KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Veronica Figueroa

Episode Date: May 10, 2024

For me, what I've noticed in the community that I surround myself with is that these leaders have a burning desire to continue to grow, not just financially or in business, but personally. And that's the type of leadership I'm attracted to. You're listening to the Real Estate Sessions podcast, and I'm your host, Bill Risser, Executive Vice President's strategic partnerships with Rate My Agent, a digital marketing platform designed to help great agents harness the power. of verified reviews. For more information, head on over to ratemyagent.com. Listen in as I interview industry leaders and get their stories and journeys to the world of real estate. Hi, everybody. Welcome to episode 352 of the Real Estate Sessions podcast. As always, thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you so much for telling a friend. And I have a feeling you may want to share this episode a little bit because we're going to be chatting with Veronica Figueroa of the

Figueroa team powered by EXP Realty. Veronica has done some amazing things in her career. And I think it's that perseverance. It's that don't take no for an answer. Find a way around those blockers. All these great things that she's done we're going to chat about and focus in a bit on what's happening today. So let's get this thing started. Veronica, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you for having me. Excited to be here. Oh, it's so exciting to see you on the screen here. I know our listeners are listening just to the audio, but it's just been wonderful to follow what you've been doing the last. I'm going to say five, six, seven years. It's been very impressive, and I can't wait to get into that story. Oh, well, thank you so much. I'm honored to be here. And yeah, maybe I can share some things that people don't know about me. Well, we can work on that. Let's start with this. Are you a native Orlandian? I think I can't find anything else in there. So are you one of the few?

You know, it might appear that way. I do feel in my heart of hearts that I am an Orlandian. I didn't even know that that was a word. But I made it up. You know, my husband has been here for 49 years. He's 50. So he moved here when he was one or two. And then I actually moved here when I was 16. Originally, my father was in the military. So I was kind of an army brat up until I was 16.

And then when he got out of the military, he decided to move here. And then they moved here. And I wasn't supposed to move here. But I came to visit and I said, oh, my goodness, this place is like paradise. And I never looked back. Where were you? Where were you prior? to coming here.

Columbus, Georgia. Oh, okay. There is nothing sexy about Columbus, Georgia. Sorry for anybody who might be listening that is from Columbus, Georgia. It's about 100 miles southwest of Atlanta, right outside of the military base, Fort Benning. But definitely not a place that inspired me. Orlando definitely inspired me. Just the diversity, just, you know, just the weather.

It's beautiful here. And, yeah, I feel like an Orlandoian. That's great. Let's go deeper into Orlando. It's like one of the top two or three tourist destinations in the world, right? I mean, it's with Disney and all the other stuff that's come with that. There have got to be some pluses and minuses. You know, growing up, you know, from being in high school and finishing school here in Orlando, what are some of those? You gave me a couple. One is, you know, the diversity, the weather's, for the most part, we'll forget the humidity because people get up, they get hung up on that. But they forget the winners. spectacular. So what for you, what are some of those things? Well, summer can be ungodly hot and, and yeah, it can be uncomfortable, but, you know, I'd rather be warm than cold. That is definitely my, you know, my preference. You know, I think a lot of people think, you know, like, oh, you know, Disney theme parks, they think that this is just one big tourist destination, but they don't recognize that this is a really great place, you know, great restaurants, great suburbs, great place to

raise your kids, great schools, still affordable. It's in comparison to other parts of the country. And, you know, we, we have a really, like I said, big diverse group, not just from northern. You know, usually it was like, oh, New Yorkers would come here. But actually, we have a huge Canadian market. We have a huge, obviously after COVID, people from all over the U.S. are moving here. But, you know, up and coming. A lot of jobs are coming here. We're really, really close to the beach, about 45 minutes. But, you know, not too far from the West Coast as well. kind of see this world where Tampa and Orlando one day we're kind of like meat in the middle and like be best where I'm really passionate about that development of Orlando and in central Florida.

But no, Florida's been great. It's great to raise your kids here. You know, I'm Puerto Rican. So what I love is we call, this is a little secret. We call Orlando the second capital of Puerto Rico. So it's like a really easy straight flight, two and a half hours so I can fly in, visit my parents, spend a weekend at our you know, at our other property there and not feel like I left the country. Technically, I kind of feel like I left the country, but I'm, I could drive to Tampa and Miami in the same amount of time that I flew to Puerto Rico. So, and it's called the second capital of Puerto Rico, which is interesting fun fact. But yeah.

I did not know that. Good. I'm going to add that to my list of fun facts from the podcast. As you decide to, you know, you get out of high school, I got to talk about. college for you because it's a it's a school i've i've got to admit i had to look up i didn't know much about it i know now that you're a mighty penman that that's um but it's it's a real it's a business school right so it's called southern new hampshire university and their focus is um you know HR business it's a lot of these different real specific uh skills i guess you would use to

to move on in the business world. Is that why you chose it? What was the rationale there? Well, the truth is I had very little options. And I think I mentioned to you before I was a military brat. And my father was stationed in the military up until I was 16. But then my parents did decide to move to Puerto Rico early in 19. 1997 and by then I was a single mother and I was a little lonely, you know, I was a little lonely.

