Episode 5 - Lucinda Hage - CE0, Coach, Owner of Coldwell Banker Professional Group

During this inspiring episode, Rashelle Newmyer sits down with Lucinda Hage, owner of Coldwell Banker Professional Group, who now leads eight doors—yes, officially eight! Luci shares her journey from taking her real estate license exam with no idea what she was doing, to growing into a confident leader, mentor, coach, and business owner who's transforming the way agents are supported in the industry.

Lucinda's story begins with a family background rooted in entrepreneurship and a childhood filled with curiosity about the business world. She started with an "executive desk" where she led board meetings with her stuffed animals. Her journey to Coldwell Banker began with her aunt's connection to the real estate brokerage.  That introduction inspired Lucinda to walk into their office, and from that moment, she knew she had found the right fit. The professionalism and structure of that office stood out, setting the tone for the kind of leadership Lucinda would eventually embody.

What’s even more remarkable is how Lucinda set a goal early on to become a manager and owner within four years of her real estate career.  That goal was put on hold for a while. She was in the midst of the whirlwind of learning the ropes, surviving the market crash, and transitioning between offices. Yet, through perseverance, mentorship, and a deep passion for the emotional moments real estate brings, she made that dream a reality.

Rashelle explores how Lucinda found her stride during the recession, moving from a bustling McMinnville office to a thriving Newberg branch, only to witness the dramatic shift during the recession that started in 2008. Her office went from 50 agents to 12. Through it all, Lucinda stayed committed to growth, grounded in the belief that real estate is not just about transactions, it's about helping people build equity, create generational wealth, and experience life-changing moments. Over time, she rebuilt the Yamhill County offices teams and agents. The stepping stones of her eight-door (and growing) business and brand. 

As a tenured Tom Ferry Coach, Lucinda also offers priceless advice for new and seasoned agents.  When choosing a brokerage to work with, it’s not all about commission splits; what truly matters is the training process, the availability of mentorship, and whether you're entering an environment with genuine support. These values are now ingrained in the culture of her own offices, where she continually works to improve systems, elevate education, and foster collaboration over competition.

Whether you're a new agent wondering what office to join, a seasoned pro thinking about leadership, or just someone who loves stories of grit and growth, this episode is packed with insight, heart, and inspiration that will resonate with you! 

Thank you for listening! Connect and collaborate with Realtor Rashelle on any of her social media platform pages > https://linktr.ee/RealtorRashelle

Transcript

0:32

Thank you for. Tuning in to episode five of The Real Internet Wine. I'm here today with Lucinda Hage, and I cannot wait to dive in about all of her leadership, background, and coaching opportunities. Cheers to you for being here. Thank you. The first drink of the week. I love that you actually brought the bubbles today. Do you know. This is from Winter's Hill? Have you been there before? It's, I've been up by it. I actually haven't. Had that before. It's not my usual local that I get, but they recommended it. They're outside Domaine Serene. Yeah. Yeah, I see that. And it looks like bottled and menthol, which is awesome. Super local. And you've got this, at the local liquor store. Where did you buy this? Good companies of old cheese and. Oh, yeah. Awesome. So, charcuterie? Yeah. You know what? I actually have not been in there yet. I really need to go check them out. I love cheese, and I love wine. I don't know why. Yeah, if. You look at your. Countries, they have, like, everything you. Can get for, like, an Italian dinner there. Oh my gosh. Fresh shaved prosciutto and lamb. So for those. That don't know, Lucy owns Coldwell Banker Professional Group and she actually has eight doors or she DPA doors is officially eight doors. Yeah. Can we say that? Okay. Officially. Open the doors there. The doors there. I'm. So. It's happening. It's happening. People. But for those in the that for. Those people that don't know you or know your background, we just talk a little bit about how you started in real estate and then got to like having eight doors. So I started in real estate 20 years ago. Before September. And I never actually thought I would ever be in real estate. But I actually, I'll tell you the story of, like, where I think it originated from in my. Childhood, because I truly believe we know what we're going to be when we grow up, when we're like six, seven years old. Not because they're going to change, like, yeah, and circle back around. Yeah. They, Is that when I. Was younger, I grew up on a ranch, and, like, there was no nobody in my life that was, like, worked in an office or any church. But I always like to play off under the light. Like I loved riding horses and working on the ranch. I was going to be a veterinarian. I was going to do all those things. But I love to play office. And when I was 12 years old, I. I don't know if you remember the Viking catalogs. Oh, yeah, I love looking I love to do those, like the J.C. Penney version, but like, I was like, are the series was here as we book and kind of all the kids would get it, but I would look through the Viking on the I now, you know, I like it was like a new office to decorate. And when I was 12 years. Old, like, I wanted this executive desk and I'm like, okay. So I go along and they get my money and like, I don't remember, like 160 bucks for this executive desk. Oh my God. And I went with my mom to get a money order to ship off the Viking to get it. And like, this. Brings to mind country and then 100 miles from Barnes. So. Yeah, like in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. You can't get. A desk anywhere. And I got, shipped in a truck all by itself because it was the only office supplies picked up. No, of the door. And there's my little is my exact. It is huge. I had, like, my dad was a contractor. You help me carry it upstairs. When I put it together. Took up, like, half my room. It's still up in that room in my parents house. Because they need to. We need a picture. But I remember I would, like, write office memos. I wasn't playing. Room for kids. I don't even know that. That reference. Yeah. And what that was existed. But I was. Somebody I was. A I was an owner. I had the kids types of carries whenever they come in play with me and Mr. Bear. Bring me my paper. Yeah, yeah, I know I was always on a diet and crazy, like, I don't know why I got that problem, but I lived like I was the boss and I was always on a diet. So, I'm not that. I'm saying I'm cranky now, but I know you. You know, he's on a diet because but I, I