Check out Jordan and Melanie Suber at the following link:https://www.yourroyalrealtors.com/real-estate-freedom

awd

awd

On today’s episode, we’re going to talk about how rising tides lift all boats. This week while in a real estate group, I saw a post that asked why there are agents out there asking questions of other agents in their market. The person commented that they would never help their competition. If you know me, then you know that this is the opposite of everything I stand for. Of course, my response was that this is the absolute worst mentality to have—that they were hoarding information and being selfish instead of helpful. I was a bit nicer than that, but I basically said that they weren’t getting it right. We’re supposed to be encouraging, helpful, and care about each other. The comments I received on my response varied—some agreed with me, and others thought I was nuts. A rising tide lifts all boats. There’s plenty of real estate business to go around—I don’t need to fight other Realtors to have success. It’s ok to help others, and if they get a deal over me because of information I gave them, good for them. I have never once lost a deal to a close friend, or someone I coach or mentor. Will it happen? Absolutely, but I really think it’s more important that we care about and help each other. Another one of my favorite phrases is collaboration over competition. This is exactly why I do everything I do, and it makes me sad that some people don’t feel this way. When you’re kind, gracious, and helpful toward someone, it’s going to come back to you—but that’s not why you do it. You do it because it’s the right thing to do. I help Realtors all the time in the membership. Some of those members are from Lancaster County. I believe that if I’m doing my job, I’ll be just fine and have plenty of success and I don’t have to worry about helping out my competition. We have to do better as a community to help each other and be less selfish. The more people I help, the more I’ve seen my business grow from the real estate side to the coaching, membership, and mastermind. I hope you’ll think about this and remember that a rising tide lifts all ships. Don’t be that person who made the post. Don’t be one of the people who is unwilling to help another Realtor. Thanks for listening. I’ll talk to you on our next episode. Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to: https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions & values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily represent the opinions & values of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty. The opinions & ideas shared in this podcast do not guarantee or promise any results of success to the listener.  

My wife told me recently that I needed a hobby. I think she noticed that, even though things were going really well in my real estate business, that I seemed to be stressed a lot. I needed something to take my mind off real estate. At the time I really resisted—after all, I already had a hobby—I play Madden, I watch sports. She pointed out that I get mad when I lose at Madden and that a hobby isn’t something that makes you mad. She had a point. She said I needed something that would take my mind off work without frustrating me.  She had a point, but at the time I didn’t realize I wasn’t getting that. I really enjoyed our time in Florida doing things I didn’t get to do on a normal day in Lancaster. I was reminded on this trip that I do need a hobby. I ended up buying a pretty expensive L-series lens for my camera while on holiday and I had a great time taking pictures of the Phillies spring training. I really found a new love for photography. I wouldn’t want to do it as a paying job, but I loved doing it for fun. It really brought me a sense of calm, peace, and enjoyment. So, I ended up realizing that I do need a hobby, and I encourage you to get a hobby too. You need something to take your mind off real estate sometimes. Not that real estate isn’t great, because it is—I never could have imagined how much I love it. There’s no W2 job out there that would let me go away for five weeks with my family. Real estate is awesome, but one of the downsides is that you’re never really clocked out. Valerie and I have figured out a system where it’s ok that I basically have to work every day. But while in Florida, I had the freedom to work for only 30 minutes to an hour some days. Imagine a job where you get to be gone more than 10% of the year. It just doesn’t happen—so real estate has the major advantage of being able to be away and work from anywhere. But you do work every day, so you still need that release and break from real estate. That’s why you need a hobby. Mine is going to be going out and having fun, taking pictures of sports. Another thing I really love is going to the movies. It's something that I don’t mind doing by myself because I can just sit there and enjoy the movie. I plan on going to more movies, and I want to encourage you to do something you love as well. I’m here on this podcast to encourage and motivate you, and hopefully help you have a successful business, but if you don’t have some kind of release to get a break from your work, you will burn out. So, you need a hobby. I would love for you to commit to doing something you enjoy, something fun for you, once a week. That’s what I’m committing to do. Whatever that looks like for you—taking a walk with your family, going to a movie, bowling, a sports event, whatever, just do it. I need a hobby and you need a hobby. Go out and find one. I’d love to hear from you guys about it, what your hobby is or what you are going to do to give your brain a break from real estate. I appreciate you guys, thanks for listening. I hope this was helpful, and I’ll talk to you on our next episode.Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to: https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions &...

Today’s episode is about asking the right questions. If you don’t ask better questions, you’ll just keep going around and around in circles in your business. Six months ago, I shared about my irrational fear of flying and how the hardest part for me was the takeoff. There’s a lot that goes on at an airport that intrigues me—the way the business runs and how many people cycle through every day. Recently, something happened that I hadn’t experienced before at the airport. As you know we were in Florida for over a month and after the first couple of weeks my sister Liz came to visit us from Pittsburgh. For some reason, when I went to pick her up at the Tampa airport I couldn’t find the pick-up area for the terminal—I kept driving in an endless loop because I couldn’t find the right waiting area. The same thing will happen to you in your real estate business if you don’t ask the right questions. So many of you are struggling and don’t know how to survive, but actually you aren’t asking the right questions. During every membership call there are people who won’t ask a single question. They sit there struggling, frustrated with their business, but they won’t ask the right questions to get the solutions they need. I can’t fix your business, but if you ask the right questions, you can find the solution to your problem and create a successful business. You should have seen me in our big SUV trying to hide at the terminal—just trying to sit there and not get kicked out by anybody. The rules are to keep people moving, so they would tell me move along and the endless loop would begin again. I even tried to park on the side of the road across from the terminal with my flashers on, but a police officer came and made me move. Of course, it’s for security reasons. No matter where I tried to pull up and park, someone made me move. I asked where they wanted me to go, and they said they didn’t care as long as I wasn’t there. My issue was that I wasn’t asking the right questions. I should have asked if they had a waiting area where I could park until my sister got her bags. I never asked, so I was stuck in an endless loop going around the terminal for 30-40 minutes. Maybe I was stressed, not wanting her to be late, so I just stayed in this endless loop—but it was because I wasn’t asking the right questions. So, my encouragement to you is that if you aren’t getting the results you want, you need to ask better questions. If you’re struggling in your business and you’re around top producers, ask them for advice. Ask them what they would do if they were in your shoes. Thanks for listening. I really appreciate you guys so much. Ask the right questions to the right people and you will have more success in your real estate business. I’ll talk to you guys on our next episode. Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to: https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions & values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily represent the opinions & values of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty. The opinions & ideas shared in this podcast do not guarantee or promise any results of success to the listener.  

This week we’ve talked about building content and making connections, and today we will talk about the confluence. Confluence is a great word that I heard from Vincent Pugliesi that he came up with from looking at what successful businesses were doing. Confluence occurs when several things come together—it is used often when smaller rivers come together and form a larger river. For our business purposes, confluence is where you take your content and your connections and you add marketing—and it becomes a powerful force that works together for the success of your business. The interesting part about confluence is that it brings together things that may not be powerful by themselves, but together make a big impact. I know people that have tons of content—they want to build a website, do a podcast and they are always giving away free content. Some of you have so much content that your content river is overflowing and flooding everywhere. Imagine that your river is overflowing on the content side, but there’s a dam set up and the water can’t go anywhere. The dam is there because you haven’t done any connecting. The river can’t keep flowing without both content and connections. You have to use your connections to serve, be helpful, and be kind—that connections river has to be long and deep just like your content river. Of course, it doesn’t have to start that way. Many rivers start as a foot-wide stream that only has a little water in it—you don’t have to start big. You can start small, but you do have to start. Eventually that stream begins to widen and turns into a river, and when those two rivers of content and connections combine, where the confluence occurs—that’s where the power and success begin. That amazing third river that results from the combination of the first two…it must start somewhere. You can create content that’s helpful for people and then make good connections by having great conversations about what you’re doing—not a pitch or sale—just building relationships, helping people, and talking about what you’re trying to do. You need both of those rivers flowing well to get to the confluence. You can do it—I’ve seen tons of people do it and I’ve done it myself. If you can do the content and make the connections and relationships, the confluence is going to be amazing. It’s going to come together and you’re going to have a ton of success. So, I hope this is helpful to you. If you have any questions about building your niche or micro niche after hearing this week’s episodes, I’d be honored to talk to you. Thanks for listening. Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to: https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions & values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily represent the opinions & values of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty. The opinions & ideas shared in this podcast do not guarantee or promise any results of success to the listener.  

On the last episode, we started talking about your micro niche and building content. Today we’re moving on to step two, which is connections. Some of you are great with connections, but a lot of you don’t do it well. A lot of people want to start a podcast or a membership, but without the connections, the content is meaningless. You have to have conversations with people. Vincent Pugliese does this so well as he builds out his $9 a month membership—he has conversations. He gets on the phone with people, spending 30 or 40 minutes basically giving them a free coaching call. When he mentions the low-cost membership with Total Life Freedom School, they jump on it before he even gets to explain it all. The majority of people don’t reach out and really care about another person. &nbsp;Your micro niche and your content are absolutely pointless if you don’t have connections and don’t build relationships with people. I’ve talked about the hour of giving in the past and I try to do this every day. I don’t do it as well as Vincent, but part of what I do each day is connect with friends, clients, past clients, potential clients, and people I see on social media. So many of you hate social media because of all the superficial posts you see, but you aren’t on social media trying to change that—if you don’t like something, go and do something about it. Remember purposeful scrolling? I log into social media daily and think about the people I can connect with, help, and serve…and when I do that, those people want to promote me to others. I think of all the people who have connected me with other people who have helped me have success in my business. I helped them and they helped me. Interestingly, most of those people who come to mind are women. Maybe women are better at connections. I respond to every single message and text that I receive and sometimes they just say thank you and the conversation ends there, and I totally understand that. I’m not saying all this to make you think you’re doing it all wrong, but the point is to ask how you can get better at it so you can build out an effective micro niche and produce content that will help people–maybe even have a membership or something one day. 99% of the guys that I interact with are terrible at this—most talk about sports, which is fine from time to time, but that’s not going to grow your micro niche. Friday we’re going to talk about the confluence and what happens when content and connections come together. On the last episode I had you write down some ideas about content. Today I want you to scroll through your text messages, Facebook messenger, WhatsApp, whatever social media you have. Reach out to 10 people you haven’t spoken to in a week, or a month, or longer. Just reach out and check in. Tell them something you appreciate about them or that’s been helpful to you. That’s how you build connections. I started doing free social media audits and I still do them—you can book them, just message me and I will make it happen. It’s not a pitch about the membership, it’s so I can build a relationship and help you with social media (which I know is something that Realtors really need because I talk to Realtors every single week with what they’re struggling with). So, if you want to be successful, content is important, but you can’t do it without connections. Make those 10 calls or messages and tell those people you’re thinking of them, praying for them, saw something that they would be interested in, or whatever. When you build connections, people want to help you. On the next episode we’ll talk about confluence and how to put it all together. I’ll see you then.Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;<a href="https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtors" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

