Sharon Mills: Set Yourself Apart Top Jacksonville Agent

REE #273 Transcript

[00:00:00] Sharon Mills: If you stay dedicated and if you work your business, you know—and I say this to younger agents, and even for those of us that get older and we burn out—you have to have a passion for what you do. And you have to keep reinventing yourself. And this is one business where if there's not flexibility, you're not gonna make it.

[00:00:45] Tracy Hayes: Hey, welcome back to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast. Today's guest is the powerhouse of Northeast Florida's real estate market, and a woman whose career spans five states, multiple industries, and a commitment to excellence at every level. With over a decade at General Motors Acceptance Corporation, [00:01:00] she rose through the ranks and ultimately landed at GM headquarters in Detroit. From there, she launched Panache Interiors across three different states, combining business acumen with an eye for elegance. She's also a published author, writing a guide to help families navigate through the complex adoption process—a book that earned shelf space at Barnes and Noble. Now she's among the top 1% of agents in Northeast Florida, multi-year Pinnacle Award winner, Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist, and relocation expert. She's earned her place in the Million Dollar Guild and continues to dominate the luxury and executive housing space, all while staying rooted in service, professionalism, and giving back through her work with community hospice and other organizations. Her reputation for world-class client care, negotiation expertise, and relentless drive makes her a force in the Jacksonville market, and someone you'll want to watch if you're serious about [00:02:00] building a standout real estate business. Let's welcome to the show Sharon Mills.

[00:02:04] Sharon Mills: Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

[00:02:06] Tracy Hayes: Glad we finally got together.

Sharon Mills: Yes. Some rescheduling.

Tracy Hayes: A little rescheduling. Exactly. Office changes and everything else going on. But you've got a lot of—I mean, I think this is a really great episode for every agent that's out there because I think you touch on the corporate world. You were an entrepreneur before getting into real estate. And then obviously, almost 20 years—I mean, I started my mortgage career in September of '05. You started in April, according to your LinkedIn, of '06.

Sharon Mills: Oh six. Oh six. Okay, yes, yes, yes.

Tracy Hayes: Alright, so you're closing in quickly here on 20 years as well. So tell us a little about where you're from. What was young Sharon even envisioning as a career at 18, 19, 20 years old?

[00:02:50] Sharon Mills: Okay. I'm actually from Buffalo, New York, and moved to Jacksonville back in 2004, but spent most of my younger life in Buffalo, [00:03:00] New York. And actually, my first job was at 16. In my high school, they started a new program—a pilot program—where they picked two students from the entire high school. And at that time, Liberty Mutual came up with a concept of, "Why don't we hire people in high school, and then when they go into college, we'll pay for their college and keep them on as employees." And so I was very fortunate to be selected as one of those students—myself and a younger gentleman, Mark Zimmerman, whom I haven't talked to in years. And I keep saying, "I'm gonna look him up." But that was such a wonderful start to my career. When I had friends that were working at stores or restaurant chains and things like that, to go into the business world taught me very early what that world looked like and the possibilities.

[00:03:48] Tracy Hayes: Just rings, you know, with our current society now and so forth. And you talk about kids going to college and creating all this debt and not knowing what they want to do. Sixteen years old—what was Liberty [00:04:00] Mutual having you do?

[00:04:01] Sharon Mills: I was what they called a credit clerk. I went in to handle some of their credit problems or people who weren't paying insurance. They taught me to make phone calls and talk to people if they needed assistance in being delayed on their insurance payments, and filing and bookkeeping. Fortunately for me, I think the job was initially going to be filing and—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: —I guess they saw something in me that said, "You know what? We can give her more responsibility." And it's funny, my mother—when people have met her in life—my mother has said, "She's been an adult since she was five years old." Like, I've just been very forward-thinking and have always taken life very seriously. And I'm very happy and very fortunate that people saw that early on. So they gave me probably more responsibility than they had intended for a high school student.

[00:04:53] Tracy Hayes: I just think that's amazing. I think more companies should do that—to reach down and pick the best of the best. [00:05:00] Obviously my wife was part of that with Altel. When she graduated from Florida State, they were hiring the cream of the crop. And then they moved you all around the company because they eventually figured you would be an executive, and they wanted you to know what all—you know, the call center to retail, all these places—and to have that kind of experience. So how long did you end up staying there?

[00:05:20] Sharon Mills: I actually stayed there for about two and a half years. Mm-hmm. And it's funny—I’ve talked to friends about life, and again, I think when you show up, and you show up and give your best in whatever it is that you do—I actually stayed there for about two and a half years. And then my next job—I've actually never interviewed for a job. Like, I've never had to go out and interview. And this is where I think it's so important for people to understand: People are watching you, even when you don't realize they're watching you. And so, having had that job at Liberty Mutual—I was very involved in my church, and there was a lady there who ran a medical facility, and she just saw—I think [00:06:00] saw—my dedication and just heard some different things about me and actually came to me. And actually, I wanna say I was probably 19. She actually came to me and asked me, “Where was I working?” And we kind of talked about that, and she asked me what I was making. And when I told her, she asked me if I would like to come and work for her. And she says, “I need somebody in this account—somebody assisting in an accounting department position.” And so, you know, I said, “Well, you know, something to talk about certainly.” But when she more than matched the salary—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: —then I left, and I went there. Right. And this is a very funny story: So, I went to work for her, and I worked for her for about a year and a half. And again, being involved in my church—and this is really funny—there was a young man from my church who called me to my General Motors days. I started working for General Motors at about 20 and a half.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: So there was a young man that called me, and he said, "Sharon," he [00:07:00] said, "I hear that GMAC is hiring. You really should go interview with them." And I was like, "Oh, you know, thanks for letting me know," but truly I was happy where I was. I wasn't that person who just jumped ship, and I'll explain that when I talk about my real estate career—I'm very loyal. And so, he brought that to me, and I'll never forget—it was probably a Monday that he said that to me, and so by Thursday—I'm working for this friend of mine—so by Thursday I thought, “Oh my gosh, I know I'm gonna see him at church on Sunday, and when he asks me if I've ever called, I wanted to be able to say that I called and not lie to him about it.” So I literally waited till that Thursday, made that phone call to General Motors, and at the time I was told, "Oh, you know, we're at the end of our interviews. We've already made our selection." And before I got off the phone—and this is where I think, again, when you position yourself, you just never—be open to opportunity.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: And so right before I hung up the phone, and I'm thinking, “Okay, great. I can hang up the phone and I'll just be [00:08:00] able to tell him that I've followed through,” at the end of the conversation, the gentleman on the phone said, "Wait, can you get out here today? Are you able to come here today for the interview?" And I said, "Well, I'm not sure—"

Tracy Hayes: You're on the spot now.

Sharon Mills: I said, "I'll try." I'm on the spot, but I said, "I'll try." I went to my supervisor, who had also become a friend, and timing is everything. I went to her and said, "You know, I had not planned on leaving. This is what happened." Long story short, she confided in me that they were having some issues with the medical facility, and it looked like they were gonna be closing.

Tracy Hayes: Oh, that like, just—

Sharon Mills: Again—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah, things happen. The timing.

Sharon Mills: Yeah, just timing.

[00:08:39] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:08:39] Sharon Mills: And so she said, "Go ahead for the interview and just see what happens." Long story short, went for the interview, got the job, and then did almost 14 years with General Motors—with GMAC, yeah.

[00:08:52] Tracy Hayes: Sorry—if I go back on your timeline, your very young twenties, and you spent, you know, 14 [00:09:00] years—14 years—with General Motors. Tell us some of the things that you've taken from that experience in corporate America. Obviously, you eventually opened your own interior design business.

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: What were some of those things you've taken and obviously taken on to real estate as well? Because I imagine GMAC, they're, you know, sending you to trainings—

Sharon Mills: Yes.

Tracy Hayes: —or all these mentorship programs. If you're staying with them, they want you to—they understand you need to keep moving forward.

Sharon Mills: Right, right. Yeah, absolutely. And GMAC was a wonderful experience for me. And being from Buffalo, New York—I actually met my husband. I was married for 30 years—divorced—but I actually met my husband who also worked for MIC, the insurance side of GM. And back then, you know, 30 years ago, GMAC—every GMAC office had an insurance office inside of it. And so, certainly taking that training—I would say what really, for me, I really feel like that was totally the foundation for the woman [00:10:00] I've become today in business. And I remember we did something back then—years ago—called the Strawberry Tapes. And you had to go through like six weeks of these Strawberry Tapes of training about customer service. And that is a job that I really—I can say it's really helped me in every area of my life.

[00:10:20] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Sharon Mills: Just the customer service piece of it, because it's not just customer service—it's people service. It's people service—knowing how to treat others, knowing how to anticipate the needs of others. You know, back then, "the customer is always right," when of course we know they're not always right.

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Sharon Mills: But it certainly teaches you diplomacy and how to handle certain—

[00:10:20] Sharon Mills: …situations. And so the reason my career was 14 years—and I ended up going somewhere else—my career was 14 years because my ex-husband and I were both on the same path. So I'm from Buffalo, New York—left Buffalo, New York—and we moved to GM, and I worked—we both worked at the GM building. And at that point, once we left the [00:11:00] GM building, you could not work for the same company if you were married. Back then, GM would not allow it. So I had a very great career while we were in Detroit at the corporate offices at one point. Then he was transferred as Vice President back to the East Coast, and that's when I had to leave because there was no job for me underneath him. He handled, I don't know, 15 or 20 offices. And, of course, I couldn't work under any of those.

Tracy Hayes: Right, right.

Sharon Mills: And that's when I decided to—okay, so now what's my next step? And that's how the interior design business came about.

[00:11:31] Tracy Hayes: What's interesting—you made me think of when I was in corporate America and telecommunications and the trainings—I always remember being like a store manager. You know, they sent you to trainings, like how to interview someone—

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: And obviously it sounds like the customer service part of it resonated with you. It's just like, “Hey, this makes total sense.”

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: Because I think if you don't totally get it, it never really sinks in. But if you're like, "Oh, wow," all of a sudden your mind opens, and then you just start taking that in. And I still remember today [00:12:00] some of the trainings on how to interview people, which has helped me in interviews—

Sharon Mills: Sure, sure.

Tracy Hayes: —because I've done the jujitsu on 'em in reverse, right? And how you can take that. So did you always have a fancy for interior design? Was that something you just—was it kind of a hobby?

