The Agent Podcast - EP 86 Kaleb Monroe Double Down On YOU
[00:00:00] Kaleb Monroe: So I never really have seen, like, I think a lot of people get into real estate for the flexibility and for the fact that they don't have to work a nine to five schedule. They can go do whatever they want, but for me, I never really. Got to be in that nine to five world. So I guess I don't know the difference of this job compared to somewhere where you do have to report and be somewhere and be, you know, on time and stuff like that.
[00:00:21] Kaleb Monroe: And in, in essence, yeah, I'm my own boss, but if I was the boss to people that I am now, there's certain expectations. Just like your boss at a nine to five might have. And as long as you can manage those expectations for yourself, be realistic with them. Like, don't say I'm gonna get to the office every day at 7:00 AM if you know, you wake up at eight 30.
[00:00:37] Kaleb Monroe: You know what I mean? Like little things like that. Like really. , realistic expectations for yourself. And on top of that, if you're gonna make a commitment, break down to a T what that commitment involves. Meaning, if you are committing to selling X amount of houses this year, do you know how many appointments it takes to get to that amount of houses based off of your conversion rates?
[00:00:57] Kaleb Monroe: Do you know how many calls you need to make in order to get that amount of appointments? No. Well then, great. This is how many you have to make. And like, I guess just staying committed to the actions rather than just the results. You know? Like that's ultimately, I feel like. I've been able to stay disciplined is knowing that I'm chasing something that's, that's greater than me.
[00:01:46] Ray Sjolseth: Hello and welcome to another episode of The Agent Podcast. Today I'm here with my buddy Caleb out of Houston, Texas. Caleb, welcome to.
[00:01:53] Kaleb Monroe: Thanks so much for having me, Raven. I really appreciate it, brother.
[00:01:56] Ray Sjolseth: I'm glad you're here, man. So why real estate?
[00:01:58] Kaleb Monroe: You know, I got involved into real estate pretty much right after high school. So I was selling Cutco knives all of my senior year of high school. Pretty much. I ended up scheduling an appointment with one of my teachers at the time who just so happened to also be a realtor.
[00:02:12] Kaleb Monroe: Him and his wife, I sat down with them, sold him a couple knives, and then he basically was like, okay. , how much money do you make off of one knife sale? And at first I'm like, oh, that's a little bit personal, bro. Like you're one of my teachers, you know, . But I kind of saw where he was going with it, so I broke it down for him and he was like, okay, well this is what I make off of selling a house.
[00:02:29] Kaleb Monroe: And I was like, okay, obviously a drastic difference from, you know, a couple knives. And I was like, okay. And he said, I think you'd really be good at it. I just think that you communicate very well. Like, I think that, you know, you would be really. and I was like, okay. So kind of procrastinated for a little bit.
[00:02:44] Kaleb Monroe: And then eventually toward the end of the year, he called me into his room and sat me down, printed out the local school schedule that of their next upcoming classes for licensing and handed it to me and he was like, look, you need to take it. I don't know what your plans are after, after high school, at the time I was gonna be going to college for a marketing degree in Cutco.
[00:03:01] Kaleb Monroe: There was plenty of people that I knew that had marketing degrees and I kind of asked them. , was there anything different, additional, unique that they learned in college that they didn't really learn on the job in Cutco or doing sales, and their answers were pretty concise. They were like, no, you know, I think that I, I relearned everything I learned from Cutco in college and it was good reinforcers, it was good reminders, but ultimately it didn't change anything.
[00:03:24] Kaleb Monroe: And I was like, okay. So I'd already signed up for my first semester of college. During the summer I got licensed and was kind. gotten to a point where it, it picked up pretty quick, you know, so I got to the point where I was kind of having to walk outta class to take calls at times and things along those lines, and I didn't like that.
[00:03:40] Kaleb Monroe: You know, I'm very big on respect and I didn't want to keep going in and out of professor's classrooms and stuff like that. So I finished my semester and I was like, okay, well, you know, school's gonna be there. I don't know what the heck this market's gonna look like, but let's try it. And three years later, here we are.
[00:03:55] Ray Sjolseth: So can we unpack that a little bit? Of course. Yeah. Why did this teacher take you on as a mentee, so to speak? Or what, what was it that, that he adopted you right. To like, Hey, you need to do this.
[00:04:10] Kaleb Monroe: You know, I think that, cuz I've asked him that before and I think that it's a, it's a mixture. Mixture of a couple things.
