Your Network determines your Net Worth… we’ve all heard that said before. Today I talk with the owner of TTM Development and Co-Host of the Portland Real Estate Podcast.

A few of the questions that I ask Tucker include:
-What is the most profitable work you do? What is the most rewarding work you do? Are they the same thing?
-What role has your network played in doing this great work?
-What do you do to intentionally grow your network?
-What do you do to continue to add value to your network?
-How do you best leverage the power of the network you’ve built?

When you’re ready, here are 4 ways I can help you…

1.
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Don’t miss my interviews with the industry’s biggest thinkers and highest achievers. —Click here.

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FULL AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION: 

Justin Stoddart 0:01
So the big question is this. How do we those of us in the real estate industry, with crazy amounts of ambition? How do we think bigger than the building of our own empires? How do we simultaneously see success and significance, income and impact? My name is Justin Stoddard. And this is the Think Bigger Real Estate Show.

Welcome back to the Think Bigger Real Estate Show, I’m your host, Justin Stoddart, excited today to bring somebody that many of you know some of you don’t, whichever, like, however your relationship is, with this individual, you’re going to take something away, we’re going to learn today, how to build a more powerful network from somebody who’s done it is doing it again, and he’s gonna teach us how he does it. Before he fully introduced him. Let me remind you that inside of the scaling your referral business, on Facebook, you will get the most of my help helping you to not just build a powerful relationship based business but one that scales. So excited to have you in that group. Today’s guest again, he is best known probably in the Portland area for his work on The Real on the Portland real estate podcast, co hosts there also the real deals, podcast and also TTM development. His name is Tucker Mayer, who, Tucker, it’s such a pleasure to have you here, man. Thank you for coming on the show today. I appreciate you having me. And I apologize in advance for being difficult to schedule. I’m usually not. But as I said before, transition months are tough man and I’m in the middle one right now. So for those that don’t know, in fact, am I okay to announce this? I’m assuming okay, you’re fine. Okay. So Tucker and his family are moving to Naples, Florida, where he’s going to be moving his practice down there. So he’s really getting a fresh start on on what it looks like to build a powerful network from the ground up, right. Obviously, he’s confident enough in his skills to be able to build a powerful network, right that it is at this point in his career, he’s willing to go and start over. So great lessons we’re going to pull from you today, Tucker, I get excited to have you here. So a little more background. Tell me a little bit more about, you know, your development company. What you guys specialize in? That’ll give us all some context. Yeah, for sure. So I started the development company officially in 2008.

Tucker Merrihew 2:29
Thank you muted, buddy. Can you hear us testis?

Can’t I hear? Yeah.

Justin Stoddart 2:38
Can you hear us?

I don’t think it’s just me.

I might have you pop out and hop back in Tucker, if you got a sec.

I’m not sure why the audio went out on us.

So while he does that now, and you can keep testing at any point Tucker.

So for those who don’t know, I come out of the development building business. And admire those that do it at a high level like like Tucker does, it takes a lot out of you to not just have the job of building a practice of kind of a pipeline, right. But in kind of, in this world of kind of this development world, you have a number of different things that you are forced at, at really building, it’s number one, a pipeline for the future, it’s taking care of your current clients, number two, and then number three, it’s taking care of past clients, right? In construction, you have this warranty that lasts oftentimes for a number of years, and to be able to have like managing all of those people. While still now also as Tucker’s done as building a powerful kind of media presence, and a powerful networking network. There’s a lot going on in this guy’s life. One of the things that I’m most interested in learning from Tucker today. And again, if you’re here with us today, and you’ve got questions for Tucker, could be about development in your part of the world could be on how to work with developers, could be anything in between, would encourage you to write your comments in. In the comments, I’ll be sure to get those to Tucker.

