Delaney Henderson: It Takes Grit / Top Jacksonville Agent

REE #280 Transcript

[00:00:00] Delaney Henderson: I love how it's the only industry that I've found that is constantly changing every single day. Small ways, big ways. It's affected by everything. It's not affected by anything. Such a unique industry that I don't think, at least in my experience, I've been able to find anywhere else.

[00:00:53] Tracy Hayes: Hey, welcome back to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, where we highlight the agents who are built for this business, those who know what it means to rise through to adversity and show up relentlessly for their clients. Today's guest grew up surrounded by real estate — a father who was a custom home builder, a mother managing a large community, and a brother in the mortgage world. That kind of foundation doesn't just teach you the business, it ingrains it in your DNA.

With over a decade of experience in northeast Florida, she's carved out a reputation as a fierce advocate for her clients. Her success is no accident. A tough childhood shaped her into someone who builds deep relationships, operates with heart, and never backs down when it's time to deliver results.

She's been named one of the top 500 agents in the regions of the Jack's Real Producers, and consistently ranks as a top producer in her brokerage, driven by passion, kindness, and tenacious commitment to doing the right by the people she serves. Clients call her personable, resourceful, determined, and someone who truly fights for them. She loves what she does, and it shows in every transaction. Let's welcome Delaney Henderson to the show.

[00:01:59] Delaney Henderson: Thank you so—

[00:02:00] Tracy Hayes: —much. Thank you for coming on. Little ChatGPT there. It does wonderful things. Yeah. And anyone who's listening and wants to know more, this entire show is fed into ChatGPT — every episode. I create all my captions, create the LinkedIn articles, anything that goes out, so it knows the transcript of every one of the shows.

Wow. And now it's actually starting to read video where I can actually upload the reel to it and ask it to say, “Okay, here’s the reel. Give me a caption — an Instagram caption, or a YouTube Short description.”

[00:02:33] Delaney Henderson: That’s awesome.

[00:02:34] Tracy Hayes: So it creates better and better intros every show. So—

[00:02:38] Delaney Henderson: Wow, that’s so neat. I love that.

[00:02:39] Tracy Hayes: If you're not leveraging it, you're gonna step behind. So, grab on to anyone who's gonna educate you on it. And the thing is, the great thing about AI I've learned — not to take too much of the beginning of the show here up with it — but if you're not on there just using it, it'll never get to know you. Just keep using it and using it and using it.

I can go on. I don't want to spend too much more time of the show talking about it. We'll probably bring it up on different tidbits here. But tell us a little about young Delaney. You had a family in the real estate industry.

[00:03:06] Delaney Henderson: I do.

[00:03:06] Tracy Hayes: Okay, yes. What are some of those things that obviously kind of led you to getting into real estate, but when you made the jump in, what did you learn that you didn’t actually see growing up in it? All of a sudden like, “Oh my God, now I'm actually in it. This is crazy.”

[00:03:22] Delaney Henderson: I didn’t see the day-to-day. And I didn’t recognize as a young kid how much pivoting and changes that there are in every single transaction — every single, you know, deal that you're doing. I just saw, you know, the exciting wins and even the lows of it, and you know, the hard, you know, recession that even my parents went through. So I saw like a lot of different facets of it, but I didn’t see — or at least I didn’t recognize — just the day-to-day tough transactions that my parents would deal with all the time, you know?

And that I think is what I’ve learned now being in it, is how difficult the actual day-to-day is, for sure.

[00:04:01] Tracy Hayes: Would you say — and you've reached a level, you’ve been in it long enough, you're seasoned — that really the pros really make it look easy? 'Cause it sounds like from, you know, when you were looking in, “Oh, this looks…” — doesn't show how difficult it is, but now you're the one actually doing those and realize what painstaking it is — it can be.

[00:04:20] Delaney Henderson: Yeah. I really do see that. Anybody can post on Instagram or Facebook of like, you know, “I sold 10 houses this month,” or, you know, “I have 5 million, you know, under contract.” But they fail to show how difficult those transactions can be.

And how devastating, you know, the hardest transaction that you've been working on is — and how, you know, even the— you can do the absolute best job and everything fall through. You know, it’s really— it’s tough to learn how to pivot through those, you know, situations. But I think it takes a lot of patience and experience to learn how to navigate when they do become difficult, that a lot of agents don’t really typically talk about.

[00:05:01] Tracy Hayes: I have put out there several times that I believe agents should be keeping like a diary—

[00:05:07] Delaney Henderson: Yes.

[00:05:08] Tracy Hayes: —of their transactions. And at the, you know, end of the day or end of the transaction — you probably can't remember all the— you know, ‘cause some transactions are—

[00:05:14] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.

[00:05:15] Tracy Hayes: —have so many. But every time you talk to a customer, just talk to them. Because this is what I did: I got up this morning and I was searching for homes for Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and, you know, I spent 30 minutes doing that. And then I had a phone call with this client and saved their marriage. All the— you know, these conversations that the average person out there on the street who’s not in our industry realize that goes on in a transaction, let alone the negotiations.

[00:05:43] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.

[00:05:44] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. I mean...

[00:05:44] Delaney Henderson: It's funny you say that because this year I actually started doing that. Well, I started writing down what I did with every single day — you know, what was different, what I could have changed — and then especially in every transaction. Because, you know, things that I learned on a certain transaction are so fundamentally helpful on future transactions that I don't even think about at the time.

And sometimes I'll— you know, we do deals every single day. We do transactions every single day. So I forget about the nitty gritty details of how hard that transaction was later on. And the things that I learned from it that I can use to either change or do differently on the next transaction — I really started doing this year.

Yeah, and it's helped a lot, even just with the transactions I have this year. Just looking back on, you know, in late 2024 and early 2025, it's interesting to see how I've adapted and even just like the patience that I've grown to have, even just in that, you know, eight-month period of time—

[00:06:44] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:06:44] Delaney Henderson: —has really been a game changer for me. Just, you know, recognizing it, acknowledging it, and learning how to move forward just on the toughest interactions.

[00:06:52] Tracy Hayes: Well, you know, I'm just gonna define that — that's why you're a great real estate agent.

[00:06:56] Delaney Henderson: No—

[00:06:56] Tracy Hayes: Seriously. You are. 'Cause you're— I think I've spoken to, I don’t know— this is episode 280 — so 260 plus real estate agents, top agents, producing, and you're treating it like a business. You're in it. You know, if you're gonna look back, maybe, you know, I dunno, later on maybe you want to create a team.

It's those notes that you're taking now that's going to help you go back and remember, “Hey, remember when I took that course? Was it a good one? Was it not? Was it worth it? Was it not?” Because you're self-employed. All self-employed people have wasted time, energy, and money on a lot of different things.

But if you're able to plug in — which we'll plug into the brokerage how a good broker can lead you, especially a new agent — but that Bible that you're creating, that diary that you're creating is gonna be worth something. You probably could write a book out of it.

[00:07:38] Delaney Henderson: Oh yeah, eventually. No, for sure. Yeah. And I really started doing it because of my brokerage. Because I became a mentor in my brokerage.

[00:07:46] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:07:46] Delaney Henderson: So I'm mentoring four different agents right now that are, you know, newly licensed and trying to really navigate this new industry — you know, that they know nothing about for the most part.

And so that's why I initially started taking notes and really— because it was helpful, things that I learned in these transactions, that when now I'm sitting down with, you know, these agents I'm mentoring, I'm like, “Hey look, like even I struggled on this transaction. But what I learned from it was so valuable. And it could definitely help you when you do experience this — that you know the future.”

[00:08:13] Tracy Hayes: I'm one of those people who come— you know, I see things and I come up with ideas. “How can we do this better?” I mean, this is one— as me and my wife, we met at work, so—

[00:08:22] Delaney Henderson: Right.

[00:08:22] Tracy Hayes: —we're always like, wherever we're at, we're like, “Oh, you know, how can we do this better? How could this be more efficient? Why is that run so inefficiently?” You know?

[00:08:29] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.

[00:08:29] Tracy Hayes: But one of the things I've— and I can't say that I've been doing it, but you are doing it — and that’s writing it down. There was somebody in a personal development book — I was not reading, probably somewhere in the last year — they're like, when you come up with these ideas, actually— you know, I know who said it now: Hannah, and they're with Momentum — Hannah and the couple.

[00:08:48] Delaney Henderson: Hannah Pennington?

[00:08:49] Tracy Hayes: No, no, no. They're down in St. Augustine. It'll come to— Hannah— you're gonna come to me. I apologize. Every time he comes up with an idea, he writes it down. They started the cigar— they got the cigar trailer.

Oh God. What— Hannah— my— it'll come to me. I'm terrible at this. I'm getting too old for this. Uh, war two. But anyway, he said basically, you know, you come up with these just visions, right? This idea of like, “Oh man.” And he writes it down. You may not operate on that or act on that right now, but because you're writing it down, you're like, “You know what? I had that transaction. I know, you know—” You approximately know where it is, you go back in that diary and you find it.

[00:09:25] Delaney Henderson: My fiancé gets so frustrated with me because I write everything down. I'll be in the middle of a conversation and I'll think of an idea and be like, “Hold that thought.” And I’ll pick up my phone and put it in my notes.

I mean, when I tell you—

[00:09:36] Tracy Hayes: That’s great!

[00:09:37] Delaney Henderson: —all the time. Because if I don’t, I’m gonna forget about it.

[00:09:39] Tracy Hayes: Yes.

[00:09:39] Delaney Henderson: And I’m going to move on, because we're— I mean, real estate agents are busy people. Like we are—

[00:09:45] Delaney Henderson: People’s names. Yeah.

[00:09:46] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:09:47] Delaney Henderson: Exactly. Like, it's just— we're always working.

