For the intro. Okay. We have this whole thing of, like, which camera do you look in? There's a lot of cameras around here, so it gets a little confusing. There's, like, four of them. But, anyways, good morning. Welcome to be with you guys again for Real Estate First Friday. Joining you after an incredibly busy week, down in Miami where, we had the opportunity to celebrate, Dave's birthday and, RP's birthday and, and just have a lot of fun. So, some some really cool meetings that happened down there, but it was it was a great time. And now the second half of the week, we are probably paying a little, you know, a little catch up on all the responsibility that we put off, on the first half of the week. But excited to be with you guys today. Wanna kinda talk to you about a few different things. Let me introduce, my co VP real quick, Lewis Fuhrman. So if this is your first time joining, my name is Matt Hodge, executive vice president, and, Louis is our co my co VP. He was also a real estate attorney in our in house counsel. So, excited to always have him with us to share kinda his legal perspective and the way that he organizes information, I think, is just absolutely incredible. I have a tendency to kinda float through ideas and he is very, very structured. So I think we balance each other out pretty well. But today we're talking about pivoting, being nimble and and pivoting. And that is something that in our industry we have to do quite a lot because of, you know, parts of the the macroeconomic environment that changes that we can't control. And then, you know, certain seasons come in and and consumers want different things. And so we have to kinda pivot and be nimble in our business to match whatever is happening at that environment level and then match the new need of the consumer. And so we're gonna kinda talk through at a high level today, you know, kind of how to think about that in your business. And then we're gonna break it down to some actionable items to talk through. What are the some of the things that we should be pivoting right now? And maybe some people are kind of ironed in, you know, their old way of thinking or their muscle memory to their business into just, hey, we do the same thing every single day. But I know if you do the same thing today, ten years from now, your business is likely, you know, not as profitable or not as efficient as today. Right? So it constantly requires us to change and and be be nimble. So with that being said, I'll kinda turn over to you for initial words. Yeah. So this is one of those, skill sets that are is is very important to have, and it's oftentimes what I would call neglected. You know, we spend a lot of time focusing on being able to learn the basics of real estate. Right? Like, how do you negotiate contracts? How do you do your showings, etcetera, etcetera? And this concept concept of staying nimble and being able to pivot in your practices is a skill set that would really help you maximize opportunities when they get created. You know, we are in an industry that is changes very frequently. Right? You know, we have macro level economics that cause a lot of, pressures to the industry, whether it's interest rates, low inventories. You know, we have things that happen very frequently every year in terms of seasonalities in our business. You know, we have things that our clients may throw at us when we're in the middle of showing houses or the opposing agent throwing at us while we are negotiating a contract or in the middle of the due diligence period. And being able to stay nimble and being able to pivot when these, things arise in these moments will really help you, maximize your efforts and maximize those opportunities when they unlock themselves. Very similar to, like, what we just experienced, you know, two months ago when when NAR enacted the whole settlement, and now we are in the BBA world, post NAR settlement world. And we had to pivot under that dynamic. Right? We had to be nimble during that dynamic. And those who did embrace that were able to unlock a new opportunity as the opportunity, unlocked itself and opened up itself. But this concept of state being able to pivot is something that I would recommend that you embrace and that you find a way to implement in not only your practices, but also in your mindset. Right? Like, those are the two sides of that equation. You have to have practices around you that are going to allow you to conveniently, efficiently, and effectively pivot when moments arise, whether it's against seasonality, macroeconomic dynamics, etcetera. And then you have to have you have to have the right mindset when those opportunities do present themselves for you to be able to get through that shift that happens. That's right. Alright. So let's, let's kinda bring them into where, what got us thinking about this topic. So, we were in Oh, we're back. Okay. Okay. Cool. So, so we were in Miami earlier this week, and, we were speaking with an agent who had a big passion for helping first time homebuyers. She had really kinda struggled to have home ownership. Her parents were never able to have a home, and, and she was the first one who was able to kinda accomplish that for her family. And so she had grown a passion for helping people with that hurdle. And so she's out in Miami. And so first time homebuyers is what she's built her business off of. And massive team actually, and they've done really, really well. Well, over the course of the last couple of years, Miami has just increasingly become more and more expensive. And it was really kinda squeezing her particular part of the market, which is the first time home buyers. So more and more people were electing to rent only because they physically just could not afford to purchase homes. The the the the median price point had gotten so high that even starter homes were really kinda