Hello and welcome to Opening the Gates to more listings for
estate agents with me, Simon Gates.
And I'm delighted to join today by Mr. Alex Pelosi Buchanan.
Alex, thank you very much for joining me.
It's good to be back. I mean, it feels like a lifetime
ago since I was last year, so I wanted to be back.
It is good to have you back. So let's just let's just rewind
then. So your first appearance on Open
Gate Small Listings was episode 104, March 2024.
Well, that's when it was released.
So it probably got recorded a little bit earlier than that.
And you would have been just over six months into your
business, I think when we recorded that.
And I remember you maybe being a little bit hesitant or reluctant
to come on then going, well, I don't know, early days of my
business. So it could all go a bit wrong
from here. Things are going, going pretty
well, aren't there? You're almost, you're going to
be 3 years old in, in September. And I would say from the outside
looking in, things have probably gone beyond your wildest dreams
so far, haven't it? Yeah.
I mean, I mean, I guess in lots of different ways, obviously
from the the the freedom and you know, when you're sat there six
months into your business and, you know, you still haven't been
paid yet, it can feel like a long way away.
You're looking at all these other agents that you've
followed in the Mayan, seeing them smashing it to, you know,
kind of now where I am in a position where I've got people
coming to me as as if I'm one of those agents.
So it's weird how things have kind of like moved on from me
being that aspirational agent to wanting to, you know, go out and
take on the world to, to to now other people reaching out to me
asking because they want to do the same things.
So it's, it's, yeah, it's a nice position to be in.
But also, like I said, if you're looking from the, the point that
when I started, I I was obviously hemorrhaging money
and, and, you know, was having to put everything into it and
put everything on the line to now in a position where, you
know, Fast forward a few years now cleared those debts that I
had to spend to get me to where I was.
It's, you know, it's a matter I feel in a much better place.
And yeah, nothing's beaten doing it for myself, really.
So just to clarify on that point then, so when you came on to the
podcast, I think it was, like I said, March 24, you actually
hadn't earned a penny at that point.
No, I think I had my first. I went self-employed in
September in 23. I think my first completion was
April 24 because it took me a while.
Believe it or not, it took me almost three months to agree a
sale. Listings wasn't an issue, but it
was obviously the market was a bit tough and I was going for
the middle upper market. And yeah, it just felt it was
like pulling teeth and just like was getting view insurance after
view insurance, but just just no offers.
Agreed. And I think it was between
Christmas and New Year that I finally agreed my first sale.
And but of course then you're waiting another 3-4 months for
that to go through. So yeah, I think it was April,
but I'd like 1 in April and then one in the May and then June,
remember, because I'd gone to the EXPUK conference and I went
to Lisbon again, all all on a credit card, but they'd invited
me to speak or host the the opening day there.
So I thought I can't miss out on that opportunity.
But you know, still felt like a little bit of a not say
imposter, but you know, you kind of think I still haven't really
been paid. And here I am being asked to
stand on the stage and host this event.
But, but pretty much as soon as I got back from that, I think I
had something like probably like 30 grands worth of completions
in a small short space of time. So all of a sudden it was like,
Oh my God, this, this is what it's all about.
This stuff works. And then you start, you know, I
guess you start believing in yourself a little bit more when
you start seeing the, the completions coming in and you're
getting the result for the client.
And then it was pretty much off we went from there, really.
You you've made me think of, I think one of the things Tom
Panos would have said in the frequent times you've seen in
recent weeks, which we'll come on to in more details we as we
run through conversation. But I'd heard it before, but I
like the way you explained it in terms of that comfort zone,
stretch zone, then stress zone. And I think what you reminded me
of there was that stretch zone of you standing on a stage being
like, well, hang on a minute, I'm not being paid yet, but I'm
being, I'm being asked to speak on stage.
And I think that's very much a stretch zone because you were
proving that you, you could list houses, get them sold.
And I think that how many people have you seen in Exp or in other
networks who have that self belief to start?
And they might not feel like they're worthy enough at some
point, but I think that's the the best people.
They, they start doing things even before they're confident.
And as Tom would say, you get confident by doing the reps
right. Well, exactly.
And it's that whole thing, you know, the cliche, you've just
got to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and saying
yes to, to, to situations because, you know, for me, you
know, when I was asked to be on stage, you know, it's that whole
thing that you just think when you get asked to do, you know,
ask it to do a podcast, there's, there's always that little bit
of a niggle that, you know, you kind of think I'm, am I good
enough? And what was quite interesting,
actually, one of the conversations I had with Tom,
which stood, you know, I was fortunate to have a bit of one
and one time of him, which was, which was incredible.
But actually one of the biggest takeaways I had from our chat,
my chat with him was he was talking, you know, he could, you
know, he's, even though he does real estate, he is a, you know,
trained coach and obviously he coaches some of the best real
estate agents in the world. So it was an honour to, to kind
of have him. I guess he kind of pulled my not
to put my life apart, but you know, we kind of went through
things and I think one of the biggest things that he kind of
picked up on was that, you know, mine posture syndrome was, he
says, probably costing you progress and, and, and
ultimately money because I think, you know, he was saying
that, you know, I, I worry a lot about what other people think.
And I've always worried about that.
Even now, you know, you still have that perception of as, you
know, I worry what people are going to think of me listening
to this podcast. I worry, you know, what people
will think of me if I get on stage.
What if I get it wrong? What if I say the wrong thing?
What if you know all these kind of what ifs, but you know what,
what he turned around to me and said, you know, the, the, the,
you know, the cost of not posting that post or asking that
question or reaching out or, or getting on the stage is, you
know, it's much bigger. And it's more that, you know, he
said what you should be asking yourself, regardless of what the
situation you're in or, or what you've been asked to do or what
you're looking to do is just to say, what will this cost me if I
don't do it? You know, that should that
should become the filter. And I was just like, yeah, like,
you know, there's a little mic drop, little light bulb moments.
I was yeah, it's true. Because there have been lots of
situations where I haven't said yes to something or I've stopped
posting on social media because I'm more worried about other
people. And something again, from one of
the sessions that we're in. I think it was actually, it
wasn't, it wasn't Tommy. I think it was time and Newman,
But you said it's very, very easy to you.
You worry sometimes about 5 or 6 people like you kind of have
this really issue, worry about your competitor down the road.
Or what if I post this video and my competitor down the road sees
it and they're going to make fun of me?
Well, actually that competitor may do that.
But what about the 10/20/30? However many people that might
have seen that video who might think, I really like what Alex
has got to say. And that's a missed opportunity,
huge missed opportunity. And that could have led to a
listing. It could have led to a
connection. And so, so that was quite a
poignant thing that he picked up on was that.
