NATIONWIDE & INTERNATIONAL 5-3-21

NATIONWIDE & INTERNATION EDITION

FEATURED AGENTS MICHAEL GROSS DENNIS FOLK ED SHALABI ELLIE HITT MICAH WINN MICHAEL LITTLE PAUL SNEERINGER RACHEL JONES RANDY POMFREY ROBERT TOLNAI

COVER STORY

JANICE MATTER

FEATURED AGENTS STACY CORRIGAN KATHY PATERNITI SHAWN KORMONDY AUTUMN PEACH BRYAN DAY CASEY ABOULAFIA GAYE RIBBLE JAN WHEELER BONNIE JOHNSON-CAYLOR JASMINE BISHOP JEFFREY BROOKMAN JENNIFER GLANTZ LIZ HARRIS LUCI CHALIAN MEGAN MICCO ASHLYN COUSINS PAIGE VADNAIS SCOTT DEPUTY ASHLEY SWAIM RIZ VISRAM SUKI BAHI

Top Agent Magazine

1

NATIONWIDE & INTERNATION EDITION

9

MICHAEL GROSS

JANICE MATTER

37

MICAH WINN

61

ROBERT TOLNAI

15

23

DENNIS FOLK

27

ED SHALABI

32

ELLIE HITT

ELLIE HITT

41

47

51

57

MICHAEL LITTLE

PAUL SNEERINGER

RACHEL JONES KATHY PATERNITI

RANDY POMFREY

MICHAEL LITTLE 65

STACY CORRIGAN

70

KATHY PATERNITI

STACYABOULAFIA CASEY GAYE RIBBLE

SHAWN KORMONDY

RANDY POMFREY DENNIS 74 78 FOLK

AUTUMN

SHAWN KORMONDY AUTUMN PEACH JAN WHEELER BONNIE JOHNSON-CAYLOR

CORRIGAN “I like everything about what“To I do,” honest says with you, I love every- various initiatives and organizations served on theat C “I treat my clients likebe I treat my family,” says Kathy With the fast-paced Las Vegas market, Kathy

With a sharp eye for detail andGaye years of work, Casey is on antheactive Ribble began her estate career serves of an adoption agency Janreal Wheeler, a topOutside agenta top with schools.

In the Peach, past, n doesn’t have to dograndchildren’s much marketing keep her saysnization agentColdwell in about Las Vegaswhat New thing I Home do,”board says Bonnie very “Handing the to keys over,” 82 local Paterniti, 85them. with 87 88partstyleof Autumn When Shawn Kormondy started his realthe estate his ofworking marketing. f industry knowledge and experience, member“I“I’m of the sup29 81 years ago, after Banker workingDAY with and wasand a founding board member of Resource. take care ofcommunity I’ve had clients listings flying off the shelves.

Still, she puts aunique great BRYAN describing her favorite asSenio aHe in Pennsylvania. a people has worked with military organizatio Johnson-Caylor, a top agent in Wisconsin.

Muskego career, he worked asof an assistant for a couple in such using methods ® they needed tocharities get their home ready to go on deal effort through online mediums asinnovative Realtors® council to advo- where local YMCA branch.

She and her team with Shorewest Realtors.

“It’s to soma REALTOR asey Aboulafia is a client favorite in and the city ports various near and dear to person. I like the interaction with helping “We gave 25% of myprovocative. commission years before in 2004.

He joined look and “I real even since my husband joined for seniorevery citize market and“It’s I’ve gone overbetter to help them paint or getting Trulia,licensed Zillow, social media.

Each of Kathy’s satisfying to know thatsleek we made it through cate and for building new elementary school the sponsor and volunteer in and local events weup.me knew we amorning home.

We entered the marFora Bryan Day,one-on-one working as and e Washington, DC, Maryland, her heart, including Mary’s Center, the Keller Williams Beverly HillsI’m andmilitary has been there sellers allow me freedom withsays. mark clean things I work from wanted nine in themy people face-to-face. who listed or sold,” she single step together—the humps, the problems, the in January as buyer’s agent. needs adults,” in her community. Gaye led the a coat driveuptobigbenefit a homeless ® fight, and until everas since, putting production numbers and inspections. ing. I’m more of my a creative, technol at night.

They knowaand that such if the they need me, irginia areas. Her degree in epidemiDCnine Dream Center Cleveland ket without and Bryan guided us through a REALTOR combines his tears during Giving clients their Getting to know wants, their am veryRealtor,” real estate oriented!” focusing on clue, sellers now, which is I really son that I volu afterwards, “I was asked to run for city them, shelter, as well as sponsoring school they cantheir call me.

I always answer my phone.” providing top quality realwhat estatelocal service to and his cliShawn says.

“I dream specializ keys knowing that they found their ogy and background in international Park Club.

When she’s not working, she the process and made it all make sense.

Whether love of helping others with ents.with.

After injust the business, marketing devices each council because I was effective in workevents and seventeen contributing organizations truly love to work Listingsyears areto have an for adult needs.

That’s what’s important to me.” home Shawn is the best.organic We achieved it together.”

Kathy always been in the real estate indusublic health helped shape her approach loveshasn’t to travel and has found ago lot of success in conducting his own on.” Shawn avoids thehelped commonou tre ing with everyone,” she recalls. thought, including Sell aon Home, Save a Child. you’re ainternationally first-time buyer, or you’re seeking a trusthis passion for“I real estate. flying off the shelves right now.” have When she isn’t working (which, Jan sa try. She began her professional career working in unique brandway of real estate business, You might say that working as a real real estate as being data driven— long walks and hikes.

“It’s a partner great serving on the council is probably active participa healthcare.

After a lay-off from her previous posiworthy, experienced for your most recent Hecity first earned his license Jan has been in the real estate game for a carving out his own niche in the field. is estate not often) Jan enjoys spending time w agent runs in Autumn’s family.

Her BRYAN DAY ABOULAFIA GAYE RIBBLE WHEELER not my calling,CASEY but I really liked what the tion, In the near future, Gaye is the excited to beBONNIE she started to runclear half-marathons.

Wanting to elping buyers and sellers make highly to start theBonnie day, my mind and enjoy has been inJAN the business Lodge and take has worked behind the scenes purchase, you simply won’t findThefor a Reynolds better realtor while managing affordable combined twenty years. got her hermother family, including Jim, herat husband challengeShe herselffirst further, Kathy began trainingforces for a with Realtors® were doing!

That prompted me joining Team JOHNSON-CAYLOR formed decisions that will benefit them our beautiful city.”

Known as Land Man, Shawn Shorewest for all of Autumn’s life.

“I firstthrough th pastaridden twenty-one years.

“I the gotLAstarted backbought triathlon.

“I left hadn’t a bicycle in over 30 years, the WNY areato than Bryan Day. We theyears. properties, and license in 1978 shein teaching fifty-two Shedepartment,” also work likes to get into realhousing estate.”

Gaye hasn’t lookedwhen extend their reach locally nationstarted in the marketing she to sew a made a name for himself in and trading the long run. She is affiliated with so I joined a cycling team,”when she says.Ihas That’s where in 2000, was a full-time stay-atback since, and lastposition year her team was ally.

Above all, she plans to continue the says.

She soon realized that she was hunin order tohis spend more time with crochet.

Dedicated to an active lifestyle, y land, and specifically targets land develhouse of our dreams and gained a lifelong friend decided to set out on she met Joanna Piette, Kathy’s broker. Piette ompass where she serves as aranked Senior Going forward Caseycurrent isshe excited toa keep home-mom,” says.

“We’d just moved, and didn’t Outside of “I working ha gryIcomfor more. Autumn explains, kept opment deals as his bread and butter.

He #3 among all brands in Denver. important work of being trusted resource in her convinced Kathy to pursue her license and come her young sons.

She then returned to teaching for a can often find her exercising at the local gym. in the process.” own as an agent when work he thinking to myselfcommunity, that I really wanted to ice President and managing member growing hermunity business and providing closes multiple transactions a month for her. know anybody.”

She relationships met and made friends with a real Bonnie loves and building to last. couple of to her of of Education do real estate. I took a leap of faith and selling plots of land throughout Southturned 40. “IWilliams wasdecades ready for f The P&rtners, a six-person team of Group herutilize clientsestate an Master elite level service.

Her The Ribble at Keller currently serves agent while working out at in theLosgym, andonthis walks.

Always active, she went to have one most successEight years later, Kathy’s clients are ern glad that she focusing California, Angeles degree from Pennsylvania State.

Jan ultimately missed Looking to the future, Jan isof the interested in growin When Bryan isn’t working, he’s giving back tobusithe a change,” hetheexplains.

He area, hit the ground running Denver metro but after joining forces with The this and age where there different gents and three support staff dedicated advice to agents just starting out is to find agent believed that would excel theyears involved in their local Cros ful of my life!” did.

Servicing Las“In Vegas andday Henderson in Bonnie Nevada, while spreading out are into so themany nowinUber the flexibility and dynamic nature of working in real team.

“Right now, my daughter-in-law is taking Reynolds Team they are expanding to serve the entire ways to find real estate companies and professionals, Kathy hascommunity. seen her business grow with every passing Hesays, currently sits on the planning right gradually to what hot real estate market, Joshua Tree.to be commaking the buying andaway, selling process growing his| business a great broker, like she did, and to focus ness.

Bonnie “It was the perfect place at the love going camping withr Phone 310-734-1440 Fax 310-734-1440 year. She says, “Iindustry doubled my business this last year.”

For the past two years, Autumn has ser- well, sh Front Range, including Colorado Springs, Denver, and sometimes people can forget the importance of the estate, and she returned to the in 2010. estate classes,” says Jan. “If everything goes mooth and seamless. on the Williams basics. “Getting a good underlying foundation perfect rest is history!” they can get away. mittee fortime. the The American Foundation for viced Suicide it is today. He now works with Keller Southeastern Wisconsin, including Fort Collins. About 90% of The Ribble Group’s business relationship,” she says.also “People matter, and ourluxclients Shawn sells multimillion dollar be able to join me on team.”

Jan is likewise hope Copyright Topa Agent Magazine can sometimes be overlooked but is invaluable to your Prevention’s Annual Walk, and is going to complete Buffalo Northtowns in Williamsville, with about mag@topagentmagazine.com | www.topagentmagazine.com ury homes, and puts a lot of work into comes from repeat and referral clients, an impressive know that they really matter to us. We’re not just the Servicing south central Pennsylvania, Jan works that one two sons will come on board as well.

Bonnie her husband, Steve service Looking to the future, Bon asey started her real career in that 2004, striving success. classes Ihis took and the Ihard received ninth walk this year.

Bryan alsoof aher volunteer halfestate of his clients deriving repeats orThe referfeat speaks to from thetotrust and confidence Gaye and click ofand acoaching button and somebody toisCaylor, open a door.

We’rethe Copyright Top for her clients.

“I am always available,” she says.

“I majority of Southeast Wisconsin.

This includes business.

“Ultimately, our g rovide clients with the highest level of service.

Her helped transform my business from $15 million a year her team inspire. to give superior service for life. It isand a relationthe Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus particirals. Serving the greater Buffalo region, where he’s with there get answers to their questions and solve their problems When asked she has anywarm,” advice for upcom the towns of so Muskego, Hales Corner, she new says.orShe wou ship wecoaching foster that we’re for able to work withifFranklin, second ositive demeanor lived and afor reputation for getting great to $40 million a year.

I was in a program pates in Buffalo’s Garden Walk every year.

During the past provide 15 years, he loves guiding buyers great service,” explains.

“We have as and andmove be that Germantown, and otherprofessional. surrounding break from the infamous almostGaye immediately.

I give mythird best service.”

This realfamily estate agents, Jan doesn’t hesitate to answer.

“RW sults have earned her many repeat“We and referral clients. over four years, and them that gave me generations theNew tools Berlin, to any free time, he loves travelling, working on hisshe says. and sellers throughout the transaction, ensuring no support referred. people approach as we do agents, which is unusual.

Relationships matter, and we’re working hard to maincommunities. majority her isbusiness comes plish “It’s this, she andgood Stevecar are has not unnoticed.

Into2020, Jan wonderful,” a very One of the biggest complimentsmany is getting forward andgone strategize on how growThe myearned career as of aestate Getting our clients under contract is a very important tain those relationships.” house or gardening. questions are left unanswered. from repeat and referral clients.

She credits her high a five-year plan to bring the International Diamond Society status, that Myif you plan to dedicate yourself to it. It can’t b ’s the ultimate from your clients.” businessperson, not just someone ‘in’meaning the business.

2 show of gratitudepart Top Agent Magazine of the transaction, but taking care of them throughrate of success with hersorelationship-building skills.struggle Bonnie says, “We’re just gj he adds that it’s her easygoing personality and local was of notEven a business-related one at all, thissecond career. You’ll she isisbackground inequally the topimportant.

10% all Coldwell Banker Agents. to do it with another out the whole transaction Looking ahead, he is excited to continue growing and “I like to tell with my background in social “It’s about getting out into the community, meeting nowledge that helps to earn thepeople, loyalty of her clireally allowed me to unlock the potential for growth, One will suffer, and we don’t want that to be real est after the transaction has closed, we maintain that relapeople, and getting to know everybody,” says Bonnie.

PAUL SNEERINGER

JEFFREY BROOKMAN JASMINE BISHOP JENNIFER GLANTZ

LIZ HARRIS

LUCI CHALIAN

Jeffrey passion for real “Be yourself,” Jasmine them, than push a quick One of the help first things yourather notice when Liz utilizes a variety of marketing stratento real Brookman’s estate Top Agent Jennifer Glantz – of Kissingersays. “People do When she “During the initial I have decided to getconsultation into real estate markets her l to Liz Harris is how much satgies. “I spend a lot of money on Luci marketing, goes inback as far as he91can transaction through,” he says.

Bigatel & Brower Statetalking College, with them, I allow them to share with business withinwho they like.

Don’t be somerestate after years 93 94 99eventsthe after a twenty-five year career 97 manag- ranging from expensive social isfaction she takes in her work, having to ads inmedia pla Pennsylvania – is a truly dedicated Realtor me what is important to them about remember.

“I always had an interest one different just to try to make a sale.”

Having recently ing her own business, the anumber one the Wall Street Journal to our local out toMLS. other agents who is committed to providingfound every aone or selling home.” This way to combine her passion withpurchasing Luci Chalian wanted to her alsoasdoes in homes, architecture, and speaking A self-proclaimed workaholic, Jeffrey’s oyed the process of her many buyers and sellers top-to help of care has muchtotobring do with the We buy space in local magazines a with desire people. “I grewvalue up on alevel well targeted potential clients wascurrently peace ofholds mind.

“As a as national publications, and neighborhood customer is service.

Jennifer, who that she a perfect, withgetting people,” a Jasmine cell phone never leaves his sight, giving currently working towards comfter her he says. He is truly notch ranch in a beautiful area, so I love look-fact McKee of th works hard to maintain lifelong relationoverall Zillow.com.

Realtor, five-star you’re the eyesrating andon ears for peoing. “I’ll alert peop at property, whether undeveloped Properties provides a special partnership a master’s degree inhis marketing and with the agent people’s person and a professional clients unlimited access to callelse with shipspleting with her clients, has builting a thriving ple who do something for a living and down the street tha acreage or beautiful homes fixer-upbusiness basedall on her a foundation of honesty important to the success with Garden and Gun Land and Garden brings experience into marketing eachor hwho the process of is always happy to negotiate any pressing questions.

“Iwhat am easily have no Equally idea they are doing when coming on the mark pers!earned I’m thrilled to connect with peopleof Jennifer’s business would be her and Gun Magazine. I host open houses and integrity, and has more than listing. Facebook and Instagram are utilized after fourbest yearsfor his clients, making it comes to buying or selling a home.

As an early open hous what’s accessible, and clients can always her excellent reputation as onewho of the are mostlooking expert negotiation abilities and her for their ownmy perfect and other events throughout the season, their advocate, my job is to make sure Depending on when to maximize exposure, with posts featuring works with her trusted real estate professionals in Central intelligent, leave-no-stone-unturned him a highly popular agent BISHOP for buyers JEFFREY BROOKMAN reach me. I’m married to my phone and place, and to experience that happiness and take advantage of the various social JASMINE JENNIFER GLANTZ LIZ HARRIS LUCI CHALIAN they are getting a strategies fair deal, and toinclude makeASHLEY SWAIMket, I’ll also marke Pennsylvania. marketing which professional photography.

Likewise, mailers iness partner in ASHLYN COUSINS SCOTT DEPUTY with them when we find it!” media platforms.” and sellers throughout NewMICCO Jersey. to real estate.

I guess I’m of MEGAN advertising listings the 350 PAIGE VADNAIS sure they aresomewhat gettingher what they to want.” that might be intere sentwhoout through of aand .

Jennifer, has more than a the decadeneighborhood of a workaholic, other agents inisn’t her market, broI feel like there a bump-up purchas A real lifelong resident ofher the Huntsville With almost seventeen years of experistays in touch with clientsOutside through her car experience under belt,feature and was aborn chures, neighborhood outreach, and a She ward-winning Top Agent Ashlyn Cousins long lasting relationships with clients. given property, highly professional yComing consideredfrom a job Megan emphasizes state-of-the-art techScott Deputy began studying estate photography the latest video That second part canabout sometimes be tricky, always start with myher clients’ goals, “It’s all reaching as many people assheand a teaching“Ibackground, enough time in the day to accomplish and raised in Central Pennsylvania, began her journey savvy approach to utilizing social media platforms to ence as a Realtor, and having learned from the best in emails and phone calls, but favors connecting area, Ashley Swaim has are always been an activetime in her c Co-Team Leader Berkshire Hathaway’s “Being a Realtor is not just signing up and 103 104 106 109 110 ng a career in real nology as a major component of her presentation of the home.

“We don’t do anything DIY,” siness comes fromofreferrals. since people often themselves conLeisure for Lu investment a “Ipath toeverything self-employment. nology toright create 360-degree virtual bothimportance short term and long term,” says quickly as andatmaking the in the real estate industry inas 2009. was working asisanwellensure maximum exposure forfind her possible listings.

Combined, Jeffrey understands the I would like to accomplish. the business, Liz qualified to help clients with them an event or dinner.

Many of Liz’s clients ales experience andher yearsinin Simpsonville, repertoire, something that provides subentrepreneur.

After graduating from the ing music, as a Sunday fused about what they want, but Luci’s food, and co ousins & from Associates getting your license and then selling houses Jasmine says.

“We invest in making sure that our homes onnections elementary school teacher,” she recalls, “and decided to these translate into fast sales for top dollar, not to menPaige Vadnais, stantial a top agentto working out impression.

We’re ready when hit go.” or sellShe their Liz about chose her profession just after become great friends whomwhich she socializes “I value had been devouring content real of we thewith homes, will beandmarket ofin educating hisafinancial clients throughout I home. just love helping people and getting her work –asfor deploys awho takeand a break thather andclients. work our for my husband tion happy whoBeing continue to andplanner to refer helps. “This former experience anreturn event food junkie, so church, I love to she entertai University ofclients Alabama inas als outh Carolina is hardworking, like it’s anyowns other sales job. aHuntsville Realtor lookdeeply great, thatfrom we’re putting best foot forward.” es from marketing college.

“My Harris Custom Builders partnerswith with ongeo-targeted additional projects. of Minnesota with Real Estate Nation estate and thought it might also befriends useful tofamily. ads across thelikes all biking of theans confident that she comprehensive, multi-channel marketing had just the purchased two building companies.

I husband became and the transaction process—especially to be a part of their story,” he says.

His business is very consultative.

And it’s sort of a psyfriends.”

She also nowledgeable and compassionate Realtor is starting a business, and you have to have her degree in Marketing, she launched a Love, a progra Last year, Jasmine closed thirty-four transactions. ult of her personable nature andand builds were doing aactive couple member of her community, hisRE/MAX. listing agentfor and“How startedlisting taking classes onbeautiful marketing,homes. We ltor. Megan earned campaign Team through long doemphasizes Anhave che experiment in the sense that I have to really get to kind of activity around the water. take theeach pre-licensing class for becoming platforms.

“Thewith internet is the theishas first-time homebuyers—and helphard work and dedication earned Liz makes time media for her community, helping fund-that of projects ourselves as anshe’s investment, and Iclients got achieve advertising andproject hosting open houses.”

When not busy helping theirher real ho committed tothey providing her long-term perspective.

The relationships commercial products business with Firefly su mine turned and aftertruly almost amany of her detailed management toafor ensure know the client—what they want and need.both Sometimes want to be in the house?

What’s the Paige strives to give back in Cashiers terms ofDesigner an agent.

From there it was just a natural open house,” he explains. estate dreams, Jennifer enjoys giving back to her comraising through the Showhouse. ing them make the right real estate him the Circle of Excellence Sales licensed so I could personally market and sell them.

I any grateful clients with top-notch, high schedules you the form areher notthose just important forestate today, has proven that are metJasmine and clients receive A resident of Allen Park, is excited to use esheloves helping people find mom.

Her interest in real was first need.

She is als can be two different things, so we need to have Her plan for the future of her bus plan in the months yearsdiscovered to come? funds and For instance, Jenniferorquickly thatThen she had aWilliam true pas- McKee munityabout both personally and Kissinger Bigatel & the boardthis also on of thepast Boys and Girls Club of the starting outthrough as anservice. progression asapproached Itomore took and passed the through local o choices. perform at He the top best possible outcomes. values forming long-term Award forSoon, selling $20,000,000 inShe’s uality service.

Sincerely passionate about they’re important forover the future.” marketing expertise to give back her community. conversations tohusband, clarifyinclude exactly what we’re going to be growing and to make sure she to is cre piqued her a builder; sion group sion for real estate, and currently than half of her Brower.

Recipients of her largesse local schools, I come up with a game plan. theassistant end of for McKee Properties, becauseChristmas, and her teamtime supported a including Plateau.

Personal is for family, two wonI wanted toPaige ve field Northern and stateAt exams.” back to his thr considerable business is based upon repeatsales clients and hospitals and other charitable organizations. She is also Scott givesto forwouldn’t and why.” respond to a community dynamic market. relationships one-time transvolume in alooking year. hat sheindoes for a over living, AshlynMICCO has earned she willnot begin teaching classes through thebest.

Downtown however, Ashley start exploring her area, em“ MEGAN ASHLYN COUSINS PAIGE SCOTT DEPUTY SWAIM derful children their andASHLEY three “We’re veryin outdoors work with He VADNAIS encouraged me to jump right in the day, it’s my time, sale.

It’s about and helped to furnish homedogs. and Inabout her free Megan loves to hike, referrals, a significant achievement in her the highly comactively involved infamily the local ski community. helping folks make a for very Hunge large fin a partnership with Move rnds sterling reputation as a trusted realsatisfaction estate There are many, many other reasons for actions client above Development Authority to local business owners, real and estateprioritizes similar to oriented, soawe spend most with of our time in thethrough beautiful couns the until her mom retired andhad she as an agent.

William wasindustry a great mentor, and I learned petitive Much of this has toVISRAM do withher the fact that roadmarket. cycle, andclients.” spend time with husSUKI BAHI RIZ me being a resource for my make sure everyone Along That insight is part of the reason Luci has bed. been able to job is to make sure it is an informe vocate for buyers sellers Ashlyn’s growing success twenty-five years now ascontinually aWhen Realtor, organization that fights hunger she is this devoted to continuing hermuch education within askedplans about the ofdown. herstory, business, Jennifer teaching how toAfter market theirGoing businesses and brand themnature that surrounds us here on the Cashiers/Highlands pendence to her by alike. so him.” everything else. and “You have to approach busiforward Jeffrey has no to future slow cognized in afforded the Top band, two teenage children, andfrom their pitthe went seeking an alternative career.

“IPaige knew ical support.byW build a repeat client and referral rate of sixty percent. are comfortable with it.” her teammate, Jen, also runs an event industry.

In 2010,dog. for example, she earned and theofNational pauses thoughtfully before answering.

“The first ten Plateau—hiking, boating, golfing, andSuki fishing.”from people chief among them would be her expert East when shemy business bull rescue She iswants a that member the selves using social media. ableBay to present Scott has found choice of career very lecting food donations ness with a certain degree of elegance and finesse.

He to continue providing his clients with the To keep in touch with her past clients, Suki Bahi started off strong in her real estate Her former clients also cite her professionalism and I didn’t want to run ourabout company myor giving back, Association Realtors’ prestigious Green Designation, years ofand my business were getting my by feet on the for a fundraiser firstthis got startedVoters inofisreal estate in 2018. called Shop With A Purpose, Riz Liz his team are always looking “At the end of Paige the day, business all When McKee passed away, partnered with three for a total volume $40 League of which Women and works with the American shlyn, who studied real estate in college, negotiation skills and thorough, intelligent 113 114 “Every decision that Imillion. make down-to-earth nature asI strengths.

“I’m intense as awant fulfilling.

“The thing Iby love most about neither toher pack nor the foll no prefers personal approach, writing handcareer, earning the Medallion Top 10% provides extra value to homeowners helping ground,” she replies.

“The upcoming ten years awill be You can’t be of pushy or aggressive because you’re highest quality of customer service and guiding self,” she says.

“Sosolicits in 2017, decided to earn my real time with herwaste family, A close friend’s stepmother had been in the business where Paige local business to give a portion of ways to bring the community closer.

