Elevate With Elsner
Welcome to "Elevate with Elsner," the podcast that dives deep into the stories of individuals who've taken the bold step to follow their passion and make an impact!
I'm Blake Elsner, a real estate professional by day and your host by passion. I've always believed that our true calling can often be found in the most unexpected places. That's why I'm thrilled to bring you inspiring conversations with amazing guests who have transformed their lives by pursuing work they truly love.
Each episode of "Elevate with Elsner" is packed with candid discussions, heartfelt stories, and practical advice from people who took the leap and never looked back.
Whether it's leaving the corporate grind to start a business, swapping a finance job for a creative career, or any other impactful journey, you'll hear it all right here.
We'll explore the highs and lows, the challenges and triumphs, and most importantly, the impact these changes have made not just in their lives, but in the lives of others.
So, if you're ready to be inspired, if you're dreaming of making a change, or if you just love a good story of passion and impact, "Elevate with Elsner" is the podcast for you!
Subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform and join us on this journey of transformation and discovery.
Can’t wait for you to tune in, listen to passion stories and know that even you can make an impact on the next episode of "Elevate with Elsner." See you next time!
Let’s elevate together!
Elevate With Elsner
Founder and Owner of Worth Clark Realty and Transactly Under Mettle with Bryan Bowles
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In episode 11 of Elevate with Elsner, Blake Elsner interviews Bryan Bowles, owner of Worth Clark Realty and Transactly, as he discusses the pivotal mentorship that guided him toward business, comparing the competitive nature of the business to sports.
Tune in for an inspiring conversation about passion, impact, and transformation in the world of entrepreneurship.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:01:20] Competitive spirit in business.
[00:05:55] Buying back your time.
[00:08:12] Interest rates and real estate.
[00:13:06] Midwest affordability compared to coasts.
[00:16:10] Human connections in business.
[00:24:30] Anti-fragility of real estate agents.
[00:27:09] Future of real estate branding.
[00:30:29] Technology in real estate.
[00:32:50] AI and real estate value.
QUOTES
- "I think of business really as a sport more than anything else. There are lots of wins and lots of losses. The plus is that you can use your mind." - Bryan Bowles
- "You're just going to learn more. You never know what it's going to lead to. And I think that's the beauty of. Of business. And then combining that is because you never know whenever serendipity is going to occur, what kind of opportunity is going to be there." - Bryan Bowles
- "I think bringing that human element back into play and kind of talking with people, that's where like the magic kind of happens and people feel connected and people feel wanted. And I think that's what people like today." - Blake Elsner
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Blake Elsner
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bpelsner/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blake.elsner/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-elsner-a04396b5/
Bryan Bowles
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanbowles/
WEBSITES
Elevate with Elsner Podcast: https://elevatewithelsnerpodcast.com/
Elsner Real Estate: https://www.bradagent.com/
Worth Clark Realty: https://worthclark.com/
Transactly: https://transactly.com/
Welcome to Elevate with Elsner. Join us for inspiring conversations with individuals who have transformed their lives and are making a difference through the work that they do. And now, here's your host, Blake Elsner.
Welcome back to another episode of Elevate with Elsner where we explore passion, impact, and the stories behind the success. Today, I'm thrilled to introduce a guest who has taken the entrepreneurial world by storm. Bryan Bowles. Bryan is the founder and CEO, not just one, but two remarkable companies, Worth Clark and Transactly His experience spans through real estate technology and venture capital, and he's been instrumental in elevating each industry he's touched. So we'll be diving into his journey, the lessons he's learned while building these businesses, and how he's managed to balance running multiple ventures successfully. Bryan , welcome to the show. We're excited to have you in here about the impact you're making. Hey, thanks Blake.
Blake Elsner
Appreciate you having me on.
Bryan Bowles
Yeah, absolutely. So what, what kind of got you into the whole business side of things? Like, you know, you wanted to be your own boss.
