 We're doing a new podcast now. This is the first episode. What's the name of this podcast? We haven't come up with it. We call it live with Ricky and Juan. We can call it real estate Mavericks. We can call it Killers What's up everybody welcome back to another show live with Juan and Ricky This is actually our first podcast of our new little format here So I got one by the DT up in New York Long Island Mars wherever the hell he is What up, dude doing good man. You put your my last name by the way. What is it baron net chi bad better than net Chi That's gonna be an entire podcast. You trying to pronounce my last name. No, I mean what when I talk to you I'm like Juan better DT Alfredo Cerella meatballs, that's what I say a little bit of everything but I'm doing good man How are you? I'm good man. Did you how was your lasagna lasagna was delicious? And my favorite type of lasagna is real estate lasagna Real estate lasagna shaped like a house Exactly that man. I build it brick by brick and Like I said, I'm a little real estate obsessed so everything all the food you eat you like put a foundation like you put the rice down and And then you just you know you build a good, you know pour the slab and I got you I got you That's it man. Cool. Cool. Well, I'm excited about our new little format here and the future of The direction that we're going in with all this stuff. So Yeah, just just a quick little story background here. I was on wands podcast When was that four years ago two three? I think it was about three now. I think it was 2018 Yeah, 2018. Okay. So one had a little podcast. You don't even do that podcast anymore, huh? It completely died out what ended up happening was uh podcasts are all about consistency And um, I had you I had a couple of other big guests But afterwards the business took over. So, uh, no, I haven't been too consistent with it lately. Yeah Well, you know my podcast I've been posting every single day I remember when when I messaged you off instagram, it had have been 2017 And I think the one thing you told me you were doing was you were posting on instagram and all your other platforms Like every single day for four years previous and at that point you were at like 6 000 followers So the fact that you're at 250k now on instagram and I don't even know how many you have on youtube And then we did our podcast and then you blew up right afterwards It's kind of cool just to see the growth because you've done nothing different. You've just been consistent to the tape I think the biggest thing man to to really look at when you look at the growth of it is that Nothing has really went viral Right like I haven't had any viral in this I had one video on youtube That like went to a hundred thousand views like within a week And that was the just one it was called realtor.com predicts real estate market crash in 2020 or something like that It was at the end of 2019 And um, I posted it it went to a thousand views and then it was like 5 000 and then it was like 10 000 I was like, oh my god, because I never get like over a couple thousand views of video So that was pretty cool to see one actually take off But uh, no, no like I it for me. It's just slow steady growth consistency over time Gary v's a real big influence for a lot of the stuff I do like that's where the free coaching came from That's where posting on all the different platforms and stuff came from And uh, one thing I I heard him say On a post here recently it was really cool to listen to this because it was like Either your content is so fire that you can't be denied like that. It just takes off and goes viral It just goes crazy. Now everybody knows you or You're not like a celebrity or you don't have content that goes, you know viral And you just have this small group this small audience and you just keep building and building and building a little bit Little by little, you know over time and that's literally what I've done. I mean 50 something thousand subscribers on youtube That i'm literally You know, I've never hit the hundred subscriber a day mark. It's just a slow steady You know growth. I see I see all these other youtubers meet the meat kevins and the graham stephens and stuff who You know, we're hitting a million subscribers that started youtube at the same time that I started youtube But it's completely different Like they started with real estate and they transitioned to general stuff personal finance different things like that So it's just a slow steady growth man. It's just a it's just a grind and I actually love it like that You know what I mean? Because I feel like my 50 something thousand subscribers on youtube is actually in a way Worth just as much as other people's millions of subscribers. You know what i'm saying I I think that's where a lot of people see the metrics and they're like, oh, wow If I don't have 100 200 300 thousand followers, I'm not doing it big But in reality, I rather have 20 30 000 loyal followers That'll go to the more than a million So I think you've built up the right way and that's what we have to preach to build a loyal Following that uh believes in what you preach, you know 100 percent 100 percent Well, bro, let's bring out our guests today. Uh, mr. Tyler Higgins. What's up, bro? What's up, man? How are you doing? Yeah, yeah, yeah, thanks to have you man. Absolutely Yeah, thanks for coming on the show man. Yeah, tell everybody who you are where you're at How long you've been selling all that good stuff? Yeah, so I'm Tyler Higgins. Um, I'm now with exp joined exp early on in 2020 Uh, I live in central eastern Kentucky So