They about customer service,” says Riz Visram, a Going forward, Liz wants to give assistants all the other long-time McKee agents to purchase the comlf of her business through repeat Indian College Fund to promote educational and profesthem savvy and environmentally sound decisions about focusing on building a Iteam and not to ficially became licensed as anWhen agentshe’s in make marketing strategies that translate fast business person. actinto likebeing it isa leader mecards who is ishable buying not working, Jasmine loves crafting, her written each oforher clients every Award in heris first year inShe the business.

She this job the feeling I get from being of items in their pantry as they pre not selling a sack of potatoes here.

This is usually them towards the best choices for them and their estate license.

Right away, I hit the ground running, field, or traveling. tools needed to build their own business, and continue pany. serves the Cashiers-Highlands area of North ferrals whichbroker she attributes to her sional opportunities young Native students.

She also dotheir tradeshows and sponsor and Team Lead at Rizcorp with for nearly thirty years and thought that Paige would proceeds to the White Bear Lake Food aboutRealty their for homes. for my clients, mysoown office asevents. well.”

LeftThis selling thewithin house, they know I’m going toher beShelf. look- listings, Suki 014.

“I’ve always had client an interest in the field,” shejourney sales forthat top dollar, notfamily. toonly mention happy clients. year.

To objecmarket clients’ began her fifteen years ago, taking Italian greyhound puppy, and spending time with to grow as a top agent herself.

“Iyear also have plans to fifth an Carolina, where she’s consistently ranked a knowing I’m playing aextremely signifto move.

“This we did our however, is top-producher primary, overarching vyone marketing, and excellent has asomeone long history of community organizing and youth of the biggest investments isservice, going families.

“This isand an rewarding job. and Iunstated, haven’t looked back since.” year, due to restrictions related to COVIDRoyal LePage Terrequity Realty in Canada. succeed in the industry.

“She supported me ing out for their interests. But I also want itstops to betofun. pulls out all the attract competitive theworked plunge and following her lifelongstays plains. “My mother-in-law been an agent since Other factors comeset play when assessing Jennifer’s tivemost that has not business wavered since she first obtained her With wedding date for the spring, Jasmine horough helps her has enhance my clients’ experience by offering1700 compreing agent.

Not surprisingly, ofthe that comes having atinto the Roosevelt Elementary icant role in helping someone successfully shape their food drive for pounds to makeapproach in their lifetime, so you awant can’t just force I’m helping people find the place they’re going to At of the day, whether we close on athem, dealtours, orandtocollected Ashley has astrong plans of fo 19, many these events have been paused.

“It doesn’t matter ifmentoring, you to buy one encouraged me every step of the way,” says Paige.

“I Outside ofend working hard for her clients and community, stellar success story, and chief among them would be the license: to continue providing her clients with the topoffers.

From virtual beautiful passion.

“It was something I always knew engearly 80’s.

After college, I didn’t go into real estate When she’s not working, Ashlyn enjoys spending time hensive package of home sale and purchase services in Oakland, a keynote speaker at the Empowering from repeat clients and referrals.not, it’s still just about the relationship. I’m always busy with wedding planning and exciting preparations. or selling process with an school just lifetime relationships she forms with her clients.

“I think of-the-line, highly personalized service that has become financial future.

My job is to provide expert guidance in a three hour window.

We fed a lot of people that it down their throat.

You have to be easygoing,” call home, a place where their family is going to Riz looks forward to continuing them in property or ten properties, we will provide After finding fast success in real estate, Ashley deAs she continues pouring quit my nine-to-five job, and I’ve been licensed and Paige loves to spend time with her husband and two photography including to wanted do,” Suki says.

“Ever I clients, finds it steps, important that will allow us to see3Dtodollhouses, their every need, whether Women ColorIConferences UC Berkeley, and teach-since mmediately; took some time myofchildren.

Whentotoat with her husband and children, and is name. an avid tennis ion.

SheMegan laysI out the so to raise myself, to help.” it’s very important really listen to them,” she says. synonymous withtrying her 2021.

“We bring insix popcorn machines, cot-proud hundred percent service one hundred for them asaficionado. are making some emotionally charged and I’m of that hewere says. grow up and make all special memories. cided tocontact take her work tothey theIt’s next level and launch andeffort.” hometown full-time ever since.” daughters, ages and two.

They love getting tand the nuances of each client’s social media campaigns, tooutbrochures, to staging,she was Ithey always wanted to go seethose computer literacy the girl, Coronado Megan “I’m very hands-on.

Clients me because that be insuper repair, remodel, improvement, or loves, ey oldone enough, I“It’s partnered with my mother-in-law, She also gives back to her community through Looking ahead toa atlittle the future of YMCA. her business, Jasmine ect.

Jasmine explains, my ing mother is Native American and has ambitious growth plans including continuing to build ton candy machines, have our signage up,” percent of the time.” want to work with me, so I’m personally involved with whatever.” newspaper advertisements, Suki devises houses, I loved everything about them, it side on their six-acre property as well as going out on her own team.

Today, she leads The Cornerstone Real her work with land acquisi also a very exciting job.

I’m constantly interactdecisions on the place they will call home.

I take that The relationship aspect is in fact Luci’s favorite part of Foramore Glantz, please callrepeat 814-360-7799 or emailthe Jennifer@1kbb.com dinstilled she mentored me through the process ofyear becoming anabout a Jennifer variety of ways, particularly through non-profit sees thisand as turning point, as through business from very regimented, RIZ VISRAM SUKI BAHI sorganized, with a deep respect for her team expand staffing and infrastructure to every meet them stage ofWhite thethe process and beyond.

Itheir custom marketing campaigns based toonget outdoors was like shopping.

Fifteen years in,Estate and he says.

“We give out prizes, which the working, kids Paige’s clients appreciate her honesty and transparency Bear Lake with boat.

Team through RE/MAX Unlimited, where she construction projects wit business.

She stays in touch withnot clients throughout Jeffrey’s easygoing attitude also extends to his own ing with people who are able to leave a big mark responsibility very seriously.”

When Scott likes wit ent.

We work incredibly well together, and we are now tennis organization she founded that serves over 1,000 clients has begun to increase, and she on their bringenjoy the process.” community.

This perspective has her goal for of $100 million in what sales Iby 2025.

If focuses you’retoinfind Anyone worked with Liz Suki knowswas how much she work tirelessly dream home or totoo, sellcards their and target demographics.

Recently, I still do.” love.

The adults, because they’re kids at especially been inthroughout real estate the pastlove four the year, sending gifts onwho’s holidays, reachthe process.

Entering her third year as a real assists clients throughout the Huntsville Metro Area Along the way, she looks fm prices andRiz thehas wide range ofneed clients he chooses to on this world.

Baseball Hall of Famers, authors, wife and child, enjoying Wilmington’s owing our team with like-minded agents who share our children in her community and of which she is President the positive generational impact of an exceptional real estate agent in the East Bay ing more teachers into her client pool.toJasmine and her trulyMagazine loves her “I look tonews every day. It’s so property another happy buyer.

I’m person,Top Agent featured inneed. thejob.

CTV and forward national ing outato topeople see ifCopyright there’s anything they “Ito my heart asScott well!” years, but and he’s beenup running businesses far reach estate agent, Paige is beginning toof see afamous rising percentage Looking the future, Paige is excited grow her andallowed Southern Tennessee with ato unique blend oftell comand coming members of h ipwork can have on families parArea of Northern California, out to Megan Micco with.

“Ihasn’t was brought with the mentality and religious figures.

I’ve sold houses That respect and dedication has to build a local parks.

He’s also an active martial arts instructor ient-first philosophy.” the Board.

She and her husband are also co-founders exciting!” so I enjoy every minute of it.” business partner are excited to expand their team and agent, Jasmine comclients that I’ll be there for themone beyond theclient’s closing homes sold for when of her A business solo Realtor with Sutton Group West longerlistening than that. started myreferral first lor. She prioritizes over of“Iis repeat clients, she anticipates more business while continuing withyears her current brokerage. to learn the difference! passion, insight, integrity. when I was aand neworsafeage of a types local school called Classical Academy. a half loafcompany’s of bread, better than none atRealty all. all ofBC, people.

IGreenville love what I and do, that’s why deep trustand his clients, who describe him as$500,000 downfour ago he createdfelt a all-time self-defense rampand up their marketing efforts, forging partnerships .ethat As part ofaher which is really just letting them know they’ve Ifanyou’d like Luci’s help buying sellin above the asking price, breaking Coast inwith Vancouver, Suki has built atable, thrivspecific needs of each client.

“I Looking to the future, Riz and his team are when I was five years old,” he says, laughing. in the future.

“I love working one-on-one, building rela“I really love where I’m at,” she says.

“I love my ing out,” she says.

“This c shlyn found success almost immediately, based in large Contact Liz at 828-342-3194 or email Liz@cashiers.com made a new friend.”

617-719-3990 or email Lchalian@ That’s why I’m happy to work every type I’m capable of living andimpressive breathing real She estate by with working hand in of hand with business affiliates like to-earth and aearned straight shooter.

An ninety course designed to help Realtors stay teaches classes forof every new record. isness also apractices Master Gold Medallion Member, ing business and a sterling reputation with cial and emotional needs excited to expand their reach when itoff comes “Thisinvolvement runs in mytionships, blood.”

He works with a team and networking,” explains Paige.

“It’s really team.

We meet up, bounce ideas each other, and rt on her deep in her community and the Ashlyn has big plans for the future of her business, which When listing a home, Ashley applies her background but it can also be a lonely putting her in the top of the market. clients for her availability, drive, and dedication. lenders, insurance reps andevery titlebusiness reps. their comes business clientsays. and I’m open to negotiation.

I all preday,As because it’s their not brand. just my work, it’s vertising, and bestalways practices Megan “Rather putting percent his from repeat clients inacquire the field.

That course has subsequently been appr tonow promoting He hopes a limof nine than agents, and together cover of of theincludes Greater Copyright great to be with athey partpeople ofentering this chapter inpassion.” myare clients’ lives. ask I’d like totoknowledge continue to build, grow, and here she find had before continued growth andquestions. adding team members to continuing Having worked previously as a fortunate paralegal and office in marketing and her in-depth of the local mentoringuiding you.

Than goal toinfluence helpmentoring my clients adeveloped grows, Jasmine andand her partner innovating ways ts.

Through new fer toisofmake long-term connections my and referrals.

“I feel very that so many of my for education credits theMagazine tri-state area.

Copyright Top Agent ousine in the next few years.

“Then, when our clients Toronto Area (GTA), including the outskirts of the area.

They trust me.

My whole thing is people.

I cherish those make sure my clients have an amazing experience.” me.”

Sukiremains finds fulfillment the interpersonal relationships manager, has create a versatile skill-set, which real estate field. Currently, almost the entirety ofSukisupport thata growth.

Above all, she however, herruns in housing market to ensure the sale smoothly from amazing, and she instills a to streamline their process and repeatable and ge working relationships with past clients are now my friends.

That’s a major perk of get the keys from the lawyer for their new property, I shehelping is able toher form.

“It doesn’t feel like a job,”toSuki says.in each of our tea applies tofor all everyone. kinds of transactions, from commercial, relationships from the moment we meet.” shlyn’s business is based upon repeat and referred unwavering, constant objective: toAfter continue providing start to finish. clients fully prepare instill successful experience m to succeed.

To learn more about Jeffrey Brookman, email jeffreyb1836@gmail.com, this business that people necessarily anticipate.”

Going forward, Scottgood wants to grow his team and omplex transactions, Megan is ato top-shelf customer can don’t take from that office to their new home in thereally Riz’s dedication service pays off.residential, “I long have clients I’ve built friendships land assembly, to andthem to service brand-new ients, a true testament to the exceptional to customer the unparalleled customer that has her their property, shebe shares itbeen over awho mix of targeted dig- borders lues prompt Over and concise commuzillow.com/profile/jeffreybrookman, or call (908) 422–2844 visit He stays in touch with them regularly through calls, an organization without through his associ limo,” Riz says.

“They’ll on cloud nine.

That makes it half of his business comes from repeat and referwith.

I really love my clients.

That’s what keeps me construction.

Born and raised in Vancouver, Suki has Paigeit’sand her team service suburbs the rvice is providing.

“I think because I’ve earned callingsurrounding card. energyshe into problems ital and social media campaigns, as well as theIt’s local To anticipating learn more about Jasmine Bishop, onto Facebook, Instagram, and all of their social media.” ral clients.

“My team and I always put the client first. going.

It’s not about the money. about seeing how an on-the-ground knowledge of the city and the suremails, social media and client appreciation events. with eXp Realty.

Twin Citieswhen and are mainly e trust of my Megan clients,” Ashlyn, asked how based in White Bear Lake ring solutions,” says.says She MLS. is equally as devoted herisbuye call (734) 624-7562 or email jbishop929@gmail.com happy my clients are. Theirtojoy my joy. The client rounding areas that her Fluent Elsewhere, in Punjabi she don’t chase the commission,” explains topclients love. frustration byWe giving and and Stillwater.

She is also licensed in Wisconsin and has e has managed tobuyers inspire such impressive levels of Riz. On Copyright educating Top Agent Magazine ers, carefully them on the market and mak® and Hindi, she is well-poised to serve whose home sold for $500,000 above asking is in his the diverse and Additionally, Riz is building the base for a real estate , Riz is also a mortgage of being a licensed REALTOR anding what their transaction Scott isthelicensed in both Delaware Pennsylvania, begunshe to branch out across Mississippi River to the sure and ust andofloyalty amongst those works with.

“That You can contact Megan Micco by phone atempire. they find thelate right home for their best interests.

80’s, and seeing his joy when I told him is the kind international clientele of the region. ing outset. In doing so,and she provides “I don’t want to be like everybody else.

I want agent spent fifteen years in the construction field. serving New Castlesheand Kent counties in the offormer, s given me a lot of confidence.

Also, since mygo husband Hudson area.

“We all over the place,” says.

(510) 708-9952, email megan@meganmicco.com, moment that makes all worth it.” parency needed for hera clients to to be counties unique,” he says.

He has the itnumber “We’re one-stop-shop,” he says. and “We Chester get our clients ads a successful regional design and or development for more visit meganmicco.com andinformation Delaware in the latter.

Aspurchased a With firm, her work-ethic, positive spirit, andher personable For personalized approach, Ashley has earned a RIZCORP and RIZSOLD in area codes within the GTA. whole process from A to Z.” know a lot through about thetheindustry thatitprovides extra value it her When comes to marketing listings, Paige Delaware native himself, heloves brings a reputation deep and knowledge of to Dedicated her community, Suki donates to the approach, is no surprise that Suki’s referral terrific throughout Huntsville, with “My mind is always going,” he says.

“That’s what I give my clients.

No portionmaking of thisaissue may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior of the thevast publisher. big splash online.

“In today’s day Richmond Food consent Bank, Hope Foundation, has volunrepeat client at Magazine 95%, a and testament to heryears Copyright Topsits Agent the area to rate every transaction, and his many in for thethem. majority of her volume coming from repeat clients or to my clients.

I always go to bat I don’t sit and When it comes to marketing and allexceptional of his business practeered at Union Gospel, and sponsors local kids’ customer care.

A fierce advocate for her age, it’s all about looking as best as possible on the Top Agent Magazine is published by Feature Publications GA, Inc. Although precautions are taken to ensure thesports accuracy business have made him an expert on all of the financing referrals.

But through it When all, she focused watch from the tices, Riz is Marketing always ahead of the(CLHMS), curve. Suki In addition to fulfillment teams. sheremains is not busy helpingon clients or giving clients, also finds from the sidelines.” personal Certified Luxury Home Specialist internet,” says Paige.

“Everyone shops from their own options available to buyers.

In 2020, Scott’s volume in To learn more about Paige Vadnais, of published materials, Top Agent Magazine cannot be held responsible for opinions expressed or facts supplied by its his real the estate business,ofhe runs relationships a does barbecue, fireplace, thethem. relationships brought her so much in back her time, Suki’s passionsuccess is kayaking. she is able to form with “For me, that shlyn understands importance for uses home.” Towhat standshe out, Paige professional photogTo learn more ab please call 651-403-2293, sales as a solo agent was eight million, with an average For more information about Ashlyn Cousins, and HVAC company.

“I give my clients a free high-end, the first place.

“Relationships matter most to me,” in shethe U.S. it’s people about keeping touch,” Suki says.

“It’s about authors.

Toraphy subscribe change send inquiry to mag@topagentmagazine.com.

Published living. “It’s a very big responsibility toorhelp and drone footage toaddress, give thein full scope of her please call (2 email paige@paigevadnais.com, or visit price point between 250 and 500 thousand dollars. name brand barbecue when they purchase their property Thrilled with what she has built, Suki has no plans to being available and making sure my clients know I can please call 864-363-5713 or says. “I treat my clients as if they were my own family. ith what may be the largest properties. financial transaction their open houses and getting She lovesofhosting email ashleyswaimre facebook.com/paigevadnaisrealtor slow down.

“I want keep assisting doing what I’m doing,” help solid, them with everything, even acousins@cdanjoyner.com afterTo closing.

It’s never nice about from us,” Rizworks says. diligently “Unlike a gift card, where they use it email me, it’s the sale; it’s toabout ves,” she Ashlyn, who to about form buyers excited upcoming listings.

She says, Suki says. “Myfor belief is that, yes, you do have to work or visit ashle toHe help family, friends, neighbors ofseller my to clients, and forget it, the barbecue will always going to his be there. spends firstorvisit with athem client talking about makeand the right decision their needs.” hard, but also if you have a happy outlook, goodatthings to comes work with folks again. I feel very grateful for the Contact Scott Deputy 302-750-6388 or Every time they use it or someone over, they’ll staging, building a premarket to-do list so that the house Copyright Top Agent Magazine will come to you.” community I have.” talk and think about their agent.” client email Scott@delawarehomepro.com looks perfect on picture day. He then utilizes professional Top Agent Magazine 3 www.

www.

Customer service and satisfaction is always Riz’s num-

To find out more about Suki Bahi,

Copyright Top Agent Maga

CONTENTS 6) 5 FRESH NEW APPROACHES TO CONTENT MARKETING 13) 5 SOCIAL MEDIA MISTAKES REAL ESTATE AGENTS MUST AVOID 21) 4 WAYS MENTORING UP-AND-COMING EMPLOYEES MAKES YOU A BETTER AGENT 26) 3 MENTAL TRICKS THAT WILL TAKE YOUR BUSINESS TO THE NEXT LEVEL 30) 4 EASY WAYS TO REDECORATE YOUR OFFICE THAT WILL BOOST MORALE & IMPRESS CLIENTS 35) WHAT THE FIRST THING YOU DO AFTER WORK SAYS ABOUT YOU 40) 4 WAYS TO WIN THE BATTLE AGAINST PROCRASTINATION 44) 5 TIPS TO MAKE NEW HIRES A LONGLASTING SUCCESS

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50) A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO CONVERTING INTERNET LEADS TO REAL LIFE SALES 54) 3 SUREFIRE METHODS THAT MAKE FOR A PRODUCTIVE MEETING 56) CREATIVE WAYS TO SAY THANK YOU 60) DAILY HABITS THAT WILL INCREASE YOUR MENTAL STRENGTH 64) HOW TO THROW A NETWORKING EVENT THAT CAN PUT YOUR BUSINESS ON THE MAP 68) 3 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR WORKSPACE WORK FOR YOU

83) WHY DELEGATING IS THE KEY TO LONG-LASTING SUCCESS 86) 5 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO ACHIEVE YOUR BIGGEST GOALS 89) 3 MIND-BENDING PHILOSOPHIES TO EXPAND YOUR PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVE 95) TURNING YOUR PROFESSION INTO A PASSION 98) PRODUCTIVITY KILLERS: 4 WAYS TO MAKE BETTER USE OF YOUR WORKING HOURS 100) 5 TIPS TO GET NEW CLIENTS

72) 4 QUALITIES OF EXCEPTIONAL EMPLOYEES

105) TURN OPEN HOUSES INTO DESTINATIONS

76) 4 REASONS WHY MULTITASKING CAN ACTUALLY DERAIL YOUR DAY

107) 6 WAYS TO GET YOUR CLIENT TO TRUST YOU

80) HOW TO OVERCOME YOUR WORKPLACE FEARS

111) TIPS ON BREAKING INTO THE LUXURY MARKET

Top Agent Magazine

mailto:mag@topagentmagazine.com http://www.topagentmagazine.com

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5 Fresh New Approaches to Content Marketing A couple of weeks ago we were conducting a workshop when we were asked two excellent questions about content marketing:

• People

don’t want to hear from a roofing company every day. So how do you produce fresh and interesting content for social media that goes beyond your core services and yet ties back to your business?

• Can

you extend your social media presence and content to include personal things (like your hobbies) and how does that affect your overall business image?

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The workshop attendee who asked the first question was right. Almost no one wants to hear from any company every day… especially if all the content is about products and services…and yes, even if they’re giving helpful tips and information. Does that mean you should stop producing excellent daily content related to your business? No, of course not! Content is created for two reasons.

First, to provide knowledge, expertise and even entertainment to your ideal customers in order to achieve top of mind awareness as an authority in your industry. And second, to produce SEO-rich results that keep you at the top of search engines. You must strike a

Top Agent Magazine

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balance between the two, and try to include content that draws people in by being super interesting and entertaining….and yes, sometimes personal.

To help answer those content questions above, here are five different types of content (beyond the traditional stuff) that can give your brand a fresh, unique and balanced approach:

1. PHILANTHROPIC Your community efforts say a lot about who you are, and people will make an extra effort to do business with you as a result of this connection. We’ve consulted business owners who are very hesitant to promote these efforts because they don’t want it to seem as though they are exploiting the charities and organizations—and most especially because they don’t do it for the promotional aspects. They do it to give back. I ask you to keep this in mind. Nonprofit and charitable organizations very often have small marketing budgets. Not only do they rely on outside marketing forces to promote their initiatives, they would likely be forced to close their doors without that support. That means that when someone with a strong brand and presence promotes them, it’s a highly trusted and personal connection, and you can’t buy that kind of support. In other words, they not only need you to promote them, they want you to promote them. But your instincts are correct. It’s not about you. So just make sure your entire content focuses on the organization you’re helping, what they do for the community and how Top Agent Magazine

others can join in the cause. Then it becomes a huge win for all.

2. HOBBIES You bungee jumped from four of the tallest bridges in the U.S. In your spare time, you go fly fishing. You love playing chef and use only locally grown, organic foods. Your friends are always begging you to go to Vegas with your card shark talents. You’ve done mission work in Africa and would like to start your own group. You almost played professional baseball. You have an insane talent for gardening design or bass guitar.

Your family works at a soup kitchen once a month. Ok…you get the picture. And two more words. Reality TV. People are interesting…and people are interested in interesting people. We remember others based on these unique traits. And most of all, people love the story behind the face. Don’t be afraid to share your hobbies. Quite often, it’s the first thing that will personally connect you to a prospect.

3. CREATIVE CONNECTION This one is perhaps our favorite. While we can’t imagine seeing something come across our news feed from a landscaping company every day, imagine this for a moment. What are we always told to remember in this hectic world? Stop and smell the roses, right? So what if…a landscaping company posted a beautiful flower each day, just to remind you to ‘stop and smell the roses’. And at the bottom of that photo (small print), you included

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the type of flower and type of environment needed to make it flourish (moist soil, full sun, etc.). And then, of course, watermarked it with your logo….and a title like, “Sam’s Daily Reminder: It’s Time to Stop & Smell the Roses”. You could even include some great, thought-provoking quotes. It has the personal connection (Sam), the business connection (flowers & logo watermark) and a cool creative connector (pause the meetings and paperwork to take a moment and appreciate life by noticing this beautiful flower). This is a great idea for staying ‘top of mind’ and connecting business with the kind of creative messaging people wouldn’t mind seeing every day.

4. EXPERIENCES This one is similar to hobbies from the personal aspect, but instead of something that identifies us like our hobbies, our experiences are random happenings that can have great interest and meaning to our audience.

Whether you have a unique experience buying a new car or a fateful conversation with a stranger in the airport, if you feel it ties into a life lesson or business lesson you’d like to share, by all means do. The lesson is to keep your radar up 24/7. Any experiences you have which relate to your

ideal customer are an opportunity to connect beyond the business world. And when we do that, we become a part of the family.

5. INFLUENCERS “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future”. You’ve probably heard that saying, and the same is true whether you are a teenager or a business owner. Maybe you’ve learned a lot of your business knowledge from Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Warren Buffet…or you like to quote Benjamin Franklin. Perhaps you have some mentors you’d like to recognize and tell why they’re important to you. Sharing the people and things that influence us is what makes us human. No matter how successful your business, you didn’t get there alone. People and circumstances shaped you along the way. Recognizing others for their contribution in our lives, large or small, is important in staying connected and grounded.

We hope these five types of content help you to put a fresh spin on what you share with your audience, whether personal or professional. We believe you must have the combination of both to build an incredible brand.

Tonya Eberhart is the Branding Agent to Business Stars and founder of BrandFace®, LLC. Michael Carr is America’s Top Selling Real Estate Auctioneer & BrandFace® partner. Together, they focus on personal branding and marketing designed to help real estate professionals become the face of their business & a star in their market. BrandFace® for Real Estate Professionals is a book, professional speaking series and an exclusive workshop for agents, and is currently active in 18 U.S. states, Canada and New Zealand. For more information, visit www.BrandFaceRealEstate.com.