And I looked up and said, what am I going to do in my life? I want to go to school. I always knew I still had all these dreams, even though I was a single mother. And I actually started my, you know, college journey at Barry University in Orlando. But because of just life situations being a single mother, not knowing what my future was going to look like, I kind of had to go and solicit the help of my parents. And they were already living in Puerto Rico at the time. And my dad lived right outside of a military base. And he says, why don't you come over here? You know, we'll help you with the babies. And you can, you know,

go to college here. I was like, I'm not going to college in Puerto Rico. I was like, I don't speak, I mean, I'm Puerto Rican and I speak the language, but I have never been in. the education system inside of Puerto Rico. I was like, I would be too nervous that the curriculum would be too difficult for me to be in a Hispanic or Spanish language curriculum. He's like, no, they have classes in English. I'm like, yeah, but not all the classes would be in English. So that already was something that I was like, a challenge.

I said, well, maybe I can find an online school. Online schools at the time were just getting started. They were just starting with their accreditation. but the military base next to where my parents lived, which was, it was Rosevette Road, it was a Navy base. My father said, maybe there's a way you can go onto the military base. I believe they have four universities there. There was Texas University, Southern New Hampshire University, and I forgot there was two other ones. And they were there for the soldiers or the military personnel and soldiers to continue.

to continue their education while they were on duty, off to their duty station. So my dad, I hope the government isn't listening, kind of got me a pass on base. And he was like, look, she's a little over the age and technically not my dependent because that was technically emancipated because I had children.

But my dad was like, I'm going to help my daughter any way that I can. And I remember I went to the dean. And I said, look, I want to go to school. I have a desire to continue my education. I'd like to bring my transfix over from Barry. At the time I was going to school for human resources, that's what I wanted, business and human resources with my passion. What a lot of people don't know, actually, is then I also took the route of computer science. I was going to go into computer programming.

And quickly, I realized that was not for me. But I realized I had a passion for business and marketing and, you know, development of people. So it just worked out. I'm like, I'm the girl you call to sell the product and connect the product, but I'm not necessarily the one to build a product. Yeah, it really just started off just by doing my homework. And it's funny, my husband used to laugh at me. He's like, you got your degree out of where?

Is that like a cracker job box? I'm like, are you making fun of me? I was like, you have no idea how hard it was to get your education online. I mean, it was intense. Yeah, I did my graduate of summa cum laude. I graduated with honors and double major in human resources and accounting with the focus being business science. Not knowing that you were going to be in the real estate space, I'm just guessing, as you're finishing this career, your curriculum at Southern New Hampshire University, how appropriate was it? Looking back, how cool is it you were already thinking that way when in the world of real estate, that has probably been nothing but help for you.

Oh, I mean, all of these things, I think, help lead up to who I am today and all the just kind of like, I would say, business traits that I have today all stemmed from a lot of, you know, I guess my upbringing and the challenges I had to overcome. I worked for a hospitality company that was one of the best in the Caribbean at the time. And I say that was my boot camp. I mean, we work with people from all walks of life, people coming from all different parts of the world. world, different types of wealth brackets. It was wild. I mean, I worked, I started off as a PBX operator in the basement of this beautiful gem in the Caribbean, overlooking the Caribbean Sea. I worked in the dungeon where everyone else had these beautiful views in their role. And I was in this, I want to say maybe like a 20 by 20 room with no windows in it. And it was a bunch of women who had been there for

years, years, years, years. I'm going to talk about me, 10, 15 years. years, same thing, repetition, repetition, repetition, the operators. And I looked at myself and they were like, oh, honey, don't get used to, don't, don't dream too big. Because once you're in the dungeon, you don't get out. And I remember looking at them and I was like, I'm going to be different. I'm going to be the one that started in the dungeon here that's going to end up all the way at the top. And all the way at the top was like, what do you mean? You know, like front desk or this. I was like, no, I'm going to be in human resources here. I'm going to be the one to help build, develop, train, work with leadership, and, you know, just, and I started to just dream. And I remember,

I saw these women who worked in the dungeon. That's what I'm going to call it. And at the time, I was teaching myself on typing and, like, how to put newsletters together and computers. I had a compact. And I was just learning all these things. And I wrote this, I created a company-wide newsletter that would recognize employees, get to know that. interview them, and then also talk about what other department heads were doing. And it all came from this secret writer. No one knew who was that was circulating this. And then it got when HR got wind of it and they were like, you're doing something we should be doing. Why aren't we doing this? And I just said because you have employees that are putting in the work day in and day out, night shift, graveyard,

you know, years. And no one knows who they are. But they're the voice between the guest experience. from day one when they're calling in, we'd have people say, hey, we're coming in, we're going to spend a week there. And, you know, what currency do you use? I'm like, oh, my God, did you not go to geography? But I recognize that people didn't know, but they got questions. They'd get yelled at. They've just all these things. I was like, I want to tell their story. And then what other employees or departments are not appreciated or under-recognized? So I started telling the story, well, that automatically, like, just turned into the success story, ended up getting me in front of the HR director, the general manager, the leadership team, move my way up, finished everything I

said I wanted to do, I accomplished. I ended up leaving as one of the HR generalists there. And then moving back to the U.S. the day after I graduated from college. Wow. Love it. I love that. With like many guests, you know, I have to ask this question. It's like, how does real estate enter the picture? Real estate entered the picture when I moved back to Florida. I had this thriving career at this company that I worked my way up. And I was like, well, I'm just going to do the same over here, find a job in HR. It was a different vibe.