[00:04:15] Kaleb Monroe: I think that he was well, he could tell that I really liked what I do as far as like talking to people selling. You know, providing value, showing a product, and kind of maxi mixing and matching, like what that client specifically needed. Because I think the difference with me is that, like in Cutco, you know, they're like a thousand dollars knife sets, right?
[00:04:34] Kaleb Monroe: Like very, very nice, high quality, expensive knives and kitchen wear and pots and pans and all that stuff. And I never really sought to get a, you know, $10,000 order on one. , I wanted to be able to go on as many appointments as possible and help as many people as possible find whatever knife it is that fits them the best.
[00:04:51] Kaleb Monroe: So I wasn't about, you know, selling the largest amount on one appointment, I was more about helping the largest amount of people. And I think that he saw that and said that, you know, I think that you have some sort of Desire to help in that way, you know? And on top of that, I was able to communicate very well.
[00:05:07] Kaleb Monroe: I had learned the Cutco script, like the back of my hand at that point. So I sold my butt off, you know? I think it was just a mixture of a couple of those things.
[00:05:14] Ray Sjolseth: So, coming into your real estate career today, what are a couple things that you brought with you from the Cutco days that have really helped you catapult and build over the last couple?
[00:05:27] Kaleb Monroe: You know, I think with Cutco, one of the biggest things was the structure of the appointment. You know, they taught. from point A to point Z, pretty much how to walk through the entire appointment. And one of my favorite books now is start with Y by Simon Sinek. Yeah. And you know, in the book obviously talks about starting with Y and how companies that start with y have clients suffer inconveniences and pay premiums for their services.
[00:05:50] Kaleb Monroe: And with that said, you know, in Cutco I remember the exact cadence of theor, the appointment was. We get there, we lay out all the stuff, and before we ever even pull a knife out, we start talking about how Cutco is. [00:06:00] a big company that offers lots of college you know, incentives or scholarships or, or anything along those lines that you can earn as a student in, in doing Cutco at the same time.
[00:06:10] Kaleb Monroe: And, you know, the whole cadence of the appointment was starting there, like starting with our y kind of going over features and benefits of the knives of course, and how Coco such a great company doing with all this revenue. What they're doing. They, they have plenty of different charity projects and stuff like that going.
[00:06:24] Kaleb Monroe: And then kind of gets into the futures and benefits and talks about competition, and then talks about why Cutco so much better. And then for like me and listing appointments, you know, I talk about their why. I talk about why are you even selling this house to begin with, this a beautiful home, right? And then kind of go into the features and benefits of the Monroe team, for example.
[00:06:42] Kaleb Monroe: And then talk about, you know, other competition that might be out there that's not necessarily doing X, Y, and Z that we do videos door knocking, open houses, whatever it might be. And talk, you know, great about our competition. It's not like we never want to tear any agents down. That's one thing I always tell my, my team, especially if you don't know them, there's like 60,000 license holders in Houston.
[00:06:59] Kaleb Monroe: There's no way you're gonna know every single one of them and how they actually are as a person. You know what I mean? . So in our listing appointments, it's never about like, oh, you interviewed this person. Like, oh no, they're, they're terrible. They do this, you do that. It's more of like, oh, I, I, I've either not heard of that person or like, oh, I know them.
[00:07:13] Kaleb Monroe: They're a great person, a great guy, great girl. You know, went to dinner with 'em one time, like whatever it might be, right? We're just kind of building up and at the end of the day, if they get the listing over us based off our harping on how great they are, well then fantastic. Great for them. You know, there's 6 million people in Houston.
[00:07:26] Kaleb Monroe: There's plenty of business to go around, but I think it was kind of, That was the biggest thing was the cadence of like, how the appointment goes and how you're able to lead, generate, ask for referrals. Referrals was the biggest thing in Cutco. So,
[00:07:37] Ray Sjolseth: From when you first entered real estate coming outta co Cutco almost said Costco, to now, has your messaging and scripting changed? Like have you seen evolution or growth or like, does that make sense? I guess what I'm asking.
[00:07:54] Kaleb Monroe: Most definitely. Cause I think like from Cutco, right? You know, the goal was to get at least 10 recommendations, like to other friends and family, right? And on top of that, it was to, if you, if you wanna take it one step further, it was to like try to get your client that you just sold knives to.
[00:08:09] Kaleb Monroe: To shoot a text or to call these top 10 people and say, Hey, I have my friend Caleb calling you. He's doing this for this. Like he's, you know, selling cut code to help himself pay his way through college. Cuz that was my goal at the time. And you know, now in real estate it's more of like, well we just try to provide like top tier service.
