Automate, Elevate, and Build a Business That Works for You with Caroline Hobbs

[0:00] Welcome to the REI Agent, a holistic approach to life through real estate. I’m Matthias, an agent and investor. And I’m Erica, a licensed therapist. Join us as we interview guests that also strive to live bold and fulfilled lives through business and real estate investing. Tune in every week for interviews with real estate agents and investors. Ready to level up? Let’s do it.

[0:24] Welcome back to the REI Agent. It’s your friendly local neighborhood real estate agent podcast host, Matthias, an investor.

[0:34] We are not, we don’t have Erica with us today. So unfortunately, she had to go to PT. So we will hopefully have her here on the next one. But we did have a great guest today, Caroline Hobbs. Caroline is a team lead. She’s an experienced agent, broker, and now a software owner. She has a CRM that she sells that has a lot of automations and stuff built in. It’s pretty cool. So definitely check out the show notes if you are interested in hearing more about that. She can, you can see where, you know, in her link tree, what all is available. I think that in this business, there’s a lot of shiny objects, a lot of people that are trying to kind of get your money and can be distracting. Sometimes we get focused or persuaded into something.

[1:26] It could be changing brokerages. It could be, you know, this new tool that’s fun. It could be a new system. I’m certainly guilty of this stuff. But I think at the end of the day, if you are focused on providing your clients with consistent, clear communication and you’re setting expectations, you’re going to do really well. So if you focus on those as the core tenement and if you are building out systems and processes that help enhance that, I think that’s what’s really key in business that you already have. That’s not necessarily something that will help you gain more business other than people might rave about your services because they felt like they were taking care of the whole time. So no matter what you do in this business, no matter what kind of things that you look into, because I think, you know, systems and processes and software, AI, all that stuff can be incredibly powerful.

[2:24] Just don’t lose sight of what’s really important when you are interacting with your clients. I think that’s the key there. But without further ado, I’m going to keep this one short. We’re going to go right into Caroline Hobbs. She, again, is out of the Silicon Valley area. She is an experienced agent. She may have been, and she talks about this, the youngest broker in the whole state of California for a couple months. So without further ado, Caroline Hobbs.

[3:00] Welcome back to the REI agent. I am here with Caroline Hobbs. Caroline, thanks so much for joining us today. Thanks for having me. Hey, Caroline. You are, you got a couple different hats. You are been an agent for a while. You’ve now team lead and you own a software company, correct? Correct. Yeah, awesome. Yeah. Awesome. Well, to get started, I want to dive into all this different stuff, but let’s get started by just kind of hearing how you got into real estate to begin with. Yeah, definitely. So I am third generation in real estate, so you could kind of say that I was born into it. My grandfather used to flip properties. He was a contractor. He was a contractor. He was a contractor. And after my mom graduated college, he encouraged her to go on and get her real estate license, which she did.

[3:45] She worked for Fieldstone down in Southern California, selling new homes for years and years, and eventually moved over to the lending side of things. While I was in college, I got a part-time job. I had no intention of going into real estate as I have my degree in finance, but got a job hosting open houses for a realtor in Palo Alto and decided that I liked it. So shortly after graduation, I got my broker’s license and a few years after that, started my independent brokerage. Nice. Wow. That’s awesome. So you jumped right into starting your own brokerage, not just a new team. You went right into being your own broker. Well, so- A few years after. Yeah, the realtor that trained me, just to give you a little bit of perspective, I started working for her in 2008, 2007, something around right there, right at the heat of the crash as the market was- Crumbling.

[4:59] Crumbling. I graduated college- You’re motivated to get into it. Yeah. I graduated college in 2009, which is basically the worst time in history to try and get a job in finance. And I was still working with the agent that trained me. And honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor. The woman who I got to work with, she was internationally ranked as the top selling agent in all of Keller Williams. She had a database at the time of over 10,000 people, which this is before people used databases. So I was hosting her open houses. I was organizing all of her clients in her database. I got a lot of really tactical, hands-on experience for how to manage contacts, how to stir the pot, and turn that into actual business.