This is the first of a three-part series talking about what you need to serve your niche. I’ve watched Vincent Pugliese build out a $9 membership over the past few months that consists of an email that goes out every week and has shared so much with the TLF community. What I’ve learned as I watched him is that he has really mastered his micro niche—what he’s good at and what he enjoys doing. Today we’ll talk about your micro niche, which is the content. Wednesday we’ll talk about connections and on Friday we’ll finish up with the confluence of where those two things come together. So, for the past almost 300 episodes I’ve talked to you about real estate advice. This week is going to be a little different, but it will still apply to your real estate business. We’ll be talking about how you can build an audience through the knowledge that you have and help people with it—whether it’s a community mastermind group, video course, book, or email list. When you think about building a niche, you have to start with content. For some of us that’s easy, we have a ton of ideas, but maybe it’s hard for you. Think of what you enjoy and do something with that. A friend of mine, Aaron Hunt, has had a ton of success with his YouTube channel. In fact, he’s monetizing it now and it will eventually replace his full-time income by making videos about something he enjoys—Japanese bait style fishing. It doesn’t matter how old you are or if you already have a full-time job, if you can identify your niche, you can build something that can be successful and be a lot of fun. My membership has grown a ton, it’s been a lot of fun, and I’ve had a lot of success with it. I just started with making content, producing it, and building it—building things that I wish would’ve been there when I was starting out in real estate—things that I wish would’ve been there as a new Realtor. I get to share that on the membership. So, I want you to think about what is the content that you have that maybe you’ve never realized you had. John Stange talks about the content waterfall, and we’ve had an episode about how to create yours. Think about what you wish you had known when you got into X? The same way I share how to have success in your real estate business, how to market a luxury listing, how to find balance with work and your family, how to use social media in your real estate career, and how to reassure the client that you are the best Realtor for the job? You need content. As you think of that micro niche, if you are having some confusion, I’m more than happy to talk to you about it. As you think about that niche or micro niche, think about what you are passionate about, what you want to talk about and do. I joke about having a podcast about the Philadelphia Phillies—I’ve had a great time here in Florida watching their spring training games. Maybe I’ll have a podcast one day about that because I love it. Maybe I’ll have a podcast about faith and marriage. I love real estate so much and I love having conversations about how to be a successful Realtor, how to use social media to grow your business, and love answering questions—that’s my micro niche. If you’re struggling with your niche, just write down ideas every day and you’ll figure out what you enjoy doing. You’ll figure out your micro niche and what content you should be producing. Google questions that people are asking in your field and answer them for your content. Answer the Public is a great site for finding questions that people want answered. Take those questions and answer them in an email, blog, or podcast—I encourage you to start today. Do it right now—write down three to five things you wish you would’ve known about something you’re passionate about. I hope this is encouraging to you and we will continue to talk about it as we cover the connections on the next podcast followed by the confluence on Friday. I hope by the end of the week you get a better feel of what that niche and micro niche are,...

Today we’re going to talk about why you should be happy when the wrong ones leave. To be honest, I’ve experienced this recently with both real estate clients in my business and with membership, coaching, and training agents. I talk so much about your avatar and the importance of going after the people who you really align with. Remember the four client boxes we have talked about on the show—high paying/high drama, high paying/low drama, low paying/high drama, and low paying/low drama? You want to stay in the low drama boxes. A client that’s looking at a $200,000 house but is going to be low maintenance/low drama is going to be easy to work with. Sometimes the clients who are going for a high paying $800,000 listing but are going to be constantly complaining and causing lots of drama are just not worth it. I’ve experienced both in business and with some agents that I was coaching recently. I’m pretty low pressure during the first meeting with a client and let them know that they can take their time to decide if they feel it’s a good fit to work with me. Recently, a client said they were sure they wanted to work with me and told me to go ahead and set up the MLS search. The next day I got a text telling me they had decided to go another direction. To be honest, I was a little frustrated and stressed out for a few days because I didn’t know what I had done—but I had to remind myself that they just weren’t a fit. I should be happy they made that decision, happy that the “wrong ones” left. It wasn’t a fit and that’s ok. I’ve also experienced this in the membership when a Realtor comes in and pays the membership, but then dominates the conversation or is rude and obnoxious. There have been a few people that I have either removed from the membership or they removed themselves. Sometimes I have asked myself what I did to make them leave, but I have learned that my job is to protect the integrity of the group. If someone’s not a fit and they leave, I should be happy—again the “wrong ones” left. I want to encourage you in your real estate business to be happy when the wrong ones leave. I believe that if you are working hard, you’re diligent, and have integrity that you will have success in the real estate business, so don’t be upset when people who aren’t a good fit go in another direction. You don’t want to be chasing people that don’t want to work with you. You want to have the freedom and openness for the clients that do need you. I agree, it hurts when a client decides they don’t want to work with you. It hurts when Realtors leave or quit the membership, but my encouragement to you (and myself) is to be happy when the wrong ones leave because it opens you up to work with the clients that want to do business with you and value what you have to offer. I hope that instead of being frustrated when clients go another direction that you will think of it as an opportunity to find the right clients and realize that it doesn’t mean that you are doing anything wrong. It just opens you up to having more room for success in your real estate business. So, thank you guys so much for listening. Hope you enjoyed this episode, and I will talk to you guys next week.Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty

Today’s show is about the importance of having a foundation in your business. We’ve got around 35 people in the membership and it’s interesting because we have a combination of new Realtors and top producers. About half the people want to learn from me because I’ve tripled my income from my first full year to the second full year and created a six-figure real estate business—and of course I want to teach those people. The other half I’m wondering what I could possibly teach them when they’re making half a million dollars a year. It all comes back to your foundation, and that’s what those top producers want to learn from me. I was able to build a solid foundation relatively quickly and have success in my business using social media to build relationships with people that don’t end at the settlement table. It’s been interesting, and to be honest, I’ve had to get over some major imposter syndrome working with some of these people who do four or five times the sales I do in real estate. But then there are things that I can learn from a new Realtor—I learn from them all the time on my team and in the membership community. A foundation is important if you really want to grow and have success in real estate. There’s a parable Jesus preaches that is found in the book of Matthew (7:24-27) where he says that whoever hears his words and doesn’t follow them is like the foolish man who build his house on a foundation of sand—his house fell apart as the rains came and the flood waters rose. Those who heed his words are like the wise man who build his home on a foundation of rock—his house withstood the rain and flood. I have always loved this parable because it talks about the importance of having a good foundation. Not only is this a good principle for your life, but also for your real estate business. If you have a solid foundation for your business, you will have success. If you’re a new Realtor, you’re going to do this by having a good CRM, giving your clients a great experience, having a system for doing paperwork, and keeping in touch with your clients. You build that foundation. If you’re a seasoned Realtor, maybe you realize you never built that foundation. You don’t have a system for posting on social media, keeping in touch with clients, or organizing paperwork—and you’re seeing the pain of not having that foundation. You just wanted to make money and you built a very successful business, but you didn’t set down a foundation. So, wherever you are in your real estate journey, I would encourage you to have that foundation, and I would encourage you to use your downtime to build it. When I had a lull in business, I would spend that time focusing on my foundation. I built out my CRM so I could keep in touch with my contacts, and I built out the membership. I knew the importance of foundation. If you don’t have one…you need one. I would encourage you to really focus in on building that foundation to create success in your business. I appreciate you guys so much and thank you for listening. I’ll talk to you on the next episode.Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions &amp; values of John Schuchman...

Today we’re going to talk about the power of connection—a very powerful tool for your business. As I record this episode, I’m on my way to the TLF retreat in Bradenton, Florida. A lot of people think about social media as just putting content out there. I get really passionate about this because I feel like 99% of people are using social media wrong and not making the most of their connections. If you’re only about growing your business to get something out of it, you’re missing out on the opportunity to make meaningful connections and help people. At last week’s retreat, I was talking with some great people about using your social media purposefully to connect people. Vincent came up with the phrase, “purposeful scrolling instead of mindless scrolling.” We did an exercise at the retreat where we spent 15 minutes thinking about who we knew that we should connect with someone else. I tried to connect people in the group with other people I know, and they did the same for me. The point was to use social media for good—to help others and pour into people around us. An example of this was a client I helped to sell their luxury home for $1.3 million in Westchester. They would have never listed their home with me if we hadn’t had a mutual friend in Melissa Bloom and she connected them to me. That’s a $35,000 commission before splits for my business in 2022—that’s the power of connection. Vincent leads an incredible community. I’ll be posting some pictures of some great people from the retreat in a few days, some amazing people I get to be around. When I tag someone in one of my photos, I’m promoting them and telling others about their business—because I believe in the power of connections. So many people have helped me get where I am in my real estate business, with the membership and with everything that I’m growing with podcast. They’ve shared it, so why shouldn’t I give back to those people and serve them? Not because of what they do for me, but because I want to help them. It makes me angry when someone says social media is a waste or that it takes up too much of their time. My argument is how are you using it? Are you using it just to promote and serve yourself? Not that there is anything wrong with promoting yourself, but you want to make sure you’re promoting others too. If you don’t want to post on social media about your business, then at least use it to talk about the amazing people you’re around. Vincent would seem pretty arrogant if he posted about how amazing his retreats are and how great his membership and mastermind community are, but if he posts about how thankful and impressed he is after speaking to some amazing entrepreneurs and tags their businesses—he’s being generous. The natural result of that is that people see that and want to know more about his membership community. I want you to look at your social media differently—look at your relationships and your connection differently. In real estate, it is vital to make connections. Be selfless about it. Serve other people. Sales will come if you do business in a generous way, the right way. Your business will grow, and you’ll become a better person. Thanks so much for listening. Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale...

Today’s episode was inspired by a few different conversations I’ve had since we’ve been in Florida. There have been a lot of people interested in how we were able to come away for a month. So, I want to talk about what makes all of this possible for us and why it’s possible for anyone. It’s all about choices and decisions. I watched Ken Carfagno and Vincent Pugliese both go away for a month at a time with their families and never dreamed it was possible for me, but then by learning from them, I realized that it could be a reality for us as well. It’s possible for anyone depending on the choices and decisions they make. Many of you know that my wife and I paid off our house last summer and we had a year of living expenses in savings. We decided to take around $10,000 and go to Florida. We would still have plenty of money in savings and be able to do something we dreamed of and was important to our family. This kind of freedom is possible for you if you make choices about what is important to you and good decisions on how you use your money. When I talk to people about financial freedom and that journey, so many don’t think it’s possible for them, but then I see how much they spend on Starbucks, eating out, cigarettes and alcohol—and it’s insane. We don’t do any of that stuff. We don’t spend money on car payments. One of my dreams is to own a Tesla, but I don’t want the car payment. That’s a choice we have made. When my wife and I talked about buying a Tesla, I realized that the root of it all was that I really wanted a nice radio with Apple CarPlay. So, my wife told me to go spend $500 on a nice radio with Apple CarPlay to put in my car—which is much better than a recurring car payment. I could afford a car payment, but we have two paid off cars—they aren’t the nicest cars in the world, but certainly not the worst either. I upgraded my current car instead of getting my dream car. You can have the freedom, but you have to make the choices and decisions that are financially wise and live frugally. Even when we bought our new house, we kept it close to what we sold our old one for. We upgraded, but we didn’t need a mansion. We wanted a garage; I wanted an office—but those were choices we made. I’ll also tell you that those decisions get a lot easier when you can create a recurring income. If I have a membership that produces one to two thousand dollars a month, I can come to Florida twice with the money generated from the membership—and that membership is growing. Part of making those choices and decisions means that you don’t mind investing in building relationships for your business and doing the work needed to be successful. Choices and decisions are a huge thing in our personal lives and our real estate business, so I would encourage you today that freedom is possible. Having success in real estate is possible. You can do anything if you can make some hard choices and decisions. Thank you for listening today. If I can ever help you with anything, let me know. I’ll see you on the next episode. Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions &amp; values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily...

