Mindset In Motion with Debbi DiMaggio

REE #312 Transcript
[00:00:00] Debbi DiMaggio: there is closure in sales of real estate.
estate.
And I wanted to help people and I wanted homework. I didn't want the job to be a nine to five. And then when I got home, it didn't matter what I did in the day.
I wanted it to be a lifestyle part of who I was. I had things to do in the evening, which I certainly do in real estate.
[00:00:51] Tracy Hayes: Hey, welcome back to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast. Today we're talking about the missing link between goals and results. Most people don't [00:01:00] need more motivation. They need method. They need motion. Because Debbie says, action builds momentum. Momentum builds confidence, and confidence delivers results.
This episode is built for the high performer who's tired of the mental chatter and ready to lock in. We're digging
into Debbie's
new book, mindset In Motion, activate Your Purpose, power, and Peak Performance Coming next month. Are we still on schedule for that? All right.
Coming in
In March, we're and are proven five step method mindset and motion method that turns intention into aligned action.
We need to talk about. The marathon mindset, her 5:00 AM to 9:00 AM routine. Why she teaches goals like a game plan and how the right community makes what feels impossible, feel inevitable. Because when we have a cheerleader, an accomplice, or an accountability partner, what once seemed insurmountable almost becomes easy.
Let's welcome Debbie DiMaggio to the show. Welcome, Debbie.
[00:01:59] Debbi DiMaggio: [00:02:00] Thank you so much. What a great introduction.
[00:02:02] Tracy Hayes: So excited
[00:02:02] 312 VIDEO: to
[00:02:03] Debbi DiMaggio: share with you today.
[00:02:04] Tracy Hayes: Well,
well, you guys gave me so much great information
and
I, uh, I'm a fan of, artificial intelligence.
It
makes me sound better because I certainly couldn't write all those creative words in there myself.
But, appreciate you coming on and I, know, as you're talking a little bit pre-show, and then, you know, I, I had it.
it
Go through and create me a little outline so I get a little more of an idea of what your book is about and obviously cross reference with real estate. 'cause you've been in real estate for, since the early nineties, shortly after getting outta school.
And, relate because the word mindset is often spoken about at events for, in trainings and so forth, and how obviously you can help your experience of over 30 years in real estate in this mindset. And obviously, you know, that you've put into a book now and helping agents, grow and become better real estate agents.
[00:02:57] Debbi DiMaggio: Absolutely. Absolutely. [00:03:00]
[00:03:00] Tracy Hayes: So start us off a little bit just to get everyone a little groundwork. I mean, you went to Berkeley, if I recall correctly. Yep. From your LinkedIn. Correct. Got that up on this other screen over here. tell us what were you thinking about doing as a career? What was your, what was going on?
And then it was shortly, you know, three or four years later you fall into real estate. How did that happen?
[00:03:21] Debbi DiMaggio: So when I was growing up and when I was at Cal, the only thing I did not want to do was real estate. So where I thought I would go was not going to be real estate, but my father was in real estate.
He was an investor. So very different. He was a syndicator, not a residential real estate agent, but
but
he was in real estate nonetheless. And he, it was, now I look back and I go, well, no wonder it was long before the internet, social media cell phone. So he was always tied to that phone. So we couldn't have proper vacations or planned vacations.
And he was, you know, you never knew if
if
something was gonna change [00:04:00] and he couldn't go out or whatever. So he was just always tied to it. So that was kind of like, I don't wanna do that. I don't want my life to be that. I don't want to be hanging out at the
the
shopping centers that I own, overseeing all of that.
That didn't sound fun to me. So I was at Cal and I was a political science major. I was thinking law, but then I was just very unhappy with the system, the judicial system, and it just. Didn't seem like the people that should get off should get off. And, it just didn't seem right. And I didn't think I could go that way.
So I was stepped into magazines and worked at Ellie Magazine, Southern California, Homeland Garden Magazine. Worked for the marketing department of a hospital, but there was nothing that was calling me, what do you wanna do? So when I was 25, I wrote 10 things that I I like, and I had no idea what that would transpire into.
So I've always had this mindset without labeling it, mindset. I've always lived on figuring it out, writing it out. And that's what I [00:05:00] talk about in my book. So I wrote 10 things. Here were a few of 'em, a few of them. I wanted to meet new people all the time. That's why I love podcasting. I meet people from all around the world.
I meet all people from all different cultures and backgrounds. So that was one thing that was important to me. I needed to do something with the beginning, a middle, and an end. I liked closure. Fast forward in real estate in residential. When we write an offer like I did before I jumped on the show.
Hopefully if we get it and there's closure on the other end, we don't always get it in multiple offers, but there there is closure in sales of real estate.
estate.
And I I wanted to help people and I wanted homework. I didn't want the job to be a nine to five. And then when I got home, it didn't matter what I did in the day.
I wanted it to be a lifestyle part of who I was. And I had things to do in the evening, which I certainly do in real estate. Anyway, fast forward a couple years, I met my husband to be and his friend said, Debbie should do rentals. Uh, she'd be really great at it. So I popped into rentals in San Francisco.
It was before Craigslist, before the [00:06:00] internet, and we were making calls. We were finding owners that would pay us a commission. We were meeting people 'cause everyone was coming into San Francisco. There was DFS Bank of America, tons of relocation into San Francisco. And then eventually. I moved to the East Bay where we started to raise our family, where I grew up in Piedmont, California, which is near Berkeley and Oakland.
And I got into sales. I was a little nervous to get into fully, you know, commissioned sales, a much small, a short, uh, difficult, to find buyers and sellers when you're a young person. Um, I got a lot of business from the relocation. So those people who were renters became homeowners and then they were also relocating people into who were looking to buy homes.
And then later those people sold homes. So that was the basis of my business and I loved it. And it was, it was, there was something new happening every day, and that's how I stepped into residential real estate. Right.
[00:06:52] Tracy Hayes: So
you, I mean, you basically, in your 10, 10 things there, you were describing a real estate agent.
you, we live, you know, I think [00:07:00] everyone in the real estate business, whether you're on the mortgage side like myself or you, we're twenty four seven. When the phone rings, we answer 'cause that's when the action's happening.
Yeah,
Yeah,
[00:07:07] Debbi DiMaggio: I was even answering, I was able, text on the airplane as I was flying back from a real estate conference in Atlanta, and I told the buyers, I said, well, if you can let me know by tomorrow morning, and I was able to communicate with them about what would be in our offer.
Um, so we're always connected.
[00:07:25] Tracy Hayes: I always could. so the timescale that you were talking here, you go to the retail, real estate side, get, you know, from rentals into the real, you're still in your. Mid to
mid to
[00:07:36] Debbi DiMaggio: late twenties. I was like, I was like 28. Yeah. When I got into real estate. So I was, I always like to say, when I was 25, that's when I wrote down those things, right?
I was 25 writing those 10 things. I was completely lost. I was completely unhappy. I just did, I just, I wanted something to just hit me that was gonna be that thing that was, I was gonna love and I knew what it was. And so I was really frustrated at 25. So when I'm [00:08:00] on podcasting or when I'm coaching, I'm always trying to help those young people not to, to suffer or feel so unhappy because it's, it could be very frustrating when you're, you're like, I went to college now.
What?
[00:08:12] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Yeah. you actually hit on some great, several great things there. One, if you know someone listening to this and you're in that point of your life, or you know, if you're reading, you know, obviously grab
Debbie's
when it comes out, you know, finding, and I think
one one
of the key.
Elements or cornerstone to great agents is finding you found, already, found real estate. You're in real estate, but finding how to do real estate that fits into your, passion and what you like to do. because would you agree? Every agent markets a little differently. They do every, it's, you know, they gotta make it their own.
They've gotta own it.
[00:08:49] Debbi DiMaggio: Absolutely. And I do wanna point out something. I just got back into town from a real estate conference in Atlanta. It was my, BNI Business Network international group. At the same time Keller [00:09:00] Williams was having their group. I'm with a Corcoran,
but I was learning and networking from so many agents and everyone's different.
So this one gal, what what she does, we are, we're all different. Right? the most important thing is as a realtor is be your authentic self. Because we're gonna connect with like-minded people. We're not gonna get every client, but nor should we. We need to work with the people that appreciate our skill, knowledge, and experience, and who we can relate to, and they can relate to us.
So this gal does so well. Well, I found out what she was doing. She had a full-time job. She has a full-time job as an engineer. So different personality. Yeah. I'm not the engineer type right, where I'm very different than that. She, works full-time as an engineer and she kills it in real estate. She's got those engineer type people who are buying from her.
They're like-minded. They are very similar in personality and style. So,
So,
I mean, I, know if I've met people who were bartenders and like waitresses and [00:10:00] things that did something not so serious as a job in order to augment their, finances. But a full-time engineer and she's just nailing it.
So
[00:10:08] Tracy Hayes: that's, actually new to me. I don't, I've had, project managers obviously become real estate agents, but a, an engineer and then. Define that market because yeah, they're very, obviously very analytical. I mean, we can go on and describe how that engineer,
[00:10:22] Debbi DiMaggio: but she's doing it at the same time.
