Amy Ransdell Shares How She’s Building Her Real Estate Empire in Atlanta, GA

Steve Trang: Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Real Estate Disruptors. Today, we have Amy Renzell with Powerhouse and REVA. She flew in from Atlanta, Georgia to talk about how she's steadily built out her real estate empire. If this is your first time tuning in, I'm Steve Trang, founder of the OfferFast Homes app, the only MLS for off market wholesale properties.

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That will help us a lot. Help us with the algorithm so we can reach more people. And this is a live show, so please ask your questions for Amy to answer. You ready?

Amy Ransdell: I don't have a choice. Right?

Amy: We're here.

Amy: Ready. Absolutely.

Steve: Alright. So first question is just what got you into real estate?

Amy: So I'm gonna give the real raw answer here. I didn't choose to go into real estate. Real estate sort of chose me.

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: I stumbled in. So like a lot of stories, my husband at the time was interested in. It was a hobby for him. And so it was an opportunity to help him grow the businesses that he had. And so I did.

I adopted it. And, all these years later, he's not in real estate much as much as or as much anymore, and I stuck with it. Right? So, that's really it. It wasn't something that I chose, but I loved it.

So

Steve: So what were you doing before

Amy: then? Oh, well, so I have a corporate background and, training in sales development. That was where I came from. But I was always an entrepreneur, so I had left that and was trying to start my own

Amy: businesses when I met him. And so, typical e myth failure at the time, I was trying to

Amy: be every hat in the business and failure at the time, I was trying to be every hat in the business and didn't understand leverage or outsourcing or any of those things back then. So I was struggling. So when he came along with, you know, his hobbies and passions, and I'm a little type a, and I had saw an opportunity to kinda dive in and do my part, I went that route. So

Steve: Got it. So when was this?

Amy: This would have been, say, eighteen years ago, nineteen years ago.

Steve: Okay. So what was it like when you first got started? Started? You mean, so you loved it. What was it like when you, you know, when you jumped in?

Amy: You know, the funny thing is somebody was asking me out the other day. So as we look into the future of our market coming and the market this last year and everybody's, you know, we're gonna have this big shift in the market that's still that's getting ready to come. I think about my career, and I've I started in a shift in the market in o one.

Steve: Oh, I started in o one. Uh-huh. Okay.

Amy: And then I started technically, right, right around that time. And then I went through the o eight crash. Right? Like, I mean, I I I just, I guess, look for trouble and and decide to start when things are hard. Yeah.

What I loved about it at the time was that I had control. Right? We controlled our results. And I I really believe in being at cause, and that was a business where we could truly be at cause. Right?

And it just seemed to just seemed to work for us. So

Steve: At

Amy: cause? Yeah. Meaning that we control the results. Right? Whatever I do, I can decide what I'm gonna do with it, measure my results, and get you know, that's important to me.

So Yeah.

Amy: Well, I

Steve: mean, I love the part where you said you're you're finding trouble because that's really what we get paid for. We get paid

Amy: Absolutely.

Steve: To solve problems.

Amy: We do.

Steve: So what was your first deal like?

Amy: Oh, gosh. So our very first deal, we acquired by Short Sale in Acworth, Georgia. It was a little three two on a slab, typical little frame house, out in Acworth area. Those that are listening from Atlanta know where I'm talking about. Got it as a short sale.

And this one, we decided to actually acquire it, take title, the whole deal, not just do a back to back. We were doing a lot of back to back closes at short sales in the time. This one, we actually took title to and renovated it. It was our first actual renovation. Mhmm.

And I'll never forget. We did, everything wrong that you could imagine to do wrong. Right? And then we did everything right. So, we had bikini girls out in the street for our open house, and we sold that girl overpriced.

It was great. So

Steve: so you're talking about short sales. Yeah. You were doing them back in 2001?

Amy: We were. So from o one to o nine, that was our primary, strategy. And our our pre foreclosure or people with mortgage lates, that was our almost only funnel we worked for all those years. Like, we just got niche specific, positions ourselves as experts in that arena, so that not only did we have sellers wanting to work with us over everyone else, but all of our local colleagues would throw us our deal their deals too because they didn't wanna deal with them. Yeah.

And this is when banks didn't have loss mitigation department. So we'd call them up and be like, hey. I wanna do a short sale. And they'd be like, So we we had power. Right?

We could teach the banks how to do the short sale and why they would want to, you know, do that, why they would want to say yes to that. We could posture the result. So it was a lot of fun until other people started getting into the same niche, and it made things a little bit more wonky. And then, of course, we had the o eight shift. So

Steve: Yeah. So you're doing short sales from 2001 all the way up?

Amy: To 2009.

Steve: Even during, like, the crazy appreciation time, you were still doing short sales?

Amy: Oh, absolutely. Because people still go into default. Right? As you know you just said. Right?

We're solutions providers. And the reality is that in any market, good or bad, there are people who have things happen in their lives that affect their ability to pay their mortgage Yeah. Which puts them in that situation. Right? So, absolutely, it is a niche that applies in any market.

Okay? Now, obviously, when the shift happened o '7, o '8, o '9, right, then it was Christmas. I mean, everybody needed a short sale at that time. But but, yeah, it's it's it's still effective niche even today.

Steve: Did you pick up even more market share at that point?

Amy: Oh, yeah. To the point of being a little overwhelmed. Now at the time, we were a loss mitigation firm. So we were investors. We would buy them.

We would turn them. We would also process them for others and get paid. Right?

Amy: Yeah.

Amy: It got to a point where we knew the law was getting ready to change, and we wouldn't be able to do that anymore. So A

Steve: law where someone had to be a loan originator?

Amy: Yeah. A loan originator or an attorney in different state depending on each state and how they interpreted the law. Right? And there was a Were you

Steve: doing it multiple states?

Amy: Time. We were. Yeah. Florida, Minnesota. We have several places.

Amy: So

Steve: Yeah. I'm just curious. Like, we got someone in our office that does them still.

Amy: Yeah.

Steve: And, yeah, that that whole period where they had to become a loan originator definitely adjusted everyone's business model very quickly.

Amy: Absolutely. And and and other things came with that too. Right? I mean, like, just the reality of it. You couldn't, you know, dry closings and back to backs, things that that were very commonplace

Steve: A to b, b to c.

Amy: Needed to

Amy: be different. And and that was fine. We we had to adjust our model too. So now what I love to be is I just love to be I the doctor Sue story, Horton hatches the egg. If anybody knows that story, it's this elephant, and he sits on an egg, and he just sits there and sits there and sits there and sits there until the egg hatches.

Right? That's what I call myself now. I really just wanna be the buyer. And I'll sit on that contract because I'm patient, and I understand the process. So I know how to screen which ones are worth sitting on, and I know how to help all the parties.

It's no harm, no foul. If I don't get the short sale approved for me, what work did I have? Not a lot. And at the end of the day, everybody will win because either I'm gonna be able to buy that property or the listing agent and the seller will know how to proceed further. So it it's you know, that's my strategy now.

We no longer try to negotiate them.

Steve: Got it. When did you make that transition from negotiating it to just waiting on it?

Amy: Really, honestly, around 2009, 2010.

Steve: Got it.

Amy: So we had some people who were working for us doing loss mitigation. We basically camped them in an attorney's office locally, and a couple of them are still there.

Steve: Got it. So you started in short sales, loss mitigation.

Amy: Yeah.

Steve: And then what what was you know, because we're talking about, like, you know, building your empire. Like, what was the next venture after that?

Amy: I love that you say building an empire. I look at it as I'm still learning. Right? I'm gonna learn forever, and I've made a million mistakes along the way too. And I still make mistakes, and I'm still fixing mistakes.

And, like, that's part of what we do. Right? I think that I never really looked at it myself as as trying to build an empire. I've always looked at it as, okay. Where is the market?

