Building Real Estate Success through Coaching and Relationships: A Conversation with Mary Ann Cottrell

Mike MIlls 00:00:13 Hello, hello, hello and welcome, uh, anybody and everybody that may be watching this today. So, um, my name is Mike Mills and I am a, uh, mortgage banker here in the Dallas Fort Worth area. And my team and I, uh, focus on helping local agents grow their business by providing insights to all aspects of real estate. Uh, we can show you how to better market yourself, provide referrals to great real estate related vendors in the area that will take amazing care of your clients, and provide some simple tips and tricks to streamline your business so you can help, uh, more buyers and sellers. So, if you'd like to have a conversation about your business and what we can do to help, please don't hesitate to reach out. And of course, if you have any buyers needing to get pre-approved, uh, to purchase a home, uh, we'd love to take great care of them as well. So, now that, that boring commercial is out of the way, um, <laugh>. So on today's episode of the Texas Real Estate and Finance Podcast, I am very happy, uh, to welcome one of my favorite realtors, but also one of my very good friends, uh, Mary Ann Koro <laugh>. Nope, wrong one. I gotta get right. There we go. No wrong buttons.

Mike MIlls 00:01:16 See, this is why you gotta do things ahead of time. Sarah, check. I have applause there. It's there. It's,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:01:22 Gosh, can't believe you got me here.

Mike MIlls 00:01:24 I know, I know. Too many, uh, too many buttons over here, but yes, I am so glad that you're here. Um, I know when I brought this up originally, this wasn't exactly at the top of the list of things that you wanted to do. Right? I

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:01:34 Think I was negative 10 on the ask last. I said, no, <laugh>. No, I think I'm 41. So I think I've said no how many times.

Mike MIlls 00:01:42 Yes. Uh, several. Yes. But I don't take no for an answer. And I always, um, I know, I know that you'll be great on this. So, um, we had to have you or I had to have you in because we, you have a reason now that you kind of need to, so you didn't have a choice because you have a coach that's telling you need to do stuff like this. Yes. So I do. Thank you. Um, now that we have, now that we have information coming from two different directions, now it makes sense for you to show up and do it with us. So,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:02:06 Or at least I feel like I have to.

Mike MIlls 00:02:07 Yes. And you're definitely stepping out of your comfort zone. How do you feel about that?

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:02:11 Um, oh, I'm gonna live. I mean, I'll survive this, but yeah. I'm not happy, <laugh>.

Mike MIlls 00:02:17 Well, the good news is, is that as we're talking and going through this, there might be anywhere between five to seven people that watch. So yes, it'll all come later and you don't have to have any nervousness about this.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:02:25 That sounds perfect.

Mike MIlls 00:02:26 That's right. So, um, so today, um, we're gonna talk about all kinds of things, but, um, most of the stuff that we're gonna discuss is gonna be related to how you manage your business. Okay. Um, so Maryanne's been doing this for almost 10 years, and she's developed all kinds of habits that have helped her grow her business over the years. Um, so we're gonna discuss how she uses coaching to improve her skillset, um, ways that she gets involved in the community and grows her sphere. And you can kind of pick up a few things from that. And then she also just recently formed a team. So we're gonna kind of chat about, um, you know, what helped you finally make that decision and, and, and, uh, how you're feeling about that. Um, but first, um, I wanna start with, um, kind of how you got into real estate to begin with. Um, because I always think everybody has a unique story on what drives 'em into the business. Um, no two stories are the same. Right? So they're always, and your particular story carries a lot of interest because, uh, to say that you have a, a big family would be an understatement, <laugh>. So, um, so why don't you tell us a little bit about how you ultimately got into real estate to begin with and then, um, then we can kinda kinda go from there.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:03:30 Okay. Well, let's, uh, let's go back, uh, we'll find out as we do this. I am old <laugh>, so, um,

Mike MIlls 00:03:37 Hey, it's all a matter of the mind, Steve.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:03:39 Oh, the mind is right still so

Mike MIlls 00:03:40 Young. 25 in your head. Always.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:03:41 Exactly. Always. So, uh, college, okay. I actually took 12 hours of real estate, 15 hours of accounting, but I ended up with a finance degree. One of my first real estate classes. We went to this place way, way, way far north before 6 35 was built mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And they were gonna build this multi community. Like, what does that mean? You know, like houses and apartments, right. And stores.

Mike MIlls 00:04:06 So like mixed use community.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:04:07 Yeah. It was weird called Valley Ranch. Okay. Oh

Mike MIlls 00:04:09 Yeah, <laugh>.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:04:11 So now good luck fighting. We're

Mike MIlls 00:04:12 Really dating yourself there.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:04:13 I'm really dating myself. But that was, I mean, it was just cool to me mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I mean, the whole thought about it, but I didn't really think about doing real estate, but, um, I really enjoyed it. Yeah. In my first job, I worked in master trust, I did pension funds. Okay. I managed six, 8 billion of pension funds for people, and I had about three or 400 million in real estate trust. So I did a lot of paperwork. Okay. So I understood the documentation, bought malls, bought strip centers, did all that kind of stuff. Gotcha. Then, um,

Mike MIlls 00:04:43 So like commercial side of things, co

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:04:44 Commercial side of it, and, and I really only did the money and the documents. Okay. Never really got to see the stuff like I did before. Right. Then, um, my husband and I opened a company and we, um, managed failed loans. Okay. Had a lot of mortgage backed materials. Yes. So we'd have 20 houses, 10,000.

Mike MIlls 00:05:01 So this was at the height too, of when stuff like that was really Yes. Coming down. Right. Right.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:05:05 Yeah. That's when everything was being sold, everything was being foreclosed on, we were on the steps. Um, so we kind of went the other way, landlord. I mean, it was crazy. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> got all that stuff done then, um, became a single mom. Okay. And worked with a guy that wanted to flip. Okay. So we started buying houses in Fairmont. Okay. And, uh, we'd get down to the studs and we'd rebuild a house. And, um, so it always was in the back, but I never thought of making it a career.

Mike MIlls 00:05:32 A career. It's just something you did. It's

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:05:34 Just something we did. Yeah. I kind of liked it. Yeah. Um, well I have now four kids under the age of like 13 and I've always done Catholic schools. Yes. And, um, it's expensive. Yes. And not sure how I'm gonna pay that. So

Mike MIlls 00:05:46 Right now, this is No, now you're speaking in the present tense in your words, but you're talking about back then and

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:05:52 Still back then, 12 years ago. Yes. Maybe 10 years ago. Now you

Mike MIlls 00:05:55 Said you had four kids under 13. Yeah,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:05:57 That was four.

Mike MIlls 00:05:58 But how many do we have total?

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:06:01 We do, we have eight children. Eight children

Mike MIlls 00:06:03 Total. Okay. I always joke, you know, I give you a hard time. I say you have 25 kids or 30 kids or whatever. Oh,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:06:08 I have friends telling me I have 42. Yes. It's just,

Mike MIlls 00:06:10 Yeah. Anything over two, I got two. Anything over two to me is like 75, so I'm good.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:06:15 So I have eight. Here's the stats. Let's get it over with. Yes. There's eight kids, they're 12 years apart. There's four boys and four girls. I do a lot of, uh, speaking at other, um, retreats and stuff, and I always tell people, four boys and four girls is so much easier than eight children, <laugh>. So just, just knock it down. You'll be fine. How very

Mike MIlls 00:06:34 Catholic of you.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:06:34 Thank you very much. Thank you very much. So my oldest is 30. Good lord. He's 34. Okay. Which makes me feel even older than

Mike MIlls 00:06:42 20, 25 in your mind. 25 in your mind. Valley

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:06:45 Ranch. That made me feel younger than saying my son's 34 and then my youngest turns 22 next week. Yay. So, um, anyway, so that's that. Yes. So I had four of them at home. Um, Catholic tuition,

Mike MIlls 00:06:57 Gotta pay the bills.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:06:58 I tried jewelry, I tried whatever. Right. Anything to knock on somebody's door to go into their house to sell. And I finally went.

Mike MIlls 00:07:04 Well, was, I'm curious, was it hard, because I think people deal with this sometimes too, of you had been kind of in a lot of different things, right? Yeah. There wasn't, you know, you, you weren't an engineer at Lockheed Martin or Exactly. You weren't a, a teacher at, you know, A I S D or whatever. Like you were, you did a little bit of commercial. Yes. You did a little bit of flipping. So it's hard whenever you're not in a particular, I mean, you're in a field, but there isn't like a path in front of you. Exactly. So you kind of have to find, okay, where the hell am I gonna fit? Like, what am I gonna do? You know, am I gonna sell jewelry or am I gonna sell all this? Exactly. Like what I don't know what I'm gonna do because there isn't like a, well, I've been doing this for 15 years, so I'll just keep doing that. Right,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:07:41 Right. I'm 50 years old, nobody wants to hire a 50 year old. Right. <laugh>, of course. Do the math. I'm now 60, turn 60 in January. Yes. Nobody wants to hire, I mean, we're phenomenal. I mean, we're great workers. Sure. We have so much myth, but lemme hire a 24 year old who doesn't know anything, then that's their

Mike MIlls 00:07:57 Choice. Right. You're not gonna I b m to get a career started today. Right. No,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:08:00 I'm not. So I, um, took the, took the, uh, test Uhhuh <affirmative>, um, started in August, took the classes, passed the test, um,

Mike MIlls 00:08:12 And that's when we met.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:08:13 It was when we met. Yes, it was. Yes. And um, I think I met you probably my first day. I think you did. Yes, you did. I think we did. And, um, that's just kind of been it. And I just have loved it. I absolutely love my job.

