The Agent Podcast - Episode 36 - Walter Key - Consistency Matters Most
[00:00:00] Walter Key: I had sailors that trusted me to, to help them out and make sure they grew and developed. And so I learned very early that. Life is about relationships, regardless of what business you're in. And I carry that relationship focus into my real estate business. So I didn't worry about, well, I gotta do this because I need money and I gotta close transactions and I gotta make deals happen.
[00:00:23] Walter Key: I just went out and started making friends with people, right? Get out there and get your name out there and build relationships with people because at some point people are gonna need a real estate. So just make a lot of friends with property owners and when the time is right, they'll let you know.
[00:00:50] Ray Sjolseth: Hello and welcome back to the Agent Podcast. I'm here with my buddy Walter Key. Walter, welcome to the show.
[00:00:56] Walter Key: Thanks.
[00:00:56] Ray Sjolseth: Thanks for having me. Yeah. I'm glad you're here, man.
[00:00:59] Ray Sjolseth: So, Walter, let's dive into it. 21 years of military service. First and foremost, thank you for your service. My pleasure. Second of all, what was the transition like into real estate?
[00:01:11] Walter Key: So it was actually really interesting. So I thought that I was gonna do 30 years in the Navy. There's just, there was no reason not to, right?
[00:01:19] Walter Key: That, you know, when you run the numbers out, it's a better retirement check after 30 years by. And so the Navy actually sent me to Central Virginia and I was like, This is just another stop along the way. And about three months after being in central Virginia, my wife and I said, You know what? We are not leaving.
[00:01:35] Walter Key: This is it for us. This is the spot. And so I said, Well, I guess I better figure out what I'm gonna do when I grow up and start putting some plans together. And so when I was at about the 18 year mark, I mean, I knew for decades I was gonna do real estate. I had been a real estate investor for years. I had bought a house almost every single time I transferred, so every three years or so.
[00:01:55] Walter Key: And so I knew real estate was what I was going to do. It was just a matter of when do I do it. And when we decided to retire, I said, Well, I'm gonna go ahead and get started because it takes time for most agents to build up that business. To a level where they can supplement whatever income they lose when they walk away from their job.
[00:02:14] Walter Key: So my goal was in 2018 to work a few years in real estate while also being active duty so that when I retired, my family didn't see any change in income level. Right. I just, my only goal was to make enough in real estate. So that when I left the Navy, the income gap was already closed. That was my only real goal.
[00:02:36] Walter Key: And you know, 12 months later I made significantly more in real estate than I did after almost a 20 year career in the Navy. So I went, Okay, this is, this is gonna work out. Okay, , the rest is history. So I spent really about three years active duty Navy, and doing full-time real. Very carefully managing my calendar.
[00:02:55] Walter Key: Cuz you, you don't get to choose when you go to work for the military, right? You gotta schedule and, and it's set, you're there till the job is done. So I was, you know, in the weekends on, in the evenings doing the things that you need to do to build a business, making calls and showing clients houses and all that stuff.
[00:03:10] Walter Key: And you know, I woke up one day and went, Yeah, this is gonna work out just fine when I'm, I'm perfectly fine when I leave the Navy, I'm ready to rock and.
[00:03:16] Ray Sjolseth: How did you know where to start with real estate?
[00:03:18] Walter Key: So I think somewhere along the way of my military career I was fortunate. I, I progressed through the ranks pretty quickly and so the majority of my 21 year Navy career, I was in a senior leadership position.
[00:03:32] Walter Key: I had sailors that trusted me to, to help them out and make sure they grew and developed. And so I learned very early that. Life is about relationships, regardless of what business you're in. And I carry that relationship focus into my real estate business. So I didn't worry about, well, I gotta do this because I need money and I gotta close transactions and I gotta make deals happen.
[00:03:56] Walter Key: I just went out and started making friends with people, right? Get, get out there and get your name out there and build relationships with people because at some point people are gonna need a real estate. So just make a lot of friends with property owners and when the time is right, they'll let you know.
[00:04:12] Walter Key: And, and that's really, that, that was it for me. Focus on the relationships and everything else fell in line.
[00:04:17] Ray Sjolseth: So is that the same philosophy you follow during your 21 year career and why you progressed through the ranks?
[00:04:24] Walter Key: I, I think so. Like, I had always focused on what do I do to help other people, right?
[00:04:31] Walter Key: And so, for example, I joined the Navy in 1999. It took less than nine years to become what we call a senior, a senior and non-commissioned officer. I was a senior enlisted, and so the whole rest of my 21 year career was truly taking sailors and teaching them how to learn and grow and develop into their roles in the Navy.
[00:04:51] Walter Key: So I had always been outwardly focused on how can I help you be a better version of whatever it is you want to be? And so I think that just, that just [00:05:00] carried that over into real estate and it made it, it just made sense.
[00:05:03] Ray Sjolseth: So there's a philosophy that says if you really wanna learn something, teach it.
