Justin Stoddart 0:00
Hey, welcome back to the Think Bigger Real Estate Show. I’m your host Justin Stoddart, as you know, my mission and my passion are to help you think bigger. When you think bigger, great things start to happen, your business grows, and the options and impact you can have in this world also grow. So I’m thrilled today to bring you somebody who’s going to solve this problem. Do I keep my feet close to my chest? Or do I share them? I want to introduce to you Tony Ray Baker, he’s out of Tucson, Arizona, and a top agent there. He’s in his 25th year. And Tony Ray has been working by referral all that time. And the cool thing that I want to highlight about Tony RAM, sure, there are tons of things. But the thing I want to talk about is that he does a lot of teaching and instructing. And I think you and I are kindred spirits in that regard, Tony because I love giving away knowledge via teaching. It’s one of my favorite things that’s hence the birth of the think bigger real estate show is how can I find people that help me and others be able to share knowledge with the world? So first and foremost, before we get into specifically what due to teaching, I want to thank you for taking some time to pour into the thing for your real estate audience.
Tony Ray Baker 1:04
Yeah, man, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Justin Stoddart 1:06
Yeah, total pleasure, a total pleasure. Tony Ray and I have crossed paths and had a conversation, it’s been probably what, 30 days or so ago, maybe a little less. And his energy is just fantastic. Just the kind of guy that I could see in front of a group of people that would just really excite them. So Tony, Ray, let’s get into talking about what you do to teach. Obviously, you’re a high producing real estate agent, you do that by referral. But in addition to that, you teach a marketing advertising to real estate agents, which is interest to referral partners, other business owners, and then of course, even, you’re always teaching to your sphere as well. Talk to us a little bit about the class that you host, on a monthly basis. What does that look like? How many people come etc.
Tony Ray Baker 1:51
So we do two different classes. Actually, once a month, I do a trolley tour of Tucson, and we take out 40 agents, and we show them the and we show the city and development and what’s going on. And then I do a class for usually about 90 to 100 agents show up at the Association of Realtors in Tucson and that class is dirty down like marketing, anything we can do to give them guerrilla marketing that is low cost, but really effective. To help them understand how to get more clients and how to do more business. That’s a three-hour class.
Justin Stoddart 2:27
So and that happens every month as well.
Tony Ray Baker 2:29
No, so that I rotate, I alternate those. So I do probably one month and then I do the big class the next month. And then I, of course, inform both how to get to the classes to keep them on track.
Justin Stoddart 2:40
Tell us Tony Ray, how many? How many? How big of a city is Tucson? I know it’s grown a lot. It’s growing really rapidly. Yeah, tell us like how big of maybe how many real estate agents so we kind of get our arms around what you’re doing here.
Tony Ray Baker 2:53
I don’t know how many agents we have currently. I know at my office alone, which is the largest local office, we have probably about 900 agents. At our office, there are about a million people with Tucson in our little suburbs. Okay. And so there’s probably a My guess is if they did account now there’s probably about 600,000 and city proper. Okay, then two sons, one of the fastest growing cities, as usual, it always has been. And there are an estimated 200,000 people moving here in the next four or five years coming.
Justin Stoddart 3:28
So you’re very similar in size to Portland, Oregon, where the show is based out of which is really, really interesting. So here, to put it in perspective, we have about 8500 agents. So my guess is your numbers are probably similar. So and 90 to 100 agents a month, you’re instructing them and essentially giving away best practices that are working for you and your business.
Tony Ray Baker 3:52
Yes. Yep, absolutely.
Justin Stoddart 3:55
Has there ever been a time where you thought to yourself, I can’t give my secrets? This is my competition. I can’t teach them exactly what I’m doing. Or they’ll beat me at it. My market share will go down as a result. Did those thoughts go through your head? And how did you overcome them? Or how have you overcome?
