KGCI: Real Estate on Air - The Unyielding Spirit: Path to Freedom in Real Estate with John Mikesh

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

Every day starts with your mindset. Here's the morning brimer from the mindset and motivation Monday on KGCI, Real Estate on Air. Hey, everyone. This is Real Estate Rich's podcast, and boy, is it going to be rich, full of the wealth and the tips and the tricks of all kinds of successful agents. Because that's what you want to be, right? Business builder who has success in their business, well, that's what we got going on here. And I'm going to have all kinds of agents, men, women, young or older sharing all their stuff because there's technology there's just how do you build your

business there's so many questions right so let's learn from some of the best gather your wealth and build your business that's what this channel's all about and i'm excited to bring it to you i'm kathy burns and i'll be your host and stay tuned let's get at it right yeah no problem Hey, everybody. I'm Kathy Burns here, and I'm with Real Estate Riches, and I got my really good friend, John Micahish here, who I'm excited to have on. His story is incredible of tenacity and freedom, and you're going to hear all about it. Hey, John. Hey, how's it going? Great.

Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here with you. I actually reached out to you, and I wanted to be on your podcast just because I love what you're doing and appreciate all that you give back to the real estate community at large. Yeah, I'm really glad you did that. because I want to fail forward. Do you know what I mean? At my age, you know, getting on a camera, it's not the most exciting thing to look at. And everybody feels that way. And the truth is, this is when you've got to do it.

Because being visible in this market is very important, right? For sure. You're the one who turned me on to the people that are helping me do this. So I am grateful for that. So, John, kind of share your story. We've known each other for years, but give us a little background, who you are, how it all got started. and yeah i think the original connection with you and i was really through your daughter kelly i had joined a local b and i chapter in huntersville north carolina and we just had a special b& i chapter like

i've been to other ones and i've seen other ones but we really had an amazing kind of dynamic with the people in our group and because of family don't you think oh definitely we did so much cool stuff together i remember kelly was actually the one that introduced me to the iPhone as crazy as that is but my wife and I to this day remember seeing the iPhone the first time with Kelly. So we were in this B&I chapter. Kelly became my preferred lender and just helped me close so many deals. And I just so appreciated her. And she would always talk about her mom, you. And she referred to you as a bulldog, which I always thought was really cool because she was like, my mom doesn't take no for an answer. And then lo and behold, I'm at remax, you're at remax. So we had that kind of connection. And then our offices actually

merged and combined. So we ended up being in the same office. office for a while and I would see you guys at the monthly meetings and you know it was just cool like I always respected you guys because when I was starting out at that point like when I joined remax I had three jobs I was barely making it and I looked up to all you guys like wow these guys are selling a ton of real estate they're amazing and I was just wondering how I was going to pay that remax monthly fee so I got started and kind of just to rewind the tape a minute I got started in real estate in 2002, but I got started where I'm from in the Hudson Valley of New York. And that was a largely unknown place at the time, pretty remote, but just 90 miles north of New York City where we

had 10 million potential buyers. And I would largely cater to weekend clientele, people that were escaping the busyness of the city on the weekends, coming up buying like an old home and just enjoying the peace and solitude that area offered up by the Catskill Mountains. And then going back to work during the week. Well, crazy enough, man, that market's gone completely bananas. A lot of people know of the Hudson Valley now because of COVID and a lot of people have relocated up there from the city and are running their businesses. I was just there a couple of weeks ago. And what's happened to the real estate values up there is totally nuts. But anyway, I decided when I got married to Jennifer in 2006 that I wanted to move and I just wanted to go somewhere where I felt like there was more opportunity

and it would be somewhere where we could plant our flag as a new couple. And I, and I was, I wanted some place that we could drive to because we didn't have a lot of money. We couldn't be like flying back and forward to see family. And it was a day's drive away, 680 miles, but a day's drive. And we moved to North Carolina right after we got married in the fall of 06. Now, I think I greatly underestimated what it was going to be like to start over new in a market that I never really been to. Not only did I not know anybody, but I didn't know the market and the demographics of the market were completely different. Now we're going from like unique rural properties to cookie cutter subdivision properties and families and car seats and all of these dynamics that I never had to show houses in before.

