The Pivot from Buying Leads to Building Relationships - podcast episode cover

The Pivot from Buying Leads to Building Relationships

Mar 05, 202631 minEp. 667
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Summary

This episode features Ryan Craig and his coach Mark Johnson, detailing Ryan's journey from a high-overhead, cold lead-driven real estate business to a relationship-based Ninja Selling approach. Previously spending $35,000 monthly on overhead (including $10,000 on leads) and feeling constantly fragmented, Ryan discovered a new path focusing on sphere relationships. This pivot not only boosted his income by $134,000 and slashed overhead by $300,000 annually but also restored his personal life, allowing him to be truly present with his family. The discussion highlights the power of mindset shifts, consistent Ninja Nine habits, and the clarity provided by coaching in achieving both financial success and a balanced life.

Episode description

In this episode, Eric Thompson interviews Ryan Craig of Traverse City, Michigan, along with his Ninja Coach Mark Johnson, to explore a powerful transformation: pivoting from a cold lead centric business to a relationship based Ninja business. Ryan previously ran a high pressure lead generation operation with a large team and roughly 35,000 dollars per month in overhead, including about 10,000 dollars per month spent on cold internet leads. The model produced transactions, but it also created constant stress, fragmented attention, and a life where Ryan was physically present with his family but mentally tied to the phone.

After discovering Ninja Selling while listening to the book with his wife, Ryan realized there was a different way to build a real estate career, one centered on relationships rather than relentless lead conversion. In 2025 he fully committed to the Ninja approach with coaching support from Mark Johnson. The result was dramatic: Ryan produced 722,000 dollars in gross commission income from 47 transactions and 34 million in volume, while simultaneously reducing his monthly overhead by about 25,000 dollars.

Ryan credits the transformation to mindset, structure, and consistent implementation of the Ninja Nine habits. Instead of chasing cold leads, he began focusing on handwritten notes, proactive relationship calls, gratitude, and intentional conversations with people who already knew and trusted him. Mark helped him slow down, eliminate unnecessary commitments, and prioritize meaningful interactions over constant activity. The shift not only improved his income but restored balance in his life, allowing him to be present with his wife and five children. Ryan's story illustrates how focusing on relationships, consistency, and purpose can produce both better business results and a better life.

Key Takeaways

Cold lead generation can create a false sense of productivity while increasing stress and reducing meaningful relationships

High overhead business models often hide the true cost of lead driven systems

Pivoting to a sphere based business dramatically increases income per hour and reduces overhead

Relationship calls feel very different from cold lead calls because the trust already exists

Handwritten notes and proactive conversations create compounding opportunities

Consistent Ninja Nine habits create momentum and confidence

Coaching provides clarity, accountability, and perspective during major business transitions

Slowing down can actually accelerate growth by focusing energy on the right activities

Addition through subtraction is often the fastest way to improve both life and business

Fragmentation and constant responsiveness create anxiety, while proactive systems restore control

Real estate success does not require working constantly, it requires working intentionally

Relationships that already exist are often the most overlooked source of business

Memorable Quotes

"I bought the book for my wife and it turned out to be mine."

"The cold lead style of business is an illusion."

"You can only go so far before you run out of gas."

"I felt like a robot being told where to go and what to do."

"My kids would try to tell me about their day and I'd hold up one finger and say one more minute."

"I realized 87 percent of my business had always come from people I knew."

"My phone used to ring nonstop. Now it hardly rings at all."

"I used to feel fragmented. Now everything feels intentional."

"Addition through subtraction changed everything."

"The more things I cut out, the more the right things showed up."

"Doing the work consistently is what made the difference."

Links:

Transcript

Intro / Opening

C

Subtle skills, big results.

E

Welcome to the Ninja Selling Podcast.

