The Mostly Real Estate Podcast, with Declan Spring

Own Your Pipeline By Owning Your Time - #68 Janine Hunt

• Declan Spring

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The quiet weeks of late fall decide your first quarter. We bring on Janine Hunt, team leader, past association president, and current MLS chair, to show exactly how to turn seasonal goodwill into a steady pipeline without feeling salesy or stretched thin. Think of this as your practical reset: a clear distinction between sphere and pipeline, the messaging each one needs, and a simple cadence you can keep even when life gets loud.

We dig into systems for relationship-based growth, why specificity beats generic marketing, and how to use events for a three-part touch sequence that compounds results. Janine shares how she time-blocks mornings to build and afternoons to manage, plus how to move social media reactions into real conversations that convert. 

If you’ve struggled to stay consistent, you’ll get a lightweight tracking approach to measure inputs and outcomes. We talk leverage too, when to bring on a coach, what good coaching looks like, and how accountability transforms team dynamics. Close the year with intention, build your own economy, and step into January with momentum you can feel.

If this episode sparks a plan, share it with a colleague who needs a boost, subscribe for more real estate strategy with heart, and leave a quick review to tell us which lead gen pillar you’ll commit to next.

Janine Hunt is a licensed CA REALTOR® DRE#01909766

Follow Janine in Instagram @ilovemartinis

Declan Spring is a licensed CA REALTOR® DRE#01398898

Declan:

This is Declan Spring, and welcome to the Mostly Real Estate Podcast. Well, this is my Thanksgiving episode. So I'm taking a week off next week. Then it's Thanksgiving, so I'll just take this opportunity to wish you all a very, very happy Thanksgiving. And my guest today is Janine Hunt. I first came to know Janine about four or five years ago when she was president of our British Association of Realtors. And a wonderful president she was. November is a time of year where we recognize as Realtors that the business year is over. The next couple of months are perfect for winding down, but at the same time, for ramping up. We want to celebrate the year and at the same time set ourselves up for success in the new year. With her skill and talent and leadership, and as a coach and mentor, I couldn't think of a better guest to brainstorm with about tactics and strategies for generating business in the new year. So if you need to get fired up organizing for 2026 and making the most out of this part of the year, Janine and I hope that this conversation holds some value for you. And now I bring you my conversation with Janine Hunt. I'm here with Janine Hunt. Janine, thank you so much for coming to chat with me at this incredibly important time of the year.

Janine:

Yes, it is. It's my pleasure.

Declan:

Right. How how are you doing?

Janine:

I'm doing good. Fall's my favorite time of year.

Declan:

Oh, yeah.

Janine:

It is my favorite time of year.

Declan:

Just because it's kind of got them weird.

Janine:

I love the long shadows. I love the colors. I love to layer. You know, you can start putting on little scarves in the morning. It's this weird time where yesterday we had the AC on for an hour and then we had the heater on in the morning. It's just, it's kind of this weird, fun, funky time, and I like it.

Declan:

And and and the the just the the colors this time. You still get some heat, and we don't get much rain in the fall here.

Janine:

So we get we get we get the rain coming.

Declan:

Yeah, maybe a little. Maybe a little, but generally we just get the crispy brown leaves blowing around, and we get all the feels of the fall without any severe weather. I know.

Janine:

We have no weather. We think it's weather, but we have no weather.

Declan:

Yeah, yeah. I'm with you. I love the fall. I love the fall. So let's tell people. Well, there's so much to talk about with you, but I want to set this up first of all and let people know the goal of today's conversation. Let's hope we get there. We're gonna get there. The goal of today's chat is to talk about just how important this time of the year is, right now, if we haven't missed it actually, for getting your uh planning together for next year for Legend.

Janine:

We're a little late. So I'm glad we're talking about it.

Declan:

Yes. Better late than never. Better late than never. But you uh you you're like you're one of those incredible people who uh just does so many things. I can't even begin like so. We'll pick it apart a little bit, uh, because I want people to understand just how much you do behind the scenes for realtors locally here in the Berkeley, Oakland area. So let's kind of go through. Well, first of all, um, you are on a team with your husband.

Janine:

My husband and my son, yeah.

Declan:

Okay. And what and the team name is Team Hunt Homes. Okay. Where can people find you?

Janine:

Uh TeamhuntHomes.com.

Declan:

Okay, Teamhunthomes.com.

Janine:

Easy enough.

Declan:

Yeah. And you and Paul have been together, just the two of you as a team for a decade.

Janine:

Yeah, we were together. Well, we started in 2012, and just last year, my son Max got his license, and as of January, it's gonna be almost a year. He has been full-time with us. Yeah.

Declan:

Wow. So I can that resonates with me because I have my partner Denise started with me, and you and I have talked about how how bringing in family members on team is it's tricky business.

Janine:

It is a little tricky, right? We're not gonna talk about team building today.

Declan:

No, we're not talking about team building. But uh, but I but yes, yeah, we have a common thing there.

Janine:

Yeah, and as soon as I figure it out, maybe we can do a podcast on that.

Declan:

That sounds really good, actually. So behind the scenes, though, when you're not, you know, working hard with Paul and generating leads and doing all the business of being a realtor, you are deeply involved with our local association of realtors, Bridge Association, and also our MLS. And it's great working. And California Association of Realtors. And the California level. Not to mention the fact that you've been you're a past president of Bridge Association of Realtors. I mean, it's amazing that you you do all that stuff. So let's talk just a little about what exactly have your various roles been with uh the association.

Janine:

I've been pretty much everything you can be at the Bridge Association of Realtors. I yeah, I started out being a YPNer like a lot of uh people and all of you newer agents. I would highly recommend that you get into a young professionals network, YPN at Bridge. Uh fabulous committee with lots of to-dos, lots of fun things, that especially at night. Um, networking primarily. And then uh I got into different just chairing different committees. We have several committees at Bridge that we're always looking for volunteers for, and it doesn't take that much time.

Speaker:

Right.

Janine:

But if you love serving something other than yourself in your own business and you want to serve the community you serve with, uh it's a it's a really good way to get to know people, and nobody loves to receive an offer more than a listing agent who knows the person on the other side. So I always recommend it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

Um, and then I quickly moved up. I started traveling at CAR, self-funded myself for a year or two, and and then um started being in higher leadership at Bridge, doing treasurer and president elect president, past president. And now uh I am your MLS chair and I have been for about two or three years now.

Speaker 4:

Wow.

Janine:

And I will be for I just committed to another two years. So you have me for a minute.

Speaker 6:

Wow.

Janine:

I also volunteer at the MMG. So uh for those of you who don't know, it's a multiple MLS group. I don't know if that's what it's called really, but that's what I call it. And uh it's definitely called MMG, and it's uh Bay East uh Contra Cost Association of Realtors and Bridge. And what we do is work on our members and subscribers' behalf to make sure that we get tools and tech at the best price possible because then we can go from having our numbers of 3,600 for our MLS to 14,000 between the three. So it really does make a difference for our members as far as cost goes.

