Success in Your First Year in Real Estate

Shelley Zavitz, Author of Your First 365 Days in Real Estate is here to talk about the most important things a new agent can do to have success in their first year. 

She outlines her 12-week New agent 365 program that walks agents through everything they need to know to have success in their first year in the business. 

Justin Stoddart
Hey, and welcome back to the Think Bigger Real Estate Show. I’m your host Justin Stoddard, excited today to teach you specifically what you need to do in order to be successful in your first real in your first year of real estate, whether you’re brand new, or whether you want to start over, like hit the reset button, let’s do this again. I want my next year to be fantastic. I have the ultimate guest to help you do just that today.

Justin Stoddart
Before we go there. Before I tease you anymore with who this is. I’m going to remind you that inside of the Think Bigger Real Estate Group on Facebook, we go deep with these topics. The conversation continues after the interview to where you can engage and get your questions answered. So join us over there if you’re not there yet.

Justin Stoddart
Back to today’s guest, Her name is Shelly Zavitz. Not only is she an amazing real estate agent, best selling author. She’s an amazing human being obviously adore love this lady. She’s fantastic. And I’m honored to have her on the show today. Shelley, thanks for coming on. Again, the Think Bigger Real Estate Show.

Shelley Zavitz
Thanks for having me. That is so nice.

Justin Stoddart
You know I mean, you know, I mean that that that’s not just… So you know, that’s how I actually feel about you.

Shelley Zavitz
So yeah, back atcha.

Justin Stoddart
So for those who don’t know, Shelley, again, I kind of give a quick bio here, shall he tell us a little bit about maybe how you got into the real estate industry cuz I think this will give some context to where you’re coming from, and maybe why people should listen to you, which I think they have all the reason the word listening.

Shelley Zavitz
The jury’s out on that, by the way. All right. I was in Canada in broadcasting for 15 years, I got married, I came down to Portland, Oregon. And one of the things that I decided when I got here was that I wasn’t gonna stay in radio. And what was the thing that I really liked doing outside of that, and I used to remodel condos in Vancouver, BC with a partner. I was like, I really like real estate. I’m going to do that. And I went down the exact same road every single person does, and all the real estate agents watching this like, Huh, right. And I knew for people when I moved to Portland, and I was like, Okay, I’m gonna start a referral business. It’s gonna be gigantic, I’m going to be amazing. And then I really I mean, to buy for across the face the reality of what it is to build a business, a startup business, in real estate, right?

Shelley Zavitz
So I did all the hurdles that you do in the first year and second year, and I really decided that I was like, I was gonna go big. So I wanted to be Rookie of the Year for my company. At the time, I worked for the Hasson Company, they were amazing to me. And of course, I mean, why couldn’t I do that? Until I realized that you actually have to have a database to do anything. So I made it to the end of that rookie race and learned so much about myself about business, but mostly about myself and who I am in the world.

Shelley Zavitz
And I wrote a book about it. And it’s a bunch of stories. So what I used to do was write for radio. So please, no, it’s not. I’m not a serious person. I just, I don’t know how to do that. So it’s a bunch of stories to staple some points about the principles of building a business in real estate. And I launched that in 2019. I got a publisher of his Herrmann house that took me on it was great. And we sold out the first 1000 copies in two weeks. Remarkable, right? I thought, like me, and my mother would read it, and then I would like to send it to you. So thanks for reading.

Justin Stoddart
I did and I loved it, by the way. No, the book is new agent 365, like your first three to 65 days in real estate, how to be successful. It’s actually not only super informational, and helpful, but it’s really entertaining. You’re a great writer. Thank you. Actually, I found myself oftentimes just totally laughing because it’s you bring some of the funniest stories. It’s like I oftentimes hear agents will say, I wish I would have written a book about my time in real estate because the stories are unbelievable and like you actually did and it’s so good to hear the things that you’re learning all interwoven into this internal dialogue versus like all these like hit your head against the wall here and learn this lesson here. Like it’s really a great read so do that hasn’t read it hasn’t that doesn’t have their copy of it. Please go find it. It’s a fantastic book.