How quickly can you change your focus? One of the things I have learned through my real estate career is how quickly you need to be able to focus on the next thing. For example, as I record this podcast, I have a settlement coming up in a couple of days. I’ll need to change my focus pretty quick after wrapping this up so I can focus on that client. Once that settles, I’ll move my focus to the next thing—it’s about balancing it all. We have to be able to change our focus quickly in real estate. This past Tuesday I experienced my first Philly spring training baseball game—something I have dreamed of as long as I’ve followed baseball. I have some professional camera equipment from my photography days, so I brought that along with the new L series zoom lens I had recently purchased. I was in the second row, right behind the Phillies dugout. I’ve followed baseball a good majority of my life, so I can anticipate the actions of the players as I watch the ball. There were a couple of times during the day where I really thought about how quickly I had to shift my focus to follow the action. These guys are throwing the ball around a hundred miles per hour, so the action is fast paced. I was photographing Zach Wheeler as he threw a pitch, watching the ball with my left eye. Suddenly, I’d move my camera, using my right eye to see where the ball was shifting, zoom in or out, adjust the focus and take the picture of Trey Turner fielding the ball at the shortstop and tossing it to second. I was constantly shifting my focus trying to get the best shot. I’m pretty proud of the photos I took that day and was impressed that I was able to shift the focus of the lens and adjust all the things in enough time to get some of those shots. So many things had to happen all at once. To apply this to real estate, ask yourself how good are you at adjusting your angle—at changing your position and focus, whether it be physically or mentally? If you want to have success in real estate, you have to be able to adjust. If one client is calling about a property and the next calls stressed out about their settlement, you have to be able to change your focus and be able to meet the needs of each. You also need to be able to adjust your expectations—real estate involves so many things getting thrown at you. You have to be fast on your feet so that if something unexpected comes up, you can handle it. You need to be able to go from guiding listing clients to advising buyers on inspection matters. You have to be adjusting your focus and expectations and be prepared when something unexpected comes up. If you can do these things, I believe you will have much more success in real estate. Thank you so much for being on this real estate journey with me and learning together. Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions &amp; values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily represent the opinions &amp; values of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty. The opinions &amp; ideas shared in this podcast do not guarantee or promise any results of success to the listener.&nbsp;&nbsp;

When will it hurt bad enough? In other words, when will the pain be so great that you do something about it? I recently asked a friend of mine that question. A lot of my friends want to call me to pick my brain because they know I’m pretty public on social media about my entrepreneurial journey and about real estate. This friend of mine absolutely hates his job. We’ve talked about building out a platform on social media. He’s taken a couple of courses, but never really showed up for them. When I asked him when will the pain of his job be bad enough for him to do something about it, he replied that he didn’t know. Most of my episodes are for Realtors, or people in the real estate, but today is different. Today’s episode is for those of you who are part-time in real estate. You’re a Realtor, but you work another job. I’m going to ask you, when are you going to cut the cord? When is that pain going to be bad enough? Recently, Google laid off 12,000 employees. When did the pain get so bad for those people at Google that they did something about it? It was when they woke up to an email saying thanks for your service—you’re done. For those of you in real estate, but working another full-time job, how many people have been on this show telling you that you cannot succeed if you are doing this part-time? I think about Andrew Welk, who leads our team and Christina Diehl who found success when she jumped into it full-time. Many of you listen to this podcast three times a week—and I’m very thankful for that, but what have you actually done with it? I know some of you that listen to every episode and don’t sell any real estate. You can create a six-figure real estate income where you work from anywhere you want. What’s stopping you—when will the pain be enough? Whether your halfway to being a Realtor—just doing one or two transactions a year because you have another job, or you’re in a full-time job and you’re just comfortable. I’ll say comfortability is the enemy of progress. You’ll never get anywhere if you’re comfortable. What happens when the money disappears, or you get replaced by a robot? We’re a couple of months into the new year. How many of you work up January 2nd and said you were going to do something about your health? Here we are, a couple of months later, and how many of you have actually done something about it? Maybe you have, but then you fall back into bad patterns and routines—we all do it. So, when is the pain bad enough that you actually do something about it permanently? I can’t decide for you, I can only decide for myself—for my health, real estate goals, what I’m growing and building. There can be a lot of pain that comes through building and creating new things, but I’m not going to stay there asking myself where is this going? When will you get sick and tired of being sick and tired? You have to decide that for yourself—and I would really encourage you to step out of that comfort zone and stop dealing with the pain. You don’t have to live like this. You can have success in this business as a Realtor if you’re willing to do things to change what’s not working. I appreciate you guys, so thanks for listening. I hope you have an awesome day and an awesome week—and that maybe you’re starting your Monday with this episode and say to yourself the pain is not worth it. I’m going to do something about it. Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and <a...

Today I want to remind you that how you treat people is important to the success of your business—customer service matters. I’m going to share a story that happened last month when Podcast Movement was over, and I was headed home. I had a late check out from my hotel and I was just about to leave, when I received an alert that my connecting flight from Orlando to Nashville was canceled. I immediately started scrambling to figure out flights for the next day. It reminded me of the fiasco with Southwest Airlines during Christmastime when they delayed, canceled, or pushed about 2 million flights—that resulted in a hearing with the Senate Commerce Committee to discuss the breakdown. Southwest delayed, canceled, or adjusted my flights three different times on January 31st. When I called them the first time, on the 30th, and told them I didn’t think I’d be able to connect, they told me they didn’t have anything else that day but offered to switch me to a flight the next day. Thankfully I was able to stay an extra day at my hotel. I was on the phone talking to my friend Tim, who had dealt with the same thing with Southwest—trying to fly to Vegas for Christmas. He even ended up on CNN because of the debacle. He likens his feelings toward Southwest now as a type of ptsd. I think the lesson with the whole situation is that it only takes one bad experience to really ruin it for someone. That’s why I want you to hear that customer service matters. So, I was stuck in Orlando with my friend Justin Shank, who I’ve mentioned a few times. He runs a great podcast and mastermind groups with the Growth Now Movement and the Growth Now Summit. We were at Disney Springs grabbing dinner, and while I was sitting there, I got a text from Southwest that my trip had been canceled for the next day. Twenty minutes later, I got a text that they’d rescheduled me on something else, a flight that was going to Chicago where I would sit for a day and a half before heading to Philadelphia. I ended up canceling my flights with Southwest and to this day I’m still trying to get compensation for the trip I ended up taking on American Airlines. Customer service matters and to be honest, I don’t know that I’ll be able to fly with Southwest again. Your word matters, what you say matters. In December, the CEO of Southwest Airlines said, “We made mistakes. We will fix this. This won’t happen again.” So to see it happen to a good friend in December and then to have it happen to me in January…doesn’t seem like they’ve made changes. It makes me not trust them. I had a very bad experience with Southwest, but I want to contrast that with the amazing service I experienced at the Holiday Inn Orlando at SeaWorld. They did a great job. First of all, when I checked in on the 25th, I got in around noon and they got me into my room three hours early. When I found out my first flight was cancelled, they were able to keep me in the same room that night, and told me they would make it work out—however long I needed—when Southwest cancelled the rescheduled flight as well. They told me not to worry, that they would make it happen. I gained so much respect for them. They knew I was in a rough situation and was frustrated with the airlines. The fact that they were willing to be kind and gracious to me made a big impression. I felt cared for and valued by the hotel and felt like to Southwest, I didn’t matter. Not once did Southwest apologize for the extra hotel expenses, extra dining costs—I didn’t matter. I hope you take this cautionary tale and apply it to your real estate business. You want to give out great service—you want to care about and value people. If you make mistakes, like Southwest Airlines did, fix it. Customer service matters and mistakes that you don’t take care of—that news travels and those are the things people remember. Think about whether you are creating great customer service experiences with your clients. If you are making mistakes, are you fixing...

Real Estate Business NewsBusiness is going great! I have a settlement, and I’ve had a few deals under contract in February. Business is picking up again as I mentioned in my January update. People seem ready to buy houses again. I’ve had some clients looking at homes and am thankful for team members that are helping with clients there while we’re in Florida. I have a settlement this Friday that will close; I think that’s my third, or maybe fourth deal of the year so far—so that’s really good. Our primary residence, which was listed, is under contract and will settle March 17th, so we’re excited about that. I’m really pumped to see where real estate goes as the spring market gets started and as we move into the summer. Once our home sells, we’ll have a lot of financial flexibility. We’re not sure if that will be a rental, or an Airbnb—we’re processing and praying through a few different things, trying to make the best decision.Community for RealtorsThings are still going great with the podcast and membership. I’m very thankful for everyone on the calls. We’ve had a lot of great Monday calls. If you’re ever interested in what we’re doing on those calls, feel free to let me know—I’d be happy to have you check it out for a couple of weeks and see if it could be a fit. Absolutely no pressure at all. I just want to help you in your real estate business and help you have success. As for the podcast, we won’t have any interviews for a couple of weeks. They take a lot more work and time than a regular episode, and since we’re in Florida, I want to take some time and enjoy my family. I love bringing them to you, but just don’t have time for the work they take for a few weeks while we’re here and with the TLF retreats coming up. There will be some great ones coming back in March. We’ve been having a blast here and this past week was the first TLF retreat in Bradenton, Florida. The great thing about what I do is that I’m basically able to do all the work here that I did from home. I’m still recording podcasts, still doing social media stuff for our team, still doing my membership and coaching calls—I can do it all from our Airbnb. We’re really learning a lot about freedom this month—building more freedom in our business and in our lives. It’s been great. On the Home FrontOur family has been having a great time here in Florida. We’ve been in the St. Petersburg/Clearwater/Tampa area and are having a great time exploring. We even got to see part of the Philly spring training. My sister came to town this past weekend and we’ve had a great time. I’m excited about my in-laws coming down for a week and then my dad coming down in a couple of weeks. We’re going to have some fun family time, while still doing the stuff I need to business-wise from here. It’s been a blast so far and things are good. &nbsp;I had a great time at a TLF retreat last week and there’s another one coming up this week. We have about three weeks left before we check out of the Airbnb and head home. I’m just excited to enjoy the flexibility that I have to be here in Florida, enjoying time with my family. Thank You Thanks for listening to this episode and for continuing to support what I'm doing. If you ever have questions, I'm always happy to answer them. Thank you for being a part of this and supporting the show, sharing it with people, leaving reviews, and helping the show grow. I appreciate it so much. I'll talk to you guys on our next episode on Friday.&nbsp;Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsThe podcast is edited by <a...

