Take control of your time, take control of your business!

[00:00:00] Speaker A: This is not a drill. This is the age of Mine podcast. Hey. [00:00:08] Speaker B: Hey. [00:00:08] Speaker A: Welcome back to the Asian Mind Podcast. I have a treat for you today. Jessica Wade, hailing from Gainesville, Georgia, which is up in the, the northeast of Atlanta, kind of an outskirts of Atlanta. So I'm really excited to have her here. We're going to talk about work life balance, if there is such a thing. We're going to, we're going to answer that question. Is there such a thing as work life balance? So, Jessica, welcome. How's it going? [00:00:34] Speaker B: It's great, T.J. thanks for having me on. [00:00:37] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I love this because this is a, this topic is really easy, I think, in theory, and you can tell yourself you're going to, you're going to do it, but it's hard to put into practice. So you've, I think last year you closed, what, 52, over 50 deals on your own as a solo agent, and you were able to spend time with your family and, you know, fill, check off all the boxes for your personal life. So that's, that's, we're gonna, we're gonna dig into that. But before we do, let's get to know you a little bit. Like, just give us your, your, your Cliff Notes of your, of your real estate career and how do you get into real estate? And, and, you know, how'd you get to where you are now? [00:01:19] Speaker B: Yes. So I started out stay at home, Mom, 12 and a half years. Started real estate when my youngest. Entered kindergarten, worked as an assistant to an agent because I just didn't want to just like, dip my toe into the business and see if I liked it, try to get paid to learn it, and fell in love with the process. And very quickly was. Had lots of transactions happening with that agent. We were in new construction sales. This was in 2013, started a real estate team. I formed a partnership. Then I own my own brokerage. And just all sorts of crazy things just right off the bat, you know, within five years, I was already owning a brokerage. But I, that didn't work out and I decided to become an independent producing agent in 2019. And that is, you guys will know, like, Covid happened in 2020 and real estate consumed my life. 2021 was just crazy. I had, gosh, I think I had 40 transactions closed that year. But I was burned out terribly. And I said, I don't ever want to do this again. I want to get out of real estate. This isn't going to work for what I got into real estate for, which was for the flexibility that real estate gives us. But I had let it consume every aspect of my life. And then in 2022 I recognized I had a problem. I sought counsel and I just started chipping away at some of those strongholds that had me and yeah, all the way to last year where I had 52 closings, three cruises, time off, just such a totally different experience. And I'm just so proud of myself for putting those boundaries into place. And then I just want to encourage others to do the same. [00:03:14] Speaker A: Excellent. So we're going to solve everybody's, everybody's problems today with this. [00:03:18] Speaker C: Before we go any further, I got to give you a verbal save the date for February 6, 2025. The Real Estate Collaborative Network is hosting a huge one day event on the sell side. Dustin Brome of the Massive Agent Society and Neil Mathwig, founder of Agent Rise, two powerhouse industry leaders together for the first time here in Atlanta. Unlock the game. Changing strategies as you learn firsthan the proven tactics they use to drive success in today's market. So whether you're looking to scale your business or stay ahead in this constantly changing environment, this is your chance to gain insights from the best in the business. Link is in the show notes or go to events.realestate collaborativenetwork.com to register. The best part is it's absolutely free. So you've got nothing to lose. I'll see you there. [00:04:07] Speaker A: I know that the situation I often find myself in and I will be at work feeling guilty about not spending time with my family and the kids and then I'll be with the kids and the family and be feeling guilty that I'm not working. So like tell let's start there like how did you get over like that, that little hump and then we'll start kind of get getting into more of like the tactics of what you do. [00:04:29] Speaker B: So I think with any traditional job you have work hours and in a traditional setting you're going to go to an office, you're going to clock in, you're going to stay focused on your tasks at hand and then at the end of the you're going to go home and you're going to be with your family and there's no reason why real estate can't be like that with flexible options. So maybe you spend mornings with your family, maybe you spend, you know, we have the freedom to adjust that schedule. So for me and my family in my situation I time block my