Dana Johnson: Top Jacksonville Agent "She's Owning It"

REE #278 Transcript

[00:00:00] Dana Johnson: I love real estate because it increases wealth in families. It creates that stability that families need. Right? And if you stabilize a family, you'll stabilize a community. If you stabilize community, what's going to happen next?
Mm-hmm.
The world is gonna be better.

[00:00:51] Tracy Hayes: Hey, welcome back to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast. Today's guest is a powerhouse in the real estate world, a transformational leader, mentor, and voice
[00:01:00] of generational wealth and economic empowerment with over 24 years of experience in real estate and finance. She's the CEO and Principal Broker of Province Realty Group here in Jacksonville, a thriving boutique brokerage serving Florida and Georgia with two locations and a third on the way.

She's a visionary founder of the She's Owning It Home Buyers Club, a national movement helping first-time and seasonal buyers build wealth through faith-forward education and strategy. Dana holds elite credentials, including a Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist, and she brings the tech-integrated, people-first real estate solutions to every client she serves — from first-time home buyers to luxury investors.

Her passion for community housing, the financial industry, and mentoring others has made her a sought-after speaker, advocate, and changemaker in the industry. Let's welcome the dynamic and inspiring Dana Johnson to the show.

[00:01:56] Dana Johnson: Thank you so much, Tracy, for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

[00:01:59] Tracy Hayes: Well,
[00:02:00] I'm glad you came down this morning. And just our pre-show conversation, talking about some of the things that you're involved with — hopefully this will give you a little bit of a platform, and maybe people don't realize what's out there and then actually what you're involved with and doing. I think it's just incredible. And you just — you were just telling me, and I would like to share with the listeners — tell us a little about, you just graduated from the 1 Million Black Women sponsored by Goldman Sachs?

[00:02:31] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:02:32] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:02:32] Dana Johnson: So the program is the Goldman Sachs 1 Million Black Women in Business, Black in Business Program. And it is a business incubator that tracks the progress of women, and it takes us through a 10- to 14-week cohort. It's very intensive. And like we were talking about earlier, it basically allows Black women
[00:03:00] to decipher where they are and actually fill the gaps and the holes and the voids in their business by way of the resources that are offered via the program.

And I know we talked about it — research showed that Black women are trending upward for being the quickest demographic and the largest demographic to be business owners. And the thing that Goldman Sachs recognized and realized was that even with this trend, there was a severe lack of resources and capital that was being extended to Black business owners — in particular, female Black business owners.

However, most of our research shows that about 90% of Black females who owned businesses owned them based on a social impact or a social cause — a social justice —

[00:03:55] Tracy Hayes: Because they saw a need in the community.

[00:03:56] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:03:56] Tracy Hayes: And have gone after it.

[00:03:58] Dana Johnson: Saw a need
[00:04:00] in the community. And they said, “Okay, let me create a business to fit this need.”
And it was based on social impact.

[00:04:07] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:04:08] Dana Johnson: Yeah.

[00:04:09] Tracy Hayes: That's an incredible opportunity. And if anyone listening right now — you know, obviously reach out to Dana for details on it. I imagine during those weeks they brought in some influential key speakers?

[00:04:21] Dana Johnson: We were exposed to a lot of stakeholders, a good amount of resources, and we were provided the opportunity to have business advisors. We had one-on-one business advisor meetings, and we dissected our financials and were able to build an action plan and a business plan of sorts. So within the next year after graduation, we'll have our progress tracked
and
make sure that we are on trend to advance.

[00:04:54] Tracy Hayes: It would be so interesting — because you said there were about 300 women in this particular
[00:05:00] group that you were in?

[00:05:00] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:05:01] Tracy Hayes: The different businesses that they were involved in. Because I imagine there was probably some people on that — you know, doing the training and involved — and there were probably some unique business ideas that were out there that people were working, that I imagine some of them probably got a second call like, “Hey, we want to invest in what you're doing,” and expanded.

[00:05:13] Dana Johnson: Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:05:19] Dana Johnson: There were quite a few ladies that had the opportunity to pitch their ideas and go on and get contracts and major deals with — yeah, ancestors. Like, there was one young lady in my cohort, she owns a marketing firm and was already successful. And they did divide our cohorts up based on revenue. So she was already wildly successful, but she was lacking — it was a glass ceiling that she'd hit.

[00:05:42] Dana Johnson (cont.): She was lacking the sponsorship that she needed. So she was able to — as a result of being in the program — she was able to sign a $500,000 contract
[00:06:00] with Crown Royal.

[00:06:01] Tracy Hayes: Oh my goodness.

[00:06:01] Dana Johnson: Yes. And go and be their marketer for — in Europe. So we were like, “Take me with!”

[00:06:08] Tracy Hayes: Exactly. Exactly. That's incredible. Because I imagine Goldman Sachs probably brought in companies that would find this — or just people. People they know. People they didn’t — you know, these are people that are mixing and mingling, I’m sure, in New York.

[00:06:21] Tracy Hayes (cont.): And they had coffee and said, “Yeah, we’re looking for someone to run our PR program,” and the next day they've got this person in front of you. They're going, “Wow, this person’s on top of their thing.”

[00:06:32] Tracy Hayes: But you brought up an interesting point. She reached her lid — I call it the lid — which real estate agents reach their lid, and they need some little extra, you know, coaching, mentorship, whatever it is, to break through.

[00:06:44] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:06:44] Tracy Hayes: And sometimes they know what they need to do. It’s just like, they just need someone to help them get that first step out the door to break through that lid that she was going through. And I think — I always use the analogy when talking about it — it's like people who win the lottery and then they’re broke
[00:07:00] two years later. They have no money left over because they don’t have the savviness, the acumen to handle that kind of money.

[00:07:07] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:07:08] Tracy Hayes: And obviously reaching out in something like this — but you're also involved — you started this, I'm gonna call it a group for lack of better words: She’s Owning It Home Buyers’ Club.

[00:07:18] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:07:19] Tracy Hayes: You saw a need, you created this, and you said the Goldman Sachs course actually helped you improve this program. Tell us a little about that.

[00:07:25] Dana Johnson: It did. So She’s Owning It Home Buyers’ Club is something that we — I’ve been working on. Nest, my team and I, we’ve been working on since October 2024. And my time with Goldman Sachs allowed me to refine the program and the offerings.

[00:07:43] Dana Johnson (cont.): And what She’s Owning It Home Buyers’ Club is — it is a 10-module course built for women who want to purchase a home or leverage equity in homes that they already
[00:08:00] have or invest in properties, but they just don’t know how.

So there are some key components to real estate. It’s who, what, when, where, how.

[00:08:10] Dana Johnson (cont.): That’s everything, right?
Mm-hmm.
Right? So, you know what you want to do, you know why you want to do it — but it's how. How can I get this done? That’s always the question.

So our course shows you how to build your wealth and close that wealth gap that is so prevalent and looming
[00:08:30] with females by leveraging real estate.

And how we do that is — again — we go through a 10-step module. And it’s geared toward first-time homebuyers, people who own their home and they just need to leverage the equity in some way in order to expand their portfolio. Or, if you’re an investor or want to invest, we show women how to leverage their investment and their money.

[00:08:53] Dana Johnson (cont.): We also take the holistic approach in this Home Buyers’ Club. We don’t just say, “Okay, here’s a home.
[00:09:00] It’s good for you and here’s why.” You're closed and don’t hear from us anymore. What we do is we ensure that women know how to maintain their investment. They know how to approach it in a healthy and emotionally—

[00:09:14] Dana Johnson (cont.): I’m gonna say it — women are emotional. And we make emotional purchases all—

[00:09:20] Tracy Hayes: I think people are — in terms of who you’re with. I’m emotional. I wear my emotions on my sleeve.

[00:09:24] Dana Johnson: Yeah, emotion.

[00:09:25] Tracy Hayes: Emotion.

[00:09:26] Dana Johnson: You’re emotional. We’re like times ten. So we do — we make emotional purchases all the time.

[00:09:31] Dana Johnson (cont.): So this club makes sure that we provide the data, the research, and the education so that people can make sound investment decisions.

[00:09:43] Dana Johnson: And we — we also do that through faith. We teach people how to fortify their faith.

[00:09:48] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:09:49] Dana Johnson: And leverage that, because it is tough. We have so many distractions and so many, you know, negative things coming at us on a daily—

[00:09:59] Tracy Hayes: Stresses—
[00:10:00] stressors of life. Yeah, right.

[00:10:01] Dana Johnson: Yeah. So we teach people how to hone in on those things that matter and just, you know, don’t even worry about the distractions. Make the right decisions as far as your future is concerned,
and give them the opportunity and the education to do that.

[00:10:18] Tracy Hayes: You know, I've had Daniella Aton on, Jessica Mendez — they're very involved in the Hispanic community.

[00:10:23] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[00:10:24] Tracy Hayes: And they both talk about working their — that community that they're involved in, and really sometimes taking years with individuals who want to buy a home. But for whatever — you know, whether they don’t have the cash, they don’t have the credit, or both — and get them on that journey.

[00:10:46] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:10:46] Tracy Hayes: And I think that is so — you know, obviously very forward-thinking. I was watching someone — oh, actually it was a friend of mine, John Kovich. He’s up in Michigan. And we used to work together at Quicken Loans.
[00:11:00] And he was talking about, you know — yeah, everyone is a customer. When do they enter your funnel, so to speak? Right?

[00:11:06] Tracy Hayes (cont.): Do they enter it at 18, 19 years old? We talk about — everyone’s familiar with Rocket and Quicken Loans, their little apps. They’ve got like Quicken Money and so forth — that’s entering those people into their sales funnel at an early age.

They may be just in college and they’re using that for whatever, but now they’re being incubated. Yeah. The data's there — they know, research-based, where they're at, how much money they’re making, ’cause a lot of them connect their bank accounts or whatever to this app.

[00:11:30] Tracy Hayes (cont.): And this is one of many things that they do. Well, bring that down to your level.

[00:11:35] Tracy Hayes (cont.): Our level here in Jacksonville — you — all these women in the Black community — they just need a little guidance.

[00:11:47] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:11:47] Tracy Hayes: And eventually, hopefully, they obviously become clients of yours and you help them with that real estate journey.

[00:11:52] Dana Johnson: Absolutely. And not just the Black community — just in general. Women in general. We have so many more things that connect us than
[00:12:00] separate us. And so I just see a lot of trends with women in general.

[00:12:05] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:12:05] Dana Johnson: And going back to what you said with the other two agents and how they work their sphere and their community — in their Hispanic community — and the age in which, and the, you know, functions in which they purchase, and the people in their community purchase, it reminded me of my own story.

[00:12:24] Dana Johnson (cont.): I was raised in the household with my grandparents. They owned their home. It was a brick house. And that's all I knew. That was my norm.

So when I left their home at 19, my thought process was: I need to buy a house. Because we were taught that you give your money away when you rent.

[00:12:43] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:12:44] Dana Johnson: So nobody took me serious at 19.