Declan:

Oh, that's interesting.

Janine:

That's interesting, and we work together because you know I work in Pleasanton, I work in Walnut Creek, so I work in those those territories as well, and vice versa. So we're cross-pollinating all the time, so it also allows our MLSs to be very synergistic.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

And when you go onto the onto the bridge site, you'll see all of our names there. So we all work really well together. And so I serve on that board as well.

Declan:

Yeah. What what do you do as MLS chair? What's your function there?

Janine:

So I run the MLS board and I run the MLS committee.

Declan:

Okay.

Janine:

And um every other month, well, I should say I meet every month, but every other month, one is the committee, one is the board of directors. And again, we're just trying to keep a finger on the pulse of what our subscribers need.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

Um, re you know, going over tools, going over technology that are coming in that we see at the MLS uh, because I also travel on behalf of you all, uh, going into the MLS and tech conferences, which I have to say are pretty fun.

Speaker 5:

Okay.

Janine:

And um, so we get to bring back a lot of a lot of great innovative ideas. And it just so happens that Bridge has done a really good job with Divina, our CEO, and Gustavo, our COO. They're very well known in the industry throughout the country. And so we get a lot of companies reaching out to us at Bridge to start or to beta test to, hey, try this out for six months, let us know what you think. So actually, whether whether our members know it or not, they get you know, they get uh access to some things that a lot of other much bigger MLSs don't even get access to.

Declan:

Yeah, it's so interesting. There's a whole, you know, there's a whole group of people behind the MLS making it, making it you know what it is. And uh and I so I do have to ask, um, is what's going on with AI and the MLS? I'm sure it's a hot topic.

Janine:

Well, everybody's in love, basically. I mean, I think I just went to CMLS uh not too long ago, maybe four weeks ago, five weeks ago, and that was a big topic of conversation. And part of it is obviously we're concerned that we have some some type of oversight or guardrails to ensure that AI isn't going to take over the world. Like, you know, of course, now we have we have little billboards of robots hanging up laundry and stuff like that. So we'll we'll see what the humanoid situation is gonna be like. But I don't think they're gonna be realtors, folks. They're not gonna be realtors. Um but they might put out your signs, they might just do that. That would be great. That would be great. Uh AI is is if you're not in it, you're behind. Right. So I would I would encourage everyone to if you don't, if you're afraid of it, if you don't even know where to start, please reach out to me. I am so easy to find. I'm a big fan of it. I use it every day, multiple times a day, and it makes my life so much easier. Agents, I love you so much, but you have to be responsible for everything that you do, and that includes any AI help that you get.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

So the other thing that we're seeing is the descriptions, right? For um you're putting in your listings. And um, just do me a favor and at least remove the dashes so it looks like you absolutely wrote the thing. But you do have to read it, and it you are ultimately responsible. Right. And believe it or not, when we talk to these tech companies and that we're buying into, one of the first things we talk about is how are we going to keep our people safe?

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Janine:

Because not everybody is is really paying attention. Some of us are move, and not on purpose. They're just moving so fast, so quick, doing so many things. This is new, and they're not paying attention.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

Um, I just implore you to pay attention and keep being responsible for every piece of information that goes out there on behalf of your client.

Declan:

Yeah. Thank you for everything you do, right? For MLS and on our behalf behind the scenes. And I I know you always have a secret hope that more and more people will get involved and be of service. Absolutely. Yeah.

Janine:

Yeah. It's not for everyone. Not everyone is going to do something other than just working on their own business. And I get that.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

But if you have a servant's heart, if you are a natural volunteer, I highly recommend you join one of our committees, or at least give me a call and I'll give you the lowdown on how time how much time it actually takes. Because that's usually the biggest concern is I'm so busy already.

Speaker 6:

Right.

Janine:

Right. There's there's so much you can there's you don't have to do very much that would do so much for your community.

Declan:

Well, Janine is a you're the poster person for what it means to be of service to the realtor community, and I think that's amazing. So, so something else. So here's what we're here to talk about. I look at I look at this time of the year like it's just a I mean the year's over. It's over. Once Halloween hits, yeah. You know, it might as well be January 1st. Right. Yeah. And so whatever we do now as realtors, it shows up in when?

Janine:

Yeah, most of us know that it's a it's a 90 to 100 day cycle, right? So whatever we're doing now for lead generation and procuring leads, it's gonna show up, it's gonna show up in your first quarter at this point. Okay. So yeah, will you make a pick up the phone and happen to get in conversation with somebody and they go, Oh my gosh, I was just thinking about you. Can you sell my house right now? We're moving in two weeks. Sure, that can happen. But to build your business on that hope and wish, that's probably a bad plan.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Janine:

So thinking about it now ensures that you'll have a powerful quarter for quarter one.

Declan:

Okay, well, let's let's break this down into a couple of things because you and I agreed what we're not doing is necessarily business planning.

Janine:

No, you're all bored with that. Well, it's not a fun topic.

Declan:

It it it's a we are gonna talk about lead generation, which is part of business planning. Yes, a big part. Right. So it's a big so we're talking about an aspect of business planning that is lead generation. And and I do want to tell people we had a fun conversation offline before I powered up the mics on the whole bit, because you had listened to chat I had with Herman Chan. And Herman and I have this comes up occasionally when I chat with him. This idea that you know, a there's a there's a lot of realtors who are not entrepreneurial, who just want to work as just want a job buying and selling houses for people, but they're not necessarily uh entrepreneurs and they you know in their skin, right? And and then you corrected me, which I thought was great, and you said, well, you know, if you're a realtor, you you are by default an entrepreneur, or you have to reconcile with the fact that you are an entrepreneur. So you read the definition of an entrepreneur, yes.

Janine:

So according to Oxford, all it is is a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses taking on greater than normal financial risk in order to do so. And I think we can all agree that's exactly what we do.

Declan:

Okay, so per, as we love to say in real estate, per per the Oxford Dictionary, we all of us working professionally as licensed realtors, we are entrepreneurs.

Speaker 6:

Like it or not.

Declan:

Exactly. So we have to inhabit that. And you know, here's another thing that I often get in conversation when people push back. I I believe we are salespeople. And it always amazes me how many realtors don't want to be a salesperson or don't like the terminology, they don't consider themselves in sales, yeah.

Janine:

They, you know, it that being salesy thing, how many times have we? I don't want to be salesy.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Janine:

I don't know exactly what that means. I'm sure each person can interpret it a little differently. I would imagine it means I don't want to be slimy, I don't want to be, you know, humping somebody's leg for business is what I call it. Nobody wants to be that person, right? You know, um, but the bottom line is we don't get paid unless we sell something. So in that regard, we are definitively in sales. Right. How we define ourselves as in a business model, that's up to you, you know, if you want to be uh hyper customer service or whatever your focus is, right? But the ultimate, the ultimate game here is that we're selling houses.