She's like two full-time jobs and just killing it. But not everyone could do that.
that.
[00:10:30] Tracy Hayes: No. No.
so
back to the, the age that you, I would imagine at 28 were probably the youngest person in that office. Am I right?
[00:10:40] Debbi DiMaggio: Yes. Yes.
[00:10:42] Tracy Hayes: Probably be, maybe even by. a decade or more. Yes,
[00:10:47] Debbi DiMaggio: you are
[00:10:47] Tracy Hayes: yes,
[00:10:47] Debbi DiMaggio: so right. I was
[00:10:50] Tracy Hayes: so ob, but things have changed and obviously I've had a, I've had 23 year olds on here that are, you know, just really doing well in the [00:11:00] business and get it.
Yes. What have you found, I mean, obviously you've got a team, I'm sure you've mentored agents over the years, the shift now that, would you agree that we, we are getting some more of these, young people just post-college that are coming in? Absolutely. Maybe they're following mom or dad's
footsteps
Possibly,
or
Just coming in and get it. what have you seen out there in California?
[00:11:21] Debbi DiMaggio: Yeah, so when I was 28, I was a very, I was a very young 28, these 23 year olds today. Seem older than me. I mean, the people are much different now. When I was 28, I was very young. were the people I was in at the office with.
were parents of my friends, so they were these, all these people could have been my parents. So very different. And like to say I didn't find out from my broker, but I found out from these two gentlemen who are office staff, they said. Debbie, you were in the top 10 in our office, which was insane because I don't really work that way.
I just work, [00:12:00] work, work. And I don't really think about, you know, where I am in it. I just do it. You just sky check at the end of the Monday to just work hard to
to
take care of my clients. But, and that office was, I was the fir in that company. I was the first person that hadn't been at another company and already proven myself.
So it was a very unique situation. took it for granted. Always work hard. Always listen to my, the older people telling me they've been there, they've done that. And I always like to tell people, don't reinvent the wheel. Just learn and just suck it up and just learn from these people. They've done it and they've done it successfully.
But to go back to your other question, when I started, there was no internet. There was no Google. There was no text messaging. There was no social media. It was a completely different world. So now, yes, now we have these young people and these influencers, and they're really great at social media.
It's
my age and older who are fumbling with social media.
We're doing our best, but we're not, you know, embracing all of these tools and stuff. So the younger people have [00:13:00] internet, they have texts, they have, I mean, God knows what they have. They, and they use it all, you know, we know what's out there, but grew up with it. It's like the back
[00:13:06] Tracy Hayes: back
[00:13:06] Debbi DiMaggio: hand. Yeah. They're on Snapchat and they're on TikTok and making creative and they edit their videos, you know, to edit something
Mm-hmm.
would take me a week.
I mean, no, you just hire 1 23 year olds to do it. That's, yeah, exactly
exactly right.
then at this conference there, so my son now works with us. He's 29 and he works with us and it's super helpful because he is more techie than we are.
Mm-hmm.
husband and I have worked together for 35 years and then, the conference I met quite a few people whose sons also worked with the mothers and it was really fun to see.
[00:13:43] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think, I mean, you, you know, like I said, that might be, that might actually, be one of the reasons why we're seeing a lot of younger people because of the push in the last, you know, 10, 15 years. I had George Guerrera on, uh, [00:14:00] he's now president of the Florida Realtors Association, but he's outta Miami and.
Even before the YouTube, he was video, video, video every time. That's why, that's like his thing. Every time I see him I say video, video, video. 'cause he was doing videos in the mid two thousands, you know, 20 years ago, really before YouTube and all these places where you could get it out to people really easy.
And he really felt creating a, you know, basically a movie, of the homes that you were representing was the way to go. And I, I think just talking to you, that thought came to my mind, that's probably an attractiveness to the younger people. 'cause now they're actually seeing it on their social media channels that they're on and they're going, Hmm.
Real estate.
Yeah.
That, that looks like a lifestyle I'd like, and they make pretty good money. Right. And
yeah,
[00:14:44] Debbi DiMaggio: Exactly. Yeah. It's, it's definitely changed in the years.
[00:14:48] Tracy Hayes: Right.
All right. Let's, dive, dive a little bit into the book. I've, I had created some questions here.
Um,
Okay. The first, the first one, you know, the new book for listeners, mindset in Motion Activate Your [00:15:00] Purpose, power, and Peak Performance.
that's the title.
Why
did you write it and who are you writing it for? What, what audience are you looking for there? So, well, as things happen, someone once years ago interviewed me and in their article they named it. Accidentally with purpose, and I have lived up to that title. Day after day, year after year, I kind of stumble into things.
[00:15:22] Debbi DiMaggio: I'm always thinking and creating and I kind of stumble into things. So I've written a couple books and they all had a story of why they happened, but this one mindset and motion happened. my husband said, I'll do the Sunday open house you did Saturday, yesterday. So I sat down, I got on Instagram, I was gonna just chill and I thought.
Who is this person that keeps coming up on my Instagram? It was like some surfer kind of guy. And I was like, who is it? And then it ended up being that he was talking about doing Ted Talks and I thought, you know, I have my own podcast now. I've written a bunch of books. I don't wanna do any more books. I should probably try to do a Ted Talk.
So I bought [00:16:00] the course, and as I do, I dig right in and started answering the questions. And as I was answering the questions I said. For 15 minutes, what am I gonna talk about? Very succinctly memorize, right? I can't like memorize a script. I can only talk from my heart,
[00:16:13] Tracy Hayes: right?
[00:16:13] Debbi DiMaggio: So I was like, I started writing and writing and writing.
I was activating, I was trying to figure out, and I was thinking, and I was internalizing, these are words that you'll hear from me to speak about.
Mm-hmm. And.
at the, the next morning when I woke up, I said, oh my gosh, I've gotta write another book because I have to be so clear on my messaging that it is just in my heart and it just comes out.
So Ted Talk on hold started last March working on mindset in motion. And it's just how I live my life. I'm constantly in motion. I constantly have lived by this mindset of just doing, know it's a word that's such a buzzword now, but it's clearly how I've lived my life and how I got, how I came up with the idea.
I was gonna talk, about real estate. I was gonna [00:17:00] write or talk about, empty nest. 'cause I really had a hard time with that. I was like, I don't wanna do that. But I always like to help people, help people achieve their goals. I have this thing about you could do it if you just had a plan and if you just took action.
So I reversed engineered how I achieved all my goals throughout my life working at the United States Supreme Court, create, starting a company in the great recession of 2008, 2009, running the LA Marathon on mindset alone. Trying to prove a point. it's the activation phase. So do you regret that?
[00:17:33] Tracy Hayes: Do you regret that the marathon or.
or.
[00:17:36] Debbi DiMaggio: Do I regret it? Well, proving your point. No, I, I was awesome. I mean, it's so funny, I didn't really think anything of it 'cause I was just trying to prove a point that it's possible. Oh. And,
Oh. And,
and so I was like, it's cool, whatever. I did it, but I don't really think about it until I talk to someone who's a runner and they'll say, wait, what do you mean you didn't train?
I'm, I said, no. And they're like, I'm a marathon [00:18:00] runner. I'm always training. And so then I realized what a big thing it was for me. I'll, let me break it down into the, into the framework. Yeah. So when you have a goal, whatever that goal is, the first thing is you have to have a goal and you have to have clarity around that goal.
You can't just like. Randomly. It's like, what's the clarity of what is it you want? And you can do this with anything. You can do it with overcoming an addiction, going through divorce, going through the emptiness, getting a job, promotion, whatever that goal is in your life. So get clarity around that goal.
Then you have to believe it, whether you know how you're gonna get there or not. Don't worry about it with the marathon. Step
[00:18:39] Tracy Hayes: back to the clarity for a moment.
[00:18:40] Debbi DiMaggio: Yeah. '
[00:18:41] Tracy Hayes: cause I'm thinking about myself. Okay.
[00:18:43] Debbi DiMaggio: Yeah.
[00:18:44] Tracy Hayes: okay. Yeah. When
you say clarity, like give me an example. Like how clear are we talking about? What
[00:18:50] Debbi DiMaggio: Can you share your goal?
[00:18:52] Tracy Hayes: Well. I have several. this has become a passion, my podcast. Right. I've done mortgages for 20 years. Okay. Right. I can write mortgages in the [00:19:00] back of my hand. Doesn't really Right. You know, excite me too much. you know, I enjoy doing the podcast getting to meet people like yourself.
I enjoy that. Giving people their moment, telling their story and Right. You know, obviously
deeply
to what you're saying and, and understanding I should have been a psychology major. I was. So,
so.
I'd really like to get out, you know, I think, you know, as I'm, I'm not much old younger than you are.
I'm only a few years younger than you. I'm calculating you guesstimating your age, but, I'm not much younger than you are, so I'm in that phase of my life where I'd really like to, you know, take the podcast to another level. I've started writing.
Some small books from all the transcripts that I have, all the great stories from, you know, right.
Grit by Angela Duckworth is one of my favorite books. And you know, obviously she's a TEDx speaker.
you know, and how grit and real estate agents and the things they overcome, and I really enjoy it. I wanna share that, those stories to motivate, inspire, that type of thing. Yep. So [00:20:00] that's.