like secondary homes for most people now. Like, hey. I started off here, but in order for me to get into the next house, I have to take the money that I make from my first house at down payment and get to this new one. And that's kinda where everyone starts. It's not like, hey. I can go there. Never have owned real estate before and get into the market because this the the cost barrier is just too high. And so because of her passion, she said, I don't want to pivot away from that. I don't wanna lose the opportunity for helping people find homeownership. Right? So you've got this burning desire and passion for her to go out there and accomplish something that is, you know, her contribution to to real estate. And so she decided to move physically, her office, which is one state of Miami. She opened up another office about forty five minutes away. Her and her husband both moved physically to that area, and they started another team right outside of Miami. And so what they would do is as they were continuing to help these first time homebuyers, instead of them going and falling into the trap of saying, hey. We can't afford it. We're gonna rent. This new satellite team said, hey. Listen. I get it. You're gonna be about thirty five, forty minutes away from where you thought you were gonna be, but you're gonna have the opportunity to purchase a home that you can actually afford. And, yeah, you're gonna have a longer commute, but let me walk you through the benefits of, you know, homeownership and kept that passion going. Right? So she had to pivot away because her biggest addressable audience, her her biggest customer was shrinking and shrinking and shrinking doing due to something that was outside of her control, which is the prices of Miami's continuing to to rise. So they start the satellite team. They're over there. They're actually growing like crazy in the secondary market. And now what they're doing is all these people who were pulling in from Miami, who were going to go the rental route, who had given up on homeownership, they have the opportunity to go forty five minutes out or so and purchase a home. And then now what's happened, that was several years ago, and now what's happened is as those people are ready to get back into Miami, they're selling their home, which creates another sale for hers, and she's referring them back to the team that originally started. And so this is a a concept of pivoting based on something you can't control. Hey. You would think that, hey. Home rising home prices is better for you and I because we make the same percentage on a higher, you know, dollar amount. So we're gonna make more money just because of what the environment's doing. But in this case, it was squeezing the audience that she wanted to stay attached to. So she could have said, hey. I'm gonna go and and pivot to people who have more money. I could do that. But that wasn't where her passions lied. And so that's how she had to pivot and and kind of change the the structure of her business. And so now she's actually tapping both sides. Now she is getting the first time home buyer to then now get back to Miami, creating a listing over here, and then creating another sale over there. And we just thought it was a great way, a really ingenious way to to stay true to your passion and and and pivot in the business. And so that got us thinking about all the different times in our personal lives and our business, that we have done the same thing. And, as you guys may know, if you've watched Real Estate First Friday before, we've talked about this. Louis and I worked together as when Louis was a short sale attorney, and I, was the, you know, real estate, you know, agent. We were working together at that time to to address the biggest addressable audience in our market, which was short sales and foreclosures. Because at the time, here in Orlando, forty percent of the market had become short sales and REO properties. And so we pivoted our strategy to cater to that audience for several years. We originally geo farming, meaning that we were going to communities. We're locking out communities by mailers and doing that. And we had to pivot that geographical kind of concept to a circum based, I guess, approach. Hey. People who are in this circumstance who either need to sell their house and they can't or they can't afford their home, we started marketing to that. And so we had to pivot our business during that period of time. And then as that kind of ran its course, we went back and then came back to geographical kind of, farming again, and that was at a luxury price point. And so that's kinda how a real life practical situation that we've had to go through that in our our personal lives. So I'll kinda give you the the mic here for a second to walk you through For sure. You know, what sounds like for us. So so let's turn back real quick to that story about the agent who found a different geographical location because she was squeezed out of her, passion business practice, which was helping first time homeowners. And and the key takeaway there is this concept of having the willingness to pivot. You know, she found a passion in real estate. Right? Her passion was helping first time homeowners go through the process of being able to enter into the homeownership, dynamic. And she had this willingness to pivot in terms of finding a new geographical location that would, you know, allow her to still conduct these practices with these individuals because she was squeezed out in the market that she was originally in. Right? You know, she maybe loved that market. She was in there. She was helping them sell properties or buy properties inside of this market. So then she located a new market that allowed her to ultimately, you know, still help fulfill the needs of those customers. Dynamic, I mean, maybe some of us can say she did a drastic