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Oct. 13, 2024

Daily Realtor Success Habits: How to Thrive in Tough Market Conditions

Discover the daily Realtor success habits that set top agents apart in this episode of The Texas Real Estate and Finance Podcast. Host Mike Mills and guest Conrad Jackson share proven strategies for thriving in a tough real estate market. From leveraging tools like Property Boost to maximizing community involvement and video marketing, you'll learn actionable tips to boost your business. Conrad also dives into diversifying income streams and building stronger client relationships. Whether you're navigating a slow market or planning for 2025, this episode delivers essential insights for every Realtor looking to grow their success.

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The Texas Real Estate & Finance Podcast with Mike Mills

Want to discover the daily habits that separate top Realtors from the rest? In this episode of The Texas Real Estate and Finance Podcast, Conrad Jackson shares his proven strategies for thriving in today’s tough real estate market. From marketing secrets to leveraging community connections, this episode is packed with actionable advice to help you boost your business and plan for long-term success!

Detailed Episode Overview

In this episode of The Texas Real Estate and Finance Podcast, host Mike Mills sits down with Conrad Jackson to dive into the daily success habits that every Realtor needs in today’s challenging market. Focused on the theme of Daily Realtor Success, this episode covers essential strategies for Realtors looking to maintain and grow their business, even when the market slows down. Conrad offers tips on scheduling, leveraging tools like Property Boost and Adworks, and explains the importance of community involvement and video marketing. With insights into how to diversify income streams, build stronger client relationships, and set yourself up for a productive 2025, this episode delivers valuable advice for any Realtor looking to elevate their game.

Key Takeaways

Master Daily Realtor Success Habits

Conrad Jackson emphasizes the importance of maintaining a structured daily routine, especially in tough market conditions. By starting the day early and dedicating mornings to high-return activities like lead generation, scheduling, and follow-ups, Realtors can create consistency and drive long-term success.

Leverage Marketing Tools Like Property Boost

Conrad highlights the effectiveness of Property Boost, a cost-effective tool that promotes listings and drives engagement through social media. By investing in targeted ad campaigns, Realtors can attract clicks and potential clients, even in a slow market.

Maximize Your Sphere of Influence

Engaging with your community and network is key to generating leads and maintaining visibility. Realtors are reminded to connect with their local contacts and expand beyond immediate family or friends, engaging with everyone from grocery store clerks to parents in the car pickup line.

Incorporate Video Marketing

Conrad discusses the importance of video marketing for real estate professionals. He explains how Realtors can use video content to showcase their expertise, build a personal brand, and appear in search results, helping to validate their credibility and stand out in a competitive market.

Diversify Your Real Estate Business

To thrive in any market, Conrad recommends Realtors explore additional income streams, such as real estate investment, new construction, or property development. Diversifying business activities helps Realtors stay financially secure during slower sales periods while strengthening their expertise in various aspects of the industry.

Guest Bio: Conrad Jackson

Conrad Jackson is a highly experienced Realtor with over 20 years of expertise in the Texas real estate market. As a multifaceted professional, Conrad not only excels in single-family and multifamily investments but is also an accomplished builder and real estate developer. His hands-on approach extends to his successful YouTube channel, where he shares valuable tips and guides on home rehab projects and what to look for in real estate investments. Conrad’s vast experience in various sectors of real estate, combined with his active involvement in his local community, makes him a trusted figure in the industry. Known for his dedication, strategic marketing insights, and ability to thrive in tough market conditions, Conrad brings a wealth of knowledge to Realtors looking to grow their business and diversify their income streams.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Property Boost for Real Estate Ads

Learn how to leverage Property Boost to promote your listings and generate high engagement through targeted ad campaigns.

URL: https://new.propertyboost.com/welcome

Adworks for Realtor Advertising

Use Adworks to advertise yourself as a Realtor and stay visible to potential clients in your area.

URL: https://www.adwerx.com/

Conrad Jackson’s YouTube Channel on Home Rehab

Follow Conrad’s channel for expert tips on home rehabbing, property investments, and what to look for in real estate projects.

URL: https://www.youtube.com/@Realestateondeck

Geneva Financial - Mike Mills

Contact Mike Mills at Geneva Financial for home loans, refinancing, or to explore mortgage options for your clients.

URL: https://www.millsteammortgage.com

The Texas Real Estate and Finance Podcast on Spotify

Listen to more episodes for expert insights and tips on thriving in the real estate market.

URL: https://open.spotify.com/show/6BNBX9lJe2D0kOmniCAVtb?si=4312f96da1b94e3b

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction to the Market Challenges

00:05 - Engagement Strategies for Real Estate

00:18 - Cost-Effective Advertising in Real Estate

00:57 - Building a Routine for Success

04:00 - Navigating the Current Real Estate Market

19:11 - Importance of Community Involvement

29:23 - The Role of AI in Real Estate

38:02 - Leveraging Video for Real Estate Marketing

49:41 - Planning for 2025: A Roadmap for Success

01:12:45 - Conclusion and Next Steps

Transcript

Conrad Jackson

(0:00) When you are marketing online through like Facebook or Instagram or something like that, Property Boost is amazing. (0:05) It's probably the best one that I've seen to get you the engagement.

Mike Mills

(0:09) So it takes like a particular listing and then...

Conrad Jackson

(0:11) Yeah, it'll take a property, right? (0:13) And you can turn around and promote that property, especially if it's your listing, you know, to get a certain amount of clicks.

Mike Mills

(0:18) Okay.

Conrad Jackson

(0:19) Barrier to entry is like 60 bucks. (0:20) 60 bucks will get you about a week, anywhere for a few hundred clicks. (0:23) Okay.

(0:23) You really only need one good click, you know, to turn into an opportunity to turn into a sale. (0:28) Yeah. (0:28) You could spend up to, you know, like 200 or so bucks and you'll get 30 days and that'll get you a few thousand clicks on it, you know?

(0:35) And when we say clicks, that's somebody actually clicking your advertisement and being taken somewhere to where you are controlling what they see. (0:43) Right. (0:44) And what they do and have eyes on what they're doing online.

(0:47) Right. (0:47) That's been a really big one as of late.

Mike Mills

(0:57) So, hey, hey, hey, all you contract cowboys and open house heroes out there. (1:02) So, if you've got more closings than your favorite Marvel movie has post-credit scene, then you are killing it. (1:08) But if not, don't worry because we've got your back today.

(1:12) So, you ever wonder how some Realtors seem to crush it no matter what the market looks like? (1:16) Upmarket, downmarket, doesn't matter. (1:18) They still keep getting listings and helping buyers find the homes of their dreams each and every month.

(1:24) And if you're striving to be that kind of agent, then you are in luck. (1:28) Today, we're diving into a game plan for thriving in a downmarket. (1:32) What to do, when to do it and looking under rocks for some unique ways to generate some income in a slower than usual market.

(1:39) So, grab a pen because you're going to want to take some notes today. (1:42) This is the Texas Real Estate and Finance podcast here each week to help you become a master at your craft with expert tips on how to grow your business and live the life that you've always wanted. (1:52) I'm your host, Mike Mills, a North Texas mortgage banker with Geneva Financial.

(1:55) And when I'm not here behind this microphone, I'm out there helping you and your clients get into the perfect home loan and find options and solutions to problems that you may have never considered. (2:05) So, whether it be your standard conventional FHA or VA loan or even a home equity line of credit, construction loan or rehab loan, my team and I have you covered. (2:14) So, if you need help with that next big purchase, give me a call and we can walk you through all the options.

(2:19) Now, before we get into the good stuff, I've got a small ask. (2:22) If you are picking up what we're putting down today, whether it's a golden nugget of wisdom or game changing tip, make sure that you smash that like button, subscribe and share this with a colleague or a friend in the biz. (2:32) Your support helps us spread the word and keep our real estate community thriving.

(2:35) You guys are the fuel that keeps this little show moving and I appreciate each and every one of you. (2:41) So, please tell a friend. (2:42) It would put a huge smile on this smooth skulled face of mine.

(2:46) All right. (2:46) Enough about me and the show. (2:47) Let's get to it.

(2:48) So, my guest today is the number one contributor to the podcast, a North Texas realtor with over 20 years of experience in this game. (2:55) He's a single family investor, a multifamily investor, commercial investor, and he's building an entire neighborhood. (3:01) He does construction.

(3:02) He hosts a YouTube channel show about real estate investing. (3:04) He's a father, a coach, and a really good friend of mine. (3:07) This guy's gotten more about how to make money in this business than most of us have ever even learned.

(3:12) And he is here again for the seventh time to drop some knowledge on us. (3:16) So, please welcome to the podcast Mr. Conrad Jackson. (3:18) Conrad.

(3:19) Hey, what's going on? (3:20) How are we doing, sir? (3:21) I appreciate that round of applause.

(3:23) You got it. (3:24) You got it. (3:24) So, we're back at it, man.

(3:26) I appreciate you coming in. (3:29) You're always my go-to whenever I have a gap in the schedule and I appreciate you being there for me all the time. (3:34) So, thank you very much for that.

(3:37) All right. (3:38) So, first off, before we kind of get into some stuff, I always love having you here because we're honest with each other. (3:45) We talk about the truth.

(3:47) There is no sunshine and roses and how things are going. (3:50) So, excuse me. (3:52) I think sometimes that when we look on social media and we see realtors and lenders and whatever, everybody's doing awesome all the time.

(4:00) Like, they're doing great. (4:01) They're killing it. (4:02) Best year of their life, right?

Conrad Jackson

(4:03) For sure, for sure.

Mike Mills

(4:03) But when you're 30% down in a market at any given time of year, which is what we are, especially on even bigger on turnover for existing homes, not everybody's doing great, right? (4:16) So, what would you say to tell everybody out there, like, how's business going for you realistically? (4:23) And then, what would you say to somebody who sees everything out there where it looks like everybody's doing great, but the reality situation might be a little bit different?

Conrad Jackson

(4:33) So, first, full disclosure, I did just come from the dentist. (4:36) So, the right whole, I didn't even tell you this, the whole right side of my face is numb. (4:40) So, I can't feel anything.

Mike Mills

(4:41) Perfect.

Conrad Jackson

(4:41) So, if my words are slurred, you can't understand me. (4:43) I'm probably not talking about anything important anyways. (4:44) But if that's the case, then that's why.

(4:48) Got it, got it. (4:50) How am I doing? (4:51) First, number one, I'm doing fine.

(4:54) It's one of those things where COVID year was like gasoline on the fire and it just exploded everybody's business. (5:02) Reality is real estate is hard right now. (5:04) Real estate is hard.

(5:06) Investing is hard. (5:08) Being a realtor and helping people market their properties for sale is difficult. (5:12) It's back a little more to the market when we started, when I started many, many years ago, where you had to really work for those listings.

(5:21) You had to really work to keep those buyers active. (5:24) You had to work really closely with those lenders and title companies to make sure that you got the right fit for that particular person in their situation. (5:33) You can't just make a post and get clients and then they're buying houses from you forever and referring everybody.

(5:40) You have to work. (5:41) And so, for that, that's one of the things that coming out of a market like we just came out of where everything was easy, it has turned to more of the difficult meter as opposed to the easy button where it's like, boom, I hit this button. (5:55) I pick up the phone.

(5:56) I got six new clients. (5:57) Those days are gone, at least for the short term. (6:02) So, okay.

(6:03) Your second question, I'm trying to remember.

