KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Waking up to Win with Stephen Schoppe

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

Good morning, good evening and good afternoon to everybody. Welcome to another session of waking up to win with myself, Stuart. And on today's call, I've got Stephen. Now, Stephen's going to be talking to us about a program that really has a very, very high level of respect for all our agents here in EXP. And that program is called the Icon Award, that icon program that every agent wants to get. We know that when you come into E XP, the first thing that you want to do is you want to become a cap agent because that's how we get to earn that 96% commission. But then there's the level above. And that's exactly what we're going to dig into today is talking about the icon agent, what it takes.

So, Stephen, I want to thank you so much for your time for coming on to this call. How are you today? Great, great. Thanks, Stuart. Appreciate you having us here today. No, fantastic. So I actually want to find out who is Stephen? Because this is going to be one of the biggest questions.

A lot of people go to say, Stuart, why have you got this guy, Stephen on the actual call? What has he got to do with ICON? What has he got to do with EXP? So I want to find out from you. Who is Stephen? Yeah. So I am the ICON program manager here at EXP. So we as a program, we oversee not only the US,

right as far as ICON agents, but commercial Canada, South Africa, and all the global countries at EXP. So we're actually going around to a few of them right now and doing something similar and presenting and letting the agents know how to achieve ICON. What is the ICON program? And then what are some of the requirements needed, you know, after you hit those production numbers?

So put a little slide deck together to hopefully explain some of that in a simple fashion for you. And then we can always open it up for, you know, questions and answers afterwards. I have a team member of mine, Sheila Cobb, who's also on the call too. So if you have chats or, you know, quick questions, you know, feel free to put them in the chat.

And she can do our best to answer those during the call. But we can obviously, you know, go over some of those after, after we get through the slide deck as well too. So fantastic. Appreciate you having us. No, it's always, always a pleasure. It's always nice to have our bigger brothers and family here on these particular cause and helping us to share it. And this is one of the big things that

has actually come across when I've dealt with our global community. The community is actually quite small. When we go into the EXP world, it's actually quite small. It's like we're in this little neighborhood. So it's always nice to be able to reach out and get this information. So Stephen, give us an introduction of the ICON program. Take it away. Yeah. So specifically again, we'll talk obviously just about South Africa here. But what is the ICON program? It celebrates all of our agents while also highlighting those who achieve

an exceptional production level, right? So we're looking at those very top few percentage of the company that are reaching these production goals and we want to award those agents for doing so, right? So what does that come with? It comes with some benefits. You can receive up to the 150,000 in RAND and ICON Stock Awards.

Now, that is broken into three different categories, right? First category is for reaching those production goals. So when we start talking about an agent and their life cycle or their career with EXP, Stewart mentioned earlier, right, that first goal is to reach your cap, right? And we'll kind of go into that a little bit. But then after you reach your cap, it's going above and beyond that cap and reaching those additional production requirements to get into this. the ICON program, right? Once that happens, which is when you receive that first 75,000,

then you can open up opportunities to get additional awards in what we call the cultural commitments, as well as for attending EXP approved events, and it's 5,000, and it's broken into technically two different events, two different events for 2,500. And again, we'll go over that in a little bit more detail when we move through the slides here but some other benefits right we we obviously want you to be recognized as a as an icon agent so if you're going into expe world right they got a nice badge that they put on your your avatar when you're going in there there's some exclusive brand kit stuff and company-wide recognition in life life period expurelity.com so a few different things

that that we do have in there but again the biggest benefit right is you're trying to get to those production numbers that you can start getting that the xPI stock award no fantastic and you know this is something everybody wants to get into because you know we touched on capping that 150 000 rand which is that cap portion but when you get to icon status it actually then can come back to you in those expeg shares so start explaining the actual requirement what is actually required from an agent in order to get to that particular level because we understand how to become a cap agent, but how do we get to become an icon agent? Right. So again, there, we, Stuart was one of the people that was in on some of the initial

calls here with us, but we recently just made some updates to the production requirements. So I want to go over those two options with you guys here. So the first option, again, right, you can keep with both options. You got to get to that cap status with your company dollar, right? Once you hit that that 150,000, then those other two options start to have a little bit of a difference. So in option one, you hit the 150,000 rent, then after that you're paying 15,000 in the capped status transaction fee. So I underlined it here, right, because you guys pay a transaction fee on every transaction, correct? So once you hit that capped status of the 150, then we start looking at the calculating out the capped transaction fees up to that 15,000.