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Top Agent Magazine

MICHAEL GROSS Top Agent Magazine

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MICHAEL GROSS

Real estate runs in Michael Gross’s family. “My father was a Realtor and I grew up hearing about it,” Michael says. “I was on an academic track and started working in the industry between college and graduate school. It was a way I could connect with my dad.” Michael pursued a graduate degree at Princeton and sold real estate with his dad during the summer breaks. He fell in love with the work, and since then he has built a stellar reputation and a thriving business.

and family,” Michael says. “My favorite part of my job is becoming involved in people’s lives, walking with them a short distance along their journey, and helping them make a big, life-impacting decision.

Buying a home is not just a financial move; it’s deeply personal for them and their family and their future. Selling is often very emotional and stressful, too. It is a real honor to be invited into people’s lives, to look out for their best interests, to earn their trust, and to help them make such a decision.”

Now in his twentieth year, Michael is an Associate Broker at RE/MAX Results in Edina, Minnesota.

Committed to his professional growth and to his clients’ well-being, Michael has earned numerous accolades within RE/MAX. A four-time Platinum Award winner and most recently a member of the Chairman’s Club, Michael works tirelessly for his clients, delivering top-notch customer service with a personalized approach.

With his compassionate, client-centered approach, Michael offers his clients attentive service. “The job is multifaceted,” Michael says. “When people want to buy a place, I become a consultant to help them really understand the pros and cons of each house. Then I become a negotiator, which in this current market involves crafting thoughtful and strategic offers. After the deal closes successfully, I love staying in touch. By then end of the process, my clients feel more like friends than clients.”

Michael is proud that the majority of his business stems from repeat clients and referrals. “I’m thrilled when clients recommend me to their friends 10

Michael’s relational approach sets him apart, along with his commitment, his knowledge, and his work Copyright Top Top Agent Agent Magazine Magazine

ethic. “I have experience. I know the market. I know how to advise people well. But trustworthiness is just as important as expertise. A real estate transaction is the most financially consequential move people make, and they want to work with someone they trust. I work hard to establish trust so clients know I’m not just out to get a sale. Really, my goal is to make sure they’re so happy with my service they tell all their friends about me. Reputation is everything in this business.”

To market his listings, Michael develops a comprehensive and modern strategy. With virtual 3D tours, drone videos, beautiful professional photography, and thoughtful staging, Michael understands the importance of presenting every home in its best light. “The technological aspect is very important these days,” Michael says. “More and more people are buying houses based exclusively on what they see online. I make sure our online presence is as polished and high-quality as possible so we can create intrigue, drive up showing activity, and get the highest possible price.”

Michael and his family just moved to Edina, and they are looking forward to becoming more active and involved with their new local community. A dedicated family man, Michael loves to spend time with his wife, two-year-old son, and nine-month-old daughter. In his free time, he is an avid runner, hiker, foodie, and musician.

Michael is excited about the future and what it holds. “It’s been so amazing to see my list of clients grow over the years,” he says. “I helped a client propose to his girlfriend, I officiated a wedding for some clients, and most recently some other clients asked me to orchestrate the gender reveal for their baby. It is such a joy to become involved in people’s lives. And getting to see my clients’ families grow and develop is so rewarding. These connections are what I look forward to the most.”

Top Agent Magazine

To find out more about Michael Gross, call 612-386-0284, email michael@hometoursmn.com, or visit remax.com/real-estate-agents/michael-gross-minneapolis-mn/100030234

www.

11 Copyright Top Agent Magazine

Sid Larson is proud to congratulate

MICHAEL GROSS

on being featured for the State of Minnesota in Top Agent Magazine!

SID LARSON slarson@edgehomefinance.com edgehomefinance.com/team-member/sidlarson https://

https://

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5

SOCIAL MEDIA MISTAKES

Real Estate Agents Must Avoid There is perhaps no greater marketing tool for agents these days than having a large presence on social media, but there is more to social media marketing than just opening an account and gaining followers. A lot of agents forget the social part of social media. It’s all about engagement, but it needs to be the right kind of engagement. This can often be the first impression potential clients or industry peers have of you, so make it count. There is no second chance to make a first impression, and that is especially true for real estate agents. Here’s just a few things you want to avoid.

Top Agent Magazine

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1 Using it to Vent

Social Media is a great place to complain and commiserate about things, but save that for your personal page. A real estate transaction is already a stressful ordeal, the last thing anyone wants is someone who seems like they’ll bring a negative energy to the process. Even worse?

Bad mouthing other Realtors® or listings. You’re selling yourself and your skills, so don’t sell anything that shows you in a bad light. Much like marketing a property, everything you put out should be professional and inviting.

2

Lack of Consistent Branding

Yes, social media is about social engagement, but it’s also about creating brand recognition. While you don’t want it to be purely promotional, you are running a business, so create a consistent branding across all social media platforms. If you can afford a professional graphic designer to help you out with this, that’s great. But at the very least, have the same profile pic, cover image and highly visible contact information, across the board. And don’t forget to share links to your other accounts, some people prefer different social media applications.

3Not Posting Enough

It’s good to create a schedule of how many times you’ll be posting per day and to pick times when you might have the most engagement.

Don’t over do it, but three posts a day at the right time, tends to be a good goal. There are numerous tools on Facebook, for example, that

can let you see when interactions are the highest.

Stick to your schedule and adjust accordingly.

It’s also important to not just post your listings.

Be a resource for people who follow your page.

Post community events, or other informative articles that are relevant to home ownership.

Be a page they want to follow even when they aren’t buying or selling a property. They’ll remember you when the time comes.

4

Not interacting With Your Followers

It’s called social media for a reason. The more you engage with your followers, the more they see you as a real person, and not just a marketing tool. Not only do you get to know your past clients and potential clients, on Facebook, engagement actually will make your posts seen by more people. So it’s a win/win.

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Not Sharing or Linking to Others

It might not seem like a good idea to not promote the blogs, pages or listings of other people, but it’s not only an excellent way to build goodwill, it will also increase your own presence when they reciprocate. So make a point to share posts and links for local businesses and even the blogs of your peers, if it’s a post that offers valuable insight into an expertise you don’t have. That will encourage them to share your posts and even your listings, which will increase your potential buyer pool. This is another incentive to create your own blog. Unique informative content is always of value, and more likely to be shared than promotional links.

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Top Agent Magazine Top Agent Magazine

JANICE MATTER

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Top Agent Janice Matter of Premiere Plus Realty in southwest Florida specializes in waterfront properties, focusing most of her business in north Naples and Bonita Springs, Florida.

“Anyone who sells a lot knows you have to work very hard at what we do. You get things done,” says Janice Matter, a top agent operating out of Premiere Plus Realty in southwest Florida. “I go that extra mile for all of my clients. I have a strong work ethic, and I have the organizational skills to make sure I can handle what I do. I’m always ahead of the game.”

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Janice didn’t start out in real estate. She began her professional career as an Elementary school teacher. However, real estate runs in her family. In fact, Janice’s mother was the first woman broker in the state of Michigan, and three of her four brothers work in the industry. “You’d sit at the dinner table and watch everyone talk real estate,” Janice says, laughing. “My parents Top Agent Magazine

always said I should do it, and in 2000, with the coaxing of my brother and mentor Larry Pelak and the help of my other two brothers, Joe and Paul Pelak, I did. Everyone needs a good mentor!”

in north Naples and Bonita Springs, Florida.

However, she is willing and ready to go wherever her clients would like to be and has sold many properties in other areas also.

For the past twenty-one years, Janice has used her high attention to detail and dedication to serve her clients as a solo agent with the help of her family of realtors. Specializing in waterfront properties, she focuses most of her business

Approximately 70% of Janice’s business comes from repeat and referral clients. She stays in touch via email, but she prefers a more personal touch.

She sends Christmas cards and loves holding open houses. “That’s how I started in this business,

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The average property Janice works with ranges from $500,000-$2 million, and, most years, she completes on average 35-40 transactions. “We do everything—professional photography, Matterports, drone shots, staging, all internet/websites, but I add that special touch of customer service.” through open houses,” says Janice. “I love meeting the people and meeting the community. They come in, and I’ll sit and chat with them for a long time. That’s brought me listings in the past!”

There’s no arguing with Janice’s success. The average property she works with ranges from $500,000-$2 million, with some upwards of 3 million and, most years, she completes on average 35-40 transactions. She markets her listings through an MLS, and she makes a point to cover all her bases: “We do everything—professional Copyright Top Agent Magazine 18

photography, Matterports, drone shots, staging, all internet/websites, but I add that special touch of customer service. Sometimes we have to get furniture removed, have properties painted, repairs made, etc. As many of my clients are up North while I am selling their property and I have to make it show ready! I will not start marketing it until it is show ready. With my buyers - I do the same - send them a detailed timeline of the buying process, set them up with a handyman, etc.

Some of my clients call me years later looking for a contact or just to chat!” explains Janice. She Top Agent Magazine

also utilizes mailers and flyers both through the traditional mail and email.

When she isn’t working hard for her clients, Janice loves nothing more than spending time with her three grown children and nine Top Agent Magazine

grandkids. She loves traveling to see her family and hosting gatherings for them in sunny Florida.

“BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE, MY FAMILY IS MY FAVORITE THING IN THE WORLD,” Janice says. When she’s ready to unwind and take some time for herself, Janice loves going on Copyright Top Agent Magazine 19

5 mile walks and on Monday nights plays poker with other realtors. “It’s fun to converse with others in the business and get their point of view, plus maybe win a few bucks… ha, ha.”

Looking to the future, Janice is excited to expand her business and bring on a few more people.

As she used to teach, she encourages all to find a good mentor and to stick with them for a long time. “New agents tend to leave their mentors as

soon as they sell a couple of properties… there is so much to learn… I am still learning 21 years later! Even with an assistant and our Family Team, which includes our newest member, my nephew Joey, I’m realizing that we’re outgrowing the little situation we have right now,” says Janice. As a top producer, she’s excited to extend her reach in her area. However, she wants to make sure she maintains her personal touch. Janice says, “I do all my listings. Those will stay with me.”

For more about Janice Matter, call 239-850-5447, email janiceonthebeach@cs.com, or visit swflcoastalcollection.com www.

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Top Agent Magazine

4 Ways Mentoring Up-and-Coming Employees Makes You a Better Agent In the world of real estate, there are always new agents joining the ranks. Even if you’ve been practicing for just a few short years, you’ve likely learned your fair share of lesson along the way. As an agent, much of your working philosophy is derived from first-hand experience and your work on the ground. This means that new agents are less prepared for the inevitable curveballs of the industry. That’s where you come in.

While mentorship is often pitched as a relationship that solely benefits the mentee, there is actually plenty to be gained from becoming a mentor. After all, personal growth goes hand-in-hand with professional growth, and becoming a mentor asks agents to thoughtTop Agent Magazine

fully explore and demonstrate their own ideologies, practices, and rationale. With that in mind, take a look at some of the benefits of mentorship below, and you’ll get a sense of why counseling new agents can be a boon to your own business.

Teaching lessons to others reinforces your own professional values.

Showing the ropes to young agents is a great way to brush-up on your foundational skills.

Verbalizing and demonstrating processes, or walking through the rationale behind negotiation tactics—all cause mentors to think through their established practices and outline in detail why they’ve chosen this route over an

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alternative. This helps older agents fine-tune their routines, while getting back in touch with the critical thinking that went into constructing those habits.

Mentorships allows you to see the big picture.

surely sharpen your ability as the head of a team. What’s more, you’ll be building skills of empathy, understanding, teaching, and constructive criticism. Working on those skills will better your practice and your ability to lead in your office.

After a lengthy industry tenure, it’s not uncommon for battle-worn agents to lose some steam and begin to burn out. By devoting some time to mentoring up-and-coming agents, you’ll get back in touch with your early days, remembering the excitement, the trials, and the hard lessons gleaned. Spending time with the next generation of real estate professionals can reinvigorate your practice, as seeing the business from the eyes of an eager amateur can inject energy into your working life.

You’ll benefit from seeing things from a new perspective.

Just as working with young agents can help you remember your career’s big picture, you may also benefit from working alongside someone with a new perspective. Young agents bring a different set of skills and awareness to their work, and established agents can benefit from a fresh take. If technology isn’t your strong suit, or you’re interested in tapping the Millennial homebuyer market, working with a younger agent is an excellent way to see through fresh eyes.

Mentoring young agents makes you a better leader.

As a mentor, you’ll often direct the flow of your professional relationship—figuring out which issues to tackle, making an agenda, and imparting lessons in a clear way. These are all characteristics of a leader, and acting in a position of authority as mentor can 22

While some may balk at the time commitment or energy required to take on a mentee or two, you might consider it an act of ongoing education or professional development. While your mentee will undoubtedly benefit from access to your expertise, there’s certainly much to be gained from taking the time to cultivate tomorrow’s real estate leaders.

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DENNIS FOLK Top Agent Magazine

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DENNIS FOLK

When Dennis Folk was 19, he got his real estate license and joined his family in the business.

Since 2006, Dennis has built an impressive career in his own right, becoming an elite Realtor in Pierce County. Dennis currently works with a team of 13 brokers to offer quality service to Tacoma, WA and the surrounding area, and he’s found a great deal of success through providing professionalism and consistent dedication to his clients.

for a long time – we push really hard and refuse to lose. People respect us, and we are known for our professionalism,” Dennis says. His team has the experience and skill necessary to navigate the most difficult of transactions, and they hold themselves with a level of poise that lets any client rest easy knowing they’re in good hands.

Communication is an important piece of the puzzle for any Realtor, and Dennis and his team

Dennis has carved out a niche in his local community. His team, Terrafin, is more institutional than the average brokerage – they represent a lot of land developers and investors, and the bulk of their business comes from regional homebuilders. Working with other businesses and corporations, there is a certain standard of presentation that Dennis must achieve, and he works hard to ensure it is always met.

“We’ve taken our work very seriously 24

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are no different. They are consistently available and forthcoming to their clients, and never leave them out to dry. Their listings are marketed using professional staging, videography, photography, and Matterport tours, and they reach out to clients past and present periodically using postcards, handwritten letters, and the CRM system.

Over the course of his career, Dennis has developed a love for the business that he exudes while at work. He takes good care of his clients, but he is also a generous and enthusiastic coworker, and loves to mentor other agents. “The exciting part of where we are now is continuing to grow and get more brokers on the team, and push the envelope with our training. I love watching other people on the team be successful and build their career.” Dennis’ selflessness makes him a joy to work with, and his team is inspired and assured because of it.

Outside of being a team player, Dennis puts up staggering annual personal results in his real estate career. He closed around 100 transactions in 2020 for a total volume of $45 million, at an average price of $450k. Dennis’ hard work pays off, and he is able to get through an impressive number of transactions year after year.

In his free time, Dennis loves to spend time traveling with his family. The agents on his team are members of the Local Assocation of Realtors, the Local Master Builders Association, and the Chamber of Commerce.

They sponsor half a dozen local community events put on by the Chamber of Commerce each year. If you’re looking for professional real estate service in Pierce County, look no further than Dennis Folk!

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Contact Dennis by phone at (253) 466-3736 or by email at Dennis@TerrafinRE.com.

You can also visit his website at terrafinre.com for more information. www.

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3 Mental Tricks That Will Take Your Business to the Next Level It’s no secret that running a successful business requires careful planning and a tireless work ethic.

Beyond those obvious ideals, it also takes the right mindset in order to capitalize on professional opportunity. In the world of real estate and mortgage lending, mental fortitude is a major component to reaching the next level and achieving longevity in a sector that requires so much self-discipline. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a few key mental tricks you can employ to reinvigorate your working philosophy. Incorporate these techniques into your daily mindfulness routine and your business will surely benefit.

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Visualization helps you work efficiently and keep your cool.

This may sound like one of the oldest tricks in the book, but there’s a reason why Olympic athletes and those serving in first-responder positions use visualization as a time-honored mental technique.

Not only does visualizing your daily tasks help you organize your mind, but it amps up your ability to focus on what’s important. Visualization also helps reduce stress in the moment, since you’ve already created a mental expectation of the task ahead.

Whether you’re preparing for a negotiation or a pitch to new a client—visualization primes your brain and affords you an extra sense of control as you tackle your day.

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Distill concepts into their simplest terms for ultimate understanding.

As an agent or loan officer, you’re likely juggling numerous clients and commitments on any given day. That’s why it helps to distill your responsibil26

ities in clear, definitive terms. Let’s say you have a meeting set with a client to outline a marketing approach for their property. You may understand the broad strokes, but beforehand, try verbalizing the exact takeaways you’d like to impart to your client. This may seem obvious, but one of the best ways to clarify your communication and ensure your complete understanding of a subject is to explain it aloud in its simplest terms. This crystallizes your main point and can come in handy if you drift off-topic or need to double-down on your message.

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Accept that mistakes will be made.

While it’s natural to fear failure, sometimes the dread of making an error can overwhelm your ability to perform. As the saying goes: don’t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.

If you accept in advance that set-backs will occur, challenges will come, and things won’t always go accordingly to plan—you’ll be less confounded when hurdles do arise. What matters is keeping an even keel as you sort through unexpected delays or mishaps. Accepting that mistakes will happen allows you to shift your focus towards a solution or contingency plan. In other words, don’t spend your energy trying to achieve perfection. Aim high and work hard, but be in touch with reality: upsets are bound to occur. Accept this and you’ll be ready when they do.

The path to lasting success is ongoing, and there are bound to be challenges along the way. It takes mental fortitude to make it to the top, so keep these tricks in mind as you continue to grow as a person and a professional. Seeing situations in a new light can make all the difference as you adapt, evolve, and take your business to the next level.

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ED SHALABI Top Agent Magazine

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ED SHALABI

Top Agent Ed Shalabi – of Venture REI in Scottsdale, Arizona – is one of the most successful Realtors currently working in The Grand Canyon State. Hardworking, honest, and deeply committed to providing his many grateful clients with the very best in customer service, Ed has earned a solid reputation as a trusted real estate advocate who consistently goes the extra mile for buyers and sellers alike.

With well over two decades of experience under his belt, Ed has built a thriving and ever-growing business on a firm foundation of honesty, integrity and a stellar work ethic. Currently, the majority of his considerable business is based upon referrals, positive word-of-mouth and repeat clients, a true testament to the excellent service he provides.

reason would be the solid relationships he forms with his clients. “I treat everyone like family, and they can tell that it’s not an act that I’m putting on for them. People are smart, and they can tell if you’re genuine or not. I really care and I work hard to make sure I’m doing what’s best for them, not for me. That’s part of what makes my job so much fun and so great.”

Proof of Ed’s top-of-the-line customer service can be found on Zillow.com, on which site he

“A lot of that has to do with the fact that I’m not pushy at all,” explains Ed, when asked how he has managed to inspire such impressive levels of loyalty and trust amongst those he works with. “I allow them to take their time.” Another 28

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holds a perfect, five-star overall rating based on scores of glowing testimonials, including this one: “Ed is one of the best Realtors in Arizona. My entire family has worked with him within the past 6 years, and I am currently in the process of selling my house with him. He makes the entire process of selling and buying houses as smooth as possible. He is patient, an active listener, and very knowledgeable about the Arizona market. Ultimately, I highly recommend Ed Shalabi.”

There are many other factors that come into play when assessing Ed’s ever-growing success story, and chief among them would be his expert negotiation skills and thorough, intelligent marketing strategies, which combined result in fast sales for top dollar, not to mention happy clients who continue to return to him and to refer friends and family.

“Nothing is more gratifying to me than the feeling I get from helping people meet their real estate needs,” enthuses Ed, when asked what he enjoys most about what he does for a living.

“I pride myself on being honest, trustworthy and knowledgeable about the real estate market. I also enjoy the flexibility of schedule that allows me to spend time with my family.”

When he’s not working, Ed enjoys traveling – particularly overseas – with his family, and he is also an ardent philanthropist who gives back to his community in a variety of ways.

Ed’s plans for the future of his business are fairly straightforward: to continue its exceptional growth and adding team members to support that expansion. Above all, however, remains his unwavering commitment to providing his clients with the unparalleled customer service that has long been synonymous with his name.

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For more information about Ed Shalabi, please call 602-299-1803 or email EdMyAgent@gmail.com Copyright Top Agent Magazine 29

4 Easy Ways to Redecorate Your Office that Will Boost Morale & Impress Clients Your office is a battle-station of sorts. It’s where you field business, launch your communications, and make the magic of your enterprise happen on a daily basis. While you’ll certainly need to have all the functional elements of an office in order to get your work done—desk, chair, internet—have you really considered the physical environment you’ve cultivated in the process? Think of it this way: working all day in a windowless, poorly lit room 30

wouldn’t exactly inspire productivity or morale, would it?

The fact is humans take all sorts of social, behavioral, and emotional cues from our environments.

And as a real estate professional, you likely already understand the power of the visual and the benefits of making a good impression. With all that in mind, how can you redecorate or retool your

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office space in a way that will boost your mood, productivity, and client relationships? For inspiration, here are a few tips to keep in mind as you consider the ambiance and environment in which you conduct business.

1. A little goes a long way Redecorating your office space doesn’t have to break the bank. Style and décor are often about tiny details adding up to make an overall impression. For instance, paint color, plant life, and lighting are all straightforward ways to rejuvenate a room without spending a fortune. Have dark, drab walls? Consider springing for a lighter, fresher color that will breathe new life into your space. Have bare window sills or empty corners?

Buying and potting a few low-maintenance plants like ferns or succulents can add freshness and pops of color to a sparse room. Rely on fluorescent lighting? Consider sprucing up your space with a few well-chosen floor and table lamps that add accents of taste while warming up the tone in your office. A few intuitively placed items can inspire renewed energy.

2. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle One way to make a big change in your office environment without spending a penny is to declutter and reorder. Let’s say you have rows upon rows of crowded, bulky filing cabinets. Try digitizing your records and cut the clutter, opening up square footage in the process. Maybe your desk has faced the same wall for years. Have you considered rearranging your existing furniture and décor? Just by reorganizing the flow of your workspace, you can give your office the cheapest face-lift possible.

You can also make work areas flow more intuitively, based on the processes and collaboration you’ve adapted to over time.

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3. Think like a client Imagine you’re walking into the office for the first time. As a client, what details would stick out? What red flags would come to mind? While you’re used to working in the same space every day, clients are coming into your office with no set expectations. With that in mind, complete a walkthrough of your office area to address eye sores, clutter, and whatever feels unprofessional or amateur. Half the battle of redecorating your space is finding opportunities and seeing things anew, instead of being content with the status quo.

4. Build out your brand Redecorating your space is about aesthetics, but it’s also about creating a unifying setting for your professional brand. If you’re catering to luxury clientele, it makes sense that your office space should appear elegant, high-end, and sophisticated.

If you’re selling second homes out in the country, perhaps a more rugged but well-curated ambiance would set the right tone for your services. Maybe you’re courting the Millennial market or touting your tech-forward approach to real estate. In that case, a modern, sleek, progressive layout would speak to your company’s values and culture.

Whatever the case may be, think of your office environment as an extension of your brand that communicates with clients, motivates your team, and sets the tone for your day-to-day operations.

Even if decorating isn’t exactly in your wheelhouse, there are plenty of simple and philosophical shifts you can make to your space that will maximize your presence and productivity. What’s more, real estate is a business built on relationships—so it doesn’t hurt to create an office where clients are comfortable and confident in the environment you’ve built.

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ELLIE HITT

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ELLIE HITT

For Ellie Hitt, entering the real estate world was an easy choice. She was working in physical therapy and doing real estate settlements as a notary and title producer for her step father. “I used to drive around looking at houses for fun, and when the doctor I was working for left the practice, I decided it was time for a career move,” she explains. So she took the leap and earned her real estate license, as it combined her love of real estate with her experience in contracts.

Eighteen years later, she’s still loving every minute of it. Serving Maryland and Northern Virginia, primarily Montgomery County, Frederick and Prince George’s county, the vast majority of her business consists of repeat clients and referrals. By providing superior service and guiding each person through the process, she continues to grow with each passing year.

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“I’m really passionate about what I do,” she says. “I just love it. It’s so rewarding. My clients become my friends.” She treats each buyer and seller like family, only wanting what is best for them. For her buyers, she sits down to go over exactly what they are looking for, and doesn’t stop searching until their dream home is found.

Meanwhile, her sellers enjoy thorough marketing

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of their property, with Ellie listing it on all the top real estate websites as well as on social media. For both buyers and sellers, Ellie utilizes her negotiation skills to get them the best deals possible. It’s clear she’s doing it right, as 2020 was her best year yet with her completing just shy of $25 million in volume.

After the transaction, clients leave glowing reviews about their time together. One recently said, “Ellie helped me sell my house in North Potomac, MD in September of 2019. She was fantastic. All of her advice was spot on. She made the sales transaction easy for me and the whole process was amazingly smooth. Things I originally thought I needed to do to fix the house up were unnecessary. Other things I didn’t think mattered turned out to be important. I benefited from the wisdom she has gleaned from years of experience buying and selling homes. I watched her deal with customers, other agents, always with my best interest at heart. She really knows her business and my house sold to some lovely people and closed quickly without a hitch. I give her my highest recommendation.”

