Marrissa Scott: Mom, Mentor and Motivator

Hey, welcome back to The Real Estate excellence podcast with your host. Tracy Hayes, the real estate star, was turned down by many real estate brokers when she first became licensed. She Hayes from the Philippines, was a Navy wife for 13 years and still going on, yes, but he's still not he's not active anymore, so he's flying commercial. She is consistently on social media. Entrepreneurship is in her blood, as she was involved in several businesses before real estate. She now is one of the most recognized realtors in Northeast Florida. She's a poster agent for exit real estate gallery. As she is a peak producer, she's consistently recognized as the jack's real producer magazine is one of the top Realtors in Northeast Florida, a mentor at the Buffini and company. I want to welcome the very popular member of the squad exit real estate gallery's very own, Marissa Scott to the show.

Speaker 1  1:57  
I didn't know that I was them. Yeah, well, you know,

Tracy Hayes  2:02  
make the other ones jealous, right? Oh, my God, let them talk about that was pretty cool, but we're gonna start off with a little toast here, a little patron to get started here and loosen the lips. Cheers to the staff here. Okay, yeah, right. Got that out of the way. We'll chase it down a little high noon vodka and soda. Oh, my God.

Unknown Speaker  2:21  
All right, we're ready to go. All right.

Marissa Scott  2:26  
So you're, you know, one of the I want you to think is, I think you have an inspirational story. And I was just noting here, actually, on this little bio page that you got, and I, in my intro, I mentioned, because you had mentioned to me you had just got your license. You were talking to some brokers, yeah. And they were like, Yeah, you know, we don't want to really want, we're not really interested in you name the brokerage. I'll let you when you want to tell the story. But you literally on here, and I skipped over this initially, when I was reading this, you were exit realities, Florida Rookie of the Year in 2008 so literally, within a year of you people saying we're not really interested in you. You were Rookie of the Year 12 months later. Yes. So I remember the story behind me getting my license. I was a full time mom, and I still claim that I'm still a full time mom until this day, but I was doing little things here and there. You know my background? I was in the band in Malaysia, singing in the band. I was an animator for a while, and then when I finally moved to America, I was just really dedicated to raising my kids and being a full time wife to my husband, because he was active military then, and he deploys a lot, and but I'm getting to the point where I need to do something for myself just to get away, but without having to take all the time from my kids, because my main focus is still my thing. You could be as full or part time, and I still everyone that I talked to, I always still say that I'm not a full time agent. I am. Somehow they look at it like I was or I am. But you know, my main priorities are my family, and I remember that a lot on your social media, yes, you have a lot of pictures of your kids, you guys traveling around, yeah. And I remember my mother in law was was a real estate agent for a builder, and I remember just going to the model home while she was working. And I was like, I can't really see myself doing this and knowing how much or how less she worked during those days, I was like, I can really do this. And I remember asking her, and I said, I really want to look into getting my license. And she said, Oh, you're not gonna make it. It's too hard. It's too I don't think it's for you. And she didn't think you had the work ethic. I don't think, I don't think I think she's she thinks that I'm not ready. I'm not ready, you know, because I don't really have the best grammar in English and stuff like that. I just moved here, just moved to the stage and, you know, and I don't think she, she really believes that I can be comfortable with the language and stuff.

Speaker 1  5:00  
Like that, but I took that as a challenge, believe it or not, I said to myself, I'm going to prove to her. So never challenge your in law, your daughter in law, or your son in law, because I that really just brought like, ball, you know, just turn on the light bulb on me, and I was like, I'm gonna challenge her. I'm gonna show her that I can do it, that I'll make it. And for me, it was also good, because I'm getting to the point where I made the decision, okay, am I just gonna be around Filipinos all the time? Because if I do that, I will never, you know, develop my language. I'll stay speaking Tagalog forever, which I am living here, and this is my new home. I need to be part of it, I need to be comfortable with it. So that's the two reasons why I went ahead and did a similar story to your good friend Jocelyn.

Speaker 1  5:49  
And I remember I got excited and everything, you know, I always believe that when it's meant for you, it's just going to happen in the right places. And I remember looking at the class schedule is like, perfect for me, because the kids, as soon as I drop off the kids, I'll be able to go to take the class, and by the time the class is done, then I'll pick up the kids. So it worked perfectly for me. And there were so little then, and I remember just taking the class and pass it like I remember there was 30 of us when we started the class. And then, of course, as weeks gone by, it was getting smaller and smaller. And I remember there was when, by the time we take, we took the end of the course exam, there was only 10 of us, just 10 agents. And then out of those 10 agents, I remember only two of us passed the state, the state exam. Wow. And then those two agents, she actually work for a little bit with exit. And I remember, as soon as I got the as soon as I passed the test, I was like, I'm ready. I'm ready. And it wasn't, I don't remember as being as active before, where brokers are calling you or emailing you, or as they do today, yeah, like, you know, like, Now, as soon as you sign up for a class, you're getting all these calls, and it's like I didn't feel very special then, because I didn't get

Speaker 1  7:07  
I didn't get the calls, I didn't get the emails, I didn't get the letters, and I found myself actually calling them. And I remember this one brokerage. I wish I have taken his name down, but I didn't, because I really would like to see him again and say, Hey, look.

Speaker 1  7:25  
But I remember, I still remember that day where I called this real estate company. And I think the reason why I call them is because they're all over those real estate TV thing. Remember there's a channel? Oh, they just Yeah, I know

Speaker 1  7:40  
the cable channel in the show listings, and they're always in there, and I thought I really would like to work for that company. And I remember calling and introducing myself. I told him that I just got my license. I'm ready to work. And he goes, I'm sorry, we don't really take any new ages, unless you're top producer. And I'm like, oh, okay, yeah.