So once you hit the 15,000, now we're also looking at a minimum of 35 closed transactions. So those three things, right, your company dollar, your 15,000 in cap status transaction fees, and a minimum of 35 closed transactions, that would qualify you under option one. The second option is a little bit different, right? it's more based off of GCI.

So there's still the $150,000 in the company dollar. It's a $3 million in RAND for a minimum gross commission income and a minimum of 10 closed transactions. So that also kind of helps to cover maybe somebody in like a commercial sales or luxury sales, you know, to give them an option that they might not be closing as much, but there's still a very high producing agent and hitting high GCI amounts. And we want to make sure that they still have that opportunity to, you know, get their award to. No, fantastic.

So those two, two options. And there's two ways of actually getting it. Obviously, both. You have to be a cap agent. That is actually primary. You've got to get to that cap status. Then option one, it's based more on the transaction. Number of transactions, 35 closed transactions.

But do remember that additional cap status transactional fee of 15,000 rent. And I'm pretty sure that that is going to be discussed. deeper in the future with agents that are going to ask that particular question. Right. Yes. The top, we'll obviously look into that a bit later. And the second one is really the one where it's your GCR, that gross commission. Get up to $3 million in gross commission with a minimum of 10 transactions.

Now, we know here in South Africa, if you're actually doing 10 transactions, it's going to be less, unless you're getting into the luxury game. To hit up to that $3 million, you're going to be hitting close to probably the 20 to 30. depends on the actual gross commission of those particular deals, but you're going to be sitting around about that mark of how many properties, that's the average properties to get up to that $3 million. It's totally achievable, especially in the times that are going to be coming up. So, Stephen, with these two, and really I'm just going to hop directly onto that paid additional cap status for the agents, because I know they're going to look at it and say, okay, so I've got my 4% transactional fee that I'm paying on every single deal. does that mean I've got to pay an additional 15,000 rand over and above?

Or does it mean that that 4% must reach that 15,000 rand for it to qualify? Right, right. So that kicks in after you hit. So if you're looking at your transactions, right, the transaction that helps you get to the company dollar and the 150,000 Rand, right? That transaction, the next transaction, they start calculating out your capped status transaction fees. So once you hit the 150, right, that transaction, the next one, right,

that's when they're going to start counting in to look for that 15,000 total. So fantastic. The minimum transactions are everything, right? That one doesn't kick in after your cap or anything like that, right? They're just looking for a total of 35 as a whole during that capping period. Absolutely. Absolutely. So something on this is, anybody can actually achieve this.

You know, we've actually got a couple of our agents last month closed 15 transactions in one month, which means if we actually look at the projections in two and a half months, he's actually going to be hitting one, he'll hit cap, two, he's going to hit the minimum transactions, and he's going to fall straight into that category where he could actually become our first icon agent. So there are a number of ways to allow agents to get to that high level of that icon. status and that's what we all want every single one of you to do now once you get to this I know that that first 75,000 will come through to you it doesn't come through to you an automatic it is vested that 75,000 can you recall for what duration that that 75,000

is vested for yeah so so when we start talking about the production requirements right so we hit the production requirements whether it was option one or option two what's going to happen is is Africa's team, you know, their transaction department is going to let us know they're tracking those numbers, right, just alongside of the ICON program themselves too. We're going to do a verification, right? We obviously have to verify that everything was in there. We're looking at the numbers. Once that happens, you know, we're going to be granting that $75,000 that following month.

So what does that mean, though? So it does have a three-year vest period on it. So I'm awarded now in the month of December. It's going to have a three-year vest period. And then at that point, you know, that's when you have the option to do, you know, whatever you need to do with it. But yes, you see it. It goes into your account, but you just can't really do anything with it for a three-year period

because obviously we want to make sure that you're still remaining an agent here and good standing with the company. And in all transactions, I know this is always a question. and it does differ sometimes depending on the country. So I want to make sure I'm covering this. All transactions must be completely settled and properly documented. So for example, right, like if I have a closing at the end of a month, you know, all of that has to be settled.