Yeah. Well, let's start from scratch, I guess. Business in general is, there's a lot of paths you can take in life beyond just getting into business. But I was a competitive athlete, wrestler in high school, and I had a pretty serious injury that ended my college prospects and talked to a mentor at the time. And he said, well, look, you're one of the most competitive guys I know. So a place for you is probably the business world. So that's the leap into business. say what his advice was entirely true. I think of business really as a sport more than anything else. There's lots of wins, lots of losses. The plus is that you can use your mind. Rather than an injury putting you out of business, so to speak, you can continue to climb on for a long time and do a lot of different stuff. So, you know, anyway, so to continue on with the story, my first kind of stint into business, I worked for a company here in St. Louis, Scottrade, if anyone remembers it. And I had a friend that had an internship there. And at the time, I was a freshman in college. And he gave me the phone number to the CEO, Roger Riney. So, you know, kind of being a naive young guy, I just, I called Roger Ryan and I told him what I was majoring in computer science and here's my interest and want to learn more about the stock market. And so anyway, I ended up talking to the CIO and then got a job. And from there, you know, I just, I grew in that company for about 10 years. And then part of that, you get a little, you know, if anyone's been in a corporate job for a while, if you've got any kind of entrepreneurial itch, you get you got something to go scratch. And real estate was one that has always interested in me. So I got into it at the absolute worst time possible in 2008. And I got my license. And at the time, I had a lot of friends that were investing in real estate. So I would assist them with listings and things like that. And fast forward a couple of years, as soon as I could get my brokerage license and was eligible for it, I did it and then launched Worth Clark Realty. And then about a year and a half after launching Worth Clark Realty, I finally left my full-time job. So I was able to bootstrap and scrap all that business together, really with two full-time jobs. And I'm sure a lot of people you've talked to, that's kind of what it takes to get a start in this industry. So Worth Clark grew incredibly fast. We came at the market at the time with a different value proposition that was out there. It was just traditional brokerages and we were offering something that offered The same support, if not better, we would argue at the time and still today, people see it with testimonials. And if you talk to any agent, you get the same support you would get with a brokerage that would take up to half your commission. So that was the idea is to provide that same level, but in a virtual space. And it grew like crazy. We ended up within three years, number 89 on the Inc. 500. And then from there, you know, continued to grow. We spanned into other things. There was another side project I had where we aggregated listing data and I sold it off. It's a company called RealtyPlug. And then the market still didn't improve by 2012. So we got into property management. We did incredibly well with property management, sold that in 2018. And then that's about the time that I launched TransAkli. And that was to, you know, scratch another itch or solve a problem we saw in the industry with, you know, uh, paperwork and errors with paperwork and just sometimes a lack of cohesion across the transaction. Everyone looks for the agent to be the trusted source of information and take care of everything. And that's an incredibly tough job. And so we set out to be the platform to help that agent be front and center. And then we connected all the dots behind the scenes. And that's TransAkli. So, yeah, that's the career story. And happy to answer your questions along there. But yeah.
Yeah. With TransAkli, it's pretty interesting whole industry because as somebody who's had an assistant for 10 years with myself and my father, I know what it takes to do a transaction behind the scenes. So to have that support at a reasonable cost and tremendous services, it just helps the agent sell more and be more productive. It's buying back your time.
Yeah. I think a lot of consumers don't realize what agents do once they go under contract. They think like, oh, you're just going to drive me around the houses or you're going to put a sign in my yard to sell it. And then that's tough enough as it is. Then once you get under contract, okay, you're not only helping your client, the homebuyer or seller, but you're also dealing with and getting other people across the line, the agent on the other side of the deal, the title company, the lender, dealing with the home inspector, insurance companies, And even more than that, right, to get the deal across the line. And it's a, it's a, it's a big undertaking.
Yeah. And you got a lot of technology too. Like there's, you know, all that behind it.
Yeah. Yeah. Your broker wants paperwork on time. I mean, the list goes on of things you have to do. So anyway, we, we saw it as a, as a big opportunity in the market and launched it and equally it's, it's grown incredibly well. Um, you know, it's, uh, it's a, it's a business where we've expanded it. We don't just help with the transaction. We also help with. Helping the consumer during that transaction, connect to their utilities and internet and movers and lawn companies and anything else that, uh, they'd need. That's really, we don't focus on regulated stuff, so we don't deal with title companies or really insurance much or anything like that.