mornings. So like I'm in the office by 8, 8:30 every morning and I am Working. I'm focused on work so that when I leave and I go home, I'm not working. I'm setting off my do not disturb on my phone. You know, I am just doing my best to not get distracted when I'm at home, but I'm also doing my best to not get distracted when I'm working and staying uber focused on the task at hand. [00:05:33] Speaker A: Yeah, that's key because that's especially. It's not everybody goes into the office. If you do go in the office, there's other distractions there for sure. But, yeah, working for. If we work from home, like I work from home. And it's. It's tough because there's. There's always laundry. There's always the dog that needs to be given a treat or walk. [00:05:54] Speaker B: Always. Always. Yes. [00:05:56] Speaker A: There's always something else to do. So how do you. How do you discipline that? How do you get disciplined? So you're. You're just focused on your. Your work. [00:06:03] Speaker B: So I have a time block sheet that I've now memorized, but for the first two years, that went with me everywhere I went. So I knew that on Mondays at this time to this time, I'm sitting at my office and I'm working. I'm not distracted by the laundry, not distracted by the dishes, not distracted by I need to go to the grocery store, not distracted by my kids, you know, because those kids, they're always like, mom, I forgot my lunch, mom, check me out, mom, you know, all of those things. But it's a training process for both you and your family. Like, listen, when mom is working, mom is working, you can't disturb me, because if I had a traditional job, you couldn't disturb me. I would have to be focused because I had, you know, a boss or somebody else, you know, waiting on me. So just being really diligent in putting together my time blocks and deciding, okay, what is most important for me right now. So in the afternoon, I do have those time blocks. Do the grocery shopping, do the laundry, do the dishes. You know, those types of things. They're built into my time blocks. So it's not that they're not getting done. It's just not multitasking. Trying to get it all done at the same time. [00:07:13] Speaker A: Yeah. The biggest myth ever. I don't know who whoever came up with multitasking is a. Is a must do in. In the working world is. That's the biggest disaster for sure, because I was. I was convinced that I needed to multitask for a very long time, and then as we know now, it's. You can't do anything very well if you're trying to do everything. So how is your office at home? Or do you go. Do you have another location? [00:07:37] Speaker B: So I did make the decision to get an outside office. So I did have the office at home, like where I had my space set up. But at this point, I do have an office that I get to drive to. And I think that does help with my mental capacity. Like, I'm driving to the office to work. So, you know, I would encourage somebody if they. If you have that space in your home, like, make sure you know that that's where you're working. Make sure your family knows that's where you're working. Or if you need to get out of that, you know, find one of the co. Working spaces, go to the library, go to a coffee shop, those types of things where, you know, when I get there, I'm focused on work. [00:08:18] Speaker A: Yeah. Glad you mentioned the cowork spaces. That's a great option for someone who doesn't like, there's a lot of cloud brokerages out there. I think you and I both belong to a cloud brokerage. Having an office oftentimes you think it's another expense that you have to pay for. Or the cowork space could be a really. An inexpensive option. Not free, but it's an inexpensive option compared to renting an office space somewhere. And then they're like this. The coffee shop and all that stuff is great. But I did. When I first got into real estate, I had this issue of being at home. The kids were like, oh, Dad's home. This is great. So it's. Back when I wore a name tag, I said, if my name tag's on, that means I'm working, so don't mess with me. I'm working. My name tags on. I don't wear a name tag anymore. But now I have an office. If the door's closed, that means don't, don't disturb. For some reason, they still do anyway. But we, it's. It's. It's like a cycle. We go through learning moments every, every. [00:09:21] Speaker B: So often, it is learning moments on both sides. Because I think if you're saying, you know, hey, kids, when I'm working, I'm working. But then you also have to demonstrate that when you're not working, you're not working. And you are spending 100% of your time and attention with your children so that they know, hey, listen, Dad's working right now. But, you know, I know in A few hours, I'm going to get his undivided attention. And that's where turning off your notifications, that was a life, life changing thing for me. I thought there was no way I could ever turn off my