It's not like, you know, they're not going to take it and look back a month to say, oh, well, you closed it here. You got to make sure everything's closed because that's what transactions is looking at on their side. So, you know, fantastic. And this is all controlled through the rep platform. So once those transactions are actually coming in and they've gone to that end status where it's kind of finalized and closed. And the great thing here in South Africa, you know when it's finalized and closed because that's when you get paid the commission on that particular deal. So that's when you'll know that it is already.

So that's that first 75,000. So that's vested for three years. Hey, it's a commitment. You can always check into your share works program. and you'll actually be able to see that particular growth over time. And the great thing is, and this is really, when it goes into the shareworks and actually getting onto the actual stock exchange in three years, the chances of those shares going up in value is, I think, is on a high,

especially the way the world is going and the way that's virtual. The share price from now to three years time, three years time, it's going to be a lot higher than it is. So, in fact, if you're getting shares, it's always best. to actually keep them. Don't be like the one that gets your shares and sells it. You keep it. You invest in yourself and that's for three years. So now that's the first 75,000. That's that first half. But now we've still got another 75,000. Stephen, how do we get that? Because this is really now going, well, you said to me, I'm getting 150, but you've only shared 75,000. What is the next

70,000? How do they get that? Yeah. So the next 75, um, part of of that is in the cultural and it's for a full 70,000. What happens is, so if I'm on my timeline, right, I'm an agent, I'm selling, I'm selling, I finally hit those production remarks, you know, to achieve the icon. I've been into the, you know, I'm now an icon agent in the program, right? I have the next 12 months after that period, which is what we call the icon cultural benefit year to achieve the cultural benefits, right, to get that extra 70,000. What's that look like? So again, recent change, we're going to make it really, really easy to track so that agents know exactly what they're looking for. They need what we call 20 icon cultural commitment points, right?

Really easy to get for the most part. It can be done in many different ways. I know Stewart, I don't know how much you talked about the mentor program, right? But mentor program will qualify as one of those ways to get 20 points. We can kind of go down. We'll go through the breakdown a little bit here in a little bit. Speaking, right? Maybe it's Stewart inviting you to a meeting like this where you're the one speaking as an agent and talking to other agents.

There's opportunities there. If you decide to travel to an EXP con, right? I know there's been things out there that there could be some coming your direction, not necessarily all the way over into the U.S. So those will be opportunities if you were speaking at an EXP con or an event like that. Multiple different ways, but it's pretty easy to track. and it's all going to be shown in your My EXP. So again, my EXP is whenever you log in, right, there's more and more and more information

that we're trying to get in front of you, both from the Icon program and as a company as a whole, right? But it'll show right in there when you become an icon agent. There's a little tile, and it'll actually show you, as you start earning points where you're sitting at on that and how many it gives you the date of, you know, when that goes away. So we always want to make sure that you know when that time is and what you still need to get there.

But we do have an easy, what we call our points guide. We'll kind of give you a quick brief look at that to give you an idea. But again, it's the proverbial rising tides, you know, lifts all boats, right? We want agents helping other EXP agents to achieve, you know, goals, product, you know, in production and personally themselves too. No, fantastic. And, you know, this is the culture. It's the give-back culture.

And really, if you really think about it coming as a mentor, it's, It's really giving back when you're coming part of speaking, part of our AAC, anything of this nature. It's really it's giving back to the agents. And that's really what it is. If you just think of the actual word, icon, you want to become an icon. Well, what is an icon? An icon is something that everybody looks up to. And when you look up to them, they have this cultural gift to give back.

And that's really worth 70,000 grand in all of that. Now, that's 70,000 ran. Do they get it immediately? Or is it also then? explain how that operates. Yeah, it is also vested. This was a change that we recently made as well. There used to have a two-year vesting period on that cultural stock.

We've actually dropped that down to one year. So what happens is I'm an agent, right? Again, I go and do four meetings. Let's say I get five points for each meeting. I achieve my 20 points, right? And it's now December 5th, right? So what's going to happen is our team's going to verify those awards, you know, points. awards, you know, points with Stewart or someone on the South Africa team.

