Top 5 Lessons from HGTV for Every Agent with Jon and Mary Tjon Joe Pin

Thank you. Yeah, it's really cool. I mean, that was one of the best parts of making the show was just the whole idea that we get to be into someone's life, not not just like it's like seeing the whole thing through. Right. Like going from selling someone's house and trying to get them the most benefit that they can and then helping them find that next house, the dream house, and then doing things for them that they just wouldn't be able to do by themselves. Right. Just taking it to the next level. Yeah. And along that process, because that's a long process going through two houses, you get to learn a lot about these people. And so it just becomes really, really cool to do something for them at the end. Well, I always joke, John gets more time spent with them because he's the one who's actually taking them to see houses and I'm left behind working, you know, I'm like decluttering or doing something with the first house, getting it ready, you know, for the market. And then he swoops in and he puts it on the market and then it's like, okay, on to the next step. And I'm like, okay, I'm already up, you know? So it's, it's definitely a lot of work and in the end, you know, we're doing it and we're working as hard as we are because we do care. Yeah.

Yeah. So let's talk about y'all and how y'all got here. Yeah. So you're just out one day and somebody like knocks on the door and says, we want to put you on TV, which I mean, I don't think people knock on doors anymore. You know, we got that ring doorbell. People don't knock on doors anymore. We will shut the blinds in your face. Like, you know, people don't answer, we don't answer doors anymore. Right. It's very true. The only reason I do is because it will shut my dogs up. Oh, right. Yes. Yes. Yeah. That's definitely the case. No, I mean, it's really weird. You know, we started off, um, and we got into flipping houses and, and just part of, uh, in the flipping process, ironically enough, whenever I first started with you guys, you were actually talking a lot about just the, the need to put yourself out there, make video, make content. Um, you told me, told me about, uh, this guy named Gary V, which, um, I think we're both fans of now. Um, and just obsessed.

I am. I am. And, and so, uh, and Melody as well. Melody was huge. Who was my mentor in the brokerage, uh, in our brokerage as well. And so we just started putting out videos really to kind of relieve the stress of what it is to, to put your money into a house, not knowing what's going to happen to flip it. And, um, we got onto like our second or third flip and production companies just started emailing us about making a TV show. And we thought it was fake. I was like, Hey Mary, see, this is ridiculous. Well, it was super creepy because you forget what the internet is because the way that they found us John at the time, and he's had a couple of different blogs over the course of years that I've known him. And it's ranged from like random sports talk to his, uh, you know, love for politics and basically it's basically random stuff. So I was actually really scared that they contacted him through that. And I'm like, Oh my God, what did you say in that blog? Like, what was that blog about? Was it about the Texans losing that day or something like that? But it, the internet is, uh, it's truly a very useful tool that we had no idea how powerful it was. You know, we're making up what we thought were random hashtags and they actually were real. They're, they actually mean something. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. So they just show up and the next thing you know, you've got a pilot, right? Yeah. Yeah. So there's a couple of steps even before the pilot. Yeah.

So they came out, they came out, we picked one, we ended up getting, uh, I think 13 different production companies reached out to us and, and then one of them came out, we kind of shot a little bit of a house we were working on. They took that to HGTV. And, um, so the processes kind of started from there. Well, he's skipping steps. Well, I mean, yeah, because the details, it goes through like Skype voice. They want to hear your voice first, which is odd. Cause what if you have an annoying voice? Yeah. Nobody wants to watch 30 minutes of that. Right. Nobody wants like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't watch 30 seconds of that. Right. So I don't know. I, we, we, we fit them all out. We, we did a Skype voice test. Yeah. Then we did, it was something else like for two minutes where they put together just random videos that we had on YouTube, which again, it was very scary. Uh, cause John, some minor, some minor internet stalking. Yeah. And that's what it is. And then, like he said, picking up to where he's at now, they came out and shot us, uh, for, I think it was like three days for a five minute sizzle reel. Yeah. Wow. Which they took that sizzle reel into what they call a green light meeting. And it was 30 sizzle reels that I guess all people in like a boardroom or whatever watches. And of that 32 were chosen and ours was one of them to, to green light to a pilot.