Declan:

What should I be doing right now if I haven't started already?

Janine:

Well, I guess it depends on what your pipeline and sphere of influence looks like. Yeah. How many do you have? So for me, and the way I coach and how my team operates is we define SOI as being somebody who's going to refer us ideal, ideally.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Janine:

Pipeline is ideally someone who's going to be working with us. And we separate those because we're going to communicate differently to those folks, right?

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Janine:

So if, and then within the pipeline, you're going to communicate differently than you to buyers than you would to sellers.

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Janine:

The messaging has to be very specific. The brain loves specificity, it operates best on specificity. If it's too vague, they won't act.

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Janine:

Uh, they won't become emotional. And the emotion is what makes us all act, right? Okay. So if we're able to identify our favorite people, whoever they are, and put them in these categories. Okay. Most of us say we have a CRM. Very few people actually are using their CRM at a high level. But if that's the if that's the first thing you do, that would help a lot. Because you can, again, be definitive around how you're categorizing your people.

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Janine:

And then it's about communicating with those people.

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Janine:

And it's really hard to, yes, you're you are going to communicate based on you eventually want to work with them or get referred by them.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

But you also, before that even happens, you have to understand what you want from each one of them. And so if they are a potential buyer or seller, how many sales do you need your in your first quarter? You know, and that's all part of it goes back to that business plan nobody wants to talk about. But it is about that lead generation portion.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

Uh, so you have to identify how you're gonna lead generate. Are you gonna call? Are you gonna do open houses? Right. Are you going to focus on your sphere? Are you gonna focus on pipeline? Are you gonna focus on a tight 50 or more like a Dunbar's number of 150? You have to get really specific and get focused. Otherwise, most of us are kind of something shiny syndrome. We're creative, we're on the right brain's uh spectrum more than the left, and each one has its has its challenges. Um but for our right brain folks, it's really hard to stay on task, and you know who you are. It's the people who I I you know want to build my pipeline, okay, great. Okay, I'm just gonna call everybody I know, okay, great, but they never put it into a pipeline situation.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Janine:

That's just one example of how things break down because there's no system to it.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Janine:

Um, same with uh the left brain. So the left brain might be very, I call them cubicle minded. So they're just in their cubicle behind their their computer, putting system after system after system, but they're not connecting and communicating with their sphere or pipeline.

Speaker 5:

Got it, got it.

Janine:

So each each side of our brain has a little bit of a problem getting through that. And the entrepreneurial mindset really is about systems and strategy.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

And so your lead generation has to be strategic. And it cannot, it absolutely cannot be something that you do not want to do.

Declan:

Okay, so let's back up for a second. So I have two buckets. I have sphere of influence, that's why, and then I have pipeline. Now, tell me again, what is the difference between a sphere of influence and a pipeline?

Janine:

So a sphere of influence is someone who's gonna refer you business. Okay. Your pipeline is someone who's gonna work with you. Okay. And within the pipeline, you're gonna have buyers and you're gonna have sellers.

Speaker 4:

I see.

Janine:

And the only reason why I separate those is because I'm going to, again, communicate with them differently.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Janine:

My sphere of influence, I'm gonna communicate with them in a way of, hey, I'm in business, I'm doing, I'm trustworthy. Having, are you, you know, getting 20 seconds of bravery is what I call it. If you can take 20 seconds and just ask for, hey, you know, we're good friends, we're at a dinner party, or you're at my house for dinner, and this is where people get a little weird and they don't want to ask, but hey, I'm really trying to grow my business and I really adore you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

Give me some really honest feedback of what it would take for you to be for me to be your number one referral source when anybody talks to you about real estate.

Declan:

Okay, got it.

Janine:

You know, if you if you're coming at it from a more humble side, right. If you're coming at it from a more direct side, just plain ask them. You know, I'm in real estate, would you please refer me business? You can go there too.

Declan:

So I think this this is where so this is I think where people sometimes get stuck is not wanting to be salesy. Like letting people understand that you're a realtor. Yeah, I find that more or less, if I happen to go to a party, you know, and people discover that I'm a realtor, I'm gonna end up talking about real estate all night long anyway.

Janine:

You know, so which is a wonderful opportunity when you think about it, right?

Declan:

Yeah.

Janine:

If you unless you want to just, you know, hang up your phone for a minute and just be with friends. Now, for me, anyone who knows me knows I'm gonna get leads wherever I go.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

It's just natural.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

And I happen to love to talk about real estate.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

But what I've what I've done is at that cocktail party when somebody says, You're a realtor, oh my gosh. It's kind of like you're a dentist, oh, look at this tooth. Oh, you're an attorney, oh my god, my wife did this. Yeah. You know, it's the same thing where they're gonna they're gonna ask you everything they they want to know about real estate because it's a fascinating topic, always has been.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Janine:

And it always has to do with them. So I just put them, that's a that's a great question. I'm and I have an answer for you. Yeah. Let's enjoy this party and let me take out my phone, and I want to have a real conversation with you tomorrow. How's that sound?

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Janine:

But you don't want to lose that opportunity from my perspective as a coach and someone who builds business through through these kinds of lead generation opportunities. Okay. To me, that's an opportunity.

Declan:

I get it. So your sphere of influence will lead to a pipeline.

Janine:

We want to get Yes, they can be in both buckets. In fact, we want them to be in both buckets, we want them to be referring clients.

Declan:

So your sphere encompasses pipeline and past clients. Yes?

Janine:

It absolutely can. Yeah. So you want them to be in both buckets.

Declan:

The sphere is the catch-all, and then within the sphere, there are people who are in a pipeline or are past clients perhaps as well. So the sphere is where it's where all your campaigning happens.

Janine:

Yeah, and that that recognition of, hey, I'm in business.

Declan:

Yes.

Janine:

I have dear friends that I see on a regular basis that ask me how my business is doing. Yeah. People will do that.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

Don't shy away from that. They care about you, they want to know, but be honest about it. Yeah. Hey, I'm really trying to build my business. What you know, what what would you what what would be the most interesting thing for you for as from a for a realtor to do for you? Or or just be creative with your questions that are sincere and help you be a better realtor. You know?

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

Friends don't get weird if you're if you're really honest. Here's where they get weird.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

When you call somebody and you say, Hey, Declan, how's it going? Oh, yeah, I'm doing great. You know what? I'm just calling to check in. And so you check in and they're telling you all about the things. Declan is doing great. And he and Deniza went there and there, and they have a bazillion dollars and life is fantastic. And then before you hang up the phone, then you say, Hey, well, I gotcha. If you ever talk to somebody about real estate, would you mind referring me? If that's the whole that that just looks like the whole reason why you called and you were just waiting for the exit.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Janine:

And so what happens? Declan winds up feeling, okay, they didn't really care about me at all. They just wanted to ask me for my business. Right. How I do it is, hey, I've got some See, hold on.