And I, and I think also it's that, you know, it's, it's that,
like you said, about the stretch and it's putting yourself in, in
rooms and putting yourself in situations where where great
things can happen. And that's something that I've,
I've kind of lived by over the last few years since going
self-employed because I've been able to put myself in rooms of,
you know, because obviously I've had better income and I've been
able to obviously do things through the business being
agents. We've had some amazing trips all
over the world. I mean, like I said, a lot of
people look at me and think I seem to spend more time at
conferences than I do anything else.
But I still, you know, I still sell homes, you know, I'm still,
you know, way exceeded anything that I expected to do.
But you know what? I decided that in the meantime,
we're going to have some fun with it.
You know, life's not all about work.
And go into these conferences and people often look at sky,
you know, you've been in Miami, been in Vancouver, you know
what, what do you get out of them?
But what I have got out of them is meeting some fantastic people
and made some really good friendships along the way.
And like I said, lots of light bulb moments that have
transformed my business. And I've made me realize that,
yeah, you know, sometimes it isn't all about work.
It's not all about listing and selling houses.
So. So, yeah.
So certainly over the last few weeks, seeing Tom on multiple
occasions has been again, it's that kind of repetition.
Actually, in some ways, hearing things over and over again has
been really powerful because it kind of it's almost gone in more
because like you're kind of hearing the similar things at
different sessions. But it kind of goes into your
brain a little bit more and thought, right.
You know, there's things that have to do, which one of the
biggest takeaways, which I know is probably for you as well, was
the the real and raw videos that that, you know, I think both of
us looked at that and I was like, yeah, because I used to do
them. You know, I used to do little
videos of me walking along the canal or walking down the
streets, and I used to do it before I knew what to do.
And, you know, as he's saying, I'm like, I know this stuff, but
there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the
path. And the difference is I wasn't
walking the path. So being able to actually look
at that and think, OK, that's one of the things I've got to
come back and do, which, you know, which obviously now trying
to make sure there's some kind of video.
And it wasn't just from Tom. Actually, I think it was Chris
Watkins said to me recently as well.
He said that, you know, he doesn't see me as much on social
media. My social media seems to have
dropped off. And, you know, when you've got
other people noticing that you're not as visible perhaps as
you used to be, it makes you think, OK, maybe I need to get
out of my own head and, and get back into this and stop worrying
about others. So.
So yeah, that's probably been like one of the biggest
takeaways over the last few weeks especially.
Right. So a couple of things I want to
touch on there that you've talked about.
So I think when you mentioned about something Tyler said, I
think it might have actually been his business partner, Aidan
Doyle who who said it. And that was a massive take away
for me was that, and I've shared this evasion since is you worry
about what 5 people are going to say.
And it's like those five people nearest to you, whether that's a
competitor, friends, family, whatever.
But it's like, what about the 10,000 people who you could have
an impact on? Don't worry about those five
people. And yeah, I think Tyler said at
the same event the year before, like I can't remember what it
was. The room was a couple 100 people
or whatever it was the year before.
And he said if you get 200 views on social media, you go that
shit. He's like, look at how many
people 200 people in a room is. And I saw a post on social media
only yesterday where it was like, this is what one person
looks like, five people, 55, five thousand, and you're like a
few thousand people that that can fill the stadium.
So that was a big thing for me. And then in terms of what you
said from Tom as well, success leaves clues.
And yeah, I'd done raw authentic videos a few years ago, but then
you see Polish studio stuff, which I do, and you think, ah,
everything needs to look perfect now, right?
But actually to his point was in an AI world where people are
unsure of what's real, what's not a big stand out thing is
being your raw authentic self. And then the other thing you you
said, and I say it's a lot to agents.
It was a there wouldn't have been loads that Tom said in the
past few weeks, which was brand new information, right.
And that's not that's not this doing a disservice to Anthony
Seg because he's like pound for pound, the bet the for me, the
best I've I've ever seen. But we need reminding more than
we need teaching. So you and I have kind of been
holding each other accountable in terms of those walk and talk
videos. Yeah, well, that didn't teach me
anything new there. It was a couple of things which
made it easier, but it was that reminder.
And I don't know about you, but again, all these conferences
that we go to, there are so many takeaways.
We said this before we hit record and you can kind of get
frazzled by everything out there, but I just decided I
wasn't going to do anything until I finished the two weeks
of conferences and go, what's the one thing I'm going to
commit to? And it was those walk and talk
videos which have already done really, really well for me.
Well, you look at, you know, the first one you posted, you know,
compared to the last polished one that you did, it had several
1000 views. And I think that and I, and I
also think I was discussing this only yesterday with someone.
And I think, you know, everybody listening to this will will
relate to this because it doesn't matter what industry
you're in at the moment, whether it's real estate, restaurant
industry, whether it's in builders, whatever it is, every
post that everybody's used AI at the moment looks exactly the
same. The graphics, the just the text,
the font. And it's almost got to a point
where my news feed is just filled with AI and it just you
don't read it and there's too much information, so much
information on one little square post about all their services
and how amazing they are and all their and you look at it and
think everybody's kind of blurring into one.
There was obviously a moment in time where there was some agents
that started using AI and they very much were, you know, people
thinking, oh, wow, they've created that post.
So that's that graphic. But now all of a sudden it's
almost getting to a point where it's changing and, and, and
thinking we, we were quickly touching on this before we
jumped on the on the call and I've had to redo some of my
posts because of it, because AI has changed their face.
You know, they've uploaded their image and said, oh, can you put
a quote on this or can you do something?
But actually what they've, they completely realized that their
face looks nothing like them. And then just posting these
images out there. And I think you're going to be
so careful because you know, we're, as I said, especially in
real estate, we're in the business of people, you know, I
know we sell homes, but it's, you know, we're a people based
industry and people want to get to know you.
They want to see you, they want to feel that authentic you.
And I think in some ways the posts that you know, I've done
of late, the authentic ones have just, they've way outperformed.
And I think people like you said, because people that aren't
unsure sometimes, and I've seen agents, really good agents use
AI. And I know that, you know,
people say you could use stuff like Hey Gen. and it will
transfer. They'll transform your voice
into any other language. And that's fine for certain
scenarios. But I think some people are
using it and it's just becoming lazy where they've said, right,
I've got this AI avatar. I'm just going to upload the
script that chat GE PS wrote and I'm going to let it record a
video and I'm going to put that on my Instagram and me giving
advice about the market and people can see your voice sounds
different. It doesn't sound like you, it
doesn't look like you. So I think that was the thing,
you know, one of the biggest takeaways.
I'm 100% with you on that. You know, Tom, he is real and
raw. That's his brand.
And you know, I know he's, he's, he's one for, you know, he's
saying who they are and being very, you know, he is, he is
loud and he is, he is very much like this is how it is, but it's
the truth. And you know, like you said, we
hear this stuff over and over again.
