AoG #9: George Ouzounian - Defying Odds, Path to Top 1% Real Estate Mastery

In this captivating episode, we sit down with the illustrious George Ouzounian, a paragon in the real estate industry, renowned for his strategic foresight and unparalleled expertise. Ranked as the top 22nd small teams in California and holding the impressive 54th position nationally, George's meteoric rise in the realm of real estate is nothing short of inspiring.

Dive deep into a narrative teeming with perseverance, innovative tactics, and sheer willpower. George's journey is a testament to what's possible when relentless ambition meets opportunity. From his humble beginnings to shattering industry norms, he has redefined success in a sector that is as challenging as it is rewarding.

Listeners will get an insider's look at the high-stakes world of luxury real estate, including the intricate nuances and thrilling triumphs that characterize George's career. More than just numbers and sales, this conversation unveils the human side of the business - the relationships, ethical quandaries, and personal growth that comes with managing multi-million dollar deals.

But what makes George a true standout? Discover the mindset behind the mogul - his unique approach to client relationships, the art of closing a deal, and his visionary strategies that have placed him at the forefront of the industry. This episode is laden with practical insights, from leveraging market trends to understanding the psychological landscape of buyers and sellers in a digital age.

This is more than a podcast episode; it's a masterclass in achieving greatness against all odds. Whether you're an aspiring realtor, a seasoned professional, or just someone fascinated by success stories, George's journey elucidates that success is not about the hand you're dealt; it's about how you play your cards.

Join us for an enthralling conversation that promises to shift paradigms. You'll walk away with more than just knowledge; you'll gain a renewed perspective on what it means to truly lead and innovate in today's cutthroat environment. This is your chance to learn from one of America's real estate titans. Tune in now for a transformative experience.

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Transcript

**Fahad:** All right, guys, another episode of 'Art of Greatness,' and I'm very excited. We have an absolute rock star in the house today, not physically in the house but virtually, uh, with us. He is one of the biggest agents in all of the US or runs one of the largest small teams, ranked 54th in all of the United States, ranked 22nd in all of California. These guys sell hundreds of millions of dollars per year. He's personally sold over a billion dollars. He's a decade and a half plus in the business. He's a loving husband, a father, runs his family life, his business in a very tight ship, and I'm just excited to have him on because he's kind of defied the odds with the background that he has and really achieved greatness at such a young age. He looks like he's 30, um, I, I have no idea how old you are, George, exactly, but I'd like to welcome George Uzunian from Studio City, California. Welcome, George.

**George:** Ah, thank you so much. You did do your research. I'm, I'm impressed, um, that... thank you for the introduction. I'm very happy to be here, um, really close to actually Canada, but in Los Angeles, um, we will connect very soon at The Forum in Austin. Hopefully, I get to see you there.

**Fahad:** Yeah, I, I've had it booked for some time. I booked the hotel and the flights months ago, so I'm excited. I actually just got back from the Tom Ferry conference and first time attending The Summit in person, but it's just incredible what it will do for you and your business and just the way you think, to be surrounded by like-minded people and people that are doing more than you, that are doing greater things than you. And I, I remember, and I'm kind of going off the cuff here, I listened to one of your podcasts, and it's... you had mentioned this. You guys went from a big fish in a small pond to a much bigger pond in joining the agency, uh, and being surrounded by these guys that are selling close to a billion dollars versus where you were the top guy. Surround yourself with... it's who you surround yourself with. That's the bottom, bottom line. And that, that I am the proof of that, with multiple different things, whether it's like in personal life, professional life, um, and everything that we've done throughout our, my life and career, is in my friend circle. And I, you know, I had, I was surrounded with different types of friends, and then I surrounded myself with, uh, friends that were older than me, that were more successful than me, and I was the youngest guy in the group. And what did that do? Automatically got me to, uh, to the level that they were at, or to be able to compete with them, uh, same thing with moving from Keller Williams to the agency, uh, coming into a company where everyone is doing things on a much higher level, uh, completely different, uh, way of running your business. And what does that do? That, that really accelerates your growth.

Um, so I'm a big, big believer in... I'm a seminar junkie, so I love Tom Ferry's, my Ferry's coaching in general, whether it's personal life, you know, Tony Robbins, all of it. I've been into all of them, and I suggest everyone to go to all of them, uh, you get... H, you get a new nugget, uh, something new, you meet someone new in all these events, uh, some of them I've done two or three, uh, Pacific, um, um, I forgot the name of... Pacific Institute. I've done four times. Life-changer. Every time I've, wi, I've picked up something new every time I went. It's the same seminar, but every time I'm like, 'Oh, I didn't, I didn't listen to this the last time I was here.' And you just change your perspective because you're in a different, uh, you're in a different part and mindset in your life, so you're picking up different things now, and you're meeting some amazing people along the way.

**Fahad:** Do you have a coach, or do you guys, as a team, have a coach?

**George:** We, as of right now, we do not, uh, I have mentors, people that I've worked with, people that I guess you could call them coaches, um, we meet, you know, every couple of months, and we just discuss life, we discuss business, we check in on each other, uh, several of our agents are being coached by Tom Ferry, some by Brian Buffini, just depending on what style of, uh, coaching or prospecting they're doing. And since I've been into all these coaching programs, I, based on their numbers, personality, I tell them where, which coaching organization they should be with, uh, you know, we, we should go back into coaching. I'm a big believer in it, h, no matter what level you're at. Even the Michael Jordan's, the Kobes, the, the highest, highest levels of, you know, Santiago from our office still coaches, I believe, with Steve Shull. So no matter what level in life you're in, you're at, I think you should still have that coach. You always need someone to check in with you, check in on you, keep you accountable, and if anything, just gives you ideas of how you can improve. We could always improve, uh, there's always space to improve, to run things more efficiently, whether it's systems, uh, the team, um, anything really, scripts, uh, you know, our industry is always changing, and when you're dealing with a coach that's dealing with a hundred, 500 other agents, or a bigger organization that has thousands of agents, they're, they're talking about what these other agents are doing to be successful. Where is this market heading? What's working,

 what's not working? So they're bringing all that information to you, to your office, and to your team. So I think it's extremely valuable.

**Fahad:** Okay, love it, love it. I actually want to go back, right, like, and that's where I really wanted to start, but sometimes things just flow as is, in a flow state, as I shared with you, uh, but I want to go back to where you started, right? You were born in the Middle East. You moved here at, uh, what age did you move to the United States?

**George:** So I was, uh, I was born, it's a, it's a long journey, um, I was born in the middle of a war in 1985, Iraq-Iran. Parents' background was from, they lean on, they moved to Baghdad, Iraq. I was born in Baghdad, Iraq, and I was born in the middle of a war, and that was 1985, and that war went on till 1990, 1989. Then 1990, 1991, you had the Gulf War start. So I think throughout my entire time that I was in the Middle East, we were in war. I, I don't think there was maybe a year period that was there, there was no war, but other than that, the entire time from 1985 till 200, uh, 11, when we left, and we just literally, like, left our home, left everything that we had, and just got in a car and drove to the next country, just to get out. My father was in the military for 20 years, and he didn't want to see us, his kids, go through what he went through. He went through, you know, he, he would start a new business, and, and then there's a war, so they take him to the war. They'll come back, that business will close. They'll start a new business, and then they'll take him to the war again, and restart. He restarted, you know, over and over again, maybe three, four times, in several different businesses. And, um, a lot of my family have left by then, uh, he didn't think anything would change, uh, but times proved him wrong, and things started escalating, and it wasn't a place where a father would want his kids to grow. Education is terrible, and just not the lifestyle that you would see your kids growing up in. You know, could have been in the military, I could have been dead by now, um, I could have been, God knows where, uh, but my parents made a decision, and it's such a tough decision to have, you know, they were in their 40s, I believe, um, when, when they left. In your 40s, to leave your home, your friends, and your, you know, everything that you have, and get in a car, and to drive through the country to another country, and go there and say, you know, 'I want to go to America. I want to apply for a political asylum, uh, I don't want my kids to go through this. I don't want, you know, I was in the military for 20 years, and I'm done.' And, uh, during that process, when we went to Jordan and applied for that, 9/11 happened, and that literally took our document process from 30 days to about six, seven months. My brother and I had to get jobs in another country, and weekends meet, and finally, our paperwork got approved. February 2012, uh, just a little over 20 years now, actually. February 2012, we came to America. I came to America knowing very little English. I'm not going to say zero, very basic, basic English. And, you know, since, since my childhood, I've had that, I've done several things to, uh, be independent, to make my own money, and sell things, uh, help people out if they're moving, neighbors, and make a little bit of money there. So I was always trying to figure out ways to, uh, to make my own money. And I've always known there's something bigger out there. And when I came here, you know, coming from the Middle East, you come here, and you're like, 'My God, you're in America. This is the American dream.' And it's sad 'cause, like, you've met a lot of people that were born and raised here, and they don't see that. They don't see what we see, coming from another country to here, everything that they have, as simple as just having food, you know, having all kinds of food available to you every day, and having all these jobs and businesses and education and being able to really, it's all up to you. That's why we love this country. You could, you could, you could go all the way to the top, sky's the limit, or you could live, you know, a, a good life, being, being... some people are okay with that. So it's, you could take your life in whichever way you'd like, right? And being surrounded with the right people. So, like, going back to that, I've had jobs at, uh, I've..."