Declan:

See, that's the salesy thing.

Janine:

That's the salesy thing, and it's disgusting.

Declan:

Right. When people say I'm not, I don't, I don't, I, I don't like the idea of me being a salesperson.

Janine:

That's what they're Then don't be don't be salesy. You can still be an excellent salesperson and a service provider and not be inauthentically salesy.

Declan:

Do me a favor, seeing as we love Oxford so much. Is there a definition of a salesperson? And can we find a definition of course there is. And I will add it out this there's going to be a pause here, Janine. So take your time, but let's look it up.

Janine:

A salesperson is an individual whose job is to sell products or services on behalf of a company. This can involve selling in to individual customers in a store or to other businesses and organizations over the phone or online. Other terms of salesperson include sales representative or sales rep. So I think that last sentence doesn't really function for us. Right. But everything else does. It does, yeah. Right? We're selling a service on behalf of a company, whether that's your personal brand or the broker that you're hanging your license with.

Declan:

Yeah.

Janine:

And it's selling to individuals.

Declan:

Yeah.

Janine:

So I mean that's that's in essence what it is.

Declan:

Okay. So let me ask you a favor. So it seems to me like I don't want to necessarily talk about pipeline right now, because honestly, pipeline is where you get if you've done good work with your sphere. There's a couple of hats we wear. There's there's the business of lead generation, that's your business, and then there's the job of being a realtor. And you get the job of being a realtor once you have a pipeline, now you go to work and you're and you're doing your job. But why what we're talking about today is the business of being a realtor and generating business and lead generation. So let's let's leave pipeline to one side. We can and I just wish everybody good fortune to get to a place where you have a pipeline for next year. But right now, sphere of influence and everything that that includes is what I want to focus on. And your sphere nowadays it's it's so interesting to me how it's changed in the last five years. Your sphere can include if you have a decent following and you're generating business on social, that's part of your sphere as well. Absolutely. Which is an interesting change from conventional sphere as maybe you and I know it, definitely as I know it. But my so my sphere is more a little more conventional. It's a list of names for me and people that I actually reach out to with private messaging and emails and cards and follow-up calls, that kind of thing. So we're looking at our sphere. What are we how valuable is this moment, this time of the year, and you know, as far as our sphere and the activities we should be doing?

Janine:

Well, that's a very big question.

Declan:

Because it's an urgent question.

Janine:

Yes. How it's how you've defined your business model. So for me, I pick up the phone every single day.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

And if it's somebody that I haven't talked to in a while, because those are the ones that are kind of hard. You're like, I haven't talked to in six months, you know, you don't really know what to say. But I go right into it with, hey, I usually we're leaving a message, right? Only about 20 to 30 percent are they answering the phone. Yeah, but either way, I'm saying, hey, Declan, how's it going? This is Janine. Hey, I've got a couple questions I want to ask you about business, and then also I want to catch up with you. So give me a call when you get a minute.

Declan:

Huh. That's interesting. So you put you put the fact that you have a couple of questions about business first.

Janine:

And depending on what I'm trying to do, I'm very honest with them. Yeah, I I'm trying to build my business. I've got us my my son is new on our team. Yeah, we've got two households to support now. We're building our business in a brand new way. Um, and I know you want to talk about coaching. We hired a new coach to help us do that, and we've learned a lot from there, and I'll sh I'll share that too. But um, it's it's really about you've got to ask for what you want. Yeah, and realtors are not good at that.

Declan:

And that can apply to social.

Janine:

Absolutely. Yeah, and reaching out now, here's the mistake people make with social. Some of you are doing it beautifully. Most are not. And I'm not someone who loves social media. I mean, I'm rarely on it. It's usually just, you know, the bare bones, okay, I gotta post this kind of thing. Because that's just not my pillar of building business. But I know I have to stay relevant. For those that are on social every single day, anybody who who reacts to anything you post, make sure. Now, most of us realtors know mostly realtors, right? It's mostly the realtors that are, but for those that are not, look and see how many, not how many, but who reacts to you and message them. Even though they haven't messaged you, they haven't responded any way other than a reaction, a heart, a thumbs up, whatever. Um, hopefully not anything negative. You don't want to go after those people. But message them and say, hey, thanks for paying attention. What's important to you right now? Yeah. And ask them an engaging question and get them off that open platform and get into Messenger and start to create a relationship. Oh, that's I think that's an opportunity that people I see miss all the time. Okay. It's not about the likes, it's about the relationships you create with the likes.

Declan:

Right, right. Absolutely, 100%. So that's that's interesting because I don't do that, but I can see the value in it now that you're pointing it out.

Janine:

And that can be what you do on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Declan:

Right. Right. Everything needs a time block. That's right. Yeah, everything needs a time block. And so there's so much there see, okay, so the reason this is such a great time of the year is because it's a very forgiving time of the year. You it's a lot of reasons to call, right? Right. There, there's so many reasons to call people. So what so again, I I'm a little behind with my sphere, my campaigning. Let's say, I don't know, I've been sending out a newsletter or whatever, but I just haven't been making the calls. What what are the fundamentals of business generation right now? Where are the breaks that we get at this time of the year?

Janine:

Well, for me, it's about seasonality. Yeah. The sea every seasonal change, I'm calling people to tell them I have an amazing vendor list. How's the house holding up? And and remember, I am a resource for you. I'm a continuing resource for you.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Janine:

And I I just keep calling people.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Janine:

Like I have no problem picking up the phone. A lot of people want to keep things at what I call arm's length. You want to do an email, you want to send a note, you want to message, you want to text. Those are all fine ways. And and depending on the generation and the person within the generation, that might work very well and it feels intimate enough.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

Um, but I there's nothing for me that is more um engaging and makes a better difference than face-to-face or voice-to-voice. Yeah. So I work with something called a top 50. Okay. So I have 50 people that I have that I massage and I love on once a month.

Speaker 4:

I see.

Janine:

And so I have in my CRM, I have, you know, what I did this month in November. Yeah. And so I know who I have to call first and foremost. I have multiple top 50s, but my first and foremost top 50 are either people who have referred me or people who know, like, and trust me.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

And I know that they'll either work with me or they will refer me. So it's just One big love bug top 50. Okay. And so every day I'm looking at my top 50 and I'm either calling or yeah, I'll text an email if it's appropriate. But I usually call to make an appointment or call to engage for another engagement.

Speaker 4:

I see.

Janine:

And so that's very purposeful. They know they're expecting my communication because I've worked it up to that. And I can see what I need to do very clearly, who I haven't called, who I haven't texted in some cases, because some people do prefer text.

Speaker 1:

Uh-huh.

