Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - The Cheat Code to Success: Believe in Yourself & Execute Daily

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

What’s the real cheat code to building success and living a life of purpose? It's not books, podcasts, or flashy routines, it’s internal belief and relentless execution. In this episode, Shawn French sits down with LJ Hunt and Julian Rivera of Iron Valley Real Estate to talk about how they left behind burnout and built thriving businesses during one of the most uncertain times in modern history. From waking up at 4 AM to train before the world wakes up to scaling new systems while raising families, this conversation is packed with grit, gratitude, and game-changing strategies. If you’ve ever felt stuck or unsure of your next step, this episode will remind you that belief isn’t optional, it’s required. Get ready to be fired up. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Because if you do not believe in yourself, it doesn't matter what I say on the air, you are going to be fucking stuck and not just say it, but feel it in your soul. That is the cheat code. I can listen to a podcast all day or read books or listen to public speaking and all. None of that shit mattered. None. You have to change internally for any real external change to happen. there has to be a growth pattern. Like where I am right now is not going to cut it for the next level.

Cool. I'm done now. We made it. We made it. They were good. Like this is freaking Disneyland. No, no, no, no. It's a constant push to get better.

Let the pain inspire me. I'm from all and everything I'm doing up until it's done. I'm me for the entirety. I put it in overtime. I'll be working. Just know I'm a go for mine because I earned it. They watch and I know it's time. I confirmed it.

A whole society determined. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of The Determined Society. I am your host, Sean French. Thanks for watching. Before I introduce my two amazing guests this morning, I want to ask you, if this is the first time you are listening or watching this episode, please subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts, leave an amazing review.

And, hey, share the episode with someone that you know, love, and trust. Today, I have a great, great treat for you guys. I've got two individuals here that are absolute badasses here in Norfolk, Virginia. Virginia. I have L.J. Hunt and Julian Rivera. They work out of Iron Valley in Norfolk and they have an amazing culture. We're here to talk about their journey today and their company. So boys, welcome to the show. Thanks for having us. What's up, Sean? Dude, chilling, man. Those pushups for fun. It gets to blood flow and gets you like right in them headspace. Even if you had a workout this morning, it's just like, yeah, let's love it. Do you know what's crazy this morning, guys? So, you know,

I get up and my team was telling me, hey, don't get up until five. You need to sleep. my eyes opened at like 2.30 in the morning, finally went back to sleep, and then I was like, I just got up at 4, right? Like normal. Go up, go down the gym or up to the gym. For like an hour and 15 minutes, man, had that place to myself.

It was cool, man. Yeah. It was cool. I'm like thinking the whole time, I'm like, now I remember, you know, when... When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp. The secure messaging app that brings the whole group together.

Use polls to settle dinner plans. Send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom's 60th. And never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end-to-end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp. Message privately with everyone. Learn more at WhatsApp.com. Going on the road, I would bring my workout stuff and I would never go.

Right. And now it was like today was a non-negotiable for me, right? And I was there in that kind of discipline. really, you know, helps throughout the whole day. Yeah. You make that first tough decision, guys. It's, you know, it always helps. So anyway, tell me about, let's start with LJ.

LJ, tell me a little, tell the audience about yourself a little bit, briefly, kind of give the background, how you came to Iron Valley, you know, maybe your past and, you know, we'll do the same thing with our boy Julian here. And then we'll get down and, you know, down and dirty. Well, I'm a local here in the area, Hampton Roads area. my family kind of got pieced together

so my mother's from Boston my dad's from here grandparents from Akron, Ohio came because of the military then you know talking about myself is not the best thing that I do

man I'm not going to tell you so I mean long story short man I was around I was in the hospitality business for two decades So my most recent job, if you will, before I went into real estate was with yardhouse. So I was a- The Juffle fries. It was the best.

I got the recipe if you want it. Yeah. Yeah. I have a lot of those recipes. There we go. But, you know, COVID hit. So COVID was a real challenging time for everybody, obviously. You had essential employees doing just basically the essentials, right?

So we laid off everybody except for the management team. Some managers were opening the building, running the kitchen, cleaning up, like the whole nine. It was like just trying to keep the business together. Then we opened back up, social distancing, and just kind of everything was going on. And I mean, long story short, man,

I just, I had enough of it. Right, right. I had been working 12-hour days, seven days a week for an eternity it felt like. And the old principal broker of the Hampton Roads. So you're about to make a trade based on a, friends text. But which you do you listen to? Is it, we could buy a house in Touloum? Get optioning those options. We could lose everything. Or let's do a little research. Get your head in the

trade and make the investment decision that's right for you. Learn more at finra.org slash trade smart. Iron values to come in. You know, obviously before everything shut down and he's trying to give me in a it all the time. You got the personality for her. You can do it. Like, you're a local. You got all connections. Like, you would love it. So when things started kind of happening, it was like, all right, well, maybe I'll make this move. Maybe I'll make this move. And then obviously I got to my breaking point and I said, all right, I'm going to do it. So I went all in, man. Seriously, all in. I drained my 401k. I quit my job. I took the test in November of 2020. didn't get technically licensed until January of 2021.