Pivoting to Relationship-Based Real Estate

C

Hey everyone, it's your good friend Eric Thompson. This is the Ninja Selling Podcast. Welcome back. Thank you for listening. We appreciate it. We have an action-packed interview. Here's the question we're going to answer today. How do you pivot? from a cold lead centric business to a relationship centric business, how do you pivot from a massive investment into a cold lead-centric business?

and to a sphere-based relationship business that has a high income per hour. It's my pleasure to introduce our two guests today. We're going to start with Ryan Craig. Welcome to the podcast.

B

Well thanks for having me.

C

It's our pleasure, Ryan. Tell us where you live and tell us the company that you're with.

B

I live in Traver City, Michigan. So that's like the pinky. If you do the Michigan hand thing, uh and Traver City is a beautiful place, born and raised there. Um I work with App Properties, Chris's International.

C

Also uh tell us real quick about your family.

B

Oh man, how much time you got. Wonderful wife Jenny, and then I have five kids. Um Cameron, Riker, Asher, Lachlan, and Torin, uh if you hear

C

That's great. Yeah. D it's great news about your family. We would love to hear about your family. It's also relevant given your level of production. Just keep that in mind. Ninjas have a high income per hour. They also have a life. You have a life. You have a big family. So Ryan, thank you again for being here. Also here with us is Ryan's coach. It's Mark Johnson. Welcome back to the podcast, Mark.

D

Thanks. Thanks for having me, Eric. Looking forward to this day and looking forward to hearing Ryan's story out there.

C

Yeah, it's an amazing story. How this is gonna go is we're gonna hear about how Ryan's business used to be. We're gonna hear about the leap, the transition, the pivot away from coldly generation to a ninja sphere based business. Ryan, we're we're gonna start with the numbers because I I just wanna give the context to everyone. Twenty twenty five, you had your best year so far at seven hundred and twenty two thousand of gross commission. Congratulations. You have a small team.

Uh how many people on the team?

B

It's myself, an admin and a lead buyer's agent.

C

That whole team together, he did 722,000, which was forty-seven transactions, 34 million of volume. Here's where it gets interesting. 2024 was your previous best year yet, Ryan, and that was five hundred and eighty-eight thousand. Two thousand twenty-four was a hold lead generation. based business for you. And even before we get into the details, you had a larger team back then.

B

I had seven people on my team, uh and then ISA, so really about eight or nine people that I was checking in weekly.

C

So that's a snapshot of what it used to look like. And right when you were focused on cold leads, how much were you investing per month just in leads?

B

I would say on average I would invest ten thousand dollars plus a month in leads. Sometimes higher than that, don't want to mint. But yeah, it was always trying to find that better lead source. So yeah, a lot of stuff to be.

C

Yeah. You were in the neighborhood of ten thousand a month and on top of that you you told me that th there's more to it because you you have to have the infrastructure in place. So y you told me you were investing, you were spending how how much per month in total to run that kind of business?

B

Overhead was close to thirty five thousand.

C

That's it. Okay. So thirty five thousand a month is what it took to run a business like that. And what it takes now it is how much per month now?

B

Yeah, it's about ninety five hundred.

C

Nine five hundred. So we're gonna call that ten thousand a month now. It used to be thirty-five thousand a month, which is twenty-five thousand a month different. So you've dropped your overhead by twenty five thousand dollars a month, which is three hundred thousand dollars in a year. So not only have you increased your income by having a sphere based business by one hundred and thirty four thousand, you also dropped your overhead by

300,000, Mark and I are giving you high fives right now. It's just tremendous. So w what's it like for you, Ryan, to to to hear that?

The Illusion of Cold Lead Profitability

B

So when I found Ninja, you know, because I was in the cold lead generation and uh overcoming objections and that kind of stuff. Uh I bought the book for my wife, who was in real estate with me at the time and she's more passive in nature, so I thought this would be a really good way that she could learn how to build relationships and Yeah she doesn't like the salesy pitch kind of stuff. And then that is my personality type, I I think Mark would tell you. I'm high D. Mm-hmm.