One of the things that I teach often when it comes to building a powerful network, and again, we’re kind of waiting for Tucker to join back in here. Looks like his connection went out on us. The thing that I’ve learned is oftentimes when we step into a relationship that could be beneficial for us is that we do it in a kind of a very self-serving mode, meaning we come in with our handout and that oftentimes has is leaving that relationship with an empty hand. Because anytime people feel that you’re there to get something, it becomes a pretty quick relationship, a pretty shallow relationship. And so I think it’s important

For any time you’re looking to build a powerful network, for you to first stop and assess, what value can I bring to this individual? What can I do for this person that’s going to bring value to them. And if you can’t bring value, the number one you need to not enter into this conversation. A better response is that you need to be asking yourself,

How can I how can I add value to this person? Because the reality is you can add value to that person, it’s just going to take you more time, it’s going to take you a little more effort in order to do that. So that’s one of the key things that I’m excited for him to cover. We’ll see if he hops back in it might just mean be me doing a bit of a solo show today. Oh, here comes.

Tucker Merrihew 5:46
So it’ll go those damn tell solicitors man they call and they blow up your show. So sorry. Anyway, I’ll continue the question that you asked if you don’t mind. So yeah.

So I started the development company in 2008. And that was for those of you guys that were around. It was a very questionable time. But we started renovating, basically hood houses in North Portland. You know, for lack of a better term, those hood houses are now in fairly expensive neighborhoods, because neighborhoods have changed a lot since then. And, you know, we gradually worked our way into new construction, as Portland price points kind of grew. And then we gradually worked our way into Bay being almost exclusively into Lake Oswego. Now, we’re exclusive to Lake Oswego, with all of our projects, just because price points are higher. The markets are kind of a little more insulated. And so now we really just focus on high-end new construction and a few renovation projects here and there. Love event. And you’re obviously moving your business to Florida. Without getting political, what would you say be the biggest reason for you to be making that move? Is it the warm weather? Is it just the fact that there’s a lot of companies and businesses moving there?

Justin Stoddart 6:53
What would you say be kind of the primary driver for you?

Tucker Merrihew 6:56
Um, let’s say this, I’ve lived in the Portland area here for 36 of my 41 years, I spent about five years in Boulder, Colorado, it was sunny, 300 days out of the year there. And I have very fond memories of sunshine, most days. And so without getting political. I’ll say that one of the main drivers is I’m ready for a chapter with a lot of sunshine. And you know, I can live my Captain Ron life down there. Nice tan and you know, floating around on a boat, maybe a little bit.

Justin Stoddart 7:24
Yeah, I think there’s a lot of people who, who feel that way, right? They get in the sunshine, they like I just feel better, I feel more healthy. So good for you, man. I’m excited. What gives you the confidence and the courage to be able to go down and start over? Right? Like, obviously, you’re leaving a lot, you’re leaving a very, like not just a successful development company, but like a media presence where people know who you are, which is part of it, right? It’s the visibility and the credibility to say, oh, yeah, I know who Tucker is.

Tucker Merrihew 7:49
Yeah, that’s a big question, man. And it’s one that I’ve asked myself a lot. And people have asked me to, like, why are you doing this, like, you got a pretty good footprint here. You’ve built a good brand on many fronts. And, you know, I don’t have a great answer for you, other than the fact that I know that I can do it again. And I’ve done it once. And it’s, you know, similar to what you’ve done here with your show, you do it once you can do it again. And so is it a challenge? Is it a mountain to climb? Yeah, it’s, it’s a big one, would I’d be lying if I said, you know, I never had any second thoughts about it at all. Because that’s just simply not true. But at the end of the day, I know that I can do this again. And, you know, the other thing is, is us going to Naples is kind of it’s not a horizontal move, it’s not a move down, it’s a big move up. So you know, the next phase of my career is going to be probably partnering with private equity, family offices, things like that.

So that we can have, you know, 20 3040 50 million at play at any given time with our projects, and not just, you know, raising a millionaire to play around in the Portland market. So it’ll give me more runway to kind of take my career to the next level and just kind of achieve more of my own potential. And so there’s a lot of internal kind of drive to maximize what I’ve been given, you know, in terms of what’s between my two years and how far I can take it. And so that’s another part of this too, is that there’s just, I mean, it’s crazy there it makes when you when you’re there, it makes Lake Oswego feel like everybody should be on an EBT card. Like it’s, it’s crazy the amount of money that’s there. So I’m looking forward to kind of diving into that and making a name and kind of rebuilding this brand and my footprint, in a bigger, you know, more expensive market, I would say bigger market, but more expensive market with a lot more money.

