Russell Nicholson: Market Leader Who Sets The Tone

REE #227

[00:00:00] Russell Nicholson: If you're not where you need to be financially, then you can't go higher and leverage other people in their roles. But then I also look through the tasks, and I know what can be done by a virtual assistant, what can be done by a human, and what tasks the agent needs to do.

[00:00:40] Tracy Hayes: Hey, welcome back to the Real Estate Excellence podcast. Today, I have a leader of one of the largest offices in Northeast Florida. He is admired by the agents that work in his office. He’s only been in the business for about six years, but he quickly rose to the challenge of being a Market Center Team Leader for Keller Williams in St. Augustine. He’s the ideal person to speak about the challenges agents are facing today, especially with the recent changes in the industry. He oversees some of the most successful agents in the region, as well as newer agents in his office. Let’s welcome this dynamic market team leader, Russell Nicholson, to the show.

[00:01:18] Russell Nicholson: Appreciate it.

[00:01:18] Tracy Hayes: I got going there, didn’t I? I don’t think I put any extra juice in that coffee, but I felt it coming out of my mouth! Glad you could make it on because I think what we’ve been discussing pre-show is vital for what’s going on right now. You're over a large group of agents; you're hearing their pains and what they’re going through. You mentioned 140 agents, and you probably have 140 different ways they’re running their business—not just with buyer-broker agreements, but in general. Plus, we're talking a bit about teams and what your teams are doing. Ultimately, though, you are the tip of the spear when it comes to creating the culture in your office.

[00:02:06] Russell Nicholson: Yeah. What I’m seeing a lot is that the people who are not afraid of change are the ones who are actually growing. They’re still hiring, still growing their businesses. And the ones who have become timid or are worried about what’s going on—we’re seeing some people retire, some people getting out of the business, and others looking to merge. It’s those who aren't afraid of change who are making progress.

[00:02:33] Tracy Hayes: I never knew you could really get out of the business, especially if you’ve had some success. I thought, once you have success, you just keep going—doing it into your 80s, until your body can’t get out of bed anymore or your brain doesn’t work.

[00:02:48] Russell Nicholson: Yeah, we’ve had some people retire, and we’ve created programs to keep income coming in so they can retire but still take part. However, I don’t think anyone ever stays out for too long.

[00:03:06] Tracy Hayes: Since we're on this subject, you’ve been in the business for about six years. You’ve seen people who have been in it for 20 or 25 years, and you’re dealing with people who have only been in the business for a couple of years. I’ve noticed that a lot of agents don’t actually start thinking long-term until they’ve been in it for five, six, or seven years. Then they realize they’re making a good living and need to look at it as a long-term career. But by that point, they may have missed opportunities. I interviewed George Pottengill from Christina Welch’s team, and his regret was not working his warm circle early in his career. That’s something agents miss out on—the long-term value of a strong database.

[00:03:58] Russell Nicholson: Yeah. One thing I teach people when they come in is that those who are starting in real estate today are in a prime position to take market share. But if you don’t engage with people who already know you, they’ll start thinking, "Maybe we weren’t that close—he hasn’t called me." Or, "He’s selling million-dollar homes now, so he doesn’t want to work with me and my smaller home."

[00:04:25] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, they might think, "He’s not interested in my property because it’s not big enough for him."

[00:04:27] Russell Nicholson: Exactly. That’s why working your sphere—those people who like, know, and trust you—is crucial when starting in real estate. I still tell new agents, "You’ve got contacts in your phone—why are you calling people you don’t know?"

[00:04:53] Tracy Hayes: Right. It’s imposter syndrome. They think, "I’m new to real estate; I don’t know enough yet." But those who care about you want to support your business.

[00:05:07] Russell Nicholson: 100%. And working that sphere is fundamental. It’s how you can sell for years and years.

[00:05:28] Tracy Hayes: Absolutely. And there’s no doubt that some family members will do business with you just because they’re family, and others won’t, especially in my world, where I see their credit and finances. That can create some touchy situations. But you’ve got to stay in front of people, reminding them that you’re sticking with it, and that you want their business when they’re ready.

[00:05:58] Russell Nicholson: Yeah. A lot goes into it, but new agents have an advantage because a lot of agents right now are in a fear mindset. If they’re not staying up to date on contracts or going back to the basics of real estate, they’re struggling.