So I bought it for her and we were listening to it on the way down to Georgia and as soon as I started hearing Larry talk and his philosophy about building relationships and how to have peace and how to

establish something more than just conversion and transaction, I fell in love. So I was rewinding it. And since that time I've just been trying to devour every inch of it as fast as I can. But it's just kind of funny how things happen when you're looking for your who's And I was looking for my wife's hoo and it turned out to be mine.

C

Yeah, to well d it's funny, it's ironic. You bought the book for your wife and you're listening to it together and all at once you you found yourself being h high highly attracted to it and we're so happy that Ninja found you and that you found Ninja.

B

You know one thing is uh I had two or three people say, Hey, you should read this book a couple years ago. I said, uh not really my style. So I I think it's just wild how it was, like you can't go backwards, but you know, people were identifying these were people in leadership that had made it at higher levels, saying they were recommending the book and I refused to open it. So kinda wild how that.

C

We want to hear, Ryan, about what it's like to have a coldly generation focused business like that for a couple of reasons. Number one, there there are people who think about well, maybe I should do that. So you can tell us what it's like. And also there are people listening who are there right now and maybe they are feeling Trapped or they're not sure so they can be able to relate to what you're gonna share. So tell us all about having a business like that.

B

First just wanna say uh it's an illusion. Y you can spend money and get contact information uh a thousand different places online and it's really a false sense of profitability. You think the more leads you get, the more people just a numbers game you eventually contact, you eventually do an appointment. But that life, like you know, I had seventy five hundred people in my CRM. So any given morning, I'd have five or six.

different people that just had questions that I'm speed to lead, trying to get that answer as fast as I can. missing all of the relationship building and literally just being on twenty four hours a day and that was exhausting. Now I I don't know how many times I was laying on the floor, I felt like my heart was palpitating at eleven thirty at night'cause somebody asked a question and

It had been two minutes and nobody answered, so I was. So that type of life, it feels like you're doing something because you're getting leads, maybe you're having some conversations, maybe you're getting a text. you're hopeful and you're driving around, you're opening, you're doing all the things that realtors do, other than you don't always end up with a sale. You don't end up with a a relationship. And people are less loyal now than ever before and they sure don't mind

I almost felt like a robot. They were just kind of telling me where to go and what to do. And they were doing it a lot of times from out of state. Up in Michigan, you were a vacation tourist town, a lot of second homeowners. So I was doing all kinds of virtual things for people at any time of day and I'll just tell you the cold lead style of business.

You can only go so far until you just run out of gas. And I thought if I just get to this amount, then it'll be fine. If I just build this team out that can handle the overflow, I'll be fine. And the truth is, there is no, in my opinion, There is no real sense of purpose in that type of real estate business.

Trading Constant Calls for Family Time

C

What was your life like? I'm thinking about your your family and evenings, your weekends. What what what did that used to be like?

B

You know, I love real estate but I love personal growth too. And I would do different classes, seminars and by the time I get done with it and you learn all these aha's and woa was it it always ended the same thing that, you know, really what I was trying to achieve was to be a a great father. I want to be a great dad. And you know, one of the things being a great dad, you have to be present. And I wasn't present around my kids.

they mean the world to me and I was on the phone all the time. So I was always showing them that they weren't as important. And being on the phone with your kids sitting next to you trying to tell you about how awesome their day was and you're you know holding your index finger up saying just one more minute

That crushes your soul. That's what my life was like for about four years. From the time I woke up, have a lot of clients on the West Coast. So it's eleven thirty, twelve thirty at night. So I wasn't Mentally present. I was physically present at the games, but I wasn't mentally present to actually have that conversation. I feel like I missed some years with my kids. Uh yeah.

C

Good for you for making the leap and in committing to change. And and let's talk about that. So there you were in as I understand it, January twenty twenty five.

B

Yeah.