And we'll actually award that stock right at that time. And then there's a one year best period after that. So pretty easy to get to that and to figure out how long it's going to be. Because once we send it to you, right, it just has that one year best period. So production is three. Cultural is a one year vest period. So a lot shorter. So it gives you a little bit more incentive to, so again, write feedback into the Asian population, get those points so that you can get that award and you can get that stock sooner. No, fantastic. So that one year period, and trust me, if you actually think back, 2023 is nearly over. It's amazing how quick a year can actually go. So now we've spoken about the 75,000. We've spoken about the 70,000. So we're sitting

at 145,000. So now we've got a little bit of pocket change. That 5,000 rand right at the end. How do we get those last couple of rands into our accounts? How do we get that? Yep. So we're looking for basically event attendance. So, you know, for example, right, if you'd go to an ex pecan, you're paying to go there, right? You're going to, like the last year was in Vegas, right? The next year, I think, is in Miami. So you're, you're going. go into one of those events whenever you go to one of those events you buy a ticket you check in we get we make sure we're awarding you for that so it's event attendance a total of 5,000 broken down into two different events 2,500 for each once you get that the month after we verify all

attendance on our side and then it's an immediate granting of that there is no vesting period for for the event stock so once you go we had we register it We check it. We send it out and then you have it. So two events for total 500 or for 5,000. And it's pretty easy. And I know we're going to be again working with with Stewart and others in South Africa to make sure that there are some events that would qualify for this. There's obviously been a recent change.

You know, to us as well, we used to have a expecon. We used to have shareholders. We are no longer moving towards shareholders. we're moving more towards regional events even in the states so we're probably looking at something similar in south africa that we'll be in touch with here and uh yeah provide that extra opportunity for for again right taking part in the company giving back and making sure that we award you for that so no fantastic and i think this is almost like a five thousand rain giveaway i know for a fact i've had conversations that we are looking at having these type of events which would be locally

or something that isn't within the feasible rate so that agents can actually get attended to it. And the great thing is, you're getting paid to go to something that you wanted to go to in the first place. That's what's mind-blowing to me. You get to the icon status. It almost feels like you're a bit of a celebrity. Why? Well, you get attended and you're getting paid $2,000,000 and you're getting paid $2,000,000, for each event that you go to.

So this icon actually takes you to, and I'm putting inverted commas, a celebrity status. So we look at all of this together. We've now got the 75,000 RAND, which then comes invested for three years. That really is basically the start of it. The 70,000 RAND, which is the cultural, only vested for 12 months. Now, I'm going to change it from one year to 12 months, because 12 months sounds a whole lot better. And then you got that final 5,000 RAND, which is really something that you get paid immediately. You don't have to wait for it.

All you do is you attend the session. you attend those particular events. And trust me, there are events that are going to be coming up in the near future. So make sure that all our icon agents will definitely achieve that. Stephen, anything else you want to add on to what we've discussed in going a bit deeper? Not really. You know, I'd be happy to share, you know, the view of the icon overview, right? A lot of the information that we saw in here was pulling right from the overview,

which is available for you guys. We're updating some websites with stock, so some of these are going to be a lot easier to find and not have to scour the EXP web to find it. It is going to become a lot easier and a lot more prevalent for you guys to go out there and find. But this is the updated overview again, right? It talks about the benefits,

there's sections specifically about the stock requirements. How those, if you really want to deep dive into how those, are calculated, right, based off of what day of the month those are distributed and the stock price, right? A lot of that's explained in here in very good detail, so it is a good resource to have. And then we do have the icon cultural points guide in here to talk about the cultural side of it and how you can earn those. The good thing that I want to kind of go into with that, and I'll click on it here real quick. And I'll zoom in because I'm sure it's probably pretty small on here. So once again, right, it mentions the 20 points that we're looking for.

It talks about speaker teaching opportunities to earn points. The mentor program, which is a, if you're part of the mentor program and you're working with a mentee, there is a 20 point option for it, right, just to satisfy everything again, because we know that you're feeding into mentees. AACs are in here as well, too. So if you decide to be part of the AAC, the production or the participation in that will help satisfy. And then day of volunteering. Now, this one's a little bit different.

