She Flipped the NYC Brokerage Model --And Agents Are Thriving

REE #295 Transcript

[00:00:00] Kevelyn Guzman: Never panic and sell your stocks. Never panic and sell your home. And you don't know what's going to happen. So, never make decisions when you are highly emotional. Like just give it some time, right? Hey, welcome back to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast.

[00:00:50] Tracy Hayes: There are leaders who manage, and then there are those who truly transform—people who step into traditional systems and reimagine them from the inside out. Today's guest is one of those rare visionaries. She’s navigated one of the most competitive real estate markets in the world, guided a legacy firm through a pivotal acquisition, and introduced bold, forward-thinking strategies to treat agents not just as salespeople, but as valued clients. From implementing cutting-edge platforms to launching initiatives that empower women in real estate, her impact goes far beyond operations. It’s cultural. It’s generational. It’s deeply personal for the agency she mentors and supports. She’s a Crain’s Notable Real Estate Leader, an RSM Media Newsmaker, and one of HousingWire’s Women of Influence. And she’s here to share how she leads with both heart and strategy. Let’s welcome to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Kevelyn Guzman.

[00:01:47] Kevelyn Guzman: Thank you. Welcome. Thank you so much for having me.

[00:01:50] Tracy Hayes: I'm—

[00:01:50] Kevelyn Guzman: Delighted to be here.

[00:01:51] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, appreciate you coming on and your team reaching out, because I really think the listeners—they matched this up well. 'Cause I think this is gonna be—I'm gonna go deep on some of the questions, and you have so many things that we could probably talk about for hours and hours, but we'll try to keep this to 60 minutes here on you. But Kevelyn, I always want to get a little background so the agents that might be listening can kind of resonate a little bit with you. Tell us a little about young Kevelyn—you know, 18, 19, 20 years old—and then, were you a visionary into real estate, or when did you actually eventually start to think about going into real estate?

[00:02:29] Kevelyn Guzman: So I'm a native New Yorker. I was born and raised in Manhattan.

[00:02:34] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:02:35] Kevelyn Guzman: I graduated college and I directly went into Wall Street. I was in Wall Street for a couple of years, and I quickly realized after year four that I actually really enjoy people. I was in a department where I didn’t get to really be creative or get to really just talk and socialize with other people. And I realized quickly that while I love numbers, I didn't want numbers to be my life. And I felt excited when I was most around people and being able to be creative. So around 2007—2006, I think it was—I moved over to a small real estate firm in Midtown. And... 2008 came around. The market crashed.

[00:03:31] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:03:32] Kevelyn Guzman: And they closed their door—like many small real estate firms in New York City. I then happened to move over to Warburg Realty at the time, only for them to have to close three of their offices. So I don’t—I don’t know if I was bringing that along, that energy with me of companies closing and offices closing, right, or what—but it was becoming a trend. And so I moved over to Warburg, and I never left. I never left. I’ve been here 18 years. I got on the life train and I never got off.

[00:04:08] Tracy Hayes: Now if I read correctly—and you know, obviously a lot of my listeners are here in Florida, not all of them, but I’m sure we’ll pick up some new ones when we post your show, because they know you—they’ll listen in. But from what I understand, Warburg is like a hundred-year-old real estate brokerage, is that correct?

[00:04:27] Kevelyn Guzman: That's correct. It's been around a long time, and the real estate landscape has changed so much. What has ended up happening here is a lot of the smaller boutique firms just could not make it on their own anymore. We were actually the last standing boutique firm in New York City to be acquired, and so we were acquired by Coldwell Banker, which has been phenomenal for us. We have the powerhouse behind us, the global network, which is really the reason why we wanted to do this. And so I was really a key person during the acquisition process, and we had every company out there make us an offer, and we ultimately decided for Coldwell Banker, and that's who we are today. We're Coldwell Banker Warburg.

[00:05:19] Tracy Hayes: Right. Since we're on that topic there, kind of give us a—you know, I know it’s hard to go into details 'cause again, we could talk for hours, probably about just this acquisition. But when you're out there, you're entertaining these large companies and, you know, obviously the backdrop is New York City. You know, that's the biggest show, right? And you’ve got this hundred-year-old brokerage which does things their way, I would imagine, right? I mean, I imagine there's a little bit of change, obviously someone like you coming in and guiding them through, but now you've gotta find a match to, you know, the Coldwell Bankers or the Engel & Völkers or the, you know, Compasses or whatever, the Keller Williams—whatever the big brokerages—what's gonna match. What are some of the things that went through you, or I imagine there was probably a committee that was analyzing each of these different companies to make that the best match you could possibly?

[00:06:14] Kevelyn Guzman: So for us, we had tried—when we were just Warburg—we had tried everything. We wanted that international backing. So we joined Forbes. We pretty much did what any small boutique firm would do, which is you partner with someone that has the global backing. And those partnerships really didn’t end up meaning anything. What was great about Coldwell Banker is that they actually have physical offices in over 48 countries. And when our agents are traveling and networking, whether they’re in Paris, Dubai, Greece, they get to actually pop into an office and network. And that was something that, for us, was important because we had tried everything else before. And it was sort of like, okay, we paid this company, you know, X dollars to put their name, and we tell people that we have this global connection, but in reality, it didn’t quite mean anything or translate into business. And so that—that was one big thing for us.

[00:07:19] Tracy Hayes: The international flair—we get a little bit here in Jacksonville, obviously not like you or South Florida, right? I imagine Miami and New York are two areas where there’s a high level of international clients. You know, because it’s Florida, we do get some international investment. But how important is, you know, obviously having that international—because I mean, what percentage of the clients, you know, does Manhattan have that are actually foreign investment? Foreigners coming in, you know, whether they’re big business people or whatever, buying units there—what is that, 50% of what is going on? Or give us a little perspective.

[00:07:54] Kevelyn Guzman: I would say it’s about 65%.

[00:07:57] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:07:58] Kevelyn Guzman: I’ll give you an example. We had a listing and the buyer came through the Coldwell Banker network—a Chinese buyer, all cash. And they pretty much needed to close before the end of the year for Feng Shui reasons. And so we have a lot of that too.