C

You made the decision. I'm gonna stop this cold lead approach. This is not working for me for a lot of reasons. I'm gonna go more sphere based. And so w what was that like? How did you do it? And so many people think about doing it. I personally talked to a lot of people who are afraid to do it. They have no clue how. So I think what you have to share can help them. How'd you do it?

Embracing Relationships: The New Foundation

B

I was listening to one of your podcasts and you were talking to an agent. I think you quoted or maybe it was Larry, they were a freaking agent. And I was listening to that and that's what I was always trying to do is I was trying to bring on agents and teach them how I did it. And that always fell short.

And that part was just exhausting in itself because I poured into them. I think they're finally going. I spent a fortune on them and then they're they melt in the chair, they leave. And I realizing that you can't do that. You need a process.

Uh so they can become the best version of themsel themselves by following that process and b finally believing that I can't teach someone how to do it the way I did it. I had to start there. And once I believed that, then it was like, okay, let's find a process.

And quite honestly, if this wouldn't have worked, I don't think I'd still be in real estate. I have an affinity for the automotive business. I like it. And this was kind of like the last stitch effort. Like this one seems like it makes a lot of sense. The philosophy makes a lot of sense. It

Building relationships and having deeper relationships with friends that happen to be clients, that sounded like a great time. But the belief that they wanted to talk to me, even though I haven't spoken to them in three years since our transaction, I did not believe that. So I actually had to do the work.

I had to make the call to actually realize that. And it was cool. The more I did it, the more it compounded that courage to make the next call until I was finally looking forward to it. It kind of funny thing happens is

You make enough of those calls now your phone is blowing up because people are returning those calls. Quite a bit different than cold lead conversion when nobody answers and it takes seven attempts to get one answer. And it's so different in so many ways. And it's a different kind of day.

C

Well what was it like to turn off that switch to to turn off the

B

It was scary. Not every sense of the word. the CRM that I was using at the time, you it it told you the behavioral and who was doing what and who was clicking where and that's usually what I started my day out with was I'm gonna try to get a hold of these people'cause they're showing interest and The only way I could do it was I just didn't even log on to that CRM.

So I wouldn't even be tempted to distract myself. And instead I started with the handwritten letters. It seemed like a really simple thing, but I remember a training I did forever ago and it was Mary Kay. She says she built an empire on writing three handwritten letters a day. And I thought, well shoot.

If she did that, I can do that. Who am I to say? I can't do that. Okay, now who am I gonna write those letters to? And then in the beginning it had no real purpose or meaning to it, but I wrote them and I sent them out. And that was nerve wracking, actually handwriting those out. And putting them in the mail, I had a hard time. I had a lot of anxiety about putting those in the mailbox, uh, just because I had never done it.

So that's where it started. And every day I just promised myself I was not gonna log back into that system, even though I was still paying for it. I still had a year commitment, so I had six months left. So I'm seeing that. I'm feeling that pain every single month, paying that bill, but believing in the philosophy of ninja so much. It makes so much sense.

And it answered so many questions that I've had since I got into real estate of what the process should be, the timing of things, the cadence of things that. It made it easy, but it was still very difficult to pivot 180 degrees. But every day it got a little bit easier until I forgot I even had that going on.

C

It's almost like you you had an addiction. to it, which makes a lot of sense. I mean, it gave you this sense of activity. It gave you a sense of people to work with. And there you were still paying for it yet you had the courage to stop and and not look at it. What we say we what you focus on expands, so you stop focusing on that cold lead CRM and you started focusing on relationships.

B

A real helpful thing I did is you know, I have a all time sales list from when I got into real estate. And looking back in there and the proof and the pudding was at the time eighty seven percent of all my sales were from people I knew. So I knew the truth was there that even when I was buying all those leads, it was only seventeen percent of my total volume came from the leads. So, you know, why am I spending all my time there and and zero on where our transactions are coming from?