It was a different feeling. It took some time. I got my teeth kicked in, rejected a number of times. They said, you don't have enough experience. You don't have enough experience. You have to start from the bottom. And I was like, okay. So my buddy says to me, hey, you're not working.

So while you're searching for a job, why don't you get your real estate license with me? There's, you know, Timeshare was popping, and people were thinking, like, timeshare was a quick get rich thing and you can, you know, be good at it. And I was like, dude, I want to pursue my HR career. That's what I want to do. That's what I love. I loved everything about it.

And they're like, no, you could still do it, but just, you know, in the meantime. One other thing that you could add to your credentials. And I was like, you know what you're right? Because there's a lot of timeshare companies, too. Maybe I could learn what they look for in agents that they bring on the line, but they also have the hospitality aspect of it. I'll do that. So I did it.

I went to real estate school. He didn't pass and I did. So I have to thank him for that. He ended up later on passing and becoming one of our agents on our team and my client. But that's how it happened. And then I didn't do anything with it because I got my license a day after 9-11. And it was just too hard for me to wrap my head around like what a career in real estate would look like. I thought the world was coming to an end.

I was 21 years old. I didn't know any better. and I just hung it up. I just put it to the side. But I kept up on my continuing education and I bought my own home, you know, that at least I did it. By the time I was 22, I had a home and at least I used it for that. And I didn't use it again until 2004 when I was going through a divorce. I had two children and my husband at the time had been a really good partner,

helped me raise my son and then we had a daughter together. but we just had different goals. He was a little older than me, and my ambition really started to grow. And he kind of had his vision of what life would look like, and I had mine. And I think we were really supportive of each other, but we just knew we were different. And I said, okay, well, I was working in human resources, now at an ambulance service company, but I knew it wasn't enough to supplement my income for the quality of life I wanted to provide for my kids. and I just said, what if I do real estate part-time?

So I started again part-time. I started using it part-time at a timeshare hotel and quickly, again, realized time share was not for me. Never was. But I learned a lot. I learned a lot. I went through the whole sales training. Their sales training is great. Their persuasion training is great.

I learned a lot of their skill set. But I also knew it wasn't aligned with what I wanted to do. Human resources was my thing. And I'm just the people like law. long-term relationship, people person. I want to be a part of people's journey for a long time, not sell them something in 90 minutes and never see them again. Run. Just there was a lack of alignment there. So I did real estate part-time for about three months. And Bill, it was like, that's it. I'm going to bring that world and my HR world and my development world to,

I'm going to make these two collide. I'm going to quit my full-time job. And in three months, I think I had like three or four closings. I said I if I just went all in because I was doing this part time negotiating underneath the desk, you know, and like doing the things that a part time agent does. And I was like, what if I did this full time? And I think I had like $17,000 saved or something like that. If I did this part time, imagine what I could do full time. If I just burn the boats and go all in, not even know what the burn the boat concept was at the time. But I just knew, you know, like my philosophy of life, like, I'm going to go all in. And I remember telling my mom, what if I just. go all in. And the 40 hours that I'm dedicating to this job that I don't know if I'm going to move up on, I dedicated to my career. What's the worst thing that can happen, Mom? And if anything, I'll just fall back on my job, you know, my career, you know, on my career path.

She was like, what about health insurance? What about this? I was like, mom, I'll figure it out. And never look back. How long did it take for Avalon Town Central Realty to be born? So that was 2000. And let's see. So I went full time in 2005.

Avalon Town Center Realty was born in 2009. I'll never forget when I did the DBPR registration. If I looked it up, it would probably say December 9th of 2009. Because I remember where I was sitting, everything I was going through in life. And what's funny, Bill, is I said to my husband, I was already a good agent, had a lot of sphere business, was probably closing. I don't know, 40, 50 deals, I don't know, maybe 40 deals a year as a solo agent, solo agent at the time. And I was lonely.

