Taking Real Estate from Hustle to Harmony: A Journey Through My eBook CHAPTER 1

On this episode I share why I published my eBook "From Hustle to Harmony: Balancing Business Growth, Personal Life and Creating a Winning Mindset"  

I read the Introduction and Chapter 1

Included:
• The difference between amateurs who let excuses stop them and entrepreneurs who show up consistently
• Growth requires getting comfortable being uncomfortable and pushing beyond your comfort zone
• Success comes from making decisions from your goal rather than toward your goal
• Becoming 1% better everyday compounds into significant results over time

I offer coaching and mentorship to my business partners at no additional charge through team collaboration model with no team split. If you're interested in learning more or joining, reach out directly to explore the opportunity.

angiegerber@gmail.com

Chapters

• 1:12 Introduction to the Ebook Project
• 4:32 My Real Estate Journey Begins
• 11:29 Hitting Rock Bottom and Finding Purpose
• 16:19 The Agent Dropout Problem
• 18:22 Amateur or Entrepreneur: The Choice
• 23:09 Overcoming Fear and Taking Action
• 27:45 Coming From Your Goal, Not Toward It

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:37

So I wrote an ebook at the end of 2024. And what I wrote about was obviously real estate. And I just keep getting the same questions, I keep answering the same you know inquiries and just a lot of agents out there are experiencing much of the same. So I figured, why not put it in an ebook? And so that's what I did and I am a terrible marketer is what I've also learned and I'm not going to pay to Alex Hermosi and even more love his wife, layla, which I have a girl crush on, absolutely, and I'm going to take a page out of their book and that is. You know, I challenged myself with the whole. You'll never out give a giver type mentality and Alex and Layla show up at such a high level doing this. I mean, if you Google them or if you subscribe to their YouTube channels, I don't know that they could give away more free content than they already do. And I'm talking valuable content. And he's wrote a few books and he has recorded them on his podcast so you can buy it and listen to it at the same time on his podcast, or you can just listen to the book. You don't even have to buy it. So I'm like, well, why don't I do that? Why don't I go through my book here on my podcast? And you know, if you want to buy it, fantastic, I would love the support. It's 20 bucks on my stand store. However, if you don't want to or can't afford it, you know there are some agents out there which, if you can't invest $20 in your business, we definitely should be talking soon.

Speaker 1: 2:46

But, yeah, I just wanted to go ahead and, you know, start today with the introduction and chapter one. And you know, never I'll give a giver. I'm going to go ahead and and give everything I've got, and this actually took me months to write. I sat down, just like many people. I was like, oh, I got it outlined, it won't take long. And finally my husband looked at me. He's like you just have to push go. And I'm like, all right. So at one point in time I just had to go ahead and good enough is good enough because I could have rewrote it. I could still be rewriting it and it's not just, it's not going to help anyone sitting in my computer. So I'm going to go ahead and, yeah, I'm really excited.

Speaker 1: 3:33

So the next 12 weeks will be a chapter. A week from my ebook will be a chapter a week from my ebook, and the title of it is From Hustle to Harmony Balancing Business Growth, personal Life and Creating a Winning Mindset. Take your business to the next level. Inside you'll find tools to build mental toughness, overcome setbacks and establish systems that lead to consistent success. And again, there's 12 chapters that I poured my heart into what took me years upon years upon years to learn. I took the cream of the crop and really a lot of what I coached to my elite coaching clients and I put it in this ebook for anyone to access at any time to get them from where they are to where they want to be.