So I believed in that. But knowing that I was spending the money on it, I think it just reinforced, made me even dig in even deeper to now make the call. 'Cause I hadn't done those in forever. I always felt if there's no dragon to slay, no home to put under a contract, nothing to put on the market, I d I didn't see a reason why they'd want to talk to me.

So I I just kept digging in even deeper because that was at the time, that was harder for me than calling cold leads and converting them. So I was trying to do what was more difficult and that made it exciting. And then when you start getting some results from that and you're having some of those positive conversations, then you get addicted to those conversations because your cup's getting full. Yeah.

C

So much more for filling, right?

B

So much more fulfilling.

Finding Direction Through Coaching

C

So tell us what was happening for you when you decided to hire a coach.

B

Well, I knew I needed direction. I knew I needed accountability. And actually I talked to you and you're like, I have the perfect guy for you. I think he'll be perfect. And when I talked to Mark, I remember the first time I was walking in my backyard. It was a sunny day.

And quite honestly I was just I think I was hired Mark to help him help Jenny. And your wife, yeah. My wife, yes. Her name's Jenny Crack, but no affiliation. I haven't never saw a chat, but Talk to Mark and I just tell you what he was so easy to talk to and I would lay out what I thought were these huge

complicated problems and he'd have such a simple question that led me to so much clarity, I thought, I okay, it's an investment. I've I always had some kind of coaching or went to some kind of training, but This was different. This was like holistic. This is about me. It was about Jenny and about doing the things that would help us have a higher quality of life. So quite honestly, I couldn't wait for the first meeting. I couldn't wait to see him on Zoom because that was just a phone call.

And he has been nothing but a class act and I uh I think I probably will be friends forever. I mean, he's helped me through so much more than just real estate. So That's great. Quite a bit different than what I was expecting.

C

Yeah. Okay, Mark, let's hear from your perspective. You first meet Ryan, you hear where he's at, hear where he wants to go. Wh where did you start?

D

I think it's the same thing when you picked Ryan for me, he was also very coachable. And I I think knowing his why of why he wanted to s stop doing the other to have a life to enjoy those five kids so him and Jenny can do those things. Part of it was my goal and challenge of how we gotta get him there really fast. The hard part was is you've never been to an installation.

So we don't always coach people that haven't been to an installation, but Ryan had so much coachability and so much desire that I didn't think it really mattered. I knew eventually he was gonna get to one which you just did a couple of weeks ago. So we spent the first six months just using his raw knowledge of the book. You know, and then they could listen to podcasts. We didn't really even focus so much on the systems, it was the mindset.

the mindset was the base in the beginning a lot of times you weren't there'cause you were out doing other things and then it was Jenny and I and it said finally we had to kind of have a conversation of where was this going? You're like, I'm gonna make the full commitment. It's just gonna be me. We got a commitment. Jenny's gonna be doing something different and I'm gonna be all in and I think you just embraced it ever since that

B

Well when you're working with your wife, it's awesome'cause you're with your wife and like you love each other, you want the best for each other, but you sometimes get in each other's ways'cause you're just trying to be helpful. I feel like you were a counselor for us. And and you did it with such class and I appreciate it so much'cause

you never posed a question that was hard to answer. You always posed a question that made us think and you know, what is the the best solution and what's the best path h forward? And it happened organically, we're it became our idea and I'll tell you why I just c talked to Jenny before this podcast and she's helping with lunch at the school and she's just gleaming with joy. Like there she is again. So I couldn't be happening but

without you asking those questions and with such respect of what our our bigger goals, our bigger whys were and then backing it out from there. It wasn't the new trick, the new conversion, the new objection overcoming th it was none of that stuff. And

From Constant Ring to Intentional Engagement

I think we associate that with when we see people on their phone all day long. They must be really important and really busy. And what's pretty profound now is my phone doesn't ring. And six months ago my phone never stopped ringing. I had two different phones. I was carrying around because my phones would ring all day long and both of them would rein now because of doing my Ninja Nine, now I'm so proactive in that, it feels good. It feels like high integrity.

