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Rich Richardson: Don't give up. If you set a goal, if you write it down, it will happen. But you have to put in the hard work to do that. And so go identify people that you want to be in a mentor relationship with, meet with them, glean what you can, and keep going until you find someone that fits.
Justin Landis: Welcome to The Justin Landis Show, your real estate podcast about having conversations, building relationships, and creating freedom. I'm your host, Justin Landis, and today I'm here with Rich Richardson, who was my real estate mentor, who was one of the founders of Bolst, and the founder of the team Rich Richardson. Rich, thanks for being here today.
Rich Richardson: I'm excited to be here.
Justin Landis: So, Rich, when we met — I think it was 2008. I was coming off of a failed real estate investment business. My ugly houses had gotten really ugly and we got introduced. But before we jump into that, tell everybody a little bit about your background before that point.
Rich Richardson: Well, I'm a corporate guy. Moved to Atlanta to work at Chick-fil-A at their corporate office. I was there six years and left to start a technology business.
Justin Landis: How many people leave Chick-fil-A? I know it's rare.
Rich Richardson: 98% retention rate when I was there.
Justin Landis: Way to be in the 2%.
Rich Richardson: Exactly. But I left because I was an entrepreneur. I wanted to start a technology company and we went through the dot-com era crash. And I said, I always wanted to be in business for myself. And so real estate was my choice after that failed technology era.
Justin Landis: Cool. And by the time we had met, you were having success. You had established and business was going well.
Rich Richardson: I had started in 2003 in real estate. And so my first year was kind of a normal year, and then it was a trajectory up. And then 2007, 2008, when we met, it was the downturn. And so we were experiencing a lot of change and shift in the market.
Justin Landis: Do you remember our very first meeting? We had a mutual friend who connected us. We had coffee. Do you remember that? What was it that made you say like, hey, I'll take this meeting. And then do you remember from that meeting — what made you think that working together could possibly be good for you?
Rich Richardson: It's a great question. I think, first of all, I would say it's who referred you. Clay Scroggins referred you over and I said, you know, I'm glad to meet with him. And he said, you know, this young guy's in real estate. He is sorting out where he wants to be. I think you would be a great person to meet with and to be a mentor. And so in meeting you, probably like everybody else, you are a great listener. I think that's super important. I think you were someone that had your act together. You were humble. And I think you were just wanting to learn and grow. And so for me, that was enough to want to invest in you.
Justin Landis: Awesome. Because you've always been really generous with your time, but not everybody that you've met with has had the opportunity to come alongside and work with you. I mean, as you think back to that — what was it that really made you take a chance and give me that opportunity?
Rich Richardson: It's a great question. I mean, I think I encourage people to go and find a mentor. And that means just set up lunches with people. And you're going to connect with some people and you're not going to connect with some people. I think for us, there were some shared values from an integrity standpoint, from a humility standpoint of really wanting to help people succeed and buy one of the most important investments that they're going to do in their lifetime. I think when you meet with someone, some people have the time available. They might be a great mentor, but they may be overcommitted. So don't give up. Keep looking for that right person. I think some people that are looking for a mentor sometimes go in and speak too much. You want to listen more than you talk. And I think for me, I saw your intellect. I saw your desire. Real estate takes a mental toughness. So you had gone through something that was not on the rise. It wasn't as successful. The market was down, but you were willing to listen and wanted to grow.
Justin Landis: Rich, I'm so thankful that you took that chance. It's had a obviously humongous impact on my life and career. And as you think about the first years, I'm curious from your perspective, what they were like for you. What do you remember from the first years that we worked together?
Rich Richardson: Well, a lot of laughter, a lot of exploration of the market that was shifting. I would tell you that I think I told you this at the beginning — I'm probably not a great mentor. I'm not as structured and disciplined. And that's why it was important to say, just come alongside me and learn what I can teach you. And for me, that was a lot. I mean, I'm good in real estate and the fact that I want people to buy great investments because I think they'll be clients for life. And so if you do a great job the first time, they're going to refer you people and they're going to continue to grow. And I think you got that right away. You were focused on gleaning everything you could from me.
Justin Landis: I would tell you that I laugh because I had an intern at the time that you're going to be interviewing as well. And you utilize the intern better than I did.
Rich Richardson: So you took the responsibility of really making sure that intern was fully utilized. Gave them projects to do. I always say you accomplish more by 7:30 a.m. than I do probably by noon.
Justin Landis: Well, Rich, I think the reason for that is — one of the things I remember, the first winter we worked together, you took five separate ski trips out west.
Rich Richardson: You don't have to share that with everybody.
Justin Landis: Five times you were out west. And I was like, oh, I know why I'm here. It's because Rich is never here. He needs somebody to help him. I'm just joking with you about that. But I do think you've done a great job in your business to be able to — that's part of what working for yourself has done. It's given you freedom to have a great life with your friends, with your family, with the places that you serve.
Rich Richardson: I think to be successful in real estate, you have to be disciplined. You have mental toughness. You have to have good communication skills, but you also have to have boundaries. You have to kind of create margin. And that means learning to delegate, putting people in place that allow you not to work 24/7. I remember a time with you after your first year, you had a pretty successful year. We sat down and we talked about your goals the next year and you were setting a goal that was lower than the first year.
Justin Landis: Yeah, I do remember. And you were like, why are you doing that? I was like, I'm working all the time. I don't want to work this much anymore. I can't keep up this pace.
