can you give me the scoop on it? Yeah, I just can't tell you his name because I can't get him to do busy. No, so I met him through another agent locally and, you know, I was seeing this agent's videos. I love the quality here. Like, I love what you're producing. And I was using another local company that I was not loving that I was okay with, but I was wanting to shop around. So I contacted my guy, Jesse, he's the best. And I was like, hey, can you shoot this property for me?

At that point, it was only property stuff. So I liked him. We got along well. And I think with your videographer, I think it's really important that you have, there's a connection there. Because it's very personal, right? When you're putting yourself into video and you have a particular vision. So you need someone who's who you can communicate with and who you can communicate with and who can align with that vision of what you're looking for.

And you're going to spend a lot of time together too. So you need to like the person, just on a very practical level. But for me with him, you know, we, I, any almost, I really am using him for my listings and for long form content on YouTube. So I do take those long form videos on YouTube and I'll chop them up into short form content. So they do serve dual purpose, but I'm only hiring him for the videoing and not only, but I'm hiring him for the videoing and the editing of those long form videos. Because even though I did go buy the freaking editing equipment and all that stuff,

when I started getting into it, I not only is this overwhelming to me, but I don't think this is the highest and best use of my time. And I don't think that it is because I'm not an editor. What he can do in an hour would probably take me four days. And I could be, I could be doing real estate in that time. So I use him for those videos. And it's been, I've only started with him on content other than my listings since, maybe the last four or five months since I've gotten serious about YouTube.

But it's been, it's been a really good exercise for sure. So for the listings, are you paying him like, per project or is he hourly? Yeah, it's per project. So he's got different. And he's not just for me. So he works with obviously other agents and stuff, begrudgingly. But, you know, he obviously that you can bring him in full time. Yeah, ideally, ideally I'd loop him in full time. That would be, that would be like my dream and skyrocket the content output. Oh my God. But yeah, so for him, I'm doing project based on listings and same thing on YouTube.

Okay. So you said it's per project. How much is it per listing? It kind of depends on all of what I do. But generally speaking for it's about a thousand bucks. And that will give me my listing photos. It'll give me usually a floor plan, a video that can go in the MLS. like a video walkthrough and a short form reel like a 60 second tour through the house 60 second

showings is what i call them um because we have to alliterate obviously um so those are led by you right the reels they're led by you like they are yeah okay yeah so i used to i on our on my last one um actually i'd change the format because um i feel like what i was doing a year ago was, it was performing really well then. And then the last few months, like these are not, they're not doing as well as they used to. So I changed how I did them and I like them a lot more,

a lot more. What's working now? Well, I mean, what, it's a lot more me. So, obviously. So on those, it was more like the, you know, hey, like, you know, just kind of waving you through the house and Banna-Witing you through the rooms and stuff and kind of popping up on the screen with some data. And I'm not saying that it doesn't work. It does work. There's a huge appetite

for house porn. But I think for me, my goal with this is 100% obviously to market the listing. But every listing I take is really my opportunity and me building. a resume and a CV for the next seller. So I need them to see me. I need them to know who I am and to get a taste of how I'm going to market their property, the energy and the creativity and the money that we're going to put into it, you know, a month or two, three months before I ever see a paycheck because I perform. So it's more to, it's more for that. But it's also, in my opinion, more engaging. Okay.

And listeners, if you guys are, you want more details on exactly what he does, just go over to Chad's Instagram, which is Chad A, is this Vaughn. Am I saying this right? Yeah, you are. Okay, let me mark out. A lot of letters. I don't want to be an alcohol. Okay, guys, go over to Instagram and check out his page at Chad A Vaughn.

And of course, we're going to link that in the show notes as well and just, you know, rip off and duplicate his freaking creativity. R&D, baby. That's right. Okay, so we got $1,000 for the listing. And that is that total package that you laid out for us in regard to the long firm content. What is that look like for are you doing, is it stationary? Are you guys also going out and doing like B-roll together? What's the time? And then what is the associated cost? Both. So the associated cost, I can't get into those exact details. But it's okay. I always have to push just in case. And then most people are like,

Shelby, I can't tell you that. I can't tell you that. No. So I think for me, and I will tell you this, it's not cheap. Okay.