Where can I provide a solution? That's what we do in business. Right? We find a solution that's needed. We build around that solution.

So that's really what I've done throughout the process until I've gotten to a place now where where I'm very I'm passionate about giving back what I've learned. And so more of my inclinations and my love and passion now is more on the the training and education side more than it ever has been.

Steve: Mhmm.

Amy: But, you know, that there's that transitional time. Right?

Steve: Right.

Amy: I will say this. Right around the time that we quit doing a lot of loss mitigation is also around the time that I decided to go get my license.

Steve: So you're doing the whole loss mitigation the whole time and never had a license?

Amy: Never had a license because, that that again, this is pre

Steve: Been needed.

Amy: It wasn't needed. Right? You were allowed to be the buyer and have another you didn't even have to have the typical listing agent on the front end. You could you know, there was commissions that could be earned. There were loss mitigation fees that could be earned.

There was all kinds of things that you could do. Right? Yeah. Plus you could sell it, sell beneficial interest, sell the option. There were so many other strategies that just are simply not possible now.

So now or I saw the opportunity, if you will, to have a license and monetize that end of the business. I noticed over those years how many leads we would generate that we didn't do anything with because they didn't fit our niche, but they fit other needs. Right? So that opened the door for me to say, okay. We need to learn more about how to structure terms deals.

We need to learn more about how we can list property that needs to go into that bucket and and and, you know, play the retail side of things. And the exposure you get with having that license is, I think, a really great tool.

Amy: So

Steve: So you're talking about you you're dealing with, these short sell sell leads, and then you say, okay. Well, maybe this one is not a short sell. This could be something that will take over creatively or we'll list it.

Amy: Absolutely.

Steve: So let's talk about that because that's something I'm actually actively doing in my business

Amy: Love that.

Steve: Where we're adding this component where we're gonna say, okay. You know, this wasn't a wholesale. Do we wanna do a sub two wrap, whatever, seller carry list?

Amy: Yeah.

Steve: So what is that thought process?

Amy: So I think it's a variety of things. I have, let's start with my my bucket of three. I always tell people, if you're gonna look at an a deal and analyze it and you're thinking about first whether that's a good hold property, let's just go there for example, right, and how you're gonna acquire it. However you're gonna structure it, will there be room to positively cash flow it? Number one.

Number two, will there be equity if you're in a must sell situation? Right? Are there exit strategies that can be deployed besides the first one you thought of? I always tell people that's the first bucket of analysis. But then you gotta go in deeper.

What kind of equity is there in the property where where that that that could be structured, for instance, as an owner finance or a sub two? Is there you know, what title look like? What is the situation with the seller? You know, we obviously there's ethics involved as well.

Steve: Sure.

Amy: Right? And so I think there's many pieces to that pie as to whether or not a deal would work better as a sub two or a wrap or maybe just a lease option, and then I do a release option wrap. I mean, there it depends on the situation.

Steve: Also, it's different tools. Yeah.

Amy: I say it's like a fingerprint. I think every deal is just a little bit different.

Amy: Mhmm. And so it's on you to understand how those mechanics work to decide which one to put it in. And sometimes you don't always decide the wrong

Amy: the mechanics work to decide which one to put it in. And sometimes you don't always decide the wrong the right bucket, but that's that's your goal.

Steve: Got it. So you get licensed, and now you're looking at all these different tools to help with homeowners. How long until your next venture? Because and, you know, I I bring up, the the, Empire thing. And the only reason why is because, Dave Day.

Right?

Amy: Love him.

Steve: He said, Steve, have you had Amy on the show? And I said, I said, who's Amy? And he says, you don't know Amy? And Atlanta's like, you know, enlighten me. And he's like she's like you, but a lot nicer and better at her job.

Amy: I was

Steve: like, okay.

Amy: Thank you. Oh, I'm he boy, I knew I owe him a beer. Go ahead.

Steve: Yeah. So, so so what were the next, ventures, you know, after after doing the realtor thing?

Amy: So, there's a lot in the middle of all that. Mhmm. About time that I got my license, I also became heavily involved with a very large coaching program here in the country that a lot of people are familiar with. And we had several national blogs that we were running and so forth, and all of that sort of coincided for me to do a lot with them that ran along with building some trainings for realtors on our team and our acquisitions team. So I had several years where I'm just doing, you know, traditional teams and our acquisition acquisition teams and allowing them to work collaboratively together, which is something I do even more so now than I did then.

Yeah. And I had this belief, I still do, that as investors, how we look at the market, how we market for deals, right, is so much better than agents are ever taught. And Mhmm. And we know how to to laser in and niche ourselves to get the actually motivated sellers

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: In any price points in any area. The agents, again, are never taught. And so to me, there's a perfect marriage between the two that if you're doing investor oriented branding and marketing and lead gen, that that's gonna drive in a massive lead pool to support that traditional side of the business. And those of you that are listing that are licensed understand that listings generate buyer leads

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: And so etcetera just starts to create other pockets of income within the same brand.

Steve: Right. Additional sources of revenue without any additional expenses.

Amy: Absolutely. Or or another way to look at it is that my investment that I'm spending Mhmm. So that investment going out to generate the leads, what it converts into generate the leads, what it converts into as business, the cost per acquisition per per transaction goes down.

Steve: Right.

Amy: Right? So it just to me, you know, looking at a balance sheet, that just makes so much more sense. Sense. Right?

Steve: Yeah. And it's something that I've harped on, you know, every now and then, but no one really cares. You know? You just, there's this this the the realtor community and the wholesaler community are very separated. And it makes no sense to me None.

Because we're trying to do the same thing. We're trying to find the sellers that wanna sell. Yeah. But there's this animosity. I don't know how to get around it.

Amy: There is this weird animosity. And for a long time, it was oil and water. Right? Like, investors shouldn't have their license. And I'd always ask them like, well, why shouldn't you have your license?

Well, if I have my license, I can't do a, b, and c. And my answer always was, well, if you if there's things you think you can't do with a license, you probably shouldn't be doing them.

Steve: Right.

Amy: Number one. Right? And then just again, there's this perfect marriage. We should be working together. I I was at a mastermind a couple of years ago and I was always there's always not very many girls.

I was one of the few women at the table and I got pushed off to the very end to present like, oh, she's just an agent and a girl, you know, woman. What's she gonna say? I really that's how I felt the whole time. Maybe I was projecting. I don't know.

But, but my presentation was I took a lot of the numbers, the acquisition numbers that all the guys had shared and their conversions, and I layered on top of that how many they could convert into the retail side and or utilize the retail market to sell their wholesale deals Mhmm. And just ran some, like, you know, revenue numbers for them to show them some of them literally hundreds of thousands of of dollars in revenue. They were not generating

Steve: They're just throwing away.

Amy: Throwing it away. They're spending all this money on leads Mhmm. Just throwing money away. And I really had some jaw dropping moments from people at that table. I'm like, you all need to all add a license to your teams, every one of you.

So

Steve: Is that when you decided to open the brokerage?

Amy: No. No. I've been a brokerage model in different forms since I got my license. It was probably I was less than a year in of having my license that the entrepreneur in me didn't wanna stay in a didn't wanna stay in a brokerage, so I hired a qualifying broker and started one. Right?

I will say that there was different morphed versions of that over the years. It wasn't a

Steve: Morphed how?

Amy: I was an independent brokerage with my own qualifying broker I hired but owned it. And then I teamed up with another brokerage. So that we were two brokers. They ran their division. I ran mine.

I was there for a while. And then we went back to being an independent completely independent.

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: And I currently hold the qualifying broker hat, although planning to take that back off of my plate and having someone else serve as qualifying broker and managing broker.

Steve: Does qualifying broker mean, like, the one that gets in trouble when things go south?

Amy: Yes. Okay. Which is what none of us want. Right? Let's let's I reject that.