[00:05:10] Ray Sjolseth: Yeah. Where did your drive or ambition, or hunger or desire for personal development come from? Because when you're talking about helping people, when you're talking about helping other sailors officers, you know, grow and evolve into that next best version of themself that's coming from somewhere. Not only to the point of, Hey, I wanna do this because it makes me feel good, but also for yourself.
[00:05:36] Ray Sjolseth: Because if you want that for somebody else, most likely you want that for yourself. So where did that come?
[00:05:41] Walter Key: I think part of that was probably, you know, I had a lot of great leaders do the same thing for me when I joined the Navy. Right? I, I, when I was a little quick backstory, when I was 15 years old, I had decided I'm joining the Navy, I know exactly what I wanna do for the rest of my life.
[00:05:59] Walter Key: And and I started training myself towards that end. When I got into Navy though, and like I didn't have a clue, like I'm brand new, like just like anyone else, you don't know what you don't. So I was fortunate to have some really great leaders that did the same thing for me and they, they poured into me and they taught me how to continuously be a lifelong learner and how to challenge myself and how to find new opportunities.
[00:06:22] Walter Key: And so, you know, that was what I did throughout my Navy career is anytime I changed commands, I would just look for those people that were clearly dedicated to other folks and say, Hey, what do we need to do at this command? What's the gap that we need to fill? How do I do that? And they would teach me what I needed to know to be successful.
[00:06:41] Walter Key: And so I think a lot of it came from just great leaders when I was a young man. And it just flowed from there. You you always find those really great role models and then you wake up on one day and you say, I need to emulate those really great role models. I can't just continue to look forward and say, What do I need?
[00:06:59] Walter Key: At some point, you gotta look back or look down and say, Let me bring you along as well. And so you turn into a role model without even really knowing that that's what you're doing. So for you, it just became a habit. Yeah. It was just, it was, That's what you did, right? You just, showed up every day and you gave it your best and you constantly learned how to be better.
[00:07:17] Walter Key: I mean, That's just what you. I love that.
[00:07:20] Ray Sjolseth: So, fast forward to today from 1999 of being 15 years old and knowing exactly what you want to do and where you want to go. What does your business look like? What brokerage are you at? What are you leading? Do you have a team? Can you talk to me about that?
[00:07:35] Walter Key: I'm a really an oddball in, in that regard right now because I spent, up until very recently, I spent my whole career at Long and. Love the people, love the broker. Phenomenal institution. A solo agent, no transaction coordinator, no administrative assistant. Like everything that I have done, I've done on my own, and it's worked out just fine.
[00:07:55] Walter Key: But recently we decided to move back to Florida. That's where the family's at, that's where almost everyone has migrated over the last several decades. So we've decided to move to Florida. So I had to change brokerages long and Fosters just doesn't have a footprint in Florida. And so I really started researching a ton of different brokerages, cuz at this point in my career it was about I already know what I need to know and I, and I'm helping other agents do it.
[00:08:24] Walter Key: Let me find the position that helps me put my family in the right spot, long term, right? Because when I, when I got into real estate, I didn't need the money. I was active duty Navy, I was doing fine. I already had a budget. I, you know, bills were paid. So I really just joined the first brokerage that I found because I really liked the people and that was the end of it.
[00:08:43] Walter Key: I didn't do any shopping. I didn't research other brokerages. I just did one interview and I said, I like this. I'll go with it. And in hindsight, I put a lot of money on the table because of the, you know, the commission splits and you know, Sure. All of the things that, while it's a phenomenal broker, The things that they just didn't offer me that new brokerages are offering are offering agents, you know, with cloud-based technology and new commission splits and, you know, so many other benefits out there.
[00:09:07] Walter Key: So I am both licensed in Virginia and still currently with Long and Foster, and I'm licensed in Florida with ExP. Now normally you can't do that because you know, you would, you can't have a conflict of interest working for two different brokerages. But I'm in a unique situation where I'm basically.
[00:09:26] Walter Key: Doing a corporate buyout, if you will. And I have another agent that's literally going to take over my business in Virginia. And so there's a, you know, as of January 1st, it'll be their business and I'm helping them transition. We're doing some joint marketing and we basically have partnered until that is finished.
[00:09:41] Walter Key: Which is why I'm broker two different brokerages. Just it's a weird situation. So in, in the very near future, I will be Florida full time with e p a. Again, I'll be a solo agent. No transaction coo. But I'm focusing a lot more of my time now on coaching other agents, helping them build their [00:10:00] businesses, helping them be successful.
[00:10:02] Walter Key: Because what I've found, you know, I've been very fortunate is I don't need a lot of money. I've made some money. I've paid off all my debts. You know, I've followed a really good plan, and so as we wait for our lake home in Florida to be remodeled so we can move into it, I'm looking into a situation where I'm selling a multi hundred thousand dollars business that's going to provide me revenue for years.