Janine:

And okay, what am I and do I have the time to meet them for coffee? Do I have time to meet them for it's oftentimes I'm I'm cocktails and dinner.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

I like it. It's just what I do. And so it's 50 people that I I know, love, and trust or like very much. Right. And I want to see them.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Janine:

You can't do it with much more than that, right? Because there's just not enough time.

Speaker 6:

Right.

Janine:

But that's part of my business building strategy. Is these are the things that I love to do. So I don't cold call, I don't door knock, but uh I can, you know, sell the hell out of a cocktail hour.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

And I try to, you know, friends, no friends in my sphere as well. So I'll try to do a a two or three fur.

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Janine:

You know, where we're getting together and ultimately it all comes back to real estate.

Declan:

And you know, for me, there's nothing better than, you know, a my break from the day to day of the job and the challenges of being a realtor, and that God knows there's plenty of. There's a couple. Yeah, I was late today because a couple things came up. And uh so one of the, you know, a a really nice uh safe harbor for me in all of the busyness of being a realtor is sitting now with a list of names of people I'm gonna call who who are gonna be happy to hear from me. I've I find that to be a breath of fresh air in my week. Nothing better, right? So it's whereas most people I I find when I talk to other realtors or newer licensees, they fret over making the phone call. And I and I'm like new. You know why though?

Janine:

Why? Because they are being told that they have to ask for business.

Declan:

Oh yes, yes.

Janine:

But that's not why you should be asking doing the call in my in my mind. Okay. In my mind, you're creating trust and deepening the relationship. The the referral comes, right? But it does not come prematurely.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Janine:

So rushing it is only gonna make you uncomfortable and make you not want to pick up the phone and call.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Janine:

And I had I did my calls this morning. I always make my business in the morning and manage it in the afternoon.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

So my lead gen is is definitely in the morning when I have more energy. It's I I always suggest doing it when your cadence is, you've got all the energy. But yeah, so I made my calls and people pick up. They're excited to hear from me. We're we're truly catching up about life and Max and my little brother Nick and you know, where we live and all that. They're very happy to hear from me because I am giving and vulnerable of myself.

Speaker 5:

Yes.

Janine:

And then they'll ask me about business or whatever. And I will tell them, you know, we're build, we're building our business this year in a very different way. I'm super excited. Like I said, I just hired a coach. That's another thing I get to be excited about and sharing with them. What are you excited about in your life? People want to be with positive, engaging, passionate people. They just do.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

So find that that energy and that that reason for calling. Yeah. Um, but make it about them and then eventually they'll turn it around to you.

Declan:

Because this is not this is not cold call. We're not talking about any of that.

Janine:

These are not cold calls. These are people who know, like, and trust you, or people that you've met, you know, even recently at the latest barbecue or whatever. Yeah. And you're just calling like you said you would. There are situations where I will call to remind of an event, or people that I don't know as well, or don't, you know, it's not that I don't like them, but I don't consider them friends. They're past clients or people that it's a pure professional relationship.

Declan:

Right.

Janine:

I will do a slial with them.

Declan:

Right. Yes, I I have slidial.

Janine:

Right. And you know, you can call up to 50 people at a time, talk about incredible time management and just say, hey, it's Janine. They know who they are. You don't have to say, hey, Declan, it's Janine.

Declan:

Right. Right? So for anyone who doesn't have Sly Dial as an app on your phone, look up Sly Dial. It's it's It's brilliant. I d I don't like that it's called Sly Dial, by the way.

Janine:

But you are being sly, right? You don't if you don't have the time to talk to somebody, but you actually want to get information in their in their ear, whether it's, hey, I'm thinking about you, call me when you get a minute. There's a couple things I want to ask you. Or hey, I've got this event. I hope you I hope to see you there. Let me know if you have any questions. Whatever it is.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

It'll go straight into their voicemail. It does not ring.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

And you know, we have so many glitches on our phones now anyway, that that it's it's not unusual that that's what happens whether I whether somebody's calling through slide dial or not. But this is a way to kind of keep those touches going.

Declan:

You know, it's not a bad idea if you're worried about being salesy. It's not a bad idea, I think, to to rehearse, not to be contrived, but to just make sure scripts are important.

Janine:

Right? And I don't I don't yes, you know, if you want to buy scripts or get a script book, or I've got a couple of great suggestions if anybody's interested. Um, but ultimately you got to start somewhere. Yeah. And the more you're in this business and the more you hear yourself talk, the car is a wonderful place to hear yourself talk. Yeah. Um, I think that practicing and just for you know the three various scenarios that can come up, right? You want to be able to know what to say in any given situation.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

And so you know the people that you're connecting with. Right. Who's gonna say that list and conjuring up in your mind and all of that stuff? I think most of us do that, but we stop there.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

Oh gosh, I got my list. I can't wait to see them or talk to them, or I'm gonna, I'm gonna send everybody a holiday card, and then it doesn't happen. I think that that's the thing that I'd like to talk about, if you don't mind, because it won't take but a minute.

Declan:

Let's let's do it.

Janine:

It's it just goes back to how how are you spending your time in building your business. And like I said, I like mornings when I have more energy, so pick your time, and then you're gonna spend one hour a day on your work days. I don't believe it's a seven-day work week if we can help it.

Speaker:

Uh-huh.

Janine:

And you're gonna, you're, you're gonna take that hour, you can call it whatever you want or nothing. A lot of people call it a power hour, but whatever. And you're going to set aside this time in every morning, come hell or high water, you are going to do this particular lead generation, whether that's gonna write a card, make the phone calls, do the you know, messenger reach outs, whatever it is, and you're gonna dedicate this to your business. Yeah. Now I do it for about three hours a day.

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Janine:

So start just like exercising if you haven't done it in a while, start for 30 minutes.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

And then maybe in the next week, move it to an hour.

Speaker 5:

Okay.

Janine:

And build, build on that.

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Janine:

Whether you like it or not, 80% of your business is lead gen. So if you're not spending 80% of your day in some form of lead gen, now that can be spending three hours at a lunch with three three people in your sphere. Yeah. That works, you know. Make it work for you, but be mindful when you look at that calendar. Are you full of lead gen opportunities or you're not?

Declan:

Right.

Janine:

And it again, make it fun. Make it for you.

Declan:

And it leads to a pipeline, because the pipeline is the thing we want to have. Because you know what? That leads to a good night's sleep, in my opinion.

Janine:

Well, money in your bank, definitely bank account definitely leads to a good night's sleep.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Janine:

I think that you know, if you're if you do a good look at your pipeline, just like you would your finances or your house or anything else that you need to keep organized and and in practice, really looking at it and going, okay, who's really a pipeline?

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Janine:

Because I think we call clients clients when they're not. We do. I think we imagineer people into existence of who they are in your life because we want to feel like we're in a better, better shape than we actually are.

Speaker 6:

Yeah.