Yeah. So it's an involved process. It doesn't just happen overnight. No. And, and I mean, from start to finish, I mean, it was like a year, you know, from the time we started to when we actually finished, uh, let me give you some perspective. When we started, I had just found out that we were having a boy. So I was like four months pregnant. And by the time we started filming, I was eight weeks postpartum. I had already had it. So, you know what I mean? So it was a long, it's a long journey, you know, And Grayson's four now. So, right. Right. Right. Right. So maybe the, maybe one of our bonus, our bonus talking points for today is put yourself out there on the internet and, you know, that is maybe allow for a little bit of light stalking.

I would, I would, if there's anything to take away is never underestimate the power of the internet, right? Like the internet is so powerful and there's people out there that are, that are watching that you have absolutely no idea. I mean, we're talking about these videos chance, and we had like 14 views, 12 views. Like who is, and going back to, to the discussion on Gary Vee, one of the things that he says is, is deep, not wide. Right. And so you never know who one of those people in your audience is and what effect they can have on you. Right. And it's happened throughout the course of our, you know, just our time this last year doing COVID when we did our pergola, we did that because, wow, we finally have time to do something for ourselves because we, you know, we're always so busy with everyone else. Our house is literally falling apart. And so we were like, oh, since we're going to be here, why don't we, why don't we actually do something and our guys need work, you know? So we did our pergola and that video. I mean, we just post it randomly. And the next thing you know, people magazine, you know, came and shot in our backyard. We're like, literally now you can go back and it still has like a hundred views on that post that they sent us that got their attention. And we're like, again, we've, you just never know, um, you know, what you're putting out there and it is all organic and it's all natural and you're not trying to get anything. And so it's always the best surprise. That's awesome. That's awesome. That's a great point also is to make it organic and make it authentic. I think, um, as opposed to trying to do something for the point of getting views or whatever. Great. All right. So anytime I see y'all, whether it's people magazine or entertainment tonight or whatever it is, everybody wants Mary's tips on styling and things like that, and how to get a house ready and how to spruce up your house. But I want to take the discussion in a different way. So the majority of the audience here is people in the real estate industry, right?

Realtors. And we want to talk about what are some of the lessons that y'all have learned over the last five years that a Realtor could take and put into their business? Yeah. I mean, there's, there's a lot of great tips, man. And I think this is a fantastic discussion to have because there's so many ways, there's so many views, there's so many perspectives on what works. And I think the overall arch, the overall thing that I would take that I would give out there first, before we get into the Top 5 is you have to make sure that you're doing what works for you, right? You want to be natural. You want to be authentic. You want to make sure that you're presenting yourself as yourself. Because in the end, that's, that's going to win out more than anything, regardless of the tips that you give. If you're not, if you're not being true to who you are, it's not going to work. People see through it. Really, really, right. People can spot a phony.

They can spot a phony a mile away. And so the first one, obviously how we got found and kind of led us down this path is just having a presence on social media. That's kind of been huge. And when I say presence, it's not like gain a million followers, because we still don't have a million followers, right? It's not about gaining a huge audience. It's about making sure that if someone finds you, they can, they're attracted to what you have to offer. Right. And so putting out content that, that, that shows off who you are, that shows off what you do. That's kind of just, if someone were to get a, you know, if you went across my Instagram page or Mary's Instagram page, if you saw those pages, you're just going to see us. Sometimes it's our kids, sometimes it's work, sometimes it's food, sometimes it's parties, whatever it is, but it's a reflection of who we are. And I think that that's the best thing that you can do when it comes to social media is make sure that what you're putting out there is a reflection of your true self.

And I would go a step further and say, if you're going to use social media, which you absolutely should, because that's what's going on right now. I think you should even have a separate business page for yourself so that it's like, we have our personal pages, but then we have our Harper Ray Holmes, which is our business page. And I make sure that we keep them separate. It's like, yes, you can go to John's page and see all the things that he is involved in and you can get a great sense of who he is. And the same for mine, but having a business page where people can see, you know, exactly what you're about, what your expertise and your knowledge is in is really key and giving out great tips and experience that you've learned along the way. Awesome. Awesome. If I remember correctly, John, when you first started this and you're talking about posting videos about, about flipping the houses, you were doing like a late night Facebook live Tuesday night. Yeah. It was just, holy crap, this is what we're doing on this house. And it was so just real because the things you see on HGTV and I know that reality TV is not reality oftentimes, but you know, you see they run into things with where they have problems and stuff like that. But it's almost like, okay, we've done this a million times. And here you are, this guy who's completely new to this. Yeah. And you're like, so we're a little freaked out about this. And, you know, just going into it. And you're like, yeah, yeah, I can see that. This is, you know, this is why I don't do this. And you do.