15th, it was a couple of days ago as my four-year anniversary. Congratulations. And then just... Just took off. Yeah. What was some of the things that held you back or that, you know, when you start talking about it, right?

Because there's a level of fear, right? I would say, probably, of, okay, I'm in the hospitality business for 20 years. And now this gentleman is saying that I would be great in real estate, well, that in between when you were hesitating, or not even hesitating, And before you pull the trigger, was there some sort of fear or kind of a mindset thing that you were battling with for you? Absolutely.

What was that? I mean, I think it's with anybody that's got the old J-O-B, really. The first thing is really believing yourself. You know, I didn't realize it, but investing in yourself just in general is something that we don't do. Yeah. You know, you live in paycheck or paycheck or just getting paid by somebody else. You don't have that self-confidence that you would normally have, especially if you're an entrepreneur or a business person. So I realized, you know, I was always taking care of other people, other people, other people, whether of course my family, the team members, you know, the people in the kitchen, the guests that were coming in.

And I wasn't really taking care of myself. Yeah. And probably didn't even realize that until maybe a year or so in. And you were just talking, you know, about how you woke up and went to the gym and all those sort of things. Like, I do the same thing. But in my gym's in my house. You know, and I literally just have a bench and some dumbbells. and it's my alone time.

And he just talked to my wife. Okay, I really want a home gym. Yeah, I mean, it's amazing because it's about time as well. Like, I don't have to drive to the gym. I don't have to get dressed. I don't know. Like, I literally wake up, I have my coffee, have my water, do a little meditation, relax, on some iron, and I'm done for the day.

Then I can help you operate through your day. Clarity. You know the thing. It's the worst, man. Like, you are tired when you wake up. Yeah. But just a little bit of water, a little hydration, relaxed. I feel like that that point right there, like when your alarm goes off and you don't want to get up and go do the hard shit, right?

If we give in to that, you know, inner voice that says, don't do it. And, you know, our brain is wired to keep us safe from anything, right? And it doesn't want to take that risk. It wants to feel comfortable. But when we decide to take that move, no matter what we feel emotionally and go do the workout, right, have the water, have the coffee. and then no matter how bad we feel at that moment right there, we just start moving our body.

And then after 10 minutes, like you forget that you didn't even want to be there. And now your next decision that's supposed to be hard becomes easy because you've already set the tone for the fucking discipline. It's so important. Everybody thinks like waking up in the morning,

you know, at 4 a.m. And going to the gym as a flex for social media, that's bullshit. What it is for me, I have three children in a wife. I don't want to take time away from them. I want to knock it out and I want to be able to get to my house by, you know, 6, 615,

help the kids get out the door, make their breakfast and their lunches and their snacks and all that kind of stuff. Make my wife's coffee. Make sure the cars packed so she can, you know, take them to school, right? Knowing that I've completed more than most people are going to complete their whole fucking day.

You're just in a good mood. Yeah. Like when I do it, I'm just happy. All right. This is awesome. Yeah, it's true. my man LJ It's because

I'm a DJ That's fine DJ LJ LWA That's why It is why it is why Talk about yourself man You know You have another like

Interesting part of you That I want to highlight too Man You do a lot of cool shit I do some cool stuff I will say I'm very blessed I like to say that But

LDA always joked me Because I say I'm from here Born and raised But I wasn't Really from New York But I came here I was three And I never left

So I'm really from here So I go to New York, I don't know the subway system. I get lost. So I feel you're not a local unless you know how to get to X, Y, Z. Fruit of Mount, right? Just like one of the rats. He always dogs me, but it's always for them better of me. It's confusing.

Or they take a taxi, but it's $20 for a block. But anyways, so yeah, I'm a DJ and a realtor, so I call myself with the DJ realtor here. So I've been here since literally forever, been DJing since high school, back when there was, you know, the old thing called Vinals with that? Yeah, yeah. I remember vinyl's all day. So I was a young guy hanging out with the older guys in the club.

Not because I want to go to the club. I wanted to see them work. I wanted to see it was an instrument to me. It's like, so I'm playing guitar, turntableism is an instrument to me. So I was the young guy hanging out with the older guys where the OGs now are out of the game. So I had the old school flair with the new school vibe. That's what I like to say. So now I've been doing that for a while and that's always been my passion.

Music's been my love. And I had one main goal that I wanted to accomplish in this market and was to be on the radio station that I grew up living to. And I did it for 10 years. So that's my radio show having on there, I was there on all four stations. I call myself the chameleon DJ because it doesn't matter if it was a Caucasian room and African-American room, Hispanic room, a combination room. I can vibe with everybody. So I was able to be on all the stations, which helped me out. But it allowed me, and I say this a lot, to get in the room. That was my main thing. That was my understood. That was my one, like ticket in there. Whether I felt like I was qualified or not. I knew somebody needed entertainment. Somebody needed to have something to keep the vibe going. And I used to not like being on the mic. I used to be like being on the mic. I used to not like this. I just want to DJ. Because back in the day, it was a DJ and an MC. The MC's out there doing it as well. The DJ's working on it.