Janine:

Those kinds of games are really, really normal, right? But they're not serving you. Yeah. So if you could just take a really good look, who do I have that would refer me or has referred me, and who do I have that has said that they would work with me? Start there and get really real with it. Right. And then you have a place to grow, whether it's zero, which that's fine. Right. It's the knowledge of knowing it's zero that is the win. Yeah. And then, well, you got nowhere else to go but up. Right. So every day you can start to track and measure.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

We're in business, folks. We got to track and measure what our activities are versus the results. Right. So identifying, gosh, I want to build 10 people in my pipeline this week. Well, go do it.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

It's not that hard.

Declan:

Right.

Janine:

You just have to define how you're going to do it.

Declan:

Yeah. And we spend a lot of time looking for reasons not to do this work. Yep. And we think the work, and we so we do busy work and we're not really. Oh, yeah, we're really good.

Janine:

Procrastination, nation.

Declan:

Absolutely. Yeah, you like, and now, and there's so there's so many ways you can get busy and really just be just just like it's nothing. You're just not doing anything useful at all.

Janine:

I I'm reading a book right now called 4,000 weeks.

Declan:

Oh, yeah.

Janine:

Okay. I can't remember the author's name, but you can look it up. And one of the things I was listening to on the way over here, my reading is listening, okay, don't judge me. Um, but it was uh what Warren Buffett believes. Uh-huh. And that is you you line up your top 25 things that you want to accomplish in a specific time, say this month.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

And then you look and you do it in order.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

You look at your top five and remove the bottom 20.

Speaker 5:

Okay.

Janine:

Because the bottom 20 is the distraction because they're juicy, right? They're all things you want to accomplish.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

But the top five, that's your nugget.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

That's your nut, right? Right. If you're dragging yourself away from your nut because all of these other things seem kind of fluffier or more fun or whatever, you're not going to accomplish your top five. You'll be too distracted. So that's his way of doing things. And it made so much sense to me.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Janine:

As somebody who's squirreling all the time to get really succinct with my top five, and all of my activities are about my top five. Right. How much more will you get done? Right. Right? And you can just put your blinders on for everything else. If it doesn't lead back to this top five, you're gonna manana that until you can take something off your list.

Declan:

Yeah. I love that you found that. And I think everybody needs to keep hammering at this until they find something that feels good for them. You know, it's something that just feels right. Like I love Stephen Covey's Seven Habits book. It's a great book. And I love his grid of urgent, important, not important, and you know, this whole grid system he has for understanding how to organize your day and what's truly important. I also like to have an event at this time of the year. Now, some people will do pies, they are very popular for Thanksgiving. I like to uh, you know, do a jazz thing. We have Berkeley High School jazz uh kids who come into the office here, and this will be our third time having them in. Nice, and so we invite a lot of people. So it for me an event is a really nice opportunity again to call people because I can invite them and say, hey, come on over, enjoy the you know, the charcuterie board and and I'm telling you, events.

Janine:

I'm so surprised agents don't do more of them. Yeah, it is a wonderful thing to have a room full of people who talk nothing but glorious things about you. And and learn, you know, meeting each other and the common you know denominator is the home factor and how fabulous they are, right? Yeah.

Declan:

So I I'm chuckling because I I I I go bright red when because I'm you know, because uh yes, it is very nice. It's not engineered to be uh all about you, but you're right.

Janine:

Those come the Well, why I say that is not for the accolades so much as it is for the referrals that come from those events, which is the whole reason you're doing it. I mean, yeah, right. It is it is a lovely business expense that is part of procuring new leads. Yeah, it is.

Declan:

That's a that's a huge part of it.

Janine:

Absolutely so you know, the and they're fun, and this is such a lovely environment, and you know, it makes you got a parking lot, makes people feel special. Yeah, does not have to be expensive. There's so many great event ideas. I'm glad you do that.

Declan:

Yeah, yeah, but an event creates the opportunity to make the phone calls because it's very cyclical. Oh, yeah. And then for me, being Buffini trained, um, I want to send cards to people. So, so an event serves several things. An event allows me to make phone calls, which then after the event I get to send cards. So it's it's this beautiful cycle of busy work that's also very, very useful and leads to having a pipeline.

Janine:

The more organized I am around my thoughts and in my business plan, the more I not only am excited about waking up and getting after my day, right, because I know what I'm doing and I know the result that I'm supposed to get from it.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Janine:

But the tracking and measuring becomes almost addictive.

unknown:

Yeah.

Janine:

Because it's like you're if you're a checkbox person, this is your jam, man. You you're gonna want to do this because you're gonna check everything off that you did today. Yeah. And then at the very bottom, you're gonna see what did I what was what was the accomplishment? Right. What was the result of that? Right. Did I get a referral? Did I get somebody who said, Oh my gosh, I was just thinking about you. I'm thinking about selling next year.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

All of the various things that come from engaging in the various ways. There's six ways to build business, basically. Okay. And you pick your ways and and you go after them every single day and and have fun with it, man. This this is a fun job when it's not beating the crap out of you.

Declan:

Yeah. This is a fun job, right? Yeah, I agree a hundred percent. Like actually being too busy in transaction can sometimes um be a problem in that it can take from the lead generation, which which that's when I get a bit freaked out.

Janine:

Well, that's where your AI is your friend, and systems and technology can come in and help you out with that. Or better yet, get yourself an assistant or get yourself a buyer's agent. You know, that again, we're not gonna talk about building out teams today, but there is a way of expanding and scaling that it doesn't have to turn you into a pretzel.

Speaker 4:

Right, right.

Janine:

And I think we do get kind of ego-fied around this thing. Right. I know that's not really a word, but it is today. I think that ego is prevalent in the in our little community. Uh-huh. And we're all looking at each other side by side and going, what are you driving? How how many escrows did you close? How much are you in the top 50? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Janine:

And if we just focused on our own damn businesses and didn't worry about what other people were doing, but got really juicy into our own stuff, yeah, we would do just fine.

Declan:

You just put your head down, have a good time.

Janine:

And if we start to get too big for our own boots, yeah, go to your broker, go to your manager, call a coach. There's plenty of people in your life that that can handle this thing and handle it well.

Declan:

See, the beauty of leaning into lead generation, recognizing, like having the light bulb moment about what you know, why this is so great is when I started with with coaching with Buffini, right? His first question to me as a new licensee was like, How are you gonna measure the success of your day? He's like, because you're not closing a deal. You might enclose a deal for six months. You just got your license. Like, so a successful day, it cannot just be I closed a deal today. How do you measure the success of a day? It's like you have to come up with metrics that work for yourself. So you can shut it all down at the end of the day and say that was a successful day.

Janine:

But if you track that, right, yeah, and you measure it, look at it three months from now and see what today's activities did for you.

Speaker 4:

That's right.

