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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 Amy Spence. Amy, thanks for being here.
Amy Spence: Thanks so much for having me.
Justin Landis: Amy is one of our awesome brokers at Bolst, and over ten years ago, Amy was the first Justin Landis Group expansion partner. We were expanding all the way from downtown to Woodstock, a big expansion, and you took a risk coming on to JLG early, when things looked a lot different than they do now. Tell us that story, what it was like getting started together, and where it's led you.
Amy Spence: Ten years ago I was an individual agent, and I think you reached out through a mutual firm and approached me about being the first expansion partner. I had no idea what that was.
Justin Landis: We didn't really know either, quite frankly.
Amy Spence: But I noticed in all our conversations that our values really aligned. You weren't expecting me to do a lot of door knocking or cold calling, you just wanted me to have conversations and build relationships. We're still doing that now, all these years later.
Justin Landis: Fast forward through all those years of running around and selling a lot of houses together, you became junior partner at the Justin Landis Group, which gave you a lot of opportunities to mentor new agents and teach them what you'd learned the hard way.
Amy Spence: That's what inspired me, and made me realize my heart was maybe more centered around helping other people grow their business than continuing to grow my own.
Justin Landis: Was there a specific moment that hit you? You were selling a huge number of houses, and then you became a lot more intentional, which really impressed me, about the clients who were the best fit for you. But there was definitely a switch toward mentoring other agents. How did that come about?
Amy Spence: I think I'm just a very loyal person by nature, and I started getting into the weeds of the contract. I really liked how we could protect our clients in so many ways, and I realized I could help new agents protect their clients early on too, so they don't have to make the hard mistakes. That's what made me want to get my broker's license, and hopefully use it here at Bolst.
Justin Landis: You got your broker's license, but it wasn't for a specific role yet, we hadn't grown enough to have that role at the time. You still took that leap anyway. For people listening wondering if they should get their broker's license, what led you to take that step, since it's a substantial effort?
Amy Spence: I've always been hungry to learn and expand my bandwidth as an agent. Even without a role here at the time, I was willing to wait. I believed in the vision, and I knew we'd eventually grow to the point where, hopefully someday, I'd be sitting where I am now.
Justin Landis: And now you are. It's been so awesome having you share your knowledge with so many agents. One of the things I remember most from your ten year celebration at JLG was hearing story after story from people saying, on my first listing, on my first transaction, Amy walked me through it, Amy guided me through it, but she gave me the chance to actually do it myself, she didn't just do it for me. Now you're meeting with a lot of agents considering Bolst, joining Bolst, or just getting started. What have you observed in those conversations?
Amy Spence: One thing I explain a lot is just how humbling this business is. It's okay to ask questions, we want that. If you don't know something, don't be afraid to ask, that's something I'm very clear about with new agents.
Justin Landis: You told me you're losing your voice from answering so many questions.
Amy Spence: Exactly, yes. Another thing that comes up a lot is agents who started at another brokerage, or have been at one, and haven't been able to get traction.
Justin Landis: What do you see us helping them do here that they weren't able to do somewhere else?
Amy Spence: One thing that really differentiates us is that we require a training program, Elevate and Advance. It goes deep into the actual day-to-day things you need to know as an agent, because a lot of agents get fixated on getting leads right away and think they'll grow their business overnight. If you don't know how to actually have a conversation with someone about real estate, all the leads in the world just lead to discouragement.
Justin Landis: You're not going to convert well, and you won't do a good job with the few you might luck into. How do we make sure we're not over-promising and under-delivering? That's something I hear a lot from agents considering a switch, that what they were hoping for, they just never got.
Amy Spence: When someone comes on board as an individual agent, I really try to envision a career pathway for them. It starts with training, then it can grow into the lead share program, then into a team. There are a lot of pathways here, and we're there to guide them and give them the tools.
Justin Landis: Thinking about the ideal first 90 days for someone who just got their license, what do they need to do to get their business kicked off?
Amy Spence: First, they've got to get the word out, and you can't be shy about that. You won't make it in real estate if you are.
Justin Landis: A lot of people struggle with that though.
Amy Spence: It's a hard thing, I struggled with it too, because I was coming out of another career. I actually kept that job for about a year as a safety net, because I didn't know if I'd be successful as an agent. So I didn't even really know what to do those first 90 days.
Justin Landis: What did you do?
Amy Spence: Told a few people I'd gotten my license and hoped for the best, honestly.
Justin Landis: Do you think that's a good strategy?
Amy Spence: Not at all. But it does make sense why I appreciate what we've built here at Bolst, because an agent who comes on board here, their first 90 days, they're in Elevate and Advance learning all the core fundamentals right away, with a group of people who are all learning for the first time together. It's basically their first team.
Amy Spence: I think back to my own beginning, I had this list of people I knew I needed to call, and I can still picture my office, just staring at it thinking, what am I even going to say? I don't have any idea. I'm here all by myself.
Justin Landis: That's a tough environment. So having people around you, having an actual plan, and getting the word out, that's step one.