[00:08:26] Kaleb Monroe: And when we ask for referrals, it's almost like no brainers for our clients to be able to send them to us because they want, you know, their friends and family to have that same sort of experience. But I think that credibility helps a lot. Right? I think that just now, Kind of established like a social media presence or a a strong referral network of like sphere of influence, space referrals or lender partners, anything like that that is similar to Cutco, but it's definitely an evolved version because back then it was just like, I'm asking for the referrals and right then and there, I'm asking if they can gimme a word of mouth referral by just calling or texting their friend directly.
[00:08:58] Kaleb Monroe: Now it's more like I am doing that with my clients, right? But I'm also putting a bunch of informative stuff on social media to kind of back up that credibility a little bit. . And if, if that kind of makes sense, like I think it has evolved in that way.
[00:09:09] Ray Sjolseth: Tell me about the structure of your real estate business today. How many people do you have? How do you have it structured? How do you spend your time? I'd love to dive into that a little bit.
[00:09:19] Kaleb Monroe: Absolutely. So now here in 2023, we're a team of 11 people. That's three admin, that's a marketing director, full-time director of operations and an assistant for both of them pretty much.
[00:09:29] Kaleb Monroe: We also have a transaction coordinator, but she's not in house and she's just per transaction. And then eight agents from those agents, they do buyers and sellers. I'm not particular on making them only buyers agents or only listing agents. I think. Like I mentioned before, there's so much business out there to go around that I'm not gonna be everybody's cup of tea.
[00:09:46] Kaleb Monroe: Every seller's, you know, favorite person. So if I can have them, you know, reaching out to their sli and reaching out to expired listings or, you know, new buyers, whatever it might be, I would rather the buyer and the consumer have somebody that they, they actually like to work with. And I realize that's not always gonna be me.
[00:10:01] Kaleb Monroe: And so today my biggest focus is like, I always tell my team, I heard this at a conference once, that you should be like Beyonce. Because Beyonce doesn't drive herself to the stadium. Beyonce doesn't put her own, her own makeup, do her own hair, put her on her own outfit at the stadium, like she's probably like this and having like all the stuff put on on her right.
[00:10:19] Kaleb Monroe: She doesn't test the lights of the sound. All Beyonce does is show up, perform, and then she gets paid Beyonce money to do so. Right? So my team members the same way as me because I'm still very heavily in production. Last year I would say. Maybe between 50 to 60% of our production in total from my just individual business that us as agents, we should show up like Beyonce, like we should kind of leverage out all the other stuff that does help enhance the performance and help, you know, make the performance go together.
[00:10:46] Kaleb Monroe: But all we have to do is show up, perform, show up, lead, generate, set appointments, go on appointments in, et cetera. Our staff is very good about kind of trying to take everything else off of their plates. .
[00:10:56] Ray Sjolseth: So that was a, you mentioned one thing that I wanna lead into next, right? Is like, what are you guys doing for lead generation and then how do you manage and allocate that to the team?
[00:11:04] Kaleb Monroe: Yeah. So nine to 12 every single morning we're here at the office lead generating together, whether it is expired listings, one day, one day of the week, we'll probably all just get brand new expired list and kind of divide and conquer. We're doing a lot of circle prospecting around, around our listings, basically letting them know like, Hey, we have a new house up for sailing your neighborhood.
[00:11:21] Kaleb Monroe: And then past that, whenever it sells, reaching back out to them and saying, Hey, it's sold. Every neighbor's gonna wanna know what it's sold for. And then a lot of social media, I would say about 70 to 85% of my personal production comes from sphere of influence and referrals. And it's kind of the same for a lot of my team, my team members.
[00:11:42] Kaleb Monroe: Some of them do, like, we have like Facebook ads and stuff like that, that we'll get leads from. And of course those are all more longer term nurtures. But a lot of their business is the same. Like we're all trying to do a lot of videos. We're all trying to message a lot of people on social media and just providing value in any way we can, you know, and unsolicited value, like they're not asking for it.
[00:11:57] Kaleb Monroe: We're just reaching out and saying, Hey, we want to help. You know,
[00:11:59] Ray Sjolseth: Your social media is awesome. It looks super curated and it's also very profess. .
[00:12:04] Kaleb Monroe: I appreciate that.
[00:12:05] Ray Sjolseth: How are you making these videos? Do you have a videographer that goes with you to list things and appointments, captures it, then turns around and edits a finished product?
[00:12:13] Kaleb Monroe: Yeah, so Justin is our, our video guy with DPH Media. He is fantastic. He makes us look very good. You know, he. Started out with me November, 2020. And for the longest time we were just working kind of like per video. Anytime I got a listing, I would call 'em and we'd do a listing tour. But then it expanded to like doing like apartment tours.