Speaker 1  8:06  
And I think so one thing that you need to understand about me is that if you challenge me, I'm gonna prove you wrong. Yeah. So that's, I think, one of the motivation why I'm like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this. So your your mother in law, right? Yes. And then this person's like,

Speaker 1  8:23  
right now, if you remember 13 years ago, I called you and you turned me down. Well, since Rhonda, how do you end up at exit? Then what? So I remember, after I got my license, I went to a Filipino restaurant. And I go to this place all the time. I actually became family members of the owners. And I remember meeting chorito, who was my sponsor. And, you know, she started talking to me about exit. And I remember meeting with my very first mentor, Stan bishop. He was the broker then. And I remember meeting with him, and I just felt because he was the one. He was the first person who gave me the opportunity, who saw something in me. And until this day, he's still my my mentor. I still call him, and he still gives me really good, you know, wisdom and stuff like that. In this market, I don't know what in my career, professional career, one of my great successes in hiring people. I was down in Naples, Florida, where you do have a very mix of people from all over the world. You know a lot of European there, and you're a lot of Central American and South American influence there. And I went out and recruited hand recruited one young lady was from Columbia. Actually the only guy I actually kept those already on the staff that that was, had they were hungry, he was from Haiti, and, you know, obviously they were bilingual, which helped, yeah, but the work ethic in the understanding of the potential, yeah, of what you were doing and the opportunity, yes, that you were stepping in, people don't under they underestimate that. I.

Speaker 1  10:00  
If you actually look, I mean, Jacksonville is a big place for medical field, and there's actually a lot of nurses in here. And if you look at statistics, you're actually going to find that majority of the nurses that we have in Northeast Florida are from the Philippines, and they're in and it's and even in the Philippines, you know, growing up in that third world country, everybody is very hard working, right? But when? But just imagine that double the effort and the work because they are now given the opportunity come here to the States and they can send money back to their families, yeah, so forth. Yeah. That was like my thing too when I started working. Of course, when I first married my husband, I have to be respectful of his bank account. But

Speaker 1  10:49  
there's also funny story on that that's one of the reasons why I ended up doing real estate, is because I got tired of shopping,

Unknown Speaker  10:57  
and he came home from deployment.

Unknown Speaker  11:01  
What have you been buying? Do

Speaker 1  11:04  
something so well, tell us a little about, you know, growing up in the Philippines, and then, you know, into what led you to meeting your husband. So I was really raised by my grandparents. My My father was killed when I was very young. I think I was 12, and my mom, believe it or not, I came from a, well, my mom ended up marrying a rock icon in focus. He's actually like, like, the big Jagger of the Philippines. Interesting, yeah. So that's how I got the name, Anna, which I told my husband my name, yeah, that's another story that I can tell you. So yeah, so I was raised by after my mom, after my dad died, and my mom moved in with her new partner, we ended up just staying with my grandparents, and we're really in the Philippines. I don't know if you know this, because it's a third world country, there's no such thing as middle class. So it's either you're poor or you're rich, and were considered poor, even though my grandparents, you know, works as a civilian employee at the military facility. My grandfather was a retired military they, you know, they still provided and it was not a lot, which was a good thing for me, because everything was very minimal. I remember when somebody's coming, my uncle, who lives now here in America, when they used to come home from United States, they're going to bring us chocolates. That was a big thing, chocolate, big tree soap, shampoo, yeah. So they always bring this stuff. And I remember, because there's so many of us, I remember that HERSHEY's Bar, my grandmother has to divide that equally, like I will get three little bars. And that was enough. Maybe that was a good thing, because I didn't really get

Speaker 1  12:52  
it wasn't until I moved to America that I got a little bigger. Had to increase the exercise.

Speaker 1  12:58  
And then, you know, just like normal teenagers, you know, we decided we want to rebel, and I was probably, I was the middle child, and I was probably the problem child, yeah, like, I knew I was a problem child. I'm still a problem child until this day.

Unknown Speaker  13:15  
What's that? Danny, shocker,

Speaker 1  13:18  
but, but I remember, as you know, I rebelled. I left, and I decided I want to move with with my mom, because my mom has more is giving me more freedom to do everything. And so I moved with her. My grandmother was very upset with that. She's married the ROB icon. So just figure that out. You know, what should we go from being living on a minimal thing to being I was it was a different exposure for me. You know, I with my grandparents, I learned how to live life in a minute with minimum and be happy with that. With my living with my mom, I learned that you can do everything. You know that no, nobody or nothing can ever stop you from doing what you want to do, which I did, and I took it all the extreme, but it was one of those moments when I was living with her, and I used to I was a party girl, so I would go. Then we call it disco. We'll go with disco. You remember them.

Tracy Hayes  14:16  
I don't remember being in discos, but I was old enough to remember Saturday Night Fever. Okay, well,

Speaker 1  14:24  
we have this. It's very popular to go to discos and stuff like that. And I clearly remember there was a place that I used that I go, like, on a weekly basis, and for some reason that night, they were closed, and I ended up staying home from ladies night out. It's like, every Wednesday, it's ladies night out. And I remember just staying home, and then my my sister and her friends, like, let's go to this one place. They have this show, and it's gonna be fun. It's like, okay, I'll go, right. So I went, and it turned out to be like, one of those impersonators show. Like, there was Boy George, there was Madonna and.

Speaker 1  15:00  
In there, and impersonation comedy, yeah, well, they were performing

Speaker 1  15:05  
their lip singing and stuff like that. And it was just mesmerized, because for a Filipino girl to see, you know, look alike, right? You know, from America, celebrity from America was like, I was just mesmerized and just soaking it up, like, oh my gosh, that's how they look like, but I know they're not real. It just looks so real. And I remember there was this short guy that stood next to me, and he just like he was, is that real boy, George? Look at him like, Are you really that stupid? And he was American. He

Tracy Hayes  15:38  
probably had a little too much of the Patronus.