Mike MIlls 00:08:27 Well, I remember when you first started, cuz I, at that point, let's see, I had been in the business maybe not quite five years, you know, so I was relatively new to it as well. Um, and I remember when you came in, we were chatting about, you know, you starting out as an agent or whatever, and you know, you had a a bunch of questions. Um, you like, we talked for a good while. Yeah. I'm not, we always, anytime we get together, we talk too long probably. Yes. Uh, but, but we, you know, you had a lot of questions about a lot of different things and I even think like you were writing stuff down and, you know, not that I had anything that I was saying that was worth writing down, but either way, uh, you were definitely engaged in trying to pick up, okay, what do I need to know here?

Mike MIlls 00:09:08 What do I need to know here? And I remember at the time you said Sharon's name, uh, Sharon Paris, who was the broker. Her and, uh, John Pollock at Remax Pinnacle at that time. Right. Um, I remember talking to Sharon and I said, she's gonna be good. I said, she's gonna be really good. And she's like, what do you mean? I'm like, well, you know, we meet new agents all the time. I mean, you, the great thing about real estate is that you have a ton of flexibility in your schedule. You can make as much money as you want to or as little as you want to. The downside to the industry is that is a low barrier of entry. Yes. Like, you know, the, you have to take a test, you have to get licensed, but eh, it's not that hard. You know, like, it's pretty easy.

Mike MIlls 00:09:46 So, um, if you wanna become a realtor, it's not that difficult to do. Exactly. So, um, so you get a lot of people that come in and they'll be in the business for maybe six to 12 months, and then they're gone. Um, just because it wasn't for them. Right. And you had such a, um, desire to learn and you also, because of your situation with your, you know, your ex-husband and being single and at that point with the kids. Right. There wasn't an option. Like you had to figure out how to make it work. And that's why I was like, look, sh she's sharp. She knows exactly what she wants to do. She's not scared to work and she has to make this work. Like there is no choice. That's how you know she's gonna be good.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:10:24 Well, and people talk about your why. Yes. And when you do coaching, it's one of the first thing they talk about. Right. Do you have a why? Right. Do you not have a why? You have to have a why, why, why, why, why, why. And my why was so huge that there wasn't anything but my why. Yes. So

Mike MIlls 00:10:42 Well, and it's not, in that case, I won't even say it was necessarily a why. It was more like a must, must <laugh>. Yes. Like there is no, you can't come home and say, Hey, you know what guys? I don't feel like it today, so we're just not gonna eat. Um, you know.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:10:55 Well, and it wasn't, it wasn't even Catholic education was the biggest proponent, but I don't know if y'all know this, but they eat, they need a car. Yeah. They, um, there's something called select. We did select soccer, two of them. Oh my gosh. That's an, I mean, that's a whole nother job Yes. To get that done. Yes. So, um, there's just a lot Yeah. To your two kids Yes. Times to, to four. Right. Yeah. So there's just a lot to it. Yes. And so, um, you gotta, you gotta figure out a way mm-hmm. <affirmative> to make it. Yeah. And, um, I, you know what, I have, uh, all eight of them got 12 years of Catholic education. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I not a big help in college. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I figure I've done all the help I can <laugh> and so they all pretty much take care of themselves in college. But right now I have seven college graduates and in May I'll have eight.

Mike MIlls 00:11:46 Well, you know, there's some <laugh>.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:11:48 Sorry,

Mike MIlls 00:11:48 That was a little mob. No, I love it. I love it. I love it. There is a lot to be said for, you know, um, and, and my kids probably hate me for this and you know how I feel about this stuff. Yes. Cause we talk about it a lot. Yes. But, you know, life's gotta be a little hard. You know what I mean? I, it it, if everything is given to you and everything is easy, and, and, and I'm speaking it from a parent's point of view. Yes. Not, not necessarily from a person, but if you give your kids everything all the time mm-hmm. <affirmative>, the appreciation of what they have and what they've been given tends to be diminished because they just don't So true. Understand what it takes to give what you give. And you know, Susan and I experienced this from time to time because we're, you know, we, we've done decent for ourselves and, and Right.

Mike MIlls 00:12:33 Wanna give our kids everything we can, you know, <laugh>, so, so I'll tell you a funny story. So yesterday or day before yesterday, I'm taking Katie Janey to school. Right. And, uh, she's like, why does the fridge smell like pickles? And I'm like, I, I have no idea. Like, I don't, I don't know what you're talking about. So I get home and Susan's getting up with Troy and they're, you know, getting ready to go to school or whatever, and she opened, she's like, why is the fridge smelling pickles? And she had a big pickle jar, or there was a big pickle jar in there and Troy had gone in there in the night and unscrewed it to get a pickle and they didn't put the lid back on tight enough. And it just drained all into the fridge, <laugh>. And, you know, my wife doesn't get upset about a lot of stuff, but when, when her clean stuff gets dirty, she loses her damn mind.

Mike MIlls 00:13:17 And so she's like, that's, you know, he's like, I thought I put the lid on. I'm like, you didn't bro, <laugh>, she's like, losing her mind. Why can't you people take care of anything, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And, and I kind of joked, I was like, well, when you do everything for them all the time, they're gonna tend to make some mistakes. She's like, I don't need your opinion. I'm like, I'm just saying, you know, like, you know, it's kind of like we got home the other night and she's, she had made dinner and you know, we walk in the door and she's got plates fixed and bringing forks and drinks. And I'm like, babe, like we're, you know, I got legs, I got hands. Like, we can do this. And he needs to be able to do this on his own. Yes. He doesn't need you doing everything for him all the time.

Mike MIlls 00:13:52 But it's, it's her innate, you know, she wants to take care of everybody. But, but the point is just that, you know, you have to, you have to train your kids to do things for themselves. Yes. And sometimes you do it outta necessity because you don't have a choice. Right. Right. When you have eight kids and you're living on one income and you're managing everything yourself, you're like, look, I gotta take so-and-so to practice today. You got dinner on your own, you know, figure it out. Right, right. And we always used to have the conversations about when you would actually have time to make dinner and you're like, here's dinner. Yeah. And then like a friend would show up or something and they'd be like, I don't really like, whatever. And you're like, well, I'm sorry but you're at my house <laugh> and this is how it's gonna go. This is

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:14:33 It. Peanut butter jellies of the pantry, otherwise here's what we

Mike MIlls 00:14:36 Have. Yes. Exactly. So I, I think that, you know, it's, it's when you have kids that either out of necessity or because you created the space to where they had to learn how to figure stuff out for themselves, the success meter tends to be on a higher degree because they've just had to learn how to do so

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:14:53 Well and all eight of them paid for their books. Yeah. All through Nolan. Yeah. And if you, you go to public schools, that doesn't make sense to you, but in private schools, not only are you paying them for school, you are paying for every book. Yeah. You're paying for every everything. Yeah. There's nothing given to you. Right. Books can go 200 bucks to 600 bucks. Yep. A a kid a year, a semester. Yeah. A year or a year, whatever. Yeah. And so that was their job. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> as, and they had a job, they all worked at Camp Thurman. We'll give them a plug, right? Yeah. Yeah. Best place in the world. Camp

Mike MIlls 00:15:24 Thurman's. Awesome. Ah,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:15:25 And they all worked through Camp Thurman and they would make money, um, during the summer to pay for their books for the next year. Yeah. They messed us up right around third to the bottom. Like maybe John or Mary, one of them, they quit hiring early, so Oh, that year before freshman year, they didn't have a job. Right. Or they, it was a volunteer year, I think. It wasn't so no money. Okay. So the older kids just paid for theirs. Oh

Mike MIlls 00:15:51 Wow. Okay. Yeah.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:15:52 I I wasn't gonna change. I'm not very flexible and <laugh>, once I've made my rules for, for one through six, seven,

Mike MIlls 00:15:59 Everybody's gotta fall the same.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:16:01 Yeah. So, uh, the older kids just paid for the younger one's books until they made money. Yeah. Um, and we got it done. Yeah.