notifications. I was like, you know, when my coach said turn off notifications, I was like, do you know who I am? Like, I'm important. Do you not see how busy I am? [00:10:02] Speaker A: Top producer over here. [00:10:05] Speaker B: So I'm telling you what I. It was funny because turning off notifications did not happen easily for me. The first time I did it, I think I lasted like an hour at the most, like maybe minutes. And I was like, I can't do this. And he kept saying, turn them off. You can look at your phone as many times as you need to, but turn them off. So my first one to go was Facebook. I was like, okay, Facebook, I don't need those notifications hitting my watch, you know, like, oh my gosh, you know, Facebook, ding, ding, ding. And then my last one to go was my Gmail. And that's been two years now that I have not had Gmail notifications active on my phone. And just those changes have changed my world because I'm not constantly going, oh, ding dong, ding, ding, ding, ding. Like, what am I doing? Texting, answering phones? You know, I just keep my phone on. Do not disturb or private. I couldn't do do not disturb because I have children and husband. So I have private notifications set up. So those people who I need to, they can get to me. [00:11:08] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. That's. I have the same thing for sure. So how. So let's dig more into that because that's like, I can, I can feel the audience that's listening just like having a nervous breakdown. With turning off your notifications. What are you crazy? That's like, it's like turning off money to some people. So how do you set up the boundaries with your clients and the people who expect. Well, I guess it's a couple part question. Let's just start with. Yeah, how do you set the expectations with your, with your clients? [00:11:41] Speaker B: Yeah. So, you know, it's not as hard as you guys think. It's, it's more of an internal issue for us than it is for our clients. Because if you think about it, if we call a doctor, a lot of times we don't expect to, you know, is going to go to the nurse line, we're going to leave a message, they're going to call us back. Like we've been programmed to wait and our Clients can also be programmed, if that's the right word, to wait for us. If they're wanting our services, then they can wait for that. And if you are confident enough in the service that you provide, you don't have to be afraid of losing business because you didn't answer that call one time, because you didn't respond to that text message for two hours. Those things are primarily internal us thinking and justifying that we need to be working 247 when the reality is doctors don't work 24 7, lawyers don't work 24 7. There's so many other professions out there that don't work 24 7. So just stating whatever that boundary is for you. I don't work weekends a lot anymore. And a lot of times it's just like, hey, I've got appointments all weekend. I'm not going to be able to show you houses. If you see something you want to see, you know, this is who you're going to contact. And so I have agents showing agents that I just pay per showing. Easy there. It's, it's a non issue once you articulate it clearly to your client. [00:13:06] Speaker A: Yeah, and I know. And then a couple of flat, not red flags, but a couple flags went up. I can, like just from the conversation I've had with agents, because I've said the same thing. It's like, just if you just, you need a day off, like, just hire somebody or pay somebody to go show houses and like, well, how am I? I can't afford that. Can't afford to pay people. So what I say then in return, you can, you can tell me if you have different advice. But I said, well, you pick it. Pick one of the days, pick Saturday or Sunday and make that your day off. And then when you're scheduling showings, just make it one day or the other and make sure that you always have at least that one day off and then try to have another day, you know, in the week. But it's, it's important to have at least one day off when you're first starting out. You got to grind a little bit. You got to, you got to do a little extra effort. But you should be definitely working towards taking a couple days off, at least a week. [00:13:57] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:13:58] Speaker A: You just. [00:13:58] Speaker B: Yes. And even if you can't take a whole day, you know, maybe take a lunch off, maybe you take, you know, a half a day off, whatever that looks like for you. Because you're right, T.J. when you start off, you've got to grind a bit. And as long as you recognize it's a temporary and this isn't going. You don't need this business to consume your life, then, you know, sometimes we do have to do that. You know, do I work some weekends? Absolutely. Do I. You know, but as a general rule, am I not working weekends? Yes, general rule, I'm not working weekends. But there's exceptions to