[00:12:47] Dana Johnson (cont.): And I know I look 25, but this was before — this was before Google and internet,
so I had pieces of the puzzle, not the whole puzzle.
[00:13:00] It took me four years to purchase a home.

[00:13:02] Dana Johnson (cont.): I.e., I didn’t have all of the components. I either had the money, not the credit — the money and the credit, not the down payment.

[00:13:08] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:13:08] Dana Johnson: I just didn’t have all of the components. So when I got the capacity — when I finally had the capacity to purchase due to the research — it took four years. I did it. At 23, I purchased my first home.

[00:13:25] Tracy Hayes: Which is well below, I’m sure — well below the national average.

[00:13:28] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:13:29] Tracy Hayes: Of the average age of someone who's buying their first home right now.

[00:13:31] Dana Johnson: And the national average right now is trending between 34 and 36.

[00:13:35] Tracy Hayes: Wow.

[00:13:36] Dana Johnson: And back then it was much younger.
Mm-hmm.
It was right at about 25, 27. So I was a little younger than the average person. But it took me four years to figure it out.

[00:13:47] Dana Johnson (cont.): And when I purchased my home, people started asking me, “How did you do it?” And I started giving them this information for free.

[00:13:55] Dana Johnson (cont.): And I was working for the bank, actually. And someone at the bank said, “You should do this.
[00:14:00] You’re good at it.”

[00:14:01] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:14:01] Dana Johnson: And I thought about it and I said, okay, I could be making money doing this. But I did — and I — I found my passion and purpose. But not only that, I told myself:
I was my worst client. If I find somebody that takes more than four years to purchase a home, I'm gonna retire.

[00:14:20] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:14:21] Dana Johnson: And it's been my passion and my purpose to make sure that it does not take people four years to purchase a home. When you meet me, I'm like, “Okay, I’m on you. We’re gonna do it.”
I had someone come close.

[00:14:30] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, but—

[00:14:31] Dana Johnson: Not quite.

[00:14:32] Tracy Hayes: I mean, sometimes you just don’t know people’s lives. Things happen. They get setbacks — maybe they get laid off, or, you know, that kind of thing. But it’s the—

[00:14:39] Dana Johnson: It’s the incubator that matters.

[00:14:41] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:14:41] Dana Johnson: And that’s why we built this club. It’s the community.

[00:14:44] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:14:45] Dana Johnson: When you have that accountability partner and that person saying, “Hey, I’ve been there, I understand,” it’s not judgment. You know, you got a setback, but come back in six months. Come see me.

[00:14:55] Dana Johnson (cont.): And if you don’t come see me, I’m coming to look for you.
It’s the community that we’re offering with the She’s Owning It Home Buyers Club that most women need.

[00:15:02] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. And I’m telling you, we closed our first—first pupil?

[00:15:06] Dana Johnson: Our first pupil. We call it that, yes.

[00:15:09] Dana Johnson (cont.): It was our first pupil, which just so happened to be my sister.

[00:15:12] Tracy Hayes: Okay.

[00:15:13] Dana Johnson: And it took us about two and a half years. And I saw the process — and I see these processes — and it’s a psychology behind real estate, whether or not you’re the buyer, the investor, the seller, or the realtor.

[00:15:29] Tracy Hayes: Right. So it is so important. And like we were talking pre-show — I said we really need—

[00:15:35] Dana Johnson: Yeah.

[00:15:35] Tracy Hayes: I think not just in the real estate industry, but all industries — really need to pour into these— I think it’s at the high school.

[00:15:44] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:15:45] Tracy Hayes: You know, you could tell college, but the amount of kids that go there and then they’re gone. Every kid in high school is there.
If you got a class of 30 kids — hopefully 3 or 4 — their light bulb goes off, is all we could really
[00:16:00] hope for. That they go, “Oh my goodness, I can do this at 18.” I may not be on the college track. I could go do this type of work.

Like, I forget what the number is — it’s crazy — the demand for welders, HVAC, carpenters and so forth. You don’t need a college education. You just need to get started doing it.

[00:16:20] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:16:21] Tracy Hayes: And start that journey, and then all of a sudden you have four or five years in, and you now have high credibility and you’re not even 25 yet.

[00:16:29] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:16:30] Tracy Hayes: The opportunities are out there. And as you know, the older generation that is doing a lot of that work — that are really good at it — is sunsetting.

[00:16:38] Dana Johnson: There’s—

[00:16:39] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. And so there’s this huge demand. And it’s not like our population is going down. There’s more houses being built. And so, there’s more A/C units out there, there’s more welders — whatever it is you want to do.

[00:16:53] Tracy Hayes (cont.): And I think as a community — every community — needs to pour in
[00:17:00] and educate these kids. Yes, they do need to know math and science and they need to know their history. But I think some of the — we need to pour into them that they need to kind of know what’s out there.

[00:17:09] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:17:09] Tracy Hayes: And really get them off to a better start. And I think — I believe — I don’t know how much you’ve dived into artificial intelligence, but the kids are using it—

[00:17:18] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:17:19] Tracy Hayes: —and asking it questions. And I think they have the ability to learn more, faster than you and I did — doing manual research.

[00:17:28] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[00:17:29] Tracy Hayes: They have everything at their fingertips.

[00:17:31] Dana Johnson: They have it at their fingertips. And the resources are different. And it’s funny you would mention the age at which we should introduce the idea — not just of owning the property early on, but getting into the service industry and possibly rendering those services.

[00:17:47] Dana Johnson (cont.): Like being a loan officer—

[00:17:49] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:17:49] Dana Johnson: A realtor, electrician, HVAC technician. There is an association that I’m a part of — it’s the National Association of Real Estate Brokers.
[00:18:00] And it’s right here in Jacksonville. Our Jacksonville charter is the First Coast Association of Realtors.

[00:18:07] Dana Johnson (cont.): And one of our affiliates is the Young Realist Division. And what that division does — is that our group is a group of real estate and real estate industry professionals—

[00:18:20] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:18:20] Dana Johnson: That believe in democracy in housing. Okay. So the Young Realist Division has so many things to offer youngsters.
Just this week, they took about 15 young high school–aged students on a tour of a community and—

[00:18:43] Dana Johnson: —community, and taught them all the things about what every trade, every service—

[00:18:49] Tracy Hayes: Going in there, every—

[00:18:49] Dana Johnson: —service that goes into building a house, a home.

[00:18:53] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:18:54] Dana Johnson: How it impacts you, your community, how you make money. And if you don't go to college, these
[00:19:00] are all of the jobs and functions that you can do. And this is about how much money you’ll make doing it. Can you see yourself doing this? You can work outside, right?

[00:19:09] Tracy Hayes: That’s not always a great thing — not these next few days. They say it’s gonna be really hot, but, you know—

[00:19:15] Dana Johnson: But—

[00:19:15] Tracy Hayes: But—

[00:19:16] Dana Johnson: You don’t have to—yeah, you don’t have to be at a desk.

[00:19:18] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:19:19] Dana Johnson: And you can incorporate technology in those things. The digital planning, all of that. So I was—I'm glad that you said that, because there are different programs out there designed and geared towards educating young people on the services.

[00:19:33] Tracy Hayes: And the way our growth is here in Florida — I’m sure you come in with that trade, being able to obviously coordinate these services coming in, working — maybe you’re drywall — you start out, you're 18 years old and you learn how to drywall and you learn how to do it. And then you pick up on these next things.

[00:19:50] Tracy Hayes (cont.): By the time you’re 25, you’re running the entire expert operation — drywall, plumbing, everything — because the demand is so hot.

[00:20:00] Dana Johnson: Yeah. And now you could be the developer, contractor. You can open your own business. You can go run somebody else's.

[00:20:09] Tracy Hayes: If you’re good at it, you’ll have more work than you can handle.

[00:20:13] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:20:15] Dana Johnson (cont.): Because that's what’s happening now. And just like you said, in the services industry, the people who are in those industries are trending down.

[00:20:23] Dana Johnson (cont.): So it definitely is a no-brainer now for the young people to become interested in, embedded in, those industries.

[00:20:33] Tracy Hayes: Right. Now, you mentioned on the way in — the RPAC — so you’re involved. You’re very involved with NEFAR.

[00:20:39] Dana Johnson: Oh, honey, let me tell you—

[00:20:40] Tracy Hayes: You’re deep into it!

[00:20:41] Dana Johnson: Oh, deep in it!

[00:20:43] Tracy Hayes: I want to — this is a subject I haven’t talked about recently with anybody, but I think it’s important. Before we go into your nuts and bolts of how you run your real estate office and so forth — the importance of getting involved.

[00:20:55] Tracy Hayes (cont.): You're — obviously, based on everything we've already talked about — you’re deeply involved in your community.

[00:21:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.): You're involved in it — and it sounds like through your church, although you didn’t directly say that, but it sounds like from what you've basically told — but being involved in the real estate industry from the standpoint of what’s going on…

[00:21:14] Tracy Hayes (cont.): I think a lot of agents don’t even think about some of the things — decisions that are made in Tallahassee, let alone Washington — that affect your business or could affect your business.

[00:21:21] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:21:21] Tracy Hayes: And being in the know sometimes, because you are involved — tell us a little, you know, what got you to say, “Hey, I want to be more involved,” type of thing. And what are some of the things that you’ve gotten out of it? And obviously some of the things that you’re involved with at the local association here.

[00:21:36] Dana Johnson: Well, number one, thank you for that segue.

[00:21:38] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:21:39] Dana Johnson: Because a lot of agents — they don’t recognize the resources that they have, especially if they’re involved with their local association. So thank you for that.

[00:21:49] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:21:49] Dana Johnson: And the first question was, what are some of the things that I’m involved in as it relates to the Northeast Florida Association of—

[00:22:00] Dana Johnson: —Realtors. And of course, if you are a Realtor, that is our local association that offers MLS and other resources for Realtors.

If you’re a buyer or a seller, that is one of the tools and associations that agents use to be able to provide you the resources that you have and the accurate representation. That’s number one.

But if you are an agent, I would say it would behoove you to be involved in an association that you’re paying for annually.

[00:22:28] Dana Johnson (cont.): Right? There’s education. I am the Education Advisory Task Force Chair. We have so many different offerings as it relates to increasing and enhancing local Realtors’ education and just thought process — it’s not even funny. There are so many offerings.

[00:22:46] Dana Johnson (cont.): Like, we have designations and different certifications. Those things will set you apart as an agent and make you the expert. So when you sit before a client and say, “Hey, hire me to list your home,” and that client says, “Well, I’ve researched you against two other
[00:23:00] agents — you’re number three. Why should I hire you?” You should hire me because I have my CRS designation, and only 3% of the agents in the nation have that designation.

[00:23:12] Dana Johnson (cont.): And this is what I’ve learned. And as a CRS designee, guess what — I’m going to represent you to the fullest, because I had to have so many transactions and meet all the requirements. So education is paramount. And a lot of that education does come from NEFAR.