And I was bored. And I was working out of my living room. And I was doing aureos at the time. I started doing, so I was going to cross 100 mark. And I knew I wanted to share this opportunity in this business with people, but I didn't have any friends. My friend was my kids, my clients. and my husband because I was literally in my office nonstop, head down, just prospecting, doing

things that I need to do. And I would solicit help here and there. And I said, I'm ready to get out of my home office. And I went and I said, I'm ready to get in the community. So I went and I was like, I need a place that I can separate myself from my day to day. At the time, I got a little office suite in another office and started just saying I'm going to get involved in the community. I need friends. I joined the YMCA just because I wanted to be in the community. And I think I paid them for years. I barely got involved. But I started getting involved with some of the local businesses. And really it came out of a need of community. It came out of feeling lonely. And I don't want to say this in an arrogant way. Getting so, getting so

good at what I was doing, but feeling so lonely, doing it by myself, that I felt that there had to be a way that I could still be aligned with my purpose of like being a community builder, you know, being around people and sharing what I was doing, but not feeling, you know, like I was giving up my business. So I was really looking for community. That led into me becoming a community leader. That can't that led into me naturally attracting people. And then it turned into, I would say, one of the most successful boutique brokerages that came out of Avalon. Yeah, Avalon is really cool. You talked to places to raise a family.

That's one of them, right, in the Orlando area. It's very, very cool when you get, you know, sometimes it's a hike to get there. Wow. But once you come around this corner, you're like, oh, I get it. Well, it was interesting because I didn't realize how far it was because I never left the bubble. I never left the bubble. So to me, it was like, people say, you live so far. I was like, do I?

I was like, no, you guys live far. Because all my business bill was two minutes away from my house. My office was two minutes away from my house. You know those restaurants and all the places. So just with that niche of community and those businesses, I built a massive multimillion dollar, you know, a business. The Publix was right there. I mean, you got everything you need.

Publix is like on every corner, the kids school, my office, and I moved the other office. And I never had to leave. Literally it was like a little bubble. The big brands come calling. And I imagine having that success, you were a regular target of lots of recruiters for lots of the major franchises. You end up choosing remax. Do you remember why?

Yeah. So it's an interesting story. I was at Keller Williams for a short stint before I opened Avalon Town Center Realty. it just didn't work out at the time, you know, the leadership at the time for that particular region. And I think I was so new in that space. I didn't know what I didn't know. I just knew that that particular office was not the one for me at the time. My husband and I decided to hang our license with a small boutique brokerage that also we recognized

weren't aligned with us and what our goals were. So we were forced to open our own boutique brokerage. So I did work for Keller for a short window. And then what was interesting is when we became Avalon Townsend or Realty, the owner of that Keller Williams reached out to me. She says, how did we let a good one get away? How did we not keep you or see you until you left? And I appreciated that humility and that leadership within her to recognize that.

But I was already just kind of like doing my own thing. I kind of have created enough market share that I was like flattered. And I was like, oh, thank you. I was like, you know, I think we're all growing and I've evolved. They're like, give us a chance. Why don't you let us show you what we could do for you and you become a mega satellite team? So the real conversation started because Keller Williams was trying to recruit me, become a mega satellite team and turn my office.

And that process really taught me a lot. And I remember having pillow talk and talking to my husband and talking to some friends, I was saying, well, if I do this, why don't I explore a couple other options just to see what's out there? What's the next best thing? And I said, where would I aspire to, you know, what company would I aspire to partner with that I think would elevate me? What's the next best thing? I thought Keller was doing great, great company. I was like, but what's the next best thing was the question?

And someone said remax. I was like, oh, my God, they would never see anything in me. And I started doing the research. Like, when was the last remax on the east side? Why did that remax not do well? Like, I started like kind of thinking, like, was it remax or was it the leadership or was it the broker? Well, what was it?

And ironically, the first broker ever did a deal with was a remax broker owner who actually own that region. years before, and I never forgot his name because I lost my client's escrow that first deal that I ever had. And it was because he had something written in the contract that says, regardless of the reason of cancellation, should this not go through the buyer will lose their escrow? And that was one of the life lessons I learned. And I was just so eager to help my client and the idea of them getting the house they wanted them. It's okay.

I now know to never position my client like that. But it's one of those lessons you're like, you only buy a refrigerator once if you failed to properly like included in the in the in the in the contract or things like that, right? You make those. Right. It makes just once, very expensive lessons. By the way, it was my mother, so she forgave me.

You know, and since then I've taken care of her. So just FYI, it all worked out. But I'll never forget that Barry was the broker owner of a rematch. And it kind of left me with a chip on my shoulder. I was like, what if I became a remax owner? And I'd do it better than he ever did it. And it wasn't anything against Keller. I also just needed to see what else was out there.

So it was in between Keller and Remax at the time. Why? Because at the time, I was a boutique broker owner that only thought I could just have an overflow for agents to take care of the business. But I was still in production. So I kind of adopted that concept of like 100% concept, just hang your license here, do what you want, pay me that. And I realized I was recruiting a lower talent pool or people that weren't as committed as I was.

So I was like, I realized I was like maybe that's not what I want to build here. But it was a really community focused group, I mean like boutique brokerage. But I also was attracting people that just weren't aligned with my work. maybe at the time. And I wanted to be pushed. I wanted to be the best. I wanted to associate myself with the best. And I was willing to pay the price. So when I looked at Remax, I was like, whoa, that's like the elite of the elite. I would have to change my whole mindset. How am I going to recruit to this model? But also it would elevate me. It would elevate the kind of agents that I want. Like I started reimagining what being in business with like higher level agents would look like.

