KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Navigating Success Against All Odds.

Episode Date: May 21, 2024

I always knew that real estate was the true wealth in life, not the cars, not the fancy lifestyle. I was just pondering this idea of like, why are we living this life? We have no money after we pay our mortgage and food. Why are we living paycheck for paycheck? You have to really start thinking about where you're at and where you want to go. Welcome to the Reveal podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Neito. We're going to go beyond the success story, the surface level chit-chat about entrepreneurial journeys.

We're going to uncover the layers and reveal the kind of secrets that top entrepreneurs rarely share. I want you to experience real impact through these conversations and stories and inspire you to commit to the action required to achieve your dreams. Today we're joined by an incredibly special guest, my friend Tai Wynn, a true visionary in the real estate industry and a cultivator of emerging leaders and investors. Only has Tai sold more than $375 million connecting her clients to generational wealth through real estate investments. Tie's going to reveal the strategies that have revolutionized real estate investing in her market and have made an impact on everyone that she mentors. Hi, Ty. Wynne, thank you so much for joining me on the Reveal podcast. I'm so excited to talk with you today. Welcome. Thank you so much. I am excited to be here and I'm excited to share and learn with you. Awesome. So our audience is made up of entrepreneurs, either in the beginning of their journey, they're stuck somewhere along the way,

looking for inspiration, something that can impact them and help them get back on the path and get some clarity on how to move forward, persevere through those tough things. And you have been an entrepreneur, I know for at least 20 years because you've been in real estate, but your approach is a little bit different, which I love. So I wanted to jump right into that.

What I learned about you in a short term, and then, of course, now following you on Instagram, I might know more about you than you've told me. But that's my glory of, that's the great thing about Instagram and social media. It is. and lets people get to know you and you don't have to explain yourself as much. And what I love about your business and the people that you surround yourself with is that

you are impacting so many other agents in their journey and teaching them that really finding a way to teach people to invest in real estate, even if it's going to be the house they live in, but you're actually helping them make better financial investments for their future as well. So tell us a little bit about that. Like where did that start in your journey as an entrepreneur and how has changed your career path. Yeah. I think growing up, it was always stuck in my mind, that real estate, land, all that is an investment. It's an asset. And I was actually born in Vietnam. And my grandmother, she owned acreage of farmland where it was all rice field. And when her husband worked on the rice field, that rice field provided food for the family.

And when the owner of the rice field decided to sell it to my grandfather, he purchased a rice field and gave up everything he had to buy the rice field. And he died at a very young age and left my grandma to raise all her children on her own. And these are, I think, like, she had a total of seven kids or something like that. Oh, wow. And without the rice field, my grandmother would have never been able to survive and feed her kids. So the rice field provided rice and they would barter for meat and other goods and then they would sell it on the market to survive. And when she told me that story when I was only like 10 or 12, that story stuck in my head. And as she got older, she gifted part of the farm then to each children.

Each child got an obsession of the farm. Still today, my dad owns certain land in Vietnam, and there were hundreds of thousands of dollars, U.S. dollars. Wow. And so the land back then fed them, fed my grandma, her kids. Now she gifted to her kids, and her kids are now feeding their kids. Amazing. Isn't that amazing?

And so I always had that in my head. I always knew that real estate was the true wealth in life. Not the cars, not the fancy lifestyle, but it was more in the value of land because they say God doesn't make any more dirt, right? There's no more to be made. There's more babies being born. People, population grow. So we're going to get more dense and the cost of land and home are going to increase. And so I knew that.

But growing up in college, I wanted the American Dream, the dream house and all that. And I got this dream house. I made this beautiful cookie color home. And it was everything I dreamed of. And what happened was my salary went to pay for the mortgage. Every single penny I had. Both sides of the lesson. Yeah.

And I sat there and I told my husband, I was like, we have no money after we pay our mortgage and food. Why are we living paycheck for paycheck? And I was just pondering this idea of like, why are we living this life? We need abundance. We need investment. And so I convinced him to sell our dream home and then move back to live with my mom and dad in the basement. Good for you. And you were not a realtor yet?

I was not. Wow. And so we did that. And I said, I'm going to get my license. And we're going to sell our house. And we're going to take that money, live with my mom and dad. and buy rentals. And we're going to get our rental properties

before we buy that house again. And we're going to reset. We're going to redo this the right way. Look, God. He's so lucky and you're so lucky to have him that he said yes. And you've made that decision. It was an investment of humility and time. Yeah.

And I wasn't focused on what everybody has. I think right now with social media, we're always focused on what everybody has and where they're at. and you have to really start thinking about where you're at and where you want to go. Right. And just focus on your plan. Who cares what people have and where they're going through a vacation? You're never going to get there if you don't correct where you want to go.

It's about the long game too. So you're leading a successful real estate team in Washington. And I've had the privilege of, I think if I saw a picture of all you, I would think you looked amazing. And if I knew about your experience and your accomplishments, it would be exciting, but I've had the opportunity to feel the energy of the people that you surround yourself with that you call your team. And you cannot help but just be excited to get to know more about what you all are doing. I'll thank you so much. I love that and you're just such a giver.

So as a servant leader, you've inspired and helped tons of people, thousands of people, I'm sure, with their career. So can you share a memorable experience or a story where you felt that you made a significant impact on someone's journey. Yeah. One agent came to me and she was at Keller William and doing a lot of new construction, sitting aside in a team that did not resonate with her and she made that transition to come enjoyed our community. And as I coached her and she was around my environment, she started to just soak in the

confidence, the support. When you have support by Osmeroskis, right? Yeah. When you have support, when you have someone that says you can't fail because I got your back, it gives them confidence to go out there. And just see when we first met, she was like, deer in the headlights. So confused, not knowing what she was doing. And six months in, she landed a $1.2 million purchase. We helped her through that contract and helping her communicate with the seller, the lender,

just giving her that support she needed. And she was just like, this feels amazing. And now she walks with confidence. She's excited. She's doing videos now. She's pushing out content. She wants to be a trailblazer.

So seeing the first appointment where when I first saw her and she was just deer in the headlights. Yeah. Not knowing what she's doing and just unclear to seeing the video she's putting out and landing those million dollar deals. It's super rewarding. It's so filling. Yeah.

I love to say to agents and it seems like sometimes it's a light switch for them as newer agents. Absolutely. Is that, right. So you have to look at it as be resourceful until you. you are the resource. It's hard to be resourceful when you don't know what the resources are. So that support is something that literally can be the start for them to feel a little bit autonomous, know like what tools are in their tool belt, where to find help, where to find support. And then like you said, it just empowers them to get out there. So talk to me a little bit more about

investment. So you are quite the visionary. You're the mom and the wife and you're also doing investments of yourself. Yep. Real estate broker agent team leader. Talk to me about the coaching and where do you find synergy between all of these and how do you find a balance that aligns with a good lifestyle that you enjoy? Yes. I have usually when I sit down, I have my pillars. I have three pillars and I focus on those three pillars. My first pillar is my traditional sale, right, through the traditional real estate. My second, pillar is the investment side. And what are those activities I need to do to get into the investment world? And the third one is agent attraction building other agents. And supporting them. So those are

my three pillars. It's not as complicated as people think or a lot going on. I just focus on those three pillars. And the first one is the traditional real estate, which I'm already really good at. I've been doing it for 20 years and the referrals and the clients come very naturally. For that, I do three client events. Everybody gets a birthday card, an anniversary card. I call them four times a year. They get a calendar. It's very structured.

And then I do an educational video. Nice. And then content to your time, the education and the information into your social channel. I actually have a company that I shoot the video and then we put it into a blog and they get a newsletter. Awesome. And they get tips on real estate. What's a burr? What's a off market property?

If I have an inspection, what are the key things I should be looking at? What is a, what's a sewer capacity? What's an HOA? Just information about real estate. and it's really cool. It shoots it out in an email form and the system records who looks at it, how long they've been on it.

Nice. Where they scroll to, they're scrolling to home valuation. They're scrolling to the home buyer. They're scrolling to find a rehab. The cursor moves. And it tells me exactly what they're looking at, how long they're watching my video.

That's amazing. Then you can refocus what you're working on. So is that a tool you can share with people that's out there? What do you? So I use this company called viral marketing. How do you hear of them? I have heard of viral marketing. Yeah.

You're loving that. Yeah. I've been with Fred for a very long time. And if I have an hour, I'll just shoot a video and send it to them. They'll upload it and they'll send it out. That's awesome. So before someone can work with viral or has a big budget, what are some quick tips for them to get started?

We've got to get started to get consistent and build at scale. Yeah. And with KV Core at EXC, you have the CRM that does that. So just send the drip out. And what I did when I had zero money, I would record them on my phone. I was like, happy birthday, just thinking about you. Call me if you ever need anything. And I just sent. Costs nothing. Nothing. That's CRM on the planet. And I just do five videos a day. Oh, wow. That's awesome. And do you usually, you're like, oh, this time you block it out and then...

I'm just driving in the car and I parked somewhere. Hey, I just drove by your house in your neighborhood. I just showed a house and it made me think of you. I love that. I just wanted to say hi and hope you're doing well. Hopefully we'll get together soon. And that's it. I don't ask them to call me back because it makes them feel obligated or if they don't make

make them feel weird. But I just send them a message and they see my face, my voice. and a lot of them are just like, pizza, Michigan. And people love to be thought of. And by recognizing, seeing,

heard, listen to. Yeah. We're such simple things with cultivating relationships. Yeah. We did, there's so many things to do for free.

I think we weren't complicated. Now, you did something really cool. It would be awesome to share because it's still, the holidays are over. Actually, it's almost my birthday.

So it's holiday season until capital. Before season. But you did a really awesome thing with your team for the holidays and it sounded like you'd done it before because it just rattled it right off. Tell us about the 12, what was it, the 12 gifts of Christmas? Yeah, the team did a 12 day of gifting. He went and we spoke to the companies like a small business. Yeah. And would you like to offer a taste of wine? Would you offer 30 day workout at membership at the gym? And then they'd have to follow them, share them, tag them,

send it out. So Suzanne on our team launched that and it was amazing. All of the small business fell in love with the process. They were so excited. And you're building relationships with small business owners that need to buy property, I mean, by property, by maybe potential commercial space and just getting more content. That's awesome. And then I think you shared that if they won, they had to go and pick it up at the business. Yes. So cool. So how many people do you have on your team currently. This is my first year at EXP building a hybrid team. I call it a hybrid team because I don't take anything out of my agent pocket. Okay, what we do is we create a support system for our agent. Now, they want a broker, a listing, or a buyer with me that we could split it. But otherwise,

I'm here for them. I'm like their mom. I'm here to support them, love them, kiss on them, whatever they need from me. But right now we have a total of 22 agents. Awesome. And at this year, I believe, is truly the year of opening your eyes and your hearts for everyone to look at the opportunity. So we're at EXP. You really need to understand the tools that are available to you and look around and make calls and get connected to people and plug in. What are some of the top things that you're making sure your agents are plugging into at XP right now for this launch of 2024? Yeah. I try to get them into the auditorium to do. take to participate in the or Washington meetings.

I also have participated in teaching classes in the auditorium. So I want to get them used to getting in there. Yeah. For what other agents. I think it took me a while to get in there until I talked the class. So I was like, okay, what can I do to get them into the world a little bit more? And also communicating more on workplace, just chatting, blogging, connect with other people, post their open health, opportunities for other agents to just start

sharing and building relationship with other agents in there. I love one of the great things at EXP is that rather than creating all the content and the training around a certain topic than an agent wants to get involved in or learn more about, I can say, oh, I know this guy up in blah, blah, blah area, and that is his expertise. and he did this whole class and it's free and here you go. Oh, or Ty knows all about doing investments and she did a class and you can go and give her a call or whatnot. So it's amazing to be seen. Yeah. So much.

And I always remind them like, hey, look, there's 25 different classes in the university. Pick one. If you're at home and you don't know what to do, watch it. You'll get something. Guarretty. Papers, even in person too, at it. in real life event up in Tacoma, I went up to Tacoma, Washington, and we had, I think, nearly 200 people all from Washington and Oregon, a couple stragglers like myself out of the state, but

that was amazing and the energy felt so good. What are some of the other opportunities inside the industry that you suggest that have really been pivotal in your career that you attend? Outside of real, it doesn't have to be real estate industry, but just events in general that you attend. I love go to EXP con. That was fun. My goal is to go to more events. This is my first year. XPs, I'm trying to figure out what events I want to go to. But I love just being in the auditorium and

participating in some of the classes that are taught by other investors or other agents or about farming, about getting more listings to grow your database. It's just endless amount of classes or education or shared pieces that's on there. So, yeah, my goal is to travel more and get connected with other EXP agents outside of Washington. I love that. It's a great plan. I'm excited to see you at some events this year. Yeah. So we have a lot of entrepreneurs listening that might be getting stuck. Can you give any tip that you've used in the past to break through or persevere?

when you get stuck or you're feeling. Yeah. We all get stuck. And real estate and entrepreneurial is like this. Right. It's never consistent. And you want consistency and you want mundane, then get an office job, right?

We all signed up for it. And the few things that I do that help me get out of a phone. One is I go to the gym. You want to get an antibiotic? Go to the gym. Okay. Work out. Get your blood.

All to the top. What happens was when you're down, it comes down. You have to push all that blood up and get your mind going again. Okay, that's my number one. My number two is to call someone that is doing something that you love that has good energy. Yes, that's a number one. Yeah. You don't want your workout to do that.

My number two is whenever I'm down, I just call someone that has. has such beautiful, amazing, strong energy. Hey, can we go for coffee or come down to your office or come check your flip out or see your new construction? Can we have coffee? Can I chat with you a little bit? And no one has ever said no to me. That's what's invited.

Yeah, people like feeling needed. Yes. And a part of something. And all the time, I just call somebody and say, hey, I'm going to come by. can I come by and hang out with you? Just pick your brain, have coffee. And it just makes you feel so good inside. And it makes you realize that you're not alone.

They go through it too. If you don't live close to the people that you can call, literally get on Zoom. We have all these amazing tools like on Instagram. I said, Ty, can you want to be a guest on my podcast? And you said, yes. And there's all kinds of like, if you go to meetup.com, there's a,

there's just so many. Don't be afraid to just show us. And be you. That way people that be interacting to your circle are actually aligned with what you want to do. Yeah. And that's what I built 10X, right? That's why myself and two other women entrepreneurs, we built 10X full estate. It's not grand cardones, 10x. It is a real estate investment Facebook group. So if you guys are not on it, please go ahead. 10x real estate. We have lots of meetups in there. We blog. about questions about investment. They're real people, and if they're not, we will delete them. Oh, I love that.

So if they're on Facebook, because we'll put this in the notes below, they'll type in 10X. Real estate. Real estate. Okay, cool. Yeah, Grant Cardone cannot own 10X. The book I'm reading by Ben Sullivan, 10x is easier than 2X. Okay, see? It's a great book.

Yeah, but 10X is not owned by anyone, right? Okay, good. I might have to go get a rights to that. Yeah. Or not a patent, but a trademark. Yeah. Trademark for that, yeah. I actually had this gal.

She's into, she has a ton of patents and trademarks on earlier. Her name's Catherine Lape and amazing innovator of technology in the real estate industry. And she was talking in the podcast about patents. I had her give us some tips. So she said you can actually just go to the trademark site and search it. And it's pretty easy. You don't have to pay money or do anything special and you can search. Wow.

Okay. I like to say that. We launched the podcast. Yeah. Too late, everyone. You're watching this. It's already taken. Okay.

So for anyone inspired by our conversation and just wanting to support your journey and you mentioned the 10X Facebook, I follow you on Instagram if you want to share your Instagram with everyone. Yep. Sold by Thai. Easy. Easy. What's the biggest challenge?

This is a reveal podcast. So I hope you came ready. I know you're always ready. What's the biggest challenge or project that you're tackling in 2024 where if somebody in the audience is listening that might be able to offer some kind of solution or support or collaborate with you, what would be that one thing? There's a lot. But is it all within the three pillars or you're working? Yeah, it's within the three pillars. I say my number one toughest hurdle is getting my flips right. Right? Because there's so many pieces that go into it.

And a lot of times you're relying on the contractor to show up, to do things on a timely manner. You think you're on budget, but you're not. The market changes. And you see your numbers continue to shrink and shrink. And you put so much love and time and effort into the deal. I don't know if there's a way to fix it. It's just one of those things that I'm. working through right now and learning from that. But easy, if a deal goes south, you're out

150. Yep. My business partner and I've been through that. And it's sometimes it feels like it gets away from you even when you're paying close attention, especially for newer. You're experienced in this. I was speaking to a good friend of mine, Marissa Solis. She's a developer and a builder. She's got some amazing projects in northeast L.A. For example, she has just, she has an entitled old tenement completely ready, packaged up to sell a hotel in Hollywood for 13 million that's on the market, if you know anyone. And she's got, I think, 15 brand new construction homes that she has built in northeast L.A. and in Highland Park.

And a bunch of different projects. She's an amazing person. She's big on building her community up through housing, but it does a lot of, like, high-end luxury, great stuff. And she would be an awesome person to connect you with. So I'm going to connect you. She loves mentoring other women and she's this today. She said, I always say that I can't mentor. I cannot mentor you when I'm dead. So I'd rather do it now. I'd rather share with the world who I am and what I can teach you while I'm here. And she's an amazing person.

Yeah. I think the same. I think that we can't take our money with us. We can't take our nice car or our house or anything that we created on this planet, the only thing we can leave behind is relationships. And the same thing with all of the amazing technology, rather than being afraid of it as a real estate agent. There are definitely tasks if you think you're so good at them and you're amazing at these tasks that you can be replaced in so many ways with technology. But the one thing that we can do on this earth that cannot be taken away is the human connection and cultivating those relationships. And so that's the name of the game this year in real estate, right? Yes. So impact.

Impact. In fact, I had, everyone does like the one word of the year. I had the three words, which was to launch the podcast called Reveal Podcast, which was we have the opportunity to be in the room with so many amazing entrepreneurs and leaders. Yeah. And sometimes the conversations I have, I think, oh, I really wish that so many other people can hear that. So reveal our things.

that we share. So want to reveal everything with the hope to inspire others and to make an impact on them and other people around them. And so I had the three words printed out. I was super excited. They were like different tones of blue and I framed it and didn't realize that it would need to be reversed in order to see it in the background here. Oh, yes. So I'm going to get it reprinted. But anyway, so what's your word would you say for 2024? My word is. clarity, impact, and integrity. Integrity. So good. Yeah. I love that. Lastly, I wanted to ask you how interested parties could reach out to you, though, with

opportunities up in, you're in the Pacific Northwest, you're in Bellingham, Washington. Seattle, Washington. So if they're looking for a way to connect with you in terms of, is social media still the best way? Do you check your DMs or is email DMs? Yes. Social media is the best way to reach me. You can sold by Thai on Instagram. Facebook, I go by the same. I check Facebook more often in the messaging than Instagram because I get weird creep. Graham gets away from me sometimes. I'm like, wow, should I read this? I don't like, and especially when people don't have a real profile picture. That's my favorite to look and then it's like weight loss. I'm like, oh. I'm like, if you're a real business person, please have a clear

photo of yourself. It should be like an updated reminder on the news every night, nightly news. Please remember to update your profile photo. Not your dog, not your flag, not your house. Exactly. Hi, thank you so much. I'm excited to hang out. It's so nice to spend time with you to learn and also to share some of your inspiring stories. I love your stories. I think, I know you share a lot, but I'd love to see, unless you are already, hear more of your stories that you're sharing and gave me the goosebumps with the rice field stories.

amazing. Thank you so much. And I'm so grateful that I decided to go to the ARV event and then we got to meet. And sometimes you meet 100 people, but that one person or that two people, they stay connected because their energy is the same. Thank you, Ty. I feel the same way about you. And good luck with the first month, your launch of 2024. I'm excited to see you again. And we'll see you soon. We close out today's episode of the Reveal podcast. I leave you with the words of Maya Angelou. My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style. So remember, every story we share, every insight we gain brings us closer to understanding the vast and vibrant world of entrepreneurship.

Don't miss out on our journey of collective growth and discovery. Hit that subscribe. button below and let's continue to find strength and inspiration in our shared experiences. I'm Jessica Nieto and I can't wait to explore more empowering stories with you in our next episode. Stay inspired and connected.