[00:06:22] Tracy Hayes: 100%. There’s a huge advantage right now for agents willing to learn. It’s like AI—people can still get up to speed quickly if they focus on it. Similarly, with these industry changes, if you put in the effort to learn, you can leap ahead, especially when many brokerages aren’t training their agents properly.

[00:06:56] Russell Nicholson: Yeah, pick up the phone and start talking to someone. Or practice your contracts and learn what’s going on. We're in a phase right now where other brokerages are scrambling because they haven’t adapted.

[00:08:00] Tracy Hayes: Right. So it comes back to how good your broker is. If they’re not staying in front of their people, agents are going to move on. Brokers need to train their agents on the latest tools and contracts, across the board—not just the easy way out.

[00:08:49] Russell Nicholson: Exactly. That’s why we’ve been doing three to four training sessions every month, ranging from one-hour sessions to full four-hour deep dives.

[00:09:39] Russell Nicholson: We haven’t developed best practices yet—we're still collecting data. Once we have enough transactions and feedback, we’ll develop those best practices.

[00:11:00] Tracy Hayes: Let's take a step back for the listeners. Give us a bit of background on you and how you got to where you are now. You mentioned in a text that you’re now also leading the Daytona office.

[00:11:03] Russell Nicholson: Yeah, I've been filling in at the Daytona office. To backtrack, I got my real estate license in 2018. But my family's been in real estate my whole life—two of my uncles do commercial real estate and development. I had mentors, but none on the residential side. In 2017, Sarah Rocco called me and said, "You and your friends have referred me eight deals. It would be nice if I could pay you on these. Can you go get your real estate license?"

[00:11:52] Tracy Hayes: What were you doing before that?

[00:11:59] Russell Nicholson: My brothers and I owned a business. We leased land near airports for RV storage and had a transportation company. We moved from Orlando to Jacksonville and leased seven and a half acres of land, running a successful shuttle business. In 2017, we sold the business, and I had a serious conversation with Sarah Rocco. She had just moved to Jacksonville a few years earlier and didn’t have a large network, but we saw an opportunity to work together. So in 2018, I got my license, and the rest is history.

[00:18:34] Tracy Hayes: Everyone you brought over there, were they able to, did they all plug into Sarah's system, or were there people who just came in, went on their own, and maybe joined other teams?

[00:18:41] Russell Nicholson: There's people with Christina; there's people all over. Yeah, but Luke Christmas—

[00:18:46] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:18:47] Russell Nicholson: So Luke and I sat down, and I said, "If you're going to get into this, make sure your savings are in alignment and your reserves are set." That was just a general rule we had on our team.

[00:19:00] Tracy Hayes: But Sarah was a unique case. I assume it’s still unique how it’s done—not everyone can plug into that.

[00:19:13] Russell Nicholson: No, not everyone can. And, I say this out of love, but Sarah hadn’t established any bad habits. Like, a lot of real estate agents go to the cheapest, quickest brokerage, and they develop really bad habits because they’re building someone else’s business. She didn’t do that. She jumped into a system where there were five people all selling to a standard, and her office was ready to support her. She had mentors everywhere she looked, saying, "Hey, how are you doing?" And then, when I got there, I wasn’t going to go lead-generate anymore.

[00:19:55] Tracy Hayes: She squeezed out a lot of the fat. Yeah, yeah.

[00:19:58] Russell Nicholson: Yeah. When you have people around you doing that much, you’re going to have a lot of success. We’ve talked about some of those people—they're in our organization. So why not sit with them? Why not figure out what they’re doing, take the best parts of their business, and implement them? That’s what we did, and that’s what everyone should be doing. I don’t know why more people aren’t doing that.

[00:20:19] Tracy Hayes: When I visualize how the Rocco team is run, there are other brokerages and team leaders who run a real tight ship. But not everyone who comes into this business wants to be on that tight ship. Not everyone wants to be coached by someone like Bobby Knight, you know? I see Sarah as Bobby Knight—direct and to the point.

[00:20:44] Russell Nicholson: Yeah.

[00:20:45] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:20:45] Russell Nicholson: But that leadership style isn’t my leadership style either.

[00:20:53] Tracy Hayes: So, because you and Sarah had different styles, is that what helped you work together?