I know that I had talked to Stewart a little bit, and I know we still have some follow about things like Extended Hand and I Heart EXP. Those things are starting to roll out a little bit more in the global side of the company, right? So hopefully we'll be able to get some events in there. I already know that we need to update shareholders now that we're. We know that's no longer going to be an option in here moving forward. But we also want to make sure that you know that there's always, we're always looking for opportunities, right? So if there is something that, hey, you know, I'm an icon agent now, I'm doing this.

Is this something that qualifies for points, right? You can meet with our team. You can tell us what you're doing. And we can, you know, potentially be able to award you. We call additional opportunity points for stuff, again, that you're already doing in your everyday career to help that would end up. helping to feedback into ex-B agents and we want to make sure you're awarded for that so again a lot of this is is linked in here it's in the in the overview if you have any specific questions again it talks

about the stock prices but other than that yes if there's specific questions that you all have you know feel free to let us know and we'll be happy to answer for you fantastic thank you so much stephen for going through all of this in quite a nice detail because this is really where we want to get all of our agents to, to actually be going into the actual real estate world where you're actually recognized as an icon agent. In fact, it was going to be known in our industry that if you're dealing with an icon agent, you're dealing with a high performing agent and you want to get to that particular status. The biggest question that we have here in South Africa is who is going to be our first icon agent. That is something from a leadership point of view that we're

all talking about. We want to know. who that first person is and I'm pretty sure in the next week or months we're going to be seeing our very first icon agent. Stephen, I want to thank you so much for coming on to this particular call. It's always fantastic to have these particular chats and I'd like to now open up for any questions. So if you've got any questions, the chat box, I'm about to actually push this little button over here, which is absolutely magnificent. You're going to see your microphone has changed from gray to red. So you can actually turn on your microphone. You can actually ask a question directly or alternatively.

You can pop it into the actual chat box. We are here for a good couple more minutes to actually entertain these particular questions because are you going to be the next icon agent? That's going to be the question I want to find out. So are there any questions from anybody on this particular call? Either turn on your microphone, say hello, or pop it in the actual chat box. I love it. Stephen, you've actually knocked this out of the park. So we got one question from Maladi.

How do you qualify to be an icon agent? So Maladi, I'm pretty sure that you came and maybe a little bit late. We did cover that in the beginning, right right in the actual beginning. But there it is. Stephen has actually put that up onto the actual screen itself. Stephen, give us the 32nd version. What do they need to do to become an icon? So the first thing to become an icon agent is hitting those production.

requirements. So again, there's two options to hit those production requirements. Both options, you first have to hit your company cap in 150,000 RAND, right? And then option one, it's either an additional 15,000 RAND after you hit that company cap in cap status transaction fees with a minimum of 35 transactions closed or a GCI route. If you're selling $3 million in RAND and closed at least 10 transactions or 3 million in gross commission income and then 10 transactions. That's how you become an icon agent, right? That's what we say.

You hit the production, right? Once you hit the production, those additional options, you know, for the cultural and events open up. But the production is the number one thing. You got to hit that. And then everything else opens up after that. Absolutely. So there's the 32nd version, Melotti, is basically it's getting into production. paying that 150,000, which is really going through those deals. In essence, 600,000 in gross

commission, 12 million rand in property sales. So that's all you really need to do. And if you're selling on average in South Africa, that's seven and a half properties. So make it eight properties. And you can become a cap agent. That means you're really a couple of steps closer and then get into those high level. 35 transactions with the additional cap status of the 15,000 RAND per transaction or alternatively minimum of 10 transactions, 3 million rand gross commission. Sounds like a big task. I know every single one of you can actually go ahead and do that. Surrey will be attending events, but only you've recognized after you capped.

So that's actually a good question. So, Stephen, if they are in the process, let's say for instance, EXPCon is hosted in the beginning half of the year, they go out and they attend the XPcon in that particular year. And then a month or two later, they hit that icon status. Do we look back at that particular event if it's still within that 12 month anniversary period? So we don't look back. Everything again, right, everything kicks off once you hit the production. So you hit the production. Now any events, you know, within the next 12 months that I attend, that's what's going to qualify for for the potential stock event credit, right?

