 What's up everybody? Welcome to the Zero to Diamond podcast. I'm your host Ricky Carrouche I'm on a mission to help reduce the failure rate in the real estate industry by helping you master your skills on the phone Conquer your fears and change in your mindset Now let's get into the show What's up Zero to Diamond Nation? Welcome to this week's show today. We got Joshua Smith in the house What's up, man? How are you? What's up, brother? It's good to see you again, man. It's been a minute really. Absolutely. I'll give you guys a little bit of backstory that Joshua doesn't even know I watched a video his probably your most watched video The one where you did the little speech in the classroom with the uh, you know 90 days double your business or whatever I watched that like two years ago Right and then and then and that was when I was actually trying to like be a better agent You know, I was like trying to figure out how to sell more properties Then I got into coaching About a year ago. I come on your show And dude you look so different from that video to now Um, I did until after the podcast that I did with you. I didn't even realize that was the same person Yeah Yeah, it's one of those things I always look back at you know the great Jim ron and he always You know, he would when he was on stage talk about Like he's sharpening your axe and always improving your skill set and he's like I don't want to be the guy where they're like, oh man, I saw Jim ron speak five years ago It's so amazing. He's like I want to be that guy where like, oh, I heard Jim ron speak five years ago And now I heard him today and holy shit, you know, right? So You know, man, it's it's just you know sharpening that axe every single day and and I'm investing more time Then I'm trying to get to warn warm buffets level. Well, eventually hopefully the wealth level But right now it's who is self-development level and warm buffets six hours every single day in self-development So I'm up to about four right now and I'm just more so than I've ever been and I have more coaches I'm spending uh This year, you know with with the trajectory of right now should be about 150 grand and just coaching for myself this year Um that I'm investing and just yes more time and more money than ever before my self-development dude Good lord So you guys you got how many coaches So I've got uh three That are like full-time one-on-one high-level high access Um and the numerous that are in parts of the program, you know, like louis howls me into or mine at his inner circle And that's where I learned webinars from was louis howls and yeah, I'm with uh, rustle front, uh, you know Russell brunson's click funnel university and um, um, you know, I mean Any given time i'm probably in three or four different digital platforms And I'm actually working with two different consulting agencies right now, which I already know if you want to call that a coach But there's an element to coaching there, right? Um, you know, I mean they're implementing for me and helping improve, but uh You know, I'm observing and learning so hopefully my team can take these skill sets. I want to learn from them too. So And then and then obviously just are you reading a lot? Yeah, yeah, you know, um, not as much as I used to um, I actually don't read any books anymore I'm at my home office right now. I got this library behind me all these books. I used to read now I just listen to books, dude. So just me dear to to to integrate, right? So so I'm like doing my daily corridor or whatever. I've always got a book going on like right now Those that are watching listening. I don't know if you've you've resting this uh, uh, ricky, but um Ray Dalio's principles It will blow your fucking mind. So Ray Dalio is the most successful hedge fund manager ever to exist on the planet, you know, right and um, You know 100 of the top richest guys in the planet He's ranked by by fortune is one of the most influential entrepreneurs ever in the planet and like this is a guy that Economy leaders have come out and consult them on the whole entire economy and this principles book. Do what's up rich? um, so, uh Principles where I love about it is it's not just about hedge fund trading and different trading. Um You know, it's it's his thought processes and he brings in his principles from life and business On how he operated how his mind works how it thinks You know, so you don't have to be like I don't I don't personally invest in paper assets in the stock market at all, right? So, you know, you could be a guy like me that could care less about paper assets and still gain so much out of the book but um, yeah, I'm just uh Not listening at probably about 45 minutes a day to audiobooks because anytime in the car or whatever, which is as minimal as possible Um, but most of it is yeah coaches and in actual digital Digital platforms and watching on a daily basis at this point Man, that is so interesting to have somebody at your level who is still spending so much money and time and energy on its Personal self-development coaches so on and so forth. Now that is uh That's that should be an eye-opener for a lot of people who watch this video Yeah, dude. So so, you know, Warren Buffett was interviewed a while back and Dude interviewing him Warren Buffett was talking about he spent six hours a day in self-development the guy interviewing him Is like, uh, man, you spend six hours in self-development. There's only 24 hours a day like how the hell do you do that? And he goes He goes, um, well, well, you may have heard recently That bought us a company. Maybe you heard of him at the company's called coca-cola And he's like if you're the coca-cola then it was like, yeah, of course He goes, um, you know why I bought coca-cola and he's like no and he goes Well, they sell like four million bottles of coca-cola a day, right? The leadership was perfect The the culture was perfect. The formulation was perfect I didn't have to do a thing other than I raised the each each Cook can or bottle ever by one penny So can you imagine what that did to my net worth? And he goes, you know, why I was able to buy coca-cola and the interviewers like no He goes because I self-develop for six hours in a day the average human being when they're making a decision They're making it off of the information that they have in their brain, right? And he goes, I have six hours a day of self-development compounded over You know 50 years that he's been following the strategy to go out there and make these decisions and Like you want to get to the next level, you know the game. I'm trying to get to and play You know, right? Um, like you gotta what got me to where I am will never get me to where I want to go I must It's not a doing process success is not a doing process It's a becoming process, right? So I got to become that human being first and the only way to really do that is Just add more shit into this this guy up here, right? I love it Okay, for the for the people out of all the people watching or don't know everybody that's watching this should know who you are But for the few people who don't give us just a little bit of backstory Kind of like where you kind of came from a little struggle. How you overcame payment? Which are up to today Ah, dude, so um gotten the business in 2005 into real estate. That's where I got my start as an entrepreneur Jumped in the industry never To stay in the industry, right? I mean my my I grew up in the health club space And that was my dream and I'm 23 years old. I want to go up and open up my own facility It's gonna cost 800 grand But I'm a college dropout of thousand bucks in my bank and shitty credit, right? So couldn't get a loan so my god I gotta go raise some capital at least enough capital or the bank or some investors might take me seriously to help from the rest and Real estate 2005 markets on fire everybody. I know that's in the space is making a shit ton of money So my god, this is it. I'll go in here just work my ass off for a few years raise the capital And gotten the business Just crushed it my first year did 48 sales my first year now I tell people that because people are always like, oh my god. How did you do that? I'm like, look Every human being with a freaking pulse at least in Phoenix, Arizona was selling so much real estate Like I didn't even get rookie of the year, right if that puts that in the context, right? So You know, but what that