Today’s episode is all about winning at sales. To be honest, this episode was inspired by a recent interaction I had with a former coworker and how I’ve just seen people do it all wrong in sales and not have success. Many Realtors overcomplicate sales and relationships—they overthink everything. If you want to have success, you have to build relationships and treat people the right way. Make sure you’re checking in for special life events—anniversaries, birthdays, the anniversary of the sale of their home, etc. Keep building that relationship…which was not my experience with my former coworker, let’s call her Jessica. Jessica and I worked together at a local bank in Lancaster. We weren’t best friends—there was a lot of competition between us as customer service representatives. Jessica was one of the longest tenured customer service representatives at the branch, but I had a lot of success with sales. I was able to persuade banking customers to expand their banking relationship with us—to sign up for more accounts, open credit cards, apply for loans, mortgages, etc. I advanced pretty quickly through the financial institution, which fostered a lot of jealousy in Jessica. Jessica advanced through the bank despite having an attitude. I also went through a couple of promotions at the bank before losing my job there. Someone must have liked her because by the time I was in real estate, Jessica was an assistant branch manager, and she wanted my business. I remember her inviting me to one of her branches and wanting to swap business cards since I was in real estate. Since we had never been friends, I figured she was extending an olive branch. When I met with her, she had a stack of her business cards ready to give me and asked me to hand them out to my potential clients—so she could help them grow their banking relationship. I said sure, expecting her to take a stack of mine to hand out to banking clients as well. I offered her my cards and told her I’d be happy to help any of her banking clients when it was time to buy or sell a home. Keep in mind she had handed me a stack of 30 cards, had them all in a stack ready to go when I arrived. When I offered her a stack of my business cards, she took three. Three cards. In that moment it was clear that nothing had changed with her. She wanted me to help her build her business but wasn’t interested in referring anyone to me. I was reminded in that moment that she wasn’t trying to build relationships; she wasn’t extending an olive branch. She only brought me in to pitch her banking services and for me to provide free advertising to my clients. I wasn’t going to do that. That’s not how sales works. That was three years ago, but just the other day I noticed on LinkedIn that Jessica had been out of banking for a couple of years but had recently gotten a branch manager role at another bank. I thought to myself, “I bet she reaches out to me”, and sure enough, within 24 hours I had a call from Jessica. It was literally the most awkward conversation—she talked all about her new bank position, never asked about me, my family, or how my real estate business was going. She was using the call as an opportunity to pitch her services—not build relationships. I listened to her spiel for five minutes and got off the phone. Jessica will often say that she doesn't know why she's not having success in banking. Many of you will say you don't know why you're not having success in real estate. Are you building relationships? Are you caring about those relationships with clients, with other business partners—or are you doing things like Jessica? Are you caring about the relationships around you, or are you just using people to try to grow and expand your business? Think about it and remember that success in real estate is all about relationships.Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;<a...

Don’t be so busy creating that you stop growing. I often talk about Vincent Pugliese and the Mastermind group that I’m part of. He’s really changed my life, and while I was at his retreat we talked about some hard things that really changed the trajectory of everything I’m doing in my business. As a Realtor, I thought that recurring income wasn’t a possibility for me, but Vincent taught me otherwise. He taught through Total Life Freedom how to have recurring incomes so that you don’t have to have all your work be service based. That week really changed my life and that brings me to the lesson for today. I started listening to Vincent’s podcast after that retreat along with Ken Carfagno, Kent Sanders, and John Stange’s podcasts. Listening to these shows changed my life—all of them were in the Total Life Freedom Mastermind with me at one point. It affected how I did business, how I interacted with people, how I served people, and how I grew my business. I’ve spent the last couple of years really devoted to my show and creating content for the membership. What I’ve learned is that I’ve gotten too busy creating content—and I don’t want you to get so busy creating content or whatever in your business that you stop learning and growing. This is what I learned a few weeks ago when I realized I had been missing out on the podcasts I usually listen to because I had gotten so busy creating content that I had stopped my routine of consuming content and learning from others. It reminded me of the time I was in the ministry—you are pouring into people, but you feel like no one’s pouring into you. You can spend so much time leading and teaching others that you never take the time to feed yourselves. You’re just too busy. Part of my growth is listening to podcasts that cause me to improve as a dad—be a better person in my faith and with my family. They help me improve my business, become a better Realtor, and be a better leader for my membership community. So, I hope that you can really get the point that you can be so busy creating that you stop consuming—stop learning. Don’t be so busy that you are not consuming, learning, and growing yourself. I hope this is helpful for you guys. It’s important to keep learning and growing whether that’s reading books or listening to podcasts—whatever feeds you. Always keep learning and growing. Thanks for listening and I’ll see you on the next podcast. &nbsp;Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmailJohn Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions &amp; values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily represent the opinions &amp; values of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty. The opinions &amp; ideas shared in this podcast do not guarantee or promise any results of success to the listener.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Who is Josh Smith?Josh Smith is an entrepreneur, life coach, keynote speaker, and community leader. He recently launched his business, Your Speaking Voice, LLC where he teaches people to develop a voice and why public speaking is important. He helps others how to overcome challenges and gain confidence in whatever I pursue. Josh is a good friend and the reason I shared my nine-part story recently about how losing my job affected my mental health.&nbsp;“I think that there's a crisis nowadays when it comes to being able to communicate with others, especially as we try to do it face to face.”“It's really important if you're a parent out there, even if you're doing whatever field that you're in, especially real estate, take some time for your kids because it is certainly the most important thing that you can do for them.”“Just know that you always have a place in this world and that you have the abilities deep inside of you.”“…try to say no because that will help you keep your work life balance in check and might even help you with recovering from some of the episodes of de depression anxiety.”Find out the following and more: Why Josh started his business of helping peopleThe importance of being authentic and having confidenceWhy men are hesitant to talk about mental healthJosh’s experience with depression and how he got helpWhy it’s important to spend time and listen to your kids Why it’s vital you check in on peopleWhat you can learn from Josh’s journeyHow you can teach others from your experienceTwo things Josh feels everyone should do for their mental healthNever be afraid to ask hard questionsThe reason behind Your Speaking Voice, LLCJosh’s advice to RealtorsResourcesSuicide and Crisis Hotline: 988Josh Smith’s Website: https://www.yourspeakingvoice.biz/Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions &amp; values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily represent the opinions &amp; values of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty. The opinions &amp; ideas shared in this podcast do not guarantee or promise any results of success to the listener.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Today’s episode is all about dreams. We’ve talked about dreams before on the show and about working hard for our goals, but today I want to encourage you to have a big dream. While doing real estate coaching in the membership I see so many people talk about the dreams they have, but they don’t have the goals to get there. I love the quote, “A goal without a dream, without a goal, is just a wish.” So many are just wishing for success. Today we check into our Airbnb here in Florida for a five-week stay and I’m pumped. My in-laws are coming down to visit and we’ll check out a few spring training baseball games. We have several family members coming down at different points and we’re really excited. But how did this get started? I’ve mentioned my friends Vincent Pugliese and Ken Carfagno in previous podcasts. I watched Vincent and his wife Elizabeth build a life of freedom where they could travel every day and I told myself I wanted that for my family. I dreamed about it, but I didn’t do anything about it. I worked a W2 job where I got maybe three weeks off a year…I would never have been able to spend five weeks in Florida like I am now. I had the dream, but I didn’t have any goals to get there. So, I encourage you to dream big, but have big goals to go along with them so that you can make it happen. Remember, a dream without a goal is just a wish. Once I got into mastermind and had some success in real estate, I told my wife that if we could pay off the house, we could book a month in Florida. At first it seemed crazy, but the more success I had the more the dream seemed possible. We worked hard, paid off the house, and booked the Airbnb in Florida. We’ve dreamed about being here for the past nine months. I love real estate and the opportunities that it’s presented to me. I love that I can take time and be with my family. I’m here for five weeks, but I’ll still work every day—maybe an hour or so in the morning or evening. I’ll still record podcasts and still be interacting with real estate clients. The cool thing I learned from Vincent was total life freedom—time, money, and location freedom. This is one of the reasons I’ve doubled down on the efforts to grow the membership, because if I’m providing value and the membership is growing like it has been, I can build the membership to the point where it produces a decent income. I would have the freedom to be on a beach in Florida, the mountains in Poconos, or travel the world and go to Italy. I’m able to work anywhere I go. In a span of three months the membership went from making very little money to having a recurring $1,500 a month. That amount hasn’t changed my life, but $1,500 a month is $18,000 per year—and I did that in just a few months. Imagine if I continue to double and triple down on growing the membership—imagine multiplying the current amount by 5—then I go from $18,000 a year to $90,000. That sounds impossible until you start. That’s why we’ll talk more in the next few weeks and months about building things to have multiple streams of income. That dream you have is possible if you have the right goals. I see myself continuing to grow the membership, I’d love to be at $5000 by the end of the year—and that would be $60,000 a year. That would allow me to sell less houses and to be able to pour more into my members and growing the community. I want to encourage you to have a dream and a goal—remember you need to have both. Our dream was to pay off the house and have money to travel to Florida. The goal was to save the money to pay off the house and still have money left over to be able to take a month off. The thing I love most about the business I’ve created is that I can work from anywhere. I can still talk and work with clients, still rate contracts, and still do my membership calls from the poolside or the beach. I have the freedom to do those things, so let me encourage you—your dream may seem like a long way off, but it’s not too far off. Remember, I was...

