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Justin Landis: Welcome to The Justin Landis Show, your real estate podcast about having conversations, building relationships, and creating freedom. Today I'm here with Julie Caricato, managing broker of Bolst Alpharetta. Julie, thanks for being here.
Julie Caricato: Thanks for having me.
Justin Landis: Tell everybody a little about your real estate background that led you to helping us launch Bolst Alpharetta.
Julie Caricato: The short version: I've been in real estate a good number of years. I started as an agent, a single mom who had to make money, so I grew a team, moved into land development, and ended up doing subdivisions, that became my niche. I did about a dozen subdivisions over the years. When the market crashed in 2008, I reinvented myself and moved into the management side. I ended up at Keller Williams coaching agents, which opened up other opportunities, becoming a managing broker. I launched an office for ERA, helped open offices for Remax, and most recently Atlanta Communities. Then I found you a couple of years ago. My path has taken me a lot of different places, and I think that's been great for me, I've learned so many things, met great people, learned different models, and it helped me understand exactly what I wanted.
Justin Landis: You've worked at a lot of great companies, all the ones you named are great companies, and you've seen different models. What made you say, at this point, I want to take my next step with Bolst when we opened the Alpharetta office?
Julie Caricato: I think it was life season, honestly. I'm having grandbabies now, so things look a little different. I needed an opportunity, not just a job, and that's part of what drew me here. I've mentioned this to you before, but I feel like I've come full circle. I was a preacher's daughter, giving back has been part of my whole life, we did that with our kids too. So meeting you with a purpose based business was really important at this stage of my life. I don't think there's one right brokerage. I think there's a right brokerage for a season.
Justin Landis: As you think about what you've learned seeing these different models, what do you think agents should be considering as they evaluate different brokerages?
Julie Caricato: Agents get stuck. They get stuck in a mindset. I talked to a woman recently who'd been at a company for 22 years, and she said, I'm a lifer. I laugh at that, because why? You get stuck in a model and you stop seeing what's going on outside of it. The most important thing for an agent to realize is that there are different phases of your business, and as you evolve, your business model should too. Maybe the company you're with isn't the fit anymore.
Justin Landis: That was actually eye opening for me. The Justin Landis Group was at the same brokerage for a long time, and I never took meetings with other companies. Once I started taking meetings, I realized there were other genuinely good brokerages out there doing things differently. When you came to Bolst, you helped launch a brand new office, and a lot of agents have joined and been attracted to the culture you've built. What have you seen in this go around that's been especially helpful for agents deciding to join and then succeeding once they're in?
Julie Caricato: We have a lot of different tools that other brokerages haven't had in the past, and I think we'll get into some of them. But the team model, the rev share model, and the purpose driven business all attract people for the long term, and people with deeper core values. It's a different type of agent. We're not one size fits all.
Justin Landis: Let's start with the team model, we have some really large, awesome teams here. What have you seen that actually helps teams evaluate where they should be and what matters most?
Julie Caricato: If you're a team considering a move, I honestly don't know why you'd be anywhere else. I've never seen team fee structures this low, a $500 transaction fee for a team member when a lot of companies are taking such heavy splits, that's remarkable. And it's not just the money, it's also collaborating with so many other successful teams here. The team model is huge to me, and you're getting rev share on top of it, which lets you flex a bit on your own finances.
Justin Landis: When we were deciding whether to start our own brokerage or go somewhere else, the Justin Landis Group was not going to join a brokerage without a good team setup. We asked ourselves what the ideal team setup would look like, and that's where things like a good cost structure, rev share because teams bring in a lot of agents which helps the brokerage, and wanting it to be a genuine win-win came from. We wanted the brokerage to support teams, sending agents through Elevate and Advance, having a lead share program so a team doesn't have to do 100 percent of its own lead generation, those were things we wanted because we wanted them for ourselves.
Justin Landis: Let's pause on lead share for a second.
Julie Caricato: Let's do it. Lead share is its own program, and you don't have to be on a team to join it. I have an agent in Alpharetta, Mary, who did $200,000 in revenue a year on a team, but she really wanted to build her own business on Lake Lanier, where she lives. She knew it would be a challenge, but Bolst Lead Share has helped her build her own business and have an additional income stream while she does it.
Justin Landis: For anyone listening, Lead Share is the opportunity to opt in and receive leads. You pay a higher percentage on the ones you convert, but you don't have to be part of a team, and there's no cost against your own personal business. It's a great way for agents to push through slower stretches or potentially go out on their own. How many people are in the program now?
Julie Caricato: We've got over 40 people in the program now, and a lot of our agents really enjoy it as a supplemental source of income.
Justin Landis: You also mentioned rev share, which mattered to you when you came over, and matters a lot to us for the number of agents we've brought into the system. You said it's not for everyone, but you wish it was.
Julie Caricato: I do wish it was for everyone. I'll just share my check, it was $7,000 yesterday, and my highest has been about $11,000, and that was in a month, not a year. That was one of the reasons I came, probably the biggest reason besides the purpose based side and the flexibility. Dina is a good example, she came over from another company, from a large Chicago team, and wanted to build her own business here while replacing her income. It's been beautiful for her, her husband said the same thing yesterday, he was thrilled to keep it going. She doesn't even have that many people in her downline yet. The rev share model is fantastic, and I always try to help people I've brought into the company get their first couple of referrals going too.