quickly did is that taught me about capacities, you know, right? So I did 48 deals now. You got to understand in 2005. There was no youtube There was no facebook like shit like we're doing right now didn't exist Like I was using my razor flip phone, right? Scanners were just coming out, right? So we're still facts and meet with clients. There's no docking sites. The capacities were lower So I wanted to go out there I mean to still hit my end because because at that time I still wanted to I wasn't in love with real estate It was still just a means to an inform me. Um, and I needed to double my business the next year to Come even near close to raising the count but I needed to raise But I couldn't fathom how to even add an extra transaction to to to you know to my business a month, right? I mean, I was working for him to midnight just grinding like crazy and So it forced me to start a team so like after 12 months in the business I hired my first assistant and several months after that, you know built up about 18 months in the business I should say built up to six buyers agents and that's when I fell in love with the business, you know, right? I realized I could have a bigger impact on real estate make more money real estate But it's have a bigger impact on others lives and it wasn't by working with buyers and sellers It was for my teammates now. I'm like, look, I could teach these people how to go out there and create true You know true wealth in their life Have a big impact that way and then I also took in You know a lot of the health and fitness practices and taught them just how to go out there to have a great life You know, right make more money than they were maybe before have better Relations with the family than ever before being the best shape of their life And that's when I truly became obsessed with real estate. Um, so we started growing the team, you know, we were doing, you know About 300 deals a year Right before the market crashed. So we want to talk residential teams in the country market crashes now. Luckily I was still young enough and naive enough. I shouldn't say naive enough I was naive but I guess I had nothing to do with what happened next but I I didn't I wasn't set my old ways It's like every single day I still having to come into the office Pull out that blank piece of paper and reinvent myself. So in the market crash, I didn't have bad habits I wasn't set my ways. So we were able to transition very I shouldn't say very easy But it was an easier process than a lot of people, right? Through into short sales r. E. O.'s got into that space and then of course transitioned out. So 2017 Just to give people some context my team did 653 homes home closings at 3.5 million gci I stepped out of production about four years ago. So I don't sell real estate anymore. I haven't sold the house in four years They just operated a team leader Um about a year ago. I brought on a ceo. So now I'm totally detached, right? I mean, I probably spend 20 minutes a month inside that business and I focus on other businesses. Um, You know as far as struggles, dude, I mean, this would be a 18 hour long podcast to go through So in these these struggles, there's this huge myth like dudes People might see guys like you just out there crushing and put you on this pedestal and do what you've created is insane But they don't see all those struggles, you know, right? I know those are watching this and heard your story I've had you on my podcast. I've heard your story, you know, right? But to create success man, you feel exponentially more than you ever succeed and man, I've made it I've lost it, you know, I've uh lost my life savings I've had to put myself in hundred thousand dollars of business credit card debt just to survive I've owed, you know, 40 plus thousand dollars in back taxes that I came short on paying and refining its houses just to You know, come up with the capital. I mean This business has been so amazing to me. So I thank god I didn't quit But there's probably been a good dozen different times I was on the verge dude where they kicked the shit out of me so hard But the blessing is if you just keep pushing hard, right? And you reflect on those moments, you know pain and power really really come from the same place and Using those pain painful moments will become your greatest assets, you know If you allow them to do so like good putting yourself. So imagine this dude The year before I did 1.2 million in commissions. Now my real estate business was still going good. I mean, where was this? This was uh, shit. What was this? Like 2000 it would have been 2011 no 2012 field 13 areas about five years ago. So Whatever I can't do math, but um um I made some other really bad investments Um, and it got myself in a hole and some other other areas outside of my real estate business But all it all affected each other, right? So lost my whole entire life savings Which at the time was about 300 grand of of tax free money that I paid tax on the bank Um, but again in order to just survive I had to put myself in 100 thousand dollars of business credit card debt At that time be like I'm hawking my like Rolex, you know I just to pay my mortgage payment because I also had two houses So I had a half a million dollars in mortgage debt I had two car leases like at $2,200 a month in car leases and I had no fucking money I was in the hole 100 grand and trying to figure that out Dude that way it took me 18 months to come out that hole and it was so much pain and at the time You know, you don't realize it But dude that was one of the greatest experiences that's ever happened because it taught me I don't worship money But I respect the hell out of it and now I pay attention on such such a deep level dude It's it's you know that that painful moment change every aspect of my life Oh, yeah, no doubt man when I lost everything And I had to go back to roofing houses and working on the old rig You better believe that was the best thing that ever happened to me Dude because there was there was 40 50 year old guys right next to me going through the same thing And I was in my mid 20s And I and I when I went through it when you when you went through that struggle Did you know that that was one of the greatest things that ever happened to you during this during that time? Not not not initially, but one of the things you guys that you know I mean the first thing that got me pushing through it was I guess there's two things Number one was ego right like ego can be negative and but ego can also be good Where I was like dude, I cannot I can't quit. I can't refuse. I can't be that guy right like I can't Like I was freaking out about The stories that people would tell because dude, I'm still at that still time. I'm still speaking on stages I'm like this guy. I'm like I can't be known as the fucking laughing stock, right? Ego was it was a big part of it Number two, you know, I knew that I created success You know, it came from nothing I created success in the first place. So I knew I could recreate I knew I just made some bad decisions and I could re go out there and recreate it. Um But what really pushed me through those those deep historic times you were studying the greats You know, right like a book that I read about a half a dozen times while I was going through that Is actually Vance's Elon Musk Which is a brilliant book everybody should read that And you look at Elon Musk, right? So he sells PayPal gets like 225 million out of the sale invests every single sentence SpaceX Tesla solar city Um, but then loses it all like lose it all to the point where he forecloses on his house His wife leaves him takes his kids He's freaking living on his buddy's couch and he's about ready to lose all the companies that file bankruptcy And like at the 12th hour duty gets a call from a venture capitalist that has faith in him that refunds, you know Funds them in fuses capital. Um, but if it wasn't for that venture capitalist, he would have been done, right? Um But then now, you know, the dude is I mean, I don't even know his net worth now they 20 billion or whatever But but when you put it in retrospect, I'm like, dude What I'm experienced is nothing compared to what these these guys are and what I learned through that moment from Studying the greats when I was studying the greats. I was studying greats that experienced insane amounts of pain And it was like, dude, um One commonality that I