I actually forgot that he used to do that. And you know, when he said that the memory of you, he used to come, I used to be based in Phoenix because I flew for American and he used to come and stay with me at my place. And I just had a flashback of you on a rooftop of doing this video. And I was like, you're actually going to do this tonight. Like it was so windy. It was dark. And he's like, yeah, I got, I got to figure some of this stuff out. Maybe somebody has some, you know, some answers for me. And I love that because it's like, we're not saying at all that we're experts. We're basically just taking everybody on a journey with us and saying, this is the real, this is the real deal right here. Like this house is falling down and here's how we had to try to, the steps to try to figure it out. And I actually forgot to do that.

Yeah. Cause I mean, it wasn't like this big produced, we had lights and mics and all these different things that we now know. And I mean, you know, five years ago, the internet was a different place too. But it was just, Hey, I'm a guy who's flipping a house and here's what I've learned. Yes. You want to do it. You should know this stuff too. I'm going to have to get back to doing that. Cause that was, that was a lot of fun, man. I mean, there was like maybe 10 people watching sometimes, right. But there was a lot of good content and people ask a lot of great questions. And so, man, thank you. That's, that's, that's a great, great pickup right there. You forget things along the way. Yeah. That's bringing it back. Yeah. That's right. Throwback Thursday. That's right. Throwback Thursday. Awesome. All right. So number one is have a presence on, on social media, but not only that, make it be authentic. And then if you feel like you need to have a separate page just for business, do that. Right. Yeah. So what's our, what's our second point?

Number two is asking for help. And, and, you know, there's no way we would be where we like, there's zero chance we've made it to where we are. If we didn't ask people for help and, and it's not like asking someone to come work on your business with you because Lord knows we haven't had that until just recently, but just picking people's brains and it doesn't have to be like some unbelievable person. It's just like anybody. I would ask my dad. I would ask my mom. We'd ask our friends. I would ask you like just asking for, for references and asking for knowledge. Um, well, then you reached out to a guy who did the, um, what was it called? The ugly, what are the ugly homes? Oh yeah. The house buyers. Yeah. The house buyers. Yeah. So that was part of the journey too. Yeah. We, I, I, I was huge. That was a huge moment though. Yeah. Remember that?

Oh yeah. I remember that because that was going into our first flip and, um, I was so scared. Like we'd been looking at houses for probably six months and, um, you kept passing up on them. Cause he was like, I don't know. I just can't, we couldn't, I mean, it was our money too. Right. Right. We were really, and we had a five month old, you know, brand new baby. So we were really nervous about, you know, man, we can lose it all. You know what I mean? So I remember you said that he was like, either take the money. It was like, I don't know, 30 grand. You need to take that 30 grand and put it into, you know, one of these classes that teaches you how to flip or you take that 30 grand and flip a house. So we were like, okay, what do we do? Yeah. You know, it's like experience. Do you gain experience and just know that going into it, we may lose, or do you go to take a class and then hope that you can learn some tools and, um, to take with you and then try to recoup the money.

Right. So they put into a flip. Yeah. And now, and that ended up being his advice. Yeah. So when you ask people for help, how many people did not give you any help? Oh, a lot of, I mean, well, it's not the people, no one, I think the cool thing about, um, my circle, and this could be a tangent, but I feel like, you know, the people in our circles are all relatively good people. Right. And so everyone wants to help. Anytime you ask somebody for help, they want to help. Yeah. Now they may not give you the help you're looking for. Right. And you have to have the filter to know if they're giving you something that's something you can use, or if it's something that's just going to be like, you know, thank you for your, for your opinion. It's just not, it's just not useful to me. Right. Yeah. Um, but everyone wants to help. And, and, and I think that if you don't have a circle that has that kind of influence on you and that kind of, um, you know, perspective on life, you probably need to change your circle. Right. So, but yeah, so everyone wants to help. It's just, it's, it's, it's going to be up to you to figure out exactly how that help is going to, is going to manifest itself in your life. Well, and it's still like almost thinking about if we would have taken the route of taking a class. Yeah. It's the same thing as if you were going to college and, you know, you have, now you have this degree, but just because you have the degree, now you have to take that and do something with it. You know what I mean? So at the end of the day, we decided to, we decided not to go to college. No, he went to college, but we decided to just, you know, trial by fire and do it by experience. And, and it really does take you, uh, you know, making that leap of faith as John always talks about. And we did lose, but after that, all the lessons were, I won't say all the lessons, but a lot of lessons were learned and we never lost again.