Sure. But it's because they had to worry about the vinals, the doubles, the tracking, being able to blow. Now you can do both. You just add more hats because technology helped out. So when that 08-09 technology boom happened for the DJ world, that just made me more of an open format DJ. Okay, so now I can go from the Jay Z to the Katie Perry to the Calvin Harris to the Migos and back and make it sound like the endless soundtrack is supposed to be. Did that for a long time. One of my late mentors to Mayer, I met him at the radio station, in radio.

and TV. You have three main departments. You have your programming, which is your talent. Everyone is on the radio doing it. You have your marketing, everyone running the marketing, the concerts, the events, the radio remotes, and you have your sales. Sales is what drives the entire shit. Without sales, you don't have the other two departments. That's just what it is. They kept trying to get me to come to sales. I'm like, no, dude, I'm good. I'm fine. Like, I'm having fun over here. I'm running the marketing department. I called myself the entreploy for a long time because I had my other businesses that I'm running on the side while doing this. And it was great for a long time, but he kept pushing me in a very polite way. At the time, I didn't realize this, but he

was really good at making somebody stronger what they're already good at. He never tried to focus on your weaknesses, at least out the gate. And he was always the number one sales manager every quarter just because he related with people better. So long story short, I ended up moving over to the sales side, he came to the dark side. But it was a really big reason. I was making good money doing what I was doing, but I was writing it all off. So what couldn't I get by doing that? a house. House. And I need to get a house because it's fun fact.

I have five kids. You do? I know I look good. It's crazy. I know. It's like it looks like you had one. Exactly. That's the goal here.

That's why we got to stay in shape. Why we do push-ups before the show. My oldest just turned 21 on Wednesday. Wow. Yeah. So 21 and then 19, 16, and then I have eight and three. Talk about age gap. Whoa.

Right. So when you're talking about being determined. Yes. That's my why. That's my why I do what I do in my way. I have an amazing wife, Myra, being together for almost 14 years. We're finally having our wedding

in a week and a half too, by the way. Congrats. So we, but the whole thing behind that is that we wanted to get a house, right? We were renting, we were growing up, whatever the case may be. So I jumped over there,

get documented income. I slayed it over there, better than I thought I was gonna do, but that was me not, like you were saying, the confidence. It wasn't to that level I thought I had,

but it was there. Yeah. I just needed somebody to get me, get it out of me, which boom, happened. Killed it every year. Breaking goals.

This was when digital marketing started becoming huge. That was my 14. Tay. So I really went heavy into that into social media realm. Fast forward a few years. I opened a few more businesses while still working here. But I was like, you know what? One thing I realized by talking to all these business owners, bro, the only thing that differentiated them between me and them, they believed in himself. They went for it. Yeah. They went all in. On a few of your episodes, I always hear you talking about going all in, being laser focused

or just doing that regardless of what guests or whoever that you have. So I decided I'm going to go all in. So I developed a plan. plan to retire from corporate America in January of 2020. That was my plan, but I've made that plan until the 19. And I've met with an individual, one of my clients at a time that turned out to be one of my best friends to this day and still one of my business partners that we just developed a plan. I knew this that I wanted to get out that way. Boom. Did it.

Got out. January 30th, January 31st, 2020. What happened the next month? The world caught on five. You see what I'm saying? Like, yeah, talk about holy shit. Dude. Right?

But the plan was, I was a lot. co-owner of at the time a pizza restaurant that I just had to help with marketing. And I was going to get my license. And I was going to go all in on real estate because I started realizing that's something I know I could do. Right. But I didn't know the world was going to effing in, right? But we also didn't know what was going to happen with real estate.

Nobody could have forecasted what was going to happen in a positive realm of real estate world, right? Sure. So luckily, LJ, it took him like two months to get the license. It took me six to seven months to get my license because everything was shut down. Yeah. I mean, I had to drive to D.C. or Northern Virginia. me to get my, to take a test that I failed by one question, by the way, and then I had to retake it again. And it just, it was a lot of waiting, hurry up and wait. There's a lot of like the

adversity, right? There was a lot of starts and stop from what I'm hearing. And what's funny, too, I mean, I want to, I want you to go back. Yeah, yeah. But I want to address the audience really quickly. So, you know, we're talking about the whole journey, right, of going into entrepreneurship and leaving corporate America. I think so many people right around the height of COVID did that. because it was that reset. Like, it was so unfortunate what happened to so many people, man.

Lives were lost. Yes. You know, no matter what sub-defense you sit on, it's still really freaking sucked. No matter how you look at it, it was just a bad time, you know. But also, it was a time for everybody to kind of reevaluate what they wanted

of their lives. And the one thing I have for you guys watching and listening is simply this. The biggest difference between entrepreneurs and what Julian was asking, was the fact that they had a high level belief in themselves. So whatever you're going through right now, you need to dig down deep and ask yourself,

do you truly believe in yourself? Because if you do not believe in yourself, it doesn't matter what I say on the air or my unbelievable guests are saying you are going to be fucking stuck unless you can seriously get that believability in you and not just say it, but feel it in your soul. Yep.