Kind
My goal, I am, you know, the podcast itself is, as my wife says, it's been more of a hobby than it's actually turned into, any huge amount of mortgage business or anything like that.
So, my vision is to, yeah, really I'd love to have an RV or a nice van drive around and interview every top agent and start here in Florida and, you know, even travel, travel the country and make it something and the transcripts and the stories, and be able to turn those and share those with others.
And, uh, so
[00:20:32] Debbi DiMaggio: turn it into a book?
[00:20:34] Tracy Hayes: Yes. So I started, I started writing, you know, I'm working with AI in, in it, 'cause it knows all my shows, all my transcripts are uploaded and everything right.
It.
So I said, you, what are some things to do? And then I'm watching some guys that are writing these eBooks on there and I'm like, Hmm.
And then Chad's like, I started talking about that and I said, well, why don't you write a series of books breaking down, you know, the different things. And you know, one of the things like open houses you, because I've got [00:21:00] some great agents that just dive into open houses. So how they do it and breaking it down almost making it a
[00:21:05] Debbi DiMaggio: playbook.
Okay. Okay. Lemme stop you there. Yeah. Let's get clarity on, give wanna write a book, or you wanna write a series of books, you wanna travel around and meet people in person like you're doing on your podcast.
[00:21:15] Tracy Hayes: Right?
[00:21:16] Debbi DiMaggio: So you wanna continue to do that and continue to develop your content.
Mm-hmm. And your personality. Yes. And that, okay. So, and there's probably other things after that, like speaking and different things where you can monetize. But let's just talk about the book, right? Yeah. Let's talk about the book. So the first thing is you. You wanna grow your brand and you want to write a book, that's what you wanna do.
I want to write a book on X, Y, z. I wanna take all of my content and put it into a book. Second is you have to believe it. You really just have to believe you can do it. You started a podcast, you're successful mortgage person. It's like, I believe I can do it. That's it. Just believe it. Then you internalize it.
This is where you start writing down, like you were practicing with [00:22:00] chat, GBT, you were writing your ideas. So really focus on the book and how you see it, how you see it. I'm driving, you know, I'm scheduling appointments, um, next summer and I'm gonna go to this, this, this, and this. And you're gonna start booking appointments.
So really internalize what that is and what that looks like to you. What that looks like to you. And after this I'm gonna send you an email with a blueprint. Okay? So that's the internalized then it's kind of what we're doing right now. You share it with supportive people, so you're sharing what it is.
And I say supportive people. I used to say share. Yes, you can share things to the public. I wanna, you know, work out every day. Here's today and day one. I've worked out. Here's today two. You know, you can share things like that or other little things, but I did not share. The reason why I said share with supportive people is you don't want people to belittle your dream or to think like you can't do it, or for whatever reason, you just want all positivity going your way.
No negativity.
I was to [00:23:00] share with people, I was about to turn 60 and I was gonna run the LA marathon, my friends would've said, you're crazy. You don't train, you don't work out. You, you don't even eat very much. You like, you're insane. You might do a SoulCycle class here and there. You've run a few, you know, you've jogged a few races.
They were flat, you didn't, you know, you haven't really done anything. So I wasn't gonna tell people 'cause I knew what they would say about a week before. So in, in, February, I decided to do it. I ran it March 23rd. Less than a month later. Wow.
Wow.
And I said, I'm gonna do it on mindset. And then it stemmed from something my son said he wanted to do about challenging himself.
And I didn't understand what that meant. I immersed my mind in the military mindset. I read everything on Navy Seals. When you see a soldier, they're an regular person, and then they, they all of a sudden they turn into almost superhuman and their mindset is steel, and they're all of a sudden they're carrying a, a gun and their, their life is on the line.
And they've also, you know, had to [00:24:00] spend time learning and being indoctrinated, and then they have to be physically fit and carrying stuff. You can't even imagine women too. Mm-hmm. Anyway, so I read on it, but I did not train on it. So did you read, I imagine
[00:24:10] Tracy Hayes: you probably read or watched David Goggins.
[00:24:13] Debbi DiMaggio: Well, the funny thing is, accidentally with purpose, when I'm looking to what books to read that popped up, had no idea who David Goggins was.
Immersed my mind in his book. I recite that book and it was because of that book. I said, if he can come from a shit life, shit parents, people who did not support him,
him,
I have the, in complete opposite, he became a Navy Seal. I'm only running the marathon. Like that's nothing compared to what he put himself through.
Yeah, so what it was. When I told my husband and my son what I was reading, he said, of course everyone knows who he is. I said, well, I don't, but I don't care. I'm just reading the book. So that's what spurred me onto this. If he could do what he did, which was way bigger than anything I've done.
[00:24:57] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Yeah. So
[00:24:57] Debbi DiMaggio: Yeah. So, so his stories are
[00:24:58] Tracy Hayes: outta control.
[00:24:59] Debbi DiMaggio: Oh, whoa. It's [00:25:00] crazy. So, um, share with supported people and then of course I told my husband the week before, you gotta come to LA with me. I don't know what's gonna happen. I'm running the marathon and I, you know, I have no idea what to expect. I had zero idea what to expect.
So, then, uh, watched me along the way. Even my kids couldn't believe that I was doing it and they were all tracking me as I was running.
And
you have to activate. So let's get back to you. I wanna go back to you on the activation. So believe for you, internalize and writing, and.
and.
Taking notes and really, I establishing you as writing this book.
So Activate, activate is so important. This is where you don't do it alone. could give you, I can give you four introductions immediately about people who will help you with their book, core professionals at this. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
And one of 'em that I worked with, that I hadn't worked with before as a book coach, didn't even know what that was, but accidentally with purpose, I was at a meeting, nothing to do with book writing.
And this person was there as one of the women in our group. And so what she did was brilliant. I had, I thought I had [00:26:00] already written the whole book and I was just ready to finish it up when I sat with her, started studying, working with her last March. She would ask me questions, and then as I was talking, she was taking notes and then she'd ask me another question or ask me to clarify.
And I'm like, doesn't everyone know that? And she's like, no, Debbie, people don't think like you. And I said, all right, well, let me see how I break it.
[00:26:20] Tracy Hayes: a
So that, that's a very, that's actually a very interesting statement that she made there. We wanna assume, but you and I are, you and I, I think you and I are, are much alike in our creativity and our mind going in with another idea.
And
other people don't have that.
[00:26:36] Debbi DiMaggio: Right. And so you have to explain it. So she would ask me questions and she would write, and then at the end of the day, the hour I'd go like, oh my God, where this is book is getting way too long. It was supposed to be a little pocketbook. Well, a year later. So anyway, we, I can introduce you to Ellie.
You can work it that way. There are many ways to work your book. You just have to commit to yourself, but then you have to activate. And there are people, [00:27:00] there are Facebook group pages. There is a thousand different people who can help you do that. I could hold you accountable to getting it done, but there's no reason you can't get it done.
You have the tools, you have the content, you have the skills and knowledge. You just have to activate
get the help by getting the help, not doing it alone.
[00:27:17] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.
[00:27:17] Debbi DiMaggio: get the help by getting the help, not doing it alone.
[00:27:21] Tracy Hayes: Well, I really, I mean, so. I wrote this. I, I mean, I pretty much got the open house. I'm having a, a friend of mine who just so happens to be in, personal safety.
He was an FBI agent, worked for Gavin de Becker and all that kind of stuff. I said, you know, I'm just gonna add one last chapter for people who own further real estate agents that the book is written for,
you
know, who are, you know, just a, a safety chapter. So I'm having, I'm James. Him and I were roommates in college and he's, he talks nationally and, and stuff.
He's putting that last little chapter. But as far as my part, I'm ready for people to start, obviously start digging into it and, you know, critiquing it, whatever, you know, that kind of thing. [00:28:00] Editing.
[00:28:00] Debbi DiMaggio: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And then also you, I write on substack a lot to share my ideas and get it out there, and I think you just have to start getting it out there.
But there I can, after this, I can refer you to quite a few people who can help you with your book, depending on how you wanna do it. There's many different ways to go about it.
[00:28:19] Tracy Hayes: Alright, we'll carry that out. 'cause we don't want, I don't wanna take up this being a book writing. let's talk. I appreciate that.
But, and I also believe, you know, people are put together for a reason. Maybe that's, our reason why we're together.
today.
[00:28:30] Debbi DiMaggio: Absolutely.
You're gonna do it. I'm gonna hold you accountable.
[00:28:33] Tracy Hayes: All right. I'm following you.
All right.
the five step method, your five step mindset and motion method.
Yes. Walk us through the five steps.
[00:28:42] Debbi DiMaggio: So you have to have a goal. Clarity. Be very clear. When you started talking, you were kind of all over the place. I didn't know if you just wanted to get in the RV and go meet with people throughout the country. Right. Which is also a good way of connecting in real estate to, with other agents throughout the country.
But we, we got clear around it. Get clarity. You, you wanna write a [00:29:00] book?
[00:29:00] Tracy Hayes: I think
Well, yeah. I think I, if you were to say,
what, I
I like to
go
the TEDx window, which a lot of has opened up doors for great people.