So it was a challenge to say the least. I was waiting tables at night trying to get my real estate business off the ground during the day. And I also had this side gig where I was traveling within a tri-state area downloading seismographs in the middle of nowhere for a seismograph company. That's a whole other chapter of my life. but needless to say, I had three jobs trying to make it work. And just when I think I'm about to have a breakthrough, 2007 happens and the market collapses. Yeah. And it was a challenging time, not so different than the time we find ourselves in right now. Agreed.

And I think a lot of agents are experiencing, you know, a market dynamic, a shift, a downturn, if you will, for the first time in their career. When I get on the phone with an agent and I'm offering mentorship or coaching or a advice, the first thing I ask is how long you've been doing this? Because if you haven't been doing this for more than 10 years, all you've known is an up market until this market. So I was in that same situation. I did really good out of the gate when I started in 2002. Every year was better than the last. And then I'd go down 2006 and pretty much fall on my face. And it was a defining moment for me in my career because I had to decide what kind of agent was I going to be. Was I even going to be an agent? Right. And I think that's what's going through the head of a lot of agents right now is

like, is this for me? Am I going to make it? And what is it going to take? And am I willing to pay that price? Right. And if they're not asking those questions, they should be because what I had to decide, was I just going to go put my head in the sand and take the easy pass and go do this other thing that I was doing? Or was I going to burn my boats and go all in on real estate? And obviously I decided the latter. I went all in on real estate. And it's changed my life in so many ways. And I'm so grateful to this industry, but it took that level of commitment then, just like I think it takes that level of commitment now. I agree, totally.

I'll never forget. Did you get a lot of coaching throughout that time? When did you start with coaching? Because I know that's been heavy in your life and now you coach. Yeah. So before I went to Remax, I was with a local mom and pop firm. And they brought a guy in that was like, a coach. a mentor of sorts and they were kind of like offering that to all the agents there which was really

special and and I appreciated it. We went to an event with this guy and towards the end of the event, we were learning a whole bunch of new skills and ways to be more successful and be more diligent with what we were going after. And he asked the whole room, he said, would anybody like an accountability partner? And I like quickly shot my hand up. up. And what was interesting was that I was in a room of like 30, 35 people and nobody else did. Wow. And the instructor said, thank you, John, I'm going to be your accountability partner. Wow. And he coached me for free. And that was the first experience I ever had with coaching. And he set me on a course, really, that I think is what allowed me to stay in real estate and

have a career that I had and changed my life, which is one of the reasons I'm so passionate about coaching today. So fast forward a little bit. I go to remax. I make that bold move. And I got into more formalized real estate coaching at that point. I thought so. And what it allowed me to do is it helped me to understand what true success in this business looked like. Yeah. You know, it stretched my mind as to what's possible. And then it helped me focus in on who was I going to serve, how was I going to serve them? What was my messaging going to be to them? And by doing that, I got amazing traction in my business. I'll bet. And what's interesting is I remember this conversation I had with my chiropractor like it was yesterday. You know, we're in the throes of late

2007, like the sky is falling. And I'm getting an adjustment because I needed them at that time because I was always driving. And she says to me, with this true look of concern and empathy, are you going to make it in real estate. Wow. And I said, Dr. Jen, I'm actually doing really well. I have 10 closings on Friday. How about that? And she was like, wait a minute, your company has 10 closing? I was like, no, I have 10 closings on Friday. Yeah. And it was just like a conversation that I'll always cherish because it was an eye opener for me because just 24 months prior to that, I was like, can I do two closings in a month just to pay my bills? and I was struggling to do that. And here I had 10 closings on a Friday.

And it was because I burned my boats. I got rid of my other two gigs. I was only doing real estate in a time where that seems scary as all heck. But I got specific about who I was serving. I got specific in my messaging to that person. And I got traction. And I was able to do something special. And here's how I would say that applies to you today if you're watching this.

Everybody is nervous. every agent I talk to you for the most part, if they're being honest, is like, where is this market going? And you know what's interesting right now? And I think it was the same in 2007. I was just too new in that market to really understand. Is that the old guard knows what it's going to take to be successful in this new market? And they've been coasting for so long that they just don't have the strength or endurance to go back in the trenches anymore and do what's going to be required. So if you're new and you're listening to this and you're like,

is this career for me? Can I make it? Can I do it? There's a saying that I carried around with me a quote, if you will, for my whole career, but it was especially important to me in the earlier part of my career. And that is, hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. There's a lot of talent in our industry right now that's not working hard and refuses to go back and work hard. If you're listening to this and you're willing to work hard, is your opportunity moving forward. Boy, I believe that's so much, John. You gave so many notes. there. I love that. And it starts with what's your time worth. When you quit those other two jobs, you were paying attention. If I'm going to do this, then I'm going to focus in. And that's another

big deal. Focus in on your business. You treated it like a business. You got the coach. And people say, well, I don't have the money. Find the money. Find the money. And because be efficient with your time. I mean, you just shot off like a rocket way past me when, because I got in 2006, too. For me, it was do or die. It was non-negotiable. I was going to succeed. And I did tons of those short sales. And they were challenging.