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**Segment 2:**

**George:** "...worked graveyard shift at Macy's trucks, um, I've done, uh, restaurant jobs, I've done, uh, AT&T, uh, door knocking from door to door trying to sell U-verse and internet cables, and just a lot of different things. But that's the journey, right? I've had to go through these jobs to meet new people until, you know, I met someone that got me into the banking world, and that was, you know, that was like three years after we came here, three, four years, uh, I went to school, and it was really tough to balance school and having to work and, uh, provide and help my family. Um, so I made a decision. I said, you know, finished high school here, that was great, went to Community College for a couple of years, and I'm just, you know, I'm just going to go full force and work and figure out what is, what is it that I'm going to do. And I got into the banking world, in here in Studio City actually, at, uh, a bank right behind me, Washington Mutual at the time. They went under the crash in 2008 and started doing mortgages there, and met some amazing people, right? You get to see the wealth, the real wealth, and people are buying and selling, and the deposits, and, you know, you start, you start opening up your eyes and networking. And as I started meeting all these mortgage brokers, and it was a huge mortgage boom at that time, I was doing mortgages, but at the bank, you're, you're boxed into this, into this one program, right? This is, we could do one, two, or three, and other than that, we can't do anything else, and you have to have a good credit score,

 you have to have a down payment. So I met a couple of people, and they said, 'Hey, anything that doesn't work here, send it over to us. Anything that you can't do, send it over to us.' And I started doing that, and, you know, they would take me out to a Laker game, you know, uh, would go to lunches and restaurants, and, you know, they would pay me a commission. I said, 'Wow, this is how much you guys earn?' You know, that's, he was like, 'Yeah, like, do you want to come over?' And I went to a couple of mortgage brokers, and that was again the boom, and the purchase boom, and 2006,7, uh, 8, and until I landed with one of, so Gina, my partner now, that's how we met back in 2006, I believe it was. I met one of their partners in their mortgage company. I said, 'You want,' he, he invited me to come over, and he said, 'I want you to come over. You've been sending a lot of, um, a lot of, just close this down. You've been sending a lot of loans over to us, and I think you'll do really well with us.' I had no clue about, like, cold calling. I was at the bank sitting, and people were walking in. It's really easy for me. So it takes me there, there's like a big room with a bunch of people, cold calling. 'This is what we do. We call people. We, you know, purchases, refinances,' and, you know, the, the pay scale is this. Based on, like, one deal that I closed with them, I'd make my monthly salary and commission with the bank. So I said, 'You know what? I'm going to give this a chance,' even though my parents said, 'Don't do that. Stick with banking. Insurance, you have insurance, you have your consistent pay. It's this blue-collar job that they feel is a white-collar job.' And it's, it's actually a cultural thing as well, which is the Middle Eastern culture, South Asian, very similar in that sense. You're working at a bank. It's a reputable, respectable type job. 'My son's a banker,' like, that's what he, although you make a [__] salary and a little bit of commission, versus, I could make hundreds of thousands of dollars. Uh, I don't think it's looked at that from that world. They have, I think they have a lot of fear in them because they left a country, they came here, and they hear about all these stories, and, you know, credit card debt, and, you know, they, they want you to have insurance, they want you to have a retirement. They think if you go independent, you're not going to have that retirement, you're not going to be able to make ends meet. But, you know, we have one life to live, and if you don't take these risks in life, if it doesn't, you know, if you don't take that step and say, 'I'm gonna do that,' it doesn't work, I can always go back to banking. So, you know, there's always that, right? I could always go back to the bank. They'll take me back. I could go to another bank. Who cares? But I wanted to take that step, even though I was here, like, four years or five years from another country, broken up English, uh, didn't know much about mortgages. And what I'm good at is when someone tells me, like, 'Here's the script. Here's what you need to do. Call these people, and, uh, you know, ask them these questions, and see if they want to refinance. If they want to refinance, do they know anyone else that wants to refinance? If they don't, are they thinking about buying an investment property?' You know, and, well, I would just go through exactly what they said, right? I would just do that, and things started clicking, and we're doing better and better and better. And I think my first, my first year, I was at top salesman there at their office, my first year with them. And they kind of, as Coco and Gina, you know, I just got to know them, and Coco started, you know, his own, uh, buying and selling real estate business and flipping, um, and Gin was an independent broker, running the office. We had a really, really good sales manager, Leonard. We're still friends until today. Uh, so it was like a tight family environment, and we had great times there, man. That was, that was the start of our, of our, uh, relationship, or of our friendship. Um, I was single at the time. I was with my, uh, wife, Rita, and, you know, we were traveling together. They're like, 'Hey, George, if you close the most amount of loans, we're gonna take you to Miami.' Said, 'Miami? I've never been there. I heard great things.' So I, I close the most loans, and they'll get me a ticket to Miami. I'll go to Miami with them. I'm like, 'My God, look at this life here.' And, you know, these trips, some people go to trips like that and get depressed and, and come back. For me, a trip like that, I think, was a, like, a life-changing moment because you get to see, wow, people with yachts, buildings, you know, Ferraris, and Lamborghinis, and, you know, hey, let, let me go back and work even harder. I want to come back to Miami again. It's flash, Miami is as flashy as it gets. It is, it is. But like, it just the lifestyle. It's, it's just seeing these, like, we just took a trip to, uh, to Southern France, London, and just seeing what's out there, right? It makes you want to work harder so you could go back, and I want to take my family, like, you know, my parents, or my brother, my sister. I want to take them there. That's where your 'why' gets bigger. If you don't have a big 'why,' right? What is the big 'why'? It's the purpose in life. What is your purpose? Why do you work so hard? Why do you wake up every day, uh, doing what you do, right? And if you don't write that down and know what it is, then you're still kind of lost. That's why you're not hitting your goal. But if you take a day or two and really think, what is it that you wake up for every day? What is your purpose? What is your goal? Are you doing the activities to get there? Are you acting like you're already there? If you wake up every day and dress up like you are a million-dollar listing agent, that you close two, three, four, $500, 500

 million in business every year, and you're running a successful team, if you wake up every day and feel like it, and dress like it, and act like it, you will become that person, right? It's a, it's a simple, simple, uh, it's called 'be, do, have.' Yeah, 'be, do, have,' and also manifesting it, right? Like, tell yourself you can do this, or you are going to do this, not just to can. 'I'm [__] going to do it, and no one's stopping me.' And the only person that's usually stopping yourself is the guy or gal in the mirror. That's really it, right? Like, the person you're looking at, you're like, 'I'm stopping myself from not doing those actions.' And even when I've fallen off, I realize, I'm like, '[__], man, I could do better. I, I've messed up here.' And if you, if you can self-assess to figure out, 'Okay, here's where I need to be. Here's the mistakes that I've made. How am I going to get better and not make the same mistakes again? How do I figure it out?' And most of us, like, we have this, uh, beautiful little phone, and our 'why' is usually on our, on our screen, right? Like, what's your home screen? Probably like, your, mine's my son, my daughter, kid picture. Yeah, my kid, exactly. Like, right now, it's one of them. I think it just got switched, but usually, it's both of them. Uh, but yeah, I've got a son, a daughter. I think very similar age, uh, to yours. How old is your son? Just turned two. Incredible. In, that's amazing, man. Like, so, you know, talk about purpose, that just elevates your purpose even higher. 100%. And like, I'm such a big believer in manifestation, in, uh, writing your goals down, and affirmation, and, you know, that happened through, I didn't have no idea of this crap, and I wish someone told me that. I'm going to be like this with my son, on educating him on manifesting, affirmations, goal setting, uh, like a sergeant. But, you know, schools don't teach you this, right? They teach you this later on in life. I don't know why, but they don't teach you how to manage your money either. They don't teach you how to manage relationships. They don't teach you how to, your money. They don't teach you how to invest, how to think bigger. They teach you to go get a job and work for someone instead of trying to start your own business and defy the odds. If you were still working at the bank today, great, you'd have that job, maybe you're making a hundred grand, but you're not making hundreds of thousands or millions or selling hundreds of millions of dollars. It's, it just would never happen because there's always, and I come from corporate as well, right? Like, there's always that glass ceiling. I was the director of operations for Saks Fifth Avenue, and I knew there was a ceiling. Like, even if I got promoted, there's still a ceiling. I know what I can make here. I can make in a month what I made in a year, and that's the difference. Like, you can make that in..."