Right. So that first one was not the most successful is what you're trying to say. No. I mean, we lost $10,000 on the first house. Right. But that was, and that was the point that the guy was making. The guy was making these like, listen, you can take $20,000 and go buy one of these, go into one of these programs and you don't have $20,000. You have a lot of knowledge, but you haven't flipped a house. Right. Or you can be willing to risk that same money and putting into a house, learn a whole bunch. And then you flip the house and you've gained a bunch of knowledge. Maybe you, maybe you made money. If you got lucky, you made money on your first one. Right. Do you think that the reason people don't ask for help is more fear or more pride or both? What are they asking for? It's like, what am I asking for? I'm asking you for help. It's like, okay, well, what is it? What is it that you need? Support, advice, like a pat on the back, a push, like knowing, you know, what, think about what you actually need. Okay. And, and really go into it.

And if you are asking for help, you know, finding the right people, uh, is really important too, that will give you not just the yes, man, but really give you some sound advice, uh, you know, what it is that you're wanting to do in that, but that just doing what Mary's saying takes you putting yourself out there and asking questions because you will never know who the right person is until you find, until you go through that process. Right. So, um, I think it's fear and it's pride. I think people are, are scared of asking the stupid question. Yeah. Right. Right. Um, and, and that, that kind of leads into the whole being proud. You, you want people to think the best of you. And so asking dumb questions can make you look stupid. Right. Right. And so, but yeah, in the end, man, like there's no pride in learning, right. You either get smarter or you get dumber.

Like there, there's, yeah, I think it's, I think it's human nature that people want to help other people. Right. Yeah. Genuinely. So, you know, if you ask to typically people want to help you. Yeah. And I mean, we get now, you know, since the show, the first one too, we received so many messages. People ask us, do we mentor? Do we, um, do classes? Do we, uh, do speaking engagements and things like that? You're like, hell yeah, for $20,000. Yeah. I just think our whole thing has always been, um, and, and we have done, uh, we've done a speaking engagement before it, but it was more, and it was for the Realtors. Um, yeah. Yeah. That was really, that was an amazing experience by the way. And I would love to do more of those because it, it was more about motivating and inspiring people. It wasn't telling them what they should do. It's just like saying you can do it. Like whatever it is inside of you that, that you're just like, um, first thing to get out, get it out, you know, and that's always been John and I's approach, not as know-it-alls, but it's just like, man, we're, we're scared.

Just like you guys, we're taking that leap. We're going to do it. And we're doing it together, which is even, you know, this is a bonus. Absolutely. One of the funny things are not funny. One of the, one of the better pieces of advice I ever got was when I worked at David weekly homes and the COO at the time used to say, you know, you always hear people say the, the, there, you know, there's no such thing as a stupid question. Well, he was like, there are actually two stupid questions. And he said, the first one is the one that goes unasked. And the second one is the one you ask 15 times. I was like, yeah, that's brilliant. Yeah. That is brilliant. Ask, but then take the advice and learn from it. Right? Yes. Yeah. That's dumb. That's a huge thing, man. Yeah. I'm with you on that.

Yeah. I love that. So asking for help, don't be afraid to ask for help guys. It's okay. The people around you, they, they genuinely want to help that we all want to succeed and there's enough room for all of us to do so. It's tough. All right. Number three on our list. Number three is being resourceful, um, learning and becoming knowledgeable about your industry. Right. And I'm going to tell you, talk about this from a very weird perspective. Like, so in the rest of my life, I I'm, I, and I do mixed martial arts. Uh, I'm a Brown belt in, in jujitsu. So I know a fair next up level is black. Right. But if someone came in and asked me the name of a specific move right now, I don't know it. I don't know the names of anything. Right. The same thing in the, in the, in the renovation industry, I know like basic tools, but I can spend an hour trying to figure out the name of something. Cause I just don't know it, but I know it when I see it. Right. And so my, my base of knowledge isn't in the, the specifics of knowing words and like being proper terminology, proper terminology and things of that nature. But I do know a lot about the industry. Right. And so, um, I just have a weird way of being able to communicate it without the teacher. Yeah. And you have, and you have Mary to clear it up for you. Cause you're like, I don't know. I don't know good words. And she's like, it's proper terminology. He actually, John is so funny. When we first got married and we would have arguments, he would have these long words and I'm like, you're trying to outsmart me in this argument.