And we, I've been following Tom for, for years and being on your
various webinars and the boot camps, But it's, this stuff
still works, these scripts, the dialogues, the, the, the, the,
all of that still works in the living room.
And it's how I got meet my is, you know, one of the reasons I
got my career to where it is today, because I kind of
followed those processes. But where I know I've gone wrong
is that I didn't, I haven't followed them enough.
I didn't make them systematic within the business.
It's just become, they just seem to come in and I as and when I
kind of feel the needs. And I think one of the biggest
lines that, that, that came away from the sessions with him was
that hustle beats talent when talent won't hustle.
And I'm, you know, not going to sit here and say, Oh, I'm, I'm a
talented agent, you know, but, but, but compared to, you know,
a lot of agents out there, I like to think that, you know,
I've certainly put the hard work in to become more talented and
self development, improve myself.
But you know, what I have noticed is that I did take my
foot off the, the, the gas. You know, I have done that.
But then you see other agents, they're actually, you know, they
don't go to conferences, they don't go to events, They don't
do any of that. But they're absolutely smashing
it and they've got huge pipelines.
And you think, well, actually, you know, am I missing a trick
there sometimes? Because you think, well,
actually I'm doing all these other things.
But there's people out there that, you know, they're not
worried about doing video, they're not worried about doing
content, but they're absolutely machines when it comes to
selling homes. And but I do think, like I said,
it's that that. But you can see, you know, it's
that realization of that. Oh yeah, I have taken my foot
off the gas because I haven't hustled.
I haven't been hustling like I was.
I've been starting later, finishing later, not working as
much on weekends. But what I will come on to say
is that I think one of the lessons I've had throughout
myself employed journey from where I started to where I am
now. Because when I started, when we
first spoke, I was doing, I was doing seven days a week.
I was doing all that. And I think there is a big thing
about people say I'm a self-employed agent, but I think
one of the biggest misconceptions is that you can't
do this all on your own. That that I think, you know, the
term self-employed goes to so many industries, but I think
people take that self-employed as, oh, I have to do this by
myself. And I think that's one of the
lessons I think I learned the hard way is that you can't.
I think if you want to go, if you want to sell a few houses a
year, yeah, you can do on your own.
But if you want to build a profitable business that's
successful within your community, that there's only so
far you can go before you need some kind of help.
And I learned the hard way that I left it too long and I went
through burnout. I crashed, you know, I became
unmotivated because I was like, you know, this is hard.
You know, the realism of it is it isn't just something where
you can sell a few homes, make a load of money.
There's a lot of work that goes into it.
And I think that, you know, whether it be that you do get an
assistant or whether you do get someone to do your viewings,
there's going to come with time. And I think I left it that
little bit too late to to get that help.
But I think also remembering that you're, you know, you're
not on your own. There's lots of other
self-employed agents, regardless of which brokerage you're with,
surrounding yourself with the right people and, you know,
making sure you are, you've got the best people around you.
And that was another thing Tom said.
I mean, you've already sworn on on this podcast.
So I'll do it. But you did.
I think once I'll let you, I'll let you get away with it.
But, but one of the things Tom said is that if you, if you, if
you surround yourself with Dick heads, you'll become a Dick
head, you know, and they said, you know, you're, you're the,
you're the habit of the, was it the four or five other people
around you? So if you've got 4 Dick heads
around you, guess what, you become the 5th Dick head.
And I know that's blunt, but that is true.
But if you put yourself so something I've I've, you know,
obviously really tried to do is that you try and make sure you
line yourself people we were going to who want to lift you
up. And that's personally and
professionally. I think in in life and in work,
you've got to have those people around you, whether that's
family members, friends, mentors.
And that's what's been the last couple of years has been amazing
because I've started working very closely, as you know, with,
with Adam McKay and Roger back and Steve Backley doing the, the
real agency side of things, which is like our kind of our
club within Exp helping a mentor other agents.
And that's been really good because it's almost like I'm
giving back. I'm not just working, trying to
sell homes. I'm also helping other people.
So I think, you know, there's, there's lots of things that, you
know, you just got to remember that it's, it's not always about
work, but you've got to, you know, you've got to make those
decisions. And when you're self-employed as
a business owner, no one's going to make those decisions for you.
It's no longer being made by a boss.
You have to decide when the time is right and you've got, you've
got to pick up on the signals that suddenly things might not
be going to plan. And I think probably one of my
strengths has been always identifying when I have, I
noticed the problems. I know the problems, they have
just been not been the best at putting things in place to solve
them. So, you know, that's been
something again the last few weeks have really that having
that step back for a few weeks and go into a few conferences
and made me realize that, yeah, I do need to look at a few
things within the business and myself and put them into place.
So I'm going to probably get the quote wrong.
I'm just trying to see if I can find and put it on my other
screen. But it's something along the
lines of if you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.
I think is the the line that you made me think of.
So you know that that resonates a lot.
And you mentioned about personally and professionally
surrounding yourself with, with the with the right people.
And I've been fortunate enough to spend plenty of time with
yourself, with Adam, spending time with Steve and Roger.
By the way, it's hilarious how competitive Steve and Roger
still are all those years later, like playing pool and table
tennis against them. And I'd pull it, ESP conference
and being like, you want to win even like even though it's not
throwing a javelin or running around the track, if it's
confessors for an environment, they they definitely want to
win. And it's actually the first
time. So in Ireland, that was the
first time I've seen them speak on stage.
So roughly knew what what their their talk would be about from
spending time with them. But what I found really
interesting what they said and you and you touched on it
earlier in terms of what's the saying talent won't beat hustle
when hustle doesn't talent, no. Hustle beats talent when talent
won't hustle. Oh, fuck that up, didn't I?
Jesus. So they made a really
interesting point on stage where they were like, you're born with
a certain degree of talent if you go into the Olympics, right?
Yeah. You know, Steve is of a certain
size, which gives them that power to throw a javelin, right?
And then there's going to be people who are, I don't know,
smaller who would make a better jockey.
Let's say as a weird example, So you said about like you're just
the birth lottery. Let's say you're born with a
certain degree of talent. Then then sort of said anyone
who's at an Olympics has worked hard, right?
They've worked hard for four years.
They're not there without working hard.
But a difference kind of between standing on that podium with a
medal around your neck and not was mindset, which I found
really, really interesting. And like I keep saying this to
agents following their thought that whether you think you can
or whether you think you can't, you're right.
And I think if you go into evaluation being like I can't
get 2%, I can't get upfront marketing, I can't get
reservation agreements. Well, you're right, you're not,
you're not going to be able to. But if you go in there with the
mindset of you think you can do it, there'll there'll be a
switch there. Well, there's a, a saying that
I've heard very recently actually, which which you've
just reminded me of, which is the life you want sits on the
other side of the conversations you're avoiding.