**George:** "...one deal in California. No, this is not geared towards some people. Love that. They want the security. They like their consistent pay, and they're happy with that, and that's great. You're blessed. That's awesome. Some others just want more. And again, it's not easy. No one could just leave the bank and go, you know, sell real estate and become very successful. You know what it is, 20% does 80% of the work, right? That's a very, very true statement. So you could get into real estate, you could sell three, four, five homes, you make good money, you'll probably still make more money than the bank, and you'll have a lot more flexibility on your time. But, you know, some people just love and are okay with that consistent income, the security, they have insurance, maybe they want to go up the ladder, maybe they want to stay where they are, and that's completely fine. That's why there are different personalities and different wants and needs that people have in life. But I think everyone has so much more potential, including me and you, than they think. We could do a lot bigger things than we think if we really want to. And it just, you know, as you get older and you have kids, as you know, your time just goes from, you know, all day to shrinking, and now you have to do more in less time. So, like, that's another difficult thing that I've been trying to manage recently.

But just going back to 2007 and 8, so, you know, I've done mortgages with them. The market was great, and I thought, man, this is going to be it, right? And I didn't know anything about like crash or defaults, and, you know, none of that. And to be honest with you, no one really told me to manage my money. So I was out there, I'm like spending because I thought this is going to be, you know, for life. I'm gonna make this much money, right? And that was a big 'aha' slap in the face moment in my life that it's not gonna always last, right? And, you know, we were waiting on a large check, our entire brokerage. We're doing several different states, so whatever we do in California, we're okay, but anything we do out of state, we have to go through a different brokerage, and we're waiting on a really large check when the crash happened. That company filed bankruptcy, no one got paid, and when that happened, I was obviously spending a lot of money at that time, and I was waiting on that check to come, and I was like, you're spending the money you don't have right now. You're like, you know what, I got this money coming in, let me just, let me just... L of money on credit card, all good. And B, check didn't come, they filed bankruptcy, market crashed, no one's GNA refi, it's a [__] show, and I'm like, wow, what do we do now, right? Literally, like, back to basics. And then, you know, Koko and Gina at the time, they're like, all right, well, I guess L modification is the thing now, where anyone that defaults, you get to give them a Lo modification. We started doing that. It was a challenge. As banks started offering that service, so I, I left. I left, and Gina and Koko were really sad. I still remember, Gina cried when I left. She's like, 'No, I thought we're going to be always forever together, and I don't know what...' And I said, you know what, you never know what happens in life. Maybe down the line, I get to come back. So I, I, I leave. I go to, uh, Wells Fargo, things didn't work out. I go to Bank of America. They were doing great with law modifications, loss mitigation, foreclosure departments. Did all that for about three, four years and was doing really well, but again, was that banking job that was consistent but not giving me what I had during the mortgage boom before the crash.

So things started getting better, right? 201, 2010, 11. My parents kept telling me, 'Stick with banking. You saw what happened in 2007 and 8. It could happen again, and you know, bank is where you need to be. Consistent income, you got nothing to worry about.' Said, you know what, I'll listen to you guys. I wanted to get into real estate at the time. I kept talking to Gina, and like, you know, why don't you get your license? And I, I didn't. I left Bank of America because low modifications were dying out and went to a Chase Bank. Mortgages are back. I got into underwriting and mortgages, and six months later, Chase Bank shut down their entire department, laid off about 3, 400 people, and moved the whole operation to Utah and Arizona. When that happened, you know, a lot of people that were working with me, like, 'Oh my God, I wanted to open up this kind of a business, and it never happened, and I think this is a sign, so I'm going to go do that.' I said, 'That's awesome, good for you.' And I thought about it. I took about a month off, trying to think, 'What am I gonna do? Could always go back to another bank, but do I really want to do that?' And, you know, I didn't have a lot of money at the time to start in real estate because everyone was like, 'Oh, you need six months of reserves,' and, you know, I, I didn't have that. So I went and cashed out my 401k. I took a 40% penalty, so I gave them 40%, I took the rest out, and I said, 'This is what I have. I'm gonna get into real estate, and it's either going to do... I'm GNA do everything in my power to make this my career. It's either going to work, or it's not GNA work. If it doesn't work, I'll go back to banking. If it works, I'll stick with it.' So I went into this business in a way where a lot of agents didn't get into the business. You know, you're going in all in, and you have no option B. You don't have a rich dad or mom. You don't have business managers, wealth managers, attorneys that are going to feed your business. I've known a small amount of people at that time that know me for doing mortgages. They didn't know me for doing real estates. But, you know, I said, 'This is this is what I'm going to do, and I'm just going to do everything I can to be really successful at it.' And I got my license, and I went and joined Gina right away because I knew she's running her own brokage, and, you know, I thought that was the first

 best choice. Coco was flipping houses still. And the first thing I did when I got into real estate is sit down in front of the phone because we did that in mortgages. B call day and night and try to find distressed sellers for Coco so you could buy it and remodel and sell it. So I did that for about 3, four months. Worked okay. I've learned a lot, but I've, I wanted more. And I said, you know, they had a really small operation running out of their house, and I wanted to be in a big office with a lot of agents. So I said, 'Gina, Coco, I love you guys. I think I'm gonna go to Keller Williams. I known a couple of people there. I'm gonna join a big team there, and let's stay in touch. I'm still gonna call for you, but I'm GNA work out of there.' So I came to Keller Williams in Studio City, and it's something that I, you know, I would recommend to everyone. First thing you should always do when you get into real estates, find a team, find a mentor that's successful and experienced to teach you, get you on your feet, tell you exactly what you need to do, and then you could decide if you should stick to that team or, you know, move on and be solo. And that's what I did, and it was one of the best decisions I've done in my life is joining a team here, a large team in Studio City, that literally gave me the basics of what I should be doing as a real estate agent.

So let's start farming. Great, well, what do I farm? Oh, Sherman Oaks. I don't know anything. I don't know anything about Sherman Oaks. So let's learn about Sherman Oaks, the streets, the schools, the community, the price per... what's selling. And we picked about 500 homes to door knock. So I started door knocking. I was call calling. I hired a Mike Ferry coach right away for call calling, and I was door knocking. I put money on Zillow right away. Anyone that told me that this is what you should do, I did it, right? If someone told me like, 'Do this, put your money on this,' I would do it. So like, I wanted to do everything I can to, like, literally accelerate my career in real estate because I knew I have about like six, seven months to close a deal, or else I'm gonna be out. I don't have a lot of time. And this was in 2013-4. Things were just starting to pick up here in LA, and literally month five, six, I haven't closed anything. I was running out of money, and I closed my first deal, and that was in, I think, towards the end of the year in November or December. And I closed my first deal. I said, literally, like, 'Thank God I closed this deal because if this deal did not close, I would have been out of this business.' I still remember it was a property in Altadena, friends of a friend wanted to, you know, purchase an investment property, a duplex, and went out there, showed it, they liked it, and, you know, we end up going through it and close that transaction. Took about, you know, that was month six, and I said, 'Okay, great, so one down. Where do I get my next one from, right? So like, what do I do next?' And I just, it's real estate could be really simple if you do the work. So I was the first one into the office, last one out. There's several agents that, you know, we're still friends. They still see me. So, 'George, I always remember you're the first one there before anyone, the last one out.' And I, the reason I did that because I had, I had, I didn't have an option B. I needed to make this work. So I'm there at 7, 7:30, role-playing, practicing on my scripts. By 8:30-9, on the phone, calling expires and cancels, circle prospecting. Go out in the afternoon, I'm door knocking. I didn't have a lot of family and friends to feed me business then. People are like, 'Well, why don't you go talk to the lenders that you knew? Maybe they'll send you business.' Now, I started taking all these lenders out to lunches and say, 'Hey, you know, we used...'"