Right? That is the cheat code. And from then, you know, in the sales training, That's basically what my whole thing is on. And then know your key performance indicators. Know what you have to do daily in order to move the football down the field a little bit, right? But always execute. But start with the belief, man.

And that's what you guys have done. That's what you did. That's what you did. And it's just, I'm loving the brand story of Iron Valley in general because I started in COVID. Right. Four years ago, right? Yeah, dude. It was wild.

It was wild. So anyway, I'm sorry, dude. I just felt appropriate to highlight what you were saying to the audience. They can really dig down and feel that self-reflection of like, okay, do I really believe I can do this? Yeah. I really think that when you talk about motivation just in general, you've got extrinsic motivations. You've got intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic really doesn't matter unless it builds up your intrinsic motivation.

So being able to believe in yourself is where it's at. So I can listen to podcast all day or read books or listen to public speaking and all. None of that shit matter. None. Unless it changes you somehow inside so that you wake up every morning and you start believing yourself. You start taking those things there and making them your own. And that's what that's where the switch gets flipped. That you hit the nail in the headache, LJ.

It's like, you know, you have to change internally for any real external change to happen. Right. So if we're, you know, building our bodies back up. right, getting in good shape, right? If we're trying to build a business, or we're W2 in a sales organization, you are never going to sell and you're never going to excel

if you don't change internally. There has to be a growth pattern because if not, you're just the same cat. Yeah. And the same cat ain't going to get it done. No. Like where I am right now is not going to cut it for the next level.

I have to grow. And so do you guys. It's not a never-ending thing. Okay, cool. I'm done now. We made it. We made it. We're good.

Like, this is freaking Disneyland. Yeah. No, no, no, no. It's a constant push to get better. Yep. And, I mean, like LJ, he had a tipping point, you know, during ironic, during COVID. You know, my tipping point, I was pre-planning and then COVID happened, but it was the same timeframe.

You know, we all got smacked in the face during that time. And we just decided to go all in on this fun game we call real estate. Yeah. So prior to that, you know, I was kind of already in real estate buying some houses and like renting them. Nothing crazy, but I understood the game a little bit, not from a more so helping clients fulfill the ultimate American dream, because that's still the dream of homeownership. I don't care what anyone says. So at the end of the day, now we're at a place, fast forward from 2020 to 2025. It's crazy to say it's 2025 still. We've just gotten to a place now. We really

had to grow. So what's the next level? So we did a bunch of years. I could speak for LJ in this one. LJ just kicks ass, by the way. Let me just stop real quick. He hates talking about himself because he's so effing good. And I say that and not in a cocky way. I respect this man so much in what he does, but he's the silent ninja. Or I'm the boisterous, let's go. Like, I'll talk and I'll keep it going because I enjoy the storytelling of it. But his story is so unique because he was kicking ass in an industry that was already

having a lot of controlled chaos and running an environment with a system-related goal at the end of the day. He just took that and placed it in real estate and slays it. Like, seriously. He does the exact same thing he was doing there just in a way that helps him to control a lot more family's futures and more importantly his family's future. I like this. And the one thing that I'll say that I love is the fact that you are lifting your boy up right now. It's true. Men don't do that. Men don't do that. You know, not an, I'm sorry, that's a, that's a generalization. Most men aren't doing that. Right. They see that as a threat. Or I like to be exactly where you're at,

Julian is like, I want to edify my people. I want to say this dude or this girl, she's, they are badasses and they are amazing. I want to ask you a question, though. What? Yeah. What do you think the key determinant is? Like, you know, you're the silent ninja. Great.

You kick ass. But why? Like, what is it about you that can do that? Because I have my own idea. What is it about, like me? Like my own, it's my care for people, flat out. It's just because, like, that's where I really started to make the shift was out of that, out of the hospitality.

You got to the gentleman. position and it's about the numbers and it's about the business how many butts you've got in seats and what your food costs and labor and P&L and all is. Raise all I mean, Razor things, just everything. So yeah, you're talking about raised with the. Yeah, absolutely. Even in our labor market. And it just really, you know, we used to say it's about the people, it's about the people, but you can't really touch

500 people that come into, you know, the restaurant at a given time. You can try and teach your people in order to do that. And I just felt like that I'd lost the, connection between actually changing people's lives, right? You go, hey, happy birthday, here's a brownie, whatever. Yeah. Now I literally get to, like, here's your brownie, here's your birthday song, like, whatever. But now, when I get a phone call from a past client or, you know, a lead from the internet or whatever it is, like, I'm getting ready to help them purchase a home, proverbial, you know, American dream. There's a easy way to do it, and that's with knowledge and comfort and low stress and then there is a very challenging way to do it.

