Wake Up to Wealth - Unpacking Success- Real Estate Insights with Justin and Ibrahim

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

In episode 34 of Wake Up to Wealth, Brandon Brittingham interviews Ibrahim Hussein, the Founder of Affinity Real Estate, and Justin Havre, the Team Leader at Justin Havre Real Estate Team, as they dive deep into the strategies and mindsets that have propelled their success in the industry.Tune in to learn about the philosophies that have shaped their careers and discover actionable strategies for achieving wealth and success in real estate.SOCIAL MEDIA LINKSBrandon BrittinghamInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mailboxmoneyb/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brandon.brittingham.1/Ibrahim HusseinInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ibrahussein_/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hema412/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ibrahim-hussein-6aa213a6/Justin HavreInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinhavre/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justinhavre/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinhavre/WEBSITESBrandon Brittingham: https://www.brandonsbrain.org/homeAffinity Real Estate: https://www.affinityrealestate.ca/Justin Havre Real Estate Team: https://www.justinhavre.com/eXp Realty: https://www.exprealty.com/

This is Wake Up to Wealth, a podcast dedicated to helping you change the way you think about wealth. And now, here's your host, Brandon Brittingham. Hey, what's up, everybody? I am back and as promised, I told you guys that I'd have two of my homies on here to the smartest guys I know in real estate to talk about how they built their business and we're going to dive deep into it. So I got my two Canadian brothers today, Justin Haver and my good friend, Abraham Hussein.

Does that say your name right? You're about right, brother. All right, because we can edit that if not. And I've been trying to convince Abraham to get to 11 with me in Miami, but still hasn't happened. So maybe after this episode he will. So these guys, we're in business together at EXP. One of the big reasons that I decided to join with

was these two. But I wanna go behind the curtain a little bit today. So Abraham, youbrahim, you were in a really big business in Canada. Just give us the background, the blueprint of what do you think has made you successful? What has been part of why you've grown and done so well? Thank you, brother. I appreciate it. It's the idea that tomorrow is never promised. Success is not an option. Failure is not an option. So growing up, playing soccer, finishing,

getting into law school, practicing law career after the fact, it's the idea. If you're not first, you're last. And number two is the second loser, is the first loser. Number two is the first loser. So that is the mindset I always embody and the hat I'm always wearing. So if I'm doing something, it will have to work out. So that mindset of like pursuing perfection day in and day out, knowing that will never be perfect. But the fact that we're chasing it is fulfilling on its own. So that's a mindset thing. What do you think, which is great, what do you think kind of

tactically, what do you think that you guys do, you know, can be anything that helps make you successful? I look at this as like, I'm a cultural creator and greatness extractor in the sense of community is my number one thing. If I have a superpower is building community and building a long-term relationship. Meaningful relationship that makes people feel proud to be part of the community that we're building. That's on a team level, financial real estate or on a beyond real estate level, which is our organization, EXB.

I get the privilege of hanging out with people like you guys, people that I learned from and contribute to. Yeah, so I'll say a great instructor is anybody that will work with me closely. They will experience a degree of discomfort to push them to be the best version of themselves. And always striving for that. Be the best version they can possibly be. Well, what are you guys doing right now that you think is working? Just in the field, buying

and selling houses, what do you think that's working for you versus somebody that's listened to this, that's struggling with their business? What are you doing? What are your agents doing that's working? Justin, you wanna go with that? Well, you know what? They're simply following a tested improvement process

that we have obviously cultivated and developed over 20 years in this business. And again, helping the agents create that five-star client experience. And we're obviously in the marketplace to solve our clients' problems, whether that is a buyer, seller, or an investor, making sure that they make informed decisions. And I'm a big believer that in this business, what you put in is what you get out. I'm a big believer that in this business, what you put in is what you get out. And I think the reason why a lot of agents perhaps struggle is because they're lost. They may not necessarily have the support or the blueprint to success.

Then at the same time, when they have the blueprint, you lay that out for them. They got to have the want, they got to have the drive, they got to have the fire in the belly in order to follow that blueprint to execute on the plan. We all see on social media, everybody's posting, hey, I sold the house, I sold the house, but that doesn't show all the hard work that goes in behind the scenes. We don't tend to post pictures when we're sitting in our CRM, dialing, connecting with people in our database, day in and day out, building those relationships, nurturing them along and setting those appointments. Opening doors, showing houses, sitting at listen presentations, negotiating offers.