[00:08:10] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:08:11] Kevelyn Guzman: Oh yeah. One of the things for us when we’re dealing with international buyers—you know, some can be French, some can be Chinese—the contract numbers have to match whatever the year number is. So there’s a lot of things that go on with an international buyer that most people don’t speak on. But that buyer came through the Coldwell Banker network—the global network.

[00:08:41] Tracy Hayes: Right. That’s actually interesting 'cause I imagine you guys probably, with your lunch and learns in New York City, maybe someone coming in from that culture teaching the agents some little tidbits about the culture when it comes to things like that.

[00:08:56] Kevelyn Guzman: Absolutely. And also we need to have someone that speaks, you know, different languages. That is really important. And so the global network—the international network—in New York City is really important for those reasons. And so when we don’t have an agent that speaks a specific language, we have to go outside and we work with a vendor that has translators.

[00:09:21] Tracy Hayes: Right. Alright, so let’s go back to 2006, 2007. You’re getting into real estate. Did you come in as an agent or no? Tell us about your first couple years there—coming, fighting through that.

[00:09:31] Kevelyn Guzman: So it was really just operations. And what I find has led me to become the best leader were all those years of boots on the ground, really helping the agents set up their business, strategize, create the infrastructure. And so that really helped me succeed in what I do today, because I was boots on the ground. I really understand the details—how to run a business. And I always say to our agents, you are the CEO of your business.

[00:10:04] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:10:05] Kevelyn Guzman: You are running your own business. And so when you think about what you need for your infrastructure—whether it's accounting systems in place, whether it's a CRM—you have to build a solid infrastructure for your business. And yes, the company is great because we're going to support you and hopefully the company that you're with is providing the resources and beyond what you could do for your business. But at the end of the day, you have to put things in place as a CEO to make sure that you succeed, because you are the CEO of your business. And so that allowed me to be able to support the agents in that way.

[00:10:43] Tracy Hayes: So I imagine that's developed over time, obviously, and, and obviously, you know, seasons change, right? Markets change and you have to evolve to what's going on. You are coming in—what are some things that you, you know, in the last, well, almost 20 years now you've been doing it—but kind of, you found unique about going from Wall Street to real estate? About the business that maybe you didn't know before you got into the real estate industry?

[00:11:12] Kevelyn Guzman: So, I've always known that real estate is a relationships business, but I never really understood how important that relationship is. So in finance, it’s all about the numbers, right? You put it on a spreadsheet and the numbers tell the story. But with real estate, the relationship that you’re building, that you're cultivating—that doesn't happen overnight. This is years of cultivating these relationships. And the importance of staying in front of your sphere—that is one thing that I learned over the years. And how do you nurture those relationships? That is something I didn’t have in finance, because again, it’s really about the numbers and you just gotta make sure it all adds up and it makes sense to the person looking at it—the logic part. But when you're dealing with personalities, and you're dealing with different backgrounds, it's a little complicated, right? You're not going to appeal to everyone. But authenticity is the word that always comes to mind—being your authentic self. And when you are that, you're able to build those relationships in a way that is meaningful for your buyers and your sellers. And that is something that I had to learn over the years.

[00:12:37] Tracy Hayes: I would imagine, you know, in a lot of cases, a lot of the purchases going on in Manhattan—sometimes you're not even, I would imagine, dealing with the actual buyer. You're dealing with some surrogate that they've sent out to go take care of this. When working—in your experience, you know, working with these agents, coaching and mentoring them—is, obviously we talked a little bit, a lot of this has to do with the psychology and the relationship. But you know, where I think the typical agent across the country is thinking about, "I'm dealing with Mr. and Mrs. Smith" or whatever, they're from here or from some other country, and here's their culture—but they hired the surrogate who’s not going to be living there. How do the agents work that from that standpoint of building the relationship, and yet the ultimate decision-maker is someone who they might not even see, if they ever see them?

[00:13:26] Kevelyn Guzman: It happens all the time where you're having conversations and then all of a sudden this person walks in the room and you're like, “Well, I've never even met you before.” Right? And you are here to tell me that the unit is overpriced and that, you know, suddenly you don't want to do certain things. It's complicated. But this is part—another reason why being an agent is not easy. And I know that people hear this, but not everybody understands the real job of an agent. That it's not just opening a door. An agent serves as a psychologist.

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

[00:14:00] Kevelyn Guzman: An agent is, you know, an attorney. An agent pretty much—

[00:14:07] Tracy Hayes: Consultant. Yes. Uh, yes. Interior designer. Amongst others. I think your “amongst” doesn’t—

[00:14:13] Kevelyn Guzman: Agents that are dealing with maybe someone that's getting divorced.

[00:14:17] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:14:17] Kevelyn Guzman: And they serve as someone that is, you know, the shoulder to cry on. It literally—you are the everything person. And when people think of the commission an agent gets, they’re like, “Well, they get paid to do nothing.” And nobody really sees what actually goes on when it comes to a transaction. I have agents that are changing lightbulbs, that are killing the cockroaches, that are making the bed, that are serving as a psychologist—they are doing it all.

[00:14:48] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:14:49] Kevelyn Guzman: And that's the part that people don’t see. And so when you have someone that pops in that hasn't been part of the transaction to make a decision, that just adds to it. Yeah. So what do I say to our agents, right? You lead those conversations. The same way that you're leading it with the seller or the buyer. Our job is to inform people—to give the facts. Start with the facts. Try to remove the emotions from it, because look, at the end of the day, a seller or a buyer are highly emotional. This is probably the biggest transaction they will make in their entire life. And so what the agent does is they come in, and they stabilize, and help them make the right decision. And so I always say to our agents, when you're dealing in a situation like that, your job is to provide the facts.

[00:15:42] Tracy Hayes: When you first got started to where you are now—what, I guess, what was the job description originally when you came in to Warburg at that time and what you were doing, to what you’ve evolved to, to what you're doing today?

[00:15:55] Kevelyn Guzman: So when I came in—and I’ll spare you all the details—but when I came in...

[00:16:00] Kevelyn Guzman: It was a hard job because I came in, in 2008 when they were closing. I was given the task to close three offices.

[00:16:07] Tracy Hayes: Mm.