Another question you asked was: what are some of the things I’m involved in? Another thing I’m involved in — I’m the co-chair of RPAC. I’m so just taken back by the number of agents that—

[00:23:52] Tracy Hayes: Remind me after the show, I’m gonna tell you something about RPAC.

[00:23:55] Dana Johnson: Okay.

[00:23:56] Tracy Hayes: We’re gonna — I’ll tell you something. Go ahead.

[00:23:57] Dana Johnson: For Realtors, it is important for you to give your fair
[00:24:00] share. That’s that little box at the beginning of the year when you’re renewing your dues — it asks, “Do you want to give your fair share, your $20?” And most people uncheck it.

You want to check it, because what RPAC does is it advocates for our rights — and not just for the rights of Realtors to do business and get paid, but property rights as well.

[00:24:21] Dana Johnson (cont.): Hometown Heroes — you know what that is?

[00:24:22] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:24:23] Dana Johnson: Right. Hometown Heroes — as a real estate professional — is paramount to our buyers because it’s a down payment assistance program that’s funded by the state.

[00:24:32] Dana Johnson (cont.): Guess who was able to go to Tallahassee and advocate for funds?

[00:24:36] Tracy Hayes: Exactly.

[00:24:37] Dana Johnson: For buyers? Realtors were — by way of RPAC funds. But we need those funds, and we need that.

[00:24:47] Tracy Hayes: I want to — ’cause I think one of the areas — this is where agents get… You know, I think a majority of the agents, like you’re talking about, uncheck that box. Don’t—

[00:24:55] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[00:24:56] Tracy Hayes: —and how that $20 — this is the industry you’re
[00:25:00] involved in. Laws, legislation, whatever — are obviously primarily set in Tallahassee for the state of Florida.

[00:25:08] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:25:09] Tracy Hayes: And you need representation there.

[00:25:10] Dana Johnson: Especially now.

[00:25:11] Tracy Hayes: And if you’re going to call a representative and say, “Hey, you know what, I think I don’t like this. Can you look into it? Can we get this changed? Or this needs to be done better or updated”—well, that costs money.

[00:25:25] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:25:25] Tracy Hayes: It costs money for that person to go and do those things. They’re trying to run their real estate business, and then they’re also taking time to represent every real estate agent in the state of Florida, on their behalf.

[00:25:38] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[00:25:39] Tracy Hayes: And, you know, I realize obviously the agents are at different times in their lives right now — different schedules, different, you know, income-wise. So everyone should be doing at least $20.

[00:25:50] Tracy Hayes (cont.): Those that are up there — your JAX Real Producers level — they should be maxing out that RPAC donation.

[00:26:00] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[00:26:00] Tracy Hayes: Because — isn’t there a certain level and you’re considered — you know, you get a little extra recognition?

[00:26:05] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:26:06] Tracy Hayes: Right, from that standpoint. Yes. But one of the things — and I don’t know if you have any — the one thought that gave me, and I think is important right now, that I think RPAC should be going after, because I do own some condos—

[00:26:20] Dana Johnson: Oh.

[00:26:21] Tracy Hayes: —is the whole — you know, I don’t know the timeframe — but when the legislation came out that the condos needed to step up their game—

[00:26:28] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:26:29] Tracy Hayes: —and have these inspections.

[00:26:31] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:26:32] Tracy Hayes: And I really believe a three-story condo should not be involved in that. Those need to be brought to the high-rises. That — what caused the issue — it was a high-rise, which is a totally different structure than a three-story garden community.

[00:26:47] Tracy Hayes (cont.): And now — but the problem is — probably 90% of our condos in Florida are probably three stories or less. And now they’re stuck under this. And now we’re having these extra costs and it’s kind of putting some of these condos — when it comes to lending —
[00:27:00] more difficult, because they don’t have the budget to go and have these inspections and so forth done.

[00:27:00] Tracy Hayes: —or not getting ’em done in a timely manner. ’Cause now they gotta—you know, it’s every three years they’ve gotta have this update, you know, they call it an appraisal. And then the insurance has gotta match it. You know, all the things that we’re checking as a lender:
“Oh, did you have your appraisal?”
“Okay, great. It says…”
“Okay, the insurance matched the replacement costs.” Right?

[00:27:20] Tracy Hayes (cont.): And all these three-story condos should not be involved in that.

[00:27:27] Dana Johnson: So, Tracy — that’s where involvement comes in.

[00:27:30] Tracy Hayes: Exactly.

[00:27:31] Dana Johnson: Not only can Realtors contribute and be involved in RPAC, task force, and committee — but so can affiliate members.

[00:27:44] Tracy Hayes: Well, we will talk about that. We will talk about that at the post-show. Alright, let’s talk about you. You said you bought your first home — was it 23?

[00:27:51] Dana Johnson: I was 23 years old.

[00:27:52] Tracy Hayes: 23 years old. Yeah. So what is Dana doing at that time? What are you doing for work? And what really — as a young person,
[00:28:00] 18 to 23 — I mean, what did you envision yourself doing?

[00:28:02] Dana Johnson: I envisioned myself being a fighter pilot and an astronaut.

[00:28:05] Tracy Hayes: Did you?

[00:28:06] Dana Johnson: Yes!

[00:28:07] Dana Johnson (cont.): I did not score high enough on the ASVAB. The recruiter said, “You didn’t score high enough, you don’t weigh enough, and you’re not tall enough, so you don’t fit the requirements.” However, “You would be great in IT.”

[00:28:17] Dana Johnson (cont.): I’ve always been techy. So even back then — like my son would call it the teens in the ’90s — I was always techy. And that was when it was not sexy. It was DOS — a black and green screen — and I’m like, “I gotta do that.”

[00:28:35] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:28:35] Dana Johnson: My first job outta high school was with Prudential — in the IT department. That was when we had to go in and do paper tests.

[00:28:42] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, right.

[00:28:43] Dana Johnson: So, straight outta high school, I said, “Oh gosh, I’m in IT. I should’ve gone to the Air Force.”
I did that for about three years, and Aetna bought Prudential — and I needed a job. I was making good money. I didn’t know I was making good money,
[00:29:00] but I was. So when we got downsized, I could not find another industry that paid me what I was used to making — and what I was worth.

[00:29:06] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:29:06] Dana Johnson: Except mortgage. And I said, “This is something completely different from what I’m used to doing, but I’ll try it.”

[00:29:13] Dana Johnson (cont.): So, I got into the mortgage industry just because I was young and I was thinking about money.

[00:29:17] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:29:18] Dana Johnson: And the rest is history. It morphed from, “Okay, if I’m working for a mortgage company and I’m making this amount, and I see my loan officers making 10 times that — I want to be a loan officer.” So I did that.

[00:29:33] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:29:34] Dana Johnson: I was a loan officer in St. Augustine. I saw how much the company was making — my own company — and I said, “I want to do that.” And it just kept graduating from there.

[00:29:45] Dana Johnson (cont.): And then I saw — I’m inside an office. I’m an outdoors person. I want to be outdoors.

[00:29:48] Tracy Hayes: You’re in the early—

[00:29:49] Dana Johnson: Early 2000s now.

[00:29:50] Tracy Hayes: This is early 2000s?

[00:29:51] Dana Johnson: Right. 2000 — right at about 2003. I said, “I’m gonna be a Realtor. They make the same money I make and they’re free! They get to show houses — that’s sexy.”

[00:30:00] Dana Johnson (cont.): So I went in — but it’s not.
I found out early that it’s not.

[00:30:05] Tracy Hayes: Not all the time.

[00:30:07] Dana Johnson: It can be a little bit—

[00:30:09] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, most of the time—

[00:30:10] Dana Johnson: Most of the time, it’s not. It’s work.

[00:30:12] Dana Johnson (cont.): But it was a gradual progression of: I saw it, and it appealed to me, and I did it. It was not planned at all.

Like I said, I wanted to be an astronaut and a fighter pilot — so this was not a part of the plan.
But I can see where, in my younger years, I’ve always had an infatuation with houses.

[00:30:32] Dana Johnson (cont.): I can see how my life was orchestrated — and it was divine — how everything just fell into place when I did what I was supposed to do and not just followed the path I thought I was supposed to take.

[00:30:56] Dana Johnson: Yeah. I followed the path that I was being led on, and it morphed into me actually wanting to—
I’m a serial giver. I have to help people. Whether you need my help or not, I’m gonna help—

[00:30:58] Tracy Hayes: You.

[00:31:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.): Well, I think that’s why you’re a successful real estate agent and you run a team.

[00:31:03] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:31:04] Tracy Hayes: If you’re not, it’s very difficult to do that.

[00:31:05] Dana Johnson: Like, I’m gonna help you.
I’m just one of those people. And it does satisfy my need to help and give back and do something that I love to do.

[00:31:13] Dana Johnson (cont.): And I’ve been doing it now for—what year? Since—oh, for 24 years. Yeah.

[00:31:18] Dana Johnson (cont.): But as a Realtor, I’ve been a licensed Realtor since 2006.

[00:31:22] Tracy Hayes: That’s right before the bottom dropped out.

[00:31:24] Dana Johnson: Yeah. So I’m used to strange things happening.

[00:31:27] Tracy Hayes: Alright, hold it—hold till 2006.
But I want to just touch on something like you said — you know, the giver.

[00:31:32] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:31:33] Tracy Hayes: I think to be really—would you agree?—to be really good in the real estate industry, whether it’s on the mortgage side or—
You do have to love—you have to pour into people.

[00:31:42] Tracy Hayes (cont.): You’re out there showing houses. It’s not like, “Hey, here’s 50 bucks, show me this house.”
You’re not getting paid until they close.

[00:31:47] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:31:48] Tracy Hayes: And now, obviously there’s been times — like 2020 — as fast as you could show ’em a home, and if you helped structure the offer really good, you could turn that around pretty quick.

[00:31:58] Tracy Hayes (cont.): But that’s not you. You spend hours upon hours. I’ve often said — I think agents should keep a notebook and actually track every time they talk to somebody.

[00:32:09] Tracy Hayes (cont.): Whether it’s 8 o’clock at night saving a marriage sometimes to, “Hey, I’m on here searching for possible homes for this customer.”
And then when they actually put that down and show that—
I think a lot of our citizens don’t realize the time and effort and the stress—

[00:32:26] Dana Johnson: Investment. Right.

[00:32:27] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:32:28] Dana Johnson: And it’s just like an attorney. When you are represented by an attorney, they’re gonna charge you $130 an hour or whatever their fee is.

[00:32:34] Dana Johnson (cont.): And to the penny, they say, “I did this for five minutes, I did that,” and this is why you’re paying.

[00:32:41] Tracy Hayes: Exactly.

[00:32:42] Dana Johnson: So that’s a good—that’s a good tool and practice.

[00:32:47] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:32:48] Dana Johnson: But we do a lot. We know we do a lot. But yes, going back to what you said—your original thought—you have to be a giver.