Mike MIlls 00:16:07 You gotta figure it out. Right. Figure

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:16:09 It out.

Mike MIlls 00:16:09 Well, and it's funny cuz we, uh, when we talk about school and grades and stuff with my kids, we, um, but the rule in our house, you know, good or bad, right? My, I have, I have smart kids and they're expected to make a, there, there is no reward for a's, there's, there's punishment for B'S and that's how it works. Okay. And, but I am, I am a big believer of like, I don't care how you get your a just get the a because there's a system in a school, right? You have to know the teacher. Do you, are you, you know, the teacher's pet or you getting extra credit? Are you, you know, uh, figuring out how to go in after school to, you know, work on this or do that. Like, I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. Extra project, you know, you're best friends with the teacher, you Right.

Mike MIlls 00:16:54 You know, you wanna cheat off. So I don't, again, I don't care. Ace, the point is you have to make an A because I think most things in life are like, the result is ultimately to some degree what matters in a lot of ways. Okay. Not, not in everything by any stretch like process. I believe in big time two, but, but a lot of things you just gotta get from point A to point B. Right. However you get from point A to point B, it doesn't matter. Right. Like, just get to point B. And so part of learning how to navigate, whether it be at work or whether it be in relationships or whether it be at school or college or anything else, right? Is you gotta learn the shortcuts, you gotta learn the pitfalls, you gotta learn all this stuff that you can and can't do. Right. You know, to, to ultimately achieve whatever goal that you have. And so, you know, if, if my daughter can talk my wife into helping her with half of her project to get it done, I'm like, look, I don't think you should do that. Cause you're not learning how to do it very well. But if you could talk your mom into doing it and you still get a, a <laugh> again, get the a that's all that, that's all that cares. So

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:17:55 Like normal, I'm gonna disagree with you Totally. <laugh>, which is very common for our conversation. Yes. That is, no, I have my d it's done. I have a d it's a degree child. Uhhuh <affirmative>. It it is an A's. Yeah. It's what's your best. And some of my kids best were a's yes, but some of my kids' best were C's. And they, that was an A, we would celebrate a c just as big as we could celebrate an A. Yes. So that, that being said,

Mike MIlls 00:18:21 Tanya says hello, by the way. She popped in there. Oh,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:18:24 Hey.

Mike MIlls 00:18:25 Now real quick, before you finish that thought, I a hundred percent agree with you on that. Yes. But the difference is, is that both of my children are a children and are fully capable of making a, so if, if I had, you know, Troy, he's questionable. But if, if, if he,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:18:39 He was, how did dad do?

Mike MIlls 00:18:40 Uh, I made trade a's, um, as aside. I mean, I probably had a B in there somewhere or whatever, but I mean, I'm, I can't remember, but just ask. Yeah. I wasn't, uh, the grades were always accepting college, college was not <laugh>, college was not. Um, but I do agree with you there. Like you have to cater it to the particular child. Yes. And what they're successful. You know, it'd be no different if, you know, if if my daughter wanted to learn how to play guitar and I expected her to be Jimmy Hendricks, it's like, no, not gonna happen. She's not a guitar. You know, that's not her, it's not her nature, whatever you wanna call it. So. Gotcha. Yeah. You gotta have expectations for different levels of kids.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:19:11 Okay, good. There you go. Okay. Just had to clarify.

Mike MIlls 00:19:14 Yes, no, a hundred percent no. And, and, and I do think, and I want to be sure too that, you know, I'm a big believer in process, which I think you are as well. Yes. Uhhuh, <affirmative>. That you have to follow certain steps and you have to go along a certain path in order to achieve, you know, what you want to do. Yes. And, um, I, I do think that the process is more valuable than the result. Right. Um, but explaining that to a 12 year old or 13 year old, 15 year old, it's difficult. Exactly. You know, they were more focused on results to some extent. And

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:19:45 I would tell you when mine, each one of them was 13, 14, I would not have thought we had eight college graduates. Right. I wouldn't, I wouldn't have put money on that. Yeah. Because I didn't look like that was going to be the best path for a couple of them. Sure. But we did. Yeah. So there we are. Well,

Mike MIlls 00:20:01 But that's, that's work, right? Yes. I mean, that's what that is. I mean, and that's, that was my point to my kids. I'm like, listen, school is, and by the way, Tanya says, uh, we all got superpowers and you got a lot of 'em, <laugh>. Um, we all have, I have a job. My job is to sell mortgages. You have a job, your job is to sell houses. Right, right. Whatever my kids' job is to go to school, that's their job. That's it. And every day they have to be at work at eight o'clock in the morning or whatever time. Seven, they have to do their tasks, their assignments and their thing, whatever. And they have, they have to be scheduled and go to these places. And for them, it's not that hard. So your job is to get A's Yes. Like that's your job. Yes. And if you take care of your job, then everything will be provided as you need <laugh> and there you go. Or that you want. And if you don't, then things get subtracted. So. Exactly.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:20:46 Yes. Exactly.

Mike MIlls 00:20:47 So it's just a, it's, it's a, it is a, the reason that your kids have the success that they've had is because they had to earn everything that they did. And, and you provided that environment, again, sometimes outta necessity, sometimes outta purpose. But either way, that environment was there for 'em, and because they worked their butts off, then when they got to college, they had the skills that they needed to have to have success. Yes. You know,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:21:12 And I also, I I'm gonna bring 'em up one more time, but, uh, all one thing with all eight is the summers at Camp Thurman, whether two parents, one parent, it didn't matter. Yeah. All eight of them did. Summers, sometimes eight, nine weeks, 10 weeks working all summer, 110 with a bunch of kids every summer. Yes. And I think I give them half credit, I tell 'em all the time, whoever's there and whoever's working there and running it, um, I always tell 'em, we gotta share. Yes. Because I really think the kids got where they were in part, uh, from Camp Turban. Oh yeah. They just instilled so much into those kids. Sure. Yeah. And taught them good, bad, and the ugly. What do you mean I'm gonna park cars 45 minutes before everybody else and you're not paying me anything. Nope, you're

Mike MIlls 00:21:58 Not. And now, by the way, you're gonna do with a smile on your face. Yes, exactly. And if you don't, you won't be out there

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:22:02 And you're gonna be, and Oh, somebody just hit you in the car line. Yeah. You're gonna smile all the way to the nurses' station. That's right. Because that's what we do. That's right. Yeah. And they've learned so much.

Mike MIlls 00:22:13 No, that was a great environment. And I, I, yes. I mean, we took our kids there and would go through there all the time. And I'm like, nobody's this happy all the time. <laugh>. There's no way that everybody's this happy. But that's what it felt like. Yeah,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:22:23 They

Mike MIlls 00:22:23 Are. So you brought up earlier, um, coaching Yes.

Mike MIlls 00:22:28 And Tanya's here. So it's a good, good, good way to transition into that. So one of the things that I noticed about you, um, right away was that you got into Buffini right from the jump and coaching has always been a real big piece of what you do. Yes. Um, and some people have all kinds of difference, difference of opinions on coaching and how it works and what you should do and paying for this and paying for that. So I want to get your point of view on, um, why, especially like right out of the gate, you started with the coaching and then obviously you've derived enough value from it that over the years you've continued. So, so what is it about that that got you started with it? And then why do you feel like it's served you so well, you know, to move forward, to keep doing

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:23:09 It? Um, Buffini worked so well for me in the beginning just because it is me, it's relationships. Okay. I'm a very, everything I do in my whole life is relationship. So when I started Buffini, I realized it doesn't have to be a job. It can, I can incorporate my real life into doing this. Right. I can keep up with people. I have a friend that we went to museum school, we lived next door when we were three. He was at my party. I'm at his parties. We still see each other at 60. Yeah. Like, and I've got hundreds of those people. Yeah. Grade school, high school. Anyway. Um, so when they told me I could keep up with people and that would be part of my job mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's like, oh, okay. That's not a job. Yeah. I got that check. Yeah. So, um, it, it really fed into what I already did. So

Mike MIlls 00:23:56 It already fit what you

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:23:57 Were doing anyway. It, it just fit perfectly. Oh, you mean I get to send birthday cards and Christmas cards to everybody? You mean I get to take 'em out to eat? Yeah. You mean I get to call 'em all the time? I mean, it just fit who I was. Yeah. So after going to a few of the, you know, masterminds or the, you know, learning sessions or whatever, um, they talk about this coaching all the time. So, um, you do this, um, heritage profile thing and they kind of figure out who you are and what you doing.

Mike MIlls 00:24:23 You're like a personality test.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:24:24 Personality test. And, um, shockingly I'm a benefactor. Who would've thought? Okay. And so what's

Mike MIlls 00:24:30 A, what's a benefactor? Benefactor?

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:24:31 How do they describe it? I do, I do things for everybody else. I gotcha.