**George:** "...to do mortgages, now I'm in real estate. If you need anything, please let me know." Started networking, and at the same time, you're seeing all these people doing these much bigger things and meeting builders and selling new constructions. And, you know, I stayed in that team for about a year. I did about 11 transactions after I closed my first one, and only one of them came through the team. And I said, "You know what, I think I could do this on my own, and I'm gonna give it a try on my own. I think I have everything I need to go on my own." And I branched out, and I went solo, and I just stuck with the same routine, the same practice, and I changed coaches from Mike Ferry to Steve Shull because I thought, you know, call calling wasn't working out very well. I was door knocking, targeting builders and tear-downs. Did this, de-shelving, then I looked at my business, trying to see where this business is coming from. I had a different coach at Keller Williams at the time, and about 70% of my business was coming through referrals, different people. She's like, "George, I think you're focusing on the wrong bucket here. You're like busting your ass call calling and door knocking, but you're not doing anything to your sphere, but they're sending you a good amount of business. You're likable; they like you. You need to do something about that." That triggered something new to me: CRM database, let's get organized, and let's focus on our family and friends. I still did the door knocking and the call calling, but not as much as before. And just dialed in and stayed focused on my database and tried to touch them multiple times: email, postcard, social media, lunches, dinners, gifts, anniversary gifts, birthday gifts for anyone that I think will be a buyer or seller or a referral source. And that elevated my business on year three, I believe it was, and I started getting busy. Now we're closing 22, 24 transactions on my own. All right, what do I do? Let's, you know, I had a good friend that was helping me with open houses. Let's start a team, I guess that's the next thing to do. And I knew nothing about running a team, nothing, zero. So I hire a buyer agent, and I thought that would be the right hire at the time, and the first hire should be that. And I read a couple of Gary Keller books, and you know, your first hire should not be a buyer's agent; it should always be an assistant.

**Fahad:** Assistant, yeah.

**George:** And yeah, it doesn't matter if you're a new agent, a seasoned agent, you should always have that assistant as your first hire. So I'm like, "All right, well, I guess I need an assistant." So, you know, now I hired an assistant, and that freed up a lot of time for me to stay organized, to focus on growing, self-growth, going to these seminars, coaching events, meeting other bigger agents. And just, you know, when you have that hunger, that desire, and you start wanting more in life, having bigger goals. You know, one life-changing moment for me is, you know, I was at a seminar, and the coach giving the seminar said a couple of things. One of them was, "Start with the end in mind," meaning when you're gone, what do you want people to say about you? What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind? What did you do in your career? How much did you give back? How many people's lives did you change? And how many people do you see at your funeral? And I got goosebumps again, talking about it right now. And he said that, and just mind-blowing, right? And I'm like, "Wow, I... not a lot of people think about that. Who the hell is going to think about their death?" But it's not, you're not thinking about your death; you're thinking about what are you leaving behind, right? What are we gonna say about you when you're gone? If you write that down in detail and figure that out, life-changer, right? The other thing was, is every year for the last seven years, I've been writing a letter to myself as if the year ended. So, you know, January or December of last year, I wrote a letter as if 2023 ended and talked about what did you do throughout the year, how did the year go, how did you grow, how much money did you make, what did you buy, what kind of car, what color, did you buy an investment property, where did you travel to, who did you travel with, what kind of friends did you make, who did you give back to, who did you help grow? You just, the more details you have on that letter that you're going to write to yourself, and this is another mind-blowing moment because I started doing it, and I think it was year three, where I wrote this letter, very detailed, and I think about 50% of the things that I wrote on there happened. Sometimes things might not happen that year; it might happen the second or third or seventh year, right?

**Fahad:** Right.

**George:** But when you start, and that happens, you could do a 30-day letter, a 90-day letter, a six-month letter, a one-year letter. Well, you know, I've been consistent with my one-year letters. And you're starting with "I am," right? Like an affirmation, like you've already done it. This year is done, and this is what you've accomplished. Mind blown about the results that came from that. I would recommend it to everyone. I would highly recommend that. So these are the things that happened in my life throughout my journey that got me right to where I am. And as I was building a team at Keller Williams, Gina started doing really well. I was at 30, 40 million agent in volume. Gina was doing about the same on her own, and she met AAL at the time from the Calabasas office. And, you know, he talked to her. She lost a couple of listings to the agency, three, four million dollar range in Calabasas, and she thought about it, and she said, "You know what, if I can't do it as an independent broker, I might as well just join them and get these listings and be around the EMES, the bigger agents that are doing 100, 200, 300, 400 million in volume because, yeah, I am an independent broker, I get 100% of my commission, but if I go here and I do 100 million or 200 million, it's okay to give out that 20% to the company because to help you elevate, right?" Same thing happened with me and Keller Williams. People thought I was crazy for leaving because they have a capping model, like 25k. What's the cap? 25k. I could

 write a check in January for 25,000 to Keller Williams, I will make 100% of my commission for the rest of the year, right? Incredible. So, you know, I wanted more, and I saw her transition there. She was there for about a year and started doing really well. She had her own small team, and I said, "You know what, I chatted with her," and she said, "Why don't you join?" I ended up joining Studio City, and people thought I was crazy. I said, "It's not about making 100% of your commission; it's about being surrounded with people that are doing this on a much higher level." We wanted to get into the luxury market. We wanted to surround ourselves with a luxury brand, with a brand that agents collaborate and help each other. And I could call Santiago from Palisades and say, "Santiago, you know, can you come to this listing appointment with me for 20 million?" And he'll come with me, and we'll get the listing, and we'll co-list it together. That does not exist in these other brokerages. Everyone is working in their own little cubicle and office, and they're doing their own thing. There is no communication and collaboration. But you're also not taught this getting into the industry, right? You're taught that, "Hey, keep as much money in your pocket. Get the best splits that you can." And the splits completely secondary, and I realized this. So I left a brokerage that I was with, where I got 100% of my commission. So I had no cap, no nothing, like 100%. I pay no cap; there's nothing. There's, I pay 550 a month, and I get to keep 100% of my commission. And I left that to come here and to give up, obviously, you know what we give up. It's across the board. But I feel like it's really helped me elevate to a different level. And I loved, and I contemplated even, and I want to share this because I contemplated last year, "Am I going to spend $5,000 and go to the forum?" Because it does cost money out of pocket, right? So you pay for your flight, you pay for the forum, you pay, and then you have to pay for your dinners as well. You're there, and drinks, whatever else. I don't drink, so a little bit cheaper for me, but yeah, the cost of entry is what, 4500 to 6,000 Canadian? Let's say 35 to... right now, to the summit, that cost a good amount of money. Same thing. So it's like, "Why are you... you're investing money in yourself." And I'm so glad that I went because, guess what, I could call up George or send him an email and get him on a podcast. That's invaluable to me. If I have a referral, I can call up Santiago and be like, "Hey, can you take care of this?" Or just to be able to bounce ideas off of each other. I remember, I was chatting with John Groman and Ben Bacal, and anytime I was chatting with them, these girls would come by, flocks of people, and they all just want to take selfies with them, right? They're like, "CU, they're on TV." So, buying, "Hey, can you take a picture of us?" And I remember chatting with Ben. After three days, I think we were at lunch together two of those days, and I couldn't even get a word in. He was busy; it is what it is, and I know my place; I understand. But that third day, I'm just standing with him. I'm like, "Honestly, I'd rather just have five minutes of his time because what's in here is way more important than one of these for clout. And it could give me ideas of how I can manage my business better, right?" So I bounced ideas off John, and he's like, "Make sure you talk to Ben." I spoke to Ben, and they said the same thing. They're like, "Make sure you hire an assistant." And that was that similar conversation, right? Don't go hire agents. Agents make this mistake starting a team. And that was the idea, and I decided, I was like, "Okay, what do I need at this point in time?" And I decided to hire two assistants.