Mike Mills

(6:05) Well, okay. (6:06) So, pause on that. (6:07) I'm going to do something real quick because I think some adjustment here and my signals (6:11) get a little weak, but I do want you to say, while I can do this, I want you to, if you (6:16) have somebody out there that is, somebody that's listening, that's struggling right (6:19) now with their business and seeing everybody else looking like they're killing it, what (6:23) do you think the reality of the market is as a whole right now?

Conrad Jackson

(6:26) I would say perception is reality. (6:29) I know that in any instance, when you look online, you see a lot of these things that look like they're amazing, right? (6:38) People posting, hey, I just closed this one.

(6:40) I just put this one under contract. (6:41) It's perception. (6:43) What we're trying to do as marketers is we're trying to give you the impression that we're always busy.

(6:48) We're always successful. (6:49) We're always closing real estate deals. (6:52) And some people might actually be doing that.

(6:54) But the vast majority of people who are posting on social media that they're killing it every day, they're not usually. (7:02) How do you know as a realtor, okay, well, what do I do? (7:05) I usually lean on the people in the industry to kind of gauge how other agents are doing.

(7:11) I will talk to my title company. (7:13) I will talk to lenders. (7:14) I will talk to other agents or other brokers and say, hey, who's killing it in your office right now?

(7:18) Who's the one bringing in a bunch of these deals? (7:20) Because I see this on social media all the time. (7:23) And this person is just everywhere.

(7:25) And a lot of times the responses I get are, oh, yeah, they closed two deals, right?

Mike Mills

(7:31) As opposed to the 17 that they posted over the last 30 days. (7:36) Yeah. (7:36) Well, I mean, there's certainly look, there are certainly people out there that are still doing tremendously well right now.

(7:41) Like there's no doubt about that. (7:43) That's going on. (7:44) But, you know, and then the other side of it, too, when it comes to the marketing and advertising piece of it.

(7:50) And I believe in this myself is like, you have to believe that you're doing well and you're going to do well. (7:56) Like you can't, you know, fall into a spiral of despair because, you know, you didn't close a loan or you didn't close a purchase contract in the last two weeks or the last two months or whatever it is. (8:07) Like you have to believe that you're going to get yourself out of it and that you're going to work out of it.

(8:11) Because if you don't, then, you know, you're cooked no matter what. (8:15) Right. (8:15) You know, if you're living around sadness.

(8:17) So I think it's a mixture of like, hey, yes, there are certain folks out there. (8:21) Well, you know, the part of it, too, is there's just people that do a good job posting on social media. (8:26) Absolutely.

Conrad Jackson

(8:26) Some people are amazing at that and that helps transform their business in reality. (8:30) But, you know, there's a lot of people out there that are, you know, some people speak it into existence. (8:36) Some people are just, you know, specifically trying to make sure that you see them every day doing something that is successful through this business.

(8:45) There's nothing wrong with it. (8:46) It's a perception that is a little bit different than reality. (8:50) When we start talking about, you know, like you said, the numbers are down 30 percent, the market is down 30 percent.

(8:55) OK, well, how can everybody be killing it? (8:57) And then all these numbers are still down. (8:58) Yeah, it's just perception.

(9:01) So you got to make sure that you understand, OK, in this day and age, when I'm choosing somebody, is this the right fit for me? (9:08) Right. (9:09) Based off of my needs and my wants and my goals and not just go off of what you see online.

Mike Mills

(9:14) So what have you done to really start adjusting, you know, when the market slowed down and you're like, OK, now I've got to, you know, I've got to get things moving a little bit more. (9:24) I got to do things different. (9:25) Let's put it that way.

(9:26) Right. (9:26) So what have you you know, what kind of practices, what kind of processes and stuff have you enacted to try to really start upping your game a little bit since everything is slow? (9:35) Because, I mean, at this point, we're you know, we're good, solid two years into it, basically.

(9:39) So what have you started to do? (9:40) So what have you done?

Conrad Jackson

(9:41) I think my my approach is I'm a you know, I'm more old school. (9:45) I started, you know, with the old school mentality of this is how you work. (9:49) You have to make a certain amount of calls, a certain amount of appointments, certain amount of things you've got to do every day in order to be successful.

(9:54) And so coming out of the covid covid years, you know, the market was way different. (9:59) You didn't have to do half of those things in order to still be successful. (10:02) And so now what we're doing, which most most good agents, most solid agents will tell you is we're kind of going back to the basics.

(10:09) You know, we're getting a routine and a schedule down. (10:12) We're trying to make sure that our time is limited on certain things. (10:15) And our time is spent more on a high return on investment items, such as making these calls, setting these appointments throughout certain points of the day, not just doing it whenever it's available.

(10:24) OK, I have a set schedule from the morning. (10:26) I have to get up in the morning. (10:27) I have to eat.

(10:28) I have to try to get some exercise throughout the week to make sure that I'm mentally prepared and physically capable to take on new clients. (10:34) And then once I do, once I have that schedule set, stick to it, really try to hold yourself accountable and not veer from it too much. (10:42) Those are the, you know, the root causes and the foundation that you're laying every day in order to make sure that you're successful in when you are dealing with clients or trying to acquire new people.

(10:53) You have to make a certain amount of calls. (10:54) You have to make a certain amount of appointments. (10:56) You have to look at a certain amount of homes per week in order for this thing to go the way you want it to go.

Mike Mills

(11:01) Well, OK, so I want you to stay on that for a second, because, you know, this is something I honestly very much believe in, but I don't think a lot of people understand the importance of it. (11:08) When you talk about, you know, your routine and your in your your daily activities and what you do, a big piece of that is you wake up at the same time you exercise, you get yourself right, your mind right, because you you can't, you know, function sometimes well, or at least your brain doesn't function well if you don't take care of your body first. (11:29) And I think when people get it to a place where business is slower and they feel like they need to do more, that's the first thing that goes.

(11:36) So can you talk a little bit about why that is really something that of all the things to let go of, you know, and push aside that it probably shouldn't be that thing?

Conrad Jackson

(11:45) Yeah, I just think it's really important for health and wellness. (11:47) You know, if you're not mentally prepared, right, because you're tired all the time, you're not mentally prepared to take that phone call from that person who had who had an interest in something, some type of real estate transaction. (12:00) Right.

(12:01) If you're not because you're awake, you just woke up at 11. (12:04) Right. (12:04) You know, middle of the day and you're just waking up, you're still groggy and you're not ready and prepared to take that that call, then you miss out on business.

(12:12) I heard I don't know how true this is, but I heard recently, you know, another source that every call, especially in our area in North Texas, every call that you miss as a realtor is potentially worth about nine thousand dollars. (12:28) Really? (12:29) Yeah.

(12:29) Every real estate call.

Mike Mills

(12:31) Okay.

Conrad Jackson

(12:31) Okay. (12:31) So so okay, if I miss four calls that day, how much money did I leave on the table? (12:37) Right.

(12:37) Well, if I've got up on at it on my schedule and I've got the juices flowing, I've actually worked out, which for me is my working out is different than the next person.

Mike Mills

(12:46) Everybody's got everybody's routine.

Conrad Jackson

(12:47) You know, my thought of working out is, okay, I need to get a certain amount of cardio in per week and a certain amount of exercise movement going left laterally. (12:55) Right. (12:55) My wife gets up every day at like four something and goes to the gym.

(12:59) Yes. (13:00) And she's home by six, you know, and she takes it. (13:02) So she's a different animal than I am.

(13:04) I play basketball one time a week. (13:05) It's high intensity basketball in a gym with no air conditioning. (13:09) And it's very difficult.

(13:10) And I feel like I'm going to die afterwards. (13:11) But I got a week's worth of cardio.

Mike Mills

(13:12) Well, and you coach kids in basketball as well.

Conrad Jackson

(13:14) Correct.

Mike Mills

(13:14) And anybody that's ever coached anybody knows that you're not just the guy standing on sidelines like you're there's a lot of movement involved.

Conrad Jackson

(13:21) Exactly. (13:21) So I think that that's very important to get your creative juices flowing for the day, making sure that you're not eating like trash every single day, because if you do, it really affects your how you feel physically, which affects what you can do mentally. (13:35) Yeah.

(13:35) If you mentally are prepared and sharp because you did what you needed to do early in the day or late in the day, so that way you're fresh in the morning and you've eaten somewhat decent throughout the day, when those calls or those opportunities come in, you're ready for them. (13:50) You're more prepared for them than you would be if you just rolled out of bed whenever you wanted to every day. (13:55) It's just you miss too many opportunities that way.

(13:58) So I think that that component is important. (14:00) Shouldn't be discounted when we're talking about your personal success and how you're going to get there. (14:04) You got to be ready.

Mike Mills

(14:05) Yeah. (14:06) Well, like I said, I'm a big person. (14:07) I'm a big believer.

(14:08) And you have to get your head in the right space. (14:10) And part of that, because again, this idea that if things aren't going well or you're not blowing and going, you've got to stay positive about it because the moment you get into a pit of despair, then you're going to be dead meat. (14:22) But the thing that people miss on that is in order to not get there, often you have to take care of your physical body because when you're lethargic and tired and you don't have energy and then all the bad stuff seems that much worse.

Conrad Jackson

(14:35) Absolutely.

Mike Mills

(14:36) And you miss out on the good stuff and you miss out on the opportunities because your brain's not operating at its highest capacity because you've slept all day or you're upset because something happened. (14:46) You just can't get over it or whatever the case may be. (14:48) So I think that that plays such a huge role in being able to thrive in whatever business you're in.

(14:54) It doesn't matter, real estate, lending, I mean, anything. (14:57) You have to have your head in the right place. (14:59) You have to take care of your body.

(15:00) So for sure. (15:00) All right. (15:01) So that's one thing.

(15:03) So then now let's assume we're kind of blowing and going at this point. (15:06) We've taken care of ourselves. (15:09) If you're sitting there as a realtor without any business right now or you're hearing the crickets, as I like to say, then where should you start?

(15:19) Like what should be a focus to begin with to say, okay, I've got to do this. (15:23) What's an activity or a couple of activities that people could do that maybe they haven't done or haven't done in the past that would really get those things going and lead to other opportunities?

Conrad Jackson

(15:32) I think people discount their network too much these days.

Mike Mills

(15:38) Well, people say I work off my sphere all the time.

Conrad Jackson

(15:40) That's the number one answer. (15:41) Yeah. (15:42) But I mean, what is your sphere?

(15:43) Your sphere, your family or your sphere, your community, right? (15:48) Your community are the people that you see often throughout the week, typically more than one time a week. (15:53) It could be the person at the grocery store who always bags your groceries.

(15:57) It could be, you know, somebody at the post office that you always run into in passing people that your kids have played in a sport with and you see their parents like, you know, working your sphere doesn't just mean, okay, I'm talking to my sister and my sister bought a house last year.

Mike Mills

(16:10) So I'm done.

Conrad Jackson

(16:11) My uncle ain't buying a house because he's done. (16:14) You know, so you got to actually, you know, work outside of those boundaries and say, okay, well, my sphere is bigger than just my immediate family. (16:22) We are all, I feel like, for the most part, guilty of being on screen time way too much.

(16:29) When you're on that screen time, you're typically on a Facebook or an Instagram. (16:33) Okay. (16:33) So are we just swiping or are we actually connecting with people that follow us?

(16:39) Why are they following you? (16:40) You know, where are you going? (16:41) If you're not going anywhere, why are they following you?

(16:43) Well, some people are actually following you. (16:45) Okay. (16:45) So are you connecting and reaching out to them on a regular basis?