Speaker 1  15:42  
He was hitting on me, but I'm sorry, Donnie, I don't have anything for short men,

Speaker 1  15:51  
but, but he was, you know, he was nice. And I said, Are you really that stupid? You really think you'd pay free you won't. It's free to watch boyfriend concert. And then that's when he was I met my husband. He was with him, and, yeah, yeah. And we actually dated for two years. Oh, wow. Long distance. And I don't have a cell phone, I don't have a lane phone, I don't have a computer, I didn't have a computer, so everything was love letters. Oh, wow. And I still have boxes of those love letters. Awesome, yeah, so that's how. And then he started coming back for more. So he was coming to Manila and visiting me at least, just because the ship was coming in, or he would actually go, he had leave. When I met him, he was stationed in Japan, and they were doing some exercises with the Philippine Navy, and then he met me, and he was the one responsible for all the schedules, so he was able to come back,

Speaker 1  16:51  
yeah, and, you know, and so we probably did, you know, the two years dating thing overseas. You know, I found out I was pregnant, and I told I was ready to break up with him. And I said, I don't want to be married to an American. I don't want to spend my life with you, because it will be short. Because my sister was married to one and it lasted two years. I said, I don't want it. But then, you know, we just kind of waited and see what what will happen. And then he decided to take care of me with while I was pregnant, and then I got pregnant again. I was like, Okay, it's time me too. Yeah,

Speaker 1  17:31  
ended up in in America, so it was hard for me to leave my family and my simple life, right? And move to America is a big shocker for me, right? But, you know, everybody dreams of going to this country, and I didn't even think until this day that I will have all this opportunity. So you have a bunch of, wouldn't say a bunch, but you have several different experiences. You mentioned an animator, yes, so Was that something you were doing while you were after college? I decided I've been pretty good with drawing, and I actually won a lot of contests when I was in school. Did you go to school for that? I didn't actually, no, I didn't go to school for that. I went to school for business. But I one of my mom's friend, she actually, he actually saw my book. I always carry this book that I draw on, and I love cartoons and stuff like that. And he said, you know, you really have a talent. You really need to use it and make some money on it, right? And I said, Okay, Sign me up. So I went to this place. They, you know, they just asked me to draw something I did. And they said, you you have a potential. And they trained me to become an animator, and I was making really good money on that, and it was so we did a lot of the X Men TV series, the Green Eggs and Ham TV series and stuff like that. But it got to the point when the project was over, our boss got a, this is pretty funny. Our boss got a project from Japan. It was an X rated cartoon. And I'm like, Okay,

Unknown Speaker  19:02  
I'm not doing this. I'm crazy.

Speaker 1  19:06  
Okay, now the Mary Kay, is that something? Yeah, here, and that's something you got, yes. So I, you know, I'm still taking care of the kids, and I'm still looking for opportunities so I can spend, you know, some time for self development, right? And I met this wonderful lady, and she said, Oh, you'll be good that, this and that. And I said, Okay, I'll try it. And again, it's one of those things where I can do it my own face, at my own schedule and stuff like that. And now, now I actually, I can say that my training, they have the best trainings at Mary gate, to be honest with you, it's very dynamic. It's very lot of personal development, yes, and a lot of like approaching people the right way, not like in your face, but like approaching people the right way. And I remember whenever I train people now, I always say, if you really want a good training, find a Mary Kay consultant and attend one of their their trainings. Because I always say, if I.

Speaker 1  20:00  
Can sell a lip gloss to a man standing behind me at the grocery store checkout, then I know I can sell a house.

Speaker 1  20:09  
I don't know the rationale there, but we'll agree with that. You did some singing. What you do at your church, too, if I've seen you on social media, yeah. So I still sing church. I still sing at my church, but I did some singing it with a band in Malaysia. I did that for six months and but I partied too much. My boss decided I can't hire you if you're drinking more than you were getting paid.

Speaker 1  20:33  
I mean, this is, that was the first country I ever went to from the Philippines. You know, growing up in the Philippines. So I was like taking advantage of it, all right? So we got to dip in a little bit with the the name you gave your husband originally, which sounds like, sounds like that carried on for like, about two years. Is that about right? Yes. So when I met him, when I used when I was a party girl, I don't tell guys my real name, right? And I don't know why, but I just never did. And so for some reason, this Anna name. I've been using it from the very beginning. And then my stepfather, his last name was Smith, so I was known as the party girl, Anna Smith. They just don't have the big

Speaker 1  21:18  
but so every time I go out there, I party, I use, it's my screen name, Anna Smith, you know. But it's the Filipino version of Anna Smith without the big Yeah. And when I met my husband, that's what, what I told him my name was Anna. And so for this two years that we've been dating, if I show you the letters the cards, it's all Anna.

Speaker 1  21:42  
And so when he finally, so this necklace, actually, he gave me, I think maybe a year after we've been dating. And in the back of it, I don't know if you can see, my

Tracy Hayes  21:54  
eyes are not that good.

Speaker 1  21:56  
Upside down, I love mark. And the funny story was, I stopped wearing the necklace a while back after I had kids, and I just put it on my jewelry box. And my son, JC, who was tending he was looking for something, and he found the necklace. Yeah, and he goes, Mom, did you see this? There is a necklace. It's not on your name. So

Commercial  22:22  
I have to explain

Speaker 1  22:25  
to him, so yeah. And then it was when he actually proposed, when I told him, oh yeah, I'll marry. But right away my real name is that,

Speaker 1  22:36  
like, when I told them my first name, my real first name is, like, that's actually much more beautiful.

Tracy Hayes  22:43  
He has

Speaker 1  22:46  
no more choice at that point. He knows he'll be stuck. I know a lot of our younger fans, because I do remember this video game you competed in, the Street Fighter arcade game. Yes, I did. It was the Street Fighter arcade game. So I use that like just extremely popular in the film. When I was, when I was growing up, is very popular, and they actually have competitions, yeah, and I was one of the few young girls who compete. And I remember I was in Malaysia, and this is after I competed. And that was still on video games were a quarter, at least here,

Speaker 1  23:22  
$1 every time. Yeah, it's okay. Then there's, like, certain it's actually, I was surprised that there's, like, really good techniques on playing that game. It's just not like, you're just pushing all the buttons, right? You actually, if I'm not mistaken, there's a book of, you know, tricks and stuff like that, combinations and stuff like that. And so I remember when I was in Malaysia, singing with the band, Mark came to visit me, and we went to the mall, and there was this huge crowd, because I was like, I haven't played street fighter in a long time. So I said, let's go to this arcade. And there was this Chinese boy in this street fighter arcade game, and there's a huge crowd and everything there's like, he's competing with different kinds of people, and he keeps kicking their butts off, you know? And that's like, Oh, he's pretty good. I'm like, I'm gonna try. I haven't played in a while. I'm gonna try. So I put my quarter or my coin in or my token, they call it token. And he just looked at me like, remember when I told you crazy when you challenge me, I'm gonna prove you some I'm gonna prove something to you. So he looked at me, literally from head to toe. I'm like, What are you doing? You know, so I put my, my my token in and, like, I think because you get three rounds, and just in that first three rounds, I kicked his butt off, and he's like, he walked away, just looking

Speaker 1  24:38  
and I think that was, like the moment where my husband said, I'm gonna marry this girl.