Tony Ray Baker 4:13
No, they don’t go through my head, I have never believed in scarcity. But I’ve always believed that there’s plenty for everybody. And I also truly know that if-if you and I go head to head for the same listing, and you get the listing, I didn’t lose that they were just to connect for you. And it shouldn’t have been a Connect for me, I truly believe that we’re supposed to have the right connections, and I don’t work with clients that we can’t help and that we don’t have a certain level with. So for me, teaching others to do what I do, it just means that maybe one of the people that come to my class might get a listing that I didn’t, but they deserve that listing, they were the ones that connected with the client. So I don’t have that I never have thought that way. I just believe we all the payoff for me is not altruistic, trust me it is very ego with when I get to teach the agents right when I get to be with them, my transactions are much nicer, we have a level of respect when they call and we’re going through the process, we know each other, they have a level of respect for me, there’s appreciation, it makes my life beautiful, much better than if I was disconnected from the agents.
Justin Stoddart 5:21
So the euro. So this isn’t just like you being Mother Teresa like this is a very strategic business move on your part. And you’ve simply found that your business is actually bigger, better and stronger. By having that abundance, having that abundance mentality,
Tony Ray Baker 5:39
right, I get to be one closer to the other agents. But also stuff comes from that as well. by teaching I learned, and it’s a beautiful thing for me in the room, watching people’s eyes light up when I’m teaching a subject. And I feed off of that. And then I have more communication around that in my class. And then I learned from them as well. So we all learn together. And I don’t ever have a script for what I’m going to teach. I know like my class this week is going to be on video and social media. But I have no idea where that’s going to go. I have no laid out script for that I will teach for three straight hours on everything I know. And I don’t know exactly what will happen by the end of that thing.
Justin Stoddart 6:20
It’s incredible, man. You are a big thinker. Again, the purpose behind this show doesn’t just have people build big empires, right? Although that tends to happen when people are big thinkers. But it’s also to have like to teach people how to have an abundant life and I so much love. What you’re doing here is that just the overall job satisfaction, right career satisfaction of having like 90 to 100 people that walk out of your class saying thank you like I’m a better agent as a result of that. It’s just got to be deeply gratifying.
Tony Ray Baker 6:50
It that is awesome. I totally agree. It’s a beautiful part of it. And understand to that we have that level of respect from those agents also allows me to work Monday through Friday, from seven eight in the morning till about five or six at night, I have my evenings free. I don’t typically work up many weekends ever. And we take six vacations a year, and we typically are gone for 60 to 90 days. So I get to live that life because agents respect that we are out of town and that I’m trying to teach them how to do the same thing, which is to have a balance so that you, I mean, you can get such burnout in this industry. And there’s such a rush to be number one. But really, for me, number one is having a great life and having real estate support that.
Justin Stoddart 7:36
So the first picture I saw you look like you’re on some exotic beach holding like a giant Guana. And I was like, Who is this guy? Yeah, that’s part of the message though, is what you’re saying is it like to be a great real estate agent, you don’t have to be a slave to your clients. Like you don’t have to be like around the clock 24, seven 365 days a year in order to be successful.
Tony Ray Baker 7:57
Absolutely. When you live and this kind of life, what happens is the clients that you attract are respectful and appreciative. And they’re adventurers and they understand travel, and they want to know where you’re going. And they are happy to support you. And that’s who we attract in and that a Gwan on my head, the photo that you see just those type of people, which I did not do by on purpose or intention. And I learned from that photo because it brought me some amazing people. And then I realized I needed to stop doing this picture, which I was doing a lot, you know, hi guy, and I start so I have a beautiful collection of ties, I stopped wearing my ties, I actually bought my shirt. And the iguana taught me, Hey, you need to be more you. And you’ll attract more people like you. And so we put that picture out. And it’s been a talking trigger at one for branding. But it’s also attracted amazing people to us. So we’re very fortunate to have this beautiful clientele. We just had 200 and 50 of them at our house about the end of March.
Justin Stoddart 9:03
Man what a good life.
Tony Ray Baker 9:04
What do you like to hang out with them in the party? So it’s really cool.