see that every Uber successful person has if there is such a thing as a superpower It is to endure extreme levels of pain, right? So so at that point I was like, okay I got to be able to endure pain to succeed You got to be able to last and and every successful person I've ever said that self made has went through insane pain But at that point then as I started studying them that I realized, you know, that I was going to learn the Massive lesson out of this and sort of reflecting deeply on what those lessons were. So Yeah Yeah, that's that's an incredible story, man And like to say every successful super successful person has went through the same exact thing to one one way or another. So Um, what do you think the best advice was you ever got? She had to I mean, I've never been stumped on a question in my life. I don't think I mean One of the I'll say one of the most impactful piece of advice I ever got was Was one of my mentors comes to me Um and says to me he goes josh, you know the difference between you and I and I'm like now what he goes Um, you're trying to prove to the world that you're wealthy and I'm actually wealthy Um, and he was right like it was like a dagger, you know, right? But he was right and this get this guy is a guy that's you know, um Worth several hundred millions dollars a CEO of a multi-billion dollar year annual revenue company and But he was right and he goes to me goes if you want to if you want to truly become a player and truly go out there and create Massive wealth you got to learn to operate on 10 percent of your income, right? And then invest the rest Right like you see, you know, he's got the planes and the cars that you see all this sexy stuff now But it was two decades of making sacrifices, you know, right that That allowed all these things to happen before that man I mean I was spending money left and right as as quick as I can make out saving a little, you know, right? But nothing where I needed to be and you know now I've got myself to I help right off of five percent of my personal income Like the house I live in right now, dude I mean I make more in a month and I paid for this house and you know I bought as a foreclosure bottom of the market I have teammates drive the nicer cars and I do and live in a nicer homes even though I'm like You know 10 or 20 times the income that they do But that was probably as far as a piece of advice that that Made me truly wake up and and I followed Right, um that made a massive difference. Um, you know, that that's had the biggest impact on my wealth is just just You know, thank you god that he shared that info with me No, dude, that is that's beautiful man. That's I'm a that's probably where I'm at probably I probably live off five or 10 Yeah, but everything else back into the business, man How long have you been uh doing the gsd? um Shit about three years now dude. We kicked off the podcast so it was I think it was like january 1st of 2015 um So kicked that off when I first started it was going to be called keeping it real in real estate with joshua smith Um, I I hired this webinar company because at that same time at the same point i'm um um You know starting new webinars because that that I started I just started the boot camp at that same time Yeah, really I started the podcast I mean I wanted to go out and have an impact and give backs I know that not everyone watching the podcast very small percent will ever buy the boot camp But it was a platform to go out there and also promote that Um, so I hired this webinar company. I paid him like 15 grand designed my first webinar and helped me go out there and promote it So the next day I had like 600 people center for this webinar. I still hadn't delivered it to me Right, um, so I didn't have it and I had like these 600 people waiting So at middle of the night, you know, I had to go out there and I write a post on facebook Kind of about the experience. I didn't mean to come they didn't throw them on the bus or anything negative like that But I was like what happens when you're in the situation. I'm like you're pulling all night or you know You make it happen and you get shit done and I was like hashtag gsd mode for life And it just kind of stuck you'd like a couple months later I had a speaking gig and people like oh get shit done You know because I started using the hashtags the post up getting just a lot of traction then um Then my wife gets me for my birthday, you know, and this is again right before we're launching the podcast We actually had recorded a bunch of content You know before we started the podcast just so we had some stuff in the bucket and we had to rebrand everything so she bought me a Made a gsd mode shirt and a gsd mode hat and again it started creating traction So I'm like fuck it you like You know, I was actually really nervous dude to go and get shit done gsd mo because I'm like You know, what are some of these guests going to think and it has like we've had some guests that have seen it They're like look dude. This is you know, maybe they have different views. They don't swear whatever and and you know Had instances where it's you know hurt us, but yeah, it's about three just over three years strong now That's awesome, man Guys, we're live with joshua smith. This is a live q&a if you guys have any questions for me or joshua I'm live on instagram as well Um, so just type a question in if you have any questions for us. I got a question for you about youtube Um, you don't your channel is not monetized, right? Right And I think I think monetizing is kind of a path to to growing your channel Um, you know youtube kind of helps you there if you're monetized push it out to more people and reach more viewers I mean, I know you don't like the channel the ad run in the beginning of the videos Is that the reason why you don't monetize you just don't want that ad running across the front of your video Where I mean, I'm not like some massive youtuber, you know, right? I mean if I was getting you know Eight million downloads a month. I might reconsider it, but we're you know, we're I don't know 50 60 downloads a month on youtube alone and Um, I I started off monetizing it. I think our biggest month. We made like 600 bucks, you know, right? I'm like all right creates a shitty user experience in my opinion. I know I freaking hate seeing the ads Um, I'm just like dude just like the podcast, right? I mean, I only have my own companies And I've got nine companies today and I have my own products and companies sponsoring it So, you know that that's been our path. I mean, I don't know if it's the right way or the wrong way That's just been our choice is is you know created better user experience And then any ads that we do run or pop-ups that we have are just our own products and what we do So michael sevill here wants to know how we're dealing with facebook ads and now we're both crushing it with facebook ads But maybe touch on facebook ads per second your experience and kind of what's working Yeah, so, um, I do a lot of facebook ads as well 9 grand a month is my current budget Average cost per lead is around three dollars and 30 cents a lead Um, our conversion ratios with with facebook leads. It's we got a 1.2 percent conversion overall conversion ratio So that's one out of 85 leads, right, which is a 21x gross return Um, so the the conversion rates may be lower than like an open house You know, but the return dude. I mean my average commission now This is just facebook ads alone per on on closings from our facebook ads is $6,005 Um, so that's about $248 or whatever to go out there and so I stick 248 in this atm And it spits out 6,000 back to me, right? Um So, um, yeah, no, we're we're we're do you know crushing as much as we possibly can with them now with that being said, um At least four is that the the type of ads that we're running is all lead ads at this point That's what we're having by far the best success Um, you know, I've had a lot of success with conversion ads and other style ads But what I love about lead ads is you get everybody's full complete name full complete phone number Full complete email and the data is typically accurate, right? Because the lead ads as you don't know what they are is facebook optimum for you instead of send your website We have to optimize well The human psychology is dude, we already give everything to facebook We trust facebook consider on facebook So they're more