**Fahad:** One full-time, one part-time now, and it's worked out really well. Yeah, I've got... Yeah, one does my video editing, right? Like, I remember after I recorded the first podcast, I'm like, "[ __ ] 15 hours, like I don't have time for this [ __ ]. I got two kids. I'm not an editor, like, yeah, like take this off my plate. I'd rather pay you and just buy my time back, right?" And now, there's... Our time is way too... You got to figure out, "Dollar hour, should focus," exactly. And even now, like, you don't know this, but about an hour and a half ago, I was in Oakville, an hour away, and I had a showing. I had to make sure I was at that showing, and that's funny 'cause that was an expired that we door-knocked. We had the client's number, we became, I guess, close with the client, and then we had a buyer from one of our other properties, um, who we weren't representing, but we had the sell's number, so we called them up, signed an exclusive for one day, $12 million listing, and we got to go present this property. Showed up half an hour before the listing, he walked us through the property, and he's also a builder, actually. Um, absolutely stunning job that he did. Walked us through, and literally everything he said to me, and he said like a hundred things, I repeated them exactly within that one shot to present it, and even he was impressed. He's like, "You remembered everything." I'm like, "Yeah, that's just... But I... We have one shot." So you have your shot, you have your opportunity, you take that [ __ ] opportunity, and there was one R, whether that buyer is going to buy that house or not, the fact that he saw what you did and the way exactly how you presented it, that already sold you. So if he doesn't end up buying it, he'll list it with you, or he might ask you to list his next new construction, exactly.

And that's the one thing that kind of went off in my head. I'm like, "This is... We're on stage." And it's funny 'cause my partner asked me, she's like, "Fahad, you were on fire." She's like, "You... Um, she's like telling me, 'You were so tired and exhausted.'" I'm like, "I am [ __ ] tired and exhausted. I am tired, but when I'm in front of a client, all this energy comes." Yeah, or in front of the camera, you have to bring it, right? If you just... If you just sit back and you're like, "Yeah, we're here. Let's..." No, I want to make sure we're... We're selling a lifestyle here. It's no joke. And it's funny because we had this other one that we're showing tomorrow to the same clients. This one's seven and change, and uh, this was just a random door knock. We were driving by. I was like, "I love this property. Let's door knock it." That's how I swear. This was the one R. I was like, "This is beautiful. It's 100 foot by 200 foot, or 1 by 150 lot in South Oakville as well." Uh, but door knocked it, and I ended up just having such a nice rapport with the homeowner. That's what separates you from everyone else, is, and other successful agents, is we do the things that everyone else doesn't want to do. We pull our car and go and door knock because that one door knock is such a big deal. $7 million, they could refer you another buyer or seller in that price range. You could double-end that deal. It's... You know, it could change some people's lives, but it's doing that step, that... That small step, right?

Funny, I hadn't spoken to her in four months since I had her number. I just remember, and uh, Alexandra was my partner. She asked me, she's like, "Hey, V, do you remember that, uh, door that we knocked?" And she just drew the street, a house on the left. I'm like, "We've door knocked like hundreds of houses. How the [ __ ] do I remember this?" And then she's like, "She had brown hair." And I'm like, "Are you talking about Jacine?" And I just... I type it in my phone. I have her name, I have her address. I'm like, "Boom, that's the client." I call her up, and next thing you know, she's... She might even want to sell her house. She's like, "Actually, I might sell, but I need to find... This is what I'm looking for. If you can find this for me, I'll sell my house." And I'm like, "You know what, I... I love that story." And going back to, uh, the expired, how you connected the body and the seller, I tell this to my team all the time. I see real estate as literally connect-the-dots game, right? And I always give them this example. I worked with this elderly lady who was a tear-down on a half-acre lot in Tarzana, and I presented her with an offer right away. She wasn't ready. It took him about a year to get back to me to tell me that now they're ready to sell. That developer is gone, and he doesn't exist, and a lot of developers shied away from, you know, purchasing in that pocket, even though it was a great lot, um, because not a lot of new constructions are... Are in that pocket. So I couldn't find anyone to buy it, and they were ready to sell. So I... I... I went to the house to visit them. While I was there, I said, "You know what, I'm GNA drive around the neighborhood and see if there's another new construction or something being built." So I started driving around, and I saw a house, beautiful modern, being built. I p... P... Up, went outside, and I went into the... Into the property. It's under construction, um, and I saw the Builder there, and I started Shing. I'm like, "Hey, you're... You're the Builder?" He's like, "Yeah, I'm like, are you selling this?" He's like, "No, I'm actually building it for my... My kid, my son." Like, "That's awesome. Like, you live in the neighborhood?" He's like, "Yeah, I live here. I own another property here." I said, "That's great." I'm like, "I have a lot, 22,000 square feet, down the street. Are you interested?" He said, "I'm always interested." And he's like, "Can I come with you right now?" Got him in my car, drove down to the

... Showed it to him. Said, "Can I come back with my wife in a couple of hours?" Said, "Sure." Went back with his wife, showed it to his wife, and they loved it. Wrote an all-cash offer, closed in 15 days. He built it. I came back and sold it. I worked with his kid to purchase another property, another kid, and it just became this great, great transaction, right? But I literally, all I did is... You know, I told him. I said, "You could go into any neighborhood that has construction and new development, find a tear-down, drive around, find another Builder. Most probably, one of the two, three, four builders in that pocket will buy. That's the quickest way you could make money in real estate. Super simple." And when you get that, now leverage that listing to go and door knock everyone else in the area and call them and say, "Hey, we just sold this off-market. You know, we have a couple... Whatever that script is to help you get more business." But this business could be so easy if you just do the steps. Pros, call, knock, get the inventory. In this market right now, inventory is thin. We need to create the inventory. How do you do that? So we farm, right? We farm all of, you know, Sherman Oaks, Calabasas, and now we get all these calls like, "Hey, I want to sell, but not now, in a year or six months." So we keep a tab of off-markets. We have this list. So anytime we have a listing, a buyer walks in, "I'm not ready now, but I'll buy in six months." "I have a great property for you in six months. This is what we have. Here are the specs." "Oh, that... That sounds great." Now, not only you have that buyer, you told them that you have something that no one has access to, you're also going to send them what's on the market, and then whenever they're ready, if they like that house, they could buy it. If they don't like that house, they're going to work with you because you have access to off-markets. You know the area, you sell in the area, you know the community, the schools, and there's no one better than you for them to work with. Um, so I call it connect-the-dots for expired or can or, you know, off markets or Builders because that's... That's really what we need to do is... That's why I tell them, "Go check out the inventory. Go to Brokers opens, uh, door knock, meet people." Right now, you know what's selling, what's not selling, why isn't that one selling, why did this one sell and break a price per foot, who was the builder for this, who bought it, what kind of celebrity bought this, right? Why did they buy here? What was so special about this house, um, because there's a reason why some homes sell quickly, some homes break price per foot, and some homes sit on the market. There's a reason for all these things, and you have to explain this. That when you're sitting in front of a seller, and you tell them, "Oh, yeah, that home was built by Rob Diaz, and he does one-of-a-kind homes. Every home that he does is different than any of the other ones, and that's why he breaks a price per foot in all the neighborhoods, and he sells most of them off-market. And this home sold off-market to a Dodger player." And when, as soon as you give them this information, you already... Already, you already got that listing. You just gave him so much value. You know more than most probably the other agents that he's interviewing. And just by you telling him his neighbor's house sold off-market, and he didn't know that, that's it. It's done, right? Um, your... Your... Your value, your knowledge, you know, everything else could literally throw it down the trash, but the value and the knowledge and the connection, most importantly, U, is what will help you secure that listing. So, you know, waking up, having your... Your goals, and dressing properly, uh, showing up professional, speaking professionally, you know, when a seller tells you something, repeat it the way that he said it, uh, remember what they said. You know, now we involve our sellers in literally every property description and having them review the photos with us. It... It's... Makes them engage in the process, like we're working on this together. We're a team. Can you... You know, is there anything that I left out in the description that you'd like to include? "Oh, yeah, yeah, I'd love to add, you know, that we, uh, you know, we put this Zia tile backsplash tile," or whatever it was, a finish or something. When they get involved in the process, they feel like they're part of the process. And, you know, a lot of Agents go, take the photos, write the description, list the property, and the... You know, seller sees it, they like...

**George:** [ __ ] I, I don't like that description; you should take that photo down, um, you... You've lost, um, and you know, these are all things that a lot of solo agents are not able to do because you can't handle five listings, five coming soons, buyer showings, and review these things with your sellers. You can't do that unless you have admins, support, marketing people, um, that will help you provide that service, that white-glove service. See, I flip that a little bit, though, 'cause even the...