That's the fun part, right? But it's also doing the boring mundane stuff is what really drives a business. And for myself now, in February, it'll be 20 years in this business. And the countless hours that I put in, and even when I was starting out in building the business, I knew that generating leads and opportunities is something that I needed.

So I wasn't gonna be part of that 87% that failed in the first five years. So this is a question to both of you guys. Ibrahim, I'll ask you first and Justin, you come behind him. The agents that are doing well on your team, what are they doing? I was gonna answer that part of the first question. We never deviate from the basics.

Everybody says that get back to the basics. The question is, why would you ever leave them to begin with? And then that thing is turned around and then like, Oh, I have to go back to the basics. So we're always mindful of that. We never get back from the basics. And we always look at the three characteristic traits for top producers, top performers in any industry that has to do with sales. They're very boring. They're very predictable. And they see the same thing over and over and over. And the ones that are struggling, not because they're lazy people or something, but they're innovators and they're not predictable. And they change their words every time they open their mouth.

Every time they have to do something new, have to do something new and being, being innovative. Um, so we're, we kind of like dumb it down and that's the smartest thing to do actually is dumb it down and stick with the basics and never, never deviate from that. So you, I mean, consistency, right? You would say one of the reasons you're successful people are consistent. One hundred fifty percent, yes. And it's what you told me that one time, the way you phrased it is consistency is the toughest thing on the planet Earth for human being. The toughest thing for human being is to be consistent.

So I'm like, that's yeah, it's true. Just good way to put it. And then also for people to realize that focus is their superpower. We live in a world of distractions, right? And, you know, the top producing agents on my team, they're incredibly focused and committed to doing the prospecting every single day, minimum two hours. In our top agent, it does between 75 and 87 transactions a year consistently. They have been with me for over 12 years. Every single day sitting in their database, calling, nurturing everybody in their database. Every day there's practicing involved. You know, learning something new, it's practicing the

listening presentation, constantly fine tuning their skill set. They also actually show up to all the training that we provide in the office. Every single week show up to the meeting. This person also sits front row in every single meeting taking notes. And at the same time also is the one that is contributing back to the organization, helping others,

teaching others as well. And I think those are some of the things that is applicable if to the organization, helping others, teaching others as well. And I think those are some of the things that is applicable if you wanna be a top producer. The highest level of mastery is when you are actually able to teach your craft to someone else and leaning into the team and the organization of all the resources that you have. And I can assure you that if you look in any organization,

the people that lean in the most, up the most also do the most production. So are you saying that she's very predictable? You can predict what she's going to do every day? 100%. Would you say that as people look at what she's doing over and over is like very boring? Well, I mean, if you want to do anything at a high level in any industry, you have to do the repetitive stuff over and over again. And I think that's...

And again, because you know what I say, being in real estate, it's like sitting in a classroom of human behavior. We're dealing with... We're sitting there dealing with our clients' buyers. They're always sitting in fear and doubt. They're always concerned it's not the right time to buy. Oh my God, I'm going to have a mortgage for the next 30 years. What if I lose my job?

I can't pay. So they're kind of sitting there on pins and needles. Sellers, I mean, again, some of them are sitting in denial. Perhaps they're sitting in financial pressure or stresses, right? So they're making a decision based on emotion to sell their home. And then obviously losing their home is emotional as well, because again, they've built many incredible memories.

We're also dealing with the agents on the other side of the transaction during negotiations. We all know that every single agent out in the universe are all cool, calm, collect, and there's no emotion involved in the transaction. Right? At the end of the day, we also got our own emotions on how to navigate all these different challenges and emotions that all the other people around us are navigating. So it's incredibly important for us to, I think, get a deep understanding of how we

operate emotionally so that we can understand the emotions of the people that we deal with each and every day. And again, it's a fascinating business to be in when you sit there and look at the human behavior aspect of it, especially in residential real estate. Yeah. I want to make a comment on what both of you guys said. The cool thing too about what you said about your top producer is,

here's the coolest part of the predictability, her income's predictable, right? So it's not subject to the ebbs and flows of the market, which is what I tell my agents all the time. You know when you won is when your income becomes predictable and you're not subject to the swings in the market. So the, for all of you that are listening to this, if you're an agent or you run a team

and you're an agent and your team leader is saying this shit to you and you're not listening, well becoming really boring and doing the mundane stuff you got to do every day, you know what it does for you? It makes your income predictable. I don't know about you, I feel a lot better when I know how much money I got coming in really boring and doing the mundane stuff you got to do every day. You know what it does for you? It makes your income predictable. I don't know about you feel a lot better when I know how much money I got coming in, regardless of what's going to happen in the world every single month. Yeah. And Brandon, you touched on something really valuable there as well.

