 You scare the agent into thinking they need a coach. You know, you take their money and then if they try to back out of the contract, you go after them. This is what I believe. I'm sharing that with you for nothing. Just get out there and succeed. So let me introduce Ricky Karuth. Many of you know him. He's all over social media. The guy's nominating. Been in the business for 17 years. Since 2014, he's sold over 100 transactions a year as an individual agent. Let's get into a topic here as we get started. Talk to us about work-life balance. What does that look like for you? To where you are able to keep relationships outside of work, right? Without having them go awry. Well, man, to be honest with you, I think of it in a way of like, I'm retired. You know what I'm saying? Every day when I wake up, I'm doing exactly what I want to do. Nobody tells me what to do. I wake up at 430 for an hour. I answer DMs on Instagram. I answer every single DM on Instagram because if I'm not answering all these questions that people are asking desperately, asking for help, then I'm not really backing up what I'm saying when I say I want to help the industry and teach agents how to effectively communicate and create unlimited business. So work-life balance for me is that there is no work-life balance. It's all life. There's no real separation for me when I'm at work. Like I'm at work, I'm at work all times. Like when I'm with my family, I'm giving that everything I got. I'm spending time with them, giving them every little drop of energy that I have to enjoy them, them enjoy me, the whole thing. Same thing when I'm doing a real estate deal, or I'm showing property, or I'm making phone calls, or I'm doing a podcast, or I'm traveling to speak, or whatever the case may be, I'm just enjoying every second of whatever's going on. And there's really no, I don't chop it up and say, okay, I'm gonna time block this, I'm gonna time block that. No, I just enjoy life, you know what I'm saying? And so I think I'm just a different kind of person where I can just live this blended life where it's all the same thing and I have a full, I mean, it's not like it happened overnight. Let's say that, you know, like I definitely went through times where everything was all about real estate, trying to figure out how to succeed, working 15 hours a day, getting burnt out, you know, trying to recharge and come back strong and go 15 hours a day for another three week stretch and really try to figure this thing out. So I've definitely been there, but where I am now, see 17 years in the business and thousands of properties sold, I have such a huge database and I built it the right way on relationships and what can I do to help you, not trying to force people to buy or sell anything. And because of that, I built such a huge brand around someone who just wants to help. Somebody who just wants to help people. And so, and around being the hardest working person around, like everyone knows that no one outworks me. And so those two, that the combination of those two things, knowing that I'm just here to help you and that I'll work harder for you than anyone else makes me a magnet to people, you know? People are just drawn to me because they know I'm gonna get the job done. I'm not going to high pressure them or put them in weird situations or if they wanna back out because they get cold feet halfway through the deal, I'm not gonna make them feel bad about it. I'm gonna say, if that's not what you wanna do, then let's get out of this thing, you know? And I'm gonna make them feel comfortable about their decision because that's what they wanna do. And because of those things, it makes it to where I built a business where people come to meet. I built an attraction business so big that I don't have to worry about where my business is coming from. So after doing that for so long, now I'm able to take time and write books and go speak and do podcasts and all that stuff and still maintain this high level of business because a lot of coaches, they get into the coaching industry after two years in the business and 12 properties sold and now they're a guru. And the thing is, is, you know, when they try to make that leap, they don't really have any, they don't have a business. And so I waited like, I got in the business when I was 20, made a meal before I was 23, lost it all in the crash, went back to roofing houses, worked on an oil rig, came back, realized it was relationships over transactions, and then got to where I was selling 100 properties a year. So like I made it, lost it, made it. And so now here I am making it 100 properties a year. Well, I didn't know if that was real or not because I had it before I lost it. So I was thinking, is this real? So I gave myself three years, three years of selling 100 properties a year as a single agent before I decided maybe I should write a book about this stuff and how I did this. And so I just, I wait, I'm really notorious for waiting too long, probably too long, but it's not a bad thing. Waiting too long to do things. You know, like I'm still a single agent. You know, when am I gonna do a team? You know, like I waited so long to hire an assistant. I waited so long to start coaching and writing and speaking. I waited so long to get into social media. I just started doing social media two and a half years ago. I never touched it before then. As far as the work-life balance question, I just think that you have to just do what you love to do. You know, and like, I love roofing houses. I love working on an oil rig. I love delivering pizzas. I love cooking in a restaurant. You know, all the things that I did, all the different jobs that I had, I loved every bit of it, you know? That's just how I am. I guess I'm just a very positive person. I love just being active and productive. And because of that, it makes my life really incredible because literally me producing is my therapy. You know, like all the rough moments in my life, I literally just worked through them. Like I would go to work and work so hard at work, it got my mind off whatever bad was going on. And it like, it helps me cope with whatever's going on and produce more, you know? So I was just lucky enough, I think, to have the DNA of, you know, production as my therapy, kind of deal. I really appreciate what you said there. It's interesting. I was pulling out of the garage this morning, had my daughter in the car, was right around the school and the garage door went up and I said, another day doing what I