[5:52] And so I worked with her for the first five, six years of my career. And then I was teaching a lot of classes at Keller Williams. I went off. I became an independent agent with them. But ultimately, I felt like my time was being pulled in multiple directions with being in the bigger office. And having my broker’s license, I felt confident that I could do it. And so I started Reward Realty in 2011. And I ran that as an independent for, no, I started that in 2013. And I ran it as an independent for 11 years. Wow. Yeah, that’s awesome.

[6:36] Just real quick before I forget, do you have any fun ways of reengaging a database of that size that you could share? Honestly, it’s looking through the technologies have changed so much. So the tactics I use today to serve databases like that versus the tactics I used 10 years ago are very different. I am really big on utilizing tags and client types. I’m also pretty big on utilizing pipelines to analyze your business, kind of scoping out a little bit. I think the most important thing is to make sure that your contacts are always properly categorized. And then when we talk about my software, I can kind of talk about ways that we have built our system to help agents keep those things top priority as they’re working in their database.

[7:32] So that way, it’s easier to identify those low-hanging fruit. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, we’ll have to get into that. I do want to talk a little bit about team building first. So when you got your brokerage, did you already have agents that were going to join you? Or were you just kind of at that point going to be a solo broker agent? Or did you hire an admin? What was that process like? For most of the time that I ran my brokerage as an independent, I had just an admin TC and a couple agents with me, like two or three. For most of the time. For most of the time. So it was never, I was always the top producing agent. I was in some cases, feeding other agents that were with me. Being independent was great.

[8:21] It was really lonely at first because I went from a team in an office environment to being on my own. And so having that assistant really helped with bridging the camaraderie gap and the social gap. Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, it’s honestly just recently that I really started getting involved more with the associations, the boards, things like that locally. At the time, real estate wasn’t trendy to get into because the market was crashing. You know, it was the worst time in real estate. So I was much younger than anybody else in my office or really in the industry that I knew at the time. When I got my broker’s license, I was, I had just turned 21. I was 21. Wow. Wow. There’s a good chance.

[9:15] I was probably the youngest broker in the state for a while, just because you had to either have a degree in finance or economics or have five-year sales person’s experience at the time. And since I was younger than everybody in school and I graduated and got my broker’s license right away, they changed it a few months later to require the five-year experience. But at the time, they didn’t have that in place. So I was wondering. Yeah. Yeah. I think here it’s three years of experience. I don’t know if we have that finance kind of loophole. Yeah. There’s no loophole anymore. But there was, you know, this is in 2009. So a long time ago. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So when you were bringing agents on or when you had a couple agents, were they just selling independently or were they kind of designated to help you in certain ways like having, you know, a showing agent or, you know, something like that, listing specialist?

[10:17] I did have one showing agent. The others worked independently. Okay. Yeah. Okay. And is that how’s your, you said sales team earlier. How’s that structured now? So my sales team has grown a lot. So I have, so one year ago, I made the switch from operating my business as an independent to coming on with real brokerage as a part of their white label program. So under their white label program, I’ve been able to grow quite a bit. We have an agent locally that is a huge attractor and, but he doesn’t quite have the capacity to give training and things like that to agents. So I started doing monthly masterminds, um, for agents with my lending partners, where I kind of take a look at all the different ways that agents generate business, whether we’re talking about, um, social interactions, you know, their kids, the parents at their kids’ schools, whether we’re talking about online marketing, um, purchasing leads, converting leads, whether we’re talking about social media, being an influencer, direct mailing, farming.

[11:35] Um, all of these different kinds of tried and true, so to speak ways. Uh, we kind of rotate and dive into each of those things on a monthly basis. Usually the trainings are about two to three hours long. And, um, I, it has grown my team from four of us to nine of us in the past four months. Wow. Yeah. Now, now again, is that structured kind of like you were before? Do you have any designated people helping you directly or are they all just kind of independent agents that are there to help or to be mentored by you, et cetera, and work together as a team? So we work together as a team. So I help, um, not as much on like the paid lead side, but like I go on listing appointments with my agents and secure the transaction for us.