When Ellie isn’t working, she’s giving back to the community. “Domestic violence is my biggest cause,” she explains. “I used to help organize silent auctions, where the profits went to help women and families affected by domestic violence.” Although the pandemic has put a halt to many of her previous activities, Ellie makes sure to continue donating to the women’s shelter and providing food to those in need.

Looking ahead, Ellie has her sights set on building a team, but is truly enjoying where is at this moment. “I want to remain very hands-on, as the personal relationships with my clients are the most important thing to me,” she says.

Wherever this path leads, she is no doubt grateful for every minute of it. “What I do is so gratifying and rewarding, I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

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For more information about Ellie Hitt, please call 240-888-8448 or email ellie@homeswithellie.com Copyright Top Agent Magazine

What the First Thing You Do After Work Says About You We all have our routines. From that morning cup of coffee to a jog at the gym, it’s common to establish touchstones for our daily lives.

But have you ever considered what these habits tell us about ourselves? Our actions reveal much about our motivations and emotional life, so taking a second look at your first move at the end of the day can be telling.

With that in mind, see how you fare when it comes to post-workday habits...

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Break a Sweat After a long day of work, is your first instinct to strap on your sneakers and take off on a run? Do you stop off at the local yoga studio for an extended stretch? Maybe you head to the weight room to pump some iron. Whatever your exercise pick, if you’re inclined to sweat it out at the end of a long day, you’re likely a routine-oriented profes-

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sional who internalizes work-related stress. Of course, you’ve chosen a healthy release for all that pent-up tension, and you’ve discovered the power of endorphins. Once work hours are over, not everyone finds the motivation to stay active. This means you’re driven by routine, conscious of your emotional and physical health, and prefer to leave your cares at the gym, rather than bring them into your home oasis. However, it’s important to give your body a rest now and again, as recuperation time is not only beneficial for physical health, but can help prevent burnout for the long haul.

Flexibility is a skill, and one just as important to cultivate as rigid commitment. If you find yourself out of sorts if you miss just one day of working out, you might want to pay some attention to your routines and motivations, and rebalance your commitments and fitness routine accordingly.

Round-the-Clock Hustle If you’re the type to bring work home with you, you aren’t alone. While your motivation to work nonstop is admirable, it’s also important to make the mental transition from workplace to home, establishing the time to hustle and the time to relax. Just like those that hit the gym without fail after a long day, sometimes you’ll need to practice saying no. If your work life is indistinguishable from your personal life, it’ll be hard to catch a break and recharge.

This means burnout, frayed nerves, and missed details will soon be on the horizon. Of course, round-the-clock hustle is a strength, too. You’re passionate about your work, care deeply about doing things right, and failure is not an option.

Just make sure that you establish some foundational boundaries so that you maintain an 36

appropriate, healthy balance between your time at work and your time at home with the loved ones and hobbies you cherish. If making way for downtime isn’t easy, try penciling it in the way you would a work engagement. Dinner with a friend, a date night with a significant other, or a solo movie fest can be readily added to your calendar, and thus built in to your regimented schedule.

Turn to Food If your first instinct after work is to eat, it can say a few different things about your routine.

Perhaps you’ve been so on-the-go all the day that you haven’t had time for lunch. In this case, you might need to regiment your schedule with more purpose aimed towards downtime and self-care; food is fuel, after all. If you head home and gorge after an average day, you may be turning to food as a way to relieve stress.

In this case, you may need to reassess some of your post-work habits and find a healthier balance and outlet for your tension. Taking a walk, grabbing fresh ingredients for dinner, hitting the gym, or decompressing by catching up with a friend or a good book—all are healthier, more balanced ways of executing the transition from the office to the home. Pay attention to your consumption post-work. Determine how hungry or satiated you really are before making a grab for the nearest sustenance.

People decompress in all different ways after getting home from the office, but always remember that routines are telling. Don’t take your daily actions and impulses for granted. Examine the root behind your well-worn practices, and you may detect nuances at play beneath the surface that can you help you recalibrate for the better.

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MICAH WINN Top Agent Magazine

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MICAH WINN

Top Agent Micah Winn serves buyers and sellers throughout the Rock Hill, South Carolina area—with his client-centered approach to business, he ensures that all of his clients are set up for long-term success.

When Micah Winn left his career in telecommunications after 20 years, he knew he wanted to apply his interpersonal skills and love of helping people to the next chapter of his life.

With his in-depth knowledge of the local area, he decided real estate was the right move for him and has been serving buyers and sellers throughout the Rock Hill, South Carolina area for close to a year now. Thanks to his passion for providing high-quality service and a client-centered approach to business, he ensures that all of his clients are set up for long-term success.

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Micah takes pride in his ability to connect to clients on a personal level, which is why he’s already seen plenty of referral business. “I love people and I really enjoy the process of building relationships and getting to know my clients and their families. It’s because of this approach that I can truly understand what matters to them and help guide them in the right direction.

I think they appreciate that I take a personal approach and don’t view them as just another transaction,” he says, and adds that clients also compliment his patience, listening skills and hard work ethic. In order to remain connected Copyright Top Agent Magazine

to his buyers and sellers, Micah checks in through phone calls, texts, and emails.

The challenge of helping a client sell their property for top dollar is one that Micah takes on with confidence. “I always want to get the very best offer that I can for my clients. That’s why I put so much emphasis on marketing and the art of negotiation. It’s important to make this process as smooth and stress-free as possible for the client,” he says. Micah uses a strong marketing strategy to showcase each property to an extensive network of potential buyers. He invests in professional photography, 3D virtual tours, strong social media campaigns, as well as open houses. Since the start of his business in April, he has already closed 30 transactions for a total sales volume of $6,893,600.

In his spare time, Micah likes to stay involved in his community by volunteering at a local homeless shelter. “I’ve been really blessed in my life, and I enjoy giving back,” he says.

He is also involved in the F3 Nation workout group. As a single dad of three, he loves spending as much time as possible with his kids and enjoying the great outdoors.

Looking to the future, Micah is passionate about continuing to grow his business and would like to bring additional agents on board. He is interested in growing a small team who can provide the same type of dedication and elite level of customer service to clients that he prides himself on.

Eventually, he would love for his kids to join in and make it a family business. “It’s truly a blessing to be able to help people, and I look forward to doing that for many more years.”

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To learn more about Micah Winn please email micah.winn@kw.com, visit homelight.com/agents/micah-winn-nc-117079, or call (803) 616–2320 www.

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4 Ways to Win the Battle Against Procrastination One of the most common professional afflictions is procrastination. The funny thing is, everyone knows that procrastination is negative—it’s a waste of time, a creator of stress, and is entirely a problem of our own making. Still, knowing all of this doesn’t necessarily decrease our odds of procrastination. There are plenty of explanations we give when putting work off until the last minute. Perhaps you convince yourself that you work best under pressure, but it’s truer that you’re used to working under pressure by necessity. Maybe you’re a perfectionist and the fear of getting it all wrong puts you off from the task. Whatever the justification may be, overcoming procrastination requires some willpower and technique. With that in mind, take a look at a few tricks below to jumpstart your motivation and nix the last-minute time crunch.

After all, you owe it to yourself and your business to operate like a procrastination-free professional.

1. Make Your Intentions Known As realtors and mortgage professionals, you may serve as your own boss. So, when the time comes to complete a task and you put it off—perhaps you’re only disappointing yourself. This is easily remedied by making a new promise to try again tomorrow. On the other hand, it’s much harder to break promises and commitments to others. Try verbalizing your intent and commitment to your team, or to an assistant who can hold you accountable, or better yet—to a business partner or to a client. Make a hard deadline public and you’re likely to perform for fear of embarrassment or losing face. In a way, this puts the pressure of expectation on you, instead of the pressure of the ticking clock.

2. Take a Baby Step When tasks pile up, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

If you’ve got a number of items on your to-do list, including some heavy hitters that require a lot of attention and time, begin by taking on something simple. Identify an easily completed job that needs 40

attention and put it first in your queue. Duties that are straightforward and aren’t time-intensive can lead you to the rest of your to-do list, fueling you with the satisfaction of a task already complete. Even if it’s as small as returning e-mails, or dropping off your dry-cleaning, one simple thing off your list can inspire you to continue on to the next item in the spirit of productivity.

3. Work in Windows If work is the last thing you want to do and you can’t seem to self-motivate, make a compromise with yourself. Agree to work just fifteen minutes, and mean it. This tiny window of time is easy enough to complete, isn’t overwhelming, and you’ve already agreed to move on once time is up. The truth? Odds are that just fifteen minutes of active work will inspire you to keep going. After all, the most difficult part of procrastination is getting started. By putting in those fifteen minutes, you’ll trick yourself into diving into the action.

4. Switch Up Your Environment If you’re stuck in rut when it comes to procrastination and productivity, try changing your surroundings. If the office feels stale and stressful, take your work to the nearest coffee shop and try to tackle your tasks there. Perhaps the quiet, studious ambiance of a library can make you focus, or a picnic table outside the office can stimulate the senses.

Sometimes changing your scenery can breathe new life into your routine and give you the extra push you need to get work done.

There’s no one way to overcome procrastination. In fact, it’s likely a lifelong process of building discipline, finding techniques that work for you, and simply prioritizing your time more effectively. Don’t lose hope—remember these tricks and winning the war will be possible, even if you lose a few battles along the way.

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MICHAEL LITTLE

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MICHAEL LITTLE

Michael has built a thriving business on a solid foundation of honesty and a go-above-and-beyond business ethos that has translated into scores of loyal clients.

Top Agent Michael Little – of Iron Valley Real Estate’s Virginia Beach branch – is a hardworking, dedicated and deeply knowledgeable Realtor® who has more than a decade of experience helping his many clients achieve their real estate goals, whether buying or selling. Michael prides himself on providing the very best customer service available in his Eastern Virginia market, and has truly earned his stellar and ever-growing reputation as a trusted, honest real estate advocate who operates with the highest level of integrity.

Michael, who owns two real estate companies and two title companies, became officially licensed as an agent in 2011, following a career doing renovations 42

and maintenance for property managers and contractors. “I found myself talking to a real estate agent,” he recalls, “and I realized I was working far too hard for the money I was earning, so I decided to get my license.” Initially working part-time while concurrently working in construction and serving on Active Duty in the Navy (he separated honorably from the military in 2019 after 14 years of service), Michael committed himself full-time to real estate in 2019. Since then, Michael has built a thriving business on a solid foundation of honesty and a go-above-and-beyond business ethos that has translated into scores of loyal clients.

Currently, the bulk of Michael’s considerable business – he sold nearly 20 million in volume in 2020 Top Agent Magazine

alone – is based upon returning clients, referrals and positive word-of-mouth, a significant achievement in his highly-competitive market. “It’s because of the excellent service I provide my clients,” replies Michael, when asked how he has managed to engender so much trust and loyalty amongst those he works with.

There are many other factors that must be considered when assessing Michael’s ever-expanding success story. Chief among them would be his expert negotiation skills and thorough, intelligent approach to marketing, which includes maximum exposure of his many listings through savvy utilization of multiple social media platforms. Combined, these talents result in fast sales for top dollar, not to mention happy clients who continue to return and to refer family and friends.

“What I love about real estate is that I don’t have to answer to anyone but my clients,” says Michael, when queried as to what he enjoys most about his job. “If my clients are happy, then I’m happy.”

Michael is also justifiably proud of his association with the fairly new but rapidly expanding Iron Valley Real Estate, which currently operates twenty-six offices in six states, and continues to grow exponentially. “I love the support they provide, and that their web-based platform and technology allows me to communicate with my buyers and sellers anytime and anywhere.”

When he’s not working, Michael enjoys nothing more than spending time with his children, and is also an avid pool player, weightlifter and traveler. He also gives back to his community via his support of Achievable Dream, a non-profit that assists underprivileged children in the Hampton Roads area.

Michael – who is currently in the process of obtaining his Broker’s License – has big plans for the future of his business. “Iron Valley Real Estate is opening another office, where I’ll be the Managing Broker,” he explains. “I’ll also be partnering with a broker in Alabama.” In addition to the continued growth of his business, Michael’s primary objective remains the same as it has always been over the last decade: to continue providing his many clients with the unparalleled customer service that has long been his calling card.

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For more information about Michael Little, please call 757-506-1210 or email MichaelThomasLittle@gmail.com 43

5 Tips to Make New Hires

a Long-lasting Success Bringing a new employee into the mix is process commonly known as onboarding. The idea behind onboarding is to make the transition from new hire to team member as efficient and pain-free as possible. However, polling shows that some 31% of entry-level and intermediate level hires leave their new posts within just six months of starting. The question is: why?

The hiring and training process is time-intensive and doesn’t come cheap. This means that making 44

a good match for the long haul requires more than just assessments of skill and personality. To ensure a talented new hire sticks around and is truly positioned for success, the onboarding process must be executed with the same care applied during hiring. For a few ideas on how to make the most of the onboarding process, consider the tenets below as you guide your new hire toward long-lasting success within your company.

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1. Be honest about the scope of the role

2. Build in some perks

Let’s say you’re looking to add a new buyers agent or loan processor to your team. You write up the position’s responsibilities, but neglect to mention that you want the new hire to handle a host of administrative tasks, as well. Maybe it doesn’t seem important enough to outline in detail, as it’s the sort of thing the rest of your does. Miscommunications like these are a leading reason why new hires leave their roles.

If there isn’t clarity and transparency about a position’s true responsibilities, then new hires may become quickly disillusioned and seek out greener pastures.

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While stocking the breakroom with bagels every Friday may seem like a small gesture, it’s often those little morale-boosting moves that build loyalty and comradery among the team. Bike-to-work incentives, subsidized gym memberships, and benefits that match the needs of your employees—all are ways to demonstrate appreciation and investment in your team.

Likewise, the right candidate will return the favor and invest his or her energies into their new role.

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3. Get a sense of big-picture career plans

4. Keep the lines of communication open

Another reason new hires move on may have nothing to do with you or your office. In fact, many hires in entry-level or even intermediate roles have doubts about their long-term vision.

That’s why it’s important to be upfront from the beginning regarding a candidate’s five-year plan and ultimate dream job. Maintain realistic expectations when asking these questions, but use it as an opportunity to gage a candidate’s seriousness about the real estate or mortgage industry. Why this line of work over another?

Emphasizing industry longevity and career growth during the interview process can save you drama down the road.

Take a proactive approach in communicating with your new hire. Take time to check in regularly during the first six months of his or her addition. If you can, make time to train new hires yourself—if only for a part of the onboarding process. You’ll forge a deeper professional bond and create an avenue for further questions. All in all, make it clear that you’re personally invested in their presence and talents, and that you care what they have to say. That way, if any issues or doubts arise, you can stay on top of it and work out a solution, rather than lose a new employee.

5. Give new hires meaningful work to do It’s natural to keep the kid-gloves on with new hires, but don’t let that stop you from giving them a chance to shine. New team members will feel empowered and motivated if given meaningful projects to focus on. Don’t relegate their daily duties to busy work as they build experience.

Instead, task new teammates with something challenging, or that draws on a specific skill you hired them for. You’ll instill confidence, demonstrate your commitment to their growth, and with any luck—keep them around for the long haul.

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PAUL SNEERINGER

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PAUL SNEERINGER

For twenty years, Paul Sneeringer built an accomplished career in sales, but he first took an interest in real estate in 2015, when he moved from Baltimore County, Maryland, to Ashburn, Virginia, and his wife accepted an IT position at Freddie Mac in Reston. In particular, Paul was inspired by the ways in which real estate complimented his professional background and entrepreneurial spirit. “I just knew it was time for a change,” he says. “I wanted to try something new, so I got licensed in 2018 and have been going strong ever since.”

rest. Service You Deserve. An Agent You Trust. If you have the opportunity to suggest a real estate agent to anyone, think of me.”

Today, Paul is a successful agent with Keller Williams Chantilly Ventures. Averaging over 60 transactions a year, he assists clients throughout Chantilly, Northern Virginia, and the surrounding areas. Also licensed in Maryland, he has cultivated a distinct workflow around personalized service, carefully guiding his buyers and sellers through every nuance of their transactions.

“I’m deeply involved in the entire process—from negotiations to inspections to working with lenders.

Above all, I love finding the answers my clients need.”

And through everything, Paul remains committed to his slogan, “Put me to the test, I am better than the 48

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When listing a home, Paul offers a hands-on approach.

After helping his clients get their house market ready through staging services, minor fixes, and even fullscale renovations, he shares it over a blend of digital and social media campaigns, as well as the local MLS. But through it all, he maintains a lofty standard of service, being there for his sellers at the drop of a hat. “In real estate, you need to have a quick response time,” he says. “If a client sends me an email or a text, I address their problem immediately and try to find a solution that keeps our transaction running smoothly.”

Elsewhere, Paul is just as devoted to his buyers, utilizing his market expertise to help them find the right home for their interests. Along the way, he gives his clients added support whenever they need a hand, staying in touch well after closing to ensure they are thriving in their new homes. “I do everything for my clients, buyers or sellers, be it helping them move out or helping them move in. Whether I’m packing, cleaning up, or helping with vendors to get the home ready to sell, I’m always searching for ways to keep them happy and stay at the top of their mind.”

Through the years, Paul has earned a fantastic reputation throughout Northern Virginia, as evidenced by his rapidly growing volume, shining Google reviews, and rate of repeat clients and referrals. When examining his initial success in the industry, however, he offers practical advice to any aspiring agent. “Work the phones at least four hours a day. Call everyone from For Sale By Owners to expired listings, and work on establishing trust with your clients. You won’t fail if you do that.”

When he’s not with clients, Paul can be found spending quality time with his family, exercising, catching a movie, or traveling around the globe. Meanwhile, he has strong plans for the future of his business. As his volume maintains its steady growth, he intends on aggressively expanding his work within his neighborhood and community while further adjusting to the industry’s latest twists and turns. “But one thing’s for sure,” he says. “Real estate has been incredibly rewarding. I get the same sense of fulfilment from facilitating a one hundred and fifty thousand dollar transaction that I do from a million dollar listing.”

To learn more about Paul Sneeringer, email paul.sneeringer@kw.com, visit paulsneeringerrealty.com or call (571) 233-2763. To leave a review please visit here.

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Converting Internet Leads to Real Life Sales In the era of apps, instantaneous social platforms, and text messaging, it’s little surprise that the modern homebuyer begins his or her search for real estate representation online. Even if you’ve got a top-notch website or an influential social media presence, how do you connect with web surfers who have yet to commit to the services you offer? Take a look below to learn a few key techniques to bridge the gap between digital interest and real-world sales.

RESPONSIVENESS IS KEY Like it or not, our digital culture relishes immediacy and instant gratification. With that in mind, be sure to stay on top of online interest forms, e-mails, or newsletter sign-ups. Don’t let an online lead go to waste by taking too long to engage and follow-up. Things move fast, and it’s easy for potential clientele to forget which websites they’ve visited. Even if your lead isn’t ready to commit then and there, you demonstrate your accessibility and attentiveness by following up swiftly—a characteristic anyone would seek in an agent or lender.

ENGAGE WITH OPEN-ENDED CONVERSATION

GIVE ADDED VALUE Plenty of businesses send impersonal, automated messages in response to an online inquiry, but establishing a true connection may mean providing your lead with something of value. Perhaps you’re forwarding a property for sale that fits the interests of your lead, or a relevant article, or maybe you take the time to send a personal message—demonstrable value and a personal touch separate your follow-up response from spam.

Other ideas to consider when adding value to your follow-up technique: incorporate area promotions and access to local events, make a date for coffee, or offer a brief consultation free of charge to make the first move.

DON’T STOP MAKING CONTACT If you don’t connect with your internet lead right off the bat—don’t be discouraged. It often takes multiple tries before a follow-up interaction sticks. Folks are busy and frequently flooded with e-mail blasts and junk mail. A lead may not engage without a little prodding that shows you’re committed to their business. Remember: it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.

Digital leads don’t have to be difficult to capture.

The internet plays a powerful role in funneling When online back-and-forth goes stale, commumodern clientele your way, but in order to take nication drops off quickly. If you’re following full advantage of the web’s reach, you’ll need up via e-mail, social media, or text, be sure to to tailor your follow-up technique. Mastering keep topics focused squarely on the potential the fundamentals of digital communication is client. Ask open-ended questions to give your the first step to converting digital interest into lead the opportunity to loosen up and engage concrete business. Keep these tips top-of-mind on a personal level. There’s no better way to as you build your online presence and mine the cement a digital lead than to take a pointed vast world wide web for an endless wealth of interest in the specifics of their situation. Doing clientele. Earning a command of digital lead so transforms the impersonal invisibility of the conversion is the surest way to bolster your internet into a true connection. business in the ever-evolving digital era.

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RACHEL JONES Top Agent Magazine

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RACHEL JONES

“The sales aspect of my job is not my priority.

I pride myself on being real with my clients and that my priority is getting them into a home they love.”

Rachel Jones first started in real estate when she became a receptionist at a brokerage. “I fell in love with it,” Rachel says. “I learned from the agents and decided I wanted to pursue it. I worked hard to study and get my license, and took off from there.”

my clients. I am myself with them,” Rachel says. “They appreciate that I’m a real person, and that my priority is getting them into a home they love. My military buyers have done so much for our country, and this is my way

With sixteen years in the business, Rachel is now a Broker at Skyline Properties, where she works independently. Last year, she closed fifty-four homes by herself. Working extensively with veterans and the military community, Rachel serves Seattle and the surrounding areas, including King, Pierce, Thurston, and Snohomish Counties. “I travel where my clients need me to go,” Rachel says.

Rachel prides herself on her honesty. “The sales aspect of my job is not my priority,” Rachel says. Instead, she focuses on the client experience, beginning with a personable approach. “I pride myself on being real with 52

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of giving back and making sure they’re happy where they lay their heads down at night.”

Compassionate, dedicated, and transparent, Rachel always goes above and beyond for her clients in every step of the process. “Recently, one client’s finances fell through,” Rachel says. “I wrote them a personal check for $1000 because the sellers’ wrongfully wanted to keep my client’s earnest money and it would have cost my clients way more to go to court. They just didn’t have the money at that time and I couldn’t watch a veteran have an unfortunate experience while purchasing a home. I love doing things like that for people.”

To keep in touch with past clients, Rachel focuses on a personalized approach that includes holiday and anniversary cards and check-ins about home renovations.

“When I reach out to past clients, I always want to make sure that it’s for a personalized reason,” Rachel says. With a comprehensive marketing approach that combines new and traditional methods, Rachel is able to provide her clients with broad visibility for their homes. Her campaigns include social media and digital marketing, as well as postcards and flyers. “I love advertising to a neighborhood,” Rachel says.

Rachel finds fulfillment from what she does, and from seeing her clients happy in their homes. “I take a picture of my clients on the day when I give them their keys,” Rachel says. “Often, those pictures become their Christmas cards. It is a stressful and hectic process to buy a house, and I really try to alleviate that, and to make it an easy and smooth transition. Their smiles at the end make it totally worth it.”

With her dedication to veterans and military members, Rachel donates a portion of every transaction to the Wounded Warrior organization. In her free time, she loves to read, and to spend time with her daughter, husband, and her dogs. An outdoorswoman, Rachel loves to hike and to explore the beautiful Pacific Northwest region.

Rachel is excited about what the future holds.

Currently, she is in the process of hiring an assistant to help her with her flourishing business. Rachel has found a balance between work and her life that she wants to sustain. “I love my job because I love the end result,” Rachel says. “My buyers’ happiness is my number one priority.”

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To find out more about Rachel Jones, please call 206-420-9736, email racheljonessells@gmail.com or visit skylineproperties.com/racheljones 53

3 Surefire Methods that Make for a Productive Meeting Sometimes a business meeting can achieve exactly what it sets out to do: communicate, assess actions, set goals, or otherwise. Other times, meetings can feel like a drain on your time and energy, and only advance your agenda in marginal ways. While meetings are an integral form of communication in the professional world, how can you ensure that they are both productive and worthwhile?

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The truth is, it takes intentioned planning to make a meeting a success. A well-curated meeting makes partners and employees feel unified as a team, excited about what’s to come, and motivated to achieve a collective goal. With that in mind, consider a few approaches below to maximize your next meeting and ensure that all parties involved leave with a renewed sense of direction and inspiration.

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1. Create a detailed agenda in advance Oftentimes meetings are scheduled with a loose goal in mind—to hash out the terms of a contract or to strategize a new marketing campaign, for example. To ensure your meeting is productive, time-efficient, and achieves its end, create a detailed agenda in advance. This means breaking down your overarching goal into pieces and outlining what’s required to complete each component. You might also consider making time blocks for each respective component, so there is a clear structure and hierarchy in place. Not only does this ensure that time is used wisely and evenly, but it also creates order and momentum for the greater task at hand. What’s more, you’ll want to distribute this detailed agenda in advance of your meeting, so that all attendees will be familiar with the format and delineated goals of your gathering. This will set a professional tone, while keeping team members and conversation on task.

2. Reserve off-topics ideas and comments for later Too many meetings are derailed when an off-topic question or comment is made and hijacks the attentions of attendees. While it’s natural that outlying issues may arise when all team members are gathered, you can ward off distractions by creating a so-called holding area for off-topic talking points. This holding area will serve as the receptacle for any off-topic or lower priority addendum, and you can create a chunk of time towards the end of your meeting to readdress those Top Agent Magazine

points separately. Once you’ve achieved the highest priority goals of your meeting, you can then return to the items in your holding area. Note: be sure to familiarize your staff with this approach so that the expectation is already in place and interruptions won’t distract from your meeting’s true intent.