It's like, you know, for real estate agents, they're used to riding the roller coaster, the peaks and valley of income, you know, and they know that, and this is a very common behavior, a lot of agents, January 1st starts, they're like, oh man, I got to get to work. They start, they start diving into their database, calling their clients and start again, working in the business. So then they can have a predictable paycheck, 60 to 90 days down the road. But what is the first thing that they start to do when they get busy with appointments? They stop prospecting.

It's behavior, right? Path to least resistance. Nobody wants to do the boring stuff. They want to be out there showing houses. And if you want to have that predictable income, and they're what I see of the most successful agents in the industry, they actually treat their prospecting like an appointment. It's set in their calendar.

There's nothing that will deviate them from that appointment. That is a commitment to their future. That is a commitment to their family. That is a commitment to their future income. You got to be incredibly disciplined to keep that in your calendar and be prospecting when you're supposed to be prospecting because that is actually where you make your money. Showing houses, opening doors, writing offers. That is just a byproduct of you doing the difficult stuff.

Yeah. Great information. I'm going to switch for a second. Both of you guys have scaled on the people side, right? A lot of people from the outside would look at your guys' organization, like, man, how did you guys do that? So I'm gonna pose the question. I mean, both of you guys run large organizations from a people standpoint.

How did you grow to the amount of people that you guys have now? Because I mean, that's a people get lost in the sauce so to speak of they just don't know how to get to that next hump or that next level to grow from the people side like both of you have. Yes. If one of the listeners here is as a team or thinking of building the team, I want to grow a team of like 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 people.

The single most important thing that I've learned is the emotional equity. The emotional equity, not a financial equity, none of this is emotional equity is the bond between the people that you will, futurely speaking, get in business with and you as a leadership and how much emotional equity are you building in the emotional equity bank account between you and them? That is direct correlation between how long would they stay in the company and the internal referral between the people and the team or the company bringing outside people to come and work with the company because they know I'm working at a place that I have emotional equity at that I will never find anywhere else.

Surprisingly, I've only ever recruited three people. And in the sense of like a direct ask, Hey, Brandon, I like you so much. Let's see what how would that look like for us to work together? I haven't only three people. Fast forward to today, we have 68 human beings on the team, including the staff and everything. Every single one of them came through somebody else on the team. So it's a lot easier to look at it that way, but it's a lot of work in building and fueling that relationship with every single one of those people to feel like I belong to that place. I belong. And we're allowed about it. We're allowed about it in a sense of showing people to feel like I belong to that place. I belong. And we're allowed about it. We're allowed about it in a sense of showing people outside what we're doing inside and what

our people feel and what do you have to say about that. And that's how we build the business from inside out, not outside in. Yeah. And I think it's also really important for you to sit and reflect on why do you want to build a team and why do you want to have a large team? We all know that, you know, by adding more people to an organization, as team leaders, it adds more responsibility. You know, I look at myself as I have the responsibility to provide for nearly 100 families, for them to put food on the table and roof over their head. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to make more money. It just means more.

Let's be clear, adding people doesn't necessarily make you more money. No, it doesn't. I mean, it's essentially could become a liability and an expense for you as a team leader. So I think it's incredibly important for you to understand your why. Why do you wanna build a team? Why do you wanna grow a team? For myself, my why has changed over the last 20 years.

Now it's about me partnering with agents where I can have an impact on their professional and personal life and ensuring that they're developing, building a solid foundation for their real estate business because they've partnered with a team and they're using a team as a vehicle to create memorable life experiences for themselves and their family.

And when I have an agent, perhaps I was an agent, one example, sole agent for 12 years on their own, selling four or five homes a year. That is the average number of transactions that somebody sells in my market on an annual basis. Come onto the boom, you see that they buy into the training, the systems, the brand and all the things that the team has to offer.