(16:48) And it doesn't always have to be real estate related. (16:50) It could be, hi, hello. (16:51) How's your family?

(16:52) How are you doing? (16:52) We haven't spoken a while, which eventually leads into more contacts, which eventually leads into your segue into letting them know that you're available to help them in this business. (17:02) Staying in front of people is very important.

(17:04) But I think the easiest thing that we can do right now is just work our community, work the community online and the community offline. (17:12) That's the people you're running to every day and the car pickup line, letting them know wearing your t-shirts that have your logo, you know, just interacting with people. (17:21) And then once you have made a connection with that person, take note of it and make a schedule from it.

Mike Mills

(17:28) Okay.

Conrad Jackson

(17:28) I ran into this person and every time that you talk to them, you'd let them know, hey, I'm going to reach out to you in a week or so or a couple of weeks and then do it. (17:37) Yeah. (17:38) Yeah.

Mike Mills

(17:38) Then you actually have to follow through.

Conrad Jackson

(17:40) Well, I think we spend a lot of money these days on these amazing leads that are going to generate all this business. (17:45) And then we're buying all this software that's going to generate all this business. (17:49) Well, the software and the leads are supposed to help you sustain the business that you have, but you already have everything you need in your community.

(17:56) You already have everything you need. (17:58) You just have to actually talk to these people, connect with these people, consistently follow up with these people. (18:04) And in order to do that, you have to have some type of schedule.

(18:08) If you're not following that schedule, then- The day is setting itself for you. (18:12) You're just freestyling. (18:12) You don't freestyle to success these days.

Mike Mills

(18:14) No, no, no. (18:15) You can't wander your way through it. (18:17) It doesn't typically work.

(18:19) Speaking on the sphere thing, this is something that you, we mentioned it a little bit heading into it and you brought it up a couple of times, but you do really well in this. (18:26) This is actually how my wife and I built our business was being involved. (18:31) Correct.

(18:31) So part of working your sphere that a lot of folks don't think about is you have to get involved in your community doing something. (18:40) And I always recommend do something that you love to do, obviously, right? (18:44) If you go to church every Sunday and go to your youth groups and you go to all that and get involved with your church, if you love reading books, find a book club.

(18:54) If you're a pet owner and you're just obsessed with your animals, then go find a pet community to get involved with and whatever adoptions and things of that nature. (19:03) But you and I have a similar path in that we both played sports. (19:08) We got our kids involved in sports at a young age and we both coach.

(19:12) I'm since retired because mine are older, but you're in the thick of it right now. (19:17) And your wife's involved with it too. (19:19) So I want you to talk a little bit about what that's been like and how, are you going to get a deal from every kid that you coach?

(19:26) Of course not. (19:26) But it is about connecting with people in your community and them seeing you all the time and knowing that you're passionate about stuff. (19:33) So talk about how the involvement with the teams and K's involvement with the schools and stuff, how that's helped you guys.

Conrad Jackson

(19:39) I think as any successful agent, we have to have some type of balance. (19:46) We're overly obsessive about our goals and the things that we want to do and accomplish through our business. (19:52) And so you have to have that balance to help equal out the stresses of that business.

(19:59) And one of the ways that we found as stress relievers is, of course, making sure that you're exercising, working out, staying active, but also getting involved in the community. (20:07) How does that affect your business? (20:08) I mean, it's huge.

(20:09) It's ridiculous. (20:11) I grew up in this area, right? (20:13) And so most of my connections came from sports as a kid in this area, right?

(20:20) And so now with my oldest being in high school and my youngest being in first grade, I have a wide range of spectrum where I recognize people pretty much everywhere that I go. (20:32) Well, that for me is a benefit. (20:34) My wife hates it.

(20:35) But every time I go somewhere, no matter where we are, really in the United States, I've seen somebody that I've known. (20:41) I've ran into somebody that I've had dealings with. (20:44) So when you coach your kids' sports teams, you get to know the parents.

(20:51) Then you get to know the parents' other kids.

Mike Mills

(20:54) The other teams you play.

Conrad Jackson

(20:55) Yeah, the relatives who come to watch those kids. (20:57) And the people that organize the leagues and coordinate the events. (21:00) The other coaches, the other tournament coordinators.

(21:03) People you order uniforms from.

Mike Mills

(21:04) Exactly.

Conrad Jackson

(21:04) So all of these people now have a relationship with you. (21:08) So take that one step further. (21:10) Now we're all connected through social media.

(21:12) When we're trying to, as a coach, figure out who we're going to play in this tournament that's somewhere else in our DFW area, we immediately go to social media and look up their team. (21:21) Yeah. (21:22) OK, well, let me see who this person is.

(21:24) Let me see what these kids look like, what their skill level is. (21:27) So we can kind of get an idea if we want to play in this tournament at all, if it's a good fit for us. (21:31) Should we play up?

(21:31) Should we play our age limit? (21:33) Those things. (21:34) So now everybody's not only seeing you in person, but you're connected in social media.

(21:39) Well, what does that do? (21:41) It brings more eyes on you. (21:42) And when you get those eyes on you, it's your opportunity to tell the world what you do and what you're good at.

(21:47) That affects your business. (21:48) OK, my oldest started in the marching band this year for high school. (21:53) OK, so now as a parent, not only do I coach, but I also volunteer as part of the pit crew to bring the instruments on the field for all the football games and all the band competitions.

(22:04) My wife helps sell the merchandise to help raise money for the boosters. (22:07) So that way they can have money to feed the kids or take them here to go on outings and experiences, go to Orlando for their competition, things like that. (22:16) Well, what does that do?

(22:17) That just allows us to meet and connect with more people in our current community where we currently live and work. (22:24) And that helps bring more eyes on our business. (22:26) These people are now reaching out to us on social media, trying to connect with us that way because they recognize us, because they realize, hey, you also know this person who you coached this kid.

(22:37) We got that this week where somebody from the team that you coached. (22:42) OK, yeah, the Red Raiders. (22:43) Yes, where our oldest or my oldest, your youngest played on the same team.

(22:47) And now that person, another teammate's mom recognized that we went to this school. (22:51) And her sister also has a kid in that same band organization. (22:55) So then the sister reaches out to my wife on social media.

(22:58) So now it's like, all right, now you have another set of eyes on you. (23:01) And so what does that do? (23:03) It just allows you to tell your story.

(23:05) And when you're telling your story, that can turn into business. (23:08) If you have done your schedule and you're mentally and physically prepared to take on that opportunity. (23:14) Yeah, all of this thing is a big circle that funnels right back to you.

Mike Mills

(23:17) Yeah, it's it's it's hard because when you're in it, when you're in the midst of it and you're doing all this stuff, you don't think of the business all the time, right? (23:25) No, it becomes a secondary thing. (23:27) And you know what?

(23:28) Look, when you're spending time with your kids and your family, you know, business shouldn't dominate it. (23:31) But what you have to understand, though, is that you're killing two birds with one stone. (23:35) You are right.

(23:36) You are doing something. (23:38) You're spending time with your family. (23:39) You're getting involved in your community and you are doing it because you enjoy it because you love doing it.

(23:46) But then you're also creating yourself, creating opportunities for your business at the same time. (23:50) Sure. (23:51) So anytime you can get involved in any and look, I know everybody doesn't have kids out there.

(23:55) So this isn't you know, yeah, there's there's but there's other ways to do it. (23:58) Absolutely. (23:58) It's just thinking in the same terms of, OK, how can I take this thing that I really love to do?

(24:03) Who was it? (24:04) There's a guy online and I can't remember his name. (24:07) I'll think of it in a second.

(24:08) But he talks about, you know, when you hear the thing about if you just find the thing that you love, then you'll make money at it. (24:16) And he's like, that's bullshit. (24:18) He's like, if you find the thing that you're really, really good at, whether you love it or not, but you're really good at, you'll make money at that thing.

(24:27) Right. (24:27) But sometimes the thing that you love, like I love coaching my kids. (24:32) Well, you know, I know what the path of coaching looks like.

(24:35) It's not it's not necessarily a lucrative thing unless you're the top one point one, one, one. (24:40) Absolutely. (24:40) Given your entire life to it.

(24:41) So so that's my passion. (24:43) Yeah, I don't make money at it. (24:45) Yeah.

(24:45) But I can take my passion of spending time with my family, my kids and coaching and doing that. (24:50) And I can help that enhance the thing that I'm good at, which is talking to people and selling mortgages. (24:55) And so so you can take something that you're passionate about, even though you can't, quote, make money at it.

(25:01) Maybe you can still use it as leverage in your business to grow your sphere and show people that you're passionate or vice versa.

Conrad Jackson

(25:08) You can be really good at this thing to help generate enough income or revenue coming through the door to where you can focus more time on what you're passionate about. (25:18) Yeah. (25:18) OK, so if you love saving rescue animals and but it doesn't really make you any money.

(25:24) Right. (25:24) You know, be really good at this thing, your job, your main occupation, and then use the excess time that you gain and the excess money that you gain to pour into a foundation that will help that and allow you to volunteer and do that. (25:38) You know, it doesn't have to be one or the other.

(25:40) It can be both. (25:42) You just have to understand what people want and how you can approach getting there. (25:46) Everything that you want, take sacrifice.

(25:47) Yes, it's a sacrifice. (25:50) You're either going to sacrifice time, you're going to sacrifice money, you're going to something else that you want to do at that time to in order to be successful. (25:56) Yep.

(25:57) Right. (25:58) We have to understand that we can't. (26:00) I think that I really feel like the covid years really hurt a lot of people because we just ultimately became lazy.

(26:08) Myself included to a certain extent.

Mike Mills

(26:09) Oh, yeah.

Conrad Jackson

(26:10) I became lazy. (26:10) Everything became easy. (26:11) You got spoon fed your money.

(26:13) You got spoon fed your business.

Mike Mills

(26:14) You didn't have to go out and stay in the house. (26:17) Yeah.

Conrad Jackson

(26:17) And you can be at home all day. (26:18) And it's like, all right, now that's over. (26:20) OK, so now you have to actually get to work.

(26:22) And that's the thing that I feel like people are struggling with. (26:26) They they're having to relearn how to walk in this business. (26:30) And, you know, you have to get back to the basics, in my opinion, is you have to start fresh and I need to make my schedule.

(26:36) I need to see that schedule every day. (26:37) I need to make sure I eat right. (26:38) I need to make sure I exercise.

(26:39) I mean, I have a certain amount of touch points where I have to hit people a certain amount of times per month in order for them to actually pick up the phone and call me. (26:46) Right. (26:47) Yeah.

(26:47) And that's what we're trying to get to.

Mike Mills

(26:48) So all right. (26:50) So schedule. (26:51) We've got routine.

(26:52) We've got to get involved, grow your sphere, be involved in your community. (26:56) So now we're doing those things. (26:58) Now, how do we how do we promote ourselves?

(27:00) What do we need to do, you know, as far as marketing activities go to make sure that people see us know where we're at? (27:09) And, you know, I know social media obviously is going to play a role in this. (27:11) Yeah.

(27:12) But, you know, just from simplicity point of view, you know, because I think a lot of people will try to what we call eat the whale, right? (27:20) They want to do everything all at once. (27:22) And it's like, OK, you can't do all the things because if you do all the things, then you're going to do all the things.

(27:26) Not so great. (27:27) Yeah. (27:27) So pick one or two things and work on them.