[00:09:49] Delaney Henderson: We're always thinking. Whatever— you know, laying in bed at night, I'm like thinking about a transaction or, you know, whatever. So if I have an idea that will be more efficient, will streamline my business or whatever, I a hundred percent have to write it down or there’s just no chance I’ll remember it later.

[00:10:02] Tracy Hayes: There have been more ideas forgotten—

[00:10:04] Delaney Henderson: Yes.

[00:10:04] Tracy Hayes: —than ever.

[00:10:05] Delaney Henderson: Yes. Absolutely.

[00:10:06] Tracy Hayes: So that— that’s brilliant. But, you mentioned mentoring a few moments ago. Tell us a little bit how, from your experience, and you know, your trials and errors, your pains— you learning really what, you know, the behind-the-scenes now of how difficult a position a real estate agent is in, different situations they're having to get through, and the stresses of that.

Now you're mentoring younger agents. Tell us, what’s your mindset when you're going into mentoring, and how you're sharing that with them without dumping too much on them all at one time?

[00:10:36] Delaney Henderson: Yes.

[00:10:37] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:10:37] Delaney Henderson: It's been a learning curve. It really has. When I started in real estate, I had an amazing mentor. And, you know, I didn't talk to her every single day, but anytime that I was struggling with something or life just became— like, it was too much. The industry was too much. I was just— I didn’t even know how to do things and I was wasting a lot of time, money, and energy on things that were not producing me more time, money, and energy.

That really was a pivoting moment in my life of when I sat down and I was like, “What do I do?” And so when I found Momentum — my current brokerage — and they offered me this mentorship program, essentially to become a mentor to other agents, it was a no-question whatsoever. Because I just remember feeling so lost when I first started in the industry.

Yeah. And so now we've developed, I mean, a program where I’m— I'm brutally honest with them, and I do not sugarcoat anything. I sit down with them once a week and I just say, “Look, this is what I'm struggling with. This is my plan of action, how to move through it.” You know? And we basically just have a super easy conversation of how do we get through the day to day? How do we do, you know, activities that actually make sense and not just waste our time?

Because I think a lot of agents — especially when they first start out — they’re doing all the things that they should be doing, and none of them are working. Or they’re, you know, focused so hard on one streamlined way to get business and they’re not thinking about all these other creative ideas.

And the biggest thing that we've kind of narrowed down is each one of them are different. Each person is very different. And, you know, really amplifying what is important to them, what their focus is, and using that to generate business is what I think changed even with me when I first started. Like for example, I love dogs.

[00:12:00] Delaney Henderson (continued): Like I'm such a dog person. And so when I first started, the first thing I did was put literally a picture of me and my dog on my business card.

[00:12:09] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:12:09] Delaney Henderson: And something just as small as that — well, it's the biggest conversation starter that I have ever had at every open house, every time I’m talking to a new person. I hand them my card and they're like, “Oh my God, I have a dog! He looks pregnant!” And then you immediately, already, instantly build a bond with that person, whoever it is.

You know, if I am knocking on somebody’s door to invite them to an open house and I give them my business card, they're like, “Oh my gosh, I have three dogs. You should come see them.” And so it builds that trust with people already. And so I really try to— when I'm mentoring new agents or I'm talking to new agents, I really try to find that one core thing that’s important to them and really try to like expand it with them.

[00:13:12] Tracy Hayes: You're hitting on— in the way I translate that: you’ve got to— because there’s so many different ways to market. Every agent does their business differently, and that’s the great thing about being a real estate agent. You can— however you’re making connections with others, who obviously eventually want to buy or sell a home—

[00:13:30] Delaney Henderson: Right.

[00:13:31] Tracy Hayes: —that’s that truth. Or know people that want to buy or sell a home also.

[00:13:35] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.

[00:13:35] Tracy Hayes: You’re bonding with them, and you found what clicks for you — probably, obviously, through some trial and error.

[00:13:41] Delaney Henderson: Oh yeah.

[00:13:41] Tracy Hayes: Okay. You've had the grit to stay in the business. You know, we haven’t gone into like, you know, what your first year was, and, you know, any trials and tribulations, but I do feel a lot of agents fall out sometimes within a couple of months just because they don’t find something fast enough. Or, you know, they don’t— they don’t get a win fast enough.

[00:14:00] Tracy Hayes (continued): Right. And you know, you’ve worked with a couple— you’ve worked with the cloud broker eXp, you started with Keller Williams, which is great for new agents, but I don’t think even they make it something as John and Brittany have at Momentum. I think they’re so forward-thinking from the business standpoint of making sure these— especially these green agents that join the club are get—

[00:09:44] Tracy Hayes: Constantly— you're like, I get filled up and I forget. Getting matched up with a mentor— that should be, to me, every real estate agent coming in. If you're going to a brokerage and you're brand new— if you're listening to this right now and you're brand new to the business— who’s gonna be your mentor? That brokerage should be matching you up right away. I don’t understand why they waste the time and energy not making that match from day one, if the broker’s not gonna be that mentor initially anyway.

[00:14:45] Delaney Henderson: Yeah, and I mean, the broker— having a broker, and honestly, that’s part of the reason why I joined Momentum to begin with, is having a relationship with your broker is so important. Because you do need them for, you know, contract questions or, you know, your day-to-day transaction questions, of course.

But it’s so much more deep than that. That helps with a mentor— that a, you know, broker can’t sit down with you every single day and talk to you about the hardships of real estate. They just— they don’t have the time or the energy to do that.

So having a secondary person to really sit down and be like, “Okay, I have business, how do I expand my business?” Or “I have no business, how do I build a business?” And I think those are such tough conversations to have because they’re so different for each person.

[00:15:30] Tracy Hayes: Well, a lot of 'em don’t know what to ask.

[00:15:31] Delaney Henderson: Exactly. Yeah. And they don’t even know where to begin.

[00:15:34] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:15:34] Delaney Henderson: Like, there's not even a starting line. They're just like, “I want to work in real estate. I've heard it's awesome. I see all the Instagram reels about how much money you can make in real estate.” Where do I begin?

[00:15:43] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:15:44] Delaney Henderson: And it’s breaking that down to the core, fundamental reason of why you— like, what is it about real estate that you want? You know, is it time? Well, I can tell you right now you're gonna be working a lot— a lot more hours than you are currently at your job. And what I mean by that is you’re not gonna be able to turn it off at five o’clock.

[00:16:01] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Well, I think a lot of people don’t understand is we live our business.

[00:16:05] Delaney Henderson: Yes.

[00:16:05] Tracy Hayes: If that business is at eight o’clock in the morning or eight o’clock at night, we act on it. We don’t— like, number one thing is that, “Oh, you didn’t answer the phone? Great. They’re calling someone else.”

So you’ve gotta answer the phone, or have someone answering it for you if you’ve gotten to that level. But if you're not answering the phone at eight o’clock at night on a possible client calling in or a client who’s in process who might be stressing out and gonna lose sleep— that could be the difference of you getting a referral or not.

[00:16:29] Delaney Henderson: Yeah, and it's tough. It's tough. I mean, there are certain boundaries, right? Like I think that a lot of agents, especially top-producing agents, don’t set those boundaries. I struggle to set them even myself. But I also think it’s very, very important to set them and set—

Eventually you have to set expectations right at the beginning of, you know, whatever time it is— six o’clock, seven o’clock— I will not be reachable. However, you can text me, and I will do my best to respond, but if I don’t, I can promise you, I will call you the next morning 8:00 AM.

You know, it’s like setting those expectations that is so important and then really staying true to those expectations and those boundaries. Because you could have a huge deal under contract and your client— the last thing they’re gonna think about is, “Oh, it’s eight o’clock. I don’t wanna call my agent,” when they’re stressed about the transaction. Which I understand that completely.

[00:17:21] Delaney Henderson (continued): You know, like, it’s very understandable. But still sticking to those boundaries is, I think, even more difficult than even setting them to begin with.

[00:17:21] Tracy Hayes: It's kind of like that work-life balance and then setting the boundaries— they're just kind of like things that are out there we strive for—

[00:17:28] Delaney Henderson: Mm-hmm.

[00:17:29] Tracy Hayes: —but we never really reach.

[00:17:30] Delaney Henderson: It’s true. It’s true. And even I— I deal with it. I mean, every day it's still a struggle. And it’s learning to say no. And it’s learning how to even fire clients— you’re not working well with them, or they have unrealistic expectations.

[00:17:41] Tracy Hayes: Right. That takes a lot of confidence to be able to do that.

[00:17:43] Delaney Henderson: It does. And the confidence in yourself to know that it's okay. You’re gonna find other business. That’s the biggest thing.

I think a lot of agents— I mean, they’ll burn themselves out completely because they’re working with difficult clients. And I have just gotten to a place— and it’s really just a mindset thing— of, even if I have no business, that’s better than working with difficult people that are making my life stressful for no reason.

[00:18:08] Tracy Hayes: Are you finding some sellers right now that are falling in that category? I’ve seen— talking to people— obviously, we know price is everything.

I mean, your house is where it’s at. You can’t change that. Maybe you can do some improvements to it to make it more attractive. Maybe it needs a paint job, maybe it needs new flooring, whatever. But if you've got all that been done, at that point it becomes price.

And I think there’s some sellers out there trying to hang on because in their mind, they either think the value’s there or they're going, “Okay, if I sell the house, I'm gonna clear X amount of dollars. I can use that X amount of dollars to do this, pay off that,” or whatever it is. So they're just stuck with it, and therefore they get nothing.

[00:18:49] Delaney Henderson: Yeah, I mean, your average person does not understand the real estate interest rate that we’re currently working in. You know, they hear about it on the news and, you know, in social media, but they don’t really understand why or how things are—

[00:19:01] Delaney Henderson: —working. There’s a lot of clickbait out there, you know, saying that the market’s crashing and, you know, “Don’t sell your home,” or “Sell your home now,” you know?