Janine:

That's where it gets really fun, guys. That's that's the real deal of running a business.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

Is that you're running it, it's not running you, and you're really tracking and measuring everything that you're doing and everything you're gaining from your activities. It's also a way for you to double down or remove it from next year's activities. Right. But you can't know that unless you're tracking and measuring, actually creating that that dreaded business plan.

Declan:

And so you have to find the thing that works for you, otherwise you won't like the day today. No, and you won't feel you won't feel successful. If you inadvertently fall into a system of, you know, cold calling or some system that you know that you weren't the captain of, and you're now you're doing that, you're not gonna have fun, you're not gonna have a nice time. So you have to really intentionally go, well, what is it? Why where is my where's my sweet spot for lead generation? What's the thing, right? Where's my sweet spot?

Janine:

Absolutely. And some people may say, Well, Janine, you're going out to dinner and having cocktails every night. I can't afford that.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Janine:

That's okay. If you want to see somebody in person, you can go for a walk. You can just send them a note. You can there are other things that you can do that don't cost really any money.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

Um, it's really just about being there and taking the relationship a little deeper. I I couldn't do this when I first started. I couldn't take go to dinner three nights a week and do cocktails and all of that.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

Um, I'm fortunate enough that now I can.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

It started out very humble.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

You know, and a lot of walks, actually. Walk around the lake or go to Redwood Park or, you know, do that if if you want to be with the person. Right. Now, the more people you have in your pipeline and sphere of influence, you can't scale like that. So you're gonna have to find other ways of of really connecting and being with people.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

Um, whether that's an engaging conversation on the phone, it's perfectly okay to say I don't have a lot of time the next couple of months.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

Use time as your excuse for your wallet.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

I don't have I'm really working hard on building my business right now. I don't have time, you know, I don't really have the time to go out to dinner, but I sure would love to have a great conversation on the phone.

Declan:

Right.

Janine:

That's perfectly fine.

Declan:

Yeah, it's perfectly fine.

Janine:

And you have time for that. Yeah. You got nothing but time for that.

Declan:

Yeah.

Janine:

If you're starting out.

Declan:

So it was a another light bulb moment I had. It was explained to me, but you know, the light bulb went off my head. And it was really beautiful. It was, you know, again, understanding like what do you need from the year? And so, you know, when you do that simple math of, you know, the average, you know, transaction I have is is here. We all have an average. Sure. And then and then what do what do I actually need by the time I've you know paid my business bills, my taxes, and all that stuff, what do I need like cut to be comfortable by you know, throughout the year? Let's say you need just a nice round figure, $100,000. Let's say, let's say you you need $100,000 after you've paid all your bills and taxes. And then you and then you can go, well, I need to sell in this many homes based on my selling cycle. Uh there's the average, you know, transaction value. So how many of those do I need? This is what allows you the freedom of not of not having to compare yourself to anybody else. That's right. Because you might get to a place where you go, you know, I I need 12 transactions a year, and that's all I need. Like to hit that goal. That's that that's a really nice place to be. Because you, you know, then then you're like, okay, I can adjust. That's my cruising altitude. I don't need more than that. Now I might I might be a kind of person who's ambitious and wants to double that next year. But you might also be the kind of person who says, that's enough. That's enough for me. And I'm gonna live my life around that being enough for me. And so I don't need to work like an agent who wants a hundred, two hundred thousand. I just need the hundred thousand. So I that's what I'm that's gonna, I'm gonna build my lifestyle and my business lifestyle around around that. I mean, it's quite simple, really. It really is. Yeah, yeah.

Janine:

One thing I want to say is for any of you who don't have you haven't established an average yet, just use your office average. So go to your broker or your manager and ask what the office average is and use that moving forward until you've created your own. And then there's six ways of building business. Figure out, you know, are you an events person? Are you a social media person? Are you an open house person? Are you somebody who's gonna buy leads? Or are you a sphere of influence person? What are those things that you want to do to build your business and really think about it? And and this is a time to be selfish. It's your business, nobody else's.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

Or if you're if you're with a team, come together every week and make sure that you're meeting and and and getting, you know, making sure you're meeting your your goals and your plans and the and that you're symbiotic with each other.

Speaker 1:

There you go.

Janine:

Uh, but yeah, you there's you can s you can do this after listening to this podcast.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

And just put that away and start picking up the phone. It's really that easy.

Declan:

When is it time to think about getting a coach?

Janine:

And the minute you can afford it.

Declan:

Really?

Janine:

Yep.

unknown:

Yeah.

Janine:

There every top CEO in the world has some form of coaching.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

Do we, you know, we can't come up with it all on our own. And very few of us are accountable enough to make it happen. And I think there's something pretty magical about that um mastermind type experience where you come together uh with your coach and your in our case, our team, and we are tackling a problem together.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

And yes, the coach is the catalyst because she's you know guiding the conversation and telling us where we need to go and what we need to do based on our goals this next two weeks. We talk every, we uh zoom every two weeks.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

And um I work with, I just want to plug them because I think they're fabulous. It's the workman success systems. And our coach, Sarah Bernard, is in Missouri. And what I love about their coaches is that all of them have to be the tippy toppiest of producers. So my particular coach is going to close 147 transactions this year at 70 million in Missouri. Wow. She also has a um a property management company with two locations and 20 employees.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

And then she makes time for coaching.

Speaker 1:

Wow.

Janine:

So at this at Workman uh Success Systems, that is the criteria, is that you need to be able to walk the walk in order to coach anyone with our name, which I really appreciate it. Not the case in most coaching companies. You know, what if you can't do, you teach, you know, kind of mentality. And so they may have been a producer, but they're not in it now.

Speaker 6:

Yeah.

Janine:

And there's something with a sense a different sense of urgency and capability and keeping up with the times that that I find very different than any other coaching that I have received.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

Um, so I'm very happy with it. I I think coaching also allows you to get out of your own way and not have to come up with all the answers.

Speaker 5:

Right.

Janine:

You just have to do what your coach tells you to do.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

That's it. Yeah. You know, you don't have to think about it, which I absolutely love because as a coach, I'm constantly having to problem solve and figure out what how I'm going to guide my team and how I'm going to guide my client. Yeah. I don't have to do that with a coach. She just tells us what to do.

Declan:

Yeah, yeah. It's particularly useful with the team dynamic like you have now. It's family, like, you know, having having that that uh independent, you know, neutral person is very smart in my opinion. Kind of reminds me of like when when my son was getting his license and doing his driving, you know, instruction and all that stuff. I showed him a few things, but I said, I'm gonna get you. I didn't want to I didn't want to fall into that stereotype, you know, of like we're arguing because you know what I mean? Like I said, I'm gonna I'm gonna pay for lessons for you. But you know how to drive a car. I'm like, yeah, but I don't know how to teach driving cars. So I think you need a professional to teach you how to drive a car responsibly, not just the fact that I could agreed, you know, and and especially with with family dynamics, you know, I can imagine the value of having a coach there.

