Josh Rogers: Faith, Family and Freedom

REE#179

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Tracy Hayes: Welcome back to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast. Today I have one of the most respective leads in Florida. He's an outstanding YouTube channel moving to St. John's County, Florida. In the most recent years, he has led a very successful team with EXP, but recently made a move that we'll hear about today.

Tracy Hayes: He has become an influencer. Of the real estate industry with his commitment to video and creative lead generation. Let's welcome Josh Rogers to the show.

Josh Rogers: Whoo, man. Can you wake me up with that introduction every morning on my morning alarm? Um,

Tracy Hayes: I, I probably would have had even more in depth coverage here.

Tracy Hayes: Your LinkedIn's a little thin. I just thought that's, that's usually my home run to go and like. and get some, uh, background, but we'll fill it all in here on the [00:01:00] show, but Josh, I appreciate you coming on and wanting to get you on. I know you took a nice trip here at the end of the summer. Um, and, and I had a little side sabbatical myself.

Tracy Hayes: So, uh, uh, got away from it for a little bit of a back and I'm really interested. Uh, and the new things you got going on and what's, what you got, what you got planned for 24. And I think a lot of agents, uh, I'm trying to remember, I think it was at the landmark title, I heard you on a panel. Um, and I want to kind of bring out a couple of things there that you said, uh, that resonated with me that I think will resonate with a lot of, um, agents.

Tracy Hayes: But I was on your Facebook site as I. Uh, stock, everyone's, uh, social media channels before the show, Savannah bananas. Yes. You bought a bunch of tickets. Tell us what, tell us what you're

Josh Rogers: doing there. So have you, do you know anything about Savannah bananas other than

Tracy Hayes: I am told they're like the Harlem Globetrotters, but

Josh Rogers: a baseball.

Josh Rogers: Yeah, that's a great, yeah, that is a great description. The Savannah bananas in actually one of my top five books, it's called fans first. So the owner of the Savannah bananas. Wrote this book fans first. I [00:02:00] get get up to you because it speaks to business in such an amazing new fresh way And so if we're all kind of being honest baseball is kind of boring Unless you really really love it and even if you do love it, sometimes it can drag out and so he looked at baseball as just being outdated and Irrelevant and so he took a fan's first approach and he said let's make baseball the most amazing experience ever in entertainment.

Josh Rogers: And so he created the Savannah Bananas, and it's impossible to describe it. It's just something you have to go and experience. So you've been to one of their games? I've been to a couple of them before. We have a close friend on our team that has the has a guy that has a guy. So that's how we're able to score these, these tickets that are very hard to come across.

Josh Rogers: But Tracy, I'd highly recommend you go and experience it because to compare it to baseball is an insult. It is the most extreme, extravagant, uh, sporting event and pre, uh, uh, presentation you've ever experienced.

Tracy Hayes: Well, what's amazing is, I actually, when I first thought of [00:03:00] it, I was like, I thought it was, you know, like our jumbo shrimp here in town.

Tracy Hayes: I thought it was just a minor league team in Savannah. And then someone said, no, no, no, this, these are, This is entertainment, like the Harlem Load Trotters type of thing. And I was looking at the ticket pri I mean, these guys are drawing some ticket prices. It's hard to get

Josh Rogers: those tickets. You're exactly right.

Josh Rogers: And they sell out of every game since 2017. Uh, and they sell more merch than most of the major league. Yeah, wow,

Tracy Hayes: that that's amazing. So you bought a group of tickets, uh, bring your team, some clients. What's what's your families.

Josh Rogers: So we, we, we're able to get 60 tickets, which is just enough to, to take care of our, our team members and their families and the kids.

Tracy Hayes: Awesome. Awesome. Uh, great treat. I think it's, they're cool. Is it next month? They're coming. When is it? They're coming into correct? Yeah.

Josh Rogers: Yeah. Just just about

Tracy Hayes: a month from now. Um, so yeah, you have to, uh, everyone goes Savannah bananas, uh, website there. Call out to them. Uh, we'll have to tag them on all the, uh,

Josh Rogers: they should sponsor this podcast.

Josh Rogers: That

Tracy Hayes: sounds like a great idea. Get some, get some, uh, swag anyway. Um, Pensacola. [00:04:00] That's where I grew up. That's probably one of the only bits of information I got on your past. And you met your wife here. Tell us a little bit about that. And, and, you know, what was your kind of initial, you know, visions for a career?

Tracy Hayes: Cause I don't think everyone thinks real estate when they're 18 years old.

Josh Rogers: You're exactly right. Wow. We're going way back. You've done your

Tracy Hayes: homework. You're not, you're new. I'm older than you. So go ahead.

Josh Rogers: So I grew up in Pensacola and my wife and I are high school sweethearts. We went to homecoming and in 10th grade and then we went to prom our senior year.

Josh Rogers: And so at college, uh, that's when she actually came over here to Jacksonville to go to nursing school. And then I followed over here to Jacksonville about a year and a half later. And we got married in 20, uh, when I was, uh, So I'm going to read the quote. Let's see what it says. It says, I don't

Tracy Hayes: know how you have the energy to have, but you are younger than me.

Tracy Hayes: So hang on to that. Um, so from so career wise, you, you were, [00:05:00] you, you moved over here. So I imagine, you know, you're a young person. Did you have a career at that time or just found some work? What was what

Josh Rogers: Yeah, it's interesting. So everything is about relationships and that is now looking back. I can connect the dots so clearly and so while I was in college and partying and wasting a lot of time in college, the relationships is what led me to an internship with Pulte Homes.

Josh Rogers: Oh, and so yeah, in college I was one of their Their interns serving the salespeople coffee and running their errands and opening the models and turning on the lights Just everybody's do boy, right? And that was my foot into this world of real estate and when I realized how the the earning potential for agents were on site I said I don't see anything that even can, you know, hold a match to

Tracy Hayes: this.

Tracy Hayes: What can be more fun than sitting in a shiny model?

Josh Rogers: And you are not kidding. Yeah. And so I was incredibly fortunate and grateful. So what time period are we talking about here? You're yeah. So that's 20 to 2004, 2005.

Tracy Hayes: Okay. So [00:06:00] before we. building comes to a halt. Correct. Right. So how long are you hanging with

Josh Rogers: Pulte?

Josh Rogers: Yeah, so I'm with Pulte and Lenar for about seven years. So when I graduated in 06, I just went right into on site sales as a model, model salesperson.  uh, and I, my career with on site new construction was seven years. Well, I gotta ask

Tracy Hayes: the obvious question, because, uh, you know, most people, what are you doing as a new construction?

Tracy Hayes: Because it literally, you know, I tell people I've mentioned on the show before when researching why can, you know, construction prices went up so much and, you know, started in 19 2019 and 20. It was because building basically came to a halt. We went below of the 50 years prior to 2008. It went below that, any low that we had, how do you survive as a site agent, you know, during, I mean, I imagine, you know, eight, nine and 10, right?

Tracy Hayes: Yeah, yeah.

Josh Rogers: Well, the beautiful thing is, is I [00:07:00] never experienced the massive success. So literally when I hit the sales floor, it was around Oh 8, 0 9. Okay. So I came in at the bottom and, and in a good way, I didn't have a high cost of living because I was right outta school. Mm-Hmm. . And so to make, to earn 30, 40, $50,000 a year for a college graduate was fantastic.

Josh Rogers: Yeah. And so I didn't experience the highs, therefore I didn't know what I was missing. Now I saw everyone else earn it, but then a lot of them. Got in big trouble because they're over leveraged, right? So I legitimately started at the bottom serving coffee. And I, and then when I hit the sales floor, I started at the bottom of the market.

Josh Rogers: So for me, I was just grateful and I just earned my stripes all the way

Tracy Hayes: up. What are some of the things you look? back then or whether you, uh, because I imagine obviously you had some sales training or maybe you, you were hanging out with some of these successful site agents at the time. Um, some of the things that you grasped then, whether it was, uh, [00:08:00] something they were doing or something you look back on, say, Oh, we definitely don't want to do that.

Tracy Hayes: You know, what, what are some things you learned during that

Josh Rogers: period? I just, I just wrote my original mentor that I give so much credit to, her name is Vicki Bradfold and she's been in the business forever. And so she's the one that grabbed me as a college kid and just. Uh, but showed me the level of excellence and professionalism that she expected, and that's all I knew.

Josh Rogers: And so I'm so grateful that she set the bar and the standard so high for, for me. So much so that whenever we'd pull up to model homes, As we're walking in the parking lot, she's picking up cigarette butts And she's demonstrating and modeling that to me that the details matter And even if no one else notices that level of our personal excellence is what matters

Tracy Hayes: I just made me think of you know, my wife got a uh, uh, um compliment Three or four months ago, uh, and I was actually, it was a sale she had last, last [00:09:00] August, but it was, you know, the house had been, uh, vacated, the person had actually passed away, the family took it over, and, uh, the comment was, you know, that she was still picking the weeds.

Tracy Hayes: Even after you know, I think so a lot of people. I got a contract. I'm good I'm I'm gonna ride this the next three four weeks till closing when she was out still out there Picking the weeds in the yard and how I mean how much of a difference does that make? I mean because I think you can make it without doing it for Shirley Well, but over time you've been in doing this for a while.