[00:33:04] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:33:05] Dana Johnson: I compare it to being a teacher.
If it’s not something you love, you’re not going to do it for long.

[00:33:12] Dana Johnson (cont.): People hop into it because we look at, you know, success stories and we say, “Oh, we can do that”—similar to what I did.

[00:33:18] Dana Johnson (cont.): But it definitely—you have to come with a certain servant’s heart.

[00:33:22] Tracy Hayes: Yes.

[00:33:22] Dana Johnson: Like, if you’re going to be in it for any length of time.

[00:33:25] Tracy Hayes: We get our high at the end.
When they say, “Oh my God, thank you for helping me through this process”—where we think the process is very simple because we do it—

[00:33:33] Dana Johnson: Every day.

[00:33:34] Tracy Hayes: Every day.
To a lot of these people, it’s stressful.

[00:33:38] Tracy Hayes (cont.): They’ve got to throw a lot of faith in us and what we do, and dive in and look at, you know, something that might be a three-hour interaction, or a three-month, or—who knows—a three-year, if you're—

[00:33:49] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[00:33:50] Tracy Hayes: You know, might be involved in helping them get to a level where they can buy a home.

[00:33:52] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:33:53] Tracy Hayes: It’s 2006.

[00:33:54] Dana Johnson: Yeah.

[00:33:54] Tracy Hayes: You’re starting to see the downturn.

[00:33:56] Dana Johnson: Yeah.

[00:33:57] Tracy Hayes: How do you get through those next three or four years as a real estate agent? What are you doing?

[00:34:00] Dana Johnson: Well, again — I didn’t know what I didn’t know, as far as being a Realtor. That was my norm.
So I was in the market, and I’m a creative. So I saw a challenge and I said, “This is not going to beat me.”

[00:34:13] Dana Johnson (cont.): I heard all of the negative thoughts, and I saw the negative actions of people, and I said, “Okay, how can we fix this?”

[00:34:20] Dana Johnson (cont.): One of the things I did was I made sure I educated myself. I wanted to know what did not work, what does work.

[00:34:27] Dana Johnson (cont.): And I found that education and consistency are key. Especially in a down market — you’re not gonna get quick results.

[00:34:41] Dana Johnson: You may not get quick results, right?

[00:34:44] Tracy Hayes: The flowers will come.

[00:34:45] Dana Johnson: It comes.

[00:34:46] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:34:47] Dana Johnson: It comes.

[00:34:48] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:34:48] Dana Johnson: It really does.

[00:34:49] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. Well, you bring up—I haven’t, again, this is something I haven’t talked about in the last few shows, but it’s something I’m very passionate about. I don’t know if you ever read the book Grit by Angela Duckworth?

[00:34:58] Dana Johnson: I have not.

[00:34:59] Tracy Hayes: It’s a good book — or listen to it on Audible. But she talks about—she’s studying grit and how some people can get through some tough times—

[00:35:06] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[00:35:07] Tracy Hayes: —and others can’t. Others might give up early. You know, she was studying the West Point cadets as they go in as freshmen. And they gotta go in, obviously, early because they’re basically going through a boot camp—

[00:35:18] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:35:18] Tracy Hayes: —before they start the fall. And wired—some make it through and some don’t, and their backgrounds and all this other stuff. So grit is very important.

[00:35:27] Tracy Hayes (cont.): And I was telling you earlier, I really want to compile all the—you know, 278 episodes—all the agents that I’ve had on, ’cause I truly believe a real estate agent, if you have not demonstrated grit, if you have not had a moment where you felt like you fell on your face or a client kicked you in the gut or a deal just sets you sideways—

[00:35:48] Dana Johnson: Yeah.

[00:35:48] Tracy Hayes: —and to your point where you’re like, “Why am I doing this?”

[00:35:50] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[00:35:51] Tracy Hayes: And questioned yourself—but then, you know, obviously overcame and you’re still in the business.

[00:35:58] Tracy Hayes (cont.): So I broke it down to this — I call it the LLC — and it’s called Love, Laughter, and Consistency.

[00:36:06] Tracy Hayes (cont.): And you mentioned consistency, so we’re gonna get there in a moment.
But you just said: if you don’t love it, you won’t stick with it.

[00:36:08] Dana Johnson: No.

[00:36:09] Tracy Hayes: Tell us why you love real estate.

[00:36:10] Dana Johnson: Oh my gosh, what’s not to love about real estate?

[00:36:13] Dana Johnson (cont.): Number one, I love real estate because it increases wealth in families. It creates that stability that families need, right? And if you stabilize a family, you’ll stabilize a community.
If you stabilize community, what’s going to happen next?

[00:36:27] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:36:28] Dana Johnson: The world is gonna be better.

[00:36:30] Dana Johnson (cont.): So I love being able to introduce families and people to the opportunity to be stable. That’s number one.

[00:36:37] Dana Johnson (cont.): Not only are they introduced to stability — they’re introduced to wealth. You now have a vehicle — a financial vehicle — that can change the trajectory of you and your family’s life.

[00:36:47] Dana Johnson (cont.): If you have a crisis and you own a home — don’t have a crisis as a renter. I’ve been there.

[00:36:54] Dana Johnson (cont.): You have about 30 days to figure it out.

[00:36:57] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:36:58] Dana Johnson: As a homeowner, you have a vehicle in which you can relax and say, “Okay, this happened to me, but I have a stable and sound investment in my home,”
[00:37:00] to where I can call my mortgage professional and say, “Hey, I’m having a tough break, a tough go at it. What can I do?”

[00:37:07] Dana Johnson (cont.): And you’ll be able to say, “We can refinance. I can help you do whatever.” Right?

[00:37:12] Dana Johnson (cont.): And protect not only your investment, but your stability.

[00:37:16] Dana Johnson (cont.): And once they come out of it, guess what? You have equity. And now you can leverage that equity to make investments. Like, if you want to invest in crypto, AI—

[00:37:25] Tracy Hayes: College—

[00:37:26] Dana Johnson: —college, right?

[00:37:27] Dana Johnson (cont.): Send your kid to college so they can open that business, invest in their future—

[00:37:32] Dana Johnson (cont.): Give them a down payment on a home. You know?

[00:37:35] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:37:36] Dana Johnson: You can do that.

[00:37:37] Dana Johnson (cont.): What’s not to love about real estate? It’s a vehicle in which it stabilizes our community, ’cause we have property taxes.
[00:38:00] Property taxes right now in Florida — oh my gosh — we’re collecting so much. We’re collecting over the amount that’s average because the—

[00:38:08] Tracy Hayes: Well that’s not—
That’s the RPAC thing — between insurance and, obviously, we know DeSantis and them are working on the property tax thing.

[00:38:15] Dana Johnson: But—

[00:38:16] Tracy Hayes: Other—it just—

[00:38:16] Dana Johnson: Increases community.

[00:38:17] Tracy Hayes: The—I like the—and what you—

[00:38:21] Tracy Hayes: Pointing at is—you have a higher, a cause bigger than you.

[00:38:24] Dana Johnson: It’s so much bigger than me.
Yeah. I’m just a piece of the puzzle. Right?

[00:38:29] Dana Johnson (cont.): And I—I introduce myself as a speck of dust with a shelf life. I’m only here for a little while.

[00:38:34] Dana Johnson (cont.): But these families that we’re helping—you are helping generations that are gonna be here after we’re long gone.

[00:38:39] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:38:40] Dana Johnson: So that’s what I love about real estate.
I’m able to have a little piece of impact on somebody else’s future and change the trajectory of so many lives in a positive way.

[00:38:53] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Alright. So the second L is Laughter.

[00:38:57] Dana Johnson: Oh my gosh.

[00:38:58] Tracy Hayes: I have to explain this a little bit, ’cause this is something—it's personal. It’s things that I think go through my life in situations I’ve been in when—
You know, been broke or what—you know, just been set back.

[00:39:09] Dana Johnson: Yeah.

[00:39:10] Tracy Hayes: Right? And you know now—as I’m sure—you’ve probably had a real estate transaction that really hits you sideways, questioned why you’re even in real estate because of it.
But now you laugh at it at a cocktail party.

[00:39:21] Tracy Hayes (cont.): You tell people that story. Or you tell the new agents that come in—“Oh my God, I had that happen to me once and it really knocked me to my knees.”

[00:39:30] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:39:31] Tracy Hayes: Can you recall one of those situations that really just made you question yourself—“Is real estate right for me?”—for a moment, but then stepped out of it and overcame?

[00:39:43] Dana Johnson: Yeah. I almost quit.

[00:39:45] Dana Johnson (cont.): And that was after having done it for—I think I was like in for 17 years at that point.
In my head, I know what I’m doing, right?

[00:39:52] Dana Johnson (cont.): I had a client that I helped, and I was so happy that I was able to help her. I referred her over to a service person—insurance company—and I referred her over to an inspector.

[00:40:00] Dana Johnson (cont.): She started having problems with her property once she closed. And of course, she called me. And I said, “Oh yeah, do this, do that.”

[00:40:07] Dana Johnson (cont.): It didn’t work out the way that she wanted it to, and she accused me of selling her the worst house ever.
“You knew this house. You referred me to this person. I didn’t know what I was signing, da da da da da.”
“No, you are horrible.”

[00:40:20] Dana Johnson (cont.): Took to social media.
And this was somebody that I knew—

[00:40:27] Tracy Hayes: You were friends with her before?

[00:40:29] Dana Johnson: I wouldn’t say friends, but I definitely knew her.

[00:40:32] Dana Johnson (cont.): I had been in close proximity to her, and it was definitely somebody that I knew. I was not expecting that.

[00:40:42] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:40:42] Dana Johnson: And I—I was taken back by it.
But I had to step out of my emotion and say, “You know what? If it were me, and I was in this same situation, how would I be feeling right now?”

[00:40:54] Dana Johnson (cont.): So I had to remove myself and my feelings from the equation. But it was a good punch.
And I said it — “Oh my God, I don’t even want to do this anymore.”

[00:41:05] Dana Johnson (cont.): “How could this person say this about me?”

[00:41:07] Dana Johnson (cont.): Like, I would never do that. And I didn’t even make that much money. It’s not even worth it, you know?

[00:41:13] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:41:13] Dana Johnson: I was like, “That’s not worth my license.”

[00:41:15] Tracy Hayes: Right, right, right.

[00:41:16] Dana Johnson: But I thought about it. I said, “You know, Dana, that was the wrong thought process.
Any money that you make is a blessing. That’s number one.”

[00:41:24] Dana Johnson (cont.): You were able to help somebody, and over time she was able to get it together and use her resources in order to make it right.

[00:41:31] Dana Johnson (cont.): But I laugh at it now because I said—I was really gonna quit.
I was so serious about it.

[00:41:36] Dana Johnson (cont.): My team looking at me like, “Are you serious right now? You let one—”

[00:41:37] Tracy Hayes: “You let one transaction take you down?”

[00:41:39] Dana Johnson: “You’ve been doing this for 17 years! Like, come on now. You know who you are.”