Where my phone doesn't ring. It hasn't rang since we've been sitting here. It hasn't rang all year. And that was probably the biggest epiphany I have. Like, oh my goodness, my phone doesn't ring off the hook all day long.

D

You're making more money, right?

B

I'm making more money and and when I have those calls I make those out. I love being proactive and I think it says a lot about who you are and the clients are just so much more appreciative because it there's a high anxiety level where we're dealing with a huge asset and a lot of

questions they have, but the process helps you lead them through all that stuff so they have uh peace of mind and I I just don't think there's anything better and Mark's coaching on all that to follow the process because it's in an order for a reason, I like to skip ahead and get back to that phone call and do the things that matter. And I'd always try to throw off some of those relationship calls to somebody else and mark

And I don't think you wanna do that. You're missing that opportunity. Like, okay, fine. But when am I gonna have the time? But I I made the time and I couldn't be more right.

Consistency and Purpose with Ninja Nine

C

So d Ryan, walk us through the things that are really working for you in your business. So now you have a ninja based business. Give us a clear picture of what that really looks like for you.

B

Everything is working. I can't say there's one step or one part of the process of the ninja nine that doesn't work. Just digging into deeper commitment to the ninja nine is really where I'm seeing it, but I've always been a high level flow person. So I always live interviews, talk to people. I've always enjoyed that. People I'm always curious on how they're doing. But committing to that

In a certain amount of that every single day, I've really started to see the compounding effect of that. So I know I'm a hare. So the word uh of the year that that Mark challenged me on was to be steady. You know, I know the tortoise wins the race. But I know I'm a hare. So, you know, if I'm gonna be steady, I'm gonna have to do these things consistently. So I got the planner.

And if you'd asked me five years ago if I'm gonna be hand filling out a workbook planner in a digital age, I would probably laugh at you. But I look forward to that thing. It's one of the easiest, most practical application for the process of what's the next most important thing to do. So what's working is doing the work and doing it consistently and doing if I feel like it or not. And the cool thing is, by the end of the day, I'm happy I did it.

C

We know that m no one's perfect and it's okay if you're not perfect, but you said it as long as you're consistent. So most mornings there you are focused on gratitude affirmations. You show up and stay on your agenda. You're doing your handwritten notes, client service calls, you you just follow.

B

I follow the steps. I you know, I've I woke up with gratitude and that's kinda where I get my peace and sense of purpose and then be able to actually apply that to those letters and to those phone calls. it they actually they connect and it it really speaks to my soul'cause I, you know, feel like we're here and we're we'll have different gifts and we're supposed to use those gifts to bless others and

Now I know who I'm supposed to be talking to and I know the reason I'm calling and uh it's never to sell real estate, it's to check in with them, see how they're doing. So a sense of purpose in real estate, uh this is a different type of real estate, a different type of process. So you look forward to those steps. And I think the best part of it, again, is just staying steady because I wanna A year ago or two years ago I would have made fifty calls in it.

Eighty calls in a day, thirty text. I would have thrown so much out there not realizing the ripple effect of what happens when that boomerang comes back.

Mastering Intentional Communication and Focus

And now I'm working till midnight at trying to remember everything. Like even like the Ford and Record worksheets that you guys have, I love how it says, What did you learn? So if I'm not asking Ford questions and actually learning something about them and Mark helped me with a my seven second pause and he said, Ryan, uh you said it's so nice.

Ryan, I think you might process information a little bit faster. And I don't know if the people you're talking to are processing as fast as you do. Here, I wanna challenge you on this. After you ask your question, I would like you to pause for seven seconds and let them process. I thought, man, that seems like I'm way too long. Like I I don't know what I'm gonna do, you know. And I started doing it, not just with clients, but all my kids, my wife.

my friends. So again, applicable amongst everyone I know and it's been so helpful'cause a lot of things I assumed were important weren't and actually allowed me to be more interested in them instead of me being I don't wanna say arrogant but found myself talking about myself a lot which feels like icky by the time you're done. In the moment you don't really realize you're doing it.