[00:12:31] Kaleb Monroe: Like there's a lot of high end apartments in Houston downtown specifically that are very popular and we wanted to highlight why they're so popular. We started doing like small business highlights and just kind of giving back to the community. , you know, showing their business off if they were not struggling, but if maybe they wanted or needed more business for whatever reason, or like businesses that we just believed in, you know, or friends and family that own small businesses.
[00:12:50] Kaleb Monroe: And then we ended up doing a lot more like the sit down content where it's just like me in front of the camera providing value, talking about an f h a alone, talking about inspections, talking about the current state of the market, interest rates, whatever it might be. Just kind of whatever people are asking.
[00:13:04] Kaleb Monroe: We're definitely answering on, on the highest scale.
[00:13:06] Ray Sjolseth: How did you decide to invest in that? Like a lot of people, you know, a, are scared to be on video first of all. But second of all, they're also afraid to make that investment because it does cost money and take time.
[00:13:17] Kaleb Monroe: I think that just like hiring staff, it was kind of like, I am not paying for this because I need it.
[00:13:25] Kaleb Monroe: I'm paying for it because, It. That's the, that's the difference between 'em. Like I think that for staff and videography and any other thing that we're investing for in the business, it's not investing in it because you need it. It's investing in it because you might need it at some point. and investing into it now is probably gonna help you whenever gets to that point.
[00:13:41] Kaleb Monroe: Right. So like when I hired my tc, I didn't necessarily need a tc, I didn't have a ton of transactions that were going on at the time, but she took so much off my plate that I was able to go hunt and get more me Beyonce. Right. And it's the same thing with with, with our videographer. You know, it, it's not a matter of I need content.
[00:13:57] Kaleb Monroe: It's like I want to be. people that the person that people go to for content and like they're, they're anticipating my next video to come out and they're anticipating the question that they asked on my story to be answered on the next video. And it wasn't always like that. Like I remember when I first started, if you scroll like far enough and long enough on my Facebook or Instagram, you will find like cell phone video tours of brand new construction homes and I would go on.
[00:14:20] Kaleb Monroe: And it's like a, maybe like a two second clip of me going like this in the kitchen or like a three second clip of me in the primary bedroom. Then I'd go on YouTube and I search up non copyright low five music or something like that, just like kind of chill elevator music almost. And I would record a voice memo on my phone from the speakers on my laptop.
[00:14:37] Kaleb Monroe: Super crappy quality. Like it sounded terrible, but I would be able to put that on this like splice together video and then it would be like a one to three minute video of a brand new home. And when I tell you, Raymond, that those were not the prettiest things ever, like I archives on Instagram just to show my team every once in a while, like, hey, this is where I started.
[00:14:55] Kaleb Monroe: You know? And it kind of evolved into like, well, people are liking me doing videos. Social media seems to be clamoring to the whole video mantra. , let's like take this up another notch. It happened whenever I got my first like $300,000 plus listing or something like that. Had a pool. No back neighbors.
[00:15:11] Kaleb Monroe: It was beautiful. Like 20 19, 20 18, build something like that. It's a very new right. And I was like, okay, I have to do something special. I can't just do like another splice together cell phone video with. Non copyright music in the back, like I wanted it to be nice, upscale ended up making a post on Facebook asking for recommendations, and my guy was the only one that had a business page.
[00:15:32] Kaleb Monroe: Everybody else was like, oh, my cousin does this, my sister does wi videography and like, things like that. So, but he was the only one that looked like really legit. And you know, ever since then, we've just been rocking and roll. And now he's on a monthly retainer with us where he's with the. Twice a week, or no, twice a month, sorry, for three times out of those week, two weeks out of the month for three days out of those weeks.
[00:15:51] Kaleb Monroe: And I mean, all day long, we're just doing video tours, new build tours, sit down, content, whatever it might be that day.
[00:15:58] Ray Sjolseth: I love it. I always say that marketing makes sales easier, right? So you're investing in this, you're doing all this video, and as people find you, as you grow, you're creating this evergreen content that's always gonna be.
[00:16:10] Kaleb Monroe: Right.
[00:16:11] Ray Sjolseth: And it makes the sale easier to close when you get there, regardless of how long it is.
[00:16:15] Kaleb Monroe: 1000% like it, it's gotten to a point where now, like I'll go into listing appointments and people are already asking what style of video I'm gonna do or what music I'm putting behind the listing tour. And it's just, excuse me, a good feeling to have, knowing that they're already, they already know what we do, how we do it, and they're excited to see it done for them.