Yeah. And you know, that's exactly it
having that, you know, saying to a client, I'm going to charge
you 2% rather than 1%, you know that.
And I think this is the thing that CRC, a lot of agents who go
self-employed, I don't know, this isn't about fees and
increasing fees, but but I think some of them, you know, when I
hear stories of agents still charging less 1% and they're
self-employed and they're selling all these so many homes,
they got the volume, which is amazing.
But you know, when you, when you scratch beneath the surface and
have conversations with some of them, they're, they're not in a
good place, you know, and that's the reality of, you know,
self-employment, you know, it is amazing.
But I, I, I think you've got to make that decision that, you
know, when we went to like Vancouver, for instance, and we
were spending time with some Canadian agents there with, you
know, that with Exp as well. So, you know, there is a similar
system to us in the sense that, you know, the, the, the
brokerage setup, that obviously the, the processes are very
different over there and, and the volume is very different
over there. But you know, when they're
charging four 5% and they're working on less volume, but then
you hear that, you know, there's, there's still their
success rates, you know, is, is massively higher in terms of
what they list and what they sell and the lives are leading.
They're still able to go around and, you know, they're not
spending all their days and weekends focusing on real
estate. And I, you know, I think that,
you know, there's lots of lessons to be learned from other
countries. And even in Ireland, I think I
can't remember the exact quote, but something like I think
Regina was saying, while we are then again, big shout out to
Regina for, for putting on the conference in the, the, the in,
in Ireland, which was, you know, I think for a lot of Irish
agents was was very open their minds to, to, to because of
course a lot of Irish conferences would be about
compliance before. And hearing from Tom and people
like Matt Giggs and Kirsty Franks on the stage was just,
you know, I think phenomenal for them.
So fair play to regime for creating that.
But what really was the take away from me from that
conference was that the more time you spoke, speaking to
Irish agents was like, Oh my God, you know, their success
rate is so much higher that there's more agreements locked
in the, you know, the commissions that they charge and
what they, the, the way their clients value them.
And I was speaking to a guy who was a buying agent and he said
that they charge £10,000. And when it was that in
completion, he said, no, that's upfront for the service.
If you want me to help you buy a house, you pay me.
And I said, what happens if they if they don't buy something?
He said, no, they always buy something.
They will always buy something. I just thought it just made you
think that, yeah, you know that. And that's the thing, spending
time in other countries and other communities and and
surrounding yourself by newer environments, you pick up on so
much to think this can be done. Things can be different, whether
that be that you do increase your fees and you work with
slightly less volume. And I think that's what I've
done this year is I've kind of put my fees up a bit, taken a
bit less on. And I feel so much better for it
because I don't feel like I'm, I'm running around like a
headless chicken. And actually, if I want to go to
a conference or I want to go to a mastermind, I can it's, it's
manageable. Not thinking I need to sell 20
homes a month to break even. You know, I think I'd much
rather be in a position where I can still sell two homes a month
and think, well, that, you know, I've broken even, you know.
So I think that it's things like that, that I think that
sometimes by spending time in the these places that are around
people, you know, whether it be Tom or whether it just be other
agents and spending time with Roger and Steve and you're just
listening to them and then bringing the outside influences
in. It really does make you realise
that, you know, it's, it's something that you know, you've
got to, you've got to be willing to, to be open minded to,
because I think if you close yourself off to it, I think in
the long run, and I think especially when it comes to
burnout, you know, you, you do realize that, you know, you
don't burn out from building the business.
You burn out from trying to carry everything on your own.
And by having people, like you said, that team effort and
whether it's surrounding yourself with the right people
that can massively take your career from one level to the
next. So I think, you know, for
anybody that might be listening to this, you might be thinking
about going self-employed. I think it regardless of you
know, which brokerage or sponsor, all that kind of stuff
that you, you know, people think they had they, they need to look
into, I think it's making sure that you do know that number
one, you know what you're getting into, it is going to be
a tough, it is like a roller coaster.
There'll be highs and lows. There's going to be times where
you feel that nothing's working. There'll be times where
everything works. But also is making sure that you
are considering who you align yourself with and whether that
be the model, whether that be the, you know, the, the, the
network that you surround yourself, the people, the, the
suppliers that you use. Make sure you've got the right
people around you to give you the advice that you need to get
to get you through. Because there will always be
hard times. There will be walls, there's
going to be multiple walls to climb over and hurdles.
But like I said, with the right support network, like I said,
like I think it was Roger and Steve that said it wasn't it
that if you want to go far, you know, you, you've got to go as a
team. You know, you, you can go fast
alone. But if you want to go far, you
know, you do need that, that, that support, whether that be
your own team and you grow a team or whether that's like you
said, you just have mentors and, and other people in the industry
to rely on. That's 100%.
So I'd recommend people do. Yeah, I love that.
I think with Roger and him saying, I think he was saying in
Ireland about running up hills after Chris Akabusi and someone
else, can't remember who the other person was and him, every
time I see him speak, it's like you've got to find your Chris
Akabusi, which I think is huge to have.
And I think it's been great the past sort of we've obviously
spent a lot of time with each other, particularly in the past
few weeks at the various conferences.
And that's trying to hold each other accountable, right?
I think that's, that's that's definitely helping as well.
And I can't remember, I can't remember who said it, if it was
Tom or someone else. But saying like you don't
necessarily need to go and hire a mentor, trainer, coach,
consultant. You find someone in a similar
sort of industry, a pal to be an accountability partner.
It it doesn't need to be mentoring.
It's just someone to, you know, knock at the door.
Did you say what you said you did you do what you said you
were going to do today, right? Yeah, well, well I think that's
the people you could go spend 5 people do that, you could spend
a couple £100 a month. They could spend thousands of
pounds a month on a coach. But it, but it, I guess it's
very similar to what we do with selling homes that agents could
spend thousands of pounds on marketing to attract, you know,
new sellers were actually, they've got a database of people
they could just reach out to. And it's the same thing that,
you know, people can spend all this money on mentoring, but
actually, you know what, you, you could have some great
people. And that's what, when I started,
you know, the first thing I did, you know, I started reaching out
to people within Exp that, that I kind of looked up to and was
like, why are they doing amazing?
I want to learn from them. And, and they were so willing to
open up to me about what they did, what work, the failures.
So you know that that there, there are so many people now
within the industry, especially the self-employed space.
I mean, look at Exp now at 1000 agents.
You know, there's, there's, there's all these people you
could reach out to. And you know, there's people
like yourself that you know, you give out so much, you know,
information and gold and, and you know, for for free.
There's so much information out there that you know that you can
either access or, or like you said, just pick up a poet or
listen to a podcast. I mean, if, if someone went
through and, and just listened to every single one of the
podcasts you've done, now you, they, they need, they'd have
everything they need to know about running a successful
estate agency business if they listened and absorbed and
implemented it. And I think that's the key.