What would that do for the brand? And I was like, this has never been seen here. And I said, And if I do this, there were some other boutique brokerages and some other brokerages. I was like, I might be able to acquire them and maybe put them out of business or they don't have to be out of business. They can always join me. So like I was already starting to think. So I went, they courted me. I did the numbers.

I figured out a way to buy the franchise. And I went all in on remax. And I became that Keller Williams, I would say one of their biggest competitor. And they were not happy. but we become friends along the way. I'm so proud. That brokerage is still there. That Remax is still there.

I've sold it since then. It's been there a little over a decade, home of top producers. It's Remax innovation. And yeah, I mean, Remax was a blessing. It was one of the best decisions I made in my career. One of the things you did at Remax is you were one of the first agents in the country, I'm going to say, to get really close with Zillow. Let's talk about that.

Oh, my Zillow days. I'm sure there were some people that were just like going, wow, this is amazing. Look at this is going to be, and there are other people that are going, what are you doing? Let's just say I got more hate mail than what I did. Okay. My Zillow days, which I'm still a Zillow partner, I still, and I'm an alumni. Actually, I have my alumni, Zillow advisory, agent advisory board alumni sweater on my, on my lap. You can't see it for those who obviously are listening, but Bill, I'm showing you,

right? That's very cool. Yeah. And seven years serving on their advisory board, you never know what the outcome's going to be. But I think I had the opportunity to meet some really special people who did a really good job of just sharing what their vision was. And I said, look, if this is halfway true, let me try it. and I can always cancel. I did Sillow actually for a little bit and I fired them and then I was like, you know, like, oh, this doesn't make sense to me. But it was during the time that no one was used to paying for leads. You know, Boomtown was coming out in the market, Volcan Settel was coming out on the market.

Like we were just such belly-to-belly community people. We didn't know the idea of having someone call you because they found you on the internet, you know. And if we did have something on the internet, we had this really expensive, you know, website. and I think the only lead generator that I had with the internet was 0.2 agent. I might remember that, right? Yeah, sure. That's how much I'm going back. That's picking you back.

I just always knew that the industry I thought, in my opinion, was evolving. And I had already evolved in three different phases in a very short time when I first started, the market crash, the REO market, the short sale market. So I was used to pivoting and adapting and embracing change. And I think that also has a lot to do in my upbringing, being in the most. military and my father, you know, moving us from base to base to base, you know, like I always had to adapt. I had to always be flexible and try new things. So when I started learning a little bit more about the online lead gen space and I saw that Zillow was, you know, really, you know, coming

aggressive onto the space and I met one of their top reps, Sarah Nassapuri. And I told her my story with Zillow, she says, listen, if you follow my lead, I'm going to connect you to to some really, really successful people who you remind me a lot of. And they are doing great things. But you just have to be coachable and give me at least six months to show you what I can do for you. Because again, agents usually want instant gratification. Something doesn't work out. And I said, okay.

And at the time, I think it was like $283. I won't forget. And she says, you'll call me later and you'll thank me. A month later, I think we had like a month or two later, we had like 10 under contract. I remember calling her. I said, I want more. It's like crack. I can give my agents.

I was just starting to develop a team. I said, I can give my agents more opportunities. And I had one agent that like she was just crushing it. And I was like, what if I can duplicate this over and over and over again? I went from $300 to $3,000 to $8,000. I was like, and then I started understanding the concept of, you know, the ROI, put a dollar in or out, you know, 10 hours. Like, this is, this makes sense if I can measure it and hold my agents accountable and really like work the business. And I said, I never thought it was going to

become such a big thing. I just added, I thought it was just going to be another added pillar to my business. I was using voice pad at the time. I think also as, as, you know, I was always curious about innovating and pushing, you know, new technology forward, not knowing what the outcome was going to be, but I was willing to try things. So here I was trying it. I never thought it was going to turn into all the other things that it turned into, which I'm super grateful for. But in the end, it just opened up more doors for me. And Zill then, they made a big, big mistake when they rolled out market-based pricing in how they, I would say, how they rolled it out. Agents weren't used to it. They were used to contract pricing. And when they did it, I didn't recognize or realize

that I was in a test market. So I was able to prove and show the success that we were having to these agents that were an uproar. They were so upset because they had the contract and they were like, I can keep my competition out. And I basically said to them, guys, I have three competitors in here. And they're all my friends in the business. And, you know, it's working for all of us. There's enough place. There's enough for all of us to go around. You know, I've always come from a spirit of abundance. At least I pride myself in that bill.