3. Conclude every meeting with a brief summary and action items The very last thing you should do before concluding your meeting is to reemphasize the main takeaways of your gathering and outline a specific list of action items. Again, successful meetings are clear and give attendees a sense of direction. That’s why reiterating action items—or next steps in need of completion—to each respective employee is an essential component of a productive meeting. Likewise, summarizing main takeaways unifies a team’s understanding of what’s important and why the meeting was called in the first place. Ending on a concrete yet proactive note helps launch team members toward the next event in their day and gives them a sense of confidence as they tackle their duties.

Meetings don’t have to be a formality or a bore. When planned and executed with incisiveness, they can inspire your talent roster and streamline productivity in your office.

Especially in the world of real estate, ensuring everyone is on the same page and doing their jobs effectively is key to success and longevity. Put a little planning into your next meeting, and you’ll save yourself valuable time and energy as you move forward.

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Creative Ways to Say Thank You

Most top real estate agents find ways to welcome their clients to their new home. A common theme is a bottle of wine and some wine glasses for that first post-threshold toast, or a bouquet of flowers to brighten up that empty living space until the furniture arrives.

But are you truly being as creative as you can with your appreciation? Here are some innovative gift ideas that will truly keep you front of mind with your valued customers and assure their gratitude and repeat business, not to mention a slew of referrals.

1. How about a streaming video device, like a Roku

or Amazon Fire Stick? There’s a good chance your clients will not have their cable service up and running for a few days, and this is an excellent way for them to enjoy their television before they get that connection going. Bundle it up in a basket with some DVD’s for the kids, and don’t forget all necessary cables.

2. Matching bathrobes and Bath kits: Fleece or ter-

rycloth bathrobes and a basket filled with highend his and her body scrubs, bubble bath and other luxurious pampering items can make the first night in a new home feel like a check-in at a fabulous resort and make the memory of that first night one to cherish. Again, don’t forget the kids!

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3. Arrange a catered meal from a local vendor. As-

certain in advance dietary preferences and restrictions, and have a wonderful, healthy meal delivered on move-in night. To complete the magic, provide brand new plates, silverware and glassware to serve it all on.

4. For homes with swimming pools or Jacuzzis, a

stack of fluffy pool towels is always appreciated and will be used by family and friends for years to come. Additionally, acrylic stemware for celebrating safely can be provided alongside them.

5. If it’s winter time and the home has a fireplace, make sure there’s plenty of wood to burn. Some fireplace accessories and a log holder will certainly make your clients appreciate you on every chilly night to come.

So when it comes to gifting your buyers, the trick is to be creative. A bottle of wine lasts one night, and the flowers wilt in a few days. Try coming up with something a little more creative that will remain with your clients in their day-to-day lives and remind them of you consistently. The little bit extra you spend to show your gratitude can reap huge dividends when it comes time for your client to purchase a second home or refer a friend.

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RANDY POMFREY

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RANDY POMFREY

One truth Randy Pomfrey has embraced throughout his sixteen-year career as a real estate agent is that his clients shouldn’t have to become part-time real estate agents. “Taking care of the details, no matter how small, is my job.

We are fanatical about those details.”

Randy started in the business after buying and selling a number of houses on his own.

He found the experience both personally and financially rewarding. “Real estate had been good to me, and I wanted to share that with other people. The work is a good fit for my personality.”

Those transactions taught him to appreciate the value of experience. “Ninety-eight percent of Realtors® aren’t doing enough deals on a regular basis to be considered full-time. So they’ll 58

overlook things that can be the difference between closing a deal or not. For instance, most agents only market their listings on the MLS and about fifty other websites. That’s actually a lot of lost exposure. We market ours to three thousand websites worldwide! That is just the tip of the iceberg of what we do for our clients.”

Last year Randy and his team closed one hundred and six transactions, landing them in the top forty-two regionally for sales volume.

Next year they expect to do between one hundred fifty and two hundred transactions. Part of that success is due to the aforementioned emphasis on doing the little things right. “We’ve calculated things like the best day of the week to put your house on the market, or how to structure an offer for the best psychological appeal, so that yours is chosen over others.”

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Randy’s team creates a 3D tour of every listing and it is posted on its own website where potential buyers can book appointments.

The other side of the business is caring for people. “We work hard to make sure our client is treated like gold. I promise, we’ll exceed your expectations.” Little things aren’t overlooked there either. When a client signs with team Pomfrey, they receive a care package that includes boxes and other items the client will need in order to move. The message? Randy laughs. “We’re going to sell your house, so get packing!”

Randy’s motto is, “Who you work with matters.”

To that point, he extends his Coffee Challenge.

“Interview a number of agents, and then come interview with us. When we’re done, if you don’t feel like we’re the team for the job, you’ll have made some new friends, you’ll leave with lots of good information, and we’ll buy you a cup of coffee for your trouble.”

His responsibilities don’t leave Randy with much free time, so he spends the time he gets with family. “I’ve got three great kids, with very different personalities and interests.

My oldest son likes sports, my middle son is very cerebral, and my daughter is the creative talent. I’m constantly learning something new from all of them.”

Randy plans to expand his team, but slowly.

“We are currently moving our office and hiring new agents. I’m careful about those hires because I want to make sure they are the kind of agents who will take good care of our clients.”

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To learn more about Randy Pomfrey, please call 443-226-0082, his office at 8448-MY-AGENT (Ext.1), or email Randy@marylandhomes.pro 59

Daily Habits That Will Increase Your Mental Strength When it comes to building physical strength, the solutions are obvious, but keeping up your mental strength isn’t as easy as going to the gym. Although physical exercise does help clear your head and relieve stress, there are other things you can do daily that will help your mind be as strong and flexible as your body after a workout. Here’s just a few things you can do to help clear your head and make you more productive.

DON’T WASTE YOUR BRAIN POWER That might seem obvious, but think about how much mental energy you might use up worrying about negativity or things you have no control over. Instead of focusing on problems, focus on solutions. This actually take a lot of effort, we’re all conditioned to let worry paralyze us sometimes.

Try and catch yourself when you’re wasting time thinking about about past mistakes or current dilemmas you don’t have the power to stop. You really only have so much mental energy, and if you have kids and an especially stressful work situation, that might be even less than normal. Start treating your brain like the precious resource it is.

You don’t want to be running on empty when it really matters.

STEP OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE A lot of mental energy can go to dealing with anxiety. One way to deal with that is by forcing yourself to try new things and take on new challenges, that you might normally avoid because they make you feel unsure or scared. Challenge yourself daily, even with small things.

This is definitely something that becomes easier with practice. Start small, and in no time you’ll be taking on things you never thought were possible.

The simple task of trying something new every day will have you feeling energized and put you on the path to self-growth.

BE SELF-AWARE Your emotions affect everything you do, even if they’re not at the surface. Recognizing and labeling them is key. A lot of the above exercises require self-reflection. It’s okay to have the emotions you have, understanding why and where those emotions come from allows you to focus on dealing with them rather than just wallowing in them.

Being self-aware is also about self-care. Know the things that help relax and rejuvenate you. That way you can handle everyday stresses and remain calm even during the most turbulent times.

BE MORE POSITIVE

BE WILLING TO LEARN

Eliminating negative thoughts is essential to increasing your mental strength. Carrying around negativity is like swimming with all of your clothes on. You might be okay at first, but eventually you’ll feel like you can barely stay afloat. Don’t drown in negativity, use positive thoughts as a lifesaver.

This doesn’t mean you should ignore things you need to improve, just approach them with solutions rather than beating yourself up. Constant monitoring of this is important since it’s really easy to slide back into negative thinking.

A lot of people are still hung up on the idea that learning is a boring and tedious process, but you aren’t in junior high anymore. You can find something you’re actually interested in and immerse yourself in it, which engages your mind like nothing else. Whether it’s learning a new technology that will improve your business or something that will make you a more well-rounded person, the learning process keeps you engaged and open to new ideas. A curiosity about the world and new things is something that all mentally strong people have in common.

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ROBERT TOLNAI Top Agent Magazine

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ROBERT TOLNAI

From the start of his career, Robert Tolnai has been focused on making each transaction as stress-free as possible for his clients. With over 20 years of experience in the business, and an in-depth knowledge of the local market, he takes great pride in being able to guide buyers and sellers through the transaction process.

Robert currently works at Keller Williams and serves clients throughout the North and West Valley in Arizona.

time because I’m not a typical real estate agent.

There really is almost nothing that I say no to.

I go above and beyond to make the transaction process easy, seamless, and fun,” he says.

Thanks for his hard work and determination to help his clients achieve their goals, Robert finished last year with 42 closed transactions, placing him in the top 1.5% of all REALTORS® in Arizona.

Robert places a great deal of importance on building long-term relationships with his clients.

That focus on relationships versus transactions, along with his high-quality customer service and passion for the work, brought him a large percentage of repeat and referral business. “I really pour my heart into the work that I do for my clients. My family and friends sometimes give me a hard 62

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For Robert, the key to success can be found in loving what you do. He is able to work so diligently because his passion keeps him motivated. “I’m lucky because I don’t wake up every day dreading to go to work. I love what I do, and I wake up excited about what the day is going to bring. I think that’s been a huge factor in the success of my business. My favorite part is definitely seeing a smile on my clients’ face when they learn that they’re going to become homeowners. Being able to hand over the keys to someone’s house is a gratifying feeling,” he says.

Besides work Robert is passionate about staying involved in his local community.

One of his favorite ways of helping out is by participating in a Thanksgiving food drive that benefits his city of Peoria. When he’s not working or volunteering, he enjoys spending quality time with his wife, Daniela, and his two daughters. He also likes to practice his golf swing.

In the future Robert hopes to continue expanding his business at a rate that still allows him to give each client his full attention and ensure that each transaction is a success. He hopes to become a mentor to agents who are just starting out in the business, so that he can teach them the various strategies that have helped him get to where he is now, as well as make sure that they are taught the ethical way of conducting business and providing clients with white-glove service. “My goal is to continue growing the business I’ve built at a slow and steady pace so that I can help more clients. And in the future I would love to pass on my knowledge and become a mentor.”

To learn more about Robert Tolnai email robert@soldwithrobert.com, visit soldwithrobert.com, or call (602) 516–5360 www.

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How to Throw a Networking Event

that Can Put Your Business on the Map

It’s hard to argue with the benefits of attending networking events—you make new connections, enjoy industry skill-building conversation, and expand your reach in the local business community.

However, have you ever considered the benefits of hosting a networking event?

Instead of attending as a guest, you’ll be the wizard behind it all. Throwing a networking event can position you as a local business leader, and you’ll be able to curate the experience to your tastes and goals. This idea may be tempting, but how do you pull it off? Review some of our tips and tricks below and you’ll be more than ready to throw a networking event that’ll put you on the map.

MAKE IT EASY FOR YOUR GUESTS TO SAY YES. From the outset, try to keep things as simple as possible for your guests. This means that e-invites should be structured, yet conversational. Include a link to register online so that arriving to your event is seamless and requires no sign-up sheets or stuffy check-in procedures. Select a venue that’s relatively well-known and central to your area. It should also have easy-to-access parking so that attendance is streamlined and hassle-free. Also consider sending an automated event reminder the day before and the day of the event—that way you’ll set guests up for easy attendance that they don’t have to debate.

CREATE A THEME. Capitalizing on a holiday or local event is a great way to drive attendance to your networking function. While getting to know area professionals is a worthy reason to meet up, you’re likely to engender a livelier ambiance if you incorporate a holiday or theme. This will inspire comradery among your guests, in addition to giving your event a natural focus. Major sporting events, a Thanksgiving themed pie bake-off, or a spring cleaning themed community volunteer day can generate more interest than your average mixer.

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GET CREATIVE WITH YOUR GUEST LIST. While you may be trying to keep your invite list industry-specific, you may benefit from casting a wider net. Invite area entrepreneurs, young professionals, collegiate professional organizations, and even friends and family. You never know what sort of connections will be made, and high attendance is key to keeping the energy of your networking event at a high tier. Don’t worry about only collecting info from realtors or brokers or mortgage pros. Instead, create a sense of community so that opportunities flow naturally and conversation remains diverse.

BE THE BOSS. As host, it’ll be your job to play matchmaker and drive conversation at your networking event. This means that you’ll get to know more people, but it also means you’ll be able to create connections between different professionals and businesses.

You can maximize your matchmaking abilities by planting a few socially-minded friends around to drive additional conversations. Your goal is to keep people talking and to be outgoing. It should also be your goal to follow-up once the event is complete. Use this as an opportunity to continue to connect different people you met, or to follow-up with coffee or lunch with someone you found interesting. Try sending out a group thank-you e-mail to your guests after the fact, telling them to keep an eye out for your next event, or to get in touch with you for any questions or contact information of fellow attendees.

While it may feel like a risk to throw a networking event, it’s a risk worth taking. By positioning yourself as the host of your event, you’ll drive awareness to your business and brand, and build up the local professional community in a way that’s sure to draw good will your way. Keep these ideas in mind as you go about planning a memorable networking event of your own, and above all—have a good time and others will follow suit.

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STACY CORRIGAN Top Agent Magazine

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STACY CORRIGAN

“One of the things I love the most about my job, is helping people realize their highest potential and design the life that they want in a relaxed, inspired, and intentional way.”

In real estate since 1995, Stacy Corrigan started out her career managing units for a construction company in Boston. Learning more about real estate, she decided to dive into investing and then into real estate sales. Stacy is currently the Principal Broker and the President of Peace of Mind Property Management & Real Estate, Inc. “We believe in nurturing our clients and creating the best client experience. We treat every client as if they are family members that we’re helping,” Stacy says when explaining her team’s high rate of repeat and referral clients. She adds that from every commission earned, the agents always give back to the transaction.

“Whether it’s paying for a Title V inspection, or 66

helping clean out a house, we figure out what the client needs and go above and beyond to provide that as an additional service.”

For Stacy, attaining the highest level of experience for clients starts with properly trained agents. That is why she takes the time to coach her agents and assist them in becoming experts at what they do. “One of the things I love the most about my job, is helping people realize their highest potential and design the life that they want in a relaxed, inspired, and intentional way.

I love working with my agents and taking them from not knowing anything about sales to having a compassionate sales approach, where we attract, rather than attack. I like helping them evolve their life in a way Top Agent Magazine

that elevates them and their families. That means not just financially, but in terms of mindset and happiness, and realizing that they are in control of their lives. And in turn, we also help create that for our clients. Usually, people are making a house move as a big transition in their life, so by helping them find the next right place for them, we’re helping them pursue their American Dream of living the life they want as well.”

Outside of work, Stacy is passionate about community involvement. She contributes to various charities, including a monthly donation to Feeding America.

She also serves as a Director on the Northern Rhode Island Board of REALTORS®. In her spare time, she enjoys doing house flips. “I love my work so much I can’t help but do it in my off-hours as well!” Her hobbies include investments and cryptocurrency. She also likes to travel whenever time permits, and spend time with her partner, Mario, and her two dogs.

Going forward Stacy hopes to continue helping the team reach all their professional and personal goals.

“We’re very intentional about what we do. Last year we set a goal of reaching $10,000,000 in sales volume, and we were able to reach it. Our goal this year is $21,000,000 in order to celebrate 2021. But my main focus is to lead and inspire, and work with my team to reach their goals, that way we all win.”

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For more about Stacy Corrigan call (401) 829 – 8323, email stacycorrigan@gmail.com, or visit pmpmre.com/wp2018/ about-our-team 67

3 Ways to Make Your Workspace Work for You Productivity experts agree that a curated workspace positively impacts productivity and mood, but oftentimes we settle for bland desks and cubicles that lack personalized details or considerations for workflow. Why miss out on the opportunity to optimize your surroundings when it could brighten your day—and boost your performance? Keep in mind some of these tactics to make your workspace your own and reap the benefits along the way.

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DETERMINE YOUR WORKING STYLE AND DECORATE ACCORDINGLY For the creative set, a colorful and art-filled workspace can inspire fresh ideas and reduce stress. Likewise, casual yet aesthetically pleasing furniture, accessories, and décor set an inviting yet functional mood. A pop of color from an office tool—even something as basic as a stapler—can inject a sense of fun and modernism into your daily tasks. For the more analytical, right-brained worker, clean

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lines and zero clutter go a long way. A few well-chosen personal photos in tasteful, unassuming frames can provide a motivating connection to the world beyond the office, while accessories and supplies that are sleek, monochrome, and contemporary inspire a sense of calm efficiency.

BUILD A WORKSPACE WITH YOUR DAILY ROUTINE IN MIND If you find yourself spending hours on the phone per day, or assembling stacks of documents and brochures, or even coming and going from the office with frequency—there are simple adjustments you can make to your workspace that will save you time and energy. If you sit for long hours—responding to e-mails or making calls—try incorporating an ergonomic chair or keyboard wrist-pad to maximize comfort. If you spend a long time assembling presentation materials, then file organizers, trays, and easy-to-pull labels can shave valuable time off your efforts. Lastly, those who step out for frequent meetings can reduce the hassle of being on-the-go by making your space mindfully organized—a coatrack and a dish for your keys by the door, an auto-brew coffeemaker, or an easily edited whiteboard calendar can make jet-setting simpler.

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ADD EASY DETAILS THAT ENRICH YOUR WORKING EXPERIENCE While organization and décor can rally productivity and mood, there are also a few extra details you can introduce to your workspace to improve the quality of your working life.

Healthy, easy to grab-and-go snacks—think nuts, homemade trail mix, and fresh fruit— can keep your energy up without the sugar crush or guilt. If there’s a window nearby, a hard-to-kill plant like a philodendron or a fern not only cleanse the air around you, but also provide a welcome connection to the natural world. Being prepared in a pinch is another great way to make your workspace work for you: a spare tie, a tube of lip balm, hand sanitizer, or a box of Band-Aids can save you a trip to the store when an unexpected need arises.

While we take great pains to make our homes our sanctuaries—complete with the decorations, furniture, and food we favor—we often overlook our work areas, even though we spend a sizable portion of our week sitting at the same desk. Challenge yourself to add a few of these personalizing, productivity-boosting details to your work area and bring the comfort of home to your working life.

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KATHY PATERNITI

“I treat my clients like I treat my family,” says Kathy Paterniti, a top agent in Las Vegas with New Home Resource. “I take care of them. I’ve had clients where they needed to get their home ready to go on the market and I’ve gone over to help them paint or clean things up. I work from nine in the morning until nine at night. They know that if they need me, they can call me. I always answer my phone.”

With the fast-paced Las Vegas market, Kathy doesn’t have to do much marketing to keep her listings flying off the shelves. Still, she puts a great deal of effort through online mediums such as Trulia, Zillow, and social media. Each of Kathy’s

Kathy hasn’t always been in the real estate industry. She began her professional career working in healthcare. After a lay-off from her previous position, she started to run half-marathons. Wanting to challenge herself further, Kathy began training for a triathlon. “I hadn’t ridden a bicycle in over 30 years, so I joined a cycling team,” she says. That’s where she met Joanna Piette, Kathy’s current broker. Piette convinced Kathy to pursue her license and come work for her.

Eight years later, Kathy’s clients are glad that she did. Servicing Las Vegas and Henderson in Nevada, Kathy has seen her business grow with every passing year. She says, “I doubled my business this last year.”

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clients gets a personalized marketing plan. But, more than anything, her marketing happens via word of mouth. In 2020, she completed over twenty transactions.

“I love my job. love interacting with people and helping them to find or sell their homes. There’s nothing about this business I don’t like,” Kathy says. One highlight of her career was selling Alex Honnald, a world-renown free climber and subject of the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo, his first home. Kathy says, “He had been living in his van for 8 years and traveling around to climb. I had no idea who he was when I first met him, just that I needed to find him a home, and as luck would have it, I’m actually in the movie! That was very fun—it was my three seconds of fame.”

Outside of going above and beyond for her clients, Kathy is deeply involved in her community. She and Joanna Piette were founding members of Breakaway Cycling, a community cycling team which seeks to encourage kids to perform better in school and live healthier lives through riding bicycles. “We work with a lot of Title One schools where a lot of the students are homeless,” Kathy explains. “We leave it up to the school, but the children get to earn bikes through things like, perfect attendance, writing an essay, or being caught in a random act of kindness.” They have given hundreds of bikes to local schools and worked with St. Jude Children’s Hospital as well.

Kathy loves staying active. In addition to biking, she likes running and hiking and has even been known to take adult gymnastics classes.

Looking to the future, Kathy is excited to continue to grow her business. She loves working with her broker, who Kathy likes to call her boss, teammate, and friend, and is excited to see where the future brings them. “More than anything, I would like to be able to do a lot more volume,” Kathy explains. “I’m definitely going to grow.”

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To learn more about Kathy, call 702-553-7342, email kathy@newhomeresource.com, or visit facebook.com/RealtorKathyPaterniti www.

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4 Qualities of Exceptional Employees Hiring a new employee is one of the more stressful parts of being a business owner. After all, you’re taking someone on and trusting that they’ll not only be a valuable addition to the team, but won’t do anything to hurt your business’s hard earned reputation.

Sometimes a person comes in and you click right away, and other times you might be blown away by an impressive resume. But there are things you should look for that might not be as obvious at first. Employees that have the following qualities are ones you should seek out, because they will definitely be well worth the time and energy you invest in them.

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1. They have the confidence to be innovative There’s a reason people are drawn to those who think outside the box. Not only do innovations often lead to an extremely profitable business, even when that thinking doesn’t pan out, creative thinking is something that will energize your business and will motivate more employees to start taking chances.

Innovative thinkers also usually have great leadership skills. Ironically, you want an employee who isn’t afraid to speak up to authority and is someone who knows how to bend the rules without breaking them. They know that

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the success of the team and business is what’s most important, as long as it’s done ethically and with respect for everyone involved.

2. They are constantly reviewing their past performance A good employee looks forward, but they also look back. They are always evaluating what worked and what didn’t work in past performances and then adjusting their plans going forward accordingly. If they are coming off a big win, they know how to capitalize on that by using the momentum and cementing in everyone’s minds the value that they add to the team.

If things didn’t go as planned, they assess what they can do better next time, and they don’t get bogged down in insecurity. They take responsibility and they have confidence that they won’t repeat past mistakes. They know that failure is a temporary state, and are able to learn lessons from their mistakes, that will make them a better employee going forward.

While no one wants to fail, having the confidence to try something and fail will one day let you strike gold. Someone who lets failure shut them down, leads to a dead end and will soon make them a dead weight on your team.

3. They value teamwork Even though an exceptional employee might be a rising star, they realize that success is Top Agent Magazine

not an individual endeavor, it relies strongly on who you’re working with. Exceptional employees make sure that everyone is contributing and valued for their input. They put the interests of the company above their own, and thrive in an environment where ideas and information are shared freely.

Shared success is the ultimate goal for every project. Exceptional employees have the confidence to know that even when they’re not singled out for praise, they’re an irreplaceable component of a larger machine.

4. They are self-motivated learners A key thing to remember is that while experience is a valuable commodity, intelligence and intellectual curiosity is usually something that can’t be taught. Yes, you might request employees get additional training or attend seminars, but exceptional employees will be seeking out educational opportunities constantly. Even if they don’t have a lot of money for weekend retreats, they will be getting books from the library, downloading audiobooks, and most importantly, taking advantage of one their greatest resources, YOU. Exceptional employees know that the way to stay ahead is to always be at the forefront of new technology and systems. They don’t see educating themselves as a burden, they actually enjoy it. They realize that everything they take in, will one day make them not only an exceptional employee, but an exceptional boss as well.

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SHAWN KORMONDY

When Shawn Kormondy started his real estate career, he worked as an assistant for a couple years before getting licensed in 2004. He joined Keller Williams Beverly Hills and has been there ever since, putting up big production numbers and providing top quality real estate service to his clients. After seventeen years in the business, Shawn has found a lot of success in conducting his own unique brand of real estate business, carving out his own niche in the field.

his unique style of marketing. He is a specialist in using innovative methods to make his listings look sleek and provocative. “I really enjoy when sellers allow me freedom with marketing their listing. I’m more of a creative, technologically savvy Realtor,” Shawn says. “I specialize in creating organic marketing devices for each home I work on.” Shawn avoids the common trend of shoving

Known as the LA Land Man, Shawn has made a name for himself in trading land, and specifically targets land development deals as his bread and butter. He closes multiple transactions a month selling plots of land throughout Southern California, focusing in Los Angeles while spreading out into the now Uber hot real estate market, Joshua Tree.

Shawn also sells multimillion dollar luxury homes, and puts a lot of work into 74

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garish real estate listings down the audience’s throat, opting to take a more nuanced and passive approach that is the pleasing to the eye and draws the viewer in. He uses unconventional methods such as twilight open houses and lifestyle modeling shoots inside the property to generate excitement and bring out the full potential of each home’s unique character, and his creativity has paid dividends for the scope of his listings’ exposure.

On top of his marketing, Shawn places an emphasis on customer service, making it his top priority to make his clients’ experience comfortable and enjoyable. He gets all of his business from repeats and referrals from satisfied clients due to his commitment to taking their best interests to heart. “I’m more interested in building relationships,” Shawn says.