[00:20:59] Russell Nicholson: I’m results-driven. I don’t want to know what you’re doing every day; I just want to make sure your results are getting where they need to be. A coach who makes you check in at nine o’clock and stay until twelve—that’s a system for them. But the coach who understands that a person who makes calls between four and seven may have better results—that’s someone who’s open to different systems. But you have to hold people accountable to the results they’re asking for, and a lot of people miss that step—the accountability piece. Or they won’t get others around them to help hold people accountable.

[00:21:41] Tracy Hayes: Because everyone’s self-employed, right? 1099 workers. You've been in leadership long enough to see that. Everyone likes the idea of having an accountability coach, but when they’re actually called to be accountable, some people go, "Hey, I’m on my own thing. Leave me alone." Or, the leader might say, "I want to hold them accountable, but I don’t want to tick them off because they’re independent." Finding the right person who wants to be held accountable is tough. Recruiting those people who thrive on accountability versus those who just want to coast—that’s a challenge. You've clearly been successful in recruiting because of the results you’ve had. How do you find those people?

[00:22:31] Russell Nicholson: You made me think of two things. One is that you can’t push someone to make more money if they don’t know what to do with it. If you tell an agent, "I have a system where you can make $250k," but they’re happy making $60k a year, they’re not going to fit into the Bobby Knight program of building a $250k business. You either have to increase their financial ceiling or expect them to stay where they are. Some people see three deals pending and think, "I’m 30 grand away from my goal," and they stop pushing because that’s enough for them. It’s just how the industry is. So, you either push them harder, which takes time away from your own business, or you let them be.

[00:23:36] Tracy Hayes: So in your recruiting—

[00:23:38] Russell Nicholson: Yeah.

[00:23:38] Tracy Hayes: Let’s just call it recruiting. I know it’s not always hiring, but you're looking for people who will plug into the system. You’ve had success here, and now they’re asking you to take on a new market center. What do you look for in an agent who’s going to succeed in the system?

[00:24:02] Russell Nicholson: We have a standard—it’s a five-step process. It’s based on characteristics we’re looking for. Personality type doesn’t factor in too much because leads come from all different personality types. But this is an interdependent brokerage, so you can work for a team at Keller Williams and get leads while still building your own business. For me, the key factors are that they have to be full-time, they have to be learning-based or have a desire to grow, and they have to be financially savvy with some business acumen. If they haven’t established bad habits in business or life, I can generally help them.

[00:25:00] Tracy Hayes: So, when you talk to an agent who says, "I want to make $100k," you ask them, "What do you want to do after that? What do you want to do with $100k?" A lot of them don’t know because they’ve never made that kind of money before.

[00:25:41] Russell Nicholson: Exactly. Many agents have similar business acumen and financial goals. They’ve built a database, they know how to manage finances, and they can get where they need to go, regardless of personality.

[00:26:00] Tracy Hayes: That makes sense. A lot of people only know what they know, right? If they come from a background where their parents made $30k each as teachers, they budget within that mindset. They don’t know what to do with more money.

[00:26:20] Russell Nicholson: Exactly. So, we do this financial ceiling exercise. I might say, "I wrote you a check for $4k—what do you do with it? Now, I wrote you one for $8k, then $16k." When people stop being able to write things down, they’ve hit their ceiling. They don’t know what to spend it on because they’ve never thought about investing in rental properties or other opportunities. Their financial ceiling is holding them back.

[00:27:00] Tracy Hayes: That’s a great exercise. It ties into retention too. A broker or leader stops adding value when they no longer help agents change their lifestyle. You’ve got agents who came from corporate America, and now they’re making more in real estate than they ever did before. It’s life-changing.

[00:28:00] Russell Nicholson: Absolutely. In our office, the reason people stay is because everyone around them is growing at the phase they’re in. If an agent is stuck at $5–$8 million, they need to hire help, like a transaction coordinator, to free up family time. From $8 to $12 million, they’ll need additional leverage to break through. When agents get stuck, it’s often because they’re not focusing on the hires they need to make.

[00:29:42] Tracy Hayes: Right, at around $8–9 million, that’s when the first hire is usually needed—a transaction coordinator to handle the paperwork and free up time.

[00:29:58] Russell Nicholson: Exactly. Then at $15 million, they’re tapped out for open houses and showings. That’s when they need to hire a buyer’s agent.