everything. So, you know, don't be legalistic in this space. But also recognize that you are in control of your schedule 100%. [00:14:42] Speaker A: And it really is just the conversation. Now, I'm a big proponent of having buyer consultations before you dig in and start showing houses. Because when, if you're inside a house that a buyer's looking at, they don't remember, they don't hear or remember a word that you say unless it's about that house. They're not gonna, They're. They're just focused on, you know, looking for a house. Understandably. So. Buyer consultation is huge. And then you can. It, A, it makes you look more professional, and B, you can explain the X. Here's my, here's my expectations or here's what you can expect from me. Here's all the stuff I'm going to do for you, and here's my boundaries, and here's when I work and here's what we do. You know, all that stuff. Now, I, I'll say I'm, I'm not. I take Sundays for my family. And, you know, I, I make a joke about, like, my wife gets real mad if I'm not. If I'm working during dinner time, like, that's a, that's an important thing for her. And I don't, you know, happy wife, happy life kind of thing. But then I will also say, like, listen, if we're, if we're in, like, a negotiation with a, with a really tight timeline, like, of course I'm going to make an exception for that, but it's really, it's there. That doesn't happen very often. And I kind of explained to them that there's really not emergencies in real estate as long as we're like, I'm, I'm professional enough that I'm going to plan and I'm going to get stuff done before these due dates and make sure that you know about these due dates. So we're not, we're not scrambling at the last minute because that's stressful for everybody regardless. So I'm not, I'm not sure how you, how do you. Do you frame it kind of the same Way with. With your client. [00:16:14] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So there's no real emergencies in real estate. There's urgency. You know, when I heard somebody say that, I was like, okay, that makes sense. There are times when we are needing to be urgent, not emergent. And so, you know, if. If we are in the heat of the discussion, you know, and whatever. Like, like I said before, there's exceptions to every rule. But as long as you're clearly articulating that to either your client or you're articulating that to your family, that's where it needs to be done. So that way, those. Those things aren't. You're not trying to family and negotiate a contract at the same time. Maybe you go to your family. Listen, I'm going to have to go step away for a little bit because I've got to get this negotiated. But as soon as it's done, I'm, you know, I'm back into family mode. Yeah, Just articulate your expectation to all parties involved, and it really does help things go smoother. There's not that resentment building on. On the other side, because that's like, that's the worst. You know, I didn't learn this lesson until my kids were a little bit older. And. And it makes me feel sad because when they would get in the car, you know, I prided myself. Like, I take my kids to school every day and I pick them up from school every day, but the reality was they'd get in that car and I'd be on the phone with the client. [00:17:26] Speaker A: Yeah, you're like, right. [00:17:28] Speaker B: Yeah. You hear the people, you know, and now I look back and think, gosh, and I. Thankfully, I learned it while my youngest was still. I was picking her up. But I'm like, that wasn't fair to my child. You know, my kids were getting in my car, they were excited to tell me about their day. And I'm saying, shh, Mommy's on the phone, you know, so just being aware, like, that's not okay, because if I was working a traditional job, I wouldn't even be there to pick them up. So I was thinking I was doing good enough because I was picking them up. But the reality was they would have been happy to ride the bus and then tell me about their day when they. When I got home. [00:18:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:07] Speaker B: So just really recognizing that, you know, we. We can't. We shouldn't mix it too much. [00:18:12] Speaker A: I hear you. Side note question. How do you get your kids to be excited about telling you about their day? Number one, how's school? Good. What'd you do? Nothing. Okay, I'll tell you. [00:18:24] Speaker B: Girls, I don't know if you have girls or boys, but girls are way more chatty than the boys. [00:18:29] Speaker A: Two girls. [00:18:30] Speaker B: Well, my daughter, she would love to share all the, all the drama. [00:18:36] Speaker A: Yeah, man, I don't know. Everybody just has their personality, I guess. But back to the task at hand here. So before we get any further, I do want to mention I have a couple more questions, but before we get too deep, you're speaking at Real Estate Distilled, which is coming up and the link will be in the