Justin Stoddart 9:36
I’m excited to delve into here just a second, like what your first steps are going to be. But I just wanna highlight something you said. And I think each and every one of us has a responsibility to recognize the talents and gifts, whatever you want to call them, like what we’ve been given and some multiply them and to actually build upon them. And if you think you’re coasting along, you know, life’s pretty good, it’s comfortable. I would caution you to be leery of that.

Not from a standpoint of, you’re ultimately not going to be very happy and fulfilled. But at some point when people are comfortable, and they’re not stretched and growing, whether it be automation, whether it be a competitor, somebody else steps in, something else steps in and removes you from that comfortable spot, right? The market doesn’t sit very well in comfort when there are other people out there hustling to make things happen. So I would just kind of caution for anybody that wants to be successful, and have a significant life as well-meaning very happy, very fulfilled doing great work, is it it’s not always going to feel comfortable. In fact, it won’t probably feel comfortable for, you know, for very long. So the fact that you’re doing this Tucker is a great indicator, and part of the reason what part of reasons why I wanted to have you on the show, right?

Which is all about thinking bigger about stretching ourselves about maximizing the potential inside of us. So it’s great stuff. Let’s go tactical here a little bit. You You You walk into Naples, right drive in the maples ever going to get

What’s your first strategy? Right? Starting? Like, nobody knows who you are, right? The whole topic of this episode is how do I build a powerful network? Talk, like, talk us through what you would do cuz I think that’s going to speak to everybody here who doesn’t have Tucker’s like brand, Tucker’s identity, your visibility and your network here like Well, of course, cuz he’s got this podcast, and he’s got this successful developing company. Not anymore. Right? Yeah, way. So talking with like, like, what are the first steps? When you don’t know people? You don’t have that network yet? What are some of the first things that you do in order to build that network?

Tucker Merrihew 11:27
Yeah, it’s, I mean, I’m still in the process of doing it. But I’ll say this, you know, for the last 10 years, I haven’t, I mean, I don’t remember the last time we bought a piece of property on market, right. So, you know, one of my better skill sets is my ability to find off-market opportunities. And so I’ve already started doing that there, you know, basically taking what I do here and doing it there. And I’m about this close to inking a deal on a oceanfront lot that a family’s owned since the 50s. And so that may be our first, you know, it’s probably going to be a six or $7 million sell-out build. But, you know, by virtue of buying that starting that, that will expedite me having to build my relationships with architects and subcontractors and all these things.

And, you know, this past Monday, I may have mentioned to you may not, but I actually had to take my contractor’s test for the state of Florida on Monday, which was hell, to be honest, because it was seven hours in a cubicle wearing a mask, and I couldn’t leave, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t do anything. And I passed, fortunately, with 80%. But it was probably the hardest test I’ve ever taken in my life on top of that. So, you know, as we take on these projects, and we do these things, it’s going to allow me to kind of continue to build my network through that first one, and that second one. So it’s really just like,

You got to get on the field and play to start building the network. And that’s, that’s what I’ve done. And it starts with lead generation. So that’s thing I do really well, I started lead generation will take on a project and then from there, we’ll grow the network. So I love it, getting in the game, playing all of a sudden, you’re forced to build a network, right? How did you find this family? Right, these people who had this oceanfront property? How did that like talk to us about how you got there?

So direct mail, I use direct mail a lot. I mean, that’s basically everything that we buy is from direct mail. And so this guy with a blower just likes to hang out by my car. So I apologize for listening. But we target, you know, properties that are investment grade, or meant to be bought by a builder investor. And we have a direct mail sequence that we send. And, you know, here locally, I do it enough that people recognize our brand. And we pair that with our projects and our podcast.