But nothing before, right? We want to, we still obviously want you guys to come to events and everything, right? But nothing kicks in as far as the benefits until that production is hit first. And then after that production, the cultural and event pieces come in after. Yes, it's a 12 months after you cap. Correct. Yeah, that's what we call our icon benefit year, right? You have your capping period, which never changes, right?

That's, let's say it's 1-1 to 1231, right? But when you hit the production kicks off that next 12-month ruling period, and that's what we call that ICOM benefit period, and that's when you have the opportunities for cultural events. Absolutely. And the great thing, yes, sir, is an outseemous with ICON agents in the US. And Stephen, you can attest to this. They hit icon status in their first year. The chances of them hitting icon status in their second year increases exponentially. It's like becoming a cap agent.

Once you become a cap agent, it's almost like every year. You're almost guaranteed as long as you keep your production levels up, you're going to become a cap agent. So once you become an icon agent, your production levels are going to start to increase, which means the next year, you're going to become an icon agent. And then you start getting those accolades of being a three times icon agent, a four times icon agent, or a 10 times icon agent.

And that actually gives me a question while I was very busy thinking of that. Who has got the most amount of? icon awards. Do you know who that particular individual is? Yes, yes. It's Elizabeth Riley. She's one of her, she's she's from Texas, right? She's from Texas, right? Sheila, I think she's coming up on her ninth award here. She hasn't already got it. Yeah. So this is where I want to put into the chat box. How would you like for me to interview Elizabeth Riley? If you want me to now reach out and try me, I'm like that little squirrel on the tree. I will get that nuts out of the tree. How would you like me to actually do an interview and I will try my best? I've got a couple of partners that I know. Put a yes in the chat box. If you want me to do a session with Elizabeth Riley to find out how she's done it nearly nine times. Because I think that is really going to start to attest to, hey, this is something that is definitely, definitely achievable. So, this. This is something that I know that you guys are obviously wanting that.

Brent, I see your hands going up. You've either given me a hardcore half-five or you have a question that you're wanting to ask. Go for it. Hi, Stuart. Hi, Stephen. I hopped onto the call a little late, but I just wanted to query specifically the 35 transactions that you need to close. Are there any restrictions on those transactions, i.e. in terms of CGI, gross commission income, does it have to be a certain amount or can it just be literally any transaction possibly even including personal

transactions so just a bit of a technical question around there because i think i'm quite close to it in terms of being at 31 and i don't have too much time left so yeah i i can i'll follow up i'll give you an answer but i'll follow just to make sure i'm i'm 100% accurate on it and stewart might know some of this better than even i do specifically to south africa But you guys have what are considered the qualifying transactions, right, which do have a minimum on there. So I believe it would still be, yes, qualified transactions. But Stewart, I don't know if you know for sure what those values are. Yeah, and sorry for the technical question, but I have seen that reference to the qualifying transactions,

which I think, you know, sort of pertain more to the revenue share and obviously the FLQA and that sort of thing. But yeah, it would be nice to just understand if it was just 35, any transactions or if it was, you know, specific transactions sort of thing. Do you have any specific ones that you don't believe would qualify or types of transactions that you don't think would qualify? I suppose, you know, personal transactions, presumably, even though you're paying a 4% transaction for, fee, presuming those won't count, but I haven't taken those into account because I just, you know, assume they won't count. And then it's just really small rental transactions, for instance, where maybe they don't quite qualify in terms of like the CGI. So my understanding is the icon is more specific to sales transactions and not rental transactions. Okay, so there's a restriction in

terms of that. It's got to be 35 sales. And that's what we will clarify is just a make sure because on the if you're doing a small little rental it doesn't really put it into that that particular category but i think that there is a minimum criteria when it comes to rentals so if you are doing rentals 25 30 000 rentals rentals per month they could fall within the actual category but we do need to just get that verified because that's really where we had this little bit of a gray area yeah yeah yeah appreciate you if you can look into that for me yeah we definitely It's easy to go and do a small rentals in a particular month that are very, very small in the transit. But we will get that confirmed.