(27:29) But so obviously everybody's going to be a little different approach to it. (27:33) But from your point of view, like what do you think are some of the most beneficial marketing activities outside of, you know, working your sphere or maybe it's working your sphere, but it's doing it using technology tools or whatever the case may be?

Conrad Jackson

(27:45) Yeah, I think I think today's answer is a lot different than 10 years ago's answer. (27:49) OK, so the first thing you got to say when you're talking about how am I going to market myself and how am I going to market my business successfully is you have to be very, very intentional about the time that you're going to spend and what you're going to do during that time. (28:02) You have to have a plan.

(28:03) It's like anything else. (28:04) If you don't have a plan, you're planning to fail. (28:07) OK, and so let's just get that out of the way.

(28:09) That's not a that's just hey, this is the mindset you have to have going into everything's going to have a plan.

Mike Mills

(28:13) You can't just walk into it.

Conrad Jackson

(28:14) Right, right, right. (28:15) You can't just buy this ad and it's going to magically work.

Mike Mills

(28:18) You got to plan your day to wake up. (28:19) You got to plan your routine. (28:20) You got to plan your marketing.

(28:21) You got to plan everything.

Conrad Jackson

(28:22) Correct, correct. (28:23) You do have to diversify. (28:24) I know that we don't want to do too many things, but you have to do more than one thing.

(28:27) You know what your one thing is. (28:28) If you're great at hot yoga and hot yoga brings in the clients. (28:32) All right, well, you hot yoga that sucker to death because that's your bread and butter.

(28:36) But you also have to advertise a certain amount online and in social media. (28:40) OK, you have to buy a certain amount of ad space somewhere.

Mike Mills

(28:45) OK, so you think buying ad space is a good is a good move these days?

Conrad Jackson

(28:48) Depends on how where you're buying it. (28:50) Like for me, you know, depending on also where you are in your business. (28:55) I bought a billboard.

Mike Mills

(28:57) I saw. (28:58) Yeah, yeah.

Conrad Jackson

(28:58) You know, and I bought into that billboard for over a year and a half. (29:03) Right. (29:03) And I still make money from it.

(29:05) The billboards are long gone. (29:06) Really? (29:07) Yes.

(29:07) OK, and what I do now is I have a picture of that billboard on my social media.

Mike Mills

(29:12) Oh, OK. (29:12) Yeah, you just put it up there. (29:14) Yeah, like, hey, where's that?

(29:15) Oh, here's where it was.

Conrad Jackson

(29:17) So, I mean, I think that works. (29:19) I think you've been really big on trying to push the issue of AI. (29:23) I think that you're going to need to incorporate that into your business somehow.

(29:28) I'm still trying to figure out how exactly I'm going to incorporate it. (29:32) But I have a couple of ideas as to how I'm going to do it. (29:35) I think that, you know, the campaigns, the smart campaigns don't really cost you a lot of money and you can add video with them.

(29:47) So those get you a lot of engagement. (29:49) When you have video, it takes everything to the next level. (29:53) So you have to have a little bit of that.

(29:55) OK, you still have to do the hard piece mailing, you know, and whether it's a door knocker, whether it's a mail out, a postcard or whatever. (30:05) That's that cannot be, you know, eliminated from your business these days, because there's a certain demographic of people that just they look at their mail and they're calling the stuff that they get.

Mike Mills

(30:16) Well, and there's less things in the mail, right?

Conrad Jackson

(30:18) Right.

Mike Mills

(30:19) Because everything's hitting you online. (30:20) Everything's online. (30:21) So, you know, they say advertise wherever everyone else isn't.

(30:25) For sure. (30:25) And if your mailbox, if you go to me, check, go to your mailbox every day. (30:28) Some days you go, there's literally nothing.

Conrad Jackson

(30:30) Right.

Mike Mills

(30:31) And then some days you might have two or three pieces, you know, maybe on the weekends as you roll into Friday, you'll get the little flyer for the for the grocery store or whatever. (30:38) But but other than that, it's pretty empty. (30:40) So that's a great place to be.

Conrad Jackson

(30:42) Yeah, I think I think if you're starting, I think that's a good starting space for you. (30:47) OK, I've got piece mail marketing. (30:48) I've got online.

(30:50) Your sphere is always going to be a marketing deal. (30:53) But, you know, buying your ad space, a certain amount of ad space when you are marketing online through like Facebook or Instagram or something like that. (31:00) Property boost is amazing.

(31:02) It's probably the best one that I've seen. (31:04) OK, to get you the engagement. (31:06) So it takes like a particular listing and then.

(31:08) Yeah, it'll take it'll take a property. (31:10) Right. (31:10) And you can turn around and promote that property.

(31:13) So if especially if it's your listing, promote that property, you know, to get a certain amount of clicks. (31:17) OK, usually the entry to, you know, barrier to entry is like 60 bucks. (31:22) 60 bucks will get you about a week.

Mike Mills

(31:23) Yeah.

Conrad Jackson

(31:24) Probably, you know, anywhere for a few hundred clicks.

Mike Mills

(31:26) OK.

Conrad Jackson

(31:27) And you really only need one good click. (31:30) Right. (31:30) To turn into an opportunity to turn into a sale.

Mike Mills

(31:32) Yeah.

Conrad Jackson

(31:33) You could spend up to, you know, like 200 or so bucks and you'll get 30 days and that'll get you a few thousand clicks on it. (31:39) You know, and when we say clicks, that's somebody actually clicking your advertisement and being taken somewhere to where you are controlling what they see. (31:48) Right.

(31:48) And what they do and have eyes on what they are doing online. (31:51) Right. (31:52) That's been a really big one as of late.

(31:55) Adworks is another one, but Adworks is more of advertising you as opposed to a specific property. (32:00) So it's a little bit different. (32:01) Yeah.

(32:01) I think more people would be able to use Adworks to their advantage if you don't have a bunch of properties out there. (32:06) Yeah. (32:07) But, you know, it's a little bit more pricey.

Mike Mills

(32:10) I wonder if on the ad thing, it's just thought I had it. (32:13) I wonder if there's more engagement right now because and I just see this looking at social media is like, if you were just a regular person and you, you know, teacher or whatever, firefighter, police officer, and you put on social media, I'm looking for someone to help me buy a house. (32:29) Yeah.

(32:30) How many like comments? (32:33) And I mean, like, it's, it's, you're going to be inundated, right?

Conrad Jackson

(32:37) It's astronomical. (32:38) Whenever I get a post, even when somebody mentions me in a post this post, like, hey, tag me in your best, your favorite realtor. (32:46) I'm buying a house and it's a million of those suckers.

(32:49) Yes. (32:49) And so I'm tagged in there. (32:51) And so I see all of the clicks and everything behind that, you know, and it's just like, there's an opportunity.

(32:56) You don't have to be, you don't have to be a genius in this space in order to get engagement.

Mike Mills

(33:03) Well, my point on that though, is that with ad space, when you're doing ads and someone is looking online, even though they may know a realtor or whatever, they're going to be kind of like low key looking, right? (33:14) Because they don't want to tell the world just yet that they're looking for a house because they're, they feel like they might just get swamped with people like calling them all the time.

Conrad Jackson

(33:22) So, yeah. (33:22) And they don't want to offend people.

Mike Mills

(33:24) Yes, yes, yes. (33:26) So they're kind of quiet. (33:27) Yeah, I have, I know seven realtors and I don't want to make anybody.

(33:31) So, you know, the more that they can get directly to you because you're putting an ad for a listing that you have or whatever. (33:37) Yeah. (33:38) I think that that is a good route because I mean, truly, like if you post an ad on your listing, the odds that people in your sphere are going to see it are probably pretty high.

Conrad Jackson

(33:47) Yeah.

Mike Mills

(33:48) So because the way the algorithms work within social media is they're actually going to show it to people in your area. (33:54) They're going to show it to potential home, you know, people that are looking for homes. (33:57) For sure.

(33:57) Certain demographics. (33:58) Well, I mean, you're in that area. (34:00) I mean, odds are they're probably going to see it.

(34:02) They're going to see it. (34:02) So that gives them a way to access you and come to you and remind that you do this because they may have seven people that they do that are realtors that they know. (34:11) Yeah.

(34:11) But they see, they keep seeing you and they're like, you know what? (34:14) I feel like he just really knows what's going on. (34:16) So I'm going to call him.

Conrad Jackson

(34:16) Yeah, I mean, that's just, that's the name of the game. (34:18) That's what you want. (34:19) That's the goal is to just be visible and be visible all the time.

(34:22) So when you think of real estate, you think of Conrad Jackson. (34:24) You know, that's, that's what we want in this business. (34:27) We are the brand, you know, so something as simple as like, you know, my wife creatively, you know, made these t-shirts, you know, so that way we can have our logo and our business with the website across the back.

(34:37) So no matter whether you're talking or not, people see you. (34:40) I had just this week, I'm sitting at basketball training and a friend of mine from school back in the day comes in and I've got my back turned to him and he's reading my website out loud because he's looking at the back of my shirt.

Mike Mills

(34:53) Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Conrad Jackson

(34:54) That's, that's the goal. (34:56) That's, that's what you want. (34:57) I think those are the opportunities that you're silently creating and passively creating that you, you didn't have to put a bunch of upfront cash out to, in order to get.

(35:07) Yeah. (35:07) But if you're always just wearing plain t-shirts that don't talk about your business or they're, you're not visible, you're not volunteering and letting the folks know in these organizations, this is what I do for a living. (35:18) You're not sponsoring some of these things.

(35:20) Sponsoring isn't always a thousand dollars. (35:22) It could be 10 bucks.

Mike Mills

(35:23) Well, it's funny when you say that about the sponsoring things because like I'll go and I don't see it as much at our school at Mansfield, but I do see it some. (35:31) And then when I go to other places, I see it a lot where you'll have a realtor or lender or whoever, and they'll have their ad. (35:37) Yeah.

(35:38) Right. (35:38) They'll be on the Jumbotron. (35:39) They'll be on big screen.

(35:40) They'll be a whatever, but you never see them. (35:43) They're not around. (35:44) Like they have the, they bought the banner.

(35:46) They did the thing, but you don't ever see them. (35:48) Yeah. (35:48) So it's like, okay, you're spending, I get the idea.

(35:51) I get it. (35:52) And the schools appreciate it, by the way. (35:54) You're spending money to help the school and you're getting a little advertising.

(35:57) That's great. (35:58) But if you really want to get the most for your money, you have to pair that with, hey, I'm here all the time too. (36:04) The work.

(36:05) The work. (36:05) Right. (36:06) You see me.

(36:06) Yeah. (36:07) You saw my banner when you walked in to the baseball game, but now you see me, you know, keeping the score or now you see me cheering on my kid or whatever. (36:15) Like you got to have both.

(36:17) Yeah.

Conrad Jackson

(36:17) I mean, and that's, that's one of the things that, you know, I keep going back to the billboard. (36:22) The billboard was amazing for visibility because it was in my area. (36:27) Yeah.

(36:27) Right. (36:27) And so I would literally have people tagging, like taking a picture and tagging me in it on their social media page with all of their friends and all of their sphere. (36:36) And so now all those people knew I was a real estate agent.

(36:39) And then, you know, for me, everything that I do, you know, my phone number is attached to my website. (36:47) Right. (36:47) So if you want my phone number, you need to go to the website.

(36:50) So I didn't put my phone number on the billboard. (36:52) I put the website. (36:54) And so now every time you go to the website and you look and you click a couple of times, now you have to turn around and register, which typically your phone number, your email address.