I've had over the 12 years, uh, learn my words because I've had to catch up with him. But what he's saying is true is that he comes from a family of teachers. So he, he just, he's saying be resourceful, meaning he you're able to teach by what, by how you're doing it. You don't know by teach by doing. Yeah. Um, and so that's, that's how I, that's how we kind of got our knowledge. We just dove right into it. We didn't read a lot of books. We didn't get into like, you know, the academia of if that's even the right word, whatever. We didn't get it like the academia of, of, of being a Realtor or being in the construction industry or being in the design industry. We just jumped in and, and, and then started spending our time trying to gain knowledge from other people, asking questions, taking experiences and learning from it, and then going back and reading about something. And there's humbling in that. Yeah. Right. I worked with, on our first show going for soul, they brought in a consultant and she's like this big time. She literally is called the designer, Christine Lockett. And, you know, it really is. It was a moment to humble yourself. Like, you know, I don't know. It's like, yeah, I've staged houses, but it's like different world staging houses for television. And she brought in so much knowledge. I spent like three days with her and I still do the things that she taught me in those three days. Um, you know, and she used words that I had never heard of, which is, you know, can be extremely intimidating for someone to say, you know what, I'm going to jump into something new that I've never done before. And don't let not having, um, the proper, the proper terminology or not knowing every single detail about that industry in the beginning, uh, be, um, something that deters you from doing it because you will know, and you will have the desire is there, uh, to then go and seek out that information. So that's what he means. I think about being resourceful. Which takes us back to our first point. The internet's a pretty powerful place. There's a lot to learn. Absolutely. That's what those hashtags mean. If you want to become a baker, hashtag Houston bakers, hashtag, you know, whatever it is, uh, cookie lady, whatever, get whatever it is that you're wanting to get into. There's, there's a community. And let me tell you something. There are Facebook groups about like toenails. Okay. So there is a group out there for you. I I'm into plants right now. There is a black girl group of plants that I'm in right now, you know, find your people and they will help you. That's awesome. That's awesome. All right. So be resourceful, learn your industry, learn your craft. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. All right.

So number four, number four. I, and I think this is probably where I am the most, um, successful in, in my, in my particular, uh, field in my profession is having empathy for your clients and, and understanding not, not under the, understand the significance of your business, not for you, but for them. Right. And understanding how important their next house is, what that means for their family, what it means to renovate their bathroom, what it means to renovate their kitchen. Right. And, and knowing that even though it's money to you for them, it's life, it's, it's like the next step. And so, um, you know, approaching your business with them from their perspective and knowing that whenever you walk into a house to show them, you're not showing them a house, you're showing them a possible home. Right. And show you're showing them a dream. And so, um, being able to really empathize with their position will give you so much leeway. You can make so many mistakes as, as a Realtor, as a professional, if they know that you care about them. Right. And I'm, my life is I make mistakes every single, like I make mistakes all the time. Like it's just normal for me to make mistakes, but as long as I'm being true to myself and being, um, know that that I, in the end, I care about what they're trying to accomplish. Yeah. Then man, you get so much leeway and it builds so much rapport with your clients that they will refer you just because you're a good person, not because you do a great job, you know? So I want to, I want to take this bullet point in a couple of different places. Yeah. The first one, you'll, I mean, it's just a point that I try to make all the time to Realtors. Um, I've said it on this show before I say it in the brokerage all the time.

I think that one of the things that Realtors are really, really terrible at, and it's not because they don't care or they're not empathetic. They just don't take the time is just taking a minute, step back from the minutia, step back from the day to day, all the stuff that you do and take five minutes to just close your eyes, picture a kid playing in a backyard. And the fact that you did that, like the power of what we do that, you know, I, the, the term that I use is we're the purveyors and the protectors of the American dream of home ownership. Right. And I don't think that Realtors do a good enough job taking a step back and saying, you know, what I do is pretty freaking awesome.