[00:16:07] Kevelyn Guzman: And lay off 20 people, and to clean up a mess. And then our IT system started falling apart. And I was the every—I was the catcher. I basically had—and there were many, there were many other things happening behind the scenes—but I came in to clean a big mess and help with the infrastructure. I was in the office till 11 o’clock on most days, and I was working the weekends. But I felt passionate about what I was doing, and I loved the people that I was doing it with. And so for me, my job was to—basically, I've pretty much done everything you could possibly think of.

[00:16:52] Tracy Hayes: How many agents...

[00:16:52] Kevelyn Guzman: From being an IT person—

[00:16:54] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:16:55] Kevelyn Guzman: —and helping move co-locations, to closing offices, to hiring, to firing, I’ve pretty much done it all.

[00:17:01] Tracy Hayes: How many agents are you—or has it evolved over time—and how many, how many agents are we talking about that fall under your umbrella as the operations?

[00:17:09] Kevelyn Guzman: So back then we actually had a lot more. About 15 years ago, we had about 145. We've always been very boutique—no more than 160. And so today we have 125, but we've ranked as a top 10 brokerage in New York City. Under my leadership, we went from number 10 to number eight. And so we've made some big—you know, we’ve really done some great things here under my leadership. And even before my leadership, I was part of what was happening at the company. So whether it was then or now—we had five offices, now we have two. But that really is being dictated by the market. A lot of the companies today don’t even have office space, right? They have like one small space. So the industry as a whole has also changed.

[00:18:04] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. You had on here—and I want to lead with this as we start to kind of dig into the different subjects that ChatGPT helped me break out for you—this idea that agents are not just salespeople, but as valued clients. Explain that to me.

[00:18:19] Kevelyn Guzman: So, agents—I always say, don’t ever look at the transaction. This is never about the transaction. This is about valuing the people that you’re working with. And I treat our agents that way. See, our agents in my eyes—they're not here to just produce. I have deep relationships with a lot of our agents. I see them as people that are doing hard work and that are out there providing a high level of service. And so I never see our agents just as a transaction. And look, I will say this—a lot of the agents here have been here 30, 40 years.

[00:19:04] Tracy Hayes: Wow.

[00:19:05] Kevelyn Guzman: I’ve been here 18 years. No one’s left. No matter how hard and rocky things have gotten. No matter if they don’t agree with certain things, they’ve remained here. And I want to say—and I want to believe, actually—that I have something to do with that.

[00:19:24] Tracy Hayes: That’s what I was—I want to lead and kind of bring that out there for you. If you were—you know, no matter where they’re at in the country—there’s some cornerstone things that obviously a brokerage does, needs to do. They need to recruit, and they need to retain if they want to grow in any way. What do you think, if you were—you know, I imagine you spoke at Inman. I don’t know if you spoke about this or just somewhere—any place you’re around the country, just speaking to generalized brokers, and obviously, you know, if they’re big enough to have someone over their ops, what are two or three things that you feel is important that every brokerage should be bringing to their agents?

[00:20:05] Kevelyn Guzman: So it used to be the brand first. And most companies are like that, right? So even when you do your own marketing, you have to focus on the brand first. And I’ve changed that a little bit here. We make the agent the brand first. Because think about it—if you wanted to do business, you’ve created your own business, and people are coming to you to list their home because they trust you. They trust you—not the company, right?

[00:20:31] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:20:32] Kevelyn Guzman: And so no matter where you do business, they’re going to follow you. And so I always say that the most important thing to do is to put the agent’s brand first.

[00:20:45] Kevelyn Guzman: And if I had to—if somebody were to ask me, “Look, I’m interviewing with different companies. What are some of the things that I should be on the lookout for?”—I would say, number one: would they put your brand first?

[00:21:00] Number two: what kind of support are you going to get? You know, today, most of the support is done over a computer. You never meet the marketing person. You never meet the IT person. If you ever have an issue, you just send an email and they’ll send you a YouTube link and cross your fingers and hope that you figure it out. And hopefully you will, right? But you want to align yourself with a company that actually does provide the white-glove service. Because if they do it for you, they'll do it for your clients. And that’s something to keep in mind. If your client ever needs, you know, a marketing plan that’s above and beyond, you want to be able to have the team to back that up.

[00:21:42] Tracy Hayes: Right?

[00:21:42] Kevelyn Guzman: And then the third thing I would say to that is culture. Right? Having a culture of collaboration. Having colleagues that would be willing to go help you price an apartment, have colleagues that would be willing to sit with you and share information. There are a lot of companies where other agents are sort of like, “If I see you looking at my desk, I will close my door.” Like they really hold everything to their chest, right? They’re superstitious, they don’t share, and they don’t collaborate. So having a culture of collaboration is also very important.

[00:22:20] Tracy Hayes: Excellent. I got some topics here. We’re going to talk about leadership and transformation. A little of this might overlap a little bit with what we’ve already talked about, but—you’ve led one of Manhattan’s legacy brokerages through a major acquisition and into the Coldwell Banker network. What were the toughest truths you had to face during that transition, and how did you lead others through it?

[00:22:44] Kevelyn Guzman: So I would say two big ones. Losing autonomy was a big one. So we went from being a small boutique firm that made decisions on the go to now having to ask for permission.

[00:23:00] Right? So then you had the blue pencil department. The red pencil department—the red pen department, right? And so getting used to all of that, that was a big deal for us. We went from just calling downstairs and having somebody come up and fix something to having to go through an entire department to get somebody to do it for us. And so, I think that it took us an entire year to really learn that process. Lots of acronyms, lots of teams. Today, I am grateful for those teams because now that we know who they are, they really help us on our day-to-day. But at the beginning, that was one of the biggest things for us—having to say to an agent, “Well, you know, we’re going to get back to you tomorrow on that.” Today, it’s a little different.

[00:23:56] Tracy Hayes: This goes back to the “treat agents as clients” topic we were on. I want to dig a little deeper into what that looks like. I know some great brokerages around here that hit those topics that you mentioned—culture and so forth—but there are others who, they’re just not quite there. And I see people leave, come and go, that kind of thing. And I’m wondering, are they really sitting down and looking at what’s going on? Because obviously retention is a big thing. And we see in this area—and I think probably nationally—we see a lot of these teams be created. A new agent comes on the team, but the team can’t grow unless they retain that agent. And then all of a sudden they start talking about splits because now the agent has a little bit of experience—and they’re gone. Talk a little bit about the structure, the support, the training that is necessary—because I imagine it’s constantly changing. Now we have—everyone’s talking about AI, and we talk about CRMs, and I think 90% of the people don’t ever really leverage the CRMs as they should. They train all day long, but actually getting it to work—how do you put all that in and get everybody hitting on the same page?

