The Perfect 100

Hello and welcome back to the Perfect 100.

I am your host Tammy Zurak.

I also hold the business coach seat in the East Memphis chapter.

And if you've been listening, you know that this podcast is for helping everyone grow
their business by working smarter through networking, leveraging your strengths and

creating measurable success in BNI.

Today's guest was introduced to me by the managing director, Anna Rivers, who

told me that she was the epitome of someone who gets it in BNI and she is from Portland,
Oregon.

She is a realtor with decades of experience in a track record of leadership, not only in
her chapter, but she is.

I don't think I've met anyone that has had a perfect 100 score since 2022, which is no
small feat.

So that's why I asked her to come here today and tell us her story.

Before we dive in, I want to remind everybody to grab your free Perfect 100 networking
tracker at theperfect100.com.

It's a great way to go into a networking event with intention and track what you're doing
so you get success.

And you can combine that with your CliftonStrengths and really maximize all the things
you're gonna do when you're networking.

But let's jump right into the conversation with Lisa Bradburn.

Hey, Lisa.

Hello, thank you for having me.

It is my pleasure.

let's start right off with your 45 seconds so you can go ahead and tell everybody who you
are what you do.

Okay, here we go.

Well, I am Lisa Bradburn.

I'm a residential realtor in Portland, Oregon, and the principal broker of your own team
at Premier Property Group.

I believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to own a home and that home ownership
changes lives and builds legacies of stability, community, and financial health.

With over 38 years of experience, which is a long time in the housing industry, including
working alongside many builders and remodelers, I have a unique skillset.

that helps both buyers and sellers to maximize the value of their investments.

I guide my clients with vision and attainable improvements that make properties shine in
the marketplace.

And I'm known for the quality of the inventory market and sell.

So if you're looking for results when it comes to buying or selling your next home, I'd
love to have a chance to talk to you.

Awesome, right on that money.

All right, we like it.

So you said 30 some years in real estate.

How about BNI?

long have you been?

When did BNI enter your world?

Not until 2020, remember that year, what a year.

And I went out on my own to start my own team and I did not even know what BNI was until a
good friend called and an opportunity laid in my lap.

Okay, awesome.

So you, as I mentioned, have had a perfect 100 for many, many years and most people
struggle to hit that even one time, but you've hit it consistently throughout.

right from the beginning, you were bought in.

Tell us a little bit more about that.

Did it click right away or was that just something that you kind of over time figured out?

It took, there's a learning curve for any new member.

mean, it just takes a minute, but it was a really big deal for me to earn this seat.

Anybody in a BNI group knows that that Realtor seat is a big deal and they took a lot of
time to vet and interview.

And so

I carried a big weight of responsibility that I wanted to do a good job for this chapter
and them saying yes to me, I was making a big yes to them.

So I had to figure out a strategy of how am I going to do this?

Not so that I can have a perfect score, but that I can keep my promise.

So that's what I dug into figuring out and I've perfected that and it's something that I
can do.

Actually, it's easy.

It really is.

If you have a plan, it's easy.

exactly.

Well, and I was looking at Lisa's, I have everybody send me their power one uh prior to
obviously, because I'm going to show it here in a minute.

you have not, you're not the only one with 100 in your chapter.

It looks like you guys have a high achieving chapter.

We do.

This is the first month that we've had three people with a perfect 100 score on our last
Power of One report, which is really exciting to see that.

There's normally one or maybe two of us, but we've got a third person and over half of our
chapters in the green, which is a really exciting goal.

Yeah, and when you've got 40 some members, that's also a really big thing.

And I noticed that you didn't have a single member in the gray, which is also a big feat.

No, no, want to, coach up.

It's a positive environment and we want everybody to be getting all the benefits of their
membership.

That's why we do this.

Yeah, that's awesome.

And you've also held multiple leadership roles.

So I believe you're currently the vice president.

Is that right?

Correct, this is, I'm heading into my third term, not consecutively, of being the VP of
our chapter and I've also been the president of the chapter.

Okay, so give us one lesson now that you've been in leadership a bunch of times.

Give us one lesson that you've learned being in leadership for the chapter that you think
might also apply to running a business.

m Positive attitude, which is one of our core values, goes a lot further than a punitive
relationship with anybody.

When you're leading people, you've got to be able to see the potential in them and coach
them up so that they can reach their goals.

So that's exciting for me to see when that happens.

So that's how approach it.

Okay, awesome.

Well, and you mentioned you were against a number of realtors when the seat was open.

And I don't know if everybody listening knows, but the realtor position in my mind and
lots of other people's minds is kind of the crux of the chapter.

Cause if you don't have a great realtor, you're potentially missing out on a lot of
opportunities.

So from your experience, does a realtor elevate

or hold back, and what is that difference if a realtor brings to the chapter?

The Realtor has the opportunity, if you select wisely when you're picking a Realtor, um
somebody that is well connected.

And so I generate a lot of referrals for our chapter, of course, in our home services.

And we've really collaborated strongly with Intention.

We have our own website.

We've really tried to take the full essence of a power team and make sure we're being
intentional with doing business with one another and modeling that for the other.

the other contact spheres in our chapter as well of, hey, connect and do this in a way
where you are able to generate those referrals within your contact sphere.

so those are our priorities, obviously, is working within that contact sphere first, and
then looking for those other opportunities outside of that, not just within our own

chapter's business, but who do they know that we need to know?