[12:30] Um, I, um, I, um, I’ve been in this business for so long, you know, I understand the ins and outs and how to problem solve on the spot. Mm-hmm. There’s not much that somebody could throw at me that I wouldn’t be able to take a second and give them good guidance on. Um, not to say that I’m perfect. It’s just when you’ve been in the business almost 16 years. Yeah. Um, and you’ve been on as many inspections and things like that. Um, you retain it. And I honestly, I live by the mindset that there’s always something new to learn with every transaction, with every interaction and that we have with people. Um, so I kind of, I utilize that. Yeah, cool. Yeah, it definitely helps. And, and things don’t, don’t phase you quite as much as they may have in the beginning.

[13:24] Um, a problem comes up or, or whatever, like each time I kind of remember the first year that really, uh, my business, uh, really took off skyrocketed. Um, it, it also came with a lot of problems. And there was, there was one time where I was just like down. Um, I was just like, you know, kind of overwhelmed and just like, oh my gosh, so many problems, so many issues. Um, and you know, one of a good, a good friend of mine kind of took me aside and was trying to give me like a pep talk and all that kind of stuff. But, um, another friend was, was telling me, you know, whenever that this kind of stuff happens, like, it’s just, you know, once you get past it, uh, like you, you feel unfazed, like you’re, you’re going to be unflappable.

[14:06] You’re not gonna be able to be bothered by little things anymore because you just got through this like really tedious time. Um, but on top of that, the next time something like that happens, it’s not as big of a deal. And so like that, looking back at the things that like phase you at the beginning, uh, versus now, just, it’s kind of, it’s almost funny. Um, but you can share that with your team as well if they’re not quite as experienced as you. You know what? I, I tell my team this all the time and can’t say it enough is not only do we teach other people how to treat us, but we also set expectations for our clients, for our team members, um, for any interactions that we have. Um, and so I feel like as an agent, more than anything else, that is our number one role is setting expectations because it’s when those expectations are not met that people start getting frantic and they start making emotional choices.

[15:05] And so if you can just stay ahead of that and provide communication, then the problems stop popping up. A hundred percent. There is, um, somebody on here, I think he was an investor, um, actually, but he was talking about how kind of everything boils down to setting clear expectations and communicating effectively. And if you can do those two things, um, even with your kids, with your family, it’s just like, you know, you’re a little kid, uh, and you’re there in the middle of a TV show or a middle of playing in the park. Um, and also you’re like, we’re going, we’re leaving by. Yeah. And just rip them out of that. They’re going to be pissed. Be very mad. Uh, but if you set the expectations that a, you’re going to be here for this long and then kind of check in with them, communicate, uh, you know, 15 minutes, 10 minutes, five minutes, one minute, whatever.

[15:54] And we’re going to leave. Um, then that whole process goes a lot more smoothly. And that’s the same for, you know, clients. Like if you are proactively communicating throughout the process, um, and, you know, setting the expectations that they’re going to get that email, that call, that whatever at this time, um, they’re not going to be anxious. They, they feel that they’re covered. And, um, yeah. So I agree. Agents are the same way though. Yeah. And I think that’s one reason why I’ve been successful in stepping from, because in a lot of ways I run my, my team and my downline with real in the same way that I ran the brokerage, um, setting expectations with your agents. I think, you know, let’s talk about marketing.

[16:37] For example, people think that they’re going to send one postcard and suddenly the phone’s going to start ringing and everyone’s going to be offering them their house to sell. Right. Right. That’s just not how it works. It’s stacking those good behaviors every single day to get closer and closer to your goal. And so it’s about building that consistency. And so part of my job as a team lead is setting that expectation from the beginning. Okay. You want to start a farm. That’s amazing. Let’s go ahead and determine the farm. But to be clear, you should not expect anything to turn from this farm for at least the next three to six months. Don’t start Google marketing and think that all of a sudden your phone’s going to ring off the hook.

[17:18] No, you’re going to have to build up that SEO credibility. You’re looking at at least six months before you’re really starting to get things, the algorithms and everything, getting to know who you are. And so I think that’s where a lot of miscommunication goes into it. I think a lot of people are afraid of the truth or they’re afraid of rejection if they give somebody the whole truth. And so it’s kind of just it goes back to setting those expectations from the beginning. Yeah. That consistency, too, is huge. I have a house under contract that I’ve been mailing postcards to that community as a farm for two years, I think. And this is the first actual deal to come from it. Two years. Yeah. And, you know, now the result of this sale is great for everything that I’ve been saying that I’m doing.