[00:30:54] Tracy Hayes: So, to break it down simply: At $8–9 million, you need an assistant for paperwork. At $15 million, you need to leverage out buyer work to grow further.

[00:31:58] Russell Nicholson: Right, and it’s about leveraging the right people at each stage so that agents don’t get stuck doing everything themselves.

[00:37:38] Tracy Hayes: Do you find that the agents making this first step don’t know what they don’t know? In their mind, they think they have to hire somebody.

[00:37:47] Russell Nicholson: Right. They think it has to be a person.

[00:37:47] Tracy Hayes: Exactly, when they don’t realize there are services like MyOpsSuite out there. It's set up so, whether you're just doing it transaction by transaction or handling bigger volumes, there are ways to manage it. You could be doing one or two deals a month and just pay by the transaction. It’s all about educating agents on the services that exist.

[00:38:12] Russell Nicholson: Right, these services are available. And as you asked earlier about retention...

[00:38:14] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:38:15] Russell Nicholson: A lot of brokerages aren't looking for solutions for their agents because they're too busy producing or running a small independent office. They're not focused on helping agents grow. There’s also that feeling of competition — "What if I help an agent sell more than me?" So, you end up with agents looking for a brokerage that fits them better. If they start outselling the broker, who’s still trying to run an office, it creates tension. It’s not going to work.

[00:38:57] Tracy Hayes: Some agents are competing against a producing broker. There’s a fine line, though. A producing broker can stay in touch with the market, while some brokers, who aren't producing, might be out of touch. I think of Howard Flash, for example — he stays informed and does a great job coaching, even though he’s not regularly producing. That's a challenge for brokers every day, right?

[00:39:24] Russell Nicholson: Exactly. In our brokerage, we approach it differently. We stay involved in the transactions, and we have a team leader who consults with agents. My role is to help agents grow fundamentally, while the managing broker focuses on the transactional side. Sales and operations are two different mindsets. Some brokers can't grow because they’re stuck doing everything themselves.

[00:40:10] Tracy Hayes: Right, and I wonder how some small brokers who don’t produce manage to make money.

[00:40:17] Russell Nicholson: They need volume or additional income streams. Some have title companies, mortgage companies, or joint ventures to float the brokerage. They think real estate is "free," but it costs them if they’re not careful.

[00:40:36] Tracy Hayes: Let’s touch on recruiting. Why should someone join a brokerage like yours? I’ve said it before — there’s a low barrier to entry in real estate. Pass a test, pay a few hundred dollars, and you’re licensed. But picking the wrong brokerage can cost agents their business. Many quit before their first renewal. They need to find the right fit, not just join where their friend works. What are you doing at Atlantic Partners to show new agents the value of your office?

[00:42:12] Russell Nicholson: There are several parts to it. First, I never let anyone join on the first day. I make them interview with other brokerages. If someone hasn’t interviewed elsewhere, I send them to at least two other places. When things get hard and we hold them accountable, I don’t want them to think it’s our brokerage’s fault. I want them to know they made an informed decision.

Next, we make them time block a calendar and schedule. Real estate has to be treated like a full-time job — 40 to 50 hours a week. If they can’t commit to that, we tell them upfront that this isn’t the right place for them. We also give them a 30-60-90 day plan, outlining expectations. If they don’t hit those, we’ll have some uncomfortable conversations. Most new agents are excited when they start, but reality sets in once we hold them accountable.

[00:44:54] Tracy Hayes: I imagine there’s an emotional investment too. You pour training and resources into them, and it’s not just about money. You want them to succeed because their success leads to your success, right?

[00:45:00] Russell Nicholson: Absolutely. I don’t recruit based on volume. I recruit through referrals from my agents. If they refer someone to me and I don’t get them into production, those referrals will stop. So, there’s accountability on both sides. We track metrics to help agents go from zero deals to whatever their goals are.

[00:45:53] Tracy Hayes: Have you ever had to turn someone down after an agent referral?

[00:46:00] Russell Nicholson: Yes. Sometimes producing agents are referred to me, but their reputation doesn’t align with our culture — drama, bad behavior, etc. We don’t bring them on if they can’t help us grow.

[00:46:24] Tracy Hayes: It sounds like you approach it with a long-term mindset. You’re building something meaningful, not just bringing in anyone who wants to join.