show notes for that. And you have an event here locally in Georgia. Is it in Gainesville? [00:19:02] Speaker B: It is in Gainesville, yes. [00:19:04] Speaker A: And, and so tell us about your, your event that you're, you're hosting. [00:19:08] Speaker B: Yes. Yep. The event is going to be Monday, February. Did I just draw a blank on the date? Oh my Goodness gracious. Monday, February 24th. It is going to be at the Boot Barn hall in Gainesville, Georgia. We I, you know what, I travel the country for real estate conferences. I find so much value and being surrounded by others who have the same kind of mindset that I do where I'm trying to better myself, I'm trying to meet and network with new people. And so I thankfully have the ability and the freedom to travel far. I've traveled to California, I've traveled to Louisville, Kentucky, Miami, San Antonio, going to these amazing real estate conferences. And I have such a passion for bringing that into my community to serve the agents who maybe can't afford overnight travel, don't want to, you know, just can't get away for a long period of time. So I'm bringing that type of experience to Gainesville. Monday, February 24th and super excited about it. 8:30 to 3:30. So it's a one day conference. I've got Jeb Blunt, the author of Fanatical Prospecting coming and I'm going to be keynoting. So I'm really excited about that. And we've just, I've got speakers from all over the country coming. So it's going to be a really awesome event and very affordable, $100 or less. [00:20:31] Speaker A: Oh cool. Awesome. Yeah, that's great. And you know that we've had conversations, you and I share that same passion about bringing things local to the agents in our community. Just as a, I always bill it as like it's an alternative to the stuffy realtor board meetings that can be clicky, let's face it. And then or the, you know, the lunch and learns where it's not really a lunch and learn. So as a recruiting. Recruiting meeting for to join a. A a team Y. So it's so it. Yeah. I love that it. You and I definitely have. Have the same passion for that where it's just. It's truly just a community where we can all get together and learn and share best practices and you know, make ourself make ourselves better by being around people that are smarter than us. That's. And honestly that it's my secret. Isn't this why I do the podcast too? I like to get in a room with people that are smarter than me and that's. It really is the selfish reason why I do all that stuff. So. [00:21:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, and I don't feel smarter than you, but, you know, we all have different skills and talents and backstories and, you know, ways that we look at things, perspectives and those types of things. So like, I just love being around people. [00:21:44] Speaker A: Yeah. Awesome. And then Real Estate Distilled is in March. I believe I'll have all that in the show notes as well. So if you can't make it to Georgia, could perhaps make it to. To Louisville to hear Jessica for sure. Now I have. I have questions now. We've talked a lot about kind of setting up boundaries and setting the expectations with your clients. So how do you sell 52 homes in a year? I mean, how does that, how does that happen? Like what, what. What systems have you put into place to where you can. You're able to do that stuff? [00:22:16] Speaker B: So I am a huge sphere of influence girl. Right? So like, I love on my sphere, 95% of my business is my sphere of influence. And so what. What that allows me to do is my prospecting time is different than different agents. You know, some agents are going to get into the office and they're going to cold call for two and a half hours and they're going to, you know, have a lot of time dedicated to prospecting. So you guys know, like, I've been doing this since 2019 and prior since 2013, I've been in real estate, but a single independent producing agent since 2019. So don't get discouraged because you're not at the level that I'm at. You know, like, I had to start somewhere too. So I started to really pour into my sphere of influence doing sponsoring community events, inviting my sphere to those events and doing client appreciation events, that type of thing. So that freed me up from that legion time that leads just come in naturally. So I'm In a position that I'm so fortunate that my phone just rings and it's like, hey, you know, my sister needs to sell a house. My coworker is trying to get this done. And so my lead flow has been, I've been very blessed in that space. So. Yeah, so 52 transactions last year, about 8 to 10 of those were my Google leads. So I don't pay for Google leads. We can have another podcast about that at some point. But I did, I have figured out kind of a Google system so I keep my Google business page active and so and that's been generating leads for me. But so the majority of my business was fear of influence. I have a transaction