y'all are at the got ricky at the beach Got one up in new york and then i'm in the hills of kentucky. So uh a couple different worlds here, but um Got a wife hannah a little boy named coal Been selling real estate since february of 2019. So i'm i'm pretty new to the business Nice As a new agent What were your first 30 days like like what was the reality of it because we see all these agents getting their license They're like, hey, what's this career like? What were the first 30 days like describe that to us? Yeah, so I was in it. I was in an interesting position actually started as an inside sales agent, uh with a team Before I was licensed for about 90 days Uh in those 90 days Kind of laid the foundation of the importance of lead gen and lead follow-up of this kind of things for me So then when I got my license, I was able to already had a pipeline going So I was able to kind of take off run and already had some relationships started doing some deals It was a very transactional team, you know, so I had built a pretty decent Amount of leads in that short time. So when I got my license, thankfully I was able to start knocking out some transactions and some closings pretty quick. Yeah, nice nice. Okay, so So your first full year in real estate. What were your numbers? First full year was this past year did 31 deals for just over 7 million Holy Guess how many deals I did my first year? What hit me with it one Right ricky, I think I've heard you say that before too, right Total of $200,000 in volume So I think you could uh go ahead and pat yourself on the back when you're having a phenomenal Start to an incredible career Thanks, man. Yeah, it was a blessing for sure. I was super excited about it. Yeah, I did four deals my first year Let's see. What was the volume? It was like, uh it was like 250 250 250 you see I probably I probably didn't even do a million dollars one million my first You know that sounds like a pretty similar price point to me. I'm at like 227 is my price point So probably kind of similar to where you were when you first started out. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It took me eight months to make my first sale So like I talked to agents all the time and I talked to an agent today And he was like I did 12 this last year was my first year and I did 12 deals And uh, I was like wow man, that's incredible and he was like really like that And I was like, oh my god, bro I kind of went off on him. I was kind of I was kind of pissed. I was like I was like, dude I I did four deals my first year You know I said and I was trying to talk to this guy about like his mindset Like he needs to change his entire because he's thinking so backwards about so many things and this was one of them And I was like, you know, you did 12 deals You know, and then I say that's amazing And then you're like really like like that's a horrible number or something. I was like, dude, you were doing amazing, you know Yeah, that's awesome. F-bombs on him and stuff. And I was like You're doing absolutely incredible stuff You know, dude, I was like you you're so People in their first year and tell me like I want to hear your first year like the big picture of it But like people in their first year to me It's not even about transactions and stuff. It's about a couple things It's about learning everything you can learn about like how to write contracts look at mls Like all those skills are worth millions of dollars And then like to me a new agent comes in and they're like, okay, I want to do 20 deals They come in and they don't do anything. That's like two a month They come in they don't do anything for four or five months and then they're like, oh, I'm failing You know because they're thinking two a month they're going to do two a month two month two a month And it's like what happens for a new agent is all your deals for that first year get lumped into the second half of that first year Like a lot of these new agents They don't do anything for six months and then boom The the good ones put in so much work during that first half of this the year for nothing But they knew they knew where it was going So they just kept pushing and then boom they have they do the 20 deals That they had a goal to do in the second half of the year Everything is lumped into the second half of the year and your The amount of deals you close in the second half of the year Completely depends on the amount of work you put in for free in the first half of the year Um and people are getting to four months and Like my god, william patrick, right? He's nine months in he closed five deals has seven pending and 12 listings He didn't get his first listing until he got to 14,000 calls Wow 14,000 calls If you would have quit at 10,000 at 13 at 13,900 if you would have quit He wouldn't have got that first listing And then now look at him. He has all kinds of momentum. He's closing deal Like I tell people that story and new agents are like, oh my god. That's amazing You know, wow, look at that. I'd love to be there and I'm like, yeah But listen here's the other part of the story It took him 14,000 calls to get to his first deal So like what did your first like, what do you see big picture? Like of your first year like because it's more than just transactions, right? It's what you are It's the database that you built, you know, it's all the future business you created Yeah, yeah for sure and I've got a lot to say on that because where I'm at now compared to where Where I was first year there's been a ton of transition and change just in who I am as the agent You know went from