[00:46:28] Russell Nicholson: Exactly. It's about the long-term health of the business. I want people to succeed and have fun doing it. Our office has a family feel — we celebrate together and create a sense of community. It’s important that people feel valued and know they’re getting solid advice, based on real experiences.

[00:48:00] Tracy Hayes: You mentioned earlier that people often look for a magic solution in switching brokerages, but the real change comes from within.

[00:48:07] Russell Nicholson: Exactly. We help agents figure out their strengths. We even have a personality assessment, the KPA, to help guide them if they’re struggling. And when it comes to prospecting, there are really only seven main approaches — open houses, door knocking, mailers, cold calling, sphere of influence, social media, and events. We help them find the ones that work best for them based on their personality and resources.

[00:50:00] Tracy Hayes: Sounds like you have a system in place for helping them find their niche and build on it.

[00:50:03] Russell Nicholson: Yes, we do. And whether it's open houses, cold calling, or social media, we guide them through a tailored plan to succeed. People sometimes try to reinvent the wheel, but we’ve been doing this for years. We know what works, and we’re here to share that knowledge with them.

[00:50:54] Tracy Hayes: Cause you're good on the phone.
[00:50:55] Russell Nicholson: Yeah. Cause you're good on the phone, but you're probably not that good in person until somebody sees value in you. So those three are together. The other one is just your sphere of influence and events. If anyone's struggling with one of those three things, which is all seven of your items jumbled together, there's really nothing else besides social media. And if it's 2024 and you're not doing social media, naturally hire—
[00:51:22] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.
[00:51:22] Russell Nicholson: —someone. And then that'll give you business. But those are it. If you get good at those three things, those three buckets, you can build a big business, right?
Yeah, and a lot of people struggle with that.
[00:51:32] Tracy Hayes: Well, like you said, this is creating, trying to create a new wheel. Keller Williams has 44 years. They've got the book. As Sarah said, she got the book. She knew everything. You have to read the book. But you have the process. We were talking about ninja selling this morning. These things are there to plug in. Now, obviously, if you don't know the business, you might need someone to guide you because you don't know what the person is talking about.
[00:52:00] What is it, the eight touches? The last one is a meeting, you email them some other stuff—there are eight touches you're doing to create that relationship. That was in the chapter yesterday. But if you don't know, "Well, what do I send them?" Well, then you need to sit down with experienced people in the office, because even if they're not doing it completely, they're probably doing some portion of it.
[00:52:25] Russell Nicholson: Yeah, they’re sending out newsletters or a piece of value—
[00:52:31] Tracy Hayes: Right.
[00:52:31] Russell Nicholson: That’s what's generally going out: indirect marketing and direct. Most top agents, that’s 24 a year, and then you're doing things. And if you haven’t pulled out a blank calendar and started mapping out what 2025 looks like, you're already behind. You have to start planning. You've got to start thinking—When are your conferences? When are you going to fundamentally start building a big business?
[00:53:09] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. I’m glad you brought that up. How important is it for agents to go out of the area? I mean, we were talking about it before the show—getting some new ideas. But to go to one or two events, whether it's Keller Williams or Florida Realtors, and meet agents from different areas, exchange ideas, and create relationships, that leads to a lot of referrals.
[00:53:51] Russell Nicholson: Yeah, they're getting referrals, but you have to be careful who you take advice from. You asked me about Angie Bell. She’s one of my favorite examples. Some people come into the business and make a ton of noise, but then they just disappear. I’ve experienced it—
[00:54:14] Tracy Hayes: I call them "flash in the pans." We had so many in the call centers over the years. They’d come in and in two months, they’d be like, "Look at all the loans they’re doing," and suddenly—
[00:54:24] Russell Nicholson: Yeah.
[00:54:25] Tracy Hayes: They disappear. What happened?
[00:54:27] Russell Nicholson: So you have to be careful with what's not a proven strategy. What I like to say is we go from models to systems. So if someone has a healthy business model, then look into their systems—what CRM are they using, their transaction processes, etc.—before you focus on creativity.
[00:55:00] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.
[00:55:12] Russell Nicholson: A lot of people don’t do that. They come out with crazy success and then burn out, not knowing what they’re doing it for.
[00:55:22] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, they have the golden tongue. Everything they say is just perfect. Perfect. Everyone’s closing. Anyway, I need to take a moment to talk about our sponsor, Remy Graphics. They make great laser-engraved gifts, like custom mugs with names. Perfect for closings—John and Sally, welcome to St. Augustine. They’ll do one-offs, so check them out at RemyGraphics.com.
[00:56:00] Now, challenges. You probably see agents walk out of your office, and it’s like, “Okay, that’s the third one this year.” What challenges are new agents having, and what advice are you giving them?
[00:57:02] Russell Nicholson: Yeah, I’ll mention a session I sat in after Mega Camp. Keller Williams brought in Steve Murray, who started Real Trends, which was sold to Housing Wire. He shared that there are about 25 brokerages buying other brokerages right now, including Compass. There are 1,100 independent brokerages on his desk for mediation. The most common reason agents leave these brokerages or why they’re going under is value. Agents don’t know their value proposition.
[00:58:00] So when people talk about the NAR lawsuit, many realize their value proposition isn’t strong enough. If you don’t know why people would choose you, you’re going to struggle. You need to figure out what makes you stand out.
[00:58:41] Tracy Hayes: This goes back to my imposter syndrome conversation.
[00:58:44] Russell Nicholson: Yeah. It’s not so much about needing more training or coaching. It’s about figuring out why you wake up every day and why clients should choose you over someone else.
[00:59:07] Tracy Hayes: They don’t know what they don’t know. Sometimes we forget that the things we take for granted are actually valuable to the client.
[00:59:33] Russell Nicholson: Yeah, if you're a real estate agent right now and you're not educating your clients or sphere of influence, you’re missing out. People don’t always know what's happening in the market. For instance, St. Johns County sales were up 14% from July to July.
[01:00:00] So if your business isn’t growing, you're missing the mark. Our office will do about $500 million this year, with roughly the same agent count—about 138 agents. We're growing through volume, not headcount.
[01:01:00] Tracy Hayes: It sounds like part of your value proposition is being able to recite stats like that. Agents need to be informed about what’s going on to educate clients.
[01:01:53] Russell Nicholson: Absolutely. And one of the things I do is pipeline evaluations. I go back to the “Ds” of real estate: deaths, divorces, diamonds, degrees, downsizing, and deployment.
[01:03:00] Tracy Hayes: What’s diamonds?
[01:03:24] Russell Nicholson: Marriages. People sell two homes or move from renting to buying. So when I look at a pipeline, tier one is anyone in that category. Tier two might be something like struggling Airbnb properties.
[01:03:48] Tracy Hayes: Which is a little oversaturated in St. Augustine.
[01:03:50] Russell Nicholson: Right, with new restrictions at the beach.