Let's not allow that to come into my my to my energy right now. Yeah. But, yes, it is the person that's ultimately responsible, and there is a lot that comes with that. So Mhmm. People who are listening, right, like, if you're trying to make that decision as to whether or not you want to be a brokerage, for some of you, that's not the right fit.

You don't need to carry that liability and expense of being an independent brokerage. You can simply park your license inside a brokerage and do what you do. But make sure you're finding an investor support of brokerage.

Steve: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's something that people kinda miss. They can't find their investor friendly broker.

I think I'm convinced they're out there everywhere, but you gotta go and find them.

Amy: Yeah.

Steve: And I asked that question earlier just because I'm the designated broker, and I can't I don't believe I can find a broker as willing to take on the kind of liability and risk that I'm totally comfortable with.

Amy: Well, see, I'm comfortable with it too. Like, we've just done so many transactions that, like, nothing really scares me. And I tend to be a, I never say no. I just say no. It can't be that way.

Let's figure out how. Right?

Steve: Problem solver.

Amy: Problem solver. It's hard to find people who are who are resourceful and solution oriented. Right? And so I I get it. I I feel you.

Yeah. I'm sure I'll have the same challenge as I start to openly look.

Steve: Yeah. So you you you believe that, you know, taking that model where you're looking for distressed sellers, monetizing it on the back end through traditional means if it doesn't go in the first bucket. When is wholesaling and flipping and buying and holding? Like, how does that all fit into this business?

Amy: Yeah. So the reality is during all this time, I'm still an investor. And, again, to everybody listening, everyone should be an investor. Like, you you have things you do that maybe generate income or build something that you're building that you're passionate about, but truly you should also still be investing. Right?

And I'm not gonna say that everything's always gone the right way over the years. Yeah. Just hasn't. But, and I'm still learning. Right?

But I have actively done the things that I help others do. Right? So as an active of coach and consultant and broker who's working with people in volume who do volume, I myself have done a lot of transactions. So, I encourage everybody that even if you're gonna go the route of what I'm doing right now, you're still investing. Right?

So I currently have an acquisitions team. They have a pretty lofty goal. I set them for the year.

Steve: What is it?

Amy: My goal I hate to say this out loud in the universe. Of course, they would all be like, yeah. Let's do it. Our goal was to to turn a 100 houses in the next calendar year. Not all is obviously renovation flips.

A lot of that would be going through some sort of a wholesale route or hold route, or turnkey route. But that that was a goal I gave them so they'd have something to measure backwards from, what their day daily metrics need to be.

Steve: Got it. So on that note, you mentioned, about the importance of lead systems, knowing your numbers and the value of why that's important. You wanna elaborate on that?

Amy: Do you love your numbers?

Steve: Do I love my numbers? No. But look at them.

Amy: That's the best answer. Okay. Oh, I still love that answer because sometimes I don't either. Yeah. I looked at a report for the cold calling team as I was on in the car on the way here, and I'm like, I don't know if I love those numbers.

But, you know, you have to, though. Right? And I don't know how many people do this, but if you're listening anybody that's listening, like, you've gotta go all the way back from what is your net goal for the year, and what does that translate into what you need to be earning really per day.

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: Right? You know, per project, per day, per average per listing. And all of that affects every decision you make all the way down to how many records you're gonna invest in and what methods you're gonna do to get a hold of sellers and how much you're gonna invest to do that. Right? So you don't know was it one of my favorite Tony Rob Robins quotes is that you can't know what to do for the day if you don't know what you're doing for your life.

Okay?

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: So that applies in this in this arena as well on a on a micro level that how do I know what to how many people do I supposed to call that day, talk to that day, follow-up with? How many contracts do I need to write per week to get the number of deals that I said I want to close? Like, if you don't know what that is, then you'll waste a whole day.

Steve: Right. Alright. So the prototypical you know, you're talking to someone that's listening to the podcast, hasn't done a deal yet.

Amy: Yeah.

Steve: And a lot of people I talk to, you know, their goal and I don't know what it is about real estate, but everyone's goal is a 100,000 in the first year. Yeah. So what would that conversation let's just say someone in your market. Okay. They say, Amy, I wanna do a 100,000 in my first year.

Amy: So

Steve: we're talking about numbers we were just discussing here. Yeah. What would you tell that person as far as what they need to track?

Amy: Wow. And now this is it's a complicated question. First of all, I wanna speak to the 100,000. I think working with coaching clients, Bob and I were talking the other day, Bob LaChance at Riva Global, that we were just kinda reminiscing about how many coaching students we've worked with over the years, and it's huge. It's like, you know, well over a thousand students.

Right? So it's very common to hear that statement. And a lot of times, I think the 6 figure thing of 100,000 is something that people fixate on because they've always been sub six figures.

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: Right? So it's that first round number that they go after. They don't really have a attainable or sensible reason for choosing it, and sometimes that's the first issue is really getting in kinda down into the the dirt with them as to what they really want, which might not be the 100,000. So I just wanna put a little balloon on that, kinda hold that out here for a minute. Also, we have to sit and look at do a discovery session with them on how many what's their resources.

Right? What is their experience? Do they have more time than money or more money than time? You know, those are all gonna come into play to help them strategize a plan. Yeah.

And then from there, it's your local market. What is the average net per deal that you're should maybe expect in your local market? If you're in the San Francisco market, you could turn one deal and make 6 figures. Right? But if you're in my market, your average wholesale net pre this crazy little market we're in right now would be anywhere from, like, you know, net net 7,500 to $15, maybe.

Right? So now you know if you're in my market, well, I gotta do maybe 10 to 15 deals to get my net. Right? And so now that means I gotta close a deal per month. So if I'm gonna close a deal per month, we work backwards from there to kind of figure out, well, how many people do I have to talk to to get enough appointments to turn enough into a contract?

And in the beginning, your stats aren't gonna be great. No.

Steve: It's gonna be awful in the beginning.

Amy: Your conversions are gonna be horrible. So Yeah. It it is that. But that's there's a lot of variables there.

Steve: Sure. And so what are you finding? Because this is what we've seen is a lot of people have, you know, grandiose goals, and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm talking I'm not even talking about the new guy right now. I'm just talking about the guys that have been doing it for a couple years.

Amy: Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: And and they're very revenue heavy, not necessarily profit heavy.

Amy: Oh, yeah. Good one.

Steve: So what are you seeing out there, like, as far as, you know, just approximate numbers, people that come in for coaching, like, you know, from from the it looks like they have a great business. Oh. But they don't really know their KPIs like they probably should, and there's some things kinda falling through the cracks.

Amy: They do. And, you know, even I sometimes will fall there. Right? But I'm, I have a commitment to measuring, right, where that is. I think that's also just a growth That's a growth thing as well.

Yeah. I think as you transition in life and you grow as an enter into into the role of really what an entrepreneur is, which in my world, a definition of an entrepreneur is someone who is making money truly passively from assets that not necessarily any earned income necessary, have cash flow positive over their expenses. And they could go away for a year, travel to Indonesia or wherever and be gone for an entire year, come back, their business is still profitable and maybe has even grown. Yeah. That's an entrepreneur.

And most of us are not fully there yet. I'm not. I know that. Right? As my team is all texting me all morning.

Like, I'm like, I'm not being an entrepreneur right now. Okay. So, so so knowing that yeah. A lot of people have lofty goals, and a lot of people don't understand that there's a difference between revenues revenue or income coming in and profit. Right?

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: And so you think you have revenue because you cash a big check from a wholesale deal, but you're not looking at how much how what your expenses and liabilities were. Right? What is your liability management? Right? Like, I have a couple of things I'm doing right now.

My liability management is really high, and that bothers me. So that's there's a a an effect effect on decisions to help us lessen that, raise what we're earning from assets so that that becomes better. Right? I think a lot of people just they're looking at the business as a hobby and a thing versus a business owner, and that's just a transitional growth.