So that seven second pause has been super helpful and that's just one of many tools that Mark has given me and challenged me on it. And the way he does it, the way he leads you to to believing and doing it. has been so helpful. Uh some of the other ones are just things that I say no to. He'll ask me to run through that and think about it. There's a cartoon depiction, I don't know if you've seen it. There's two people uh getting ready to do a race and

one person all they can d see is the finish line, the other person that's racing all they can see is the hurdles. I'm the guy that thinks I can see the finish line. Like I know we're gonna get it figured out, but all the obstacles in between 'cause I'm just a high initiator, I don't really think of those. And Mark has been super helpful of when you say yes to that, you're saying yes to so many other things. So that's been helping me really quantify. Do I really want to do that? Do I have time?

Because I'm saying no to so many other things, so I feel like this next year or this current year rather that we're in is gonna be even better because I'm starting to look at things from beginning to end and how much time commitment will go into that and if that f actually fits in our business model, which

A

Before it was just

B

How many can I get on the books and how many can I close and not even thinking that I probably just spent two years worth of time by saying yes to everything this week.

Less Activity, More Impact

C

Mark, what what are some things you notice different about Ryan's business now? Eight months into coaching together with Ryan. So how is Ryan's business different than it was when you first started?

D

And it his energies was at capacity a lot and that's when we kinda started talking to you're saying yes to too many things when you can't say yes to the things you want to, you gotta say no to them now.

And he embraces everything. You challenge him on it. And what I love about Ryan is he challenges me to challenge him a little bit so it makes me a better coach'cause I am I saying the right things to get him to go the right way and He makes us practice to make sure we're helping to get him where he wants to go that you gotta slow down to speed up.

Right. And Ryan just wants to go, go, go,'cause he he loves helping people. He wants to see the results. He wants to help people and coming from the more is better versus the slow down and let's work with the people that are coming towards us. You know, stop chasing the other people. And I think his energy of just being able to focus on the clients that he wants to be in flow with and they want him to be in flow with.

And once we got the mindset ready and his energy ready was huge difference. And when we knew Ryan was having a great year and we were getting ready for business planning and asked him that one question, Okay, if you can wave your magic wand, you had your best year ever, would you like to

repeat this same year next year, would you do it again? There was a seven second pause. I think it was about a twenty second pause and all of a sudden I went uncomfortable going, Okay, what do I say now? I was like, Okay, I'm keeping quiet. He's I gotta have him speak. He goes, No, I wouldn't Which kinda shocked me and said, Tell me more about that and how he got there in the first six months of was a high anxiety. In the last six months was on your own agenda.

And you had weekends again with the family, you were seeing the kids games. I think coming over in November and December you were you like feeling like you had gotta enjoy the holidays. And right now what do you got? January and February, you're starting out with your best first two months you've had.

B

No, I forgot about it actually, but when we first were talking, I used to say I'm at my bandwidth. W when you start helping me, I would say I'm fragmented. I feel fragmented'cause I have so I have more than I can handle I don't wanna let anybody down. I'm thinking of all the people that I must call back and that just I don't know how that doesn't lead to a ton of anxiety. And then when you're fragmented, it doesn't feel like you're making any good decisions. It's like you have decision fatigue.

And you really helped me like it's I've had so much addition through subtraction. I'm such a believer in that now. And the more that I cut out, the more things that I want come in and those things they're a lot smoother. It they feel a lot more natural where I'm using my skill set and the level of professionalism that I enjoy compared to just being an errand boy. So just wanna thank you for that. I actually forgot how fragmented I felt at that time, which for sure is

The anxiety that comes from that and your whole family feels that. So doing it I was doing it for more than just myself. But I know my kids and friends have all said the same thing that you know, I think they're worried I'm we're not selling a bunch of real estate'cause I'm not freaked out all the time.