They transform their business now selling consistently over 40 homes a year. And what kind of an impact do you think that has on that person's family? Massive from an income standpoint. And that is something that is incredibly fulfilling to myself. It's like seeing the impact that other people have on their families by partnering with

the team. And that puts nothing but a big smile on my face and gives me the feel-good, so to speak. And it's not something that happens overnight. And I think that if you are looking at building a team, you got to be able to provide them with the opportunities as well. And if you don't have the business to provide for yourself and your family, I don't think you're in the spot to add people onto your team. Many people think that if they just add more, they're going to get more business. But I believe that if you're going to be bringing any value to these people, you need to be able to help them grow their business. to be bringing any value to these people. You need to be able to help them grow their business.

See, Brandon, I have an idea I would love to share with everybody that's, you know, why I want to build a team because I want to make real impact. I want to leave a legacy. I want to make a change in people's lives and all of that stuff. This is good. Are you playing the game or are you playing the real game? If you're playing the real game, the real game is there will be a day. I'm always, always 150% conscious of that is at some point in time, we're all going to die. No ifs or buts. So now, as a leader, ask yourself a question. If you were to die tomorrow, would everybody that's doing business with you come in, walk in your funeral? Pass for a second because only people that will go to other people's funeral is blood related or close family and whatnot.

So if you're saying that I'm impacting people's lives and so on and so forth, would they come in and walk in your funeral? If the answer is no, you have a lot of work to do. That's just between you and yourself, including me. I'm always conscious about that because that is the real test that we're going to take. And then unfortunately, we're not going to be here to see the result of the test. Our families will be here to see the result and then they will be able to, you know what, my brother, my dad, my mom, whatever. Yeah, they were real deal. Look how many people walking in funeral. It's like a protest, you know? When they said they were changing people's life, when they said they were making a real impact, they were actually not lying to me.

I can see that right now. We will not be here to see the result of that test, but every single one of us will take that test. Just be prepared for the results. Yeah, that's, I mean, for real. Switching really really quick because both of you guys are really good at this. And I think this is important for people that are listening to understand. So both of you have built a brand, right? I've built a brand.

You both have built a brand. Like talk about the importance of marketing and building a brand as, as it relates to how it's made you guys successful skill in your companies. I will let, I will let Justin go more deeper than that because he will, I will learn, like all of us can learn from him for that's sakes, you know? What other city he lives in. And hey, listen, for all of you that are listening, like this is three busy entrepreneurs.

I mean, this is real shit. We keep it real in the show. Abraham is in the freaking airport right now as he's doing this. I'm at the airport and Dublin is about to take off in six minutes. My wife keeps calling me. Hey, if you got to give us one last answer and then we'll let you go. I'll give you one last time. I'll give you one last answer. The brand that I've built

and the advertising I've done, I've built everything I've done through a walking billboards. I focused on the individual that works in the company to be walking billboards for the brand anywhere they go, they end up to. So they're advertising for the brand all the time. It doesn't matter where they go, this isn't what the company does for them. That is my method of marketing. Just in a summary. You can test that through one one word which is retention. That's the only way you can test all of this if it's working or not is the retention of the people at the company and the referral rate internally from the people that bring other people in because

retention is the truth from the experience based on how truthful and how good the experience is. business, how truthful and how good their experience is. Medina, I'm working baby. You're about to get in trouble. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. David is about to leave. Yeah. So that's where that's how we're built the business. It's making a walking billboard and a magnetic to top producing people and high top talent people. Just be a magnet to them through those people inside the company. Awesome, brother. Hey, go catch your plane. I'll make you miss your plane. I appreciate you guys. God bless. Wake up to wealth, guys. Tomorrow morning. I'm going

to go to Stephen Dublin. I'm going to wake up to wealth as well. Stay blessed, guys. Thank you, brother. Appreciate you. What about you, Justin? What's your answer to what's helped you and made you successful from a branding standpoint? And what do you think that impact has been on your business? Justin lead generating machines such as websites where, again, I focused a lot on search engine optimization, making sure that my websites rank near the top. And it was actually an obsession of mine for many, many years. And at the same time, when I was just focused on one avenue of generating business, and one of the things that I realized that was I was actually at the mercy of Google.

Because if there was an algorithm in Google, which happened where I had a website, I woke up one day and the website traffic just disappeared overnight. That website was generating 30 to 40 leads a day consistently. Woke up one morning, it was gone. Unfortunately, and the lesson in that is I had hired the wrong people to do my search engine optimization. gone. Unfortunately, and the lesson in that is I had hired the wrong people to do my search engine optimization. I think it's always important to make sure that you have the right vendors and partners working for you, promoting your business, especially when it comes to marketing.