Yeah, and I think that's important when we have new chapters forming all the time and
choosing the right realtor really matters to everybody that comes after.

We usually start the chapters with what we call the firm finance, insurance, real estate,
and mortgage.

Those are the people that oftentimes can't get into a chapter because once they're in,
they don't go anywhere.

What would be the criteria you would recommend for somebody looking, whether it's a new
chapter or maybe the seat has the opportunities come open for a seat in their chapter,

what should they be looking for?

Somebody that is coming from a perspective of collaboration, You've got to be well
connected and know people.

You have got to be able to make those initiating relationships for other people.

Hey, I know somebody you need to know.

Let's make those connections.

So when you're picking a realtor, you've got to ask those questions.

How many people in home services are you already working with?

Who do you know in home services that is not in our chapter?

You know, we needed a plumber.

Good luck finding a plumber, but we got one because you know, fate and intentionality and
paying attention.

I met somebody that had a new budding business and they were looking to how to grow.

That's very difficult to do with some of these trades.

They're so busy.

They don't have time to really put into coming to a meeting and all of the other things
that we commit to.

So you really have to ask those questions.

We had seven applicants when I applied, two dropped out and they panel interviewed five of
us.

And it really did come down to who knows the most people, who knows the most professionals
that they can bring business into the chapter for us.

That's great.

So they've got to be ready to party, so to speak.

They got to show up with all the right people and uh want to, the open, the givers gain uh
mentality, right?

Is want to help others.

So

you also were a part of growing your chapter from 24 members to 40 plus members.

And I think you told me your thank you for close business went from a million bucks to
nearly 4 million bucks.

What role did you or your role play in helping that along?

I'm pretty enthusiastic about BNI.

really believe in the power of it.

so I think keeping my promise and being very uh gregarious about my approach and getting
people excited about how they can jump on the bandwagon and do this with the chapter has

been inspiring.

think people just want to follow that inspiration and they want their businesses to grow.

And they saw my business growing.

And it did help my business to grow.

And it's like, I want that too.

I think modeling that is so much of it.

And then sharing strategies, you know, how, how I did it and having lots of one-to-ones
and saying, Hey, how's your business going?

And what can I do to speak into that and to help you figure out strategies for your own
business?

Because at the end of the day, it's not about BNI, it's about our businesses and the
health of our businesses.

And that's what I love to be able to help people to see how.

can be an idea part of your business plan so that your business can grow.

So you mentioned strategies and strategies my number one strength.

Give us your best strategy for, you said give them the strategy to help them grow.

Give us the best one you think you share often.

I think the hardest thing for any BNI member to do is to come up with enough people to
invite.

I think inviting visitors, you just have to do it once a month, but that is the single
hardest thing.

When I look through the region and I look at everybody else's traffic lights, their power
of one reports, gray all the way down.

So what I did is I have a personal goal.

Not only do I do my one-to-ones every week with people that are in BNI and in my contact
sphere, but I have one one-to-one a week with a business that is new to me.

that is not in BNI and I need to know more people.

This is a math problem for most of us is you kind of run through the list of people you
know, and you're like, I don't know anybody, anyone else to invite.

I guess I don't have anyone else to invite.

And I just see people do that for years inviting nobody.

And so I have a plan for that and it's not easy.

I've got to leverage my LinkedIn and my Facebook and I've got to really pay attention to
who who's out there that I haven't had coffee with yet.

And

I drink a lot of coffee over tables and get to know people and really decide, is this
somebody that would be a good fit for BNI?

Not everybody is, you know, is this a good culture for my chapter?

Maybe they'd be good for another chapter that I know.

So that's been my secret sauce is one, one to one a week with somebody that is not in BNI
that is a to medium business owner.

I love that I'm in the chamber, the local, well, we have a couple of local chambers, like
I'm sure everybody does, and I don't know everyone in it.

So, you know, that is a great place to reach out to somebody who may be a targeted, you
know, that's gonna help your business, but maybe also you have a seat open in your chapter

for, you know, would be one good way, or even on social media.

I know I could probably make a post, like, who do I know that does this?

you know, that I'm looking for.

Cause that's, we used to do that back in the olden days when we were trying to fill a
seat, we would each pick a profession and say, okay, you post about this one, I'll post

about that one.

And you just ask the question, I'm looking for, who do I know that, you know, who, who's a
great plumber?

Who's a great.

electrician and then all your friends are going to populate that post with all the
potential people that could be somebody you might need for your chapter.

But I love that coffee approaches like, hey, let's get together.

You know, I'm just trying to extend my network and for you as a realtor, they definitely
are going to want to meet with you, right?

So that's awesome.

So how about for chapters where maybe the realtor is struggling a little bit?

What would a difficult conversation or how could that difficult conversation?

be had with said realist or who is maybe not as engaged as we'd like them to be or not
kind of work in all the channels that we would want them to work in to be in my chapter.

I think we have to get a lot more comfortable with honoring bold conversations to really
find out what's behind that, what's holding them back.

Maybe they look outgoing, but they're actually kind of shy.

um Maybe they just need some encouragement or they're going through something.

This business is a hard business and we can lose our confidence just like anybody else.

So I think remembering that we're people and we're all out here doing the best that we can
and

I think sometimes the expectation is for the realtor in the chapter to be the driver
because we do drive a lot of referrals, but we need other people to run alongside of us

too.