We’ve been talking about Chick-Fil-A this week. This past Monday we talked about Chick-Fil-A putting their emphasis on leadership (rather than investing), and Wednesday we interviewed my brother-in-law, Brad Burkholder, an operator. Today we’re going to talk about how we don’t have to be on the clock 24/7. So many Realtors feel they must be on the clock 24/7—always answering their phone, always available. But this isn’t the case. I have a cut off time where I no longer answer calls for the night, and I often sleep in because I stay up late working in the evenings. It all goes back to setting boundaries. Chick-Fil-A is closed on Sundays. Truett Cathy wanted his employees to be able to go to church and spend time with their families, so he was committed to being closed on Sundays. He got a lot of flak for it with people telling him he wouldn’t make money or that he wouldn’t survive, but if you look at the numbers today, Chick-Fil-A is making more money in less days per week than the other restaurants. I really feel like a lot of this success goes back to the operator and the fact that they are often involved in supporting their community. When a business supports the community, the community wants to support them. That’s something that can be applied to your real estate business as well. If we look at some numbers, we find that the average McDonald’s franchise does about 3 million a year in net sales. Burger King does around one and a half million a year and Wendy’s brings in about 2.17 million. So, McDonald’s brings in the most of the three. If we compare McDonald’s with Chick-Fil-A—the average freestanding Chick-Fil-A makes more than 8 million dollars in sales a year. Many of the operators I personally know who own stores bring in way past 10 million, but even on the conservative side of 8 million a year, Chick-Fil-A is doing more than two and a half times the volume of McDonald’s. Wendy’s, Burger King, and McDonald’s are open seven days a week, sometimes 24 hours a day and don’t bring in the sales Chick-Fil-A does while being closed Sundays and being open less hours daily. So, when you get frustrated as a Realtor and feel like you have to work constantly to have success—think again. Chick-Fil-A’s business model has shown that you don’t have to work 24/7 to be successful. Even if you’re only open six days a week and have limited hours, you can have a lot more success than your competitors. I hope you can think about this with your real estate business and learn to say no to working all the time. You need that balance. Thanks for listening to the podcast and I’ll see you guys on the next episode. Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions &amp; values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily represent the opinions &amp; values of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty. The opinions &amp; ideas shared in this podcast do not guarantee or promise any results of success to the listener.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Who is Brad Burkholder?Brad Burkholder has been a Chick-Fil-A operator for 11 years and been with the company for 12 and a half. He is currently the operator of the freestanding restaurant off Lindle Road in Harrisburg. He is a wealth of knowledge with a lot of wisdom to offer entrepreneurs. He is also my brother-in-law and a big supporter of the show. “I'm really grateful for my time at Cairn University, which allowed me to understand I could do business for the glory of God, and that's really where it came to life for me.”“I always say the valley is where we learn our character and our true commitment.”“I always encourage entrepreneurs, find someone that you can delegate the things that you don't want to do or that you're not good at, and find those people, delegate to them—usually they're way better at it than we are.”Find out the following and more: How being an entrepreneur can be a callingBrad’s introduction to Chick-fil-A in collegeWhat it is like to be a Chick-fil-A operator — in good times and hard times How Brad balances work and familyLessons on generosity and character that he passes on to his team membersHard times he endured and his advice to Realtors who are strugglingHow his faith carries him through the strugglesThe importance of rest and recovery when you’re working hardCharacteristics that entrepreneurs and leaders shareTips for managing a team and delegatingThe benefit of being part of a coaching groupWhat is your legacy?ResourcesFree social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions &amp; values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily represent the opinions &amp; values of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty. The opinions &amp; ideas shared in this podcast do not guarantee or promise any results of success to the listener.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Today we’re talking about leaders versus investors and the differences between the business practices of Chick-Fil-A and McDonald’s. There are several different companies I have always felt have great lessons that can be applied to real estate, and today we’re going to talk about Chick-Fil-A and McDonald’s—specifically the process to own one. I’m a big fan of Chick-Fil-A. I spent several years there and dreamed of being an operator, but it wasn’t a good fit for me and didn’t work out. It did get me into banking and then real estate though, so I am forever grateful. I love the company and love a lot of people that work there, but today I want to talk to you about the process you go through to own a Chick-Fil-A versus the process for McDonald’s. How much do you think it takes to own a McDonald’s or Chick-Fil-A? To qualify to own a McDonald’s, you need a net worth of around $500,000 in liquid assets and pay a $45,000 franchise fee. If you want to open a completely new McDonald’s franchise, you will need upwards of 1.3 to 2.3 million, and even if you are buying an existing franchise, you will still need a million dollars. There is no mention of any leadership skills required, no program you must attend, just the money—you basically must be a millionaire to own McDonald’s. Now what does it take to become a Chick-Fil-A operator? Here is where the difference lies—Chick-Fil-A is looking for leaders and McDonald’s is looking for dollars. This difference isn’t necessarily good or bad, just the difference in how they run their business. McDonald’s doesn’t care how often you are in the restaurant. You can own the business and be there every day or not at all, it makes no difference to their business model. Chick-Fil-A requires you to be there full-time, or a little less if you have a great team—Chick-Fil-A is your primary income. I’m not saying one of these models is any better than the other, but it’s interesting to look at the differences. If you want to be a Chick-Fil-A operator, you apply for their leadership development program. They send you all over the country to help different locations with getting up and running, or you might work at the support center in Atlanta until they send you to your new restaurant. That’s how I met my friend Jonathan. A friend in Pittsburgh had left to open his new Chick-Fil-A restaurant and Jonathan came to work as an interim manager and ran it as if it were his store. It’s extremely hard to become a Chick-Fil-A operator. In fact, it’s much easier to get into Harvard. Harvard has an admittance rate of 3.2%. You are guaranteed to get McDonald’s if you meet the financial requirements, so there isn’t an admission rate at play there. Chick-Fil-A only plants 75 or 80 new franchises each year because they’re doing it all in cash. So, they’re admittance rate is basically 0.5% to become operators. You can see there are some differences between becoming a Chick-Fil-A operator and becoming a McDonald’s owner—it all comes back to leadership or dollars. I hope this makes you think about what you value in your real estate business. Are you trying to grow as a leader and become better? Or are you an investor who doesn’t really care about the leadership skills? I hope you lean more toward it not just being about the dollars. You want to focus on the leadership. You want to give your clients the same kind of service they give at Chick-Fil-A—where everything is their pleasure. You know you get terrible service when you walk into a McDonald’s—that’s because owners don’t have to be in the restaurant making sure their employees have a good set of core values. Even 15- and 16-year-old team members go through a pretty rigorous hiring process with Chick-Fil-A. They want the best of the best and as a result, they end up with employees that stick around. Make sure that you are invested in the success of your business. Be passionate about your business and make sure you’re working it full time. This is why I believe...

While attending PodFest a week or so ago, I had the TV on in my hotel room and caught some of the analysis on for the AFC Championship game. As I listened, I thought how they spend so much time, so many hours preparing for the games that they almost run out of things to talk about. I’m an Eagles fan, so I’m thrilled that it will be the Eagles against the Chiefs for the Super Bowl, and I’m really hoping the Eagles will win. There have been thousands of hours of analysis to prepare the fans for the Super Bowl—imagine if they did all the analysis and had all the conversations, but didn’t play the game? That would be crazy—but this is a struggle I see Realtors having a lot. They think about what they can do to improve their business, but that’s ALL they do. They have talked and prepared and prayed and planned, but at some point it becomes time to stop preparing and take action. The time for analysis is over—it’s time to play the game. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about dreaming. If you’ve listened to my podcast for any length of time, you know I’ve probably got more ideas than anyone in the world. Even with all the plates I have spinning, there comes a time where I’ve processed enough and it’s time to get moving. I encourage you to do the same. Don’t have so many ideas that you don’t take action. I hope you can apply this to your real estate business. If you’ve been discussing and thinking for a long time, maybe you need to make that jump–make that decision. Make sure you’re moving forward. The biggest struggle is overthinking, and the only bad decision you can make is not making one. Stop overthinking and start making decisions. I hope this helps you in your business and I hope the Eagles win the Super Bowl. Go Birds. Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions &amp; values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily represent the opinions &amp; values of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty. The opinions &amp; ideas shared in this podcast do not guarantee or promise any results of success to the listener.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Who is Katherine Polsinelli?Katherine’s background is in management, medical administration, and she is an agent service coordinator for one of the largest real estate brokerages in the world. Her desire is to help agents and entrepreneurs become the best version of themselves by getting organized, mastering their mindset, and by helping them accomplish more. Katherine has recently launched a podcast called Real Chat with Kat where she brings in a variety of coaches to give people a different approach to growing their business.&nbsp;“I think the biggest piece of advice that I give people is really focusing on how they view themselves.”“You need to establish what am you are willing to put up with and what is not worth your time.”“I personally think that success is moving forward, whether that's an inch or a mile. Success is different with every single person, and I think that's a word that we get stuck on wholeheartedly because we look at other people's success—we measure their success, and we feel bad because we are not there.”Find out the following and more: How and why she transitioned into real estateHelping with “The Startup Agent” and what she loved about the bookWhat Katherine looks for in the people she works withThe importance of investing in people How she encourages her Realtor clientsThe problem with perfectionWhy you should only take clients that align with your avatarEstablishing boundaries—what to say yes to and when to say noWhat to do when you don’t know all the answers (and how to find them)Mirror and Matching—how to read your clientsKatherine’s advice to a new RealtorResourcesKatherine's Podcast: https://realchatwithkat.podbean.com/Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions &amp; values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily represent the opinions &amp; values of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty. The opinions &amp; ideas shared in this podcast do not guarantee or promise any results of success to the listener.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Last week I was at PodFest, connecting and meeting with people and supporting my friends. When it was time to leave, I had a conversation with someone who didn’t feel like they made the connections I did—that the event wasn’t valuable. This person was a friend of mine, so we interacted a bit, and I noticed that every time we would go into a session, they would sit in the back. That’s why they weren’t making connections. I learned from Vincent Pugliese, Ken Carfagno, and John Stange that you only make connections by putting yourself out there and introducing yourself. You have to drag that extroverted side out of you at events. Justin Schenck has an amazing podcast and is considered an influencer. I’ve had him on the show, and he’s been a great encourager. Sunday when things were wrapping up, he invited me to come sit down with group of big influencers he was with, and I was able to meet some amazing people. Being willing to put yourself out there is how you make connections and meet people that will be in your corner and include you—when you don’t really have the audience or the relationships to sit with people who are influencers of that level. This friend who hid in the back of the class didn’t ask any questions, didn’t support the people who were speaking, and therefore didn’t make any connections. He didn’t have the amazing experience that I had at PodFest this year. I sat in front, asked questions, raised my hand, and introduced myself and my podcast when I was called on. I met so many people that way. At Podcast Movement this past year, my friend Ariel called me out and asked me to talk about my podcast simply because I asked a question. As a result, I connected with a bunch of Realtors and my show grew a lot. However, people who come to the events, sit on the sidelines, and don’t try to make connections leave feeling shocked that they didn’t build any relationships or get anything out of the event. If you have a platform and you’re trying to build it like I’m trying to build mine, let this be a lesson for you. This is a lesson for Realtors as well. Why are you not making connections and meeting people? Are you spending too much time hiding in the back of the class? Of course, you don’t want to be that person who comes in like a bull in a China shop—dominating the conversation—there has to be balance, but get out there. Don’t sit in the back, staring at your phone. Introduce yourself to the speaker and thank them for their time. Put yourself out there—go out in your community, serve at church, serve for nonprofit organizations, or just go sit at the coffee shop and have conversations with anyone who comes in. Ask to buy them a cup of coffee. There are so many ways to grow your business and if you are continuing to struggle, you are not using the resources available to you. I told my friend that if you hide in the back of the room, the back of the class, you won’t make any connections. They didn’t like what I had to say, but it was true. I would encourage you in whatever you’re building—your podcast, membership, real estate business, or whatever to build relationships. Show up and put yourself out there. If you can do this, you will create success. Thank you so much for listening.&nbsp;Resources&nbsp;Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by&nbsp;Jennifer Harshman&nbsp;and&nbsp;RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR®...