[00:29:07] Debbi DiMaggio: TEDx is
[00:29:07] Tracy Hayes: TEDx.
[00:29:08] Debbi DiMaggio: good too, too. That's I the book. I would
[00:29:09] Tracy Hayes: follow that path. Yeah.
[00:29:11] Debbi DiMaggio: Yeah. So whatever it is, TEDx write a book.
[00:29:14] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.
[00:29:14] Debbi DiMaggio: Whatever it is you wanna do, get just one. Let's start, you know, you can have many goals just, but let's keep 'em this way. So you've got your,
[00:29:22] Tracy Hayes: in line,
[00:29:23] Debbi DiMaggio: your goal and you're gonna be clear around what that is. Write a statement, then you're gonna believe it, whether you believe it or not. And you've heard all kinds of people speak on that.
You just believe it and internalize it and, and know it can happen. Don't worry how you're gonna get there. They talk about that in manifesting too. Don't worry about it, just believe it.
it.
I can do it. Don't use, I am going, I want to do it. No, I am going to do it. So your, the use of your words are very direct and very specific and then internalizing it.
This could.
be.
Pinning on Pinterest, someone wants to buy a house and it has, wants a certain style, they're pinning it, you know, they put it on Pinterest, [00:30:00] collages, writing, journaling, meditating on it. Um, the different ways to really embrace that. And for me it's a lot of writing because writing and writing over, and then reviewing it and then getting more clear on it.
So that's the internalization part. And then sharing with supportive people, you might share it with your wife, your kids, whoever it is that's supportive, a mentor, someone that can really just be a cheerleader for you. So it's really good to have that. Support, only with supportive people. You don't want someone, you know, saying, yeah, it's too much work and you know, you shouldn't do it.
Do something else. then activate. And again, activation is not trying to do it on your own or be some big hero. It's Facebook groups and community groups and networking groups and book coaches and therapists and, um, just advisors, accountability partners. I mean, [00:31:00] uh, what's the, I always forget. He is in my book.
I think it's a messy, they the amazing soccer player. He has like 20 coaches. I mean, he has a coach for everything, so,
[00:31:10] Tracy Hayes: right.
[00:31:11] Debbi DiMaggio: He is a specimen. Yes. But he has a sleep coach, a nutritionist, a

[00:31:17] Tracy Hayes: the, I mean every kind of coach, coach, stretch coach, strength coach,
whatever,
[00:31:21] Debbi DiMaggio: running You coach.
Yeah. You have to connect with these.
with these
People to help you activate. Not, don't do it alone. If you, and one of the things I talk about in my book, you never know unless you ask. If you don't ask someone, if you know someone who's written a book, you ask them how they, was their path to writing their book. You've met a lot of people who've you've interviewed, ask them how they did it until it kind of connects with how you wanna do it.
it.
So you have to ask. And I've done that in time and time again. I just asked two CEOs, of two real estate companies to write me an endorsement. I emailed them both on a Sunday. They responded immediately. Had I not reached out to these two [00:32:00] CEOs in New York, they wouldn't have known I wanted an endorsement from them.
They both responded. So, and as I was writing the book, it kept, kept coming up for me. Oh, I'm writing about asking. I need to ask so and so, and they were the least. The worst that happens is they don't respond. But so far I'm batting a hundred.
[00:32:24] Tracy Hayes: when you were going through your five steps, it reminded me of a lot of agents who have been on, because real estate agents go through obviously, I'm sure this is where a lot of your stuff derived from, you know, the, their mindset. in getting started, in getting motion.
'cause I think you would agree there's a lot of agents who go through a lot of motions, but they never actually move forward in the business.
[00:32:47] Debbi DiMaggio: They don't activate. right.
Um,
They, they're stuck. They, they work really hard to get their license and some take the test two or three times and they're trying so hard.
They put their effort so [00:33:00] hard into getting that license. They get their license and then they're like getting set up, you know, all the energy, get the signs, get the business cards, make me real as a real estate agent.
Mm-hmm.
They get that. And then you sit down with them and I go through all the backend, all our tools and all our tech, and I get them set up on social media.
I get them where their DRE number's supposed to be. I share the tools we have and then they're like, okay, I'll do an open house. And are they meeting people every day? Have they sent out a newsletter? Have they sent an announcement postcard? Have, you know, are they really preparing for that Sunday open house?
Are they, you know, a couple days ahead of time where they just showing up and that's it?
it?
They, really aren't activating in a way, and they aren't getting into motion the way they need to be. And I've been doing this 35 years and I am constantly pivoting and adjusting, which I talk about in the book.
I'm Conti continuingly, reinventing. I just got back [00:34:00] from a, uh, the conference and I, I'm already gonna employ some things I learned. And that's after 35 years of really trying and activating
Mm-hmm.
being in motion. I'm still trying to get better.
[00:34:11] Tracy Hayes: Now let me ask you some of the, the, some of the things that you wrote down.
Have you ever heard of those things? You know, obviously you've been in the business a long time, so you've been to a lot of different conferences, whether it was just a Lunch and learn or, you know, something formal, like flying all the way out to Atlanta. was anything truly new to you or was it just like, you know what, I've heard that now for the last 15 years.
I'm gonna, I'm going to
act
on it now.
[00:34:36] Debbi DiMaggio: nothing so new. I guess This one, uh, not the group. I was actually attending a Keller Williams just as a guest and they, were really big. They had probably four guests just on social media. that was, of course, us older people are like, okay, we, we do a little bit of social media, but yeah, we don't do that much.
really talked about the importance of social media. I was speak, having a meeting, just a [00:35:00] one-on-one meeting with, of the heads managers or owners, and he was saying, you should really put, like, I've always put my social media for work. other things that I share on my business page, not on my personal page.
So my personal page doesn't get a lot of activity on Facebook because I'm always reluctant to share. And he said, you know, you kind of just gotta share and let people know who you are. And he's like, I don't really do a business page anymore. So, you know, you hear both things. Yeah. And yes, it's true. When you set up an Instagram page, I think you do have to have a business page.
So there's different workarounds, but you know, if you have a Facebook page and you share on it,
it,
'cause some people, you know, I tell my, the the people I coach, it's like, you kind of have to be on every platform. You might not work every platform Totally. But being there at least shows, like if I go to LinkedIn and I don't see someone there mm-hmm.
That I was thinking of referring, I'm a little reluctant because I don't see any activity. So that [00:36:00] is a red flag for me. So. I,
Uh,
LinkedIn is like, I don't know if people, younger people know what a Yellow Pages are, but that is my Yellow Pages, or that's where I go, that's where my LinkedIn, if you're not on LinkedIn, you're, you're out.
[00:36:13] Tracy Hayes: you know, I keep the agents, you know, that's the first place I go when I got a guest, you know, I might see them, they might be posting on Instagram or, Facebook or, hey, you know, they won an award or whatever. And I'm like, okay, is this someone who's, you know, a top producer? Is this someone I go to LinkedIn to get, you know, kind of get an idea of who they are.
Right. And I find many agents fall very short on a page that's very easy to set up. You know, take a an hour one time and go through, put your bio, obviously you won't update, maybe update your bio every so often. But a, it is a set in. Forget till
a
you know, it's not something you're doing every day right now.
I do post
on
my LinkedIn, obviously, I, I'll take your show and I'll create a blog from it or an article talking about you and you know, post it on [00:37:00] there. 'cause that, that's what I'm doing. And I think, from what I understand, too with some of these guys, in the AI world, blogging is back, writing articles is back because AI is looking for that stuff.
[00:37:12] Debbi DiMaggio: Right. I love writing. I write on Substack. I would say the difference, if someone was gonna ask, like LinkedIn, I like, you can put, you know, I can put my positivity quotes 'cause I really like helping people, so I really like to share positive messaging mm-hmm. And real estate stuff, but. You're not gonna put what you ate on LinkedIn, so don't, you know.
So it's like what you ate or you know, is that might go on Instagram or Facebook, your personal page maybe. Then that's okay. They're different, but it's not difficult. You should have, you should be present in all of them. Work, the ones that you like. But I really think. From where I'm seeing and hearing from people, you have to have a Facebook page in order to connect with all these amazing groups.
And I'm now part of a BNI real estate group that is on steroids throughout the country, [00:38:00] and they're on Facebook, so I have to get in a better habit of going to that page because they're sending out referrals or asking for referrals throughout the country all the time. And so it's real, someone said, oh, they're looking for an agent in Berkeley.
And then the two people in different areas said, oh, I just referred you Debbie. I, I missed it because I wasn't on Facebook, but they said, they referred me. So maybe I was talking to a guy, he said he, he had a person that sole job was to go through, like, I didn't know there were 50 sites, but he said there is a, a place, you know, he had one specific person kind of going through and monitoring and being part of all those social media sites.
[00:38:36] Tracy Hayes: a
Yeah.
[00:38:36] Debbi DiMaggio: Um.
[00:38:37] Tracy Hayes: I think there a lot of these guys are using virtual assistants. Yeah. I know a gentleman here who has a page just locally being, St. John's County is, is big here in north, you know, St. Augustine, Northeast Florida, and he has a page and he actually just really takes care of a couple ladies who are always on there, you know, making sure you know the responses and, making comments and that sort of thing.