[00:16:33] Kaleb Monroe: You know what I mean?
[00:16:34] Ray Sjolseth: Yeah. It's dialed in, right? Like you have your process down. , this is how it's flowing and you're setting the expectation of the service and the level of quality and it makes their decision easier to hire you.
[00:16:45] Kaleb Monroe: Right? It's almost like a, like a no-brainer at that point with how much value information we just wanna be able to provide, you know?
[00:16:52] Ray Sjolseth: So let's switch gears a little bit. What are some things you wish you knew coming into the real estate business that you feel would've been more helpful in either achieving success faster? Building differently or just even self-education for that matter?
[00:17:10] Kaleb Monroe: I think it's kind of, well, I think I would've hired a coach a lot sooner.
[00:17:13] Kaleb Monroe: I have two business coaches now. I didn't hire one until like the end of my very first year, which I think, you know, everything happens for a reason. The timeline kind of fell in place how it should. Sure. But I think that, you know, there's that whole term being a secret agent and I don't think that I was, but I also don't think that I, like, I, I really underestimated the amount of people that I.
[00:17:33] Kaleb Monroe: or the amount of people that knew who I was in some capacity. Right. Even if it was like they remembered me because I was like the little chunky kid that was my mom's son. You know what I mean? Like even if it was like little things like that, I could still call those people and reintroduce myself in a sense.
[00:17:47] Kaleb Monroe: And it all happened whenever I, I took bold with kw. I was at KW for a while. It took bold and you know, that it really made you think outside of the box. who you should be reaching out to. We were having to have a hundred conversations a week. And so like in, like for example, one of the other things I brought over from Cutco was my whole database.
[00:18:04] Kaleb Monroe: Like I had a hundred plus clients that had bought knives from me that I can now call and tell 'em I'm in real estate. And at that point, like I had already kind of been getting into real estate, I was telling my people on appointments, Hey, I'm getting into real estate after this, so I'll sell you knives and a house.
[00:18:18] Kaleb Monroe: Like things like that. Right. And it got to a point. , I run out of my people. Like, I was like, well, I've already called all the people that have bought knives from me. And then I was like, oh, what about all the people that I did appointments for that didn't buy anything? I still had their numbers, so I started calling them and then, oh, on top of that, what about all the folks that I called to try to set an appointment?
[00:18:36] Kaleb Monroe: Maybe they canceled. We never got to get on schedule or, or something like that. But they'll remember the kid that called the, tried to sell 'em. . And sure enough, all of them did. But I didn't reach out to a lot of 'em soon enough. Like there were some that were like, man, I wish you would've called me like three or four months ago.
[00:18:52] Kaleb Monroe: We just closed on a house. The experience was terrible. Like I would've much rather worked with you. Like things like that, you know? And it's a little disheartening to hear it because I'm like, like I could have just. reached out just a few months earlier. I was already licensed, but wasn't really thinking outside the box.
[00:19:05] Kaleb Monroe: And I, I find that that's like a big struggle for my team too, is that we kind of like pigeonhole ourselves on what our s o I really is. We just think it's like mom, dad, all their friends, brother, sister, all their friends, but it's like, no, all the other people that they know too, coworkers and people they went to school with and, you know, everything.
[00:19:22] Kaleb Monroe: I consider that my SOI because at some capacity they know who I am or who I, I was whenever I was younger or whatever. It.
[00:19:30] Ray Sjolseth: So on that note, let's move into lead nurture, right? What do you guys do to stay top of mind and talk to people on a regular basis?
[00:19:40] Kaleb Monroe: Every quarter the people in our database at least get one call. and that call is something along those lines of like, Hey Raymond, how's it going? Just wanted to check up on you, see how everything's going. And then at some point within that call, they're gonna obviously ask how you've been. And our response is, well, we're great. You know, we're selling houses left and right.
[00:19:57] Kaleb Monroe: Just wanted to see if there's any friends or family that we could serve for you throughout this year. And you know, things along those lines. It's just, . On top of that, you know, if we know their birthday, they're getting a, a video message and some cookies from us on our, on their birthday. If we know their kid's birthday, we're doing the same thing.
[00:20:10] Kaleb Monroe: We're sending a video message saying, Hey, let so-and-so let, let them know we said Happy birthday, and we're sending them like Tiff treats cookies and, you know, a lot of different things like that. So really like stay on top of mind is, is a a few different ways because we're doing that, but we also make sure that everybody that we work with is either a raving fan or a referral partner.