And that's where I made a conscious decision to diving more into building the personal brand for the team. To me, it is an honor and privilege to get to do what I do each and every day. And that is to build the most trusted brand in the marketplace where there's minimal sales language required by my team partners in order to get the business. So that they can then, again, impact our clients and impact their families and the community because of the charitable things that we do back in the community where we've donated over a million dollars back into the community. And I think that building a brand is something that takes time.

It's about consistency. It's about testing, checking the results, going back to the drawing board and then again reviewing and constantly tweaking the messaging to the market. And for myself, I mean, probably build one of the biggest personal brands in the marketplace and in real estate. I mean, I think that is one of the things that we all gotta do is we gotta build a personal brand and then create the experience that follows through on that and a reputation of delivering results no matter what the market conditions are.

So, you know, we advertise TV, radio, billboards, online, all the social media channels, a lot of digital marketing, and, you know, we do between 600 to 700 million impressions in the marketplace. And again, a marketing budget that is not small by any shape or form. It's several, seven figures annually. But it is also building a business and a brand that's memorable where even if I'm walking on the street, I can have a car stop me and they get out of the car like, hey, we're looking at selling our house. Because I'm recognized, because they have seen our advertising and because of the reputation that we have in the marketplace, that is, in my opinion, the power of a personal brand when strangers talk to

you like they know you and they also stop you and say, hey, I want you to sell my house. I mean, you experience in your market as well because I mean, we do some very similar market strategies, right? And it has an impact, but it's not something that you do, you know, in a month. It is something that you pour into year after year. And again, we talked about consistency earlier on. You have to be consistent with your marketing, with the messaging. And sometimes it takes a few years before you even start to see an ROI on any of the investments that we make today. Yeah. Yeah. So going back to your top producing agent, I would imagine she probably does some

marketing and branding for her business too. No, all the agents on my team, they just solely rely on your marketing. Yeah. Now, I'm a team leader that I don't sit there and chair pick any of the leads that are generated by the business. Even my past clients, I make sure that I partner with one of my members of my team so that they can benefit from my book of business. So I go in as a partnership, making sure that our clients feel like they're in good hands. I transfer the trust to our partner so that they can then create that one-on-one client experience from start to finish.

Right? Because we both haven't figured out cloning yet. Yeah. It'd be cool if we did. Right? Which again, and I think that again, part of the commitment that I make to all the agents that join and partner with the team is I'm in the business of generating opportunities for them and a brand so that they can conduct a business and have a steady flow of business so they

can have that stability in their business. Yeah. I mean, I know there's so many lessons you could give, but what do you think, what's another kind of either lesson or principle or just one thing that you think is kind of the recipe behind why you have been so successful as a team leader and then why you guys as a company have been successful? Because you've sustained over a long period of time, a lot of different markets, a lot of different up and downs, but your production and your growth has been consistent. What do you think, if you could give the listeners one thing, what's behind that?

Well, the one thing, and this was advice that I was given very early on in my career, and that was always invest back into your business. Minimum 25% of your commissions. I do not recall who told me or who gave me that advice, but that is something that I've consistently done and even more so today than ever. You know, I now invest monthly what I used to dream about earning in a single year. It's funny how that happens. Yeah, right. And I mean, you know this just as well as I do. It's, you know, constantly investing back in your business rather than going out buying, you know, that fancy bag or shoes or whatever. You got to put the money back in your business. You got to continue to drive

you got to put the money back in your business. You got to continue to drive marketing to build future pipeline for your business. And again, it can be scary. I remember one of the, oh, it was actually the second website that I built. And the second website I built was with Real Estate Webmasters, still a client of theirs today now for 17 years. And I remember first and foremost, it was

building a custom website, which was a pretty significant amount back in those days. I think it was like 16,000 USD for us Canadians. It's more than 16 grand. And then I also made a commitment to invest into search engine optimization for that website. And that was to the tune of four grand a month to put things into context. My mortgage payment back then in 2007 was a thousand bucks a month. So that was a lot of money. Four times what I was spending on my own home on search engine optimization, which is something that I actually don't get an ROI on right out of the gate.