Tracy Hayes: How has that started to snowball because your reputation? You're exactly

Josh Rogers: right. Yeah. How we do anything is how we do everything. And it's when people are not looking that it really comes down to our character and our integrity and our standards. And this is what I'm instilling into my boys now. I said, look, we don't just do the job.

Josh Rogers: We always look for opportunities to go above and beyond. So, so where everyone else may stop at the finish line. We go that [00:10:00] extra mile for our own pride and integrity. Right.

Tracy Hayes: Um, it'll, it'll, it'll pay off. Yeah. I mean, how many times, but that, I mean just during that difficult time, cause I think every agent goes through this.

Tracy Hayes: Um, you know, like, am I doing the right thing? Um, you know, cause I imagine there was times sitting in that model. It was crickets.

Josh Rogers: Yes. Yeah. So if we fast forward, this story is going to line up with exactly what you're, what you're, um, touching on. So in 2015, that's when I did have a few kids and I really was missing out on those weekends because in model homes.

Josh Rogers: You're in that model no matter what even if it is and when it is crickets And so at that moment I I I looked and I said Uh for on site, it's a fantastic thing But for the season of life it's time for me to grow and begin to build my own business And be able to choose where I want to do business and who I want to do business with and so in 2015 I jumped into general real estate, right?

Josh Rogers: And I thought I was going to kill it I thought I was gonna crush [00:11:00] it. I, I, I figured, you know, I was young, and, and very proud, and I said, a lot of people like me, and I'm a good guy, and this is gonna be easy. Right. And Tracy It was a train wreck. It was a train wreck. It was so much harder. I was completely naive to the fact that there's no shortcuts.

Josh Rogers: There's no free rides. This is a completely different ball game. And I had to start from the bottom again. And so in 2015, I remember 90 days in, I was absolutely broke. I had, and this was a culmination of. Many poor choices and ignorance and foolishness and just not being a man. I was like a grown boy and kind of stuck my head in the sand and just was putting on this show that everything was great.

Josh Rogers: All the meanwhile, the boat was quickly sinking financially. So I take full ownership with it and for it. But in 2015, I had exhausted the 401ks, paid penalties, back [00:12:00] taxes, three, four years. Um, all the loans, I had student loans, the, the car loans, I was driving a BMW and, and I was absolutely broke. I exhausted any and all savings and backup plans.

Josh Rogers: And the reality set in because now I'm getting credit calls from creditors five, six, seven times a day. And this became my prison. Because anytime this would ring, my, my heart would sink and I could feel that tangible stress of, man, these creditors are just wearing me out and the shame, the guilt and the embarrassment that I felt through that.

Josh Rogers: And my wife, my beautiful bride, she didn't have a clue to half of the doom that I was in, that I got us in. We have two, two kids, but on Facebook, you would have thought that I was living the dream. Right. And it's just so easy to put on this mask for everyone to think that we're, we're great and [00:13:00] we want to impress them all the meanwhile, we're drowning, you know, in our own isolation.

Josh Rogers: Did you feel

Tracy Hayes: you left, you left Pultene 15 ish? Yeah. I mean, were you, were you just kind of cruising along? Was, were you, did you feel you were at a peak that gave you this confidence to make this jump into the, um, I don't know, what do you want to call it? Yeah, retail. I mean, what do you, what do I general general real estate?

Tracy Hayes: We'll use the general real estate. I mean, what, what was it that, that gave you the concept, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to cut the umbilical cord or was it just the, Hey, I need to take some weekends. Cause now my kids, you know what your oldest would have been six, seven years old. Right. Come on. Right,

Josh Rogers: right.

Josh Rogers: Yeah. Yeah. So, so good for a kind of. Finding that gap, there was about a year and a half to two year gap before leaving Pulte into jumping into full time general real estate. So I kind of was like doing like a home based business network marketing thing and then just playing, you know, just, just kind of squandering.

Josh Rogers: I was, I was not working. Right. And so that two [00:14:00] years of just negligence is what got me into that position. And so it all came to a head on a, uh, and in 2015, 8 O'clock at night on a Monday night. My wife and I are sitting in our living room and the kids are in bed and we hear this knock knock on the front door.

Josh Rogers: And we're thinking, are you expecting anybody because people don't pop by anymore. When you and I were younger, you know, people would pop in and it was normal, but now you don't expect a unexpected guest shot at. You're exactly right. I was like, whoa, maybe we need to turn off the light. So Sarah goes up and answers the door, and it's this, this deputy that's serving papers, lawsuit papers, from all my creditors that I just haven't been paying, and that's when, that's when it was just like, man, a punch in the gut of like, okay.

Josh Rogers: I've been exposed like there's no more head in the sand and I need to either I got to do something I got to grow up and be a man and so at that moment that was the [00:15:00] moment and I fessed up to Sarah just just the dismal situation that I've gotten ourselves in so the next day I woke up and I said I'm gonna treat this like a full blown career and do anything and everything I got to do to to get my get out of this right everybody was saying I should file bankruptcy, but Uh, a really close friend, Matt Plummer, he's been my best friend and mentor through this whole process.

Josh Rogers: He's like, man, you could, you could file bankruptcy and, and that is, you know, a tool for some situations. He's like, but if you do it, you may miss the lesson in the pain and in the journey. And you may not reestablish those, the different behaviors and habits. And he's like, why don't, it took you a while to get here.

Josh Rogers: Why don't you just give yourself some time to, to grow out of it? So that's what we did. Interesting. Yeah. And so I jumped into, um, you know, cold calls, door knockings, open houses, you know, the triple line dialer where I'm doing, you know, hundreds and hundreds of dials a day, uh, open houses on Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Sundays.

Josh Rogers: No,

Tracy Hayes: it wasn't. It wasn't the XP. [00:16:00] You know, if you want to mention the broker or wherever you went with, that's always a question I always have is why, because you're getting back in the real estate, right? Right. What? Who do you choose to partner up with? Because I, you know,

Josh Rogers: a broker. Yeah, it was, it was fantastic.

Josh Rogers: So, so I started with, uh, Howard Flashin and Keith Francis at Roundtable. And those guys are amazing. Their families are amazing. And that was the perfect, you know, family for me to come in and be a part of. It was great. Uh, and so that's where that's, that was where I started. And as I grew through that first year, I, uh, linked, I locked arms with, um, Laurie Michkowski.

Josh Rogers: Who was the broker and team leader of Keller Williams. Okay. So Keller Williams in the Jacksonville office and, and Keller Williams gave me a lot of the tips, trainings, coachings, and the game plan and productivity coaching. So coaching for me is it's at the top because coaching comes in, it shines a light on the blind spots.

Josh Rogers: It reveals to you [00:17:00] your, your tendencies, your weaknesses. Um, where we become defensive, you know, a good coach just leans into that and it makes you better.

Tracy Hayes: I assume your experience humbled you a little bit. Um, because I think if someone, you know, had spent six, seven years with Pulte and even though you took a little couple of years and went back, you're like, well, I, you know, you could have come in with the arrogant attitude that you know it already, right?

Tracy Hayes: I've sold houses, you know, whatever. Um, but you. humbled yourself, uh, you know, and how important was it to go with like that Keller Williams and get that coaching? Because I, one thing I always like to get across on the show is, you know, if there's a new agent watching this, or maybe someone, um, you know, uh, who maybe chose the wrong broker, don't even realize they're not with the wrong broker.

Tracy Hayes: They're not growing. They're not having success. Maybe this has been Moving along, uh, and just making it where there's, you know, there is an abundance in this, uh, industry if you go after it, but the importance of, of getting with that right brokerage and you accepted the coaching [00:18:00] that how important that was,

Josh Rogers: it was everything.

Josh Rogers: It was the difference between success and failure. And I didn't humble myself, man. I was humbled in spite of myself and, and in that desperation, I was open to anything. And so through that Keller Williams, the people in Keller Williams and the, and the atmosphere that they, uh, created. I came in and I'm like, okay, what I've been doing is not working.

Josh Rogers: Just, if you know what works, just tell me and I'm going to do it. Right. And it, and it was hard

Tracy Hayes: work. So. That first 12 months you're back in it. You're doing with the door knocking, you're doing the open houses. Are you seeing the needle move? What's what's happening for you?

Josh Rogers: Yeah, I made an ultimatum to myself in that January that if I don't do six deals within 30 days, I need to either go back to the builder or go get just a regular job.

Josh Rogers: And I got the six deals, Six deals in 30 [00:19:00] days. And that was a breath of just life. Proof of concept and it was hard, man. Like it was incredibly uncomfortable, incredibly hard, demanding, exhausting, but it worked. And all I needed to know is that this is going to work as long as I work and I got the right team that's coaching me along.

Josh Rogers: So the first 12 months I burn out. But I, I had to do what I had to do. I just needed influx of oxygen and cash. Right. And, and so basically, you know, I told Sarah and my kids, I'm like, Hey, daddy's got to go to work. All right. And so like cancel anything and everything. Don't expect me at, you know, the family functions because I got, got to go.

Josh Rogers: So the end of that first year, it's crazy to say this out loud because now looking back, it's. Unbelievable, but I did 27 deals that first year Um, which was just an absolute game changer. Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Yeah, what [00:20:00] we're Um, because I imagine you kind of lost You know, what was your circle of influence at that time?