And so I just think sometimes just having that good heart to heart talk of, Hey, what's
going on?

How can we help you help us, you know, and just ask those deeper questions instead of, you
know, ignoring it and watching somebody suffer.

uh

they suffer, we all suffer.

you know, that's great advice for really anybody in any chapter.

We just had our chapter success meeting uh on Wednesday and we're looking at, you know,
who needs help.

And that's a really great way to, know, the numbers oh are just part of the story, right?

right?

We look at those reports and we're like, this one's not, know, I'm waving my wagon, finger
for those of you only listening.

This one's got a problem and we're immediately to, they're not doing what they need to be
doing, but there might be more behind that.

you know, having somebody ask the question, how's it going?

Right.

Yeah.

What's we have our power team meetings every month and my agenda is what do you have?

What do you need?

What do you want?

You know, and just having those honest dialogues of what's what's really good.

What's your struggle this week?

Who do you need to hire?

What do need to hand off?

You know, how can we encourage you and get deeper into each other's businesses to really
have a real time experience with them versus?

hearing about a major problem two months later, that should never be happening in our
chapter.

This is our work family.

We should know what's going on.

Yeah, I love that.

Who's on your power team?

How many people are on your power team?

There's, think right now we're around 15, 16.

We, I think the one thing we're looking for right now is an electrician, which is as hard
to get as a plumber, believe it or not.

And, but we've got so many rich tradesmen in our chapter and in our power team and women
too, not just the boys.

So it's, it's very balanced and it's really, it's wonderful to work with them.

So for those that are listening and don't know what a power team is, maybe you're new or
you just haven't heard of the concept wherever you are, um typically a power team is where

you assemble people who think of where your client might go before you or your client
might go after you and you all work together and you meet outside of the meeting.

So it's a separate meeting where you sit down and do what Lisa said is, you know, ask what
are they going for?

You know, can we partner up?

Typically there might be a...

target list of clients that we're really trying to work with or companies, whatever that
looks like, depends on your power team.

But you can strengthen numbers and we all know everyone somewhere and being nice connected
to someone.

coming up with that target list of, I'd really love to have this one as a client.

And then we bring it back to the chapter and suddenly now we have a new contact.

I love that you guys are doing that.

All right, let's roll over to the...

So Palms Report, well, actually, we'll look at the power of one first.

So you have a, as we have already said, perfect 100.

So there is not tons to talk about with that one.

You are hitting on all cylinders in the green all the way across.

So good job and congratulations to you.

All right.

And then the Palms Report, which is what I said or was going to say anyway, the Palms
Report.

So you've given me 14 weeks of things to look at here.

So absences are zero.

Referrals given inside are 28.

Referrals given outside are 44.

Referrals received inside five.

I'm trying to see without my glasses.

Referrals received outside six.

Visitors three.

One to one's 43.

Thank you for closed business given $184,489 and CEUs 22.

So tell me about what stands out most to you on that report.

Well, I definitely am able to refer a lot more than I mean, ratios, right?

When you're in a big ticket world, you have to have the right expectations coming into
this as a realtor.

I'm not gonna get the same number of returns as what I give.

I don't even expect that.

In fact, I'm at the point in my BNI career where if I got no referrals, I would still do
this because the power of the relationships for me with my clients is so valuable.

and means so much to them that it's worth it just right there to have those referral
partners that I know, like, and trust are going to do an excellent job for me.

So those ratios are very different from each other.

And yet that doesn't bother me in the least because, you know, it's there.

The reward is so great for me in so many other ways.

Yeah, I love that.

I always say to new people that I'm meeting is I know everyone.

When I'm working with clients at the end of whatever the work that we do together is, I
will ask them who do they need to meet?

And they kind of look at me funny like, what do you mean?

And I said, well, you're in business.

I'm in business.

I know lots of people who they need to meet.

And they're like, oh.

And inevitably, there's somebody, right?

And I generally know somebody.

If I don't, I will.

I will find them.

exactly.

have an app on my phone that lets me search all the BNI people in this area and beyond if
necessary.

we all have that app.

So that's a great resource to be able to be the person who connects everybody.

And that goes a long way when you can give someone the right person or at least great
options to choose from versus the masses out there who you have no idea what you're

getting into.

Absolutely.

I just referred a client to a realtor in Northwest Arkansas and I that's in BNI and I
found a BNI realtor in Northeast Oklahoma.

So, you know, you just make those phone calls and you've got this powerful device in your
hand with this app that you're connected to the whole wide world.

I don't know that they'll ever have a referral for me, but gosh, it felt really good to go
find somebody out there that could take my client and take good care of them.

Yeah, I love that.

And have you, when you were deciding which Realtor, because we all know there were
probably a few, how did you make that decision when you were looking through the app to

decide this one or that one?

Were there any kind of thought processes that kind of led you to one versus another?

I looked at their social media.

I made that phone call.

I have a really good instinct and a gut check for when you're having those conversations.

uh Did they respond right away?

How long did it take me to make that connection?

Are they going to follow up right away?

mean, just everything was right on.

And I expect that.

If I'm reaching out to a BNI member, I know they've been trained.

And so my level of expectation of them is high, and I'm rarely disappointed.

Yeah, we try to instill in people that it's important to first of all make sure your
profile is completely filled out.