It's the implementation. And I think you've touched on it
earlier about how it is hard. You come back from these
conferences and you know, you see people frantically writing
note after note after note, or, you know, they're recording
every session and they're, you know, trying to think, I'm going
to do this, I'm going to do that.
I'm going to, you know, and you can come away from these things
thinking, Oh my God, I've figured it out.
This is the, my business is going to become the best real
estate business in the world. But you know, the reality is
then you get back and, and you know, the, the issues with the
sales come up and you've got market appraisals to do and
there's viewings to do and there's teams to manage.
So actually putting some of these things in place can feel
challenging. But like you said, it's just
picking one or two things. I think looking at them and
picking what feels like the easiest thing.
And what did I say to you? I think when we said about
keeping each other accountable, I said do we have enough time in
each of our days to record a 62nd video and post it?
Which is just like Tom said, nothing fancy, no fancy mics or
lighting. Literally just walking down the
street or, you know, whatever may be walking, you know, at the
end of the viewing record a quick, you know, if we can't do
that, then every this point is doing anything else.
If you can't record a a raw 62nd video trying to get a film crew
in and do a full on production, it's going to be too big a feat.
And I I've done that and I've fallen guilty of that.
And I, you know, I've got an amazing production team, but the
amount I can tell you, I've got content that I've recorded with
my videographer that we're still working through that we've still
like recorded stuff. And he wants to know, how do you
want me to edit it? And you know, do we need to go
back and do it? And there's things like, so can
we re reorder it a little bit? But it never gets done because
you've so many other things. I think sometimes, as they say,
sticking to the basics. And actually, like I said, in
this day and age, I think sometimes the basic more raw
stuff is, is what people seem to be drawn to now.
They seem to be more likely to watch it if it catches their
attention. Yeah, on so just on the, the,
the raw authentic stuff there because that was obviously a
massive take away from for both of us from Tom, your point
around if you don't have 60 seconds to record that video,
like it's just bullshit. And for me, I just went, well,
I'll do it. Let's say have it stacking as
James Clear would say. So like when I'm doing something
else. So if I'm walking to a shop to
buy a pint of milk, great. If I'm walking from my car to
the train station, do it. The other day I knew I was
struggling for for time and I was like, I'm just going to
record it in my car before I walk, before I walk into the
shop and do it. But the key thing, again, I
think from what Tom said there, if if the agent's listening
who's not fully appreciated this yet, the whole like walk and
talk video is and this kind of, I don't know about you mate, but
it feels weird. And you, I think you've done a
couple when you're in London where yeah, people are sort of
there and like looking at you walk past someone like in my
videos, I wouldn't, I can't remember which one's which, but
I'm like running out of breath in in videos because I'm very
unfair. And I'm like, I'm doing the
videos and as I'm doing the video, I'm like, I've got I've,
I've just remembered I've got a train, but I need to get onto
and like, I need to hurry up to start picking up the pace.
And then like the car drives past and you're like, oh, maybe
that's going to impact the audio.
So I'll speak a bit louder. So now all of a sudden I'm
walking at pace and speaking louder.
So I'm then starting to get out of breath.
I think I might have copped up a word or something.
There's one where I think I almost fall over going like
coming down a curb off of a drive or something.
So it's like all those little things there.
You think, Oh no, I should go back and start again.
But actually it's those things that make it so authentic and
powerful because it is raw and real.
Well, what what I think I jokingly said to you.
I said you know this new frame, what would Panos do?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, because I mean, maybe
that's a hashtag. We can we, we can trademark.
But, but no, but, but, but the first one I did, and I think I
said it to you, I was walking, I thought, right, I'm going to
walk out of my estate. Don't worry.
I did do one attempt walking out of my estate and and and and it
just didn't flow right. I waffled too much.
You know, I think one of Tom's points was, you know, don't fit
too much in. Yeah.
It was like, and I started going off on tangents and I just don't
like, I was like, right now, that's the, I'm, I'm going off
now. So I thought, So I literally,
but the second one I did, I was walking back into my estate and
I was going really well. And I walked around the corner
and there's literally this lady walking towards me and I'm like,
oh God. Now, old Alex would have stopped
at that point because number one, I didn't want her to think
I was weird walking down my estate, holding my phone,
ranting about the property market.
But #2 I just thought, oh, what will people think?
She's going to be, you know, going to walk past her.
And actually if you watch the video back, she does turn around
and look back at me probably thinking what's that guy doing?
And a bit like what Tom said when he was recording one of his
videos in like Chelsea Borough and the security guard came out
and said, what are you doing here, mate?
And he was like, oh, I'm just recording a, a, a property
video. But you know, but it's that
whole thing that you know, like say, I could have stopped but I
didn't, I posted it. But the, the next one I did was
like I said, when we were in London and I walked through,
like, where were we? There was like Soho Gardens was
like a little garden place with this kind of green too listed
gardening shed in the middle of it.
And it was like a hot day and the park was full.
Like there was people everywhere.
And I thought, you know what, I'm just going to walk through
the park and I did it and you know, nobody cared.
Just walked through, posted it and there's people in the
background. And you know, there's another
one I think where I recorded where again, I was coming out of
a hotel and the door kind of jammed a bit.
And so it kind of stuttered me a little bit, but but I think,
yeah, just just thinking, no, just post it and see what
happens. You know, some of those have had
several 1000 views and, you know, not one person's turn
around and said, oh, you mixed your words up there a bit or.
But actually some of the reactions I've had people
message me after them have been far more powerful than some of
the polished stuff I've done. So I think there is definitely,
like I said, there's definitely a place for it.
And it is literally a simply is get your phone out.
No microphone, no lighting, ring lights, anything like that.
It's literally just get your phone out and talk to the phone
and just give those few a few points on whatever the topic is.
And I think that we as agents, and this was something else that
I think came from it, is that. And I was speaking to another
agent about this the other day because they were saying, I
don't know what to talk about. And I said, well, look, we
sometimes as agents take it for granted that the majority of the
world knows everything. We know.
They know what sole subject contract means.
They know what a level 2 survey is versus a Level 3 survey
versus evaluation. We just assume people know.
But the fact that most they don't, the general public have
no idea. And the stuff that you can talk
about is the stuff that you probably will have multiple
conversations with people every day, whether you agree on the
viewing, whether you're on a phone call, it's the stuff that
you just talk about or you know, talk about scenarios that you
face. I mean, what I would say is
don't talk about scenarios if you've just literally left the
video viewing where something's happened.
I'm always a little bit conscious that you talk about
that viewing and the person on the viewing picks up on it and
says, hey, you're talking about me there.
But you know, I think there's situations that you can kind of,
I guess, put in your Piggy Bank or your little or your memory
bank or whatever and just say, you know, maybe pull that out
later down the line about a sale that you once dealt with.