Steve: What is liability management?

Amy: In my opinion or in my that my definition, you know, if you have a lot of liabilities that are not generating profits for you Mhmm. They're just purely liabilities, needs to be lessened. Right? That's just in my world, that's it. Simple.

Steve: So expenses.

Amy: Expenses that aren't generating something for you. Right? I mean, like, for instance, I believe debt's a good thing, so I hold your ears on my Dave Ramsey people. I Ramsey people. And I love Dave.

He's awesome. But, and I think that there's some things we shouldn't have as debt. Right? Like, like, a primary residence mortgage is is is not necessarily good debt. Right?

But debt on a rental property that you're leveraging for cash flow is good debt. Right? So, there is, you know, range of what a liability can be. Is it good or bad debt?

Steve: Yeah. Right. So I and I I just wanna harp on this or emphasize this one more time because we're talking about the importance of of knowing your numbers. I think it's really hard at times to know your numbers, but if you can develop the habit early, it's gonna help you set set you up later on.

Amy: Yeah. Yeah. But you know what? It's hard.

Steve: It is hard, and it's not fun.

Amy: No. No. It's not sexy. It's not fun. And for those of us like, I was a biochem major who got an art degree and worked in sales and marketing.

Right? Like, I'm that creative kinesthetic type, like, you know, woo. I like color. Right? You know?

So looking at numbers like that, it's not sexy. It's not something that I want to do, but that's what discipline is. Right? What's the definition of discipline is doing something that we don't like to do but doing it anyway? Mhmm.

Okay? And that's part of what your numbers are. And so make that something that that becomes sexy for you. And here's the reality. And I have had to learn this the hard way, and I'm still learning it truly.

And I'm just I'm a very transparent person, is that you learn how money is a good thing. And making money makes things easier. Right? Yes. So sometimes when we're starting out, particularly if we're at the very beginning of our jump into being solopreneurs or investors and, entrepreneurs, is that we don't have a good relationship with money.

Right? Yeah. And I've been there. And so you've been

Steve: been there for a very long time. Yes. Yes.

Amy: So we have to learn and grow. And as you learn the value of what money creates for your life, the time freedom it actually gives you, freedom of choice that it gives you, then you start to value the decisions that come to protect that happening. Mhmm. And then numbers become sexy. Right?

Reports become sexy. Right? So I

Steve: actually look forward to it now. It's not fun, but I do look forward to it. Yeah. One thing you were talking about, earlier, before our our, before you came in here is you talked about NLP. Yeah.

And NLP is something I've studied. I wouldn't say I'm an expert by any means. I feel very comfortable with my sales skills sales training. But NLP, I have to ask you since you you you you said you're good at it. Where the hell do you read about it?

Because everything I've read has just been a transcription of Richard Bandler and John Grinder or whatever. Like, there's no, like, book to read. Right?

Amy: Okay. Great. Actually, I can give you I will actually, ask me later. I'm gonna give you a couple books that you actually would probably appreciate because you love sales and negotiation type stuff. Yeah.

That would be some scripting things using NLP techniques that you will just get all excited about.

Steve: Actually, before you say that, let me clarify for everyone. Okay. That's neurolinguistics programming.

Amy: Thank you. There we go. Okay. Yes. So, and you guys can all go Google that and get on YouTube and find a million videos of people trying to teach different techniques within the world of NLP.

And NLP goes way beyond language. It's something much, much bigger than even that. But, yeah, there is some great content out there. Now I'm very blessed to have, been a passion of something that I've studied for most of my career. I studied for sales reasons way back in the day.

That's the only

Steve: reason I'm studying it.

Amy: Okay. But then I studied then I started to realize the other benefits of it way beyond that. It's great for mediation, negotiations, consultation services. It's across the board, and it's great for your own personal development. Right?

So I now do breakthrough coaching sessions with people who need to have a mindset and value shift in order to do well in their business. And there are techniques within the world of NLP that can take somebody in have help them break through years of being stuck. Right?

Steve: I've seen that.

Amy: Mhmm. Where you

Steve: it was very therapeutic, and it really changed like, removed the breaks in their in in in inside between the ears. I've seen that.

Amy: Yes. Oh, it's so powerful. And as somebody that does breakthroughs with people

Amy: Mhmm. I

Amy: will tell you as that person, as the practitioner, is probably our most exciting moment because you literally watch their sensory acuity change. I mean, they they walk out taller and with, you know, color

Amy: in their cheeks, and they're happier and the weight of the world

Amy: is lifted when they actually color in their cheeks and they're happier and the weight of the world is lifted when they actually realize how to move past things that are stuck energy back in their past that is holding them back from understanding or being at a complexity of thought to be able to have the solutions at the level they're trying to go to next. Because the reality is all of us can only do we only can work with the resources we have at the time that we have them. And if we've never experienced having to do something at a certain level of complexity, we're not not gonna be able to do it. Yeah. And sometimes there are just simply things holding us back from believing that we can.

It can be a limiting belief. It can be negative emotions and so forth. So I could go really deep. But, you were asking about where to find information.

Steve: What books? Because I've read like, I've I've picked up a few of the, you know, the Bandler Grinder books. Yeah. And they're just not written well.

Amy: So I'll give you

Steve: I've I've I've recently read Words That Changed Minds, which I thought was phenomenal. K. And then there's another one I can't remember. Something about, mouth twisted mouth. Was it?

Amy: Oh, slate of slate of mouth?

Steve: Sleight of mouth.

Amy: Yes. Sleight of mouth is slate of mouth is really amazing. Yeah.

Steve: Sleight of mouth is really good. Mhmm. But that's it. That's all I could find.

Amy: So there's actually a good book on, it was called Art of Persuasion by Rintu Basu.

Amy: Mhmm. I

Amy: actually suggest that one. It's a pretty simple read, and you wanna do it you don't wanna read it cover to cover. What you wanna do is read each section, apply it a lot Mhmm. Like, for, like, a month. Right?

And so it becomes habit, and then that skill will be installed, and then you can learn the next set of skills. Right? Yeah. But I also suggest if anybody's listening and you have a real passion for learning about what we're talking about, if any of this has sparked anything in you, I'm very blessed that two good friends of mine started a program called Recalibrate three sixty, a couple of years back. Mhmm.

One of the most comprehensive and powerful programs for adopting NLP into your business is their program. And so you can go through their program and become certified in it if that's what you're what you'd like to do or just simply learn it from them. Right? Yeah. And then in the process of becoming a master practitioner with their program, you can even experience a personal breakthrough.

And then they have programs above that that are for entrepreneurs that are just amazing. Right? And I probably have learned more about adopting NLP into what I do just by simply my interactions with them because that's 100% what they do. Right? But it's a game changer for sure.

Steve: So for those of us that heard us rambling about this for, like, the last five minutes, can you give them an example of what how how NLP would apply in our business?

Amy: Oh, yes. Okay. So all of us, we're all talking to sellers, customers, clients. Right? I don't know if you're an agent or investor.

Either way, you are having to talk with people. And in in that process, sometimes we don't know how to either there's several things. A, build rapport with them at a higher level. And in order to build rapport, you need to learn some skills about watching them and how they speak and act and talk that you can use to get into instant higher level rapport.

Steve: Yeah.

Amy: When you're in rapport, then you can help get to agreement. Right? Mhmm. You can't ever get an agreement. You will be in in full resistance if you don't build rapport.

NLP will give you master key skills to do that. Another thing would be learning people's decision strategies. NLP teaches you ways to watch how people how to ask questions and how to watch people's responses to determine what their decision strategies are. And if you know what those strategies are, then you can present your solution to them in a way that matches their strategy.

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: And so, again, you stay in rapport and agreement. Right? Right. So just those those two things. If you could imagine sitting in front of sellers and doubling your conversion rate with them

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: Just by in those skills alone Yeah. Then it's worth doing it.