think that that, like, instilled. In me a little. But I went on like, I was going to be a massage therapist. I was going to be a landscape designer, I was going to be a paramedic. And that was actually the path I was on when I, I met somebody and got married and moved to the Valley from Central Oregon. And, he's like, I don't like that for you. Like, that's, you know, crazy hours. You know, you're on doctors and firefighters. What? You know. Yeah. Yeah. Like he's like, you're going to see you should be a like just like. And I got this one where he's married. Men have wives I little did he know what our job really he's like I bought this course like 11 months ago and it's going to expire. And his closet. Was like, it's pro school books. And he's like, you should be right. Because at the time. His sister was like, selling real estate number one in the area. And she was doing great. And he's like, yeah, this is what you should do. And I'm like, okay. I mean, I know, so real glamor story wasn't like I always I didn't love houses, I didn't I didn't know what I was doing. But when I. Told like my family and stuff that that's what I was going to do. And I raced through the course because I'd been taking medical courses which were not a choice. And I'm like, this is not the whole choice, that this is great. And I got my. License and I really had no. Idea what I was doing. But like my family. Yeah, that's a good that's a good fit for you. And, I went to I interviewed around in a bunch of offices, but I had had an aunt that worked for Seattle, and that was the only like I was like, oh, yeah, I work for Coldwell Banker. So I'm going to go in there. And I interviewed. They were they were the most professional office. They had had no offense in that interview, but but they were and I mean, I think one was the manager then and I, she did like a professional interview and I just, I was like, that's where I'm like, yeah. And I said, yeah, I've been there. I've been the brand ever since. That is so funny how like your journey started as a kid and stuff, I, I if I was doing that, my what I thought I was doing as a kid, I would be an announcer at like, a theme park like I am. I loved the feeling I got it at theme park, which actually kind of ties back in. But like when you're at, like, Universal Studios and like, the show's over and they're like, and enjoy the rest of your day at Universal Studios. I wanted to be that person because I loved, like, the feeling it gave me, but it just reminds me that's actually why I love real estate as being a part of those big moments and like moments that have emotion about it. And so it is kind of like. So yeah, you get to do everything. Yeah, that is. To like our own little social media stars. We get to do what, you know, whatever we really like, whatever direction you want to take that years you're most passionate about, you can tell people honestly they love property and, help people invest in property and. Equity and generational wealth and all those things. And I sound like my first like my demographic when I first got in was a lot of seniors. And that's what, you know, I loved about getting into the medical industry is like I was there was a lot of seniors around that had retired because my parents lived in not a retirement area, but it was like a lot of people retired, and I always loved helping them and being around them. And so when I got into real estate instead, I had to work with that demographic and step in their life. And when I was in and then I also had like an agricultural background growing up on a ranch. And so I sold a lot of land and, farms and ranches and. Yeah, which a lot of agents don't specialize in that. Like that's a whole unique transaction with a ton of different questions and investments or, inspections and all that stuff, like just it's a totally different ballgame. How did you or how long were you, an agent before you transitioned into a leader role? And then further on turnover. So what I loved about where I went to work originally, in McMinnville was she wanted me to do business plan and, you know, simple. But it, and I signed on, and I was like, what's your goal? And we'll, you know, I came from a family of entrepreneurs. My dad was in business, and I was like, well, I, you know, I want to work and up the. Ladder kind of. So I was like, I put. Down that in four years, I wanted to be a manager and owner. And then I kind of forgot about it. Like, you know, you do your business plan and go in the door and you're like, forget it. And then all this chaos of trying to learn to sell and what that meant and and then the recession hit and, you know, the market got nuts. But then that. Time I, I. Didn't change brands, but I moved to the Newberg branch and I went to work with Crystal, and she she owned the office there. It was just thriving. But then when the recession hit, you know, we went from 45, 50 agents down to just like, like 12 agents. And we moved into a new space. And I just I didn't have many children. My, husband at the time had lost his job. And so I was like, I'm just going to go to work every day. I just need to work. Like we were selling foreclosures. We were selling short sales. We were just I was just in the office all day long. So I really bonded with the owner. And, I started helping her because she also had let all the staff go. And then I was she. Was now like. Why do you need my partner? And she really needed a partner to come on and help her with the workload. And I was there all the time anyway, so I partnered with her and then in like a year or so. So that was about my fourth year, even though I didn't realize that that's what I wrote down. It was about four years in and I partnered with her, and within about a year, I bought her out in the system owner. She was ready to retire and get out of the management. I and I think at the time that I purchased it, outright, we had maybe seven active agents, and then we just kind of grew from there. I reopened for McMinnville. I was in my first growth, as I want to do that, because during that the recession, the McMinnville office where I started had closed, and I wanted to reopen that. I reopened that, and then I got. Found out I was pregnant, which during that kind of had surprise. And then like a year after I opened McMinnville. The opportunity to purchase out of the coast came up. A lot of owners after the recession were just ready to retire. And yeah, so I went on the coast and expanded out there and ended up buying Eugene and then down at Westland and Telemark and just keep growing. It's kind of like having kids. Yeah. You just you got one you have. And you don't have a favorite. Right. And like. I don't know, I love like that we moved back into. The original building that where I started. Yeah McMinnville. And it's kind of cool because like I get to be in the office or I originally started in the previous owner, she's actually come and visited for our grand opening, and it's, you know, the previous owner in the Newberg office, she's still around, and I, I like I love the legacy ones, the offices that had a legacy to them. New rooms where I was when I first when I owned and like, every single one of them like that moved into. I bought the furniture. Obviously. That's my favorite. Part. Yeah, it's going furniture. I know. Yeah, it's for everyone. And it was ironic. There was. I usually sit at the beauteous little. Desk office chair because. You're always moving around. I don't even have an executive desk that I sit at anymore. But I do, You know, the ones that I, I don't know, I don't really think I have a favorite necessarily. I definitely, and I live in the county, so I'm in these the most. Yeah. They're all do great and there's great agents and all all of them. And, Yeah. For anybody that's thinking about getting into real estate at like, what is a piece of advice that you give them and like where they should get education or what kind of questions they should ask an interview with a brokerage? I mean, I know that's kind of two separate questions, but just any guidance that you would provide someone that's like brand new. I think for me, like the the reason for this is why do you think you had success in it? And, and it's definitely agents. I mean, they've had far more sales success than I had in my career. But, if you look at it like, you know, a lot of people get in thinking they have a lot of flexibility. And like, oh, this. Is like, come. And do it thinking that you're going to go and be like an executive in an office and you're going to go to work every day and you're going to dress up and get. Yeah, know, you may not have not been with a client that day. You may not have. A workload on your plate like there's one yourself in a structured lifestyle. Like get into this knowing you're going to have a structured lifestyle. You're going to go to work every day. This is going to be a full time career. I think of it as a business owner. And don't a lot of agents don't think about it as like, you technically own your own business. You're running your own business. And you're going to be responsible for that. If you don't get a paycheck, you can't call it. There's no. Calling in. Like, you know, how we go on vacation. Whatever you. Want to. Yeah. Because instead of just. Having one boss, you have like 20 because all of your clients are going to dictate a lot of times to what your schedule is. And I see the most successful ones, like, I think they just recently did a, study and they said the agents that come in and work for an office environment at least three days a week or 200 times more successful than they have that don't. And, that's why I believe in the brick and mortar of having traditional offices still. But, you know, as far as getting the schooling, I, I'm not. Going to say it's. Easy because I know there's. Some offices still doing. It's really hard, but, you know, it's 150 hours online. I taught real estate school and in college for many, many years. And I definitely see like the success rate of people that come and go to schedule a class in person and have an experienced instructor, they have a better, passing rate of the test and sticking with it. But it's certainly available online through, you know, multiple platforms and I would just say give yourself a deadline, though, that don't say, and get it. I have a whole year to take it, like trying to get it and I'm going to finish it in three months. That's a good cycle to finish it in. And just remember, the test only teaches you how to. Pass the state test. And I yeah, they're mostly around compliance. Not actually about running a business, getting clients all of that kind of stuff. But once real estate school teaches you how to pass the state exams and then even then, after you get out of the state exams, then you're going to have to learn how to sell real estate. And so when you're interviewing for an office, they always like they're new and they just came took their test. They want to know what their split is. Well, not that that is important, but more importantly you need to know what the training process is. Who's going to train you is your mentor there? Is your broker going to compete with you? Are you coming into an office where there's support staff and marketing staff, and that those were the things that I found were really valuable for an agent's success. And one of the reasons I implement those things into our office, I always think we could provide better training. Like, I always think there's got to be a better way to really teach people the art of selling. And, but with a lot of agents get in this business. I always used to ask at the beginning of my class, why did why real estate? Why do you get a real estate? Or why do you want to get into real estate now? And so many, I would say like 80% of what they live on. The houses they got along. And I'm like, I've been watching your online channel. I was like, it's 10% about the house. Yeah. And you know, it's 90% about the people. And most people think they're going to get into real estate. They want their more reclusive type people that don't want to be around other people. And they're like, I did, and they're more introverted. And I was. Actually a very introverted person. And you're looking at me like I'm like. No, I believe it. I feel like you're an introvert that has extrovert tendencies, like when you have to be an extrovert, you are, but you recharge at home. Alone in the quiet. Yeah, I even forced extrovert. Yeah, I like my natural tendency. Tendency is to be introverted and social environments like I used to have a huge fear of social environments actually, like I'm comfortable in the horse barn, but I don't really. And going out and intentionally talking to people. But I think you can learn that. And if you're passionate about what you do, it's really easy to go and talk about things that you love. And so I'm not saying that introverted person, this isn't a career for them. You know, I think it's just different skills. Yeah. I think you have to. Be passionate about success and what you want to do in life. Otherwise you're going to just constantly struggle with that inner feeling like, I don't want to document people. Yeah. And then in the meantime, just get yourself an extroverted friend. You have right here in Social Security. It's true though, right? You take that money like you have a couple who are still around here, the ones that will talk to anybody. I'm like, you're going with me because I don't want to talk to anybody. Because I might ever take any kind of personality test. I was like, how do you process things? And like, are you an introvert? An extrovert? It's like on a scale from 1 to 100. And I was a 97 extrovert. And the guy goes, oh. I've never seen. That. That's like that. Oh, you're like, I was like, I can come off as, I'm an analytical driver, like. And I'm totally different. Yeah. And they also say they don't know where what quadrant you put me. And when I take this test because it's like very polar opposite. Yeah. Like I'm. But I like to say that I. Overanalyze things very quickly and then make any rational. Decisions. I feel like if I'm not like that, driver takes over as like, but I want to take the risk, but I want to go, yeah, but let me do it. Yeah. Don't don't let me think about things too long because. Then I'll say no. Like it's like I was like, I don't want to decide what our questions were before today because I've been all over thinking, yeah, let's. Yeah, let's just go. Go into the room. I can't write my speeches before I go into something because I'll overanalyze it. Like, I know I always write a speech, and then when I get there, I'm like, I'm like, nervous. And then I just go off the cuff. But then you have it because you did write something down and still like, and you're brain, you're. Trying to remember the. Well or you're just like, it's a reference. So you're like, oh yeah, I was going to talk about this, but you have a little bit of confidence. But yeah, I would much rather just off the cuff. I want to. So clearly if you've watched any of the episodes before, I. Used to go as I go, but I yeah, I think that when you're. Passionate about what you're doing and it doesn't have to be about houses, it. But I think if you're your passion about people and like I found that I really love people. Yeah, I like even be an introvert. Like I love people's stories and I love their lives and like, my clients have become my friends. And like, obviously now, like, I know, you know, buy and sell homes with people a lot more. I, my agents and like really are not become for like the 120 agents and some of them I haven't even met yet. Because they're in another office and they haven't been to but the I, the ones I get to meet like I want to know everything about them. Like I want to know, you know, what's their home life like. What's their goals and what's right. And I love hearing all those stories. And I think that's why I gravitated once I got into leadership more towards the coaching side of it. Because when you train, you're just talking to somebody and telling them how to do. Right and you. Know somebody, you're finding out what their needs are, what their fears are, what their what their goals and dreams are. And you get to actually help them. Yeah, help them and build rapport with them and invest in them. And it's just a that's how you want the relationship to be with your clients too. Like, I don't want to just sell them a house. You want to find out why do they need a house, and why do they need a three bedroom versus a four bedroom? Or you know what? What are their goals? And then you're actually being part of the journey with them instead of just like I can tell you enough, you know, like, no, I can help you achieve like a dream and a goal that you're trying to get to. Yeah, I think training and I look at training as a tool, like you're giving someone a tool and then coaching is how to leverage that tool and what to do with that tool. So it's like now you have the skill, but what do you do with that and how to move forward. So I think for any new agent it's really important to like find a brokerage that offers a lot of training and gives you a big foundation and then also knows how to take you that on that level. But you have that foundation. And then that's one way that, bank or professional group stood out to me differently is that there is that next level. So there is the training. Just get you going, the fundamentals, the foundation. But then like once you've been in the business like three years now, five years, not like ten years now, and there's a lot of, coaching and guidance on how to keep scaling and how to build a bigger business, which I think is so important. So as you're interviewing brokerages stuff, I ask that like, hey, what happens when I have five years? What do you have to offer me at once? I'm like rocking and rolling. And how do you help me at that point, too? Because you're at different stages. And I think that's something cool that you've really focused on as you continue to open doors, just to make sure everybody at each office understands the for sure. Yeah. And I think it's really important to have a five year, ten year vision when you're starting out in this industry, because I don't think if my first broker had made me think about that, I would have gotten stuck in the right now. And I have to be honest, I was in my early 20s. I was 22 when I started, I think, so I wasn't. I don't even know that I quite grasp what the recession was like. I didn't really understand, okay, I should be afraid of this. And I just kept coming in to work every day. And so I was the top sales agent through that, because I didn't really understand what what it even meant to have a downturn market. I didn't know what up. Great is this was normal. This was just you. Go into work every day, you talk to people. You know, you still just look for people to help every day. And early on, like someone gave me a stapler book. Actually, she still worked here. And. You know, it said you can have everything in life that you want if you just help everyone else, get what they want. And so I just looked every day for people to help. Yeah. And whether they are agents sometimes, like, I'm like, you think it's hard? Like, right now I'm finding clients. I was like, during the recession, we would wait for, like, the hot foreclosure to hit the market. And then you got. To everybody and sit outside that of look at it like, you know what stock is good deals to. To find buyers because there just wasn't a lot of there wasn't a lot of sales going on. So what would you like to have a full roster of people. But nobody was moving. Nobody was selling during that time. No, no, no, our market is fantastic compared to that market. But yeah, it's still that that's the the point I see, I was just talking to my manager about his day is like, what kind of is that stopping work? You keep an agent that that failure to launch and it's usually something inside them. So I can train them and tell them all day long what they should do. But until they get over whatever that fear is that stopping them from taking that next step is true. You're meeting people in life and people in wanting to talk to people. Yeah. And and building that trust. I mean, of course you have to know how to fill out a contract and. Understand negotiations because you want to do the job for them. Yeah. Like you can be the most likable person. I have friends in their life, but you don't want to lose anyone's money. Yeah, yeah. No. So we that training. Side of it, we focus on pretty heavily to make sure they do a good job and have mentorship all the way through the transaction till they understand the process and can do it on their own. But the other side is almost like counseling them through to get over the fears in their life. And I if I had had like someone coaching me like that, I mean, my I had great managers, but if I'd had somebody really figuring out that I was an introverted person and I needed to get over that and coaching me through and giving me, and challenging me more, I probably would have been even farther along. Yeah, I think that too, because obviously I've gone through lots of different coaching programs with you and, your mentors and things. And I was like, dang, I wish I knew this my first year. I would have learned that. I would have had a totally different couple first years. You know, and having someone in the coaching piece is just also like the accountability, like, are you coming into the office? Are you prospecting? Are you meeting new people? Because I think a lot of people just expect like, well, I'm an angel now. Someone's going to call me to like, sell their house and even your own sphere is not going to tell you because not everyone is paying attention to what you're doing. And if you're not talking about it, they don't know about it. I know I didn't I didn't know anybody when I moved here, like I was from Central Oregon and I, I moved up here and became an agent within three months of living here. The only people I knew was my husband and his sister. Sister was her. That we weren't. So I was like, she does not buy a house for me. He didn't even buy for me, bought it from her. So. And that's why I'm just not the other anymore. But I think lesson learned is he still owns a house, and I. I'm convinced that if he ever does go to sell it, he will use me to sell. Yes, he would be a fool not to. Yeah, I think that's a funny, but I think that's the. For me, like where to go. But help me actually be as successful as I was is that I did just get up and go to work every single day. And you know, we that office at the time, like you came in and worked on the weekends even like we took shifts on the weekends, lot of time. And yeah, you came in on floor time and we had so when the internet and all of that then we didn't, we didn't even have. You know, used to utilize like Excel files last year we didn't have laptops. Like if you were. Going to use your computer, you went into the office to use your computer. And I remember when the first smartphone came out to the girls office, like we were the first ones to, like, get a smartphone. And do you remember that? Like, they were huge pile of things. You could just barely check your email on it. There's no social media marketing there, right? They literally handed me a phone book, a Rolodex like my desk came with. It was really nice. That might have blurred into here, but she has a role and I feel like I didn't done. I signed the dotted line. This is great. And she gave me a phone. Book and she's like to start calling people online. Yeah. They call people like, I'm from Central Oregon. Like, you start going through the phonebook and calling people you. I'm in trouble. But, you know, they call me about farming and doorknocking and all of those things because I just had to meet people like I did and and where I found, actually, I, where I met the most people that helped me be successful was like chamber and going and meeting business owners and having business connections in the community. And then just, you know, when you go out to eat lunch or anything like you talk to people and you just start conversations and, but we didn't have all the tools. Yeah. The leverage. I actually think about that a lot when I'm trying to get to our house. And that's like an a part of a town that I haven't. Like, I know the town, but I live into that part of town. And I'm like, how? Like, this is my agents used to just specialize in certain neighborhoods or certain towns because there's no way, even if you had your map out and all that stuff, like, how would you find real? Yeah. Like how would you find this random road and this other town that you don't frequent and stuff, which is like, so different because now you have people that specialize all over. But I know it's. Just because I use them to use a Thomas. Got it. And I also I. Don't always the blond hair thing or I know. That I have like my boyfriend swears that that's the best. Thing in the world. I'm like, no it's not. It's very confusing. I can't figure it out. And then so I would MapQuest out my show and then. You know, how when they changed or and they're like, we. Decided, you know what to see this house, they're like, put those on my shelf. And I go, I have to go from here. Hi. I'm like my second. Year in, my husband bought me a Garmin. Oh yeah. And I think there were like$700 back then. And I thought this was the best thing ever. Like, this thing is a life changer. I'm like, I, I, I've been like, I'm going to show houses everywhere. Like, you want to change course. That's okay. Like, I mean, you do. And like now you can get in your car and say, take me, do the one, two, three Elm Street and your car just. Drive through there. So, I mean, you can. Even schedule a show of showing. Yeah. In the end lock. But during certain do remember the little combo cool things. You had a good way to do it to the right. I would have to get to the house a half hour. Before my. Flight because I cannot figure those things out. And then, yeah, so. What you're saying is it's never been a better time. But yeah, this is everything that is around me in real estate. Like what you press. But nobody on phone opens the lock box. This is genius. I can the like. What is something that you've learned? The being a leader and an owner in this industry. Like, what are some, like life lessons that you've learned and your leadership role? I know I was like, life lessons, I can tell you. Oh, yeah. Sure. Like something like a business owner or somebody that's like thinking about following in your footsteps someday, and like, they want their own brick and mortar like, door. Like, what is something that you learned or you wish you. Would have known ahead of time? Well, when I had. Actually fabulous partnership experience when I first bought the company. So I'm not saying this, but partnerships are really I, I, I had one other partnership that like could have like trade me out of the business and no offense, we've made up since then but. Yeah. But Yeah. Yeah. But at the time, like that was. I didn't understand like going into a 5050 partnership was a really. Bad idea. And now, you know, I learned that early on and that was a good thing that I do also know if you want a really true life lesson, if you're going to buy a business, get a prenup. That was another good life. Yeah. If you own your own business and you're married, this means everything. Yeah, yeah. 5050 split. Unless you have a prenup. Yeah. That size. That was a big, you know, because that was a. Big hurdle in owning a business. But it was a big step back is going down there like going through a divorce. And I mean, I company but I. Probably the best advice that. I got because going going into ownership during the recession was not going into debt. And if you if you have to go into debt to go into business, it's not a really great idea like save and wait. You know, going into debt and going into any business is never good. And I and I know that there's great, fabulous business loans out there and everything, but I coach didn't work with businesses for years now. And the biggest problem I see is when they get over there, head into debt. And that's the biggest closure thing is usually their their debt outweighs what their income is and they can't. And you think you're going to have another good year and you're going to be able to get ahead. But one reason why businesses are profitable for years and years and years is that they usually take out a huge business loan in order to get started. It doesn't mean that you can't leverage your assets afterwards. And but like definitely I've had debt on businesses before when I bought them and but it's manageable. That and it's not starting off with a brand new business going into it with a big debt payment. And then I also just add stress because then all you're focused on is like paying off the debt, like money, money, money, money, and then you're cutting corners in other areas. When the my advice for agents, yeah, if you don't have six months worth of expenses in your bank account when you go into real estate, don't quit your job. Don't quit your day job because it's going to be even though I really encourage you to be full time when you get in, it's like have six months worth of expense in your bank account because the agent's got like a very high failure rate in this industry, like over 80%. And I think it's because they they have a gap in transactions and paychecks and they live on their credit cards and they, you know, with their heads and going back into another job. And then once you get another job, it's really hard to balance things and sales, and you're not the best option for the consumer. A lot of times if you are working another full time job somewhere else, nothing can be done. Yeah, it makes life a lot harder. What do you do with it? Well, I'm very long. Days too, because if you're working a full time job during the day and then you're doing showings at night, on the weekends, like you're going to get burnt out really fast, too. And they're also still not going to be your 100% at your job or for the clients that you're serving us as an agent to. Yeah. And I, I mean, I basically when I bought the company, I was still was a recession. I was still selling in order to keep the company afloat even. And I was like working two jobs. And there's very little leftover of you at the end of the day. Yeah. I've been, like, maintaining a personal life or, you know, having a relationship, obviously. Probably why I have two failed marriages. I, I think that it's, you know. You have to look at what you want, your lifestyle. Right? And being an entrepreneur and owning your own business and being in real estate, it's like you have to be willing to sacrifice a lot of your freedom. Like, I mean, we both are. Right. As a single mom because we do have we have have, but yeah. Yeah. Okay. So you were single. Moms most time and and. You know, you can bring your children to work. And that's some of the flexibility that is amazing. Is getting them to be a part of it. I wouldn't trade that for anything because they learn to work ethic. Yeah, they get to be part of it. But as far as thinking that you're going to be able to just have the freedom. You know? Yeah, like you said at lunch, it's not gonna happen. So many people say that like, oh, I got into real estate, I want to get into real estate because of the freedom. It's I wouldn't call it freedom. It's a dynamic schedule, like a move. So it's not like a strict 8 to 5. And you can't leave unless you're on a lunch break or something like that. So. But it's still like I still work anywhere from 40 to 50 hours a week. It's just I kind of choose when those hours are or my clients choose for me. But I do have the freedom to take where I went to school, or I do have the freedom to get her to a dentist appointment if I need to, because I schedule around it. Like when I have a corporate job, I have the permission to do those things. But yeah, I think coming in with the mindset of it's still a job and it's still a lot of hours, especially if you want to be successful at it and you are helping a. Lot of people. I haven't I have to say I do want to say a real job, but I haven't worked for anybody else in 20 years. And it was. Funny because I told my dad, so you so. Tell us, like when we were kids, it's like, if you're funny because I was homeschooled. And so I was like, you better do that if you want to ever work in the real world. I guess you're going to have to. And so I always tell my dad, I'm still not working. Yeah. I'm like, I'm still don't have, by the way, college. My dad's. Yeah. Tell about working in the real world. But I and I talked to my. Daughter that because she's gotten kind of spoiled with the fact that her dad. Is also in real estate, and it's like. She gets whiny when he's got showings and stuff, and can't be there. And I'm like, if we had real jobs, which we do have. Real jobs, right? But I was like, we would. Be gone during the day. Yeah, we wouldn't be able to be with you. Like we wouldn't be picking you. Up from school like, I don't know how you're getting used to working around that. Work. 9 to 5 jobs. Do it. Like, I guess your kids go into after school care and. Yeah, or family. But I don't have family here. Like I wouldn't have anybody to pick her up. So I think that it's important that people getting into real life and that does or people that are thinking about getting out of. Yeah, like if you become a customer, like being able to have the flexibility of having lunch with your significant other or. Yeah, or go and pick your kids up from school, something you give up when you have like a traditional nine five job, right? Definitely. What is something that you have on the horizon? Like what's one of your goals as far as like in leadership? Like how do you want to continue growing and developing? Totally Brown sugar has come up recently. I know I had a meeting this morning and he's like, do you want to take or you're going to be you're going to be the biggest, and in. Oregon, if you do this and I'm like, oh man, I already did. That. I can already, you know, number one in the state. But but I really honestly, I my. Goal right now focus for this year and next year if it doesn't happen completely this year is like I want always to average a six figure incoming. I want all my staff to average a six figure income, and that sounds, I need to make it about money. But the thing is, I have found what money does for them so it changes their life. I've. I've watched it from having part time employees that I could then put full time and have it change your life to be able to afford a home and, you know, just on like it takes the six figuring I'm the home in our area, in our area that we're living in because the median home price is over 500,000. And so I think it's really. A. Six figure income to buy eggs. Yeah, right. And it takes a six year income to. Yes I guess. Yeah. But I but I want them I want them they be able to have. All the opportunities that are available. And so I really am focused in even though I like growth and I'd love to buy some more companies or and expand into other regions. But I love the state and traveling around and participating, and I'd love to have new agents come on with the company and share that vision with them and help them reach those goals. The people that I have now with me now, like my important thing this year and and until I reach that goal, is getting them to all realize and average experience. Now I have agents with me that don't. Want to think state to make six figures this year because. They're like, that's going to screw up my. Retirement, that's going up our tax bracket. They have another. So I'm not. Going to force anybody to do it. But I would like our six figures. If you're out and I have agents with me that. Made $1 million last year like so they're going to average. They're going to average it out. But for to hit my goals for my my team and my staff, like that's what it would take. And then to those agents that do want to get there, I want to provide it support and coaching and training that they need to get there. And you know. Always like I love to look at our, you know, at the end of the year and see how many homes we sold and how many families in life that we. Yeah. So the community. I want to provide the best experience for the consumer. So in that process of getting all my agents to that point, I'll know that all those that many more consumers got good quality care and they got their, their, their goals bills and realized. So that's one thing too, that I like about a bank or professional group is the communities that we're in. We're in a little bit more smaller rural areas like our offices are the commissary agent service all over Westlands, not that small, but because of that, like we participate in the local parades, we participate in all the local community events, and then we actually still get a lot of walk ins where people come in and say, hey, I have questions about real estate. And sometimes when you're, in different areas and different, like corporate, like, the corporate offices, that's like multiple companies and one big, like. An office park. Yes, yes. That doesn't happen because people don't even know to go there, just like to find you. So that's just something else I would say. Like if you're thinking about getting into the industry, like when you're interviewing different brokerage, like, hey, what's your foot traffic? Like, do people come in because that's one way is on your agents is if you are working full time, people coming in off the street and like being able to help them. Yeah. And I'm, I'm definitely from a small town and I love the our offices in the rural areas. Like we have an office in Eugene which is the second largest metro city, and Oregon. But if you go to that office, you'll see it's like in kind of a community, the community feel where you still have that walk in and, you know, the neighbors and you talk to people in the parking lot. And it was Michael was really and they originally when I bought them, they were over in a big office park where you didn't see anybody around you like there was no walk in. Yeah. When up an elevator into an office park. And and they still were selling and it was working for them. But I, I think I like that for a little bit for an office and and even in West Linn though, that's a bigger metro area like we are in like. The regional when it was. The regional general store in the old town of West, it's like very country town and yeah, the. City. Yeah. No, I love that one. And it just also we get to participate because we are like working with the local community. And so it's nice to see them outside in real estate transactions, like doing other things with them like trick or treating and things like that. Like they all come up and down the main street and we're out there participating a lot. And I love that. Those are still like my favorite part of it. It's been participating in the when we do the parades and we do the downtown and Candy head out when we get out. And we are with the community and we used to do downtown cleanups and we and then while we need to go and kind of got rid of a lot of our, Things of the community event and. The community events. Yeah, they're coming back. We've Artwalk them in here, and Lincoln City participates in a lot of stuff, and then we just opening up and kill them off, and that has a very hometown feel to it. And when like, we've been, you have the county fairs just down the street when that happens, like there's just a lot of, like community events in an. Office to them. We've had, you know, food trucks, they come in the parking lot and things that we wouldn't get if we were in the bigger metro area. It's not that I'm completely opposed to going into those areas. Are I that. Part of real estate? I think it's lost a lot of times the bigger, even though I know there's agents that still have a wonderful community that they build inside that, that I love the tradition of real estate, where once you just walk in the door and people walk in our door, that they're not going to buy houses. They don't know. What's the best restaurant out here? Yeah. Where's their local tax account? Where can I get, you know, where's the next, you know, charger station for. My for my electric car. Like, I mean, we get all kinds of questions like ice cream. Yeah. Where's we're doing ice cream or coffee. Yeah. And I feel like the. Real estate agencies used to be like the hub of information, because the realtor knew everything. Like, yeah, you knew the whole county. You knew where everything was. You had a Thomas guy. Do you find hard for you to know about it? Right. It. Yeah, we used to actually we used to order every year. It was thousands and thousands of city maps. Oh, yeah. We started that. Used the city mouth. We would brand the whole back and it with our agents that were in the office, and people would come to our office to get the city maps. And then when people would come into town that were just tourists around, yeah, we would circle things for them to visit on the map. And we all knew what the map really. Well. Yeah. And it's probably not that long ago. Yeah. And now nobody really adds that anymore. I mean, people still walk in the door and ask where to go for things. Yeah, for a bank. Yeah. Colleen doesn't like cash deposits. They leave with other. But I think they, you know, it just depends on. Like the individual agent of what they're looking for out of a company. But I definitely keep having our small town deal and our old traditional training models and coaching. We, we still have, the biggest tech stocks of any of the companies around. That's what's great about being part of the bigger brand is like they do take, you know, they have great national commercials, they have a big connection, they have all of that. But then we get to decide this franchise is how we're going to run our local branches. And if we want to keep up that traditional model and use the technology on the side, think you can have all the technology available to you in the world? And if you can't go and talk to people and build relationships, then that will be successful. Yeah for sure. And I agree with you. Like the one thing I love about this job is being the connector is knowing all those things. Like that's also why I wanted to do a podcast, because I was like, I know so many amazing people with amazing stories, and I like connecting them with other people. And that's just like, I kind of wish we had a map where I could be like, go check that out. You could probably be happy. Won't be doing this and drawing. I mean, I ordered 50 of them. These are Rachel's maps. Yeah. And there hasn't always been Google Maps on people's phones. They start coming. In and out. Yeah, but, you know, we would still love to come in and. You know, look for they come in for. The properties. I remember actually one. Of my biggest, most successful things when I would advertise what I would advertise in our local real estate guide and people would come in every day to get those and put an ad, and then people would just call you, like, you get a listing and you get 50 calls off that listing of the real estate guy. And it's really sad. Like that's completely gone away. I mean, I think it still exists, but like that opportunity for people to call you off an ad in a magazine just went away like, yeah, I can please be changed. Totally. Yeah. I was actually in our Newburgh office the other day, and someone came in because we had the wine magazine, because we're in wine country and we had a wine magazine and the window that came on and. Like, can I come? I'm like, yeah, sure, take it. But it was like a list of all the wineries only and stuff too. So to your point, people still, like, poked their head in just to be like, hey, can. I list, you know, sometimes we. Do come for the wine. That's like, yeah, wine, touring maps in the magazine. And but I like to having that that being a storefront that people can stop for information. Yeah. For the season agent. That's like ready, like they're just kind of feeling stale and like, I want my business to go to the next level. What would be something you would say to them or prompt them to, like, make a move in a different way? I think get everybody's business is individual. Like, I mean, there might be a seasoned agent that's doing ten transactions a year or maybe a season, and you're doing 30 and you want to do 50. Kind of depends on where they're at. But, you know. So let's just say, like if you are a seasoned agent that does averages 20 transactions a year, but you're ready. To go to 40. What would you tell them to, like build their business or to take their business at the next. Level? Why look at what they were doing already? Like I'm like, okay, where did your 20 deals come from? You know, and usually it's, you know, they've depending on if they've been buying leads or if they've been working in their sphere and their database and what opportunities have available for them. So I go through anybody before I give them any I mean, I get free advice all that, but. I usually have them do a business. Plan. You know, if you were asking me in the elevator. I'm gonna have you fill out five years or nine years and then you just, like, roll it out. But I would start by asking questions. Of, what are you doing now? Like, what are you doing now to get business and where where's your business coming from right now? And then how what other opportunities available to you? Because most agents like they usually have a 1 or 2 ways that they're getting business. But you usually their social networking within their sphere. Or maybe they're. Buying leads or maybe they've got a little bit of farming going, or maybe they have a referral source from there. A lot of people, they're significant others and a lot of referrals from whatever industry they're in. And so as I usually like to try and get them to add another pillar to grow their business with and so if they want to dabble it, like, okay, if you have a big sphere of influence and you're not really doing anything with the right now, but you're getting organic referrals from them just because you're friendly and they know you and like you, trust you. What would happen if we took your database and sphere of 600 people and actually started marketing? Do you know direct marketing? Yeah. And cultivating that into better relationships and asking them if they had referrals for you because each one of those people know another hundred people, right? So are all of them giving you referrals or are they just calling you when they think about what they need? And so it depends on the agent and really what they're doing. And I certainly not any agents come with me that all their businesses come from is buying leaves, and they never cultivate those relationships into more referrals down the road or repeat business. And some of them have huge database that they're like, you know, I send them a Christmas card. Yeah. But I'm like, well, what if you send them more than a Christmas card? Like, what are you are. In front of them more? What if you develop that relationship more and usually you can double an agent's business just by kind of digging into what opportunities are already available. Like, I don't like it. Tell an agent to buy a lead because I don't think that that's the organic way of life ending a relationship, even though it works great for some people. I do believe in like direct mail marketing and, agents getting out, just talking to people, man. Sometimes cold calling, sometimes working. Yeah, I've I've had them. You know, we've. Had great success with people that have had their listings expire. And look at SL and they're like, well, they didn't do any marketing. The pictures were horrible. It was overpriced. Or you know, they didn't do anything to market your property. We have an agent that will actually market your property in, make sure the pictures are professionally taken, do video on it and write, extra things that will get the property sold. And so, I mean, there's so many avenues in which they can grow their business. If someone was like, hey, I like what I'm hearing and I want to like, explore a professional group where I'm interested. Lucy also does coaching for agents that aren't like in our offices. How would someone get in touch with you? Do they just contact you through the website or call one of our offices? They call any of the offices and ask for this in their van. They're getting it directly to me. My my personal phone is still out there. You can Google it. We're not putting it on the client. Yeah, I can if you want. I kind of I, I my social media. You can contact me through my social media. Yeah that's. True. But no I or I'm going to be like call Michelle. Yeah. Just to show that it's 2 to 3 months apart for us. And. Yeah. And our kids love to play together. So yeah, you're speaking all the facts for sure. Well, thank you so much for sharing all that information today for like agents and how agents can grow and a little bit about owning a brokerage and what that looks like. I really appreciate you for coming on. And I'd like to say cheers. Cheers. Thank you. See you next time.