And, [00:39:00] and he, you know, gives 'em gift cards or whatever. Just keep that page moving and
yeah.
Yeah, yeah. So,
[00:39:06] Debbi DiMaggio: and
like, and gauge. Yes.
Yes.
[00:39:08] Tracy Hayes: I think more of these, when I, I see a lot of these events like.
You know, I'm sure, I'm sure some of the local Keller William people here were in Atlanta 'cause it's not that far away.
but not that they're the only events they talk at such a, Hey, social media is important. Okay, well, the, the average agent, the reason why they're not actually doing it's 'cause they don't know how. And I often think it's, you're actually better actually having a classroom. Everyone bring in their laptops and have their phone.
Right? And here's how we make that video, you know, type of thing, right? And really get down to the brass tacks. But, you have, uh, a quote in here and it, my AI pulled out. Action builds momentum. Momentum builds confidence. And confidence delivers results. What is the smallest action you recommend when someone feels stuck?
[00:39:55] Debbi DiMaggio: Oh,
Oh, that is a good one. Get up, get dressed, get [00:40:00] out. when you're not feeling great, don't sit at home. G. Go through. So to get into action, it, you're not feeling like it, so it feels hard, but that's when you just move your body, your body moves, your head's saying this, but you just mo get that body moved.
You get into the shower, you get dressed, put on something you love. You get out of the house. When you're in motion, happen. If you're sitting home, nothing. Your ha your mind's just gonna keep, you know, making you crazy. Right. And then go to the coffee shop, who knows? You know, you're interacting with someone.
Someone might say, I love your outfit, or this or that, you know, or just saying hello to you will elevate your mood. So you start interacting and things happen. And that's the same thing we used to say. Agents would be kind of stuck, well, are you sitting at home? Yeah. Come into the office. Sitting in the office, you never know what's gonna happen, the interactions that take place.
This woman [00:41:00] was going through that. My, came in, sat with my husband, they walked over to the local, cafe to get lunch. She ran into someone who then she hadn't seen in a long time, and she got a listing. She was out, she was feeling down, but then she got out. And then your confidence is built because now you're interacting and you're having some good positivity, positivity happen and you're starting to get your groove back.
And then you're, you never know what can happen. And that's one of the things I say every day. I never know what's gonna happen. I'm always looking for the magic. I'm always looking for the opportunity. What is that thing that's gonna happen today? That's gonna be the spark.
[00:41:37] Tracy Hayes: yeah, I just thinking of the agents who might, might be listening and you know, especially if you're new or I don't know, maybe you just.
All of a sudden you realize, Hey, I don't have anything in process right now. I don't have anything going on. I'm not busy. What am I supposed to do today? And finding those places where you can just, you run into people and start talking real estate. Obviously there's some [00:42:00] great, companies here locally.
They, you know, they have their new agents come in and nine 11, they're making calls. They wanted them to have, I think it's like 20 conversations a day talking to somebody about something having to do with real estate. That's their goal. Have those conversations and creating that, motion that you, talk about.
You use, a little bit of sports analogies in there. Pre-game, game mindset, post game mindset. most people lose before the game starts. Why?
[00:42:26] Debbi DiMaggio: Because not setting themselves up for success. You
have to go in. So I start the pre-game, pre-game to a, take a sports game. Take a basketball game, take your day in real estate, the morning should be your time.
Not to be on email, not to be looking at social media, not to be. I think a lot of the, maybe all ages, I think of Instagram as a place where I can learn and be. Energized by what I learned, that there are these interesting possibilities that's happening. I don't get the fear of missing out or whatever. I'm [00:43:00] kind of interested.
If it's something cool, like, wow, that's cool, I didn't know that existed. but whatever it is, and especially if people, it is bothers people because they are having that fomo, you know, just the morning should be for you. Get your mind right. Meditate. I put your headphones in. I call it locking in turn.
Tune out the noise. Have some time for yourself. There's lots of YouTube channels with some meditation that's guided meditation, whether it's music or talking. But take an hour for yourself. Maybe you go for a walk or maybe you work out. Then have a time where you start with the calls, and or you're gonna start the game, but don't think that, oh, this team is too good, or That agent is too good.
have to go into it with. We could win, I could win, whatever that is, whatever that win is. So that's a mindset that is, it's don't let anything get in your way and just [00:44:00] focus on doing your best and a team player, whatever that means. Whether, whatever is that real estate or is that, you know, a, a sports game, whatever that is.
[00:44:09] Tracy Hayes: Right. in the intro I mentioned your 5:00 AM to 9:00 AM am routine. Give us an idea. What does that look like?
[00:44:17] Debbi DiMaggio: My routine, what it looks like.
[00:44:18] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. What's your five to nine
[00:44:19] Debbi DiMaggio: routine? Yeah, so I get up early. I probably get up closer to four. I have two kitties, they like to get up. spend a lot of time on the meditation trying to just be still and listen.
And to my meditation. I have a vibration plate that I'm obsessed with. So I do my vibration plate. I drink water right away when I get up 'cause I take a thyroid pill, so I drink. Big thing of water. Mm-hmm. About an hour later I'll have some coffee and if, I started too late and my husband gets up, I'll say like, Nope, don't talk, I'm still, I'm still in my, my personal state.
And then I'll start on, well, sometimes I love, I get up early, so I love to have meetings on the East coast 'cause I [00:45:00] can start my meetings early for me. So it's usually a Zoom or some kind of a meeting. do a lot of one-on-ones with my b and i people. I try to do that in the morning, the business networking, doing one-on-ones, whether you're in a B and I group or you're not, you should be doing one-on-ones with people either on zoom or in person, if possible.
If you do it on the phone, one on one. Relate to a real estate agent. Yeah. One of one is. So
[00:45:22] Tracy Hayes: in that?
[00:45:23] Debbi DiMaggio: in real estate. We're trying in whatever job you're in, whatever thing, whatever you're doing, if you're raising money to, for a film, whatever it is you're doing, you need to meet with people. So we call it a one-on-one.
So you and I right now are talking and how can we help each other? Right? know, how can I help you? What can I do to help you? I'm gonna introduce you to some book people, you know, maybe you'll send some referrals and real estate my way in Northern or Southern California. do you like to do in your free time?
You know, just getting to know, building relationships, and. There's this one woman, jojo, she does these one-on-one appointments, meeting people all day. She [00:46:00] is just booked every 30 minutes. She is booked. She is, I should introduce you to her. She's hysterical. But then she's connecting you with other people.
And so you're meeting people because she's sending referrals your way. But the goal is, is building, building relationships with other people. So it could help you in whatever it is you need help in. And you, you're also let them know what you're doing. They let you know what they're doing and Yeah. How you can collaborate.
And it's not, I'm not necessarily, so you mentioned about getting on the phone and talking real estate. That's not how I do it. I, I'm,
I'm
I'm having conversations and I'm building relationships, but I'm not necessarily. If people ask me, talk real estate, but that's not my primary. My primary is for them to get to know me and know how I help people and how I can help them, and that I wanna be a resource to them.
[00:46:46] Tracy Hayes: So do you do a little, how to win friends and influence people? Obviously, you want them to talk and then, then you have your opportunity to,
you
know,
tell 'em what you're doing. They go Yeah. Back and forth kind of thing.
Yeah.
[00:46:58] Debbi DiMaggio: Yeah.
[00:46:58] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.
[00:46:59] Debbi DiMaggio: What, what Bob [00:47:00] Berg talks, they, he says it's givers gain. But I've always kind of lived that way.
I've always kind of asked how I could help. It's always been harder for me to ask for help. I've naturally helped and stuff always comes my way, whether, you know, I don't really.
really
Think about it, I just have good conversations and try to get to know people and
And
it's natural for me to say, how, how can I help you?
I mean, right now I already have three people to introduce you to and mm-hmm. Um, easy because it just flies to the top of my head that way. But, the goal is, is just to build relationships. If I can enforce to any new person starting the business or someone trying to grow their business, and maybe they haven't done this before, is just meet with people, meet with other professionals.
It doesn't have to be just people that are, might be looking to use their, it might be someone that may refer 'em down the road 'cause they're having a great conversation and, said, oh yeah, I really had a great conversation with Debbie. She might be able to help you. I mean, just building relationships is super important.
[00:47:59] Tracy Hayes: I've been [00:48:00] repeating this almost every episode since I had 'em on your, net worth is your, yeah. Your net worth. Yeah. Is your network your network, right?
Your network.
Yes. Your network. Yeah. Your network is your net worth. That's what it's Yeah, that's true. That's true. going back to the sports analogies that you talk about, halftime prep talks.
[00:48:17] Debbi DiMaggio: Yeah.
[00:48:17] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.
And, this question actually makes me think of David Goggins in, in your, as well as, because he talks about the mental mindset of his, your body wants to physically. You think your body wants to physically quit, it can go on, he can go further. He talks about that right. and whether you're listening to him on Joe Rogan or reading his book or whatever.