You have all the things ticked and then if you're, I'm a business coach and I work with
people on how to build their brand and their business so I ask them to pay attention to

what they're posting because we live in a world where one thing can turn somebody the
wrong direction and so.

You've got to be mindful of all of that and people are making assessments on every single
thing.

So yes, you got to be aware of all that.

All right, and let's get into your strengths, because that's exciting.

So this was your first time taking the CliftonStrengths.

I'm going to ask you about that in just a second.

Let me tell everybody what they are first.

So your number one is developer.

You recognize and cultivate the potential in others.

You spot the signs of each small improvement and derive satisfaction from evidence of
progress.

Number two is achiever.

You work hard and possess a great deal of stamina.

You take immense satisfaction in being busy and productive.

Number three is responsibility.

You take psychological ownership of what you say you will do.

You're committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.

Your number four is belief.

You have certain core values that are unchanging.

Out of these values emerge a defined purpose for your life.

And number five is connectedness.

You have faith in the links among all things.

You believe there are a few coincidences and that almost every event has meaning.

So any surprises there for you when you got your assessment back?

I was surprised that developer came in higher than the achiever.

And I think it's because that's just something that just organically happens with me.

And I don't put a lot of intentional thought into, I'm gonna do this thing.

It's just comes out of my natural work ethic and my drive.

And so I would have thought achiever would have been reversed from that, but.

It all rang very true when I read all of the summaries on each of those.

was like, yeah, that feels like me.

yeah, well that's great.

And they can be very, they could be extremely close.

So one might edge out the other one today and tomorrow it's the other.

You really are operating in your top 10 at uh most of the time.

And even sometimes 11 and 12 are the kind of supporting characters.

Now you only have your top five, but you can unlock the rest if you like.

But it is, people say that a lot as they expect to see.

this or maybe one higher than the other, or they felt like one that didn't show up was
maybe one of their things, and it probably is.

ah You generally, especially as you go through your life, you start to feel some things
happening that you just know you're good at, or people compliment you on.

uh What's nice about having the assessment is it gives you direction, right?

It kind of gives you the ability to, we call it, name it.

which is what this is, and then as a coach I help people aim it and claim it.

So what are we gonna do with that?

So that said, um which of those shows up most do you think when you're building
relationships, whether that's in BNI or just in your business?

I would say that third category of responsibility.

My word is my bond.

If I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it.

If I say I'm going to be there, I'm going to be there.

And hopefully I'm a few minutes early.

It is really important to me that you know that what I say I'm going to do, I follow up
and do, and that your relationship with me is important to me.

that can be challenging at times because I've got the same 24 hours in the day as
everybody else.

So I have to understand where my capacity is and make sure that I'm also not over
committing myself so that I can actually follow through and do the things that I say I'm

gonna do.

So that's a foundation for me with my relationships.

nice I have high achiever too.

So I get that it's, uh you know, you, you can work all the time.

So you know, it's, it's kind of being doing the things you say and being responsible for
the things that you know, accomplishing the things that you want.

And but the living to your word is really kind of for a lot of us.

And again, it kind of falls back to BNI is when you say you're going to do something

and you don't do it, then I think that's just in general, it doesn't have to apply to just
be an eye in life.

If you're meeting with people and you've promised something, you're gonna be a little less
successful if you don't deliver on what you've said.

Absolutely, if I'm not following through with you, am I going to follow through with the
client?

Do you refer to me?

Right?

I mean, it just directly reflects on your credibility.

Yes, and belief and connectedness, those are your four and five, they suggest you see
purpose and meaning in what you do.

How have those strengths helped you lean into community and say yes when opportunities or
challenges felt intimidating to you?

Such a good question.

So I made a, I really, a vow to myself when I started my own team in 2020 and I said yes
to this, I said, I'm going to say yes to every hard thing that comes my way and just lean

into it.

I'm going to challenge myself and not let the, my own fears or insecurities hold me back
from growth.

So in doing that, that's something that I carry into relationships and coaching up other
people of

You can do this.

Your capacity is bigger than you think that it is um mentally, emotionally, spiritually,
you can do more.

And that's really what I want to bring to people to help them to grow when I'm in those
building those relationships with them, especially as referral partners.

Okay, and when you brought your daughter into your business, um I'm guessing that there
was some teachable things for you as that transition happened.

um How has that shaped how you do things today?

man.

So every mom out there that has a daughter, there are just all of these amazing dynamics
that happen when you're working with every daughter that has a mom.

She's got to work with me.

She's amazing.

I have, there are just those moments where we have to go, okay, we are, we've got to
separate the family familial thing here.

This familiar part of this, we've got to really look at each other as business partners.

And she challenges me and I challenge her and watching her grow in her own real estate
business.

She's an amazing realtor in her own right.

She also has been the president of her own BNI chapter and is currently the VP of her own
chapter.

So we get to talk about that a lot.

And I think just it's, it's good to have somebody that sharpens you that iron sharpens
iron thing.

And I don't think anyone can sharpen you more.

than your own family, you know, and you're making that decision to do business together.

And it really makes me more self-aware in relationships outside of that, you know, of,
okay, that bunter.

I don't want to be doing that to somebody else.

So, you know, it's good.

It's really, it's very helpful for me actually.

Yeah, I think it's a little, it can be a tightrope sometimes, right?

My husband has a business and I help support him in his business.