Or maybe, like I said, on completion, you talk about a
situation that might have erased arisen during that process.
And they're just little things that, you know, we take for
granted and we think so. You know, that's something that
I took away is that it doesn't don't overcomplicate it.
It doesn't have to be multiple things in one video.
Just talk about, you know, and you know, with the data that you
put out this Simon and the data that comes from right, with
house price indexes and news reports and all this kind of
stuff. There's so much information out
there that you but you've got to you want to.
And that's the thing, like when, you know, we're recording this
now just just after Keir Starmer had resigned, you know, if you
if you were to go and get a film crew, you could take a week to
get that video recorded because you have to book your film crew
in and say, oh, guys, when can you meet me?
And let's get a nice setting. We'll go find a nice location
and we'll get some good lighting.
And then you just record a video about Nokia Starmer's left.
What does this mean for the property market?
By then, people have moved on. But the idea is that, you know,
I did that video and you did it. It literally was there.
And then it's what people were talking about.
So if there's changes in the market, whether it be interest
rate changes, that's the stuff. Just get your phone out, just
record a little video. So I think that's that that was,
you know, I think we banged on about it probably for most of
the podcast, but you know that that that that kind of real raw
stuff is probably like I said, I think the the biggest take away
that's had from all of it. I.
Mean there's so many things we could discuss on this podcast
from where we've been over the past few weeks, but we have
spoken a lot about that because of I think we both realised the
importance of it. And a couple of things come to
mind on on what you were just saying that what was the line
Tom would say? Speak like a human, not like a
brochure. So naturally super Polish stuff,
you're going to be speaking more like a brochure.
Actually, people want to hear from a human, particularly in
the AI world we're living in. And then we have concentrated a
lot in this conversation around video.
But again, as Tom said, we're all a media business.
It just so happens that you sell houses in the background, but
like, everyone is a media business and what was it?
He said. When you're in business, you're
in show business, whether you like it or not.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I found it interesting with
Tyler, like Tyler had his videographer there and his
videographer follows him around everywhere.
Like when he moved from London to Dubai, he said to the
videographer, you're coming with me and, and I can't remember.
I think it was Tommy said like great, like great job for a
videographer who gets to follow people around and in these cool
environments, like what a great job to have and there'll be
plenty more people wanting to do that.
When Matt went to Ireland, he took his videographer Ollie with
him. Ollie's a great guy.
He's out there filming some some really cool stuff.
So I'm conscious we've spoken a lot around the video side of
things. There is so, so, so, so many
things we could talk about. But outside of video side of
things, what about some other, I don't know.
I'm putting you on the spot now, Alex, for some.
Well, I was going to say, I think, you know, other things
that really that we took away for it was I think it was about
conversations. I was.
About to say, sorry, you cut across me, now I'm cutting
across you. So, so as bad as each other.
I was about to say, what are some key scripts or dialogues
you heard particularly from Tom? So when you say about the power
of conversations, So yeah, sorry.
No, no, that's all right. Sorry, Matt, I can't cross your
first there. But but no, I think it was
having those crucial conversations with clients, with
buyers and sellers. I think that's something that
Tom, you know, has banged on about for years and doesn't
matter what market you're in, whether you're in a good market,
a bad market. However, as he says, the market
is the market. You just got to kind of learn to
give your sellers the right advice in that.
And, and I think one of the, the great scripts on that note of
the market is one of the basic things most agents need to nail
is that when a buyer and seller says to you or anyone, doesn't
matter who it is, they come up to you in the supermarket.
You know, we all say it, what do you do for a living?
We say, oh, I'm an estate agent. What's the first thing people
ask you? It's oh, how's the market?
You know, and actually one of the things Tom said is you've
got to have a really good response because if you sit
there waffling going, oh, yeah, the market's OK and transaction
numbers are down a bit. And it sounds like a very waffly
response, but also you've got to make sure that you're given the
right answer, the right people, because if it's a a buyer's
market and, and, and a seller, you know, asks you, you know,
how's the market and you start giving a response, how are
everything's in the favour of buyers.
Prices are dropping. The, that seller's going to be
feeling pretty demoted, almost deflated by the conversation.
So you've got to make sure that you're speaking to the right
people in the right way. So, so by asking them if the
people say you, you know, how's the market, the great line Tom
had is that you then say what part of the market you're
interested in buying, selling, renting, investing, because then
that person is to say, oh, we're thinking about selling, you
know, we're selling or we're a homeowner.
So what the advice you give them is going to be very different.
So I think that was one of the things and you can then tailor
that response to them. But I think also a lot of the,
the advice Tom gave was his advice in telling people what
they need to hear, what, what they want to hear, you know,
and, and there's a line that you've used many a time, But
that whole thing of that, you know, I'd rather comfort you,
sorry. I'd rather hurt you with the
truth than comfort you with a lie.
And, and, and that kind of that, that, that, that attitude
towards it. And I think especially with
sellers and managing their expectations, whether it be on
price, whether it be on the Commission, whether it be the
process that they need to follow, I think that's something
that I think a lot of agents need to to, to, we need to get
better at. And I think especially British
agents, I think that's something that we're very, you know, we
don't like people. I don't think we like offending
people. We're very polite.
We'd rather say to the seller, oh, well, it's the market and
maybe that's just wait and see what happens.
And you know, Oh well, you know, we can give it a few more weeks.
Whereas, you know, Tom was very blunt and said that, that, that
that system sucks. You know, you can't be doing
that. You need to be in a position
where, you know, you've let the seller know it's an
uncomfortable situation for you as well.
It's uncomfortable conversation, but we've got to talk about the
price and we've got to talk about because, you know, at the
end of the day, if you've built up that reputation with people,
you know, sellers do they they should already trust you.
If you're doing the right things and you're communicating with
them, giving them updates, telling them what's actually
happening in the market, then, you know, you ringing them up to
to give them the advice. It could be Islam better.
But I think where a lot of agents go wrong, the UK is from
what he analysis that we just, you know, we ring people up.
We haven't spoken to them for three weeks and we just say,
hey, how's it going? Just touching base, checking in,
how's things? How are you coping with the
heat? And then they sell, by the way,
I think we need to drop the price.
But between your last several, several weeks, between your
touch points, they've had absolutely nothing from you.
You know, whereas actually the good agents, especially in
Australia, they, they're sending them the market updates, they're
sending them the Intel, they're sending the reports, the news
articles, they're telling them what's happening.
So so I think that's what, you know, Tom was quite, you know,
clear on is that, you know, we've got so many tools,
especially with AI and what did he say as being a high tech,
high touch? So it's not relying on just
technology, but you still need to be high touch.
You still need to be having a human element.
You can't just be sending them reports every couple of weeks
and just hoping that that you need to actually still be
getting on the phone to them, having conversations with them.