coordinator, had a transaction coordinated last year. This year I did bring it in house for a personal assistant. But you know, just keeping focused on when I was at work and working really, really hard changed my, changed my life really because I had that balance and then I could do more with the time at hand. Is that multitasking you, you do less overall when you're trying to do multiple things. But being very focused helped me where I was able to do it. I was shocked myself. [00:24:23] Speaker A: Let me, let me ask you this. Do you have any like specific systems of like follow up or, or anything like that or. It's really just working with a sphere is, is certainly much easier. I think everybody, everybody can, can see that, that people who, who already know you, like love you and trust you, they're, they're definitely gonna, gonna love on you and you and working hard to stay in front of those folks is is the trick there. But it's kind of. They're the easiest people to work with because they're already like your, your tribe. So what, what about like, do you have any, any kind of a system or anything that that like change was a game changer for you or a tool that you use perhaps? [00:25:03] Speaker B: So when I'm doing my appreciation events, I really just try to get as the most bang for my buck kind of thing. So when, when you see me doing an event, there's going to be, you know, a text message invitation, a handwritten invitation, a follow up, you know. Did you get it? Am I going to see you this week? I missed you. I didn't see you. Can you come to the next one? So I sponsor my kind of. My claim to fame is sponsoring the concert series in my town. There's six of them in the summer months. It's the first Friday of every month. And so that is a very consistent thing that I'm like, hey, I didn't see you this month. Well, I see you next month. Okay, great, see you next month, you know, kind of thing. So there's a lot of consistency in that. And then I have a, I said I signed up with a program a couple years ago, it's called the personal marketing company. And they automatically drip for five years on your buyers. So I have all my buyers in that system. They send them the return address labels, the recipe cards, the magazine, you know, it's a, it's a five year drip. So I've started to do that for the last two years. [00:26:12] Speaker A: Cool. Are those past clients or just, or buyers you're. That aren't ready? [00:26:16] Speaker B: Just buyers. I'm just inputting my buyers into that. But everybody in my sphere of influence, client sphere, those people are getting invites to the community events that I do. [00:26:27] Speaker A: Yeah, that's good. So one thing stood out from that is that when, because when you say you do events for your sphere, of course me and I'm sure a bunch of other people that are listening instantly went to. I gotta get a venue and do. And rent things and, and buy stuff and. But if you, you can kind of glom onto. That's. I don't know if that's the right description. That's kind of a poor description. You can, you can connect with, with other events that are going on and contribute with. Sometimes it's. You can contribute your time, you know, in volunteering and getting, you know, kind of a sponsorship that way or you can, you can contribute sponsorship in the form of money or whatever if you're in that position. But think out of the box. I would suggest to everyone out there to, to get involved with things like that because it's such, it's so easy to call people when you're inviting them to something. It's, it's like you get all of your touches in and it's, it's super easy to do and you have more, more opportunities to touch your sphere than, than you would otherwise. For sure. It's kind of a struggle when you don't have anything going on. You're calling like, hey, so I noticed your house went up in value by $10,000. Like that's, that's great information as for them to have like as a, as a bonus. But when you get the call and say hey, hey, are you coming? Am I going to see you next week at the, at the concert? So and so is playing. I know it's your jam or whatever, it's such so much easier to talk to. [00:27:57] Speaker B: It's so much easier. And don't overthink the event. You know, like you said, you got to get the venue and you got to do the thing. Listen, like a couple of the agents that I talk with. One did an ice cream shop in town. He just. He paid for everybody's ice cream for two hours. So he invited the sphere. And then he had people who were ever coming into that ice cream shop. He had a lender in a home warranty company sponsor it with him. It cost him $0 at the end of the day. Between the two people, they bought 400 worth of ice cream. The lender and the home warranty split, you know, and he got great leads not only from his fear, but from the community who were just happened to go into the ice cream shop. So don't overthink the event. It's. It's really all