Real Estate Business NewsIt was a big month in my business—in everything I’m building with real estate, the podcast, and the membership. I’ve been inundated since the first of the year with people looking to buy or sell a home in 2023. In January, I added at least four new clients that are going to buy or sell over the next few months. I’m really excited about it—I couldn’t ask for a better start to the year. I’ve been having a lot of good conversations and follow ups with people who have been reaching out about real estate. The follow up is so important and something we will be talking more about on the podcast. It’s always a great idea to reach out through text messages and social media to wish your contacts a Happy New Year and update them on what’s happening in the real estate market. I’ve had a few clients who put their plans on hold for one reason or another, but then I added those 4 or 5 new clients, so I’m happy with how my year is going. New buyers, two settlements (including my settlement for our new home—it’s a good start to the year to have two deals close and add in new buyers as well.Community for RealtorsI’ve been doing the podcast for almost two straight years now. I’m looking forward to putting out more podcast downloads and increasing listeners every month. I made some great connections at PodFest. I was there about a week and just got home late Monday night. It’s amazing how many people come to these events, and I always make great connections and try to help people (and let them help me as well). I always hate to leave my wife and kids, but these events are so valuable—I learn a lot and get a lot out of them. I always go to help others and serve, but when you do that others will think of you and help you grow your business as well. I’m very thankful for the people I met there and the help they brought me. I hope I can help them as well. The membership community is continuing to grow, and big things are definitely coming. We’re about 27 in the membership community right now, and add one more member most weeks—that’s a huge win. If I could gain 50 members this year, I would take that in a heartbeat. I’m doubling down on all my efforts with the membership and continuing to have conversations where I talk to Realtors. I do my best to try and serve them, but I do have a business to run. I have a family to feed, and the membership is part of that. The more I make doing that, the less houses I need to sell. If I were to add one member a week, even at the lowest tier ($50), that would be $31,000 a year from the membership community. That would be a game changer, so that’s why I’m so focused on building the membership. I’m excited about the membership, continuing to have great conversations, and continuing to do the free social media audits. I’m excited to see where this year goes. On the Home FrontWe took most of January to get settled into our new house and sell our old one—that settlement should be the end of March. In a couple of weeks, we’re going down to Florida, which I mentioned earlier this week. We’re very excited about spending that time with our families. I’m very thankful for how God continues to bless our family and thankful for my wife, Valerie. She continues to support me and takes care of the kids for an entire week while I go to events like PodFest. Thank You Thank you for being a part of this and for supporting the show, sharing it with people, leaving reviews, and helping the show grow. I appreciate it so much. Whether you want a free trial to the membership, social media help with your business, or if there is anything I can do to help you in your business. Anything to help your business thrive and grow, or support and encourage you along the journey, I'd love to do it. Feel free to connect with me. Thank you for listening. Thanks for supporting everything going on here. I’m

Who is Andy Welk?Andy Welk leads our team and is a full-time firefighter and paramedic. Thanks to his schedule at the firestation, he is able to put in full-time hours with his real estate business. The knowledge and information Andy has gained over his 14 years in real estate will help you create success in your real estate business. &nbsp;“My biggest focus with my real estate career is that it isn't my success—God is the one that gets all the glory for all of this.”“You have to watch out on your social media pages, the audience that you're playing to.”“…it's a long game. It's kind of like a 26.2-mile marathon…you don't go one mile in and give up.”Find out the following and more: What led him to pursue a second career in real estateHow he has the time to work two full-time careers Why it’s hard to do real estate part-timeHow he handled the crash of 2008Why having conversations creates successWhat Andy does special for first responders who refer to himThe importance of creating relationships where you areThe value of social media as a free resource to promote your businessMaking the most of your drive timeA Realtor’s biggest toolTips to make connectionsHow to prepare buyers for buying a houseAdvice for Realtors who are building teamsThe importance of writing things downWhy you should have a business planResourcesFree social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions &amp; values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily represent the opinions &amp; values of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty. The opinions &amp; ideas shared in this podcast do not guarantee or promise any results of success to the listener.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

What’s next? I’ve been asked that question frequently over the past month. Some thought I was stopping the podcast, or changing the format or length, etc. First of all, things are not changing—I’m so excited with what we’re doing with the podcast, how we continue to grow, and am thankful for all of you. I took a break from recording new episodes the last couple of weeks in December as we moved to a new home. We took January to get settled in and take a mental break. It was a fun break, but I couldn’t wait to get back to it. This is the longest I’ve gone in the past two years without recording a podcast episode, so it feels weird, but I’m fired up about the things that are coming. The biggest thing for us right now is the move and getting settled in the new house. We listed our old home, and after three weeks, we got a great offer and are looking forward to settlement in March. The next big thing for us will be a month-long trip to Florida the middle of February. We’re excited about having real estate in a good enough place that I can take time away with my family. It will be a nice few weeks away from the cold and it’s really been a dream of ours that has come out of paying off our house and being debt free. Our families will come down to visit with us during that stay, so it’s going to be great. This is exactly the freedom Vincent Pugliese taught me about. I’ve watched him and his family go for a month here and there, enjoying time together, but I never thought it was possible for me. But here we are, so that’s a big “what’s next” for us. Even though I’ll be away for a five-week vacation, I’ll still have responsibilities for the team that I’ll work on every day, and I’ll still be recording podcast episodes. I’ll be sharing what we’re learning in our season in Florida and our journey there. Maybe I’ll go to a Phil’s game one afternoon, work a couple of hours in the morning or evening. I’ll have plenty of time to enjoy being in Florida with our families. The only thing I won’t be doing is showing houses—I can still make offers, write contracts and send them, and be on FaceTime or Zoom looking at houses with them. The cool thing about real estate right now is that so much of it is done digitally. My clients have been super supportive of it. I’ll also be exploring opportunities that have come out of the podcast and exploring the membership, which is growing and up by about 25-30 people. What’s next for that is to double down and help people grow their real estate business with low cost, but high value membership through the Real Estate Survival Guide membership community. We’re also going to have that second-tier people were asking for, the Real Estate Survival Guide Mastermind Community. I’m going to continue coaching, although I’m super limited on that. I don’t want to coach all day, every day, because it takes up so much time, but it will be a small part of what I do. We also hope to explore opportunities in our family of rentals. I’ve been looking at places in Pennsylvania and some in Florida—Airbnb’s and things like that with higher risk, but higher reward. The biggest thing remains helping people—helping Realtors find success. That’s what I love doing, so I just want to continue having great conversations with people about real estate and putting out that free content three times a week. I really appreciate you listening, and if you want to help me out, think of one person you can share the podcast with and pass it along. I would really appreciate it and it would help the show tremendously if each of the hundreds of people who listen every month share it with just one person. I’ll see you guys on Wednesday with our first interview of the year, and it will be a great one. Looking forward to it. Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;<a href="https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtors"...

Today finishes my story where I have talked about my journey from having no success with W-2 jobs to the success I’ve built in the entrepreneurial world in real estate. In the last episode, I talked about finally starting to have success in my business, and today I want to talk about 2021 and 2022—the things I’ve done to create success and where I’m going from here. I had a huge 2021 where I tripled my income from the previous year. I shared previously that we had paid off all our debt other than our home by September of 2020. We were very excited by that, but our next goal was to save 10 months of expenses by March of 2021. I continued to have success in real estate and easily made that goal, in fact in March when my daughter was born, I had over a year’s worth of living expenses in the bank. God had blessed our business and family so much. We were finally able to meet our goal of my wife being able to stay home with the kids. I’m not saying that our life is a complete joy ride just because we are secure financially—there are still hard days. It can be hard with two children under two and a half, and I’m so thankful that my wife was willing and able to stay home with them. Some aren’t willing to do that and it’s hard work. I couldn’t do what she does—what she does every day is much harder and more exhausting that what I’m doing while having fun selling homes. I am very thankful for her. It’s been nice to be able to dictate my own schedule recently rather than letting that schedule tell me what I need to do. That was all thanks to a great 2021. I’m just doing everything I can to grow the business and create success with real estate and obviously the podcast is a huge part of that. I’ve added an extra episode, so we’re doing three times a week now and I have a great system that keeps that from getting overwhelming. We talked about the power of compound effect, and I still do those things. I’ve gotten better and faster at the podcast and my real estate business and that takes a lot of stress off me and gives me more freedom. I’m also coaching Realtors, offering help with social media presence, and continuing to help my team. The work for my team is a little different in that I’m the operations director—in charge of a lot of things and making sure they are doing the work to create success. I’m just very thankful for them and for those relationships. I’m excited about the things I’m building and am really encouraged by the people who reach out and say the podcast is helping them. That means a lot. I love trying to help people find success in their real estate career. Real estate is going well, the podcast is going well and there are lots of things on the horizon and I’ll share more as we go along. I’ve worked hard to create time, location, and financial freedom and that’s what I’m going to continue to do. I hope that you can see the journey that I went through and apply it to your career. I have literally come from the worst situation where I thought we were going to lose our home to building a successful real estate business and being blessed so much. I hope these episodes have given you a glimpse into my world. I hope you can apply some of the principles I’ve shared to your business and know that you can trust the process and have success too. I look forward to having some great episodes coming up as we talk about what 2023 holds. Thank you so much for listening, and if you enjoyed this episode, we would appreciate it if you'd leave us a review on iTunes. It helps others discover the show. Thank you so much, and we will see you on the next episode.ResourcesFree social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny...

If you’ve been following my story for the past few episodes, you’ll remember I talked about the power of perception in my business as well as the power of compound effects. Today we’ll be talking about the really big month I had in August of 2020 and about finishing the year and going into 2021. It’s been awesome to look back and celebrate the wins because the journey has been so hard. None of this would have happened without hard work, a good foundation, and God blessing me and my family. August 2020 was huge for me. I had five settlements, so more than half of my income from 2020 was made in August. COVID was terrible, but it was huge blessing that my wife and I could both work from home. It helped us balance caring for our infant son. Those days in August were where I finally started to make it in real estate. I had put in the effort and proved those doubters wrong. I could still hear them telling me I should get a real job, and at times I had started to believe them. August was when I quit listening. I was making my business a success and I learned that I didn’t really need the approval of those people—I didn’t need their opinion. So, I had five settlements in the month of August, and it was crazy. What I want to point out is that I didn’t stop in August, I had huge goals that weren’t just about money. Our goal was for my wife to be able to stay home. I knew we would get there. We saved and saved a bunch of money—we basically saved what I made and lived off her salary. We weren’t buying new cars or eating out a lot. We weren’t doing the things a lot of other people around us were doing. By our son’s first birthday, we paid off the last of our debt (mainly student loans). We were debt free other than our house. God was starting to bless my real estate business and we decided to continue to save up 10 months of living expenses before our daughter was born in March of 2021—so if something happened and I couldn’t work, we could cover living expenses for the rest of the year. So, I wasn’t satisfied in August to just hit a goal, but I wanted to keep growing the business and applying what I’d learned to create more success. I didn’t need the approval of others, I only wanted to make God proud of the work I was doing, I always wanted to give thanks to God because everything was a result of His blessing. I cared about what God thought and I cared about our family and our decisions. I continued to hustle and finished the year strong. I continued to have success after August and continued growing my real estate business and meeting more clients. I started keeping track of clients on a white board to make sure my ducks were in a row with inspections, appraisals, deadlines, etc. I also did this with prospective clients to help me remember to check in with them. I still use this today, I have shifted it a bit because I don’t have a spot where I can have the whiteboard at home, but I keep it in the notes on my phone and check it often. I make sure I’m checking up on clients on their birthdays, anniversaries, and things like that. It’s good to finally get to the episode in my journey where I had success. I want to encourage you to set big goals and go get them. Trust God during the process and lean on Him and seek Him during the crazy times. Thank you for listening, I’m excited for the next episode. We’ll close out the story, get into 2021 and what I’ve done in 2022, which will bring you up to speed on my story. I’m thankful for those of you who have supported me, and I look forward to sharing the next part of the story. Thanks for listening to the Real Estate Survival Guide. If you enjoyed this episode, we would appreciate it if you'd leave us a review on iTunes, it helps others discover the show. Thank you so much, and we will see you on the next episode &nbsp;Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;<a...