[00:19:10] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:19:11] Delaney Henderson: There's a lot of that that we agents deal with every day, and we have to explain: “No, these are the facts. Here’s the data. This is what we’re seeing.” So I think battling that is really difficult right now— I mean, with buyers, sellers— pretty much everybody.

[00:19:21] Tracy Hayes: Well, you and I can convince people a— today, I know I could sell someone to refinance their home. I could convince ’em why it’s important— even though the interest rates are high— to purchase. And you could do the same thing. You could convince someone that they shouldn't sell right now, to wait it out. But then you could convince someone it’s time to get it listed.

[00:19:42] Delaney Henderson: Right.

[00:19:43] Tracy Hayes: We come up with reasons. Ultimately, our goal is to get out of our clients the reasons why they’re even in this discussion with us.

[00:19:51] Delaney Henderson: That’s exactly what I was gonna say. Yeah, because it really depends on what— what’s the scenario? What are you looking for? You know, you want to sell your home for top dollar? Okay, but what is it that you need to sell it for top?

[00:20:00] Delaney Henderson (continued): Are you trying to leave in 30 days? Are you having to leave? Are you being moved by your job? Like, there’s so many more factors involved in that, that help kind of break it down for each person.

And I think really being able to walk into any appointment and knowing the facts and being the expert that you claim you are— with what’s going on in the day-to-day industry— is really important in kind of breaking down what’s going on in this market.

[00:20:26] Tracy Hayes: How many are you mentoring right now? How many—

[00:20:28] Delaney Henderson: Four.

[00:20:28] Tracy Hayes: —agents? Yeah. Four agents right now. Okay. One thing I’ve been wanting to do— and a new agent posted themselves on— and I won’t name the brokerage, but it’s a very popular brokerage here in town. She was a new agent. I said, well— she had some great Instagram stuff, and I reached out to her. I said, “Oh, you’re new. Do you have a mentor?”

Because I’d love to have you— obviously it’s great if someone’s good on social media and a good real estate agent. It’s a plus for me as the show, right, to help get stuff out there, because they're on social media. And I was amazed by— she did not have— didn’t even have any mentor. And this is one of the largest, most popular brokerages in town.

And I was surprised. I was just amazed— like, how do you bring on a new agent into your brokerage and not have them connected with someone who’s doing well there? To me, it’s investing in their success.

[00:21:30] Tracy Hayes (continued): So what I’d like to extend out to you— and we could maybe talk after the show— about your four people you’re mentoring and maybe where they’re at in their mentoring thing, to have them— have you both on the show and talk about the mentoring process for new agents that are coming on, and why it’s important, and what they’re getting out of it— what, you know, where they’re at in their— what they know about real estate so far, which is probably not much, but that’s good. We want to know that.

And then you'll check up— do some checkups, you know, in six months or whatever. Hopefully they're still with us.

[00:21:50] Delaney Henderson: Oh, I talk to ’em every week.

[00:21:52] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:21:52] Delaney Henderson: I do check-ins every week.

[00:21:54] Tracy Hayes: No, I mean have— have you guys come back on the show and say, “Okay, now— I’ve been doing it six months, I’ve been in a year. Delaney’s been my mentor and after so many— you know, she helped me with my first sale,” whatever you guys are doing, you know what I’m saying?

[00:22:03] Delaney Henderson: Yeah, yeah. I mean, honestly, that would be great. I think it's a really smart idea just to kind of see the beginning processes of everything. And even me— of course, I’m still learning even as a mentor of how I can do better and be better and explain things differently. Because it’s difficult.

'Cause I have my own transactions too, so I— you know, the day-to-day hustle and bustle— I’m doing that, and it's, you know, learning to stop.

[00:22:23] Tracy Hayes: Are you having some of them shadow you through?

[00:22:25] Delaney Henderson: Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. On appointments and— mm-hmm, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Without a doubt. And I help— they help me with showings and, you know, I will have them sit with me on a buyer consultation, listing appointments, you know, any properties I’m going to look at. ’Cause I do a lot of investment properties too.

So I— one of the agents I’m mentoring, she’s really very interested in doing like, you know, fix-and-flips and buying a rental property and learning, you know, kind of that part of the industry. So we’ve kind of created her mentorship program focused mainly on that aspect of it.

[00:23:00] Delaney Henderson (continued): As opposed to another agent of mine who really wants to build a strong retail business and, you know, really hit the ground running with buyers and sellers and really holding open houses and all of those things.

So it's— they’re all very different. And we— that's why I sit down with each of them at the very beginning, like, “What is it that you want? What type of life do you want to build? What’s the lifestyle you’re looking for?” Because it's very different, and fortunately so. You need—

[00:23:22] Tracy Hayes: —to make sure they're listening to every episode of the Real Estate Excellence podcast. Because if they go back, all those things that you just mentioned— I’ve had different— you know, there’s— I’ve had agents on. Cindy James was in corporate America. She's now 50/50 partners with a construction company.

The guy had a— was building houses, but he wasn’t good at the back office where she’s an ace at that kind of stuff, and she’s organized. So she started obviously saving him money, cutting processes down. He’s out doing what he does— hammering nails— she’s good at doing what she does, and they do renovations and things like that.

[00:24:00] Tracy Hayes (continued): So listening to the show and listening to the different top agents that come on— and the factor so close, they can actually reach out and call them and have coffee with them.

[00:24:06] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.

[00:24:07] Tracy Hayes: It is not someone from California. This is someone right here in Northeast Florida, right here in Jacksonville or St. Augustine or Fernandina or whatever.

All right. We're talking about new agents. Let’s go back to you as a new agent. What actually brought you— because you did some— I saw paralegal, if I recall—

[00:24:18] Delaney Henderson: Yes.

[00:24:19] Tracy Hayes: —on your list of things that you were doing prior. What made you make the command decision to jump into the family industry of real estate and make that dive into becoming an agent?

[00:24:30] Delaney Henderson: My parents were very against me getting into real estate.

[00:24:33] Tracy Hayes: Were they?

[00:24:35] Delaney Henderson: Yes, they were.

[00:24:35] Tracy Hayes: How about today?

[00:24:36] Delaney Henderson: They're very supportive of it now. I mean, because they know that I’m so happy working real estate.

[00:24:40] Tracy Hayes: Well, I mean, you're a success. You're not asking them for money, I hope.

[00:24:44] Delaney Henderson: No.

[00:24:44] Tracy Hayes: You're—

[00:24:45] Delaney Henderson: I’m definitely on my own.

[00:24:46] Tracy Hayes: You're paying your own bills.

[00:24:47] Delaney Henderson: Yeah. No, they just know how hard the industry could be and how defeating it can be. And that’s really what they were kind of hesitant about when I started.

But no, yeah, I was a paralegal. I loved being a paralegal. I mean, it was— I worked for a defense law firm in Washington, D.C. So I— I mean, I was ready to go. I got my bachelor's degree.

[00:25:08] Tracy Hayes: Did you live in the city or did you live in Virginia or Maryland?

[00:25:10] Delaney Henderson: I lived in Arlington, in Virginia.

[00:25:12] Tracy Hayes: Okay.

[00:25:13] Delaney Henderson: Yeah, right outside the city though.

[00:25:14] Tracy Hayes: I spent most of the '90s in Centerville.

[00:25:15] Delaney Henderson: Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. I loved it and I loved my job. I loved— you know, it was very difficult, very, very difficult dealing with the clients that we were dealing with. Very sad, very disheartening, because, you know, a lot of it was insurance claims, car crashes, and things like that.

But I loved having the ability to help people. And that was really what I— I didn’t even realize was the foundation that I was trying to build: just a system where I could work in a job, in an industry, that I was helping people.

[00:25:52] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:25:53] Delaney Henderson: And it wasn’t necessarily being in law that was what was my driving force— and I thought it was.

[00:25:58] Tracy Hayes: That’s your high at the end of it. To know that you've guided somebody, and then obviously they're happy—

[00:26:00] Delaney Henderson: Yes.

[00:26:00] Tracy Hayes: —and give you the appreciation back.

[00:26:02] Delaney Henderson: Mm-hmm.

[00:26:02] Tracy Hayes: Saying, “Thank you, because we don’t know how we would’ve done it without you.”

[00:26:04] Delaney Henderson: Yeah. And that’s really what drives me every single day. But it took me a long time to realize that and to realize that that’s what I wanted, and that I could build a career off of that.

But again, when I was a paralegal, it was exhausting. You know, I was getting tendonitis in my arms—

[00:26:20] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:26:21] Delaney Henderson: —because I was on the computer all day, and it was exhausting in every aspect of it. And so I, you know, I came to a point where I’m like, “I can't do this anymore.” Like, it’s not helping my physical body, like mentally it’s destroying me, seeing these tragic car crash cases. It was just very, very brutal.

And so I ended up— one of my really close friends, she was a real estate agent, and she’s like, “Why don’t you just get your real estate license, you know, while you're— stay being a paralegal, just get it and then come with me on a few appointments and whatnot.”

[00:26:48] Tracy Hayes: That was still in— that was still Virginia?

[00:26:50] Delaney Henderson: It was still in Arlington, yeah. Mm-hmm. Still in Virginia. And so I did. I got licensed in Virginia. And around the same timeframe, I made the decision actually to move back down to Florida to be closer to my family.

So I’d just gotten licensed— been licensed about a year, year and a half or so, but really wasn’t taking it super seriously, and I was just kind of really trying to learn and adapt and try to just build a base before I even jumped full time into being a real estate agent.

And then I became an assistant of a real estate agent for about six months and just saw how successful she was and how much fun she was having. You know, I could see the hardships, I could see the day-to-day, but I really was just like, “Wow, she has so much flexibility. She has so much time to really dedicate to her clients.” Like, that’s what I want to do.