[00:10:22] Walter Key: I've got a military retirement check. I'm 70% disabled, so I've got a disability retirement check. I don't need to do a ton of business now I do cuz I enjoy it. I really, really love it. So I make a lot of money in real estate, but I'm gonna try to focus more on helping other agents replicate my success than going out there and grinding and closing transactions.
[00:10:43] Walter Key: Can we pause there for a minute and go back to. Transitioning out of Long and Foster into XP and talk about Sure. Talk about that. How did you know that it was an option to sell your business and put somebody else in place so that you can even continue?
[00:11:02] Walter Key: So that is a very unique Byproduct, I suppose, of being with Long and Foster because they've been around for 50 plus years.
[00:11:08] Walter Key: They're, there's a, they're a huge corporate entity. Lots of great technology and you know, brick and mortar brokerages all up and down the East Coast. And so that was actually a program inside Long and Foster where I could reach out to their business coaches and say, I'm going to transition out, but we'd like to keep the book a business with a person that I know and I trust.
[00:11:28] Walter Key: And if we can keep it with long and foster, everybody wins. And so they actually walked me through that program. I recruited the agent. Recruited is not really the best word. I, I interviewed lots of agents and I found the one that had a similar personality to me. They treated people the way I wanted to treat people, and so it made it a really easy transition to hand them my clients over a period of.
[00:11:50] Walter Key: And then you know, the, the, you know, the guys that run that kind of corporate buy program assessed my business. How much money had I made, how much, how big was my database? How well was I maintaining it? And they basically put a dollar amount to what my business was worth. And then, you know, in interviewing the other agents, when I found the one I thought made sense, I said, Hey, this is, this is the construct.
[00:12:13] Walter Key: This is how it would work. Are you interested? And it's, so it was a win-win. I get to transition all my clients to an agent that I trust and that agent got to expand their business substantially by taking over all those clients. So everybody wins.
[00:12:26] Ray Sjolseth: Is that common in other brokerages or is this a very specialized thing that long
[00:12:32] Walter Key: enforce?
[00:12:32] Walter Key: Yeah, that's a pretty unique thing. I don't know of any other broker. There might be some out there. I don't know of a lot of other brokerages that have that. I just know that long and Foster did simply based. The size and how long they've been around, and they have a great corporate entity in place.
[00:12:47] Ray Sjolseth: That's a cool program.
[00:12:50] Walter Key: Like that's, Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was really neat for me.
[00:12:51] Ray Sjolseth: Yeah. Yeah. Good. Okay, so now you're with Exp. You're in this, you know, cloud based brokerage and you, I know some of the other people within your, your group, so to speak, if that's the right. You guys have like a special thing going on.
[00:13:08] Ray Sjolseth: Do you mind talking about that and getting that, getting into that a little bit and kind of dissection how it works? You know, like if I'm a newly licensed real estate agent and I want to join a group that will show me not only what to do but how to do it, it seems like you guys are the place to go for.
[00:13:27] Walter Key: I tend to think so that's, that's why I, I joined w your income coaching the, the group. And so when, when we say group or team, I don't mean a traditional brokerage construct where you give us 50% of your pay and you're on our team air quote. It's just a family, right? It's a family of top producing agents who care enough to give back to new agents by doing free coaching and training, and then if they wanna join w income coaching.
[00:13:52] Walter Key: We just have such a massive. Training apparatus built out on top of everything that e p already does. It, I, I truly believe it's, there's nothing else like it in terms of taking an agent wherever they are and saying, Let me show you how to do more if you want to. And so I've seen agents that are brand new and I've never closed the transaction, come over to double income coaching and just crush it their first.
[00:14:16] Walter Key: and I've seen agents who have been around for years and are doing, you know, very respectable numbers, right? 15, 20, 30 deals a year. But they just know that there, there's more they could be doing. And so we say, Okay, well come over here. Let's take a look at your business. Let's see what you are doing, and then let us show you some strategies that other top producing agent coaches are using.
[00:14:39] Walter Key: And they'll teach you exactly what they do, how they. And how you can replicate that if you want to. So, I, I have a little thing I call, it's just something I'm made up. It's not anything proprietary, but I call it prospecting for your personality type. Right? Cuz I can tell you literally dozens of ways you could grow your business right now.
[00:14:59] Walter Key: You can door knock, you can cold Call for sell by owners expireds, geo leads, listings from landlords, listing from retirement communities. Call your CPA and work out a partnership. On and our divorce lawyers, probate, estate planning, first time home buyer seminars, right on and on and on and on. All these great ways you could build your business.
[00:15:16] Walter Key: Cuz I guarantee those things that you're not doing that you could be, but not all of those things fit everyone's personality type, right? So like for example, we have guys that never cold call. But they do 20, 30 deals a year just by actively prospecting Facebook groups, looking for folks that might need an agent.
[00:15:38] Walter Key: And they do. And they, you know, it's all about the relationship and they, and they do great business that way. They never call, call I pick up the phone all the time when I'm doing business and I call for sell by owners. I call Geo Leads. I like making that connection over a conversation that doesn't work for everybody.