[00:48:38] Debbi DiMaggio: But yeah, so I've never watched him speak. Mm-hmm. Which is so funny because my whole mindset came from what he did. So I guess after I published my book, maybe I'll, I'll start to listen to him, but I only read the book a year ago and I haven't listened to him speak one time. I've just been so immersed in my book.
Right. My mindset has been to be immersed in this book and get it done, but I, I [00:49:00] didn't train for a marathon. I haven't listened to one word that he has said, but I will tell you, when you mentioned. The halftime and how he, how he was feeling just now. I don't remember how he was feeling, but, tell you, when I was, when I was, I had never run past a half marathon.
I've done two 13 mile runs in my life. One when I was 20, when the doctors thought I was sick because my blood pressure was so low. Mm-hmm. My pulse was so low, but I wasn't sick. Once they finally established that I wasn't sick, I went and ran a a half marathon, never running, never having done that before.
And then, year I decided to run the marathon, I ran a half marathon. And those are the two times I ran the 13 miles. Well, so now I'm on mile 18 and the marathon, and I'm thinking kind of, I guess what you said about David, I'm kind of thinking. Okay. What am I doing? I'm not even near finished. Right.
And this is crazy, I'm not gonna stop. But like, boring too. [00:50:00] And the, it was helpful having so many people around cheering. I mean, there's miles and miles of people cheering you on so you don't wanna disappoint them. But I thought for, what I thought to myself was, I said, I'm running for all those people who can't run.
There are so many people who do not have the ability to run. I have the ability to run. You are gonna finish, you are gonna start you, you are not a quitter. You always, you always follow through. That's not something what that you do. So that was what I was saying to myself.
Mm-hmm.
[00:50:29] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.
[00:50:30] Debbi DiMaggio: You know, could my body given out?
Yeah. It was pretty, my, the top of my thighs were pretty sore. but I just kept going.
[00:50:36] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. well, he goes into the psychology. I've listened to him. I've never actually read his book. I've, I've watched his videos, I've listened to his interview like with Joe Rogan and, and stuff like that, which I imagine a lot of the materials the same, but, the question, sort
or the finish, the sentence I have for you is when you want to quit, say this.
[00:50:58] Debbi DiMaggio: I mean,
mean,
I,
I,
[00:51:00] mind's mine is like a,
I'm i'm like a steel trap door. No, is not an option. It's always been short and sweet. No is not an option. I, do not quit. I do not stop what I begin. how I do it. I don't know if that's too strong for other people, but for me, no is not an option. I've finish what I begin.
[00:51:19] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Yeah.
Um,
[00:51:21] Debbi DiMaggio: And just to go back, what you said about halftime. Halftime is where you reset halftime is whether you're winning or whether you're losing. When we're losing, we kind of learn from our mistakes. When we're winning, we might get a little cocky, right? So no matter where you are at halftime winning or losing, you still need to hear what the coach has to say.
Hear what your boss has to say. Hear what your team leader has to say, and go out and do better. Keep it up. Don't give up. Don't let your guard down. Or in case of if you're behind, you know, try harder. But it's a really important time. As is the [00:52:00] end of the game. At the end of the game, win or lose, there's lessons to be learned.
[00:52:04] Tracy Hayes: this question came up. It says, turning to great recession. And I know it's not actually returning to great recession, but the recession that we all felt in 2000 7, 8 9, period in real estate, you, co launched a business.
What
you the courage and what principles from that, season still guide you today?
[00:52:25] Debbi DiMaggio: I
I
cannot believe we did it. I don't know why we did it. It was like,
It was like,
it was
was
one of those things accidentally with purpose. So I didn't really think of that. I, that was never something that was on my list of things to talk about. But my son said to me, and he, he was about 10 or 11 when we did this, I think, and he, or 12 maybe, I don't know.
He said, mom at a, you know, now he's in his late twenties. He said, you never talk about how you guys started a company in the recession. And I'm like, I never really thought of it. It was just what we did. And we [00:53:00] just, we all, we all have that mindset of just making it work. And if it didn't work, we'd go back to our respective companies.
It wasn't, it just was an opportunity and we were gonna work to do it. So I'd say that once you decide to, something, work hard at it. Try to and
fi
try, figure it out. I, wasn't using social media. I said, wow. We got, I knew Adam, Adam, Heidi and I are three different people with very different personalities.
So I was doing marketing. I was my hat and I. I hired a guy to come in the office to sit with me, teach me even just how to create a social media handle. I mean, I knew nothing about social media, so I said, if we're gonna start a company and going from, you know, zero to a hundred, we had, we had all been in real estate a long time, but we're now starting a company and we're starting at zero.
It's not gonna be through print ads. We're gonna have to embrace social media. So we were just doing things, on just, if we needed something, we would figure it out. We'd create it, we'd [00:54:00] hire someone, we'd, you know, purchase whatever tool was needed. we just, we just did it. And remember the first time our, we had an, we had another group partner that who was kind of, partner who is this company.
They let us do what we wanted, but they came in one day, they said, oh, we're gonna come in. have a meeting. And so we thought, oh God, we're being fired. We're, they don't like what we've done. 'cause we did it all different. We didn't do anything. We did not look like their brand. We did our own, our own name.
We called it Highland Partners. We didn't call it by the, the branded name. everything was done very stylized. They came in and they were just saying how amazing our office was. Everything we had created was incredible. They were considering taking their other 20 offices and branding them Highland Partners and making it us be the model for them.
[00:54:49] Tracy Hayes: Right.
[00:54:51] Debbi DiMaggio: And we thought we were being like, okay, you guys have just screwed up entirely. But it was the opposite. And when the rest of those [00:55:00] companies folded, ours was the only one that remained, uh, standing. Wow. It was a hard work because it was kind of just us. Um, and now we've merged with Corcoran, so we have a bigger brand behind us, but we were, we did pretty well and.
and.
there were other companies in the recession who started, companies these days, and we were among those companies, not big like them, but we started in a recession, which didn't really think it was such a big deal, but,
[00:55:27] Tracy Hayes: well, you, you found a way you took action. I mean, right. Yeah. That's, I mean, that's really the bottom line of what you, you gotta take action and sometimes that's falling on your face a couple times.
[00:55:35] Debbi DiMaggio: Yeah. And you don't, you just keep, you keep going. You don't think of, and you change and you recreate, and you pivot and adjust, but you, you just, you don't, no is not an option. You just keep moving forward. You keep mo moving forward through the snow. You don't really think about it. You just, it's, you're moving forward.
You're not second guessing, you're not whining about it. You're just, just moving.
[00:55:57] Tracy Hayes: What would you say, just to spin this more [00:56:00] into, directly in, you know. The markets are up and down every, you know, your area is different than my area. We're a little fortunate here in North. we're Florida, people are coming in.
But we know, you know, based on NARS statistics, you know, 70% of the agents didn't even do the any business. And then there's still another good percentage of that that did probably less than a half a dozen, you
you know,
transactions through the year
and
forth.
Part of it's mindset. you know, I had, uh, actually our president of our local board on, on my last episode, and she was talking about if you're having a tough time right now, it's mindset.
You've been through some of these markets as we were just talking about in 2007, eight. There's been other, obviously times before and after that, when rates started to go up in, in May of 22. You know, a lot of people, were uncertain of what's gonna happen. I think there are still areas of the country that are uncertain at this moment, of what to do because the cost of housing and so forth.
What is your recommendation for the [00:57:00] agents that are out there? How, how to press through these uncertain markets and understand they're gonna come and they're gonna go.
[00:57:07] Debbi DiMaggio: Right. always ebb and flow. Mm-hmm. I'd say being involved, being around other people, growing your network, you know, sitting home and waiting for the tide to change is not going to, not gonna get you anywhere.
You, I mean, I find that the holidays, when things slow down, I'm, I'm fully in activation mode. making sauce for our clients. Adam makes a really good bolognese, so we're dropping gifts off. know, you people like to bake cookies, bake cookies, whatever it is, but be a part of, there's a lot of, um, networking groups, a lot of opportunities to be in front of other people.
If you're not in front of people, you're out. You're, there's too many agents out there, so if you're gonna take a backseat until the market changes, you're out already. You've got to get involved.
[00:57:57] Tracy Hayes: you've written, well, I guess is the, mindset in motion [00:58:00] gonna be number five for you? Yes.
[00:58:01] Debbi DiMaggio: Yes.
[00:58:02] Tracy Hayes: Okay. So real estate rules contain beauty, lights, camera action, the art of real estate.
Just tell us a a little bit about each one. You know, what's the audience for that is, is someone wants to, you know, is gonna look you up and Yeah. See your other books out there. Tell us a little bit about each of those.
four color coffee table book that, so funny, now that I look at mindset in motion, I've been doing this all my life, sharing positive messaging.
So I was going through the Empty Nest and a friend said, what do you wanna do? Always talk about your kids. And I said, my kids are everything to me. And she, she said, well, what do you wanna do? I said, well, I've always wanted to have a coffee table book with my, you know, my, my sayings and beautiful photography for around the world and have my books up, my listings and, and just a beautiful place to go.