And so I ended up moving back down to Florida— to Jacksonville. But I had no network. I had nothing. This was right before COVID happened.

And I just set my mind, and I was like, “I’m gonna do this. And I’m gonna do this the whole way. I’m gonna see it through.” And so I literally, every single day, I started hand-writing letters to— you know—

[00:28:00] Delaney Henderson (continued): If I could even find some of the marketing material back then, it would honestly crack me up. But I would hand-write on all of the envelopes, because someone who sees it handwritten on an envelope is more likely going to open it versus having it typed and printed.

And so I started doing that every day. I’d write 10, 20, 30 letters a day and just— you know, really just shooting for the stars and trying—

[00:28:22] Tracy Hayes: —something. Who? Just people you ran into?

[00:28:24] Delaney Henderson: Yes.

[00:28:25] Delaney Henderson: People I ran into, family, friends. I would hold an open house and then everybody that came through the open house, I would handwrite them a thank you card for coming to the open house.

[00:28:35] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:28:36] Delaney Henderson: It was just different ideas that I was trying— just sporadically, kind of no function, like no systems, no processes, no efficient model for building a business. I had nothing. I did not know what I was doing.

[00:28:48] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:28:48] Delaney Henderson: But it allowed me to meet people. And then the hardest part was meeting people during COVID. So all I could do was write letters, you know, and text messages and stuff, but like for the most part, we were all kind of locked in our house. And for a while we couldn’t even hold open houses.

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

[00:29:01] Delaney Henderson: And so it was really tough. But I was determined. So I wrote those letters and I sent out marketing material, and I did everything I could. And slowly, over the course of about a year, I started getting buyers. And then it was difficult, because I had probably 10, 15 buyers ready to buy in a market that was so difficult for buyers.

[00:29:20] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:29:21] Delaney Henderson: So— so flip-flopped. And I was like, all right. You know, so— but every single time that one of my buyers would find a house, I would be like, “All right, this is what we have to do to get it— to win it.” And I would tell them exactly what we need to do. And there were very few offers that we did not get accepted because—

[00:29:42] Tracy Hayes: That’s awesome.

[00:29:42] Delaney Henderson: I would just— and then I would build rapport with that agent of like, “Hey, I know you have seven other offers that are better than my buyer’s best offer, but I can promise you I will do everything I can to make this seamless,” and whatever.

And that goes a really long way with agents. I mean, if they feel confident in the buyer's agent working with them on their listing— that the house is actually gonna close— it makes all the difference.

[00:30:01] Tracy Hayes: All right. So if you're listening to this right now, what she— what you just described, I've heard so many— from the other side. Not from the other side, but from agents that have been on here, about agents on the other side that are just not getting it.

Like, they'll send an offer without even calling the listing agent, for example, and letting them know it’s coming, or try to get any— “Hey, what are the sellers looking for? Do they need to close quickly? Or maybe they need a 60-day close for whatever reason,” but they're not warming that relationship up.

Talk to how— what you found by creating those relationships has created success.

[00:30:40] Delaney Henderson: Oh yeah. And I mean, even further than that— the relationships I’ve built, even some of the ones that— like our offers didn’t end up getting accepted, but I spent 30, 45 minutes on the phone with that agent just talking to them and building a relationship with them.

On the next transaction— because this is a small industry— at the end of the day, next transaction, they remember me and they're like, “Hey look, I remember that feeling of feeling super confident. I’m sorry the seller didn’t end up taking your buyer’s offer, but like, here we are again.”

[00:31:00] Delaney Henderson (continued): “Here we meet up again.” And it just goes such a long way. I have listings— every single day when I tell you, I will just spontaneously get an offer. And even worse, like it'll be sent from a random email and it'll go to my spam folder.

[00:31:16] Tracy Hayes: Wow.

[00:31:17] Delaney Henderson: Well, I don't check my spam folder every day. That agent never texted me, called me— nothing.

[00:31:23] Tracy Hayes: Exactly. I can't believe it.

[00:31:26] Delaney Henderson: So it's been two days and there's an offer sitting in my spam folder and that agent hasn’t even called or texted me. And then they’ll be like, “Hey, so I’m assuming the seller just didn’t respond.” I’m like, “To what?”

[00:31:36] Tracy Hayes: Respond to what?

[00:31:37] Delaney Henderson: “What are you talking about?” And it’s like— so in my offer instructions, I’m like, “Please text me to confirm that—”

[00:31:43] Tracy Hayes: You shouldn’t even have to say that.

[00:31:45] Delaney Henderson: You shouldn’t, but like—

[00:31:47] Tracy Hayes: This is hundreds of thousands of dollar transactions. You're getting paid very well on the other end of the deal, and you can't even let the selling agent know, “Hey, I’ve sent it. Confirm that you’ve received my offer”?

[00:32:00] Tracy Hayes (continued): That just— it blows my mind. But it’s not shocking.

[00:32:06] Delaney Henderson: No, it’s not. Yeah. And it's tough, because again— like, that agent’s not gonna get paid until the transaction closes. And vice versa. That’s our job— is to make sure that it's as seamless as possible and to get to that closing table.

And when you're not working with the other agent on the other side— and even when you go under contract— when you're not being reasonable and, you know, even if your client’s being unreasonable—

[00:32:06] Delaney Henderson: You still have that, you know, that conversation with that agent being like, “Hey look, I know this repair request is 17 pages long. I understand it. Let's break it down.” Like, you know, “We're on the same team here. We're both trying to do the best we can for our clients. Let’s break it down. What are the absolute most critical things on this list for the buyer?”

“You know, I will make sure I do everything I can to make sure that these are done. Are they okay if I can get these ones?” You know, like— it's just really kind of working as a team that I think gets lost so often. And it’s unfortunate because you’re working for your clients, but if you can’t work as a team with the other agent, it’s really difficult—

[00:33:06] Tracy Hayes: —to get right. Well, you said something before the show we haven’t spoke about, and that was your— you know, being with eXp and not interacting with other agents, you know, in an office setting or whatever. You just felt you were on an island.

When you're in a transaction and making an offer— you know, if you're a new agent and you're listening to this— obviously Delaney gets it. That's your partner. This is the agent on the other side—

[00:33:30] Delaney Henderson: Absolutely.

[00:33:31] Tracy Hayes: —someone who wants to buy a home, and you have someone who wants to sell it. And the two of you need to actually, you know, get everyone to come to an agreement.

Tom likes to use— transparency. I forget the phrase he uses— transparent— but be as transparent as possible. Because if the seller told you, “Hey, we need a quick closing,” or “We need a delayed closing,” or “We need to get this amount of money here,” or “We need this, that and the other,” and the buyer’s telling you, “Well, we need some closing costs covered,” then—

[00:34:00] Tracy Hayes (continued): —we need to be open with each other and put the puzzle together— together. And it is just going to be a more peaceful transaction.

But I think what happens is we all choose sides. Whether it’s politics or sports, we choose sides. And some people get a little too overzealous for a baseball team or a football team. It's like— dude, calm down. It's just a game. Okay?

To be transparent with each other— yeah, maybe you give up something. But you know what? If your client agrees to giving up whatever that is, or making that repair, they're gonna say, “Alright, we'll make that repair to make it happen.” That’s their choice. You're just putting it out there on the table, saying, “This will get it done. Are you willing to accept it? Or do you want me to go back and fight it?”

Don't kill the messenger. I think it would just make— you know, there's always negotiations that are going to happen. Every deal has its hair to it. That’s part of real estate. But the more— and I think, like you said, you started creating relationships with agents, whether you won the deal or not—

[00:35:00] Tracy Hayes (continued): —and the multiple deals, they now knew your name. So when you came up again—

[00:35:04] Delaney Henderson: You don’t burn bridges. Like there are so many agents in this industry that, you know, the transaction will close and they’ve been frustrated the whole time, and they, you know, will burn a bridge with the other agent.

And, you know, I can’t tell you how many times I hear that a day, and I'm like—

[00:35:20] Tracy Hayes: That'll never pay off.

[00:35:21] Delaney Henderson: I understand. I get the frustration— trust me. I deal with it every single day. I get— when I’m dealing with another agent that’s not easy to work with and won’t respond for three days and I’m like, “Hello?” Like I deal with this every day.

That’s probably one of the most— the hardest parts of this industry is working with so many different personality types. Right? Like, because you have your client’s personality, you have the lender, you have the buyer’s agent— there’s so many different personalities all trying to meet together—

[00:35:58] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:35:58] Delaney Henderson: —and close on a transaction. But never burn bridges. Because I mean, even if you are dealing with the most frustrating agent on the other end, you have no idea if in a month, a year, or five years, you’re gonna work with that agent again.

[00:36:00] Tracy Hayes: Right. Or you're gonna get in a multiple offer situation and another same offer—

[00:36:04] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.

[00:36:04] Tracy Hayes: —that agent that’s looking at those offers has the power to say, “Hey, you know, I like her ’cause she’s easy to work with and I’ve had successful transactions. Okay, go with her.”

[00:36:13] Delaney Henderson: Well, and I have sellers— I mean, especially sellers I work with frequently, you know—

[00:36:17] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:36:17] Delaney Henderson: —they ask me straight up all the time like, “Well, I know we have these two offers on the table. Which buyer’s agent do you feel like can get us through?”

[00:36:25] Tracy Hayes: Get it done.

[00:36:26] Delaney Henderson: A hundred percent. Yes. And they should be asking that. Because if I can’t give them a straight answer— I’m like, “Hey look, this is the conversation I had with this one. This one— I called her three times, she didn’t answer. But the next day she called me back and it was a great conversation. But like, this is what happened.”

You know, it's like— that’s important information to know when you're signing a contract.