likely to opt and plus any of that information they have on the profile Page that auto fills it, you know, right? So the data is much more accurate um, and uh, yeah So inside my isa department two full-time isas that all they're doing all day long is Is following up these leads set appointments for my agents But all we're doing like there's two things I do right now in my business, right? Facebook ads and open houses and we're just crushing with both of them So you spend 9 000 a month on just real estate facebook ads Yeah, yeah, I spent about another 50 000 a month on the other stuff, but yeah, just 9 000 Facebook, yeah, but just for my real estate business shit All right, let's see Now when you guys still understand to with facebook leads On because I'll get asked this question all the time like hey, josh. I'm an individual agent How much should I be spending on facebook ads? Well, you got to understand just like direct mail geographic farming or any really any other medium that you're going to go after There there is a lag time before you start seeing those results your average facebook consumer or a real estate client is 6.7 months out from wanting to meet with real estate agent You know, so yeah, I mean if you're doing high enough volume, you're going to get some immediate clients out of the gate But it's going to be about 6 or 7 months before you start seeing good consistent business coming from that lead source So the most important thing is pick a budget Whether that's 100 bucks a month or 1000 bucks a month or whatever it is that you're like Hey, I can invest this and afford to lose this like if I don't get the ROI, you know And I have to walk away it sucks, but I can afford it Or afford to not make any money at this and do this consistently month after month after month after month without making the ROI You know right for at least six months. I mean you got a plan on that I mean if you've read Napoleon Hill's think you grow rich right talks about that story in there of Stopping three feet short of gold and this is what most cities do whatever it is You know, right? Whether you're doing like with what you do with ricky with circle prospecting or Open houses or zilla leads or facebook leads, you know, I think give a shake for 30 days They don't take enough effort and action and they're like, oh fuck. It's not working Right. It's there's only there's only one magic pill that exists in life and its consistency So you've got to be consistent with it Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's like I say everything works like everything, you know, facebook ads open houses zillow Circle prospecting for self-owner expired door knocking it all works. You just got to do it Yeah, everything works and nothing doesn't right So rich wants to know what's the biggest challenges you see come in in real estate coming in in real estate or Changes that you think need to happen Yeah, so, um, I mean the the quickest change that I foresee coming Is a market correction, you know, right? When the second long longest bull market recorded history will always fall as a bull market is market correction at house severe I don't know the economy is a much much worse standpoint or stands overall than it was before the start of the last recession Yeah, I mean we're like we're sitting at like 23 true unemployment rate right now You have 900,000 less jobs than we have before the start of the last economy 40% of Americans are in student loan debt 50% now are medical debt 72 month auto loans are all-time highs, you know, so I don't think there'll be real estate that leads to crash like the last crash Um, it'll probably be medical and student tuition debt that because you also have record a high median Middle-class income drops like people are just making less and less money And it's because we're now witnessing the deep into deindustrialization of the economy, right during the industrial age So if you look at during the industrial revolution with Carnegie Vanderbilt Rockefeller all those brilliant people then all the elites the middle class had to exist for them to accomplish what they need to accomplish today The middle class does not it doesn't do anything for the elites. It doesn't serve them, right? Everything can be outsourced or done in different methods now So you're seeing the deindustrialization where you're going to see the middle class just dissolve It's just it's just a natural thing that's going to happen. Um, and uh, so so number one a correction is coming you know, then um You know the biggest change I see overall in the real estate game is you know, we're already seeing it but I think the the brokerage model that exists is just Another decade is going to look night and day from what it does today The brokerage model as far as the uh, the uh brokerage and the agents. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yeah I don't think that's either how Agents do business with the consumer when I say change so much, but yeah I mean bricks and mortar, you know I mean if you look at it like if you if we compare it to other companies, right? Like walmart is not going to exist for indefinitely. I I don't have a time frame. I'm not going to predict a time frame But they their model is unsustainable amazon's going to put them out of business And and then you got walmart with all those bricks and mortars. They can't transition. They can't shift, right? They're they're stuck so And you got a lot of brokers that at this point That's what we see. I'm not with exp but that's what you companies like exp these, you know virtual platforms or hybrids Of of these that are that are becoming You know so attractive. Um Yeah, so and then I think duty and we're already seeing this but more and more independent brokerages popping up You know less of you less we're gonna see market share kw or you know remax the big players out there losing market share Um Just because again, dude, the name doesn't fucking matter Like when I first got in the business it mattered a few with remax or sentient 21 today It doesn't matter. So why why go out there and pay this fee? Because you know, I was with remax for nine years and I loved remax, right? However, I got sick and tired of two people having to make money off of me, you know, right? It just didn't make sense They brought new value to me But I was investing so much money back into them where you know now I'm with the independent local brokerage Um when you eliminate that franchise I'm able to go out there and keep way more money Um of my own hard-working money and it makes no difference to the consumer what brokerage you with Yeah, that matter where you work. It just matters how you work Yep, that's it, man Let's see. Do you think do you think like technology will ever take a take a little bite out of our commission? Yeah, yeah, I mean we're already seeing it, right? Um, yeah, but you know, did I Okay, so So many agents wig out about these discount agents, right? I mean number one those of you that you see them in your area Uh, those have been the the market for a long time Discounters always come out of the woodwork at the the peak of the markets, right? But when the market's correct and you have your average house sitting on the market for seven months, right? They need a great real estate agent that knows how to price properties that knows how to market properties That knows how to keep the sellers in it for the long game and and go out there and do that when when the market's hot You know, anybody can go out there and put a sign in the ground and sell it in four days And it takes almost zero skill set to go out there and do that Um Great agents to make way more money in bad markets and they do these I mean And extreme sellers markets the hardest market to go out there and work, you know So so when the market corrects we're going to pricey some of those going away But I mean again, it comes back to capacity now. I'm not going to do it Right, but I have laid out a strategy where I'm 100 confident I could fucking just murder it at a 2000 flat fee listing, you know, right listing model Like just just imagine this, right? So if I you know, and I can you know being a digital marketer, you know, right? Outside of my real estate business is my other businesses. You know, these are just like like I said I sell We'll just talk about last year 2017. I sold 2.7 million dollars in a product Not one phone call not like