(37:04) So now I'm collecting data points, which allow me to do my job better. (37:07) When you're looking for something you already want on my website. (37:10) Now I know it.

(37:11) Yeah. (37:11) And so when I pick up the phone and call you on the number that you gave me or email you on the email address that you sent, you registered with, I know what you've been looking at. (37:19) I want to help you with that.

(37:21) And I can be more visible and show up and do my job better. (37:24) And the general public just thinks you're amazing because they're like, how did he know? (37:28) Yeah.

(37:28) Well, you told me everything I needed to know. (37:30) You told me. (37:30) And I just showed up and was trying to make sure that you got your goal accomplished.

(37:34) Yeah. (37:35) But all that stuff is just, it's an ecosystem, just like anything else that you're trying to do with your business. (37:40) You're trying to make sure that you can get everything funneled back to you.

(37:43) So that way you can show up and be great.

Mike Mills

(37:45) Yeah. (37:45) Everything feeds into everything else. (37:46) There's nothing that really stands alone.

(37:47) I want you to talk a little bit about video because you've also, you know, you've got a YouTube channel where you do, you do videos about, you know, rehab projects that you're working on and showing, you know, all the fun stuff, the wins and the losses. (38:05) And anybody that knows this business knows there's a lot more losses than there are wins. (38:10) But, you know, one of the things that I hear a lot from Realtors now is like, you know, they don't want to do video because they hate their voice.

(38:16) They hate their face, whatever. (38:18) You know, everybody's got the self. (38:19) That is me.

(38:19) Exactly. (38:20) Everybody has a certain level of self-consciousness. (38:23) But what they also don't understand, this ties into AI, like you were talking about a minute ago, but it also ties into people being able to find you and how critical YouTube is.

(38:33) Because when someone goes into Google, okay, the number one search engine on the planet is Google, right? (38:41) Number two search engine on the planet is YouTube. (38:44) Yeah.

(38:44) And YouTube is owned by Google. (38:48) So if someone goes into a Google search and they're looking for listings or looking to buy a home and looking to sell their home, anything related to real estate in your area, and you have a good presence on YouTube, it doesn't mean you have to have a thousand or five thousand views on every video. (39:07) That doesn't really matter.

(39:09) What matters is that when that search, just go try it out. (39:13) You type in a search, the first four or five results will be a video about that topic. (39:17) Yeah.

(39:17) And they'll be usually going straight to YouTube. (39:20) And so if you've got keywords in there, if you're using, you know, some of your SEO descriptions to make sure that certain words are hit, when someone goes into search, the likelihood that you're going to be found is much, much greater. (39:31) And where it ties into AI is that more and more people, myself included, I really don't use Google a ton anymore, unless it's something like I need immediately necessarily.

(39:43) Because I do have, there's just, you know, I can just pull up a tab on my computer real fast and dump the weight, or just type it into the search bar. (39:50) But when you use AI, when you use chat GPT, there's a search engine, AI search engine called Perplexity that I really like to use. (39:59) That just gives you the answer, right?

(40:00) Or Google does it too with Gemini. (40:02) They'll actually give you an answer instead of just the pages. (40:05) But then they all start linking to sources for this information.

(40:09) Well, I saw a thing the other day where this guy who's on YouTube does even have, I mean, I think he had like 2000 subscribers. (40:15) It wasn't a big channel. (40:17) But the video that I was watching was showing how this guy went into search for, I think he was a roofer, I want to say, search for roofers in his area.

(40:27) And this guy who made this YouTube channel had built so many different videos about roofing. (40:32) And like, he just had a large volume of videos out there that one of the suggestions that the AI made was to check out this guy's channel because he had that. (40:42) He was available.

Conrad Jackson

(40:43) He had the presence online.

Mike Mills

(40:45) Yes, he had the presence online. (40:46) And so what AI does now is when you use it to search or find information, yes, it's going to give you an answer. (40:51) It doesn't give you pages, but it'll still give you links.

(40:54) And if you have enough out there that when they're searching for that thing, then now this other channel that people go to use to search is now going to also be pulling you up. (41:03) But if you don't have a YouTube channel, you're not going to be there. (41:05) Yeah.

(41:05) Why is that important?

Conrad Jackson

(41:06) Also, you think of it just from that perspective? (41:09) Yes. (41:10) But also the validation that you're the right person in today's day and age where it's difficult to get sellers.

(41:16) Sellers are just they have the pick of the litter because everybody needs them and everybody needs buyers and everybody needs and you're trying to compete against the next guy for scrapping for deals. (41:26) And you don't know how many times, especially as of late, that when I get a new client, it's man, you know, my aunt is a realtor or my friend is a realtor or this person's a realtor. (41:39) But we went with you because you're the expert.

(41:41) We see all your videos that you do and you're in construction and you're building this and you're rehabbing that. (41:48) And it's just we felt like you have more experience than this person.

Mike Mills

(41:51) Yeah.

Conrad Jackson

(41:52) Do I really? (41:53) Maybe not. (41:53) In some cases, I might not.

(41:57) But ultimately, I mean, I do have the experience, but ultimately, you know, that person may have been in the business longer. (42:02) But I have now validation because I have a presence on Google. (42:07) I have a presence on YouTube.

(42:08) I have a presence on social media. (42:10) I have a presence in the public, in the community. (42:12) So they see me everywhere.

(42:13) And so when they see me everywhere, they're automatically associating my everywhere with success or with experience. (42:20) Yeah. (42:20) So I have a leg up on the competition.

(42:22) I don't even talk to the people yet. (42:24) Yeah, yeah. (42:24) You know, so it's just it's one of those things where it's third party validation.

(42:29) You're trying to separate yourself to get the business. (42:32) And that is one way that you can help yourself get that business.

Mike Mills

(42:36) Well, we have, you know, these days, especially like the biggest, you know, purchase market that's out there right now, the people buying most homes right now are millennials.

Conrad Jackson

(42:46) Yeah.

Mike Mills

(42:46) They are in Gen Z's coming up pretty hot on their heels. (42:50) And so what you're seeing is that, yes, the millennial may reach out to mom or dad and say, hey, you know, we want to buy a house. (42:57) Who's the realtor that you use?

(42:59) Or we need a referral or whatever. (43:00) Right. (43:01) But the first thing they're going to do after that, if they don't do this thing first, is they're going to go online and search for you.

(43:08) They're going to look at your Instagram. (43:10) They're going to look at your Facebook. (43:11) They're going to look at you.

(43:11) If you got a YouTube, they're going to type your name into Google and they're going to see what comes up. (43:15) Yeah. (43:15) Right.

(43:16) And so if they type your name into Google and they can find nothing. (43:20) Yeah. (43:21) Because, yeah, you have your secret agent.

Conrad Jackson

(43:23) We have no presence.

Mike Mills

(43:24) Yeah, you have to be somewhere. (43:26) And again, you don't have to be everywhere.

Conrad Jackson

(43:28) Right.

Mike Mills

(43:29) But I mean, look, I think you should have a social media account on every channel. (43:32) And I think that you should try to post to those at least once every once in a while. (43:37) And if you're posting on Facebook regularly for whatever, well, that goes automatically to Instagram.

(43:42) You can post it directly. (43:45) And if you're, you know, the TikTok part and thing is a little different because then you got to get into video. (43:50) But if you're not doing video, then I think you're in a real.

Conrad Jackson

(43:54) Yeah, I think you asked me earlier where we're going with this was asking, you know, how does video affect what you're trying to do? (44:00) Right. (44:00) And video is huge.

(44:01) I, you know, I was a big supporter of when Facebook Live came out, the algorithm where it's like, hey, now you can live. (44:07) And I was just like, all right, cool. (44:09) I'm showing everybody everything.

(44:10) I'm showing them all the houses. (44:11) I'm showing them everything. (44:11) Right.

(44:12) So and that was good for business. (44:13) But my videographer sat me down and was like, hey, man, like you need to make sure you're doing way too many things for people not to know. (44:23) Right.

(44:23) Right. (44:23) And so that's the idea was for me to get initially to get the exposure as to the rehabs that we're doing, the land that we're buying in, the land that we're developing, the new construction, dealing with the city, coaching my kids, whatever, you know, all of the things that we're doing every single week. (44:42) It was to show the general public.

(44:43) I'm more than just, hey, I'm going to knock on your door and put a sign in your yard person.

Mike Mills

(44:48) Yeah.

Conrad Jackson

(44:48) Right. (44:48) And then doing that, I had to get over the, you know, the the fear of having my face out there all the time. (44:56) We get over that stuff real fast.

(44:57) Once you do it, it's like clockwork, but it's just really doing it. (45:00) And and he did me the same way I did a lot of the agents that we train is I put a camera in my face, said, all right, go. (45:06) Yeah.

(45:06) And the first ones, if you watch our episodes, the first two or three episodes were pretty terrible, you know, but ultimately it got better. (45:13) It got better. (45:13) And then, you know, those terrible ones that you do are the ones that are viewed the most and shared the most and get you the most clients and the most opportunities.

(45:21) So it's really just video takes it to a whole different level. (45:25) And then you don't have to have a videographer to do this. (45:28) All of our devices and things now have top end cameras and they can there's so much stuff out there where you can be great at this.

(45:34) Right. (45:35) For me, it was, you know, getting the exposure and it quickly turned from getting the exposure once I had the exposure to now. (45:41) How about we just educate people on what we're doing?

Mike Mills

(45:45) Well, that's what they're looking for. (45:46) They're not looking for advertising. (45:47) Right.

(45:48) Right. (45:48) They're looking for information. (45:50) Right.

(45:50) When someone goes on the internet, they're looking for information. (45:53) Right. (45:53) They're not looking to be sold.

(45:55) They're not looking to be advertised to. (45:57) It's actually quite the opposite.

Conrad Jackson

(45:59) Yeah.

Mike Mills

(45:59) So if I'm looking for information, then whatever content you're making needs to have information, not just be, Hey, I'm so-and-so realtor lender. (46:08) Call me if you need a home. (46:09) I'm great at this or whatever.

(46:10) And in there's a lot of ways to do video, by the way, if you don't want to see your face, which again, I think that's the best route to go. (46:17) We got to show your face.

Conrad Jackson

(46:18) You're showing yourself. (46:19) People need to know who you are. (46:20) That's just my personal opinion, but I think it's a really good opinion.

Mike Mills

(46:22) I'm a hundred percent with you there. (46:23) But, but if that's not what you want to do, if you want to start somewhere else, two things, one is go, go online, go to YouTube and research channels that are doing very well. (46:32) Just go watch some videos, get some ideas.

(46:35) Secondly, if you don't want to do the on-camera stuff, then you can literally walk through your You can film a coffee shop. (46:41) You can video, uh, uh, you know, the, the park, the neighborhoods, homes, whatever, and then just talk over that video. (46:48) You never have to see yours.

(46:49) And when you do that, you can write out a script. (46:52) You can just read it off a teleprompter and put it in there. (46:54) And there's so many tools that make the editing all that stuff.

(46:57) Very, very easy. (46:58) Um, heck the, the, the freaking platforms themselves have a ton of editing tools inside of them that you can use that are very user-friendly, but there are ways to start doing it where you don't have to see your face. (47:08) You should, but you don't have to see it if you just go about it.

Conrad Jackson

(47:11) And I think the, okay, so we, we, we like to be real here. (47:15) We should give them an opportunity. (47:17) If you're an agent and you're watching this and you are trying to get your business off the ground, and this is something that's new to you that you haven't, or you haven't done it very successfully.