[00:20:27] Kaleb Monroe: Meaning that you're either gonna like, follow us on all our social media pages. That way you could see us constantly whenever we're posting a bunch of content. And hopefully you share it. Hopefully you, you know, send it to your friends or family. Hopefully your friends and family follow us too. Or you're a referral partner, meaning that every single time we call you, you just miraculously have somebody that's looking to buy or sell a home or maybe even lease or invest.
[00:20:47] Kaleb Monroe: You know, so we we're really big on relationship building and I think it's because, you know, anytime I was just talking to my team about this earlier today, anytime anybody has ever asked me, Hey, can you donate for my my kids, you know, baseball tournament? I'm like, no question. Yes, anytime there's like a fundraiser at the school, no question.
[00:21:05] Kaleb Monroe: Yes. And it's not a matter. , I'm gonna do this so my name can be on it. Cuz most of the time my name isn't even on it. I just wanna make sure that they know I'm, I'm there for them in any way that they might need. That way, whenever it might be a real estate need, they know that they can call me as well. No hesitation, you know?
[00:21:19] Kaleb Monroe: We're just very big on, I, I just love people in honesty, like my mom and dad raised me to just be nice to all and ask questions later, you know?
[00:21:27] Ray Sjolseth: I think it's always interesting right? Who chooses to do what? To stay top of mind and how they do it. And ultimately, I don't know that it matters necessarily what you do. What matters is that you do it. Yep. Right? And that you show up and you're disciplined and you're consistent. For you, where did that come from?
[00:21:46] Ray Sjolseth: How did you become disciplined? How did you learn to be consistent?
[00:21:51] Kaleb Monroe: You know, I think that. I've only had three jobs. This is my third job and I say it's my third, but I was a realtor and now I'm a team lead. So I guess it's kind of my third slash fourth. But before this I sold Cutco and my very first job was I was a bagger at Kroger.
[00:22:05] Kaleb Monroe: So I never really have seen, like, I think a lot of people get into real estate for the flexibility and for the fact that they don't have to work a nine to five schedule. They can go do whatever they want, but for me, I never really. Got to be in that nine to five world. So I guess I don't know the difference of this job compared to somewhere where you do have to report and be somewhere and be, you know, on time and stuff like that.
[00:22:27] Kaleb Monroe: And in, in essence, yeah, I'm my own boss, but if I was the boss to people that I am now, there's certain expectations. Just like your boss at a nine to five might have. And as long as you can manage those expectations for yourself, be realistic with them. Like, don't say I'm gonna get to the office every day at 7:00 AM if you know, you wake up at eight 30.
[00:22:43] Kaleb Monroe: You know what I mean? Like little things like that. Like really. , realistic expectations for yourself. And on top of that, if you're gonna make a commitment, break down to a T what that commitment involves. Meaning, if you are committing to selling X amount of houses this year, do you know how many appointments it takes to get to that amount of houses based off of your conversion rates?
[00:23:03] Kaleb Monroe: Do you know how many calls you need to make in order to get that amount of appointments? No. Well then, great. This is how many you have to make. And like, I guess just staying committed to the actions rather than just the results. You know? Like that's ultimately, I feel like. I've been able to stay disciplined is knowing that I'm chasing something that's, that's greater than me.
[00:23:21] Kaleb Monroe: You know what I mean? And now, especially with having a team everybody that's on the team, I've told 'em all individually and in group settings, I want you to be a much better producer than I am. . And that's gonna be hard because I'm still producing and, and it's kinda like a selfish and a selfless way because selfishly like, I'm always gonna have somebody like right on my heels that I gotta keep, keep running from, you know?
[00:23:42] Kaleb Monroe: And at the same time it's selfless because I, I do want them to eventually surpass me, you know? And it's just, let's see, when I let up off the gas
[00:23:50] Ray Sjolseth: Yeah. For an hour you're on cruise control. Right,
[00:23:52] Kaleb Monroe: right, right. Well, I dunno. .
[00:23:54] Ray Sjolseth: So you said something that I think is interesting, right? That you're committed to the actions versus the results. And I think that is important. Like you can all know what you want and what the result may be, but if you're not willing to show up daily and take that discipline and do the action that's required to get the result, it doesn't matter. Right? Right. And I think that's where a lot of agents struggle, right?
[00:24:17] Ray Sjolseth: Is they don't always know. Most of the time probably Cause you don't learn this in real estate school, right? Like you don't know what the action is to get the result you want. Right? That's often why you either hire a coach or look for a mentor or join a team. Right?
[00:24:32] Kaleb Monroe: And you know, being in this position that I'm in now, I, my team's also very young, right?