approach. Right? Like, she moved into a new city for her to allow her to keep conducting her business practices. It doesn't have to be that drastic. Right? Like, you could, you know, maybe find another market that's driving distance that will allow you to still, you know, help consumers in those areas. You know, there's there's different ways that we can, you know, have that pivot approach, but you can't just stay, you know, stagnating your practices when things are changing around you. You know, that's one of the biggest ways that we can drop the ball to maximize that opportunity when these things change. And, again, going back to the BBA example that we were in. You know? There were a lot of agents who said, you know what? I'm not gonna pivot in this new landscape. I'm not gonna pivot in this new dynamic. And what happens with those agents is the industry is gonna move without them. Right? They're gonna maybe sit back and say, oh, I'm gonna wait till things settle. You know, now with high interest rate environment, hey. I'm gonna wait till the interest rates decrease and get lowered. You know, those agents may be put in a position if too much time happens that it's gonna be that much more difficult to replug into the industry because they've let the ship sail. Mhmm. You know, you have to be able to find solutions today where you can still conduct your practices, pivot under the dynamics that are existing in today's industry. So that way, it's that much easier for you to then reshift again and have that mindset to reshift when the interest rates do come down, but you have to be in position today to be able to do that. That's right. That's right. So, yeah, we're gonna we're gonna walk you through some of those things that exist today. But just because Robert, walked walked in here a second ago, I'm gonna kinda talk about, how he also did the same thing. And so, originally, RP Funding, his his mortgage company, was focused on two things. It was focused on per purchases, and it was also focused on refis. And so, you know, as the environment started to change where interest rates started to drop and the refi side of the house really, started to to pick up and that became the biggest addressable audience, it actually made more sense for him to say, hey. We're gonna focus full operations on refi and kinda shut down the the the the purchase side. And we're not gonna turn those customers away, but we're not gonna go out there and fish for them anymore because his biggest addressable audience had become refi. And so and it he kind of looked at some some some studies that said, hey. If I were to only focus on refi, I could actually shut down the business for several years, pop up again when the interest rate environment makes the most sense, and make more money over ten years versus trying to stay, you know, at his traditional kind of thought process, which is, hey. We're gonna focus on purchases and refi. And so he had to also pivot inside of that. Did I say that kind of accurately? Was that good enough, close enough? Okay. Cool. We we have a surprise special guest, like, on the sideline. Yeah. He's over here to the side. You guys can see him, but he's he's sitting right over there. But, you know, so, again, this is a massive business. You gotta think that he's on television. I mean, he's doing, you know, spending twenty five million dollars a year at this point, in in marketing. And so you have to move that massive brand over and you have to pivot. Right? But it ended up being a great, kind of result for him, and it helped really kind of, you know, to turn on additional profits that that didn't exist previously. And so you have to do it at all levels. But so let's think about our current environment right now, and let's think about the tools that we've got to kind of pivot through. Right? So you've got the eight seventeen, kind of, environment here where we have this new BBA. And so there are some people who thought, okay. Well, I'm gonna try to keep it the same. I'm still gonna show customers when they're ready, then I'll have them sign the b b you know, they're gonna try to break the rules. You've got some people who say, hey. I'm gonna use this as an opportunity to figure out how to make sure that when I'm working with someone, they don't end up going to someone else and that they understand my value proposition. I'm gonna make more money from this environment. You've got that. You've got, also a, you could say, suppress transactions. Right? We have low amount of inventory. And so if you're a listing agent, maybe you're feeling that you have to pivot to something else. Or if you're on the buy side and you're doing a lot of resales and there's not as many options to pick from, you have to pivot to something else. Right? If not, then you just your business goes backwards. You know? So I've heard some people say, hey. Listen. As I started to see inventory start to shrink, what I wanted to do was start to find new inventory that wasn't necessarily as easy to find. So they started to go into the off market, and they really started to become a new construction specialist. And that was how they started to pivot their business from being resale heavy. Hey. I go out there. I, you know, find a house in the MLS. I'm really great at negotiating. I'm doing a fantastic job at that. But something outside of my control, this macro environment starts to change. The dynamics here change. And so in order for me to continue to either maintain my business or continue to grow my business, I have to find inventory because that's now the new struggle. So I'm gonna go to all these builders, and I'm gonna get, you know, whatever specials they got. I'm gonna start marketing that to the base. You know? So do you have to pivot that? And so that is a great way to be thinking about things that exist. Right? So now let's think about the