Justin Landis: That's been exciting to watch grow. Bolst has given back well over a million dollars to agents, and we've only been in business five years. It adds up to meaningful income in a business where you're always looking for that next sale, I'm looking two months out right now and I genuinely don't know how many houses we'll sell in that window. Having rev share on top of that is really valuable in an industry where you're always fighting for the next transaction. And honestly, I don't think it feels like a push for agents, recruiting has a negative connotation, but really it's about doing a great transaction with someone and inviting them into the space if they're a fit.
Julie Caricato: Only if they're a fit. It's easy. I'd love to help everybody figure that out.
Justin Landis: Another thing I've noticed you've done a great job with in the Alpharetta office, and I think it really matches both your style and Bolst's, is camaraderie and collaboration. Yesterday was National Hot Dog Day, our second annual one at Bolst Alpharetta, and it was so much fun, agents, their families, vendor partners all there. That's for fun, not directly about selling houses, but you're also running contests and masterminds to help people sell more. Why do you think that's important, and how can a broker support that?
Julie Caricato: I want to go back to rev share for a second, because a lot of companies have that model but feel completely disconnected, virtual brokerages with great models but no real connection. That's exactly why we do the collaboration, the brick and mortar, boutique style. As a broker, I want to know their families, I want to know who they are, and I want to support the whole person. We have single mothers, we have people with big families who enjoy being part of this, my own grandbaby was there yesterday, my daughter is even thinking about getting into real estate. I think it's important to build that.
Julie Caricato: Here's another example. We had about 12 people in our direct rev share downline, and we ran a bingo game, real estate bingo, first, second, and third place. One of the women got an expired listing as part of it. You've got three across, calling on 50 people or doing certain activities, and they weren't easy, they were hard enough that if you got three across you'd actually accomplished something. Everyone told me the same thing, you pushed us to do things we wouldn't have done on our own. The accountability and camaraderie matter a lot, especially in this kind of market.
Justin Landis: Definitely, when transaction volume is lower and the sales cycle is longer, agents have to be more proactive. That's a lot of what we talk about on this podcast, how to take those proactive steps. And honestly, it's so much easier to do that with somebody else, and with somebody leading you, than to wake up on your own every day and figure it out alone. That's the beauty of the bingo, it tells you what to do, and you're doing it alongside other people.
Julie Caricato: I had that with one agent specifically, she was thinking about leaving over fees, wanting to go to a cheaper company, and she hadn't done as much business that year. I sat her down and asked her to give me one year. But the promise was that she'd actually get plugged in, because usually the agents who aren't doing much business are the ones who aren't plugged in. She did it, and now she's at everything. She's thanked me for it, told me it's exactly what she needed.
Justin Landis: It's one of the coolest things about your role, the impact you get to have on people. I think about a couple of brokers who had a huge impact on my own career, and I'll always be grateful for that. I know you take it seriously. How do you think a broker makes the biggest impact with agents?
Julie Caricato: I'll share a bit of my history on why I became a broker. Before real estate, I coached volleyball, played a little in college, enough to be dangerous, and I taught piano for many years. Coaching and teaching were always my strength, and I genuinely thrive on watching people succeed, which is part of why I love the team model and the broker role. But the broker part specifically came when I felt like my own broker wasn't fighting for me, and I lost a subdivision because of it. It was something that shouldn't have happened, and I decided right then I was going to become a broker, because I never wanted someone else to feel that. I wanted agents to feel like someone was fighting for them, without it being a political move. That's why the role matters so much to me, the broker is in the trenches with you, helping navigate the transaction when things go wrong, and I take that very seriously.
Justin Landis: I've told you this before, but if somebody needed someone to go to bat for them on the broker side, I'm having Julie do it. You go to bat for people and you don't back down, and you always have their best interests in mind.
Julie Caricato: I try to be nice about it too.
Justin Landis: We've covered a lot, the purpose based business, lead share, the team model, rev share. For anyone listening, what do you think makes an ideal agent for Bolst? Who's the person you'd love to talk to?
Julie Caricato: After two years here, I think our perfect agent is someone who wants to grow. Not someone just wanting to hang their license, but someone looking for systems, models, and support from leadership that's actually in it, not people who've been teaching the same thing off old experience for decades. It's the agent who's ready for the next step.
Justin Landis: I get the exact same answer, and we didn't script this ahead of time. We want the agent who wants to grow, whether you're brand new and want to grow, or you've already got a $50 million team and want to take it to $100 or $200 million, we want to help people get to that next level, and it's fun to do together.
Julie Caricato: It really is. Yesterday in a sales meeting we talked about three brand new agents, literally in our newest Elevate and Advance cohort, and all three already have deals. It's exciting to watch. I didn't see that at previous companies, people would get lost, especially at larger companies. Smaller companies tend to do more hands-on support, in my opinion.
Justin Landis: Julie, thanks again for being here today. If you'd like to talk to Julie about joining Bolst Alpharetta, and you're on the north side of the city, we'd love for you to talk to her, she'll have your back and help you do more business and build passive income. Her scheduling link is below. If you're anywhere else in the city, we'd love to talk to you too, you can schedule time with me directly. For everyone else, thanks for watching, make sure you like and subscribe so you never miss an episode, and we'll see you again next week.
Julie Caricato: Hey, North Atlanta agents, I'd love to invite you to chat with me. I was an agent with a team myself, and I would have loved what Bolst has to offer. We have rev share, especially strong on the team plans, I think they're awesome, I built a big team back in the day through subdivision development. There's no other source with the luxury marketing that comes along with it either. There's so much here that's different, and we're a boutique brokerage with real support. All of our leadership is heavily involved, going to conferences, learning, working to better ourselves so we can support you. If you're looking for a change and any of this sounds appealing, we'd love to chat. Click the link, schedule a call with me, I'd love to get to know you personally.