[00:25:10] Kevelyn Guzman: So one of the things that we do—we have strategy sessions with our agents, and that happens on a quarterly basis. But in addition to that, we tend to host a lot of trainings as well. But here’s the thing I will say—a lot of the agents come in to speak to me, especially when their business is down. That is the moment where every agent comes in to talk.

[00:25:35] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:25:35] Kevelyn Guzman: Right. Because if my business is down, that’s because the company is—is...

[00:25:36] Kevelyn Guzman: ...not doing something right. Right? So these are the perfect conversations, because then we get to say, “Okay, so what was the strategy that we did in Q1, and what worked and what didn’t? What should we repeat in Q2?” Right. So that could be something as simple as maybe postcards didn’t work in Q1. Maybe we mailed to the wrong building. Maybe, you know, we gotta look at what you were doing before and then we tweak it. That’s the level of support that we provide.

It is not just, “Okay, well look, let’s just throw everything at the wall and hope that something sticks.” It is looking at what we did before and what’s changing today. You know, when AI first came out, I had a lot of resistance in our office. Everybody was like, “Well look, I don’t really want to try this. I’m not interested. I don’t even know how to work it. It’s not part of my business. My clients don’t need it.”

[00:26:47] Okay, great. And then we came out and said, “Alright, well why don’t you try using AI to write your property description?” I am not implying that you’re going to take it word for word. What I’m saying is, let’s just see if it helps us speed up the process a little bit and give us some ideas. And then agents were like, “Oh my gosh, AI actually did the perfect property description for me,” and now they live by it.

[00:27:05] Tracy Hayes: Right. So it’s kind of—

[00:27:06] Kevelyn Guzman: It’s just being open to embracing technology. And embracing—because it’s the way. We’re not looking—it’s not going to replace you. But it can help you. And anything that can help you speed up the process or make you better, why not? Right? And so we are constantly having conversations with our agents about how to get better at what they do, but also how to support them. And we get them to a point where we get them thinking, “Okay, so you did this in Q1, let’s try something else in Q2.” And I think that that is something that’s lacking in a lot of firms.

[00:27:46] Tracy Hayes: And I think you would agree with this—you’ve been in the business long enough to realize this, and it doesn’t take being in the business long to, if you’re watching what’s going on—is you are dealing with a bunch of individual business owners, as we mentioned. It’s—they’re 1099, it’s their business that they’re running. And each of them has a different personality. They’re good at this, not so good at that. The other person is completely opposite. As the coach, mentor, as the leader—to obviously move this massive hundred and—I think you said what, 125 agents right now?—to move this group of agents in the same direction with a bunch of different personalities, because their marketing is different, or how they want to market. Some, I imagine, like to sit there and cold call. Others like to do the postcards—whatever it is, it’s a little bit different. How do you help them discover those things that they like to do and are successful at?

[00:28:39] Kevelyn Guzman: I’ll give you an example. It’s like social media. I have agents that don’t even have social media. Would never do it. Would never even think about it. And every time I mention social media, they’re kind of like, “Okay, well, I’m not even gonna listen to you.” I lose them. Right? So for them, we create a different strategy. We’ll create maybe an ad on The Wall Street Journal. We always find different things to do for people.

I have agents that I’ve recruited that have come in and were heavy on the cold calling. And then I have other agents that saw that and were like, “What are they doing? Who are they calling? And why would they cold call?” Right? Because that’s not their style. And that’s okay. That’s okay. There’s something for everyone.

What we do is figure out what works for each agent. Right? There are agents that are phenomenal at cold calling. I have an agent that has closed a ton of deals just from cold calling. And I have agents that have also closed a lot of deals just from their sphere—just repeat business. She does business in her sleep. She’s not on social media. And so it won’t work for everyone. Every personality is different.

I have people that I’ve said to them, “Well, you might want to do some videos for social media,” and they’re like, “I could never get in front of a camera.”

[00:30:01] Kevelyn Guzman: So with so many different personalities, you really have to figure out what works for each one.

[00:30:10] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Just for the agents that are listening right now, how important is it—or do you feel it is—for them to discover what that sweet spot is in their real estate career? 'Cause I think a lot of agents, they don’t—they’re really only looking 60 to 90 days out. They're not really saying, “Okay, I’m in this for the long haul, so here are some things I need to do for the long play,” but also doing some things for immediate business. But you know, to go back to that topic of what their favorite marketing—that’s a successful marketing theme—how important is it for new agents to find that, to get with a mentor like yourself and start to discover what that is that works for them, and find it as quickly as possible to get their career off to a great start?

[00:30:56] Kevelyn Guzman: So, I always say two things. Whatever you're doing in Q4 is for Q1 of next year. If you are currently working for Q4 and trying to generate business in Q4, you're late.

[00:31:11] Tracy Hayes: Right?

[00:31:13] Kevelyn Guzman: Right. And so whatever we’re doing in Q4—whether that was a different marketing strategy—and a marketing strategy could be postcards, could be connecting with your sphere, whatever that is, you have to start that in Q2 or Q3 for Q4. So we try to develop these plans with agents in advance.

[00:31:38] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:31:38] Kevelyn Guzman: And we try to always sit with them and figure out ways to get them thinking ahead, you know, for Q2 possibly. But you don’t know if something doesn’t work for you unless you try it. You’ve gotta try it all. And then you decide whether or not you like it. I’ll give you an example—and I’ll go back to social media because that is big. It’s free marketing, yet no one really capitalizes on it.

And I’ll say to someone, “You know what? Just create a schedule for yourself and maybe post twice a week. Here’s the market report—I’m actually going to give you what to post.” And if you’re not posting it—if you’re feeling like you’re not connecting with your sphere in that way—start building it up. But most people give up when they don’t see the instant gratification. If they don’t find that it’s generating money in any way—and that’s not what this is about.