tools that are exist with inside of LPT that help you, let's say, navigate, like, the highest interest the high interest rate environment. You've got the seven hole buyer strategy. How many people really utilize that to help grow their business or maintain it? Right? It's a great have to, you know, give you credibility and position you. We we understand that side of it. That's the obvious. But how many people utilize that as a great tool to say, hey. This is an environment. Here's the the obstacle and the hurdle that a lot of people are going through. How do I then use this environment, this tool to pivot with this new environment? And so, Louis, I know you kinda had some thoughts on you know, we were thinking through that process early and and on some of those additional tools. What are your what are your thoughts there? Yeah. I mean, the first thing is you have to understand what's even inside of the material. Right? Like, we we get so caught up. It's like, oh, we got this shiny object. We're just gonna plant it, and we never really read through it or really know how to have conversations associated with the material. You know, the impact is that much greater when you're utilizing the tools and you're able to speak to the tools where rather than dropping the tool and making that be the, you know, sole learning lesson for your consumer, it's really just more of a summary to them because you've already talked them through it. And that can apply for any of the tools that we ultimately offer to our members. But as we're going through this concept of being able to pivot, right, and pivot when things, you know, are happening in front of us, a part of that is making sure that our business practices are in a place that is is what we call nimble. Right? You gotta be able to be nimble when it's time to pivot. And when you're thinking through that, you know, you have to have practices in your business that will allow you to be nimble. And it's not just the knowledge. Right? Like, you have to have the knowledge. You have to understand the landscape. You have to understand the tool. So that way, if you need to use one tool over the next, you're capable of using it. But you have to be able to be nimble also in in in other aspects of your business, you know, maybe your workflows. You know? Do you have automations? Are you a team leader? Is is your team built in a way that will allow your team as a as a as a nucleus, as a group to be able to shift in these dynamics as they happen, you have to understand that these things can happen to our business at to our industry at any time. And they technically happen more frequently than we know because it it we have seasonality to our business. Right? Like, beginning of the year is very different than end of the year. It's very different than q two, q three, mid year. Like, so these things are election year, like, these things happen organically. And and a lot of times, we just wanna conduct our business practices the same even though things are changing around us. And that's kind of like a testament to not embracing the changes that are happening. Like, we're just so caught up with doing what we're doing. We're not making a change. We're not pivoting as as things are happening. Maybe it's because we're not nimble enough to be able to pivot when these things are happening around us. But you you you gotta look at your business practices and figure out whether or not you have the efficiencies in place to allow you to be nimble at any given time. If if a bomb if if a if a change happens suddenly, you are able to adapt to that change. And it's and and in addition to the practices, it's also the mindset. Again, going back to this notion of having the having the willingness to, you know, wanna change when change does take place in front of you. Yeah. I mean, change can be scary. Right? Like, change puts you back into the unknown. Hey. I'm in this environment. I kinda got things figured out. I know what I'm doing. I know what the result is, and I'm happy with that. Right? And then as you have to get away from that, you're getting back to this place of, like, is what I'm going to do work going to work, you you know, and you get back into the unknown. And so that it feels uncomfortable for a lot of people. But it is the reality that you have to be able to to to, you have to be able to survive in that environment or you will eventually get left behind. Right? Because, again, if you're doing the same thing today, ten years from now, it's likely your business is not going to be the the same strength it is today. And so, you know, as as we're we're kind of wrapping this thought up, you know, I want you to to be thinking about what is what is the passion that you've got right now, and what about our environment re would require you to change what you're currently doing? Whether it's something that you're in the process of doing or maybe you've been putting off that change, what is that right now? What is keeping you from having the business that you want? So, you know, we started this conversation off talking about how someone was so passionate about their homeownership and and providing that homeownership because of their personal life experiences. That's what drove their business. Hey. I wanna make sure that I always have a business that supports first time homebuyers. And this thing changed, and now I have to do this to continue to support that particular group. So what is it that you wanna be passionate about? What are you passionate about? And what is stopping you from from, I guess, accomplishing the business that you want from today's environment? That's where you wanna start. Hey. Well, you know what? I don't have enough homes to sell. I don't have enough buyers to sell houses to like, you're gonna have to identify what that is. And then once you've got that, you start to