Speaker 1: 4:28

And the first part in the introduction is you know me, angie Gerber, why listen to me? I said at age 37, I left a comfortable 13-year career at a company where I knew the ins and outs and how to keep everything headed in the right direction. I jumped full-time into real estate a 3% match, six weeks paid vacation and health insurance to having no scheduled paydays, no benefits, no health cared, scared out of my mind, really terrified, really, and yet so incredibly excited. Hell, I didn't even know how to say realtor properly. Side note, it's realtor, not real-it-tor. Just two symbols, not three, as I learned the very hard and very embarrassing way Got called out on that in front of some people. So, yeah, two syllables in front of some people. So yeah, two syllables. I hear it wrong all the time. Just side note. I knew like I knew, like I knew, moving forward, this was the only option for me. There was no going back. This was it, and that was that.

Speaker 1: 5:54

I have always had a servant heart and could often be found in a customer service role or caretaker of some sort. The thought of helping someone buy, sell or invest in their largest asset was the ultimate way to partner with and help others achieve their goals and dreams. A level of excitement took over. I couldn't sleep. The possibilities were endless the number of people I could help, the families I would impact, the potential income I could make to change my family's lives. It was such an amazing opportunity. I knew with every cell in my body this was my next step, and I knew little more than that.

Speaker 1: 6:37

On February 8th 2014, I made the decision to get my real estate license and pursue the new desire that had taken a hold of me, with a full-time job, three kids and not much downtime. I finished the 90 hours required by the state online. I passed both the state and national exams and put in my two-week notice on April 1st 2014. My first day as an official Realtor was April 21st. I joined a team at one of the bigger brokerages and got to work and I did whatever it took, because failing was not an option. I got so comfortable being uncomfortable. I was just putting one foot in front of the other and hoping not to fall too hard on my face, at least for that day.

Speaker 1: 7:29

I started with cold calling. My voice and body were shaking while I dialed and I sucked at it and I did it anyways. I was practicing my scripts, role-playing, going to as many training sessions as possible as time would allow, showing buyers homes, hosting open houses and doing whatever was asked of me. I was a showing specialist to the buyer's agent on the team. I showed the client's potential homes and the buyer's agent wrote all the contracts and handled the negotiations. Oh, and this was when gas was $4.85 a gallon. So driving about 300 miles every two to three days was very expensive and thankfully I had credit cards. They were just about maxed, but at least I had them to pay for gas, and if you've heard that, repetition is key, I am a perfect example of this. I know I knew very little about sales. I just knew I wanted to make this work and if you consistently show up and do something, you will get better and eventually you will win. And the buyer's agent on the team left about four months after I started, so I got promoted from showing specialist to buyer's agent Gulp.

Speaker 1: 8:51

I was once again both excited and scared out of my mind. I ended up closing over 30 transactions in my first year and getting into the top 20% of producing agents at the brokerage. This is where that saying fake it till you make it comes into play for me. From the outside it looked like I had it all together and this wasn't the case. The good part was I'm a quick learner and really had to be told twice how to do something.

Speaker 1: 9:22

The bad news was I didn't know how to bounce at all. Excuse me, I had a two-year-old, a five-year-old and a 10-year-old at home that I hardly spent any time with and a 10-year-old at home that I hardly spent any time with. See, I was told, and under the impression that the first couple of years are tough and building a business is hard. They were right it is hard, it is confusing and it's scary as hell heartbreaking, exciting and rewarding all at the same time. And, looking back, it could have been much different for me and my family, which is one of the drivers behind my desire to help other agents learn from my failures in so many ways.

Speaker 1: 10:04

Now I know this was part of my journey and I wouldn't change a thing because it got me to where I am today. The on-the-job training I got was better than any classroom could have taught me. The tools, resources, scripts, training and all-around support I received over the seven years I spent on the team helped mold me into the agent, coach and mentor that I've worked so hard to become. Learn and then earn that's one of the things Alex Hormozy says. You see, I paid to play, and being part of a team and paying the commission splits to both the team and the brokerage allowed me the opportunity to become the leader I am today. As Steve Jobs says, you can only connect the dots looking backwards. It was a huge part of my journey, a part I'm forever grateful for.