Right? You have to slowly plant those seeds. You have to keep consistency. You have to keep working at it, and eventually, you’ll get there. I’ll give you one other example—and going back to social media. When I stepped into this role, we had about 2,900 followers. And people here were sort of like, “Well, social media is just like this bluff thing that everybody does. You know, these young kids out there taking videos of everything.”

[00:33:00] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:33:01] Kevelyn Guzman: “I actually don’t want them coming to my listing and taking videos”—when it's like free promotion. And so when I took over, I grew our social media platform from 2,900 followers to 15,000.

[00:33:13] Tracy Hayes: Wow.

[00:33:14] Kevelyn Guzman: And—very organically. And that is through consistency in posting. When I recruit, we post it. When we host events, we post it. When we’re doing training, we’re posting. When our agents succeed—close or rent—we post it. We are consistent. And we’ve created visibility not only for us but for our agents. And that has inspired a lot of our agents that initially were sort of like, “We’re not interested in this,” to now want to participate. And they’re growing their followers, they’re growing their social media presence. And that is like one piece of the larger puzzle, but it’s a good example of what being consistent ends up doing.

And I’ll give you another one with social media. We’ve had—we’ve closed on sales...

[00:34:01] Kevelyn Guzman: Rentals—meaning, we’re getting business from what we’re doing on social media. So if you stay consistent, you will ultimately get there, but you can’t give up. You just have to keep trying.

[00:34:18] Tracy Hayes: And your campaign seems to be very reasonable—or what you were suggesting—for the agents to post a couple of times a week. Obviously, I just imagine you have a staff there with you, or someone’s in charge of it. So if they’re putting something out there once a day—and obviously, some of these things, like the reels I cut from the podcast—I post the same reel on all the platforms from YouTube, obviously, to Instagram, which automatically puts it over to Facebook. And I even throw stuff on TikTok. I don’t even follow it, but I just throw it on there. It can be repurposed in many different platforms. And if you’re doing it consistently—and obviously with software today—you can actually load it and tell it to go out on a certain day and forget it.

[00:35:01] Kevelyn Guzman: You’re exactly right. And that’s just one piece—that’s social media. I always say to our agents, okay, join your community board. Do you love to play tennis? Join your tennis club. Right? That’s a great way to network and build that sphere. If you’re a mom, join the PTA. You know? Like there are a lot of different communities that agents can join to help them—not only network, but expand their business.

Social media is one piece that can help, right? Because everybody’s on social media. But also, join your community. Go to networking events. I’m always putting networking events out there, putting people together. And the reason to do that is to help them connect with a group of people that they never would’ve thought of maybe even reaching out to. And I’ve had business transactions happen in rooms where I’ve put people together.

So it is beyond just social media—it is also joining community events and being part of something that you’re interested in and passionate about.

[00:36:08] Tracy Hayes: You, as the operation—you as Coldwell Banker Warburg—you’re putting those on. But agents should be doing their own little things too. Whether it’s, you know, a cookout and have a few friends over in the neighborhood, if they’re in that kind of thing, on a regular basis. There was a gentleman I heard speak a couple of years ago, and it was really interesting. He was talking about how he got his real estate career going, and it was basically Taco Tuesday. He had Taco Tuesday at his house every Tuesday night. But the rule was, he told the family, “We’re going to have a different guest every Tuesday.”

[00:36:45] And that’s amazing. And he built—he created, obviously, relationships. And to me, those are—then you send that billboard out there, right? You let it fly and hopefully they’re going to refer you somebody. And because you broke bread at their house, that obviously helps build the relationship right there.

Alright, here’s a question for you. In a market as competitive as Manhattan, what makes an agent stay? And what do brokerages often get wrong about retention and loyalty?

[00:37:13] Kevelyn Guzman: So, most brokerages—what they get wrong is that they think money fixes all problems. And that’s not true. It’s not always about the money. I’ve seen at other firms agents leave because of—you know, maybe something wasn’t fair. Maybe they didn’t get the support that they needed. There are many factors. Sometimes also agents leave because they think that their business is not doing well, and it’s because of the company they’re with.

But the successful agents are the ones that are trying everything and tapping into the resources. In a competitive market like New York City, as a firm, you really have to throw everything out there and you have to stay at the forefront of innovation. And if you don’t, your agents will leave you for the company that they think has all the sizzle and no steak.

[00:38:13] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:38:13] Kevelyn Guzman: Most people look at, you know, even the social media following and think, “Well, that guy must be doing really well.” It doesn’t always mean that they’re doing really well. And so, you have to stick with the company that you feel can support you. And yes—great—the money has to always match as well. But you have to find a perfect balance, and that’s collaboration. Because nobody wants to work in an environment where you feel like you can’t collaborate.

[00:38:14] Kevelyn Guzman: Right. This is a business of relationships. Your relationship is not just with your buyers and your clients—it's also with the agents in your office and the brokerage community. I’ve oftentimes heard our agents working with another agent at another firm, and they’re like, “Oh, but he’s awful to work with, and I don’t want to have to deal with this agent. He’s not ethical.” So your relationship is also with agents outside of your office and firm. You have to maintain a good relationship outside of your firm as well, but it’s important that the people that you sit next to would love to collaborate with you.

[00:39:17] Tracy Hayes: I imagine if you’ve got an agent who’s producing in New York City—as close in proximity as you are to everybody—they're trying to be picked off. Am I right?

[00:39:26] Kevelyn Guzman: Oh yeah.

[00:39:28] Tracy Hayes: I would imagine it’s...

[00:39:29] Kevelyn Guzman: It’s so competitive out here. Our agents get phone calls, I would say, several times a week. It is nonstop. Everybody—every seller knows an agent. Everyone knows an agent in New York City. And so when you're pitching an exclusive, know that that seller is meeting with five other agents, and they're probably all their friends as well. So it is highly competitive. You always have to be thinking about things that will help you stand out and why you are different.

[00:40:00] You take a team of 20—it’s always important to note that even though you're on your own and you don't have a team, the seller is always going to get you. The seller’s not going to get number 30 on the team. They're going to always have you. You're going to do the showings, you're going to do the open house, and that matters because you're the one they hired.