But I had some of my best years during those years because of my attitude. I was going to make it. I was going to dive in. I didn't prioritize a coach. And I always am annoyed that I didn't, especially during that time frame. And Kelly, my daughter, she didn't have one coach. She had multiple. And I believe you had multiple coaches for different aspects of your life, right?

I actually just had breakfast this morning here in Bozeman with my coach. He came to town and had breakfast with him since 2000, well, since just before 2007 till today, I've never not had at least one coach. And in many cases, multiple coaches for different aspects of things that I'm pursuing. You know, like you said, I treated it like a business. For me, it always had to be that end in mind. because the reason that I've always done anything that I've done or pursued anything with purpose and passion was because of this innate desire that I have for freedom.

And freedom has looked like different things to me at different times. You know, when I was in this area of real estate and this time that I'm talking about right now, freedom was money because I felt enslaved by the lack thereof. And for me, it was like I would do anything to get money. And I achieved that first level of freedom, which I believe is like financial freedom. And we were in an industry where if you're willing to work, it's incredibly easy in contrast to other industries

to achieve financial freedom in our industry. One of the things they say, though, is new level, new devil. So once I got the sales rolling and I had all these sales, I realized that I had financial freedom, but that I was a slave to my time. Yeah. And me coming over to remax and building a team was largely because I wanted more

that time freedom. And in order to get that, I needed to learn from the best. And that's where I pursued new coaching and people that were teaching me how to build teams. And hey, listen, I made a lot of mistakes along the way. But what's cool about a good coach is you can make those mistakes and have those failures, but still see the lighthouse and still make progress. And that's what I did. I was with rematch for five years. We built an amazing team. All the while, I was getting into the online lead generation world. I was an original co-founder member of Commission's Inc and an original investor in that company. So I got to participate in that and just learn a lot about that world, which helped me further my team and my business even more. And ultimately give me the competence to go out on my

own and start my own independent brokerage, which we did in 2014. Yeah. And when I left, very successful. Yeah. I left Remax and it wasn't because, you know, Remax wasn't a great. I actually loved remax and all the people I worked there with. For me, it was just, what's that next step of my business going to look like. And my team had been running really well and I was already onto the next pursuit, which was how do I build my team in such a way where it's not so dependent on me? And that was really the crux for starting my own independent brand is because at Remax, it was the Mikeish team at Remax.

And everybody was doing like their name as a team name. And it's not right or wrong. It just is what it is. I just had this vision of like taking my name out. of the equation because one of the things I think I've always been good at doing is like putting myself into the shoes of the person that I'm trying to help. And in this case, I was trying to help the agents on my team go to an even higher level. And I just said, if I was a team member, what would my dream experience look like? And to me, I wouldn't want to be a top performing agent under a

team name because to me, that would make me feel like I was less than. Yes. So, So I was like, I'm going to start this company. I'm going to take my name out of. I'm going to let my agent shine. And I'm just going to do everything I can to provide the opportunities for them so much so that I don't have to participate in the opportunities on a transactional level. Right. So it's real trendy right now for people to get out of production.

But to me, it wasn't really getting out of production. I love production. And I struggled getting out because I loved it. But for me, it was like, in order for me to make this the best opportunity for my agents, I can't be competing with them on any level. All of those opportunities have to go to them. And I believe it was that concept that in that market allowed my independent to shine

because it truly became a place for top producers to receive all the benefits from the team, but the anonymity that they were running their own business. Now, I later found out that there was a missing component to that, and I found that out the hard way. But the business worked really well, right? And it gave me that time freedom component. and I was looking at the next thing and I was running a profitable business and I started dabbling and