Shelley Zavitz
Thanks, Justin.

Justin Stoddart
And, and no, like, I used to write parody songs and stuff. Like it’s not. I can’t be serious. I do. I am serious in some parts. But I mean, we’re, I think that we lose track of the fact we deal with a lot of money as real estate agents, but we lose sight that, you know, we’re not doing brain surgery here. No one is going to die. You know, and we take it away. A little bit serious. So I thought we’d lighten it up a little bit. The response to the book was incredible. We just passed 10,000 copies sold since June 2019. And I started to get feedback from new agents. And they first were thanking me just for writing it because it gave them a sense of actually what they were feeling was acknowledged, you know, it’s a rite of passage, the first year is terrible the end. Like that’s just true. So you don’t need to read the book there. We did, it.

Shelley Zavitz
So I started to pay attention to what they were asking me. And it was like, it was letters to my office, it was posted on Instagram, private messages to Facebook, just. And they were asking for more information not about transacting real estate, but it was about how do I build my business? And how do I be successful and I’m super scared, and all the things that we all feel when we start something new.

Shelley Zavitz
And I got thinking about it, and then I dive into some statistics. And I learned from NAR that 84% of agents start their business without any business, retail finance experience. So here we are, we’re licensing people. And then what about the business part? Right. So then that led me to the program that I was talking to you about? I went to Stephanie Chamblee first and I said, Hey, you know, this is really weird that this is happening. This is the feedback that I’m getting. What do you think? Because I am not a trainer, right? That’s not what I do. I sell real estate. But what do you think about finding all of the right people to teach? And I had, I had an idea of what 12 topics I felt should be taught to start up a business. And we went together to these people. And we said This is what we want to do. We want to make it super affordable for everyone. Because new agents, you know, you’re starting a business. Anytime you launch anything, it’s expensive. So how could we do it in an affordable way? Because we all know, training? I mean, come on. It’s expensive, right? So we went to these trainers. And we said we want to do this great thing. We want to do 12 weeks of training for new agents to help them build a business like a blueprint of it. And then whatever brokerage they’re with, they can build up on top of that, but how do we get the foundation there first, right? Because we can make a solid impact on the industry. If we just gave more information off the top? I think it’s not a secret. Why are we keeping it a secret? So we went to those 12 people, every single one of them said yes, and its New Agent 365 Missions was launched in September like we did our first round, it was awesome. There’s kind of a gaming component to it, which is nice. And, and I’m excited because I have to say that this is I get a lot of recognition about this. But this is about all the people that were involved. All the people said yes. And all the people that took their time to create these videos and, and, and be live with me on Facebook, like with the new agents.

Justin Stoddart
So good. So again, if you’ve read the book, if you’ve not read the book, job number one is to go get the book new agent. Next is to be aware that there is a course it’s a training platform training session like series of 12 sessions, right? Yes, yeah, you plug it in, you’re gonna learn the basics of again, not just like how to be in real estate they taught you to like how to stay out of real estate jail, right, which is kinda what they teach you to get your license. Yeah. But it’s how to grow a business, right. And I love the fact that you emphasize that again, that the turnover rate in our industry is way too high. And like you said, oftentimes those lessons only come by, by like, the school of hard knocks, and it doesn’t need to be that way or we should be standing on the shoulders of others who have gone before us that I love how you gave away so many great tactics to help people really succeed at growing a real estate business, because it’s so needed, right? It’s so needed to be how do you be a successful agent? That’s what people need to hear. And I absolutely love that you’ve done that and you give it away so freely.