Um, an archive
[00:58:49] Tracy Hayes: of your. Your history,
[00:58:51] Debbi DiMaggio: your, yeah. And so that's a beautiful gift. If anyone wants a gift for themself or to give another, I get today, I'm gonna give it to two people as a thank you [00:59:00] note. I mean, it's just a beautiful coffee table book. Mm-hmm. and then the art of real estate happened because the publisher of that book said, you need to write a real estate book.
And I was like, one day. That was a lot of work. And so that happened. And the art of real estate is really about the title company and the mortgage and the buyer and the seller and all the different, the lender, everything, how it comes together. And it's not like you can write one chapter per, we all work together.
[00:59:27] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.
[00:59:28] Debbi DiMaggio: And so I write about real estate and it's, you know, it's a thick book and it's, helpful. Like one of our top agents today. was activating from the beginning. He read that book before he met me, and he has just been flying ever since. he meets a lot of people at open houses, but he's always networking.
He also has a full-time job as a flight attendant, but for his benefits. But he is, he's a hard worker and he does Saturday and Sunday open houses when he can. and so that's kind of a tool. And then 52 ways to achieve success in real estate. That's for [01:00:00] everyone. That's easy. That is a small, that's the estate rules.
real estate rules. That's, that's a very small book, but it's visual. It, the Dreamworks, uh, did the illustrations. you know, the one most important. So when I, when this person approached me from, Vermont or somewhere over there, she said on the East Coast, she said, I said, I don't have time for another book.
She said, you already have it. Just give me 52 rules. So I pulled out the rules and then we condensed them. But one of the things was, and this came to me as I was driving cross country after we dropped our son at Boulder and we were doing my very first road trip, we were driving back to California, and I remember talking to the agent, of course I was working the whole way, and I was talking to an agent and he is like, oh, we're closing.
This was the, I was representing the, the seller, and it was a buyer's. We were trying to, the deal wasn't going very well. So I was calling the buyer'ss lender and he said, oh, we're closing tomorrow. And I'm like, what do you mean we're closing? I said. The client kind of needs notice. It's their house, we have to [01:01:00] get it de staged.
There's all kinds of things. So I came up with the, the realtors, the captain of the ship because we are the people we to work with, the lender, we have to communicate with the title and escrow and the
the
agents. And anyway, we're the captain of the ship. And it talks about like camera action and then one of the things it's like you may not like,
[01:01:18] Tracy Hayes: is that what
[01:01:18] Debbi DiMaggio: you're, is that what?
Lights,
[01:01:18] Tracy Hayes: camera, action.
[01:01:20] Debbi DiMaggio: Yeah, no, that's, I don't even count that as a book that I wrote. Okay. That's something I thought that's, I was thinking you were
[01:01:24] Tracy Hayes: talking about being the director, being
[01:01:26] 312 VIDEO: the
[01:01:26] Debbi DiMaggio: captain, like,
[01:01:27] Tracy Hayes: oh, that makes, okay.
[01:01:28] Debbi DiMaggio: Yeah, that I was kind of doing it, I was doing the gifting suite and so I wrote a little book for actors, like a little book, I don't even consider that as one of my books, but 52 rules, captain of the ship.
And then one of them, you, this was years ago when I wrote it. You may not love the Kardashians, but they sure know how to use, utilize social media. Mm-hmm. So I wrote this book a while back and it's still true to this day about social media. Anyway, that's very easy. 52 rules, teeny little pocketbook. It's for anyone with a service product or brand that could benefit from this book.
then, uh, at [01:02:00] any age, age is just an attitude was something I just. Put together during COVID and
and
just wanted to share messaging that it doesn't matter what age you are, there's so many ways to help you look and feel beautiful, and it doesn't have to cost millions of dollars at all. So I just give some tips there and I also talk how the importance of community at whatever age you are.
And now as I'm watching my 90-year-old friend who is, doesn't have any family anymore, community is so important that you should start building your community long before you get your, get into your Yes. Older ages.
[01:02:31] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Because, uh, yeah, there's, uh, you just made me think, I mean, where I'm at.
I mean, you're kind of, you know, the, the parents and so forth are at that age, if they're still around. I'm fortunate to have both my in-laws and both, you know, my parents are still with us, but, you know, I lost an aunt here just to last month or in December, and things are starting to happen, you know, with that, that generation and, and then the ailments and, you know, are they alone?
And you know, right.
you gotta, right.
Yeah.
[01:02:58] Debbi DiMaggio: And then there, that whole [01:03:00] thing around loneliness is huge, you know? And they're the last ones standing and there's no one around. And I've been writing, I write for a couple publications and I've been writing, I've pretty much been documenting this story about helping this friend of mine who's in her nineties, and she has no one.
And as she's starting to decline, I'm trying to figure out who, I mean, I'm not the person to make decisions, and who's gonna now start to pay her bills and who's gonna make sure the liaison, like, it's, community is so important. So I talk about that too.
[00:58:18] Debbi DiMaggio: So, contain Beauty was, is a coffee table book, a
[01:03:30] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.
[01:03:30] Debbi DiMaggio: And then I'm really excited about this new book because it kind of is an accumulation of my life and goal of just helping people achieve their goals.
And it's, it's all possible. You just with the right mindset and Sure. If you listen to David Goggin's book, he'll probably convince you to do anything too. I mean, read Through a Brick, if someone comes from that, that lack of support. Um, yeah. When my book is published, I'll go read it. I just don't wanna have any talking points other than my own.
Right.
What I feel here, I don't wanna take from [01:04:00] anyone, but that book really pushed me to say I can do anything. If he can
can.
do what
[01:04:05] Tracy Hayes: he Right. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. 'cause it's, that's nothing compared to someone. Someone, some, some of the things he talks about taking the duct tape around his shins and the trying to get it through, buds and Navy SEAL training.
Oh, this
[01:04:16] Debbi DiMaggio: great. Right. That was, that picture in my mind all the time when I'm trying to do something is how I think they wanted to kill him. I mean, they were throwing him out in the water and in the middle of the night and not even near the rest of the people on the dingy or whatever. Right, right.
running on broken shins, I'm like, hell, I can run the marathon. I don't have any of those issues.
[01:04:38] Tracy Hayes: Right,
[01:04:38] Debbi DiMaggio: Right,
[01:04:39] Tracy Hayes: right. If you could teach one rule for success, what would that be?
that be?
[01:04:44] Debbi DiMaggio: One rule for success. One rule for success would be really get focused on what it is you want and go after it.
[01:04:58] Tracy Hayes: I didn't ask you, but [01:05:00] obviously, your last name, it, it's,
ai
and actually your team sent it to you. what is your relationship to the great Joe DiMaggio?
[01:05:06] Debbi DiMaggio: Third cousins?
[01:05:07] Tracy Hayes: Cousins, uh, Joe Diag, Joe third cousin. I actually went online. I Googled. I was like, okay. It says she's related. Let me see how I, I was trying to figure out, but Joe only had one son, if I read it correctly.
Right. And,
and then
he passed away. Not,
to,
[01:05:21] Debbi DiMaggio: I
I think there was a daughter. Maybe it was a, well, I think there was a daughter too. Oh, it could have,
have,
could have been a, um, granddaughter. You're right. So I think it was a son. Yeah.
[01:05:29] Tracy Hayes: So I was,
it says
he had one son that died not too long after he passed away. junior. Anyway, I was, I was trying to like,
how Yeah.
[01:05:35] Debbi DiMaggio: yeah, I kept my, my
[01:05:36] Tracy Hayes: niece
or
or what
[01:05:38] Debbi DiMaggio: I tried to go with my, married name.
And it didn't last very long. I said, I just, I just identify as Debbie DiMaggio. So I kept my maiden name, but yes. Third cousins to Joe DiMaggio,
[01:05:49] Tracy Hayes: for the listener who wants results this week, if you to finish up with this here, I think it's pulling it from your, from your, the information you gave me, give us a seven [01:06:00] day mindset in motion challenge that they should put themselves into to, to try to get, get results here before the end of the.
[01:06:08] Debbi DiMaggio: Okay. I would say the first thing is try, even if you woke up in the morning and changed your routine to 10 minutes of, you know, at least 10 minutes of just meditating, whether you went on YouTube TV and put your headset on and just, you know, was, meditation and just really focused on, um, just
[01:06:30] Tracy Hayes: gimme a rubber meets the room when you're meditating.
Mm-hmm.
Are you just trying to just clear your mind of e anything and just picturing a blank wall? because I think we see a lot of these top people talk about meditation and so forth. I think we do meditate at certain times. sometimes it's why we're driving and allow our, our brain to.
to,
start to categorize things and start to bring things in front of us and that sort of thing. how do you meditate and someone's never meditated before?
[01:06:56] Debbi DiMaggio: Yeah. I am by far no expert. There are many ways to [01:07:00] meditate, but I did just meet with a man who. He does a certain type of meditation.
Mm-hmm. And so, so the easiest one is really just to put your headset on, whether you, if the YouTubes are or something, meditation is on your phone, just so you're really locked in and quiet and 10 minutes of just calm. If your mind wanders it wanders, don't worry about it. Come back. Just try to listen and just try to just not really think about anything.