[00:36:46] Tracy Hayes: Yes. I’m gonna say that has a lot to do with maturity.

[00:36:49] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.

[00:36:50] Tracy Hayes: You know, I was probably late to the game. You're earlier to the game than I am when it comes to maturity. But most women are, so it comes—

[00:37:00] Tracy Hayes: —goes, what is this nasty email going to get me? You know, what is being the nastiest person— going off on them on the phone— gonna get me? Is it worth it? Or should I just go talk to the dog and yell at the dog and then come back?

[00:37:12] Delaney Henderson: Yeah. I do this all the time. I call agents sometimes— they'll send me a nasty email— and I’m like, “Hey, I got your email. Are you good? Like, it’s not that serious. We’re all trying to work together here.”

Like, I understand you're frustrated because, you know, the sellers said they would do the repairs and they didn't do them by the date they said, and we’re a day late— like, I get it. But let’s all breathe. We're all still trying to get to closing. Like, I understand.

And also the biggest thing— and this is such an important thing— is taking accountability. Like even top-producing agents— they mess up, they’re late on things, they don’t respond on time, they’re on vacation, God forbid.

[00:37:48] Tracy Hayes: And—

[00:37:49] Delaney Henderson: You know, there’s just things that happen in our everyday lives. And like, you know, you get an email like, “I need to know by 12 o’clock,” just for example, and you don’t get a response till 1:30— like, that’s okay. You know what I mean?

[00:38:05] Tracy Hayes: Calling— to me, if you’re listening to that— if I send you an email and I need a response by noon, and let’s say it’s 9 o’clock, I’ve got to send a message to make sure you received that message.

[00:38:14] Delaney Henderson: Yep.

[00:38:15] Tracy Hayes: Because you might not go in and check your emails for—

[00:38:17] Delaney Henderson: That’s exactly what I was gonna say. Yeah. It’s like calling to follow up with them— “Hey, I really need a response by 12 o’clock.” Totally understand— honestly, that’s how it works in real estate— but like, making sure they got that message.

Not giving an hour to get something big done, you know? Like being reasonable about it. And then if that agent calls and is like, “Hey, I’m so sorry…”— depending on the scenario, of course— but like, “Hey, I’m so sorry. I’m responding right now, I’m on top of it,” you know, like, “Everything’s being handled. I might be three minutes late, but…”

And just being willing to be like, “Okay. Let’s break it down. I need a response, but send it to me now while we’re on the phone.”

[00:38:55] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Well, you're setting it up for success. You’re setting the expectations so they can be successful. Because that’s what your goal is— your success is both sides are successful and you sell the house.

Tell us a little bit— you had the opportunity to work as an assistant in Virginia—

[00:39:10] Delaney Henderson: Mm-hmm.

[00:39:11] Tracy Hayes: So at what point— you know, you're out there on your own, it’s now Delaney Henderson, she’s the brand, she’s everything— what are some of the challenges, some of the things that you share when you're mentoring that you're like, “Hey, when I started, I didn’t even know this. So I want you to know…”

[00:39:26] Delaney Henderson: First two years are the hardest. And you’ve gotta find a way to be different. And the biggest thing for me is: make sure you're the expert in your field. Read every book. Get coffee with every agent that you aspire to be. That’s the biggest thing.

[00:39:41] Tracy Hayes: Oh, good advice. Good advice.

[00:39:43] Delaney Henderson: And like, making it happen. Because these agents are busy. They’re busy people. I’m probably one of the busiest people that you’re ever gonna meet. I am very busy— my schedule is booked.

But calling that agent and being like, “Hey, I know you're very busy. Can we meet in two weeks, three weeks, whatever, for 15 minutes? Can I get 15 minutes of your time?”

And truthfully speaking, when I first started, that is what catapulted not only my business, but it expanded my mindset of learning from so many different agents that were everything I wanted to be. You know, and everything that I saw— they’re closing the most luxury listings I could ever dream about having.

And, you know, building a team that I didn’t even know if I wanted— or, you know— it was just learning the different ways that— how did they get there? What are they doing now? What are they doing? How do they delegate?

Delegation is a very important tool that I’m still learning to this day. But like, how are they doing it that is different than another agent? And then holding all of those conversations, compiling it, and building your business with little bits and pieces of everything.

[00:40:57] Tracy Hayes: Right. Right. Which—

[00:40:58] Delaney Henderson: —is so important. And that’s truly what I did in the very beginning. Like, I called— I mean, truly— probably the top five agents that I even—

[00:41:00] Tracy Hayes: Did someone give you that advice? Where did you get that?

[00:41:03] Delaney Henderson: About doing that?

[00:41:04] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Or you know, because obviously— I mean, it’s one thing if you go out and meet one or two people. Someone told me to go out and talk to a couple. Okay. But you sound like you met a lot of people.

[00:41:09] Delaney Henderson: I did. I met a lot of people. And then, you know, some agents didn’t have time to meet, so I would just talk to them on the phone. But it’s crazy to think that even the top-producing agents that— especially me being a brand new agent— that I would see these agents closing these deals and, you know, whatever…

And I kind of— like, it was a mindset thing. It was totally in my head. But I didn’t look at myself as like— “They’re not gonna wanna talk to me. They’re not gonna wanna get coffee with me.” And I was so wrong.

Like, the most— I mean, truthfully, some of the top producing agents are some of the nicest people that I have ever met in my life.

[00:41:44] Delaney Henderson: Yeah. And I was not expecting that at the—

[00:41:44] Tracy Hayes: Beginning. Well, I’m going to interrupt you— every agent that I’ve had on is open to— you know, every agent— they’re all top producers.

[00:41:54] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.

[00:41:55] Tracy Hayes: They’re all willing to collaborate because of all the things that we just talked about in the last 15 minutes about reaching out to and knowing each other. Got a client? The person they've collaborated with, they’ve gotten to know, you know, has a seller.

You create those relationships. Or— one of the— I forget who this was, a while back, but I’ve mentioned it numerous times throughout the years on the show— an agent told me, “Yeah, I had a seller— a friend of mine. They lived in this part of Northeast Florida, but I wasn’t familiar with it because I lived— you know, they lived in Fernandina and I lived in St. Johns.

But they wanted me to represent them. But I wasn’t really familiar, so I called an agent who works that area and said, ‘Hey, my friend wants to sell the house.’ Everyone understands they want their friend to sell, you know, so how should I market? Or whatever questions they had— what’s the best way to sell a house in an area they weren’t familiar with?”

And when you create relationships— and those top agents— they do want to collaborate. They do want to tell you how they did it. They know they’re not giving away any top secrets— or maybe a secret— but the reality is, the amount of people who take advantage of those nuggets that you’re talking about are few and far between.

[00:43:01] Delaney Henderson: Yeah. And really, that’s what set me apart from a lot of the other agents. I met an agent that had been in this industry for 25 years, and he was kind enough to— the first, I think, two months I was here— every weekend he would drive me around and literally drive me through the neighborhoods and be like, “This is a great neighborhood for this reason. This is a great neighborhood for this reason. This is a local coffee shop that you definitely want to take your clients to who are moving in from out of the area— because it’s local—” you know, he would explain all this to me.

And I mean, he spent hours with me. And while it really didn’t “benefit” him at all— quote-unquote— he wanted to help other agents. And I was like, “This is profound. This is amazing.”

[00:43:42] Tracy Hayes: Well, it’s kind of like that— if you really want to get to know a subject, you teach it.

[00:43:46] Delaney Henderson: Mm-hmm.

[00:43:47] Tracy Hayes: And he was doing activities that— he knew he could do it— but now he had a reason to do those activities. That’s the way I always go to things and look at things and, you know— what’s the two-edged sword? What’s the collateral benefit of me doing this? “Well, it’s gonna help that too.”

[00:44:00] Tracy Hayes (continued): So okay, alright. Now I’m killing two birds with one stone. And then obviously, I think a lot of people want to— many of them don’t understand how to— but obviously you look back and you remember him, and how he affected your business, and that’s really the mark—

[00:44:15] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.

[00:44:16] Tracy Hayes: —that some people want to leave on others.

[00:44:18] Delaney Henderson: I could say five years later.

[00:44:19] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:44:20] Delaney Henderson: Yeah. A hundred percent.

[00:44:22] Tracy Hayes: There’s this book called Grit. Have you read it?

[00:44:24] Delaney Henderson: I have.

[00:44:25] Tracy Hayes: You have? Good, okay. A long time ago, but I have. Angela Duckworth.

[00:44:28] Delaney Henderson: Yep.

[00:44:28] Tracy Hayes: So a while back— and eventually I’m gonna put this talk together— I call— and grit’s— I want to— I’m gonna take a book about the show, but— because I think real estate agents— you’ve got to have grit to be in this business. If you have not tested your grit in the business—

[00:44:45] Delaney Henderson: You haven’t been in the business long enough.

[00:44:46] Tracy Hayes: Right, yeah. But I call it the “LLC of Grit.” To me, people who have the LLC in my experience with grit— and that’s: Love, Laughter, and Consistency.

[00:45:00] Tracy Hayes (continued): Okay, so tell us why you love real estate— assuming you do.

[00:45:08] Delaney Henderson: I love real estate. I love how it's the only industry that I’ve found that is constantly changing every single day. Small ways, big ways. It’s affected by everything. It’s not affected by anything. It’s such a unique industry that I don’t think— at least in my experience— I’ve been able to find anywhere else.

It doesn’t force me into doing the same thing every single day, which is what I wanted. That was the biggest thing. And it allows me the ability to help other people and to fight for other people that are just sometimes so lost. They don’t even know any part of where to start. They have no idea.