Justin Stoddart
You know, I think that’s,

Shelley Zavitz
Well, I’m the beneficiary of all of the mentors ahead of me. Right? They gave it to me, I’m only great at my job because someone taught me how to do it. Yeah. So why if we look at it, and we look at it, say even boutique brokerages, do they have the ability to train new agents in a way that is meaningful to the entire industry, and that’s sort of what I was coming to when I saw the gap. The gap to me was it’s not affordable to get training. If You’re a new agent because the average new agent makes 80 $400 annually. They can’t afford training right unless they get it from their brokerage. So if we have these boutique brokerages, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t. How do we still provide just the basics of business? If we know that 84% of us don’t have that? Right? It’s in the numbers.

Justin Stoddart
Yeah, no wonder right no wonder, when there’s really two things. It’s not just real estate as well, like, I have, you know, friends that are their doctors and dentists. They’re like, boy, we took one business class in dental school one. I was like, they trained us how to be technicians. They don’t teach us how to be business people. And the reality is, most of the businesses out there most of the professions out there require a dual school skillsets.

Justin Stoddart
And I love how you’re bringing it to the table. The other side of it is that yes, you know, how to do a transaction, but you know how to build a business. Let’s dig in a little bit. What will people learn, you got 12 sessions, the biggest things that people need to know that they’re not getting that they’re going to get from this from the 365 learning program that’s upcoming.

Shelley Zavitz
First of all, you’re going to have access to different voices, we all learn differently. And that was one other thing that I wanted to make sure that we put into this is that I learned differently than you do, probably and one person’s message is gonna resonate a little bit different with me than someone else. Right.

Shelley Zavitz
So the 12 topics that we design, where we start out with Mike Rohrig, he does the psychology of success, you can’t possibly know or define or celebrate your success if you haven’t actually decided what that is for you. And it’s all different for everybody. Right? We have our businesses are like snowflakes. That’s what I’ve been saying lately. What I’m going to build and what the person down the street is going to build are totally different. We serve different people. That’s perfect. It should be that way. Right? Yeah. So let’s decide what success is.

Shelley Zavitz
Then we go into CRM and database. A Lenny from wise agent teaches that and it’s, again, this program is about relationship sales. We’re not teaching you to buy leads. So it’s about finding and embracing the people that are already in your life and being of service for them, you know? So Alinea second

Shelley Zavitz
The third is Debra Trepan. In Seattle, she teaches niche marketing. defining who your Nisha is, is actually really important. So that you can you can really hone in your resources, right. So I can’t be everything to everyone, there are certain people that I shouldn’t serve, that’s just true. So if I can define who they are, then I can better show up for them and make their experience even better, so that they want to turn to someone else and say, that was awesome, usually, and that’s the only thing that I care about. So that’s what this program teaches

Shelley Zavitz
Four is surrounding yourself with the people that are gonna help you. So building your mentor group, your managing broker, you got managing brokers are awesome, you work really hard, but you can’t be everything to everyone. So how we break it out into four different people that you can kind of hire and you don’t hire but you bring into those positions.

Shelley Zavitz
Week Five is working with buyers. Once you get the buyer, how do you do the intake? How do you become the authority, even his new agents? I mean, we don’t have a lot of confidence, right? Because there’s a lot we don’t know. So how do you embrace the fact that you need to be the guide there so that you don’t get run over? You know, john Blom teaches that

Shelley Zavitz
Week six is Val Thorpe she does working with sellers. Once you get the listing appointment, which to do, what should you prep for? What should you show up with what should you say in the house? What should you do after you leave the house? What should your comps look like? How do you follow up? Right? It’s awesome training.

Shelley Zavitz
Week seven is Tammy Wittren. She teaches, Where’s my money? And I think that one of the things that we forget, and I am fortunate because I worked in radio for so long. And I helped build other people’s businesses and startup businesses that I understood right away. But a lot of people forget that when you get your check. It’s a flow of money into a business. It’s not yours. You can’t just take it and go buy the car. It’s a flow of money through a business. So how do you set that up? So we teach that Tammy has a wicked story about how she recovered from $650,000 worth of debt. It’s great training.