Tracy Hayes: What was your, you know, because those, those are easy touches to call friends or families or know if, Hey, I'm in real estate, you know, you do your, your regular touches, the people, you know, but you had to go out and find people you didn't know that were ready to do a real estate transaction.

Josh Rogers: Had to fast forward.

Josh Rogers: Yeah. Cause the, the sphere and the referrals takes time. So I just had to do it all. And a lot of that was the cold call, the circle prospecting, the FSBOs, the expires, and the open houses. The open houses were huge for me.

Tracy Hayes: What, uh, let's, let's, let's talk, let's teach a little bit on that. What were some things that, and maybe you still do today, uh, I think everyone's always, everyone should be always trying to improve, you know, tweak it a little bit better, but what were you doing at that time do you think that it worked for you?

Josh Rogers: Well, open houses specifically was just, it's the, it's, it's a full court press. It's not doing one open house a week and hoping that that's the one that you're [00:21:00] going to catch a fish in. So it was open house. Saturday morning, open house, Saturday afternoon. So four different listings, not my listings. I didn't have any business open house, Sunday, midday, Sunday afternoon.

Josh Rogers: Because even if you do an open house window for just an hour, the people that are in the market that are real buyers with real money, they generally show up at an open house, right? When it opens, no reason to hang out for three or four hours, I can do. Two open houses within the same time, because generally after the first 30 minutes of an open house starting, then it's just random.

Josh Rogers: Looky lose who happens to neighbor finally makes

Tracy Hayes: it over.

Josh Rogers: Yeah. And so they don't have a sense of urgency. A lot of times they're not the real legit true buyers. And so before those open houses,

Tracy Hayes: you learned, or did you pick that up? Did you hear that from someone else? I said, Ooh, that's,

ah,

Josh Rogers: yeah, it was trial and error.

Josh Rogers: And then it was affirmed through. Through experience, and then I've seen some people [00:22:00] say that as well. But yeah, open houses, I would say hour, hour and a half max, you know, to be very strategic.

Tracy Hayes: You know, being a new agent, you just said, Hey, I'll split the time with you. I'll take the first hour. You take the second hour type of thing.

Tracy Hayes: Or how, how did you, yeah. However, how did you finagle your way in to get that first hour? Yeah.

Josh Rogers: Um,

Tracy Hayes: and then actually leave instead of actually staying there the whole time.

Josh Rogers: The expectation with the sellers is our open house is an hour. And so, you know, that is just us leading and counseling the seller. So it's just an hour and the listing agent, they don't want to do open houses.

Josh Rogers: You know, so I would go to, you know, the CC's and the Christina Welch's and say, Hey, got any houses that you'd like to have an open house? And they love that. So I was able to get out there and then also door knock the neighbors beforehand, invite them to the open house and just get conversations going.

Josh Rogers: And that circle prospecting is circle prospecting the neighborhood, inviting the neighborhood to an open house. So it's a [00:23:00] very natural, easy kind of conversation to have with cold calls. Hey, this is Josh. I'm helping one of your neighbors, you know, sell her house. I just want to invite you to stop in into the open house and, and so that's what they initially perceive there is the reason you're calling.

Josh Rogers: And then at the end of that call, you say, Hey, shot in the chart, shot in the dark. You're not thinking about moving in the next year or so. Yeah. And you wouldn't believe if you make enough calls, you're going to get somebody that hesitates and they're like, Yeah, it's weird that you called. We, my wife and I were just talking about it last night.

Josh Rogers: And all you need is one.

Tracy Hayes: Would you, I know you would agree with this, but because you, you know, we'll talk about your YouTube channel eventually, but because you've, you've gotten very, um, uh, hyper, uh, local and, and right into some of these communities and creating videos and so forth. Um, but I, I would say it's probably the biggest thing that I've seen in the last couple of years is the amount of referrals that come from people in the neighborhood, inviting their friends or cousins or whatever.

Tracy Hayes: Say, hey, if you're moving from Michigan, you need to come live here in Beacon lakes or whatever. You know, I mean, that should, I would imagine that started to [00:24:00] really grow for you and what you're, what you're talking about. And I don't think agents really tap into it as obviously you saw probably great success and continue success.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah,

Josh Rogers: you're so right. And when you, when you're new. And you don't have any business, just tapping into someone else's kind of, you know, flow of business is just a good way to get started and that creates momentum. At least it gives you something to build off of. And so then when I was in the open houses, I was shooting content, doing videos, putting it out on social media because the name of the game is, is the agent that knows the most amount of people and interacts with them is going to win.

Josh Rogers: Very good

Tracy Hayes: advice right there. That's a real right there. We'll have to cut that But but it's so true that's what social media is allow us to leverage right I mean to open You know, obviously I get asked commonly, you know, why I do the podcast. Well every agent that comes on Now I'm sticking this, this video over onto their page and all their [00:25:00] friends and family see it.

Tracy Hayes: Right. And now I've entered into their circles as well. That's wonderful. Yeah.

Josh Rogers: And, and I have to give you credit for your consistency, your focus, your follow through, and your commitment. It's incredible. Like what you have done is absolutely incredible and it's a ton of work. I appreciate

Tracy Hayes: job, appreciate I, I appreciate it.

Tracy Hayes: It, it being recognized. I'm, I'm, I, you, you flattered me. I'm gonna turn around. Okay. , um. Let's, I mean, cause this, this could go on for a little, uh, a little bit, maybe. I don't know. I think, I think, um, when I talk about brokerage changes from just an agent changing brokerages, um, you know, typically it's because.

Tracy Hayes: You know the broker they're at maybe was good at one time. Maybe they what value they saw But one of the challenges as you know as a team lead For to run a team or run a brokerage You got to be out in front and be continuing adding value to the troops that are following you You have recently decided to move to real.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah, you know, what's their [00:26:00] reaction with your is the whole team coming over? I have seen some Recent moves were not the whole team moved with the team. Yeah, interesting. So, how that, how that happened, but yeah, give us the story behind that and your reasoning of moving, going from EXP to real. Great. Yeah.

Josh Rogers: It's, this is in different stages of life, we have different vehicles depending on what our goals are. And so personally, you know, there was a stage in my life in college when I drove a volkswagen bus It was two tone yellow And it was fantastic Four speed manual and with no ac and no heat And that served me at that stage of life And then the next stage was a pickup truck and then the next stage was was was And and that's how I view brokerages.

Josh Rogers: They're vehicles depending on what we need and what our goals are And so kelly williams taught me how to Build a business and not just sell another home Keller williams taught me how to act and think like a ceo And hire to my weaknesses [00:27:00] and focus on my highest producing activities And I mean and i'm so grateful for keller williams.

Josh Rogers: They really paved the path for the whole real estate industry and then after that I felt like I had consumed most of that value from keller williams as the model and then also the people I surrounded myself with And we are near the upper echelon of the pond that we were in. We're kind of like the bigger fish in the, the pond.

Josh Rogers: And that's when I said, okay, I don't like being the bigger fish because then that means that I'm not able to grow nor are our team. And so that's when we transitioned to EXP. And I feel like EXP was the new Keller Williams, paving a new path, doing things differently and innovating. And it put me in a, in a pond with massive fish.

Josh Rogers: And as a result, it allowed me to grow. And now we find ourselves here, like literally, Tracy, tomorrow, tomorrow, we're pushing the red button. And I am going to be You've got a lot of stuff to

Tracy Hayes: change on your social media. You're

Josh Rogers: not kidding. The whole week has been [00:28:00] consumed, but tomorrow I'm officially making the announcement, um, that our team has moved to Reel.

Josh Rogers: And I feel for us, it is the next, uh, step. Above, beyond where we've been. And the reason I made the decision for real is I look through the eyes of the agents on my team. And I said, if it doesn't benefit them, give them more opportunity, allowed them to build a better business, better quality of life and enjoy it.

Josh Rogers: Then we're not doing it. Right. This is not something where Josh is going to benefit off the backs of, you know, the team agents. And so your team could just, yeah, absolutely. And I even, and I even sent out this, this solid email. I said, look, if there's not unity, If anyone is unsure or hesitant or unclear, that means we all need to just tap pause.

Josh Rogers: We're not going to do this. You are in charge of your own career and I'm not going to make, I'm not going to presume that you're just going to move brokerages because. I'm moving brokerages and everyone not only we're in is in unity, but they're fired up [00:29:00] man Like I have seen this sense of excitement and pride coming into a new model that I've never seen before and so they're posting on social media now as we see and they're like Buying merch and like like we're already planning to go to you know, inner circles masterminds right advance.

Josh Rogers: It's it's really exciting.

Tracy Hayes: So let's Step back in the process when obviously reels been out Actually, I was actually watching the video. It was created in 2014, but really didn't start to to take on until about 2020 I've

Josh Rogers: had and you certainly do your homework. Yeah,

Tracy Hayes: I did a few minutes there watching because I well I just want to make sure I I because it's technically called real Broker, of course, you see that I was actually trying to figure out how to make the l backwards on our thing But I I didn't have time to figure that out but anyway, um There's some Actually some influencers on Instagram.