coaching and then I found a lot of fulfillment in that. So I started to do more coaching. And all the while I had a mortgage entity going on in my business. I had a title company entity. So just kind of doing all the things, right? Yeah, all the things. Yeah. It's like if they say this is what you got to do next, I was like, okay, show me how to do that. Yeah. And I did go through a period in my career just to be honest. transparent where I was doing things that people told me I should want to do just because it was like the next thing. Yeah. And what I realized was not all of those things make me feel fulfilled. Right. So, you know, I was just going through some of that personally and like, what's my next step? And I didn't really know what it was. And my wife and I and my daughter, who was 10 at the time, decided that we were

going to just make a bold move and we were going to sell everything we had and we were going to go on the road full time. And we did that in 2019. We left North Carolina in 2019. Sold your great house on the water. Probably shouldn't have sold that house. It's got up but I sold my house to great people. And I don't know if that's important to you, but it was definitely important to me. I still have a relationship. I'm actually going on a cruise with the people that bought my house just a couple months. And yeah, it's just been awesome to be able to know that I turned something over to, I had hand built. It was very special to me to somebody that really appreciates it. So anyway, we go on the road and our goal was that we wanted to do all of the national parks.

And we thought it was going to take through two to three years in order to accomplish that. Wow. And at the end of that two to three years, we were going to reassess, you know, what do we want to do? and I just highly encourage people. If there's ever an opportunity in your life where you can take a sabbatical like that, like I just empower you with everything in me to do it. We were listening to a podcast by a guy named Mike Posner, who's a musician. He's wrote a lot of songs that everybody on here would know.

And he had this concept and he called it Taking One Back. And we were listening to the podcast. and he was talking about how we work our whole lives in a lot of cases for other people. Yes, for ourselves, but a lot of times we're building somebody else's dream only to retire, but that day never comes or it comes and we're not in the health or space that we can actually enjoy the time. And he calls it taking one back. So our idea was we were going to, we had worked our faces off to build what we had built and

it was working great and we were going to take one back. And we did. And, you know, COVID happened when all that went down and we couldn't travel anymore. We had done 27 of the national parks. So almost half of them. And we were trying to get to Alaska, really, when COVID happened and we were stuck on the border in U.S., just south of the Canadian border in Washington. We waited eight weeks, no sign of them opening up the borders. And we had to make a call.

And our daughter was going to get ready to come on to another school year. We had been homeschooling her. And we decided we're going to put her back in school, but where? We didn't want to go back to North Carolina. And we just loved the mountains and the west. And we decided to move to Bozeman, Montana. And that's where we lived since. Now, an interesting thing happened.

I had a year and a half off. So, like, I was raring to go. Like, Kathy, you know me, but like anybody who knows me knows, like, I'm a doer. I get a lot of fulfillment from my work. And there's a slippery slope there. I got a lot of identity from it, too. Yes. Yes.

That's an important thing to understand because I was able to shake a lot of the identity that I end my work in that year and a half. And in doing so, I started to question things that were absolutes to me before. An example of that would be before running an independent was an absolute to me. There was no better way. This was the best way. and it gave me as much freedom as possible or so I thought. But when we have an identity in something, it's often a fancy way or a nicer way of saying

we have a closed mind. Yep. And, you know, EXP took off in the Charlotte market long, long before I even left to go onto my trip. Right. And I just always talk down about it, talk bad about it, was like, it's a thing. Like, it's not for me. Why on earth would I do that?

Like, my company's a saleable asset. And by the way, people, I had entertained offers millions of dollars for my company before. And it never made sense for me to sell it because it was operating without my day-to-day interaction. And what I could sell it for. And then what I'd get after taxes didn't make sense. I could just keep running it. And it would keep generating cash for me. Yeah.

So the idea of it being a salable asset was really, yes, it was. But was it really? I don't know. Not many people I know. successfully sold the real estate company and even those that did sold it for far less than they originally thought it was worth. So I digress, but I'm telling you the backstory to help you understand. Like, I'm now in Bozeman, Montana, living, permanent residence. I'm not going back to North Carolina, which is where my real estate company is. And I started to question everything. And I started to say,

like, is it smart for me to operate this real estate company where all the liability, all the transactional liability and financial liability falls on my shoulders if I'm all the way across the country. Yeah. And the answer to that didn't seem like it was yes. It seemed like probably not. Now I'm back to the table. Do I sell it? Or is there another way to take advantage of what I've built? And a good friend of a mutual friend of ours, AJ, you know, he had been in EXP. And I always said, like everybody would call me about EXP. And I always said if I was going to do EXP, I would call AJ because AJ never made me feel stupid for saying no to it. And I said no to it all the time.