**Fahad:** A lot of what you speak of, right, as we see, okay, it's door-knocking, it's cold calling, it's knowing what you're speaking of, educating yourself on the market, on the properties, on the solds. The information is already available for all the agents, and the fact of the matter is that 87%—and 87% of all agents fail within four years. And what do you see, like, and I know what I see, the biggest problem is, it's just like people aren't willing to do the [ __ ] work. They don't want to; they don't want to pick up the phone call. Like, I remember, I was running a training a couple of weeks ago, and we... I had a newer agent ask me, "Hey, you know, I feel like I'm x amount of months, six months in the business, and, uh, you know, I felt like I would have my niche already, and I don't have my niche." And I'm like, "[ __ ], there's people that are like 15 years in the business that don't have their n... I'm like, I'm like, people don't have niches after 2, 5 years in the business. Who knows what you're... but," and I as... question the wheel, I... I just asked a simple... I was like, "Okay, let's go back because instead of looking at the deals you're doing, look at the actions that you're making. How many calls did you make in the last week?" "None." "How many social media posts?" "Oh, I, uh, posted a few stories." "Okay, great, but you made no calls, you made no... you had zero real estate conversations, you didn't do any door-knocking, you didn't do any cold calling, you didn't call your sphere of influence."

**George:** Lazy. They're waiting for someone to call them. They're waiting for their freaking phone... Turing, and someone says, "Hey, so-and-so, can you come and list my house? Can you bring the agreement with you?" That's not gonna happen. I... I got the funniest thing, so I called one of my clients who invested with me a year and a half ago, uh, 1.6 is, uh, property about an hour north of Toronto, and I call her a couple of months before closing, and I usually call every couple of months just to check in, see how she's doing, and I could do a better job. I want to put this out there; I'm no [ __ ] guru in this. I... I... I've fallen off; I'm drastically inconsistent with a lot of stuff, but I call her up, and I want to share this because it's so important, and I say, "Hey, how's it going? You're closing in a couple of months. Is there anything you need, anything you have in mind? Uh, you've had your color chart appointment, this, that, just touch and... Pace, small talk." And, "No, I'm good." I'm like, and then in the end, I was like, "Hey, before I get off the phone, is there any other real estate needs that you have that I could help you out with?" She's like, "Actually, I need to sell my house." And I'm like, "Oh." But she didn't think of... And this also shows something to me is she didn't think of calling me to sell her house. And if I didn't ask the question, well, a) if I didn't ask the question, I wouldn't have gotten her at all. She would have hired someone else. And then, b) it shows me I can do a better job of calling these people and positioning myself as not only an agent for the investors but an agent for the sellers. And how do I need to reposition myself to do that? But long story short, took 4 weeks to get her house ready, got it painted, replaced the carpet with floors, like, and I told her, I'm like, "Here's the number, 122 to 13 is where I think this is valued," and we had an offer date. The offer date was the day of the raid hike, so just as like [ __ ]. So the day of the raid hike, rates are going up, and we had it listed about 150k below ask. We get one offer on offer date, and, you know, it's a hit or a miss, and it's like, it's a good, like, 70k away from where it needs to be, and it has two conditions in there. It has an inspection because of the basement, and it's a retrofit entrance, and it has another one, uh, financing. And I'm at this for like seven hours, negotiating back and forth, back and forth, but at 1:00 a.m., finally, I got them to take out the conditions, bring their offer up 70 grand to 122, and, and a firm deal, and the deposit came in the next... but [ __ ], man, like, but people don't... you got to go... people also don't realize the power of negotiation, and they want to hire their... and we have this, um, slight bit where, sure, 25% of agents do actually 70, 75% of the business. That's the reality. But there's so many of these people that hire their cousin or their aunt, their uncle, that doesn't work in real estate. But if that was a cousin, that client just lost $70,000 grand. But oh, but they would have paid 1% commission and would have been happy, right? But that 1% commission is what, 12 grand that you saved, or 18 grand, but it cost you 7... mind, like, if someone doesn't understand, like, I don't care how many offer... whether there's one or seven, I'm negotiating the [ __ ] out of this one deal and milking it for every penny I can get. And it's sold at where it should have sold, regardless, like, where I said the value was, and ideally, it should sell close to that, and you, as an agent, should be educated enough to give them that. My client said to me, "I want one, one three." I'm like, "[ __ ]." I'm like, "I'll do my best, but at the... what we need to do to get you to that number." And you gave them those steps. Yeah, and we did everything we could to maximize value

. So, right, right. And they listened, and I love it when sellers listen, and when they pay you your full commission, you do the job with passion, right? And you do everything in your power to get them the best results and negotiate and really go out of your way, and they... Night, and you working till 1:00 a.m. to get what your client really wanted. We just recently turned down a big listing in Hidden Hills, $4 million listing, because the seller didn't want to pay, you know, uh, commission that we asked for. And we honed in on our, our, our values, what we do, who we are, our sales, our team. It just didn't matter for this client. And I was... It came to us through another team member in our team, and I just told our team member, Rul, I said, "You know what, sometimes it's just not worth it. A client like this that doesn't see our value and just is solely focused on paying the lowest commission possible, we don't want that. I don't want to work with that client, really, because that's... That's a client that you're already starting your process on the wrong foot. You're... One, getting paid the least amount. She wants a little... B, more than what the property is worth. They don't want to do the work, and I'm not going to be able to get you the results, and I'm going to look like... Like a terrible agent. You're going to cancel the listing on me. You're going to go relist with someone else, and they're going to sell it quickly, and now you're going to do the work. I'd rather be that second agent, right? You know, let's... Let's see how that works with that Redfin agent. And when that doesn't work out, call me back, do what we told you to do, clean up the house, and, you know, do these steps because you're G... To get a lot more, a lot more than what you thought you're going to get. You're going to sell your home faster. You're going to sell it for more money. And that commission that you're negotiating, that one, half, one and a half percent, whatever you're trying to save, that's minimal next to the amount of, uh, money that you would lose if you don't do what that seasoned agent told you." So it's... It's really invaluable. Some sellers, unfortunately, don't see that, and, you know what, when you start... When you get to a higher level, I'm not going to say you start picking and choosing who you want to work with, but you're at a point where you can say no to someone that you don't think that's going to be a good fit, or if it's overpriced, and they don't want to pay your commissions, and they don't want to do any work to it. You know, I'm... I'm okay to say no. I don't need that in my life right now. Um, I... That aren't motivated, people that are waiting. Yeah, that... There's people out there that aren't motivated. I remember, we... We went out for a listing presentation. We door-knocked this house, and he had it listed for six something, then five 8, then 5, five, 54, and it was worth like 46, 48 at best. It's... It's a teardown. Um, but he thinks he's like, "You know, they would need to pay me $6 million and kiss my hand for them to take it." And I'm like, [unclear], man, it's the best lot in town. Yeah, spent two hours with this guy, too. And it is what it is. Sometimes it's just not... No, we're not listing it for six and a half. It's just not... Like, it's worth four something, high five, fours, if... Yeah, we're not... It doesn't make any... Your time, your energy, money, marketing. Um, it just does not make sense. Um, but I'll be honest, I'm not quite there where you are, so I try not to refuse listings, but if it's that, like, ridiculous, I will. But I know my value. I also don't take [unclear] on at 1% or .5 or 1.5. I won't do it. I think my Siri kicked in. It's really rare for us to not take a listing, and that doesn't happen. This happened recently, and I can't remember the last time that something like this happened, where I... There's once in my life I fired a seller. That was once in my life, and that was a condo, and it was an expired listing. I came in because I sold another condo in the building, and I told them what to do. I said, "Paint, stage, let's listen at this price. We'll get multiples, and we'll hit this number higher." That exactly happened. Happened, this lady, about five, six months later, she listed with someone else at a high price, terrible photos, not painted, not staged, sat on the market, uh, reduced the price, didn't sell, cancelled. She called me. She said, "Whatever you did..."

made, and it's been great. We've been growing our team. We've been adding more team members, and we've been really, really selective with who we bring on to our team because we want to make sure that they fit the culture, they fit the work ethic, they fit the drive, the motivation that we have. And it's not just about bringing anyone on board. It's about bringing the right people on board. And that's something that we've been really, really focusing on, and it's been working great for us. We've been growing, and every single month, we're hitting our goals, and we're exceeding our goals. And it's just been an amazing journey, and I'm really excited to see where this is going to take us in the next couple of years.

Fahad: That's amazing, George. And I think one of the key things that you mentioned there is about the culture and making sure that people fit within that culture because I think a lot of businesses, they fail to understand that. They think it's all about just hiring the best people, but it's not just about hiring the best people. It's about hiring the right people that fit within the culture of your business. And if they don't fit within that culture, they're not going to last. They're not going to be effective, and they're not going to be efficient within your business. So I think that's a really key point that you mentioned there.