[00:12:15] Sharon Mills: You know what? This—and again, when I said I've never interviewed—how life—I think when you're open to life and open to opportunities—and one thing I have to say is, first of all, my faith—very strong faith. And so I am just that person who believes anything is possible if you apply yourself. And certainly there's a higher being for me in all of that. Like, I cannot speak to who I am without saying that. But the other thing that I want to say is not just General Motors and other companies—I have always been a visionary. I've always been a visionary. I've always had plans. I've always had dreams. And I thank God that my parents, no matter how big that dream was—and we've talked about this over the years—and I've since lost them both, in [00:13:00] 2023 and 2024—but both my parents were just amazing parents. I think back in the time when kids were not dreaming as large as I would dream—I had a sister and brother and they were like, “Ah, oh, whatever."

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: My parents would always say—you know what? My mother—and again, we've had talks about this since I've gotten older—but my mother would always say, she said, "You know what? If you think you can, you can." That was always her favorite line. It didn't matter what I said to her: "Mom, you know, when I get older I'm gonna do X, Y, Z." And she goes, "You know what? If you think you can, you can." And I thank them to this day because I do see a lot of parents, and a lot of people—you don't realize how your words impact—

[00:13:44] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: —other people. And that's so crucial. And I think that's why the customer service piece of General Motors, and even the jobs before that—just believing that you show up as the best person that you can be, you know, on this earth. You show up as the best person that you can [00:14:00] be, and everything that you should have, I think will find you. You know? But you have to put yourself out there. And I'm a big proponent of "you reap what you sow."

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Sharon Mills: You know, and that's something again—maybe from my earlier church days—that's something that's always stuck with me. You reap what you sow. And I tell people, you can't plant corn and then reap peas. If you plant corn, you're gonna get corn.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. Right.

Sharon Mills: If you plant envy, you're gonna get envy. If you plant gratitude, you're gonna get gratitude.

[00:14:32] Tracy Hayes: A hundred percent.

[00:14:33] Sharon Mills: And for me, regardless of what—and I think anybody can attest to this that knows me—I am not that agent or that person. I'm always trying to push people ahead. I don't have to be the only one. It's impossible to be the only one.

Tracy Hayes: Right, right.

Sharon Mills: And so I do think with our business—and I try to show younger people—run your own race. There's good, healthy competition, but I don't ever compete: "Oh, you know, this person's number one [00:15:00] and I've gotta beat them out."

[00:15:01] Tracy Hayes: They're at a different chapter in their career.

Sharon Mills: Many times they're at a different chapter—but so many people—

Tracy Hayes: You spend your time.

Sharon Mills: Yeah. We spend our time trying to be like, "Oh, how did she get that? Or how did he get that?" To me, that has always been a waste of time.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: Right? I am my own competition. If I am number one at whatever I do, great for me. If I am not number one at whatever I do, it's not the other person's fault. It's what we put into it, whether you're running any type of race. So to be envious—and I think for me, that's the biggest thing.

[00:15:31] Tracy Hayes: I use the phrase, "Every dog has its day."

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: And you can get upset, you know—"Hey, this person just started in the business and they're killing it." Okay. But you know, you and I have been in the business long enough—we've seen a lot of flashes in the pan.

Sharon Mills: Sure, sure.

Tracy Hayes: And it's usually 'cause they're cutting some corner.

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: And then the corner comes back around—

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: —and nips them in the tail.

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm. Right.

Tracy Hayes: Or, you know, just in life—you could get upset that someone did something: "Oh, why is someone getting that, and I've done all this work?" [00:16:00] Trust me, sit back. Yours will come at the right time because I believe He has the right time for you.

Sharon Mills: Sure. Sure.

Tracy Hayes: To receive that.

[00:16:07] Sharon Mills: Absolutely. Yeah. And even with that, while you're waiting for your time to come, the energy spent on, "How did somebody else get it?"—that's taking energy from, "What could I be doing?"

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Sharon Mills: Yeah. And true to that point, when I started—first of all, I worked—I'm from Buffalo, New York—lived in Detroit, Michigan, headquarters in Rochester, New York, Carmel, Indiana, Medina, Ohio, and then on here to Jacksonville.

[00:16:30] Tracy Hayes: Okay. So you know how to shovel snow.

Sharon Mills: Yes, how to shovel.

[00:16:32] Sharon Mills: Snow. So I'm loving the sunshine. Yeah. But 2004, I moved to the state—2004. The first year, 2004, we were building a home with Arthur Rutenberg. So the first year, I didn't know anybody. I was so busy. I was a project manager on the job because we couldn't keep contractors there.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: So I would literally go there every day and just sit there. So I would probably say the first year, I didn't meet a lot of people. And so [00:17:00] 2006, you know, started getting out there. But 2006 is when I actually got into the business.

[00:17:04] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: And at the time—I wanna say I got licensed in January of 2006—but I didn't start the business until May or June because I was waiting for our daughter, who was in high school, for us to present her with a car.

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Sharon Mills: So she'd get herself to all of her functions. And by that time, the market had started—

[00:17:22] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:17:23] Sharon Mills: —crashing. And so most people would've stopped, and several people said, "Why would you get in now? Like, stop and wait for it to come back."

[00:17:30] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:17:31] Sharon Mills: I stayed the course. And so, you know, I worked for Watson Realty. I stayed the course. And Watson had—I don't know—a thousand, two thousand agents. I literally would show up to that office every single day. When I say—and we all know what 2006, 2007, 2008 was like—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: It was like a ghost town. Nothing was selling. I got out of my bed, and I went to that office every single day. And I sat there, and I thought, "I'm [00:18:00] in real estate," and I'm reading all our Florida Realtor magazines and doing various things like that, just to apply—so that I would really understand the craft that I was now going into. And I just used my time wisely.

[00:18:13] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:18:14] Sharon Mills: For something like that. And so by my fourth year, in a down market, I became—I was number nine in Watson throughout the whole region. And so that—you know, people say it's luck or whatever—it was really just dedication. And that's the thing: if you stay dedicated and if you work your business—you know, and I say this to younger agents, and even for those of us that get older and we burn out—you have to have a passion for what you do, and you have to keep reinventing yourself. And this is one business where if there's not flexibility, you're not gonna make it.

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Sharon Mills: Because we've seen how many different markets—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Sharon Mills: —since 2007, 2008? A hundred percent. So I think I bounce back pretty quickly, and I don't [00:19:00] take things hard. I put the goal in front of me, and sometimes you have to jump over some hurdles to complete that goal. But I think if you have a plan, and if you know how you're trying to get there, sometimes you have to deviate, and you take a different road than you thought you would take. But as long as you stay consistent, I just think you can do whatever you—whatever you want.

[00:19:17] Tracy Hayes: Well, I think—you know, that whole phrase is, "If you stay in line long enough, you'll eventually get to the front." That doesn't mean you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. You were going in and trying to move your real education, whatever—you were moving the needle one way or another. Whether you were getting more educated every day—or I would imagine, you know, you entered in a market that's already on a down—you didn't know what it was like in 2004, you know, values going up—

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: And people were just running around like crazy with real estate. You didn't know any better. I imagine you had to delve a little bit into the REO. You had to learn how to do some short sales.

Sharon Mills: Short sales. Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: You had to because that's an education itself.

Sharon Mills: Right. Right.

[00:20:00] Tracy Hayes: Working that—and those deals don't happen overnight.

Sharon Mills: No.

Tracy Hayes: Some of 'em—you could start off at a minimum of six months. Maybe never, never closes.

Sharon Mills: Right. Right. You know, absolutely. And that was what was going on. A lot of that was going on.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: But I remember thinking if I stayed the course and worked through that—and it's funny getting into the business—I remember thinking when I first got in, "Oh my gosh, if I got five deals at one time, would I be able to work? How could I handle that?" And I tell you, after going through the down market and the short sales and just learning everything—just having so many things thrown at you at one time—I just remember thinking, "Oh now, bring it on. Like, bring that customer on. Bring the hundred deals on, whatever."

[00:20:28] Sharon Mills: It just took the fear—it took the fear out of it. Yeah. And one thing I'd say, going back to giving credit—my General Motors days—I had one of the most difficult bosses that I've ever had, that I've ever worked with. And to this day, love this man. And I won't say his name—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: But [00:21:00] to this day, love him. But the challenges and the dotting all your I's and crossing all your T's—and, you know, he had executives working for him. He was a regional manager, and he had executives working for him who made ten times my salary. But when those reports were coming—I’ll never forget—he had 21 offices under him. And so they would send in these reports every month. And if one number was off—they were called our Branch Highlights, and they were probably ten pages long. And so, mind you, these executives making ten times more than me, like this work is so far above my level—that when I would give him the reports, he would say to me, “You didn't catch this. Why didn't you catch it?” Like, he could look at it. And so I learned to look at everything and look at everything very closely. And I remember being furious with him, just being furious and thinking, “You're not paying me enough—

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Sharon Mills: —to do this. And if they sent it in wrong, why are you upset with me?” But I can tell you that now, that was the absolute foundation because [00:22:00] I've had many of my customers say to me—a lot of my millionaire customers, and I have a couple billionaire customers—and one of the highest compliments—I had a billionaire customer say to me once, and he was a very difficult customer to work with, but he was a businessman, and I got—I just got him. But I'll never forget, at the closing table he looked at me, and what I mean, he pushed. He pushed, and sometimes to the point of being unfair for the other side. And so I would say, “I respectfully—I hear what you're saying, but I respectfully disagree.” And you know, you'd have to be—again, diplomacy is everything. But I remember at the closing table, he said to me, he said, “You know what, Sharon Mills,” he said, “you are all right with me.” He says, “And you're so all right with me that if I wasn't already me, I'd want to be you.” And his wife looked over, and she said, “You need to write this date and this time down,” she said, “because I've been married to [00:23:00] him for 30 years, and he has never, ever—he won't give a compliment even if it's due.” She said, “But to hear him say that…” And it's, again, that having that balance, but also going in knowing what you're talking about.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Sharon Mills: You know, and it's like people want to come into the market and they want to start at a hundred thousand or a million or—is it harder working with the two million? It doesn't matter what level—just know your craft.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: Like you have to know your craft. Once I was at a seminar and something that helped me, again, very early on—I was at a seminar and the gentleman said—and this is early on in my career, maybe in my second year—and the gentleman said, the speaker said, “If you wanna know the difference between the people that are making money and the people that aren't making money,” he said, “test your own self.” He said, “I want you to imagine for one week that you have your customer sitting in your backseat, sitting in your backseat with you all day for one week. And you tell [00:24:00] me if, when that customer got out of that car, if he thought you were a real estate agent or a grocery shopper or picking up your clothes from the laundry. What would you do differently if that person were in your backseat?”