Mike MIlls 00:24:33 Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Well, having eight kids will tend to do that to you.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:24:36 Yeah. So that's kind of my focus. <laugh>, right. Um, and so they mashed me up with Tanya and the two of us. Um,

Mike MIlls 00:24:43 Oh, so Tanya was your coach when you were with Buffini.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:24:46 With Buffini.

Mike MIlls 00:24:46 Okay. Alright. So she was your first coach there? Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:24:49 Very cool. I didn't know that. And so, I don't know, I'll be corrected. I'm sure we did that maybe three, four years. I don't know. Um, it's accountability. Yeah. Um, you want to do the right stuff. You want to do what you need to build your business, but if you don't have a coach, there's nobody Did you do that? Right. Um, this is a great example, what we're doing today. Um, when we were coaching before Covid, Maryanne, you gonna be videos though? Maryanne? You're doing videos? No, January. I'm on a group coaching call. Maryanne, you doing videos? No, there's another girl that does the videos with us. She goes, oh, okay, we'll do it together. Well, she put hers on. Well, now here I'm left. I'm the only one left. So I did mine then I'm doing this. So two, wherever you are out there, there's two of them.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:25:34 <laugh>. Um, I, I'm not comfortable. Yeah. This isn't a comfort place for me. Right. Because I'm, I'm talking about me. I don't wanna talk about me. I wanna talk about Mike. Right. <laugh>. I wanna know what's good with Mike. Right. I, I want all about Mike and nothing about Miriam. Right. So this is, um, but because of my coaching, here's why you do this. Here's what we're doing, here's how we're gonna build on it. Okay, now we've done this. Let's do this. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, there's a plan. Um, every year we sit together financially, what's your budget look like? What do you need to keep your budget? Uh, what do you, what's your, uh, target number? How many people do you wanna sell this year? What's your goals? I mean, and that's just a constant. We all think we're gonna do it, but it slips. Yeah. Either one thing slips or they all slip. But with a coach, that's her job. Her job is to keep you going down the right path. And when you veer off, which I do Tanya now very opposite. She's an Olympian. She's a winner, she's a, how was I gonna do this? How am I gonna be first? What's gonna happen? Right. You, you'll enjoy talking to her <laugh>. Y'all are just very much. And I'm like, oh, it was so much fun to play. I'm so glad you won. Yeah. Yeah. It was great.

Mike MIlls 00:26:45 Yeah. Yeah. You don't have the competitive side nom.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:26:48 Uh, not at all. Yeah. Do you wanna play next week? It'll make you feel better if you win. Yeah. So, you know, whatever. Yeah. Uh, and I don't have to be first in the class. Sure. I don't have to. I don't have to be in the class. Yeah. Just let me get to where I want to go.

Mike MIlls 00:27:00 So the accountability side of it, it plays a big role for you. That's huge. Huge. I, I do think that that gets missed a lot just because, you know, we, it's weird cuz you know, we all have parents, everybo, every human on the planet has a parent, um, of some kind, good, bad, whatever. But we all got 'em. Uhhuh, <affirmative>. Um, and if you have bad parents, then you probably had somebody in your life when you were growing up that was like the good parent. Right, right. Somebody that was looking out for you that kind of checked in on you. Whatever, you know, most especially if you had any success in life, I think most people had something like that to some extent. Because somebody that cared about you essentially uhhuh, <affirmative>, um, whether it was your mom or dad or a friend or whatever.

Mike MIlls 00:27:36 But as you, when you become an adult, you know, you're kind of, well, you're not kind. I mean, you're on your own. Right. Like you're, you're, you know, you have friends, you have spheres, you have people around you, but ultimately you're solo, right? Yep. And you have to, and that's when I was joking with you earlier about my college years. That was what happened to me in college. My first semester in college. I was like, wait a minute, nobody's here to tell me when to get outta bed. Right. Nobody tells me I have to go to class. Nobody's telling me, well then this is awesome. Right. Until the end of the semester when you get your grades, you're like, oh, oh, I guess I should have like, tried to do some stuff. Exactly.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:28:09 You know?

Mike MIlls 00:28:09 Exactly. So you have to learn the hard way. But, but having that coach is, is, you know, it's kind of like having another parent. You just have somebody going, Hey, are you doing what you're supposed to do? Are you making sure this happens? And then Exactly. It's like you have that anxiety whenever you're gonna go, you know, you have your call at whatever time, two o'clock on Tuesdays. Right. And you know, by Monday at noon you're like, oh crap, I didn't do my homework. I need to make sure, cuz I don't wanna be the only one. Right. I didn't take care of it. And I think what happens is you get comfortable in that. You complete whatever it is, the stuff, and then you realize it's not that

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:28:41 Bad. Right. Exactly.

Mike MIlls 00:28:42 It wasn't that bad. Like, I had an assignment, I did it, I didn't wanna do it. It was the procrastination and the, and the, the, the fear of not doing it that was way worse than just actually doing it.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:28:52 Well, and I would, I wanna add one thing about the coaching. Uh, Tanya's no longer with Buffini. Yes. She's an independent coach. Right. Which, um, I wasn't really sure how I wanted, um, to navigate that mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But the, the best part is really the Buffini has not left. Right. That's gonna be me. And that's gonna, that was hers. But now we're pulling from so many different, um, strategies or different ideas. Uh, ninja Selling is a book we're reading right now. Yep. Just things that could it happen while she was at Buffini? I don't know. I don't know the politics and I don't know how all that's run. Sure. And what their guideline, I don't know all that, but I know it can happen when she owns her own business. Right. And so now she can go out and what works. Right. What, what is happening with other people and she can integrate it into all of our coaching, um, without checking or asking. Right. So it's, it's really a, a cool situation. Cause I feel like I still have that base that I need to do my business with a lot more flavor. Right.

Mike MIlls 00:29:59 You have extra pieces added to it that you didn't have before. Exactly. Well, I think when you look at what the, the great thing about Buffini in general was that the program was based off of you, you know, what is it the, you're the mayor of the, of the town or whatever. Is that the saying that he has in there or something?

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:30:14 Oh, there's a mayor campaign. Mayor

Mike MIlls 00:30:16 Campaign. Okay. But, but ultimately the idea is that you are, you know, trying to be everything, not everything to all people, but you just want to interact with as many people as you possibly can. And it's your friends. It's not necessarily strangers. Exactly. These are people that you know, that you have relationships with. Right. And it's a matter of keeping in contact. And the shift, probably for you that's starting to happen is that your way of doing that was, you know, the, the cards and the thank you notes. And I still to this day, you send me cards in the mail, you know, which is always hilarious because I go like, oh, there's Mary Ann's, we had lunch, there's her card <laugh>. So, but that's what you do. And, and it's, it's like a, it's, it's a, it's like a muscle. Like you just, that's just natural. Like you don't have to think about it. You just like, oh, I'm gonna write my cards

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:30:59 Today. So that's probably write sometimes up 2000. Yeah. 2200 notes a year. Yeah. I mean it's just doesn't make, right now I'm working on my St. Patrick's right. Notes and I'll probably send 150, 160 of those. Yeah. I don't think about the kids are going, oh, one of the notes today. They're used to like notes all over the place. Yeah. Because

Mike MIlls 00:31:16 That's what you do. That's your, that's your mode. Right. I love it. But what you're trying to transition into is stuff like this Uhhuh <affirmative>. Okay. But what you, I think you know this, but it sometimes, you know, you know, but you don't know till you do it, is that we're doing the same thing. Right. Right. It's just a different tool. Yes. Right. Your tool was, I write notes, I put my card in, I put it in the mail, and I send it off. Right. Right Now the tool is, okay, well I'm gonna still do my cards cuz that's me and I'm gonna do that till the day I die. Right. Because that's, I, I don't, I can't imagine a world in which you'll ever give up sending cards, <laugh>. Which, which by the way, just so you know, I do also believe that that has a greater value these days than other things because nobody else is doing it.

Mike MIlls 00:31:57 Yeah. Right. It's a unique thing I do. Um, cuz the mailbox is starting to shrink as far as how much mail it gets. So when you get that little letter, you're like, oh, hey look, that's me. It's got a little handwritten thing on it. That's right. Um, but the social media stuff, whether it be doing this podcast or whether it be making your video that you did the other day, which congratulations for doing that for the first time. Thank you very much. Um, it's the same thing. Uh, you, you're, you're just not, it's just not targeted at one person. Yes. You are talking to multiple people. Right. And the thing is is, and I made a little story about this the other day, is, you know, I think time is the most democratic thing that exists. Okay. We all get 24 hours. Yep. Everybody, everybody.

Mike MIlls 00:32:34 Doesn't matter who you are, where you came from, you know what you look like. You get 24 hours in a day and that's it. Yes. Okay. So what matters is what you do with that time. Okay. That's what separates you from anybody else. Okay. Right. Do you screw around and, you know, spend all your days on, you know, watching tv or do you, you know, exercise, do you work on your business? Like what do you do during that time? Right. Right. And we all have to sleep. So there's it, it gets even limited on what that is. Right. So the great thing about social media is you are fantastic at let's go have lunch, let's go have a drink, let's go have dinner. Right,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:33:08 Right.