I just knew I needed to stand up and give these agents a little bit of hope. And I didn't know who was in the room. You just never know who's in the room when you stand up. And Greg Schwartz was in the room at the time. Good friend of mine, of course. Now we've become really good friends. He thanked me. I really appreciate you for speaking of.

up and his team, his team asked if I would do a testimonial and that they were getting ready to roll this out with the other part of the nation. This was just Florida was just a test. But this time they wanted to roll out the right way. So they invited me, Robert Slack, who were people who had been testing it to now be testimonials in San Antonio with all the other top teams across the country. And I think just standing up and speaking up really opened, you know, I guess opened a lot of of doors for me. And then they also saw my leadership style, my team, and I started getting involved. They asked me to be on their advisory board. And it was just interesting. I think God put me where he wanted me to be at so that I could become a better leader. I can push myself out of my

comfort zone. Here I am telling my story in front of 2,600 of the most brilliant what I thought operators at the time. And just I just was raw and honest about my journey as a mom, as a leader, as a woman. And I had more grown men call me and thank me and ask if they could just pick my brain on how to lead people and how to connect deeper with people. And I think that that was the first time I realized that being vulnerable and being honest and showing up authentic is powerful. So on that opportunity that I had with Zillow, from there just other opportunities started coming out. And it wasn't the speaking engagement. It's like, I think, it's how I was showing up as a as a leader and I wasn't afraid to share my journey of like,

well, we're trying this. Well, we got our ass kicked today or oh, we're doing this. So then when instant offers came out as a test, we had already been testing some things in Miami. We had already been testing some things in Orlando. So it wasn't like, oh, she got lucky. I was investing in some things with my own dime and willing to do it because I said, let me test expansion, let me test this, let me test my brand, with my profile. At the time I had like two to three hundred reviews, they were saying, what if your profile would do well in certain markets? I was like, let's test it. Let's test it. And I think they realized this girl is willing to try new things. She's not afraid. Founds a status quo. And I got the call that they were going

to test instant offers. I did not know what I was getting myself into. And you know, I think our good friend or probably mutual friend, I'm sure you know him. Thompson, you know, he was taking bullets for the industry. He was taking bullets for Zillow. And I just felt like, I was like, let me take some bullets with you. Let me help you out. Let's do this. And I was like, you look like you're having too much fun over there by yourself. It's like you need a little like Bonnie and Clyde action over here. And I said, why is everyone so scared? Why is everyone so scared of change? I didn't know enough. So I did the instant offers, not realizing how big it was going to be.

And that was the game changer. I was like, oh my God, we just changed history. We just disrupted the industry. And I kind of fell into a little depression mode for a second because I was like, did I just commit career suicide? But then apparently Bradenman liked all the controversy and we won innovative team of the year. We became innovators.

And then from there, it was like, we hope you fail. you know, people said some really nasty things. They're like, you welfare agent, you don't even know how to generate your only. I was like, what? People are so cruel. And I was like, look, I'm just going to laugh my way to the bank and just keep on creating opportunities. And if you're putting me in front of more sellers, I'm going to learn what sellers are looking

for and learn more. And then next thing you know, we turned it into a product. But what a lot of people don't know is even though I tested it, I had to interview for the actual account afterwards. It wasn't a guarantee. And that's where I had to become a really strong operator and build out really strong systems to support the amount of volume that we did with them. But, you know, I'm still trying to get out of being the Zillow girl. Sorry or brought it back up here.

No, it's okay. It's actually part of the story and I'm grateful for it. Jay Thompson is actually the very first guest I had on the podcast. I love it. In 2015, yeah, that's right in the middle of, he was always taking the hits for Zillow at that. time. So yes. You know, you talked a lot about your leadership style and you're now a mentor. You're now a coach. A lot of that, and we're going to talk about EXP in a second, you know, as you're helping that, that operation grow and get smarter and better, what, when you're, when you're talking to

people, is there the, is there a common trait that leaders have? And if, if, or is there one that you almost always have to kind of introduce to them so that they think a different way. Does that question make sense? Yeah. I mean, I think leaders have a lot of different qualities, right? We lead differently. But I think for me, what I've noticed in the people, in the community that I surround myself with is that these leaders have a burning desire to continue to grow, not just financially or in business, but personally. And that's the type of leadership I'm attracted to. So if I see someone that perhaps still needs to develop their leadership, but they just have this desire to become better and they're humble enough to ask for help.

They're humble enough to admit the areas that they're weak in. Or maybe not weak, just that they haven't developed that muscle. It reminds me a lot of me. I was a reckless leader before. I was just, I did not have a lot of the professional development that I have today. and I recognize that. So now I don't look down on leaders. I don't look down on people.

I just say, look, they just still got a little bit of work to do. But I think the common trait that I've found in a lot of these leaders, and I was just in a mastermind this weekend with Cheplac and 40 of the other elite clients and coaches, every single one of them is willing to get their ass kicked in the arena. Face hard decisions. And they don't blame anyone. They take personal responsibility. They're honest about the fact that things don't always work out the way we want it to work out.

But it's how we show up in those moments of adversity and pain that really help shape us as leaders. And I've seen people that at one point I thought were arrogant and that I thought that they were the best thing since sliced bread. I've seen them really open their hearts up and become really great leaders just by being vulnerable, by seeing that, look, we might be winning today, but what about what do we look like when we're not winning? What kind of leader do you want to be when we're not winning, right? And I'm in that journey. You know, a lot of people like, oh, you've been number one, you've been this, you've been that. like, okay, I got such a big target on my back now.