“I’d rather work with people who I know, who I can provide the most value for because we have that familiarity.” Shawn consistently does more than 30 transactions every year, and shows that hard work and generosity pay off in a big way.

In his personal life, Shawn spends a lot of time pursuing hobbies that require the use of both hands such as photography and music.

Shawn says, “Putting both hands into a hobby allows me to truly unplug and reset.

Chasing milky way photography always takes me to a place with limited cell service and complete darkness.” He is also involved in raising money for various community outreach organizations, including an anti-poaching organization in Africa, for whom he maintains an integral position in their marketing strategy. For the future of his business, Shawn will continue to expand his brand and his team, both in the Hollywood Hills and the High Desert of Joshua Tree. If you’re looking for high quality real estate service in the Greater Los Angeles Area, look no further than Shawn Kormondy.

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Contact Shawn by phone at (323) 638-7567, email skor@skorreg.com, or visit shawnkormondy.com and Lalandman.com www.

www.

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4 Reasons Why Multitasking Can Actually Derail Your Day Common wisdom dictates that a master multitasker is likely to garner the most success. After all, doesn’t juggling multiple projects at once mean you’ll work faster than if you took each one as it came? While multitasking is often cited as a desirable skill—and surely serves its purpose now and again—studies show that a mere 2% of individuals can actually multitask effectively. Meanwhile, the remaining 98% might be doing more harm than good by trying 76

to tackle too much at once. Take a look below at some little-known facts about the risky side of waging a routine built on multitasking.

1. Multitasking decreases productivity While multitasking gives us the illusion of completing two tasks at once, it actually means

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our focus and productivity is split. In other words, switching back and forth between two activities doesn’t mean they’ll each be completed sooner; it means that you’re getting half-as-much complete as you would if you focused on a singular task. Multitasking fatigues your brain, elicits stress, and make you less efficient in retaining new information.

2. Multitasking is actually addictive While watching TV or taking a walk, have you ever noticed the impulse to check your smartphone or scroll through your social media feed? Even though we think about multitasking as a workplace skill, it’s also an addictive form of mental stimulation. By satiating our need for distraction with constant check-ins online, we become accustomed to frequent breaks in our focus, training us to crave updates, messages, and push notifications—we even hit refresh when we’ve checked in five minutes prior! This negative habit-building makes it difficult to complete sustained bouts of concentration.

3. Multitasking has negative physical side effects Studies show that those who juggle multiple focus-intensive activities actually show spikes in cortisol, a stress hormone. Likewise, frequent multitaskers display symptoms of sleep deprivation: fatigue, disorientation, and lack of focus. Studies in Europe have recently Top Agent Magazine

discovered that those who consistently multitask may actually show decreases in empathy and emotional control. What’s more, a constant sense of anticipation—readying to switch from one task to another, or persistently checking for e-mail updates—can potentially cause a decrease in overall IQ.

4. Multitasking breeds mistakes When our attention is split between tasks, it’s difficult to perceive and retain detail-oriented information. Because of this, mistakes—typos, clerical errors, mislabeled documents, and the like—occur with greater frequency. We’re in such a hurry to complete a portion of a task and switch to the next project that we lose sight of prompts, deadlines, and tying up loose ends. This means multitaskers are far more likely to overlook a glaring error than an individual who is devoting 100% of their attention to the task at hand.

Now that we understand some of the dangers of multitasking, what can we do about it? While our tech-driven day-to-day might make focusing on a singular task a difficult endeavor, it’s the surest way to produce efficient, error-free work—while cutting down on stress, fatigue, and miscommunication.

Try approaching your tasks for the day with a clear-cut schedule, moving one task at a time down your to-do list. This approach can eliminate some of the inefficiency inherent in multitasking and make for your most productive work routine yet.

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AUTUMN PEACH

“Handing the keys over,” says Autumn Peach, describing her favorite part of working as a REALTOR® with Shorewest Realtors. “It’s so satisfying to know that we made it through every single step together—the humps, the problems, the tears during inspections. Giving my clients their keys and knowing that they found their dream home is the best. We achieved it together.”

You might say that working as a real estate agent runs in Autumn’s family. Her mother has worked behind the scenes at Shorewest for all of Autumn’s life. “I first started in the marketing department,” she says. She soon realized that she was hungry for more. Autumn explains, “I kept thinking to myself that I really wanted to do real estate. I took a leap of faith and went on to have one of the most successful years of my life!”

the cities of Oconomowoc, Dousman, Wales, Waukesha, and Milwaukee. Working solo, she has built her business entirely out of repeat and referral clients. “It’s always been through word of mouth,” she says. “Through friends, family or a friend of a friend.

Autumn credits this high rate of returning and referred business to her energy. “I’m a very bubbly

For the past two years, Autumn has serviced Southeastern Wisconsin, including 78

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person,” she says. Though she works with any demographic, Autumn particularly likes working with first-time homebuyers. She says, “I make it an exciting time and really hold their hand throughout the process. They’re really new to everything, and I help them through the transaction.”

Something that sets Autumn apart from her peers is her background in real estate marketing. “I have very unique ideas,” she explains.

“I’m very high tech as far as social media goes. That’s what the twenty-first century is.

Having that knowledge and growing up in my generation has really helped me to succeed.”

Autumn is very involved in her community.

One cause especially near and dear to her heart is working with organizations raising funds and awareness around cystic fibrosis. She is a part of the Young Producers, a Milwaukeebased cystic fibrosis program, where various members compete to raise the most money for a family struggling with the disease.

Outside of work, Autumn and her husband are avid hunters and fishers. She enjoys playing volleyball, and she looks forward to playing more often when restrictions related to COVID-19 lift. She says, “I really like anything in the great outdoors.”

Looking to the future, Autumn is excited to continue growing her business. In her first full year as an agent, Autumn closed just over $3 million. In 2020, that number grew to over $9 million. “Because of that growth, and keeping it going, I would like to branch out and maybe bring on somebody,” says Autumn, thinking of training an administrative assistant or taking on a buyer’s agent. “It would take a lot for me, though, because I like the system that I do have. I know it’s working. I want to continuously learn, expand, and meet new people.”

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To learn more about Autumn Peach, call her cell at 262-957-7008, her office at 262-567-8302 ext. 223, email apeach@shorewest.com, or visit autumn.shorewest.com http://

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How To Overcome Your Workplace Fears Fear is something that can help protect us from danger, but it is also something that can be a hindrance to us in our lives, especially when it keeps us from potentially thriving and growing as a person. This is especially true in the workplace. Here’ a look at some proven ways to overcome common workplace fears.

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ASSESS THE FEELINGS BEHIND THE FEAR

Really owning the emotions that are putting you in a place of fear, is the first step. By just naming it and then talking it out in your head, what exactly you’re feeling and why, it can help deflate the fear. Think of it as releasing some of the fear into the ether. Yes, you’ll still be nervous about your presentation, but a lot of what was holding you back is gone. You’ll feel lighter, and hopefully have just enough butterflies to make your soar.

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TALK ABOUT YOUR FEARS WITH A TRUSTED CO-WORKER

Nothing can make you feel more isolated than going down the path of “This is something that only happens to me.” Trust me, it doesn’t, and you might be surprised to find out that some people have had it even worse. Talking to someone you trust and admire, hearing their own fear horror stories and how they overcame them, will help normalize what you’re feeling. Releasing yourself from the idea that it’s something about you, will be an enormous relief.

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THINK OF THE WORST CASE SCENARIO

Although it might seem counter-productive, truly assessing what the worse outcome of the situation you’re afraid of serves two purposes. It might lead you to realize the worst case scenario isn’t that bad 80

after all. Of course it could also lead you to a really uncomfortable thought, you could lose your job. As bad as that is, it also gives you an opportunity to start focusing on what really matters, and how you might grow from the experience and possibly end up better off. Countless people in their dream jobs now, were once fired and thought it was the end of the world.

Hopefully, that won’t happen to you, but learning to have confidence in your abilities to always find a way, will be a great tool in overcoming fears.

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COMPARTMENTALIZE

If you’re a super-organized type, you might try actually setting aside time in your day to focus on your fears. It might seem odd, but it will let you NOT focus on your fears during the other hours of your day. Think of it as a task, you aren’t just sitting there worrying, you’re taking in your fears and figuring out ways to overcome them.

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START THINKING OF YOUR FEARS AS OPPORTUNITY FOR GROWTH

Start thinking of fears as challenges. As scary as it might seem to face them, for the most part they are things that can be fixed. A lot of fear is based on inexperience which leads to a lack of confidence.

A common fear is workplace evaluations. Instead of looking at it as hearing everything that is wrong about you, think of it as an opportunity to see where you can improve. Going into it with a positive attitude rather than a defensive posture, will make the whole thing better for both parties.

Overcoming fears is oftentimes about a simple attitude adjustment. Like anything it takes practice, but the results of that practice will lead to a life that you’re able to thrive in both personally and professionally.

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BRYAN DAY For Bryan Day, working as a REALTOR® combines his love of helping others with his passion for real estate.

He first earned his license while managing affordable housing properties, and decided to set out on his own as an agent when he turned 40. “I was ready for a change,” he explains. He hit the ground running right away, gradually growing his business to what it is today. He now works with Keller Williams Buffalo Northtowns in Williamsville, with about half of his clients deriving from repeats or referrals. Serving the greater Buffalo region, where he’s lived for the past 15 years, he loves guiding buyers and sellers throughout the transaction, ensuring no questions are left unanswered.

we knew we wanted a home. We entered the market without a clue, and Bryan guided us through the process and made it all make sense. Whether you’re a first-time buyer, or you’re seeking a trustworthy, experienced partner for your most recent purchase, you simply won’t find a better realtor in the WNY area than Bryan Day. We bought the house of our dreams and gained a lifelong friend in the process.”

“I like to tell people, with my background in social work, my motivation really is in assisting others in their efforts towards buying, selling or investing,” he explains. “I’m not motivated by sales. My main objective is to help them secure a financial asset.”

Bryan understands how important this chapter is in his clients’ lives, and takes his responsibilities very seriously. For his buyers, he discusses their needs and goals, making sure he knows exactly what they are looking for so he can find them the ideal property. Meanwhile, his sellers rest assured knowing that their home is being put in front of as many eyes as possible, marketed on social media and through postcards or mailers. No matter who he is serving or what their budget is, each client receives the same superior service and constant communication.

Looking ahead, he is excited to continue growing and hopes to soon get his broker’s license. In the meantime, he’s enjoying every minute of his current work.

“I just love that every day is different and every sale is different. It’s always fun and so rewarding.”

After the transaction is over, buyers and sellers love to spread the word about his work. One recently said, “We didn’t know what we were doing, but

For more information about Bryan Day, please call 716-310-8205 or email bryanday@kw.com

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When Bryan isn’t working, he’s giving back to the community. He currently sits on the planning committee for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Annual Walk, and is going to complete his ninth walk this year. Bryan is also a volunteer with the Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus and participates in Buffalo’s Garden Walk every year. During any free time, he loves travelling, working on his house or gardening.

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CASEY ABOULAFIA With a sharp eye for detail and years of industry knowledge and experience, Casey Aboulafia is a client favorite in the Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas. Her degree in epidemiology and background in international public health helped shape her approach to real estate as being data driven— helping buyers and sellers make highly informed decisions that will benefit them in the long run. She is affiliated with Compass where she serves as a Senior Vice President and managing member of The P&rtners, a six-person team of agents and three support staff dedicated to making the buying and selling process smooth and seamless.

Casey started her real estate career in 2004, striving to provide clients with the highest level of service. Her positive demeanor and a reputation for getting great results have earned her many repeat and referral clients.

“One of the biggest compliments is getting referred.

It’s the ultimate show of gratitude from your clients.”

She adds that it’s her easygoing personality and local knowledge that helps to earn the loyalty of her clients. “I’m committed to my work and straightforward in my communication. I’m not a pushy person, but I like to know what I’m talking about. Part of it is the fact that I grew up in this area. I’ve been through the ups and downs of the market, and I’ve seen firsthand how our region has transformed. Many of my clients are investors, so being able to show them where good investments are is crucial.”

Motivated by true passion for her work and the variety that real estate offers, Casey never experiences a boring day at work. “I really enjoy the clients I work with and getting to meet people with different life experiences.

As time passes, who we hang out with can become so pigeonholed, but this job introduces us to people with such different perspectives - it keeps things fresh.”

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Outside of work, Casey is an active member of the community and supports various charities near and dear to her heart, including Mary’s Center, the DC Dream Center and the Cleveland Park Club. When she’s not working, she loves to travel internationally and go on long walks and hikes. “It’s a great way to start the day, clear my mind and enjoy our beautiful city.”

Going forward Casey is excited to keep growing her business and providing her clients an elite level of service. Her advice to agents just starting out is to find a great broker, like she did, and to focus on the basics. “Getting a good underlying foundation can sometimes be overlooked but is invaluable to your success. The classes I took and the coaching I received helped transform my business from $15 million a year to $40 million a year. I was in a coaching program for over four years, and that gave me the tools to move forward and strategize on how to grow my career as a businessperson, not just someone ‘in’ the business. My background was not a business-related one at all, so this really allowed me to unlock the potential for growth, and I highly recommend it to all new agents.”

To learn more about Casey Aboulafia email casey@homeswithcasey.com, visit homeswithcasey.com, or call (202) 780–5885 www.

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Why Delegating is the Key to Long-lasting Success Delegating isn’t a dirty word. In fact, it’s the secret weapon of some of the most successful real estate leaders out there. Those that want to succeed and lead a business built to last understand that delegating is the key to growth and longevity. While the idea of delegating may sound nice, consider a few ways in which delegating adds professional value that goes far beyond efficiency.

DELEGATING DEVELOPS YOUR MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUE Have you ever considered that delegating tasks and responsibilities can help you, as Top Agent Magazine

a leader, develop your managerial skills?

While the main objective of delegation is to distribute work in a balanced, efficient way, it’s also a chance to assign tasks with insight, calibrating your team in the process.

Consider delegation an opportunity to build strengths and address weaknesses on your team by choosing specific tasks for specific employees. You can also work on and expand your communication skills, find ways to streamline your delegation tactics, and create opportunities for collaboration. Don’t just delegate blindly, be thoughtful in how you parcel out the workload and responsibilities. Doing so will allow you to fortify your

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While the idea of delegating may sound nice, consider a few ways in which delegating adds professional value that goes far beyond efficiency.

management skills, in addition to lightening your load for the better.

DELEGATING BUILDS COLLECTIVE CONFIDENCE Another byproduct of delegating is that it builds collective confidence in the ranks of your office. By giving employees the chance to flex their skills and control their own small slice of the pie, you’ll be fostering a sense of responsibility and growth on your talent roster. Not only will your staff benefit from the chance to step out on their own, but the team will also benefit as a whole, as each member will attack their duties with a renewed sense of confidence and competence. This collective aptitude will translate to clients and industry colleagues, who will sense the power of a practiced, well-calibrated team in which each member has the chance to shine.

DELEGATING SHARPENS WEAK SPOTS IN OFFICE COMMUNICATION Proper delegation requires clear communication and the careful outlining of responsibilities, goals, and expectations. By regularly delegating to staff, you’ll be giving the whole office the chance to curtail careless communication habits and establish a new benchmark for quality correspondence. Begin by setting an example by clearly communicating delegated responsibilities, leaving the door open for 84

questions, and by making progress reports the standard. After a while, these good habits will become engrained in your team, and your office will benefit from a uniform and effective communication style, no matter the project.

DELEGATING TURNS ACCOMPLISHMENTS INTO A TEAM WIN The ultimate goal of delegating duties is to get the job done, but when you practice delegation, each team member will have a stake in the outcome. In other words, a job well done can be celebrated by all. Giving your team the chance to invest themselves in an overarching project allows for a big pay-off once success is achieved. Not only does this boost morale and provide meaningful motivation for daily work, but it also builds a sense of comradery among the ranks. What’s more, team members will know they’re taken seriously and considered valuable to the team’s dynamic. And don’t forget: a job well done is a reward in and of itself, but it also doesn’t hurt to demonstrate your gratitude for a team goal accomplished.

Delegating responsibilities isn’t a new idea, but the benefits are more plentiful than most imagine. With that in mind, capitalize on opportunities to delegate and you’ll not only be bolstering your business, but building your team and your own professional profile for the long haul.

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GAYE RIBBLE Gaye Ribble began her real estate career 29 years ago, after working with local Realtors® and the city council to advocate for building a new elementary school in her community. Gaye led the fight, and afterwards, “I was asked to run for city council because I was effective in working with everyone,” she recalls. “I thought, serving on the city council is probably not my calling, but I really liked what the Realtors® were doing! That prompted me to get into real estate.” Gaye hasn’t looked back since, and last year her team was ranked #3 among all brands in Denver.

The Ribble Group at Keller Williams currently serves the Denver metro area, but after joining forces with The Reynolds Team they are expanding to serve the entire Front Range, including Colorado Springs, Denver, and Fort Collins. About 90% of The Ribble Group’s business comes from repeat and referral clients, an impressive feat that speaks to the trust and confidence Gaye and her team inspire.

“We provide great service,” Gaye explains. “We have as many support people as we do agents, which is unusual.

Getting our clients under contract is a very important part of the transaction, but taking care of them throughout the whole transaction is equally important. Even after the transaction has closed, we maintain that relationship and consider all our clients part of the Ribble Group family.”

Clients know they can always count on Gaye and her team to provide valuable information. “We are a staple in the community,” Gaye says. “People come and ask us questions about the market because they know we are available and here to help. Whatever their real estate need or question is, we’re the first ones they think of and come to for assistance.”

Community involvement is important to Gaye and her team, and they lend a hand wherever it’s needed. Gaye Top Agent Magazine

serves on the board of an adoption agency and was a founding board member of the local YMCA branch. She and her team sponsor and volunteer in local events such as a coat drive to benefit a homeless shelter, as well as sponsoring local school events and contributing to organizations including Sell a Home, Save a Child.

In the near future, Gaye is excited to be joining forces with The Reynolds Team to extend their reach locally and nationally. Above all, she plans to continue the important work of being a trusted resource in her community and building relationships to last.

“In this day and age where there are so many different ways to find real estate companies and professionals, sometimes people can forget the importance of the relationship,” she says. “People matter, and our clients know that they really matter to us. We’re not just the click of a button and somebody to open a door. We’re there to give superior service for life. It is a relationship we foster so that we’re able to work with second and third generations and be that family professional.

Relationships matter, and we’re working hard to maintain those relationships.”

To find out more about Gaye Ribble, you can contact her by phone at 303-929-9456, or online at TheRibbleGroup.com www.

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5 Things You Can Do To Achieve Your Biggest Goals If there’s one thing successful people can agree on, it’s that setting goals has been key to their success.

Whether you’re creating a five year plan or just settling on what you want to achieve by the end of the day, setting goals gives you the focus and direction you need to complete even the biggest tasks.

But there is a method to setting them. It’s a process that takes careful thought and consideration up front, which is then combined with the hard work necessary to implement your plan. Luckily there are proven methods to goal setting that you can start using immediately.

1. MAKE YOUR GOALS SPECIFIC Yes, it’s fun to think in grand terms of where you want to end up in life and in your career, but it’s better to have a specific goal like “Increase my sales by 25%”, than “Get rich.” When a goal is clear and specific, it allows you to figure out the exact steps you need to take to accomplish it. The more general it is, the more paralyzed you might be when it comes to figuring out what to do since, the choices may be overwhelming.

2. MAKE IT ATTAINABLE Making attainable goals might seem boring, I mean afterall, you want to dream big! But you don’t want to suffer through the disappointment of not reaching your goal, something that may not even be possible at this stage in your life to begin with. One solution to that is creating goal levels. You can have the dream goal, but underneath that you have the realistic goals that are setting up a foundation for achieving the big one. Things that are attainable still take work and effort to achieve. Those small victories will keep you motivated and encouraged to go for the bigger dreams. And don’t forget, those 86

little goals may have been things you wouldn’t have gotten done if you didn’t set out to achieve them, so be proud!

3. PUT A PLAN OF ACTION IN WRITING Your plan of action should include daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals. There is something about seeing things in writing and crossing them off the list that is oddly satisfying.The daily goals are especially important in regards to building up those good habits. The first few weeks of your plan of action are critical when it comes to your long term success. Reaching a goal is something you are doing every day, all throughout the day, in numerous ways. Achieving goals is all about creating good new habits.

4. MAKE IT MEASURABLE This is key, since you definitely want to reward yourself for a job well done, and having a goal that is measurable in some way is a sure way to know.

Maybe it’s to increase your lead generation or to cut expenses, whatever the case, have a measurable test you need to meet, as well as a time frame. Then calculate what you have to do to reach that goal. Not only should your goal be specific, but the plan and the measure of success should also be set in stone.

5. ADJUST AS YOU GO You can have all the best laid plans, and you still might quickly realize that what you thought would help you reach your goal, might not be cutting it.

Commitment to reaching your goals is good, but commitment to a plan you know isn’t going to work is not only a waste of time, but will be a devastating blow to your motivation. Sticking to a plan everyday means adjusting it accordingly.

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JAN WHEELER “I like everything about what I do,” says Jan Wheeler, a top agent with Coldwell Banker in Pennsylvania. “I’m a people person. I like the interaction with helping people one-on-one and face-to-face.

Getting to know them, their wants, their needs. That’s what’s important to me.”

Jan has been in the real estate game for a combined twenty years. She first got her license in 1978 when she left a teaching position in order to spend more time with her young sons. She then returned to teaching for a couple of decades to utilize her Master of Education degree from Pennsylvania State. Jan ultimately missed the flexibility and dynamic nature of working in real estate, and she returned to the industry in 2010.

Servicing south central Pennsylvania, Jan works hard for her clients. “I am always available,” she says. “I get answers to their questions and solve their problems almost immediately. I give them my best service.” This approach has not gone unnoticed. In 2020, Jan earned the International Diamond Society status, meaning that she is in the top 10% of all Coldwell Banker Agents.

Her dedication pays off. Over half of her business comes from repeat and referral clients. “It’s really my attention to detail,” explains Jan. “I always give the client what they’re asking for, not what I think they should have. That, in addition to my excellent work ethic, keeps them coming back.”

Jan maintains a strong online presence in order to stay in touch with her clients. She also advertises in a local bi-monthly magazine that goes to anyone who has purchased or listed a property with Jan. Jan appreciates a personal touch, and she makes sure to call her past clients at least three times a year to stay at top of mind.

When she isn’t working hard for her clients, Jan is deeply involved in her community. She is active in her local church, and she loves being involved with Top Agent Magazine

various initiatives and organizations at her grandchildren’s schools. In the past, she has worked with military organizations.

“We gave 25% of my commission to military who listed or sold,” she says. “I really am very real estate oriented!”

When she isn’t working (which, Jan says, is not often) Jan enjoys spending time with her family, including Jim, her husband of fifty-two years. She also likes to sew and crochet. Dedicated to an active lifestyle, you can often find her exercising at the local gym.

Looking to the future, Jan is interested in growing a team. “Right now, my daughter-in-law is taking real estate classes,” says Jan. “If everything goes well, she’ll be able to join me on a team.” Jan is likewise hopeful that one of her two sons will come on board as well.

When asked if she has any advice for new or upcoming real estate agents, Jan doesn’t hesitate to answer. “Real estate is wonderful,” she says. “It’s a very good career if you plan to dedicate yourself to it. It can’t be a second career. You’ll struggle to do it with another job.

One will suffer, and we don’t want that to be real estate since it involves other people’s lives.”

To learn more about Jan Wheeler, please call 717-319-9271, email jan.wheeler@cbhomes.com, or visit janwheelerhomes.com 87

BONNIE JOHNSON-CAYLOR “To be honest with you, I love everything about what I do,” says Bonnie Johnson-Caylor, a top agent in Wisconsin.

“It’s even better since my husband joined me in January as my buyer’s agent. I’m focusing on sellers now, which is what I truly love to work with. Listings are just flying off the shelves right now.”

Bonnie has been in the business for the past twenty-one years. “I got started back in 2000, when I was a full-time stay-athome-mom,” she says. “We’d just moved, and I didn’t know anybody.” She met and made friends with a real estate agent while working out at the gym, and this agent believed that Bonnie would excel in the business. Bonnie says, “It was the perfect place to be at the perfect time. The rest is history!”

Bonnie and her husband, Steve Caylor, service the majority of Southeast Wisconsin. This includes the towns of Muskego, Hales Corner, Franklin, Germantown, New Berlin, and other surrounding communities. The majority of her business comes from repeat and referral clients. She credits her high rate of success with her relationship-building skills.

“It’s about getting out into the community, meeting people, and getting to know everybody,” says Bonnie.

One way that Bonnie gets to know her clients is by throwing client appreciation events. Annually, she hosts a large get-together where everybody gets to go home with a pie right before Thanksgiving. “That’s a big and very fun event,” Bonnie says. She looks forward to hosting it again when restrictions related to COVID-19 lift. In 2020, she got more creative. “We held our event outside so we could social distance, and we brought out a little ice cream cart for people to enjoy. That was new, and it was very successful.”

In her off-time from real estate, Bonnie is extremely involved in her community. She is an active member of her local Chamber of Commerce, and she previously 88

served on the Chamber’s board. An organization very near to Bonnie’s heart is the Muskego Senior Taxi. “It’s a taxi not only for senior citizens, but also for our special needs adults,” she says. “The whole reason that I volunteer with them is that I have an adult autistic daughter, and they have helped out immensely.” She is also an active participant in the Muskego Moose Lodge and takes part in various charitable work through that.