being on a team to being an individual agent all sorts of stuff So I figured out pretty early on that things I needed to learn how to do were to find business And I needed to learn like you said the mechanics of a real estate transaction Like people laugh me when I tell them this I got into real estate And I couldn't have told you the difference between a water heater and an HVAT Like dead serious didn't grow up around real estate didn't grow up knowing anything about houses Neither of my parents were in sales of any kind I got in was like, okay I got to learn the mechanics of a real estate transaction You know, how does this happen and I got to learn how to find business And I'll tell you what helped me is I found you I was on a very very very transactional like minded team Not really relationships over transactions obviously So I was I was fortunate to find you very early and you'll laugh at this bro So in my at my desk on the wall, there was a sticky note that said believe work hard adapt and be patient Which was your that was your thing from the beginning was the bwap Uh, and then so I was able to have that mindset of like Okay, I'm going to build as many relationships as possible right now No matter what that means in a genuine way so that I can do deals later on Um, and just trusting that process of you know trying to build relationships Like you said it always pans out in the end. That's where your deals come from is those long-term relationships So I was able to to find you and develop that mindset of trusting the process of building relationships pretty early on And I'd say that really helped me, you know kind of in my second second half of the year, you know during my first year Yeah, but yeah, but like Let me ask you real quick one like your like like I want to know big picture stuff like how many calls did you make? How many people did you talk to? What is that like? Yeah, so like I said, I uh, I started out Circle prospecting fizzbows expired anybody I could really get into conversation with is how I started to build my database in the beginning And since the beginning I've been doing the weekly email You know through mail chin for constant contact whatever you want to use Uh, so I've been in like I said, I got licensed February 2019. I've got 540 people in my database now Uh, you know year and a half two years later A ton of that in the beginning and I actually wrote some notes on this Uh cold calling in the weekly email is what kick started me where I found some deals where I started the Network build relationships Um really early on and that kind of catapulted me in To building a brand and building a business to where I started to be able to get referrals People in my sphere were noticing my brand. I was getting business from that Um, and that's kind of where my database is at now is I've got I've got a really kind of solid vip database of my sphere And people that are either going to work with me or refer me clients But I've also got a database of 500 other people that may not be doing something for the next Two three four months or years, but they're still going to be getting the weekly email. So when that time comes on their gut So you have a really good follow-up system in place. You're nurturing your database Why don't we give the audience a actual actionable steps? They could take from from this as far as like what they could do to kind of replicate your success What's your day-to-day look like what time do you wake up? What's your schedule like how how many hours you spend on prospecting the phone things like that Tell us like exactly what you do Yeah, so my mornings, um Typically I get up, you know somewhere between seven and eight and I spend some time with my son He's not even two yet. So, you know, the day gets crazy once nine o'clock hits And then he goes to bed pretty early. So I like getting a little family time there in the morning Then by eight forty five or so I'm in the office You know the try to true the morning time is when you're best for prospecting That's when I get into my prospecting in the morning Usually for about two hours so nine to eleven. That's how I was taught early on is, you know Hour and a half two hours a legion a day Guard that time and that's been helpful for me I'd say where I've transitioned is that used to be Just cold calling and pouring people into my database now that's come kind of transitioned to Social media and then really really touching my VIP list in a high level. So once a month In different forms of communication anybody that I think would either work with me or refer somebody to me Is getting a high level touch. So January they'll get a hand they'll get a letter that you know, that's about why I work with referrals February they're going to get a phone call March they're going to get a text or a coffee or a client party And I'm doing that kind of with my my really really strong database that I know Has referred me business or will will refer me business um, so after that I'd say one thing that has really contributed to my business Uh In a big way has been my follow-up. So I think that's where early on I made some big mistakes with follow-up In my first my first year when I got licensed in 2019. I bet I lost out on I don't know 10 11 12 deals from my smaller database just because I didn't follow up well You know, I didn't know how to and I didn't know the importance of it So after I do that legion Since that's the most important thing the rest of the day is follow-up or meetings Yeah, you know, we got a negotiate a contract here and there and put an offer together