George: Absolutely, and you know, going back to what you were saying earlier about agents and how they need to be consistent and how they need to be constantly improving themselves, I think that's another key thing that a lot of agents fail to understand. They think that once they've reached a certain level, that's it, they don't need to improve anymore. But this industry, it's constantly changing. The market is constantly changing. There are always new strategies, new technologies, new methods that you need to be aware of. And if you're not constantly improving yourself, you're going to fall behind. And I think that's what separates the top agents from the average agents. The top agents are always learning, always improving, and always trying to be the best that they can be.

Fahad: Absolutely, and I think that's a really important mindset to have, not just in real estate but in any business. You always need to be learning and growing and adapting because the moment you stop, that's the moment you start to fail. And I think that's a really important mindset that all successful people have.

George: Absolutely, and you know, one of the things that I always tell my team is that we need to be adaptable. We need to be able to change with the market because what worked yesterday might not work today. And we need to be aware of that, and we need to be able to adapt our strategies and our methods to be successful in whatever market we're in. And I think that's another key to our success is our ability to adapt and change with the market.

Fahad: Absolutely, and I think that's a really important skill to have, especially in today's market with everything that's going on. You need to be adaptable, you need to be flexible, and you need to be able to change your strategies and your methods to fit the current market conditions. And I think that's something that you guys do really well, and it's definitely a big part of your success.

George: Absolutely, and you know, it's something that we're constantly working on, constantly trying to improve, and constantly trying to be the best that we can be. And I think that's really the key to success in this industry is just never being satisfied, always wanting to be better, always wanting to learn more, and always wanting to grow. And I think that's really what has helped us to be successful and what will continue to help us be successful in the future.

Fahad: Absolutely, well, George, I want to thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. It's been a really great conversation, and I think there's a lot of valuable insights that you've shared. I'm really excited to see where you guys go in the future, and I have no doubt that you'll continue to be successful and continue to grow and be one of the top teams in the industry.

George: Thank you, Fahad. I appreciate it, and I'm really grateful for the opportunity to speak with you today. It's been a great conversation, and I'm really excited for the future.

...made um in 2018 19 and was one of the best decisions that we both made and again that trust factor had a lot to do with it uh and we've never went out of our way to go and you know recruit and bring more agents to the team that was never our intention we wanted a small team everyone that was on my team was people that I've known they came to me said hey you know can I can I join your team and said sure let's start mentoring and this and that and you you know open houses and they stuck with me and that's same thing with her and then we combined our teams and we still tell that they haven't went out of our way to recruit if anything it's a referral by another agent and a business manager or someone that says hey you know this is a great agent I think it'll be a really good fit we'll meet them and they'll join our team how many agents do you have George you and Gina I think uh we have four admins and we have 14 or 15 agents our team right now um we're doing you know we're we're about 150 16 million in volume so far this just year to date uh we did 230 to 240 million last year with 150 transactions we're one of the teams in the agency here in LA that does probably the most units um it's good and bad it's a lot ah headache 50 units it's a lot of headache and then I look at like Santiago got like 30 transactions for 400 million yeah even Zach Zach did like Zach did like 15 transactions for like 100 million you know that was a that was another changing moment in in my career where I was you know didn't have the fours and the fives and the 10 millions and these new constructions that uh were selling now we we've had lower end and we're doing a lot more units and when I came here and started seeing what are these bigger agents are doing they're you know they're doing same amount of work that I'm doing but less in units same amount of volume and it started triggering something with me that how do I increase my average sales price and coming from where I come from where you know and Santiago say thing and he's been in the business a lot longer than me to be where he's at now um I didn't have neither Gina kind of has a similar background didn't have the contacts a business manager that would send me a celebrity client that wants to buy a $10 million home so the only way for us to get there is you know networking trying to build these relationships but more importantly something that we I personally got into heavily to increase my average price per foot or average uh sales price is Builder business so I said all right so if I don't know anyone in Palisades or Brentwood um or Hidden Hills if I don't know anyone here that wants to sell in the 10 15 20 million range how do I find a tear down for a builder that they could buy for three or four or five million that could be turned into a 1520 million so that became my focus and I just started going really heavily in prospecting for my Builders and my investors to get them these you know older homes small homes on Big Lots large Lots they can develop on and about 70% of our business became that now we have a pipeline for the next two three years of homes that are going to come on the market it's the best way for you to as an agent to build a pipeline because when you deal with a buyer or seller you sell them a house you go into the database and you know three four five six years later they might sell they you know they might refer you business which is great but with Builder business you have a transaction now that most most of the time you'll double end and then in a year and a half two years depending on where it is and how long it's going to take you know you have a seven a 10 a 15 a 20 a 40 million coming up um this gorgeous stunning new construction and you're gonna take that and leverage it and you're G to go out to everyone else in that area and say I got this listing and throw that Twilight party invite all the freaking neighbors go door knock them and talk to them and invite them over and show them the property and build that network of others in the area that own 20 30 $40 million and that was the the the thing that I focused on in order for me to meet people in that room that that wealth um that changed my career uh because it's it's tough it took me about you know 2013 14 i g say six seven years to start getting into the luxury and selling these higher end homes John groman says it's really well success is a marathon it's not a Sprint a lot of agents that I know get into the business and like I want to go to Beverly Hills I want to sell 3040 $50 million homes well that's great I hope you could accomplish that and you got your license two months ago most probably not but I hope you do I never discourage anyone if someone told me I want to go to Beverly Hills and you know I want to get a listing there I said hell yeah let's go do it right let's go because like I never want to discourage anyone I'm the most positive person you could ever meet uh I'm you rarely people see me mad I'm always having my smile on and I'm positive encouraging everyone so like I'm not going to tell you that might not work but you're going to need to put in a lot of work to get to that point people want to work with athletes and Laker players and baseball players and Rams players like uh Jordan Cohen Jordan Cohen didn't start selling homes to celebrities and athletes he started selling homes in Koga par he sold his first one to his uh to his in-laws his girlfriend I haven't finished the book but I am reading it I promise you Jordan I'm going to finish it sir it's Fant he's great by the way I've had some great people you speak of athletes we had uh Holly Myer Lucas from South Florida she runs the Myer Lucas team and uh she's married to someone who was in the MLB she's got a massive book of celebrity clients as well even Zar our own Zar zenani he's a beast like just his role listen to his story about Michael Jackson that was really did you watch the podcast I did did of course and that was I think the first time he goes through the entire story and I think I heard whole like uh how to uh the guy with the truck that was a celebrity client that had a truck yeah the big old truck yeah right right oh man you never know you know I've learned that at the bank where people walked in and you look at them and you say I don't know and you'll sit down I'll tell you to pull up your accounts and you see millions of dollars there like [ __ ] so you you can never judge you just don't know who's in front of you and who who they know uh I've had clients come to freaking homes and they they did not look like a buyer in general and they would sit down and they would look around and you know after about 10 minutes and I'm really good in like getting a Vibe uh of of of of someone I I'm like you I had a team member next to me it was about a two $2 and A5 million dollar house said I think I think that

's a cash buyer and that same day guy walked out of the house called his agent his agent called me back said hey my client just walked out of the house he's all cash what is it going to take you know this guy did not look like he has any cash he looked like he needed new clothes right right so like you never judge you're at an open house put your smile on be professional treat everyone the same way because you don't know you're meeting we've had another really interesting story is we've had a client so there's a listing on the market in Calabasas and we're showing the listing to a client of ours the seller oh let me let me take this back the listing agent couldn't make it and the seller lived in the house we brought the client in uh Gina specifically my partner walked the house with the client the seller got so impressed right they didn't say anything at the time the listing expired first call we got hey really like you really love the way that you handled you know that that showing and you know I just they couldn't sell it I want you guys to list it so like that's that's another way you like some people think oh my God the seller is going to be there and uh I don't know what to do here I don't know if I should go or or or even as a listing agent you should always show up always show up you have to do the [ __ ] showing you got to be there you can't send another agent while your sellers there because anything can happen if it's a bacon home it's a different story but if the seller is there you gotta be there right that's your reputation your job is to go show the house now the seller feels like they have to show the house and they're going to answer the questions and they might see something that triggers that buyer to not buy that house anything can happen right so like that's that's another interesting story I would I would highly recommend any listing agent to show your homes or have someone from the team be there at the showing to facilitate that that that showing and make sure all questions are answered and the seller is sitting in their office away from what's Happening so it's funny today when we got there he's like you know and he said he wanted to be present for uh the showing he's the Builder as well he's the homeowner and the Builder and when we got there he's like you know I'll walk you guys through but I'll uh you guys can talk about like the Beauty and the craftsmanship and I'll tell them all the details I and I told them before we started I was like don't worry I was like go through everything let me take some notes and I took notes and what that does is it just helps reiterate it because you're repeating it as you're writing it down so that helped me remember everything he said and dude the house was 9,177 Square F feet so like to to the te I'm like backing on to the lake this that like every number 90 by 136 like having that what brand what's this what stone um there cabinet like everything everything down to the cabinet company remembered it all and it it's just great to have...