Outside of working hard for her clients and community, Bonnie loves taking her Great Dane for walks. Always active, she and her husband are very involved in their local CrossFit community. They also love going camping with their daughter whenever they can get away.

Looking to the future, Bonnie is excited to expand her business. “Ultimately, our goal is to winter somewhere warm,” she says. She would like to be able to take a break from the infamous Wisconsin cold. To accomplish this, she and Steve are currently partway through a five-year plan to bring another agent on board.

Bonnie says, “We’re just going to keep growing!”

For more about Bonnie Johnson-Caylor, please call 262-227-0277, email johnsoncaylorteam@gmail.com or visit remax.com Top Agent Magazine

3 Mind-Bending Philosophies to Expand Your Professional Perspective

Beyond the day-to-day duties that make your business tick, so much of success is derived from the principles you put in place to guide your business. The foundational tenets you subscribe to can make or break your business for the long-term; they not only influence how you complete routine Top Agent Magazine

tasks, but also impact your growth, your ability to manage a team, and what the future might hold. With all that in mind, here are three philosophies to remember as you strategize your professional life—whether you’re mapping your monthly goals or creating an overarching plan for growth.

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1

Treat Your Business Like a Business

One of the perks of working in real estate is that you’re often able to create and manage your own schedule and volume, but that doesn’t mean you can skimp on the technical details of being your own boss.

No real estate professional worth his or her salt would forgo empowering tools like a business and marketing plan, or spreadsheets to track cash flow and expenses, or regular profit-and-loss statements, or fiscal year budgets and projections. Taking these measures may appear daunting at first— and completing them will certainly require discipline and a learning curve—but harnessing valuable data and information can intelligently inform your professional decisions, strategies, and long-term growth.

2

Achieve a Holistic Understanding

When schedules are busy, it sometimes feels like enough to reach the end of the week’s to-do list. But, if you’re planning on a lasting career built on year-to-year growth, it’s not enough to account for the short-term.

By creating daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, and five-year goals, you’re outlining and quantifying your progress.

While your quarterly and yearly goals may be clear in your mind, what about five years from now? Perhaps you’d like to add to your designations, or incorporate a new team member, or add an additional branch.

No matter how you envision your profes90

sional future, the first order of business is to create a timeline. Once you have a clear deadline in mind, it’s far easier to build out the steps and calendar necessary to achieve your goals.

3 Specificity is Empowering While you may have a general sense of where you’d like to see your business go in the next few months or years, it’s hard to work toward or attain a goal that’s abstract.

To make the most of your time and efforts, you must identify and understand precisely what you’re aiming toward. For instance, instead of planning to add volume to your enterprise, outline a specific, attainable number to work toward. Or, if you’d like to add an administrative staff in the years to come, consider the details of this decision—the money it would take, the type of people you’d want to hire, how many hours per week they’d work, what tasks they would complete, etc. Adding hard details to your goals not only makes them more realistic, but progress is more easily made when you have specific items you can cross off your to-do list along the way.

While there are no 100% fool-proof or guaranteed routes to success, shifting your mindset from the present and the abstract, to the specific and the long-term can have a major impact on your chances of success.

Instead of dreaming of being more productive or successful, do yourself a favor and craft a gameplan you can bank on.

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JASMINE BISHOP Jasmine found her way into real estate at a crossroads in her career after years in the teaching profession. Having recently bought a house, Jasmine enjoyed the process and found it interesting. After getting her license, she began working with the agent who worked with her through the process of buying her own home. Now, after four years in the industry, Jasmine still works with her former agent, now as a business partner in Dearborn Heights, Michigan.

Today, most of Jasmine’s business comes from referrals.

Mining her large sphere of connections from her years in teaching, as well as her time in marketing for financial services companies. As a result of her personable nature and kind-hearted ways, Jasmine has turned many of her connections into clients. She loves helping people find their dream home.

In many ways, Jasmine finds real estate similar to teaching, and loves the independence afforded to her by being a business owner. “I’m able to present my business the way I want to,” she says. “Every decision that I make is done by me.”

Jasmine’s personable and thorough approach helps her clients through the homebuying or selling process with an educator’s patience and precision. She lays out the steps, so each client knows what to expect. Jasmine explains, “It’s my nature as a teacher; I’m very organized, very regimented, so my clients are able to just enjoy the process.”

Even now, as a successful agent, Jasmine hasn’t completely left teaching behind. As part of her company’s onboarding team, Jasmine teaches classes for new agents on social media, advertising, and best practices for following up with clients. Through mentoring new agents, Jasmine forges strong working relationships with her peers and empowers them to succeed.

“Be yourself,” Jasmine says. “People do business with who they like. Don’t be someone different just to try to make a sale.”

Jasmine is currently working towards completing a master’s degree in marketing and brings all her experience into marketing each listing. Facebook and Instagram are utilized to maximize exposure, with posts featuring professional photography. Likewise, mailers sent out through the neighborhood of a given property, feature a highly professional presentation of the home. “We don’t do anything DIY,” Jasmine says. “We invest in making sure that our homes look great, and that we’re putting our best foot forward.”

Last year, Jasmine closed thirty-four transactions.

A resident of Allen Park, Jasmine is excited to use her marketing expertise to give back to her community. Soon, she will begin teaching classes through the Downtown Development Authority to local business owners, teaching how to market their businesses and brand themselves using social media.

When she’s not working, Jasmine loves crafting, her Italian greyhound puppy, and spending time with family.

With a wedding date set for the spring, Jasmine stays busy with wedding planning and exciting preparations.

Looking ahead to the future of her business, Jasmine sees this year as a turning point, as business from repeat clients has begun to increase, and she focuses on bringing more teachers into her client pool. Jasmine and her business partner are excited to expand their team and ramp up their marketing efforts, forging partnerships by working hand in hand with business affiliates like lenders, insurance reps and title reps. As their business grows, Jasmine and her partner are innovating ways to streamline their process and create a repeatable and successful experience for everyone.

To learn more about Jasmine Bishop, please call (734) 624-7562 or email jbishop929@gmail.com Top Agent Magazine

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Laughs!

Graham Harrop Graham Harrop Cartoons Cartoons

Putting the power of humour to work for you!

Putting the power of humour to work for you! grahamharrop.com

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JEFFREY BROOKMAN Jeffrey Brookman’s passion for real estate goes back as far as he can remember. “I always had an interest in homes, architecture, and speaking with people,” he says. He is truly a people’s person and a professional who is always happy to negotiate what’s best for his clients, making him a highly popular agent for buyers and sellers throughout New Jersey.

Coming from a teaching background, Jeffrey under-stands the importance of educating his clients throughout the transaction process—especially the first-time homebuyers— and helping them make the right real estate choices. He values forming long-term relationships over one-time transactions and prioritizes client satisfaction above everything else.

“You have to approach this business with a certain degree of elegance and finesse. You can’t be pushy or aggressive because you’re not selling a sack of potatoes here. This is usually one of the biggest investments someone is going to make in their lifetime, so you can’t just force it down their throat. You have to be easygoing,” he says.

Jeffrey’s easygoing attitude also extends to his own prices and the wide range of clients he chooses to work with. “I was brought up with the mentality that a half a loaf of bread, is better than none at all. That’s why I’m happy to work with

every type of client and I’m always open to negotiation. I prefer to make long-term connections with people and help them, rather than push a quick transaction through,” he says.

A self-proclaimed workaholic, Jeffrey’s cell phone never leaves his sight, giving his clients unlimited access to call with any pressing questions. “I am easily accessible, and my clients can always reach me. I’m married to my phone and to real estate. I guess I’m somewhat of a workaholic, and I feel like there isn’t enough time in the day to accomplish everything I would like to accomplish. I just love helping people and getting to be a part of their story,” he says. His hard work and dedication have earned him the Circle of Excellence Sales Award for selling over $20,000,000 in sales volume in a year.

Going forward Jeffrey has no plans to slow down. He wants to continue providing his clients with the highest quality of customer service and guiding them towards the best choices for them and their families. “This is an extremely rewarding job. I’m helping people find the place they’re going to call home, a place where their family is going to grow up and make all those special memories. It’s also a very exciting job.

I’m constantly interacting with people who are able to leave a big mark on this world. Baseball Hall of Famers, authors, and famous religious figures. I’ve sold houses to all types of people. I love what I do, that’s why I’m capable of living and breathing real estate every day, because it’s not just my work, it’s my passion.”

To learn more about Jeffrey Brookman, email jeffreyb1836@gmail.com, visit zillow.com/profile/jeffreybrookman, or call (908) 422–2844 www.

House of Yankee Hall of Famer Phill Rizzutto by Jeffrey Brookman

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JENNIFER GLANTZ Top Agent Jennifer Glantz – of Kissinger Bigatel & Brower in State College, Pennsylvania – is a truly dedicated Realtor who is committed to providing every one of her many buyers and sellers with topnotch customer service. Jennifer, who works hard to maintain lifelong relationships with her clients, has built a thriving business based on a foundation of honesty and integrity, and has more than earned her excellent reputation as one of the most trusted real estate professionals in Central Pennsylvania.

Jennifer, who has more than a decade of experience under her belt, and was born and raised in Central Pennsylvania, began her journey in the real estate industry in 2009. “I was working as an elementary school teacher,” she recalls, “and decided to take a break from that and work for my husband who had just purchased two building companies. I became his listing agent and started taking classes on marketing, advertising and hosting open houses.”

Jennifer quickly discovered that she had a true passion for real estate, and currently more than half of her considerable business is based upon repeat clients and referrals, a significant achievement in her highly competitive market. Much of this has to do with the fact that she is devoted to continuing her education within the industry. In 2010, for example, she earned the National Association of Realtors’ prestigious Green Designation, which provides extra value to homeowners by helping them make savvy and environmentally sound decisions about their homes.

Other factors come into play when assessing Jennifer’s stellar success story, and chief among them would be the lifetime relationships she forms with her clients. “I think it’s very important to really listen to them,” she says.

“During the initial consultation I have with them, I allow them to share with me what is important to them about purchasing or selling a home.” This level of care has much to do with the fact that she currently holds a perfect, five-star overall rating on Zillow.com.

Equally important to the success of Jennifer’s business would be her expert negotiation abilities and her intelligent, leave-no-stone-unturned marketing strategies which include advertising her listings to the 350 other agents in her market, brochures, neighborhood outreach, and a savvy approach to utilizing social media platforms to ensure maximum exposure for her listings. Combined, these translate into fast sales for top dollar, not to mention happy clients who continue to return and to refer friends and family.

When she’s not busy helping clients achieve their real estate dreams, Jennifer enjoys giving back to her community both personally and through Kissinger Bigatel & Brower. Recipients of her largesse include local schools, hospitals and other charitable organizations. She is also actively involved in the local ski community.

When asked about the future of her business, Jennifer pauses thoughtfully before answering. “The first ten years of my business were about getting my feet on the ground,” she replies. “The upcoming ten years will be about focusing on building a team and being a leader not only for my clients, within my own office as well.” Left unstated, however, is her primary, overarching objective that has not wavered since she first obtained her license: to continue providing her clients with the topof-the-line, highly personalized service that has become synonymous with her name.

For more about Jennifer Glantz, please call 814-360-7799 or email Jennifer@1kbb.com

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Turning Your Profession into a Passion The old adage goes that if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.

On the other hand, it’s easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day worries and responsibilities of your career, even if you generally enjoy what you do. While there’s no guaranteeing that every day on the job will be a picnic, there are a few steps you can take to vastly improve your morale and transform your profession into a passion.

After all, cultivating a passion for what you do will not only add to your quality

of life, but will likely make you more successful in the long run.

BUILD YOUR BASE OF KNOWLEDGE Knowledge builds confidence, and confidence breeds success. A sure way to light a fire in your heart for your daily work is to challenge yourself to learn more and expand your understanding of your field. By doing so, you equip yourself for success, create challenges, and find the most inter-

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esting features of your work—especially those that most appeal to your interests and talents. Try reading the top five books on the topic of your industry, or subscribe to a podcast where thriving professionals offer their two cents. Either way, learning more about your industry is bound to reveal a source of inspiration worth pursuing.

THINK ABOUT THE BIG PICTURE

and excelling in your field, you may find that others’ approaches inspire your own.

Likewise, what you learn from other successful, passionate people in your field can help you shape your own office and work life, in turn creating more opportunities for you to fall in love with what you do, all over again.

TAKE RISKS

CONNECT WITH LIKE-MINDED PROFESSIONALS

One of the biggest hindrances of professional passion is falling into a rut. Routines are familiar and everyday responsibilities vie for our energy. But the next time you tackle a task the way that you always have, take a moment and try to refresh your perspective—is there a more clever or efficient way you could approach this project?

Even better: why not take the plunge and do the things you’ve always been meaning to—throw that client appreciation event you’ve put off planning, take the continuing education course you keep forgetting to register for, even try a creative activity that pushes you out of your comfort zone.

There’s no better way to inject some passion into your life than by going outside your bubble and taking a risk.

Have you ever chatted with someone who was overflowing with energy for what they do? That sort of passion tends to be infectious—often causing us to beg our own questions about professional engagement.

By participating in local organizations or networking with those who are active

Passion comes from all directions—from your own interior journey and from the world around you. To transform your profession into a passion worth having, invest in yourself and venture into the vast world around you. You’ll surely reap the rewards.

Sometimes reinvigorating your passion for your work is about looking outward, rather than inward. Gain some perspective and consider who your work helps in the long run. As a real estate professional—whether you work as an agent, broker, in mortgages, home inspections, or otherwise—your work positively impacts someone else’s home-sweet-home. You make a difference. While it may seem like just another day at the office, taking a moment to visualize exactly who you are helping in the world at large is a great way to add some motivational fire to your daily tasks.

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LIZ HARRIS One of the first things you notice when talking to Liz Harris is how much satisfaction she takes in her work, having found a way to combine her passion with a desire to help people. “I grew up on a ranch in a beautiful area, so I love looking at property, whether undeveloped acreage or beautiful homes or fixer-uppers! I’m thrilled to connect with people who are looking for their own perfect place, and to experience that happiness with them when we find it!”

With almost seventeen years of experience as a Realtor, and having learned from the best in the business, Liz is well qualified to help clients find or sell their home. Liz chose her profession just after college. “My husband owns Harris Custom Builders and builds beautiful homes. We were doing a couple of projects for ourselves as an investment, and I got licensed so I could personally market and sell them. I approached William McKee about starting out as an assistant for McKee Properties, because I wanted to work with the best. He encouraged me to jump right in as an agent. William was a great mentor, and I learned so much from him.”

When McKee passed away, Liz partnered with three other long-time McKee agents to purchase the company. She serves the Cashiers-Highlands area of North Carolina, where she’s consistently ranked a top-producing agent. Not surprisingly, most of that business comes from repeat clients and referrals.

“I’m very hands-on. Clients contact me because they want to work with me, so I’m personally involved with them through every stage of the process and beyond. I work tirelessly to find their dream home or to sell their property to another happy buyer. I’m a people person, so I enjoy every minute of it.”

Liz utilizes a variety of marketing strategies. “I spend a lot of money on marketing, ranging from expensive events to ads in the Wall Street Journal to our local MLS. We buy space in local magazines as well as national publications, and McKee Properties provides a special partnership with Garden and Gun Land and Garden and Gun Magazine. I host open houses and other events throughout the season, and take advantage of the various social media platforms.”

She stays in touch with clients through emails and phone calls, but she favors connecting with them at an event or dinner. Many of Liz’s clients become great friends with whom she socializes and partners with on additional projects.

Liz makes time for her community, helping with fundraising through the Cashiers Designer Showhouse.

She’s also on the board of the Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau. Personal time is for family, including two wonderful children and three dogs. “We’re very outdoors oriented, so we spend most of our time in the beautiful nature that surrounds us here on the Cashiers/Highlands Plateau—hiking, boating, golfing, and fishing.”

Going forward, Liz wants to give her assistants all the tools needed to build their own business, and continue to grow as a top agent herself. “I also have plans to enhance my clients’ experience by offering a comprehensive package of home sale and purchase services that will allow us to see to their every need, whether that be in repair, remodel, improvement, staging, or whatever.”

Anyone who’s worked with Liz knows how much she truly loves her job. “I look forward to every day. It’s so exciting!”

Contact Liz at 828-342-3194 or email Liz@cashiers.com Top Agent Magazine

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Productivity Killers: 4 Ways to Make Better Use of Your Working Hours 3.Create a goal-oriented reward system

Even on the busiest of days, it can be hard not to get distracted by social media, smartphones, chatty colleagues, or personal to-do list items. So how do you keep your professional blinders on and power through your tasks with efficiency? Practice these four tips and witness your productivity skyrocket—easing stress and bringing renewed energy to your daily duties.

Coffee breaks, coworker catch-up, and social media check-ins tend to break up our workflow on an hourly basis. Instead of trying to go cold turkey on these workplace routines, reframe them as rewards.

For every to-do list item you complete, allow yourself a fives minute treat, whether that’s a fresh cup of coffee or a walk around the block. Not only will creating a reward system help you stay motivated throughout the day, it will also provide you with much-needed mental breaks that actually boost long-term productivity.

1. Create a sense of peace and quiet The office may not be your idea of a tranquil oasis, but for most, focus requires quiet and calm to best lend attention to the task at hand. If you find yourself seated next to talkative coworkers or in the center of a bustling office atrium, consider noise canceling headphones, earplugs, or carving out an empty conference room for your work day.

Turning the volume down creates fewer chances for disruption, allowing you to make the best use of your time.

2. Organize your workspace A messy work area breeds anxiety and distraction, but a clean and organized desk inspires efficiency. If you’ve got a busy day ahead, take fifteen minutes and organize your workspace: gather miscellaneous papers into their proper place, dispose of out-of-date or unnecessary documents, or give your keyboard a dusting. Not only does cleaning and organizing your workspace prepare you for the work ahead, it also helps you transition to a productive, goal-oriented mindset.

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4.Take your smartphone off the table The number one productivity killer in this day and age? Smartphones. With access to endless social media portals, web browsing, text conversations, and games, smartphones are one-stop shops for distractions. While you may not want to delete apps from your phone, try leaving your smartphone in a locked desk drawer until your next break, or safely in your car. By simply putting your smartphone out of your line of sight, the impulse to distract yourself is muted.

Even though technology and the modern office create ample opportunity for distraction, making these few small adjustments can go a long way in safeguarding your productivity. After all, a productive day allows you to enjoy your time at home and outside the office, without the worry of incomplete tasks and looming deadlines darkening your day. Keep these productivity tricks in mind as you mount your daily to-do list and you’ll be thanking yourself tomorrow.

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LUCI CHALIAN When she decided to get into real estate after a twenty-five year career managing her own business, the number one value Luci Chalian wanted to bring to her potential clients was peace of mind. “As a Realtor, you’re the eyes and ears for people who do something else for a living and have no idea what they are doing when it comes to buying or selling a home. As their advocate, my job is to make sure they are getting a fair deal, and to make sure they are getting what they want.”

That second part can sometimes be tricky, since people often are themselves confused about what they want, but Luci’s former experience as an event planner helps. “This business is very consultative. And it’s sort of a psyche experiment in the sense that I have to really get to know the client—what they want and need. Sometimes those can be two different things, so we need to have conversations to clarify exactly what we’re going to be looking for and why.”

That insight is part of the reason Luci has been able to build a repeat client and referral rate of sixty percent.

Her former clients also cite her professionalism and down-to-earth nature as strengths. “I’m intense as a business person. I act like it is me who is buying or selling the house, so they know I’m going to be looking out for their interests. But I also want it to be fun.

At the end of the day, whether we close on a deal or not, it’s still just about the relationship. I’m always just myself, trying to help.”

The relationship aspect is in fact Luci’s favorite part of the business. She stays in touch with clients throughout the year, sending cards and gifts on holidays, reaching out to see if there’s anything they need. “I tell my clients that I’ll be there for them beyond the closing table, which is really just letting them know they’ve made a new friend.”

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Luci markets her listings across all of the social media platforms, and reaches out to other agents in her network. She also does targeted marketing in the neighborhood of the home she is selling. “I’ll alert people ten doors up or down the street that the home will be coming on the market, and I’ll conduct an early open house for the neighbors.

Depending on when we go on the market, I’ll also market to neighborhoods that might be interested in the home as a bump-up purchase.”

Leisure time for Luci usually includes food, music, and company. “I’m a huge food junkie, so I love to entertain and cook for my friends.” She also likes biking and walking, and any kind of activity around the water.

Her plan for the future of her business is to continue growing and to make sure she is creating best practices to respond to a dynamic market. “As Realtors, we’re helping folks make a very large financial decision. My job is to make sure it is an informed one, and that they are comfortable with it.”

If you’d like Luci’s help buying or selling a home, call her at 617-719-3990 or email Lchalian@c21scheetz.com Copyright Top Agent Magazine 99

5 Tips to Get New Clients If you’ve been in the industry for a while, you’ve probably built up a healthy percentage of repeat and referral business.

Although it can be tempting to just maintain those relationships rather than generating new business, there’s something to be said for staying on top of

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your game by never resting on your laurels. Actively pursuing new clients is not only a way to generate more business, but depending on how you do it, it could even lead to a profitable new niche. Here are just a few ways to build up your new client base.

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1

Become a referral partner with industry peers

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Cold Call Expired and FSBO Listings

Everyone from mortgage lenders, to financial planners, to insurance agents, can be potentially lucrative referral partners for a Realtor®. You may already have great relationships with some that just need to be more formalized. But, you don’t just want to partner with anyone, make sure these are people you also feel completely comfortable referring your clients to - people who share your values and work ethic.

Another avenue to consider is divorce attorneys – yes, you heard that correctly. Helping people go through this difficult period actually requires a very specific skill set.

You need to be able to handle the legal aspects, as well as the emotional ones. There are numerous training courses you can take if you decide to take this route, which could end up being a lucrative and much-needed specialty.

This is a route a lot of agents take when they are just starting out, that usually leads to great success. You probably haven’t cold called since you started out, and this is a great skill to build up again.

It will not only sharpen your sales skills, but could generate a lot more business.

People with For Sale By Owners (FSBOs) and expired listings, are usually very motivated to sell. This is a great chance for you to really hone in on why they need to hire you. Do you offer innovative marketing plans? Access to a large sphere of influence? Expired listing clients are looking for ways to sell a property that seems impossible to move. With FSBOs, you need to show them how you can get them more money in their pocket, even

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with paying you a commission. Pursuing both will really engage your mind to think outside of the box, which will not only get you more business, but make you better at what you do.

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3

Partner up with a Relocation Company

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Become a Builder’s Realtor® of choice

This is another niche market that you can really capitalize on if you want to pursue a new specialty. But, it is a specialty, so getting educated on the process will help you generate the business you want. It’s a complicated area of real estate, you’ll often

times be helping to facilitate dual transactions, as you try and secure a property at the same time you are helping your relocation client sell their previous home. This specialty is becoming an in-demand skill in areas that have major corporate headquarters.

This can be a real score for any Realtor®.

The competition might be fierce to land a client like this, but there are numerous ways to make yourself stand out from the rest.

Gain certifications and become knowledgeable about the construction process. Be wellversed on what trendy materials, features, and finishes will add value to a property.

Get the builder on board with you by offering to take just a segment of the subdivision then wow them with your marketing skills.

Take on properties they haven’t been able to sell. You can even offer to throw an open

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Create a Website that Offers Real Value to Potential Clients

Perhaps the most useful way of getting contact information for people looking to sell is by adding a home valuation feature to your website. When people are first considering selling their home, finding out how much 102

house for them. This is another way to show them the level of service they can expect from you. These clients might be harder to land, but the payoff will be enormous.

it is worth is one of the first questions they want answered. By becoming a resource to potential clients (and current clients!), you just might be the first person that comes to mind when they’re actually looking to sell.

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MEGAN MICCO Megan Micco seriously considered a job in law prior to pursuing a career in real estate. Based on her sales experience and knowledge of contracts from her work as a paralegal, she was confident that she would excel as a Realtor. Megan earned her license in 2012 and after almost a decade in the business she has proven that she has what it takes to perform at the top of the highly competitive field in Northern California.

In 2020 Megan was recognized in the Top 1% of Realtors in the East Bay when she closed 30 transactions for a total volume of $40 million.

She gets more than half of her business through repeat clients and personal referrals which she attributes to her strong work ethic, savvy marketing, and excellent client service.

When interacting with clients, Megan finds it important to identify and understand the nuances of each client’s specific situation. Her mother is Native American and growing up Megan was instilled with a deep respect for the history of her local community. This perspective has led Megan to focus on the positive generational impact that property ownership can have on families and particularly women of color. She prioritizes listening over selling and caters to the specific needs of each client. “I identify both the financial and emotional needs of every client I work with,” Megan says. “Rather than putting families in houses, my goal is to help my clients find a place they can call home.”

Adept at navigating complex transactions, Megan is a problem solver and values prompt and concise communication. “I put a lot of energy into anticipating problems and proactively delivering solutions,” Megan says. She limits confusion and frustration by giving buyers and sellers a clear understanding of what their transaction will look like from the outset. In doing so, she provides the structure and transparency needed for her clients to feel secure.