You know, all of that. You know that that's very much,
you know, the way it should be. You know, then you we cannot
allow, you know, AI to I know people say that, you know, AI
will replace agents, all this jazz.
But you know, I think the ones that will succeed are the I
still are going to be those ones that are the ones that use AI to
support them. But they're still the ones that
are having those hard conversations.
They're the ones making the phone calls.
They're the ones that are getting in front of new and
current and old customers and, you know, and checking in with
them every year and all whatever may be.
And I think that was, you know, some of the, the, the, the, the,
the biggest things in that. But in terms of the exact
scripts and dialogues, I think that, you know, there's so many
we could go through. I mean, obviously I know we've
put a bit of a guide together. So, so I don't know whether
that's something maybe we could, we could, we could, you know, be
happy to share with, with people because there's, there's just so
many to go through. But but I think, you know, those
very kind of hard hitting ones are the ones that are going to
are going to resonate with people the most.
Yeah. So yeah, for everyone listening,
Alex has already put together an example sort of playbook from
one of the Tom Palace events and is going to be putting together
a full playbook from everywhere he's been over the past couple
of weeks. So if you are interested in
receiving that, reach out to Alex or reach out to me and we
can get that shared with you. I think one of the things on
scripts and dialogues as well, which we can feel uncomfortable
in this country as we go, oh, scripts and dialogues are like,
that's not, it's not real, it's not authentic.
And we've just been speaking about being really authentic.
Like, obviously everything that comes out of Tom's mouth, you
know, that's rehearsed. That's not just off the cuff,
right? Maybe the occasional thing might
be. He's released it incredibly
well, but he says it like it's the first time and only time
he's going to say it, if that makes sense.
And I've heard numerous people talk about this, but I think he
said who's watched a notebook? And people are like, yeah, yeah.
It's like, did you cry at the notebook?
Yes, we did. OK.
He's reading a fucking script. And he's still like, you still
cry at films, right? That's not real.
It's. Not real.
Yeah, it's fake. It's fake and it's how that
person has has delivered that message right.
So unconsciously coming towards the end of the podcast.
Is there any other key highlights for you from Ireland
ESP conference in Birmingham estate agent success in
Birmingham being AI think right move HQ last well Monday just
gone or anywhere else you you've been.
Is there any other final bits you'd you'd leave the listeners
with before we get into the final question?
I, I think that, you know, for those who are listening to this,
that, you know, as I said before, that perhaps don't feel
they have the time to join webinars to go things just
really, just really think about if that's something you, whether
you can invest a bit of your time in it.
I'm not saying go to every conference, but you know, if
there are, you know, even there's some great web, even
listening to podcasts, all the kind of stuff, I think, you
know, that's something that I think people need to do.
But something I've learned a lot over the last few weeks, like I
said, is that sense of community I think is really important.
I think that's probably been the biggest thing for me.
And I think that, you know, and I think it's building habits and
you touched on this earlier and, you know, we can't probably got
time to go through in detail, but you know, the 9 habits that
Tom talked about was, you know, the things from like the best
agents in the world, you know, they prospect like a machine.
They never use 1000 words when 50 do, which is like you said,
you're touching on those scripts and dialogue.
It's that great little one liner you can bring out and that, you
know, you've got to be a good storyteller.
And, and, and, and I think one that's just coming back into my
mind now is where, you know, it's like where he was talking
about marketing that, you know, sellers might not understand why
they need to be on lots of different portals.
But you know, if you use, I think it was the phishing
analogy, would you rather fish with one rod and hope or throw
the biggest net possible to attract the best buyer using it
things that can relate to your customers.
It makes it more, you know, we can throw data and things.
But if you, you just become a master of just using scripts,
but also building them into stories and and kind of making
people feel that, OK, it's not, it's not just me.
I think it's really important. And I think being an absolute
ninja in mastering those conversations, I think is just
so important. And because, you know, at the
end of the day, especially for self-employed agents coming out
there, you know, you, you know, everything is relying on you.
So you've got to make sure that you're not only I think Tom,
again, one of the takeaways I'll end with is that the biggest
thing Tom said to me was your health.
You know, your health is your wealth that, you know, without
your health, everything else falls away.
So that was something that was quite powerful for me because I
thought, you know, I need to focus on my health more because
I've noticed that I haven't been.
And we joked in this about, you know, getting out of breath,
walking up and down the street, doing a video.
But it's true. And it made me realise that, you
know, that is something I need to really focus on or at least
start to really look at because, yeah, without, without my
health, everything else falls away.
So that was his, you know, probably one of these biggest
messages. Yeah, love that, right.
For the final question, mate, I've got this new thing I'm
doing on the podcast now and I've tried it a few times and
actually did it with Tom recording podcast in London and
he actually really liked it. So it's called impossible
decisions, the little game of big choices.
So I've got these cards here and it's basically a would you
rather. So a few quick five questions
for you. Alex had no idea I was going to
do this. So oh what a question that is.
OK, Would you rather you could never listen to music again or
could never read again? Oh well, I don't.
I don't really read. So I would say music.
I couldn't not lose music. Being a drummer.
Being a drumming musician, I think, yeah, I'd much rather not
be able to read so. Right.
Would you rather have legs as long as your fingers, or fingers
as long as your legs? That's, that's a tough one.
I think I'd rather go fingers as long as my legs.
Don't ask me why because even I don't know why, but I just think
that'd just be the yeah. I think I struggled to get
around otherwise. Would you rather you could never
eat another hot meal or never take another hot shower?
I'd say I'm a fan of a cold shower.
I do enjoy a cooler shower so I love a roast and a hot meal.
My wife will tell me, anyone will tell you if you've ever
eaten with me. I will eat my food in seconds.
The second it lands on that table it's gone because I love
hot food. So I think I quite happily go
with a cold shower. OK, I can vouch Alex will eat
food very quickly if I don't eat my heart.
Give it to it. When we're at yours as well, if
it was if I had the opportunity. Right.
Last couple of ones before the closing question.
Would you rather have permanent mosquito bites or permanent
sunburn? Or I think I'd probably rather
have Herman and mosquito bites maybe like there's some good
stuff out that you've put on sunburn.
I've I've had really bad sunburn on holiday and yeah, it wasn't
very pleasant. OK, right.
Final one. Would you rather have unlimited
money for a year or good health 10 years?
I think I would rather have good health for 10 years, which is
interesting because I think, and you asked me a while back, I
might have said unlimited money for a year.