You know, realtors just in general have a bad rap in the industry because of how much money we make or whatever it is, but if you're doing it the right way, it's just, it's so gratifying for the people and for me itself. So I've grown from being able to do that with my clients to still doing it with my clients, but also now teaching agents how to do it properly and teaching others how to focus on their business so they can do it so they can teach more people. So I'm getting to the point now where it's like I'm spider webbing everything that I can do for more people and actually touching more lives and helping more people. And I think that's where it burns from more than

anything after that. My answer was going to be service. Right? You're interviewing the people and it's the same answer, right? And that's why I kind of smiled when you said you care for people. Like I find that most successful entrepreneurs actually give a shit about human beings. Like if you just chase the number, we've all done it at one point, right? Like, I'm guilty as shit of it, right? Like, you know, I got to sell this amount.

Here's my quota. We got to get it. We got to get it. We got to get it. But what I've found now is that when I operate at a place of love and respect and the care for others and I'm just here to give and give and give,

it's funny how things boomerang back around. And a lot of times, it's not that specific situation with that person, but you're like infinitely blessed in another area that comes into that circle, right? And then, yes, you do capitalize. You do end up making a lot of money, but it's not because you're out there grinding

and, you know, like Wolf of Wall Street boiler room stuff. Like you're showing the people who you really are and who we really are is, you know, service-driven men. That's what we're here on this earth. we're here to serve. Yeah, you talked about the KPI's and people focus on the volume in the real estate industry. And volume to me is just noise. That's all it is.

It's about how many families we help, period. Like, we're a transaction-based company, and I think that that's one of the reasons Iron Valley has grown so fast is it's like, I don't care about the $10 million home or whatever it is. Yeah, great. If I get one of those, awesome. But I care about how many families I can help, how many agents I can teach. how many agents I can teach to teach how many families to do it the right way, because that's what ultimately matters is, again, taking care of the people.

So that's where I kind of came up with that volume is just noise, because if my KPI is $30 million in sales volume, like nobody, how many people do you have to help? How many families you have to help? How many houses do you have to sell in order to hit that? Yeah, LJ, it's a great point. I think it's so important to focus on just the people.

Like, you're, if we look at the number, it's like looking up at Mount Everest like there's no shot I'm getting way up there but if you just take that step and start moving a little bit my goal is to help families and the more families you can touch and help then the number's going to take care of itself

and I always say that's like staying in your process right and again at sales training that's what I'm going to talk about is like staying within the process you in sales you have to have your KPIs do you know your KPIs if you don't understand how long it takes you or how many calls or how many times you canvass to get an actual real lead to get a listing or a buyer, then how the hell are you ever going to know what you need to do to hit those goals and those numbers that you need to? But it's also important

to understand that you cannot live and die on that. It has to be how can I impact people? Like if we make it just about us, we will never get to where we want to get. Those are those lead measures that lead to the lag measures, lead to the KPI. Like, you can't put a number on how many phone calls do I have to make in order to sell this many homes. You don't know. It could be 1,000, it could be 3. Yeah. So those lead measures that everyday process of making those phone calls, selling those, you know, the homes, sending the emails, sending the text messages, posting on social media, having those conversations.

Yeah. It's like, you can't figure out the ROI on that. You have to say, all right, well, my lag measure, if I want to sell 12 homes this year, you know, the first quarter, I want to sell three. Yeah. Because that would be where I'm at. So I might not sell any in January and February, but I might sell three in March. Yep.

And I might sell eight in April and then none in, you know, the next couple of months. So you have to take it as it comes, but make sure that you're continually being consistent, being disciplined at what you bought. Yeah, I agree, man. And, you know, the big thing, guys, I want to ask you is, you know, like, or to say is if they,

if we just, and if people just focus on that activity, and let that be the journey or the reward, those results are going to come quicker. Because when you focus on this isn't working or like a quid pro quo, right? Well, if I make this many calls this week, then I'm going to get X in return. No, bad move, bad move, man.

What are your thoughts about that, Jenny? Well, a lot of the time, it's, I've been saying this for a while, it's, if the client wins, you win by default. I don't care what that win looks like, but understanding that if you're doing right by the people, in theory, karma pays you back tenfold. But the more you do it, the more you might get good karma. And that could be health, wealth, or a mix of everything in between. And theory and real estate, we're talking about this.

Obviously, if you sell, you get paid. But again, like LJ is saying, it's about who you're serving. Because the biggest compliment, in my opinion, is a referral. It's been like that since day one when it comes down to DJing, real estate or any other businesses. I run an, I operate my entire DJ business by referral. And we still operate to this day. And last year, I did 112 gigs myself and booked over 200 for my company. That's just the DJ world. That's not even including real estate. So off the side, by the way, this is, you know, this is all. When I say we do this, like, we do this, but it's not a flex. It's more of a thank you because they allow us to help create those memories. Because 20 and units in the Hampton Roads are that guy over there just so you know.