Tracy Hayes  24:44  
So let's Did you you went to higher education in the Philippines, I guess, equivalent to an undergrad? Yes, yeah. I mean, what was your vision at the time of what you were doing, or were you just kind of going with the flow? What was really I don't have? I.

Speaker 1  25:00  
Remember my plane when I was young, was really just to become an architect. And I don't know, I think maybe the reason why I took that course because it was the cheapest then, you know, because, remember, in the Philippines, there's really no such thing as, like, the grains or, you know, all the free money that you get, the college funds, or something like, your parents will have to send you to college. You know, I would love to, I would have loved to do fine arts and something like that, to kind of support my but

Speaker 1  25:31  
it was too expensive. So, like, so that was just the cheapest course, and just for the sake of having a degree or something like that. But I never really had any vision. And to be honest with you, what I have now never in my wildest dream I would figure that out, right? I mean, all of this was never part of my plan. Tell us about the first day you land in the States. You remember that I was pregnant. So I was, like, seven months pregnant with our second child flying to LA or Yes. So I was, I can't remember no, because it was Northwest Airlines. I remember that. And I think it was one of those Indianapolis or something, connection connecting flight. And because you were coming to Jackson, yeah, you know, I was coming to Hawaii. That's where Hawaii is where that's where we first raised our family. Oh, that's where we started our family in Hawaii. I can't really remember a lot of information on that, but I just remember as soon as I get out of the plane or the airport, because I traveled to America when I first met, she has been that wasn't the first time, that wasn't the first time. So I came here, and there's a really cool stories about that. I thought Americans were so crazy, because the way you guys treat your dogs, you Oh, they're very It's so different. Yeah, what's wrong with this?

Speaker 1  26:52  
But then I'm worse because I have, I'm a dog mom, and I'm actually worse so, but there's either. But I remember, you know, I cry more for a dog passing. Oh, my God, tell me about it. Don't even get me started, because I lost two dogs already. But I remember when I first came to America, I think the first thing that I noticed, or that I was really mesmerized with, was the quality of air,

Speaker 1  27:17  
the smell of what we call in the Philippine state side. So whenever you go to the States, or you come back to the Philippines, or whenever you get anything that's from the state, from America, because you're not in a concentrated population city cars and, well, we have that, but it's just for some reason there was this term, like everything was stateside, like it means from America, like the soaps, you know, and we will smell this like, Oh, this is the smell of America. And so when I finally, you know, finally, got out of the airport for the first time and stabbed it, I it was actually in Orlando, Florida, the air is like, it smells state sided.

Speaker 1  27:59  
It smells so good, and everything was so clean and stuff like that, you know. And it was funny. And my the very first restaurant that I went to was Dennis.

Speaker 1  28:11  
So when I first, when I finally got my citizenship, I told my husband, I want to celebrate at Denny's.

Unknown Speaker  28:19  
You can't take me there anymore.

Unknown Speaker  28:23  
Breakfast is okay

Tracy Hayes  28:25  
while I try to go to waffle house if I have a breakfast gravy or actually, there's a grumpies down the street here.

Tracy Hayes  28:33  
Yeah. So he stay, he's marks in the service basically another 13 years, roughly after you actually guys get married, do you? So you started in Hawaii. Where else did you? So from Paradise, we moved to the cornfields, which is Kansas. Oh, wow,

Speaker 1  28:52  
there's this culture. I know, right, but I would tell you in all of the places that we went to with the military life, that's probably my most favorite place. Oh yes, because I got to experience my first winter. Oh

Speaker 1  29:07  
like that. And we live in this small town called Fort Leavenworth, and it was literally the military base housing was behind this Leavenworth jail, or Yeah, and so, but I met because I'm, there's only a few Asians in there, so it's like, they've seen an alien or something.

Speaker 1  29:29  
And they will just, I would say the nicest people are in Kansas, yeah. And I like how you can cross that one bridge and you're Missouri,

Tracy Hayes  29:39  
going to a different country.

Tracy Hayes  29:43  
Because we skipped around, covered some things. So let I want to dig in now and just kind of change gears a little bit and really talk about you. Because we started off talking about, you know, you took the class, you talked to some brokers. They weren't really interested in you, but exit was.

Speaker 1  30:00  
Yes, exit was willing to take you on. You mentioned your mentor, if you want to mention Stan, Bishop, you know, took you into mentor. You, what is your your initial start? You got your license. I mean, I mean, what are you envisioning at this point? Do you even know what to do the first day? Any thing, what goes on what does Bishop do to kind of get you started. So that's one nicest thing about joining that brokerage. And keep in mind, when I joined, it was in 2007 when everybody was trying to get out, right? You know, the foreclosures, the short sales, are all over the place. And, you know? And one I remember, there was another broker who actually took me by the hand. His name was Don Clark, and I don't know if you know him. Rest in peace. He already passed away, but that's one nice thing about exit, was they took me by the hand, and they were with me everywhere, right? You know, from listing appointments and stuff like that, from contract and stuff like that, they didn't have the training that they have now, they have some training, and I wasn't going to be that agent that will sit down through all the training. I want to take what I can, you know, take the training, yes, and use it, because I know now that if I really want knowledge, it's going to come from my experience, because every transaction is going to be different, and you're not going to use what you've learned from this training to all the transactions. So for me, it's really just getting my feet out there, getting in the field, dealing with people, and then just soaking all the knowledge. And that's the one nice thing, is they took me by the hand, and they tell, you know, they supported me with everything that I needed. And then one of the things that I, you know, that I think I'm capable of, was I'm pretty good at thinking outside the box. I think you have to agree with that. So, you know, I don't want to be your, your standard or normal. I mean, I'm crazy, but I'm not going to be your traditional agent. And I want to do something that's going to be out of the box that would it's going to put me in unique brand. You Yeah. So, so I have to sit down, you know? I really have to figure this one out for a while. And then I realized, Oh, my goodness, why am I looking everywhere when the opportunity is right in front of me? I'm a military wife, you know? I can use this as, you know, a form to really, it's an in exactly, you know, so, and we're in in a state or in a city where there's a constant we have two big naval bases in here. There's a constant relocation going on every year. I mean, regardless of the market, there's always going to be a turnover, you know. So I said, Yeah, this is going to be what I'm going to focus on. I'm going to take all the knowledge that I can, you know, with the help of my husband as well, because he's a high ranking officer in the Navy. So, you know, I'm getting a lot of inputs from him. And then there was this opportunity during the first few months that I was in, doing real estate, where it's called the Brack, you know, the Base Realignment, you know. So this is when they close a certain base, right? Move everywhere, yeah. So I said, and so when I got the information, like, I want to do this. I want to go there. And so I formed this big military relocation group for exit real estate company. And we would travel to Brunswick Maine. We would do, like, classes, orientation, because they were, a lot of them were going to come, yeah, so we're talking, I mean, the entire base is closing, and they're moving every everybody to Jacksonville. And so we were doing that. We were doing first time homebuyer classes and stuff like that. We were actually the, we were one of the sponsors for their last air show in Brunswick Maine, where we got fed lobsters. And I literally remember, I think I was going almost every month and bringing, like, two empty suitcases, because I'm bringing some lobsters.