He runs it, but I can't help myself.

I'm a coach.

I look around and I'm a student of his business.

He teaches how to paint.

people how to paint so and I'm one of those people so I kind of experience the business
but then also give feedback.

So I think it's a tightrope a little bit sometimes but you won't get the feedback that
your know your family's very comfortable giving you the hard feedback generally speaking.

that's important.

I don't need people just telling me what I want to hear.

I'm a very driven person and I'm a boss lady and I need to be spoken into just like
everybody else does.

I don't want to be running roughshod anywhere.

And so yes, those honest conversations are, they're super important and I want to have
those with other people.

Yes, yes.

Well, and Achiever kind of, well, and you have developers.

So your Achiever developer, oh you want to, you're always trying to do the thing, get to
the top.

And your developer, you're trying to develop potential in others.

So sometimes we turn that back on ourselves, right?

As we have to look in the mirror and say, okay, self, you know, this is that thing that
keeps popping up that your family will tell you, but you know, the people that work for

you are a little...

maybe less inclined to say for, know, cause we all have that sort of fear thing.

That's actually, it's one of my top strengths is command and where that's always paid off
for me, but also been very challenging is command is willing to take the hit.

When I work corporate for, you know, a couple of decades, um oftentimes what starts at the
top rolls downhill and it.

doesn't gather momentum in a good way.

And I've always been the person that was willing to raise my hand and say, hey, this isn't
what I think you were intending.

sometimes that means the person who was sending that thing down the hill might be your
boss or their boss, having those tough conversations.

So it's good to build a team of people with different strengths.

you, I think,

developer tends to look at each individual person and, you know, don't let go of moving
each of them along.

How many people do you have on your team?

There are currently three of us and then I'm also a mentor with our brokerage for brand
new realtors.

And so I partner with people that are just getting their businesses off the ground.

And so I have to apply a lot of those skills to them as well.

I know my partners, I know how they work.

We've been together long enough that we can really anticipate and understand each other.

But these new ones that come, it's a brand new thing every time.

And how do they learn?

What do they need to feel motivated?

What's gonna build them up?

What's gonna unintentionally tear them down?

That's constantly cycling every time I take on a new one.

Yeah, love that.

And knowing that you're good at those things and you know, if you have the opportunity and
if anybody's listening, I'll just remind you that you can take the CliftonStrengths.

I've actually added it to, if you download the tracker, which is free, you can take the
assessment after that.

It's on theperfect100.com.

So you can get it through Gallup, but you can also just get it through me and them.

We're in BNI, so that would be a referral.

So you can go ahead and take that um and get that.

But it's so useful, it's been so helpful for me over the years to know exactly what I
bring to the table and then knowing what other people, my whole, well not my whole

chapter, half, almost three quarters of my chapter have taken the assessment.

um So it's really cool to be able to see each other's and we have a smattering across all
the different things.

So when we struggle, you know, I think that I...

I just did a, I was just at the Chamber of Commerce, they had a luncheon and I was talking
about starting, they asked me to be the president, they were talking, they asked me to

speak about it and I was saying something along the lines of, know, when you first start
your business, you can feel really alone, you know, you, you're sort of, it's your dream,

you want it to work, but you're all by yourself, you know, generally a lot of people start
their business as a solopreneur, so you're.

plugging away at your business and maybe you work out of your house, you don't even see
people.

you're suddenly now, if you went from corporate to solopreneur, you used have all these
people and now you've got no one.

And I think BNI gives us that community that of different sets of people that we can fall
back on that will support us, which is amazing, right?

Yeah.

So with decades of experience um in your industry, both in housing and new construction,
what's the biggest mistake you see buyers or sellers make that is actually costing them in

the end?

Not taking the time to prepare properly ahead of time, whether you're buying or selling.

And we've actually developed classes for home buyers, not just first time.

It doesn't matter if you bought a home 10 years ago, you do not know how to do it now,
because things have changed.

And then a home seller's class as well.

Prior preparation is everything.

You could put anything on the market three, four years ago and it would sell instantly.

That is not reality now.

you can not over price and under condition a home.

And so when I'm working with buyers or sellers, helping them really, and I said this in my
45 second, to be able to maximize their value when they buy that home, what can they do

with it over their years of ownership to really make it worth a lot more with achievable
goals.

And if you're selling your home, what can you do ahead of selling the property to help
build its value so that your price and condition match?

So I spend a lot of time and money with my sellers on pre-inspections with specialty
inspections for sewer scope, radon testing, things like that that are important in our

market here to make sure that before we ever go to the market, I'm like, why are we losing
sleep worrying about the home inspection tomorrow?

The buyer's worrying, the seller's worrying, gosh, I hope they don't find something wrong
in the crawl space.

And like, stop that.

We don't have to worry about this anymore.

Let's find out ahead of time and fix it.

So prior preparation.

whether you're buying or selling, you've got to spend the time to make sure that your
ducks are in a row and you're ready to go.

I love that.

used to have in my old chapter, we had a home inspector and he couldn't be like we
couldn't in the process, the way the laws work here, we couldn't choose him if we were

buying or selling a house.

It had to be has to go through, you know, the proper channel.

So I can't just say I want this guy.

It has to because they don't want you to be, you know, for obvious reasons, they don't
want you to be maybe bribing somebody to say, it's perfect, you know, and it's not.