Yeah. That's one of those difficult things that people forget to like, Hey, you got to call your utility company or have somebody do it for you. And yeah, you give like with you guys, it's, it's one call, they do it all. And you, you know, don't have to worry about putting it in your, your own name and that's done for you. Yeah.
So, you know, just going back to the story that's been launched in, you know, in a holding company that, uh, actually has the ownership in them, not myself. I own the holding company. Right now, we look to acquire other service-based businesses that can be complementary to those companies, whether it's plumbing or potentially moving companies, things like that, that we can continue to improve just how transactions are done and the cohesiveness
That's right. It's like a big super app. As I say, those super apps are big, um, around places kind of like having, as I say, like you want value in every corner, right? You know, junk, uh, you know, where, where you could be a one shop stop in the transaction, the real estate. Um, so that's, that is kind of like a pretty, pretty neat thing. I feel like you're building.
Yeah.
Yep. Yeah. And it's been fun. It's been fun, fun along the way. You know, you've got your ups and downs. I think everyone that's in the industry has seen the downs. That's where I started in the industry. And I would say that this cycle of the market is tougher than we saw 2008, nine. Uh, but luckily yesterday we saw half point rate cut, which is positive and likely more in the future. So I think we've hit the trough of this cycle and around the way back up.
Yeah, it's interesting because I was listening to a guy talk about, he was saying like, hey, for those who have been in real estate, got into it after the recession or the 06, 07, 08, 09, even all the way up to 12 practically, like you're saying. You know, I got into it. This was kind of the first cycle for me in terms of I haven't really seen any major movements. It's besides going up. It's just gotten harder and harder every year. So this is kind of the first, like, sire of relief, I think, that I can finally take, even though it doesn't really directly correlate. I joke interest rates went up when they lowered the rates right that day, same day. But yeah, no, what like in your mind, where do you see interest rates going in terms of like for real estate in the future, like 2025?
I don't know. I've learned not to make predictions, but I believe they'll continue to decline. I mean, we can see it, the mortgage rates typically are priced in ahead of the stuff. So I don't know why you saw the spike yesterday, but I would imagine it'll come back down. It's probably just to take advantage of some of the frothiness that consumers might have out there. But typically, the mortgage industry has rate cuts priced in ahead.
Yeah, I think I joke, I swear I follow like crypto and Bitcoin seems to stay ahead of the market. I joke it's kind of like our business. When you're in it every day, you seem to be like a month ahead of the data. And it's almost like they need to start talking to the people that have the boots on the ground so that way they can understand the data a little farther. Because I feel like they should have probably cut 25 basis points over the summer and then done another 25 basis points now. But they waited for all that data to flip. And I think it was on the frontcomings and people noticed that. It's just they didn't act fast enough and didn't talk to the people, I think, with the boots on the ground. And like you say, with Transactly, you're dealing with how many transactions a year?
Uh, it fluctuates. I mean, it's down right now at the peak in like 21, we were, you know, 15,000 now we're, you know, six, 7,000. And we'll start seeing that we're starting to see that trend come back up, which is good, especially with this time of the year, you know, being mid September, we typically see transactions start to decline. Um, but part of that too, I mean, we, you know, you and I are here in St. Louis and this market's been a little bit more stable. Transactly is all over the US and predominantly on the West Coast, just probably that's where we've had the most traction. It's been hit the absolute hardest in terms of transactions and affordability. As these interest rates come down, I think it makes a bigger impact on a mortgage that's much larger than what we see here. We've seen it market to market and it's interesting on the pricing standpoint too. You see prices, You look at the news and you see prices coming up nationwide, but you look at other markets, particularly condos, they're just getting squashed on pricing. Austin, for example, is getting hit on home prices. They're not coming up like they were. So as they say, all real estate's local. But it's super interesting what we get to see in terms of the different dynamics across the US and those transaction counts that come along with each one of them.
Yeah, I feel like it really makes you appreciate the Midwest. And one time we were talking about how, you know, you said sometimes it's good that stuff doesn't make it to the middle of the country all the way to the coast. Yeah.