You are gonna, it takes a couple of years before you start seeing that result. And even today, it's even more competitive than ever when you do search engine optimization. But, you know, again, this has also been such a big foundation of my business is building out these websites. And essentially, I mean, for you American listeners, I built my own Zillow. Like I have one website that I can contribute millions of dollars a year in GCI,

where the website has an average ranking of number two in all thousands of search queries in Google. Now then I also know how to leverage these assets, not only to generate buyers, but also leverage that towards sellers. And I've also obviously acquired a lot of domains. I own and run calgary.com. No better place to look for Calgary real estate than on calgary.com.

no better place to look for Calgary real estate than on Calgary.com. Right. So I look at these websites as assets, especially when we're able to drive traffic to them. And when you sit down in front of a seller, it's like, any realtor can say that they can promote their sellers home on a website, but do they have any traffic to that website? a website, but do they have any traffic to that website? And, you know, it'd be like, I have a website, but I don't have any traffic. That's like telling a homeowner that we're going to promote your listing on a billboard in the desert. Nobody's got it yet. Right. So, it's all about, again, investing back into your business, making sure that you stick with the course. So, I mean, sure, there's some times that you will pivot because again, you're able to do lead attribution, what it costs you to acquire that

opportunity, how long did it take for it to transact, does it make financial sense to carry on that down that road and then also going in and inspecting every step of the process, have you really taken full advantage of that? And as an industry, the average agent makes 1.2 calls per lead. We can do a heck of a lot better than that. Yeah, 80% of sales happening in a call six to 12. So why aren't you calling that lead at least 12 times?

And we know that when you know, when we, um, as an organization, it was one year we averaged 26 contact attempts per lead. We did a lot of business. Yeah. I was going to say, what was the result of that? Well, the result of that was nearly 2000 transactions. The average is 33 homes a year. That's a pretty high average for a team of 60 agents.

Yeah, I'd say so. It's not difficult. We make it difficult. It's doing the mundane, doing the simple stuff, doing the boring stuff is what's gonna make you the money and grow your business. It's just, everybody thinks that there's an easier way or a shiny object way when that shit is just not real.

Well, you know, I was talking to a newer agent in the marketplace a little while ago and they achieved some pretty good success. And I asked, okay, what did you do to get that success? And I said, you know, I did a lot of door knocking, but I don't want to do that anymore. I'm like, well, if you're calling something that you're good at and something that works and you're making six plus figures a year, why stop doing that? Keep doing that and maybe add an additional stream of leads and opportunities, but don't completely shift your business.

I think that's what happens a lot in this business is you have agents that are chasing the shiny object. You know, it's like sometimes this may sound wrong, but we're like a herd of cows, right? We're going to go to the field where the grass is green. They're all going to start eating that same field. And then everybody goes, oh, the grass, there's more grass over here. So now everybody goes over here. Yeah, that's the truth.

I think if you find something that works, and I mean, again, this is applicable to any business. If you find something that works, double or triple down on that and get really good at it. And I mean, let me ask you, I mean, what are some of the things that you have done in your business that you can attest has been the foundation of your success today?

So, I mean, I think it's, So, I mean, you know, I think it's, I think people misunderstand the marketing side and the, you know, the building a personal brand and building a brand that is strong in your market like you've done and we've done. You can't quantify the value on that. It will pay you for the rest of your life. So being consistent around marketing, it's no different than phone calls. What happens is people will,

you know, they don't want the long game. No one is in it for the long game. They wanna put a couple things out on social media, nothing comes out of it and they stop. Or, you know, they make phone calls one day, want to put a couple of things out on social media, nothing comes out of it and they stop. Or they make phone calls one day, nothing comes out of it and they stop. So I think the thing that's made us really a brand is consistency around everything we do, consistency around our branding, consistency around our effort, and just being nonstop

having the mission front and center. And another thing that I think we've always been really good at is we are neurotic about the customer service aspect. And the follow-up after the deal is done. So it's like if, you know, and the follow up after the deal is done. So you know, if I want to grow a huge business, you know, if I do a good job for you, I'm going to get everybody in your family, your cousin, your brother, and then their family and then their network. And so I think sometimes in this business, it gets overlooked how much it matters how good you need to be in the transaction and how good your customer service needs to be.