But I elected to have him come to my house and do an inspection because we're not selling
it, but I wanted to know, we bought it from the builder.

So I really wanted to have a better understanding of all the things.

And the value at the time we bought it has changed significantly.

It's gone up since we've been here almost 17 years now.

When we bought it, was different market than it, you and that's going to change all the
time, right?

There's no set kind of, it's that real estate feels like it's a roller coaster at any
given moment.

It is, it is.

And the condition of properties is really at the foundation of what we do when we're
helping guide clients if they're going to buy that home or sell that home.

I tell people all the time, do not wait until you're going to sell your home to get
another inspection done.

You should be inspecting your home every three years, at least, um because these are
sticks and dirt.

This is not a Lego built in a factory.

It is built by human hands and a pile of dirt and it's got deferred maintenance.

I've had brand new homes that needed things to be done.

The sewer line didn't get connected.

I mean, all kinds of crazy stuff.

taking care of your property and your exterior envelope of your home and keeping water and
moisture out of the house affects everything.

And I cannot talk about that enough.

I'm passionate about that.

Okay, great.

Well, I'm glad we gave people something to think about.

A lot of realtors or people, just business owners in general, struggle with articulating
their unique edge.

What sets you apart as a realtor?

My background in construction and working with so many builders and remodelers, I really
do understand how a home gets put together.

I try to stay as current with that as I can.

I have a lot of one-to-ones with our trades professionals to understand.

Yesterday, we just had a class with a chimney and fireplace company that talked to us all
about how they inspect and all the different points of inspection for a chimney.

Who knew?

I can't unsee this information now.

It is going to definitely inform.

when I'm working with clients, hey, you need to take a deeper look at that.

I feel a strong sense of responsibility to make sure that I, you know, I'm not a
contractor, I've got to stay in my lane, but that I know who to direct people to and I can

see telltale signs.

I think that's a skillset that I've built over 30 plus years that most people don't have.

I've been a realtor for 28 years, but I've been in the housing industry for almost 40
years.

My dad was a custom home builder.

I've just grown up in this industry and it's what a blessing to be able to have all of
that experience to draw on.

It really does come right back to my clients.

Yeah, when we moved here, the realtor that we actually, because I was corporate at the
time, we went through, they owned a company that was, you could elect a realtor through.

we got lucky, ours was really good and had a similar background to you.

We came from a building background and then decided to be a realtor.

And he really saved our bacon.

We hit some snags in the closing process and

because he was walking through the house with us, we said we bought it from the builder
and he's looking at things going, this is a solid house.

I appreciate that he knew the builder and he just looking at everything, he's like,
sometimes like you said, you buy in our neighborhoods, some of the houses were built by

the son of the person that we bought our house from and the son's...

What are the right words?

I'll use responsibility.

His responsibility to his clients was not the same as the dad.

He did not build as solid of homes as the dad did.

And so we felt very good that and we heard that just from all the people in the
neighborhood and, you know, knowing that A, he had that knowledge and B, in the closing

process when we had some challenges, he had built relationships that oh

meant we were able to overcome those challenges without any kind of issues.

So that was amazing.

You are also a real estate negotiation expert and senior real estate specialist.

Can you share a story where those skills changed the outcome for a client?

Absolutely.

oh I have a client right now.

I did my SRES, the Senior Real Estate Specialist certification just this last year.

And it's interesting when you make a decision to get a certification, you kind of are
leaning into something and you don't know what that's going to lead to.

I was newly into that certification and all of sudden all of these senior clients started
coming to me.

They didn't know I had that certification, but it's just kind of like the universe is
pulling opportunity towards you because you said yes to something.

And I have one particular client that came to me from a referral from one of our
contractors in our chapter, our roofer, and not a great big house, not a big expensive

home, not necessarily in the most convenient neighborhood for me to get to, but I really
want to honor those referrals when they come.

And I said yes to her and went and sat with her and you know, the technology and the
daunting task of moving after you've lived somewhere for a long time and all of your

things and she's alone and

just thinking of lot of different hand holding.

Having gotten that certification really helped me have the mindset that I needed to align
myself with her pace, not my go, go, go pace, but what does she need?

And then what happened was I received that referral from our referrer and subsequently we
had six other referrals that were driven into our chapter just from her and she needed

every single one of those things.

And again and again,

thank you for sending him.

He was wonderful.

Thank you for doing that.

That's exactly what I needed.

And so we did all the work ahead of time.

We navigated some kind of challenging things that needed to happen.

And we put that house on the market and we got multiple offers just this last weekend in
about three days on market.

And the sense of relief for her, you know, and I had to go drive to her senior center and
go stay, go, you know, sit in her apartment with her and help her navigate how to sign

things.

And it was, you know, a big deal.

m That just speaks volumes, I think, to just the power of having those referral partners
in BNI and what I could do and bring to my client because I did lean into those

certifications and be able to do that.

So, yeah.

at the thing I was just at was talking about the biggest difference in uh one person
versus the next is if you come to things with the mindset of helping the other person,

right?

And I think that the certification doesn't necessarily mean that you're gonna do that, but
the certification, and I'm certified as a CliftonStrengths coach, you can do

CliftonStrengths, you can teach people CliftonStrengths without the certification, but

the investment in becoming that says, okay, you care about delivering this in a way that
is meaningful to the person on the other end.

for me, I have some of the same things as you.

want to be able to be the best, give the person I'm dealing with the best experience that
I can possibly deliver, because it's gonna change their life, right?