[00:41:43] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:41:43] Dana Johnson: I laugh about it now, because I just don’t know why I got so emotional about it.

[00:41:48] Dana Johnson (cont.): Yeah.
I’m—I'm able to laugh about it.

[00:41:49] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Alright. So the LLC is Consistency.

[00:41:53] Tracy Hayes (cont.): Oh, you mentioned it earlier. What are some things that, you know—especially during those first four or five years—like you said, you were
[00:42:00] working through a very unique market that a lot of agents—they don’t—some agents probably, I know today, if you said short sale, they'd be like, “What are you talking about? What's a short sale?”

[00:42:08] Dana Johnson: I just closed one last year.

[00:42:09] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:42:10] Dana Johnson: And everybody’s like, “What is this?”

[00:42:13] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, exactly. Let alone foreclosures and so forth.

[00:42:15] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:42:16] Tracy Hayes: You know, but you mentioned one of the keys to your success and longevity in this business is consistency. What are some of the things that are in that sacred consistency category for you—whether it’s monthly, weekly, daily?

[00:42:29] Dana Johnson: Daily. All day.
I pray. That’s number one. I don’t tap into my own power. I definitely pray.

[00:42:36] Dana Johnson (cont.): And my form of medication—meditation.
I make sure that I’m quieting myself and not allowing myself to be distracted and overwhelmed by external stressors. So I consistently pray.

[00:42:48] Dana Johnson (cont.): Secondly, I consistently look for ways to connect with my clients and with everybody.
I don’t market in a conventional way like most people. I’m so organic. I love sitting down with people, learning who people are.
[00:43:00] I’m a researcher by nature. Some people call it nosy, but—

[00:43:11] Tracy Hayes: You’re a social media stalker? Is that what you’re trying to say?

[00:43:13] Dana Johnson: No! I don’t do that.

[00:43:14] Tracy Hayes: You don’t go on and see what someone’s life is and what they put on social media?

[00:43:17] Dana Johnson: It’s not real.

[00:43:18] Tracy Hayes: It’s not real.

[00:43:19] Dana Johnson: It’s not real. Social media—people share who they want you to see.
But I love to—

[00:43:24] Tracy Hayes: Sometimes they show you too much.

[00:43:27] Dana Johnson: That’s how they get a check at the end of the day—for the likes.
But I love learning who people are organically. So it’s those relationships. I love nurturing my relationships.

[00:43:39] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:43:39] Dana Johnson: And I’m not looking for anything out of it, really. I’m looking to see: how can I help you?

[00:43:45] Dana Johnson (cont.): So I consistently look for ways that I can help someone. And if I can, that’s great. If not, I gained a friend in the process.

[00:43:53] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:43:54] Dana Johnson: And in consistently doing that, I’m put in positions where people remember—“Hey Dana, you’re a Realtor. You’re so passionate about it.”

[00:44:00] Dana Johnson (cont.): You know, I call it my ministry, of sorts. It’s the only thing that I would do for free—and have done, now, to an extent.

[00:44:09] Dana Johnson (cont.): But I consistently network in a meaningful way. Not to get anything in return, but to see what I can give.

[00:44:18] Tracy Hayes: Well, it goes back to that statement we’re talking about—that you have to pour value into it. No one buys a house every year.

[00:44:25] Dana Johnson: Yeah.

[00:44:26] Tracy Hayes: You know—or every three or four years. Maybe. There might be someone, like one of these people that just trades their car in every few years or whatever.

[00:44:35] Dana Johnson: Unless you represent an investor or a builder—that’s something different.

[00:44:38] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.
They’re only gonna maybe buy a handful of houses in their lifetime—if that.
So you have to constantly be pouring into ’em. But they’re running into people that you may not be running into.

[00:44:50] Tracy Hayes (cont.): And that sort of thing.
You have a group of ladies—

[00:44:52] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[00:44:53] Tracy Hayes: —that you’re leading.

[00:44:54] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:44:55] Tracy Hayes: You know, when you’ve got those—you’re mentoring them, you’re—especially some of the newer agents that—

[00:45:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.): —you’re trying to bring up to your ideology or the way you do business—how do you express to them, or I guess encourage them?

[00:45:08] Tracy Hayes (cont.): ’Cause not everybody’s so, you know, outwardly just friendly—they’ll hand out their business card to anyone. A lot of people are shy, I guess, if you want to call it that.

[00:45:17] Tracy Hayes (cont.): How do you warm them up to that—“You live this. Your business. Real estate is actually a 24/7 business.”
Wherever you’re at, you are a real estate agent to everyone around you.

[00:45:30] Tracy Hayes (cont.): And that’s a good question, and it’s a topic that people do like to talk about. It’s a very neutral topic.

[00:45:35] Tracy Hayes (cont.): You know, anyone could start—“What’s going on in real estate right now?” or “What new community is going up?” or that sort of thing.

[00:45:42] Tracy Hayes (cont.): How do you bring that newer agent to understand—and bring that kind of, I’m gonna say, attitude to their business—
That they have to pour value? ’Cause whether that person calls you next month, or it’s four or five years from now, or they refer you somebody—

[00:45:59] Tracy Hayes (cont.): Let alone—you just have to keep pouring into all buckets.

[00:46:02] Dana Johnson: So how I help my team to remain engaged and consistent—and one of the things I didn’t get a—

[00:46:02] Dana Johnson: So how I help my team to remain engaged and consistent—and one of the things I didn’t get a chance to share with consistency—is, the last thing is you also have to follow the processes. You have to create processes and systems to help you stay on track.

[00:46:20] Tracy Hayes: Good.

[00:46:21] Dana Johnson: So one of the things that I help my team to do is I help them to understand who they are as an agent. Understand what their agent persona is—who are you representing? Who do people see you as? Okay, that's number one. Who are you attracting?

[00:46:37] Dana Johnson (cont.): And I help them to identify who their client persona is. What's your niche? Do you have a niche? What do you want your niche to be? Who do you wanna attract? Who do you wanna help? What's your researchdemographic?

[00:46:51] Dana Johnson (cont.): And once they find that out, once they've done that research and that legwork—okay, how do you market to those people? What appeals to your demographic, to your client?
Are you doing those things? When did you do it? How often did you do it?
[00:47:00] Did it work? What didn’t work?

[00:47:01] Dana Johnson (cont.): You know, taking them through those step-by-step processes. Mentoring is one thing. Coaching is another. Training is something else.

[00:47:08] Dana Johnson (cont.): So I mentor, coach, and train based on what they need and where they are.
Also, I remind them that, at the end of your emotions, it's nothing. Let's remove the emotion.
Let's stick with the facts. What are we doing? This is still a business. This is your business.
How successful do you want to be?

[00:47:27] Dana Johnson (cont.): Okay. It's the age-old process of, if you need to close one client this month, that means that you need to talk to ten people a week.
So we have a whole equation as to what you need to do, how you need to do it, and how often you need to do it so that you can remain consistent.

[00:47:44] Dana Johnson (cont.): And we plug that into technology. Don’t just keep it in your head or write it down.
Use your technology. Tell your website—tell your resources that we provide you—what you need.
If you need your website to send this out, tell your AI-embedded website, “Okay, reach out to these leads. Tell them this. Give them if-then situations,” right?

[00:48:00] Dana Johnson (cont.): So that you can go out and network in an organic way. You don’t have to worry about doing all of the admin functions.
Let technology work for you so that you can remain consistent on that level, but still provide that human touch.
Get—meet people, learn who people are, and be visible.

[00:48:30] Tracy Hayes: What do you think—you know, right now we’ve seen, you know, the stat came out—70-something percent of the agents last year didn’t even do a transaction.

[00:48:38] Dana Johnson: Oh wow.

[00:48:39] Tracy Hayes: And I have seen—just because we’re always looking, I’m always looking—you know, who’s the top producers in the area, who’s making things happen. And I’m looking at numbers and obviously, 2021—I mean, as soon as you stuck the sign in the yard—

[00:48:52] Tracy Hayes (cont.): You know, people were calling. Or—yes, I had Willie Lane on the other day. You could put a Post-it note on the door saying the house is for sale, and people were making offers.
Now it's a different market altogether. We’re—a lot of people are sitting on listings—

[00:49:08] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[00:49:09] Tracy Hayes: —and trying to push ’em out.
But I’ve seen some agents who were doing good are actually better.

[00:49:13] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[00:49:14] Tracy Hayes: Some agents who were doing good have actually declined and are really struggling right now.

[00:49:18] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:49:19] Tracy Hayes: What do you think might be the difference?

[00:49:21] Dana Johnson: Well, the difference would be probably a few things.
One—mindset.
Are you stuck in your mind? Okay, it happened to you—what can you do to make something happen for you?

[00:49:34] Dana Johnson (cont.): Right? So that’s the difference. That’s the gap.
Mindset is big, especially when you go from an up market to a stable to a ehhh kind of shaky market.

[00:49:45] Dana Johnson (cont.): Also, education. Plug in.
Go to NEFAR. Or go online. Do something. Go to your broker. Let them know you’re struggling—in what areas you’re struggling in.

[00:49:56] Dana Johnson (cont.): And it’s up to the agent to seek that advice, get that education, and use the resources.

[00:50:00] Dana Johnson (cont.): Also—don’t go at it alone.
Over my past years of experience, I found myself in a silo, especially in a down market, because you’re just trying to figure out what works.
And when you’re alone and you’re struggling, you just get deeper and deeper in a pit.
Get out of that pit. Talk to somebody.

[00:50:19] Dana Johnson: Even if you can't afford to—because let's just be honest—if you're not closing, you probably can't afford to go and sit down for coffee or lunch—have a virtual coffee.

[00:50:26] Dana Johnson (cont.): Meet somebody for free. Do those free things.

[00:50:30] Tracy Hayes: There's loan officers all over to take you out to coffee—

[00:50:34] Dana Johnson: All the time.

[00:50:34] Tracy Hayes: All that. That—

[00:50:35] Dana Johnson: Do it once a week at least.

[00:50:37] Dana Johnson (cont.): But yeah, do those things. Plug in. And it's that human—it's that human touch that—

[00:50:43] Dana Johnson (cont.): People are missing sometimes. You're not in a silo. You're not alone. Ask for—get that help.

[00:50:49] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Well, you know, my partner here, Tom—I mean, we've started doing some collaborative lunches.
Bringing in some top producers and let—
and everyone's exchanging kind of their ill wills.
But then what I quickly learned, because they are all people—a lot of people I've had on the show—because they're producing—

[00:51:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.): And what I quickly realized—they’re not going, "Hey, yeah, I've got a bunch of listings," and they're being Debbie Downer.
They're like, "Okay, how can we turn this around?"

[00:51:08] Tracy Hayes (cont.): "What are we doing in a positive way?"
"Oh, this worked for me, and I was able to turn this house."
"Hey, we spent a little extra money on some staging."
"You know, we painted it."

[00:51:19] Tracy Hayes (cont.): Because I think a lot of people like turnkey houses right now.
They're not into the—majority are not into looking for fixer-uppers. They want turnkey.