And he was like, that's a key. Yeah, he was like, that's cool, man. He was like, if you ever change your mind, give me a holler. Now, we were friends outside of those conversations. My wife was friends with his wife. And I just knew like, hey, AJ never followed the path I followed. He never built a super big team. He never built his own company.

He never did all these ancillary services. And yet here he is making more money than I had ever made doing all those things. And I was very successful. I mean, we were netting seven figures a year for years running that entity. So I remember because of the friend's side of that relationship, we relocated to Bozeman, but we had like 45 days until we could get into our house. And we said, all right, let's drive back to New York, see family, because we're going to go into a new season of life.

And we're going to be busy for a while. Yeah. So we go across the country and Jen says, we got to stop and see AJ and Abby. they're state side, because they were living in Puerto Rico at the time, their state side because they're about to have their first baby. I said, cool, let's do it. AJ and I take a walk around the park in Rochester, Michigan, and I said, hey, man, I said, let me ask you something.

You're doing really well. I'm so happy for you. Do you think it's going to last? Like, explain to me how this model that you're in is sustainable. And he shared some things with me that all logically made sense. And I was like, okay. And then I asked him another question. now we're getting into the things that are really like on my heart i said are you guys ever going to

change that awful logo that was a big deal for me i was very a static like my whole the way i got in the real estate was i want to be an architect and then i did an internship with an architect and i realized i didn't like sitting in a cubicle copying and pacing all day but i'm very aesthetically designed driven which i think has helped me like with real estate clients but i was like that logo is like a non, that thing's like, I can't get past that. And he said, John, believe it or not, we're actually redesigning the logo right now. And they're asking for our input. And I was like, oh, that's pretty cool. So I put that conversation to bed. I was like I told you earlier, I had a mortgage entity going. And I was like, man, you got this big organization. You should look in

a mortgage. And we agreed to set a Zoom call. So when I arrived in New York, we'd talk about mortgage. Well, when I got to New York and I got on that Zoom to talk to him about mortgage and how I set it all up, he hijacked the conversation and said, hey, man, I've got to talk to you about EXP. And I was like, again, the identity piece of what I had built was smaller than it had ever been, the space and time of being on vacation for a year and a half, living across the country from my business, all of this created a perfect opportunity where my door was cracked ever so much. And we had a conversation about EXP. And I started to ask questions like, could this actually work for me?

Yeah. For me. For me. And what's interesting about that is I thought all the things that people say to us today, like, I'm too late. I missed the opportunity. Everybody already knows about it. Like, who's going to join with me?

I'm not going to recruit hundreds of people. like all these things, right? But what it ultimately came down to, what it's always been about for me is how would this impact my agents? And I've always made decisions in what's best for the people around me because I believe that in the long run,

that serves me well. And I had this company back in North Carolina that I was going to be living very far away from. And I looked at EXP, not as a replacement to that business, but as an enhancement to it. Yes. And I said, okay, if I never recruit anybody,

but I just run my company on this platform, they'll let me keep my logo and my branding essentially the same. They'll give my agents health care. They'll give my agents ownership. They'll give my agents a career path that I couldn't offer them. Case in point, I had my top producers leave me year after year after year, many of which left and went to EXP before I was with EXP. But nonetheless, they left me not because they wanted to leave me,

because there was nowhere else for them to ascend to. They wanted to open up more offices with me. I was like, why would I do that? I love you, but in order for me to do that, you're asking me to put in the same time effort, maybe even more, because now I've got to do it with you instead of doing it on my own for 50% of the profit. If I wanted to do that, I would just open another one myself.

Yeah. So that never really worked for me. And because it didn't work for me, it didn't work for them. And they would just leave. And I was letting just amazing talent slip through my fingers because I didn't have a next step for them. And what I saw in EXP was a better way to run my real estate brokerage. Let them be the broker and let me do what I'm good at, which is team building and sales and training and recruiting. Like, I could do all that for my company.

But doing that for my company on the EXP platform provided a safeguard so that all these years, that I invested in people would not go to waste because they could leave my team and build their own team and guess what? I could do it with them. Yes. And when I understood that, it just clicked and I said, it's not about all the things I thought it was about with EXP. What it is about is a better way of doing business for me and for the people I work with. And when I saw that vision, I was all in. Now, mind you, I was like a negative talker of EXP. Like I would publicly get on stage and talk bad about it and was like, it's stupid for these reasons because I didn't understand it because I was close minded because my identity and ego was established and rooted in what I. Here I did a complete 180 and I said, there's got to be other people like me that are missing the boat on this.