[00:15:53] Walter Key: You know, so when you find the things that really click with your personality type, you're more inclined to do those things. And when you just do those things, your business booms. And so it's sometimes it's not even about, it's not even about what you're teaching, cuz they fundamentally know, like an agent knows I gotta go prospect, but how do I prospect in a way that I'm passionate about?
[00:16:19] Walter Key: And I really enjoy it so that I'll do it. And that's, that's what's really unique about us is it's not any one strategy. We have top producing agents that are using dozens of different strategies. We got a guy doing six figures every couple months off of t on videos. We got a guy doing six figures off of YouTube alone.
[00:16:37] Walter Key: He does nothing but his YouTube channel. You know, I'm, I'm not a YouTuber. I tried it. I got like six videos and I haven't made one in months. It just, it wasn't my thing. But it's his thing and he crushes it. So if someone is interested in building out a YouTube channel, come over to W Income Coaching and talk to our guy and he'll show you exactly what he has done.
[00:16:58] Walter Key: And all you have to do is then do it and replicate his success. And we don't charge a dime for anything that we do. Right. You know, it's an ExP model. So it's all that basic stuff. It's an 80 20 split. You cap, you get your money back if you make icon agent. Is easy to do when you're doing great deals, you get all that money back as company stock, right?
[00:17:16] Walter Key: All that stuff that e p offers is what you get when you join. We don't charge a dime for anything that we do, so we've got literally thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars worth of coaching available to every agent that joins us for free to help them be successful because we, we believe that everybody wins together, so why wouldn't we pour back into other agents and help them be successful?
[00:17:38] Ray Sjolseth: I love that.
[00:17:40] Ray Sjolseth: What are some of the things that you would tell somebody who's on the fence about which brokerage to choose? I think you talked about something really important, which was prospecting for your personality type. Right? Because if you don't wanna do something, you're not gonna show up for it and Exactly.
[00:17:55] Ray Sjolseth: You're gonna push against this resistance, right? So if you're somebody who's shy and not necessarily outgoing, you are not gonna show up to door knock or even cold. You know, there there's other, other strategies and tactics in order to generate leads for your business and for lead gen to do what you have to do in order to get you where you want to be based on your goals, whatever those may be.
[00:18:17] Ray Sjolseth: But for other people, I think that personality type is also relevant to brokerages. Mm-hmm. so. What would you tell somebody who's on the fence about, Hey, I'm a new agent, and what brokerage should I join? And I know these different models and there's commission splits, there's different teams, right? What are some things that you could share with audience?
[00:18:36] Walter Key: So the, the resounding conversations that I've had with old agents, new agents, et cetera, I have always told agents that there are three things you should look for before, Don't even worry about commission splits and caps. Don't look at the perks, right? Don't look at how much money could I possibly make, because the reality is, regardless of the commission split, if you're not doing business, it's zero.
[00:19:00] Walter Key: So it doesn't help you. There are three things that every agent should have regardless of what brokerage you're at. You should have technology, training, and the right environment. So if, especially as a new agent, Put yourself in a position that you can learn, not just how to stay out of jail, right? That's what a real estate license school will do for you.
[00:19:25] Walter Key: Here's the things to do to not go to get sued or go to. But look for areas where there's training in place to actually teach you how to grow your business and, and, and budget your time wisely and actively prospect and, and do deals for yourself. Don't rely on a team to generate 'em. Don't please, gosh, don't, don't pay for leads.
[00:19:47] Walter Key: Never pay to dime for leads. My entire career, I hate it. The, the idea is just ridiculous. So find the, the, the areas where you can be trained properly to be successful, and, and that does exist in other brokerages outside of exp. I personally believe that exp is one of the best because we have so much of the training.
[00:20:05] Walter Key: There are other brokerages out there that offer good training as well. Find those places the technology right as an, again, especially as a new agent, find a brokerage that has the technology built in so that you don't have to go. Okay, I'm a licensed broker or licensed agent at this brokerage now. Now I have to find a website.
[00:20:26] Walter Key: Now I have to find a crm. I have to pay for all these things. I have to figure out how I do my marketing, how do I do my advertising? If you find a brokerage that has that built in, , even if you, you pay a little bit more in a commission split per perhaps to get access to those great services, it's usually worth it rather than a brand new agent who has enough going on, right?
[00:20:50] Walter Key: They're still, they're trying to learn a business now. They have to also try to go out and find all of these other little ancillary software suites and electronic signing signatures and transaction management and CRMs, and there's so many things out there. A new agent doesn't think about until they're ready to do a transaction, and then they're like, Well, wait.
[00:21:11] Walter Key: Well, what about this? Well, how do I do a CMA and all this data? So finding a brokerage that has some really great technology built into it can save you a ton of headache and money so that you can focus on actually building your business. And then the last one is, is truly, in my opinion, the most important, find the right environment.