Tracy Hayes: I know, you know, we talked about yesterday You know pre show, [00:30:00] you know a couple people locally, but it hasn't really Taken off here in Jacksonville as type of thing yet, which it will now because you're gonna bring it to the forefront, uh, with you, the influence that you have. Um, but what, who introduced you?

Tracy Hayes: Did you go to a conference or something? Did someone grab you or someone just, you just got a call one day and decide, okay, I'll listen to you. I mean, when do you start to plant the seed that this, let me dig deeper into real.

Josh Rogers: Yeah, great question. It was put on my radar about a year ago, just, uh, you know, seeing and, and relationships, but the, the core inner circle that I had been part of EXP over the past six to seven years, Uh huh.

Josh Rogers: That has just radically improved my life and my, my quality of life and my business. So that inner circle, they had seen the opportunity, made the decision to move to real for many different reasons. And that's what opened my eyes to say, okay, these are smart people. They're friends. I respect them. They've poured into me.

Josh Rogers: Why don't I take a look at it as [00:31:00] well? So that happened about a month ago. Now, it's so important, Tracy, to, to also hear that just because someone else made a decision doesn't mean that I was just going to follow or blindly follow or feel obligated. And so in the interim, the past three weeks, I've literally met and spoken with about six to seven other high quality brokerages here locally, um, with a lot of the past friends, um, that I've, I've been in contact with the industry.

Josh Rogers: And my takeaway is The people in our, here in our market are awesome. Like they are so solid and so awesome and I respect all of them. And each company has their value that they bring to agents. And I can see where it could be incredibly important to some agents. And Whereas another agent for what they need and want a different model would fit them.

Josh Rogers: Mm hmm. But I definitely want to make sure that I saw as many of the top models as possible. So then whenever I, if I made a decision, I made the right decision for our team [00:32:00] And we landed with real

Tracy Hayes: yeah The I want to I have some people that I chat with they think you know obviously the Things we're dealing with right now, um, in the market, market changing, uh, which has been kind of changing for about 18 months now, you know, we're, you know, last year was when I was listening to, uh, a comment, someone was saying, um, uh, actually it was David Heaton was making a comment cause it was actually, uh, it was actually a real, I just put it on LinkedIn cause I had him over here the other day and we're talking about the marketplace and how last year there was, he said, yes, some leader in the market said, thought that rates were going to go below five.

Tracy Hayes: Last year and he said, no, it ain't gonna happen. And so we're, we're having to deal with those, those changes. Did you feel real was going to, or EXP wasn't moving forward or real was moving faster? Great

Josh Rogers: question, man. You are. In it's really impressive, you know, as you're, you're working through on the [00:33:00] fly with our conversation, your insightful questions.

Josh Rogers: A lot of people don't have that, that talent. Appreciate it. Uh, it makes it, it makes it for a meaningful conversation. Um, had this not been put on my radar from my inner circle moving. I was as happy as could be with the XP. I didn't have any pain points, nor did I feel like I was lacking anything. EXP has been so good to us and, and I'm, I'm forever grateful because it introduced me to that inner circle.

Josh Rogers: And so this is true. I had my off boarding call with the XP yesterday and I said, no complaints. If, uh, if real didn't exist, I would still be as happy as could be. Staying with the XP. And so this is moving forward. This is, um, skating towards the, where the puck is headed. And we feel like real is a massive opportunity and incredibly, uh, exciting.

Josh Rogers: And the leadership is so the sleeves up and so in touch with the agent that that gets us excited.

Tracy Hayes: That, uh, [00:34:00] analogy right there, you know, the leadership being involved. Uh, I mean, that's as great as we just mentioned earlier, the greatest challenge of a team lead, a broker, you know, if you're, or you're all the way up the top level of EXP or, or real or Keller Williams, you have got this, you, this.

Tracy Hayes: Uh, industry is changing all the time. You really don't have time to settle back. Now, you can grow your insightful team to help you stay in front, um, versus being the only person you feel you got to go out and sprint every day, right, to stay ahead. But what, what are a couple of things, you know, uh, tangible, you know, rubber to the road stuff that you feel real is doing that it, that is.

Tracy Hayes: Moving going to take you to the next level, right?

Josh Rogers: We had a zoom call with the ceo, uh, and And he was just so down to earth and relatable with, um, connecting with my operations person and I, and he was saying that they had built this company on a [00:35:00] foundation differently than any other real estate company.

Josh Rogers: And it's built on a foundation and we hear the word tech. Thrown around a lot loosely and a lot of times it's smoke and mirrors. Um, but what we are already experiencing is the speed of business and convenience that we are experiencing within two days with real. Is like nothing we've ever experienced before.

Josh Rogers: And so the tech is whenever, uh, I mean, you're managing your entire business from an app. It's not a big clunky website. Uh, and then this app is going to integrate with consumer facing apps. What's really exciting with us agents is, uh, through the technology, it's very media focused and you'll see so much on social media.

Josh Rogers: Instagram and YouTube, how real has just absolutely adopted and mastered video, social media marketing. And there's a ton of influencers that are teaching the agents how to be relevant and not get left behind. And then this is, this is.[00:36:00]

Josh Rogers: Real has jumped into the financial tech space. You'll hear that referred to as FinTech. And so they have a real debit card that your commissions can automatically get loaded to. And then you can accumulate, uh, points and bonuses and offers, and even a form of credit that you can take alone against stock that you're accumulating against revenue share that you're accumulating and commission checks that are in the hopper, you can go ahead and use this FinTech card as a way to live your life and run your business.

Tracy Hayes: So let's, it's, it's, I'm going to use that analogy to put the rubber to the road, your agent on your team. How are they, give me an example that someone listening, we just heard that, but let's give them something they can actually chew on.

Josh Rogers: So whenever you get paid your commission, it's immediately ready on your card.

Josh Rogers: And so you can go out and take your family out to a steak dinner to celebrate. Not waiting for the

Tracy Hayes: check, run it down to the, yeah.

Josh Rogers: Right, and that is a pain point. You know, two, [00:37:00] three, four, five days of waiting for your commission check, that's a massive friction point. And so, I always tell people, You can do a lot of things to salespeople, but don't mess with their money and don't make them wait on their money.

Josh Rogers: And so I think just that, that speed to getting paid is a massive part of it. As you sell homes and as you help build the company, uh, the company issues stocks. So you can buy stock at a discount and sometimes you can just earn stock as a grant. And that stock is loaded on the car that you can borrow against if you're in a pinch.

Josh Rogers: Or whatever you need.

Tracy Hayes: Do you think that the stock part is a, is a, is a big seller for the average agent? I mean, what are some, what are some, what are, what I think of your team, different people saw different values here. What are some of the things that Each one saw, well, I like the stock option or I like this.

Tracy Hayes: What, what, what are some of those?

Josh Rogers: I didn't take the stock seriously enough when I joined EXP in 2017, I thought the opportunity was [00:38:00] other areas in revenue share. It was the stock all along. It was a total sleeper. And so real, real time, multiple agents on my team had accumulated and earned hundreds of thousands of dollars through the stock with EXP.

Josh Rogers: And so then these agents are. Putting it, paying off some of their mortgage, they're buying their 16 year old, a car with a stock, they're paying off their wife's new Ford Bronco with the stock. And so now looking at real, um, I'm like, man, I'm not going to have this blind spot. Again, the stock is where it's at.

Tracy Hayes: What this is the question. I think that I think about, cause you're real. Like eXp You know, it's not the traditional brokerage where they're taking an 80 20 split or whatever they're really living off those transaction fees. Mm hmm What makes the stock so valuable for any of those companies? Why why would someone invest in really well?

Tracy Hayes: You know [00:39:00] housing market goes down that you know, it's going with it. It's not You know, and we're in a down market right now, or maybe it's a buy right now, because everyone's like, well, it can only get well, not that it's so, so bad. I mean, we, I think we're, we're blessed here in northeast Florida for the demand.

Tracy Hayes: But, um, what is the real true value in the stock? Mm-Hmm. of, of any of these

Josh Rogers: companies? Are you talking about investors in general or the agents? Uh, uh, well, it's kind of one and the

Tracy Hayes: same. Yeah. I, I would agree. One, just in general. Yeah. What, what. You know, someone who obviously bought EXP, you know, may have peaked out.

Tracy Hayes: I mean, obviously here locally, I would say, yeah, cause you know, you and Mr. Snow have both moved to different brokerages now, you know, as so the value of EXP here locally, at least as deflated, maybe it's hotter, some other places, but when you look at it and they're only living off these transaction fees, where, what is the true value?

Tracy Hayes: Where's the value? Yeah. How do you expect a growth? Uh, you know, to invest as 10 a share today and it's 25 next year, you know?

Josh Rogers: Right. Yeah, absolutely. And [00:40:00] so you'll see these companies moving into the title space, moving into the mortgage space, and then with, with a real moving into that FinTech space. So these other, uh, profit vehicles is what adds to the value of the company.

Josh Rogers: Um, and. Oh, and then just agent growth. And so while real is real, I believe is exp circa 2017. And so while exp may have, you know, hit that maturity stage and it's just kind of hovering along right now, that's why we're so, so excited about just the upward mobility of, of real, right. Um, well, and then also it's so important as an agent, I'm sorry to go.