And I thought about all the people that I was close to that made fun of EXP like I did that thought it was one thing when we didn't understand it. said if I had this much of a unbelief about what it was or a misconception about what it was, these people might too. Yes. And I called them. And I said, and they said, no, I'm not like, I said, no, but listen, you know I'm not either. But hear me out on why I see it now differently. And they did.

And a lot of them came over. And a lot of them, like it's hundreds. Like, Kathy, I just had my four year anniversary with the XP. September 8th was my four year. anniversary and it's like, you know, mid-September right now, in four years, I've recruited like 50 people to EXP. But because of the model and because I was able to show it to people who helped show it to people who helped show it to people, I now have close to 2,400 people in my organization that I get paid on every time they sell a house. Yeah. And it unlocked a new, it was like a new

combination locked a freedom that I didn't know existed because I was very free. I told you, I traveled for a year and a half when my business sold hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of homes, like very free. I was as free as I thought I could get in real estate until I discovered something more. And what EX has given me is just a 10x on my freedom that I already had. And mind you, I was more free than most people will ever get in this business. Yes. But EXP gave me a level of freedom that is uncomparable to anything else I was building before. And it gave me a passive income piece that comes in that's just mind bending. But to give you a clearer picture of what that freedom looks like, I got to share a story about what I've been up to for the last few months.

Okay. Because we decided to go to New York to celebrate my father-in-law's 70th birthday in July. So we left here on the 17th of July. And we had this big surprise party for him. It was amazing. when we came back from New York, we landed in Bozeman. We picked up our dog and we got in our car. Within a two-hour period, we were back on the road. And we were headed up to British Columbia to go see AJ and Abbey. We wanted to just explore that region in the summer.

We've been up there to Whistler in the winter. It's amazing. If you're a skier or a snowboarder, I definitely recommend you check it out. But we wanted to experience it in the summer, too. We did. And it was amazing. And when we came back from that trip, I came home and instantly received family, my cousin, my uncle who was celebrating his 80th birthday and their friend Jose. And I received them at the airport.

Again, same day. And we went up to Glacier National Park and we did 10 days up there. And then we went to Yellowstone National Park. My uncle, who's 80 years old, described it as the trip of his lifetime. I mean, it was unbelievable. And then as soon as I got home from that, the shimper. who you know were here in their RV and they've been traveling full time for eight years and they were here so we received them and we had this whole itinerary that was going to last a week where we were

going to go around and show them things and do things with them well unfortunately three days into that time with the shimpaws we got a call my father-in-law who had just celebrated his 70th birthday party was in the ER and just had a cardiac arrest and was on life support so we canceled our plans got on the next flight. We found out at 9.30 in the morning, we were on a 1045 flight. It was like a whirlwind. And we flew to New York on a one way. When we got to New York, we posted up in an Airbnb, we rented a car, and we were there for two weeks before I came home with my daughter because she was already past her first day of school. We had to get back to school. So all of those trips happened consecutively. I didn't bring my laptop, Kathy. I didn't have a single call. But all the while,

my business grew. I had more people in my business when I got home, no I got before. I got direct deposited revenue share, like clockwork, like it always happens. I didn't have any employees to worry about. All of my 2400 agents were supported by EXP, their brokerage, and all the other menting or training that happens as a group in there. and I didn't miss a beat. And I think back to quote unquote, like how successful I was before EXP and how free I was and what I had built.

There's no way that what I built without any interaction for me could have sustained that level of time. We're talking months of being away. And that's what EXP has given me and I'm just so, so grateful for it. And it's like I'm always trying to have that breakthrough with somebody, which I know you are too.

and that's why I love you and I'm like aligned with you conceptually and how you think is like we're just trying to bring massive value. Yes. That's hurting to people that need it. And if the EXP conversation is not for them, so be it. I just want to be an AJ to them. I want to be somebody that gives that loves, that supports. Because when the timing is right, I want to be the guy that didn't try to sell you something.

Right. But it was there to add value. and always help you wherever you were at to move you up to your next level. Right. And that's just how I run my business and my world day to day now. And it's a great place to come from. If you can truly come from contribution where there's like, hey, it's not about what's in it for me. It's about, you know, what can I help you do?