[00:40:21] Tracy Hayes: Right? How do you sense—we mentioned, you know, agents might look to go because maybe their numbers aren’t good and they think it’s because of the company or brokerage that they're with—but as a leader, and your responsibility is retention—for those who are out there, the brokers that might be listening, what are some things that you pick up on and say, “Oh, you know, I’ve got this agent. Maybe you want to get rid of them, so you’re like, ‘Hey, if you leave, great—no problem, you're a poisoned apple.’” But I imagine there are some agents who might just be in a slump. What are some signs that you pick up on that let you know you need to reach out, bring them in, and coach them up a little bit—get them back on?

[00:40:59] Kevelyn Guzman: So, one of the things I do—there are key words that you hear agents say, and you're like, “Okay, this person’s not feeling too warm and fuzzy.”

[00:41:08] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:41:08] Kevelyn Guzman: Words like, “I'm having a terrible year,” or “I just feel like the marketing department hasn’t done enough,” or “I’m not getting the visibility that I need.” And so when agents start saying that, then you know you need to come in strong. And normally what I do is I’ll meet with the marketing department and I come back with a plan. And I’ll say to them, “Why don’t we try these three things? Let’s see how it works out, and then we can have another conversation in two or three months—but let’s give this a try.”

I don’t just like to sit there and say to them, “Well, let’s really talk about the kind of year you’re having and what you’ve done.” I come in with a strategy and see if they’re open to it. But I think that, as a leader, there are things that agents say that let you know right away—they’re not happy with the brand. And so it is up to you to come back with something meaningful.

[00:42:05] Tracy Hayes: It might be like AI—they’re not asking the right question the right way.

[00:42:08] Kevelyn Guzman: Right. Exactly. They’re not even calling. They’re not even calling marketing and actually going, “Hey, can you help me with a plan?” or anything.

[00:42:15] Tracy Hayes: Going a little bit into the innovation that you—probably Coldwell Banker Warburg is known for blending legacy with innovations—what tech or tools have you introduced that are truly changing the agent experience?

[00:42:29] Kevelyn Guzman: So, some of the tools that we’ve really done a great job at introducing—we went from being a legacy firm that really had, you know, Microsoft as the technology base, right? So it’s just Outlook, and that’s what you got. And when we were acquired, we got a set of tools that really helped us—like Listing Concierge. We have Revitalize, which is a concierge service that we provide to our sellers.

[00:43:00] We’ve given our agents more through the acquisition. And so I know everything there is to know from being a small boutique firm that really just offered the basics. Great white-glove service—don’t get me wrong—but in terms of tools, it didn’t really provide what most of the larger firms are able to do. And so when we were acquired, we were able to give them more.

AI is built into our system. That’s wonderful, right? Because today, everything has AI built into it. So you want to be with a firm that’s already using some of those tools.

[00:43:45] Kevelyn Guzman: We have Canva—an enterprise account with Canva, right? So there are a lot of tools that we've been able to give to our agents that before, we weren’t able to. And so staying ahead of what’s coming out is really important. But what’s wonderful is that we’re not doing it alone—we have a powerhouse behind us that’s helping us accomplish that as well.

[00:43:56] Tracy Hayes: When you’re out trying to recruit someone over to you—whether a new or experienced agent—you know, I think we use the term “technology” wide open. Everybody’s going to tell me that their brokerage has got the best training, and we’ve got the best tech. Technology. What are some things that, you know, for those small boutique brokerages that are still out there that don’t have the budgets—from a national basis—to bring in the latest and greatest always, what recommendations would you be making to them in their selection of what tech the agents are really wanting right now?

[00:44:33] Kevelyn Guzman: So our needy agents want—

[00:44:35] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:44:36] Kevelyn Guzman: —most agents want a CRM. That’s the number one big thing. The one thing you hear is that other companies—and I don’t know if this is true because I’ve never seen it—but I hear agents say, “Well, you know, this company’s CRM integrates with the lead gen platform, and every day I come into my office and I have a new lead on my calendar to call.” Great, right?

[00:45:00] But, you know—is that lead legitimate?

[00:45:04] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:45:05] Kevelyn Guzman: Or is it Mickey Mouse on the other end? So you have that. As a smaller firm, how do you compete with those bigger firms? I think the thing to focus on is the CRM aspect of it. Because that allows the agent to automate a lot of things, like sending out reports to their sphere. You can get a CRM to do pretty much everything for you while you’re out getting the business. So I really strongly believe in a good CRM system—and your marketing plan.

The big thing I see in the industry right now is agents taking photos with their iPhones, and then creating their own postcards with a blurry picture. And they don’t understand that that represents them and their brand.

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

[00:45:58] Kevelyn Guzman: And it’s a serious problem out there. And look, iPhones are great, and the quality of the photos is amazing. But please—let’s not do that, right? Let’s just try and figure out a better way to service our clients by hiring a photographer, that sort of thing. So not cheaping out on certain things is really important for a small boutique.

And if you have the most critical things—which is a great photographer, a great videographer, and a good CRM platform—I think with those three things, you will be helping your agents succeed.

[00:46:37] Tracy Hayes: When you dig into CRM—do you have somebody—I mean, because you seem to be, you know, obviously running operations, you’re a process person. You’re looking at how things are going through. And what I’ve noticed in 20 years of being in the business and experiencing different CRMs at different lenders that I’ve worked for—the CRM can do far more than you ever can imagine.

[00:47:00] The average person is thinking of using it for two or three things: “Hey, I like to do this. I want postcards. I’m going to send posts on social media,” whatever—those handful of things. But it does a lot. It does a lot of things. Because all their customers want different things, so it has to be able to do a thousand different things, even though you’re only going to use it for a handful.

But what I find is you go to these trainings, and they’re training you on the CRM, and they’re talking about a hundred different things—to the point it gives everybody analysis paralysis. And I’ve often wanted to recommend—have somebody. Have somebody in marketing, and that’s all they do. And they’re going to call the individual loan officer and say, “What do you want your CRM to do? Oh, you want social media postings once a week? Three times a week? You want this, you want that?”

[00:47:59] Kevelyn Guzman: You can— a lot of those things you can set and let it run and do its stuff. But where a lot of times it drops—in our case, the loan officer, but in your case, the real estate agent—is when it's put on them to think of a marketing campaign or figure out the latest Facebook or Instagram post that marketing is sitting there creating, but no one’s really using. Because no one is really spending the time with the CRM to push the buttons and make it work and get the full service of what it can do.