Mike MIlls 00:33:09 But there's only 30 days in a month. Right, right. And you have a family and you have a job and you have responsibilities and everything else. So you can't go spend lunch and dinner and whatever breakfast with everybody that you know. Like it's just, I try. You try. I know, but it's challenging.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:33:24 It is very challenging.

Mike MIlls 00:33:26 So what social media provides is a shortcut on that time to say, Hey look, every once in a while I'm gonna touch base with all the people that I know and just be like, Hey, how's it going? Here's something funny, here's what I'm doing. Whatever. Just so you're in front of them Yeah. On a regular basis. And you know, I think one of the things that you may be, could use advantage of or take advantage of is the video messaging side of things. Right. Because you could sit in your house and record 10 videos and send them just in a text message instead of sending a text or instead of sending, you know, uh, I don't know, you know, whatever a a mail or whatever. You just record a video. Hey Joanne, how you doing? Hope the kids are great. I really miss you. Just wanted to say hi, you know, hope everything's awesome. You know, gimme a call sometime, we'll go hang out, send the video and, and now they see your face. Right. Because that's powerful. Right, right. Other than just some text or you know, what are written down and you could send that out to 15 people in one day and you know, kind of accomplish your task of introducing yourself. Right. And then you make more videos and then you get more confident putting videos online. Just uh,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:34:31 Yeah. Slow down. Little

Mike MIlls 00:34:32 Little steps. Little steps in

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:34:33 Direction. Slow down <laugh>. But you know what, that is a good idea cuz other things I do, you know, I do have that client appreciation program. Yep. And so you've helped me with every step of that. I've never done a pie party without you. Right. Uh, but like this last year I think we had 75 pies or something. Uh, wouldn't that be cool to do my, um, pie party invitation by video? I don't know.

Mike MIlls 00:34:56 I think it sounds great. I think it sounds great. We'll have

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:34:58 To think about that. We also, it's almost time for us to do another movie.

Mike MIlls 00:35:02 Yes, yes. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. We've been a little while now, now that you know, all the covid stuff's kind of, and

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:35:06 People actually, I don't know if anybody's back in the movie theater.

Mike MIlls 00:35:09 Yeah, no. They are.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:35:09 If we go, I don't know. It was fun. Yeah. That's what I, I think that's what's most important to me with my business is that I do all those other things. Yes. I love being able to throw a party Yeah. And have 5,000 people show up. Yeah. Or fill up a movie theater or, um, go to somebody's house, babysit one of their kids. There's fun. <laugh>

Mike MIlls 00:35:32 Yes. You've had, uh, many, many of your children have babysat my children over the years, so Yes. So do you think, do you think coaching is good for everybody or do you think it's only good for certain types of people?

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:35:43 I think it really is. And here's what people don't know, I don't think or don't understand. Coaching is, um, can be formulated for you. Okay. Okay. So example, I'll use my coach. We, I get on a co call maybe eight, 10 people on the call. There are quite a few people just like her. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, very Olympian. There's only a couple of us that are probably more benefactors. Okay. Um, and every once in a while we'll get to cheer her because she, she'll speak my language mm-hmm. <affirmative> and I'm like, oh, we have to stop <laugh>. She just did it. <laugh> there, there's my language. But it, it can be tailored. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like as soon as the coach a good coach, what's a good coach learns you mm-hmm. <affirmative> and sees who you are, then it gets tailored. It's the same thing. Let's take soccer cuz that's what most of my kids played.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:36:36 If you're a goalie, you're not gonna get caught taught to be a midfielder. Right. And that's not what you're gonna get coached. Right. Nobody's gonna coach you on your speed. Right. And, and your footwork. I mean there, it's just two different positions, two different coaches. Right. So you just have to get the right coach. Right. But yes, I think everyone needs to have somebody to be accountable to, but not only the accountable, but to push you in the right direction mm-hmm. <affirmative> and build you up. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because we all have demons in our head. We all have the naysayer, we all have this. Not, I'm either not worthy or I don't have time or I don't know, whatever we wanna tell each other. Yeah. But if we've got somebody telling us Yeah, you can mm-hmm. <affirmative> and you can do more mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, I think it's priceless.

Mike MIlls 00:37:22 Yeah. Well, and I think that everybody, um, like you said, they have whatever the message is, is gonna be different for every person. It's not always gonna be the same if it's a good coach. Right. Right. And that's so, so then, so that's another question then is like, I I, it sounds like in your situation, you got lucky in that, right? You went into Buffini and Tanya was your first coach and still is. Right. Um, have you ever talked to any other coaches just to kind of see like, you know, if I, and, and what, what are some things that kind of put up some red flags for it? I'm like, eh, I don't really like that person. I

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:37:53 Mean, I didn't really do other coaches as much as I've done other programs. Like I'd go to other people besides Buffini. Okay. And didn't speak to me. Gotcha. It just didn't even, uh, it just to me raised red flags, like Yeah, I am not doing that.

Mike MIlls 00:38:06 And it's What, what was like, what do you think the red flags were did?

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:38:09 Uh, transactional based. Okay. Real estate. Okay. Like, I don't care if I do 50, if I don't know 20 of 'em and I'm paying for 'em and who are they and Right. I, I, I get too involved. Gotcha. And I'd love to do 50 of my closest friends in these transactions Sure. But to go out and just, um, just to create a number, uh, I, I, I, uh, I'd turn 'em into friends anyway. Yes. <laugh>. So you may, you may want me to do it a certain style. Yeah. And it's not gonna happen. Yeah. Yeah. I'm still gonna go buy to their house and drop 'em something off or you know, see if they wanna go grab a drink anyway or Yeah. Uh, so I'm gonna change their program. So I feel like it's gonna be like that with a coach if I find somebody.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:38:51 Now, Tanya, we don't agree on everything. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we didn't agree during covid. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, I, I stopped coaching mm-hmm. <affirmative> during Covid because I didn't wanna call people. Right. I don't wanna talk, I didn't want to talk about it. It was not a good time for me. Right. So I didn't wanna hear how I could do it because I wasn't going to. Right. We just needed to take care of ourselves. We needed to stay put. Yep. I don't need to be bombarding them with things when nobody knows what's going on. Right. So we both, we had a different view. Right. And so, um, I stopped mm-hmm. <affirmative> and then once I was like, okay, all this is done, I'm ready to go forward and I'm ready to listen to somebody else's opinion. Right. Because I wasn't willing to listen to anyone's opinion. Hey. And then, then I am. Yeah. But you do have to be open. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you have to be open to listen to somebody.

Mike MIlls 00:39:38 Right. You gotta take an input and be okay with it. And Yes. And even if you don't agree with it, sometimes it has to be that way. That's

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:39:43 Exactly right.

Mike MIlls 00:39:44 So a lot of your business, like you said, comes from friends and you know, friends of friends Right. And all that kind of stuff. Now you spend, um, uh, a good amount of time out, like you go out, yes. You go to different restaurants, you go to different bars, you go to different places. I mean, that's part of your normal life, right? Yes. Yes. So how have you turned that kind of stuff into, you know, I, I think you've, you've met people at bars before that you became friends with that ended up buying houses from you and things like that. So how does that, like, how does that look like when you go and hang out or you just, you know, I mean, you're, you're not a shy person, so that's <laugh> that's definitely, you know, you're, you're more than willing to talk to anybody.

Mike MIlls 00:40:19 And, and because like you said, you're, if you're talking to me, you wanna hear about me, you're not sharing all your stuff about yourself. Um, that's a great skill. Or, you know, skill, talent, ability. Right. Uh, person, whatever you wanna call it. Because people love to talk about themselves. Yes. I mean, it's their favorite thing, not you, but most people do. You know, it's like, what's the sweetest sound to anybody is their name. Right. That's, that's the the thing. So, so what is your interaction with like in those environments that have, that have put you in a place where you pick up business from that?