D

Where you're enjoying it, but also I think there's a difference in the energy when working with somebody who already knows you, like you and trusts you and you're going through the pre listing interview versus a lead that you've had to take six or seven conversations or emails and ghosting to get there.

B

profoundly different and I do follow the buyer interview, the seller process. So doing it now just feels so seamless. And the person that you're interviewing, they appreciate it so much.'Cause they realize that you care and you're not just telling'em everything you know. You're trying to find out what's best for them. But what it was like before can trying to convert cold leads, I mean

you're calling people relentlessly. You might get just a little thumbs up or a like or a maybe a little bit of response. Your heart goes gets excited and and then you're calling even more and you're just trying to find a way to connect with them and

Then eventually you do and they tell you they're gonna meet you somewhere, so you go meet'em there and they call while you're driving there, which is thirty minutes away, and let you know that they already bought somewhere else or that they're not gonna show up.

What you did challenge me on was, hey, you've already built a great relationship with your sphere clients. They already know you, like you, and trust you. How much different do you think that phone call will be? And that you gave me a lot of courage to make those calls. And when I did, it was just that. They were so happy that w we were laughing, we were having a good time, or we were leaning on each other for building that relationship. And it was very fulfilling and it was wild how many times

I started stacking files on my desk when I started making these calls because of the real estate that was coming from that. Hey Ryan, before you go, I gotta get you in touch with my neighbor. I meant it. I told him about ya. Like it came

I d I don't remember the percentage, but it was wild. I was just sitting there like hands up going, I can't believe this stuff works. And I had a stack of files of listings and and we really hit the fourth quarter last year on fire and the best part is we really set really good expectations and we we hit those things and Uh, we learn not to be so focused on um the outcome and realizing this their decisions to make and we just control the process. That relieves a lot of anxiety as well.

Uh rejection isn't something I've always been scared of. I I needed rejection to get to the next no, to get to the next no. So that didn't really work for me. But I didn't realize how much I was missing out on by building lasting relationships and and now I'm I started saying yes to going to golf. Like I didn't do anything but work.

six to seven days a week, every single day, all day long. I'm a old school in in you know, that's the way I was raised. Be there first, leave last. And now my life is so much more fulfilling. It's absolutely changed every aspect of my life and even the way that I look at things. I try to look at all the dimples on the golf ball and you realize that there's a way you can have this life that is abundant by serving those people that care about you the most.

And it's funny, those are the people I was avoiding.

A Better Business, A Better Life

C

Well, Ryan, we're so happy to hear all of this and we'd been focusing a lot on the numbers in your business and I think mostly we're so happy to hear about how it changed your life. to s make that shift and and go through that fear of making that shift and now you're realizing the benefits of that. And Ryan, thank you. You helped a lot of people today. I'm convinced of that.

B

I hope so. And yeah, if anybody's considering switch'em cold league conversion and they don't know if they really trust this in the process, yeah, give me a call. I'll I'll tell you everything about it and you'll be a believer by the time we're done.

C

We appreciate that offer. That's really nice of you. Mark also thank you so much for being back on the podcast with us today.

D

Well thanks Eric. Thanks for having me and I'm so glad Ryan was able to come out for leadership and us to hang out so to be able to be here and running into each other at the gym today, both going Is the elevation getting to you? Yeah, how about you? Yeah. So very fortunate to be here. Thanks, Eric, for a great interview with Ryan.

C

That's been my pleasure. And thank you everyone so much for listening and engaging once again. We so much appreciate it. And we look forward to seeing you on the next podcast. Take care.

E

If you enjoyed this episode, visit us at the Ninja Selling. To learn more about NinjaSelling classes and coaching to get you started or further your journey.

A

for joining us.

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