Speaker 1: 10:59

You see, I hit my personal rock bottom about three years into my real estate career and, long story short, my drinking caught up with me. The switch flipped and I was no longer in control. I quickly became a full-blown alcoholic. I became someone I wouldn't have recognized six to nine months earlier, knowing I was days away from losing everything that meant anything to me. I got help from a family friend and started going to AA meetings once a day for 90 days, and it was during those 90 days that I watched the movie the Secret for the first time, and through that movie I found and hired my first coach and mentor, bob Proctor. And to say my life completely changed in a year's time would be a huge understatement. After three months, I stopped going to AA. The meetings and the people in those rooms saved my life in the beginning for sure. There's no doubt in my mind and the rooms they got heavy and they got darker in a way, and they were no longer where I needed to be. So, at age 40, with the coaching and mentorship from Bob Proctor, a whole new universe opened up to me. The way he talked and what he explained to me was absolutely mind-blowing. I had never heard this stuff before. My last drink was on February 3rd 2017. The next day was the first day of the rest of my life.

Speaker 1: 12:38

After the first year of coaching with Bob Proctor, I knew this was it why I was put on this earth At my lowest point. My purpose and passion for coaching others found me. This now became my ultimate way to serve another human being. I knew if I could change in the way I did, anyone could do it, and I had to get this information out to anyone who would listen. A couple years later, I left the team in brokerage and I joined an independent brokerage to help run their mentorship program. I got to marry my love for real estate and my passion for coaching together.

Speaker 1: 13:20

I applied all I learned over the years in real estate along with well over 100 transactions. My experience, paired with Bob Proctor's transformational coaching and many IPAC coaching certifications, successfully collapsed the learning curve down to just months for new agents who committed to the process and wanted to succeed. My business partner at the time created a 12-week curriculum with over 180 lessons and I got to show up and coach new agents and inexperienced agents on how to set up and run a successful real estate business. This was by far one of my favorite years. It was a pinch me. Is this really my life kind of year. My I get to. I don't have to year it wasn't work. I don't have to year. It wasn't work. I was 100% in my element, joyful and filled with purpose and passion. I was impacting agents on a one-to-one basis and I loved it. Between my business partner and me, we graduated over 40 agents. Now that may sound like a small number. However, when you're working one-on-one with new agents, it takes most of your time and attention.

Speaker 1: 14:37

I focus on helping agents and leverage much of my sales business out in order to show up for the agents at an extremely high level. Most agents now come to me because they aren't getting the support from their brokerage or more experienced agents promise them. I get the same statement from agents over and over. They say they said they would help me, give me leads, let me shadow them, train me, answer my questions and they're too busy to help me. Brokerages and experienced agents need to stop promising agents help if they can't or won't show up to help. It's virtually impossible to support ambitious agents in this business if the tools, resources, training and coaches aren't in place. You cannot run your own business owing your clients fiduciary duties and help newer agents at a high level I have yet to see it work. Without the systems in place, the agents get left behind, not knowing what to do. We need to disrupt the agent dropout rate in real estate, seven out of 10 new agents, on average, leave in the first year. In any other industry, this would be catastrophic. This is due to a variety of reasons not getting support, not knowing what to do, fear of success, caring too much what others think of them, fear of failure, not being consistent and spending time on non-income producing activities. The list goes on.

Speaker 1: 16:24

You've got this, whether you are new to real estate or have been in the business for 20 plus years. This book is for you. We all have blinders on and need to start peeling them back. Often, it takes a different perspective or awareness to see things through a different lens. Just like most things, real estate is changing, and mostly for the better. I am now at a place where I can pour into other agents and not charge a team split. All of the benefits of a team and no team split. How? Because the industry is changing and thankfully, we have innovators who take chances, follow their intuition, know their purpose, embrace their passion and, above all, make waves for the better.

Speaker 1: 17:14

Now, in the following pages, you'll find insights, tips, ahas and a priceless amount of coaching. Also included in the ebook are different perspectives and awareness. You have access to much of the same information I share with all of my elite coaching clients. Enjoy the book. I'm rooting for you. You've got this Now.