Like we have, we have a relationship and we, there's a lot of business that flows between the two of us. So there's, there's an understanding of what we're doing and what we're creating. And so that, but that aside, You know, I was five years deep into real estate before I started outsourcing any video,

anything, well, other than listings, but outsourcing any of like this video content. So I would say that it is cost prohibitive, but creating content is not. So you do not need to pay somebody $1,000, $700, $500, $500. or whatever to create a video for you. That shouldn't be an excuse. Now, to be fair and to be honest, it was an excuse for me for a very long time and probably too long because I was afraid of failing on YouTube because I thought I was a silly Instagram guy.

And maybe I still am at heart, but I'm trying. Trying to be a real agent on YouTube, okay? That's right. Growing up agent. Okay. Makes sense. All of that. So recommendations for, to recap,

recommendations for someone who's interested in a videographer, a great way to be who finding someone in your local market who is doing videos that you feel like are high quality and that you align with and then reaching out and getting their point of contact. Is that what you would recommend? Totally. 100%. Perfect.

Okay. One more bit on leverage before we shift gears a little bit. You also have a transaction coordinator who I believe does listing prep and contract to close for you. Is that correct? That's right. Is that in-house? Is it a virtual assistant? Is it third party? Who is this person? This is a third party. And so I have, I've used a T.C. on contract to close for a couple of years now. And I used to be of the persuasion. My opinion, I think, on this has changed a little bit, where I wanted to be, I wanted to be super proficient in it myself before I ever hired a TC to do things, which I do think is important.

I think that you need to know how a transaction works and what to do because people get sick or emergencies happen and you need to be able to function without a TC. Too many agents dip out of the transaction as soon as a contract shows up and you never hear from them again. And I think part of it is because they don't know what to do and the TC knows what to do. So I think that you do need to understand. However, I think especially for a newer agent, ATC contract to close is super valuable, making sure that you are keeping your ducks in a row, that your seller is or that your

client is informed, that deadlines are being kept and communicated and that all those, all the eyes and the T's are being dotted and crossed so that you look like a superstar and your client is happy and protected. I'm a huge TC fan. I was the same though. I did my first, what, six months, I guess in real estate where I did transactions myself. And then I was like, oh, I'm dying. And there comes that point, too, where if you start to drop balls because the capacity has,

you've met your capacity, it is a very good thing to leverage out to someone. And I enjoyed third party too because as opposed to a lot of people like, well, I can do it cheaper if I just hire my mom's friend's daughter and just teach. But then it's like they don't know what to do. And it's an extension of you and your professionalism. So if you put someone in the seat who doesn't know what they're doing, it looks bad on you. 100%. So and I think the value that an outside TC adds too is that, you know, my TC is running, has run 10 times as many transactions as I have. So her breadth of experience and knowledge, because she's working with so many agents,

is wider than mine. So there's often situations, I mean, we all come across this in real estate where it's like, whoa, this is a first for me. And it's hardly ever a first for her. So it's nice to have somebody who can kind of speak into situations. And then also to your point, that reputation is everything. So that is one of the reasons where I decided to hire

not because I necessarily needed it per se at the at that point but I think every transaction is so critically important not because of the transaction but because a year, two years, five years from now what kind of business comes from this transaction? So when this person needs to sell this home because their husband lost a job and they need to move, are they going to call you back? Only if they had a phenomenal transaction with you. If it wasn't like, if it was like, okay, like it was fine and it was forgettable and maybe this person like sends me a birthday card once a year, like you're very likely to face competition. But if your transaction was fantastic and everything was handled and communicated and clean and clear, then they're much more likely to come back to you. And a TC really helps to fill in a lot of those gaps.