Speaker 1  33:42  
Hey, you had one of those lobsters. Okay, so you can have them shipped overnight.

Speaker 1  33:50  
So, yeah, we were, we did that, and that's how I got my rookie of the year. I think because of my effort with the relocation. I mean, that is, I mean, first of all, just to think, because how long you been in the States at this point? So I moved. So my daughter is 24 so and so I've been here for 23 years. So when she moved so roughly, about 10 years this time. Yeah, and you're brand new to real estate, yes, but these but your mentors are giving you enough confidence to go and stand in front of Yes. You know, I'm assuming a lot of them were the spouses Yes, and then the member, the military members that were going to be moving and so forth. And to have that confidence, they must have been giving you a lot of just orders. I mean, it had the 50% of it has to come from you, because you actually front of these people. And I think they're giving you the real estate confidence. So they, one thing that I would say that I'm very thankful for, was they supported me with my craziest ideas. You know, financially I have, you know, they've done part of it, but I have to come up with my own way to, you know, to have the financial mean so I can make this all happen because, you know, because in the being a sponsor.

Speaker 1  35:00  
For an air show is not free, a few 1000s of dollars on that. So that's when I reach out to builders, lenders, and that's how I got all this relationship with the builders, yeah, the lenders, inspection companies, and until this day, we still do that with air show. And as jacks, we still do, we partner with you guys in so so many times on those air shows. So, yeah, so that's what I did. Of course, I have to pay for my own ticket going there, but that's part of the business expense. So it was good. It was a really good you saw the opportunity, and you immediately took massive action, really you did. I mean, a lot of people say, Well, what's gonna happen? They're gonna move. Should I go up there? Wait till they come down here, and then we'll No, no,

Speaker 1  35:40  
very high over there. So, yeah, it was some of the residents hated us because they felt like we were taking the people away from their areas. Like, No, we're just helping them. Yeah, they're moving anyway. Yeah, you can help them sell their house locally. What do you do to you brought a book here today? Oh, I mean, what do you do to stay sharp? Are you a podcast? You're reading books. Are you like the industry journals? What do you do to our game? One thing that you need to know about me, and this is probably because of culture too, when I was growing up, reading was never implemented, so I grew up. That's why I was an animator, because I grew up reading a lot of comics. So so now I still struggle. The book has to be right, really good for me to really interesting. Not Trust me, I know what you mean, because you want to turn the page because it's not, yeah, yeah. And you have to understand my English is very basic, you know, so I don't have the that's why I don't really have the filter. If I say something, that's because I'm not being mean, it's just because that's the basic English language that I know, yeah, so I don't have, I don't think I'm very articulate when it comes to English. So for me, the simple, the better for me when it comes to reading. But, you know, there are some books that I will read there, but a lot of those, I will probably just do audio books. So I do a lot of audio books. I like talking to different people, you know, and that's one thing when I wasn't comfortable with the language, and I was when it wasn't, it wasn't, I wasn't good with it. One thing that I told myself, I'm not going to be shy asking people, Hey, what is that word that you just said again, even until this day, my husband will say, like, my friend gave me an espresso machine, and then it's like, oh, look at all those bubbles. And he said, Oh, it's so froth it's so frothier, right? What frothier? It's

Speaker 1  37:30  
better than when I said, hippopotamus, yeah, whatever.

Speaker 1  37:39  
So my husband actually corrects me or teaches me the right way to say some of the words. So he's very smart, and that's why he married me.

Tracy Hayes  37:49  
Wow, he actually probably didn't even realize how smart he was.

Unknown Speaker  37:55  
Now he's in trouble,

Speaker 1  37:58  
because now you have your own credit card. Yes, yes. So, alright, so 2007 you join x at 2008 your, your, your, well, we are still during this time. And I know some other greats in the area that I've talked to that started similar, like Christina Welch or CC Underwood, they started in that same time period that you did. So I actually short sale was big when I joined, when I started my career in real estate, and I actually, aside from, in addition to the military relocation, I took that as an opportunity for me to to perform my business. So I can still say, until this day, I'm expert when it comes to short sales. I know exactly what to do without, you know? And it's funny, because I'm getting to the point now where I would actually show up at the courthouse, right? And the judge, because, you know, they're getting ready to foreclose. I'm like, please give us 30 more days, 60 more days. And I'm not kidding you. I went there one time, and the judge like, You're here again.

Unknown Speaker  39:00  
You want 60 days? I'll give you 60 days leave.