Speaker 1: 17:41

Chapter one amateur or entrepreneur, you choose. Why do some agents fail and others succeed? Amateur or entrepreneur, you choose. Why do some agents fail and others succeed? Beside not getting the support they were promised, it's often because they're not experienced business owners. Take, for instance, the business I worked at for 13 years prior to real estate when I started there in 2001,. Ownership changed and Don, the 70-year-old something business owner, sold it to Dave, a 30-something-year-old guy. What I didn't know at the time was Dave the new owner started working in the warehouse when he was a teenager. He worked his way up through the company and bought it. He knew just about everything having to do with the business and worked in just about every position. The company was, and is still, thriving under Dave's leadership.

Speaker 1: 18:43

In contrast, in the state of Minnesota, you take 90 hours of training, pass two tests and boom, you're a real estate agent, a business owner, and not one part of those 90 hours of training teach you how to run a business. You see, so many agents get into real estate for the freedom and unlimited earning potential and so many drop out because they don't know the first thing about running a business. They don't know how to discipline themselves regarding their newfound freedom. Now, had I not joined the team and had the leadership and support in the beginning, I would have fallen into this trap. You need to create discipline and habits. Just know you will never outperform your self-image. So strive to get 1% better every day. Start showing up and acting from your future self. Stop letting your current results dictate how you feel and what you do. Your results are just a reflection of your past thinking and you can start changing your results today.

Speaker 1: 19:55

Having a goal that inspires you is key. So many leaders talk about connecting to your why. Why are you doing this? What gets you up in the morning? What is your big why? And some people believe that once you've figured this out, you'll be motivated to do the impossible, and this just wasn't the case for me. I had a lot more work to do on my mindset, habitual habits, behaviors, self-image, beliefs, paradigms and more.

Speaker 1: 20:29

You see the difference between an amateur and an entrepreneur is that the amateur lets all the reasons and excuses stop them from doing what they know they should be doing I'm tired, I have a headache, my kid is sick, it was a late night, I can do that tomorrow. I don't know how to do it, I've never done it before, and so on. No excuses. They know if they don't show up and do the thing, their business will suffer. They take the feelings and the emotions out of the task or activity and get it done.

Speaker 1: 21:16

One of my coaches, arash Vasuki, says you choose every day. Every day is day one, not just one day. Show up and recommit to your goal every single day. Build practice and stick to routines. Consistency equals success. You cannot have one without the other. Now there are dozens of ways to find business Networking, cold calling, door knocking, open houses, social media events, your sphere of influence, people that you know that like you and trust you, your past client referrals. You can buy leads. You can volunteer, get involved with clubs and organizations, become referral partners with different people, sign calls off of your listings, your CRM, customer relationship management system, word of mouth, and the list goes on. Now what I know is you won't be good at all of them and you won't want to do all of them, and you shouldn't Decide how you want to go about having conversations and do a deep dive. Pick three ways that align with you and how you want to live your life. What feels right and what lights you up? What will you commit to doing and showing up and doing it every day.

Speaker 1: 22:47

I am all about getting comfortable being uncomfortable. I am all about getting comfortable being uncomfortable Consistently be pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone. What motivates you? Do you run towards pleasure or away from pain? I no longer wanted to host open houses on the weekend and miss out on time with my family. Open houses on the weekend and miss out on time with my family. So I decided that in order for me to skip open houses, I had to meet my weekly goal of 100 contacts. And if I didn't meet my goal of 100 contacts, then I would have to host one to two open houses that next weekend end. One of the team leads I worked with wrote a $5,000 check to an agent in the office that he often competed against they're kind of rivals of sorts and he, if he didn't reach his lead generation goal every day. If he missed one day, he had to walk that check over to the rival agent and tell him to cash it. Now, the thought of doing this and this happening was painful enough to keep my team lead on task and on track, and, if I remember correctly, he closed over 90 transactions that year alone.