And the biggest thing is, like— some people come to me and they’re like, “Hey, I don’t know when I’m— or if ever— going to be able to buy a house. But I just want to talk to you. I’m sorry for wasting your time,” you know, whatever. And turns out— we’ve worked with— I’ve worked with her for a month, and she can buy a house. She very much can buy a house.

And now, you know— say three months later, we’re closing on her very first home that she’s worked so hard for. And it’s like— seeing the look on my client’s face at that point, it’s like— no matter how hard that transaction was to get to that closing table, it’s so worth it. I don’t even think about it. It’s not even a blip on my mind.

[00:46:00] Delaney Henderson (continued): Because I see how happy it makes people. And just— again, sellers in desperate situations where they’re stressed, you know, they owe way more on their mortgage than their house is worth. And, you know, it’s sitting down and explaining the situation and coming up with a game plan that will ease the stress they’ve been living with for six months.

That’s really why I love this industry. And I can’t imagine doing anything else. I really can’t. So now it’s just learning how to— time management, time block, and set stronger boundaries, you know?

[00:46:54] Tracy Hayes: We’ll get into that topic here in a minute. I’m gonna write that down right here to make sure we do.

The second “L” is Laughter. And to me, you have to be able— in life— to laugh at yourself.

[00:47:00] Tracy Hayes (continued): You’ve had situations— you know, it’s funny. When I asked ChatGPT to create the intro, it found “grit” in your bio somehow. I didn’t even read your bio. I just copied the case and threw it in there and said, “Give me an intro.” Of course, it knows I talk about grit because I load grit in there a lot, or I ask it a lot on the show.

And I believe we’ve all come through—

[00:47:44] Tracy Hayes: Situations now where you guys are probably at a cocktail party and someone asks you about real estate— there’s probably a story you tell that, you know, a deal gone sideways or a deal that just blew up and really set you back from a standpoint of like, “Am I real? Should I be doing this?”

Can you share with us a time where, you know, a situation in real estate really just set you back— made you question why you're even doing it— and then what you did, how you got out of it, and now you laugh about it?

[00:48:05] Delaney Henderson: Yeah. There's so many. Um, I'll just kind of give you a very basic one. I had probably one of the worst— just, I don’t know if it was luck, I don’t know if I just dropped the ball on something, or if karma just came back around for something I did— you know, who knows?

But I had one of the hardest weeks last year in real estate where I had three closings that week, and two buyers we were waiting on responses for their offers. It was a busy week, right?

[00:48:28] Tracy Hayes: For sure. Very good situation to have.

[00:48:29] Delaney Henderson: Of course. And then on top of it, I had life happening. Because we do have lives outside real estate, as crazy as it sounds.

And I cannot make this up if I tried— every one of my closings just completely fell through. Got delayed. Just— literally just—

[00:48:54] Tracy Hayes: Chaos.

[00:48:56] Delaney Henderson: Just absolute chaos. And so I’m like, “Okay, alright, but I have these buyers. Their offers have to be accepted, because we've already been through the crap of the week.”

And I kid you not— the houses we made offers on were sitting on the market. Like, they weren’t just listed, it wasn’t stressful, none of that. And both of those offers— another offer came in that was higher. One agent didn’t even tell us— they just accepted the other offer. So we didn’t even have a chance.

And the other offer, we had to just come up. It was back and forth, it was stressful— and they didn’t end up taking the offer.

I was like, “Why am I doing this?” It was the most defeating— I cannot even explain to you— the most defeating week that I’ve ever had in my life.

And I took like a two-day sabbatical. I was like, “I can’t do this anymore. This is exhausting.” All these clients are mad at me— and it’s tough to explain situations. Like, we deal with the day-to-day of the transaction. Sometimes we deal with things that we don’t even tell our clients about—

[00:49:58] Tracy Hayes: Oh yeah.

[00:50:00] Delaney Henderson: —because there’s no reason to. It doesn’t affect them at all.

[00:50:01] Tracy Hayes: It’s why they hired you.

[00:50:02] Delaney Henderson: It’s why they hired me— to take care of those things.

[00:50:03] Tracy Hayes: Yep.

[00:50:03] Delaney Henderson: It’s stress that we take on so that they don’t have to, right? And so they only see what we’re relaying to them.

And I’ve learned that’s a catch-22. Because while you’re preventing the stress they could encounter, now— if they don’t know about all these details, they’re going to— hopefully not, but sometimes— look at you like, “Well, why didn’t you prevent this situation?”

Even though you— you know— there’s no way you could have. Just little things. So it was just absolute chaos. And I ended up calling my very first mentor I ever had, on the phone, and I was just sobbing. I was just sobbing. I was like, “I can’t do this anymore. I don’t know how you’ve done this. You run one of the biggest teams in Jacksonville— like, how do you do this?”

And she was like, “You just need to calm down and figure out how to make this work.”

And I’m like, “You’re so right.” And she was so right.

And I did. I figured it out. I got all three of those closings back on the table— they closed the following week. And both of those buyers found better houses.

[00:51:07] Delaney Henderson (continued): Like, it all worked out.

[00:51:08] Tracy Hayes: Yes. It always does work out for the better.

There’s no doubt. And again— getting through that, it goes back to maturity, too. You had a great thing going on— you had five active situations. Three of them were at the goal line. You just had to punch them over—

[00:51:21] Delaney Henderson: Were literally right there.

[00:51:22] Tracy Hayes: And the other two— wasn’t exactly— just because they didn’t get those homes, doesn’t mean they weren’t going to find better, which often happens.

[00:51:27] Delaney Henderson: Oh, they did. Yeah.

[00:51:28] Tracy Hayes: They end up finding a better home when they thought— it's unanswered prayers, is what I—

[00:51:31] Delaney Henderson: It is.

[00:51:32] Tracy Hayes: It really— a lot of times, when— it can bring— knock you down to your knees.

[00:51:35] Delaney Henderson: It did.

[00:51:36] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:51:37] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.

[00:51:37] Tracy Hayes: It does. This industry is not for the weak.

But having someone to call that you’ve created a relationship with— I think at the tail end of that story, you're right. You called your mentor and they brought you back down to reality. And I’m sure Brittany would’ve done the same, you know, if you called her.

[00:51:52] Delaney Henderson: Oh yeah.

[00:51:52] Delaney Henderson: She would've grounded you and let you know— it's still alive, there's still a heartbeat.
[00:52:00] Tracy Hayes: So let’s keep going.
[00:52:01] Delaney Henderson: Mm-hmm.
[00:52:02] Tracy Hayes: And then, you know, obviously the sun will rise again tomorrow.
[00:52:04] Delaney Henderson: Half the time Brittany calls me and we just laugh.
[00:52:06] Tracy Hayes: Well, that's why I call that part “laughter.”
[00:52:08] Delaney Henderson: Mm-hmm.
[00:52:09] Tracy Hayes: Because you laugh about that.
[00:52:10] Delaney Henderson: You have to.
[00:52:11] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. You have to.
[00:52:12] Delaney Henderson: You have to.
[00:52:13] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, because today a deal gets pushed out or, you know, when you’ve got one a week, you're like— oh, I had a day where I had five of those. No big deal.
[00:52:19] Delaney Henderson: Yeah. And you have to remember those things, even on the weeks you’re winning— and you have so many closings, and you’ve made all this money, and your clients are so happy, and it’s just the best week ever— you still have to remember those hard weeks.
[00:52:32] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.
[00:52:33] Delaney Henderson: Because if you don’t, then when it is a hard week, you're gonna spiral.
[00:52:36] Tracy Hayes: Yes.
[00:52:37] Delaney Henderson: And it's very difficult to get back from that.

[00:52:40] Tracy Hayes: Alright, so the “C” in my LLC is consistency. What have you evolved that you feel you're doing today consistently in your business? Whether that’s daily, weekly, monthly— but something you're doing religiously. It might not be every day, but at least something you're doing that moves the needle.

[00:53:05] Delaney Henderson: Oh— that’s staying in contact with your past clients.
[00:53:08] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.
[00:53:09] Delaney Henderson: That’s the biggest thing. That’s what’s catapulted my business. And it’s in little ways. It varies— text messages, phone calls, getting lunches, remembering birthdays, sending quarterly pop-bys or Popeyes. It's little touches and little things.

Also, building strong relationships with them to begin with, so that it’s not even a task at that point— it’s not something difficult to do.

That’s really the biggest thing. I have never failed to deliver my annual Christmas gifts, and my Thanksgiving gifts, and my summer sunscreen— it’s like these little things that they just know. And then they get excited 'cause I’ll stop by and they’ll see me, and I get to see the changes they’ve made in their house.

So it’s really staying consistent with keeping in contact with people. Especially as your business grows, and you do more transactions— and now that, you know, 20 houses you closed last year just doubled, and now you’ve got 40 families to stay in contact with.

Making that the priority.

[00:54:08] Tracy Hayes: Initially, that doesn’t sound like a lot, right?
[00:54:10] Delaney Henderson: No.
[00:54:11] Tracy Hayes: Because I think a lot of people, what they do is go, “Oh, I had 10 sales last year. That’s just 10 people. I’ll call them eventually. I can do that in 15 minutes.” And then they put it off, and they put it off, and they put it off.

Then they have another year, they do a little bit better, and now they’ve got another 10–15 people they’re not calling…

[00:54:30] Delaney Henderson: It builds quickly.
[00:54:30] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. And then you realize— “Oh my God, how many sales did I miss?” Or this first 30 transactions that I had— they actually referred somebody else 'cause they forgot your name.