Totally.

you're putting somebody either in or out of a home that is, know, that's what are they,
the most stressful things in life is selling your house and moving and what was the other

one?

There's one more.

I can't think what the other one.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

There's very few things.

There's some really big ones in real estate.

one of them.

So yeah.

And I like to feel like starting a business is one of them.

Right.

Yes.

that jump from working for someone else to working for yourself, that's a pretty stressful
thing.

uh So you've also built a business that not only supports your family, but elevates those
around you.

um What mindset shift do you think is most powerful in helping you grow both as a realtor
and as a leader?

I think I mentioned it earlier, just being willing to say yes to any challenge because
you're going to learn through it.

And I watch certain generations that are younger than me have a more limited view of
capacity.

And I have just a mindset that I don't quit.

You know, I might pivot, I'll make big moves, I'll take risks, but I don't quit.

And

If things get hard, I really do try to intentionally look at that as an opportunity for my
own personal growth and my business growth.

And so consequently doors just continue to open for me because I've got it.

I think it just an open spirit and an open heart to say, I'm willing to try, you know,
there's am I scared?

Absolutely.

You know, there are many things that come along that it's like, man, I don't know.

And, um, I just find that I, it's never as hard as I thought it was going to be when it's
done.

And,

I always walk away having gotten stretched just another, another inch higher in my
business and that opens up another door.

So that's what I want to encourage people to do is just don't limit yourself.

Don't make yourself smaller.

You are, you have an unlimited capacity to go anywhere you want to go.

I really believe that.

Yeah, I agree with you.

um A lot of people get stuck working in their business instead of on their business
because I think we all set out with the, you know, I'm really good at this thing, whatever

this thing is.

And you know, if you look around the room in a BNI chapter, you see a whole bunch of
people that were like, I got this thing, you know, I'm good at this thing.

So how do I make this thing a business?

And they're busy doing the thing instead of building the business.

And since you've grown, it's not just you, it's others, you have a team of people.

What's one practice or system that you've adopted to keep you focused on growing versus
working just transactionally?

being willing to delegate and let things go, trust other support providers, um skills and
talents to do things that I'm not great at.

I am not a website specialist.

I am not a graphics designer.

I don't want to get bogged down with that stuff.

So I have, I pay, I write the checks.

I do that.

And I also got a business coach.

All of you out there talk to Tammy.

Business coaching is essential and it's not just for big businesses.

you've got to have somebody that can take an objective look at your systems and processes
and say, I think you could strengthen yourself right here or right there.

And a friend of mine once said, the minute you think you are right, you stop thinking.

And I think we can get a very limited purview on what we're doing.

And we're like, this is the way it has to work.

I can't do it any other way.

And that's just comfort level, but that doesn't mean that that's right.

So.

I'm working in your business.

I, there's still elements of working in my business that I love.

I don't turn a lot of times it's the team leader or just turns their clients over to the
next person.

You go catch the fish and then somebody else cleans and cooks it.

still like to clean and cook the fish, but I don't need to do some of the other peripheral
things in my business, like building websites and graphics and stuff like that.

I hire those things so that I can be present to my client and actually do the negotiation
and help them come with those strategies.

implement my talents.

That's what makes this job fun for me.

I don't want to give all that away.

So there's a growth point for me where I don't need to be so big that I can't do that
anymore.

So what is the right balance?

Yeah, that's a great point.

I just got through working with a client who wants to scale and it's just him and looking
kind of across all the things.

He's the same kind of, I wanna keep doing some of this stuff, but I can't do all this
stuff.

I can't build the net, catch the fish, cook the fish, eat the fish.

Some of it has to, but if you don't even understand.

how to build the net or that you even need a net, or what the net looks like, or if you're
gonna prepare the fish, how you make it so it's delicious on the other end.

All of those things are different, can potentially be different people.

I love um that you're kind of picking and choosing the things.

And I always like to say, I'm teaching all the steps you have to have, um but that doesn't
mean you have to do all the steps, right?

Right.

You're not, no one person is going to be good at doing all of the, I haven't met the
person, maybe somebody exists, but I have not met the person that can manage all the

things, all the balls in the air well, you know, and not drop a single one where somebody
somewhere isn't going to get, you know, the satisfaction that you would wish they had had

in your experience.

So that's a great, a great thing you talked about there.

So what's exciting to you coming up in your business now, like looking for any projects,
directions on the horizon, anything coming up that you're excited about?

This is really simple, but I'm having so much fun with it.

Post pandemic world, there's some traditions in real estate that kind of fell by the
wayside.

um One of which is in our part of the country, broker tours, where we have a common day
and time where we go look at other brokerages listings and we go out there and network

with other realtors.

And that really ended during the pandemic and it's not as organized and it's just been
kind of sporadic.

And I'm like, no, we're going to bring this back.

I'm, I'm an old realtor and I know this is important.

And so I started calling every brokerage and it's like, we're doing this.

This is when we do it.

We don't need to overthink it.

Just if you're putting houses on the market, let's hold them open at this day and time.

And we're going to get in the car with groups of realtors and we're going to go see each
other's listings and we're going to go find out what the inventory looks like.

And we're going to give feedback so that those realtors can talk to their clients and give
good.

know, recommendations on maybe price condition, things like that.

my goodness, it's so much fun and it's starting to catch on.