[01:04:00] Russell Nicholson: So if your pipeline is filled with tier two — that's currently about 10 to 15 percent of the market — and then tier three or tier four, that's your hedge funds, your build-to-rents, your big institutions. Are they buying in? We need to get in front of them. Are developers building neighborhoods?

[01:04:18] Tracy Hayes: Because I imagine that's one of the fears for someone watching this — "Oh, BlackRock is going to buy up all the houses."

[01:04:22] Russell Nicholson: We can look at that data and figure out if it was a homeowner or an institutional buyer. Right? Collecting the data... In St. John's County, the six D’s — like death, divorce, diapers, etc. — are responsible for about 80 to 85 percent of sales. So, all it is, is just telling people your emotional standpoint, be around people in their life events. If they’re getting a new job, graduating soon, getting married, having a baby, or dealing with divorce, you need to be around those people to say, "Go get into their business." But if you’re not surrounding yourself with those situations, you’re not moving.

[01:05:00] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:05:03] Russell Nicholson: You have to stay in touch with people so that when these things happen, they reach out to you. And on the emotional side of it, I take it back to, "Okay, look at your pipeline. Is anyone in your pipeline going through any of these six situations?" Because that covers every reason people move. If they say no, then I’m like, "You’re in trouble. Go meet more people." If they say yes, I say, "Great. Go take that person to dinner, drop by their house, call them — do the things." But yeah, if you’re not around those people, you’re probably not doing enough business. That’s how I keep the emotional and reality side of it balanced.

For example, in single-family sales in St. John's County, if 80 percent of those transactions were because someone had a life change, that’s 500-something people you didn’t talk to. What were you doing? Why weren’t you engaging with those people?