Amazing. That's just real estate. So it's it. But like L.J. has taken his systems and processes and just what he's learned and put it in real estate is the same thing I've done from the entertainment world. So weddings, real estate. I'll use this a lot. There's three very important memories people have. Usually when you get married, when you buy yourself a house, and you have a baby. And I can help with two of those three things because I'm not going to help people deliver babies. I tell that all the time. But with that, you can't be there for that. Yeah, I'm not going to do that. I'm not getting my doctrine. Sorry, ladies. But with those two things, it coincides because it's a memory. They're going to remember you either you suck or you slate it. There's really no middle ground. So as long

as I know we can deliver and they win by default we win and what's that win look like outside of just getting compensated. Probably another referral. Probably a good review online. Probably them just talking good about yourself. Or like, no, I know him too. Yeah, it was a good guy. That goes further than anything to me because your reputation is specifically, I'm pretty sure in any market, but in this market, such as it's the biggest, smallest market in the country, as we call it here. And it's a very transient market. Yeah. We lose and gain, what, 300,000 people every year because of the military, give or take. So coming in and out of the market. So coming in and out of the market. and if we're affecting lives that are now traveling all over the place in some way, shape, or form,

I can't tell you how many times somebody in San Diego or Arkansas or whatever the hells refer someone to me because I helped them while they were here, whether I helped them with a house, an event, or always just nice to them. Love it, man. It's so funny, too, like, I want to get your guys' feedback on it. I always look at it like this. And my manager, who's one of my best friends now, my old manager at Paychecks, is my district sales manager, he brought me in there. He took a chance on me. It took me from, you know,

coaching baseball and teaching and making like maybe 40 grand a year. And I turned into one of top salespeople in the country at paychecks. And there's like 2,000. Nice. In that division, right? It was a small to midsize business division. We call it SMB. And he taught me at an early point in my career there. He goes, no one gives a shit how much you know until they know how much you care. And then I looked at that. I'm like, that's a great quote. And I can see that. But I want to take it a step further.

And I want to add. And I always thought this like, how are these business owners going to walk away feeling after every interaction with me? How do I make them feel? Yeah. And if you can make someone feel special and not because you have an agenda, but genuinely like cast such an amazing light and amazing conversation, and care towards them, that when they walk away from you, they're like, I really like that, dude.

I feel comfortable with it. I trust them. Yep. And it's just Jim Calue. That's it. That's the formula is really trust and value. That's what a referral is. A referral is somebody that trusted and valued what you did for them enough to say, hey,

here's my buddy, Julian, right? He's going to take care of your buying a house. Yeah, I trust and value everything that he does. So if you can get somebody to trust in value, right? That's how you continue on. Yeah, man. It's interesting to me. I just find a lot of people, you know, they forget that side of it.

You know, they forget that, you know, we're not entitled to success. We're not entitled to the sale. We're not entitled to grow. We are entitled the right to choose. That's it. And if we choose the right path daily, right, in growing that trust and value. with people. Man, you know, the world, so to speak, is our oyster, you know, and the one thing that drives

me crazy is when people want it right now. It doesn't happen like that, man. I'm close. Guys, it's like, you know, you don't know when it's going to happen. There's been some dark-ass times in this show, you know, and you're, you're a listener, so you probably heard me talk about them. Yeah. Like, there's a point, like, after three years, I'm like,

I think this show is this. Analytics were telling me the opposite. Do I tuck my tail between my legs, pack my shit up and go home? Or do I elevate? So I decided I have to take more risks. I remember talking to my wife. This show started with an iPhone in a car.

Now we're in the din and I'm doing it virtually and having someone edit it, right? And I can't control any of the factors. I can't control someone else's camera, can't control their sound. but if I'm going to take this to the next level, then I got to get the hell out of the house and I need some live.

I need some one-on-one. I need some in-person shit. And from that point, you know, I did that, you know, in June of this year. And then my show went through some growing paints. And then right around September, we hit that stride. We hit that stride where, oh, my God, like, we're on now. we're on, it's like more people are paying attention, more people are sharing, more people that are coming into the sphere. I'm like, how can I listen to this? Like what, like, I'm seeing the

clips, like, this is great. But it was done because it took a risk. I think that's another great point, right? We talk about, you know, karma, we talk about the process, we talk about everything, but I think one of the most important factors are, is taking that calculated risk. I went from, you know, paying, and you heard this on the solo show. Yeah.

My show used to, I used to pay $110 an episode to, to edit. Now, you know, I'm paying, you know, four figures every single month for all of it. And until I made that decision,

I didn't have that revenue. the moment I decided to make that move, then the show started generating some damn money. Well, you had to start monetizing, like you were saying. Monetizing the show, you know, it takes not everybody, some faster, some longer, but the average of a business is getting to a point three years of sucking, like, you know, just sucking in general,

of sucking it and making it make sense to get to that point of, I finally fucking made it. You know what I'm saying? And they're not necessarily sucking in that way. It's more so eating shit, learning, failing, moving forward, failing first attempt in learning, learn again, learn again, learn again, and then now you're finally here, but you had to monetize to get there. And then you say, you're not going to hear ad, you can hear some premium ads because we finally had a place

where we need to get this show to the next level, really because the audience is asking for it. If the analytics are there and it's stating that you're going to be growing, then this is what we need to do to grow. It's so wild, man. That's literally what it is. Yeah, it's literally what it is. And, you know, I know the listeners, like some people, like, they really hate ads. Like, I just want to listen to the show. Well, listen, guys, I just want to be honest is when we have a show like this and the production value and the scale that we want to be, like, we need revenue to do this and to make it better for you, right? And so, yeah, we have some ads and we have like, but I've heard Amazon Prime on there.