[00:21:31] Walter Key: By that, I mean, gets around the people that are going to pour into you and help you grow. There are great agents all over the country. There are not so great agents all over the country. I used to joke there's roughly 2 million licensed agents in America. If I took 2 million people, I don't care what the job is.
[00:21:51] Walter Key: If I took 2 million people all doing the same job and I put them in the same place, some of them are gonna be phenomenal. Some of them should be out flipping burgers somewhere and everyone else is gonna be somewhere in the middle. So say no different in real estate. There are really great agents and there are not so great agents.
[00:22:09] Walter Key: Find the people who are going to help you grow. I, you know, I can't remember who said it, I think it might have been Jim Roone, that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. I love what it's saying because it's absolutely true. Surround yourself with the kind of people you want to be, and you will absolutely become those people.
[00:22:30] Walter Key: So find the right environment where the people around you care enough to pour into you, to share their experiences, to help you learn, to help you grow. And, and, and you can model them to say, I see what you're doing and I really like it. Tell me how you did it so I can do it. And when you find those people, it all just starts to click.
[00:22:54] Walter Key: And if you can get all three of those in the same spot, you're golden. That's what I always tell agents to look for.
[00:22:59] Ray Sjolseth: I love that. I guess touching on something, what makes a great agent, You know, I understand that that is a loaded question and is subjective. Yeah. But in your opinion, in your experience, what makes a great agent?
[00:23:13] Walter Key: Man, that's a good one. You're right, That's a loaded question. I, I would boil it down to, A great agent is going to know the difference between the value of a relationship and the value of a lead, but I can pay for leads all day long and maybe I convert some and I and I do business. That's fine. But when you understand the real value of building relationships with people and how that will feed your business, your referrals, your repeat clients your online reviews, just pouring into each client it to a level that is not just, Well, I gotta check the boxes and do this transaction.
[00:23:55] Walter Key: So I get my check actually caring about the clients becoming their friends and family. And then following up with them on a regular basis so that you never lose contact with those past clients. It's all about with the relationship. If you focus on the relationship aspect, you will absolutely do well in this business.
[00:24:14] Walter Key: I, I, I teach some agents, right? We have this conversation, this happened about two months ago maybe. I was having a conversation with an agent. She's been around for four or five years and she's just not doing a lot of business. So I said, Well, let's have a call. Let's talk it through and see where we. And so she says, Well, you know, over the last three or four years, I've done maybe 10 or 15 deals a year.
[00:24:34] Walter Key: And I said, Okay, well that's great. So you've got 50, 60, 70 past clients. And she says, Yeah, but I've recently found out that some of those clients are, are listing their house with other agents right now, four years later, it's time to move. Which statistically that makes sense, right? You know, four to six years.
[00:24:50] Walter Key: Most people, most people move. And so she was starting to see her past clients who she said, I absolutely love them. We got along great. They left me a great review, but now four years later, they're listening with somebody else and I said, Okay, well let me ask you this. When was the last time you called, Texted, emailed, or stopped by Crickets?
[00:25:13] Walter Key: And I said, Listen, don't take this the wrong way, cuz I don't mean to offend you, but this is the reality of what has happened. They forgot your name. You were amazing. You did a great job with them. You closed an awesome deal, and four years later they don't remember who you are. So when it's time for a new agent, they gotta go find another one cuz they don't remember you.
[00:25:37] Walter Key: So that is simply a great agent with, with not a good follow up plan. And so we talked about how do you follow up with those past clients? How do you reach back out to those past clients and rekindle that relat? So that you can then start following up and staying top of mind with them. So there's all kinds of great stuff like that.
[00:25:57] Walter Key: If you just focus on the relationships building new [00:26:00] ones, maintaining old ones, rekindling, the ones that have dropped off. Most people will find so much business just in their own database if they're really properly managing and nurturing those relationships. I love
[00:26:11] Walter Key: that and it's, I think it's one of those things that's safe to say, you know, to be.
[00:26:17] Walter Key: Oh, absolutely. Because it is just so valuable in, you know, having those touchpoints and staying in touch and you do these things to stay top of mind so that you don't become the forgotten agent,
[00:26:30] Walter Key: you know? Yeah. I said earlier, I've never paid a dime for lead generation. Yeah. Right. And I'm, and I'm, I am passionate about that.
[00:26:38] Walter Key: That's probably one of the number one questions that I see online and, you know, different Facebook groups and forms is new agents will. Is it worth paying for realtor.com? Is it worth paying for Bold leads? Is how much do you pay for Zillow and what else is there out there that I can pay for leads and I just cringe?
[00:26:55] Walter Key: And those, I do my best to go right to those agents and try to help them understand there's a better way. So you have to think about if, if I don't pay for someone else to send me random phone numbers and, and names, how do I grow a business? Now, mind you, I, I, I, again, I said I transferred here from the. I haven't lived in Central Virginia my whole life.