[18:16] Everything I did in this deal and we got an amazing above asking price offers that I can now market to that community. And just hopefully that will continue to snowball the results from that marketing that I’ve been doing. But, you know, that’s hard for people. I mean, that’s a lot of money. You know, that’s it’s hard to see the, you know, the forest for the trees. Like if you’re spending a lot of money on Google ads, you’re spending a lot of money on postcards and nothing’s actually come from it. You just feel like, you know, what’s the point after a couple of months you just spent? You know, so in some ways it’s easier to sign a contract or to just send the money to an agency that says, I’m going to commit to this for a year and I’m going to put it up front and it’s done.

[18:58] And because you’re going to just be spending money pointlessly otherwise, probably. Well, and honestly, I think the same thing goes when you’re starting a team as well. Is people think this is going to be great. I am going to start a team. I’m going to check in with my team and they’re going to go off and then I’m going to get a piece of the commission and it’s going to be great. Right. Well, starting a team is a huge time investment and time is money. You know, I feel like so much of this business is kind of like a chess game and understanding where you move your time and money. And oftentimes I use those synonymously because, you know, we need both. Yeah. Succeed. Yeah, totally. Tell us a little bit about the software now.

[19:54] So we were talking a little bit beforehand and how the software you’re creating is all about automation and kind of freeing up people’s time. Something I’m definitely super interested in. So, you know, tell us tell us about what your software does. Well, so something that I have learned in mentoring agents and running the brokerage and going to conferences and meeting people from across the country. Realtors are social beings. Yeah. They are great at meeting people. They’re great at forming relationships. They’re not good at the back end stuff. But not everyone can afford an assistant. And a lot of people don’t have the skill set to really articulate what it is that they’re how their process goes, how it’s laid out.

[20:45] And the reason is, is they don’t have a standard operating procedure for how they transact. They kind of do it on the fly. Yeah. And say, well, every transaction is so unique. But is it? Because we have the same deadlines. We have the same paperwork that’s needed. Hopefully you’re giving the same level of customer service to each of your clients. So one thing that I really love about our software, like straight out of the gate from the time that we onboard you, is there’s several different modules that you go through. And really what these modules are aimed to do is to build out those SOPs for your listing and buying process from deadlines to communications to marketing to gifting even. We are one of our things is we’re really big on building out integrations for all of the different tools and everything that you’re using.

[21:44] If you’re using something with an open API, our dev teams will actually build a custom integration with that company. We have a priority list based on request. But that’s something that we’re doing to constantly make our software work better with the tools and everything that agents are already using. We’re not trying to continue. So many of those. Yeah. Exactly. There is. There is. So, for example, we’re just finishing a two-way integration with Fellow, which is a home valuation software. And the reason why we’re building out a two-way integration with them is they have some really great data enhancement tools where you can look up phone numbers and email addresses and things like that. And it’s not helpful if you get a data enrichment in another software program and then it doesn’t update your clients in your database.

[22:34] Right. And so we want to make sure that we’re working smarter and not harder. So things like that. So we have the transaction management process that is automated as far as deadlines and communications go. We also have an app with DocuSign and a client portal with Dropbox that kind of organizes all of the paperwork for each client as it’s completed. And then as far as, like, the marketing goes, we have some postcard automations set up. We have from the time that people come into the database and that first call is made to them for, like, your online marketing leads. That call is actually transcribed and sent through ChatGPT to determine what type of client it is. Is it a buyer? Is it a seller?

[23:23] Did you set up an appointment on the call? Because if you did, it’s going to set the calendar appointment in your system. Nice. If you collect that email address from them over the phone, it’s going to save that email address for them in the system. So that when you’re driving between appointments or at your kid’s soccer game and you’re taking a call and you don’t have a pen and paper and you’re like, oh, could you please text me your contact? Yep. You don’t have to do that anymore. Just utilizing the smart number in the system will help you collect all that information and make sure that it’s setting things off appropriately. So when different types of appointments are made, different types of communications are going to go out as far as reminders or even email communication, preparing them, like, for an inspection.