It really is an amazing job. It's super cool. And I mean, you know, when I say selling a dream, I think about it from when we bought this house. Um, and when you just said that, it made me think about when I walked into this house and I remember standing at the kitchen sink and looking out that window and imagining kids playing out there. And I had that moment a couple months ago when I was standing at the kitchen sink, looking out the window and seeing our kids, I took a picture of that moment. Cause I was like, I remember dreaming about this and I, you know, and I will say, I have been a witness to John and just how much care he takes in his clients. And it's not about, how many houses he can sell in a month. And this is an ad like our neighbors. I think you guys have looked that over. I can't even tell you how many houses and he's not. And he's always like, it's, Hey, this is important to you guys. Like they feel, they start apologizing at like house 20 to me.

They were texting me saying, Oh, I'm so sorry. We're making John, you know, show us houses. Don't worry. We will buy a house eventually. And I'm like, listen, don't worry about it. This is a big deal. That's a lot. Okay. And it's not like buying, you know, a mascara. Cause I try out a whole bunch of different mascaras every single time. You know, but it's, it's a big, it's a big deal to buy a house and you can't, you can't take that back. There are no returns. You know what I mean? So, and I love that even his clients will ask him to make decisions for him. And he's like, I'm not, I can't make that decision. They're like, John, what would you do? As they always say, what would you do, John, if it were you? And he was like, I think you guys need to take the night. So think over it and, and talk about it and give me a call tomorrow. We'll talk. All right. So the second place I want to take this, and I think that, um, again, it's, it's something that I think by the nature of Realtors wanting to help people that they take for granted, a lot of times, um, we call it being a pop tart agent, you know, the phone rings and you pop up out of your desk and you go show a house.

But I think that one of the things, you know, we, we talked about at the very beginning of the show was taking the time to get to know people, taking the time to sit down and do like a buyer consultation or, you know, really build rapport in a listing appointment. If you don't already know that person, it's going to help you build that empathy. It's going to help you build that understanding. And I think a lot of times we fly through that and we just hit the surface, like, well, how many bedrooms and bathrooms do you want? But we don't start asking the why questions. Yeah. And that, that took, that probably took me like three and a half years, four years. Right. So this is, yeah, it's a practice skill. Yeah. It really takes time because you, you, you almost have to build up through, through the, through the process of becoming a Realtor and, and kind of getting your first clients and, and talking to them over the course of time, you kind of start hopefully listening to them and picking up on the things that are actually important to them.

Right. And so, so often it's actually not about the house in particular. It's, it's about something else, right? It's about, you know, fulfilling a dream. It's about, you know, trying to set up their future or it's about, you know, being in a position that allows them to be more flexible to do the next thing or whatever it is. And so kind of figuring out what that, what that is for them is, is huge. And one of the things that I always ask is, you know, I understand you guys want to get a house. You you're, you're ready to make the next stage, but what, what is your future in this house? Right. Like I always try to ask some sort of question about what is the future for you in this house? It's not just about having kids or is it, you know, you're setting yourself up to get your, your next, your first rental property or, you know, whatever it is. But if you get into those kinds of questions, man, you will really find that your clients will open up to you in a way that you, that they normally wouldn't because you're asking something that you don't, they don't really hear about, you know? Yeah. The problem with it is it's dangerous, right? Because you can't control it.

If I ask you how many bedrooms, if I ask you how many baths, I can control that conversation. But if I ask you why, I have no idea what's going to come out of your mouth. Right. And I don't know what to do with it. If it's something that I is strange to me. Right. And so I think that that's what keeps people from asking those questions is a little bit of the fear of losing control of where do I take this? Yeah. Right. Yeah. I mean, man, we can go off on a real deep end. I know. I mean, this is like sales psychology 101. Let's go. Yeah. And this is a, I think it's a, that's a huge thing on two fronts. And it kind of goes back to my first point about people will refer you business if they think you're a good person. Right. If they, if they feel like they know you. So asking questions like that really opens up the opportunity to be vulnerable and share yourself with them in the way that you're asking them to share themselves with you. Right. And so it's in those bonds that you can make. Like I have really, really good friends over in my real estate business, just from having real conversations with people that have absolutely nothing to do with real estate in any way. Right. Matter of fact, they were on the show. I mean, Heido and Brittany, man, they've been my, they've been my clients since they had three kids and now they have five kids. Right. And, and we've been through a flood.