Josh Rogers: No, go ahead. Um, so as a agent that produces well. There's opportunities within real to earn 24, 000 of stock. So you're not buying it, you're not paying for it, you actually earn it. And so for me, with eXp and real, that's, that's mind blowing. That's the equivalent of a 401k that you're not even contributing

Tracy Hayes: to.

Tracy Hayes: Right, or the employer's contribution coming [00:41:00] in. That's exactly

Josh Rogers: it. Yeah. And so now it's vested for three years, but I'm going to be in this game for a lot more than three years. Yeah. And so you look back and say, man, 24 grand of stock each year that you can earn, you know, that moves the needle.

Tracy Hayes: The FinTech side.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah, because we know technology is changing. You know, by the second and that type of thing, how, you know, you, this is a big move. I mean, you, you're all the branding. I mean, it's, it's going to cost you money to make the move and redo all your signs with cards, let alone all your, take the time with all your social media sites.

Tracy Hayes: It's a whole, uh, yo investment that you're having to take. When you're, because technology is changing all the time, and they're selling themselves, uh, sounds like primarily as a tech company, that's providing, you know, these apps and services to make your life as an agent on the ground easier, faster, like you said, the speed of business, uh, uh, Tom Reber likes to use that all the time.

Tracy Hayes: Speed of, you know, the speed of business, which is, I [00:42:00] mean, it is true. If you don't answer the phone, they're calling somebody else. You got to react quickly. So The confidence that you had to do some research because of the track record, are they, are they constantly improving? Are they better than they are last year, let alone yesterday?

Tracy Hayes: You know, as far as the tech, because I think you can get on that tech and then all of a sudden the guy who's really running it gets someone over here says, Hey, I'm going to write you a check. Come over and work for me. Right. And all of a sudden the tech starts to, you're

Josh Rogers: right. I mean, this, the speed of tech is, it's, It was five years.

Josh Rogers: Now it's three years. I mean, now the speed of tech is so fast. And so, so, I mean, that is, we, all we can do is look at the track record. And so the president of the company has built three other tech companies and had massive exits out of that. So based on his track record, you know, I'm hoping, man, we're making a, we're making a big bet on it.

Tracy Hayes: Right. Well, I mean, everyone knows I, I, My [00:43:00] first eight and a half years was at Quicken Loans and they sell themselves. Of course, Rocket today, but they sell themselves or, you know, as a technology company that does mortgages and that they pride themselves and Dan Gilbert prides himself on hiring the most, you know, cutting edge.

Tracy Hayes: And he's going to invest a lot of money in the technology because he knows the speed of business in his model of, you know, of course now it's, uh, Since refines is dissolved, you know, the online call center situation that Kind of has thinned out a little bit. You know, their call centers is not a big, if, if, if Loan Depot has pretty much closed all their call centers.

Tracy Hayes: Now they're out there like any other brokerage on the street, you know, uh, type of thing. So technology, um, now has gone back to the relationship. So I'm gonna spin this now to social media. Mm-Hmm. , uh, which is made to be social. Uh, we're there YouTube? Mm-Hmm. . I know you talk a lot about, you brought in a lot of times to talk about YouTube.

Tracy Hayes: You've, uh, you have a great YouTube channel. When, at what point, uh, you talked about in 2015, [00:44:00] realizing, creating the videos, but what point did you feel it was really like, oh man, I gotta go all in? Right?

Josh Rogers: It's when I, at the end of 2015, I told you I hit burnout. And I realized this is not sustainable, this is not conducive for my family, and this is not the life that I want.

Josh Rogers: I, we've proven you can make money, but I don't want to make it this way. This is too hard. And I realized also that I needed to duplicate myself, um, not just for location, but also time. Because I was limited with just being here with you right now in front of what each other Limited to so many hours in the day.

Josh Rogers: Yep, and I kept going back. I'm like, man, I come from new home sales and Every day people would walk into my doors the fish would jump into my boat and and Without a real estate agent So how in the world can I get those fish before they go into the model homes and I was just racking my head I was like it's it's like [00:45:00] right here They're identifying themselves.

Josh Rogers: And then I took it back just to the, the most basic fundamental in the customer's shoes. And Tracy, let me ask you this, when you think a customer walks into the model, me as a salesperson comes up and greets them, shakes their hand, I'll say, Hey, how can I help you? What do they say nine out of ten times?

Josh Rogers: I'm just looking. And I just want to look at the models. Yep. And that's what gave me the idea. And it was monumental, but it's so obvious. These people just wanted to see the model. So what if I just shot videos of the model and put them on YouTube? And this was before anybody was doing YouTube.

Tracy Hayes: Where were the builders at in this exciting?

Tracy Hayes: I know today, statistically, they know that the average buyers looked at that model so many times on online already before they even come in and seen the site agent, right? Were they even.

Josh Rogers: This was not being done by anybody, man. I'm not going to say that I was the first [00:46:00] to YouTube, but I was an early adopter because this was back in 2015, you know, right before YouTube even, even caught any traction.

Josh Rogers: So the builders are like. What are you doing? Where are you putting it? All right, like whatever, you know, do whatever you want to do And so that's what I did every day. I just go out and shoot model homes shoot communities shoot drive thru tours I I put myself through the filter of if I were a buyer And I was out of town What kind of information would I be searching for and would be helpful for me and I just just started shooting So now, uh eight years later I have 2, 600 videos on YouTube, and it's just a game of how many fishing lines can I have in the water while I'm sleeping or while I'm here with you.

Josh Rogers: I have 2, 600 other Josh Rogers working for me right now. And last night when I was sleeping at three o'clock in the morning, people were watching. People are developing a relationship with me while I'm sleeping. And when they call me, Tracy, and I say, hello, this is Josh. [00:47:00] They always say, oh my gosh, I can't believe.

Josh Rogers: You sound just like you do on your videos. We've watched 30 of your videos. And so while I don't know them, they intimately know me, and my life, and my family.

Tracy Hayes: That is one of the things I try to get across. Um, I, I've been referring almost probably on every show lately. I was interviewing a George Guerrero from Miami.

Tracy Hayes: Uh, he has R E S F. Um, he has nearly 500 agents working with him in five offices, very involved at, uh, NAR and at Florida realtor. Um, but he believes the 2000. 3444 agent is going to be that talk show host newscaster type person and with the video He's he has the same attitude Started even earlier than you did when when?

Tracy Hayes: posting a video online Took steps. Yeah, you know here now it just takes sec You could do with your phone and boom within YouTube for people to see but [00:48:00] Dig deeper. If you could tell, um, uh, you know, a colorful story to really resonate the, um, relationship building because people I've heard this, uh, statement and I've, I totally agree with it that when they see you on video and they're watching your brain does not differentiate whether we're like we're sitting here face to face versus them watching the 30 videos as if you were sitting

Josh Rogers: right in front of them.

Josh Rogers: Right. I'll prove it to you. Okay. Have you ever been watching a video? Probably actually

Tracy Hayes: made that statement. Actually, I stole that from you.

Josh Rogers: Have you ever been watching a video and you're so caught up in the person or conversation you find yourself mimicking what they're doing. So if they're smiling, you may find yourself smiling.

Josh Rogers: Yeah, you, now that it's on your radar, you realize it. And that's, that's called charisma. And that's when you feel like, Oh man, I feel like you're like. We're on the same page. We're thinking the same thing. When people say that, that means there's a connection and that is done through video and I, I can watch it with my [00:49:00] kids when they're watching a YouTube video and the person on there smiles.

Josh Rogers: I'll see them subconsciously smile. There's a connection and it's powerful. They feel like they know you. They feel like you get them. I feel like you, you know, I feel like, um, you're saying what I'm thinking and, and I would say this. That's it. Don't try to be anybody else. You and I were just talking earlier before the show about, man, this person is amazing, but they're a little too perfect.

Josh Rogers: Like I can't connect with them. And so it's okay to stutter. It's okay to have pauses. It's okay to kind of like slip up and just. Like when I slip up now, man, I never do second takes like i'm 2600 videos in I like if I do a second take i'm like forget it. I just need to you know But I will laugh at myself i'll make jokes about myself and if I slip up with a word or whatever I'll call myself out and the people appreciate that.

Josh Rogers: Yes, because they're like, oh, this is just a regular guy And that's what I always try [00:50:00] to say on my YouTube videos, because if we're not careful, we'll come across as a news reporter, which is too perfect. And when you're too perfect, there's a disconnect. There's a lack of trust. And so, Tracy, on my videos, I'll say, Hey, you guys, like, I'm sure you watched probably 20, and it's with my phone.

Josh Rogers: I shoot my videos with my phone. I'm sure you've watched 20 or 30 of my videos, and I just want to pause for a second and just let you know. I'm a real guy, alright? You'll see me at the gas station. This is not AI. Yeah, and, you know, pumping gas, so like, don't let the video create a disconnection. Like, take a second and send me a text.

Josh Rogers: Like, it's me. Yeah. And you'll be amazed by how far that goes. Yeah. To just tap a pause and like snap out of consumers consuming content, and let's get them engaged with us. One of the reels

Tracy Hayes: I posted was from a guest I had last week, uh, Deidre. She does photography and videos and that sort of thing for the listing agents and stuff.