Because that, for me personally, I can't recall, it's not been that many. I did a deal off a paid lead. That's been for my agents. My business to this day is still several hundred transactions a year from past clients, referrals from past clients, because as I was building my business, I was so neurotic about providing a good experience that I made a lasting impact on people. And then they just kept referring business to me. You know, you touch on something really good there and I think a lot of agents get into business, especially if they're into generating leads for their business, they become very transactional. And maybe they don't understand the future value of one opportunity because, you know,

here in Canada, for instance, the average Canadian moves seven times. So if you help a first time home buyer acquiring their first home, they're likely to move an additional seven times. Well, guess what? That's a total of 14 transaction sides. Now, are you looking at that as a client for life that's going to buy, sell, and transact with you 14 times in their lifetime. And are you really treating them like they are your mother or your grandmother?

And really loving on that relationship and nurturing that relationship. Now if you do an exceptional job at that and staying in touch with them and making them feel special, chances are they're probably gonna send you a few referrals in a lifetime. So let's say that you send them, you know, they send you 10 referrals in that lifetime and you do the same thing with those people. So for instance, if you have like here in Canada,

I mean, we get a little less commissions and what you guys get down in the US, it works out to be about 1.78% per side. So today's dollar in a $600,000 house, that's $11,000 commission check. So following that $11,000 commission check, the value of one opportunity, if they transact with you 14 times in a lifetime

and they send you 10 referrals, that's $1.7 million. times in a lifetime and they send you 10 referrals, that's $1.7 million. Are you looking at that lead as $1.7 million for your future, for you and your family? That's what we got to think of. Now that you're 100% right. I mean, I can't stress that enough. And I say that to my agents too, I'm blowing the face. I'm like, look, if you do this right for your first few years, and yeah, you're gonna have to really grind and go hard, but if you do this right, you'll be set up for life

because several hundred clients will refer you one to two transactions a year, and you can wake up every day and have 50 to 60 transactions built in without you doing anything. And then if you do all the things that me and you still do and don't deviate from and you be consistent, well then that's how you get to 7,500 transactions a year. And for most people here in the States, that's life-changing money and financial freedom. Same in Canada. And it sounds too simple to be real,

but that's the reality of what it is. And those referrals are so simple to convert because they've already been, you know, again, recommended by the trust. They're already sold. They're sold. They're sold on you because the Nelike and Trust has already been built from the client you already did business with.

Yeah. Yeah. 100%. So Brandon, what's one thing you would recommend to someone who is sitting in their business right now struggling? I mean, we know that it's the time of year where the seasonality will kick into the real estate business and some agents may be sitting there under a lot of financial pressure. What's something that you would recommend for them to do?

So, I think it's, you know, again, this is going to sound really simple, but if you have a database, right, and if you have a database, right? And if you have a cell phone, which you more than likely do, and you're on social media, you know, if you can go into your database every single day and work that database, there's deals in it, I promise you. And if you can learn to communicate to your database, add value, send emails out of value, talking about the real estate market,

be consistent in your database, and then go on social media and provide value, then you're gonna win. And the problem that I think everyone has is everyone wants instant gratification. They want a result based on, I did this, I want the return today. And by thinking like that is probably what got them in the position that they're in because they're not consistent around their activity.

And so then their income ebbs and flows with the marketplace. So then their income becomes seasonal. Well, your income does not become seasonal. If look, if you do two things every single day over a long period of time, you'll have more business than you can ever imagine. Be in your database and communicate to your database, give value on social media around what you do. Over long periods of time, you will win.

Number one, because you're talking to enough people that are gonna do a transaction to you. And number two, because your competition's not willing to do it. And then over time, social media will help you build a brand. And then that's when the game can really change. It's just that everybody quits too soon.

And if you're sitting in the pain right now, understand if you're listening to this, my first year in real estate, I made $18,000 and I wanted to quit, right? It was a horrible, horrible experience. My second year, I made way, way more. And then I never looked back. Right.

But I had to go through the compounding effect of the first year to get to the second year and I'm considered really good at what I do. But again, it took me a year to learn the ropes and then get the compounding effect to get to my second year. If I quit, I mean, you wouldn't be sitting here talking today. Correct. I'm glad you didn't. Right.

And you know, every one of us that have gotten into this business has had multiple moments of wanting to quit. But the one thing is that we think about each and every day is failure is not an option. And it's important to kind of look at the failures. I mean, we're all going to have failures in life, personally and professionally. But I think it's incredibly important to take a moment when you have those failures, reflect on what was the lesson? What did you learn?