Whenever they bought their first house, the first house flooded in Harvey. They bought their second house. They thought they wanted a bigger house. They realized they didn't want a bigger house, but man, we're just friends. So we talk about all kinds of stuff. Like we talk about just life. Um, and so when he would go and show them houses, he would already know what was for them. Like what would feel good for them because they've spent so much time just, just talking about life in general. And then you, in those conversations, you learn so much about how people want to live. And, uh, I think that that's really special. Absolutely. Cause when you, when you think about it from that standpoint, if I'm out and I'm showing you a home and I'm able to say, Hey, I think you're going to really love this because it's something that I know not, I think you're really going to love this because it has four bedrooms.

It's not special. Yeah. That doesn't make me feel a certain sort of way. It's like, oh yes, it has four bedrooms. Great. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. Again, going back to that sales, it's like the feature benefit statements. Right. But you've got to know what the benefit is and why the benefit exists for that person. Yeah. And that's asking a lot of dangerous questions. Right. And I'll just add to that real quick. It's also really cool when you walk into a house and you tell them this is not the house for them. Right. Like that's, that's a big deal. Right. Whenever, whenever they know that you're not trying to make a sale, right. Whenever they know that you're in a house and you're like, man, this guys, yeah, this has the things you're talking about, but this, this doesn't feel right. And that happened quite a few times. Like I went, I would sneak cause again, he gets to have all the fun. I love looking at houses. I can look at, I don't know if I could do the Realtor part because it's not, you guys, your job is so hard and people need to know it's not just showing houses. It's when you come back and it's all the paperwork. And then once you get past the paperwork, there's inspections, there's just that knowledge, um, guiding your clients. You are, there's therapists in a way because you are encouraging them. You're, you're supporting them.

And then the other part of, uh, all the numbers, like I'm not good with, with numbers. And I mean, there's a lot that goes to being a Realtor that I don't think that people really know. So it's not just about showing people houses. It's, it's everything. Um, knowing when to tell them this house is not for you because you're not, you're loose. I don't know. What do y'all say equity? And it doesn't have this and that. So I, you know, whatever it's a lot, but I show up to this, why I just show up to, to walk through the house and I overheard him telling them, you know, yeah, it has the bedrooms that y'all need. And yeah, it has the bathrooms y'all need, but you know, I can't see y'all living here. This doesn't function the way that you guys live your life. Right. And that house that they ended up choosing. Yeah. It was, uh, that house they ended up choosing.

We all said, like, we felt it felt the house. We felt it. Like we all could see the kids in the backyard, you know, playing and adventuring and we could see them in the kitchen cooking. Like there's such a hands-on, they're just such an amazing family. Uh, and we knew as soon as we walked in that house, man, this is it. This is the one. That's awesome. All right. Last but not least, number five, number five. And I think this is a, this is a, this is a funky one because some people will agree with it. Some people will disagree with it, but for us, I think it's a big deal. And that's finding a mentor or a business coach or somebody that can help you get to the next level. Right. And 100% agree. And, and so I think it's, it's huge to be able to have someone be able to have a blueprint. Right. And then you can use them to help you get there. And it's okay.

Like, you know, in the various things that we've done, I've had mentors across the same industry, but they, the mentor has changed because I've gotten to a spot and then it's like, okay, we've graduated from this one. Now let's go find the next person. Right. Right. Um, and I think that that's just like, it's invaluable being able to not have to make all the mistakes yourself, lean on someone else who's made the mistakes and been successful in, in that, in that, in that era, you know, in that, in that, that field. Um, 100%. I, you know, I tell the story, I actually had my very first real estate coach on the show a few weeks ago. Um, and I remember, you know, we were not making a ton of money in real estate. I mean, we were doing okay. Bills were getting paid and stuff like that, but I knew that there was more. I just, it was kind of, I also knew that there was a lot that I didn't know. And I needed to know that in order to go to that next level. And so I remember coming home and telling my wife that I had just signed up for coaching. That was going to be $500 a month and kind of waiting for her to either leave or throw.

And, you know, fortunately it worked really, really well. And within three months it had paid for itself for the whole year and then some, um, but from that point forward, I've never not had a coach. Yeah. Yeah. You gotta have that if nothing else for the accountability, you know, Realtors tend to be the types of people that aren't great with accountability. That's me, right? You know, we're good at going out and we're a mile a minute, but the things that are not sexy and fun, the stuff that Mary was just talking about, those are the things that we've got to make sure that somebody is holding our feet to the fire on a lot of times. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Those contracts gotta be right. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of fine details. Um, you know, like I said, this going out to the house, all the big stuff is like, you can see it, but to have to sit and say, okay, I don't know how many pages it is, you know, and making sure that everything is, um, correct. Uh, that's a lot of pressure and, you know, you have to be able to say, uh, I need to pass this on to somebody else to do it.