And Brent, as soon as I have that answer, I will reach out to you personally so that you get that particular answer. Fantastic. Even on the rentals, though, Stuart, they're still paying a transaction fee, though, correct? Correct. Correct. Okay. All right. Yeah, we will follow up on it, but I just wanted to, I'm writing, I'm jotting some stuff

down on my side that really what it comes down to is we work really close with the transactions departments in those in those countries right so in a way you could always look at icon program is we're validating the numbers right we don't set the policy of exactly how every transaction is settled in every specific country but we're validating the numbers once they turn them over to us so we will double check with them specifically on that policy and and find out for you. 100%. I did see some notes that did come around with regards to value on the actual rentals, but let's get that all confirmed because one thing that we did do is we negotiated. And trust me, Stephen, you'll be well aware of this.

We negotiated on this icon to bring it down so that our South Africans can achieve it. So there was quite a negotiation. And I think if the American agents knew about this, they would want to come and start working here in South Africa because they'll be going, really? You guys have made it. And I put in inverted commas a lot easier. So we definitely negotiated. Yeah, this was the, I brought it up just in case anybody did have any questions on it because I wanted to be prepared. Because you're right.

There was a change. We got to finalize in September here to, to, to, to me. move those numbers down. There used to only be one option. And honestly, that option was, yeah, right, it wasn't, it wasn't something that we want to see icon agents in, in the different countries, right? So we're making an effort to really dive into numbers, making sure we're looking at everybody to get it so that we can start seeing, you know, hopefully the top percentage of the, of the population in every country are achieving the icon. So this was the old ones, right? It still had the 150,000 in company cap.

But then just had a straight 5 million in CAP-Statist transaction fees. It just was really not anything that I think aligned to what you guys were doing here. So even in the cultural right, again, there used to be what we call like pathways to kind of achieve these things. And we moved them over to the points. So this is the new one, right? A lot more hopefully achievable. We did. We dug into numbers with finance and transactions.

and, you know, hopefully came up with something that we can start seeing some agents from South Africa achieving. So, absolutely. And that's us looking after our agents. That's what we do. We regard you all as a family. As much as people say, don't say a company as a family, we still have that family culture. And a family culture is one that looks out for each other. And that's exactly what we're doing over here. So we did do all the negotiations. I saw Sheila gave us one of those little shiny hearts that jumped up on the screen because I'm sure she was aware of it. But we did negotiate. We got it down and there it goes. It's popping up the actual screen itself. And we made sure that we are looking after to make sure that we can have

as many icon agents as possible here in South Africa because that is the recognition that we want to get to every single one of you. So are there any final thoughts coming to questions from anybody in the actual audience? So other turn a microphone for the last time or pop into the actual chat box because if there's no more stephen from yourself any final thoughts or comments yeah i'll say one thing because i know stewart you're you're you're just waiting an itching for for that first agent to achieve it in south africa and um to give you a little bit of an idea right we've at the past ex pcon um in the past shareholders that we had we had some global icons there um we do a lot of special things at these large events for icons, you know, they're just exclusive to the icons, extra,

you know, hospitality suites that they get access to and things like that. But when we do have the global icons, some of them do travel, you know, to these, right? We had one come from Australia. We had one come from India. We've had a Puerto Rico and a UK agent come to some of these events. And they are. They're like celebrities because everybody wants to talk to the icon agents, you know, from the other countries and hear the differences and how they can relate.

And yes, try to spark up referrals if they ever have somebody that's moving from a country to another. So, you know, we're definitely excited. We're hoping that we see somebody very soon from South Africa, achieve. And yeah, thanks again for having us. We appreciate the invite to come and talk to you guys. Absolutely. And definitely, our excitement is actually boiling over at the moment, waiting for this first icon agent to land in South Africa so that we can recognize.

them and trust me it's going to be a big bigger event we will definitely take this to the next level so stephen i actually want to reach on say thank you so much for coming out and joining us in this particular session explaining the icon program really digging into it so our agents can actually understand that guys it's always been a pleasure and honor to have you on these particular calls like i say at the end of all my sessions the future of your real estate it starts right now