Amy Spence: Absolutely.
Justin Landis: As people start getting the word out, what's most helpful next to keep the momentum going?
Amy Spence: You've got to keep having conversations and building relationships. It just keeps coming back to that, over and over again. And you have to recover quickly when you make a mistake, because there's no way to start out in this business without making them. You have to know how to recover quickly.
Justin Landis: So how do you recover quickly?
Amy Spence: Great point, again it's surrounding yourself with other agents going through it for the first time together, and having a great team of brokers. I love that we've got four brokers at Bolst, and we really make sure agents know they can call us anytime, we have an open door policy.
Justin Landis: I know your heart, and Catherine's, and Julie's, and Romie's, everyone would rather get a call than not get one, even if it turns out the call wasn't strictly necessary, because you'd all rather help someone make as few mistakes as possible and bounce back quickly.
Justin Landis: When agents reach out, and I think a lot of new agents aren't totally sure what this even means, a lot of people are curious about joining a team. Here at Bolst, partly thanks to a decade and a lot of dollars of work on Justin Landis Group's online presence, a lot of agents ask about the Justin Landis Group even if they don't fully know what it is. How do you help new agents think through whether a team is right for them, or if going solo would be better?
Amy Spence: I really like suggesting they come on board as an individual agent first, get through that initial training, start to acclimate to Bolst, get to know people, and start seeing how the different teams actually run their businesses. What aligns with your values? Then you can make a real business match, because we have a lot of teams here that operate very differently. You might be the right fit for one, and not another.
Justin Landis: If you had to generalize, what type of person or business is typically most ideal for a team versus going solo?
Amy Spence: I wish it were one size fits all, but it really depends on the person's needs at the time. A lot of teams require a full time commitment, so if you're still holding onto another job for a while until your real estate business can get off the ground, a team structure might not be right for you in that moment. But when you're ready to take that leap, it's great to already have teams in place and people you're familiar with to join.
Justin Landis: We have a lot of agents doing exactly what you did yourself, getting started while still holding onto another job. How do you see Bolst helping individual agents in that specific situation?
Justin Landis: That's a great point about teams generally wanting full time agents. But a lot of agents get into this business because it's 100 percent commission, and they want a safety net job while they're getting started. How does Elevate and Advance and new agent training work for someone getting into the business part time versus full time?
Amy Spence: Elevate and Advance is designed for three different learning styles. One is meeting in person, and you're only required to meet in person once a week, for just an hour and a half, and it's even offered over Zoom. That's a pretty low fixed commitment. The rest of the learning for the other two styles, you can do on your own, at home, and you get immediate access to everything, video, instructors, time to do role play and simulations.
Justin Landis: That makes me think of an agent we had join last year who's a firefighter. He's been able to keep that job and still do great business, and people trust him. If it had required quitting his job, he wouldn't have done it. But he's built a really strong business, exactly like you were describing wanting for yourself at the beginning.
Amy Spence: Exactly.
Justin Landis: I think that's part of why we always say by agents, for agents, because agents do it different ways. For some people, a team is the right first step, for others, going solo is right. For the agent you'd advise to jump into a team as soon as they can, once they've gone through training and found a fit, what's the biggest pro of joining a team early?
Amy Spence: It's full service. You're going to have signs, lockboxes, all of that, without most of the big upfront expenses a team structure usually covers. And then there's the additional mentorship and training, it's really just a continuation of everything you got out of Elevate and Advance.
Justin Landis: Takes it from 1.0 to 2.0.
Amy Spence: Exactly.
Justin Landis: To wrap up, if there's a new or newer agent listening, or someone struggling to get their business off the ground, what's the one piece of advice you'd give them that you think would help the most?
Amy Spence: First, I'd tell them, don't quit. You have to keep going, or you're definitely not going to make it. So many people who almost quit ended up hugely successful, they just stayed the course. Then I'd start unpacking what activities they're currently doing, and see what else we could add so they can touch the dream every day. You want to stay close to that dream and that goal you had in mind when you first got started.
Justin Landis: I like that, touch the dream every day.
Amy Spence: Because motivation in this business can be challenging, it builds over a long period, it's not quick, immediate success most of the time. So if you can't do full time activities all day long, just touch the dream a little bit throughout the day.
Justin Landis: Is that social media posting, reaching out to five people you know for coffee next week?
Amy Spence: Exactly, just being really intentional about staying in action. It never fails, things do come through. Action leads to more action, we've seen it countless times.
Justin Landis: Amy, thanks for sharing all this today, and for everything you're doing to help our new and newer agents, it's making a real difference. All right, everybody, thanks for listening. If you're a new agent, thinking about getting your license, or you've had it and need to get your business off the ground, I'd love to offer you the chance to talk directly to Amy. Her call link is below, click there to schedule. She'd love to ask you those questions, learn about your business, and see if she can help you take it to the next level like she has for so many other agents. For everyone else, thanks for listening again this week, make sure you like and subscribe so you don't miss a single episode, and we'll see you again next week.