For sure. And something, there's that debate about when to hire it out. And one of the conversations I overheard recently that I thought was good was that if you are a newer agent and maybe you don't have a mentorship program at your firm or you don't have someone to help you and you feel lost, you could hire a third party transaction coordinator and, you know, meet with them and be like, hey, is it possible if I just pay you a little bit extra at closing and you really handled me through the, maybe guide me through it? And I felt, you know, like that was a really good kind of midway point for those newer agents who want the experience, but also don't want to screw it up. Yeah, I think that that's an awesome option. That's a great idea. Okay, couple questions before we had to wrap up. You mentioned you were about to close your 100th transaction, or maybe you did? Did you already? I am doing it in two days. So if we can get back on here and give it a full 100, that would be fantastic. Gotcha. Well, in real estate, you know, maybe it's two days. Maybe it's two weeks.

Who knows? It was supposed to be two days ago, so who knows? Exactly. It's never happening. That's fine. You mentioned you're potentially going to do a video on some of the things that you learned. And did you have any notes on that already or what comes to mind? Just a few things that you've learned in your first 100 transactions. Yeah. So one of the initial things that has been on my mind, particularly because of a different transaction than I have, is that it is so much easier when we, we're going to be a different transaction that I have, is that it is so much easier when we, We interact with the other agent as an ally instead of an adversary. So I have another agent on a transaction right now. And it's like, dude, it's, it's so adversarial every interaction. It's like, it doesn't have to be this way. This is a lot, it's a lot easier when we realize that we're on the same team because we are.

So that's definitely, that, that is definitely one of them. And yeah, I think that a big focus for me in the last. year has been developing the relationships with my like valuing the deepening of relationships over and above the of getting new leads if that makes sense. So really developing the people that I have and pouring into the people that I have and that has paid off for me in a significant way and it's it is so much a better business because this business that you're not chasing it's they're saying, hey, when can you come over to list the property? Hey, we're ready to buy. Where can I send

my pre-approval? So those are two things off the top of my head. But I think that, yeah, that's where I would start. Those are good. I accept them. Okay. Todd, what did we not cover today that you think might be helpful for our listeners? Well, if I was to go back to social media and content creation, you know, I think that number one, I would really focus on who you are speaking to and what the message that you are sending is. A book that I love is by Donald Miller creating a story brand, very popular. But I think that if you are a person that is creating any sort of content for consumers, that this is something that you should read and understand. that who we are talking to, we are elevating our clients as the hero of their story.

And I think where a lot of people get it wrong is they're creating themselves as the hero in the client's story. And unnecessarily and unreasonably inserting themselves into the story. So when we treat our client like the hero, it affects how we communicate. It affects how we treat them. it affects a transaction. And it's from top to bottom, content creation to closing, really is an important mindset shift. I actually just went on Amazon and add it to my cart. So I'm going to read that.

I'm very excited. Rapid question number one. What is your favorite app or tool? Capcut. Love Capcut for creating content. Easy. What events are you going to in the next 12 months? I am going to an event crushed.

Tampa in a few weeks where I'll be talking on a digital marketing panel there and the real broker conference later this year. How can listeners help you in your business? Oh, that's a great question. So best thing I think for anybody creating content is show love on their content, share it when it's appropriate, share it when it's helpful, show love on it, like it, comment, do all the things. Subscribe. That's what we say on YouTube now, right? Oh, smash that like button. Smash that like button. I've yet to say that and never will I ever.

Oh, good. Thank you. Thank you very much. Unsubscribe. Can't. Okay, Chad, where can people find you? Best place is Instagram. Chad Avon, a lot of A's in there. But Chad Avon on all the socials. Perfect. And listeners, you know if you want to hang out with me and the owner of the show, we are The Shelby Show and Aaron Amuchistaggy on the gram. So hit us up. We want to know if you like Chad, if you didn't like Chad, you know who you want to hear, who you don't want to hear the topics also. We've been talking a lot about Instagram lately, but also like we want to know what you want to learn about. So tell us. And perfect. That is all we have for today. Chad, thank you so much for being on the show. And real estate rock stars. Thanks for listening.

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