[00:27:17] Walter Key: Right when I came here in less than one year after moving here, I got my license. So I hear that all the time. I'm like, Well, I'm, I'm, I'm new to the area. I don't have a really big sphere. Okay. That Whoopie do. Yeah. Go build your sphere. Right. I was the same way, right? I showed up in 2017. I got my license in 2018 to a brand new market and fast forward a year later, I'm one of the top producing agents.
[00:27:41] Walter Key: It's not because I went out and paid for a bunch of random junk and I sipped it through it. It was simply because I was genuine and I was trying to build relationships with everyone I came in contact with. If you've got a church, Be friendly and engaging with your church family. If you've got kids that are in soccer, go be friendly and engaging out in soccer field.
[00:28:00] Walter Key: Go to the meetups, go to your Chamber of Commerce meetings. Go get involved in your community in ways that get you in front of people so you can have conversations because almost any conversation, you can literally do this at the Starbucks. Okay. Every conversation within the first maybe five minutes of meeting a new person.
[00:28:20] Walter Key: Almost always it goes to what do you do, right? That's a, that's a super easy icebreaker. So when you're standing in the coffee shop and you're just in a great mood that day, so you buy the coffee of the person in front of you cuz you can, and now you've got three minutes before the barista has your cups ready while you're standing there in silence.
[00:28:40] Walter Key: We're looking at your phone for three minutes, right? Engage that person in conversation. Hey, happy Monday. What are you up to today? I hope you have a great day, right? Just start having a conversation and probably before the coffee's hot, the conversation will turn to, What do you do? Oh, you're a ballet teacher.
[00:28:56] Walter Key: That's awesome. I have, you know, my, my baby girl's 18 now, but when she was about six, she got into the ballet. That's really cool. What do you do? Oh, I'm a real estate agent. I just love helping people in the, in the market, if they're interested, that will spark. Hey, that's awesome. Can I have your, And if they're not interested, that's okay.
[00:29:13] Walter Key: You bought somebody a copy, you still made a great connection. Nothing wrong with that at all. You just, it's an, it's an outward focus on how do you add value to other people and then that value is always returned. When they need the service, they reach out to you. And it's not because you're a friendly real estate agent, it's because you're a friendly person who just happens to be a real estate agent.
[00:29:36] Ray Sjolseth: Right. I love what is something that you would love to pay forward if somebody can just leave this conversation with one thing? What is one thing you would tell our peers out there in the field?
[00:29:49] Walter Key: Man, I, you know, I keep going back to it, but really, truly like, stop focusing on transactions. I'll give it, I'll use this as a quick example cuz I do a lot of cold calling.
[00:29:59] Walter Key: I do, I teach people to have conversations. The reason most people don't cold call, Well, or, or really just they don't have conversations well, is because of their mentality is I have to because I need, And so they, they're gonna pick up the phone call and, and regardless of what it is, right? Same with door knocking, but let's say they're calling geo's, expireds for sale by owners, whatever they're doing, they're picking up the phone going I have to make this call because I need to pay the bills.
[00:30:34] Walter Key: Right? And so the mentality is a, I have to because I need to, When you change your mindset, To, I want to make this call because I want to add value to people, and the more people I call, the more people I can add value to. That changes your whole persona and, and I, and I can't, There's no scientific quantification, but I'm certain of it, it's, your call sounds different to the person on the other end of the line because your whole demeanor has now changed.
[00:31:09] Walter Key: So rather than you calling them and sounding like a salesy robot because you have to, cuz you need to close some deals and feed the kids. You're just calling to, I, I say you're calling to introduce yourself to your future friends and family, right? You're just catching up with people that don't know you yet.
[00:31:25] Walter Key: And so if that's the one thing I would tell people is if you could focus your mindset to how do I add value out into the world as opposed to how do I draw business? The business will always come. You know, money will be there, deals will happen if you just focus on adding value to others. First. Can
[00:31:46] Ray Sjolseth: we stay here for a minute?
[00:31:48] Ray Sjolseth: Sure. I love this subject. The reason I love this subject is because I am in a constant state of getting that next version of myself, right? Like I just wanna get 1% better as fast as possible. Yeah. So it compounds over.
[00:32:02] Ray Sjolseth: How does somebody who doesn't have that mindset both start to develop that mindset and create a pace for themself so that that mindset can evolve and grow over time? Yeah,
[00:32:17] Walter Key: so I would say you start by, by really just taking a pause. And thinking about all the things that you have already that you could be grateful for, right?
[00:32:28] Walter Key: We get out of the I need, I need, I need, or I want, I want, I want mentality. And that's, you know, it's perfectly natural, right? Everyone gets into that of, I want to do this. I want the next big thing. I want the notoriety, I want, whatever it is. Or you know, a lot of people are genuinely in a position where they feel like, Oh, well I need to do this.
[00:32:46] Walter Key: I need to pay this. I need to get this debt gone. I need to save for college. Right? But it just gets you in a constant cycle of, of really it's negativity of I need, I need, I need, I want, I want, I want. If you pause and you really take a breath and go, You know what? I have, I have, I have, I have this, I have that.