[01:06:08] Tracy Hayes: It’s on a timer. Don’t stop. Keep going.

[01:06:09] Russell Nicholson: Yeah, keep going. Why weren’t you engaging? And that’s just one of those things I bring people back to. Does that answer your question?

[01:06:17] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, because I think when you have 140 agents in your office, you have 140 different personalities. Hopefully, some of these team leads take a couple of chunks out for you.

[01:06:27] Russell Nicholson: Yeah, like Noah Bailey’s group has 18, 20 people. When I consult with Noah, I ask, "What do you need? What talent or people do you want me to bring to you?"

[01:06:38] Tracy Hayes: So that brings up a point. For our listeners to get some perspective: Why do successful people like Noah, running a great business, stay with Keller Williams, St. Augustine Atlantic Partners instead of opening their own brokerage?

[01:07:03] Russell Nicholson: It's because of the interdependent model. Noah pays the same cap as anyone — $20,000 a year. So, he has access not only to referral business, training, and support but also to mastermind groups with other agents who are doing as much business or more than him. He also gets profit-sharing from people he’s brought into the company. So, generally, once they’ve built a big business, they’re at 100 percent after they’ve capped.

They have access to a managing broker and an entire team that does training for them. So, you can have a business of this size and still get into rooms with people who have businesses as large or larger than yours. You’re getting invited to special sessions or masterminds. That’s how you grow — by getting out of your local area and learning from people doing $100 million or $500 million in production.

[01:08:38] Tracy Hayes: Exactly. Noah’s still plugged in because you’re giving his people support, which is part of why he stays.

[01:08:44] Russell Nicholson: Yeah, and for someone new, they’re surrounding themselves with people doing the business every day. It’s not just formal training sessions. It’s watercooler talk, grabbing lunch, or saying, "Hey, can I chat with you for 15 minutes?" You have coaches around you who have seen enough transactions to help you through any situation or give you advice like, "You’re not doing enough of this, and that’s why your business is slow right now."

[01:09:38] Russell Nicholson: And for Noah, for instance, he doesn’t want to have to create training lessons from scratch. He can plug into what we already have. A while ago, Noah called me and said, "I’ve been paying per transaction for a transaction coordinator, but I think I’m ready to bring that in-house." He was paying around $80,000 a year outsourcing it, and I told him it would cost him $55,000 to $65,000 to hire someone full-time. So, it became a profit center for him, saving him money.

[01:10:17] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, once you’re doing enough transactions, hiring someone in-house makes sense.

[01:10:20] Russell Nicholson: Exactly. And within two hours, we had it set up. His new transaction coordinator was in our office getting trained. He didn’t have to spend time going on LinkedIn, interviewing people, or doing all the legwork. We handled it.

[01:11:07] Tracy Hayes: That’s a huge time saver.

[01:11:08] Russell Nicholson: Absolutely. And his cap doesn’t change — he still only pays the $20,000 a year.

[01:11:22] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, so in that case, he’s saving money by bringing the role in-house and paying a salary instead of outsourcing for a higher cost.

[01:11:49] Russell Nicholson: Exactly. And when you reach that level, hiring in-house really becomes necessary. Most people get stuck at that point because they’re afraid to take the leap, but the system we’ve built makes that transition easier.

[01:12:53] Tracy Hayes: I think a lot of people worry about sharing their "secrets," but in reality, most people aren’t going to take action even if you tell them exactly what to do. It’s about getting out of that scarcity mindset.

[01:13:26] Russell Nicholson: That’s so true. People fear others taking over "their" market, but they don’t realize that business is out there for everyone. You just have to go and get more of it.

[01:14:31] Russell Nicholson: Even if someone isn’t looking to join us, anyone can call me for advice. We’re all in a huge real estate landscape, and the key to success is being okay with stepping out of your comfort zone and working a little harder.

[01:15:14] Tracy Hayes: People are often afraid to take the leap, but leaders like you have shown the way. You’ve done it, and you’ve made it easier for others to follow.

[01:16:00] Russell Nicholson: Yeah, and it’s not just about working hard alone. It’s about working as a team, learning from others, and collectively debriefing to improve.

[01:16:49] Tracy Hayes: Exactly. You check your ego at the door, take the best ideas from everyone, and piece them together. That’s what makes you great at what you do — breaking it down to the molecular level and understanding how to apply those ideas successfully.