Tracy Hayes: I'm trying to catch that.

[00:24:13] Sharon Mills: So the point he's making is—if you're a real estate agent, and if that's your profession, is that what you're working on all day?

Tracy Hayes: Ahh.

Sharon Mills: Because for most of us—you know what? We go see the customer, then we run to the grocery store. We go see a customer, and then we are picking up our laundry, right? And then, you know what, the sun is shining, so now we're gonna go to the beach. And so for me, even when the market was down, and I said I would go to the office every day, I remember having that conversation with myself and saying, “Wait a minute—if I worked for General Motors, would I have the option, because the market is down, not to go into that office?”

[00:24:49] Tracy Hayes: Right.

Sharon Mills: So I had to treat my business—although I love having flexibility—I had to treat my business as if it is a corporation.

[00:24:57] Tracy Hayes: I love—I love this. Alright, so let's take [00:25:00] this a little deeper because I think this is very important—

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: —for that, again, someone starting the business or someone maybe in the business three or four years maybe is just hanging on—is, like you just said, we see it on social media a lot, right? It's in the middle of Wednesday and they're out at the beach.

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: You know, maybe they're rewarding themselves, hopefully, because they just may have a closing. Maybe it's their little reward is to go to the beach.

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: I don't—you know, and we should do things like that—but that you need to come in and put your eight or nine hours of focused time just like you would be if you were going into General Motors.

Sharon Mills: Yes. [00:25:35] Absolutely. Absolutely. And I've spoken to younger agents, and the agents will—and my first question is when they call me to ask me a question or how'd you get in the business? And I said, “Well, why did you get in the business?” And they're like, “You know what? I just want my time to be my time. I like the idea of just being flexible.” And I said, “You know what?”

[00:25:53] Tracy Hayes: It's not the business for you. That's the wrong answer.

[00:25:56] Sharon Mills: That is the wrong answer. And that's why most [00:26:00] people don't succeed—because they assume that your time is your time. When you're working for yourself or a brokerage, we're still independent contractors, so basically, you're still building the business yourself. You have very little time if you're trying to get your business off the ground. You have very little time. And as far as taking the time off, very early on—and certainly now I structure it—but when I first got in the business, usually on Sunday, I would decide what was going to be my one day off. I'd kind of look at my book of business, what was happening, what was not happening back in that time. Mm-hmm. And I would say, “You know what? I think Wednesday this week I'm gonna take off. If I wanna go to the beach, wanna hang out, go to a movie or whatever.” But I would absolutely regulate myself. You know, it wasn't like, "Oh, today the sun is shining, so let me go off and do what I wanna do." And that's—if people would really look at how much time, how much actual time they spent on their business, they would know why it matches their level [00:27:00] of success.

[00:27:01] Tracy Hayes: Right. Right. You actually just reminded me—I just put on another reel from Carrie Carpenter. She was in corporate America. She was a project manager. Mm-hmm. She's only been in the business since 2000. But one of the things we talked about on the show is treating it like a business. She knew right away she needed to treat it like a business. So many self-employed people also have to—and obviously you were kind of leading into it—you're self-employed. You are on call 24/7 because if you ain’t killing, you ain’t eating.

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: Right? So you've got a customer calls at eight o'clock, you're taking that call.

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: There's certain things that need to be done. What are some of the things that you try to schedule, or—I imagine you're leading into you kind of regiment your day—that you're gonna accomplish these things? How do you do that?

[00:27:45] Sharon Mills: You know, when getting into the business—again, I looked at my business more as a corporate structure. And so my family—when I first got in the business, family and friends used to be very annoyed because [00:28:00] from—I get up in the morning at six o'clock. I probably don't stop till ten. Like—but that's not all business. I'll tell you, I probably don't stop till ten. But the one thing that I did is, again, I remember most corporations—even companies now—they do not allow you on the phone all day just chitchatting. And so what was very hard for my friends and family to understand when I first got in the business—I let, including my mother, father, everybody—from eight to five—you know, “Why we called you and you didn't answer the phone?” And I said, "From eight to five, I am not answering the phone." Like, you know, all my family's in Buffalo or out of town.

[00:28:39] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:28:39] Sharon Mills: If you call me back three times, if you send—there's a 911—and a 911 means somebody's in the hospital, and it's not something I can deal with after five. Right? But I remember people getting upset, but I really had to stay the course because if you take that call at twelve o'clock from this friend you haven't talked to—that's an hour that I could be talking to my customers, or that's an hour that I can get something [00:29:00] else done so I can finish up my day. So when I first started, my days ran long. I mean, I would be working from six o'clock to midnight. However, being in the business twenty years, again, I have reset and readjusted because now that I've been in the business twenty years, I had to come to a place where you have to have work-life balance. So for me, if I give it my all from eight—whether I'm making phone calls to customers, visiting customers, doing a photo—meeting a photographer at a home, going on a listing appointment, taking a seller out—my day is pretty much structured to be doing that probably up until six o'clock. After seven o'clock—and I would answer the phone at seven o'clock, ten o'clock, whatever—I finally had to learn some work-life balance because I can't call my cardiac surgeon or my doctor at ten o'clock at night just for a chit-chat—"Yeah, I think I'm feeling something." You know, call and make an appointment for tomorrow. So I had to also look at it as a business and help my customers understand: [00:30:00] I am here for you all day. At ten o'clock, eight o'clock, and usually seven o'clock—unless I'm negotiating—seven o'clock is pretty much my cutoff. And even my phone message says, "Your call will be returned today or within twenty-four hours."

[00:30:14] Tracy Hayes: You use the term "work-life balance," which I think a lot of people can get confused with that.

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: Because you and I know—and I think, and I truly believe there's some experts who have actually come out and said, "There's no such thing."

Sharon Mills: Right. Right.

Tracy Hayes: But really what you're doing is you're setting boundaries—

Sharon Mills: Some boundaries.

Tracy Hayes: Some boundaries—some, "Hey, this is how we're going to do business."

Sharon Mills: Right, right.

Tracy Hayes: And unless it's a 911, after seven o'clock, I'm not answering the phone.

Sharon Mills: After seven o'clock—after seven o'clock, yeah.

[00:30:37] Sharon Mills: And absolutely, because I have a family. And so, you know, when I'm on till ten o'clock with customers answering questions that I cannot do anything about until the next day, then it's taking from their time. So certainly, you and I both know, there's certainly not a 50-50 work-life balance. I'm sure I'm 70-30, but I had to throw that 30 in there. Otherwise, you're not gonna have a family. [00:31:00] So when I say that, that's what I'm referring to.

Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: And so usually after seven o'clock, like I say, if I'm not in negotiations, I will return the call the following day.

[00:31:09] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:31:10] Sharon Mills: Because—and most of my customers, they're business people. They understand that. So I think that is something, and I wanna say, even though I've been in twenty years, probably at the five-year point I really restructured—and my customers—

[00:31:26] Tracy Hayes: Well, how do you express that to your customers? How do you get them to understand that this is how we're gonna do business?

[00:31:34] Sharon Mills: You know what? I literally tell them. Like, "You know what,"—and this is something else I do—even when I have listed homes for friends—and this is funny, and I didn't even realize this was happening, but over the years, like when I go to a customer's house and we have a listing appointment, typically we're at the dining room table, the kitchen table, or something. I have had friends whose homes I've slept at, we've taken [00:32:00] trips together—when we talk about business and I'm coming to list their home, automatically we go to the dining room table. I'm not on the sofa in the family room where we hang out. Business is business, and most people understand that.

[00:32:13] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:32:14] Sharon Mills: And so I think when I go in and I present myself as a business professional—

[00:32:19] Tracy Hayes: It's game time now.

Sharon Mills: It is game time.

Tracy Hayes: It's game time, yeah.

Sharon Mills: But back probably two years into the business, the Times-Union had done an article—you know, where they would ask real estate agents to do an article. And I remember doing an article shortly after I got into the business, and the article, I called it, "Try on a Realtor for Life." And that whole article, for me, was about how important your real estate is—one of your largest investments.

[00:32:46] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:32:47] Sharon Mills: But just like people should have a financial planner, your cardiologist, your doctor, your dentist, or whatever, you should have a real estate professional that you're building a relationship with. And that's kind of how I saw it from the structure [00:33:00] of how I wanted my business structured. And I can tell you that's exactly how it's played out. I've got customers that I've sold their homes, I've sold their parents' homes, I've sold their children's homes. And that article literally resonated with so many people, because somebody said, "Like, I never thought of it like that." And I remember in particular two things that happened: somebody from Las Vegas called and said—I don't even know how the article got in Las Vegas from the Times-Union—but said, "Oh my God, I read your article," and had some comments on that. And then there was a gentleman out of Atlanta, and at the time he had the largest brokerage—and I can't recall his name 'cause it's been a while—he had the largest brokerage in Georgia. And he said, "I just had to call to compliment you on that article. I have been in this business," and he said, "I'm the largest—" whatever. He told me the name of the company, and I did verify that.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: And I think he had something like twenty brokerages under him. And he said, "I have been for years trying to convey what you put in one [00:34:00] article."

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

Sharon Mills: And he called to ask my permission to be able to run it in their newspaper—giving me credit, but to run it—and he said, "We use this article in all of our training sessions now, because that's how you should think of it." So I think when you go in thinking of your business as a business, that's what you present to the customer. It's not like, "Oh, can I sell your house?" And I think having that confidence and being clear about what it is you're doing—because there are people—we've talked about compensation and things like that—and if you don't know your value, then certainly people try to talk you down.

[00:34:35] Tracy Hayes: I've often—you know, I've brought it up on the show many times—is I think a lot of agents, especially when they first get in, they're only looking maybe sixty, ninety days in advance. But being the lifetime realtor—just, you know, whether you go to the dentist or a doctor, you're getting text messages from them.

[00:34:35] Tracy Hayes: —It's time for your appointment.

[00:35:00] Sharon Mills: Yes.

Tracy Hayes: Or you know, "Hey, this is what's going—" you're automatically in their CRM.

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: You're gonna get them even after you don't go with them for years. I still—I got a dentist that still sends me, "Hey, it's your birthday."

Sharon Mills: Neat.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah. I get a text message, you know, because I'm still in their database.

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: And obviously, maybe I'll go back to them one day, right? Because maybe I'll run out of dentists. It's kind of my thing—the dentists today, they all want to upsell you. You start upselling me, I'm gone.