We’ve been talking all month about my journey from working W-2 jobs to starting a real estate career, and all that I learned along the way. We talked about the power of perception on the last episode, and I want to encourage you that no matter where you are in your journey, there is always a chance to grow and improve. On today’s episode, we’re going to talk about my summer of 2020 and how it propelled my journey. It had been almost two years to get to the point where I had made a settlement and was feeling like I could be successful. I’m not to the five-year mark yet (you know only the top 13% last that long), but I’ve grown my business and income, so I’m on pace to be one of those top Realtors. I’m in an income bracket that only 20% of Realtors reach and it hasn’t even been two years. I hope that motivates you to keep grinding and hustling. There really is power in believing and trusting in yourself—I think I would call it the power of compound effort. I made that first deal after putting all the effort in and felt like I could run through a brick wall. I was ready to get better, more efficient, and quicker. With my first deal that closed, I had been posting on social media for those 60 plus showing I did, and it made me look like I was thriving in the real estate business, even though I only had one client. That just shows the power of compound effort where all the things I was doing paid off. A good example is the podcast—episodes I released a year ago will be heard six months or a year from now and still be impacting people without any effort from me. In that summer of 2020, I was on top of the work with the foundational things and social media. In fact, I found that I had had a pretty big social media following by the end of the year. I was probably one of the biggest social media brands in Lancaster real estate by that summer. I hired my friend, Steve Glick, to do some amazing videos for me. We did an interview with my first client and his wife, and he said some kind and wonderful things about me—that I was the best and would outwork any other agent. Those words were worth the price I paid for those videos to be done because what they said transcends everything I do. I use that clip on my social media. They’d worked with quite a few Realtors in their lifetime, so their words meant a lot. I recommend getting some videos with clients telling the world about their experience. It’s a game changer. Every time I have a settlement, I contact the client and see if they would be willing to do a video interview. Usually, half are willing, and it has made such a difference to my business. I saw the power that videos and interviews added to my social media. That summer I had between five and ten buyers that chose me because of what they had seen on my social media. It was just a compound effect, like compound interest. That summer I was out showing houses a few times a week and people would see me every couple of days. I think I had two or three closings that summer, but I continued to post, increase my social media presence, and continued to see the power of that. I learned it was like stacking blocks—you have to have a good foundation to build that tower. That’s what I learned that summer. On the next episode, I’ll talk about the big August I had going into the fall of that year. Thanks for listening to the Real Estate Survival Guide. If you enjoyed this episode, we would appreciate it if you'd leave us a review on iTunes. It helps others discover the show. Thank you so much, and we will see you on the next episode.&nbsp;Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog...

Last episode, I talked about gaining my first client, trusting the process, and realizing that if I could do it once, I could do it a hundred times more to build my real estate business. That first client looked at a lot of homes—we looked at homes for four months. What I really learned through that process is what brings me to today’s part of the story—the power of perception. A lot of what goes on in real estate is not necessarily what is actually happening, people don’t necessarily see the success, they see what I create. At this point in my story, I realized the power of social media and the power of perception. Although I only had one client at the time, I was posting homes on social media, and people perceived that I was having success and was busy helping people. They wanted to work with me. Now, I wasn’t lying about anything, but I learned that for many people watching social media, perception can be reality. The more I posted, the more successful I looked. Of course, today I don’t have the bandwidth to show 63 houses to every client, but if someone did need that kind of attention, I’d probably split it with someone on my team. I’ve done that recently with my business because I don’t want to work a ton of hours to make more money—I want to work less. But back in 2019/2020, I was in a different place. What I want you to hear, especially if you’re in real estate, is that every single time I showed that client a home, I posted it on social media. I wasn’t lying, wasn’t saying that I had a bunch of clients—I just said that I was showing a client a house today, took a picture of the house, and posted it. Then I would do the same with each house. It made me look busier and more successful than I was. The power of perception was that perception became reality. Eventually after showing the 63 homes, they found the home that was right for them, but by putting it on social media, it helped my business grow. I wanted people to perceive me as a great Realtor that would be willing and able to help them, to run out of the house to show them a home if they needed—so I was willing to show houses and post them on social media to grow my business. I also hosted open houses. You aren’t making any money when you host an open house, but I could make a post asking others to visit me at this great open house. No one (outside of the real estate world) knew I wasn’t making money, and it made me look successful. A person I went through real estate class with asked me how I was crushing it in the business. I simply said I was sharing everything on social media. This person didn’t survive and was no longer a Realtor because they weren’t putting anything out there on social media. I even told them I only had one client and was doing open houses—but to him I looked like I was successful. It was all about perception. The next part of the story is when those clients bought a house, and I got my first paycheck. Once I had that success, I felt like I could really do it 15 or 20 more times. I could build relationships and help people with one of the biggest decisions of their lifetime—and get paid for it. And the cool thing is that perception led to more success. On the next episode, I’ll share about the big summer I had after that settlement in April of 2020. It really propelled my business, but none of it would’ve been possible had I not used social media and understood the power of perception. Thanks for listening to the Real Estate Survival Guide. If you enjoyed this episode, we would appreciate it if you'd leave us a review on iTunes. It helps others discover the show. Thank you so much, and we will see you on the next episode.Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;<a href="https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtors" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

Today we are on part five of my story. Today's episode talks about one of the hardest seasons as a new realtor. After I got my real estate license, people didn’t understand that having the license didn’t mean instant success or instant money coming in. It takes hard work, time, and determination. There were a lot of comments from others telling me I was not good enough, I should get a real job, and that I was a failure. Through all this, I learned to trust the process. If you’re a Philadelphia Seventy-sixers fan, this is a phrase you’ve heard before—it was a strategy used by Sam Hinkie when he traded players for assets, and it paid off. Trusting the process is essential in real estate. Having good conversations, connecting with people, establishing a social media presence, and telling everyone I was in real estate—trusting the process. I bought a computer for my real estate business and while I was in the Apple store, I made sure everyone in that store knew that new computer was for my career in real estate. I made sure that people knew I was a Realtor. I continued to trust the process—I knew I had to if I wanted to create success, because I didn’t have any clients. I knew the numbers. I knew the statistics. I wasn’t going to let myself become a failed statistic. I continued to build relationships and have conversations with everyone I could. My friend Jonathan, who I had worked for at Chick-Fil-A, was one of the first people to contact me with a potential client. His parents were moving to the area and needed a Realtor—he recommended me. It was such an honor that he trusted me with his parents—he told me that he knew I’d take good care of them and do a great job. I remember the stress and anxiety, but also the excitement. I was celebrating Thanksgiving with extended family, and they were asking me about how my business was going, and I didn’t really know how to respond. Jonathan’s dad called me while I was there and as I talked to him about buying a house. It gave me so much confidence when I didn’t scare him off that I felt like if I could have a good conversation and create a relationship with this person on the phone that I could really do this business. If I could do it once, I could recreate that process a hundred times over and I would have success. I’ve had thousands of conversations since that first call, but Jonathan’s dad was my first client, and it was all about trusting the process and getting that first client to work with you. I’ll often tell Realtors that I’m coaching, that once you have your first settlement, you’ll feel like you can run through a brick wall like the Kool-Aid man. That exhilaration makes you want to do it a hundred times more. That’s how I got my first client on Thanksgiving Day. I felt like I had the potential to become successful in real estate now that I had earned a client. I knew I had to continue to put in the effort and work and find another client. I didn’t get there overnight—it took from February through November. On the next episode, I’ll talk about faking it till you make it, my interaction with that first client, and the power of perception. I appreciate you being along for the journey and look forward to sharing the sixth episode with you. Thanks for listening to the Real Estate Survival. If you enjoyed this episode, we would appreciate it if you'd leave us a review on iTunes.Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and <a...

Today, I continue to share the story of my real estate journey from the years I held W-2 jobs, through getting my license and becoming a Realtor. In the past few episodes, you’ve heard how I lost my last W-2 job and the mental breakdown that followed, along with the incredible support I received from the people around me. I was able to get through that dark time, but there was the lull of not being able to find another job. It was this lull that led me to getting my real estate license. Today we’re going to talk about new life—not only had I finally finished getting licensed on August 28, 2019, but our son was born a few days later on September 2nd. It was a wonderful, stressful time, trying to figure out how to juggle working my real estate business, Valerie going back to work, and our new baby. I think it prepared me for the stress and changes that can come with being a Realtor because so much happens at the same time in real estate as well—and you just have to handle whatever comes your way. I was trying anything I could to do the real estate work and get my name out there, while also helping with my son at home. New life was a theme for this season of our life—new opportunities and beginnings. That’s how we closed out 2019. So, I was busy interacting with people and telling them about my real estate business, learning to be natural and not a pushy salesman about it. Once you get licensed, you don’t start making money right away. At home we were trying to get into a routine, my son wasn’t sleeping well. I tried to support my wife during her 10-12 weeks of maternity leave. When she went back to work, it was a big adjustment. I learned that if you’re going to have success in real estate, you have to figure out how to get work done around things. Even if you only have a 15-minute break, get stuff done—emails, calls. I worked while he rested, while I was feeding him, or while he was playing quietly—getting podcasts done or connections with clients or other Realtors. Watching my son at home really helped me learn the importance of using my time wisely. When you’re a new Realtor, you’re not going to have success in the beginning. I didn’t have any settlements until April of 2020, but I learned to use the relationships and connections you make to tell everyone about real estate. I could build relationships with people and let them know I was in real estate. I still do that in my business today. I reached out on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc., to connect to people. A friend reached out to me from Wisconsin as a joke and asked if I could help her buy a home out there—I was actually able to say yes, because when you’re a Realtor, you can refer to any Realtor across the country and get 25% of the commission. I ended up making a connection and a thousand dollars. Some of those early conversations paid dividends later, but I had to be patient. Whether you have a new child, or start a new business, it takes time—like riding a bike. Just like with a child, you are trying to grow and mature your real estate business and keep it alive. It was definitely a journey and those first couple of months were tough. I just continued trying to create and build relationships with people. As a person of faith, I think about resurrection and new life. There’s this great line in the song, Dare You to Move from Switchfoot that says, “Maybe redemption has stories to tell. Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell,” and I think the lesson is that there’s always a chance at redemption. In real estate, there is always a chance at success, a chance to grow and develop—you just have to find it and create success with it. On the next episode, we’ll talk more about connecting to my first client and how things went from there. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, we would appreciate it if you'd leave us a review on iTunes. It helps others discover the show. Thank you so much, and we will see you on the...