Unknown Speaker
Week eight is Dale Chamblee and we do revving the referral engine. So how do you get in flow with your people so that you don’t have to buy these leads all the time? Like how do you make it so that they want to support your business, he does a great job at explaining how we can do that on social media, taking social media online and taking it offline. How do you get belly to belly, especially during COVID? It’s great training. We also talk about digital footprints, and what do people see when they search for you. So we do a lot of training about that because it’s really important right now, especially

Shelley Zavitz
Week nine is just that makes he’s in St. Louis, he built a monster business, on business to business. He went to all of the places that, like he talks about antique shops and coffee shops and restaurants, and he became an ambassador for their brand. First, he gave first, and they give back to him is a really neat story. And he trains pretty awesome.

Shelley Zavitz
And then in week 10, we go to Marguerite Martin, she teaches the basics of business. So a lot of new agents don’t understand, okay, I want my take home to be this, but then they don’t add the cap and the taxes, and then decide how many homes they need to sell in their area to do that like it’s just, we don’t teach that enough. So we go to the basis of their numbers, they understand we do budgeting, all of that super boring, but we still do it.

Shelley Zavitz
Week 11 is Bill Risser in Florida. He teaches about your business as an extension. So if we know that for a client experience to be amazing, it is the extension of you and everyone you refer. So how do we get to like vetting those people early to make sure that we have everyone in place because they’re just an extension of you. So when you get referred, how the experience was with the plumber, how the experience was with escrow all of that matters.

Shelley Zavitz
Last but not least, we end with Tracy Hicks, which we both know, you know her right? She owns All Things Real Estate store. And we teach at the end the art of giving, how do you give of yourself first to have people embrace your business and we go through a marketing playbook. We’re not aggressive about how you market because every brokerage has its own way of doing that. We just kind of say, if you don’t have a plan, you’re not gonna do it. And we give just examples of things that you can do.

Unknown Speaker
Every single week is a mission. So when the student comes in, they, you know, have to complete a task by Friday. And then we remove the training. So every single you don’t have access to the entire course you it’s not self-guided, you have to be with us. And you have to do and we say that boot camp a little bit. But yeah,

Justin Stoddart
Do you have a whistle, does Coach Shelley have a whistle? Like, get out of bed? Good. Job and give me 20? I really do hear.

Shelley Zavitz
I mean, not really. One of the great things is that all the trainers also agreed to donate their time to come on to our closed Facebook group. And on their week, the student has access to ask them questions. And I think that’s really valuable just because, again, as we all learn differently, and sometimes it doesn’t click right. And, you know, so

Justin Stoddart
You’ve really put together a dream team lineup of people that really help agents have the success that first year, again, I want everybody that’s hearing this, whether or not you’re brand new, it may be just the fact that like my business is not where I want it to be. And I would like a restart, I want my next 365 days to be fantastic.

Justin Stoddart
Right now, some of the stuff working with buyers on that stuff may not be as relevant to a more senior agent. But I do know that there’s a lot of value in here for people that again, want to just have a little bit of a restart. So be thinking about this for all the new agents that you know, let them know about this upcoming program. Tell us the date, Shelley.

Shelley Zavitz
They have to be entered by next Sunday, March 14, because we are shipping out all the boxes, you get a workbook and stuff. We’re shipping out all the boxes the next day. So you have to be in by the 14th or February, you’ll have to probably do it again in September, who has a long time to wait,

Justin Stoddart
That’s a long time to wait. Well, I appreciate you not only putting it together but with sharing, I didn’t know that you’d be able to rattle off 12 off just like that. I don’t know if you have cue cards over there. You just it’s so deeply ingrained inside of us. So as to what value this brings is pretty awesome. So thanks for sharing that. I want to dig into kind of a mindset question here. This is kind of the final segment of the show. Shelley, which is, you know, what do you do to continue to be a big thinker, right? Can you do to expand your possibilities? And I want to go back to something you said earlier in the show, is it your first year in real estate you learn a lot about yourself? So I want to kind of almost frame this question around this concept of what did you learn about yourself that first year and if you could go back and talk to your first time yourself again, and give yourself advice that would be customized to you. What would it be? What would you say to tell yourself back then to think bigger? Just tell yourself that first year. In your path.