[00:51:29] Tracy Hayes (cont.): What are some of those little extra things?
Maybe you've gotta pour a little bit of your sweat, maybe some of your financial resources, into helping that buyer make that home a little better than the next one.
And that's the one that's gonna sell right now.

[00:51:50] Dana Johnson: Yes. And I'm so glad you said that because who you surround yourself with—it definitely has an impact on your mindset and your outlook.
So let's say if you're an agent right now that might be struggling—not doing as well as a top producer—get around those top producers.

[00:52:05] Dana Johnson (cont.): If their cup is running over, it's gonna spill over on you.
Even if it's something that you can't do tangibly, maybe they'll be able to give you some type of idea or creative way to work around—do a workaround—so that money won't have to come out of your pocket.
But yeah, it's a solution still.

[00:52:23] Tracy Hayes: Well, I think everything circles back to that whole theme of adding value to others.

[00:52:31] Dana Johnson: That's right.

[00:52:32] Tracy Hayes: And you—sometimes you have to add value to yourself.

[00:52:34] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:52:35] Tracy Hayes: If you are struggling and you're like, “Well, what do I do? I'm making my phone calls, I'm making my touches, but nothing's happening”—
reach out to that top producer. Maybe they're doing an open house.
Maybe they're going over to this neighborhood and they're helping their seller get it ready—go over with them.

[00:52:51] Tracy Hayes (cont.): Next thing you know—Murphy’s Law—somebody in that neighborhood calls you, and you're like,
“Oh yeah, I was helping my teammate over here with the house down the street.”
And now you're coming across with someone of confidence. You might earn the business—

[00:53:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.): Because you know the neighborhood.

[00:53:05] Dana Johnson: You know the neighborhood. Yeah. I had someone literally—and I put this on my team, on our group chat—I said,
Someone just called me—and I've had this all this week—on one of our new listings,
"Can I do an open house?"
From a totally different brokerage. I said, that person is hungry.

[00:53:20] Dana Johnson (cont.): That’s the market we’re in right now.

[00:53:23] Dana Johnson (cont.): And it's not uncommon for that to happen. But in an up market, you don't really see that.

[00:53:28] Dana Johnson (cont.): So these are the days where you do the things that are necessary.
And you have to have that faith in yourself.
You have to believe in yourself. You have to have that confidence in yourself to say,
"You know what? I can do this. I'm good enough to do this. And if I'm not, let me go and plug into this free NEFAR education class."

[00:53:47] Dana Johnson (cont.): And it's virtual—I don't even have to go anywhere. I can just be on screen and learn something so that I can, you know, get better.

[00:53:58] Tracy Hayes: A couple extra tidbits—I mean, if I was on the real estate agent side and I said, you know, I need—you should be doing open houses, especially if you're trying to grow your business.

[00:54:08] Tracy Hayes (cont.): There’s some people—yeah, they're sitting on a dozen listings, and they've got a team and newer agents that want to be active and want to jump in there.
That's all cool.

[00:54:15] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:54:16] Tracy Hayes: Murphy's Law is just—if you bring your laptop and say, “You know what? I don’t expect this open house to be busy. I’m gonna flip up my laptop and take one of these online courses that are just there at the click of a button”—I guarantee you, as soon as you hit the click, somebody’s gonna walk in.
And it’s gonna be an interested buyer, and you’re gonna end up having a meaningful conversation with them.

[00:54:36] Tracy Hayes (cont.): For whatever period of time—and hopefully it leads into either them buying, or they know someone who's going to buy.
I'm really big—and I think you'll agree with this—you never know what's under the next rock.

[00:54:48] Dana Johnson: That's right.

[00:54:49] Tracy Hayes: Overturn, you know?

[00:54:50] Dana Johnson: That's right.

[00:54:51] Tracy Hayes: And you've gotta have that conversation because you don't know if that person’s going to buy, or they're gonna be at a barbecue this weekend—

[00:55:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.): And they're gonna be talking to someone and say, “Yeah, I’m thinking about buying a home,” and they’re gonna go, “Call Dana. I was just talking to her the other day.”

[00:55:07] Dana Johnson: “Yeah, and there was something about her. I didn’t need her—but you know what, I think you should call. I think you guys would be great together.”
And it also offers that agent the ability to sharpen their swords, right?
If you're not in front of people, in front of buyers, get in those spaces where you're having to talk to people and test out how you do off the dome.

[00:55:26] Dana Johnson (cont.): How quick you are to respond.
And if you don't talk to anybody—if you're not in those networking situations where people are asking you those questions—you don't know what you don't know.

[00:55:37] Tracy Hayes: Right, exactly.

[00:55:38] Dana Johnson: So go out and talk to people. I don’t know how agents just think that they can’t network any type of way—even if it’s in your spirit.

[00:55:49] Tracy Hayes: It doesn't have to be structured. It doesn't have to be a BNI.
Obviously, we know a lot of people are involved in their church. It could be that.
Obviously at NEFAR, you're hobnobbing around a bunch of other real estate agents. But a lot of the agents who are involved in NEFAR—

[00:56:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.): Are influential people.

[00:56:01] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:56:02] Tracy Hayes: They've either been doing it a long time or they’re doing a lot of business, and they feel it’s important to impact real estate in Northeast Florida.

[00:56:08] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:56:09] Tracy Hayes: And so they're involved. And so you’re collaborating and being one of those five people in the room.

[00:56:14] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.
And then you can even go to functions where there are no realtors. And guess what? You're the expert.

[00:56:21] Tracy Hayes: Yep.

[00:56:22] Dana Johnson: Right? And so just—I say—

[00:56:27] Tracy Hayes: Well, it’s a thing: wear your name tag.

[00:56:29] Dana Johnson: Right.

[00:56:30] Tracy Hayes: Wear your name tag. All you do is wear your name tag—they will ask you the question.

[00:56:34] Dana Johnson: I have a hat that I got. I made an RPAC contribution—shameless plug—I did my RPAC contribution, and in return I was able to get an item, right?
And that item was my REALTOR® hat with bling on it. So I put that on when I’m in the grocery store—I forget I have it on. Right?

[00:56:50] Dana Johnson (cont.): And it’s pink. So what woman isn’t gonna stop you with some pink bling and—

[00:56:54] Tracy Hayes: Exactly.

[00:56:55] Dana Johnson: —and say, “Oh, that hat! Oh, you're a REALTOR®?”

[00:57:00] Dana Johnson (cont.): So that's a conversation. Pull out your card. Yeah, definitely.
“You own a house?”
“You should!”
Right? So that’s a whole conversation.

[00:57:08] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:57:09] Dana Johnson: So it doesn't have to be hard. You can make it fun.

[00:57:11] Tracy Hayes: It's really just thinking of some of those really simple—I call it KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid.

[00:57:16] Dana Johnson: Yeah.

[00:57:17] Tracy Hayes: That—really, and wearing the hat is a really simple—it’s a stupid thing you—

[00:57:22] Dana Johnson: Yeah.

[00:57:23] Tracy Hayes: But you're wearing a billboard on your head.

[00:57:25] Dana Johnson: That’s right.

[00:57:26] Tracy Hayes: And people—it just—I mean, and if you're wearing your name tag—I don't know how many agents have told us—
you know, you've heard stories—they're in the grocery store, they forget they have the name tag on and someone starts talking to them.

[00:57:37] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[00:57:38] Tracy Hayes: And then one—it’s easy because your name is right there.
And they go, “Oh, hey, hey Dana! I see you're a real estate agent.”

[00:57:45] Tracy Hayes (cont.): And so-and-so.
They can introduce themselves, because they have your name—where sometimes people are a little shy in doing that exchange.
The fact that you're wearing your name on there—you’re giving it to them.

[00:57:56] Tracy Hayes (cont.): Which is the most important thing—because you're hoping, you know, they call you.
Or they can go on social media and look you up—

[00:58:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.): If they really wanted to do it stealthy.

[00:58:02] Tracy Hayes (cont.): But some of the things—just Erica Harding, wearing something real estate when she's sitting at the ball field with her kids.
And then the other parents are seeing her there every day at the ball field—they’re intentional.
Eventually the ice is broken—or they know.

[00:58:14] Dana Johnson: Absolutely. I have one of my top producers—she does it all the time.
She is her brand ambassador.
She has her hat on—Danielle Sutton.
She has her hat on, she has her face on it, she has her shirt on, she has signs on the inside of her car—everything.

[00:58:30] Dana Johnson (cont.): She's branded. She believes in herself.

[00:58:32] Dana Johnson (cont.): And when people see that you believe in yourself, because you are advertising what you do and who you are, there's a level of confidence that comes with that.

[00:58:50] Dana Johnson: Right. And they figure that’s unconsciously you telling people, “I’m confident in who I am and what I do—and you should be too.”
So you’re giving people permission to approach you.

[00:58:58] Tracy Hayes: And…

[00:58:59] Dana Johnson: You know, let down those walls and ask you questions. And if they ask you a question you don’t know—
“Well, you know what? That’s a good question. Can we talk about that over coffee?”
You don’t have to say you don’t know, but you know—

[00:59:05] Tracy Hayes: Well, that’s an interesting thing.
Well, just by putting out—by wearing that “I’m a real estate agent” somewhere, whether it’s a name tag, a t-shirt, a hat, something—
you are breaking the ice already. So it’s easy for them to come up to you and approach you.

[00:59:17] Tracy Hayes (cont.): Where they may be—yeah, they can be, “Oh, I see you’re a real estate agent.”
Whatever they got, whatever question it is, it just opens that door because, one, real estate’s easy to talk about—whatever it may be.
And it’s an easy flow back and forth.

[00:59:33] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:59:34] Tracy Hayes: So if you’re bashful about it but you want people to know, I agree.
You put—I see some of these agents with their signs on the door—
it looks a little corny, but you know what?
They’re basically saying they’re there to help you.

[00:59:42] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[00:59:43] Tracy Hayes: When you were saying magnet, I was like—they’re saying on the side of their door,
“I’m here to help you with your real estate needs.”

[00:59:51] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.
Marketing is key—consistent marketing.
And whatever that looks like—and branding.
Let’s say if you’re one of those shy agents and you’re like, “I’m not doing that.”
Find a way.
Social media.

[01:00:00] Dana Johnson (cont.): That’s the way most people—we know that 90% of buyers go online.
And they’ve already figured it out before they’ve even met you.
Be the person that they see and that they want to work with.
You can do that with social media too.
Marketing—do that consistently.
Put some planned systems and processes in place to be successful.
It’s really not hard.

[01:00:26] Tracy Hayes: You know, Instagram seems to be very popular. Obviously Facebook’s always a kind of a cornerstone—it’s there.
Of course, obviously Facebook and Instagram are related, so if you post on Instagram, it’ll post on Facebook if you tell it to—type of thing.

[01:00:38] Tracy Hayes (cont.): What are some of your methods to do it?
Some people—that’s all they post is pictures of houses on there.
So you don’t even see a person.