zero sales. Dude is all the whole phone was completely automated, you know, right? So can I run an ad that somebody that somebody goes to just think about selling their house, right? So they click on there. They watch the listing presentation online, right? Then from there and this is all educational, right? Like what? And again, don't freak out. You guys are watching this. I'm not saying that I'm going to do this or whatever but this is what is What could happen and probably those that are real estate that are smart digital marketers will probably start to take this Um, so let's just say I run an ad. Hey, josh was Smith You have sold over 5000 homes over a billion dollars in real estate I'm here to tell you and educate you on why you're absolutely ludicrous If you ever pay a real estate agent six percent to list your house, you know, right? And then go into education of why that works that time frame involved then and then convince them and show them though through the listing presentation process how if they remove my time involvement They're still going to get the same pricing strategies the same marketing They're going to get the same result the same net at the end of the day, but they help me remove my time investment Um, um, they can save that money, right? So maybe they save six grand or whatever on the commission So then create a piece of technology which already exists where they upload eight photos Right, those kids sent to me or do an assistant that runs a cma sends a cma I don't need to walk into a freaking property to be able to comp that house Right once we agree on a price they either come into the office or we docusign the listing agreement Um, you know, send out the photographers once we get an offer They do it all through docusign or they come into the office So I never step foot in that property minimize my time So at two grand right especially delegating this out to assistants I could pull this off where I would have maybe 15 or 20 minutes of my time Invested where I make two grand now would be a volume game Right, but it would be in technology something like this would be so easy to be pulled off, right? Um, so You're going to get people that catch on to this kind of stuff Um and start employing it because at that point The consumer does get the same experience the same negotiation skills the same everything Um with keeping a hell lot more money in their pocket, right? Today's game right now is the discounters typically discount because they don't Want to take the time to sharpen their skill sets. I should go get their clients more money, right, right Yep, yep. No, no definitely definitely all that stuff. I mean, you know, there's that's already happening with uh Certain certain companies, you know, so it's just a matter of time before they figure it all out everything And there's going to be a part of the market that wants that That face-to-face and that agent and they might have to pay a little you may have to get a little less commission But there's going to be clients that want to do it digitally and some that don't so Yeah, yeah, this uh call and says josh was the first guy I followed when I got in real estates Um built my foundation on work appreciate you gsd Yeah, thanks for the kind of words my friend. Yeah, and those that like freak out about like Zillow You know, right And you know, I was yeah, I get this question like once a day Like what happens if zillow becomes their own brokerage and and how do we combat zillow? So how we combat zillow as an industry is not like I think one of the worst things that we could do as an industry Is pull our data And not allow zillow to take our data, right because zillow and and I've got some, you know insiders that I Someone have some connections with dude. They they have an exit They're they're a brilliant motherfucking company right to become a You know multi multi multi multi billion dollar company in the short period of time that they do like they're smarter than us Right, it's just how it goes. So you can't tell me that they don't have an exit strategy So the second we pull their data, that's when they become their own brokerage once they're in their own brokerage, right then by law They have to have access to that idx feed for the mls And and it's just going to hinder our our our our industry that much more So how we combat it isn't by pulling the data How we combat it is by just learning to become your own zillow doing like what you and I do ricky with Like we don't need zillow in our lives because we know how to go out there and and do what zillow does For three or four bucks compared to paying them 50 bucks online So if real estate, they just want to combat these big third parties that potentially are a threat to our organization Like look you just you've got to learn how to fish for yourself You got to go learn how to go out there and regenerate for yourself and today's day in age It's so damn easy guys like you guys like me that also offer coaching platforms Guys like my good friend brett rickowski that has probably the best just facebook Training just about facebook You know right like you guys got to learn these tactics 100 percent Sure I want to know do you run manage and facebook ads yourself at house or do you hire a company to run? Yeah, so I ran them myself. So since 2015 I've always ran them myself You know, I've spent over a million dollars my own money on my own facebook ads Not just for real estate, but all my own companies. So I was forced to loan it pretty hardcore I tried outsourcing to so many agencies And uh, I just couldn't find anybody that could scale up with me and pay the same attention because we're spending big money You know, um, and I've had months with certain launches and certain products I'm spending 75 80 grand in a month on facebook ads, right? So you've got to pay attention to them daily So then about it's been about three months now I actually hired a full-time facebook ads manager not outsourced hired them I stole them away from he worked for this big agency and his job was he managed all of disney's disney on ices campaign 15 million dollar campaign a year and like this guy's a badass He lives in kinetic it so he works for me virtually, but he's full-time for me at gsd So he manages the facebook ads for me personally for eight of my companies and then for real estate right now Actually we started off as one of my bootcamp members still in the the alumni program But he just took what I teach to another level. Um, his name is brett rickowski Um, who's a real estate agent out of florida, but also has now A service where he runs ads for agents and dude, you know, right? I pay him a thousand dollars a month to manage my whole entire budget of nine thousand dollars I do that's like like for me to manage that type of campaign the weight needs to be about 15 hours a month So I pay a dude in my time is worth, you know, three grand an hour or whatever So so it makes sense to outsource and he's got more affordable programs for you guys too And you guys can always reach out to me if you want a connection to him But yeah, so now I'm out sourced at all because it's just not a good use of my time What's that guy saying? Uh brett rick rickowski Yeah, if you message me, I'll give you his uh get you guys connected in all of them for And he's got like a freaking facebook bootcamp now It's like I think it's on like 500 bucks. Then it's a little bit more than that somewhere between 500 000 where he teaches you these tactics Um and uh does does epic with it What what skillers are the most important for a listing agent? Um, all right, so you got it. I mean the obvious things got to know your market You got to know how to comp properties like one thing that I do dude is I pay Once a year I bring in one of the best local praisers I pay him like 500 bucks and they do just an in-depth appraisal class to to me and my team, right? So it's just like hey We want to know everything that you know how you comp properties what you look at whatever which does a lot for us Right because appraise value doesn't always mean market value. Um, but at least, you know It helps us sharpen our skill set on appraising properties and and Knowing market values, but also knowing exactly what great appraisers are looking at Um, so and those are kind of the ante's right like you got to know how to comp a property Got to know all of that then from there um Dude, you got