Tracy Hayes: And it [00:51:00] was like, you know, why are agents afraid to get on video? And it's this feeling like they have to be perfect when in reality, Trust me, we're all imperfect. We all, you know, whether what we look like, we are who we are, right. And people are going to relate to you quicker in the journey of video.

Tracy Hayes: Which I'm sure we could go back to the, you know, first, whatever videos, uh, as Mr. B says, shoot a hundred videos, then go back and look at yourself. Perfect. And, and, cause you, is, is, my, my podcast, go back to the, I can go back to the first 20 podcasts and different pauses. Cause I listen to myself when I'm, you know, when it comes out on air and I'm listening, where am I pausing?

Tracy Hayes: What am I doing? Like he's made a statement cause I was actually, You finished a little early and I was thinking of another in depth question, but I, but what I've learned obviously is not to interrupt you. I don't want to interrupt you, but I'm thinking of a really, because I'm, I'm naturally, uh, inquisitive.

Tracy Hayes: I want to, you know, dig deeper, but that natural thing is why people connect with you. [00:52:00] It's not being that perfect setup or, uh, I was talking with an agent the other day. She, you could tell she's reading a script and I said, you know, They don't, you're not smiling while you're reading a script, you're, you're focused on that and not, and people want to see your facial expressions, they want to see you smile and that makes them smile.

Tracy Hayes: As you were just talking about.

Josh Rogers: Yeah, yeah, that's the number one tip I share with everyone is smile, learn how to talk and smile at the same time. Yep. And that alone will just put you at ease. But Tracy, our, what we see as our flaws and inabilities is actually our superpowers. It's just, we're so critical of ourselves.

Josh Rogers: And so I would just encourage people, give yourself grace and lean into those, what we think in abilities, because everyone else scrolling and consuming has their own inadequacies. And if they see someone else that is [00:53:00] also just vulnerable, they say, Oh, I get them. I trust them. I like them. I don't know what it is, but I like them.

Josh Rogers: So let's stop trying to wear that mask that I was wearing back in 2015. And the beautiful thing is, is when you do become a little bit more vulnerable. There's so much freedom that you can just be yourself. Yeah. Like, take a deep breath. Ah, wow, like I'm not carrying that burden anymore. Right. And you will attract more people.

Josh Rogers: Right.

Tracy Hayes: Well, I think your story earlier, you know, I'm, I'm sure you, uh, in 2015 when the sheriff showed up at the door, Sarah was like, uh, am I going to hang this dude tonight? Yeah. You know, to now, you know, uh, you're a hero to her and, and the journey that you've taken. In the last nine years, uh, and which will, you know, going to continue on and we'll, we'll have to regroup for, uh, so back to social media, uh, YouTube is a focus, but you, if I recall, um, when I saw you at landmark and you were on that panel and so forth, [00:54:00] you're creating some leads and you're doing some unique things.

Tracy Hayes: I think on the, on the Facebook page, you're really hyper focused, you know, cause a lot of you like your YouTube page, uh, moving to St. John's County. You're not just saying moving to Florida, uh, Or are you moving? You are actually, you're being very specific in there. And then tell us about your ladies on the Facebook page, uh, for the listeners who weren't at landmark that you have going in and making comments because social wants to be social and you're going to get more attraction when you're.

Tracy Hayes: Comments your things your site is having social interactions,

Josh Rogers: right? Yeah, right. Wow, man All right, you're gonna have me give the jewels, huh? so we we created a through our Incredible friend and she runs a great team Amy Howell. She and her husband Justin created a Facebook group And they were nurturing this group and pouring into it and really kind of cracked the code.

Josh Rogers: And so, um, we modeled that. She, she basically told us, showed us. [00:55:00] And we just said, that's working. We want to do that. Will you help us? And she did. And so I got to give her all the credit. So we created a Facebook group, not a, not a page, a group. Okay. And if you have noticed, Facebook has been pushing groups for the past two years.

Josh Rogers: And even when you're scrolling on your feed, now you, you will notice that it's recommending groups, recommending groups, because it has learned that whereas Instagram is a different. Different animal, Facebook knows that people want to be birds of a feather, like to flock together. And so whenever you jump into a group, then that has more interaction.

Josh Rogers: It's just more tailored content. Okay? So we created a group, it's called Moving to St. John's County in St. Augustine. And on our YouTube channel, we're promoting that group. So YouTube is kind of like the top of our funnel, where people are searching and finding. Once they find, we give them the next baby step to say hey.

Josh Rogers: Maybe you're not interested now, but [00:56:00] surely you want more information. So why don't you hop into this group and just, you know, check things out. Now, the key to a group is engagement. It means posts, likes, comments, interaction. Facebook loves groups that are interacting with one another. Not, there's a ton of stale and dormant groups and Facebook will not promote that.

Josh Rogers: And so while my team and I, while we post and interact, I was like. Man, we need somebody to help tow the rope. And it was, it's just so cool how all this comes about. There were two or three members in the group that were already social butterflies, not on our team, not part of real estate. That's just built in their DNA that they interact.

Josh Rogers: They answer questions, they help, they make posts. And there's nothing in it for them. I mean, this is just what they do. And so we reached out to these friends and we said, Hey, thank you so much for, you know, just pouring into the group. We would love to thank you. So here's a reloadable Starbucks card. Go get coffee [00:57:00] on us anytime you want.

Josh Rogers: And these are actually specifically three moms. And so they like live off of caffeine and sugar. And then the other one, just to take it a step further. We said, why don't you, um, Oh, so I opened a, an account at a massage place and I'm like, go in and get a massage on my account anytime you want. And these women were so grateful.

Josh Rogers: And now they are the biggest ambassadors in this group, engaging and liking and just being the social butterflies. And it helps the group's algorithm to continue to grow. And they actually. Those three women and their families are going to the Savannah Bananas because we take care of the family. Part of the family.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah. So, give us a, you know, well, my wife says, oh, don't, don't share, you know, she's doing something. Don't share my trick. I said, well, the reality is less than a percent are going, they may, they may start. But they're not going to be consistent with it. They're not going to stretch out and get the Starbucks card or find those three, uh, [00:58:00] superfans and, and, you know, uh, massage them, uh, literally and figuratively there.

Tracy Hayes: Um, but. And that's what it's, that's what it's all about. Talk a little bit because of your consistency on YouTube. Um, I mean, I'm sure there was times like, Oh, I got to post, you know, I haven't posted in a while. I got to refire myself up. How consistency is so key to all these things we just talked about.

Tracy Hayes: It's the

Josh Rogers: super, it's a superpower. It may be the superpower. To long term success and so I I feel like that is an attribute of mine That I have fully subscribed To slow and steady and consistent, keep the blinders on, believe and have confidence in what you're doing and just don't stop. So, so yeah, I mean, tens of thousands of hours on YouTube and I'm out there.

Josh Rogers: Josh Rogers is out there shooting videos, sweating [00:59:00] my behind off in the summer in the early days thinking, man, is anyone even going to watch this? Like, am I wasting my time? Like I could be doing this, this and this. And, and, and at the beginning of any journey, I'm sure at the beginning of the podcast, like it was fun and it was shiny and like new gear, new tech, learn, learn, learn.

Josh Rogers: But then it gets to the point to where you're like. Oh, man, this is a chore. It's a grind. It's not fun anymore Who's

Tracy Hayes: listening, you know that kind of thing and and then you know, do I gotta spice it up? Who am I bringing on as guests? You know, um, you know, I always I like people who are on social media Um, but also, you know, they have I think you know, they they have a following a little bit, you know Is someone going to watch so I can watch the needle go up and down depending on who I have on Um, but sometimes you have to bring on You know, shoot that video that only gets 10 views because that's practice for the next video that you might do and you're going to do a little bit better and that's going to get the more views or practice with a guest who's [01:00:00] good versus You know this guest who already has 20, 000 instagram followers, right?

Tracy Hayes: And who already is going to get an attraction and you know, it's going to move the needle just because of who they are. Yeah,

Josh Rogers: you're right. And so you stuck with it. And even when you don't feel like doing it, you do it because you got to keep that engine warm, just like working out, just like following, you know, some type of diet or whatever.

Josh Rogers: Yeah, it's the days that you don't feel like doing it and you do it, you're holding up that commitment to yourself. The long game always wins. Success is inevitable. The only variable is time. And so what I see a lot of agents fall into as a pitfall is they don't give, they, they, you know, till the soil, they plant the seeds, but then they don't give it enough time for it to grow and harvest the fruit.

Josh Rogers: It's, and just before it begins to grow, Maybe we get bored, we get distracted and we jump onto a different field. And so we're jumping from field to field, the field, all the meanwhile we're starving, we're going broke and we're [01:01:00] just getting worn

Tracy Hayes: out. Someone else goes back in the field you were in and hits the gold nugget on the next swing.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Yeah.