about the touches leading up to the event. So even if you do your first event and nobody shows up, that's okay. You still win because you have talked to however many people that you've invited to that event. [00:28:55] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a great idea. That ice cream. Summertime ice cream. There's. There's an agent locally here in my market that she actually, she rents. Moving. She has the moving trucks and she doesn't own the moving trucks. She rents them, but they're wrapped with her team and all the stuff on it. And of course, people who are moving can use her trucks. But also she has a small, little. I don't know what it is. A little. It's a tiny. It looks like a little minivan kind of, but it's wrapped with of course, her logo and it's her ice cream truck. So she'll go around to the subdivisions in the community pools and like give out ice cream, which is amazing. That's a little more expensive than. Than some people. But if you get with a community hoa and just do like bring ice cream to the pool one Saturday when it's super hot out and. [00:29:46] Speaker B: Absolutely. So I would say I was just talking to an agent yesterday about this very topic. She's trying to farm her neighborhood. And I said, okay, do two direct mail pieces inviting them to your. Your ice cream event. Rent one of those ice cream chucks. I mean, they're very reasonably priced. You can do an unlimited amount for a certain amount of time. So that way you know exactly how much you're going to be spending. In my neighborhood, I was able to walk with an ice cream truck during COVID just to try to like brighten people's thing, you know, day. [00:30:17] Speaker A: That's cool. [00:30:18] Speaker B: So if your community small enough, walk with them and actually tour the neighborhood. If not, go find, you know, the, the clubhouse park and just be there, like, come see me. You know, you can circle prospect, you know, call, mail, door, knock, all as an invite, but once they're there, you've now built credibility and you can start talking about real estate. [00:30:40] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a good point. But with circle, even circle prospecting is calling everybody in the neighborhood just to invite them to your ice cream social. That's, that's, that's not as easy as calling your sphere, but it's still pretty, pretty darn easy. Like, when you have a reason to call somebody, it makes it so much easier and that, that when they listen to that voicemail, it's not the, the robocalls for, you know, auto. What. What is the. The car warranties or, or now it's. Now it's health insurance. It's like unbelievable. Talk about distraction. But yeah, so, so I think people would be happy to a, to talk to a real person. That's what I find when I call. They're like, oh, when they, when they realize that I'm not, you know, a real person and like, directly trying to sell them something, they usually, like, calm down a little bit. So it's almost easier to call now if you're a live person. So, yeah, it's that. What a great idea. Yeah, that's totally awesome. Any other, any other good tips for, for events? [00:31:37] Speaker B: Just do it. You know, like, don't, don't procrastinate. And, and even, you know, like, one of my agents absolutely loves the Humane Society, so she is, you know, she volunteers for a dog place called off the Chain, and so she now delivers pizza once a month to the animal shelter and then has been sponsoring events for the off the Chain volunteers. And so, like, then that turns in. So find something you're passionate about. If you don't have a big sphere of influence, don't let that discourage you either. Figure out a way to build your sphere of influence with, with a hobby that you might be interested in. So for hers, it's off the chain is the animal shelter. It's that type of thing. [00:32:21] Speaker A: So, yeah, absolutely. And there's a club or a group for everything. And, and especially, especially around here, around, around major cities. There's certainly a club for everything. [00:32:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:31] Speaker A: And even if you just like every once in a while, once a quarter, buy pizza for their club meeting or something or, you know, Pretty simple. And even for the neighborhood, if, if you don't want to. If you think that getting an ice cream truck is too expensive right now, even if you just bring ice cream and scoop it, hey, that's would totally be fine. And you could even like, I don't know, Little caesars has like $5 hot and ready pizzas. You could go get what, five pizzas for 25 bucks. It's that. So it's pretty affordable for. To do these things and you really don't have to have much preparation. Maybe a mailer tell the like, get, get. Find out who the president of the HOA is and, and, and try to get them to, to help you communicate to the, to the homeowners that this is happening because they, they love that stuff