[00:24:37] Kaleb Monroe: Like everybody on the team. is, I would say 35 and under. And so everybody has, and, and you know, for that same point, the majority are all like 25 and under. And so with that being said, it's like, you know, one being 22 year old, a 22 year old myself, I know that like all my friends from high school and stuff like that aren't necessarily.
[00:24:57] Kaleb Monroe: on that same disciplined wavelength, right? They're, they have the discipline built in because they've gone to college and they've gone to school. When it comes to like, I guess just working or in a sales job especially, I can't, it's a struggle. Cause you know, you can't always expect everybody to have the same level of discipline or work ethic or any of that that you do.
[00:25:15] Kaleb Monroe: All you can do is listen to what their goals are, why they have those goals, and then hold them accountable to the actions within those. , but it's all, you know, commitment to just actions over results. If you do the right actions, the results are supposed to come. And if they don't, well then maybe change up your actions, increase your actions, or it's just a lot more of an easier measurable to have, I think.
[00:25:34] Ray Sjolseth: Sure. Caleb, what are some things you're really proud of over the last three years about your business?
[00:25:38] Kaleb Monroe: That's a good question, . I think as you know, in the position that I'm in, I often do not stop and smell the roses, you know? Sure. And it's funny cuz I have like two distinct groups of friends, right?
[00:25:50] Kaleb Monroe: Like I have the group of friends that I went to high school with that either they're in college or working at nine to five, kind of trying to find their way. And then I have this group of friends of like crazy producers like really big investors, like, you know, and they are friends, you know, I'll go hang out with them, hang out with their families, things like that.
[00:26:06] Kaleb Monroe: and they're very distinct, different groups. Right. And it's interesting because, you know, anytime I find myself complaining or maybe even feeling a little bit down about, oh, I didn't hit my numbers this month, but I maybe still had a really great month. What I hear from both groups for different reasons is, Caleb, shut up.
[00:26:23] Kaleb Monroe: You're gonna be fine. and for different reasons, but, and for distinct groups, but they're telling me the same thing. I'm proud that I've been able to have such a, like, good circle around me like that, you know, like I've, I feel like I've hand selected a lot of my friends and family and just core people around me.
[00:26:40] Kaleb Monroe: Everybody that's on the team has kind of come to me because they wanted to be coached and you know, just increase their level of production or get into production or whatever it might. I'm super proud of how I've been able to like, see light bulbs go off over people's heads. You know, like there's that moment where you, you know, that it just clicked for them.
[00:26:59] Kaleb Monroe: There's something that you said in there, and sometimes I'm like going so fast paced, I don't even know what it was, but there's something in there that like catches them and you can see their eyes light up and the light bulb go off, and then immediately it correlates to them doing more business or just being happier about what they're doing.
[00:27:13] Kaleb Monroe: You know, I'm, I'm proud that I've been able to kind of get into other things that I, I wanted to do just being younger. You know, I invest in real estate too. I flip houses and, you know, I have a rental property right now, just one. But I'm looking to get three this year is my goal. And three more this year is my goal.
[00:27:28] Kaleb Monroe: And, you know, I'm proud of the journey over everything else. Like, I think that there is lots of things I wanna do in life as far as like just goals, whether they're material goals or like spiritual or personal or whatever it might be. . And I'm ultimately just proud that I feel like I'm on that path, you know, that I can kind of feel it coming to me as I'm approaching it.
[00:27:46] Ray Sjolseth: You're an inspiration man. Like, honestly, that's, that's all amazing. I guess , to start wrapping it up, what's one or two things that you would like to. forward to anybody listen to this, right? Like, if they just walk away with one or two things from this podcast and they're an agent or a professional in the business, what would you like to tell them?
[00:28:07] Kaleb Monroe: I guess I'd give 'em two things, you know, and these are two, like. More, I guess, philosophical points and you can kind of perceive them however you want. Right. So my necklace is a buffalo, it's our team's logo as well, as you probably saw on social media and things like that. And the significance of the buffalo, like, I was struggled for the longest time trying to find a team logo.
[00:28:24] Kaleb Monroe: I was like, maybe it should just be tmt. But then I was like, ah, Floyd Mayweather might sue me and in, I don't want that. But with the, with the Buffalo, you know, I, I heard the story a long time ago and there's plenty of different renditions and changes of it, but, The essence of it is that if a herd of cows sees a storm coming, they typically tuck and run the opposite direction.