(47:24) The, you should part. (47:25) And we need to throw that out the window. (47:27) Do it.

(47:27) Okay. (47:28) Because I'm going to tell you very simply, if you do all of this stuff and you go show this area, the average median home price for this, and you show the water tower and you show the AT&T stadium and you say, show why Arlington or Mansfield are amazing places to live. (47:43) And then all we hear is your voice.

(47:45) All you did was give me a layup to go in and take that person. (47:48) Once they really are looking for an agent and they're looking for somebody, they looked at your stuff, they liked your stuff. (47:52) And then they saw my face and said, I recognize that guy.

(47:54) I'm going to use him. (47:55) He knows all this stuff too. (47:56) It's true.

(47:56) It's true. (47:57) So if you don't want to give me the layup, you need to put your face on screen. (48:01) Yes.

Mike Mills

(48:01) Because if not, they will see mine. (48:03) Yeah. (48:03) Yeah.

(48:03) No, you have, look, you have to put yourself out there and you have to do it. (48:07) Again, like I've said, there's many ways to do it. (48:09) I am not great at making videos about whatever.

(48:13) I don't know, just random. (48:15) Here's how to refinance. (48:16) But what I do and I like to do is this.

(48:19) I do the podcast and I do it live on video. (48:21) And then I take the video and then I make clips out of it and post those on YouTube and all that. (48:25) So those go out on a regular basis because they see my face.

(48:28) They see that I'm knowledgeable about particular topics. (48:31) I talk to people that are also knowledgeable and that's what drives people to it. (48:34) So again, you don't have to do it the same way that everybody else does, but the elements are still similar.

(48:41) You got to have your face. (48:42) You got to have your voice. (48:43) You got to give information.

(48:45) I think those are the most important pieces to it. (48:48) And if you're not doing that stuff, then again, like you said, you're just a secret agent.

Conrad Jackson

(48:51) Yeah, you're a secret agent, man. (48:53) And there are plenty of them out there. (48:55) And I'm okay with that because I am not one and we benefit from those secret agents.

(48:59) But I think that ultimately the point we want to get across is you have to do the work. (49:04) You have to show your face. (49:05) People need to recognize you and know who you are.

(49:07) You have to have a plan. (49:08) You have to implement some of these things like video and online marketing and space. (49:12) You have to work with your sphere.

(49:14) Like these are all things that are essential. (49:16) These are not negotiable items. (49:17) These are non-negotiable.

(49:18) So if you're not going to do these things, you are going to get some success possibly. (49:24) Sure. (49:25) You won't get consistency and consistency comes through repetition.

(49:29) And we all know if you're not putting in the reps, shot ain't going in.

Mike Mills

(49:34) That's exactly right. (49:36) I do want you to go through. (49:37) So if you were, I'm a, again, a big proponent believer of something called like your ideal week.

(49:42) And I work with agents about this. (49:43) I talk about it a lot because I believe that if you set up your week for these are the things that I'm going to do every single week. (49:51) Now, are you going to do them every single week?

(49:53) No. (49:54) Are you going to be perfect at this? (49:55) No.

(49:56) Like there's going to be gaps. (49:57) You know, you got to leave slack in there. (49:59) You can't have every hour of every day scheduled because you got fires put out, life happens, et cetera.

(50:05) But if you were going to sit down and lay out, okay, Monday through Sunday, right? (50:08) Because there's no days off. (50:10) Yeah.

(50:10) All right. (50:11) Monday through Sunday, if you were going to sit here and go, okay, I'll lay out. (50:14) This is my ideal week.

(50:15) Here's what I do. (50:16) Monday is in the morning, afternoon, evening. (50:17) Here's what I do too.

(50:18) Like, how would you go through that?

Conrad Jackson

(50:19) So I think it's very simple, especially if you've been doing your schedule, you should know your schedule, but I break it down per the day, right? (50:25) Because as we talked about off camera, like my afternoons and evenings are decimated by, you know, family related activities.

Mike Mills

(50:33) Practices and games.

Conrad Jackson

(50:34) So things have to be done earlier for us. (50:36) So earlier in the week, of course, the Mondays of the week, possibly Tuesdays, depending on how bad Sunday was, in the mornings from that time block from eight to four, you have to get your prospecting out. (50:50) You have to get your scheduling done.

(50:51) You have to set your goals for that particular week, whether you're adjusting your number of calls or your number of emails or your number of follow-ups, you're adjusting that. (51:00) All of that is done in that time block from 8 a.m. to noon, right?

Mike Mills

(51:06) Because that's when you're free, usually, because you don't have a lot of calls coming in for people.

Conrad Jackson

(51:10) Exactly. (51:11) So from eight to noon, you're working on your sphere, you're working your database, you're setting your schedules and you're setting your appointments and your follow-ups, right? (51:20) From that space after noon, I call them low return on investment items.

(51:26) For some people, they might be high, but it's, hey, I needed to get this paperwork sent. (51:30) I need to do this. (51:31) I need to send this to my transaction coordinator so she can send it, or I need to follow up with this, or I need to pay this bill, or I need to do this.

(51:38) That all comes after 12 o'clock. (51:41) If you're going to be a successful realtor, no matter how many years you've been in the business, you have to look at homes. (51:47) Previewing homes, looking at a certain amount of homes in person so you can stay, it's almost like practicing a baseball swing, or a jump shot, or throwing a football, or a volleyball.

Mike Mills

(51:58) Well, if you're a reporter on the NBA, if you're reporting on the NBA, then you have to watch games. (52:04) You do. (52:04) So when you're a realtor, you're a reporter on the real estate market, then you need to go see houses.

Conrad Jackson

(52:09) How can I tell you about the latest trends that are coming in our real estate market for what sellers are doing to help them sell their homes, or being more creative with this design space?

Mike Mills

(52:18) Or how builders are doing it.

Conrad Jackson

(52:18) If I never looked at a home in the last six months, you actually have to get out there and physically open doors and go through those motions of, where does this house fit? (52:28) You'll notice there's only a certain amount of ways you can build a house. (52:31) So if you can see from the outside, you can pretty much tell where the rooms are on the inside if you've done it enough.

(52:35) Well, those things are things that can be communicated to your client to show that you have experience. (52:40) And if you'd never open the door on your own, then when you open the door for them, y'all are both surprised.

Mike Mills

(52:45) You both walking in the house like, dang, I didn't know the kitchen was going to be over there.

Conrad Jackson

(52:48) That's pretty cool.

Mike Mills

(52:49) Well, plus it's weird how the universe works. (52:50) But when you do real estate activities, whatever that may be, stuff seems to happen. (52:56) I don't know.

(52:57) So go see three houses every day for five days. (53:01) And I promise you, if you did nothing else, somebody's calling you. (53:03) I don't know why it works like that.

Conrad Jackson

(53:04) Or the neighbor comes outside like, hey, you know what? (53:08) How's that house look on the inside? (53:09) That's right.

(53:10) You know, and now you've got an opportunity to now become a showing agent. (53:14) You know, so you just got to be available. (53:17) And that's the hard thing that people that the answer that people know, but they don't want to hear.

(53:22) Yeah. (53:22) What do I need to do to be successful? (53:24) Be available.

(53:25) NFL says your best ability is availability.

Mike Mills

(53:28) Yeah.

Conrad Jackson

(53:28) You know, so it's the same thing in real estate. (53:30) Yeah. (53:30) Be available.

Mike Mills

(53:31) All right. (53:31) So morning, you're knocking out your, let's call it your marketing activities. (53:36) To some extent, you're planning for the day because that's the slow time.

(53:38) Your phone's not ringing usually at that point because people are at work or whatever. (53:42) And so that's the time to get your, let's call it like focus thinking in at that point. (53:47) For sure.

Conrad Jackson

(53:47) Your high return on investment items is what I call your non-negotiable.

Mike Mills

(53:51) Don't do your laundry. (53:52) Don't unload the dishwasher. (53:54) Do all the other stuff that you need to do to get ready.

(53:57) The noon hits. (53:58) And now we start moving into, like you said, some of the lower return items or going to homes, uh, getting paperwork done, you know, whatever the case may be. (54:07) Then you're moving into the evening and you've got to remember, this is part of your planning in the morning that, yeah, I'm going to practice, right.

(54:13) And I'm running a practice today and I've got these many kids that I gotta get my schedule together, but I'm wearing my shirt. (54:18) I'm wearing my hat. (54:19) That's right.

(54:19) I'm, uh, uh, you know, so-and-so had asked me a question at last practice and make sure I bring that up and tell him again or whatever the case may be.

Conrad Jackson

(54:26) That's right.

Mike Mills

(54:26) Or heck, I'm talking to the parents afterwards and have a joke about something that I just, a client that I dealt with and think it's funny. (54:34) If you're deliberate and you plan some of that stuff, it bears fruit. (54:37) Yeah.

Conrad Jackson

(54:37) Well, you know, for me, like prime example, we were brand new. (54:42) We're, we're freshmen marching band volunteer parents, right? (54:45) There's not a lot of us, right?

(54:46) There's only a few of us. (54:47) And so when I'm in that group initially earlier in the season, I'm talking to people and I don't really have anything in common with these folks other than I'm just, we're all here for band.

Mike Mills

(54:58) Yeah. (54:58) Right.

Conrad Jackson

(54:58) So what's the icebreaker? (54:59) Hey, where do you guys live over here? (55:00) We all live in the same area where you guys live.

(55:02) Okay. (55:03) And then they tell me, Oh yeah, I sold a house over there. (55:05) You sell houses?

(55:06) Let me tell you. (55:08) Amazing. (55:08) You know, it's just, where do you live?

Mike Mills

(55:10) I live over here. (55:11) Oh, I sold a house on the street over there.

Conrad Jackson

(55:13) You sell houses?

Mike Mills

(55:14) Yeah.

Conrad Jackson

(55:14) I mean, it's stuff is not hard, but you have to be available. (55:17) You have to show up. (55:18) You have to know and be focused.

(55:20) If I was sleepy and groggy, I wouldn't be talking to anybody. (55:23) I'd be trying to stay awake in these meetings.

Mike Mills

(55:25) So those, I would imagine that your money through Friday looks kind of similar to that. (55:29) Is there anything to the Monday? (55:30) Is there anything in those other days that you think is important to change up a little bit?

(55:35) Or is there a day of the week where you're like, Hey, you really want to focus on this during that week? (55:39) Or you personally, I mean, not everybody has the same schedule.

Conrad Jackson

(55:42) Yeah. (55:42) For me, Monday is a big follow-up day because the weekend traditionally for us as agents, especially during school time is that's the time that we're actually out with clients. (55:53) That's where most people are off of work.

(55:54) They're off on the weekends. (55:55) And so you're trying to spend time in those weekends, showing them properties, doing real estate related activities in person. (56:03) During the week is a little tougher because daylight, you don't have a certain amount of daylight.

(56:07) People have picked the kids up from school. (56:09) They have to get off of work. (56:10) So you're working with three or four hours mainly.

(56:13) Those lock boxes cut off at nine o'clock. (56:14) So you're not showing anybody day to night. (56:17) And so what I try to do is Monday is make sure that I can set most of my stuff for the week.

(56:22) I try not to set a bunch of stuff on Monday. (56:24) Gotcha.

Mike Mills

(56:25) That way you're pretty open. (56:26) Yeah.