Speaker 1: 24:19

You see, in order to grow, achieve big goals and become the next biggest version of yourself, you will need to leave the current comfort zone you're in. I have taken leaps of faith that both terrified and excited me beyond recognition. I have pushed that send button, made that phone call, had that hard conversation, all while pushing myself far out of my comfort zone. You see, I was that little girl who wouldn't raise her hand in class and answer a simple question that I knew the answer to, and now I'm a public speaker. I still can't believe it. Sometimes, you see, I felt the fear and I did it anyways, and I did it again and again and again. Most times I was nervous, anxious, had fear, sometimes tears and plenty of uncertainty.

Speaker 1: 25:11

You will need to leave behind 50 to 80% of who you are today in order to get from where you are to where you want to be. I've been told by people in the top one to 3% that it's not as hard as you think to get there. It's simple, not easy. Why? Because most people aren't willing to do the uncomfortable things, the things you will need to do consistently. Most people choose fear over faith. You can't see either, and you're always choosing one or the other. You see, people choose fear and stay stuck because at least they know what to expect. Now, it's not at all what they want, but they're comfortable with the status quo and the idea of taking a leap of faith is far too risky.

Speaker 1: 26:04

What if I fail? What will others think? You see, it costs you so much more in the long run if you don't take the chance, if you don't invest in yourself, in the program, training, mentorship or coaching. Instead of asking yourself, what if I fail, reframe the question and ask what if I succeed? What would that look and feel like If you go for it? There's no such thing as failure. You only fail when you either stop or don't start. Everything else is feedback. So take the feedback, learn and go at it again.

Speaker 1: 26:53

Now the action step I put at the end of this first chapter is challenge yourself to make decisions based on your goal and from your future self and take action as if your goal has already been achieved and go and get your goals. And to wrap that up, what I mean by that is so many people work towards their goal. You set a goal and you start where you're at and you inch by inch by inch up towards your goal and you work towards your goal. Reframe that. What if you came from your goal? What if you woke up tomorrow morning and you woke up as if someone, let's say, you want to go from 12 transactions to 30 transactions? I mean, we can both pretty much agree that you won't get to 30, the same way you got to 12.

Speaker 1: 27:54

So what does that version of you do? What time are you waking up in the morning? Are you moving your body and exercising? What are you feeding your body? What are you taking out of your diet? What are you adding to it? What are you surrounding yourself with? Who are you surrounding yourself with? What books are you reading? What podcasts are you listening to? Who's your coach? Who's your mentor?

Speaker 1: 28:19

You know, come from the goal and start making decisions and when you sit down to do that activity, that kind of terrifies you and you're just not certain you want to do it. Think from your goal. Does that version of you even question it? No, they just do it or they've already done it. It's not that big of a deal. We just make it into such a big deal. We make it into this ordeal that you know it's just it keeps us stuck, because it's not fear that keeps us stuck, it truly is the doubt. Because the doubt will make you worry and, just you know, throw you off track. So face the fear, feel it and do it anyway. And just know that if you show up and you get 1% better every day, you will have your goal. And I've done it. And I'm telling you, if I can do what I've done, anyone can do it and that's why I'm so passionate about helping others, especially other real estate agents, get from where they are to where they want to be.

Speaker 1: 29:25

So next week we will be going over chapter two. What when you say yes to something, what are you saying no to? So I'll catch you next week for chapter two and in the meantime, if you need me for anything or if I can be helping you, I coach and mentor my business partners at no additional charge. We run a team collaboration of sorts. We don't charge a team split. We figured out how to do this and it's been a beautiful opportunity. So if you're looking for a change, if you're looking for a great coach, something get comfortable being uncomfortable. 1% better every day and we'll look forward to seeing you again next week. Make it a good one.