Josh Rogers: So I would say choose, choose your lane, choose your bridge, your ship, and then just put the blinders on and give yourself say, this is a five year commitment. I'm not going to try this for five weeks. This is five years and it changes everything. Many

Tracy Hayes: people, um, You know, they, they want that, well, as I was talking about, the kind of more, more or less instant gratification type of thing is, is, is the term, but when it comes to, um, measuring on social media, whether or not it's actually getting business, most, you know, there's no defined answer, I mean, unless you have a funnel that actually they clicked on a website, clicked on that link or called that 800 number that you have set up and said it came from that site, you really have no measure, but, but in your, your, uh, You're playing between the YouTube feeding to the, you know, the Facebook page and and mentoring that are you being able to measure some results to say that Leader lead came from there [01:02:00] in, in some measurable terms.

Josh Rogers: Absolutely yeah. So we, we did 187 deals last year and loosely through this funnel about 65 percent came through this one. A third. Massive, massive. Yeah. And for that person that says it's not measurable, Well, do this. Stop doing all social media and watch your business drop, then you'll be able to measure it.

Josh Rogers: Exactly. You know, so, so I, I just shared that with someone yesterday. It's like, well, I don't, I think I would get the business anyway. I'm like, all right, stop all social media. Let's see. I guarantee you won't. Right. You know, this social media and staying in front of people, that's the name of the game. And the moment you stop, your business is going to stop.

Josh Rogers: Well, the,

Tracy Hayes: well, that's a great point. Staying in front. Uh, talk about now 187. You've been, you know, nine years now, uh, getting back into real estate. I mean, what are you doing? Uh, because [01:03:00] you leverage social media for a lot of things. What are you doing on social media? This takes top of mind of all those past clients or just simply friends, family.

Tracy Hayes: No, you're very involved in your church. How are you using it to be top of mind? Cause I think that's, it's the. It's the thing that didn't exist before we had to mail out the postcards, right? 20 years ago, you were mailing out postcards or letters or sending them calendars, you know, whatever it was. Now, what are you, what do you try to do to stay top of mind of all those, uh, past customers or possible future customers that are in your warm.

Tracy Hayes: Zone.

Josh Rogers: If anyone is listening to the show, this far in, you were about to get our hottest and you know you're gonna cut this up as a reel, so everybody's gonna get this.

Tracy Hayes: We get trim this down to a five minute

Josh Rogers: cut right here, . This is it. And this is, this has shattered everything. And literally this was. 45 days ago.

Josh Rogers: And you've never heard anything like this. And so, we've come out with a letter of the day. You've seen this at coffee shops. Uh, Spring Park Coffee in Green Coast Springs. Out on their [01:04:00] front chalkboard, they'll say if your name is Tammy, you get a free coffee on us. Today. And it's, man, it's cool. Like every time you drive by, which I'm not over there often, but I always look and So we've come

Tracy Hayes: Josh is too, Josh is too familiar.

Tracy Hayes: And I got to go with that one.

Josh Rogers: So, uh, Kelly Melody, my director of operations, this was her idea. I give her the credit and she's like, Hey, what if we do a letter of the day and we go through the alphabet and whoever in our network, in our sphere, cus current customers, past customers, friends, family, neighbors, their name starts with that letter of the day, then they get something free for that day.

Josh Rogers: And so we just ran through the alphabet this past 30, 26 days, and man, the response has been overwhelming, overwhelming. And so this allows our team, our agents, to scroll through their contacts, choose the letter of the day, and send out these messages. And staying in flow on a daily basis like this? It's lights out.

Josh Rogers: Wow. And what kind [01:05:00] of

Tracy Hayes: little free thing

Josh Rogers: are you going to force me to tell you? Yeah, of course. I will say that's the question. My

Tracy Hayes: guests are going to say it's a coffee, just something small. And you know, yeah.

Josh Rogers: Um, yeah. And while, you know, maybe 10 percent will actually, you know, cash in on it, it's staying in flow and they're like, Oh, that's so cool.

Josh Rogers: That's so thoughtful. How you been? And then the conversation develops from there. But our goal as a team, and our team name is F3 Home Team. F3 stands for Faith, Family, and Freedom. Our goal is to be a part of the community's lives and not have to always talk about real estate. And that's what, that's what this allows us to do is just stay in relationship.

Tracy Hayes: Uh, well, it's that touch, right? I mean, you gotta, you gotta keep touching them. And now that's a, uh, you know, basically you're touching him once a month. Cause you're going to go through that alphabet and then a few letters, uh, every month, uh, on that. What brilliant idea. So, I mean, so, so the agent. on your team.

Tracy Hayes: They're going there. They've got their contact list and go [01:06:00] right in their phone, put up a and everybody with a, they're sending it a little, uh, pre, um, pre made text messages are obviously because the kids, they're typed to everybody, but just copy and pasting and all these people and saying, Hey, I appreciate you.

Tracy Hayes: You're in my Rolodex. I'm sending you a Starbucks card type thing. Wow. Uh, or if they get you, I assume that you probably want them to respond.

Josh Rogers: No, it's just, yeah, we're putting it out there. Any little trick to, uh, Getting responses? Yeah. Yeah, the single most responded to text ever is if I were to send you a text right now and put, Tracy, question mark, send.

Josh Rogers: That will get a response every single time. So if someone ever goes dark on you or they're busy or you think that someone's ghosting you, or you just want to warm up, uh, if you want to definitely get a response, just send their first name with a question mark. Is that right? Yeah. A little

Tracy Hayes: tip right there.

Tracy Hayes: Are you, is this still, or are you, cause basically what you're asking is like, Tracy, is this still your number? And of course they're going to [01:07:00] respond and say, yeah, Hey, you know, brilliant. Yeah. Um, Tap on. We've talked about YouTube. We talked about what you're using Facebook. What is your, your strategy on Instagram?

Tracy Hayes: Just kind of finish up our social

Josh Rogers: media. Instagram for me is an afterthought where I hang out is on Facebook. And I and birds of a feather flock together. It's just where I am. It's where I'm comfortable. It's what I know. It doesn't take any effort. And we're getting plenty of business from there. And so Instagram is just an afterthought because when you, when they post on Facebook, it goes to Instagram too.

Josh Rogers: For me, it's not been a focus. And, and also for me, it's blinders on consistent. And my recommendation with someone is whatever they choose, whichever platform they choose until they've like really mastered it, maybe get to that 80 percent dominance. Adding another platform, which is, you know, I'm not [01:08:00] on LinkedIn.

Josh Rogers: LinkedIn is never really on my radar. It's all I can do to just do really well on one. And the moment that I split that in half, then I'll probably do average at both.

Tracy Hayes: Well, do you feel, I feel, that when someone You know, if someone refers you and they've never seen any of your videos. Oh, I had a great experience with josh And that person doesn't even say hey go check out josh's youtube channel and then call him as an agent They're generally just saying hey call josh, right?

Tracy Hayes: But that's first of all who's josh rogers and they're going on and they're they're doing their background check on you Which I think uh, that's what I do. I stalk their social media. Who who is this person? In linkedin when on the for the podcast gives me a great outline of their Life and then for I can create questions from that, you know, to engage, um, that's why I support LinkedIn from that standpoint because I think the stalkers it's, it's a very quick, where's this person from, where'd they go to school, you know, that [01:09:00] kind of, uh, you know, your alumni network, whatever it may be, uh, on there.

Tracy Hayes: I I post on there a couple times a week, not as anywhere near what I obviously post on Instagram or, uh, Facebook, you know, especially from the, from the shows material. Mm-Hmm. . So, uh, from that sort that, so that's why I, I support that. But I mean, when you were talking about roughly a third of your business last year came through your, your Facebook, YouTube slash funnel there, um, how many of those other a hundred, you know, two thirds.

Tracy Hayes: did get referred to somewhere else, but actually went on your social media and said, this guy's a real dude and he's engaged. He looks like he's a top agent. I need to talk to him. You know.

Josh Rogers: You're right. Yeah. That's, that's, it's just an additional layer of marketing that moves the needle. And I, I totally believe it.

Josh Rogers: It's just, we'll never really know. Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Um, if you're an agent starting today, knowing what you know right now, um, which I imagine you get. As I think every agent, we get approach cocktail parties or [01:10:00] whatever. Um, Hey, I'm looking to change career, thinking about real estate. What, what, what would be, um, you know, as a mentor that, you know, some steps that you would think they need to take even, even for even taking the test, you know, what do you think they need to find out about the business before they dive in?

Josh Rogers: I would say, I would encourage them to get clear on what they want in a lifestyle and in a business and in income. Um, what they, you know, work ethic, times, interactions, involvement. Because without you being clear on what you want, then you're not putting any of your decisions through a particular filter.

Josh Rogers: You're just consuming a bunch of advice and perspectives and opinions and sales pitches, and you may end your end up following this path that someone else says is a good idea for you. But when you get to the end of that path, you hate it. Mm-Hmm. . And that's kind of, that's the path that I kind of took in building a team, following what everyone told me to do.

Josh Rogers: But when I got there, I'm like, [01:11:00] man, this is, this is not what it's cracked up to be. I don't want anything like this. Right. So I would just say, just get clear on what you want out of the business, but then. This world is about surrounding yourself with the right people. Not just top producers. Because there's a bunch of different people putting up big numbers on the board.

Josh Rogers: But I encourage new agents to find people with, uh, healthy marriages, healthy lifestyle, um, spiritually grounded. People that are full of joy and peace. Maybe somebody that's not working 24 7. Because if you look at the leaderboards, all you see is numbers. But when you look at the individual, you may say, and I don't want my life to look anything like that individual.