And then what is the next approach to get you up the mountain? Because I think it's constantly learning from those failures that's going to help you achieve success. And it is important to also not have a plan B, because I find that the agents that get into this business, I'm just going to try real estate. I'm going to see how it goes. No, you got to burn the boats and you really got to be committed to it. And again, there's no better industry to be a part of where you can get the biggest ROI in exchange for your time, where you can get paid like a professional athlete. You can be paid like a doctor

get paid like a professional athlete, you can be paid like a doctor if you want to put in the work. You don't have to put in 12 years of education and have a massive student loan or debt. Real estate is very simple and a lot of times we tend to overthink it and complicate it. We're human beings after all, right? And I think you, you know, you touch on something or like simplify to amplify. Right. Do, do the repetition stuff. One of the things that I even said to some agents as well, it's like, do you buy a cup of coffee every day? A lot of agents do they, they got to have that Starbucks. Now you create a habit around that. So every time you buy a Starbucks, you call one of your past clients better yet, send them a personalized video. Let them know that you're just thinking about them.

You don't have to try to sell them anything. Just build- That's money, I like that. Connect with them, ask them about their family, vacations, add them all as friends on Facebook. And even on Facebook, I mean, how many people comment, happy birthday, Brandon, on your birthday? It gets overwhelming.

How many people send you a personalized video? You remember the person that sends you that personalized video. So even do that, go into your Facebook messenger, send everybody a personalized video on their birthday. I can guarantee you, you'll get business from that, guaranteed, if you do that. Oh, dude. 100%.

This is all really, really good stuff. We always end the show the same way, but I actually wanna do this a little bit different just because you've given so much really good knowledge. I always say, what does wake up to wealth mean to you? Well, what I wanna do today, just because of where this conversation is going, somebody that's an agent that's out there, how do they get to the point of me and you where they are waking up to wealth?

I think connect with people that have gone where you want to go, learn from them, be a sponge. Again, I have gone to conferences and those conferences have changed my life. They've changed my life. Edit that. Not because of what I heard in the sessions, but because of the people that I've met and the relationships that I've built transformed my business. I still remember going to a conference in Miami Beach in September of 2012, where I met a few people and I sat around a little hole in the wall Cuban restaurant,

and we were collaborating and talking about our businesses. And that set off a light bulb in my head of, wow, what a massive opportunity I'm sitting on that I'm not taking advantage of. And then again, the collaboration and the friendships and the relationships that we build, where people like, here's how I do this. And you know, me and you met many years ago at the cap in Vegas. Yep. And dude, that conversation made me millions of dollars. And because of you connected me with media, Matt Wagner, shout out to Matt Wagner. And I thought it was BS and you're like,

no dude, you need to do it. And that changed the trajectory of our business substantially, one phone call. Yeah. Right. Because you knew that it worked for me in my business. You just had to locate that in your market. And then again, that's the power of, of finding someone or again, the collaboration of meeting someone at a conference or learning from those people that are doing something that you want to do. Because if it's working for them, chances are it can work for you. I'm also incredibly fortunate to collaborate with other top agents across North America

as well from all different brands. And we chat almost on a daily basis like, hey, try this. This works really well for me. I'm seeing this work now. Okay. I'll add that idea back into my business, but I may put a little bit of a spin on it and then I may get even better results. And then I go back and I'll go, well, this is what I did. And they're like, oh shit, that's really good. I'm going to now change my process to that as well. So it's caught with testing and trying

and collaborating. And, you know, again, find like, I mean, you are the result of the five people you surround yourself with. Surround people and sit at the tables where you are uncomfortable, but you are also honored to be sitting and invited to that table. Even when we were in Miami, when I was invited to sit at a table with you and some of your business partners, I'm like, Holy shit, these guys are doing some pretty big, massive stuff. Where I then become a sponge and I just soak it all in and what can I learn? How can I apply this to my business model? And how can I impact the people that I have the honor and privilege to lead?

Yeah, well, that's a great answer. Hey, I greatly, I know how busy you are. Appreciate you and Ibrahim being on. Super excited to be in business with you guys at EXP. Very, very thankful that get to hang out with you guys on a regular basis. And I thank you so much for coming on the show today. Thank you for having me.

And again, always an honor and I appreciate you so much for coming on the show today. Thank you for having me. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and tell your friends about the show. It is how new people find us. Until next time.