think, okay. Well, what tools I always like to to think first. What tools can I use right now with the least amount of resources out of my pocket? Like, that's where I wanna start. Right? Like, I wanna put the time in. I wanna, you know, I don't wanna go out there and say, hey. This is a solution. It's gonna cost me ten thousand dollars. Like, well, let me see what I can do for free first. Let me see what I can do for ten dollars first. Let me see what I can do for you know, you don't wanna just go and you just spend money because that's how people can really, you know, find themselves in a very uncomfortable situation financially. But what can you do from a sweat equity standpoint or what tools do you have available right now that can help you solve that? That it just takes you that purposeful approach to do. And that's kinda like where you start. Once you identify that and you've got a grasp on that, then you can start applying some of those financial principles to it where you're saying, okay. Well, I'm gonna allocate a certain amount of dollars to make maybe this concept go further. That's really kinda how I develop and how I've seen a lot of people successfully pivot their business. Now I've also seen people say, hey. This new obstacle has popped up. I'm just gonna throw money at it, and that can put you in a really, really tough situation. Because if it doesn't work, not only are you still in the situation that you were trying to get away from, but now you've got less capital. And that's never never a great place to be. So just want you to be thinking about that. Obviously, a diverse group of people on this call, and so we can't pinpoint any particular thing, but really wanna highlight the concept in terms of how do you think about that in your business. What obstacles do you face today? And what are some of those small changes that you can, you know, you can make using the resources that are already available to you to start, you know, improving your business? You definitely wanna be purposeful with your pivot. Right? You don't just wanna start pivoting in into dark holes and you really haven't thought through what that pivot could mean. But in addition to that, like, still try something new. Like, if you feel like something is not working in your business practices, like, go to the drawing board, sketch something out, attempt it. What's the worst that can happen? If it's if you feel like it's not working already, try to figure out something that could possibly work and and attempt it. Yes. It could be scary. Yes. It could feel uncomfortable. But, you know, have a purposeful change in your practice because you never know. It could be the thing that can lead you to a new passion, a new level of fulfillment, something new in your practices that, you know, will create different types of fundamentals for you. And, again, it all started with that change that you attempted. You know, I know there's oftentimes there are things in my personal business practices where, you know, you try something new. It was scary. You do it. And next thing you know, it's now become part of your rhythm. It's part of my workflows. It's part of my lifestyle, and it all started with that first initial attempt that you take. So don't be scared. Like, you know, do it. Try it. You know? And sometimes it even happens in real time. We can be in the middle of a listing presentation, and you may feel like the conversation's not landing with your customer. And you may tell yourself, you know what? I gotta pivot on the spot. Right? You gotta go in there and maybe change the approach in real time even though you thought the approach one way was the way that it was ultimately going to land. But, you know, if if if you feel like something's not working, go to the drawing board, see if something new can work, and just try it. And and I'm sure, you know, it will come out bearing fruits on the other end. Okay. Alright. Thank you for that. I was trying to convince Robert to come over here and give us some final words of wisdom this Friday. Is it are you coming? No? I got nothing. You got nothing? Okay. He's he's got nothing. Alright. Cool. Well, guys, I hope that you have a blessed and prosperous weekend. We appreciate you tuning in every every Friday to kinda download these concepts and think about how to continue to improve your business. So, one of the thing I wanna put out as a as a resource is, reach out to people who are maybe doing similar businesses that that you maybe you admire. Hey. I've seen this person. I like their style. I like what they're doing. Don't just watch them from a distance and and and say, hey. That's something cool that I wish I could do. Maybe reach out to them and maybe see where they got started. See what maybe things that they had to change, and maybe you can overstep some of the obstacles by learning from them as they evolve to their business. So, a great resource. That's one of the things that we love about LPT, the abundance mindset that we have and the willingness that LPT agents have to help each other grow. So reach out to a friend. Reach out to someone across that aisle. Looking forward to seeing you guys again hopefully soon. If not what? Oh, we're over here. Okay. Gotcha. They're moving cameras around us. We will see you on motivational Monday, this Monday with Robert Palmer, founder and CEO, who's gonna be going over some exciting things for us. As you guys saw on last week or this early this week, Monday, we talked about the BBA wizard rollout. BBA wizard rollout. The digital I'm I'm stuck on BBA from the last rollout. The the digital digital wizard rollout, the ICA, and, and and connect two point o is gonna be a lot of exciting things and a great way for our agents to continue to be able to connect with each other. So looking forward to seeing you guys then, and I will see you Monday. Have a great weekend.