Justin Stoddart 9:07
Yeah, you’re finding your tribe, right? In fact, the episode I did on Friday was all about finding your niche and being really outspoken about who you are and the kind of people you want to be around. I think so often people have this tendency to believe that if I do that, there’s not going to be enough like that if I narrow my focus. But what you’re finding again, and validating just like my guests on Friday did is that know you, there are enough people out there if you can identify like the person that you really want to be and are and the kind of people you want to be around and be more of that you attended. Because everybody has either real estate needs or real estate aspirations or real estate goals. And by you putting out who you really are you attract those people want to real estate with you because they’re like you. Right?
Tony Ray Baker 9:52
Right? Well, so think about. So Facebook did a beautiful job at teaching society about the power of 100, which is the fact that if I attract, Joe, Joe has probably about 100 friends that are very similar to Joe. So if I like working with Joe, I’m most likely like working with Joe’s referrals. So every little tribe that you attract, with authenticity, those tribes are going to be more like you. So you’re attracting the right tribes. And you can work a lot less than a lot more efficient, because you’re not tap dancing, trying to prove yourself to somebody that’s not a connector fit. And that’s where we get in. I think New realtors and I did this myself, when I started, you take anybody just to get a transaction through Yeah. And as you get to grow your business, hopefully, your goal is to grow a referral type business, so that you don’t have to do that for very long. And I was very dead set on that in my very first year I was hell bent on having that kind of practice. So it’s planning now.
Justin Stoddart 10:56
Now part of the other group that you’re teaching is not just real estate is but you’re also teaching other business owners, right? Yeah. So of those 90 to 100 people that come to your class, a lot of them or a handful of them, at least are just local business owners unrelated to real estate. True, no, no.
Tony Ray Baker 11:13
Okay, so the realtors come to the association class, I actually teach a class, the city of Tucson gave me a conference room. So I teach the small business owners who want to join us in a class downtown, got it on. And what I do is they come in every other it’s the first and third Wednesday of the month, I come in and we just get down on marketing. I mean, what we can do to help make money for them and help bring awareness and bring business to them.
Justin Stoddart 11:44
What a brilliant idea, right? I’m a I’m a big believer that the future of well paid real estate agents involves being more professional, not less professional, having deeper relationships, and being able to really create deep alliances with other business owners that can refer you and editor you at a high level so people know your value and recognize the value between you and a tech platform.
Tony Ray Baker 12:05
Correct. I agree.
Justin Stoddart 12:07
And I love your strategy of what you’re doing of educating the business crowd. Because again, that creates credibility and relationships. And I would imagine you’re getting referrals from that group. I have effects. I lost. I lose you, Tony Ray. Yeah, I’m back. Sorry about when I lost Tony, right here.
Tony Ray Baker 12:30
Back. Can you hear me back? He’s back. Here you go. What happened? I tried to disconnect my phone, but it’s trying to let people instill. So.
Justin Stoddart 12:38
You’re good, right?
Tony Ray Baker 12:39
Yeah. So we were talking about
Justin Stoddart 12:43
business owners that you’re teaching? Are you getting inbound referrals from those people?
Tony Ray Baker 12:47
Yes, inbound referrals, yes, and great relationships and connections to different things I do. Because I’m on the board of directors for a charity called pet partners. So I can connect people through pet partners and help that organization, also through events by knowing business owners that need to co-brand. So all kinds of great things come from being out there and helping others it just keeps coming back full circle. In so many ways. I can’t even tell you, we had a big event yesterday on a million dollar listing. I had local artists that the events, we had pet partners and the therapy animals there, we had a wine group there. And we premiered the open house, we invited everybody we had invited 200 millionaires to come in and see the property and to meet the animals and buy art. And it was just a very fun wine event. And it was a five-hour thing and it went great.