Conrad Jackson

(56:27) And then the other days of the week, not the weekend, but the week are focused on our high return on investment items early, showing a little bit staggering throughout the week for the rest of the week. (56:41) Weekends, you try to keep it wide open because you know that's when most people are available. (56:46) And that's when I am in person for the most part.

Mike Mills

(56:50) When do you do your social media posts? (56:52) Do you do them more during the week?

Conrad Jackson

(56:53) You schedule them? (56:54) Great question. (56:55) When do we do our social media posts?

(56:57) Okay. (56:57) So I have a calendar, right? (56:58) That tells me typically what to post or give me an idea of what to post and when to post it.

(57:04) Right. (57:04) I have found that the worst times to post, in my opinion, this is me, Fridays. (57:12) Fridays, especially Friday afternoon.

(57:14) Everybody's doing other things. (57:15) Everybody's doing other things. (57:17) And the weekends in the evening.

(57:20) Right. (57:20) I virtually get no engagement then. (57:23) And so those days are out.

(57:24) Everything else for me, I'm posting at 9 o'clock or 10 o'clock. (57:28) One of those two times in the morning, pretty much every day. (57:32) Whether it's business or non-business.

(57:34) Because I've heard and I feel like this is true. (57:38) When I post the same time around the same time every time, then you start to get more hits because people know you're going to be available there. (57:45) The algorithm knows you're going to be available at that time and you're continually consistent.

(57:48) So you get better engagement that way. (57:50) And the name of the game for online posting is engagement. (57:53) You know, that's why it's social media, right?

(57:57) Yeah.

Mike Mills

(57:57) And you have to engage with others. (57:58) You have to engage. (57:59) That can't just post and run.

(58:01) No, that's the part where I suck too. (58:02) Sometimes is, you know, and it's not just post. (58:05) It's not just commenting when people comment on your stuff, but it's actually being on.

(58:08) Because I like, I just don't particularly love being on social media. (58:11) I get on Twitter because I read news and that's pretty much it.

Conrad Jackson

(58:14) That's the one that I suck at the most. (58:16) It's the one I'm hardly ever on. (58:17) I know I need to do better, but it's just reading through the jumbo.

Mike Mills

(58:21) I don't think you do. (58:21) I think Twitter is nothing other than if you want to know what's going on in the world.

Conrad Jackson

(58:26) Okay, fine.

Mike Mills

(58:27) But outside of that, you're not getting. (58:29) I've never gotten any business from Twitter. (58:31) That's not, I think Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok.

(58:34) I think those are way more impactful. (58:36) But my point is, is just that like me personally, I don't get on them very often. (58:40) I don't get on TikTok because it's a death hole.

(58:43) Yeah. (58:43) Because, you know, you'll be on there for 12 hours. (58:45) You look up for sure.

(58:46) Crap, what was I doing here? (58:47) And then on the other ones, like I'm not an Instagram user, really. (58:51) I just don't get on it for whatever reason.

Conrad Jackson

(58:53) I'm on Instagram a lot. (58:54) Obviously, it's funny because this is kind of off topic, but I used to. (58:59) And I told my wife this a long time ago.

(59:02) She understands it now. (59:04) I used to watch sports highlights on ESPN. (59:08) Right.

(59:08) Now I watch them on Instagram. (59:10) Okay, because all the channels you follow, they're all posting that. (59:12) It's just I get exactly what I want.

(59:14) I get that on Twitter. (59:15) On Instagram for sports highlights, whether it's NFL and NBA, because those are the two that I'm watching all the time. (59:20) Especially the NBA.

(59:22) I get the clips. (59:23) I get the breakdown, the three, four different angles. (59:25) And then I'm done.

(59:26) And I'm like, I know what happened in the game.

Mike Mills

(59:28) Yes. (59:28) And I have to watch it. (59:29) I have to spend hours watching it.

(59:31) Yeah. (59:31) I don't have to rerun the SportsCenter episode. (59:34) Rewatch that for an hour.

(59:36) But on the engagement thing, what I was saying is that you have to be on there. (59:42) Yes. (59:42) You have to use it.

(59:42) And again, you have to do every platform. (59:45) Just do one. (59:46) But get on there and comment on people's stuff, like it, share it, whatever.

Conrad Jackson

(59:51) Useful information, links, things like that to get them to the answer that they want. (59:55) Yeah.

Mike Mills

(59:55) Because reciprocation is huge. (59:57) Because if you're on Facebook all the time and you're commenting on people's pictures and their vacations and whatever. (1:00:02) Hey, congratulations, blah, blah, blah.

(1:00:03) Whatever you want to say. (1:00:04) Right. (1:00:04) Well, then when you actually start putting some stuff out there, the reciprocations are huge.

Conrad Jackson

(1:00:09) Yeah.

Mike Mills

(1:00:09) You're going to get a ton of responses that way.

Conrad Jackson

(1:00:11) And I've had people who I've told to do this and I've done it myself. (1:00:15) And it works. (1:00:16) We have a lot of people that we don't see all the time.

(1:00:20) But we're connected through social media. (1:00:22) How many times have you just sent them a message and said, hey, how's it going? (1:00:25) Yeah.

(1:00:25) How are you doing? (1:00:26) I haven't seen you in eight years. (1:00:27) Yeah.

(1:00:27) How's the family? (1:00:28) Yeah. (1:00:28) You know, it ain't got to be real estate related.

(1:00:30) It could just be personal. (1:00:32) Yeah. (1:00:32) You know, hey, you know, we have that class in biology together.

(1:00:35) I haven't seen you since then, man. (1:00:36) You're looking good. (1:00:37) Yeah.

(1:00:38) Hope you're doing well. (1:00:38) Yeah. (1:00:39) And that turns into, hey, man, you're the real estate guru.

(1:00:43) I've seen your stuff. (1:00:44) Yes, I am. (1:00:45) Yes, I am.

(1:00:46) That's what I do. (1:00:46) Let's talk more. (1:00:47) You know.

(1:00:48) This is not this stuff ain't hard.

Mike Mills

(1:00:51) No, it's not. (1:00:53) But it's hard to do. (1:00:55) You know, it is for a lot of people.

(1:00:59) And I think it comes back to where we started with this was all of these things are possible if you program your day. (1:01:06) Yes. (1:01:06) And if you program your week and you program yourself and you're like, well, I don't want to be a robot.

(1:01:09) Well, I'm sorry. (1:01:10) I mean, your day's getting programmed one way or another, whether you're doing it or someone else is doing it or you're the schedule and your fires that you have to put out every day is doing it. (1:01:19) But if you it sounds silly.

(1:01:21) But if you sit there and go at four o'clock on my calendar, I'm going to reach out to three people that I haven't spoken to in two years on social media. (1:01:29) I'm going to send them a DM. (1:01:30) I'm going to comment on whatever.

(1:01:31) And I'm going to do those three people. (1:01:32) And that's all I'm going to do. (1:01:33) I'm just going to do that.

(1:01:34) But it's in my schedule. (1:01:35) It's on my calendar. (1:01:35) It's something that I am deliberate about.

(1:01:37) And I'm going to plan for it to do it. (1:01:38) And I do it. (1:01:39) And if I do it every week, all of that stuff bears fruit.

(1:01:42) But you have to schedule yourself.

Conrad Jackson

(1:01:44) You have to plan it out. (1:01:44) Well, I mean, confidence is built through repetition. (1:01:47) Yeah.

(1:01:47) So, you know, it takes 21 times for you to do something for it to become a habit. (1:01:52) Yeah. (1:01:52) You know, so it's like, all right, well, writing these five notes, five thank you notes is dang near impossible on day three.

(1:01:58) Yeah. (1:01:58) But on day three hundred and thirty three, this is easy. (1:02:01) Yeah.

(1:02:02) I'm saying this, saying this, saying this, saying this sign, sign, sign, sign, sign. (1:02:04) Boom. (1:02:04) I'm out.

(1:02:05) Yeah.

Mike Mills

(1:02:05) You know. (1:02:06) Well, I'm going to have you come back. (1:02:08) We're going to talk about two things before we go.

(1:02:09) I'm going to have you come back before the end of this year because we're in October now. (1:02:13) And I want to get to I think one of the things that you do really well is business planning. (1:02:16) So I want to do another episode where we kind of go through, you know, step by step, like how to build your business plan for twenty twenty five, what it should look like, what, you know, core competencies you should focus on, how you should build it out and like really give like a step by step walkthrough.

(1:02:30) So I want to do that. (1:02:31) So we'll put that on the calendar. (1:02:32) But then also I want to get your and I'm sure we'll have a little dialogue on this where you think we're headed as a real estate market into twenty twenty five.

(1:02:41) What do you think twenty twenty five is going to look like? (1:02:43) You've been doing it for a long time, 20 years into this thing. (1:02:45) We've seen the ups and downs.

(1:02:46) Where are we going, man?

Conrad Jackson

(1:02:47) I think twenty twenty five is going to look a little better than what it was in twenty twenty four. (1:02:51) But not by much. (1:02:52) Right.

(1:02:52) I really don't. (1:02:53) I think that what's what's true right now is going to hold true even next year, where if, you know, the market is always, you know, as of late, we haven't had enough supply. (1:03:04) Yep.

(1:03:05) You know, which increases demand.

Mike Mills

(1:03:07) Which is crazy, because when you say that right now, there's somebody out there going, what are you talking about? (1:03:12) I've got six listings and nothing selling.

Conrad Jackson

(1:03:15) It's like, yes, it is. (1:03:16) Stuff is selling. (1:03:17) But we just we're so many people coming and there's so many people that are available.

(1:03:21) It's just so many people are also on the fence. (1:03:24) But we still don't have enough. (1:03:25) If everybody today was like, I want to buy something.

Mike Mills

(1:03:28) We don't have enough houses for what we were. (1:03:31) The segment of the market that's missing right now that I don't think a lot of people understand that is a huge segment of every market every year is the person that I own my home. (1:03:39) I need to buy another home because I'm moving for whatever reason, you know.

(1:03:44) And really, some people have to move to another choice, but just the we're tired of being here or whatever. (1:03:49) Well, those people are not going anywhere. (1:03:52) That's right.

(1:03:52) I read the other day, it was something I want to say it was 25 or less out of every thousand homes are being turned over right now, which is like the lowest it's ever been.

Conrad Jackson

(1:04:04) Yeah.

Mike Mills

(1:04:04) So the only segment of the market that's active right now is the people that have to move because jobs, whatever, or the first time homebuyers, right? (1:04:14) And they're going after a lot of new builds because new builds are still throwing the farm at you for incentives and whatever. (1:04:19) But then good luck trying to turn around and sell that new build a year later if you have to move again.

(1:04:23) Exactly. (1:04:24) Because it's not going to appraise and you're going to have an issue. (1:04:26) Exactly.

(1:04:26) But that's the market right now. (1:04:28) So there are people buying and there are people, we're just missing a good segment of it, of the people that are buying and selling or selling and buying at the same time. (1:04:36) And so that's why you can still say we have an inventory shortage because the moment that that starts to turn even just a little bit, you're going to run into multiple offers again.

Conrad Jackson

(1:04:47) Yeah. (1:04:47) And I think that, you know, as an agent, one thing that can help you, one thing that has helped us is trying to diversify within the space that we're already good at or already passionate, which is in this world of real estate. (1:04:57) Okay.

(1:04:58) Well, as opposed to just my life hangs in the balance. (1:05:01) If I, you know, don't buy or help people buy or sell a home, then I'm done. (1:05:06) That's the only way that I can make money.