[24:08] One of my favorite things is once the inspection is complete, the inspection appointment, it’s going to send a text to your client saying the inspection is complete. Use the link below to schedule a review of the inspection documents with your agent. And it sends in the next calendar link so that way you already have your next appointment being booked with your clients to follow up without you having to sit around and wait for it. Nice. Is so is this a CRM or a plug into anybody’s CRM? It’s a CRM. Okay, cool. Although it can sync with other CRMs, it doesn’t make sense. Right. You’re doubling up. Yeah, cool. Yeah, I like that. It’s there. There is a lot that a lot of time people can spend in that in those rabbit holes of of like automating and stuff.

[25:05] And so it is nice when somebody is already creating those for you and kind of setting up a system that they can follow. So that’s that’s really cool. Yeah, we like throughout the onboarding process, they actually order the communications and everything like that. You can actually change the emails that are going to go out. So you get full privileges over that you can add emails to sequences. And then our software will automatically build those workflows in there for you. Yeah, that’s awesome. So I imagine then you would have kind of like a work phone number that would be integrated with a CRM. Yeah. Then have those automated texts coming from and that you would have like those those phone call, the recording, etc. happening through.

[25:52] Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And so one of the things that I’ve found in CRM searches and stuff is is there seems to be a lot of a lot of separation, like people like prefer maybe to have their personal stuff and their like work stuff separate. And I’ve kind of always operated off of like it’s all one for me. Like, like, I’m I’ve all my contacts are just kind of my miss my sphere. So. So one of the things that I’ve I’ve had to do with some of the CRMs I’ve worked with is then is then kind of sync my contacts. And that has to be like through a Zapier or something like that. But that’s that’s been one little thing. But I do like the fact that you can have you could build out, especially if you’re doing I could imagine if you’re doing like online lead generation, which is not something I’ve done much of.

[26:46] That you would you might feel bombarded with a bunch of people you don’t know. Well, and so like having that separation could be nice until maybe you get them in into like that, you know, they’re actually an active client. And then, you know, you might use your own phone as well. But yeah, I could see I think I think I could see why there’s a lot of people that that their CRM wants to be very separate from their personal life. I see that. But honestly, I feel like it’s a lot misguided. And the reason for that is is like those those people, those friends and family members are some of your biggest supporters. Oh, absolutely. And sometimes they need reminding that you’re an expert in the field that you’re in.

[27:26] You’re not just the default because your family. Your default because you’re the smartest person they know about real estate. Yeah. I mean, yeah. And you want them to be shouting your name from the hilltops anytime they hear anybody breathing about moving. Exactly. So for me, like identifying the client type and we have a lot of automation set up like this, where it’s like when you add a lead source, we add it in to the workflow. And we say, OK, leads coming from this lead source. What what are they? Are they buyers? Are they sellers? Are they? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers?

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[29:33] Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers?

[30:15] Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers?

[30:57] Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers?

[31:39] Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? Are they buyers? No, that’s great. And that’s one of the beauties too of having something, a number in a CRM that’s not your personal number. Yeah. Sorry, then I interrupted you about, you were saying something else. I can’t remember what it was now. Oh, we also use AI for a market analysis each month.

[32:27] So I used a prompt that uses data from like what’s going on with the Fed and news and whatnot to help give insight as to the factors that are affecting our local marketplace currently. Oh, that’s cool. Yeah. I think, I think, uh, anybody listening to this that isn’t using AI much, um, I think it’s just really important to start, uh, just, I heard somebody say, put a sticky note on your desk that says, how can I have AI do this? Um, or how can I use AI? And, and it’s just really about figuring it out. Like if you haven’t, you don’t have to figure it out. Ask, ask chat GPT. It’ll tell you. The point is that you have to actually like use it. Like you have to be, uh, constantly trying to engage it because if you’re not, then you may not think, Oh, Oh, this could be done by chat GPT.

[33:26] Cause like once you start, you know, using for more and more things, it becomes like obvious, like, Oh yeah, that’s something I’m definitely going to have chat GPT do. Um, my personal favorite right now, uh, this is really small, but one thing that’s been pretty impactful is, you know, I have a Mac and Apple intelligence is kind of built in or whatever. Um, but what I did was I, uh, made keyboard shortcuts for a proofreading and for a rewriting so that wherever I’m in, in my Mac, um, if I’m writing something, I can just kind of word vomit and just like get something out there. That’s not that clear, but it has the key points in it and then boom, rewrite. And it’s perfect. And that can be in a text message or that can be in an email.