Yeah, I could buy everything I'd need to keep me healthy and
everything in the future. But, you know, like I said,
having some friends and family who importantly had ill health
of late, I think if you ask them the same question, what would
they rather? I think they'd rather have their
health for the next 10 years knowing that they might not be
here very soon. So, yeah, so I think my
perception on that has changed. But yeah, I, I, I take the good
health. So on the thing you just said
there about health and considering we kind of touched
on it towards the end of the podcast, one of the things Tom
said throughout the couple of weeks was if your business
doubled over the next three years, but your happiness,
health and relationships would cut in half, would you call that
success? Yes.
You would call it success or you're saying yes, that's a
powerful statement. That's a powerful statement, OK.
And then the other thing as well is I've seen a video online
where it's like, Alex, I give you, you've won $10 million, OK?
You win $10 million right now after this Zoom call, you'd be
very happy, right? Yeah, yeah, pretty happy.
Nothing probably offset you right.
Probably not, no. OK.
The only thing is you don't get to wake up tomorrow.
So would you take that $10 million from me to enjoy the
rest of today, but not wake up tomorrow?
Again, going, going back on what you said before, you know, some
people might take the money and think, well, actually you're not
going to be around much longer. So I'd rather know my family you
looked after when I'm gone. I know someone has answered the
similar questions that in the past, but for me personally,
where I'm on now, you know, the journey I'm on, you know, I'm
enjoying it. I'd rather experience all of
that and everything life's still got to throw at me than than
than know that the money was there.
And I think my family would say the same as well.
I think Tom spoke about experiences, didn't he?
Rather he's done the material thing.
He's now now after collecting experiences, not not material
things, right? Final question from the diary
CEO cards. This is actually from Stephen
Bartlett. So the final question, Alex, for
you to answer, no pressure is what part of your identity is
holding you back? Well, I touched on this earlier.
I think what's holding me back is my fear of what other people
think about me. But I'm always really conscious
about what I do, you know, and I, I overthink things then
because you think, oh, what, you know, you start thinking about
to do this. What will they think?
And what will my clients think? And what will my friends think?
And I think probably, I know I've definitely missed out on so
many opportunities, whether that be business, personal life.
I, I think I have missed out on opportunity.
I don't want to reflect on it because you know, where I am
today, I'm extremely happy. So if I hadn't made those
decisions in the past, it wouldn't be where I am now.
So it's, it's the way you look at it.
But I do think that moving forward, that's something I know
I, I need to be more mindful of that to stop thinking so much
maybe. But I think it's always kept me
on the straight and narrow because in the sense that I do
worry about what other people think.
So I do think I'm always thinking that in a good way that
I'm conscious of the decisions that I make because I think
sometimes there are people out there who don't think about
others and they end up alienating everyone because they
just think of that themselves. You know, you don't want to be a
narcissist and just think all, it's all about you.
But I do think that sometimes I do overthink situations and
sometimes you're better taking action.
John Morgan said this to me, actually.
He said I'd rather make a wrong decision than take too long to
make a decision. He said if I make a wrong
decision, I could probably put it right in a time it makes for
other people to make any decision at all.
And I thought that's so powerful because that's what, you know,
that sometimes I'm like that it'll take me a week or two just
to think about the basic, a basic decision.
You know, I'm toying, you know, going back and forth for
actually, I could have just said there and then, yeah, let's do
it, Let's do it, Let's just get it.
But so. Yeah.
The the speed to action thing every like podcast I listen to
book, I read webinar I watch event I attend inside outside
industry. A key coming back to it time and
time again is speed to action and what Jonathan said there
100%. And you made a point earlier on
in the podcast around decision making.
And for anyone listening, guess what?
Not making a decision is still making a decision, and it's
quite possibly the most expensive decision you can make.
Yeah, well, definitely. And it's that choice management.
And I think Tom said that as well, didn't he?
He's like, so people talk about time management and you know,
you try and say I haven't, I haven't got time to do this, I
haven't got time to do that. But actually it's nothing to do
with time management. Choice management, you've
decided to do one thing over another thing.
Ultimately, I. Can't remember who.
I can't remember his first name. I'm hoping you're going to help
me. End of day one of the ESP
conference. The guy's surname was Lebouf.
Oh. Grant.
Grant Lebou. So I wasn't a, I'll be brutally
honest, I wasn't, I wasn't the biggest fan of his presentation.
But one thing that really stuck with me was he said everything
has expanded in over the years. The only thing that stayed the
same as time obviously can't. There's no such thing as more
time. So to your point, it's about the
right choices. So, you know, the average person
spends a few hours a day on social media.
Well, if you and I went back 1520 years ago before social
media was a thing, what were we doing with those few hours a
day? I appreciate we were younger,
but like, I would have spent more time with my friends.
I think I would have been playing football in the
evenings. I would have gone and played
golf in the summer. So it is a choice management
thing, but we're getting distracted so much in the
attention economy that we sit in.
You got to make sure that you're not just consuming content,
right? You're creating content.
But we've been doing a fair bit of, I see too many people online
who just consume content and they get stuck in that
information thing. I think Tom said the line, it's
no longer are you able? It's are you willing?
Yes. And also what did he say?
It's not who you know, it's who knows you.
So you need to be creating content so people get to know
you and. And your reputation is what
people say about you when you're not not in the room.
And yeah, that content side of things.
I go and see so many agents made-up and down the country
where they're like, that agent, there is shit, but they're still
getting more valuation to me. And I'm like, yeah, I can see
that from number of new listings.
Da, da, da, da, da. Your performance metrics a lot
better. But look at how much content
they're producing. You say that there's letters in
your listings from them are doing videos that's got their
social media online, They're updating their Google business
profile. Best known beats best.
Well, and I think that, well, I think this will be a nice one to
finish on as well, which have just it's just come back to me.
I can't believe we've missed it was the the the 30 day rule.
And for those are thinking, well, you know, if you're
expecting things to happen overnight, if you're going to
post a video, you expect that, you know, overnight you're going
to become an Internet success on social media or.
If you put one letter through a letterbox that you're suddenly
going to get 1000 listings off 1 flyer drop, you know, but but as
Tom says, what you do in the next 30 days will affect the
next 90 days. So you you know, if you if you
spent the next 30 days sat around watching Netflix,
drinking beer, then you're probably not going to have a
great in three months time. You're going to be in a pretty
bad situation because you're going to have any clients you
would have any listings. But if you spend the next 30
days Grafton or the next 30 days creating content in 90 days
time, you're suddenly going to start to see the results.
So I think it's always about the, the, the long game and the
yeah, that was something quite powerful that you shared with
us. 100% and I think this episode, if my maths is right,
we'll be going out probably at the end of June, early July.
So that's a great way for Alex to look to end this in terms of
what is your July going to look like next 30 days because that's
going to impact your results in the next 90 days.
So for everyone listening, please do like, review,
subscribe, follow, share. And that just leaves me to say,
Mr. Alex Pelosi Buchanan, thank you very much for being an
amazing returning guest. I really appreciate it.
Well, thank. You for having me back, it's an
honour.