That's, you know, that asked me four times of the year and I hate it here because I'm ready for the next season to come. And then you asked me another four times out of the year and I love living here. And that people here always joke about that. If you're not happy, just wait a couple of months and you'll like it. But the greater theme is the smoothness of the economics. And I mean, there's no better place to live in terms of cost of living. And maybe we should keep that a secret too.
Gosh, I know. I think about that and you see some of these markets and prices and you're like, we really are truly affordable. If you ever do move out of St. Louis, it's going to be a sticker shock. That's why you see some of these people come, these implants coming from, but we've sold a lot of people from California and they're as happy as can be. I mean, they're coming in with all this money. You know, it's like a different, different world in the Midwest in terms of affordability. And you even see that on the transaction side. When I see these prices that people pay as a transaction coordinator, they're totally different from coast to the Midwest.
Yeah. Yeah. It's insane. It's insane. We've, we've had a number of people move into St. Louis to work for us. So transactively and, uh, you know, they're just ecstatic what they can get. They're like, wait, I can get a, an actual yard and a pool.
Not a box of air. Yeah. I know. See, that's the stuff that, you know, we, yeah, we, we don't want to tell too many people, but that's why we keep, uh, other things. Um, not as great, right. We don't have a great riverfront. We don't like to attract a lot of people. Maybe that's the whole goal, right? Yeah. It's humid. We have mosquitoes.
Yeah.
Oh yeah. A lot of mosquitoes, especially when it's been so warm. We didn't have very cold winter last year. But so go talking about like the futures, you've kind of realized that you got to get back into it. The personal touch of a business is kind of out there. The creative business, it's not as much creative financing anymore. So you're kind of noticing people are wanting to connect with people more so. And tell me, have you noticed that?
Well, yeah, I mean, that's how you and I met as I started reaching out to larger teams and things here, not to go sell, transact or anything else, just get a feel of the industry and where we are. You never know what kind of opportunities come out of that stuff. And I think that's the case. You know, people call it networking, call it whatever the hell you want, but it is just, I think, human nature to there's more there's more to There's more to it when you can actually meet in person than, you know, although we're, you know, we're virtual here now, but there's definitely something to being in person and having that connection. You're just going to learn more. You never know what it's going to lead to. And I think that's the beauty of. Of business. And then combining that is because you never know whenever serendipity is going to occur, what kind of opportunity is going to be there. And I've talked to people that absolutely hate it because they think it's a waste of time, but. I love meeting people. And so if there's any of that in you for any of those folks out there, I'd recommend just picking up the phone or the email or getting in contact with someone you don't know and just figuring out what might line up and what opportunities might be there. And I think you have to do it without an intentional goal. I've seen some people reach out to me wanting to grab a coffee or whatever. And it's just so obvious that they are trying to sell me something. But if it was just like, hey, let's meet up, never know what's going to come of it kind of thing. I'm much more open to it. And typically things do. So anyway, that's my approach on that. That's why I reached out to you and your dad.
And I'm glad I did. Yeah, you got to have a nice lunch with us and you got to see our authentic self. We like to Are you back and forth? Yeah. We're, we're, we're always trying to figure things out and you're probably like, why did I come to lunch with these crazy guys? No. Um, but no, anyway, so like for, for like the whole, um, agents to like, that have made it through like this whole tough, tough, um, seller's market. And they're still around and they're like, well, they kind of feel lost. Like, I think. bringing that human element back into play and kind of talking with people. That's where like the magic kind of happens and people feel connected and people feel wanted. And I think that's what people like today.
Yeah.
Yeah. We can go pretty deep there, but I think people want to, especially coming out of COVID, you know, like doing these meetings like this. you know, was kind of me for two years and it was rough. You know, at the end of the day, you just get tired of staring at yourself. So there's that element, but I would say for those agents, yeah, I would leverage it and kind of just what I was saying, just get out there and meet folks. You never know what's going to come of it. Learn about different elements of the industry. There's agents out there that, you know, all they want to do is just think about like, how do I get a, how do I get a new client? How do I fill my pipeline? And I would say, go explore a little bit. meet with salespeople at home builder offices, for example. Talk to them. What are they seeing? Where are their sellers coming from? You got to go turn over a bunch of rocks. That means you have to talk to people and meet with them and connect to them. And they have to feel comfortable referring customers to you. It's no different than the actual clients that you meet. Some of those might become actual clients because they get to know you. They learn to trust you and what you can bring to the table in terms of your professionalism.