I've heard, you know, Lulu Lemon on there. I've heard Walmart. Right. I've heard McDonald's and I don't like that. We've got to fix that. But, you know, that's big for the show. You know, and I think that, you know, I would say new level, new devil, right? And soon there's going to be host red ads.

And you're going to be hearing my voice read them off. But we're, you know, I have a guy that's out there hunting those for them. And so we've figured out a system. And this is the next point that I want you guys to speak on is I've elevated my systems to a point where I'm doing so many different things. I could be sitting there sleeping and I'm making money on my on my show.

I could be sleeping in my teams editing a show, right? I could be sitting there on a phone call with one of you guys at 10 a.m. And my post goes out because my team does that for me. I interact. Okay, I'm the one, you know,

type it and reply and everything like that. But, but I'm, and now, while I'm doing all that stuff or when I'm hanging out with my kids, my team, My other part of my team is selling ad spots. We don't rise to the level of our goals. We fall to the levels of our system.

So how important are systems for you guys as realtors and everybody else in this office? Well, I'll say this, and I'm going to throw the ball to you, LJ. So LJ is a system. Shock guy. He's deflecting again. We're a really good ying and yang. And this kind of also evolves to like where Iron Valley Norfolk came from because the guys developed a really strong, let's just call it system here in the area that has grown, I think faster than anybody did. But again, this was birth during COVID, right? It's either he, it was really no middle ground. It's either you were here or here in COVID, right? So I don't, the guys grew way faster than they thought they were going to do. Shout out the Mike, Eric, Edwin, and Edgar. But and Jama as well. But now growth was looking as opening at another location that where they can stay and focus on their.

primary locations, but still have growth. And that's where their first franchise of the other franchise, Iron Valley, know her, aka our place, opened up. But LJ was already in the building here. That's the thing. He's already shown that his systems, his processes, and everything works because he knows what the hell he's doing. Me, I was the outsider coming in looking for another place, but they knew why I was.

They knew that I'm already killing it outside doing what I'm doing. So then when they wanted to marry the two systems together, I think LJ was probably all game for it. I was like, who the hell is this guy? I was like, I don't know you. I know of you. I know you do great, but I just don't know you. But one thing I also learned is I don't bring friends into business.

I make friends in business. And I learned that a long time ago. And I love all my friends. But I also respect the relationships that I want to keep it to where it's at. That's the system in its own. Really? Learning when to say no and learning when to say yes. So after a few weeks and months of talking, we decided to pull the trigger to start working together.

And like you said, it doesn't happen overnight. It took months. Took a lot of disclosures, a lot of back and forth. and boom, halfway through last year of 24, that's where the physical location actually opened, but it was months and months in the making. However, because we're able to take over in a positive route with kind of like just a lot of momentum already behind us,

the systems that LJ really has created is night and day from what I've seen and what I was used to. And I learned from this guy every day. He has to buckle me down a lot of the times to really focus on what he's doing, but it all makes sense. But he stays up with the trends on what he's doing, but systematically it's been ingrained. in his brain for so long.

It's like riding a bike to him where with me, I have to take my tricycles off and do it. But once I know it, I slay. Don't get me wrong. But the system that he's developed and put in place and marrying it with the other systems that's already been created with Iron Valley, it's, I mean, if we fail,

it's on us, not because of the systems. I really would say that. I love that. And, I mean, talk about what you've done and in place of that, because your system's, again, giving you credit because you have to give your fucking self-credit. You kill it on that.

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast, Smart Move. Being financially savvy, smart move. Another smart move? Having State Farm help you create a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto. Bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. I think it's integration, really. I mean, everything that we do is, I mean, and we manage things, right?

So I manage, whether it's my calendar or Monday.com or, you know, my CRM or whatever it is. And then we leave people. So probably the most challenging thing just in general for falling back down to the system is having the right people running said systems, you know, and being able to pour into them so that they run the system. And we had a team leadership council yesterday for, you know, for kind of the first time with all of the entities in, in the area and everything. It was like, hey, what's your system? What are you guys doing? This CRM, that CRM, all these different things.

It's like, okay, what people are you struggling with and how do you get them? Do you manage and do the things that you want them to do? Yeah. So it's the best system is the one that works. Sure. Most of the time is the one that you, put in your time in order to do so. You can pull, I mean, there's a billion different calendars out there, right?

Which calendar are you using? Yeah. Right? It's the one that you use. It's the one that you know, like and trust. Yep. So before I even got here today, before I even started driving, I had done everything for the brokerage.