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:40:51 Oh gosh. You asked like three questions. I there know. Okay. So let's do the first one. Yes. I love being regular irregular as somewhere. I love having relationships. I'll do a shoutout to Cat City Grill place on Magnolia. It is my place. Yes. Uh, it is a lot of people's places. Uh, I can remember being a single mom and just showing up and having water. Cause I didn't really have money for the food. Yeah. But I'd sit there and have water and if I had, I'd have whatever. It's on the special one. And do you have any crackers, <laugh>, uh, and thank god they were on, what was that? That Groupon? Yes. And thank God for Groupon. Groupon. That is so many times Soupon. Yes. Anyway, uh, and you know, I just sat at the bar watching basketball or watching whatever's out there and Oh, who's next to me. And you're right. Nine out of 10 times I will leave a restaurant or a bar and I will know so much about the other person and they could not tell you my name. Right. <laugh>. And that's okay. That's what happened. That's the way it goes. And so I go the next time and uh, oh my gosh, you look so familiar. What was your, and then we talk again, and then we talk again. I don't wear a name badge. I'm gonna get in trouble with I know you should. Don't wear a name badge or just

Mike MIlls 00:42:00 Get a t-shirt, you know, or, or

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:42:02 Whatever. Right. I know. I don't do that. And so it's usually my third or fourth visit before people realize I'm a realtor. Right. Not a great, not a great skill. I don't recommend it for anybody, but that's what's comfortable for me. Sure. I want to know somebody and build a relationship with somebody because I wanna build a relationship with them and not to sell 'em a house or to Right. Help 'em buy a house. Yeah. Um,

Mike MIlls 00:42:25 It's a genuine desire.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:42:26 It is. Yeah. And so once finally, after a while, people do ask Uhhuh after you've talked to 'em a few times. Oh, Maryanne, what do you do? Yeah. And the bartender laughs every time. Like, oh, here it goes. She finally gets to say she's a realtor. All right. That one only took four times. Maryanne. Yes. So it's kind of a joke because I tell people that all the time. Nobody will ever ask me what I do or what I Oh. Or anything about me. Yeah. Nobody knows. I have eight kids. Nobody knows anything cuz people don't ask.

Mike MIlls 00:42:53 They don't.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:42:54 So it's, it's always kinda a little contest. Yes. Like how many times they take, how many times it gonna take <laugh>. Yeah. So, but I've got, some of my best friends are at Cat City. Yes. And I've been going there probably eight, nine years. We do our pie parties there. I do a lot of happy hours. We do a lot of meals, but you know, I've got others. Trey Moley is one of my new favorites. Um, ended up another, another one of my superpowers. How about this? I can almost find a connection with anybody. Okay. I can remember when we were sitting there talking. Yes. I don't know, maybe a couple of months in Uhhuh <affirmative> found out your stepsister went to high school with my oldest son. Yes. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> give me, give me enough time. Uhhuh <affirmative> I'll find a connection with anyone. Yes. Yep. And uh, that's what happened. The bartender at Tre Moleys parents go to the same church and we went on a pilgrimage together and I spent 10 weeks with his, with his in-laws. So now that's crazy. I know. It just is what happens. Yeah. And so, um, the chef comes out, I know him because my best friend's, his accountant. Yeah. So it just,

Mike MIlls 00:43:54 Well, and you've been in the area a long time too, so that born and raised. Yeah. So that makes a big difference, right? I mean, cuz you went to Nolan, right? Yes, yes. Which is, it's, it's, it's a unique thing for you to go to Nolan and then you're all your kids to go to Nolan. Yes. I mean, it's just anytime you're in a community for that long, and especially in the Catholic community, you know, in the Fort Worth area, you know, if you're, if you're Catholic and you live in Fort Worth, odds are you got some sort of connection to Nolan. Look.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:44:16 Exactly. Right. And that's all that happens. And then once you make a connection, oh, I had no idea you're, you know, so-and-so's mom or whatever. Yeah. Well then you just go forward and then it just, well you're like, family makes sense. Yes. Then it just makes sense. Oh, you know, I'm about to get married. Oh, well you're gonna be looking for a house soon. I'd love to be able to help y'all whenever you're ready. Right. I don't know how many young couples I've helped because they went to school with my kids. Yeah. And they've known me forever, and I'm gonna tell 'em the truth.

Mike MIlls 00:44:43 Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's always, yes, <laugh>, you have never been one to sugarcoat things at all, which I think, you know, is great because it, um, especially as an agent, like it plays a big piece in it and everybody wants to tell Oh. You know, you wanna tell 'em what they want to hear. Right, exactly. Because it's easier that way. Yes. But that's not what's in their best interest. Many times, Uhuh, and especially when you've been doing it as long as you have, I think you've even talked people outta buying houses before,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:45:08 You know, like, I, I

Mike MIlls 00:45:09 Have, this is not the time. You don't need to do this yet. You need to do this, you need to do this. And if you were transactional based, then that would never happen. Exactly. Right. But you're not, you're relationship based. And when you're relationship based, then you're going to tell people what you think and your opinion is gonna be the best case scenario for them and what they should maybe do.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:45:26 Exactly. Exactly.

Mike MIlls 00:45:27 And being a mom for so long, there's certainly, you know, for so many, uh, hundreds and hundreds, <laugh>

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:45:33 24 42,

Mike MIlls 00:45:34 There's, there's so much of that that comes out too, because Yeah. You're, you're moming them, right. You're like, all right, listen, listen kids, here's how this is gonna go. Yes. Yeah. And you've always been, um, uh, uh, very good at that. And you know, it, it takes, um, not every client's for you and you're not for every client Exactly. Because you're not gonna tell 'em what they want. And I think you've even told people before, I don't think that I'm gonna be your agent.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:46:00 I have fired more than one. Yeah. Um, I, I don't allow a lot of things. Yeah. Um, and there are some individuals who like to belittle, who like to cuss Yeah. And, um, be outta line mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, um, they get one chance. Yeah. And then they're gone. Right. Yeah. Like, you know, you might be able to get away with this with other people, but Yeah. Not gonna happen here. So, yeah. Um, great knowing ya. Yeah.

Mike MIlls 00:46:27 <laugh>,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:46:28 Don't let the door hit you on your way out. Right, right. Um, yeah. I, there's just life's too short, just not gonna do it. And in the back of my mind, or maybe in the forefront of my mind, I'm not gonna set that example to my kids. Yeah. Yeah. We're not being, the kids will hear somebody on the phone with me and I hang up. They go, mom, why would they speak to you like that? I'm like, sometimes there's reasons. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But if it's just because that's who they are, then

Mike MIlls 00:46:52 They won't last very long.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:46:53 That's not gonna last. Yeah.

Mike MIlls 00:46:53 Yeah. Well, so you, um, did another, speaking in your comfort zones. You did another thing that's out of your comfort zone that you had been told would be a good idea for you to do for a long time. That you were hesitating and hesitating, and this year you decided to form a team. Right.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:47:09 Oh, you're right.

Mike MIlls 00:47:10 And, um,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:47:11 I was afraid, where are you going?

Mike MIlls 00:47:12 Yeah. And so, <laugh>, but, but the thing with that is that, you know, and I, I thought for years that that was something that you should have done, um, you know, a while back. And it was always a hesitation for you for a number of reasons. But, um, you know, when people talk about stuff, everybody's always an expert. Right? Everybody's like, well, I know how to do this and I know how to do that, and I'm great at this. I really like talking to people that are doing things for the first time. Because I think there's so much more to learn there when you can say, yes, I'm not good at this. I don't like that. I had to find this, this wasn't my, you know, versus, oh, well, let me tell you how this is gonna work. This is gonna be great. I'm gonna show you how to do it, and you're gonna be amazing because I am gonna tell you all the great things. Right. So what has your experience been like with starting a team? What kind of pushed you over the edge finally to get you to do it? And do you have, like, were there hesitations, you know, and, and, and things about it that you really were nervous about and have done some things worked out a little bit better than you thought? Like, how's that whole experience been for you?

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:48:10 Um,

Mike MIlls 00:48:10 And I know you're brand new into it. It's Yeah. We're,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:48:13 We're like months into it, right. We're months into it. Right. And I have two people on my team. Yeah. Anita Kibby and Parla Zubia. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, uh, bilingual,

Mike MIlls 00:48:20 Both former clients,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:48:22 Both. Um, yes, yes. Um, Parla, we've worked and worked at work and haven't solidified anything, but, you know, one day we're going to Yeah. But now she can do her own. Yes. She's bilingual. Yes. So I even have a bigger bonus on my kid. There you go. There you go. Uh, anyway, um, the problem was, I think to be honest, all my kids left. I became an empty nester. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I don't know what mom of many does with an empty nest. And I really started thinking, what, who am I gonna help? Right. Uh, my why, who am

Mike MIlls 00:48:52 I gonna, mom? Who am I gonna

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:48:53 Mom? Right. Who am I gonna teach? What am I gonna do? Right. And my why? Um, that's a big coaching issue with me. Cuz I lost my why. Okay. I I, what do you mean I have to make money for me? Yeah. I have to make money for my rent. Right. That's my kids' rent. That's my kids' school. Right. That's my kids. So I had to completely change my direction to me. Yeah. So where am I going to get all of my boxes checked? Right. How am I gonna do what makes me happy? I love teaching the Buffini classes mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so I get to do that. But, um, I just wanted to do more. Yeah. Uh, the problem with teams is, um, as you can tell, I don't tolerate Right. <laugh> certain things. Yes. So how am I going to do a team and actually have it work?