too. They, they're always looking for ways that they can look good in front of the community. So if you involve them and they're doing the inviting for you, it's. It's a win. Win for sure. [00:33:31] Speaker B: Right. [00:33:31] Speaker A: Love it. [00:33:32] Speaker B: Right. So once you can build that system where the leads are coming to you, you know, that's how I did 52. Right. So like they were coming in and I didn't have to actively go get the leads. So it was a different type of business than what we're traditionally taught where it's, you know, call doorknock, you know, pound the pay bit. [00:33:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:53] Speaker B: Are you looking to buy, sell or invest? Like, that's just not who I am. And so having that more relaxed internally flow has been such a blessing for me 100%. [00:34:04] Speaker A: And it's really. It is easier to build it than I think a lot of agents think. It, it does take some, some. It takes work. Anything takes work. It just. Is it something fun like scooping ice cream for a bunch of neighborhood kids and, and talking to the adults about the neighborhood and what's going on in real estate. Fun, easy, not too much work. But if you now take that same neighborhood, if you had on a hot summer day here in Georgia, as we know, gets pretty humid going around door, knocking on all the doors. And I tried that for a little while and just that was. If I had to do that, I wouldn't be in real estate. Not at all. It's just, it's horrible either especially because by, by three doors in, you're. Your picture's already on their Facebook group for the neighborhood and like there's a realtor coming around, so they're expecting you. Yeah, it's. It's fun. [00:34:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:58] Speaker A: But cool. Well, any, Any other nuggets. Is there anything that I didn't ask you that I should have? [00:35:04] Speaker B: Oh, that's a great question. You know, I think, I think you did a great job. I, I just would encourage everybody, like turn off your notifications. Start somewhere. Start small. Turn off the weather notification, turn off the Facebook notification. You know, start with those. But take control of your time, take control of your business. And, and you'll be surprised at how much you can accomplish when you are in control. [00:35:29] Speaker A: Absolutely. So if so just a reminder if somebody wants to go see you and meet you in person, hear you give your full talk. Monday, February 24th. [00:35:43] Speaker B: Yes. [00:35:43] Speaker A: In Gainesville, Georgia. [00:35:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:45] Speaker A: And I'll put the link to the in the show notes. So if everybody wants to click the link and then what if somebody and real estate distilled which is in I'm interviewing Scott later. [00:35:56] Speaker B: Yep. March March 5th in Louisville, Kentucky. [00:35:59] Speaker A: Louisville, Kentucky. And I'll I'll put a link to that in the show notes as well. And then plus Scott Hack, who is the him and his wife who put that, that conference on. I'm I'm interviewing him today actually too. So you'll probably be. He'll be, he'll be next in the if you're listening to this episode now, he'll most likely be the next episode that that comes out. So so definitely stick around. Listen that one because he's does a great, great, great conference. So what if, what if somebody's listening to this? They can't make it to either event. And but they're like, you know what? I like Jessica Wade and I want to learn more and I maybe want to partner with her. How do how do we get ahold of you in that case? [00:36:35] Speaker B: Yeah. So just you can search Jessica Wade, real estate agent in Google. And I'm on the socials, so it's the Google and the Facebook, the Instagram and the LinkedIn. Those are where I hang out. So just find me there and connect. I'm very approachable, willing to help, willing to give encouragement and support anytime. So definitely reach out if you can. [00:36:57] Speaker A: Awesome. And I'll put your, I'll put some of your social link in the show notes as well. Make it to make it easy for, for everybody. We like easy. So. [00:37:05] Speaker B: Yes. [00:37:05] Speaker A: All right. Well, this has been awesome. If I hope you learned something. I definitely learned some some stuff from you. Thanks so much for, for sharing. And I can't I'm going to be there on the 24th, so I can't wait to see see your whole, your whole spiel and then. And of course, Jeb Blunt. I've read fanatical prospecting, so I'm familiar with it, so it'll to see what he has to say in person and all that stuff, too. So awesome. [00:37:29] Speaker B: He's awesome. He is awesome. Yeah. It's gonna be a great conference, so I'm so excited you'll be there. [00:37:34] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I wouldn't miss it. All right, everybody. Thanks, Jessica. [00:37:39] Speaker B: Thanks, TJ.