Justin Stoddart
You didn’t think to pat me on this question.

Justin Stoddart
No, I didn’t, I knew that you are pretty good on the fly. So

Shelley Zavitz
I think that where I was coming from when I first launched my business, was a place of like, I worked in corporate radio, and I was a team member. I didn’t think that I had the confidence or the skill to be a leader at that time. So I think that what I would say to myself is, it’s okay to fail, everyone does. Make sure you write down the lessons, I didn’t write down enough lessons, like as I was going through things, and it hurt really bad, you know, how I, I lost a lot of time, I guess I want to say, in beating myself up about it. And what I wish I told myself was, you know, that kick to the chops was actually you just learning what you need to learn so that you can be better later. And that absolutely happened. And so if you’re out there, and you’re in the middle of some really bad self-talk, telling you just write down what the lesson is, and, and move forward. I’ve had a lot of great coaches and people around me to keep pushing me forward, you know, so

Justin Stoddart
Well, that’s a great lesson, I was actually shooting some video earlier today talking about self-talk, and just how powerful it is to be able to influence the story that you’re telling yourself when you don’t realize you’re telling yourself a story. Right? Yeah, like you’re like, the exact same thing, that we’re seeing something totally different. Because the narratives that we have about ourselves, and that thing that we’re looking at, are totally different based on our experience.

Justin Stoddart
And what I hear you saying is that you would have gone back to tell that self of like, Don’t be so hard on yourself, like, embrace the loss, embrace the struggle, that’s what’s going to help you grow, get up and keep going, you’re gonna be fine, right now, looking back at the success that you’ve had, and building an amazing real estate business, writing an incredible book that’s received tremendous awards, selling over 10,000 copies, like, you probably wouldn’t have believed that right?

Shelley Zavitz
No.

Justin Stoddart
And I mean, if you would have gone back at this point said, Hey, Shelley, keep your chin up, you’re gonna build a great business, you’re gonna write the best selling book, and you’re gonna create this movement. Like, you’d be like, whatever. Right? And, and I share this with everybody here is that each and every one of us has a bigger future than we can grasp. If we believe that if we start to walk towards that, I think you’ve given us some inspiration here, Shelley to really be able to, to start to talk to ourselves differently, because it really will, like decide our outcome, right? Well, what the future looks like, based on how we’re talking to ourselves today,

Shelley Zavitz
right

Justin Stoddart
Thank you for sharing that.

Shelley Zavitz
I’m kind of a firm believer now that and I say this to myself. Now, if you don’t show up, you’re robbing the world. And everybody, in their own way has a version of that. So if you don’t push past, I mean, think of what you’re taking from somebody else who can do it for you do it for everyone that’s around you.

Justin Stoddart
Boy, I want to say that again. If you don’t show up, you’re robbing the world. I got goosebumps over that with my friend.

Shelley Zavitz
I’m a writer. What are you gonna do?

Justin Stoddart
Well, I want to thank you again, for tuning in. For those that have listened to this or listening to it later. Thank you for listening, and do yourselves a favor. To find this book and the program, Shelley what’s the easiest way for people to go sign up for the program?

Shelley Zavitz
It is that newagent365.com. And I promise you it’s I’m not gonna extend the deadline past March 14. If you’re not in, we’re done.

Justin Stoddart
Better get moving. Moving. All right. Thank you, Shelly. I appreciate you more than you know. And that’s all those listening. My final request is this and Shelley’s taught us how to do this, which is Go Think Bigger.

Justin Stoddart
Thank you, Shelly. Appreciate you.

Shelley Zavitz
Thank you.