What problem can I help you solve? That's just a very fulfilling place to operate out of. So you are an exception. AJ is an exception, right? And your whole story is exceptional. And so a lot of people would be watching this and saying, man, that's not my path. I'm not that strong. And yet there's plenty of people.

And that whole organization you were talking about that they didn't pick that path either. Me, I'm like a junkyard dog. That's what I'm affectionately known as. I go after it. And yet I never had the desire for the team. I never want to don't affirm. I started much later than you. I started in June.

and I didn't even know what EXP was when I joined it. I was going through some personal things in my world, and I had just joined the Lepage Johnson team when two weeks later they said they were going to EXP. I said, whatever. I didn't even look at it. But then I did. And when I did, much like you're talking about,

I saw what the stock and the revenue share, hope, hope that I could stop. Yeah. Because I saw myself putting signs in the yard at 80 years old. I'm only six years away from that, dang it. And that's not where I want to be. I like the freedom. I like the global experience.

It's changed my life. And I don't have anywhere near the people in my organization, but it's changed my life. And one of the things that it's done is open up my mindset. I mean, I think global now. I think outgoing referrals. I think outgoing global referrals. I'm teaching a mastermind on it next week to a bunch of agents. I don't care what room you're with.

I'm going to teach you how. And the collaboration that happens here, regardless of your companies, like we just finished build last week. There were over 400 agents there. A lot of EXP, of course, put on by EXP agents, not the company. That's, I think, powerful in itself. And then you get all these agents that come from all these other firms, basically as guests or they want to level up because they're worried about what's going on in the market, right?

Yeah. And they're not getting that someplace else. Like how Leo Perea, he just stepped up as the CEO of this EXP and said, well, we're going to make the forms ride. We're going to help everybody. We'll just help everybody. That's the kind of company that we're with. That's integrity. That's a place to follow.

That's where you can build your foundation on. And that's one of the reasons I just love it so much. And I'm so grateful to have you on here and share your story. but I didn't want people to think you have to be the superstar like you to still have benefits, but your story's so important. Well, I think there's a lot of coaches out there and I've coached with some of them where it's like they've achieved a certain something and they had a certain path and they can only coach people to that path.

So it's like this is the only way you can do it in their mind. They don't say that, but that's how they operate. As a real estate coach as a mentor, I'm less concerned. with the path and more concerned with the person. And it's like, what is it that you want? Because my dreams and goals are different than yours and every other person out there. But my experience and what I've been able to do in this gives me some insights and perspectives that I know can be helpful to others. So if I can just understand the person that I'm talking to, I can help them connect their own journey, their own path that's going to help them avoid mistakes, avoid the potholes,

but still get to where they want to go. So I think a good coach is a good listener. And that's what I try to bring to the table when I'm working with an agent or coaching and mentoring them. And it's like, yeah, your path is different than mine, but look what you've been able to achieve. And kudos to you on doing it. I don't know if I want to say your age. I don't mean it insulting. I actually feel very inspired by you and what you're doing at your age.

And I think it's what keeps you young and vibrant. And like my goal is never to not work. And that's a goal for some people and that's okay. But for me personally, when I'm idle and I'm just seeking comfort, I find myself being the most unfulfilled than I'll ever be. When I'm on purpose and I'm making progress and I'm helping others do the same, like I just want to work within the realm of what it looks like for me to have a perfect day and a perfect week and be able to do that forever and just add value until I'm not here anymore. Yeah, me too. Well, John, this has been awesome. I really love having you on here. And I'm excited that you shared your story. Share that block that so many people have because they've just been polluted on what it really is. And if they just would look, just really dive in for you, just like you did. It may not be for you, but you won't know if you don't look at it. That's right. Yeah. So thanks again, John. I really appreciate it.

You're welcome. Stay tuned to everybody because there's more like him. Well, I shouldn't say that. They're not very many like John. But stay tuned anyway. Thanks, Guy. Appreciate it. So thanks for joining me on this episode of Real Estate Riches.

Wasn't that great? I'm sure you've got a nugget or two. I know I did. So if you liked it, please subscribe below. Share it with everybody. Make some comments. We really find that invaluable. And if you're thinking that you would love to talk about this a little bit more,

let's get to a business strategy call. I'll have the link below. Let's see if we can't mastermind together and see if we can't empower each other. That would be great. So until next time, signing off. Hope to see you on the next one.