...like $9,000 a month, and they were happy with that. So, you know, it's all relative. It's all what you're used to, and it's all what you're comfortable with. And I think that's really important for people to understand. It's not about what the market is doing. It's about what you're comfortable with and what you can afford. And if you can afford it and you're comfortable with it, then go for it. Don't worry about what everyone else is saying because at the end of the day, it's your investment, it's your home, it's your money. And you need to do what's best for you and your family.

And I think that's really important for people to understand. And I think that's something that a lot of people lose sight of. They get so caught up in what everyone else is doing and what everyone else is saying that they lose sight of what's important to them. And I think that's really important to keep in mind.

Fahad: Absolutely, George. And I think that's a really important point that you make. And I think it's something that a lot of people need to hear because, as you said, people get so caught up in what everyone else is doing, and they lose sight of what's important to them. And at the end of the day, it's your investment, it's your money, and you need to do what's best for you and your family. And I think that's really important to keep in mind.

George: Absolutely, and you know, one of the things that I always tell my clients is, you need to be comfortable with your investment. You need to be comfortable with your purchase. And if you're not comfortable, then don't do it. Don't let anyone pressure you into doing something that you're not comfortable with because, at the end of the day, it's your money, it's your investment, and you need to be happy with it.

Fahad: Absolutely, and I think that's really important advice. And I think it's something that everyone needs to keep in mind, especially in today's market with everything that's going on. You need to do what's best for you and your family, and you need to be comfortable with your investment.

George: Absolutely, and you know, one of the things that I always tell my clients is, don't worry about the market. Don't worry about what everyone else is doing. Focus on what's best for you and your family, and make your decisions based on that. And I think if more people did that, they would be a lot happier with their investments, and they would be a lot more successful in the long run.

Fahad: Absolutely, well, George, I want to thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. It's been a really great conversation, and I think there's a lot of valuable insights that you've shared. I'm really excited to see where you guys go in the future, and I have no doubt that you'll continue to be successful and continue to grow and be one of the top teams in the industry.

George: Thank you, Fahad. I appreciate it, and I'm really grateful for the opportunity to speak with you today. It's been a great conversation, and I'm really excited for the future.

George: ...you know, when I looked at their payment, it's crazy, right? But they were pregnant, they were having another baby, and they needed a house. They were in a small, tiny home. So, and then we have a construction for $4 million, and we got a 20-year-old singer to buy it, and the buyer in line was a 22-year-old actress. So, you know, you got, you're in LA or Canada, where you have so much diversity, buyers, sellers, life events happening, we're going to be doing great. It's only going to get better. Rates will come down, and the market is going to get better. Prices will, you know, stay where they're at right now. I don't think they're going to dip. I think if anything, next year, whenever rates start coming down, this market is going to start skyrocketing back up.

Fahad: I'm 100% with you. I think it's stability right now, and think of it like this, right? The flip side is if those properties were 20% more expensive a year and a half ago, well, you're saving 300 grand on that $1.5 million property, right? So, it would have been 1.8. Would you rather pay 3% at 1.8, or pay what you pay now? You save 300K. Sure, you're paying more, you're paying more for the mortgage at 1.5 at today's rate than you would have been at yesterday's rate, but in the long run, you're going to build that equity.

George: Exactly, you bring your payment down. So that's, you know, the beauty of real estate. And again, like, going back, there's nothing I would change about my journey. I loved the journey, how everything happened throughout life, and the people you meet, and they take you in different directions. And you know, you are the average of the five people that you surround yourself with.

Fahad: Your vibe attracts your tribe, baby.

George: Your vibe attracts your tribe. I believe in that. Not just here, we're traveling, and we met some of the coolest people, and why? You know, good energy attracts good energy. That's as simple as that, right? We always meet amazing people when we're traveling, when we're here, we go out, we're surrounded with amazing, keep great energy, right? And you figure out who are those people that you need to be surrounded with. Where is that company that I need to go to be surrounded with those people to help you elevate in life, in all aspects of life? And if you take the time, a lot of people don't want to take the time to do that, to do the homework, and they don't have the courage to go back and say, you know, these friends are really not the friends that I see myself with in the next four, five years. I need better friends. And it sucks, right? It's a difficult decision, but it's a decision that will literally change your entire life, your journey, because you could continue your journey here this way, and you know, no one knows where you end up. But if you start taking the time, building these new relationships, putting in the work, take the time to figure out what your value is, what your purpose is, what your 'why' is, and go to these seminars and educate yourself, in any kind of business, it doesn't matter what kind of business you're in, you cannot go wrong taking this route because it might take a year, it might take five years, you will end up, you will hit your goals, you will be happy and satisfied, and feel fulfilled.

Fahad: I love it, man. Thank you so much for this. This has been an incredible conversation. I feel inspired, man. I feel inspired to go...

George: What questions are you going to ask me? You're like, no, it's going to be a conversation, and I love that, man, 'cause like, you just, you're talking, and you're, it's an open conversation, and I love that. It's not like question-answer type of podcast.

Fahad: And the goal for me was, and I want to share this, is 'Art of Greatness' is really, I wanted it to be different than anything else that is out there. I want it to be story-based. I want it to be more of your journey versus, I feel like every podcast you go on, they ask the same [__] question. What do you recommend new agents do? What do you recommend this? What did you do? Like, I'm like, let's go, I'm tired of that.

George: Yeah, I just want to be, I want to be different, and I had so many people tell me otherwise. They're like, no, you should do this, you should make it 30 minutes, nobody's going to watch, nobody's going to listen. I'm like, you know what, I'm going to continue what I'm doing. I'm going do it for a while, and I'll see where it goes. I've had some big hitters on here. I'm thankful for that.

Fahad: See, authenticity, right?

George: Exactly. One, thank you for doing the podcast. Thank you for bringing everyone's story out to your YouTube channel, on Instagram. And people want to see authenticity. They don't want scripts. They want to know the real you. We know you as real estate. We know you're really good at it. And, you know, for other agents, everyone's looking for a magic pill. There's no magic pill. We just talked about it. It's hard work and dedication. So, you know, this is more about telling someone's journey, and everyone has that journey. Everyone that you interviewed, I'm sure, has a different journey, and people take the time and listen to these stories and different podcasts that you have or anyone else's, and listen and just take notes, a couple of nuggets from everyone, what's really, whatever resonates with that person, that's the value that you're providing. And thank you for that.

Fahad: No, I appreciate it, and thank you for all your time. Last thing before we wrap, um, who would you recommend that I interview next? Any two names that you would drop? Two names, any two people that come to mind that you're like, these people's story has not been fully shared the right way, and even Zar's wasn't really shared, even Nari's, like, there's so many people, Jordan, like, just trying to get...

George: You did Santiago already?

Fahad: No, Santi, I haven't done.

George: Oh, you got to do Santiago, that's for sure. He has an amazing, amazing journey and story. So that's a must. And I would highly recommend my partner, Gina. She has an incredible story, very kind of similar to my upbringing, with, you know, not really having, uh, the people around her, that's, you know, that's handed her business. So, you know, that's where we both resonate because we both come from, you know, 'Hey, I'm all in. I got no one to take care of me. I'm going to take care of me. I have to do this. It's either going to work or not.' So, Gina and Santiago are my two recommendations.

Fahad: Done. And get me in touch with both.

George: All right, let's schedule this. Let's get this wrapped up, and let's have fun, man. Thank you again. I appreciate it. Thank you for sharing your journey to greatness, and we love you. Appreciate you guys, follow him on all the social channels. They pop up below. Um, you can click down there, and everything's there that you need. Anything else you want to plug, George?

George: That's it, man. That's it. Thank you so much for your time. This has been great, and looking forward to seeing you at the [Music] for...