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Megan emphasizes state-of-the-art technology as a major component of her repertoire, something that provides substantial value to her clients. She deploys a comprehensive, multi-channel marketing campaign for each listing and emphasizes detailed project management to ensure schedules are met and clients receive the best possible outcomes.

In her free time, Megan loves to hike, road cycle, and spend time with her husband, two teenage children, and their pit bull rescue dog. She is a member of the League of Women Voters and works with the American Indian College Fund to promote educational and professional opportunities for young Native students. She also has a long history of community organizing and youth mentoring, having worked at the Roosevelt Elementary school in Oakland, a keynote speaker at the Empowering Women of Color Conferences at UC Berkeley, and teaching computer literacy at the Coronado YMCA. Megan has ambitious growth plans including continuing to build her team and expand staffing and infrastructure to meet her goal of $100 million in sales by 2025. If you’re in need of an exceptional real estate agent in the East Bay Area of Northern California, reach out to Megan Micco to learn the difference!

You can contact Megan Micco by phone at (510) 708-9952, email megan@meganmicco.com, or visit meganmicco.com for more information www.

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ASHLYN COUSINS Award-winning Top Agent Ashlyn Cousins – Co-Team Leader of Berkshire Hathaway’s Cousins & Associates in Simpsonville, South Carolina – is a hardworking, deeply knowledgeable and compassionate Realtor who is truly committed to providing her many grateful clients with top-notch, high quality service. Sincerely passionate about what she does for a living, Ashlyn has earned her sterling reputation as a trusted real estate advocate for buyers and sellers alike.

Ashlyn, who studied real estate in college, officially became licensed as an agent in 2014. “I’ve always had an interest in the field,” she explains. “My mother-in-law has been an agent since the early 80’s. After college, I didn’t go into real estate immediately; I took some time to raise my children. When they were old enough, I partnered with my mother-in-law, and she mentored me through the process of becoming an agent. We work incredibly well together, and we are now growing our team with like-minded agents who share our client-first philosophy.”

Ashlyn found success almost immediately, based in large part on her deep involvement in her community and the sphere of influence she had developed before entering the real estate field. Currently, almost the entirety of Ashlyn’s business is based upon repeat and referred clients, a true testament to the exceptional customer service she is providing. “I think it’s because I’ve earned the trust of my clients,” says Ashlyn, when asked how she has managed to inspire such impressive levels of trust and loyalty amongst those she works with. “That has given me a lot of confidence. Also, since my husband leads a successful regional design and development firm, I know a lot about the industry that provides extra value to my clients.

A Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist (CLHMS), Ashlyn understands the importance of what she does for a living. “It’s a very big responsibility to help people with what may be the largest financial transaction of their lives,” she Ashlyn, who works diligently to form solid, 104

long lasting relationships with her clients.

“Being a Realtor is not just signing up and getting your license and then selling houses like it’s any other sales job. Being a Realtor is starting a business, and you have to have a long-term perspective. The relationships you form are not just important for today, they’re important for the future.”

There are many, many other reasons for Ashlyn’s continually growing success story, and chief among them would be her expert negotiation skills and thorough, intelligent marketing strategies that translate into fast sales for top dollar, not to mention happy clients.

When she’s not working, Ashlyn enjoys spending time with her husband and children, and is an avid tennis aficionado. She also gives back to her community through a variety of ways, particularly through the non-profit tennis organization she founded that serves over 1,000 children in her community and of which she is President of the Board. She and her husband are also co-founders of a local school called Greenville Classical Academy.

Ashlyn has big plans for the future of her business, which includes continued growth and adding team members to support that growth. Above all, however, remains her unwavering, constant objective: to continue providing the unparalleled customer service that has long been her calling card.

For more information about Ashlyn Cousins, please call 864-363-5713 or email acousins@cdanjoyner.com Copyright Top Top Agent Agent Magazine Magazine

Turn Open Houses into Destinations People are busy. Even those who are actively looking to buy a house or want to learn about the market for a future purpose have busy schedules. But with bit of added time, creativity and investment in making open house into destinations, you’ll see greater turnout. And we all know that greater turnout increases the likelihood of offers.

There are several creative ways to hold an open house with a mindset of hospitality and with the goal of providing something of value to each person who attends.

The neighbors-only open house Some agents embrace the “nosy neighbor” concept as a benefit, not an eye-rolling challenge. With his client’s permission, Wesley Peters, a Keller Williams broker in the Baltimore Metro Area, often gets the neighbors together before a home hits the market. “We invite other brokers, too, but we include as many neighbors as we can,” he says, explaining that he schedules these events for a Thursday or Friday evening, happy hour-style, rather than midday on a Sunday. They get a better turnout at 5:00 pm than midday on a weekend when the neighbors are busy with their lives. In a relaxed setting, conversations flow, neighbors can mingle and catch up, and the buzz begins before the home is listed. In advance, prepare invitations and hand-deliver them to homes on the streets you and your client agree are best to include. The destination is the event; the value each attendee receives is the social interaction and the removal of any awkwardness over visiting their neighbor’s house. Your client’s benefit is the buzz.

A turnkey block party any time of year Once a property is listed, some agents take on the role of party planners. Certain streets or neighborhoods, they find, are perfect for low-key social occasions. In some place, such as neighborhoods with many young families, a bounce-house or games may even ramp up the fun factor.

But the idea of a seemingly spontaneous block party during an open house can be easy to pull off, whether you’re serving lemonade and cookies or coffee and pastries. The Top Agent Magazine

chance to meet prospective neighbors turns the event into a destination for both buyers and the neighbors; the value comes in buyers’ ability to see how the neighbors interact.

Your seller’s benefit is that the grapevine will be filled with happy stories about their home. Tips: By keeping basic supplies in storage, you’ll be ready for a pop-up block party any time. Promote this type of event with targeted social media marketing and fliers or postcards to communities within a short distance of your listing.

Invite other professionals It’s common mortgage lenders to attend open houses. But why not provide even more value to people who attend?

Chances are, you have more than a handful of professional partners who welcome an opportunity to join you at your open house. Consider inviting an interior designer, a contractor, a gardener, even a gardener or a painter. Invite them to your broker’s open in advance or give them time to view the property before the open house begins. Then encourage them to stroll the property during the open house or to sit with you. When visitors ask about needs or concerns they may have about the house – such as loan questions, the cost of improvements or upgrades or even remodeling – you’ll be able to introduce them to an expert on the spot. For that matter, your invited pros don’t even necessarily have to be in home-related businesses! Prospective buyers always want to know about the community when visiting open houses. Consider inviting representatives of community organizations, like youth sports group or owners of mom-and-pop retailers to help your visitors get a feel for the neighborhood or town.

For this type of open-house, prepare a flyer or card with your community contacts on it so visitors can leave with resources as well as information.

Open house should be about the buzz. They’re about creating a conversation about your listing and making the home memorable to visitors. By giving people a unique experience they won’t forget, you’ll show your sellers how creative you are in meeting their needs.

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PAIGE VADNAIS “I always start with my clients’ goals, both short term and long term,” says Paige Vadnais, a top agent working out of Minnesota with the Real Estate Nation Team through RE/MAX. “How long do they want to be in the house? What’s the plan in the months or years to come? Then I come up with a game plan. At the end of the day, it’s not about my sale. It’s about me being a resource for my clients.”

Paige first got started in real estate in 2018.

A close friend’s stepmother had been in the business for nearly thirty years and thought that Paige would succeed in the industry. “She supported me and encouraged me every step of the way,” says Paige. “I quit my nine-to-five job, and I’ve been licensed and full-time ever since.”

Paige’s clients appreciate her honesty and transparency throughout the process. Entering her third year as a real estate agent, Paige is beginning to see a rising percentage of repeat and referral clients, and she anticipates more in the future. “I love working one-on-one, building relationships, and networking,” explains Paige. “It’s really great to be a part of this chapter in my clients’ lives.

They trust me. My whole thing is people. I cherish those relationships from the moment we meet.”

“It’s all about reaching as many people as quickly as possible and making the right impression. We’re ready when we hit go.”

An active member of her community, Paige strives to give back both in terms of funds and service. For instance, this past Christmas, Paige and her team supported a family and helped to furnish their home and make sure everyone had a bed. Along with her teammate, Jen, Paige also runs an event called Shop With A Purpose, a fundraiser where Paige solicits local business to give a portion of their proceeds to the White Bear Lake Food Shelf.

Outside of working hard for her clients and community, Paige loves to spend time with her husband and two daughters, ages six and two. They love getting outside on their six-acre property as well as going out on White Bear Lake with their boat.

Looking to the future, Paige is excited to grow her business while continuing with her current brokerage.

“I really love where I’m at,” she says. “I love my team. We meet up, bounce ideas off each other, and ask questions. I’d like to continue to build, grow, and make sure my clients have an amazing experience.”

Paige and her team service suburbs surrounding the Twin Cities and are mainly based in White Bear Lake and Stillwater. She is also licensed in Wisconsin and has begun to branch out across the Mississippi River to the Hudson area. “We go all over the place,” she says.

When it comes to marketing her listings, Paige loves making a big splash online. “In today’s day and age, it’s all about looking as best as possible on the internet,” says Paige. “Everyone shops from their own home.” To stand out, Paige uses professional photography and drone footage to give the full scope of her properties. She loves hosting open houses and getting buyers excited about upcoming listings. She says, 106

To learn more about Paige Vadnais, please call 651-403-2293, email paige@paigevadnais.com, or visit facebook.com/paigevadnaisrealtor Top Agent Magazine

6 Ways to Get Your Client to Trust You The word “REALTOR®” can leave a sour taste in some people’s mouths. Many of today’s home buyers and sellers grew up during the 2009 recession. They are wary of anything Top Agent Magazine

or anyone who comes off as too salesy, and they want to work with individuals who they can trust.

But how do you prove to someone you’ve likely never met that you can be trusted?

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1

Put Testimonials or Case Studies on Your Website

When something goes wrong, own up to your mistakes. Don’t hide bad news from your clients. Be upfront and responsive.

Testimonials and case studies are social proof that you have both the experience and the skills to do the job your clients are hiring you for. People often leave testimonials when they are either incredibly disappointed or extremely happy with the service they were provided, so they’re a good indication to prospective clients of the treatment they’ll receive.

Case studies, which you can post on your blog or website, have much of the same effect, but even more than testimonials, case studies demonstrate your real estate and finance expertise because they explain how you achieved a specific set of results.

2

Be Responsive and Accessible

Can your clients reach you easily? That doesn’t mean you need to be available 24/7, but you should respond to your clients within a few hours of receiving their message. When agents don’t respond to their clients’ calls or emails for days on end or fail to provide them with a direct line of contact, their clients’ experience can quickly become frustrating.

Agents are busy but so are their clients. If you constantly show up late to or reschedule meetings, your clients won’t feel like their time is respected or their business is valued. Make sure you set a realistic schedule for yourself rather than spreading yourself too thin.

3

Be Honest and Transparent

Sometimes you don’t have the answer to a client’s question. Be honest about your strengths, weaknesses, and the limits of your knowledge. A good response might be, “I don’t know, but I can find out.” Be transparent with your clients, and they’ll respect you for it.

You should always act in their best interest.

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4

Go the Extra Mile

If you do the bare minimum, that’s what your clients will remember. Their experience won’t be memorable, and they won’t gush about you in online testimonials or in real life to people they know who could use your services. It’s that simple.

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Put Yourself in Your Client’s Shoes

Clients understand that you need to earn money, but that doesn’t mean they want to feel like they’re just a dollar sign to you. Be empathetic to your client’s concerns, even if you’ve heard it all before. Your clients should know that you are there for them.

6

Be Consistent

Being responsive, friendly, and knowledgeable shouldn’t be an act. If you “turn on” your personality for clients and then suddenly become a different person when they leave the room, it’s likely that the cracks in your mask will eventually become apparent.

But “faking it till you make it” is so common it’s become a cliché. When we are starting out, we don’t always have the systems or resources in place to create a smooth client journey, from onboarding to closing, so instead we constantly try to reinvent the wheel. Give yourself time to pause, slow down, and reevaluate your workflow. Creating systems creates

consistency, and those systems can and should be constantly updated.

Developing trust between you and your clients will take time, but doing these things can give you a running start.

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SCOTT DEPUTY Scott Deputy began studying real estate investment as a path to self-employment.

“I had been devouring content about real estate and thought it might also be useful to take the pre-licensing class for becoming an agent. From there it was just a natural progression as I took and passed the local and state exams.”

After twenty-five years now as a Realtor, Scott has found that choice of career very fulfilling. “The thing I love most about this job is the feeling I get from being of service, knowing that I’m playing a significant role in helping someone successfully shape their financial future. My job is to provide expert guidance for them as they are making some emotionally charged decisions on the place they will call home. I take that responsibility very seriously.”

That respect and dedication has allowed Scott to build a deep trust with his clients, who describe him as downto-earth and a straight shooter. An impressive ninety percent of his business now comes from repeat clients and referrals. “I feel very fortunate that so many of my past clients are now my friends. That’s a major perk of this business that people don’t necessarily anticipate.”

He stays in touch with them regularly through calls, emails, social media and client appreciation events.

photography and the latest video technology to create 360-degree virtual tours of the homes, which will be marketed in geo-targeted ads across the all of the social media platforms. “The internet is the new open house,” he explains.

Scott gives back to his community through a partnership with Move for Hunger, an organization that fights hunger by collecting food donations from people who neither want to pack nor waste the nonperishable items in their pantry as they prepare to move. “This year we did our fifth annual food drive for them, and collected 1700 pounds of food in a three hour window. We fed a lot of people that day, and I’m super proud of that effort.”

When not working, Scott likes to get outdoors with his wife and child, especially enjoying Wilmington’s many local parks. He’s also an active martial arts instructor, and four years ago he created a self-defense and safe-business practices course designed to help Realtors stay safe in the field. That course has subsequently been approved for continuing education credits in the tri-state area.

Going forward, Scott wants to grow his team and build an organization without borders through his association with eXp Realty.

Scott is licensed in both Delaware and Pennsylvania, serving New Castle and Kent counties in the former, and Chester and Delaware counties in the latter. As a Delaware native himself, he brings a deep knowledge of the area to every transaction, and his many years in the business have made him an expert on all of the financing options available to buyers. In 2020, Scott’s volume in sales as a solo agent was eight million, with an average price point between 250 and 500 thousand dollars.

He spends his first visit with a seller client talking about staging, building a premarket to-do list so that the house looks perfect on picture day. He then utilizes professional Top Agent Magazine

Contact Scott Deputy at 302-750-6388 or email Scott@delawarehomepro.com Copyright Top Agent Magazine 109

ASHLEY SWAIM A lifelong resident of the Huntsville area, Ashley Swaim has always been an entrepreneur. After graduating from the University of Alabama in Huntsville with her degree in Marketing, she launched a commercial products business with her mom. Her interest in real estate was first piqued through her husband, a builder; however, Ashley wouldn’t start exploring the industry until her mom retired and she went seeking an alternative career. “I knew I didn’t want to run our company by myself,” she says. “So in 2017, I decided to earn my real estate license. Right away, I hit the ground running, and I haven’t looked back since.”

After finding fast success in real estate, Ashley decided to take her work to the next level and launch her own team. Today, she leads The Cornerstone Real Estate Team through RE/MAX Unlimited, where she assists clients throughout the Huntsville Metro Area and Southern Tennessee with a unique blend of compassion, insight, and integrity.

When listing a home, Ashley applies her background in marketing and her in-depth knowledge of the local housing market to ensure the sale runs smoothly from start to finish. After helping her clients fully prepare their property, she shares it over a mix of targeted digital and social media campaigns, as well as the local MLS. Elsewhere, she is equally as devoted to her buyers, carefully educating them on the market and making sure they find the right home for their best interests.

For her personalized approach, Ashley has earned a terrific reputation throughout Huntsville, with the vast majority of her volume coming from repeat clients or referrals. But through it all, she remains focused on the relationships that brought her so much success in the first place. “Relationships matter most to me,” she says. “I treat my clients as if they were my own family.

To me, it’s never about the sale; it’s about assisting them to make the right decision for their needs.”

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Outside her career, Ashley is tremendously active in her community. On top of serving as a Sunday school teacher at her local church, she also participates in Lunches of Love, a program started through Mission Firefly that supplies meals to children in need. She is also working with a local mission group to establish a community center in her area, empowering those around her through counseling, education, and medical support. When she’s not with clients or giving back, she can be found spending time with her family, following her kids to the ball field, or traveling.

Ashley has strong plans for the future of her business.

As she continues pouring her heart into the industry and hometown she loves, she intends on expanding her work with land acquisition, development, and new construction projects with her husband’s company.

Along the way, she looks forward to mentoring the up and coming members of her team. “I remember how I felt when I was a new agent—how scary it was starting out,” she says. “This can be a wonderful business, but it can also be a lonely business if you don’t have a mentor guiding you. Thankfully, our broker has been amazing, and she instills a confidence in me that I hope to instill in each of our team members.”

To learn more about Ashley Swaim, please call (256) 679-6084, email ashleyswaimrealestate@gmail.com or visit ashleyswaim.com Top Agent Magazine

Tips on Breaking Into the Luxury Market So, you’ve been doing residential real estate for a while and you’re looking to up your game. A lot of people consider going into the luxury market at that point. Or, maybe you started in the business always intending to specialize in luxury properties and were just learning the ropes before you tackled one of the industry’s most lucrative specialties.

No matter the reason, the luxury market is a whole new ballgame and you don’t want to go into it unprepared. First impressions are everything in this business, especially when you’re dealing with wealthy clients and investors. Here are few things to consider if you’re thinking of going from starter homes to estates.

LEARN HOW THE LUXURY MARKET AND CLIENTELE ARE DIFFERENT As experienced as you might be in traditional real estate, the luxury market is almost like starting at ground zero. Everything from the buyers, to the sellers, and obviously, the properties themselves, will take a new approach.

One of the key ways it is different is that the feeling of exclusivity truly matters. You will be doing more targeted marketing through high-end networking groups as wealthier clients tend to be more comfortable when Top Agent Magazine

you come recommended by people they trust to have the highest standards. There are no mass-marketed open houses. It’s all about private showings. Although professional, one-on-one service is key in this business no matter what the price point, wealthier buyers are accustomed to concierge-style service, and the way to stand out from the rest is to provide service that goes above and beyond what even they expect.

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LOOK THE PART If you’re thinking of going the luxury route, creating high-end branding and marketing yourself properly is of the utmost importance.

That includes your own personal look. You and your business will need a total makeover, or at least a major upgrade. It might even be time to buy that new car you’ve always wanted. It is also key that all of your marketing materials are high end. So start gathering a stable of highly-trained professionals,

photographers, and stagers as every aspect of the service network you’ll be providing complements the brand that you’re selling.

It’s well worth the time to get all of this nailed down and seamless before you even think of entering the luxury market. Another good investment? You want to have an indepth knowledge of all the latest real estate technologies and innovations. Don’t just look the part, actually be on the cutting edge.

SELL THE LIFESTYLE Yes, you’re selling a home, but you’re also selling a lifestyle, which in luxury is almost more important. When someone is spending millions of dollars on a home, they want to see the fabulous life they will be living in their new digs. Really highlight amazing party spaces, unique one of kind features,

and amenities. As with anything of value, things that make a property rare, will automatically make it more appealing to people who can afford the best. It also helps people connect more emotionally with a home, giving it even more value than if you just try and sell it as a good investment.

NETWORKING, NETWORKING, NETWORKING Networking is an important aspect of this business at every level, but it a vital tool in the luxury market. Most of your referrals and targeted marketing will be done through luxury agent exclusive networking groups. In addition to that, it is even more important in this segment of the business to be actively 112

involved in your community through volunteering and supporting local charitable events. You will not only build a stellar reputation, but you’ll also be giving back to the community you represent, and ultimately, integrity is what it’s all about in this business.

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RIZ VISRAM “At the end of the day, this business is all about customer service,” says Riz Visram, a broker and Team Lead at Rizcorp Realty with Royal LePage Terrequity Realty in Canada.

“It doesn’t matter if you want to buy one property or ten properties, we will provide one hundred percent service one hundred percent of the time.”

Riz has been in real estate for the past four years, but he’s been running businesses far longer than that. “I started my first business when I was five years old,” he says, laughing.

“This runs in my blood.” He works with a team of nine agents, and together they cover all of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), including the outskirts of the area.

Riz’s dedication to top-shelf customer service pays off.

Over half of his business comes from repeat and referral clients. “My team and I always put the client first.

We don’t chase the commission,” explains Riz. On top of being a licensed REALTOR®, Riz is also a mortgage agent and spent fifteen years in the construction field.

“We’re a one-stop-shop,” he says. “We get our clients through the whole process from A to Z.” When it comes to marketing and all of his business practices, Riz is always ahead of the curve. In addition to his real estate business, he runs a barbecue, fireplace, and HVAC company. “I give my clients a free high-end, name brand barbecue when they purchase their property from us,” Riz says. “Unlike a gift card, where they use it and forget it, the barbecue will always going to be there.

Every time they use it or someone comes over, they’ll talk and think about their agent.”

Customer service and satisfaction is always Riz’s number one goal. “I don’t want them to end our dealings as a client,” he says. “I want them to leave as a friend. We create that relationship.” Making his clients happy is Riz’s favorite part of his chosen profession. “It’s the reaction from the client when they sell their property for top dollar or purchase for under their budget,” he says. “I love the thrill of the close.”

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Riz and his team are always looking for ways to bring the community closer. They do tradeshows and sponsor events. This year, due to restrictions related to COVID19, many of these events have been paused.

Riz looks forward to continuing them in 2021. “We bring in popcorn machines, cotton candy machines, have our signage up,” he says. “We give out prizes, which the kids love. The adults, too, because they’re kids at heart as well!”

Looking to the future, Riz and his team are excited to expand their reach when it comes to promoting their brand. He hopes to acquire a limousine in the next few years. “Then, when our clients get the keys from the lawyer for their new property, I can take them from that office to their new home in the limo,” Riz says. “They’ll be on cloud nine. That makes it onto Facebook, Instagram, and all of their social media.”

Additionally, Riz is building the base for a real estate empire. “I don’t want to be like everybody else. I want to be unique,” he says. He has purchased the number RIZCORP and RIZSOLD in area codes within the GTA. “My mind is always going,” he says. “That’s what I give to my clients. I always go to bat for them. I don’t sit and watch from the sidelines.”

For more about Riz Visram, call 905-RIZCORP (749-2677), email riz@rizcorprealty.com, or visit rizcorprealty.com www.

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SUKI BAHI Suki Bahi started off strong in her real estate career, earning the Medallion Top 10% Award in her first year in the business. She began her journey fifteen years ago, taking the plunge and following her lifelong passion. “It was something I always knew I wanted to do,” Suki says. “Ever since I was a little girl, I always wanted to go see houses, I loved everything about them, it was like shopping. Fifteen years in, and I still love what I do.”

A solo Realtor with Sutton Group West Coast Realty in Vancouver, BC, Suki has built a thriving business and earned a sterling reputation with clients for her availability, drive, and dedication.

Having worked previously as a paralegal and office manager, Suki has a versatile skill-set, which she applies to all kinds of transactions, from commercial, to land assembly, to residential, and to brand-new construction. Born and raised in Vancouver, Suki has an on-the-ground knowledge of the city and the surrounding areas that her clients love. Fluent in Punjabi and Hindi, she is well-poised to serve the diverse and international clientele of the region.

With her work-ethic, positive spirit, and personable approach, it is no surprise that Suki’s referral and repeat client rate sits at 95%, a testament to her exceptional customer care. A fierce advocate for her clients, Suki also finds fulfillment from the personal relationships she is able to form with them. “For me, it’s about keeping in touch,” Suki says. “It’s about being available and making sure my clients know I can help them with everything, even after closing. It’s nice to help family, friends, or neighbors of my clients, and to work with folks again. I feel very grateful for the client community I have.”

To keep in touch with her past clients, Suki prefers a personal approach, writing handwritten cards to each of her clients every year. To market her clients’ listings, Suki pulls out all the stops to attract competitive offers. From virtual tours, to beautiful photography including 3D dollhouses, to social media campaigns, to brochures, to newspaper advertisements, Suki devises custom marketing campaigns based on target demographics. Recently, Suki was featured in the CTV and national news when one of her client’s homes sold for $500,000 above the asking price, breaking an all-time record. She is also a Master Gold Medallion Member, putting her in the top of the market.

Suki finds fulfillment in the interpersonal relationships she is able to form. “It doesn’t feel like a job,” Suki says.

“I have clients who I’ve built really good friendships with. I really love my clients. That’s what keeps me going. It’s not about the money. It’s about seeing how happy my clients are. Their joy is my joy. The client whose home sold for $500,000 above asking is in his late 80’s, and seeing his joy when I told him is the kind of moment that makes it all worth it.”

Dedicated to her community, Suki donates to the Richmond Food Bank, Hope Foundation, has volunteered at Union Gospel, and sponsors local kids’ sports teams. When she is not busy helping clients or giving back her time, Suki’s passion is kayaking.

Thrilled with what she has built, Suki has no plans to slow down. “I want to keep doing what I’m doing,” Suki says. “My belief is that, yes, you do have to work hard, but also if you have a happy outlook, good things will come to you.”

To find out more about Suki Bahi, call 604.219.9523,visit sukibahi.com, email sukibahi@gmail.com http://

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