Janine:

It's even more Yeah, my boys won't listen to me. You know, I it's just not gonna happen. We tr we tried it for a year. Right. It it's it just creates this weird dynamic between us so that when we all get together and have family dinner or whatever, all we do is talk about work.

Speaker:

Right.

Janine:

Ever since we've hired Sarah, we don't really talk about work except for we are excited about the things that she's teaching us and excited about the lead gen that we're starting to do very differently than we were before.

Speaker 6:

Yes.

Janine:

So we talk about our wins, not our frustrations. It I can't tell you the dynamic difference in how we are as a family.

Declan:

Yeah, I think a lot of coaching companies are gonna probably offer some type of introduction at minimum to the coaching. So I do think it's a it's a uniquely good time of the year to consider gifting yourself uh some coaching.

Janine:

And yeah, some coaching companies, I don't know what Buffini's doing now, but um I know it's a popular one. Sometimes they'll do an introductory offer where they'll do something for a quarter or six months at this price.

Declan:

Yeah. Yeah, I I do like I do like the Buffini thing. They do like a thing called 100 days of greatness, I think. And it, you know, if you kind of have a sphere and you and but you you're not really, you know, um you're not really doing the activities to to really you're not gonna That's a good one, right?

Speaker 5:

Yeah, yeah.

Declan:

It shows you how to how to really bring your sphere into being useful to you and you being useful to it because it's a give and take. There's a reciprocity in your sphere, you know, right? It's a give and take. You give to it, it gives back to you, and it's a kind of this organic thing. Yep. And so 100 days of greatness is a really nice one because it's just a limit.

Janine:

And there's that hundred days again, the 90 to 100 days. Yes, that's the exactly what that number is for.

Declan:

Yeah, exactly right. Yeah, see how it shows up. So um, I just wanted to have you in to kind of get fired up and get excited. No, I'm so excited.

Janine:

This is gonna be a great year. It's been a tough year for so many agents, 2025. Yeah, and I hear the same stories over and over again. Yeah, and it's not been our best year either, with the transition of adding a family member and figuring out how we all operate. And I think a lot of people put the blame game on market or leadership of the nation or whatever it is, right? They want to blame. But the bottom line is when you're running your business like a business, and I need the reminder as much as anybody, right, that we should be, if we're running it well and right, we should be able to weather any market.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

Because we all have the pipeline.

unknown:

Right.

Janine:

I mean, it really goes back to that. So I get it, it's been a tough year for a lot of folks, businesses down everywhere, not just in real estate. Right. But it's if you're ready and you're you're ready to do something great for yourself in 2026, now is the time to make that happen.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Janine:

And the you'll see some pretty magical things happen between now and then, too, because of the activities that you're going to commit to doing.

Declan:

Just do the economy of you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Declan:

Just the economy of you. Create your own market for us. That's right. Well, I hope people will, you know, listen to this and and uh forgive us for just getting fired up and excited and rambling.

Janine:

I know, you know, I know, I but I do love what we do. And when I, you know, when we do it well at a high level, we and we get charged from our successes and our and our efforts, uh, there's just no better business.

Declan:

There's nothing like it.

Janine:

And there's nothing like it.

Declan:

Yeah.

Janine:

And I think we do have to protect ourselves, especially with how crazy our world has been the last year or two, three, ten, whatever.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

Um, but we've got to figure out how to let that go and how to really just be in business and be with the people we love and and take care. You know, we just have to learn how to do that better.

Declan:

Yeah, absolutely. And too, so everybody out there, take care of yourselves. Yes. Oh, I, you know, wish you a really good uh November. Hope you get fired up. Have fun designing your holiday cards or your event. Have fun putting together your list of phone calls, and you know, see the faces as you go through the list and imagine a smile on every face, and they're just looking forward to hearing from you. That's how I do it. Get the mindset right and cherish. Cherish these relationships.

Janine:

They are special.

Declan:

You gotta cherish this stuff, you gotta cherish these people, and we get to make a living out of relationships. You know, what a beautiful thing that is. What am I missing that you wanna that you wanna uh close out with? Is there anything?

Janine:

I think that's a really great way to close out in in understanding that that time is finite and how we spend it is so important. The reason why the book's called 4,000 weeks is because all we have between zero and eighty years old is four thousand weeks.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Janine:

And how many more weeks do you have? Right, right, and no day is guaranteed. How we work in our business can be a joy and can be soul filling, yeah, or it can be a dread.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Janine:

It's your choice, it truly is. You are so powerful. Take advantage of that, you know, and like I said, be Be bold, give yourself some grace. Reach out to people if you need help. I'm certainly available if anybody needs an ear. Um, you know, I love our community, I love this profession we're in, and I think it's important we support each other. Yeah, I do want to plug RAW.

Declan:

Yeah, do that.

Janine:

Yeah, so RAW is the realtor and affiliate wellness group that Bridge does every fourth Friday at Bridge downstairs in the training room. And you know what? Again, hard year for a lot of folks. You're not alone. Come meet us. We get there at 11. We're only there for a tight hour, and it's just a way to share what you're going through, to be heard, and um create community for yourself because you know what? This is a this can be a really tough business.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

For various reasons that we've shared and those that we haven't. Um, you're not in it alone. Let us help you, let us be there for you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Janine:

So have any questions? Again, just reach out to me.

Declan:

Why don't you tell people your phone number?

Janine:

And I'll put everything in the show notes, but Janine Hunt's phone number is 510-409-6266.

Declan:

And you've been always so kind to me and generous when you were president as well. And of course, one of the ways I fill my time is I like to have really long conversations with people like you and then record them.

Janine:

I know.

Declan:

Thank you for being a guest on the podcast.

Janine:

My pleasure. This is so fun.

Declan:

This is how I charge my battery in the midst of all this, you know, all this hard work. You charge me up. Thank you for charging me. Thanks for coaching me up. Thanks for getting me excited about my sweet spot, which I'm going to be thinking about more as I edit this podcast. And Janine, just uh, you know, thank you for being so passionate about helping other realtors around us.

Janine:

You're welcome.

Declan:

Yeah, it's just beautiful stuff. So thank you.

Janine:

You got it.

Declan:

Well, we hope you enjoyed that and it got you thinking. Here are the credits for the show. The episode was edited by me with original music by Chuck Lindo and graphics by Lisa Mazer. The podcast is brought to you by the Home Factor Realtors. The HomeFactor.com. Catch up on the latest news from the East Bay market in their weekly substack, published every Sunday. Go to the HomeFactor.com to subscribe. And if you'd like to reach out to me with suggestions for the show, that kind of thing, please text me at four one five four four six eight five nine one. Have a great Thanksgiving, catch you on the next podcast in December, everybody.

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Janine Hunt

Guest