So you
Justin Stoddart 13:42
know you. I mean, as I look at what you’ve done, Tony Ray, you’ve really become a master of events, right? Whether they, whether they be tour events, whether they be like house reveal events, like big open houses, you’ve really and a lot of those, it sounds like you’re teaching and instructing. But you’ve really honed in on the power of getting people together, to learn together to celebrate and have fun together, right? I mean, there’s a common thread here. That’s what’s powerful.
Tony Ray Baker 14:10
Yeah, absolutely. And it is events, but more every time I do something, I think, how can I help others? And who can I help in this, whatever I’m trying to do? If I was going to do and I don’t do open houses. But if I was going to do an open house, my goal with every Open House would be I don’t want to just sit there for three or four hours and hope somebody walks in that door. So how can I aggressively go out and make something better happen? And who can I help in the process? So who can be part of this? A lot of times people pair up a loan officer, for example, and have them there. But still, you have two people sitting there in open house. So what can we do to make that open house and actual mini events? What can we do to bring people in? How do we get help to therapy animals or another charity or something we raised money yesterday for and probably picked up a couple of volunteers for the pet company, the Pet Park. So that’s a really cool thing that happened.
Justin Stoddart 15:02
Such a cool thing. Yeah, I’m such a fan of you and what you’re doing. Tony, Ray, I want to end with this signature question that I asked everybody that comes on the show. You’re a big thinker, clearly. What is it that you do? What’s it What’s an activity or practice that Tony Ray does on a regular basis to be sure that you continue to expand your possibilities to continue to be a big thinker? What does it look like for you, as somebody I’m the activity that I do just some either regular practice one thing that you say, in order to continue to think bigger and to expand your own possibilities? What’s something that that you do on a regular basis, I practice, I practice mindfulness and me.
Tony Ray Baker 15:38
And I didn’t realize it was doing that for a very long time until I just saw a little book called mind practicing mindfulness. And it was funny because I spoke to me and I started reading and I said, Oh, my gosh, that’s the things I’m doing. And that is not being stressed out by the daily stuff, making sure I outsource that and have somebody else taking care of the paperwork and things I shouldn’t be doing. So that I could be in the moment right now with you, and listening and paying attention. Because doors are opening all around you at all times. And if you’re not in the moment, you’ll miss them. And so practicing mindfulness is super important. Because then when you’re in that zone, you can actually pick up on the things you can do to make things better for others. And it all comes back through amazing practice.
Justin Stoddart 16:20
It’s really powerful. I think there’s an underestimated cost of when people have too many commitments there in front of somebody, yet their mind is thinking about all the things that they have to do right the paperwork that needs to be done. Whereas like you said, you start to delegate other things, get things off your plate, and you can actually be present. Powerful. This is Tony right. I am so appreciative coming on the show here today. I want everybody who’s absolutely loved what this man has shared, I want you to to take a look at a website that should be live by the end of this week. It’s Tony Ray’s marketing on a dime. So the stuff that he’s teaching Tucson business owners Tucson, real estate agents are going to be available via broadcasted video or recorded video that he’s going to be putting on there for people to listen to. Such a great way to give back to an even larger audience, larger community. So be watching for that. If you’re by chance watching this episode, not live there’s a good chance that you’ll see it at a time when its websites up. And then tell us again, the website just if people are looking for a great agent in Tucson, Arizona, tell me the website of your actual listing and selling a business.
Tony Ray Baker 17:32
Okay, it’s seeTucsonhomes.com which is se Tucson to UC so an HOA me s.com. And if they want to email me, I will absolutely put them on a list to let them know when we launched that video page. So they are watching my classes. Yeah, that’s great.
Justin Stoddart 17:51
What’s your email?
Tony Ray Baker 17:53
It’s TonyRay@seeTucsonhomes.com
Justin Stoddart 17:57
perfect. Tony Ray, thank you again so much for all you’ve contributed today. I’m so excited to have you as part of my network. You’ve impacted me in a great way and I know this audience as well. So big thanks to you and I look forward to our next conversation
Tony Ray Baker 18:12
Thanks for having me. Have a great day.