[00:54:41] Delaney Henderson: Yeah. Yeah. It’s true. It happens all the time. You can’t prevent that, for the most part—
[00:54:47] Tracy Hayes: But you can.
[00:54:48] Delaney Henderson: —but you can prevent it by building relationships with these people.
[00:54:51] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Well— so do you have a manual process? Are you working a CRM? How are you—
[00:54:56] Delaney Henderson: Well, I have a full-time assistant now.
[00:54:58] Tracy Hayes: Okay.
[00:54:59] Delaney Henderson: So she’s handling all of that. Thank goodness. She’s my saving grace.
[00:55:01] Tracy Hayes: Now, did you develop that when she came on? Or did you have something already developed that she took over?
[00:55:05] Delaney Henderson: No— I’ll be honest with you. I’m the worst with technology. So I was working out of Google Sheets for years.
[00:55:11] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.
[00:55:12] Delaney Henderson: It was bad. So I would literally just go down the list and make it a goal— stop by two of these houses on this list a week. And if I could do more, if I was in the area, I’d stop by one more. You know, whatever. It really just kind of varied.

So now we have a whole schedule and we plan it out well in advance, to keep it easy, and to keep it important.

Because I also— what I don’t want to do is make any of my clients feel like they’re not a priority, or that they’re not just as important as they were four years ago when we closed on their house.

So we sit down— I mean every quarter we sit down and we come up with a plan of action of how I’m going to make contact with these people. If I don’t have three phone calls with three of my clients this week, I will not have checked those boxes.

[00:55:58] Tracy Hayes: So is this a virtual assistant, or someone—
[00:55:59] Delaney Henderson: No, she’s here.
[00:56:00] Tracy Hayes: She’s here in Jacksonville?
[00:56:00] Delaney Henderson: Yes.
[00:56:01] Tracy Hayes: A hundred percent you? Or are you sharing her with others?
[00:56:03] Delaney Henderson: She’s my assistant.
[00:56:03] Tracy Hayes: A hundred percent. So you’ve got her on salary?
[00:56:05] Delaney Henderson: Yes.
[00:56:05] Tracy Hayes: On payroll.
[00:56:06] Delaney Henderson: Mm-hmm. Full-time.

[00:56:09] Delaney Henderson: Yep.
[00:56:09] Tracy Hayes: Eight hours a day?
[00:56:10] Delaney Henderson: Yep. She's awesome.
[00:56:12] Tracy Hayes: Well, real estate—
[00:56:14] Delaney Henderson: It kind of varies, but she goes above and beyond. She's so great.
[00:56:16] Tracy Hayes: Well, okay— because I can guarantee you there's agents listening right now who are saying, “What are you keeping her busy with for 40 hours a week?”
[00:56:25] Delaney Henderson: So many things.
[00:56:26] Tracy Hayes: Just give me some details.
[00:56:28] Delaney Henderson: I mean, I have seven properties under contract right now. I have eight new listings. I think five closings this month. I mean, we're busy.
[00:56:35] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.
[00:56:36] Delaney Henderson: We’re very— it’s way too much. Way more than I can handle. And she's studying to get her real estate license too because she’s not licensed yet.
[00:56:43] Tracy Hayes: Right. Now, does she want to become an agent or she just wants to help you— because she’s licensed, she can do more for you?
[00:56:48] Delaney Henderson: She wants to become an agent so that she can do agent things. I really— I call her my partner because I don’t like calling her “assistant.”
[00:56:56] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.
[00:56:57] Delaney Henderson: It sounds weird to me. So she wants to really just be able to co-list properties with me because I am co-listing a few with a couple other agents right now. So it’s things like that. She’s so busy, I’m so busy— I don’t know how she’s managing it, but she is so on top of it. And finding the right person to be able to take over the way I would take over was so hard.

[00:57:19] Tracy Hayes: So is she being a transaction coordinator for you?
[00:57:21] Delaney Henderson: Yep.
[00:57:22] Tracy Hayes: Okay, so she’s a— we’ll say jack-of-all-trades. She’s basically being the assistant— yes— to everything that you're unable to get to. Whatever it is: marketing, she’s keeping clients up to date on where the transaction’s at, and all that kind of stuff. Alright.

I want to step back because this is a subject that I think is very important. 'Cause I think every agent— every agent that sticks with it— eventually reaches it. It could be in their first year, it might take them five years, but they reach a lid, where they’ve been doing everything all themselves, and now it’s time for them to drop some of this stuff off— or in this case, hire an assistant.

At what point did you make that command decision? Did you get advice? How did you work through it and eventually make the hire?

[00:58:09] Delaney Henderson: I did. It was tough. I called back— I think it was 2022 and 2023— I called an agent, the same real estate agent who had been mentoring me for a few years. I asked her that exact question. I had so much going on, and it was starting to affect my relationships with my family. It was really starting to impact my day-to-day life.

But I didn’t want to start a team. I was not interested in that at the time. I just— I run things the way that I run things, and the idea of bringing in other agents… it was just so overwhelming at that point. And she was like, “You need to just break it down and learn how to time-manage your entire schedule yourself, or bring on somebody to help you time-manage it.”

So I went through 2024 not taking the advice. And honestly, the reason being was— the thought of interviewing and trying to find a person that could manage everything I was dealing with… that just seemed like, ugh, let me add one more thing to my plate. It was exhausting. I didn’t have time to interview people. I was tired and I was so busy.

And I finally met the assistant that I have now. And the first time I talked to her, I was like, “I need you to work with me.”

[00:59:28] Tracy Hayes: Was this through an official interview, or just—?
[00:59:30] Delaney Henderson: Yes.
[00:59:31] Tracy Hayes: Okay.
[00:59:32] Delaney Henderson: I talked to her on the phone first, and then I talked to her in person. And she was so organized, and she was everything that I was striving to be— but I was so busy I couldn’t be that focused, or prioritize, or anything.

That really is what I needed. I knew I needed that first, before I could make any decisions— whether it was start a team, be a mentor— I needed help first, before I could even think about what I want next for my business.

And it was the best decision I ever made. I mean, truthfully speaking, it really was.

[01:00:02] Tracy Hayes: Tell me— because I think a lot of agents reach this point. They might be at it right now, or they’re gonna reach it. Some of them have been in it for years 'cause they plateau. What has happened to your business? Have you noticed— did the needle move when you…
[01:00:19] Delaney Henderson: Oh yeah.
[01:00:20] Tracy Hayes: All of a sudden opened yourself up? You were spending more time— I would imagine it gave you more time face-to-face, 'cause you had to fill her 40 hours. You’re gonna hire her for 40 hours, so you’re like, “Well, I gotta dump as much over there so she stays busy for 40 hours.”
[01:00:33] Delaney Henderson: Oh, she's so busy.
[01:00:34] Tracy Hayes: But now— what did you take advantage of now that you had some of this freed-up time?

[01:00:40] Delaney Henderson: Really just continuing relationships with my clients. Staying on top of deadlines better. I mean, I never allowed them to fall through or not stay on top of them, but—
[01:00:49] Tracy Hayes: A lot more stress. A lot.
[01:00:51] Delaney Henderson: Yeah. Giving up that place in my mind of stressing about those deadlines and passing it on to somebody else. You know, I still know them, I still work with them, but it's keeping that stress and removing it— and not having it anymore.
[01:01:04] Tracy Hayes: I don't think a lot of people understand how that affects your ability, especially with the person you're working with right in front of you at the time.
[01:01:11] Delaney Henderson: Oh, a hundred percent. And that's the biggest thing— it's allowed me to be present, most of all, again. Because when you're so busy and you have a hundred million things on your mind, and you're even at a client meeting, a buyer consultation, whatever it is— if you're not able to be present and hear what they're saying, what is the most important thing in the world to them, or what they're looking for— that’s serious. It affects your entire relationship with them.

But also, you're not going to be able to help and dedicate yourself to finding them the property they’re looking for. And I think that’s been the hardest part of all of it— just learning how to give up that control to someone else to help manage, and allowing myself to be more present in one-on-one conversations with new clients and existing clients.

[01:01:57] Tracy Hayes: Have you found— I don’t know if maybe you measured it, maybe you didn’t, maybe you just feel it— your quality of what you’re delivering to your buyer or seller throughout the process... Because A) when you did the consultation, you’re more present and so forth. But throughout the entire transaction— 'cause now your assistant’s coming in and maybe making that extra phone call that you could have made, but you didn’t, 'cause you were too busy with somebody else. Or, obviously, the call was made on time versus... you know, that kind of thing. That all of a sudden maybe your referrals picked up because people thought your transaction was great to begin with— but now it’s even better.
[01:02:37] Delaney Henderson: Mm-hmm.
[01:02:38] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Have you seen—
[01:02:40] Delaney Henderson: Oh yeah, yeah. Absolutely. And I didn’t even honestly expect that at all. But yeah— I'm able to answer the call that second. You know, one of my clients calls me— and I wasn’t able to do that before because I would call them back immediately, as soon as I possibly could.

But it’s being able to take a step back and answer that call and be like, “Okay, let me focus on this now,” rather than, “I have 19 other things I’m trying to get done by this deadline at this time. I can't even fathom adding another one to my plate.” Like, it’s— now I have—
[01:03:08] Tracy Hayes: You’re on the phone with them 'cause you’re calling them back, but you know you’ve got to call somebody else after that. And after you get done talking to them, then you call the other person, you forgot what you were— you know?
[01:03:16] Delaney Henderson: Yep.

[01:03:17] Tracy Hayes: Let’s finish up with some— you’re having a lot of success now. You’ve got, like you said, a bunch of listings, you’ve got a bunch of buyers right now. It’s really happening for you.