[00:33:05] Walter Key: My kids are, are fed every night they have a warm bed. Start thinking about all the things that you already have that you can be grateful for, and that will change the mentality and it's easier to. Be pleasant and add value to other people. When you, yourself feel like there's some value there, right? You, you have to take stock of where you are at, what you've accomplished rather than focus on the things you don't have.
[00:33:33] Walter Key: Focus on the things you do have, because when you start to value what you have, it's easier to give it away, right? If I'm in a position or a mentality where I just don't think I've accomplished anything, What do I have to offer someone else? But if you really stop and pause and you look around, you'll notice, you know, just about anyone that has a job at all in America is already better off than 99% of the rest of the human population, right?
[00:34:02] Walter Key: It's just the statistical fact. So if you've got a roof over your head, if your kids are fed every day, if you're, if they're sleeping in a bed, man, you've actually got it really good. There's value to you because you've already done those things. So quit getting down on yourself and really start saying, You know what?
[00:34:23] Walter Key: I am in a position where I can add something of value to somebody else. I have something unique that I can share, and maybe it's just my genuine love of people, and I'm going to try to convey that to other people. And, and I'll do it in a way. Yeah, sure. We might do a real estate deal, but at the end of it, we're family because the connection that we made.
[00:34:48] Ray Sjolseth: I love that. Thanks for sharing. Yeah. I think one thing that I've noticed is a lot of newer real estate agents are not confident. You know, they got into this business for whatever it is. Maybe they thought it was gonna be easy, maybe somebody told 'em they were good in sales, or they have a sparkling personality, a combination of factors, but.
[00:35:09] Ray Sjolseth: Not being confident often comes from not having self-worth or that self value that you're talking about. What are a couple things that somebody can do who maybe I call it suffering because I really feel like that's what it is. You know, if, if somebody doesn't see value in themself, like that person is suffering inside.
[00:35:31] Ray Sjolseth: Yeah. And. That is hard to work on. That is hard to overcome. It takes time. It doesn't happen overnight. But what are a couple pointers that we can help somebody with who may not see value in themselves or have that maybe missing, you know, that aspect of Yeah. Starting their business in that
[00:35:49] Walter Key: sense. Yeah, I, I will say that, and I, I get that.
[00:35:52] Walter Key: I totally do. So I grew, . A quick, a quick story and not to take up a ton of our time. Imagine the poorest most rundown, you know, product of society, environment. You can imagine for a young kid, that was my upbringing. I mean, I remember at one point living in a rental house. It was a two bedroom, one bathroom house.
[00:36:08] Walter Key: Me, my mom, her boyfriend, two siblings, half a dozen drunken bums at any given time, no back door, right? Just not a good environment. I would go the whole school year with a sharpie. On the bottom of my shoes that said 50 cents because the only shoes I got the next year were from Goodwill. Right? And just embarrassed to be in gym class because when we had to stretch, I had to put my foot up and people would see that my shoes cost 50 cents.
[00:36:33] Walter Key: Like just a really, really rough environment. Single mom dropped outta high school in the eighth grade. Really had to struggle her way through life for a long time. And so the kids were just the natural byproduct of that environment and it sucked. And so there was absolutely a point where I thought, I have nothing to offer society.
[00:36:52] Walter Key: Right. I'm the poorest person. I know we have nothing. It's just a crappy spot to be. So I get that. I totally, I, you know, I've been there and I understand what you gotta do though is you gotta understand, you know, and, and you know, there are other people out there that are in a similar situation. So I would say seek.
[00:37:09] Walter Key: Those similar mindsets where people started with nothing and they got to somewhere better. Right. And I'm not, you know, I'm, I might be one of them, but there are better examples out there, right? Like, you know, David Goggins is a phenomenal example. Yeah, a hundred percent. There, there's a ton of 'em out there.
[00:37:23] Walter Key: I would tell people grab how Elrods the Miracle Morning. It's a super quick read, but that guy is a great example of a complete crashed and crushed. Turning around to be incredibly successful, Right? So, so that's a great example. I'm a, I'm a small example of that, but I did some interesting things.
[00:37:43] Walter Key: You know, I went from dirt poor kid in, in the middle of Springfield, Missouri, walking to the bar in the evenings to find my mother to see if we had food to, you know, a very successful military career. Very successful real estate career. We're in a pretty good spot now. So my, my story is a very small sliver of that, but there are other really popular stories.
[00:38:01] Walter Key: Of people that were in that position, that some people are in right now, and they, they fought their way out of it and so learned from their lessons, do the things that they did. And I'll tell you one thing that a lot of people almost all of them will, will fall back to, and I actually teach this in my time management course, towards the end of it is understand the difference between motivation and discipline.