[01:00:45] Tracy Hayes (cont.): I’m not a fan of that. I like to see people’s faces.

[01:00:48] Dana Johnson: Yeah.

[01:00:49] Tracy Hayes: What has worked for you as far as social media, if you’re talking to your team—how you do it?
Because I think everyone’s different anyway, and what works for them is going to be probably slightly different than the person next to them.
But what is your attitude—your ideology on that?

[01:01:05] Dana Johnson: What works for me personally—not my company, but me as an individual contributor—what works for me individually is showing people my vulnerability and my authenticity.

[01:01:14] Dana Johnson (cont.): I’m a perfectionist—well, no, I’m a recovering perfectionist.
I’m in a 12-step program.

[01:01:18] Tracy Hayes: (laughs)

[01:01:19] Dana Johnson: And usually I suffer from analysis paralysis when I’m posting.
I want it to look perfect.
It’s gotta hit this person, this metric, and I’m analyzing what it did.
Like, if I post online—my mediums are Facebook, LinkedIn, not so much Instagram, but definitely Facebook and LinkedIn.
And here recently—YouTube.

[01:01:42] Dana Johnson (cont.): So I’m trying to make sure that the lighting is right, everything is perfect.
But I started noticing a trend about four years ago.
When it’s perfect—nobody really looks at it.
It’s not a lot of engagement.
They’re like, “Oh, that was nice.”

[01:01:55] Dana Johnson (cont.): But it’s when I jump on there and I’m like, “Hey, you guys!”
And the wind’s blowing, hair’s frazzled—

[01:02:00] Dana Johnson (cont.): And I’m giving those authentic moments and those vulnerable moments—people relate to that.
And that’s what works for me as an individual contributor.
Just getting on there and saying, “You know what? It’s not gonna be perfect, but I gotta get this info to whoever needs it and this is why they need it.”

[01:02:17] Dana Johnson (cont.): Get out of your head. Stop being selfish. You are not perfect.

[01:02:29] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:02:29] Dana Johnson: Just give people what they need, and whoever needs it, they'll find their way back to you.

[01:02:35] Tracy Hayes: Do you just—you know, maybe a topic or a situation comes up in a transaction—and you're like, “You know, others need to know about this”?

[01:02:41] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[01:02:42] Tracy Hayes: So you just—you jump on, you see that as valuable?

[01:02:46] Dana Johnson: I have to do it immediately. Because if I wait and try to produce it—

[01:02:51] Tracy Hayes: You start thinking too much about it?

[01:02:52] Dana Johnson: Yeah.

[01:02:53] Dana Johnson: The impact and the value—because now it's a production.

[01:02:56] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:02:57] Dana Johnson: So immediately, as soon as I see something that can be valuable, I just post it.
And it's authentic, and it resonates with people. People can see the authenticity in it.
So for me, being authentically who I am is what works for me by way of marketing.

[01:03:11] Tracy Hayes: That’s awesome. Are you mixing in your family stuff or anything like that?

[01:03:15] Dana Johnson: I used to all the time.

[01:03:17] Dana Johnson: But as my boys got older, I think they got a little weirded out by, “Everybody knows you!”

[01:03:21] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:03:22] Dana Johnson: They’re like, “You’re Dana’s son!”
So I try not to involve them too much—overly.
Sometimes they can’t help it. They’re so cute. I love my kids. I have four of them.
But I will show people my personal side.
I make sure that I brand and market and let them know, “Yes, I’m going to church, and after church, I’m going to stop by this open house.”
Sorry, Lord, but—right? That’s who we are.

[01:03:53] Tracy Hayes: You are using your abilities and talent and influence—
He’s got everybody on their different journeys.

[01:04:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.): And your journey is to—after church, you need to stop by that open house.
Because that might—you might learn something, you might meet somebody, you might, you know, be—
You're gonna have an impact in some way, shape, or form—

[01:04:10] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[01:04:11] Tracy Hayes: —on what He’s created.

[01:04:12] Dana Johnson: Right. Absolutely.

[01:04:13] Tracy Hayes: That’s definitely how I would see that.
I think—if I recall—you liked the boutique brokerages?

[01:04:19] Dana Johnson: Uh-huh.

[01:04:20] Tracy Hayes: Did I read that? Was that your bio I was reading?

[01:04:23] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[01:04:24] Tracy Hayes: Tell me why. And what led to the creation of Province?

[01:04:28] Dana Johnson: Oh my gosh.
So it was out of necessity.
I was an agent at a larger brokerage, and I loved that brokerage.
Did not want to leave.

[01:04:39] Dana Johnson (cont.): But I found myself in a divorce situation, and I needed to make some changes because of my split.
And I researched some different places—some different brokerages, larger brokerages—and they didn’t really fit my brand, my style.
And I said, “You know, I’m gonna have to create this.”
I didn’t want to do it.

[01:05:05] Dana Johnson: …it took me about a year, and I worked on it, and I created the brand, the brokerage, and I made sure that it had the foundation that it needed. That was in 2015—10 years ago.

[01:05:16] Tracy Hayes: Wow.

[01:05:17] Dana Johnson: So I—I did. I said, “I’m gonna try it out,” out of necessity. And it went from a need to now it's the most beautiful thing I've ever done so far, as far as business is concerned.

[01:05:29] Tracy Hayes: Well, I would imagine—you know, you mentioned earlier about systems and processes—

[01:05:32] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[01:05:33] Tracy Hayes: When you want to go out and do your own brokerage and you want people to follow you—

[01:05:37] Dana Johnson: Yeah.

[01:05:39] Tracy Hayes: You better have your systems—

[01:05:40] Dana Johnson: You gotta have systems—

[01:05:41] Tracy Hayes: —and processes, technology, all of that.
And in the beginning, just starting out, technology can be expensive on your own as a boutique brokerage—as a single broker—

[01:05:50] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[01:05:51] Tracy Hayes: —not being backed by a larger brand.
So being able to be competitive with the larger brands and stay on task with the trainings and everything...

[01:06:00] Dana Johnson: I made sure that I did not have a large team and bring a lot of people on. Because what I did not want to do is do anybody a disservice by saying, “Oh yeah, we're amazing,” and then you got here and now you're floundering.

[01:06:12] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:06:13] Dana Johnson: So it took some time to establish the systems and processes and back it with technology to make sure that—okay—this not only works for me, because I'm techy.
This can work for a person who's techy or a person who has no idea how to work technology and embed technology in their business.

[01:06:31] Dana Johnson (cont.): Or employ systems and processes. Just make it simple.

[01:06:39] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, because it can be—

[01:06:41] Dana Johnson: Overwhelming.

[01:06:42] Tracy Hayes: —not only expensive, but overwhelming, time-consuming, and then—which takes you away from the money-making activities.

[01:06:49] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[01:06:50] Tracy Hayes: Is Province—are you actively recruiting right now? Or do you like to keep the team—you know—the tight knit?
I don't know how many agents you got right now...

[01:06:57] Dana Johnson: So it's seven.

[01:07:00] Dana Johnson (cont.): Seven, yes. I like to keep the tight-knit, smaller, quality-driven agent.
And we are not hiring right now in Jacksonville, but in our Atlanta office, we are.
And we’ll be opening another site in Melbourne in October.

[01:07:12] Tracy Hayes: There—so are you traveling there? Or are you just—you helping others, you know, entrepreneurial-minded women like yourself to obviously start under—with your brand in these areas?

[01:07:24] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[01:07:24] Tracy Hayes: So you're not—you’re not having to be the—

[01:07:27] Dana Johnson: Actually—

[01:07:28] Tracy Hayes: —other than running the brokerage, I guess I would say.
Yes. And from the real estate side, there's running the brokerage and then there’s—

[01:07:35] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[01:07:36] Tracy Hayes: —training and mentoring and getting people up to a sales ability, right?

[01:07:40] Dana Johnson: Absolutely, yeah.

[01:07:41] Tracy Hayes: I'm gonna lead into that—lead into what I want to say next.
Either way, with that question—whether you said yes or no—you were recruiting or not recruiting…
But if you were talking to new agents—I imagine you're down at NEFAR, you're running into them down there too, 'cause a lot of 'em are going to the classes and so forth…

[01:07:56] Tracy Hayes (cont.): But just from your experience, what are some tips—if someone wanted to get into the business today—what are some of the things, some of the people they might want to talk to before actually entering, just to make sure?
And then the brokerage choice—how do they, you know, narrow down to what brokerage?

[01:08:22] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[01:08:22] Tracy Hayes: Because I personally feel, in talking to over 250, 260 agents—

[01:08:26] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[01:08:27] Tracy Hayes: —their choice of brokerage could make or break you.

[01:08:29] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[01:08:30] Tracy Hayes: And if you don’t have the grit to fight through a bad decision—

[01:08:32] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[01:08:33] Tracy Hayes: —you’re out of the business.

[01:08:34] Dana Johnson: You're out of it.

[01:08:35] Tracy Hayes: So what are some advice that you would give someone maybe entering the business right now?

[01:08:39] Dana Johnson: So—

[01:08:34] Dana Johnson: The best advice I can give someone entering the business is do your research. Number one, of course your brokerage is going to really dictate—and the culture of that brokerage is gonna dictate—your success early on, because you don't know what you don't know.

[01:08:49] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:08:50] Dana Johnson: So you have to do the research.
The questions that, you know, they should be asking—it's so many different—they can go on ChatGPT. They can say, "Hey, what questions should I ask the brokerage?" I'm not gonna put 'em all out here right now.

[01:09:03] Tracy Hayes: Right. No, you're a hundred percent right. That—that’ll give 'em a baseline.

[01:09:05] Dana Johnson: Yes.
And I would—I would even venture to say—kind of steer clear from having those interviews with your broker online, that first interview.
I would encourage them to have a one-on-one. Not a telephone conversation, not a Zoom meeting. But what's that energy like?
You’ll be able to assess the energy—see if it’s, you know, synergy that you’re sensing and picking up.

Also, how would you fit in with the culture? What does the—you know—the office look like? What does it feel like?
Is this something that you're wanting? What are they expecting from you? What are the upfront expectations?

Because as you're interviewing them, they're probably gonna be interviewing you as well, right?

[01:09:55] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:09:56] Dana Johnson: So that's number one.
Number two, they should definitely look into—if they're techie—the tech package.
What are you offering me? How much does it cost?
What’s my upfront investment at the end of the day?
Okay, I know that you said my split is gonna be this, but what are the other fees involved?
If I close this deal and I make this amount, how much am I walking away with?

[01:10:09] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:10:10] Dana Johnson: That is a big one, especially with new agents sometimes.
The third thing is—I think that agents get in their mind that, “Oh, I need to go to a broker that’s going to give me leads.”
What are you gonna do with those leads when you get them?
Do you know what to do with them? Have a plan in place.

What’s your education? What are you going to do for yourself to make yourself successful?
And don’t look at reality TV shows concerning realtors—that’s number four. Don’t do it.
Because although there is some truth to it, it’s probably not gonna be their path immediately.