Yeah, that's a big part of the trust part. And then you have not only consumers trusting you, but you have agents on the transaction side that put a lot of trust in your coordinators. And that's a big part.
Yep. Yeah. Yeah. And on the coordinator's piece on transactively, I'd say, man, that's been the really kind of the core of the business. Originally we started out just, you know, aiming to be a technology company and that's it, you know, where agents and their teams could use the technology to coordinate the transaction. We had a lot of people jump on the platform when we first launched, and the feedback from most agents was like, hey, it's really cool, but I like the help from an actual person. We found that the majority of agents do like that help. That's what we've applied. Even as more and more automation comes out, It really just helps the coordinator take care of the tasks. Agents want to work with a real person, just like customers, clients, homebuyers and sellers want to talk and work with real people. I've seen so much technology come out in this industry too. There's companies that will come to us and when a partner where they're trying to like auto match home buyers and sellers. I'm like, you guys don't get it. It doesn't work like that. It's not a stock market.
Yeah, no, that's true. Well, thinking about just kind of rewinding real fast, it kind of goes back to the whole, you know, What did Gretzky say? You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. And that kind of thinking about your Scott trade days and you reaching out to the CEO or CFO or CIO, whoever it was, and them responding, the worst thing that would have happened is no response. Like, so you took that, you took that leap and most people won't do that.
Well, there's a beauty in just being naive and young too. That was certainly in play there. But yeah, I think some of it, too, is, you know, as you progress in your career and you start getting some success, then ego starts getting in the way. And I think you have to drop that and just kind of go at it somewhat mechanically in a way, in terms of outreach, right? You know, and if they don't respond, some agents I've seen take it personal, like, hey, I've been reaching out to so and so for this number of time, like, maybe they're busy, maybe they had a death in the family, like, You can't just assume that they're ignoring you. So move on to the next and try to go meet the next person.
Totally. That's true because yeah, everyone's battling something. And I always say the same thing. I'm like, you know, if, if they're not responding, there's something that is holding them back from responding or whatnot. It's not that they don't want to make money or, you know, move things along. It's clearly people just battle stuff and then they don't want to tell you. And that's one thing I think with, with our community of people that, you know, we are around and, you the trans athlete community and the Worth Clark community. And just we have a I feel like a very good community of people that are in it every day and that are I don't want to say younger, but they're they're always educating themselves. So that kind of keeps you young.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think that brings up another kind of topic. just along with the human touch, too, in terms of educating yourselves is just getting involved. You know, I'll see other agents just always kind of sitting on the sidelines and expecting things to come their way. You have to get involved, whether it's a lot of people don't like the how the realtor associations handled this big lawsuit that happened. But, you know, I can tell you from those folks that I know on the inside, they took care of you because it avoided a lawsuit against all of us. But anyway, I would get involved with the local association of realtors, go to some of the events, go to other events that are around the industry, meet people. You'll learn so much from that.
Yeah. We don't want to jump into that lawsuit because we got different opinions now.
Yeah. You should start looking at what the attorneys just made on that deal.
Oh, that's exactly, that's all I talk about is, you know, and now you see these brokerages that are suing National Association of Realtors and you're going, wow, so the people are going to win on that or the lawyers again. And, you know, unfortunately the consumer and, uh, you know, uh, the realtor and whatnot, or it's, it's kind of becoming, they're trying to divide it, but at the same time you can't divide that, that connection. It's very hard. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, it's tough. I mean, you're saying the connection in terms of the whole realtor.