[34:08] My email has built an AI too, but, but yeah, it’s, that’s been, that’s been really nice, uh, to just kind of be more effective of a communicator. Cause I think, you know, often through with it, when you’re not on the phone, I mean, the way you communicate is very, very key. Absolutely. I, um, one thing that I did for my team is I built a custom jet, uh, GPT for role playing with them. Sure. Cool. Which is so easy to do. Honestly, it’s not rocket science, but, um, the thing I like about it is I built in like randomized questions for it. Um, and the reason why I love utilizing this tool. And so like on my agents weekly check-in sheet, one of the questions is how many times did you use the chat GPT module this week?

[35:00] And the point is, is they’ll come up with a scenario, they present it and you need to respond. And then it’s going to give you advice on like what you did well, where you can improve and what the perfect answer would be. That’s cool. And, um, I, I trained it using Tom Ferry and Phil Jones language. Okay. Um, yeah, that’s awesome. And it comes really, really nice. And so, and I really, you could do like the voice to text for it, or even do the voice role play with it. But honestly, I prefer people doing the written version because I find that when you sit down and write and you’re really thinking about it, your brain makes deeper lasting changes. Then if you’re just to talk, you start thinking about the cadence and how you want to put these different words together, um, in a more thoughtful way that I feel like can stick and become more of a script.

[36:00] Sure. Yeah. I love that. That’s awesome. Um, I do have some, I, I, I have some questions about like, uh, if you have any golden nuggets, uh, for real estate agents, uh, that maybe are getting started or, um, have been at it for a while. I mean, is there anything that comes to mind that you’d want to share?

[36:23] Ask for the business, start with your sphere and ask for the business. Don’t be shy to say, do you know anyone that’s thinking of buying or selling this year? Okay. I love it. And is that, would you recommend going by calling, uh, emails? What, what’s the best route for, for doing that? Um, I think for newer agents also honestly being like face to face with people like throughout your day to day life, that’s going to be your best bet. Um, I don’t think newer agents have the skills on the phone to fully convert. I think that’s a skill that’s acquired over time, which is absolutely something you should work on, but do a month of my chat GPT bot first and then go and talk on the phone. Um, cool.

[37:13] Yeah. I mean, ask for the business, ask for it, like get involved with the community and ask for it. Yeah, that’s great. I love it. Um, what about any books that you’d recommend? Do you have any favorite, uh, books that are fundamental for everybody to read or ones that you’re currently enjoying? Yeah, I, I am a serial reader, so I am constantly picking up new tips and tricks. I think pertaining to this conversation, um, Dan Martell’s book, buy back your time. Um, that really focuses on making sure that the activities that you’re putting the most time into activities that only you can do. So in real estate, that’s making the sales. You should be in phase showing homes. You should not be organizing your paperwork and spending hours on doing that when you could be outgoing and finding your next transaction.

[38:07] Yeah. No, that’s awesome. Um, and, and like you were saying, like, you know, with your CRM, um, there’s some of those automations. Like if, if you’re doing it yourself, it takes a lot of time. And that might be again, where you can buy back your time by having somebody else do it by using your software. Um, but yeah, what a great way to free up, um, bandwidth too, is to automate a lot of the things that are just kind of repetitive. Yeah, absolutely. I’ll, um, I’ll send you my link tree to put in the description that has information on both my software, but it also has, um, access to our chat GPT module. So if anybody wants to give it a shot and try and sharpen their skills, um, it’s there for you to use.

[38:51] Oh, that’s awesome. Thank you. And that was going to be my next question is, is what’s the best way to reach out to you or find more information about this stuff? Yeah, absolutely. Um, use that link. It’s got all of my contact information, my social handles, um, and information on our, on our software. Cool. Awesome. Well, I really appreciate your time. This has been a fun conversation. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much for having me. Thanks for listening to the REI agent. If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe to catch new shows every week, visit REI agent.com for more content until next time, keep building the life you want. All content in the show is not investment advice or mental health therapy.

[39:31] It is intended for entertainment purposes only.