And it usually creates a good response, especially over time. So anybody that owns a piece of property, especially in Lake Oswego, that’s either investment graders should be bought by a builder, we’ve probably talked to him. So it’s really just a matter of whether or not we can come to an agreement on a fair price for the property. And so I’m deploying that same skill set in Naples. And you know, with the minimal amount of marking that I’ve done thus far, I had got the opportunity to talk to an individual who’s on the family’s on the property since 50s. He lives in Eastern Illinois right now and he wants to sell that and move that money to up in northeast Illinois with his family.

Justin Stoddart 14:23
I lov e it, man. So really, you’ve taken kind of a kind of a wide net approach now a refined one right? You’re you know, who you’re talking to. You’ve got very systematic way of doing it to where you’ve got and you’re having intelligent conversations with people targeted like the right audience, getting the right message, which is creating this this opportunity for conversation at that point. What it looks like you get somebody that responds, raises their hand, says look, you know, we’re thinking about selling actually, it’s funny that we got your thing in the mail here. You go sit down and meet with them. Is that the next step?

Tucker Merrihew 14:55
I mean, generally here yeah, like we’ll go see the property in person. There’s nothing that you can’t, you know, meeting in person is the best way to build rapport, right? building rapport is the best way to put yourself on track to doing a transaction, given you can come to an agreement on price, right? Yeah. Unfortunately, in Naples, I’m not there yet this guy lives in northeast Illinois. So our rapport building has been purely over the phone. But, you know, I have been able to leverage the fact that I know what the hell I’m talking about. And so, you know, part of this game is just kind of instilling confidence in people when they talk to you.

And so, you know, this guy he could talk to, and it’s not a diss on realtors, or anybody else, but he could talk to somebody that doesn’t build houses, but just wants to sell real estate, and it’s gonna be a different conversation than it’s with somebody who builds houses and sells the houses, right. And so that conversation is just, it’s a little deeper, it’s a little more just earnest in nature, you know, hopefully, and it instills a little bit more confidence in people. And that confidence allows you to connect with them. And if you can connect with them, your likelihood of doing business is higher. And, you know, so that’s where we’re at with this guy. And I just, it’ll be what it is with everybody. And it has been with everybody that I’ve talked to in the past, you know, that we bought property from here. I mean, you know, one gal, the last piece of property we bought here, like literally her last words to me, were glad we decided to sell you, I hope you make a ton of money with this lot. Right? So, you know, I guess that says something about our ability to connect with people. S o yeah,

Justin Stoddart 16:27
I think people are looking for leadership, right? At the end of the day, I’m a firm believer that the highest form of sales is leadership, people are paying you to lead them to the outcome that you know, that you wanted, it’s hard to lead people you don’t know what you’re talking about. Right? You could, you can kind of have a few, a few catchy catchphrases. But at the end of the day, if if you don’t actually have the knowledge, and it’s it’s hard to actually lead people anywhere.