On today's episode, we are continuing my story from my W2 life all the way to building a successful real estate business. In part one of my story, we talked about losing my last W-2 job on February 26, 2019. The second part we talked about the mental breakdown and emotional journey that resulted from that loss. Today I want to talk about how I went from that point to real estate and getting my real estate license. I remember calling Andrew, who is now my team leader, and asking him about real estate. When he asked about banking, I told him the story of losing my job and how I had always been interested in being a mortgage lender. Real estate always interested me, but I never saw it as an option. Andrew filled me in on the good and the bad—what he loves and doesn’t love about real estate. He had seen my gifts with people and relationships, as well as sales, and he thought there might be an opportunity for me in real estate. I saw it as something that I would love to do down the road…someday. I thought I’d look at getting licensed but get another W-2 job in the meanwhile. I went through this lull from February through June. I applied for a ton of jobs and had a ton of interviews with many banks in the area. I even talked to my old bank about a job and while they brought me in for several interviews, they always went with other candidates. I did everything I could to find another W-2 job—I had five to ten interviews a week. I was just trying to survive. I was concerned that we would lose our house and just not survive. My wife was working at the company that had just fired me and was due that September with a baby. There was a lot of pressure and stress. It was amazing the negative comments I got about not being able to provide—rude and obnoxious comments. I remember the haters and the doubters too well…but now they motivate me and I’m thankful for them, because they motivated me to prove them wrong. In June, my wife and I processed everything and felt like God had something different for me—I didn’t know what the plan was, but I knew I trusted Him. I looked up the real estate classes and decided to sign up. The classes went from June to August, and I continued applying for jobs and interviewing in the meanwhile. I remember the last interview I had—I really thought I was going to get the job, but an internal candidate came in at the last minute and they gave the job to them. That was when we decided I would stop applying for jobs. I finished the classes, studied for the exams, and passed the state and national exams to be a Realtor. I remember Andrew telling me that if you want to be successful in real estate, you must put the effort in and be all in—that it was hard to be a part time Realtor. He encouraged me that if I wanted to do it that I should do it full-time and do anything I could to make money now. I literally was doing anything I could to make a dime—Ubering, DoorDash, Lyft. I would have to be really desperate to go back to that, but I was willing to do anything I could to provide for our family. Looking back, I can see how God provided for us and took care of us. We were able to pay our bills and keep the house. I felt like God wanted me to do real estate. Once I decided I was going to do real estate, I went all in, but that’s a story for the next episode. So that was the lull I went through from February to June where I officially decided to do the real estate classes. In August I got licensed. On the next episode I’ll talk more about that. Thank you for listening to my story and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode. &nbsp;Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to:&nbsp;https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny...

On today's episode, we are continuing part two of my story. It’s funny because originally, I was going to do eight episodes to tell my story, but I felt like I was leaving out a major part of my life during that time—the mental breakdown that occurred after that February 19, 2019. This episode was actually the last episode I recorded after deciding that I don't care what people think. I feel like I need to share this part of my story for others, like my friend Josh, who have struggled with their own mental health battles. I hope that this encourages you if you are battling things mentally and are struggling. I hope this encourages you to have hope and faith. If you're not struggling, there are people around you who are that you can help. Going back to that day, February 26, 2019, I didn’t want to live anymore—I thought my life was over. I felt like I had unjustly been fired from a job that I was successful at—that I had never been disciplined for once. In fact, I had received multiple promotions with multiple institutions. I was shell-shocked and hopeless. I called my friend Vincent Pugliese, who is amazing, and he told me that it was actually the best day of my life because I could build something in the entrepreneurial world, but at the time I was in no place to hear it. I felt worthless. As people learned I had lost my job, they criticized and judged me, saying mean and hurtful things instead of supporting me. They accused me of hiding the real reason I lost my job. I spent the next three or four months spiraling downward, thinking of killing myself every day. There were many hard conversations and tears between Valerie and I during that time. Through it all, the support she gave me was incredible and I love her so much. Pregnant with our first child, she called me from work multiple times a day to make sure I was alive. She made me promise that I would be here when she got home from work in the evening. I am convinced that I wouldn’t be here without her constant encouragement—her insistence that she needed me and was proud of me. That time in my life embarrasses me now, and I never thought I would share this journey with anyone—but in September of 2020, my friend Josh posted on Facebook about wanting to kill himself. I spent days trying to track him down, messaging his friends and family members, to do everything I could to make sure he didn’t take his own life. I finally connected with Josh after he had spent some time in the hospital getting help. He told me I could never understand because my life was “perfect”. I cried as I talked to him on the phone, sharing my story. He was shocked that someone who seemed to “have it all together” and looked so happy could struggle with their mental health and have suicidal thoughts. This is when I realized I had an obligation to share my story, not for my benefit or to look good, but because I didn’t want one other person to consider taking their own life because they thought no one else could understand. I still check in with Josh and try to encourage him because I have also learned that mental health struggles are not something you deal with once and they’re gone—it’s something that you must stay vigilant and fight against. You may only struggle every couple of years, or it could be a monthly or daily battle. Less than two weeks after talking to Josh, I attended my first Total Freedom Life retreat. That weekend changed my life—it gave me meaning and purpose, and I no longer felt alone as many do in business and their entrepreneurial life. I had my board of directors and my TLF family. I grew spiritually and emotionally. At the time, I told very few friends and almost no family about my struggles because I felt judged and looked down upon. I wasn't interested in their criticism, so there were only a couple people I could trust, a few friends and my wife—people who just loved and cared about me. I wouldn't be here without a handful of amazing people—in the deepest and darkest...

Today’s episode begins a series that is a retelling of my story before I share what’s new for 2023. The series consists of the eight seasons I went through as I transitioned from my old W2 life into real estate—from not having a deal for the first nine or ten months to now having a very successful real estate business, podcast, membership, and more coming this year. Today’s episode will specifically be about losing my last W-2 job, February 19, 2023, the worst day of my life that turned out to be one of the greatest. I had quite a few W-2 jobs that never worked out for one reason or another—sometimes I lost my job through my own fault, sometimes I just moved on to something else. I always felt a little nervous at my W-2 jobs like when you go through a bad breakup, and you constantly feel jaded and always feel like you're in trouble. There are horror stories I have tried to block out of mind, one of which was during my time at Chick-Fil-A, where I was on track to be a Chick-Fil-A operator and be part of the leadership development program with corporate Chick-fil-A. I remember the conversation I had with the operator of the store, who was about to send me to learn and train at another store out of state with another operator. I asked about my performance and was assured I was doing great—and then was fired the next day. No complaints, never written up, no warning. After that, I had some success in Pittsburgh for a while, but after meeting Valerie, I wanted to move to work near her. This led to my last Chick-Fil-A job in Redding, which ended when I had a clash with the general manager, who was the operator’s brother-in-law. I have nothing against Chick-Fil-A—I have lots of friends that work for Chick-fil-A and did really well there. I still love Chick-fil-A as a company, what they stand for, and still support them. I just realized it wasn't for me after losing that last job. It was at this point that I went into banking. I had some success with it and got a promotion four months into my first job as one of the top employees. I enjoyed banking, and after about a year and a half, I applied for their management training program where there were a thousand candidates for eight available spots. I got the position and was very thankful. I knew I was good at sales and relationships, and through the training I decided I wanted to be a relationship manager or a mortgage loan officer—someone who meets clients and builds relationships that expand on the banking relationship. If this sounds familiar, it’s exactly what I do as a Relator. I was never written up or reprimanded during the three years I spent in banking. I continued to say that I wanted to do something with sales outside of a branch—a mortgage loan officer, relationship manager, etc. During the program, you spend your time meeting with all the different higher-ups, learning and training through 12–14 rotations over 15 months—you really have to adapt because you’re changing jobs every few weeks. Toward the end of the program, I remember them telling me they were sending me back to be an assistant branch manager or branch manager after the training. This was the moment that turned me against W-2 jobs for life. What was the use point of a program that was going to send me right back to where I had been? Yes, I developed skills, I learned so much, and met so many amazing people, many of whom are still friends of mine. It just boils down to the fact that they teach you skills but put you where they need people. I told them I wasn’t going there, that it’s not where my gifts are. I was good at sales, and I wanted to control my own schedule as we thought about starting a family. Their reply was that we’d figure it out. I went back to my rotation, but the rotation manager wasn’t communicating with me, and I told my wife I was about to get fired. She said that was impossible because I had never been disciplined or reprimanded. I just had this weird...

I hope you are all having an incredible start to 2023. I am excited to have you guys on this episode and talk to you about who this is for. On Wednesday’s podcast, we talked about who this is not for, and I have often talked about your avatar—who your business is for—and finding the right clients. I have also often talked about building the things that I wish would've been around when I started my real estate career. My main point in this is that I'm learning so much about really diving into who my avatar is. So many people try to get into real estate because they think it's a quick way to get rich. They watch Property Brothers or Chip and Joanna Gaines, and they think it's going to be easy money, but real estate is not easy money. Real estate investing, the membership, the podcast…they all require hard work. The people that are having success are the people that are hardworking, genuine, helpful, and self-motivated. If you're looking for handouts, I'm not interested in helping someone like you. If you're looking to just take and take and take what you want and not give back, then that's not going to be something that really jives with what I'm doing and who I'm trying to help and serve. However, if you're generous, if you're kind, if you're hardworking and helpful, then I absolutely want you to be a part of what I'm doing. That's who this is for. You can think about this in your business—who is this for and who is it not for? You can think of that in terms of clients like I've had to do. Who's that avatar? You can think of that in terms of a podcast, a membership, a brand, or whatever you're building, and I hope that you can try to set some clear boundaries in your business. So, I hope you could think about this your business in 2023. Am I going to be successful? Am I doing those things? Hopefully you are. Think about how you can serve and help people. Resources Free social media coaching calls are back! To schedule your free social media coaching call go to: https://calendly.com/realestatesurvivalguide/social-media-strategy-for-realtorsPodcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions &amp; values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily represent the opinions &amp; values of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty. The opinions &amp; ideas shared in this podcast do not guarantee or promise any results of success to the listener.&nbsp;&nbsp;