Sharon Mills: Then you're gone. Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: I'm gone. Yeah. But to have that mindset—when did it click for you that—as I always say, that client that's in front of you, that buyer or seller in front of you, is your walking billboard.

Sharon Mills: Absolutely.

Tracy Hayes: If you're spending any money on marketing or any effort on marketing, it should be on that person that's in front of you. Because when they have a great transaction with you, hopefully they're gonna be your walking billboard.

Sharon Mills: Absolutely.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:35:44] Sharon Mills: Absolutely. And that's why it is so important to know your customer, to know your client, and to know that it's not cookie-cutter. And that's the one big mistake that I think we make in real estate [00:36:00] is, you know, you send everybody forty postcards, and every week you send out a postcard, and you're calling their phone every day. Having worked for executives at General Motors and having been in a great position myself, they don't have time for that.

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Sharon Mills: So you really—I think to be in this business, which is a people business, there has to be some—yes, certainly we do it by the book, and everybody sends out postcards and reaches out to a customer. But that executive, if you call him four times a month, there's gonna be an issue. You know, there's gonna be an issue.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: So I think we have to know our customer. We have to be a good listener. Understand and ask upfront, have those conversations upfront: "What is it you expect from me? What is the best way to contact you? Would you prefer a text? Would you prefer that I email?" And especially now, when we go in these markets that are just cyclical and up and down and all around, with some of our customers, like [00:37:00] I will say, "Do you want me—especially if there's nothing going on—do you want that update every Monday? Would you like me to reach out to you every Monday?" Many will say, "Sharon, I don't want you to reach out to me unless there's something going on," you know, like a feedback—especially if they know the market. So kind of listen to what people are telling you.

[00:37:20] Tracy Hayes: And then you're kind of telling them that you wanna stay—I say, "I'm going to stay in touch with you."

Sharon Mills: I'm gonna stay in touch.

Tracy Hayes: You know what? Every Monday, Wednesday, I can send you this—

Sharon Mills: Someone will say, "I don't want that." I literally have those conversations upfront. When a person gets me as their agent, they clearly know what they're getting. They know what they're getting. They know what I'm going to do for them. They know I'm gonna do the absolute best that I can. But most people tell me they are so like, "Wow, you really listen, you really listen." And I'll take notes on my customers. I listen and know if that person says, "Don't contact me unless something—" And certainly if something changes, certainly if it [00:38:00] goes thirty days and something's not going on because we're in a difficult market, I'm gonna reach out and say, "Hey, just want you to know, still working on things, but I'm not looking for a response back." Just letting them know: just because you said you don't want the feedback, I'm still here for you. "If you have any questions, anything comes up, I'm here for you." And I think that's so important.

[00:38:18] Tracy Hayes: So I'm thinking of an agent who might be listening right now. They might be saying, "Well, you know, Sharon's been in the business twenty years. She had all this corporate experience at GMAC, working with these high-level people. I've been a stay-at-home mom for the last ten years. I can't—" It becomes natural to you because when you're expressing these things, half of these are things that you have compiled over the years, right?

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: And then you're spilling them out here in 2025 to us, and everyone's thinking like you were doing it from day one. This is stuff that you've learned and just kept adding and tweaking and all these things to your—you know, how you did your follow-up. I think one of the things that you've said, and I want to kind of drill down on how you would train [00:39:00] a fairly new agent or someone who maybe just doesn't have that corporate structural experience that you've had—when you come into that buyer consultation, when you're in that listing chat, your presence—you've gathered that presence and that confidence over time.

[00:39:34] Tracy Hayes: You might’ve been fairly confident on day one, but like you said, you were spending a lot of time learning, so you had that confidence.

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: So, in today’s market, fortunately, I don't think we're going to have a collapse like seven and eight, where it’s crickets—things are still moving, and I think we're damming up. I think we get a rate drop where we can say 5.875, 30-year fixed, there’s gonna be a frenzy—

Sharon Mills: Exactly, exactly.

Tracy Hayes: —and you're gonna be running. But if you were mentoring a younger agent, how would you share with them all this 20-plus—well, really 30 years of experience—because you had 14 with General Motors—and kind of help them get on that path? How would they come in day one, if you were tutoring them?

[00:40:01] Sharon Mills: Okay.

[00:40:02] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Sharon Mills: One thing I'd say is education and preparing yourself. Right? There are books out there about everything. So again, although I transferred my corporate experience over to real estate, I didn't know anything about real estate. So I had to sit there and read real estate—even if they start with their Florida Realtor Magazine, just reading something like that and hearing—because a lot of times they’ll have things that went wrong, things that went right, how some other agent is doing something. There are very few things that are new under the sun, as they say.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. Right.

Sharon Mills: And so there are so many books out there for people to learn. And the one—I was thinking as you were talking—what is the one that everybody's doing...it's on the tip of my tongue.

Tracy Hayes: It'll come to you.

Sharon Mills: It'll come to me, yeah.

Tracy Hayes: It'll come to you.

[00:40:48] Sharon Mills: But I go back to some of the first books that I read even when I started real estate.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: You know, I go back to some of the first—like, as the market changes and when things slow down, I am constantly pouring myself [00:41:00] into education, and not just real estate education—it’s just life in general. I'm just one of these people that believe every day you should learn something new. Every day you should learn something new.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Sharon Mills: So even for me—even when you're new—if you have studied your craft, and if you have put the time in, and you train yourself to speak—it's like we've all gone through college courses. You know, when we went to first grade, we didn't know anything. But by the time you listened, you knew enough to get you onto second grade. So you've gotta be doing something while you're waiting for something to happen. If you don't put it in, you can't pull it back out. You know, some of it comes innately for some of us. Some of us are just people-people. I have agents that say, “I don't even like people, but I'm in this business.” And it's like—but they're still doing well. But it's like, what you put in, you get back out. So I think the mistake that most of us make is that we sit there and just think it’s just gonna [00:42:00] come either innately or it's just gonna fall out of the sky. If you are reading something and you can take one thing from what you've learned and apply it—so many different things apply to various areas of life. It's not just real estate, you know? And so that's what I would say to them, is like reading that Florida magazine. And one thing—I do sell a lot of million, two million, three million, four-million-dollar properties, and agents say, “I wanna be that person.” And I say, "But when I got in the business—I still have, like I've got a $200,000 listing right now, $300,000. It's not the money, because that is that $200,000 to that person." But I tell people, again, take the time to prepare yourself, and if you wanna be a million-dollar agent, go and know what's in a million-dollar house. Right? I remember transferring to Ohio, and we were supposed to work with a real estate agent. At the time, I wasn't in real estate. We were supposed to work with a real estate agent, and we were buying a substantial house. [00:43:00] And I remember, we had to change our weekends—we had this guy who was wonderful, but we had to change our weekends. He was already tied up with somebody else, so he sent us a realtor who was working with him. And as we're walking through this house, and we're looking—nice as she could be, wonderful person.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: But as we're walking through, she goes, "Five bathrooms! Who needs five bathrooms?" This is her commentary. "Who needs five bathrooms?" There was a food warmer in the house—she didn't know what the food warmer was. She didn't know what the central vac was. And it's—for me, I'm a very nice person, and my ex-husband was as well, and I'm gonna tell you something—she would have been fired.

[00:43:49] Tracy Hayes: …that you make on a house at that price point and you don’t know—and she didn’t even realize what she was saying.

[00:43:52] Sharon Mills: Yeah. The sellers…

[00:43:52] Tracy Hayes: …were recording, that they would’ve—yeah. But not only the sellers recording.

[00:43:56] Sharon Mills: I’m a buyer, and I’m thinking, you’re getting ready to make commission off of me, and you don’t even know what I’m buying.

[00:44:00] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:44:00] Sharon Mills: I’m the one buying the five bedrooms—I’m buying this house. And you’re saying “Who needs five bedrooms?” That would’ve been like a done deal. Right? But what I did was I talked to the agent that she worked for—because she was a lovely young lady.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: And I said, “You know what, her personality—she’s an amazing person. But before sending her out, you need to teach her what’s in that type of home.” And that is something I share with other agents. Because I said, I don’t want to say, “Oh, I can sell million-dollar homes because I live in a million-dollar market.” That’s great. Certainly, you’ll have connections there. But if you don’t know what’s in it… I said, go to a kitchen store. Go to a high-end builder. Learn what is there.

There are a few people—a lot of people know me—but even back then…

[00:44:52] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:44:52] Sharon Mills: …there were very few people who said, “Well, where do you live? What size house do you live in?” Now I can relate. But they knew that when I walked in, I was familiar with—and I could recognize—

[00:45:00] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:45:00] Sharon Mills: —what it was I was trying to sell for them, or what I was either trying to sell to them.

[00:45:00] Tracy Hayes: You… a comment was made this weekend. It’s not a comment to me—we were with family and we were… I forget what exactly. Oh, I knew exactly what we were discussing. But the phrase—and it’s been used before—“Content is king.” If you’ve got content… we talk about social media. Everyone’s immediately listening. Right now, when I said content, you immediately think of social media.

[00:45:20] Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

[00:45:21] Tracy Hayes: This podcast creates a tremendous amount of content.

[00:45:23] Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

[00:45:24] Tracy Hayes: But what you're saying in relation to being that… at the highest level—I call it “verbal ammunition.” There’s different times in my life I’ve jumped into personal development books than others—

[00:45:34] Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

[00:45:35] Tracy Hayes: —and I just felt like I could have better conversations with people because your brain… you’re feeding your brain—

[00:45:39] Sharon Mills: Yes.

[00:45:39] Tracy Hayes: —a bunch of content.

[00:45:40] Sharon Mills: Yes.

[00:45:40] Tracy Hayes: Good content. 'Cause a lot of personal development books, it’s just positive-type stuff. But if you’re not listening to someone—whether it’s a personal development maybe by John Maxwell or someone like that—or something real estate that’s educating you on… you know, maybe you’re listening to BiggerPockets…

[00:46:00] Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: …or this podcast, hopefully—you’re not bringing in that content into your brain, you’re not preparing yourself, is I think what you’re saying.

[00:46:09] Sharon Mills: Yes. Yes. You’ve gotta feed your brain the content.

Tracy Hayes: Yes.

[00:46:11] Sharon Mills: And you have to feed your brain the content on all levels. Again, like you said, to be socially relevant. Just relevant—just period, right? To be able to hold a conversation in a group… and, you know, we did a lot of entertaining when we worked for General Motors. And so, you’ve got all different people from all different walks of life.