So awesome stuff. Talk to us a little bit about a tool. I know we’re about a time, you’ve got a tool to help people kind of cast that wide net. Right. So for some people that that are interested in, okay, how do I how do I get an audience that I can then kind of refine down and then start having these conversations? What is that tool? I know it’s a it’s a, it’s a dialing tool? Yeah, so we I also am one of the owners of a company, it’s called call magic. And so it’s basically a lead generation company, right. And it’s, it’s probably a wider net tool than what you know, I specifically use and finding lots to build for my business in certain parts of town, right. But it’s a wider net tool, and that we basically create lead flow for agents and investors, where, you know, we have the initial conversation, which is usually the most uncomfortable one, let’s be honest. And then at the point that somebody says, Yes, I would be willing to sell and this is approximately the price range, I’d be willing to sell. And then you can kind of grade the lead. And you can see, okay, it’s a retail lead, it’s a retail property, it’s a good lead for an agent, right, or it’s a wholesale lead, they want a quasi wholesale price, that might be a good lead for an investor. And so once you can grade the lead, you can kind of kick it on down to whomever it is that you’re generating these leads for, you can give them kind of the breakdown on it. And then they can call and they can make that secondary connection with them. And hopefully, they can do business with them. So we do that for agents, we do that for investors all over the country. And it’s a great tool for kind of wide net marketing for people that need, you know, consistent lead flow into their business to kind of keep building their own pipeline of opportunities. Yeah, I love it. And if you’re in that spot, right, where you don’t yet know, anybody you don’t like you’re maybe new to an area, you need to start somewhere. And maybe it’s even, like, I don’t necessarily want to practice on people that are very influential, right, or people that are in my own personal network, I’d rather practice on strangers and get comfortable speaking, leading teaching. Cool, right? Like, this might be a great opportunity for you to, to really kind of build that network, kind of refine that database to a group of people that then you can start to kind of level up and go to some of those more influential people. Yeah, and then a certain level to you know, as your agent business gets bigger and bigger, like you’re looking for different marketing channels to deliver lead flow, right. And so it’s, it works well for that also, because your sphere and your past clients can only deliver you so much. And so if you go outside of that, you know, I mean, some of these lists that were pulling their, you know, 30 40,000 person lists, right? And we go through that, and we generate leads, and so you’re tapping into these different subsections of people that you would never get to otherwise. Right. So it’s just another way to look at it. So two more questions. What’s what’s one of the biggest mistakes you see people make when it comes to building a powerful network?

Tucker Merrihew 19:32
I think people want to take too quickly. I think that’s the big thing. You know, nobody wants you in their circle until they want you in their circle, right? So be be valuable and whatever way that is like maybe it’s just as a person. Maybe it’s as a person and what you do but, you know, just try and be valuable not be cheesy. You know, that’s the one thing that I see a lot of people making mistakes, just trying to be overly cheesy and Just taking initially and you somebody like us, somebody like me, you can see that very quickly. And it just kind of is a professional turnoff, let’s let’s call it right?

Justin Stoddart 20:09
You know that quick monologue that I did when you are reconnecting that’s exactly I talked about is all too often, people come in with their handout, they don’t even realize they have their handout, but it’s very obvious that they’re to get something and it quickly causes you to put them in a category of vendor solicitor as opposed to appear. Right as opposed to you know, someone who I can do business with these people are trying to get something from me and it’s a totally different feel. So encourage you again, if you’re looking at building a powerful network what Tucker just shared, there’s gold, he last question, Tucker, then we’ll wrap up, which is this you are a big thinker, you’re demonstrating that with the courage of you moving your your practice down to Naples, Florida, what do you do to continue to be a big thinker? What do you do to continue to, to grow yourself to expand your possibilities?

Tucker Merrihew 20:54
You know, I mean, we’ve discussed it a little bit, but I’ll just kind of, you know, shore it up for everybody is, I put myself in uncomfortable situations, right. And I and I make myself figure a way out of it. And so, I’d say, closing up shop here and moving to all the way across the country to another market, you know, like Naples and basically forcing myself to redo this, you know, that’s putting yourself in a very uncomfortable situation. And so I think that’s, that’s the key to thinking bigger is that you just have to kind of push yourself right, and you’ll be surprised how far you can go if you do and you just kind of step outside of that little comfort bubble that we all like to live in, but ultimately, we should.

Justin Stoddart 21:39
Good stuff, man. I appreciate that very much. Appreciate you coming on the show. I know you got a lot going on right now like a lot going on life right now. means a lot that you would have the integrity to keep the commitment do the show. We’ve all benefited as a result. I look forward to staying in contact. appreciate the comments that have come in here from Facebook. Some nice words coming to me and Tucker thank you guys very much for for tuning in. My final requests of everybody listening here today are these three simple words and they are go think bigger. Tucker, appreciate you helping us do that today, my friend. Appreciate you having me and being patient with me this week. You bet but Tuckson take

I want to thank you for tuning in to this episode of The Think Bigger Real Estate Show. If you found value here, I asked three things. Number one, give us a review. Number two, go to Facebook groups search Think bigger Real Estate and apply to join. Here you will find a community of big thinking professionals that will help you grow your income, your independence and your impact. And my third request is go Think Bigger.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai