KGCI: Real Estate on Air - New Realtor Success: Why Proximity and Networking is Power

Episode Date: November 27, 2025

Summary:This episode delivers a tactical message for new real estate agents by focusing on the critical, non-obvious step of intentional networking and "getting in the right rooms." It stresses that proximity is power, meaning an agent's growth is accelerated by surrounding themselves with successful, established professionals (mentors, top producers, thought leaders) through masterminds, local events, and targeted digital engagement. Agents learn that this strategy is crucial for absorbing high-level insights, accessing new opportunities, and accelerating their learning curve far faster than working in isolation. The core message is that knowledge and association are the ultimate assets for a new realtor.

Welcome to the Real Estate Survival Guide, the show that teaches realtors how to create a thriving real estate business. What is up, guys? Welcome to today's episode of the Real Estate Survival Guide podcast. I'm your host John Shookman. Welcome back. Glad to have you for today's episode and excited as we continue our series, talking about five lessons for new realtors, five things that I would be doing if I was a new realtor. and so, of course, it's my suggestion to you to hopefully apply these five things that we talk about here in the month of July to your real estate business if you are a new agent. And if I'm honest, I really believe these things we're talking about in this series of stuff almost any agent should be doing. So hope you enjoyed our first episode last week as we talked about lead generation. And so excited to jump into today's episode. And we're excited to jump into today's episode and what I want to do is walk you through getting in the right rooms, right? You know,

I talked about on the last episode like sticking with one lead generation strategy, one passive, one active and sticking with that for 90 days and how that can change everything. Today we're talking about something just as important but often overlooked and that's the power of proximity and getting in the right room with the right people, right? You know, if I was starting over, as a brand new agent, one of the first thing I would do is this. I'd get in the room with people who are further ahead of me. And I did some of that in my career for sure, but I definitely wish I would have done it more. And the other part is, I would say to you guys, that you need to be around these people that are crushing it. I'll be honest with you guys, you know, there's a great quote

that I used to hear and now I share that basically says, if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. I've probably shared that here before. So many of you are stagnant. Maybe you're at an office or brokerage that does not challenge you. You are at the wrong spot. I'll be honest with you. I had someone recently, someone I'm very close to, close friend talked to me about changing brokerages. And that's not what the episode's about. But I just thought of as I prepared for this, they were changing brokerages and they were debating. They kind of talked to myself and Jeremy and some others here at EXP with the Wolfpack and then talked to some other brokerages. And they went with another brokerage and when they decided why to go there,

they said, oh, they're just going to make it very easy for me so that I don't have to do anything on the back end. And I love this person. I do like a very close friend, but I really thought, Like, is that really what you want to do? Like, I'm someone that wants to challenge myself. And I want to encourage everyone to challenge myself. I don't want you, you know, this person or any of you listening to this to be complacent. I don't want you to look for just the easy path. I want you to look for the right path, right?

Most new agents isolate themselves without even realizing it. You get licensed. You're excited. Maybe your brokerage gives you a login to a CRM name badge and says good luck, right? You go home, sit at your. your computer, try to figure out how to get clients and quietly start drowning. You look around and think, I must be the only one struggling. That's where doubt creeps in. Isolation fuels imposter syndrome and you don't grow. But when you are around the right people, around people that

challenge you and around those amazing people, proximity is power. When you spend time around agents who are where you want to be, you grow faster. You adopt their mindset. You learn from their mistakes. You get insights into what actually works without spending months and months, spinning your wheels, trying it. It's not about being the smartest person in the room, right? If you are, you're in the wrong room. And so I'm not saying all this to criticize that agent, like they had to do what they thought was best, but I don't want people to be complacent. I don't want you listening to this. I don't, please, do not go to a brokerage where they're just going to make things easy on you right now some ease is great sometimes simplifying things is good but just oh they're

just going to basically like handhold everything and do everything for you that is not what you want in your business and i would even say i would challenge myself that if you talk to me about a brokerage switch and you don't think that with exp in the wolf pack and me you're going to get challenged and push to be better i don't want you to come i'll say it again if you don't feel feel like you're going to be pushed to be better and challenged, I do not want you to come because I want to be someone that pushes you to be the absolute best that you can be, not someone that accepts complacency. I grew so much when I started hanging around people like Jeremy Kane, Mike Sherrard, Louis Gault, Connor Steinberg, not because I copied them, but because I learned how they

think. I watched how they carried themselves, how they served others, and how they created content and community, right? And you can get in these rooms too, right? There are so many agents, no matter where you live that you can say, hey, I will do this. I'll put signs in the yard. I'll run errands for you. Can you just teach me a few things? And they will, right? Go to your local board, office meetings or networking events. Don't just collect business cards from people, build relationships, ask good questions, be curious. You know, now in a post-COVID world, we have so many opportunities for this through virtual things, right? Mastermind Zooms like Wolfpack calls that we run each and every week in our group, right? Jump into Facebook groups where people are sharing

wins and strategies. Do not just sit back, show up, ask questions, take notes, and then implement those things. One of the biggest mistakes I see agents making is that they don't reach out to people, right? But people further ahead will want to help you. Now, they don't want to just give you handouts for months and months and years and years and you don't do anything. But I'm a top producer. I want to help people that are interested in real estate. I really do. I want to help new realtors have success in their business.

Let me tell you a story, okay? And hopefully this kind of hammers this in for you. There was a realtor who almost joined a big name brokerage in Lancaster recently. And everyone said, you have to go there as the top company in town. But after some honest conversations and consistent follow-up for me, me, this person joined me at EXP instead. Why? You need to understand is this is not about John at all, right? But why did they do this? Well, because they didn't want to be a number at a big name brand. They wanted to grow and saw what we offered was access to rooms filled with

leaders who would pour into them. This person realized that, you know, logos don't change your business and fancy colors and the fancy office people do relationships do so we started plugging this person into calls they got connected with mentors across the country and now not only are they growing in production but people see the success and what did we say proximity is power people see the success and they're like huh how do i get around this person how do i get around them because they are clearly crushing it. Well, that's the power of wanting to become and get in to the right rooms. So what to look for in a room? What do I want you to do? Okay. John, okay, I want to get in the right rooms. How do I do that? Here's what I want you to look for. I want you to look for honesty.

Do people in that room share their wins and losses? Do they share what they're struggling with? you will often learn more from your and their mistakes than their highlight reels. Abundance, are they willing to share freely or is it a competition? Choose abundance every single time. And are they encouraging and challenging you, right? You want people who cheer for you but also call you up to hire, right? My people that I coach through my downline, through this podcast, through the membership, through the coaching, through the voice coaching, I am not allowing them to just coast through.

I challenge them each and every week. And you want people who will cheer for you, yes, but also call you to be better. And if you're in the right room, you'll have people there that are sharing their strategies. They are doing the work and they're not just talking about it. And they will share their strategies. They will show you their fruit, right? Not just them flexing and trying to make themselves appear special, right? They will actually be doing the work to crush it.

right so here's the other part and this is kind of where it relates to brokerage shifts and all that okay do not stay in rooms where people are negative all the time or gossiping you don't want to stay in rooms where the culture is sink or swim and they are not collaborating and you do not want to stay somewhere in the room if you leave feeling worse not better let me tell you and again this is not necessarily about brokerage changes it's really about the relationships you have the friends you make. But let's say that you're at a, you know, a brokerage, right? And every time you leave the office, you feel worse, not better. If the energy in the room, if the energy in that office drains you, get out now. The right room, the right people will fill your tank. So I'll say

that again. If the energy in the room drains you, get out. If the people drain you in their negative get out the right room will fill your tank so here's my challenge for you this week get in a room right who is it find one person ahead of you and ask them to coffee and say you'd love to learn right join a zoom training even if you don't feel ready and plug into community like our wolf pack group right whatever it is for your brokerage plug into that please please please guys do not wait until you have it all together no one does growth happens when you show up before you feel ready. Think about me with the event, right?

And how done is better than waiting until it's perfect. So do not wait until you have it all together. Growth happens when you show up in a room of people that are going to contribute and collaborate and help you grow and vice versa. So thanks so much for hanging out with me today and listening. I truly believe if you get in the right rooms, the right people will help you become the realtor and person

that you're meant to be. Looking forward to next week's episode where we kind of talk about other ways to grow your business and things I wish I would have done as a new realtor and things you can do. So you can have success with all of these things, right? You can have success in your real estate business. Get in the right rooms. So if this episode helps or encourages you, please do me a favor, share it with a friend. And if you want to be in the room with other like-minded agents, reach,

out to me and we can talk about our weekly calls or membership group or Wolfpack stuff, whatever it is. I would love to have you there and invite you as my guest to check some things out. So until next time, keep showing up, keep growing, keep investing in the right relationships and getting into the right rooms. This is John Shookman, your host. You've been listening to the Real Estate Survival Guide. Have an awesome week, guys, and I will see you guys next Friday. Thanks for listening to The Real Estate Survival Guide. If you enjoyed this episode, we would appreciate it if you'd leave us a review on iTunes. It helps others discover the show.

Thank you so much, and we will see you on the next episode.