Steve: Yeah. There's certain things, you know, when you're meeting with somebody where where you just don't like them. You don't know why. Right? It is that it and it's it's cognitive dissonance is what it is.

Amy: Oh.

Steve: Right? And NLP basically removes that hurdle.

Amy: Yeah.

Steve: Doesn't make you superhuman. It just reduces the things that you're gonna screw up to destroy rapport.

Amy: It does. You some of one of the presuppositions of NLP is to, understand that everybody has a different model of the world Mhmm. And to accept that. You start you learn to really see people differently. I'm gonna so now when I look at someone who annoys me, I just immediately decide what value level they're at, how they see the world, how they respond to things.

I'm just measuring them now. Right? Now I will say this, though, to everybody listening. If somebody really annoys you, it's likely there's something in you that you see in them that you don't like about you or that you need to learn that you haven't learned yet. And so you're probably projecting just a little bit.

So also take a little moment to have a learning. Right? But yeah. And I mean,

Steve: that kinda goes back to, like, if everyone you know is a jerk, it might it might be you.

Amy: You're the common denominator. Just saying.

Steve: Okay. So another thing you were talking about, because you mentioned Reva Global earlier. Yes. You mentioned Bob LaChance.

Amy: Yeah.

Steve: So transforming transformation from creating a job, for yourself to entrepreneurship through outsourcing. Yeah. Can you elaborate on that?

Amy: Absolutely. So Riva Global that we've mentioned a couple times. So Riva Global is a virtual assistant company. Right? Bob LaChance is the CEO and founder, and it was founded on the principle of, again, providing a solution.

So we saw an active need by lots of coaching clients and small business owners within our niche that were struggling. They would law of the lid. They could only do so much in a day themselves.

Steve: My favorite law.

Amy: Yes. John Maxwell. Yes. I say it all the time. So I I hit that lid recently with something.

Mhmm. But, we would see that. Right? And so they would want to do more, but they couldn't get past past the hours in the day and or we would watch them do what I call MWAs, minimum wage activities. And but they would expect the $100,000 paycheck for the year, but they would be doing MWAs all day.

And so, again, creating their own cap. Cap. Right? And so we were like, well, how do we solve that? And the one way to solve that is to provide them dedicated, consistent people doing those MWA activities for them Mhmm.

So that they have more time to do the highest revenue generating activities, the most important decision making activities for their business, or what their strengths are, not their weaknesses. And that's where where Riva Global was born, was with that mission. Right? And so we treat our VAs the same same way. We want to provide them freedom and growth as well.

So it's kind of a it's a beautiful win on both sides. And a lot of our clients, that's what they're coming to us for is, you know, I wanna go from 10 closings a year to a 100 closings a year. Well, how are you gonna do that? You're gonna have to get lean. You're gonna have to control your expenses but still do a lot more production.

That's gonna require dedicated trained help to do that.

Steve: Absolutely. You wanna elaborate for people that are just listening what the law of the lid is?

Amy: So the law of the lid now John Maxwell, who wrote the 20 was it '25, 20 repeatable laws of leadership?

Steve: It was 21.

Amy: 21. Sorry. Okay. Yeah. One of his laws is law of the lid.

And in his book, he's talking about leadership. So he's saying, you know, that the highest the leader goes, and this is this applies to mindset, skill, mindset, skill, experience, commitment, discipline, habits. Right? The highest the leader goes is as high as anybody they lead can go.

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: Right? So the leader caps that. But that law of the lid can apply in lots of ways. And if you just can imagine, accomplish in a day is your lid. Mhmm.

Right? Unless you find a way to do more Mhmm. Without it doing it yourself.

Amy: So

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. And I think for me, the law of the lid, maybe is a positive thing, or you gotta push yourself, whatever. The way I always look at it is I operate from that state of paranoia, is that I always have to get better.

Amy: Yeah.

Steve: I need to get better every day. Yeah. Because if I'm not, then the people around me are gonna leave. Like, why would they stay with someone that can't help them get better?

Amy: Oh, or or has I love what you said. You have you personally have a commitment to growth and getting better. Right? That's a beautiful thing. That makes you an amazing leader because you're vulnerable and humble enough to say, you know, I don't know everything.

I don't know everything, and I make mistakes and learn all the time. I learned a really weird fact on the way here today from the Uber driver. But, I have a commitment to growth and learning. And that to me is the most powerful leader because you're willing to say, I'm going to they they're gonna watch you have that habit and that commitment. Right?

I love that. Yeah.

Steve: One thing that we were also talking about earlier is the work life balance. Oh. You wanna share what your experience is because, you know, you're talking about, again, you know, we're trying to do some more things. You know, we get all our hands in multiple piles

Amy: Yes.

Steve: Are trying to, there's all sorts of revenue opportunities in our industry. There's no shortage of opportunities. No. And so we're, you know, we're again, we have our hand in many jars. Yeah.

And but we also have families. So you wanna talk about work life balance.

Amy: Which, by the way, I love your post when you share. Oh. That sounds great. I don't well, so first balance to me is a myth. Right?

I don't believe anybody has truly balance but I do believe in having a commitment to what living in ecology. Right? That I don't wanna live in such a or make choices in such a way that aren't good for my family. They have to be good for me. I'm good for my family.

If they're not good for both and good for my team and my society and the world. If they're not good for all of that, then I probably shouldn't or can't do it now. Right? Ballast does require discipline and being cognizantly aware of our view there. Right?

And that's I'm not I'm not gonna be I'm gonna be real and say it. That's very difficult. In my world, I am a single parent as well. So it's I I am literally the only voice they have Mhmm. For anything they need, my children.

And so you also have to have a hierarchy of priorities and establish a world around you that respects those priorities. Right? Yeah. So my team and my all my agents, I mean, they all know where my hierarchy of priority is, and it's my children first.

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: Right? I love them. I love you. But, you know, I mom I'm a mom first. So

Steve: Yeah. I tell my kids we all have a love hate relationship. I love them. From 6AM to 10PM, they're beautiful. They're, couldn't ask for more.

10PM to 6AM is, like, really? Get it together.

Amy: I'm stuck in that buttercup. I'm not available. Yeah.

Steve: That's funny. So going back to our, the comment I made earlier about your hand in the cookie jar, because this is something I'm struggling with myself personally at the moment, is how do you say no? When do you say no? Like, because you kinda touched touched on it a little bit. You know, you had your hierarchy of of priorities, but saying no is something that's

Amy: Oh, so one of my favorite things, and I have a shirt that says that someone made me.

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: Saying no is saying yes to me. Right? Mhmm. So we have to have there's, you know, shiny pennies and scrolls everywhere. Right?

There's fires we're putting out everywhere. And you're right. Opportunities do come along. Challenges come along. Regrets come along.

Things happen. Right?

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: I think you have to have a very clear filter for what you want. And I don't mean materialistic type stuff, although that might be part of it. But even if you're wanting to go buy things, there's probably something underneath that that's really what you want. Mhmm. It's probably some sort of way that you want to feel about you or feel about your life.

And I think doing a lot of work on what that is so you can set your intention on that becomes your automatic no filter. Right?

Amy: Yeah.

Amy: You know, I I I don't have any qualms or feel bad about saying no to people or things or opportunities because I am able to decide if it's going to move me closer to what I want.

Steve: Yeah. I don't really have a hard time saying no to a lot of things, but there are so many good things that keep coming up.

Amy: There is. Like, I'm here today. Like yes. I mean, this was but this this fit within something that I love, which is a passion of helping others rise. And so this fit so so to describe, like you said, this stayed in my filter.

Right?

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So, Fogtown King wants to know, in your opinion, where do you see the real estate market looking like next year in Atlanta?

Amy: Oh, okay. So Atlanta specifically, for those listening, I'm really proud of our city. What it was back in the o eight crash is very different. We weren't well insulated then. This time around, we have a lot of good things going for us.