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:49:37 Right. So one of my top criteria when I, I sat there and did the whole what are the values? What, what's my, uh, mission? What's my purpose of my team? Compassion was my number one word. Okay. If I can't have someone on my team that has compassion, that's gonna care more about the people, then the transaction care more about the people, long term people who aren't gonna keep up. If they can't use that model, I don't know if I can help 'em. Right. And so I thought, well, I've not, I don't know if it's gonna work until I see if it works. So, so far I've got two great ladies who I feel embody the same thing I do. Um, they're at the very beginning. Yeah. So if anybody's interested in buying or selling, I've got two new people and they're really wanting to learn.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:50:22 Right. Um, but, um, I think that's gonna start fulfilling me more. Okay. Uh, I don't want a huge team. If I had two, maybe three more people, I'd probably be happy. Um, just because we have cycles and some people are busy when other people aren't. I thought if I had four or five, then I could maybe stay busier. I'd be more consistently busy. Right. And on a selfish note, um, this is my year. I've never had a year, but this one's my year. Okay. So I'm gonna travel. Oh, I've already traveled some. I'm gonna travel some more. All right. It'd be great if somebody would answer my phone while I'm gone. <laugh>

Mike MIlls 00:50:58 Not a bad thing either.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:50:59 There's my

Mike MIlls 00:51:00 Other boat. Yes. So, um, when you, like, how much did Taw play a role with you on deciding about forming the team? And did she, did she encourage you down that road a little bit too? Or was this something you kind of came to on your own or,

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:51:12 I kind of came on it on my own. I probably should have asked for a lot more help. Yeah. And I should have gotten more direction. But, um, it, I thought about it for a very, very long time. Yeah. Um, and

Mike MIlls 00:51:23 Well, you're definitely not somebody who's gonna do something because somebody tells you to. No, that's for sure. So

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:51:28 That doesn't happen. You

Mike MIlls 00:51:29 Have to get there on your own. There's no doubt about that.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:51:31 We actually talked about teas before when we were, when she was still at pni. Yeah. And I had taken classes and I had done a lot of research. Um, but I really wanted to do it differently. Yeah. I didn't want to do, um, I didn't wanna structurally create teams. Right. I wanted it more emotionally. I wanted it to fulfill what I needed it to fulfill, which is really not the way you're supposed to do it. Right.

Mike MIlls 00:51:54 It wasn't about, again, it wasn't about transactions. No. It was about the relationships. It was

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:51:57 About the relationships. Right. People that understood me and, and, um, if I was gone, I would trust them with my clients. Right. So that's, anyway, that's what I'm doing. But she's helping me going forward. Like how to, once they get busy and things start happening, structure

Mike MIlls 00:52:13 Everything. Yeah. Yeah. Because you do have to have, that's the, the hard part with the teams is, is the relationships are great and you Yes. That's a big piece of it, but you also have to have some structure. You have to have some Right. Processes in place and procedures Yes. On how to do stuff. Yes. And, and manage all that. And, you know, when you're learning how to do it, especially when it's always just been, I mean, you have the, you have the tools because you managed eight children growing up. Right, right. But it was the, it was the, uh, the methods, you know Yes. That were different. Right. Yes. And that's, that's the thing is, you know, the necessity of it and what needs to be done. Yes. But it's how it gets accomplished and what that looks like in planning that out. Exactly. Exactly. That's, that's a new challenge for you. It

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:52:52 Is. Which keeps me interested.

Mike MIlls 00:52:54 Well, it certainly isn't boring <laugh>.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:52:56 That's exactly right.

Mike MIlls 00:52:59 So, um, so do you think that, you know, it like, when you look down the road when you're doing real estate, is this something you're just gonna continue to do as for as long as you absolutely can? Or do you have dreams of quote unquote retirement? Or is this retirement or how I don't, I, I know what the answer is, but I, I gotta ask, you know? Yeah.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:53:18 Retire. I guess if the kids all decided to like, support me, everybody take a month. <laugh>. I mean, uh, I still have to pay rent. Yes. I still have to eat, I still have to travel, I still have to do stuff. So I can't imagine. Plus I'm not good. I'm a very, um, social obviously person. Yes. If I don't go out, if I'm not, I don't have to be with people. Yeah. If I'm just sitting, people are gonna think she's at a bar all the time. Cause we've now said this like four times <laugh>. But if I'm sitting at a bar by myself, I am completely happy with the activity going on around me. Yeah. Now I will end up talking to somebody. Sure. Probably. But that's not the point. I just don't wanna be sitting at home by yourself. I can't stand it. Yes.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:54:00 Now I have a puzzle. Go. But my house is completely busy. There's a 2000 piece puzzle over here. Okay. I have this going here. I have notes going here upstairs. I have this. You saw the dog don't bad story not talking about it. Okay. Yeah. But we'll, we'll again, have a dog. Okay. One day. Gotcha. But, um, I, there's just too much going on all the time. Yeah. Which we talked about. I'm gonna bring something up. We talked about morning routines. Yes. Love morning routines. Okay. I have the most non-conforming morning thing you could ever imagine what you got. Uh, so I wake up every morning, my two grand. I have two grandkids in Richardson, and I have two grandkids in Denver. Okay. Or North Colorado. So the two in Richardson I see all the time. They go to a school called Dallas International School.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:54:47 Never heard of it till they went there. Okay. It's in French. Oh. Oh. The whole school. Wow. All right. There's an English class, Uhhuh <affirmative>. And they take a foreign language, which is Chinese. We're talking a kindergartner and a two year, three-year old. Okay. Like, doesn't it nothing the same of any way I ever did it. It's amazing. Yes. So French is their, um, school language. Okay. So I have started Babbel. Okay. So I've started French. All right. And um, reason being that they suggested, he taught he speak more French at home. Yeah. You gotta practice it. We gotta practice. So I thought, well if Mimi, because I am a Mimi. Okay, there you go. I like it. The best title I've ever heard. Yes. <laugh>. So Mimi started babble and now I can try to say something to him. And this little six year old just cracks up going, no, me, me <laugh>.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:55:38 It's like this. So I may not help in the traditional sense of helping him, but I'm helping because he's correcting me. Yes. That's a huge, becoming the teacher. That's right. Becoming the teacher is the best part of way, best way to learn. And my goal is, yo know the Bob Books, they have those in French. Oh yes. So I'm hopeful that I can build myself up to reading Bob books. Okay. To the kids at night when Nice. I try to go once a week. So that's the first thing I do every morning is work on your babble. Is I work on my babble. Okay. And I'm doing French. All right. And I just got, this is going to be crazy. And I'm not saying believe I'm gonna say it by the way. You could do videos about that if you wanted to. Enough. Um, I'm doing a lazy get fit. Um, what is the app? Okay. I am am not a workout person, but I'm 60. I've got to start moving. This body's got to start doing. It's very important more than what it's doing.

Mike MIlls 00:56:32 Resistance training and exercise is very important the older you

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:56:34 Do. So this thing is as e I can do it, it's called Just Fit. It's a baby workout app, but it's making me move 10 minutes, 15 minutes every day. That's it. Yeah. And it's simple. And you get a little check mark. Yep. It's, you know, my to-do list and, and it's, I'm done. Yeah. And then I have, again,

Mike MIlls 00:56:52 Structure for you. That's your coach. That's, you got a, you got a little app, that's your coach. That's it.

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:56:56 Yes. So, and I sit there, uh, in my, on the carpet and I can get it done. So I don't leave upstairs. My bedroom's upstairs. I don't leave upstairs till babble my exercise. And I've got four mind games, uh, practice. Okay. Like crosswords or Right. Okay. Uh, Tuco or just to get the mind working mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I have four of those. So I get those done. Okay. I'll get dressed. I can start my day. I don't care if I do it at six in the morning or nine in the morning and doesn't matter.

Mike MIlls 00:57:22 Just gotta get those done before those

Mary Ann Cottrell 00:57:23 Things are done before I walk downstairs. Yeah.

Mike MIlls 00:57:25 Yeah. Well, I mean the, there's so much, um, there's so much research nowadays behind habits. Yes. Um, you know, there's tons of books out there. Atomic Habits is like one of the best sellers in the country. Um, I've read it a couple times actually. And, um, there's a, there's several others that are really good. Uhhuh, <affirmative>, and, you know, you don't re people don't realize, I, I think I read it was 70% of what you do every day. Yep. It's just a pure, it is just habits. Yep. It's all, it's, it's all autonomic. You just do the things, you know, brush your teeth, go to bed, go to the bathroom, do eat food, whatever it is. Yes. It's all, well, I gotta do this and then I gotta do this. It's like programmed out for the day so you don't even think about it. That's exactly right.