it. You got to have your listing presentation dialed in and when I'm second talking dial it in like master it, right? So years ago like I used to suck at listing presentations. I was terrible I remember like my first few I walked in there I was just like showing them the card star the paper stock Of the flyers I was going to do and how they were better than like I didn't know how to do a listing presentation Right, um, but once I realized like I've got to you know, I got to increase this Conversion ratio before before I got to the point where I truly mastered my listing presentation Now it's around a 50% uh conversion ratio my listing presentations And most of that hired me was just because they liked me, you know, right Wasn't because my listing presentation was dialed in and then I got just hard hard core laser focused with it Um, it got up to 92% conversion ratio So 92 of the listing appointments I go on I convert that personally went on right and how I got good with that There's a couple things right number one. I role played the shit out of my listing presentation So I didn't expect to get good by just going on listing presentations I go on listing presentations But then would spend three hours every single night going through my listing presentation by myself over and over and over hundreds if not thousands of times to really sharpen that axing get good at it Um, then from there I started calling expires in any listing that I lost And and I would get their feedback. So with listings that I lost and I call them up So, you know, michael asked this question like hey michael joshua smith here. He congrats on your decision I'm not here to talk you out of out of your decision made the best decision for yourself and your family And I congratulate you on that. I'm actually looking for some constructive feedback and some advice from you Um, you know, what was it about the other agent? What did they do differently? You know, where did you feel I was lacking and again, please be brutally honest with me This information is going to allow me to get better. Um, so then I hope hopefully I can get better and don't lose Out on future listing of presentations. Here's the cool thing. I got so much insane amazing information from that but also When those because a lot most sellers the number one mistakes sellers make is choosing real estate agent based on the recommended list price Right, and I'm always brutally honest with people up front. Um, of what that looks like So, um, a lot of those I would lose because I didn't tell them the price that they wanted to hear So after it expired or they realized they made the wrong choice They would call me back because they respected that decision so much But I went really good at the listing presentations not from the listings I won But the listings I lost right then I'd call expired listings and I would just survey You know, hey, I know you're getting aborted with real estate just begging you for your listing I'm not here to ask you for your listing. I'm not gonna, you know, beg you for like Where I'm just here to just to pick your brain and survey you And if you're willing to to just talk to me for a few minutes I'll send you a $10 Starbucks gift card in the mail for your time And I just picked their brain like what did you do good? What didn't they do good? What do you feel they could have done better because here's the thing You know we jump on so many, you know podcasts or trainings, which are great You know podcasts at this were absolutely amazing. You know, but I realized that's how I'm like shit Dude, I'm getting all my information from other real estate agents title companies lenders, you know agent coaches I'm not getting any of my information from the consumer that actually pays me So I started going deep to the consumer And and uh, you know getting to know again what their concerns were and then but develop your presentation towards that You know, right? Um objections are always a lack of education. So presentation exists To overcome their their their objections, right? So when I'm on a listing presentation that whole like I'm not trying to sell their house I'm just trying to sell them that I am the best real estate professional for the job And and convince them of that that I can help them accomplish their goal So I gotta know what's going on inside their head and build out a presentation That allows me to overcome those problems that I know that's in their head But I can't identify those if I'm not interviewing them and then identify that information Damn man, that's a nice answer So whenever you started calling the expires to to kind of survey them on what? You know what they were unhappy with the stuff that you end up getting some of those listings through that process Yeah, and now I have my my favorite expired listing approach is my expired survey. Yeah It's like, well, you know ricky, you know, I know I told you that this wasn't a You know, I'm not here to ask for business and it's not the intention I call I'm gonna eat the Starbucks gift card and melt you right away You know based on the things that you said, you know, these are the things that I specialize in I've guaranteed on I list those out. I'm like, look, you know, I don't know if you have a need and a goal of still selling But if you do I'm 100% confident. I'm the guy for the job, you know, do you still have a need for selling? Of course, I go into the appointment if not find their time frame follow up with them Because now I got the contact information calling. I got their email from sender and their address Down the Starbucks gift card and I've got a relationship. Yeah, and it slays down the back end for for acquiring listings, too Let's see you got a question here about um health and diet regiments Which I guess we could both go on about that for days But maybe give us a real quick rundown of your uh Just daily habit there with your diet and uh regimen It's one of these things that it's top priorities on it, right? So No, because dude you you can't show up in your business to be the best version yourself You can't show up with your wife or your kids your family, right? Um, so I'm gonna lie like parents like oh, it's like my kids my wife My business my health. I'm like not my health my business You know that my wife my kids which is backwards from a lot of people but like look if I'm not healthy I can't go out there and be the best version myself Like I said to show up if I don't if I don't make freaking money and I'm not taking care of my business I can't do what I need to do as a man for my family, right now I would you know Of course my kids I'd be my wife. I put everything, you know, I I give up my business if I had to for them You know, but that's my daily priority because it's just a domino effect, right? It just makes things happen allows me to show up as the best version myself in those areas of my life So then with that it just be very intentional with it. So the diet I follow and there's actually um a book out there It's it's one of the businesses that I owned Two of my business partners are both writers for ironman magazine and both, you know, amazing in the health of fitness space and Successful authors and that but we wrote a book recently called the metabolic blowtorch diet So if you go to metabolic blowtorch diet.com, you can get the book free. You just have to pay for shipping Um, but that's the diet that I follow. So it's it's advanced strata in a minute fast and advanced intermittent fasting strategies So the day that I work out with weights that resistance train Those days I'm eating consistently throughout the day. Um, the days that I'm not training I fast for um, uh 20 hours on those days, right? So no food. So I have three days a week that I fast seven days a week of cardio Um, you know five four days a week in the gym. Um, but intermittent fasting has been a game changer, right? So in your your gut your gut biome the gut is the future of healthcare I don't know if you guys know I mean the guts the second brain, right? That's what it's referred to in the medical the medical You know space and there's as many near there's almost as many neurons in the gut as there is the brain There's as many neurons in your gut is the is there is in your dog's brain So your gut is as intelligent as your dog, you know, right? And they're just now starting to discover like the power of the gut how the Second brain and your