It probably needs to be done for the entire day today. Wow. Because I had all the backend systems. I talked to my virtual assistant. I got my calendar going. I put a couple of tasks in place for not only my team members, but also some of the owners and leadership and people within the brokerage. Like, this is what needs to be done.

I'm going to be MIA for the next hour. Yeah. There you go. Let's cry. Get out of here. I'm going to go to a listing consultation for a past client. I'm going to talk to them. And I'm going to come back and hear you and Coach Michael Burt taught.

Yeah. So, you know, knowing that my calendar is laid out that way, okay, what do I have to do to make sure that everything is working? In relation, man. Yeah. What they were talking about, I think it was integration. Do you have creators? You have integrators. You have executors.

Like it's just about what is driving your business because you need capital. You already talked about that. You need a product. You need a place to do it. You need people. That's all you need for a business. So, love it, man.

The most difficult part for me, for any business, is the people. You have to have the right people. You have to have the ones that are motivated with that intrinsic motivation to believe in you. Yeah. They believe in you, not in the system. Let me give the shit about what system you're using. They care about who is running the system. why is it working.

Yeah. What is going on? What is making them success? And are you executing it? Yeah. Yeah, you have to execute the system. Guys, this has been an amazing conversation. I wish we had like another hour to talk.

I feel like this could be a longer episode. I have one more question, and I would love for each of you to answer this. And we'll start with Julian. The show is called The Determined Society, right? And I built this show and built this brand on the heels of just the sheer wish that I can wake up every day in a society that was determined enough to go chase their dreams, or matter how they felt emotion. And that's what I stick to. That's what we are, we are falling into that discipline and we're executing that daily now. But what does determination

mean to you? Grit, never giving up, putting your best foot forward, not making excuses. We talked about our paying attention journey that we're on now before the show. And over the past, 13, 14 months, whatever it's been, being down 40, almost 50 pounds. And being on that game, understands that, you know, health is wealth. We've heard that our whole life cliche statement, but it really is, dude. So I'm determined to stay in a physical state that will keep me at the level that I've built outside of my physical being. So that determination is going to be strictly based on showing up, doing what I say,

I'm going to do, don't over promise, make sure you over deliver, and stay consistent. I love it. That's my main definition on that one. Love a dude. Very good one. What about you about? It's funny that you say that. Real funny that you say that because just thinking about the word determined kicks me into what my 2025 like word for the year is and it's forward. Nice.

It's just it's forward. We're going to keep going forward and odds are we're going to get kicked back. Yeah. I mean, that's just what happens. When you're trying to succeed, you fail. You were talking about earlier. But if you keep going forward and you, you are determined as you are going forward, you're never going to fail.

Because when you fail, you quit. Yep. That's when you actually fail. Yep. Is when you quit. Exactly. So keep going forward means that you have to be determined in order to do so. I love it.

Period. It's very good. Well, guys, listen, you know, I've had an amazing time with you guys. And I'm so excited for the sales training that me and Coach Michael Bird are going to do. I'm excited for the event tonight. I'm excited for the big event tomorrow. This has been such an amazing experience for me. and we're only, I got here just yesterday,

I'm truly starting to really understand what Michael and Tim Lewis have been talking about this whole time with just this community. Everybody, everybody is top-notch, everybody is focused on people, and everybody's disciplined. And to me, determination is about grit,

but mostly it's about determination, I mean, discipline, right? Like, what can I do every single day to keep going? And it doesn't have to be flashy, sexy, or just mean, like, oh, I'm determined on, you know, David Gaggins. Let David Gagins and Andy Fricela and all them, Jocko, be them. But you guys out there, be you. And what does determination mean to you? I want you to think of that right now.

Because determination to you right now could mean you're in a depressed state and you're just getting out walking 10, 15 minutes is determination. And I want you to give yourself that grace. And then as you get better and you put more habits in place, then the determination level switches. But the determination factor is just the amount of guts to keep moving forward when nobody's paying attention, when nobody is clapping,

when you just feel like breaking down and crying, those are the moments you move forward. So again, I just want to thank you guys for coming on this show and giving the audience a massive amount of value and becoming new friends of mine. It means a lot. And man, I just, I just appreciate it, John.

I really do. High five. Thank you for your time. You got it, man. Thank you. Until next time, guys, I want you to do one thing. I want you to share this episode with someone you feel needs to hear it. Don't forget to leave some comments on Spotify so I can go in there and reply back to you.

And I would love to hear what you guys want me to talk about next. But until then, stay determined. Entirety I put it in overtime I'll be working Just know I'm a go for mine Because I earned it They watch and I know it's time

I confirmed it A whole society Determine the term it's a show Rinse takes your laundry And hand delivers it to your door Expertly cleaned and folded So you could take the time Once spent folding and sorting

And waiting to finally pursue A whole new version of you Like tea time you Or this tea time you Or even this tea time you Said you hear about Dave? Or even tea time, tea time, tea time you. Mmm.

So update on Dave. It's up to you. We'll take the laundry. Rinse. It's time to be great.