[00:48:15] Kevelyn Guzman: And this goes back to—it’s not for everyone.

[00:48:17] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:48:18] Kevelyn Guzman: Right? We’ve gotten enterprise accounts for so many different platforms. And we get accounts for 125 agents—yet only five use it. Right? So it’s not for everyone. I have agents—so in our office here, we have a team: a transaction coordinator, we have a marketing department, we have someone that focuses on board packages. And so we have human beings here in our office that help you.

So let’s just say you will never use a CRM. You have our team that you can go to, and they will create it for you. Because again, it’s not for everyone. Right? We pride ourselves on the white-glove service. At the end of the day, what’s most important for us is that our agents are out there making deals.

[00:49:09] Tracy Hayes: Right?

[00:49:09] Kevelyn Guzman: Agents are not making deals if they’re sitting in the office. Let us take the administrative part of the transaction from you so that you can get the deal done, so that you can be out there getting more business.

So at the end of the day, for me, I always say—it’s like AI. AI is not going to solve all our problems. It’s going to help the process. Similar to a CRM, similar to all these other technical tools—it’s not going to fix the problem, but it will make it easier for us. And really, if you can get something to take 10% off your plate, then you’re winning. But at the end of the day, you have to look over what it’s doing. You have to set it up. And if the company you’re with has a team that helps you do that—even better.

[00:49:59] Tracy Hayes: Leverage it.

[00:50:00] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, yeah. Women in real estate—next topic here for you, ’cause I know it’s big for you. You launched the New York City chapter of What Moves Her. What conversations are women in leadership not having enough in real estate, and how can we change that?

[00:50:15] Kevelyn Guzman: So this is an interesting topic because we have a lot of women in the real estate industry. And it used to be where women did this for fun. They had babies, and then they were just sort of like, “Okay, let me just figure out something to do to keep me busy.” And real estate seemed to be the place to keep busy.

And a lot of the women here came from that time. The time where they were like, “I just—I had my third baby, and I just need to get out of the house, right? So let me just do a couple of deals a year.” And then it turned—morphed—into something much bigger.

And there is today a lot more men in the industry. However, women—there seems to be almost like a gap. Where sometimes women are communicating the same thing—let’s just say, I’ll give you an example—and I’ve seen this happen a lot: they have a seller, and the husband is the decision-maker. And sometimes the husband wants to hear from a male agent.

[00:51:00] And even though that male agent is saying exactly the same thing the woman is saying, somehow he only hears what the male agent is saying. There’s still some of that happening.

[00:51:33] Tracy Hayes: Oh yeah, today—yeah, for sure.

[00:51:34] Kevelyn Guzman: And so we have sellers that—when the male, the husband, is the decision-maker—they want a male agent. And that’s some of the challenges that we face today. Which women have always faced, but you would think that so many years have passed and that would’ve gotten better, but it hasn’t.

[00:51:56] Tracy Hayes: How do you handle that culturally? Because, I mean, obviously, there are cultures that are like that. It’s not just individuals. It’s actually cultures that we know are like that. How do you navigate that?

[00:52:06] Kevelyn Guzman: You know, I’ll add to that—it’s not only cultures, but buildings in New York City.

[00:52:11] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:52:13] Kevelyn Guzman: Okay. There are buildings in New York City that are very much like that.

[00:52:15] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:52:16] Kevelyn Guzman: And so, when it comes to the culture—we used to do this thing, a personality test, and we used to give that to all the agents we hired. We wanted to see where they ranked in terms of certain characteristics, like if they were more of an amiable personality.

And so we always did that for agents, and I always tell our agents, “You’re doing the same to your seller.” When you’re walking in and you have that first phone call, you have to try and find as much information from them—like, what’s their background? Because that’ll help you figure out whether or not you need to come in with a bigger team, or you need to come in with the sales director to help lead that conversation. But it really is up to the agent, when they have that first interaction, to figure out what’s going to work.

[00:53:08] Tracy Hayes: You've been named Woman of Influence and Notable Real Estate Leader, but what's one moment behind the scenes where you truly felt like you stepped into your own power? Well, that's a high-level question there.

[00:53:22] Kevelyn Guzman: Mm. I've had a lot of those moments. Lots. I always say that one day I am gonna write a book. But when I stepped into my power, I want to say it was recently. I went through a big change within the company, and it was seeing the work that I had done over the years pay off in one minute. And that’s when I really stepped into the power of the work that I have done over the years and saw it play out in one second. In the midst of chaos—what felt like big chaos, public chaos—I stepped in. I had no choice but to step into my power by just leaning into the things that I have done over the years. And the level of support and encouragement I’ve given people over the years really helped me get through that.

[00:54:24] Tracy Hayes: I want to wrap up here with just a couple quick points. Obviously, you know, from us down here in Florida, the news we’re watching—you’ve got a mayoral election coming. You're in real estate. I think Serhant has come out and made some statements, or gestured to other people that they said, "Serhant said..." I can't remember what it was. But people—obviously New York is, you know, they used to call— I grew up in Massachusetts—they used to call it Taxachusetts, which it still is. But obviously, you know, the cost of living, the taxes—and then, you know, what are you getting for all that?

And obviously Florida’s benefited since COVID, but what are you seeing in the real estate market in 2026? It looks like everyone feels—obviously interest rates, for those who need to finance—are trending down. So that’s a positive thing. I don’t know how much that affects you. Here, we’re probably at least 50% cash, ’cause we have a lot of people moving from northern states coming down and they're literally paying cash, which drives the Florida price point up because people can pay cash. What’s your 2026 real estate prediction?

[00:55:31] Kevelyn Guzman: So, I know that everybody’s hoping that one candidate wins over the other so that everybody goes over to Florida. That’s what we hear the most. It’s like everybody’s leaving New York City and headed to Florida. But I always say if people are leaving and they’re selling, someone’s buying.

[00:55:53] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:55:54] Kevelyn Guzman: And so at the end of the day, New York City is resilient. No matter who wins, we’ll be okay. But if people are selling, then others will buy and move here. And so there’s always an opportunity. But for 2026, it really also is going to depend a lot on what happens in two weeks. That really is going to dictate a lot of what’s gonna happen here in New York City in 2026.