So if you can’t contribute anything to a conversation—and most of what people… certainly, getting the education for real estate, but also just that personal growth, period—

[00:46:36] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:46:36] Sharon Mills: Because most of my customers, once we’re done with the listing and the sale, signing the sales agreement… we relate on so many other levels. And that is what people, I think, respect. That’s what makes it personal. That’s what sets me apart from other people. It’s like, when you know a little something about everything—and that’s not your intent—but they see the growth.

They see the growth. They see that you can carry a conversation, which tells them that you can probably relate to other agents who you are working with. You can relate to other customers who you’re working with. But you’re not just limited to “Let’s talk about this house.” Right?

“Where are you from?” I mean, like—“Oh, I lived in Buffalo.” There are just so many different things to be added. But I think—it’s like, you know, and this is an extreme, but—I was one of the few people who, back again 20 years ago, because people just always said “real estate agent,” I always—whenever I would write—I would say “real estate professional.”

[00:47:29] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:47:29] Sharon Mills: Real estate professional. Now, everybody says “the real estate profession.”

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: But that’s what we are—it is a profession. And I think for people to see that, and really believe that about yourself—it’s bigger than just selling a house.

[00:47:41] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:47:42] Sharon Mills: It’s bigger than just selling a house. And I think, again, like I said, I think that’s what most customers appreciate—is that they’re getting somebody that’s well-rounded and aware.

Tracy Hayes: You said…

[00:47:57] Tracy Hayes: You said something earlier. You were talking
[00:48:00] about, you know, comparing yourself to others and you should just, you know, compete with yourself. And, uh, obviously we think of, you know, golf is big around here. That's a sport where you really are competing with yourself. Every, you know—hey, can I cut a few strokes off from the last time I played? I'm gonna go practice and then I'm gonna go out. Can I cut a few strokes off? You're just really competing against

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: Yourself, otherwise you will go insane.

Sharon Mills: Right, right, right, right.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah. And from what I'm getting from what you're saying here is really the only person that's holding you back is really yourself. And if you aren't feeding yourself with, you know, the proper content, doing those things that you need to be doing—you go in the office, you're working on your marketing—don't be worried about what someone else is doing.

Maybe they—who knows—maybe they pay a videographer to do really great videos.

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: You don't have the money for that right now.

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: So you just need to work on what you're working on—what you can work on now. Can they listen to this
[00:49:00] podcast and listen to what you're saying and get from top agents like you some little things that they're doing that they can implement in their business?

Sharon Mills: 110%.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: Then that's what they need to be—you know, “Hey, how do I need to follow up?”

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: You might not have a customer yet.

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: “How do I need to follow up?”

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: “I'm gonna build that into my repertoire.”

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: But I think some of the great agents that have been on—a lot of, like you said—you set that schedule, you know, from—I think you said earlier something like from six to ten—don't get your—

Sharon Mills: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: —yeah, and it's lasered in on whatever you need to do, right?

Sharon Mills: Yeah. It's usually—it's six to five now. It used to be six to ten, but it's six to five or six to six.

Tracy Hayes: I think you meant 10:00 AM.

Sharon Mills: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: I thought like every morning you're six and then regiment together.

[00:49:36] Sharon Mills: Yeah. You know what? I get up at six in the morning, and so I have my regimen—I have devotion—and then get my grandchildren off to school. But usually by eight o'clock, I'm already working on the business.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Mills: By eight o'clock I'm working on the business, and I'll usually know either from five to six, but my workday typically ends at six o'clock. Now, if I have a customer that I need to go to at eight—but the norm is usually six—I don't cut off at six o'clock and say, “Hey, I can't show you a property.”

Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:50:00] Sharon Mills: But I make sure that I am working on something real estate-related from between those working hours. And when a customer calls at five o'clock, I'm not annoyed because they called—because I'm in the middle of dinner. That’s what I expect. The call. Now, after six, if I wanna start dinner and do things like that…

But I hold myself accountable. I hold myself accountable. And that's the thing—you know, again, like I said, some of it comes natural. But if people think—if people would really think about… I love the movie The Secret, and I've told several people just sit down and watch it. You know, you get what you think about.

But most of us, if an agent has not been successful—and again, it's not to say everybody’s gonna be at the same level—but if there's not some level of
[00:51:00] success, and if you say, “I want to be the million-dollar agent,” or the “500,000” or the “200,000,” if all you're saying is that's who I want to be—ask: so what am I doing to get there? What steps am I taking?

And most could not give you a plan.

Tracy Hayes: They don't have a plan. Well, I want—I want to ask you this detail. 'Cause I think everyone knows, okay, a customer calls and they want to go see a house. You block off that time. You go, whatever time you're gonna go see the house.

You got a listing appointment. You set an appointment. You're doing something—driving. You have to prep before you go over there.

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: Hopefully.

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. You're doing your thing. But there's all that other—probably 90% of the other time—is this gray area of… and that's still working between eight and five.

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: But you're not, you know, on a direct mission. Like, “Hey, I got a listing appointment. Okay, I'm preparing for it. I'm gonna drive there, I'm gonna get there, do the listing appointment, come back.”

You know, obviously, whatever follow-up—or, you know, maybe—hopefully you got the listing appointment.

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: You start, you know, writing up the contract or whatever—that type of thing. Those are things that need to be done. That's fairly simple for most people.

It's that gray area when you wake up at six o'clock in the morning—

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: —you get the kids off to school and now it's eight o'clock, and it's like, “Okay, what do I do?”

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: “Well, I have a showing at five o'clock.”

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: “Okay. I've already done the research, you know, on this home. I know it's in this community and the fees are this, that…” You know, 30 minutes, boom.

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: What are you doing for the other part? And I think that's where a lot of agents fall out.

[00:52:17] Sharon Mills: Right? Oh, so one thing I'll say for the newer agents, 'cause I think it's different for the newer agents—what they'd be doing versus what the more
[00:52:24] Tracy Hayes: Experienced—
Veteran agents would be doing.
Yeah. Yeah.

[00:52:26] Sharon Mills: So one thing that I think is missing—when I got in the business, I spent—so, 'cause mind you, I'm in a new state. Moved here in 2004, got in the business in 2006. I can't even tell you—I visited every new construction community. I literally—because I did not know Jacksonville.

[00:52:47] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:52:48] Sharon Mills: I would get in my car and I would go just drive the various areas. And we used to have caravan to help with that, 'cause you know, you used to do—every Tuesday they were caravans.

[00:52:57] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:52:58] Sharon Mills: Even though there are no caravans now—
[00:53:00] Still get in your car. Like for me, for me to figure out—because again, Florida’s pricing was very different from where I came from—I would literally go drive clear cross town.
I live close to the beach, but I would drive clear cross town. I do a lot of business in Queens Harbor, and everyone thinks I'm the Queen’s Harbor queen person. But—

And you know—and I’m thankful. But I tell people, I just closed St. Johns County, Nocatee, E-Town, eTown, everywhere. And that’s the smart thing to do—
Not put all your eggs in one basket. Like, because okay, if the market crashes and there’s nothing happening in that one location.

So again, I was just that person. And I don’t know if it came from transferring so many times, that I learned to learn my city, but I literally would go through communities. I would make showing appointments just so I knew what a $200,000—what was in a $200,000 house, what was in a $400,000 house.

[00:54:00] I was always applying myself. So rather you're learning—you're a new agent learning your MLS. You know, we had MLS classes that you had to go sit through.
So many people are not doing that now. They get their license and they’re just winging it.

You don’t know half of what the MLS can do. You don’t know how to do a radius search.
At one point I had two or three agents working with me, and those are the types of things—yes, you can ask me the question, but I didn’t have anybody to ask the question.

Those are the things I was sitting in the office learning how to do—learning how to do a radius search. I remember writing up contracts, you know, and our contracts are changing constantly. So everybody has this fear about when a contract comes—make yourself the customer. Write that contract and rewrite that contract

And—

[00:54:40] Tracy Hayes: Let me ask you this, 'cause you were mentioning, you know, the classes and the contract class.

Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: I’ve said numerous times—it’s been a while since I said—you should be going to numerous contract classes presented by numerous different people.

[00:54:53] Sharon Mills: Exactly.

[00:54:53] Tracy Hayes: Number one. But also, I would imagine you probably went physically
[00:55:00] to NEFAR or wherever these classes were going on—hearing the other questions, the other agents—

Sharon Mills: Yes.

Tracy Hayes: And actually interacting with other agents, talking a little shop—

Sharon Mills: Yep.

Tracy Hayes: To really—this whole thing that they want to do it online—

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: —at home…

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: I can’t stand—

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: —taking a class.

Sharon Mills: Right.

Tracy Hayes: We get distracted by everything in the—

Sharon Mills: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tracy Hayes: And some—

[00:55:18] Sharon Mills: And even the online—some of it's fine and convenient for now, but it’s so good sometimes to sit in the room with people, to hear the conversations that happen.

And another thing that I did frequently when the market wasn’t doing anything—and even when the market started coming back—I would go to seminars in Miami, California, Vegas.

I would look for different seminars to go to, because I like to be challenged. And so—for Jacksonville, our price point—we don’t have that $100 million property. Right?

[00:56:00] So I would actually put myself in a position—I wanted to go in the room and sit with those people in New York and sit with those people from California because, especially like after my fourth year…

[00:56:57] Sharon Mills: You know, I was six figures. I was doing very well, and people were like, "Oh my gosh, you did great in this short time." And I didn’t want to get used to that because who am I looking to? And there were a couple agents that I definitely look up to, you know? And Jan Shields being one. I love her. Like, I love her.

And I remember even with Jan Shields, I remember looking in when I started the business and understanding the numbers that she was doing and asking a question—I didn’t even know her—but I remember thinking, wow, to do those numbers, how many people does she have working with her? And at the time it was one, and I thought, she could do that with one per—because everybody wanted you to think there are teams of 10 people—

[00:57:33] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:57:34] Sharon Mills: —and 15 people. And that was not my vision. That was not what I wanted.

[00:57:38] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:57:39] Sharon Mills: And so I remember looking at that and thinking, you can have one person—like what? Wow. So one, like just looking at other people—and again, not from an envious standpoint—but if they’ve already reinvented the wheel or seeing what they can do can certainly encourage you.

And something back to when I first started in the business—when there was not much going on in the market—I was an information source for people. I had people calling me from Maryland. I had people calling me from other states saying, "What is a short sale? My cousin is thinking about this." I probably did two years of just letting people know, "Call for information."

[00:58:16] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:58:17] Sharon Mills: "If I don’t have the answer, I’ll find it." Because again, when you meet that heart surgeon, you may say you don’t have a friend that has a few palpitations, or what if that person goes out—I don’t know what a—I don’t—you know what I’m saying?