We have a great park system, the BeltLine system. We have a lot of, industry that has moved to Atlanta in the last few years and committed long term, whether it's the movie industry or other Inc. 500 and, and Yeah.

Steve: You got the Georgia peach everywhere.

Amy: We have peach trees everywhere. Oh my gosh. Yes. I thought

Steve: I'm like, it's always that Georgia peach in those movies credits. Everywhere.

Amy: Yeah. Isn't that great? So we love that. Right?

Amy: Yeah.

Amy: And we get my take my children down to watch the zombies walk by with Walking Dead. It's great. But, I don't, that's insulated us. We have, you know, Amazon's put a ton of distribution facilities around Atlanta area. I mean, there's just so many commitments by, Inc 500, even Inc 100 and up companies who have put headquarters there, major major installations and entitlements that they've invested in there.

So that's helped bring a lot of stability to Atlanta. And you add that to the fact that Atlanta back in the o eight crash where the real estate market, the bubble, the worst part of this country was in Atlanta. Was it?

Steve: Yeah.

Amy: So the headquarters of the FBI for dealing with mortgage fraud and appraisal fraud for the country was in Atlanta. Right? And it's because of the it was just so rampant there. Right? So when you added, you know, borrowers who were borrowing on crazy, crazy, you know, non no credit, no doc type stuff,

Amy: lots of

Amy: ninja loans, Oh, I like that. And lots of appraisal fraud. We had huge pockets of Atlanta that, you know, just crashed. Right? We don't have that this time around.

This time around, we have borrowers that are gonna go into into default this year, but they were good credit borrowers. Mhmm. Right? So it's a different it's a different game, and there's no equity there's no nonexistent equity thing like we had then.

Amy: Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: So for those of you guys that, weren't around during that time, ninja loans is actually a technical term, and that was stood for no income, no job or assets.

Amy: And listen. I I can attest to having short sales walk into my office, and it would be somebody who had a questionable job and somehow bought five houses. I'm like, a questionable job and somehow bought five houses. I'm like, you know, it was crazy. But, you know, that's what it is.

Steve: Yeah. So it happened back then. Yeah. So Paul Bavasado has a question, which I think your Reebel Reebel Global side may answer. K.

What do you suggest? Getting steady deals before outsourcing or outsourcing from the start?

Amy: Oh, okay. So that also honestly, if I was your coach, that comes back to sort of, what your goals are, what your current resources are. Right? You know, if you came to me and you had no money in savings at all and you have this lofty goal, but you have no money to spend, you're gonna have to go out and hustle the streets before I let you outsource. Right?

Mhmm.

Amy: If

Amy: you're somebody that's already that that's well padded, you have six months of reserves and you're really committed and you've got money budgeted to invest in your marketing and invest into your lead generation, then I'm gonna have you probably start outsourcing from the front. K? So it's it's it's different for who depending on who you are and what which what your situation looks like.

Steve: It's a very responsible answer. That's not what I did. So I just put everything on a credit card.

Amy: No. I'll actually okay. Honestly seriously, guys. But you know what? You had, not that you had reserves in place.

Right? But you had resources available to you, and you made it a resources available to you, and you made it a calculated risk, educated decision. Yeah. Sort of.

Steve: Oh, not really.

Amy: Okay. Well

Steve: I'm just I just have a super high risk tolerance. Before real estate, I was a failed poker player. So Oh my god. You're an engineer. But, you know, I tried going pro in poker.

I didn't work. But risk reward is something that we got to calculate all the time.

Amy: We do. But you know what? As we grow, just being honest. Hey, guys. If you're if you see yourself one day being an entrepreneur, let me tell you what.

You're gonna go through a little phase of your life where you're gonna be a cliff jumper too. Right? Like, my friends describe me that way. Like, you just jump off cliffs. You don't have the feathers or the glue or anything to make the wings, but you somehow find them on the way down.

Yeah. I'm like, yeah. Well, but I'm committed that I know where I'm gonna go if I jump off the cliff. So I'm committed or I'm I know I'll find the resources. Right?

So I I'm a little bit of a risk taker too.

Steve: Yeah. You know, it was interesting. I was in a a mastermind this past weekend, and someone made the comment. It's like, you just gotta jump off the cliff and build a plan on the way down. And someone was like, well, what if we can figure it out?

And, my friend Amy is like, well, if you crash, just get up, brush that fire off, and go do it again.

Amy: Well, absolutely. Not to be as graphic, and I'm, like, literally saying blood and, like, you're, like, putting your butt bones back together, but in my head. But, I I tell my team this all the time. I'm like, listen. A big heavy boulder, that's your goal.

Right? It's big, heavy boulder. Like, it's inert.

Amy: Mhmm. If

Amy: you don't push it, you got nothing, honey. You gotta push it somewhere. Like, if you wanna start rolling down the hill, you gotta you gotta give it some umf. And so if you just never jump off the diving board, if you never jump off the cliff, whatever helps you visualize that, if you don't do it, you're never going to go anywhere. It's like the guy who wants to lose weight but never leaves the leaves the couch.

Right? It's it's that type of thing.

Steve: Yeah. It's, the Zig Ziglar. You gotta you don't have to be, great to start. You have to start to be

Amy: great. Love that.

Steve: So, Marcos wants to know what are you doing right now to generate leads?

Amy: Oh, very good question. Several things. K. Currently, my myself personally. So at Riva Global, we have a cold calling team called deal dialers, that we built as a line of business about a year and a half, two years ago now.

So I actively have that team making outbound cold calls for me in volume. We have another team at Riva Global that is in partnership with Launch Control. Some of you are familiar with that platform, which is a text message platform, SMS platform. And I use virtual assistants to do that texting for me using our scripting. Right?

Mhmm. We actually have them weekly doing sales and negotiation training because I'm very passionate about that with all everything we've described earlier with NLP and everything. And we're actually honing their skills. And so they do all of the text message conversations and the follow-up negotiations until an appointment is set for our acquisition team. Yeah.

And then we're also simultaneously doing direct mail. I will say this to everybody listening in my personal opinion. You know, when cold calling and text messaging and so forth, I'm eighteen years in. Right? Different types of things become the thing of the moment, and so there becomes more and more volume of that happening.

Right? So you always wanna be paying attention to that. So we're we're getting kick kicker or killer results with both cold calling and the text message systems. I also believe that as the year goes along, we're gonna have to get back to being on the street and knocking doors. And it's gonna have to become come back to our systems, which is not necessarily something you can automate or outsource

Amy: Mm-mm.

Amy: So easily. Right?

Steve: You gotta scale it

Amy: You have to scale

Steve: it slowly.

Amy: But I see us a trend of of us standing apart from the virtual guys as being a real face that can really shake their hand and really sit at their kitchen table. So I just wanna kinda bring that up that I believe that's something people should start considering making a piece of their of their structure.

Steve: Yeah. Makes total sense. Yeah. Kevin Saunders wants to know, if you have a realtor in your wholesale team, how do you share his listing revenue if you are not licensed?

Amy: Okay. Well, a commission cannot be paid to an unlicensed individual. Mhmm. Period. Now that being said, if you're a wholesaler and you're generating leads and you're not licensed, you can become a lead provider and you can sell leads.

And if it's set up as a company with a structured lead purchase type scenario, that's possible. Right? Realtors listening, we all know we can go buy leads. It's the same thing. Right?

So that's one route. You just can't share revenue. It can't be a profit share or or or a percentage of commission Yeah. From licensed and unlicensed.

Steve: Cannot be correlated in any way whatsoever. Right. It's gotta be flat fee per lead.

Amy: Flat fee per lead, and it can't right. There's no ebb and flow to that. It's a it's a true lead purchase flat scenario, not at all connected to profit.

Steve: Yeah. Absolutely. Per lead, not per deal.