show some houses whatever Um, but I'm constantly constantly constantly trying to follow up with people. That's a huge part of the second half of my day Phenomenal man. So you would say the first half is mostly consistent of prospecting hitting the phones Nurturing your database second part of the day is following up with that database making sure they're ready to meet with you or Obviously go ahead and help buy or sell their property When do you do your appointments? Do you have a set time for them? Is it only evenings? Is it sometimes the weekends? When do you actually show houses? Tell me a little about that. Yeah You know, I I kind of go whenever and fit the need to the client You know, I feel like sometimes in our industry It's super easy for agents to beat themselves up And I know this is why ricky put his three by three in place, you know, three days in week three I was prospecting they're like, well You know, my client can only go see homes at 9 a.m. On thursday. That's what i'm supposed to be doing Legion, you know, and they get in this like paralysis by analysis guilt-trip thing Um, i'm pretty flexible. I typically try to go do that stuff after the lunch time of the day I feel like that's when most people are free to go see houses Uh, you know free for listening appointments, whatever the case may be But if a client calls me it's like, hey, I want to go see this house I have, you know, 9 a.m. Available on friday. I'm going to go do that So I am structured with my time You know, some people are like I got my day broken down to 15 minute increments and that's great That works really well for a lot of people for me. That's just not how my brain functions well So I've got some loose structure of okay. This is the most important thing I need to do right now But I know I've got some flexibility to go show houses to go on a listing appointment Whatever the case may be Nice, bro. Nice Cool, man. Well, um, I mean you're absolutely crushing it. So Look, here's what I would say whatever you're doing just keep doing that You know, like one of those things if it didn't broke don't fix it kind of deal Yeah, and something to oh go ahead go ahead Yeah, something to add on the prospecting. I think that I've been excited about lately is You know, you hear people on the top like yeah, I get leads from social media But what does that really mean and how do you really do that? It's not I kind of had this thought in my mind of like passive social media marketing versus active social media marketing Um, so when I say social media marketing, I'm not doing paid facebook instagram ads anything like that Uh, I am I am constantly constantly DMing and messaging people in my database or people that I want in my database on facebook and instagram Like it's literally the same as picking up a phone and calling somebody and saying hey How you doing? How's your family been doing? You know, I'm updating my list of people who might want to work with me in the future Or if you have any real estate needs like can I get your contact info? I do that non-stop man, and I poured Past two days. I probably picked up, you know Seven eight new people in my database just from DM and on instagram and facebook So I think you know the old school method of Only one thing works and only one way works has to go out the window Like I've heard you say a million times anything will work if you do it consistently And that's been huge for me building my brand on instagram, but following that up with aggressively trying to get into conversations and build relationships with people has been has been the biggest source of my business I tallied up all my deals this morning where they came from and it's either been from social media A referral from social media or my sphere Um, so my sphere everybody that knows me knows that I sell real estate that I'm trustworthy that I care about them And then, you know, I'm constantly constantly trying to get in conversations online Um with people so I think I would just encourage new agents like if you if you Just feel like you absolutely cannot do co-calls, which I'm a proponent of co-calls Like I said, that's what kick started in my business. That was a catalyst, but Get creative just do something And do a lot of it and do it every day very consistently And I promise you'll get the relationships with people Yeah, dude, I say it all the time. Um, there's a lot of videos where I'm saying, you know Call people on facebook hit the little call button and call them there or message them or whatever And reach out to them and just see how they're doing, you know, just start a conversation I mean, why do you think that every video and stuff that I do I'm talking about I answer every instagram dm Right. I'm funneling everyone to instagram to message me Um, you know, that's the number one place to connect with me is instagram So what it does is it creates a huge pipeline of people who are just constantly messaging me Right and like I spend a couple hours a day answering dms on instagram. I mean, that's where I mean, that's where a lot of my business is, you know, just in the dms of my instagram so Yeah, man direct messaging people on social medias and reaching out and uh, seeing what you can do to help them Get to know them get their contact information at the end of the day Here's what I say about it at the end of the day. Great collect data Right social media to collect data But at the end of the end of the day If we aren't talking to people voice to voice in the real estate business Yeah, there's a lot of businesses. You don't have to talk to people