[00:58:30] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:58:31] Sharon Mills: So it’s not always about the transaction. But those people who I answered questions for—those people who I took the extra step to go and try to find—you know what? And I’ve always been honest with people. And that’s the other thing: do not try to fluff your way through this.

[00:58:45] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:58:46] Sharon Mills: If you don’t know—that’s something with my integrity and honesty—and I would go, "You know what, I’m not sure about that, but let me see what I can—call someone." I always say, "Call someone smarter than me."

[00:58:55] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, exactly.

[00:58:56] Sharon Mills: "Let me see what I can find out for you." And so many of those people are the ones that became my customers because they saw that I was about the business. It wasn’t about you selling your house. They—half the times—they weren’t even asking questions about their own home.

[00:59:10] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:59:11] Sharon Mills: But when it came time to sell, who do you think they—

[00:59:14] Tracy Hayes: Who do you think they called?

[00:59:15] Sharon Mills: Yeah.

[00:59:16] Tracy Hayes: They relied on you. You were a resource that made life easy for them.

[00:59:19] Sharon Mills: Right.

[00:59:20] Tracy Hayes: I mean, really—what do we ask for services to do? Whether it’s mow the lawn or anything—

[00:59:23] Sharon Mills: Right.

[00:59:24] Tracy Hayes: It makes our life easier.

[00:59:25] Sharon Mills: Yes. Yes.

[00:59:26] Tracy Hayes: So you’re making life easier. It’s like—Sharon’s easy to talk to because it’s my big asset—boom.

[00:59:30] Sharon Mills: Right. That’s my field.

And funny—back during the 2006, 2007—there was a neighbor, and our neighborhood is huge, like over a thousand homes. But there was a neighbor—and usually when my car was leaving to go to work, he’d be walking his dog. Didn’t know him. He lived on a different street. Didn’t know him but smile and wave.

[00:59:49] Tracy Hayes: Wave, yeah.

[00:59:50] Sharon Mills: Smile and wave. And one day he just flagged me down, and he goes, "You know, hi, my name is Bruce." And I was like, "And I’m Sharon." And he goes, "Can I ask, what do you do?" He says, "I’m out here walking early, and it literally is like a ghost town for so many people."

So he said, "What do you do?" And I said—and he goes, "But how do you do real estate when there’s nothing?" You know?

[01:00:10] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:00:11] Sharon Mills: And I said, "But you know what? Even though we’re in a difficult market, there are still people who are gonna need to sell their homes." You know, you gather information. You know things will eventually turn around. I’ve always been very positive about that.

And so one of the things he said—he said, "You know," he said, "I told my wife, you are the hardest working real estate agent," 'cause I saw him another time.

[01:00:30] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:00:31] Sharon Mills: And that if we ever sell our house, that’s who we’re calling. He called me probably two and a half years later.

[01:00:37] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:00:38] Sharon Mills: Said, "You probably don’t remember me. I was the one that was walking the dog." And I said, "Of course I remember you."

But that’s the other piece I think for agents—we have—our customers are looking to us for guidance, for confidence.

Are we in a difficult time even now?

[01:00:54] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:00:00] Sharon Mills: If I go to their home and I sit with them and go, "This market, it's just bad. Like, nothing's moving," whatever—I literally am a—everybody says I'm an optimist, and I am. But I really believe what I'm saying. Real estate is always going to be. Real estate is cyclical. It's going to be up, it's going to be down.

And something I've said to my customers—and they'll actually laugh. I have a funny side to me, so they'll laugh. So I've had people actually stand in one of my waterfront properties and say, "Timmy, you've gotta show them the positive in it." And they'll say, "I don't know, with the market... I just don't know if this is the time."

And so again, finding out somebody's motivation: "Well, you know what? You told me that you're trying to get closer to the grandchildren," or whatever the reason is they're moving.

[01:00:41] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, yeah.

[01:00:41] Sharon Mills: Let's just say this market stays this way from now—especially if it's something they plan to do a year or two years from now. If it's five years, this is a maybe, then maybe it's not the time, wait it out. But if you told me you're trying to get to your grandchildren before whatever—whether you're sitting there or sitting here—first of all, sitting here you'd be happier…

[01:01:00] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:01:00] Sharon Mills: …because now you're closer to them. But if it crashes, it's gonna crash for all of us. And I would say to them, "And what would you rather be looking at—what you're looking at now or that waterfront?"

[01:01:10] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:01:11] Sharon Mills: And they're like, "You know what, I never thought of it that way." Yeah. And so we laugh, you end up laughing about it, but it brings people back to center to say, life doesn't stop because the stock market went up or went down.

If you don’t have the funds, that's a whole different conversation.

[01:01:26] Tracy Hayes: Right, right.

[01:01:27] Sharon Mills: You don’t have the funds. But I tell them, if it's only your house that's having the challenge—but if the whole country is having a challenge—I know where I'd rather be sitting.

[01:01:32] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:01:33] Sharon Mills: I know where I'd rather be sitting while we're waiting it out. So they're looking to us to, I think, be some light at the end of everything that's going on.

[01:01:40] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. And most of the time we're sitting on the—yeah, "Well, nothing's selling, and I don't know when anything's gonna be selling again..."

[01:01:47] Sharon Mills: If my doctor said, "You know what? Well, you have this condition and I don't know if I can help you or not..." like, he probably wouldn't be my doctor.

[01:01:59] Tracy Hayes: You're calling somebody else for—

[01:02:00] Tracy Hayes: —another opinion, right?

[01:02:00] Sharon Mills: Yeah. Yeah.

So you're not lying, but you have to be passionate—

[01:02:05] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:02:05] Sharon Mills: —about what you're doing. And if you don't believe in it, then maybe get out of it. Because the challenge is real, but they don't need you to tell them that. The news is telling them that every day.

[01:02:16] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:02:17] Sharon Mills: So they need you to say, "Look—" and I will go to my customers even today, and I'm very honest: "Look, I don't know if it's going to be 30 days, or with the way things are going right now, four months or five. I have that conversation up front. But I can tell you—I won't be sitting on my hands waiting for somebody to come and see that sign."

[01:02:36] Sharon Mills: "I'm still going to continue the marketing that I'm doing. I'm still going to put myself out there for you. And if you're not there, you can't be seen."

[01:02:41] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:02:42] Sharon Mills: "So let's get out there and let's—"

[01:02:44] Tracy Hayes: And that's really the type of market that it is right now. I mean, you want to sell it in 30 days? We could probably come up with a price that will sell it in 30 days.

[01:02:50] Sharon Mills: Yeah.

[01:02:50] Tracy Hayes: And—

[01:02:51] Sharon Mills: You don't like the price.

[01:02:52] Tracy Hayes: —you may or may not like the price.

[01:02:54] Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

[01:02:55] Tracy Hayes: But again, having that conversation, like you said—are they—they need to be near the grandkids, and they want to be by them right now.

[01:03:00] Tracy Hayes: We've had many discussions recently that, you know, every deal has got some hair to it.

[01:03:00] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. They're—you know, it might be pre-occupancy, it might be, the sellers want—they haven't listed for sale, we've got an offer, but they need to stay another month. So we're gonna have a 60-day closing or something like that.

[01:03:21] Sharon Mills: Right.

[01:03:21] Tracy Hayes: 90-day closing or something like that. Everyone's got some extra deal—every deal.

[01:03:25] Sharon Mills: Everyone.

[01:03:26] Tracy Hayes: And I really think—you know, actually I think my wife might've said it the other day—but we know the statistics for '24 were that, you know, 70-something percent of the agents didn’t even close a deal in '24.

And I’ve seen agents, you know, who are doing well do even better here recently. Other agents that were doing what we would think were equally well are having a rough time. And… if I was to guess—'cause I don’t know, we don’t know any statistics, we’re not a fly on the wall—but it’s having these conversations to find out the real why.

[01:04:00] You know—hey, you know, there’s a client we’ve been working with, an agent, for probably six months now. We haven’t talked recently 'cause they were waiting for the rates to drop to the low fives.

[01:04:09] Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

[01:04:09] Tracy Hayes: And it’s like, that’s just not gonna… you know, if you wait, then you’re gonna stay in that condo. You’re young, you have the money, you make good money—

[01:04:17] Sharon Mills: Right.

[01:04:17] Tracy Hayes: —you have savings.

[01:04:18] Sharon Mills: Right.

[01:04:19] Tracy Hayes: What—negotiate a buy-down. That’ll give you two years of the payments you’re looking for. And hopefully sometime during the two years, if rates come down, then you can jump out of that.

[01:04:29] Sharon Mills: Right.

[01:04:30] Tracy Hayes: And you’ll get that escrow money back from the buy-down. I mean, there’s so many different ways, right? We have to be a little creative. But you—it’s having those conversations that you’re talking about, you know.

[01:04:32] Sharon Mills: Absolutely. And again, you know, to when rates were higher—because we had people saying that even two years ago—when rates are higher, then if it's something you want and you’re in a position to buy, buy it now and then refinance later.

But to put your life on hold because you’re waiting for a rate that might go down—you have no control over. You have no control over.

[01:05:00] And so it’s like people have to—this is the human side of it. You know, it is so important knowing people’s motivation upfront. And that’s one of the first things I ask.

[01:05:08] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:05:09] Sharon Mills: You know, and if it’s one of those, “Ah, well, we’re looking at the right thing,” then you know that. But when it’s like a health thing or something, like I always—let’s talk about—so tell me how you got here. Like, what made you decide today that you want to sell? Like, what’s your motivation?

That lets you know if that person is a C client or an A client—one that you need to work really right now, they're hot to trot—or the other one is just, you know what, they can wait it out, because they hadn’t planned to do anything for three to five years and they’re just hoping, “Hey, if I put my house on at this price…”

[01:05:49] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:05:50] Sharon Mills: And the other thing is, again, knowing—there’s so many people that, in order to get the listing, will let the seller dictate the price. If you know your craft and you know your homework, I usually go in with a range.

[01:06:00] I have had people who want to be so far above that range, I won’t take the listing.

[01:06:05] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:06:06] Sharon Mills: I won’t take the listing, and then I end up getting them because I stood up to them. But when you buckle to everything, what does that say to your seller about what’s going to happen when you become their negotiator?