Amy: Absolutely. Absolutely. Which means that you might sell 10 leads. It turns into one listing for that agent or whatever. But it's it's whatever.

Just don't don't try and don't try to do it over the table. I I I see people doing that stuff all the time, and it's not it's not good.

Steve: I may Someone's gonna get in trouble.

Amy: Someone's gonna get in trouble. It's one of the things with my, agents who are, like, my licensed investors. My licensed investors will do a lot of what we call personal transactions, and the real estate commission requires that we have notice to broker and so forth. So we have a whole process, an online form, and everything they have to do with me so that I know what they're doing. They have to turn in the settlement statements to me Mhmm.

And the contracts. Because one of the things I'm looking for is did somebody get

Amy: paid that shouldn't have?

Amy: Mhmm. And how did that happen?

Amy: And if it

Amy: does, then there's immediate disciplinary action. Right? So, just for Because you're on the hook

Steve: for it.

Amy: Well or yes.

Steve: Multiple people are on the hook for it.

Amy: Exactly. And I want to see them sustain their businesses, not cause them some trouble.

Steve: Yep. Samuel Velasquez wants to know how much how do you determine how much you should net on a wholesale deal, in in their respective market?

Amy: Oh, that's such a hard question. So I'm okay. Don't be greedy. What was it? What's the phrase, you know,

Steve: pigs get fed. Hogs get slaughtered.

Amy: Yeah. There you go. I should've said that with southern accent. I try not to talk too southern when I'm doing a podcast. I would, so, yeah, don't be overly greedy.

Here's Here's the here's something I just wanna say. You have a responsibility to the seller you're going into contract with to perform at what you said you're going to do. Mhmm. If you don't perform and you back out of a contract, just suppose you don't have a buyer, not for any other material reason, then you're a straw buyer. You shouldn't be doing that.

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: Okay? So you need to not be putting properties under contract and then trying to sell them at such large spread that you eliminate you performing. Number one. Right? I think number two, you also have a responsibility not to necessarily, equity strip from a seller.

And, you know, I mean, not to say that sellers if you if they're not if they're not holding their hand behind their back and they agree to sell at a price that you're able to get a big spread, I mean, there's nothing wrong with that necessarily. But just, again, use your, I don't know, use your heart and your mind to be smart about it. Right.

Amy: It's

Amy: really where it comes down to.

Steve: Absolutely. Let's see. So we're gonna answer that question. What kind of marketing to do? So those are most of the questions.

Guys, please feel free to ask questions. Fire away. So right now, what is your you know, you're talking about you're using Reba Global. What is your monthly marketing budget?

Amy: Oh, right now it's kinda high, for me anyway. We're right between 4,500 and $5 a month that we're spending all total. So that's high? Yeah. It's not too bad.

I mean, that's not a a high volume amount of direct mail Mhmm. Honestly. And I know yeah. There's I've got friends who spend $20.30, 40,000 a month. So, yeah, you're right.

But to me, I it's a little high for me. And the reason I'm gonna share that is that, I got a little complacent the last couple of years. Having been around a long time, generating leads was has been easy.

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: And having people just kinda drop referrals and leads in my lap has been great. Right? Okay. So when we set out to restart the acquisitions team at the the structure that I've done before and really kind of make the structured team, we had to come back and reassess adding a direct budget for that. Right?

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: So and I will say, part of the reason for my budget is being controlled also is that I'm obviously have some control over my cost with Riva Global and so forth. Yeah. The key with everybody though as we look to increase our budget, which we will be over the next year, is just, again, measuring am I getting results for it. Don't just throw spaghetti against against the wall and

Steve: Yeah. That's goes back to the KPIs we were talking about earlier.

Amy: Exactly.

Steve: What is your why?

Amy: My why? Outside of my my littles. Right. My three littles. Although one's not so little.

He's six three and he's 20 years old now. But, that my outside of my family and wanting a beautiful life for them, right, and I have a very clear vision of what that is, I really have a passion for helping others rise. Our our, core value in our office besides, us using the phrase be powerhouse is a phrase of what's called collective rise. And it's basically the belief that if I help you rise, I'll rise in the process. Right?

And so it's this beautiful collaborative thing that some people like, oh, that's, you know, rose colored glasses. That doesn't really work, but it does.

Steve: Absolutely does.

Amy: Absolutely. And so we operate that way as a group. And to me, as I continue to look forward in my life, that's what I want to be really known for was the number of people I was able to impact in a positive way and help them rise. And that's as individuals personally and professionally. So, that's that's really what it is.

Steve: Awesome. What is your biggest struggle right now?

Amy: Biggest struggle. Honestly, it's a question that you asked earlier, which was about balance. Mhmm. I I would say being just gutturally honest this year with COVID and, all the adjustments that that put into our lives. I was, had created a lot of momentum and a couple of things I was doing.

I was very excited about. Those things came to a screeching halt. My children being home, virtual learning added to our world. I'm with a home I'm now a homeschool teacher on top of everything. Alright.

So, I would say right now that's truly yeah. Biggest struggle is is making those readjustments.

Steve: Yeah. And that's a struggle at our home. It's not as it's not as it's not as tough because we have more help. But, man, it is definitely different. What is your superpower?

Amy: Oh, my well, my son thinks I look like Captain Marvel. I love Wonder Woman.

Steve: That's awesome.

Amy: I I know. It's he's like, mommy wears other jackets. You have blonde hair. I'm like, okay. I'll take that.

It's fine. My superpower. Oh, no one's ever asked me that question. I don't really know. I would love to ask other people that.

I think it'll be really fun to see what other people said about me. But

Steve: That's a great exercise. If you're gone through your strategic coach, unique ability, that kind of stuff.

Amy: Yeah. A little bit.

Steve: Yeah. So, I mean, that was one of the exercises in trying to figure out your unique ability. Was saying an email, I can find you know, send me quite, the, email or message later. I can send the template.

Amy: Okay.

Steve: But, like, you send it to, like, your six closest people.

Amy: Oh, get them to give you that feedback?

Steve: And they'll give you that feedback.

Amy: So

Amy: So I recently did a not that that particular form, but we recently sent out to our powerhouse group.

Amy: Mhmm. So we

Amy: have a we call the be powerhouse community. And, it's a paid paid membership coaching community and then our agents are in there and so forth. And, we sent out, like, a feedback form, testimonial form, and I did ask them specifically about certain things. And one of them was, what do I provide you? Mhmm.

Because I was looking to see, you know, like, what would, you know, what would they really say? I don't know if I got truly honest answers. I think everybody was trying to be nice. But but even that was helpful.

Steve: You gotta make it anonymous. What did they say?

Amy: What did they say? Oh, we had a lot of positives, a lot of positive responses about the quality, the value of the content that's provided by what we do. And that was that made me made me happy because that's part of what I love.

Steve: Yeah. That's awesome. What's the greatest lesson that you have learned?

Amy: Greatest lesson. Oh, I'm still learning. The greatest lesson and you think this is a common sense lesson and we would all know this, but I think we grow up to a certain point where where it becomes really real. And that is that I mentioned earlier in the very beginning that I met cause. Right?

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: Is learning that no matter what's happening around me, I'm 100% responsible for me, and I can only control what's controllable in my space.

Amy: Mhmm.

Amy: Right? And I think that was my number one biggest lesson was to not keep looking for other reasons that things don't work or didn't happen the way I wanted it to and instead bring it back to me as the ultimate responsible party that made the decisions and the choices and why and where do they come from. And I know that, again, sounds like a common sense thing, but

Steve: I think I don't think it's a common sense. I think it's commonly said. I think there are a lot of guys that we follow that will say that, but I don't think everyone's bought into it. And I think if everyone did buy into that, the world would be a much better place.

Amy: I do. Absolutely. And I think I wouldn't have made some of the mistakes I've made in my career had that been something that I was truly operating by as a core value. Right? Absolutely.