Tracy Hayes  39:05  
So that was my forte. So you didn't take the downturn as like, Oh, I got in a career that, oh, this is such a mess. Let me go find something else to do. You actually saw opportunity? Yes,

Speaker 1  39:18  
yeah. So that's what you have to do in this market. You know, you can't just be comfortable with the normal flow, because the market real estate is so cyclical, if you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, and nobody knew what was coming, you know, in two years or a year ago, you know, I thought my career was over when covid hit, right? You know. But amazing, surprisingly, like everybody else, you know, like everybody, I had my best year ever. Last year was like, What is going on here? And then we have this market, which is again, unpredictable. How do you share that with some of the you know, some of these people just started the last couple of years. Obviously, covid probably scared them a little bit. But then they go and have a heyday. Or, hey, you know, great year. But the.

Speaker 1  40:00  
Them understand is, you know, in the last year, how the markets changed from how many offers are being on a house, and you know how to properly make an offer is very strategic now, and you want to think through that, to let them understand, because you've experienced some, you know, in 13 years now, actually, you're 2007 that's 15 years, you know, starting off in a hole. As far as the real estate is now, it's the markets change. But because you're an out of box thinker, yeah, as you see yourself and describe yourself, you are actually kind of almost hoping there's opportunities like that, because it just helps you excel in your ability. I train a lot of agents in our office, and even we have agents from other brokerage there, I'm friends with, and I still help them. So one thing that I always tell them first real estate is not for everybody, so stop watching all those shows, because I cannot tell you how many times I've been approached by some two really young people who didn't want to go to college and just want to get out of high school and start this business, and it's not for everybody, and you really have to be very strategic with your business. This is not, I think that's one of the problems a lot of our agents. Just the opportunity to make one closing here and there and be done with it, you know, I think if you actually, you know, look at this as a business, then everything is going to change, you know. So when you have a business, you have a plan, right? When it's busy, when it's low, then it's low. But you have a plan. You have a reserve, you know, that's one thing about this business. You got to have reserves, because you don't know if you're going to have closings, right, you know. But that's the one thing about, you know, working by referral, it's almost expected. What's going to happen with your business if you're really stay if you're going to stay focused, you know, when you work, you feel like, like some of these young people, like, they know, if they sell one or two homes, their income is probably going to be above average than a recent college grad, for example. So they're okay there, and they do the two sales, and they go to the beach, yeah? And where you and I are going, okay, how can we do 10? How can we do 12, something like that, just because we know there's going to be a downturn, or they might have a slow month, but a slow month, hopefully is only like three or four, yeah, sales, yeah. I mean, you just have to tell them to be prepared, you know. So it's not going to be always rainy day. I use the phrase feast or famine in our business, and I've been in 16 and a half years now, and you got to get it when it's there, and be prepared for those downturns. And yeah, it'll come back around, yeah. And when it slows down, for me, to be honest with you, I take that an opportunity to maybe spend more time with myself, with my family, personal development.

Speaker 1  42:45  
And actually, that's when it's slowing down for me. That's when I'm at my best, because my brain is like working. It's like, I'm thinking, what else can I do at this moment? Because if you think about it, if you're busy and you're on the go, how are you going to be able to plan for your next step? That is a high level thought. And if you read some of the most successful business people in the in that we've had in the world, really, and they talk about the slow times, that's the time, like you said, sharpen your sword, you know, get your marketing here. Because hopefully, you know, a month or two or here, you know it's gonna be summertime, and all of a sudden it gets real busy. You don't have time to think of those marketings, because what you do today, it might be 90 or 120, days exactly. I mean, if your goal is to be in this business for the longest time, you have to be very strategic. You have to be very creative. You really need to think outside the box. You know, you can't just really rely on your closings now and you're thinking that's going to be the case next month again, right? You know? I mean, I think that's one nice thing about this business, is that you'll, you're gonna have people that will up and down, yes, or will get their renew their license today, but they'll be gone tomorrow, right? Because we're tipping on something that has come up a lot, and talking to the top agents like yourself, and that's consistency in what you do. Can you think of some things you're doing today, or, you know, whether it's you just started last year, because there's something new, or even something you've been doing for 10 years that you consistently do over no matter what the month's production is going to be, you are doing it. I think one of my mistakes when I first started in this business is really staying in touch with the people that I already serve, you know. And if you think about it, these are people that you can turn into your best advocates, especially if you have poured your life, your everything, and you've given them such an amazing job, and they all they can do is really talk about you, but then you don't really convert them into that advocate. They just kind of washed away, you know. And for the first maybe five years, I was very transactional, you know, I closed and done with them, and so I don't have a lot of repeat business. And so until I got introduced to Brian buffini's program, that's when I realized, oh my gosh, it's better for me to fold.