People are like, well, you sold 2000 last year or 2000 a year before? What about this year? Where are you going to be at? I'm like, okay, like, hold on, 650 to 800. I don't know. Like, just, I mean, like, what do you want me to tell you, right? It's like when you know you have a target on your back or you know people are looking to see like, so let's talk about the failures you're facing today.

It's kind of like that's when you're, I think we're really tested as leaders. Well, you made one final change. And there's something inside me, Veronica. I'm just going to throw it out there. I think you found your spot. I don't think. Is that a pretty fair assessment? You know, Glenn Sanford, I've interviewed on this podcast, unbelievable,

what he was able to start and stick with and never give up, right, to where we are today with what EXP is doing. talk about that decision and how you came to be there. You know, thank you. I think I found my spot too. I hope this is, I think this is my final destination in real estate and I love this company. I can't believe I'm actually going to be celebrating four years June.

I can't believe it's been less than four years, three years and nine months. You know, it still feels surreal, everything that we've been able to. accomplish in this short three and a half years. But I feel like I've been here forever. But what's really cool is, and I don't even know how you say that, it feels so short, but it feels like it's been whole, it feels like forever. Glenn is someone very special to me. I love everything about him, you know, his humility and his relentless pursuit to not give up

and how he has just, he's such a forward thinker and different. He is brave. And that, to me, are the qualities that I look for in a leader. He is not afraid to walk the walk and do things that have never been done before. And of course, I think now we're in a phase where it'll be copied and there'll be new models and they'll take from the mistakes that we've made and make it better in their eyes. but like I remember the first time I observed Glenn. It was at an inman, by the way.

Maybe it was the time that Gary and him were on stage and, you know, you probably were there. I think it was actually the year I won Innovator of the Year. The next year, Brad Admi asked me to give the recipients of the next year theirs, and I actually gave Glenn the broker of the year, innovator of the year, which is really cool because it's kind of like I wasn't with EXP at the time, but I was observing him and I was watching him. And I remember telling my husband,

he's going to be my CEO one day. And I watched him how he interacted with the agents. I watched how he was leaning in. I watched how he was curious. He sat at one of my roundtables that I was hosting and I was just like, every other CEO's whisked off or like, you know, we're so untouchable and this. And this guy is just so humble. And one of us in the trenches, curious, he's like wanting to know how he can help the agents be better, wanting to know all these things. And I think I had already been a little disenfranchised.

I kind of already knew I was looking for a change. And I didn't want to be the broker anymore. I had opened up a lot of, you know, a lot of doors had opened up for me. I was doing a lot with, of course, the little advisory board traveling all over the country. And, you know, going back to full circle to. Avalon Park, I kind of also, remember when I first started? I told you I got a little bored on my house. Well, I got a little bored in Avalon Park. And I don't mean that in a way where it's like, oh my gosh, she's ungrateful. No, it got to a point where I was like, is this it? I feel like I have

so much more to do and give to the industry. And I don't know if I can do it in my current model. You know, I can't open a remax in every state. I had people that wanted me to coach them. They wanted to be a partner with me. And at the time, I really wasn't in the coaching space. I wasn't sure what that was going to look like. It wasn't authentic to me at the time. But I just loved helping agents and loved helping other teams and loved connecting with other leaders. So just kind of had an opportunity to have a couple of conversations where I was like, what would this look like?

If, just if I came here. And what if I've built enough business credibility and industry. credibility that I could help somebody, even if they weren't in my market. And what if when an agent leaves my team, they don't have to go and think that they have to leave to another to another brokerage or start their own brokerage because I have a tool for them to be celebrated in every step of the way of their journey. And I could still be in business with them or be their mentor or be in proximity with them, even if the financial alignment looks different, but I generally just want to be in business with them. And what if all these other, I was like, check, check, check,

check, check. So it just made sense for me. And I said, I'm going to try it. And what's the worst that can happen? And we knew that year we were going to sell a lot of homes. I said, and that's a lot of liability. I knew I was going to sell about 600 homes that year. We were on a mission. And I was like, oh, on the broker's side, that also meant a lot of liability, a lot of different things. Not to say I still don't have liability. But I was like, what if someone could have my back? So I just, you know, started reimagining what that would look like. And my My husband basically said to me, we were on vacation. Our daughter was getting married.

A couple weeks later, Zillow was having an event. My husband says, look, I need to make a decision because this is taking up way too much brain space and headspace and just like you're talking too much about. What are all these possibilities? I said, I just don't know how to do it. I don't know how to sell my franchise. I don't know how to do any of this. He says, if anybody can figure it out, it's you. He says, so just figure it out.

He says, figure it out. and when you're ready to figure it out, then you'd talk to me about it. And I just got to work. I started thinking, and the answer was right in front of me. One of my top agents was wanting to become a broker. And I had to humble myself and trust that I could open doors for her, and she was going to open doors for me. And today she's the proud owner of the franchise that I sold to her.