Josh Rogers: So if you're going to follow a leader, you've got to be so discerning to choose the right leader. Otherwise the people we surround ourselves with, that's who we're going to become. And all those circles of life, spiritually, marriage, parenting, physical, financial, [01:12:00] all this stuff. So choose just, I believe now I'm convinced past two years.

Josh Rogers: Rather than just setting goals, we should have an idea of goals, but then find the people we surround ourselves with because the people will lead us to the goals. And that that's been a radical shift in my

Tracy Hayes: world. I'm going to throw this back because I think, you know, we've, anyone who's done any personal development at any time, the five people you surround yourself, I don't know who originally said it, but it goes back many years, right?

Tracy Hayes: When you talk about surrounding yourself with these Cheerleaders, people that are, you know, moving for people that you look up to a little bit there. I mean, there's a lot of ways we can describe these five people. And I think all of us at different times in our lives have had people around us who, you know, could have been a spouse, could have been, you know, a parent, whatever that we can't really get away from.

Tracy Hayes: But they're [01:13:00] not. They're not one of the five that we would put in that group because for whatever reason they're, they're, you know, bringing down some of the dreams or visions or, you know, these things that we're talking about. So, when, when you talk to, let's really begin, put the rubber to the road. How do you start to evolve and hang with these people?

Tracy Hayes: People, uh, how do you break into, uh, you know, their world and start creating a relationship? Because if you're not adding value to them, you know, you gotta, you gotta add a little value to them for them to pour value into you a little bit. It's a give and take thing. You're

Josh Rogers: so right. When, when other agents reach out to me and they want to take me out to lunch or coffee or whatever like that.

Josh Rogers: Um, the biggest friction point for me is that when, and you've been in the business for a long time, when you pour into someone and then they do nothing, Man, that just rubs me the wrong way. So I would first say, uh, for people that are bringing you down, we still love them. We just have to be intentional with the time that we spend with or without them.

Josh Rogers: So just have some healthy boundaries. [01:14:00] If somebody that brings you down calls you first thing in the morning, Don't take that call, you know, we, we get to choose

Tracy Hayes: the best advice of the whole show right there

Josh Rogers: to choose who, who is able to speak into our life. So guard it, like, like, like you would not drink the, your drink.

Josh Rogers: If it had poison in it, you would not take poison and let your kids drink it or eat it. That's how sometimes we need to look at relationships. Just be guard, guarded on it. And then say, for instance, if I wanted to develop my, my investing knowledge, you know, in the market, or let's just say in real estate, then I would look within my network or a layer just outside my network and find who has proven track record, who's living that life, who's mastered it.

Josh Rogers: And then. Reach out to them and say, Hey, this is my idea. These are my goals. This is my commitment level. Uh, and, and you look like you've mastered it. Are you open at all? If I can just, you know, ping you every once in a while and [01:15:00] start asking you some questions. And most people will say yes. But then it, then I would say, Hey, by the way, my superpower is YouTube.

Josh Rogers: So, do you have any interest in, you know, learning about YouTube or developing or blah, blah, blah, because I would love to help you out or point you in the right direction with that. So, you did say, you know, you definitely want to try to come from some place of value to where you can help them out. Right.

Josh Rogers: But most importantly, if and when someone gives you advice, take action on that advice. And then follow back up with them. And so, Tracy, when people ask me, can I take you out to lunch, Josh, and learn about YouTube? I'll say, yeah, absolutely. Do me this favor, go shoot five videos, post them on social media.

Josh Rogers: And once you post them on social media, let's go out to lunch and lunch is on me. And only, you know, two people may have ever followed through on that. Wow. Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: Interesting. Yeah, that's actually great because I've hear, you know, a lot of, a lot of very top [01:16:00] agents are willing to sit down or, you know, and have that coffee.

Tracy Hayes: But like you said, your, your time is valuable. And, uh, you know, like in the end, nothing tears the heart than to give someone advice. And they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then they, by the time they get to their car, they've already,

Josh Rogers: yeah, they moved on to the next shiny object.

Tracy Hayes: Um, I want to finish up.

Tracy Hayes: What did you learn from 23? And what are you doing? Uh, maybe I'm sure you're doing some, you know, a few things slightly different going into 24 from what you've learned in 23. Mm

Josh Rogers: hmm. Um, I've learned within these past two, three years is how quickly the market is now changing. The market used to change and shift over the course of three to five years.

Josh Rogers: And then it was, okay, the market's changing every two years or so we're seeing. Faster shifts in the market and faster extremes in the market. Literally you and I are seeing two completely different markets within 90 days. Yep. Can't you see that? Yep. [01:17:00] And extremes. Last fall, somebody went to the, to the switch on the delights and just flip the switch off and it was crickets.

Josh Rogers: And then middle of January, somebody for our business came over and just flip the switch back on and it's booming. And so two things, we are padding our reserve account or business reserve account, because we don't want to subject ourselves to these crazy market swings that are outside of everybody's control.

Josh Rogers: Um, and I've always been encouraging my team, pay off debt, pay off debt. Don't make my mistake. Live within your means, be modest, be cool, delayed gratification. When you, when you do the work and when you wait and when you save it, when you buy it, man, it's just that much sweeter. So there's a lot of things we can't control, but we can control our level of stress and pressure with the financial situations we choose to put ourselves in.

Josh Rogers: That's a big one, man. And that applies to everybody and they can start now. Um, but with the business, it's just continuing to dive deep [01:18:00] with our, our network, the community we love rather than doing a big throw out, um, customer appreciation party. We do little pop ups and pop ups are cool. Do you know anything about that?

Josh Rogers: Um,

Tracy Hayes: well, I think everyone has a different definition of what a pop up is, whether it's showing up at their business or just sending, well, as you're doing your Alphabet phone list thing that that to me was like a

Josh Rogers: pop up that's a personal pop up. Yeah, and so for our customers We'll say hey you guys we're going to be at a parlor Donuts This Thursday from 12 to 2 if you're in the area or if you got the kids come on by Donuts on us 12 to 2 come on and pop in and pop by and that's been wonderful because it's not massive 5, 000 events that could get rained out Uh, and we're able to do one of these every month, every 45 days, and still stay in flow with, with our people.

Josh Rogers: Right. Um, you know, we've never been a, the kind of team to buy leads or to pay for leads or do any big, you know, advertising, [01:19:00] because that's just a part of business that I don't feel like I could fully control. Rather, we just redirect it, just going deeper in the community and deeper with our people.

Tracy Hayes: I, well, I think it's like getting a referral.

Tracy Hayes: I mean, you know, when someone refers, you're not, you're not worried about, oh, I better, you know, for a listing, you're going to compete with someone, another agent, someone referred you, has already endorsed you and given you the credibility that when you go deeper into your, you know, to stir up some of those referrals, you know, stay top of mind.

Tracy Hayes: It's just that the people that are referring to you are, I would get money in the bank if you want to call it a deal in the bank. Cause they're, they're, they're, you've already got the credibility.

Josh Rogers: And oftentimes they're your type of people. Yeah, you know because People you do business with that you enjoy they're going to send their friends who are like minded right 100

Tracy Hayes: Um anything you want to add i'm going about an hour and 20 minutes here.

Tracy Hayes: I don't want to yeah

Josh Rogers: well, you know and this is just something that um, I just want to share with our faith family and freedom that component of faith has Brought a depth to [01:20:00] me and to my peace to my joy to my freedom Man that just regardless of what the winds and waves of life in this business and gosh It's it's a lot and it's overwhelming throw at us just being being grounded on my faith in christ man, it's like that that light in the darkness and

Tracy Hayes: Well, you always come across as uh, you're definitely well spoken.

Tracy Hayes: Um you uh You you come across like you have everything together, but i'm sure there's times where You know behind the scenes sarah probably knows Like You you as everyone reaches this level that You know, the average person doesn't see every day doesn't see that from you for sure. What how do you? Get yourself enough.

Tracy Hayes: So you're waking up the next day and you're back on track again, right? Yeah,

Josh Rogers: that's yeah There's there's been a lot of storms that we've gone through and experienced not not too long ago It's my morning time. It's my morning quiet time in the word That [01:21:00] word is you know, the my bread of life and living water and I just start each day off You know in God's Word and prayer and journaling and that you know, sometimes can be 30 minutes an hour hour and a half but It's just, it's the calm before all the circumstances of life happen.

Josh Rogers: Yeah. And, and if we believe what we believe, and this is eternity, Tracy, we're able to live heaven on earth now, and everything of life is just going to come at us from all different directions, but being grounded in just Jesus and Jesus alone, and He is my identity, He's, He's who fills my cup, again, that freedom for everything else, it just makes it so much.

Josh Rogers: Tolerable. It doesn't make it easier, but it makes

Tracy Hayes: it more. He definitely likes to challenge

Josh Rogers: us. I would never tell anybody it makes it easier, but it's just grounded on that rock. A hundred

Tracy Hayes: percent. Yeah. Josh, I appreciate you coming on today.

Josh Rogers: Yeah. I appreciate you. Great conversation. Thank you. You too. [01:22:00]