Speaker 1  45:00  
Was on the people that I already serve, rather than go out there and knock on doors and talk to people who doesn't know, doesn't even know, yeah, because your best referral are from those people who knows you and that you already serve. Right, right? So consistent. So what is just some couple things that you do to stay top of mind to your past clients? So if you ask my people. Now, I call them my peeps. If you ask a lot of them, they'll say, I'm the walking Yellow Pages. So anything that they need, even though we're done, like a year ago, with anything all of them, I would tell you, all of them still come. Do you have a good carpet cleaning people? I think when you're that person that they can go to for something even though the transaction is already done, they will remember that. So that's one of the things that I'm always making myself available to all these people, whether the closing has been done years ago and stuff like that. So how, because you were here pre social media, okay, you have started free social media. How is social media kind of accelerated this, you know, so social media, for me, it's not really where you can for me, I know for some agents, it's a way to get or generate leads, not for me, okay, for me, it's just to be out there so that people can really see who I am. And if you notice, are you speaking more on the social media to your past clients or possibly new people? Maybe both. Yeah, maybe both. But you know, I think one of the things that I use social media for is to stay in touch with them, because majority of them will have social media. It's also good when I put everything I have one account. I do have a business account, but I focus more on my personal account, because I and some motivational speakers or trainers out there will tell you, Oh no, you don't want that because you don't want to include everything. But for me, I want them to see who I am with my personal and my business, you know, I get bored looking at the same stuff over and over again, you know. So, so I that's one of the reasons why the top podcasters now in in the space of real estate. I mean, they're talking about, again, it's not just putting your listings up there. Yeah, no, it's more you put, like, obviously, I mean, you work, obviously you did a home gym. You're always kickboxing in there. You got your trainer going on. But you're people are relating to you, showing you're going out, you know, traveling, or going out to dinner, whatever you guys are doing, yeah. I mean, I have people that reach out. I have one agent now with exit who reached out to me because, I guess he's, he was working for another brokerage, but he saw the freedom that I have with, you know, keeping busy being a top producer, and still managed to do all these things I have. One agent asked me, how were you able to manage that, you know, because looking at you, following you on social media makes me tired already. And I said, you know, that's a nice thing about, you know, knowing your priorities, because you know how to really balance everything in your life. So well, there's no that was, you know, in really, since when I started researching the podcast, I was going to do it, and now coming up on this first full year, you know, a lot of the top people yourself included. Every time I open my Facebook, you guys are up in the little panels, whatever you're doing or you're posting something, but it's so top of mind. I think it's a huge way to leverage especially your past clients, because obviously you hopefully friend them in and their friends and see what you're doing consistent. We talked about consistency education. We haven't really tipped on that. But what are you doing? How important is you know, as like I said, you're mentoring some new agents that are coming in exit for them to get as much as they can. So, so, as you know, I do the pick producers program, training program, it's, it was a 12 it's a 12 weeks course program. It's a really amazing program. Now we're switching it to pathway to mastery. We have one thing about exit is we offer a lot of trainings and educations, but I think this one is probably my most favorite, because, like I said, when I got introduced to this training program, I didn't really know how to stay in touch with the people that I already serve, right? You know? And this program actually taught me how to stay in Yes, stay in touch with them and focus on them and love on them and stuff like that, because these are the people that will give you the business. Well, now you started following Buffy, but now you're certified to yes mentors. Tell us a little bit what triggered you there and what so when I first I met Brian Buffini at a convention in Texas, and I'm very add, so I, if you're not dynamic, I'm gonna leave the room so, but I found myself just sitting there and just mesmerized with this guy's like, wow. You know he tells his training techniques are very real life. It's not like your fairy tale story book, like, million dollar listings and stuff like that. You know, it's very like, I can do this, I can do that. It makes sense. I think a lot of it is very common sense, right? But we just didn't know, you know? And so when I finally signed up, I told my brokers, hey, I'm gonna do this program. I can make it open. I'll open it to a lot of agents who will.

Speaker 1  50:00  
Interested in doing it. And I said, we'll just see how it is first before we start really offering the training program. Turned out I had like 75 or 80 agents on their very first that was big. Donna, you remember that? And it was amazing. So we're like, wow, this is good. So now let's take it to the next level and start charging. So when we say charge, we don't charge the training. We charge for the materials that we will be needing, right? We need for the training and so, and we, I mean, up to date, we have 400 agents that took the program, and majority of our top producers at exit actually was a big producer graduate, right? Well, part and part of becoming an expert at it is, sometimes, is teaching it. I still, you start teaching it. You are. I still sit there, and, you know, even though I've done it five times every year, it's still all new. Like, it's like, a good refreshing like, oh yeah, I need to do this. I need to do that. I mean, I task. And I don't expect everybody to do everything 100% but at least you pick something for what you're learning and apply it to yourself, see if it's gonna work well. So you said you learn a little bit, and then you got to implement it exactly. It exactly. You got to take that. You heard that one, I might have heard 10 ideas. You're taking that one or two, and you're implementing and you see your business move. And then you go back and you'll follow up. Oh, let me do three and four. And then you start to grow. You have to start saying, Don't be an emu bird. You know what an emu bird is? Email, bird, emu. Emu bird, yeah. Like on the

Speaker 1  51:22  
insurance commercial, the EMU, yeah, so the evil bird, they the trainer will teach them something. They do it right there, right and then tomorrow they don't know what they forget, so they come out and like, looking around like, Okay, I just taught you what you're supposed to do in the game. So don't be an evil bird.

Tracy Hayes  51:45  
Now you You called your you use this quote when you messaged me, you know, giving me some things to talk about on the show the squad. Oh, hang out with and one of the most common themes is, obviously, I've had most of them on. We'll get all of them on eventually here to fill out the squad. But how important is it that you are hanging out with the Shonda and and Melissa and Jocelyn and Paige and Paige? Yeah. I mean, how, because all of you are producing, how important? How has that moved your career? What do you get from that synergy? I actually call Mike posse

Speaker 1  52:21  
the The Misfits, because we're not perfect, you know, there's we have flaws. Like Melissa is very known for being unfiltered and hinged, you know, and and then Shonda, she's just a pretty one so, and Jocelyn is the you're all pretty I could tell you that, right, Donnie, they're all yes

Speaker 1  52:40  
at our friendship really just started recently. You know, we used to just like, I remember Shonda just seeing her in different events and just saying hi and hello, and actually, on my way here, I'm trying to remember, okay, how did we go from there to here? Because I can't remember, you know, and it we just have a lot to give to the table. Like, if one is lacking something, another one has that. And so we're all like contributing. I can't show you what like contacts of all our text messages, because there's several threads going on. Well, for professional thread, and then there's not our the six of us, we have one thread, and it's from professional to bedroom to everything.

Speaker 2  53:22  
I'm learning so much, wondering what's

Tracy Hayes  53:27  
going on there. I'm learning a lot from this woman, you know, so and again, we have, if there's something that's lacking in one of us, there's another one who has a lot of it to give to us, right? That that's so awesome, because it's a cornerstone of any personal development, but surround yourself by successful people all of you guys are producing and really feeding the energy off. All right, we're going to kind of, I'm going to kind of wind down. I'm going to ask two more questions. Well, question number one actually has three parts. You're, you're teaching these new agents at exit, yeah, what are three things that you tell them that are must do's first is hard work,

Speaker 1  54:05  
genuine, be genuine, and then be creative. So those are probably the three things, you know, we genuine, creative and now hard work. When you say that, what are you what are you referencing? As far as real estate, just don't give up because, you know, the market is challenging and stuff like that, and it's so easy to just say, you know, I'm done. I don't want to do this anymore. It's not going to happen, you know, I put in 10 offers. It's not happening. Guess what? You're going to have to put more hard work to get one offer accepted in this market, you know? So just don't pressing forward exactly, because you might get this one accepted and then your next three might get accepted like that. Yeah, and you know what? Just think of it. It's all temporary. It's our market. That's a nice thing about real estate. It doesn't stay the same for the longest period. It's always changing, whether, whether it's subtly or now, of course, with interest rates rising slowing, you might see, yeah. See something like, who?