Mike MIlls 00:58:07 You just, you're just cruising along doing like, I have the problem of every time I leave my house, I have two ways I can go right or left. And depending on where I'm going, you know, I have to go in that direction. But we go to the same places all the time. Right. So it's whatever. So, because I'm so, especially cuz I like come here and go. So like a lot of times I'll go, right, it's kind of like more often than not, so I'll just be driving and I'll take a Right. And Susan be like, where are you going? And I'm like, well what do you mean? I'm going, oh crap, I meant to go left. Because it's just, I'm just, yeah. I'm thinking about something else and autopilot kicks, autopilot kicks in and I'm just going where I'm going. And you know, the thing about it is, and, and the, the real breakthrough of all this stuff is that you can program yourself.

Mike MIlls 00:58:47 Yes. You're a computer, you can literally program yourself to do whatever you want to do. Exactly. You can't do everything because again, like we said, 24 hours in a day, that's it. But prioritize the things that matter to you. Yes. And you can program yourself to make those things happen. Yes. But you have to do it with the, with the intent of I've gotta make this something that I'm doing on a regular basis for the sake of creating a habit. And, and with that intention. Yes. You know, um, yes. We talked a little bit about, you know, when we were, before we came in about my walks that I do, you know, and, and it's, it's, it started out I was taking my son to school in the morning. Nice. And I had to walk him to the curb, which is ridiculous cuz he can't walk to the curb on his own, but whatever, <laugh>, it's my wife's rule.

Mike MIlls 00:59:31 So, but I'm, it's six, you know, 15 in the morning, six 20, whatever it is, I'm outside, I'm dressed cuz it was cold at the time as we started in the fall. So I'm like, well I'm already here. I'm up so I might as well do something. Right. So that's when I started my walk. Right. And then, so I just started walk cause I wanted to get some exercise to get my body going. I had read. Yep. There's a neuroscientist that I follow, his name's Andrew Huberman. He talks about these morning routines. Okay. About how when you get up, you know, people go to get the coffee and they do all that stuff. Any, and, and there's, there's plenty of, of scientific evidence that suggests that when you wake up in the morning, that you need to get moving because your natural circadian rhythms that wake your body up, um, kick in much more effectively if you get motion involved.

Mike MIlls 01:00:18 Okay. So when you start walking forward, there's something to do with your vision field when your things are moving in and out of your field. Okay. That triggers your brain to say, Hey, we're awake. Like it's time to wake up. And also sunlight, natural sunlight. Okay. So in the morning he's, you know, he says, do it 10 minutes, do it 15, whatever. I do mine, mine's 30 minutes. It's about two miles that I walk just lap in my driveway. Um, but the sunlight's out. So my eyes are, I'm not wearing sunglasses so I can see the natural light. Um, I'm getting motion going and then, and I'm getting physical exercise. Right. It's not a lot like walking's not right. Solving the world, but you know, it, it's still, you're still burning calories and you're still moving and you know, steps are important and all that kind of stuff.

Mike MIlls 01:00:59 So, so all of that triggered from well I need to, I wanna be up more and I want my rhythm. So I don't, I wanna be a morning person. Yes. You know, I'm not, but I want to be. Okay. That's what I want to be. So like, even now, my son doesn't have to go to school at the same time, but my daughter has to go to school a little bit later. And so Susan would take Katie Janey and I would take Troy. Right. Take Troy, walk him the driveway <laugh>. Um, but she would drive her to school. Well once that ended, he ended practice cuz he had to go to practice in the morning. Oh, okay. Got it. She was like, uh, you know, uh, now you can sleep in. And I'm like, wow, I don't really wanna sleep in like I wanna get up. Right. So I'll take Katie Janey now and you can sleep in. But for me, if I don't have the, the why or the purpose of what I have to do that day, then I tend to wanna sleep in. Right. So it's forcing me to get outta bed. Now, hopefully by the end of say when we get to summer, I will have developed a habit enough to where I don't need that, that extra push of having to take her to school. Like say

Mary Ann Cottrell 01:01:52 What, 15, 30 days? Yeah. I mean there's so many days that it

Mike MIlls 01:01:55 Is a habit. Right. It's different for every person really and truly. But um, but the idea is that that habit is something that's pushing me in the direction of doing the stuff that I wanna do. And then that led to me doing the videos and, you know, the, the, the stories and all that kind stuff. But, but all of those things are, you know, we talked about habit stacking, now I'm adding another trigger to do something else. And so there are certain things throughout my day that once I do this thing, then the next thing has to follow. And there isn't even a decision, it's just like, oh I gotta do this now. So I do that and then, then I'm back to whatever it is you know, I'm working on. So, you know, it's so important and I, I don't know that, I don't know that it's talked about enough really, that whether it be for your business or for your personal life or for your health, that creating your own program for yourself Yes.

Mike MIlls 01:02:41 On a day-to-day basis and making yourself accomplish these things. And you can't do it all at once. You gotta do one step at a time. That's exactly right. But once you get those steps moving, you can push yourself in whatever direction you want. You just have to program your mind in your body. It is. And it just takes time. So, but um, you know, it's uh, it's one of those things that I think more people should look into and I think that it really benefits everybody way more than you realize until you actually start it. You know? And, and like you said, the accountability side of having somebody tell you, Hey, you should do these things, or Hey, you need to be working on this, that gives you the push, right? Yes. And then once you start doing that stuff and you get the feedback of the benefits of it, then that becomes your why or becomes your reason because you're like Exactly.

Mike MIlls 01:03:24 Well I don't wanna go back to what I was doing before cuz I feel so much better and I'm having so much more success and all that stuff becomes built into that whole process. Exactly. Um, but you need all those pieces. You need to have somebody there that you're accountable to. Yep. You need to create those habits and then you need to, you know, bear the fruit of it when it does and and celebrate it. Like, Hey, I, I did some good stuff here. You know, and not always feel like you're down on yourself cuz you didn't accomplish that other thing that you wanted to do. Well,

Mary Ann Cottrell 01:03:49 And just to tie this in, because I meant to tie it in earlier, but you just created a great segue for me. But habit, you're the only lender I use. You are my lender of choice. Uh, every buyer I've ever had has had to speak to you. <laugh>. There's not a choice. Now, I'm not blessed to use you every single time because you're not going to work with everybody how it happens. But it is what happens. They may come to me with a buy with a lender. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, well let's see if that's a good rate. Yeah. Let's see if that's really the place you need to go. Let's talk to Mike. Yes. Uh, and so, and that's gonna be how ta uh, Anita and Perla is gonna be taught the same way. Right. So here's Mike. Yay. So, uh, have you met my friend Mike <laugh>? Uh, and so that's, it's the same thing when, when your business, I don't think a lot about the transactions. I really focus on the people because it's so habit for me. Right. Like I get a buyer, here's Mike. Right. We don't even talk till we talk to Mike. Right. Uh, you've got some people you've been talking to for three or four years mm-hmm. <affirmative> because they're not ready. Yeah. And you're gonna talk to Mike until you're ready and then I'll jump in. Yes. Uh, and I just think habits are part of our business too.

Mike MIlls 01:05:01 Absolutely. Makes the whole thing work. It does.

Mary Ann Cottrell 01:05:03 Yeah. Because I do, if somebody asked me, well what happened after this? I can tell you because that's what happens after every inspection. That's what happens after every foundation. I mean, I do the same thing Yeah. Every time. Yeah. You don't

Mike MIlls 01:05:18 Have to think about

Mary Ann Cottrell 01:05:19 It. I don't even have to think about it. Okay.

Mike MIlls 01:05:21 Well I think that's all. Well thank you very much by that, for that by the way, <laugh>. Um, but we are, we're an hour already. I know. It goes fast, right? It goes

Mary Ann Cottrell 01:05:29 Very, very

Mike MIlls 01:05:29 Fast. Super fast. So, um, I really appreciate you coming in and I appreciate you stepping out of your comfort zone a little bit. Okay. And, and making this work for you. Um, and we'll definitely have to do it again. So once we get a little bit further down the road, we can then we can talk about your social media journey Oh. And how that's going. There we go. You know, cuz now we're just starting that ball rolling. So, um, so we'll have to visit about that and how that's moving again. But, um, I, I love you to death. You're one of my favorite humans on the planet and that's why war be a good human cuz you're one of my favorite people <laugh>. So, so thank you for coming in and thank you for spending the time with me and I know this was not <laugh> something that you wanted to do, so we'll definitely have to do it again and hopefully uh, we can have dinner tonight and it's not, uh, gonna storm and, and wreck everything. I know

Mary Ann Cottrell 01:06:10 It's gonna be a double dip bike tonight. I know. I get you in the afternoon. Dunno if end the

Mike MIlls 01:06:14 Evenings good or bad. I'm not sure. Oh, it's

Mary Ann Cottrell 01:06:16 Gonna be great.

Mike MIlls 01:06:17 Well thanks for everybody that stuck around and watch for a little bit. I appreciate it and uh, we will see you on