[01:06:16] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:06:17] Sharon Mills: They’re going to—

[01:06:17] Tracy Hayes: I saw a reel on that the other day. A guy said it really well. It’s like, so they ask for you to cut your commissions, and you just buckle down and say, “Okay, yeah, I’ll do it for that.” Versus turning it back on them and say, “Do you want me to buckle down like this when I do your negotiation?”

[01:06:31] Sharon Mills: Yeah. Okay.

[01:06:32] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Yeah. Basically same phrase. Which—this just made me lose my thought. I want to go somewhere else with you. Well, and what the conversation that you’re having is not—I’m not gonna say, well I guess it could be a tough conversation—but you are asking open-ended questions to your buyers and sellers to create a conversation, because these are things you need to know to position them in the best possible way.

[01:06:56] Whether they’re selling or buying. Right. Do they have—how much cash do you have available to buy this home? Okay, well, we need some seller concessions to make this happen.

[01:07:00] Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[01:07:01] Tracy Hayes: You know, the seller—we’ve made an offer on another home or our new construction home is about ready. We need to close this, like, quickly.

[01:07:08] Sharon Mills: Right.

[01:07:09] Tracy Hayes: Well, how you market that, how you price it—you need to have those conversations.

[01:07:13] Sharon Mills: Sure. Sure.

[01:07:14] Tracy Hayes: And I would guesstimate, of the 70% of those agents who did not do a deal last year but were actually trying to actively get deals—they’re not going the distance in those conversations.

[01:07:20] Tracy Hayes: Asking some of those open-ended questions—“Why?”
“Why are you wanting to move now?”
“Why do you… why do you need to move over there?”

And being obviously on the mortgage side, I know there's a lot of agents afraid to ask some standardized financial—like, “Okay, well how much of a down payment do you have saved up for?”

[01:07:38] Sharon Mills: Right. And it's not necessarily how much money you have, right? It’s how much are you willing to put into this? Are you doing conventional financing? Yeah. And what would you be looking to put down? Are you 20%, 10%?

[01:07:50] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:07:50] Sharon Mills: You know, having those conversations. And people feel like, I think it's intrusive. Or personal? Well, it would be personal for somebody from the grocery store to come up and say, “Hey, how much did you put down on your house?”

[01:08:00] Tracy Hayes: Right, exactly.

[01:08:01] Sharon Mills: But when they're calling you as a professional, those are questions that they expect to be asked. And one of the things that's consistently said by my customers is they find that I'm very thorough.

And I can tell you—and I don’t know why the men—but so many male clients have asked me, “Do you play chess?” Because you have the answers—and not even at the listing point.

[01:08:23] Tracy Hayes: Or, “Did you go to law school?”

[01:08:24] Sharon Mills: Right. They’ll say, “Do you play chess?” because it’s amazing how you anticipate. Anticipate—like, and one of the things, like you said, talking about the listings or how long you may be on—I go through the whole process. When we get that contract, this is what happens.

Or even with the listing, “This is what happens in the process. You’ll have a home inspection, and somebody’s going to give us 25 pages of whatever.” Even with a buyer: “We don’t ask for the whole 25 pages. Typically you ask for the major items.”

Or, as the market shifts—before, you know what, we had so many as-is offers—it’s up to you to explain to them: they probably won’t ask for anything. Or: “Look, if you want that property, because five other people may come for it, it would be probably to your advantage not to ask—because then you have a stronger [offer].”

Most people don’t talk. They let people just wing it. You know? And it's like—it doesn’t come up until later. And even customers, when I have conversations with them about their home inspections, and we have it up front before they're looking at that 25 pages, they remember that we’ve already had that conversation.

“We don’t look—an inspector is going to find 25 pages worth of everything because they all do. That’s their job—to find every loose [thing]—whatever. Typically to show you they’re doing their job.”

Typically, if you want this home—if certainly something major comes up or whatever—but typically, you don’t ask. And I’ll get like newer agents or agents—oh my gosh—that’ll send, and they have highlighted every single thing. And of course, it gets rejected.

But you know—that’s an agent that did not have that conversation. So they are not running the business. They are not being the profession. That person hired you for a reason.

[01:10:00] Tracy Hayes: They’re being reactive instead of proactive.

[01:10:02] Sharon Mills: Yeah. Yeah. And the person hired you for a reason. And it's like—they will try to push back. But if you know your worth, it is what it is. And I think having the confidence about your business—even if you don’t have confidence in anything else—the only way to get that confidence is to do the work and to feel good about what you're talking about and know that you know what you're talking about.

[01:10:23] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. I think, if anything, a newer agent can take from this:

One—you gotta build your confidence up through content, reading, going to classes and so forth, whatever it is. Maybe it's mentoring with somebody, following—shadowing somebody, being part of a team so you are collaborating on a daily basis.

But realizing you are the professional. And maybe you're only on your first four or five sales—and some of these negotiations, like, you've learned over time how to handle that rapport.

[01:10:50] Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm.

[01:10:51] Tracy Hayes: But you're willing to share it. The person who just started is to actually listen to what you're saying on how to handle that situation—because you are looked on as the same professional. That person buying with you—and you're on your first year—versus you in your 20th year.

[01:11:04] Sharon Mills: Right.

[01:11:05] Tracy Hayes: They still look to you the same way.

[01:11:07] Sharon Mills: Right.

[01:11:08] Tracy Hayes: But, you know, you are the real estate professional.

[01:11:12] Sharon Mills: Exactly. And it's how you show up at that table. I remember one of my first deals—

[01:11:12] Sharon Mills: Exactly. And it’s how you show up at that table. I remember one of my first deals…

[01:11:16] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:11:17] Sharon Mills: …and I had probably been in the business six months. And it's so funny—so I interviewed with these people, a wonderful couple. And we’re talking about the economy and all of that.

[01:11:28] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:11:29] Sharon Mills: And I remember the husband saying—and he must’ve said it two or three times—the husband and wife. But I remember the husband saying two or three times, “You know, based off everything you're saying, you know, I think my wife would agree, we want to go with you.” And he said something like, “We really wanted somebody who was experienced in the business, had been around for a while. We didn’t want a new agent…” blah, blah.

He said that three or four times. So—and again, I don’t go, “I'm a new agent,” you know. So I didn’t say that. Right. But—

[01:12:00] Sharon Mills: Knowing the couple, I knew they knew a lot of people that I knew. And so right before I pulled out the listing agreement for them to sign, I said, “Guys, I would like to clarify something.” I said—they might find out later, right? Yeah.

His name was Mark—and I like to be transparent. And I said, “You know what, Mark, you’ve said a couple times that you wanted an experienced agent, you didn’t want to work with a new agent.” And I said, “I just feel an obligation that I need to share with you that I’ve only been in the business for six months.”

I said, “But I do want you to know, although I’m new to real estate, I’m not new to business.”

[01:12:33] Tracy Hayes: Mm.

[01:12:34] Sharon Mills: “And that is how I run my business—I run my business as a business. So I’m not new to business.” And his comment was, “Well, first of all,” he said, “thank you for being honest about it.” He said, “But Sharon, if I couldn’t tell that you were a new agent, you are the person we’re going with.”

He said, “Because, yeah, I would’ve never thought you’ve only been in this business for six…” I said, “You know, we know a lot of the same people, and I didn’t want them to say, ‘Oh, she just got in the business.’” And you’ve said it—I said, “And typically, I don’t lead with that I’m a new agent.”

[01:13:00] Sharon Mills: And I can tell new agents—don’t lead with that. If you know your stuff… You know, sometimes they’ll say, “How many homes have you sold?” And if you’ve not sold any, say, “You know what, it’ll be my pleasure to have yours be the first one.”

But if they feel you know what you’re talking about at that table, very few will turn their back on you just because you are not a seasoned agent. Sometimes they think, “You know what? Maybe that new agent will be hungry enough to go out there and get this job done.”

So it’s what they feel from you.

[01:13:30] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:13:31] Sharon Mills: It’s not—the other numbers count at a certain level, but initially…

[01:13:32] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Later on in your career you’ll get deals from yourrateagent.com or whatever it’s called. You know, someone will call you 'cause they saw a review. Right. Alright. I wanna finish—I wanna finish with this. It was kind of something I prepped you before the show.

Because I feel, you know, real estate agents need grit. [Noise] Is that my phone? Alright. Uh, grit is very important. And I always will promote Angela Duckworth’s book, but the LLC—the love, the laughter, and the consistency.

Why do you love real estate?

[01:14:02] Sharon Mills: I love real estate… For me, it’s because I feel like—first of all, I’m a very social person and I love people. And I love being able to help people realize their dream, or helping people through a difficult time. That is just the nature of who I am.

So I feel like—to me, I tell people it feels like for me—and it doesn’t for everybody—but it feels like almost a ministry. Like it really—it’s really caring about people.

Somebody’s lost their husband—I feel that pain with them. And if I can do something to make their life a little bit easier… If somebody just got married—like, I’m excited about the feeling of somebody having a first home.

For me, it’s very personal. I just love people. Always have. And the money will come.

[01:14:57] Sharon Mills: That’s like, secondary. Anybody who knows me knows that I’m a caring person, and that’s just who I am.

[01:15:00] Tracy Hayes: Right. And the whole point is—you know, grit—if you don’t love what you do, you’re going on to do something else.

[01:15:02] Sharon Mills: Yeah.

[01:15:03] Tracy Hayes: You’ve gotta find what you love. Right. And if you really love what you do, you generally are fairly successful at it.

[01:15:09] Sharon Mills: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I truly—of all the jobs I’ve had, I really feel like they all led me here. With all the transferring… When I say I love it—I love it so much that I tell my friends, “At 70, make me retire.” I’m moving—like, at 75, maybe at 75 make me retire.

Because I don’t see myself leaving this business. But…

[01:15:30] Tracy Hayes: Right. You can hire the 30-year-old agent to go show the houses. You can take the referral and go on. So, the laughter part—you know, again going back into grit—in our life we experience things, setbacks, curveballs. I’m sure you’ve had some crazy stuff just happen—'cause crazy stuff happens in real estate—

[01:15:46] Sharon Mills: Right.

[01:15:47] Tracy Hayes: …that really sets you apart. But today, you laugh about it. In the cocktail world. Tell us an experience you’ve had—

[01:15:57] Sharon Mills: This is funny. Like, people have said that they didn’t realize I had a funny side.

[01:16:00] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:16:01] Sharon Mills: Because I'm very serious when it comes to business. Very serious with the negotiation and everything—kind, but very serious. And I've had several situations, but most of my customers have been amazing. And I think it's just because I allow people to have bad days and things, and I don't take it personal.