She's thriving, and I actually talked to her. We mentor each other. and she's a good friend of mine and she was my saving grace and I think I was, because I just wanted my freedom to walk away and I took my 17 agents and she kept a good portion of the agents

that were in the office and, you know, today she has her team and today I have my, you know, business at EXP that wouldn't have been possible without actually her and another agent on my team who genuinely knew my heart. They said, Vero, we want you to do well and we think you've built something special here

that we'd love to care. the torch, if you would allow us to carry the torch of remax because it's what we want for our dream to, you know, to dominate in this neighborhood the way you did. And we know that you're, you were meant to have a larger footprint. Go, go do what you were meant to do. And it worked out. And here I am three years later. We became the number one team for the company two years in a row. We have over 2,300 partners all over the country. I helped open Dubai, Dominican Republic, Columbia, Puerto Rico, you know, have friends and partners who have been a part of that or growing all over. And I've been able to do some really cool things.

Thanks to this wonderful model that, you know, it's about people, right? It's about people surrounding yourself with people who inspire you to do things that you never imagined you could. And, you know, that's what Glenn did for me and a lot of the people that I get to call friends and mentors. And I just want to pay it forward. Whether people are with our company or not, I want to give them permission to just, be brave, be bold, go do what makes you feel good, and don't hold back just because it's what other people expect you to do. Wow, I've had you way past the time I asked of you, so I'm going to ask you the final question. I ask every guest. Going back to Jay Thompson, the very first

answer, what one piece of advice would you give a new agent just getting started today? Well, I'm a little biased. If you're getting started today, I think you don't have to beat your head up against the wall and try to figure this out alone. I love teams, to be honest with you. I think an agent who's brand new should really think about joining a good team that has accountability, processes, systems, that has a database that you could lean on while you're building your sphere doesn't take away from you having to do the things that you need to do. You should be working your sphere. You should be doing at least two open houses a weekend. You should be prospecting. You should do social media. You should do community videos about where you live and where you want people to

know that you specialize in, interviewing business owners, you know, doing community events, do community events and highlight the things that people are interested in. Nobody cares about real estate unless they're buying real estate. Okay. Other than they're just them being obsessed with HGTV, the reality is that 95% of the people don't care about real estate unless they're in it or an investor or just, you know, that unique individual. What they want is to connect with a local expert that they can trust. So when they do think about real estate, they think of you. So you should be creating a little, you know, presence of the community mayor,

become the community mayor, whether it's you're the guy or the gal that everybody calls on what's going on in the community. You started a Facebook group. You, you know, you are, you know, always. bringing community together, not because you want them to buy or sell a home with you, it's because you are the community expert. How can you do that? Well, you could do that while you are on a team and if you need now business, unlock that opportunities such as, you know, online lead gen. And don't go out there and spend all this money on online legion if you don't

know, if you don't have the process in place to support that online legion, because what we know is there's different funnels. You know, there's top of funnel, there's middle, there's bottom of the funnel. And I think a lot of times these agents, they think that it's so easy to duplicate. What you should be doing is leveraging what has already been built by top teams and leaders that they need help too. They are okay with having you on their team for about a year to two years. While you build up your business and you're working on that silo of your business, which you control, they can help you with what they've already built. I'm a little bias on TV,

but if you took anything from what I said, even if you're not on a team, you must work your sphere of influence. You must do video. You must do social media with intention. Intention. I mean, some of my favorite people that I would say follow.

I mean, Ken Pozac. I mean, he's the perfect example of, you know, content, content, content becoming a community leader, right? And he's in my market and I give credit where credits do. Levi, Stay Sick. I mean, he's amazing out in Dallas, you know, brand new agent, less than three years in the business. He knew he had a background. He didn't have a background in real estate, but he had a background in insurance.

But what did he do? He partnered with someone that had an agency background in marketing. And what do they do? They just started doing content on living in Dallas. Why not to move to Dallas? Best places to eat at Dallas. Date nights in Dallas. Guess what?

He generates hundreds of leads a week just from his channel because people, love the content that he puts out. It's relatable. It's, you know, so I just encourage agents to understand you have to work your sphere. You still have to prospecting that works for you. That's authentic and aligned to you. Um, you know, open houses still important with intention, with intention. Everything has to be with intention. But hands down for me, if you were a brand new agent, when you're interviewing brokers, I would ask, are there any teams in your brokerage that are looking for new talent that I can leverage? and they can leverage me.

And together we can maybe have a relationship for a year or two years while we're all contributing and it's a partnership. That is a game changer. And I do it every single day with agents. And they thank me all the time. So hands down for me, that's what I would do. Veronica, if somebody wants to reach out to you, what's the best way for them to do that? You can reach out to me.

Oh, my goodness. Hold on one second. Let me give you my handy-dandy phone number that you can reach out to. me at to make sure you are in the know on anything that we're doing, on any events, training. And also if you want to hit up, hit me up 407, 5193995. You can send me a text there and we will, I will respond to you. Or you can hit me up on IG Veronica Figuero inspires or on Facebook. Awesome.

Veronica, this has been amazing. Thank you so much for your time today. And continued success. It'll be really fun watching where you keep moving. Oh, thank you. I appreciate you so much. You're the best, and I'm a huge fan of yours. Thank you for listening to the Real Estate Sessions.

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