And I’ve seen in the last— well, rates went up in March of ’22 or May of ’22— and agents who have had success, and even success going into through ’22, all of a sudden, I think in this last year or so— maybe the last two years— have really, some of them have excelled (which it sounds like you have), and others have actually gone down and are struggling. Probably some of them have left the business, actually.
[01:03:53] Delaney Henderson: Oh yeah.
[01:03:54] Tracy Hayes: You’re mentoring these agents right now— what are some of the things that you're doing right now, or if you look back and go, “You know what, it’s because I did that in '22 and '23…”

Which I imagine your answer is going to be, “I stayed in touch with my past clients.” But if someone asks you, “Why are you being successful right now where others are not?”— 'cause we know 70-something percent of agents didn’t even do a deal last year—
[01:04:36] Delaney Henderson: Mm-hmm.
[01:04:38] Tracy Hayes: Why has that line gotten so— the successful ones have gotten narrower.
[01:04:43] Delaney Henderson: Narrower.
[01:04:44] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. What do you think it is that you're doing— or how would you express that to someone— that, you know, “Why are you being successful right now when others are not?”

[01:04:50] Delaney Henderson: I think a lot of it has to do with being proactive and not reactive to the market changes. You know, we’d been hearing the market’s slowly changing, even in 2022. And everybody's uncertain— not really sure— and being proactive about that. And not just focusing on the current market, but also planning for worst-case scenarios.

You know, it’s really difficult to do that, but I think especially for agents that are starting out right now or are slowing down right now— focusing on what is a money-making activity...

[01:05:00] Delaney Henderson: …what is going to, you know, produce me the most— you know, the maximum value for my time that I can do right now?
Like, if I wake up every day and I’m like, “I don’t even know what to do today to get business”— think about things differently. What can you do that’s different than any agent out there right now doing the exact same thing? Holding open houses? Okay.

How can my open houses be different so that it actually produces buyers who are already able and willing to purchase a home coming through the door? What can I do that’s different?

And I mean, there are agents out there that are doing it— and there are agents out there that are having very, very, very, very, very busy open houses— when down the street that open house is dead.

And it’s because that agent did something different. They marketed different.

That, and reaching out to those agents and being like, “Hey, what can I do? Do you think that would—” you know, asking for advice, asking for help, asking for mentorships. You know, calling your broker to ask questions like, “I’m really struggling right now.”

Not sitting around waiting for deals to fall in your lap— but getting out there and having the grit and the hustle in your mindset and not giving up until you’ve found that— is really what’s going to set you apart from every agent in the same industry, in the same market.

Right now— especially right now— it’s about being different. There are a lot of agents— especially in Northeast Florida— there are a lot of agents. And you’ve gotta find that niche that’s going to be so much different than everybody else.

And then adapting to it. You know, that open house that I held, just as an example— was so slow.

What could I have done differently? Could I have put out more signs? Could I have put out signs with balloons? What would've done?

And trying those things and implementing those things and spending the time, money, and energy into activities that will actually be money-making activities— versus just wasting your time trying to go to these events but not talking to people.

That’s really the biggest thing.

And asking other agents, “How are you getting clients? What are you doing that’s different?”

[01:07:01] Tracy Hayes: I want to circle back to— you spent a lot of time, you know, calling and having coffee, lunch, whatever— meeting up with a lot of these top agents.

One of the best agents in Northeast Florida told me one time— and I know it’s 100% true— and she’s not the only one, she just happened to feel, for whatever reason that day, to tell me this— and I’m sure it resonates with you:

When you sit down with these top people and you ask them a direct question— like, “What are you doing? What do you think I could do to improve my business right now?”— and they give you golden nuggets…

You need to— not necessarily act on everything, maybe they give you three or four and you choose one or two— but nothing is more insulting to them than they spent time with you, gave you some golden nuggets like, “Hey, try this, try that”— and you don’t actually try it.

[01:07:58] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.
[01:08:00] Tracy Hayes: Or it seems—
[01:08:00] Delaney Henderson: Too hard.
[01:08:01] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, too much effort.
[01:08:02] Delaney Henderson: Which happens all the time. But it is true— if you’re going to make the time and effort to reach out to that agent and to ask for their time and to sit with them and spend your time listening to them, you need to act on what they’re telling you.

[01:08:14] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.
[01:08:15] Delaney Henderson: Because something they’re doing is working, and that is so valuable in and of itself. I think that’s so important, and I think it’s lost a lot of the time.

[01:08:21] Tracy Hayes: You’ve given so many valuable nuggets here for the last hour and 15 minutes.

And you need to make sure your new agents listen to this— and then they go back. Because there are nuggets in every one of these shows.

I'm gonna just put the presser out there. We talked— I started the show talking about AI and artificial intelligence. You might be a new agent right now and you can’t afford a coach. Maybe there’s not a mentor available to you.

But all this information that I’m putting on my show— I mean, it’s fed into ChatGPT every day. I transcript everything, it’s all in there. And I know I’m not the only one doing this.

There’s information in there to go in and start talking to it about your business as if it’s your best friend.

[01:09:00] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.
[01:09:00] Tracy Hayes: Because it will come up with creative things for you to do.

If you’re sitting there and you don’t know what to do today, go into ChatGPT and say, “I’m a real estate agent. I need to meet five people today and talk to them about real estate.”

Which I know— there’s some brokerages— that’s what they do. You’ve got to have five meaningful conversations a day.
[01:09:20] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.
[01:09:21] Tracy Hayes: That’s their mission. And hopefully before noontime.
[01:09:24] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.
[01:09:25] Tracy Hayes: You know, type of thing.

But whatever it is, it will give you feedback. Tell it, “Hey, I’ve got my kid’s ballgame. I’ve got to go here.” Well, it’s going to tell you— like we all would if you told me, “Oh, I gotta meet people.”
“Well, what do you got?”

“Well, I’ve got to drop my kid off at the dance studio.”
“Well, stand there at the dance studio and run into people. Run into the other moms that are coming by,” right? Whatever it is.

It is a coach for you. But it can get in detail and structure you— you know, what you should be doing on a daily basis, which is…

[01:10:00] Tracy Hayes: Gonna end up—my last question for you: you said you're very busy right now.
You've got an assistant, so I imagine the two of you have got some time blocking going on. You're scheduling yourself. How are you doing that? Especially well right now—you’ve got a lot of buying and selling going on.
How are you structuring that day and how important is it for you to structure that day as if you're working for somebody, but you're actually working for yourself?

[01:10:20] Delaney Henderson: Yeah. Really, it's about priorities.
Focusing and harnessing in on what—today, I woke up at 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock I am at my computer working.
What are the three things that literally I need to get done before noon, no matter what? I don't care how many calls come in, I don't care how many fires are being set right on these transactions that are closing—what are the top three most important things that have to get done before any of that stuff happens?

Figuring out that is the hardest part because, especially in real estate...

[01:10:56] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:10:57] Delaney Henderson: …that's constantly changing.
And that's always—I mean by 11 o'clock, there are catastrophic implosions of everything happening. You know? So it's difficult to do that, but staying on that—and making sure those top three things that are important do get done regardless of whatever the next top three most important things are that are gonna be done after that noon deadline—is a struggle even today that I deal with. But it’s been a game changer for honestly just getting things done.

[01:11:26] Tracy Hayes: Well, here’s where I think you agree with me—the top people say you gotta be prospecting every day.
So I imagine one of those three things has something, because you're as successful as you are, has something to do with prospecting in one way, shape, or form. What are just some creative things that you throw in there to make sure you're knocking out that prospecting priority every day?

[01:11:55] Delaney Henderson: I mean, it depends on what the prospecting idea or topic is.
And you can be—if you're making calls, if you're writing letters—if that’s one of your top three priorities, then make sure it gets done, right? Like, that’s kind of it. It doesn’t matter what it is. Maybe it’s a new thing every day that you’re just trying out—it doesn’t matter. But making sure those top three get done is a game changer.

It’s been a game changer, especially for me and my assistant, because we have top priorities that are different from each other. So now we're maximizing our time and getting pretty much all the important things that are absolutely critical done before noon even hits.
And that's kind of been what's really changed our business completely.

[01:12:31] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, 100%. I appreciate you coming on today.

[01:12:34] Delaney Henderson: Yeah, thanks for having me.

[01:12:36] Tracy Hayes: Anything you'd like to add?

[01:12:38] Delaney Henderson: I think we hit a lot of it, yes.

[01:12:39] Tracy Hayes: It was a good show. We definitely could go on for longer.
But I do want—you don’t get up again, I’m still filming.

[01:12:44] Delaney Henderson: Oh, relax. My bad.

[01:12:46] Tracy Hayes: I do want to have you come back on. We’ll talk about maybe your four people and we’ll choose one and come back on and talk about the mentoring process going on.
I think it’s important. I don’t think enough new agents are searching out that...

[01:13:00] Delaney Henderson: Mm-hmm.

[01:13:01] Tracy Hayes: ...why brokerages aren’t just like making it happen.
I'm sure John and Brittany encourage it, if not make it a requirement—that if you're gonna come onto the brokerage, you have to be mentored.
'Cause you haven't sold a house yet, you know?
I think it's so important to try to curb that failure rate in the industry.

[01:13:20] Delaney Henderson: Yeah.

[01:13:21] Tracy Hayes: Because there's enough out there. And I think we’re really gonna hit a tipping point within the next year where it will be like 2021 again—because the rates just lower a little bit.
We have so many people sitting on the sidelines right now—buyers and sellers.

[01:13:35] Delaney Henderson: Mm-hmm.

[01:13:36] Tracy Hayes: There's sellers that wanna move, but they're like, “Oh, if the rate gets low enough, alright, I'll make the jump now. It's worth it. I've got enough equity in my home.”
And there's—we know there's a ton of buyers just saying, “Oh, the rate's a little higher right now,” but they're gonna jump on it as soon as it hits that tipping 0.1%.

[01:13:51] Delaney Henderson: Yeah. 1,000%.

[01:13:52] Tracy Hayes: But once again, I appreciate you coming on. It was a great show.

[01:13:55] Delaney Henderson: I appreciate you having me. Thanks.

[01:13:57] Audio: Thank you so much.