(1:05:08) Now, you know, me trying to be of the home builder, you know, and when I say a home builder, I'm not building 50 homes a year. (1:05:16) You know, we're, we're, we're trying to consistently close one to two homes a quarter. (1:05:20) Right.

(1:05:21) Well, the income from that helps me not have to focus as much on the income from being an actual real estate agent. (1:05:29) Yeah. (1:05:29) Having a few properties that are able to be rehabbed and have some consistent money coming in on the rental side, rental real estate side helps relieve some of the burden when new construction isn't doing so well, or my real estate sales are not as plentiful as they were in 2022.

(1:05:48) Right. (1:05:48) You know, that piece of it, development. (1:05:51) Yeah.

(1:05:51) It gives you another space to kind of iron out some details and potentially flip and make some money. (1:05:57) Like I've flipped lane before where I bought something, I planned on building it. (1:06:00) I didn't build it because something happened.

(1:06:03) And I turned around and sold that same vacant spot of land for way more money. (1:06:08) Yeah. (1:06:08) Than what I bought it for.

(1:06:10) Right. (1:06:10) And that chunk of change helped alleviate the burden from these. (1:06:13) So it's like, you have to take this time and continue to educate yourself and continue to work those real estate muscles in order to get stronger in different areas, other than just what you primarily focus on.

(1:06:25) Yeah. (1:06:25) If you can do that times like this, even though they're tough, they're not as tough. (1:06:30) Yes.

(1:06:30) The sky's not falling.

Mike Mills

(1:06:32) Well, and it's just hard. (1:06:33) And I think it's hard for everybody because we did go from, you know, the most prolific real estate market that we've literally ever seen for a good solid two years. (1:06:43) Yeah.

(1:06:43) To the worst real estate market that we've seen in 30 years.

Conrad Jackson

(1:06:47) Yeah.

Mike Mills

(1:06:48) Immediately after that. (1:06:49) Right. (1:06:49) And so that just causes a lot of shock to the system.

(1:06:51) And there's a lot of change that happens. (1:06:53) And I'm in agreement with you. (1:06:54) I think next year will be better.

(1:06:56) I think the spring of 2025 should be pretty good. (1:06:58) But I also feel like it's not going to be dramatically different. (1:07:03) And I think rates are going to come down, but they're going to come down slower and they're not going to go down in a straight line.

(1:07:08) Just as we've seen, you know, rates were in the low sixes almost. (1:07:11) And if you were doing a government loan FHA or VA, they were in the fives just literally five days ago.

Conrad Jackson

(1:07:17) Yeah.

Mike Mills

(1:07:17) And now they're back up, getting close to seven again. (1:07:20) And it's all because of things. (1:07:22) I think it's a short term deal.

(1:07:23) I do think that they're going to come back down. (1:07:25) You know, I think there's a lot of- This election thing is really throwing the whole- everything out of whack for a million different reasons.

Conrad Jackson

(1:07:33) For sure.

Mike Mills

(1:07:33) And so as soon as that passes, I think you're going to see things start to change quite a bit. (1:07:38) Yeah. (1:07:38) And settle in a little bit more one way or the other.

(1:07:40) It doesn't matter. (1:07:41) I don't think it matters that much who wins. (1:07:43) But I think you're going to see things start to settle back in, at least in our world.

Conrad Jackson

(1:07:47) For sure. (1:07:47) In real estate.

Mike Mills

(1:07:48) You might be in another world and say like, you're crazy. (1:07:49) It's going to be different. (1:07:50) That's fine.

(1:07:50) But in our world, I think it'll settle down. (1:07:53) I think it'll stabilize, which is ultimately what we want. (1:07:56) That's what investors want.

(1:07:57) That's what sellers want. (1:07:58) That's what everybody wants. (1:07:59) It's just stable.

Conrad Jackson

(1:08:00) Yeah.

Mike Mills

(1:08:00) Just want it to be stable.

Conrad Jackson

(1:08:01) I think if you are trying to figure out how to make your 2025 better than your 2024 has been, there's a ton of good nuggets on here that you can go ahead and start implementing now. (1:08:13) You may not perfect it now, but you start it. (1:08:15) And starting is half the battle.

(1:08:16) You know, go ahead and start implementing some of these things, whether it's a marketing or how you're involved in community or how you're doing your daily schedule, how you're waking up in the day, whether you're implementing video. (1:08:26) All of those things will help you if you start now. (1:08:29) So when 2025 comes, you're ready and you're available and you're prepared to take on these opportunities that are going to come your way.

(1:08:35) You will beat the next guy.

Mike Mills

(1:08:37) Yeah. (1:08:38) I would say, you know, if you're looking for somewhere to start, I would start with planning. (1:08:44) I would just, and when I say planning, I don't mean plan out your year.

(1:08:48) I mean, literally today at the end of the day, or really it's better sometimes before the end of the day, take 30 minutes and plan tomorrow. (1:08:57) What am I going to do tomorrow? (1:08:58) Yes.

(1:08:59) Like, what is tomorrow going to look like? (1:09:00) How am I going to set it up? (1:09:01) And then if you do that, then is it going to go according to plan?

(1:09:04) No, because it never does. (1:09:05) But leave yourself another time at the end of the day again to plan the next day, right?

Conrad Jackson

(1:09:10) Well, I'll say, you know, and this is from personal experience. (1:09:12) I deal with a lot of contractors, right? (1:09:15) And so with, you know, a lot of the rehabs or new construction things that we do, we have a list of things that need to be done in phases in order for us to get from start to finish on that property.

(1:09:26) And so one of the things that I struggled with when we first started doing this was, how do I keep them on task? (1:09:32) Right. (1:09:32) How do I make sure?

(1:09:33) And if you pick up the phone and call them every day, they get annoyed. (1:09:36) Yes. (1:09:36) Right.

(1:09:37) And so, you know, I now have software that allows them to get text message tasks, updated, you know, text message tasks throughout the day. (1:09:46) And you would have thought it was night and day on how efficient it is now, because they just get that little text message and you set the time, you set the priority, which one comes first, which one comes last. (1:09:57) And now they get those and it's like, oh yeah.

(1:10:00) And so as opposed to me calling them saying what's going on, now they call me and say, hey, I check this off the list. (1:10:05) I check this off the list. (1:10:05) I got your picture for this.

(1:10:06) I check this off the list. (1:10:07) We're good. (1:10:08) Yeah.

(1:10:08) You do the same thing for yourself. (1:10:10) Yes. (1:10:10) With your reminder app in your phone, which everybody has.

(1:10:14) Yes. (1:10:14) And if you don't get them all, well, I got six out of seven. (1:10:17) I know mentally that was a productive day.

Mike Mills

(1:10:19) Well, and I would say too, it's just like, it's no, to me, it's no different. (1:10:23) And I'm- Or if you're Susan, put a sticky note on the back of your phone. (1:10:25) Yeah, I'm possibly talking to myself here a little more too, but, and you have to remind yourself of this stuff, but it's also, you don't have to do, because this is what happens to me.

(1:10:36) Sit down. (1:10:36) Okay. (1:10:36) I got to plan my day for tomorrow and I've got this mountain of tasks I'm trying to accomplish.

(1:10:42) And I look at that and I, at first I go, okay, I'm going to do this at nine. (1:10:46) I'm going to do this at 10 and I go through the, and then I've got like 12 things in a day that I'm trying to accomplish. (1:10:51) And then inevitably, always, I look up at the end of that and I did two of those things or three of those things.

(1:10:57) And I would tell you that when you sit down and do this, because your brain gets going, oh, I need to do this, I need to do that. (1:11:03) You'd be amazed at how much your brain starts kicking into high gear when you're planning is to go, okay, so hold back. (1:11:09) What are the most two or three important things that I need to accomplish tomorrow?

(1:11:14) I've got these other things and if, you know what, if I have time, great, I'll get to it. (1:11:17) But if I don't, I just need to make sure these three things get done.

Conrad Jackson

(1:11:20) Right, and I call those, like we talked about earlier, the non-negotiables. (1:11:23) Yes. (1:11:23) That's the eight to noon schedule.

(1:11:25) For me, it says sometime between eight and noon, these non-negotiables have to be done. (1:11:29) And if we can do that, then these other things we can, these other eight items I can space out over the next four days, do into a day. (1:11:34) Yeah.

(1:11:35) You know, but those non-negotiables have to be done first. (1:11:37) Yeah. (1:11:37) And so if you can do that, man, categorize this thing and it just, it will make your life so much easier.

(1:11:42) You can effectively be lazy in your day in certain spots.

Mike Mills

(1:11:46) Yeah, and the planning will build on itself because once you plan one day and you plan the next day and then that helps you come up with things that you need to do in your marketing, in your database, in your sphere, and all of that builds on itself. (1:11:57) For sure. (1:11:57) And it all starts with planning.

(1:11:58) So, I mean, if at the bare minimum, if you need one thing to take away from this today, just one thing. (1:12:03) Yeah. (1:12:03) Is take away, plan tomorrow.

(1:12:05) Yes, please. (1:12:06) That's it. (1:12:06) That's it, you don't have to do anything else.

(1:12:08) Just plan tomorrow. (1:12:08) Be very intentional when you plan too.

Conrad Jackson

(1:12:10) So that way it'll help you out with the rest of the week.

Mike Mills

(1:12:12) Well, dude, I appreciate it. (1:12:14) Thank you as always for coming in.

Conrad Jackson

(1:12:16) Of course.

Mike Mills

(1:12:16) We're already over an hour or so. (1:12:17) So thank you for doing this. (1:12:19) We'll schedule another time.

(1:12:20) We'll come back. (1:12:21) We'll go through the business plan before the end of the year. (1:12:23) So heading into 2025, we can kind of help everybody get themselves lined up and what steps to go through, what categories to put together, all that kind of stuff.

(1:12:30) We'll go through that. (1:12:31) And then I'll have another market update next week. (1:12:34) We'll keep talking about rates as we do every single week because it changes all the time.

(1:12:39) I'll come at you with that and then we'll talk a little bit more about timing on refinancing. (1:12:43) So thanks for everybody that stuck around. (1:12:45) Yep.

(1:12:46) I appreciate you as always. (1:12:48) We're looking forward to number eight next time and we'll get after it. (1:12:51) But everybody have a great weekend and we'll see you later.

(1:12:53) Appreciate it, guys. (1:12:54) All right.

Conrad Jackson

Realtor/Investor/Property Manager/Developer

Conrad Jackson is a seasoned veteran and top-producing realtor on the David DeVries Team. His knowledge base includes a Bachelor's Degree in Real Estate from the University Of Texas at Arlington, and he as been working exclusively with the David DeVries Team for over a decade. Conrad Jackson is a force to be reckoned with in the real estate industry. With a diverse range of roles under his belt - realtor, developer, property manager, investor, and even a budding YouTube star - Conrad knows how to make the most of every opportunity that comes his way. He's not afraid to think outside the box and find creative solutions to common problems in the industry. Conrad's journey started with a rundown, graffiti-covered house that he and his partner transformed into a profitable rental property. Since then, he has continued to expand his real estate portfolio and explore alternative revenue streams. His ability to navigate the ups and downs of the market and continually find success sets him apart as a valuable guest on the podcast. Conrad's insights and experiences will inspire and motivate real estate professionals to think beyond the traditional buying and selling model and explore new avenues for growth and success.

Daily Realtor Success Habits: How to Thrive in Tough Market Conditions

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