So we've been really putting a concerted effort after this.

So I guess it's a simple thing, but it's just like, it's the party's growing.

And so I'm just putting that weekly effort into it and it's a great way to build
relationship too.

Yeah, well, and you're so just looking at your strengths again, you're of your five, two
of them are relationship building and the other three are executing.

So not even a big surprise that that's the way you want to go.

Well, and that's it sounds like being on wheels almost right is just for real.

that.

I love that.

I love ingenuity and what's old is new again.

You you're not old, you're seasoned.

I've always felt like, you know, I've been around for a long time and I've heard a lot of
things many times over and oftentimes you forget the, it's always good to go for the

certifications, go to the trainings because for, know, even if you get that one thing that
you were like, I used to do that thing, why am I not doing that thing?

I was successful.

doing that thing and somehow you slid off of that and now you're like, and you have a
verver for, know, whatever that word is to bring that new thing back.

whatever gets you going is a good thing.

So what do you hope that your legacy will be, whether it's in real estate or through BNI?

What do you hope to leave behind?

I think that you really can have it all as a business owner.

I really do.

And I think that giving yourself permission to make the right connections and take the
time for yourself that you need.

Have enough people around you that give you life.

Surround yourself with positive people and lean into your strengths.

Don't spend so much time in your life comparing yourself to everyone else.

That is a fun sucker.

And all of the self-help

things that really focus on your weaknesses and trying to build from your weak places.

That is just not fun.

it's, it's, it's just, it's not, it's discouraging.

It's like, just lean into what you really love and get so good at that.

And then find people to do the things that you're not good at.

I am not a tax accountant and I don't like math.

So bookkeeping is not my thing.

have great resources for that and it makes me so happy.

And then I go, go do and spend my time.

with the people that I want to be with.

it works, it all comes around.

Yes, all great points in that, you know, I have to, cause you said it, you, the focusing
on your weaknesses, Gallup has done lots of, that's all Gallup does is study workplace,

everything, essentially.

They measure everything, track everything and focusing on your weaknesses, which is what
typical corporate type of situation.

Now it's, I feel like it's changing a little bit, just being driven by the millennials who
are, ah it's kind of a big shift in how work gets done now, but

If we're focused on what we're not good at, you can only marginally improve that.

But if you focus on what you're great at, you can exponentially kick the pants off of
everyone.

That's right.

It's just much more enjoyable way to live your life and do the things that you really love
to do.

Yes, and other people come to you for those things and that's why we become like magnets
for all the good stuff.

So that's a good thing.

So the last guest left a question for you and that question was, what is the hill you're
willing to die on?

So you often hear the saying, are you willing to die on that hill?

They wanna know what your hill is.

And so for instance,

uh He became a fiduciary because he wasn't willing to compromise his advice to clients
just for a commission.

uh So what is the hill that you're willing to die on despite somebody wanting you not to?

that's really good.

I am willing to not buy the listing, which means I am willing to tell you the truth and
what you need to know.

Even if you decide to go with a realtor, that's going to tell you the price that you want
for your house.

I'm going to, I'm going to tell you the truth and I'm going to get you to that point of
success.

So I'd rather be misunderstood, then, and do the right thing.

Then just going after that dollar.

I would totally agree with that.

Taking bad business.

that's I always.

Right.

Yeah, I've been in sales my whole career and I may or may not.

think I said this before on the podcast, but, I've often not often, but I've definitely
had opportunities where someone wasn't ready for the service that we provided.

And if you're not either open minded enough or you don't have the structure,
infrastructure, know, readiness mindset, all the things that you need to have to

implement changes, you know, I've done a lot of different things over the years, but you
have to be, if you can't hear the truth and you're not ready to take on, you know,

there's, you're going to have to do some, which is I've had a client say, wait a minute,
you're not willing to take my business.

I'm like, no, you're not ready, you know, and you're going to fail.

If I, you're going to hire me, you're going to fail.

And then you're going to say it's my fault.

And that is not the way this works.

You know, as I am the expert and I am willing to tell you.

that you should do these things where other people are just trying to get your bucks and
that's not worth it.

So yeah, that's a good thing.

Right, or anybody really, yeah.

So if you could leave listeners with one guiding principle about business, networking or
life, what would it be?

Keep a positive attitude and be honest with yourself.

Those are the two things.

Be honest with yourself.

What does that mean to you?

Be willing to look at your own areas where you need to grow.

Like I said, the minute you think you're right, you stop thinking.

So be open to growing, being open to change.

Continual lifelong learning is essential.

That's why think BNI is such a great fit for me.

The core values just completely align.

I want to run an ethical business.

because I know when I do that, everybody else around me is going to have a great
experience too.

Great, love that.

Well, thank you for being so open and sharing all your wisdom with us.

It was lovely having you here.

Awesome.

All right.

And thank you to the listeners for joining us today.

Remember to get that tracker.

I've already mentioned it a couple of times and you can get that assessment if you like on
the Clifton Strengths so you know what your strengths are.

If this conversation added value for you, please share it with a friend.

or a business owner who you think might benefit from it.

And don't forget to, you know, subscribe because that also helps me.

And if you're a BNI member, remember to mark off that CEU credit because you do get an
hour one credit for this.

So I hope you had a great time and we'll see you next time on the Perfect 100.