[00:28:43] Kaleb Monroe: If an ostrich sees a storm coming, it'll probably dig its head into the dirt and then completely ignore the storm even being there. But they'll still get rained on. And if a buffalo sees a storm coming, or herd of buffalo sees a storm coming, they'll typically turn toward the storm and then run directly to it simply because they feel like this is the fastest way that they'll be able to get through that.
[00:29:02] Kaleb Monroe: And so being that we've been over the last couple years, shifting markets, crazy interest rates, different things along those lines, we've been in tons of storms personally and professionally. And anytime that you have a storm in your life, don't be a cow and just completely run away from it and ignore and, and, you know, eventually let the storm catch up to you.
[00:29:20] Kaleb Monroe: Don't be an ostrich and dig your head into the dirt and ignore that everything around you is happening when it's inevitably happen. Be a buffalo and take on that storm, head on, run directly to it, because I promise it's gonna be the fastest way that you're gonna be able to get through it. And then I guess secondly, you know, I, I'd mentioned Simon Sinek's book, start With Why.
[00:29:39] Kaleb Monroe: And in the book he talks a lot about how companies that start with the A, why. I have clients that suffer in conveniences and, and pay premiums for your services. I had a client once who had a cousin that was a realtor. She also had two best friends that had their license. One was inactive and one was active.
[00:29:56] Kaleb Monroe: And this was like my sister's best friend from [00:30:00] high school's mom. So no real true reason to work with me, right above her other three people that she could have. And I remember we had this listing appointment and I had gone through with her. Throughout a year of just those care calls that I mentioned earlier, every quarter, just checking up on her through Covid, her brother had gotten really sick ended up passing away.
[00:30:18] Kaleb Monroe: I did things like offering to bring her groceries and license all the bags at the front door. Pick up her dog food, whatever it was that she needed. And I was doing that for everybody. But for this client in particular, it ended up kind of coming back tenfold whenever we you know, we signed a listing agreement for her house cuz she called me eventually and was like, you know, I want you to come tell me what my house were.
[00:30:36] Kaleb Monroe: Fast forward, ended up selling her home and then, you know, of course helping her buy the next one just around the corner. And we're doing the final walkthrough on her house, and she kinda just starts crying and is like, you know, my daughter's asked me why it was that I went with you above their aunt and above or above their cousin and above, you know, their friends.
[00:30:55] Kaleb Monroe: And she said, because Caleb checked up on me. Caleb was there for me. Caleb was offering to bring me groceries during the pandemic. Caleb was, you know, gonna bring me dog food. Like whatever it was, I was just there for her, you know? and I started with why. My why was just to make sure that she was okay, you know, ultimately, just like I was making sure everybody was okay during Covid.
[00:31:13] Kaleb Monroe: It was a crazy time and people were losing loved ones, and I just wanted to make sure that I could listen and be there, you know, ultimately, above all, I had no business. I had no reason to be soliciting for business. I was just making sure people were o were okay, you know? I didn't even know if anybody was gonna leave their house, let alone sell it, and, that solidified to me that I'm starting with your why people will truly suffer inconveniences because she went through a whole renovation in that house while she was staying in the house.
[00:31:40] Kaleb Monroe: Working in the home, per my recommendation. And she paid a premium, so to say. I mean, I didn't charge her a crazy amount on commission. I charged her regular what anybody would. Right. But I imagine if she would've worked with her cousin or any of her best friends, they probably would've given her a. . You know, so it just proved to me that starting with your why people will pay premiums and suffering conveniences just for your service.
[00:32:01] Ray Sjolseth: Both of those things are beautiful, man, like buffalo running into the storm and just showing up. I think that's unbelievable. Caleb, where can people find you? Where's the best place to get ahold of you?
[00:32:12] Kaleb Monroe: I would say Instagram is easiest. My Instagram is https://www.instagram.com/kalebrmonroe/
[00:32:19] Kaleb Monroe: Add me on Facebook. Caleb Richard Monroe, k a l e b, and then Richard Monroe. I'm happy to help in any way that I possibly can. I, I always tell agents, even out here in Houston, I don't care if you're on my team. I don't care if we're at the same brokerage. Like, I think that together we can kind of raise the bar of the industry and I wanna be able to do my part.
[00:32:37] Ray Sjolseth: Caleb, thanks for leading by example man, this has been amazing. Thank you for your time. And guys, all the links to Caleb will be in the show notes. Take a look at his socials. Be the bull, be the buffalo.
[00:32:48] Kaleb Monroe: Yes sir. , thanks so much.
[00:32:50] Ray Sjolseth: Hey man, thanks for showing up with me today.
[00:32:53] Ray Sjolseth: Absolutely, brother. Appreciate you for having me