first brain speak and communicate together and even shit like parkins disease They're saying is now stem from the gut not not from the brain. Um, you know, but yeah, take care of that gut biome And so, you know, when you ask about supplementation again, I'm a freak with this stuff I won't put the optimal health physician. I get my blood work done every single 90 days Um, we reassess analyze everything if you go into my cupboard right now looks like a freaking, you know many pharmacy. Um But i'm very very intentional with it Okay, so Correct yep And then and then and then three days a week you you don't work out the way So you still do the cardio and you fast so when you fast are you eating? Do you do it like I mean do you eat anything that day? Or you just I might have my last meal like eight o'clock the night before Um, and then my next meal might be you know five or six o'clock that next night for dinner And I have two meals that day. Um, so I fasted a Wednesday saturday and sunday Um, and um, yeah, and then cardio is, you know, great to be done in a fastest state anyway Um, I mean like a big mistake. I see people that make that go to the gym They do their cardio first, you know, right and then they'll go hit resistance training Well, you got to understand that you're when you're when you're working out with weights Your body uses muscle glycogen for fuel, right? Well, when you go to cardio If that muscle glycogen hasn't been burnt yet You have to burn through the muscle glycogen before you go into a fat burning state, right? So if you do cardio before you go hit the weights you've Exhausted all your your muscle glycogen stores So then when I go work out weights I've nothing to fuel my muscles So my muscle get my body will become catabolic and start burning muscle tissue and using that for fuel So it totally contradicts itself, right? So, uh, if I'm doing cardio It's either post workout or or empty stomach first thing in the morning I actually have a treadmill at home where I do my cardio and when I do cardio, dude, it's just uh, uh, You know, I'm not running. It's just uh, you know Fast walk on an incline for 20 minutes a day. That's all I do Just cardio dude. There's very little fat burning, you know benefits of cardio You were gonna you're gonna go out to burn so much more fat from resistance training, you know, of course diets You know diets 85 90 percent of it. Um, I just strictly do cardio for heart health. That's it So you'll eat at 8 o'clock the night before Then you want to eat anything till about 5 30 the next day Yeah, we have 5 36. We usually have dinner in my house around 6 30 with families. Yeah. Yeah Okay, dude. That's that's interesting Let's see here if we got any questions on instagram facebook Let me know if you guys have any questions. We're getting close to the end of this thing got about 10 minutes left. So Okay, bro. I'm a new agent All right, brand new. I'm in this new technology world. I want to I want to be the next big thing What what do I do? All right, so, um, get a database right, um Not saying that you gotta get mine I also happen to own uh be an owner in a software company that we have uh front and websites and back in back in crm Oh, we teach you all the stuff to each other facebook lead generate all of that But regardless of the system that you need like you need to have a good website that's effective for lead generation Which means force registrations. You can install facebook pixel um A good crm if you're gonna do facebook ads something integrates with zapier and so you can do lead ads Which are just the most by far the most effective thing you can do real estate right now So you need a website in a crm right um then from there, you know Like believe it or not as much as i'm killing with open or with facebook ads open houses are still by far the majority of my business 48 percent of my business comes from open houses If I could only do one thing if I had to choose one thing Like let's say I lost it all moved to I don't know texas and I start my real estate business all over again You know I do and I can only pick one thing and just be open houses Right, I mean they are the quickest way to now money that exists out there But I need that crm so I can follow up effectively right most real estate agents vastly overestimate the amount of leads that they need but vastly underestimate the amount of follow-up that it takes So when I get an open house lead, they come into my database of a thousand day automated email and text trip campaign they go on um And then they're gonna get a total seven calls in the first 14 days a call every 21 days after that up to to the first year until Communication has been established or time frame has been established then the default protocol adjusts based on that But our average lead dude, it's 36 reach outs right now in six conversations With the average lead before we get that that appointment. So it's it's a lot of frequency with that Okay, good stuff I'm a big fan with open houses too, you know to get now business I think you're right there. Let's see Have you ever heard of this Harry? Have you ever heard of this, uh zone What are your thoughts on zone And the business model is paying a buyer paying five percent premium and the seller only pays one percent You ever heard of that? I haven't I mean, it's so many different platforms that pop up daily. I'll look and do them out for seeing this But I can't really speak to a couple people mentioned it. I haven't heard of it either So rich says perfect storm dot dot uh perfect storm now that convest here on website there is now I've actually heard this from a couple of different agents that that they're using perfect storm and they say it is like legit Yeah, yeah, we went out there. So like If this all happened from the bootcamp But I had always agents that reached out to me like josh, you know, I want to use something like you have But I can't afford, you know, the boondown of the world that's $1,500 a month And I try to find a solution for and there's just nothing that was affected that was affordable And so we wanted to create like the affordable, you know version of boondown now. Hopefully we you know, we're working on it and it's You know, I feel it's better than boondown at this point. Um, but I'm biased, you know, right So you got to make your own judgment up on that, you know But yeah, I do work $199 a month and and that's our whole goal is the most effective but affordable Websites here on platform out there for agents, you know, we just actually yesterday We just released our video email platform. So Agents that love bomb-bomb or been using a platform like that that's built into ours now So you don't have to you know, that's not we didn't integrate bomb-bomb. We created our own We don't do any integrations, but um, you know, all Plug-and-play system for sure. What's the what's the price? $199 a month So I'll give you guys a promo code if you go to perfect storm now.com You got to do we sell the front and website only for those that have a crm But nobody in my opinion. That's the shitty way to go Like you got to get the website and the crm and the cool thing on the crm is all my personal drips are preloaded in there So everything I do in my business everything in there is all preloaded in there Um, so you have access to those instantaneously, but that's $109 a month But if you use promo code save money now, you can save 300 bucks So you save the 200 or registration fee and then we give you 50 off the first month All right, john wants to know how do you manage your other business ventures and keep everything in line? I've got two other businesses in struggle with managing slash running them all Yeah, that's an awesome question john. So, um I do not start another business So I didn't start my my second business until I was in real estate for about seven or eight years Right. So you got to understand I had my team in place. I was able to step away and give that time and that attention So, um, unless they're synergistic like right now, um, you know, just signed the operations agreement and I'm starting my own title company Right. Well, that's a synergistic company to my real estate company That isn't going to take much of my time and energy to go out there and do But outside of that like if I'm starting another venture like I'm I'm going to get all the operations I'm going to get this business automated delegated