If you are doing what you need to do, then that person being furious about “there's nobody buying”—no matter what they say—I’m not offended. I understand their frustration.

But one that was funny—one of my customers, very serious guy. I mean very serious. And, you know, met with he and his wife several times. And we were in a deal, and he was being a little bit unreasonable. I felt like the buyer was being very fair in price. His wife felt like the buyer was being very fair in price. And so we had gotten along, got the deal all set, and something came back with the home inspection. This was a few years ago.

[01:17:00] Sharon Mills: Something came back with the home inspection—it was really something that nobody would have known. He wouldn't have known, the buyer wouldn't have known, but the inspection revealed it.

[01:17:02] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:17:03] Sharon Mills: And he’s like, “Tell them before I do that, I will pull this deal.” And it probably was like a $5,000 issue on an $800,000 home. “You tell them, I will pull this deal,” and da da da, and he’s frantic, and he's raving.

And again, very serious. And I’m like, “You know, Bruce, I understand. I understand where you're coming from, whatever, but however…” And he just kept going. And so his wife is—she's all embarrassed. And I'm sitting there, and I just got quiet and let him talk.

[01:18:00] Sharon Mills: And then he just stopped. And he was like, “I will pull it. I will pull—” I mean it—because he realized that both of us are being quiet. And so I said, “Bruce, I understand your frustration, but I'd like to ask you if you would consider doing one thing for me.”

And he's like, “What is it?”

And I said, “I'm gonna leave. But I'd like you to have two glasses of wine and call me in the morning.”

His face—like, it took a minute. And then after about 30 seconds, his wife and I—we laughed hard. Like, when I tell you we didn't know if Bruce was gonna strangle me or whatever…

I said, “Bruce, because I—I—it is like I wanted to say, ‘You are dead wrong about this, and you are gonna shoot yourself in the foot if you do this.’”

I said, “I'd like for you to have two glasses of wine and call me in the morning.”

[01:18:31] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:18:32] Sharon Mills: And I was like, like your doctor—take two sips and call me in the—

[01:18:35] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:18:36] Sharon Mills: And I said, “And I promise, if you do this and you call me in the morning—eight o'clock—I will be on that phone, and I will cancel this deal for you. But not until.”

And yet—they were always offering me wine. And I’m not a drinker, so I didn’t even drink wine. Right?

And I was like, “That's all I ask.”

And he just looked like, “Are you serious?”

And so his wife said something like, “Why don't we just table this for tonight?” But in all seriousness, “Let’s table this for tonight. You call me in the morning, and if you say it’s done—it’s done.”

[01:19:06] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:19:07] Sharon Mills: Even at the table—of course, he called, and he was fine.

[01:19:10] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:19:11] Sharon Mills: But even at the closing table, he said to the closing attorney—we all laughed about it—he goes, “Thank you for having the guts or the grit…”

[01:19:18] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:19:19] Sharon Mills: “…to talk—to say that to me.” He said, “I don't know anybody else who would’ve said that.” And I said it nice, and I said it with a smile. And she and I laughed so hard—I couldn’t even believe I said it.

And then I did have one other customer—'cause I don’t swear—

[01:19:36] Tracy Hayes: A high level of professionalism. Yeah. 'Cause you were a cool customer.

[01:19:39] Sharon Mills: Yeah.

[01:19:40] Tracy Hayes: You let him go off. But one thing—and we know in real estate—nothing happens that quickly.

[01:19:45] Sharon Mills: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[01:19:46] Tracy Hayes: And especially if it’s after five o’clock…

[01:19:48] Sharon Mills: Right.

[01:19:48] Tracy Hayes: …nothing’s happening until 9:00 tomorrow morning.

[01:19:50] Sharon Mills: Right.

[01:19:51] Tracy Hayes: Let’s just—and that was a cool—

[01:19:55] Sharon Mills: It was. But telling him to have the wine—it was so—

[01:20:00] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:20:01] Sharon Mills: ’Cause he’s never seen me. But it lets him know—I think you are totally off your rocker. And we’ve laughed about it. Yeah. I think you’re totally off your rocker.

And then I had another one that was very difficult. And when I say I don’t swear—I do not. At all. But this one particular customer—he was so out of line. And I said, “You know what? The way I see this right now—this is nothing but a pissing contest.”

[01:20:24] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:20:26] Sharon Mills: He looked—because again, he never heard me—Right? Because like the things that were going back and forth between—and it’s like—never thought I’d be sitting here trying to figure out who can…

[01:20:36] Tracy Hayes: Right. Yeah.

[01:20:38] Sharon Mills: You know, and so his face again, I think it was just—and in every agent, you can’t say—you've gotta know your customer. You can't just say things like that to everybody. You can't.

[01:20:47] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:20:48] Sharon Mills: But I think when they see how serious I am and how I've handled everything, there is some weight to what I say. And like, when you are just gone over the top—some—you've gotta know when to back off. And I've probably in 20 years only had two customers that I've let go.

[01:21:04] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:21:05] Sharon Mills: And the only—well, two that let me go, right? Because we could not have...

[01:21:10] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:21:11] Sharon Mills: You know.

[01:21:12] Tracy Hayes: Well, when you've taken the time and the due diligence that we've talked about here for the last hour—of all the things that you're doing and the professionalism, you're digging deep with the questions, you're knowing the whys and everything—you have once... I don't want to say you've closed them in, but you've answered 99% of the quiz.

[01:21:32] Tracy Hayes: And you've got 99—and now you're on the hundredth question, the last question. Right? And at that point, you have the ability to say, you know what? I can answer this one wrong. Because I got 99% right.

[01:21:44] Tracy Hayes: And because you come in with that kind of presence, that kind of knowledge, you pour that experience into them—or at least make them perceive that you have that experience. And you know what? Because you've done the genuine—

[01:21:54] Sharon Mills: And that part—that's key—because it is genuine. You know, it is a genuine concern and caring. I'm not ever gonna tell somebody how to spend their money, but it's like I look at it from such a big picture.

[01:22:00] Sharon Mills: And when I can lay out—the economy is doing this, your neighbor’s house is doing this, this is why I did that, that’s why I did that—nobody wants to hear their house... Everybody thinks they have the prettiest house on the planet.

[01:22:16] Sharon Mills: And so even to say to them—even when they come up with these ridiculous numbers sometimes—to say, “Look, you know your house better than I do. Give me something—based off of what I've come up with here, and I've comped you against this, this, this—tell me what I'm not seeing.”

[01:22:32] Tracy Hayes: That’s a reality question that would put—

[01:22:34] Sharon Mills: —us there. Yeah. Like, 'cause I don't know what's behind the walls. I don't know how—you tell me how you love living—and yeah, write some things out. You can't—nine times out of 10 you're not coming up.

[01:22:46] Sharon Mills: And probably one of my highest compliments—and we'll probably end on this—but one of the highest compliments is, for me again, is knowing your customer.

[01:22:54] Sharon Mills: I had a sale—a multi-million-dollar sale. Seller going through the divorce. Buyer. And the buyer refused to pay the price. The seller couldn’t take the price because of what she was going through.

[01:23:06] Sharon Mills: And you don’t often do this, but again—just having some empathy and understanding of these two people—I chose to bring them together, which is rare. I said to the doctor, “Doctor,” I said, “typically I don’t do this, but I would like for you to have a conversation with her. And I’d like for her to have a conversation with you, because I know where both of you are. But I think if you have that conversation, you’ll see she’s not trying to pull a fast one—and maybe it’ll help her understand you.”

[01:23:34] Sharon Mills: Long story short, the doctor would not budge from the price because that’s what—his principle. But he paid my $52,000 commission.

[01:23:44] Sharon Mills: He said, “You know what? We have a good agent.” And the fact that she thought enough to bring us together—so he did see her pain.

[01:23:52] Sharon Mills: And he said, “Even though I see and I understand”—and she cried—and it was an older lady—and she cried—but he saw that she wasn’t—

[01:24:01] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:24:01] Sharon Mills: —trying to pull a fast one. So the emotion came in it. And it was the most beautiful thing. Now, they were only $30,000 apart. And this is a story that just touches me because of the hearts of—

[01:24:12] Tracy Hayes: —people.

[01:24:13] Sharon Mills: They were $30,000 apart. He said, right there—standing in her kitchen—he says, “You know what? I will not pay higher than what I’ve said. But I will pay our agent’s commission.” So he didn’t know—from both sides—what we negotiated. But the commission was 52.

[01:24:36] Sharon Mills: So I said, I’ve got 'em both in the kitchen. And I said, “Excuse me,” I said to her, “am I allowed to say what the full commission is?”

[01:24:38] Tracy Hayes: Hmm.

[01:24:38] Sharon Mills: And I said, “Doctor,” I said, “my commission is $52,000 on this. Are you saying that you will pay $30,000 of that and she pays the difference, or you’ll pay half of that?” He says, “No, I will pay your whole commission.” He said, “Because we have a good agent—that you would think to do this. You have worked hard for this.”

[01:24:57] Tracy Hayes: He took it off the seller’s plate.

[01:24:58] Sharon Mills: He took it off the seller’s—the whole thing off the seller’s plate.

[01:25:00] Sharon Mills: All he had to do was give her $30,000 more. But he took it off her plate. And—but again, some people would’ve been like, “Okay,” and then you gotta deal with the problem later. I believe in dealing with it—we are on the spot. I didn’t want to have to call her and say, “Oh, I talked him out of—can we come to an understanding?” May I share with him what the—just feeling people.

But for him to do that—it touched me.

[01:25:21] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Yeah.

[01:25:22] Sharon Mills: That I was right in bringing the two together. But what it did for her and what it did for—it was a very touching moment. It was a very touching moment for me. So I think, again—I think transparency. I think people, when you work hard for people—and I was shocked—I was really shocked that he did it.

I think that when you work hard for people and they can see there’s no shenanigans—and that was the one thing that bothered me about real estate is, you know, so often we operate as used car salespeople and it really messes up the profession for everybody else.

And so I was determined to come out authentically and to kind of change that...

[01:25:59] Sharon Mills: ...that dynamic, that mindset.

[01:26:01] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, that mindset. Sharon, I appreciate you coming on today.

[01:26:03] Sharon Mills: Well, thank you. Thank you. It was a great show. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Great, really—

[01:26:07] Tracy Hayes: Really enjoyed it. Really impactful. We’ll cut some really great reels from this.

[01:26:10] Sharon Mills: Good. Thank you.

[01:26:10] Tracy Hayes: Thank you very much.

[01:26:12] Sharon Mills: Yep, yep, yep. No, this was great.