Make sure that they have a solid plan.

[01:10:44] Tracy Hayes: Are—are there a couple things that you—if you’re talking to a broker—some a couple things you should be tuning in to see if they’re actually bringing up when they’re talking about their brokerage?
Because you said the—you used the term culture.

[01:10:55] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[01:10:56] Tracy Hayes: And the thing that—the thought that went through my head is, you know, if I was a broker today and I’m recruiting a brand new agent—just took the test or about to take the test or whatever—I’m already saying, “Hey, what I want to do is I want to stand—because I’ve got a couple of senior agents I want to attach you to, to mentor, for you to shadow,” whatever terminology you want to do.

Because I think a lot of agents are walking into some of these—even some of these brands that are known for, you know, bringing up training newer agents—in hiring in mass, they have some classroom trainings—

[01:11:31] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[01:11:32] Tracy Hayes: —but are—are they talking about how am I gonna hook you up with this top producer?
“I want you to mentor under them for the next 30, 60, 90 days,” whatever.
Help 'em with their open houses, because they're really going to give you—I call it the rubber meets the road—

[01:11:46] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[01:11:47] Tracy Hayes: —life of real estate.
Are they talking about that?

Because to me, if I was a broker and I was trying to recruit you as a new agent, I’d be like, “Hey, I’m gonna meet you, I’m gonna introduce you to Sally. She’s been in the business 10 years, she’s one of our top producers. I think the two of you would get along, and I think—just follow her for 30, 60, 90 days to really expand your horizons of this business.”

[01:12:06] Dana Johnson: Definitely listen to what's being offered.
A lot of times it's already in a package in writing, but it's the questions that follow it.
Okay, so yes—you’re gonna hook me up with these people and these are the expectations—but what does it look like?
What does that look like, really?

Is that top producer gonna have time to meet with me?
Is there gonna be a cost associated with this?
What are the timeframes in which we are gonna be meeting?
How much time?

You know, just asking those intellectual questions so that they'll understand what is being offered.
And—as a broker—I would say, when a new agent is going to interview a broker, most people just do that interview once.
I'm so confused by that—one interview?

Because most companies interview you at least twice, right?

[01:12:59] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:13:00] Dana Johnson: So I would say go back. You know, once you get your research done and you understand—you can compare—go back to the brokerage that you said,
“You know what? I think this is gonna be where I wanna land. But let me make sure. Let me ask those tough questions.”

Right. Ask some tough questions, whatever they may be.

[01:13:40] Tracy Hayes: Ask an agent in the last two years who’s been brand new, that has gone through these interviews—ask them how many actually interviewed or really sat down—not just in a passing way—but really sat down, had a cup of coffee, lunch, or whatever, with an agent from that brokerage.

[01:13:55] Tracy Hayes (cont.): And actually asked those detailed questions.
'Cause the broker—you know—there’s a lot of people say in interviews you get two people lying to each other.

[01:13:57] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[01:13:58] Tracy Hayes: I won’t necessarily say they’re lying to each other, but there might be some things they’re not telling you.
Or I think there's a lot of generalized terms—whether it's in real estate or whatever.
“Oh yeah, we got this fancy tech stack.” Okay, well great—show me how I would actually use it, and then I’ll tell you if it’s simple or not.

[01:14:09] Dana Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[01:14:10] Tracy Hayes: And I think that’s again—you really gotta put it in action.
I think interviewing the real estate agents there—are a couple of them actually using the tools at the brokerage to be successful?

[01:14:19] Dana Johnson: Yeah.
A lot of times the agents do that before they even make their way to the brokers.
I hope so. You've already talked to the agents in the field and said, “Hey, who are you? You're successful. Who are you under? What are you experiencing?”

[01:14:28] Tracy Hayes: Right?

[01:14:29] Dana Johnson: Yeah. So a lot of times that's done up front. They're having those conversations with other agents up front.

[01:14:33] Tracy Hayes: Well, you did—you did ask was I recruiting.
There is a difference between recruiting and hiring.

[01:14:39] Dana Johnson: I am recruiting. I'm not hiring. It's a difference.

[01:14:45] Tracy Hayes: You’re looking for someone that’s got a little, uh, uh—miles on it. Experience.

[01:14:49] Dana Johnson: Well, we have specific—what I call—agent personas.
And if we’re top heavy with listing agents, and we don’t have enough buyers agents…
If we’re top heavy with first-time homebuyers, and we don’t have enough luxury representation, and so on and so forth—
So I’m looking for specific niches and specific skill sets. So I’m recruiting.

[01:15:08] Tracy Hayes: You're selectively hiring. I understand that.
No, that—I mean—I think, you know, a large brokerage—we can name the big box brokerages—they can bring in a bad apple. Not a big deal, ’cause they got so many.

[01:15:20] Tracy Hayes (cont.): When you're six or seven agents, you don't want someone to come in—it changes.
It can change your dynamics.

[01:15:25] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.

[01:15:26] Tracy Hayes: You know? And then how are you—how do you, you know, pour into them?
Or maybe you have an overflow of leads that are coming to you in a certain area—maybe it’s first-time homebuyers—because they need, well, they may or may not need a little bit more handholding.

So you need someone who actually can do that, ’cause you don’t have the time, ’cause you’re the leader and you've got all these people to be involved in.

[01:15:50] Tracy Hayes (cont.): I think every small boutique brokerage should be very selective on who they bring in—especially one, now you have 10 years.

[01:15:56] Dana Johnson: Yes.

[01:15:57] Tracy Hayes: You know—so it’s not like you just started last year.

[01:15:59] Dana Johnson: That’s right.

[01:16:00] Tracy Hayes: This has been going on.
Anything you’d like to add?

[01:16:03] Dana Johnson: I would like to add that I appreciate the opportunity to be on this platform and to talk about the industry in which I love.

[01:16:07] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:13:13] Tracy Hayes: I would bet if we took a survey of every real estate...

[01:16:08] Dana Johnson: …and be able to bring value to not just people in the community, but to the agents.
I would like to say to any agent that is new or anyone who's looking to get into the industry: definitely, if this is your passion—if helping people is something that you love to do by way of closing that wealth gap for them and just introducing them to their next home—try it.

But before you try it, make sure you do research.
Make sure you are passionate about it.
And make sure that you have a good plan in place to get educated.
Make sure that if you want to plug in—always reach out.
You can reach out to myself or utilize your resources with NEFAR or any other association that is reputable.

[01:16:50] Dana Johnson (cont.): And you and your team—I’ve done a deal or two with them.
Plug into the people who are doing it the right way.
And not just for real estate professionals, but for our industry—people coming in—our customers, our clients as well.
Because it’s a lot of scams going on.
It’s a lot of wolves in sheep’s clothing out there.
So you want to make sure that you’re linking up with the right people, and that they have the right resources and the right heart.

[01:17:24] Tracy Hayes: You know, a thought that I’ve had for a long time, actually—where I think NEFAR could come in...

We have a bunch of real estate schools locally that are training people up to pass the test and even doing post-licensing, continuing ed—’cause obviously you can get that at NEFAR as well.

But to really collaborate—’cause I think a lot of those schools are actually, you know, those people are involved at NEFAR at some level anyway because they’re just passionate about the business, and they like sharing and teaching what needs to be done.

[01:18:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.): But where NEFAR, on a monthly or bi-monthly basis, should be saying “Hey” to these schools—where people are already committed so they don’t feel someone’s stealing their student—to bring those new agents in.

Because a lot of them haven’t actually chosen a brokerage yet.

And actually just give a forum where you have four or five—some top agents, some top brokers—who are not there to sell. They’re not wearing their jersey.
They're just there to answer the questions.

’Cause I really feel one of the biggest things why 80% of the agents never—you know—don’t renew in their first year... and we don’t know whether they lost it in the first month or if they went a year and just didn’t renew...

[01:18:56] Tracy Hayes (cont.): …that if we actually had these open forums, where they can ask any questions without feeling like they’re being sold to—you know—or lied to... we have that.

[01:18:56] Dana Johnson: NEFAR has an open house every month. It’s new.

[01:19:00] Tracy Hayes: Oh?

[01:19:00] Dana Johnson: And now it is.

[01:19:02] Tracy Hayes: Maybe they’ve been listening to my show.

[01:19:03] Dana Johnson: Yeah, maybe.
Well, it is not where brokerages go in and tell new agents about, “Okay, these are the offerings.”
It’s for people who want to be in the industry or are new to the industry.

[01:19:16] Tracy Hayes: I was thinking more of a, like, “Tell me about the business. What is it like to be a real estate agent?”
“What are my other fees?”

[01:19:22] Dana Johnson: Yes.
We have an open house where they can learn about the association.
And there are industry professionals there that are ready to answer questions—not recruit—because you can’t recruit at that.

[01:19:22] Dana Johnson: Yes.
Yeah. We have an open house where they can learn about the association, and there are industry professionals there that are ready to answer questions—not recruit, because you can't recruit at that.

[01:19:33] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:19:33] Dana Johnson: But we do have industry professionals that have been in the industry for years—vetted professionals at these posts and ready...

[01:19:43] Tracy Hayes: …to answer questions and able...

[01:19:44] Dana Johnson: …and capable to answer, yeah, any questions that new agents or prospective—well, yeah—new agents have.
So it's an open house that's done every month.
And it is on the calendar at NEFAR.

[01:19:56] Tracy Hayes: Need to put that out there more often.
Yes, I—it needs to be promoted.
I think it needs to be promoted. And I would encourage everyone who's at these little schools—
’Cause I’ve helped Amanda Houser at her school, and it’s—a lot of times she’s only got half a dozen people in there.
There’s no reason why they can’t make an evening and come down.
Or is this done online, or actually at NEFAR?

[01:20:13] Dana Johnson: It’s in person.

[01:20:14] Tracy Hayes: Well, which is better because they get to be introduced—say, “Here, this is where NEFAR is at, and this is what we do here.”
And NEFAR gets to pitch what—absolutely—you know, what they're doing.
’Cause the local association is so vital.
Because we’re providing the education—amongst many other things.

[01:20:29] Dana Johnson: Absolutely.
And every committee is represented.
All of the offerings, all the task forces are represented.
So that as they’re going through that open house, they’re learning about the resources that are available to them.
And they can say, “Hey, you are, you know, such and such—you’ve been in the industry for such-and-so—this is what I’m experiencing,” and get that camaraderie—

[01:20:50] Dana Johnson (cont.): —and get that insight and that information that they need.

[01:20:56] Tracy Hayes: They vitally need.
Yes. I appreciate you coming on today.
Thank you so much.

[01:21:00] Dana Johnson: Thank you.

[01:21:00] Tracy Hayes: It was a great show. Jam-packed.
Hopefully listeners get something out of it, and—you know—learning more about you and the things that you're passionate about and involved in.
So thank you, Dana.

[01:21:09] Dana Johnson: Thank you.