My hope is that the outcome—no matter what it is—for us, there’s an opportunity. We do have issues around housing, but I hope that whoever wins, there is some kind of opportunity there. There’s always opportunity in everything. But for 2026, depending on what happens in two weeks, my hope is that the candidate in that place really does some meaningful work to help New York City. And overall, we don’t know what’s going to happen with interest rates. But the idea, the goal, is that things start stabilizing a little bit more. We are still not at the place—since COVID—we're still not stable enough. You know, I feel like we're at the tail end, but there's still more to be done.

[00:57:10] Tracy Hayes: Do you feel—from that statement, obviously the mayoral election in two weeks, the country’s resilient, New York City obviously—and you’ll get through it—but there may be a period of shock, whatever you want to call it. Just a lack of a better word—just this hesitancy, kind of like with Trump coming into office. I feel there's this, you know, people are like, "What's gonna happen? Oh my God." The news keeps talking about the tariffs, tariffs, tariffs. The world’s gonna come to an end.

And our news media talks out of both sides of their mouth about different things and really leaves the common person out there trying to make a decision in the middle and doesn’t know which way to turn. You know? Do you feel that we’re kind of going through that right now?

[00:57:48] Kevelyn Guzman: So there’s always—there’s a lot of panic, right? So when the news broke that one candidate had...

[00:58:00] Kevelyn Guzman: There was a lot of panic, and I felt it in the streets. I felt it in my office. People were like, "What are we gonna do? What's gonna happen?" You know? I always say to people, never panic. It’s like owning stocks, right? If you start selling the minute you see it drop—and you start selling—it’s the worst move. You should be buying, actually.

[00:58:20] Tracy Hayes: Right?

[00:58:20] Kevelyn Guzman: Never panic and sell your stocks. Never panic and sell your home. You don’t know what’s going to happen. So never make decisions when you are highly emotional. Just give it some time, right? But there is a lot of that happening. There’s panic with, you know, the Compass-Anywhere merger, there’s panic with the tariffs. There’s always going to be panic, but really center yourself and just ride it out.

[00:58:47] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:58:48] Kevelyn Guzman: It might not be as bad as people think.

[00:58:49] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. I think the people selling probably were just looking for a reason to sell. You know, they've kind of been thinking about, “I want to move to Florida, I want to move to Florida.” Ah, this is a good reason—I'm gonna sell now, right? I'll use that as an excuse.

[00:59:00] Kevelyn Guzman: Yeah.

[00:59:00] Tracy Hayes: But you're right. Somebody is going to move in. You have so many accolades here. You actually recently—Inman Power Player, the RSM Media Newsmaker, HousingWire Woman of Influence, Crain's New York Notable Real Estate Leader, Women Worth Watching. Obviously, your PR company reached out to me. Are you getting out there? Are you preparing to write a book? I mean, you’ve got a great deal of experience in Manhattan, right? You can't—Million Dollar Listing. That’s right. Everybody in the country wants to watch. Although I was talking to someone the other day, 'cause I have a Ryan Serhant cutout I used at an event that we did, and they’re like, “Who’s that?” I'm like, “This is Ryan Serhant—you know, Million Dollar Listing. Everyone knows Ryan.” You're in real estate—you don’t know Ryan? Where have you been?

So, but are you looking to do a book or what’s your goal?

[00:59:50] Kevelyn Guzman: So I think eventually I will. Right now, I’m an Inman contributor.

[00:59:55] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:59:56] Kevelyn Guzman: And I love writing for Inman. It is my favorite thing to do on Sundays. And I think for me, absolutely—eventually—I will write a book. And I already have the outline in my head. So this is something that, for me, will eventually happen. And, you know, a lot of those awards—at this point, I am getting them just purely out of the things that I am doing in the community.

[01:00:46] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:00:47] Kevelyn Guzman: Which I'm thrilled about because the work that I am doing is beyond just real estate. It’s my passion.

[01:00:58] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:00:58] Kevelyn Guzman: You know, I mean, there's more happening, but you'll see me around a lot more, that's for sure.

[01:01:03] Tracy Hayes: Well, I think, you know, the more and more I spoke to you today, the person I think that needs to hear that—I mean, all real estate agents should hear it—but there's a lot of leaders out there, or operations people, or the boutique broker where the broker’s kind of doing, you know, operations and all the above, you know, to listen in or even reach out to you, follow you on LinkedIn. I know you post there a lot. I don't think people use LinkedIn enough.

I've been posting about you. There'll be a blog about you on LinkedIn, as well as on my website. But to reach out and start following you and then to kind of write a—I don't know if you want, almost like a textbook, because I think it would really help, especially new people getting into the leadership positions within real estate. Because I think that there's too many out there trying to recreate the wheel, so to speak.

[01:01:48] Kevelyn Guzman: And you don't really need to recreate the wheel. All you need to do is just bring your authentic self. Like that—that is just—be passionate about it. I don't see this as a job. This is not a nine to five for me. I work—our agents work seven days a week. I work seven days a week as well. And I enjoy it. I enjoy every minute of it, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm passionate about it.

Everything I do is not work—it is things that I am passionate about. The What Moves Her, everything I'm doing in terms of women empowerment, coaching, strategy, leading—all of it is stuff that I really enjoy doing. And when you enjoy what you do, it never feels like work.

[01:02:31] Tracy Hayes: You want to do more. You're like, “How can I do that again?” Right? That's why, that's why—

[01:02:36] Kevelyn Guzman: I'm thinking about writing a book, yeah. And that’s why I’m thinking about like, what's next. And I wanna—you know, I want more.

[01:02:47] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:02:47] Kevelyn Guzman: Yeah. I don't know exactly what all the more is, but all I know is that I'm craving more.

[01:02:56] Tracy Hayes: I appreciate you coming on today. Is there anything else that you'd like to add to us that maybe we didn't cover? Is there any topic that—

[01:03:00] Kevelyn Guzman: We've covered it all, and you have been amazing.

[01:03:00] Tracy Hayes: Thank you for—

[01:03:00] Kevelyn Guzman: Thank you for having me.

[01:03:03] Tracy Hayes: I appreciate that. I'm gonna shut off the recording. If you could stay on just for a moment, I got a semi-personal question to ask you, so hang on there. All right. Thank you, Kevelyn.