Rich Richardson: But that's something that you learned well by then changing your trajectory and you put the right people in place and you built a team and you really made sure that, hey, I'm going to tackle this problem. I'm going to learn from it and I'm going to do something different.
Justin Landis: Yeah. And, you know, a lot of that stemmed from those early years. You mentioned integrity. Your slogan's been integrity results. And I've tried to take that to heart. And then with JLG, our mission of serve our clients, coworkers and community above ourselves was born out of that. And I'll never forget one of the first houses that we went together to see with some clients that were your clients. And we got in the car afterwards and you were like, what'd you think? And I was like, wow, you're really opinionated. You really shared a lot. And you were like, this is our job. We're the guide. I mean, I'm experienced here. Why wouldn't I share? And I had taken very much before that, just like, hey, it's their decision to make. I'll answer any questions, but I'm not going to like overstep my bounds. And it's interesting early on how little things like that can really change. Because from that point on, I was like, I am the guide. I am the expert here.
Rich Richardson: I mean, we learned something. We're seeing more houses than they are. So if we're not sharing — I'll give you an example. I remember one of my first years in real estate, I took a client to a home and they loved everything about it. And the garage was not on the main level and it was a walk up. And so we went ahead and bought the house. And about seven years later, they called me back to buy a new home, sell that home. And they said, we love everything about this house except for the garage. It's not on the main level. So it really reminded me that we can point those things out on the front end.
Justin Landis: You've actually — I mean, I joke with you on this, but there's a Rich Richardson approved list. You've got kind of a list of things, don't you, that you want to make sure people know about to either avoid or make sure they're okay with.
Rich Richardson: I do. People laugh, but no busy roads. Watch for water. Don't have the slope go down towards the house because water is going to have a big impact on your house. Don't like the house down below. Power lines. Floodplains. I mean, there's a long list of things that I really look out for, but that's our job. We want to help. And it all comes from a heart of wanting to serve people and to have a good experience being there and to be able to sell it down the line.
Justin Landis: And that's really what I learned. These are some details, but the big picture is just like, hey, this is a relationship-based business where taking care of people is the top priority.
Rich Richardson: And it really reaps benefits. So now I'm 23 years in the business. And so people come back to me, you know, after having a house 10 or 15 years, I have agents on my team that I helped buy houses and they've ended up having careers with me. And so there's a lot of benefit in helping people get what they want.
Justin Landis: And speaking of that longevity, you've been through a lot of different markets, right? And if you were starting over now — starting like right now in the current market — what would you do to start to build this relationship-based business from scratch?
Rich Richardson: It's a great question as well. But I don't think it changes from when I started because it's all about the people business. And if you're sincere about helping people, then you can be successful in this. So you got to have a mental toughness to get through the first couple of years. FaceTime with people, calling people. I would write a script of why I'm in real estate and why I want to help people and why I'm good at this. And I would practice that with everybody — whether it's your barber or whether it's your financial advisor or whether it's your parents or your friends. For me, it was a circle of influence. I had a group of people that knew me that said, hey, we trust you and they helped me build my business. They were the referrals. And so if you have a circle of influence and they're willing to help you, you know, I think you can grow a business. It's learning how to fish. I mean, if I go fishing and I've cast in the same place for a hundred times and don't catch a fish — that's crazy. But if I go and cast 10 times here and 10 times here and when I catch a fish, there's more there. Well, real estate — you can work with builders, you can work with brand new people that haven't bought homes before. There's all kinds of avenues that you can go through. So keep fishing and looking for your bucket that really makes sense and then grow upon that.
Justin Landis: I love that. I think that's great advice to have those relationships because if people know you, like you and trust you, the only thing you have to do is to become their go-to real estate agent at that point.
Rich Richardson: You asked what I admired or what I saw in you as we started working. And I would just say, those are the reasons I met Bolst and helped found it with you — you're wired for this. You're a leader. You're someone that believes in people. You're helping people establish incredible careers. And I think the concept of really helping underserved communities and really helping the homeless is just icing on the cake for me. And it's a joy to work alongside you now.
Justin Landis: Thanks, Rich. It's a joy for me too. All right, Rich. So let's kind of recap what we talked about today. From the standpoint of being a mentor, what do you think is the biggest takeaway?
Rich Richardson: Well, don't give up. Same thing on goal setting. If you set a goal, if you write it down, it will happen. But you have to put in the hard work to do that. And so go identify people that you want to be in a mentor relationship with, meet with them, glean what you can, and keep going until you find someone that fits.
Justin Landis: Awesome. And then what would you say about on the opposite side, for the person who is the mentor and thinking maybe I have something to share — what advice would you give them as they're looking for a mentee or trying to decide whether they would take one on?
Rich Richardson: Well, the thing I would tell you is I think being a servant leader and having a heart of being a mentor — that brings incredible joy. And so it wouldn't be nearly as fun. I mean, seeing you be successful brings great joy. And so don't miss out on the opportunity. Have humility. I mean, I'll be honest with you. I probably learned more from you than you did from me. But if you have a heart of listening and really wanting to understand what they're saying, and then you apply it to where your lens is or your set of circumstances, I think you can really learn a lot from people.
Justin Landis: Rich, thanks for all that you've done for me, and thanks for being here today. It's a treat.
Rich Richardson: Thanks for listening today. Make sure that you hit that subscribe button so that you don't miss a single episode and we will be back with you next week.