[00:38:24] Walter Key: because motivation is very fleeting, and so you might see something, you might read a story, you might watch a snippet on tv, and you get temporarily pumped up to do something, and that quickly fades around your bad circumstances. But when you, when you make it a point to be disciplined in fighting your way through that, right.
[00:38:44] Walter Key: Whatever it might be. So if you look at, for example, in the Miracle Morning, there are several things that he recommends everyone do to be successful. And it's basic stuff, right? Get up a little early, work out, drink water, do some journaling, do some meditation. Have some positive affirmations. Those things work.
[00:39:00] Walter Key: It's proven because many, many, many successful people do those things. Them. Yep. So they clearly. But you can be motivated temporarily and then not wanna wake up at 5:00 AM when the alarm clock goes off, right? The disciplined approach is what leads to habits and those habits you, you build are what leads to your success.
[00:39:23] Walter Key: So absolutely understand. It doesn't happen overnight, but you, you can over the course of a night, start putting things in place in a disciplined approach to get you where you want to. It happens, it's a snowball effect, right? So the first couple weeks are a little bit of a grind but after the first couple weeks, you start to build the habit.
[00:39:43] Walter Key: And now it's a little bit easier because the habit is starting to form. And once the habit has formed, now you start building upon the habit you've already created. And then the next thing you know, you look back and you're like, Holy crap, I just ran a marathon. I remember when I couldn't run two miles and now I just ran a marathon.
[00:39:58] Walter Key: Like, that's a true story. I used to run marathons. So I remember when I was 15 and I wanted to join the. I went out for a two mile run. I could not do it. I could. I could barely walk for the next three days after that two mile run that I walked in, I ran, or I walked in, I ran. Well, fast forward several years later, I ran a sub three hour marathon, right?
[00:40:17] Walter Key: It doesn't happen overnight, but the disciplined approach to doing the things I know I needed to do to get me where I wanted to be. That
[00:40:25] Ray Sjolseth: works.
[00:40:26] Ray Sjolseth: Thanks for sharing that. I think you touched on a couple things. One, David Goggins Can't Hurt Me. That's a great book. Yeah. Hal Elrod Miracle Morning, another great book. Obviously we just talked about that. But also Joco Will, Links, I think it's Discipline is freedom, right? Yep. Or Freedom is Discipline.
[00:40:42] Ray Sjolseth: Joco. Yeah. Like that's another great book on this topic of what we're talking. .
[00:40:48] Walter Key: Yeah. And there's some great podcasts out there too, right? There's a, there's other podcast, you know, like Joco has a podcast where he interviews some really great people and so you don't just hear it from him, but you hear different aspects of life and discipline and motivation and how to be successful from the people that he interviews.
[00:41:06] Walter Key: And so, and there, you know, there are a bunch of others out there too. Obviously the agent podcast, right? Look at that one as well. You have great examples. But yeah, I think, you know, nobody's alone in this world, especially. With as much technology as we have, right? You know, 30 years ago there were no cell phones, there were no podcasts, there were, there was no YouTube.
[00:41:26] Walter Key: You were alone on an island. Unless you just happen to know somebody that wasn't. Now, it's so easy to reach into the interwebs and find tangible, not only examples of how someone did overcome the situation they were in, but actionable disciplinary steps to move you in the right direction. We just have such a great base of resources that we just didn't have before, and so that's huge for a lot of people to re dive into those things, right?
[00:41:56] Walter Key: Read those books, listen to those podcasts. Make the [00:42:00] time to pour into yourself by, by having other people's example resonate with you. That's very important.
[00:42:06] Ray Sjolseth: Yeah. And everybody has value, right? Everyone's unique. Everybody has something. And exactly when you take a moment to stop and self-evaluate that and take five minutes to dig a little bit deeper, you're gonna find that value and that value is what you need to share with people in order to build and connect those relationships.
[00:42:25] Walter Key: Exactly right. Yep, exactly right. Walter,
[00:42:28] Ray Sjolseth: this has been awesome. I want to be respectful of your time and thank you for joining me. Oh, my
[00:42:34] Walter Key: pleasure. I really enjoyed it.
[00:42:35] Ray Sjolseth: Yeah, it was great, man. I like going deep. Where can people find you if they want to get in touch? If they wanna reach out, if they wanna have a conversation.
[00:42:44] Walter Key: Oh man. So the, the easiest thing is just email me. I have the, the greatest email in the world, walter dot key gmail.com. I got in on the ground floor , or, you know, it's just a unique name. You know, Walter, it's not a popular name. And Key is the perfect last name in real estate. Anyway so [email protected].
[00:43:01] Walter Key: If you, if you Google, you know, Walter.key realtor, you'll find me on, you know, Facebook, I'm on Instagram, I'm on Twitter, I'm all those spots. But you know, the easiest thing is just shoot me an email. I, I'm always receptive to email.
[00:43:12] Ray Sjolseth: Love that. Walter, thanks for joining me, man. You have a good day and take care, talk soon.
[00:43:17] Ray Sjolseth: Appreciate it. Thanks so much.