But if you do, don't worry about it. Don't worry about what you're thinking. Um, are you listening to music? You said put, I listen, there's different ones. There's, you can listen to d you can just, Dr. Joe Dispenza does a lot of meditations. Mm-hmm. So I would say, you know, the calm app, CALM, calm app has a meditation.
But if you just jump on YouTube and Google, Dr. Joe Dispenza, he has a great morning meditation and evening meditation, thousands of 'em. So his go on usually for 30 minutes. So whatever, just. Commit to every day, 10 minutes a day if that's all you can [01:08:00] do. The other kind of meditation was, and you can also see this, but he was teaching me the other day, so as you breathe in, you say so, and as you breathe out you say hum.
And he's, so, you're closing your eyes and you're in your mind saying So hum. And you can see that, find this on YouTube as well. But it's really just, that's all you're doing. Close your eyes, breathe in soap, breathe out. Hum. And if things start, well, your to-do list, all the things, just come back. But don't worry about it.
Just come back to it. So. and just this is in your mind, you're saying this in your mind, but don't worry where it's going. And then if you can, if you, you know, maybe some people wanna work out, some people just go for a walk around the block. I love the vibration plate, so I, I'm on that for a lot. I love being on that.
Just really gets your lymphatic drainage going. and then I'll have some coffee, but I will start with the drinking water first thing when I get up, because sleep is so important and, and, all of [01:09:00] this, and all of the people, all of the CEOs, all of the successful people. Sleep is number one, all of the reverse aging and biohacking sleep
sleep is
one.
And, and also when you sleep, when you wake up in the morning, you're, you're very dehydrated. So be
be
even before an hour before you have coffee, they say 90 minutes before you have coffee replenish with fluids. So that's super important, right? You need to feel healthy. You can't go out and expect to
to
conquer the world if you're not feeling good and feeling healthy.
Right? then, you know.
you know.
Calendar, you should start to calendar everything. I didn't, I used to not do that. Now with the podcasting, me, my podcast, being on podcasts and then appointments, put stuff down. So when a new agent comes to me, I will say, you should go see the, you need to know the inventory. So as new agent here, are you, do you see houses on Monday from 10 to one and Thursday from 10 to one?
Put it on your calendar. It's like going to college. When you go to college, all of a sudden the world, you can do whatever you want. No one's gonna tell you what you can do. Same with real estate. Your [01:10:00] calendar is blank. Start to fill it in. Good analogy there, schedule. 'cause that, that terrified me. College, I was like, oh my God, no.
no.
What am I gonna do? I don't have any structures. That's really tough. So you, you need to know the inventory. Start booking appointments. I don't know if this is too much to say, but make three appointments this week, Sunday to Sunday, just three times. Choose a professional person. You know, maybe even it has to be a family member and a new person.
consider sitting down for coffee with someone and really talking with them. And if you want, ask Chachi, BT I wanna get to know this person so we can have, develop a grow our relationship for, to help us in business. What does that look like? What questions should I ask? You know, we have chat, GBT can help us now prompt us to how can I better serve this person?
How can I speak to that person? How can that person help me? How do I [01:11:00] ask? always hard to ask. So how, how does, just to, just to
[01:11:02] Tracy Hayes: add
to that a little bit, what I do when I have a guess is I, obviously, I, you send me a bio, I'll go look for other places. You might have another bio, which might be older, and I shove it all into, into chat, GBT.
Sometimes I take a screenshot of their, you know, their basically their, resume
there that you have on chat and stick it in there and then say, Hey, gimme an intro or whatever. You could do the same thing, throw it all in chat. What kind of questions would this person would be interesting to ask this person?
And it'll give you the questions.
[01:11:31] Debbi DiMaggio: Right. That's great. So take their bio and pop it in. Mm-hmm.
[01:11:35] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.
[01:11:36] Debbi DiMaggio: I,
I will say, and I am putting this out there to everyone, be a guest. If, I could have done 35 years ago what I know now, I would've gotten into BNI. From day one, you are specifically, tomorrow's my meeting at 7:50 AM I have it every Wednesday.
I could be a guest on any BNI in the [01:12:00] world so I can develop my business anywhere for real estate,
would
be it referrals for, you know, someone else who has whatever their company is, if it could translate. But you can be in a, you can attend a group anywhere. There are conferences. The cool thing about it, and this is every week we have these meetings and what's the, and you pitch.
So you pitch 45 second pitch every week. You do your 45 second pitch and you can change it up. You can ask chat GBT to change it up, but you're getting to know these people. You're building relationships and they're referring you and you're referring them. And you can build that through all of these other networks.
And now being part of this real estate network. I'm building. I just met like a hundred people over the last couple days and now I'm going to continue to meet them one-on-one. and so I would say anyone wants to join my BNI group. They can be a guest. It's a Wednesday seven 50 Pacific Standard time.
Just text me and I'll [01:13:00] invite them to be a guest on, uh, BNI. If they wanna do it in their area, I will locate one for them, whether it's in, you know, your town or Ohio or wherever it is. We can get them into a group to be a guest so they can see what it's like. But that's super important. That will give you structure even if you don't join it, you'll understand the things and the tools you can use to help you grow your business.
[01:13:24] Tracy Hayes: I like the advice, I've heard. Maybe a couple other people in, in five years I've been doing this and the hundreds of people I've interviewed, you know, mentioned that it's like, hey, you look at your week and you don't even call some people, even old girl, you know, girlfriends or whatever neighbors and go have coffee and actually, yeah, sit down with them for half an hour and get caught up and just start rekindling those relationships or creating a new relationship if it's there.
and, and start filling in the schedule and Right.
[01:13:54] Debbi DiMaggio: Start filling in the schedule.
[01:13:55] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. the start the motion as you, you would say, right? Yes. You gotta get, gotta get the [01:14:00] motion going.
[01:14:00] Debbi DiMaggio: Get into motion. get into motion. Take action. Get into motion. No is not an option. Lock in and just go.
Um,
[01:14:11] Tracy Hayes: All
so, and right now you can pre-order the book for those who are listening
The
website's
out there.
It's gonna launch next month. I'm gonna, and now you, you told me to buy one of your books. Now, now I'm really interested in the book because
I've
to mindset of the listeners. Like, huh, let me, let me see what she's got to say there.
[01:14:29] Debbi DiMaggio: Mindset in motion book.com.
[01:14:32] Tracy Hayes: Easy enough. Mindset in motion book.com.
[01:14:35] Debbi DiMaggio: Right.
[01:14:35] Tracy Hayes: Debbie, you said you had a podcast. what do you like to talk about on your podcast?
are the type of people you're meeting there?
[01:14:41] Debbi DiMaggio: Right, so it used to be called Mastering the Art of Real Estate, but then I was being approached by people with different businesses, so it's called Mastering the Art of Success, and it's for anyone with, and same with the episodes of Mastering the Art of Real Estate.
Mm-hmm. It's still the same. It's anyone with a service product or brand who needs to grow their business and their [01:15:00] network. The what you hear from Mastering the Art of Success to what I am, the title now to the old one, mastering the Art of Real Estate. You get all the same content. New people come on, they're sharing where they started.
Most of them like me, had no idea when they were growing up or when they were in college that they would end up where they are today. Right. There's realtors, coaches, entrepreneurs, there's all kinds of people who just have a story to share of success and, sharing how they got there and sharing how they, they elevate.
[01:15:31] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Well, I think, you would agree that you, obviously you're building and moving forward, keep moving forward, be active, and all of a sudden, you know, a door will open here that you didn't even know existed. Yes, absolutely. You'll meet this person over there that might introduce you to someone over there, or out of the blue.
Your staff found me as a podcast to come on when I got an email,
and
and I'm so glad that we were able to get together. that's one thing I love about podcasting, as you mentioned very early on, was, meeting [01:16:00] very interesting people. yes, obviously I would love for us to be in the same room right now, but we're 3000 miles apart.
Right. But that still works. I, I really enjoyed our, our time together, today. So, anything else you'd like to finish up with here?
[01:16:13] Debbi DiMaggio: Yeah, I would just say if anyone's looking to buy real estate in California, give me a call. If I'm not the one for you, I'll find you one that can please order my book at mindset in motion book.com.
I will send an autograph copy, and then when it launches, you'll also get not only the book, but a downloadable copy as well. Oh, and,
Oh, and um.
you'd like to attend one of my BNI meetings, happy to have you. If you have any questions at all, shoot me an email, text me. I will answer your questions. I've never not taken the time to answer someone's question, and I'm happy to do so, and you can always reach me at 5 1 0.
4 1, 4, 6, 7, 7, 7.
7.
[01:16:53] Tracy Hayes: Well, all of this will be in the show notes. you know, and every and every time we're gonna post reels and all the, on [01:17:00] YouTube, the full show will go on. These things will be in the show notes. So just scroll down. You'll see all of Debbie's links.
to her book, order, the book. I'm Act I'm going to actually go on and do that.
I get an autographed copy. I gotta have an autographed copy from one of my guests. You do. Normally you'd sign the wall behind me if you were here with me today.
Oh, I
it. So,
I appreciate you today. I'm gonna shut off the recording here if you want to stay on just a moment. Okay? Alright.
right.