e-commerce. You're selling supplements. You're selling Whatever, you know, they don't even see humans. They're just seeing products and buying products But real estate is completely different. You have to talk to them. It's a different business model, right? That's why real estate agents aren't going anywhere because you can't replace Buying property with, you know, people are not just going to look at a property You can't just hit the buy now button and buy a house Okay, there's a huge process that has to go has to happen here with the banks with appraisals with inspections The foundation's messed up. You can't see all any of that stuff online Um, you have to go there. Sure, you can virtually show the property But then you're going to have to go see it in person once you decide you like the house And make sure that it really is something that's going to be a good fit So what does that tell us? There's got to be human human contacts. So as we're as we're, you know, DMing hundreds and thousands of people You know to collect that data to stay in touch with them at the end of the day We got to have a list somewhere too where we're blowing through phone numbers to call people Um, you know to stir the pot, you know, we're stirring the pot, you know, whether it's Hey, maybe it's a bunch of phone numbers that reached out and said they might want to do something soon On social media and you're just following up with them. Maybe it's cold calls. Maybe it's fear of influence Maybe it's from an open house. You did. I don't know where the numbers are coming from We just need numbers to call. You know what I mean? Yeah, bro. That's how I feel. I feel like It's literally just about taking action and doing it consistently every day because if you do that, what what like Whether it's sort of prospecting whether it's social media, whether it's open houses, whatever You were you were going to get data. You're going to get contact information You're going to put people in your database But then where where most agents I feel like miss out Is this person's like, oh, you know, we might buy in six months or something the agent never talks to him again Like I am I am busting down people's phones, whether it's text, whether it's call whether it's email or whatever Like the sauce is in the follow-up, you know, so it's like I'm constantly constantly Hey, just wanted to check in again. You know, it's been a month or whatever. I hope your family's doing well You know then next month next month next month. So no, I agree I think it's all about just taking that action Getting that data and then following up with it because if you have data, but you never talk to them It's pointless. You know what I mean? Like there's not a magic button where somebody gives you an email and their phone number And they call you back in eight months. So like, hey, we're ready to do something now. That's just not how it works Yeah, yeah 100 man 100 percent. Well, bro Like just seeing it from the inside of a newer agent in today's world You know and like hearing everything you had to say today dropping all these nuggets In terms of like mixing it up with like cold calling and social media and DMM people and having the right intentions and just taking action and doing it consistently You know hearing all that from a you know, one-year agent That is crushing it on the level that you're crushing it with 7 million in sales for your first year and stuff is just Really to me just super inspiring. I mean just to hear this kind of stuff. You know what I mean Um, yeah, well, thank you bro. I mean, I I really do all you know I'll attribute it to a huge a huge factor of uh, you know, how you helped me earlier on the business about treating it as relationships over transactions like I got a call I got a call yesterday From somebody in my sphere Said hey, this is so-and-so My husband and I want to buy an investment property and I called you because I know we can trust you Like we just trust you so we want to work with you. So I think you know early on Uh, just just truly truly no matter what the case is doing doing it for the relationship and not the deal That's why I'm successful like I know it sounds crazy to some people like the team I was on My team leader that I had I would be doing things, you know, that that seemed to him were so silly and stupid and dumb But in the back of my mind, I was trusting that in 12 months. It was going to pay off. You know what I'm saying I wasn't getting by a reps on and I wasn't forcing people to do deals and telling them Oh, you're dumb for renting. You need to buy a house. You know, this is the time to sell I was like, listen, I care about you. I like you. You can trust me. I'm good at what I do You know what I'm saying and however I can help you Just let me know and I feel like that that's paid off in dividends Yeah, it's a long-term way of thinking because you're looking at this from a three four five year plan So I tell all of my agents at the end of the day if someone's not interested in buying in six months Well, their cousin could be Their mother could be their colleague could be so all this data it's gold You nurture the data even though you may not convert that lead specifically over the next couple of months Long term they're going to bring you more bars more sellers more referrals So the fact that you have this figured out year one I'm scared for every other agent in your market by your three Five when you start scaling this thing man because you're gonna just take over But here's the thing bro. Here's the thing. Here's the thing though guys You're talking