Steve: So we went up to Flagstaff this past weekend to go watch the the leaves change colors.

Amy: Oh. So I

Steve: think my wife's really passionate about. For me, like, leaves are leaves. And my daughter my oldest daughter is the same way. And but, you know, we went. It was a family trip.

So it was me, my wife, my three girls in the back seat, and then my parents and her parents. You know, we took two cars. And before we left, I texted my dad the place we're going to. I never told him this is where we're going to. I just texted it to him and just, you know, as a visionary, just assumed that he would know us where we were going.

Amy: Okay.

Steve: But I had also emailed him something the other day with different locations. So in his mind, that's where we're going. Ah. And so we're going up there. He's behind me.

And I made a left turn. And as I was making a left, it turned yellow, so he didn't make that turn. So I called my mom. I said, hey. We're taking 89 North, so just I'll wait for you on the side on 89 North.

I hear her repeat that to my dad.

Amy: Okay.

Steve: 89 North. And then he proceeds to go 89 South because that's what the GPS says.

Amy: Oh, no.

Steve: And so we're waiting. And as we're waiting, I become more irritated, more flustered and annoyed and so on. I'm thinking, like, why did my my dad not just listen to my mom? And as as I'm up as I'm upset, my nine year old in the back can hear me talking to my wife about this. And she says, well, why is that grandpa's fault?

Why isn't that your fault? I was like, damn it. Because she's not wrong. If I had communicated, this is where we're going. Instead of just texting and having him figure it out, assuming he figured it

Amy: out

Steve: Uh-huh. I just said, this is where we're going.

Amy: Problem that.

Steve: We wouldn't have this problem. Mhmm. So, I mean, that's just that lesson. Even if we have accepted it, we may often forget it.

Amy: Oh, absolutely. Oh, all the time. Right? Yeah.

Steve: So is there a book that you've gifted more than any other?

Amy: Oh, several. But, yes, Never Split the Difference probably. In the last two years has been the one of the primaries. Absolutely. Chris Voss.

Steve: It's an amazing, amazing book. Yes. Got a chance to watch him speak. Yeah. And I bought all this stuff, and I was really surprised I was still taking a whole bunch of notes.

Amy: Yeah.

Steve: Really, really shocked.

Amy: Yeah. So he's a personal friend. And so I get to have, like, actual conversations with him. Right? Mhmm.

And he's just yeah. He's really amazing. And if you if people are listening and you haven't taken his master class, it's the number one most downloaded master class they've ever done, and I highly, highly suggest it. It's a very nominal investment for a ton of learning.

Steve: Oh, it's priced way too low. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm gonna make a couple quick announcements. So if you want to just think about the last thought you wanna leave the listeners with.

Okay. So, guys, if you can, please like, comment, subscribe, share. This is what I need. It's not I'm not being selfish here, and I'm being a little selfish. But I need you guys to do that because that's what Facebook Facebook and YouTube requires for us to grow our reach.

So if you guys can please do that right now, it would help us a lot. Again, a rising tide does lift all boats. And if you guys, didn't, join later or joined joined didn't join on time, we have our classrooms all set up. If you guys wanna check that out, anyone that buys our course will have a free ticket to an all day event. So go to disruptors.com/max,max.

And then tune in next week. We got Eric Brewer flying in from Pennsylvania. He's gonna talk about how to add an extra 10 to 20 deals a year with your existing leads. If you guys wanted to use and, you know, do an extra one or two deals a month, I guess, check that out. So

Amy: Very cool.

Steve: Last thoughts.

Amy: Last thoughts. For everyone, I don't care what level you're at in your growth, your business scale, volume you're doing. It doesn't matter. We hear all the time the importance of our network and finding those that we can model excellence, mentors and so forth. That's an essential piece of your growth.

So if you want to move forward in any capacity, you have to go find who is doing that at the level of excellence that you want to be at so that you have something to model. Right? And then seek out circles that will support that. And your circles are gonna con they're gonna change as you grow, and that's okay. It's a good thing.

Steve: Yeah. It's a challenge.

Amy: Oh, absolutely.

Steve: Outgrowing your circle is all is never comfortable. No. It's good, but it kinda sucks too.

Amy: It does sometimes. Yes. But you know what? If you're so beautifully connected, deliciously connected to your wants of where you want to be, then it will be a joy to find new people to bring into your circle, and you won't feel it as much as the other separate.

Steve: Yeah. Awesome. Very cool. So if someone wants to get a hold of you, how would they do that?

Amy: Couple ways. So first of all, if you are needing a virtual assistant, first thing I wanna do is that we set up a Bitly. If you know what Bitly's are, so Bitly, is disruptor VA. We actually set up a page for, Steve. So it's disruptor VA.

If you wanna get a VA, if you just wanna know what a VA could even do for you, you have a free download there of all the different tasks virtual assistants can do. You might just blow your own mind with the things they can do. And literally, it's everything. If it can be done with a phone or computer, it can be done by a virtual assistant.

Amy: Yeah.

Amy: And then as far as reaching me, I encourage everybody find me on Facebook or LinkedIn. I always hit my friend limit. I haven't done that public figure page thing. I probably should. But if you send me a private message, even though I might not be able to accept your friend request, I will respond to you.

Or go to bepowerhouse.com, and you can go there and fill out. There's a pop up info form. Fill it out. One of our team will reach out to you to see if there's something we can do to help you.

Steve: I suspect be powerhouse means something.

Amy: It does.

Steve: What does it mean?

Amy: So oh, I'll get emotional. But, so my whole life, I used the phrase be powerful or have a powerful day. I did it my whole life. A year ago, we were kind of pushed into a situation where we needed to do a rebranding. And it was because we the other broker structure, we separated and so forth.

And I I got a opportunity to make a powerful decision. Mhmm. And one of my friends said, I know what the name of your brokerage and your program is. Like, I just know. And she kept saying she knew, and I'm like, what do you mean?

And so finally, she got me to say it to her that she goes, you know, why should I work with you as my coach? I said, because I'm a powerhouse. And she's like, there it goes. And I said, yeah. I says, but that's not what I mean.

I don't mean like in an arrogant way. I mean that it's a way of being. Right? It's it's a way of behaving in our our life and our habits and our disciplines and our choices. It's a way of of working with others.

It's a commitment to growth. It's a commitment to being better tomorrow than I was today and today than I was yesterday. And so be powerhouse is a way of being. And it sounds sort of cult like and everybody's like, oh, so that sounds a little crazy. No.

It really is to me. And so you'll see our team, they all wear shirts that say be powerhouse all the time. It's a hashtag that everybody uses that's within our group. Is this something they're proud of to say it? This is the way I'm gonna be.

I'm growth oriented. I'm mindset oriented. I'm committed to to being the best me I can be.

Steve: That's awesome. And I always take it if someone says you sound a little cultish, I take that as a compliment.

Amy: Oh.

Steve: Because cult is the root word of culture. Yeah. Right?

Amy: So it

Steve: just means that you've got an amazing culture.

Amy: Thank you. Well, we that's something we strive to continue to keep. Right? And that's that's our big commitment. So yeah.

I love I love that. I can run with that one, but yeah. But be be powerhouse. Like, literally, just live your life in a powerful way. Bring power to your life.

You are your power. Right? Empower yourself. Empower your unconscious mind and your conscious mind to be as everything that you know you can be. That's really where it comes from.

Steve: That's awesome. Incredible. Alright, guys. That's it. I will see you guys next week, and thank you.

That was

Amy: Thank you. A lot

Steve: of fun.

Amy: This was joy.

Amy: You sure? Yeah. See, we

Amy: real estate disruptors. Can't nobody touch us. And yet we about to give you gains. Shout out to Steve Tran. Real estate disruptors.

We get about to give you game Already eyes flowing through my veins And you don't have to look no further See right here you gonna learn everything Yeah. See, we real estate disruptors.