love. And she got to look at me and I don't think that's the common answer. I think a lot of the people it's like, thank goodness it's Friday. I can't wait till this is over. Like it's this terrible treatment. I know Gary Vaynerchuk talks a lot about this. I feel like if you hate what you do, life's way too short for that. I sat in a convention at which a gentleman who has done deep, deep studies on the human brain, discovered that there's this sense of joy that we were made to have. Like people, it's natural for them to be in a state of joy. It's unnatural for them to be in a state of fear. The only way to really experience joy is to not look at people as things or as a means to an end, but they are the source of our joy. They are the reason that we're gonna experience that. It ties in perfectly with what I think is maybe a secret to why Ricky Karuth is able to be so dang excited no matter what he's doing is because he's looking at the relationship first. It's not like how many deals, like what's it gonna take for me to get over a hundred transactions this year? It's like, how many people can I help? And if I can't help that person, I'm gonna be the first to tell them, I can't help you, you should stay in your house. Is that true? Does that call connect for you? Yeah, I think it's the intention for sure. I think first and foremost it's, am I gonna give it everything I have today? Am I gonna go to bed tonight knowing that I gave it, put everything out there. I left it all on the field and there wasn't a drop of energy. I literally, you know, passed out because I was so tired. You know, like when you combine the fact that you're doing, you're going full speed ahead. There's no way you could have done any more and with the right intentions to help the most people. When you combine those two things, now you're deadly. I would have to agree with you. I think there's work ethic is often underestimated. To your point, I think that you can have all kinds of good intentions and warm feelings for people and want to help them. But if you don't put in the time and the hours, like Ricky Gerooth is doing, I get them at 4.30 to really respond to strangers that have no direct impact upon your business. They're not coaching clients because you're not charging them, but simply responding because you love the industry and because you love people. That probably is a fuel for you to then go do good for your clients. Well, it is. I mean, the DMs and the comments and the replies and the emails and all that are literally the fuel that keeps me going because the one reason I got into coaching is because I feel like I kind of hit the top of real estate game. Like I just felt like I hit the top. There wasn't anything else that was challenging. It just, there was no challenge there left for me. And so that's why I got into the coaching and man, that I really step into a beehive because it is a super, like it's a totally different. Real estate is local. Coaching is global. And so there's a big difference in the two. If I'm not, like I said, if I'm not stepping up and answering these questions, I mean, these people are reaching out with desperate for help, that just this industry is such a bear because it's so simple, but it seems so complicated. Like it can really fool you into thinking that it's so complicated when really it's so simple. And we're talking about people's livelihoods on the line. This is their, they're trying to support their family with this stuff. This is stressful. This is real, this is real life stuff. And I just feel like these people are reaching out to me for help and if I'm not stepping up and, because there's a lot of people in my shoes that absolutely completely ignore DMs, messages, emails, tag, they completely ignore that stuff. And I get it, like it's a lot of work, but I just feel like I'm different and I feel like I want to be there. And I feel like that's one thing that I have over so many coaches and mentors and even the big guys, you know, like the Gary Vee's and the grants and the, you know, the Tonys, you know, they don't answer every single message. You know, they don't, they can't. There's too many of them, I get it. I do, you know? So I just feel like I'm not doing my job and I'm not doing the industry justice if I'm not doing it. You know, as I, even in my small market of Portland, Oregon, as I see, there's some agents who really want it. And when you're getting started, as you know, trying to fund a family and a business at the same time, you need a lot more revenue than you think you do. And you know, I do see some coaching programs that are really helping people, but I see some that probably aren't a good idea based on the revenue that that agent is bringing in. There's just not enough revenue to be investing in a coach. And so I think that you create a really powerful bridge to, and at some point it may make sense for those people to pay coaching, but for a lot of the people that are just getting started, I don't know that it ever does at that level. I could be wrong. I know you have a different trade that's not saying like, no, it never makes sense. But- It just depends. It just depends on the coach and everything. But you know, you got a lot of, I'd love to know the statistics behind the agents that take out a credit card to pay for coaching that actually don't have the money to pay a thousand a month for coaching and go into debt, go into debt, paying for a coach that turns around and doesn't tell them anything different than what's on YouTube. It's horrible. And then if they try to get out of the contract, they got creditors that come after them. I mean, how is that helping the industry? You scare the agent into thinking that you need, that they need a coach. They have to pay this $1,000 a month or they won't succeed. You take their money and then if they try to back out of the contract, you go after them. You put them in debt. The only thing motivating the agent at that point is how to get out of debt, not the coach. And now we gotta figure out how we're gonna pay this off and they won't let us out of the contract even though it's not helping us. So yeah, I mean, it is a rough industry to be honest with you. And I'm just hoping I can spread my message far enough and I already have saved a lot of agents, to be honest with you, so many agents. Reach out and say, man, I'm so glad I found you before I paid, God knows what. Or, hey, I was about to quit three months ago and I found you somewhere. I get messages like that all the time.