about long term, right one Like work work, you know, you're you're putting rice, you know on the plate and like Yeah, you're you're you're you're you know, you're boiling the the big the big noodles and stuff But what i'm telling you is is you're about to eat that lasagna because Tyler did let me let me let me bring you back to the first of the show bro He did seven million dollars in sales in his first year first full year So all this talk about long term see this is the problem, right? This is the problem people put You know putting people first and relationships over transactions and all this You know language and and philosophies into this box and say Okay, you're you're you're you're you're looking you're working on your long term business And here tyler is closing seven million dollars in sales in his first year So I just want to make it clear That this isn't a long term play. Okay. This is a short term play that ends up being massive long term Sure, it's a two-part play. It's short and long term at the same time Right, and I just have to make that clear because you got a guy that just closed seven million dollars in sales And sure he's thinking long term and he's thinking about all the right things and helping people and creating the relationships and stuff But at the end of the day, he's closing deals right now Yeah, and I think ricky. That's a great point. I think the thing with it is I am doing the exact same thing as the deal chaser At the other office that's calling fizz wasn't expired trying to high pressure convert them into sales You know or or trying to you know trying to convert leads, you know high pressure or whatever I'm doing the same thing, but with different intention So we're doing the same actions But my script is hey, what in the world can I do for you? How can I help you and his script is You need to work with me so I can get paid like you say all the time. It's the same It's the same, but it's different, right? Here's the thing The the the winners of the world and losers of the world are put in the same amount of energy Right same amount of energy, but one of them wins big and the other one does it It's because they have different objectives different philosophies and different actions that you're taking so um Yeah, you're doing the same thing you're talking to the same amount Let's say you're talking to the same amount of people and everything But the difference is You're he's living on just the people who want to do deals today And you're living on people who want to do deals today and people who want to do deals tomorrow That's the difference you're You're 10xing your business Right because you're going to get the same amount of deals as the high pressure guy The only difference is he's not going to get future deals You're going to get the same amount of deals he gets but also all that future business of everybody you ran into That you had really good conversations with What's that one that thing compounds because now you got seven million dollars closed That's 31 more people that you're following up with the following year The average person forgets their real estate agent after two or three years You're staying in touch with these people you're compounding on more sales next year You're following with your database the entire thing just a recipe for everything to just scale up on a huge level so It's crazy you mentioned that because this this past I'd say probably Month maybe two months Is when I when I'm starting to see referrals calling me out of the blue like this week I've had two people call me which early in my business that never happened. You know what I mean But I've had a couple people in the past week call me saying hey We're ready, you know, we're ready to do something now or hey so and so told me I need to work with you So i'm starting to see the hard work early on compound like you said Yeah, which makes me super excited. So now I got to leverage that like you said and scale it and build it bigger Which is a huge goal for 2021 100 percent 100 so as we as we as we come to a close and get out of here for the day What's your 2021 goals? Yeah, I want to do 50 deals. Um, so help 50 families, which would be united 31 so 19 born I did last year Um, and I really really really want to build my business with exp So I'd love to be an icon agent, you know, I'd love to hit that icon this year. That'd be a huge goal of mine I did the math If I do 33 deals, I should hit icon, but I'd like to go above and beyond that Nice nice, bro. Well, you're well on your way, man. Thanks for coming on the show today. Really enjoyed it. I know what everybody Uh got a lot of value out of this episode Um, if somebody wants to follow you or hit you up in any kind of way man, where can they find you? Yeah, I'd say instagram is the best place. So it's at teahiggins homes. That's my first name tyler t Higgin s h o m e s at teahiggins homes on instagram d me Comment whatever Yeah, 100 percent 100 percent you guys go follow tyler tyler on instagram. That's at teahiggins homes Uh on instagram you guys go hit him up there follow his journey You know first year seven million. Wow, you know what I mean? So you guys definitely need to follow up and uh and see what he has in store for 2021 and reach out for tips I mean the guy's an open book as you guys can see appreciate y'all having me Great job man keep crushing and do your thing and if you're listening take advantage of that man reach out to the guy Very friendly very easy to connect with and like I said, you're open helping out other agents get to where you're at, right?