Yeah. Well, yeah, you have the connection between the Realtor Association and the agent, but then you also have the agent and the consumer connection. And so like as much as people hear this gripe about the lawsuit, they still want the connection the agents do through the National Association. And then the consumer still wants the agent. So really, like you said, nobody wins besides the lawyers.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. No matter what. Buyers will continue to use buyer's agents. It doesn't matter. I don't know if you read much, but there's a theme called anti-fragile, an author named Nassim Taleb wrote. That's essentially what he describes in that book as what realtors are. Anti-fragile means the larger something becomes, if it's a big platform, like say, Google, it's incredibly fragile because one lawsuit can cause Google to just break up and it goes away. But the Realtor Association is a bunch of independent folks. So if something bad comes at it, they typically will figure out a way because there's so many independents solving the challenge that the industry will just get stronger. And I really think that's the case here. So rather than it breaking, it's just going to get stronger as a result of it. Because as you mentioned, I mean, the buyers will, they want to work with a human. They're continuing to work with buyers agents now that hasn't stopped it. And, you know, as we figure out really kind of the nuance, the shakeout of these lawsuits, it'll only come out stronger.
Yeah, I think our, like I was saying about this video guys, like, Hey, if you've been in real estate, like congratulate yourself, like tell yourself, like you've made it through some of the hardest times, um, which we really have. And those that are still around are truly passionate about what they do. And that's kind of like, it kind of did weed out the people that the COVID realtors or the people that were in it just to make a quick buck.
Yeah. Yeah, and that this does exactly that, I think, in some degree to if you can't present your value to your buyer, then, you know, you'll have a tough time with it. But I think we're gonna have a lot of really strong realtors that will thrive through this. And then those that are new coming into the street industry that figure it out. I mean, they have a very bright future. In any downside, like because if you're coming into it now, and you have some success, I mean, you're at the bottom of a cycle where it's incredibly hard to find a home for sale. And not only that, you got to figure out, navigate the, you know, the changes in how buyer agents are compensated. So, man, it'll, it'll be, it'll be pretty easy skating after, you know, after the next couple of years.
I did joke about that. If you can sell a house in the past two years, you can sell a house for the rest of your life. You can do it. It has been some of the most challenging times because I haven't had the cycle of everybody that I sold. Usually it cycles back around, right? Well, this hasn't cycled back around to the point it's extended. Some people have moved, but not nearly to the extent that I was prepared for and trained for that cycle of people that are going to come back every four or five years. Did it really happen this time? Yeah. Yeah. So hopefully it will kickstart with these rates and kind of make people, you know, move even though they've been going down for so like they've been going down. I look back to tax day and they've been going down since then. So yeah, in some ways like how, you know, they're not going to retreat that much more. You got some other stuff, you got the port strike looming and hopefully that'll be solved when figure all this stuff out. So going ahead, looking at the future of real estate, looking at the future of transactions, and just simply looking at the future of business in general, what besides connecting and getting in, what would you say to make yourself really stand out and to be unique in terms of your own brand? Because like you said, Like I joke, you hold our license at Worth Clark, but we don't brand really Worth Clark. You don't want us to brand Worth Clark. We want to brand Ellsmere Real Estate and that's the whole point.
Yeah.
Yeah. When we started the company, it was really so that we could really embrace the entrepreneurial spirit of what real estate agents do and brokers do and teams do. And that was one of the frustrations coming from one of the more traditional models is they wanted you to carry the brand very strong and everything had to be kind of under their, you know, how they saw fit. And there's a lot of room in this industry that you still have to, you know, there's certain laws and regulations you have to follow in terms of disclosing the brokerage you're represented with. But I mean, look, when a consumer picks an agent, they don't pick the brand, they pick the agent. And year after year, you look at the surveys that NAR does with homebuyers and sellers, that's exactly what they say in those. I think a lot of agents get into the industry or first line up with a brokerage, which I did. I was the largest one here at the time because I thought, oh boy, this is going to make me better. And it didn't. It really is all about you and how you educate yourself, how well you go get out there and meet people, and the brand that you build. A brand doesn't come out day one, shiny and perfect. It's something you develop over time after you've figured out how you actually interact in that market.