Yeah. I mean, having a mentor is really huge and knowing, again, we were talking about pride earlier. There's only so far that you can take yourself with even being resourceful and having, uh, doing your own research. Um, it really is something to be said about finding somebody who's been there and then putting that pride down to actually listen and apply it. Um, which is, you know, really what you want in a mentor and not just in your area. It's like, yeah, you want that person to be an expert in what it is that you're doing, but they end up being just like you guys as, as Realtors, they end up being just an amazing guide in life because we are listening to you and listening to what it is that you're dreaming about your goals, your aspirations.

And they're saying, well, here's how, here's the journey I've been through. Don't do it that way, but let me tell you how you can do it and, you know, put you on that right track. So that's what really what a mentor is. Yeah. I mean, I consider my, I consider my coach now a friend. I'll just call and catch up and just, you know, it won't have anything to do with business. We'll just talk to each other. Yeah. You know, in that conversation, some new lesson was probably learned or some, you know, that's how he comes back from the gym, you know, doing his mixed martial arts, you know, after he'll come home. Cause I'm like, man, you leave and you don't come back. And it's because what happens is he stands out there talking after class for like an hour or two. And he's like, I don't even know how we got to this point, but it was so, he comes back home fired up, you know? And it's like, that's what it takes is opening yourself up to, to receive anything, not just one particular thing. It's not like, you're going to the store to buy the cucumber.

It's like, I'm going there and I may have found something else, you know, stay open, remain open. Yeah. As crazy as it sounds, my, my, my real estate business coach, um, has actually taught me more about being a good parent than I would have ever expected. Cause he's raised four daughters and I now have a teenage daughter. So he's telling me all the things I need to know about teenage girls. God bless my God. Right. Yeah. Well, I think, I think that's just, I'll, I'll cap it off by saying that the mentor thing is really huge. But I think what you just talked about is probably even bigger and, and, you know, business is great. All these things that we're talking about are fantastic, but in the end, like we only get to live life one time. Right. And, and the relationships you make are probably going to be, what's going to define and what you remember when you're, when you're, when you're getting older. Right. And so, um, if you're, if you're lucky enough and you put yourself in a position, uh, to be able to have mentors, to be able to ask questions, to be able to reach out to people, the relationships you'll make along the way are what you're really going to remember. Like the money is great and having a cool business is awesome. But if you've had a 20 year friendship, a 30 year friendship, a 50 year friendship, and, and that's what you've been able to acquire along with me having a successful business, that part, it ends up taking a second seat to the relationships you form. And so, um, mentors are great, are great place to have, to form those kinds of relationships. I always think back on what my mentor Myron said to me.

And I I've said it many times now is that we have the best job in the world. He told me this years ago when I was working in hotels with him, he's like, listen, at the end of the day, this cut all this out. It's like, yes, it's crazy. It's stressful. People are screaming at us every day, but, but we have the best job in the world and that's making people happy. And I always, that always comes back to my mind when I'm like, just like, what am I doing this for? Oh yes. I want to make it. I genuinely want to make people happy in those moments. And how, how can we get to that point? So the same thing applies with Realtors. I don't know a better way to end the show than that right there. Yeah. Brilliant. So, all right. If people want to watch two steps home, how do they find two steps homes? They can watch it. The worst part of that we were, we're terrible salespeople especially. So two steps home going for sold both on discovery. Plus you can, you can watch them discovery. Plus if you have the HGTV app, you can also watch it there. And then you can always follow us on Instagram. That's kind of where we, we make our, our biggest social media presence felt is on Instagram. So I'm at John Pierre TJP. And I'm at Mary TJP and we have a Harper rain homes, Instagram and Facebook as well, which is our business name after our daughter. And yes, we will come up with something for grace and he will not be left out.

So thank you so much. Hey, thank you guys. I appreciate it. This has been, this has been awesome. These are great lessons. I appreciate it. We love these conversations. So thank you. And thank you for watching. Uh, hope you were able to take some of these and put them into your business and help you grow a long-term profitable business. And we will see you next week here on top five show.