Tracy Hayes  55:00  
Spend the most influence in your professional career,

Speaker 1  55:04  
I would say it was my brokers and my husband. Can I have more you can Yeah? Yeah. I figured you were actually my guess would have been your husband. My husband. Do I need to put them in numbers if you want to put them in order? Yeah? Mark first, then my brokers, Ray Sunny, and then Spain, because you've been an exit 15 years now, yeah, or more. And so they had to be giving you something, otherwise you would have gone somewhere. They gave me a lot of love. They have to, right?

Speaker 1  55:33  
I give them lots of love back. So all right, we're gonna round. This is my two minute warning questions. Or is it more important, who you know or what you know. So I am glad that you're asking this question, so you can tell that I actually listened to one of your podcasts. Because I'm like, I need to make sure for this one, yes, I prepare. I'm I came prepared.

Speaker 1  55:57  
So because I think it's a very good question, you know, and every time you have a guest here, they have different input on this. And so before I even answer that, I think it's important that you understand first my culture, and that way you have a better understanding where I was coming from with my intern. Yeah, so I don't know if you know this, there's two types of culture out there. There's the achievement cultures and then the fulfillment cultures. So the achievement cultures, which is most of the Americans and first world countries there, they focus a great deal on what they know, because they're on that achievement culture, which is more about they focus more about the numbers, the goals that she like, numbers, how much money you make, degrees you have, exactly. So that's like, you guys, you

Speaker 1  56:42  
for me, I think I'm more like on the fulfillment culture, because we're more about personal contentment, growth happiness, and less about hitting a specific number or something like that. So and so for me, moving to this country 23 years ago with having English as my second language. I think who you knowing more people, but not just more people. You know, the right people matters more, right? You know, my grandmother used to say that you're, you're a good example of the people that you spend a lot of time with, right? You know, and so, and we're in this industry where we deal with human beings all the time, and it's a huge part of what we do. And so I always know, or I believe, that how we deal with others is really often the greatest indicator of our success. And the nice thing about knowing, once you determine who you know, you can't actually balance your life, because now you can start prioritizing your people. You can prioritize your time and prioritize your activities. I think those all close together. So to have I see that was well said, and because I visited, you know, when you got into the real estate, you met the right people. Those guys mentored you. And over the years you know, the brokers at exit disc continued, and then, of course, you met other real estate agents and so forth. So who you know helped expand what you know exactly? Yeah, that was really well done. See, that is some serious notes right there. The achievement culture versus the fulfillment culture. Interesting. You learned something from I did. I did that is really good. What's on your travel bucket list? Let's see, I was supposed to go to Hawaii in July. Yes, a different island. We put a hold on that. We were supposed to attend a wedding there. I would love to go back to Europe again, we did like 11 Cities in two weeks over there, and we just loved it. But right now, we're enjoying our Beach Condo, cool, yes, and we're planning to buy one here locally, Island we're enjoying that we're looking at the past so quick weekend getaway drive up.

Speaker 1  58:58  
It's actually an active Airbnb, VRBO, so we're generating income from it. It's paying for itself. And whenever there is it's not rented, we go there and spend time. And we're looking at another opportunity to buy like, a 42 foot boat with like, bedrooms and stuff in it. Because Are you a freedom Boat Club member? Yes, I saw you guys because you had your pictures. Member too. And I hate water.

Tracy Hayes  59:24  
All right. Last question, all right, I know you and Donnie do some work together, but for the loan officers out there that might be listening and so forth, what is the when you any referral partner you have, because you refer home inspectors and maybe insurance or whatever, what is the number one thing you require of them, I think honesty, you know, I don't expect you to know it all, but I, you know, I rely on your transparency, honesty. Honesty is the key is for me, because, you know, you wouldn't believe how many deals we actually save together when we start talking. You know, Donnie will get.

Speaker 1  1:00:00  
To the point where, okay, I'm kind of hitting a roadblock here. I don't know what to do. And I'm like, Okay, tell me what's wrong. And start talking, yeah. And then like, okay, let's what about we do this, we do that. And because I have more of their relationship to the customer, right? You know, I get to, okay, what do you have now that we can use to make this? They have another income we haven't mentioned yet, or something. Yeah, the worst thing that you can possibly do to me is just, you know when it's getting bad, and just, don't you just kind of hide from me and wait, yeah, like, just be honest with me with everything you know, if you're dealing with some difficulties, let me know. Let's work it out. Let's talk about, like, let's work it out. Let's see what we can do to resolve it. Marissa, Okay,

Tracy Hayes  1:00:41  
cheers with me. You're gonna shoot coming on today

Speaker 1  1:00:46  
before I forget. Okay, so you can't know me without having my famous chicken lumpia. Oh, wow. So I made it and fried it on my way here. Oh, my God, on your way here. Yes, oh, wow.

Speaker 1  1:01:04  
I always noticed you have this book. Actually met. If you grab her gift bag right there, you have a gift bag too. And I have that book in there. Have you read that one? I have not. I've met him. I have a, okay, well, you get his houses in there as well as a nice Yeti mug as well. I have something for you too. And they know you have all these business books in here. I think you can't live and survive life without this, but my I'm just gonna fail. So

Speaker 1  1:01:31  
my pastor's wife, actually, there's a story. I was going through covid, and I was very emotional and mentally like, not, right? And I was dealing with some issues with somebody, and I was like, having a hard time recovering from it, and I talked to my pastor and pastor's wife, and she said, You know what, I want to give you this book, because it's really just going to help you learn how to deal with people when they offend, when you think they offended you. And I so I think this book will help you deal with people in the right way. Okay, and so I'm giving it to bait of Satan. Yes, it's my brain free from the deadly trap of offense. Okay, it's a really good book.

Speaker 1  1:02:10  
Miss Rocco gave me a book yesterday I'm working on. When I finished that one, I will, okay, yeah, and let me know, and you'll be great. I can, like, do anything to you, and you'll be like, Are you paying the recess? Yeah, I deny my name to read this a couple times.