Yeah, that's totally true. And your, your self awareness starts to come out and you, yeah, you just become a very different person when you figure out your audience and your brand and who you should be targeting. And then those people will come along with you and support your business. Uh, so what would you, what in terms of like the hardest thing going forward, um, would you say for like transactions and real estate, would you just say, Hey, continue to, to stay educated and continue to stay up on the news and just put yourself out there? Yeah.
Most of the news is out there on these lawsuits. If you're an agent, you don't understand what's going on. You're just not keeping up. It's pretty obvious. Now, there's a lot being thrown at you, but your broker that you're working for should be well-educating you on what to do. And sometimes, frankly, that changes on a dime with them. So there should just be good communication. So let's put that to the side. I think the other The big thing that has to be kept up on is technology, and that's something also you look at. NAR does a lot of these surveys, and the survey they do with agents, the number one challenge often is technology. I think you have to continue to focus on how you can make it improve what you do. That doesn't mean it should take away any of the human interaction whatsoever, but there's so much automation being built into CRMs now. Leverage that. I do think commissions will get compressed. And as a realtor, you're going to have to figure out how to make up for that with volume. And that will come from leveraging tools. So that would be my one word of advice is to embrace the suck as much as you don't like dealing with the technology, figure it out or hire someone that figures it all out for you.
Yeah. That's what I say. Hire somebody. Cause you know, the average age of a realtor, I think it's like 56 or 57 now so that I, you see that technology issue being a big thing. And I think it comes from the older generations, but there are like, there's never any older realtors that reach down to me and go, Hey Blake, would you like to help me with some technology? Um, because I think it's that whole, like their ego, there's a lot of ego in real estate and a lot of that has to be put to the side and people don't want to do that. Yeah, yep.
But I think in a way, historically, a lot of the technology has been around things you have to do. You have to go into Skyslope, or BackAgent, or whatever it is, and you have to check all these boxes, and you have to upload these documents. You're going to have more agent applications out there that if you figure out how to work with them, they'll do it for you, very much like an assistant. They can't talk to customers, obviously, and they shouldn't. But I think you can really leverage that stuff just the same as hiring someone. Otherwise, you're going to hire someone and they'll be working, you know, one hour instead of eight hours when they used to have to click all these buttons and do all these things.
Yeah, the technology is pretty incredible out there. I mean, that AI, I always say, if you're not incorporating some part of AI, you're just doing yourself a disservice in your business because it's buying back your time. It's streamlining processes. It's, you know, it really does increase productivity.
Yeah, I mean, it's still evolving at a very rapid pace, and most of it's not great, but it's getting better every day. It's being baked into the applications you have. It's not like a whole other tool you have to go figure out. Whatever CRM you use likely has some feature functionality that's rolling out with the automation. And that's where I think it'll really change to an agent's advantage is not on the back end where you have to go use this technology, but lead gen, nurturing pipelines, But, you know, a lot of the, you know, an older generation than you and I, they just, you know, it's typically like send out these mailers, call folks. I think it's changing quite a bit there. You know, it is more digital. And I think figuring that piece out on how you can do that efficiently is to your advantage in terms of growing a business.
Yeah, the whole AI part really gets me intrigued because as a realtor, somebody who works for themselves, you can really improve your time management, so many different things and provide that value because we are all agents that have to, like you say, commissions are getting squeezed, technology is out there. So you got to provide yourself, provide some type of value other than just a simple you know, being a realtor. And that's kind of why I feel like there's so many other opportunities. Like I'm in solar, like you have transactions that incorporate real estate. Like you say, and you're always looking for other stuff that goes into that umbrella of real estate.
Yeah. Yep. Absolutely.
No, I appreciate you being on here and we'll have to do this again because I want to obviously track as interest rates go down, track all, because as being one of the largest transaction companies in the country, you get firsthand knowledge of, hey, how many transactions are coming through and to know that they went down and are ticking back up, that's a sign and you're out there and that's going to be good to see. So good to track. Yeah, I'd be happy to.
Yeah, it was fun.
Awesome. Well, I appreciate it. Thanks coming on here, Bryan . And let's remember to elevate together. Thanks, Bryan . Awesome. Thanks, Blake. See ya.
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