put a team together and before I step into the next venture, right? Um, um, I'm going to make sure that that's set. So then I can step away because otherwise you just dilute focus Right and and you just get a bunch of shit done. That's half ass, right? So, um, you know, that's the reason I was able to go out there and do the boot camp These other things is because I spent seven eight years developing such a great real estate team I was able to step out of production and have to operate without my day-to-day involvement So I could give my 100% focus to other businesses. So yeah, I don't I I've learned this the hard way So when I say I don't I've done it many times where then you realize dude, I've been off way more than I could chew I'm way above my max capacity. So now that I'm very strict with it I don't take on adventure unless I can give it the attention it needs Which means that my other businesses have to be automated and dialed in So one at a time Yep Let's see. Okay. Quick question. I have a perfect storm. Is it does it come with the boot camp? No, it does not come with a boot camp. So two two toy different separate companies, um, businesses, but You know, but in the boot camp, you don't have to you know, and I'm very Hard core this in the boot camp. I let everybody know that every that's taught in the boot camp I teach you to be successful with whatever system that you have, right? You learn a lot about perfect storm in there just because it's what I use So when I'm showing examples of how I work my database how I follow up with the stuff, you know But I teach you how to also set your own database up and I give you all my drips So you can plug them into your own CRM all of that but two totally different separate companies What do you think the number one right now? You're a guy, you know, you get a lot of you you're you're Your real estate business is automated. You know, you're doing a lot of facebook, you know leads All that stuff. What do you think the number one reason why a prospect chooses a real estate agent? um, I mean So their their human psychology is that there's only three reasons that people do business with you One because they like you too because they trust you number three because you do a good job You know, right? So I mean to me doing a good job is the ante like you got to be good at what you do And good at your craft, you know outside of that man. It's just down to that human connection Who's got the best follow-up strategy that can be first, right and and understanding human behaviors Like when I set an appointment like inside my real estate business Like I know no buyer wants to fucking meet with the real estate agent They just want to go out there and see a house, right or or seller doesn't You know, he's with the information that they want to make the best decision for themselves or family And then we'll let you know when they're ready, right? So we've got to just understand how the human mind works today And if we just pay attention to ourselves like you go into Macy's at the mall First thing that salesperson says is okay. I'll help you find something like no, no I'm just looking you're not just looking we're busy as hell. You just drove 20 minutes of all You're not there to just freaking look you're there to buy some shit But it's like hey leave me alone. Let me go out there and do my own two diligence We're not freaking ready when I need you I'll let you know then you have service to me, right? So we're just hardcore with understanding human behavior and Mimicking that a real estate business where I'm having a conversation with somebody man I'm focusing always on the human connection. I'm not trying to sell them I'm not trying to be salesy focus on the human connection, right? One of the best books you can ever read is Dale Carnegie's how to win friends and influence people Be interested not interesting Um, and then I'm doing everything I can to deliver a way for them to get the information They want without being sold. So it's you know, we implement a very strict absolute no pressure policy So it's like hey risky or hey Ricky the next best step to september we can meet, you know discuss the overall process My commission is free to you when you're purchased on the seller actually pays my commission You know, I look out I'm here to look out for your best interests and you know My fiduciary duty is to you. Um, so my services are free to however You do have a monitoring investment into the transaction for example inspections appraisals There's areas that you're at risk areas that you're protected So the sole purpose of this meeting is to educate you on the process So you can make the best decision for yourself and for your family and sometimes some of our potential clients decide Home ownership isn't for them or right now is not the time for you and that's okay. Just so you know, there's no obligation No hassle and we have a very very strict absolute no pressure policy inside our organization So you'll never be pressured. You'll never be sold. You'll never be hassled Right. We're just here to deliver the information that you need to make the best decision Whatever that decision may be I've got three o'clock or seven o'clock available tomorrow Which one of those times works best for you? So it's just getting deep into Again, the consumer's mindset and getting what they want But in order to do that and have those conversations Yeah, you got to follow up like a mofo. You know, right? See how it goes Sure. Sure. Yeah Okay, bro last little question we're saying I'm an agent I'm six months to you're in the business I'm on the cusp. I don't know if I'm gonna make it. I made a couple sales. I'm kind of I'm shredding water I've tried a bunch of things. I can't get can't get my feet under me. I can't get any momentum going in the business What do you what what's your advice? Get a mentor I mean, it's just it's that simple, right? Now I get okay. Maybe you can't afford a mentor You can't maybe afford to jump into Ricky's, you know, coaching program or whatever like you might be in debt And you're you're not knowing how you're gonna pay rent next month Just, you know, if you can't get a mentor that you're paying them Go out there and find a mentor, right? Whether that means you join their team, right? Which is which is well Most new real estate agents need a freaking do is just join a damn team and learn the right path I'm not saying that just because I'm a team leader, but you're gonna learn the right structure You know, if you join my team dude, it's a plug-and-play system. You tell me exactly what you want to make There's no guesswork. Here's the plan. Here's what you here's all the tools resource. They didn't make it happen You got to put in the work, right and people still can fill out that but if you're committed You're gonna do the work or right if you don't want to join a team You could still go out there and get a mentor and you might have to trade your time for their time Yeah, right You might have to to be an assistant to them for free for 10 hours a week to get two or three hours of their time Back a week, but find somebody in your area that's created the success that you want to create Figure out a way to get them as a mentor successfully excludes, right and and It just drives me nuts that so many people don't go out there and seek mentors man And there's so many different ways to do it doesn't have to cost you money, you know But get a freaking mentor Yeah, I mean, you know agents like successful agents like me or you like somebody can come and ask me any question They want any time man. I'm always open to answer anything or tell anybody anything they want to know I think a lot of agents are scared to ask questions to their intimidated or whatever and they just need to Get over that and You know ask questions and get them into or like you say, dude one of the hardest core people I know gsd good shit done man I appreciate you coming on man and and just expressing yourself with all this stuff and sharing a lot of your ideas and philosophy and stuff man Yeah, that's been a lot of fun man. It's been a honor. It's always it's always awesome rapping with you, bro Sure, sure guys. That's it for today Appreciate you guys watching if you guys need to reach out to me or josh You guys know how to find us. Um, we'll talk to you guys soon and uh, you guys have a good rest of the day Appreciate you guys watching