00:00:00:00 - 00:00:19:05
Unknown
Several times I wanted to quit and I just came home and flopped on the bed crying and said, I'm going to quit. I told my broker, I think I'm just going to sell my car, and I think I'm just going to go get a job. I'm waiting tables because that's still a dream of mine, is to wait tables somewhere.

00:00:19:08 - 00:00:40:21
Unknown
Pennie Carroll didn't just build a business. She built a movement from the basement of a rental house with a folding table, no signage, and 233 closings in one year. I'm just a little high school graduate that's trying to make a living. And I thought, gosh, what can I do now? And so I thought, well, I'll sell these big, beautiful homes.

00:00:40:23 - 00:00:59:22
Unknown
When they say that you're going to be your own boss and that you're going to be able to control your schedule and things like that. You don't always control your schedule. It's the client that controls your schedule. So when you're growing your business, there's no such thing as balance. I have to say to the agents all the time, get over yourself.

00:00:59:24 - 00:01:15:09
Unknown
Right now, I'm being very real. Yeah. I didn't do my hair today. The results might take a while. And what you invest is what you get out. And high risk is high reward.

00:01:15:12 - 00:01:38:14
Unknown
So in today's episode, we have Pennie Carroll. Pennie Carroll is not just another name on a sign, but a Des Moines icon. And, has started off on her own, but then built a team that, she works really closely with. So, before we dive in, first, thank you so much for supporting the show. We want to bring more stories like this, so please, like and subscribe.

00:01:38:18 - 00:01:55:26
Unknown
And without further ado, many thanks for coming on. Thank you. Parkes. Yeah. So, where did you just get back from again? Florida. We spent quite a bit of time in Florida, and I bounced back and forth from there. And then we travel other places about once or twice a year. What's been your favorite spot to travel to?

00:01:56:04 - 00:02:20:27
Unknown
Oh, gosh. Well, Hawaii was beautiful. I would say probably the French Riviera. The southern part of France is like a storybook. Wow. Yeah. That's true. Have you been anywhere? Not outside of the U.S.. I mean, I love the mountains, so anytime I can get out to Colorado. Sure. That's my fave. That's pretty too. Yeah. I love to rock climb dirt bike out there.

00:02:21:00 - 00:02:48:27
Unknown
Lots of camping. Hiking. And, don't do much of that dirt biking, gave that up. Never took it up. Actually. So what's keeping you busy lately? It, Boy, the market. The market. I think the average person would be shocked for me to say that the market is crazy right now. Because it is. It's different from the traditional craziness that's in the spring.

00:02:49:00 - 00:03:09:17
Unknown
But, it is busy right now. It's our spring. Yeah. End of our spring market, I should say. Yeah, almost summer over. I'm into my phone off. There you go. Okay. How did it get to be summer already? It's like, I don't know, just you just blink and it's here. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. So, how are you seeing the market shape up this year?

00:03:09:17 - 00:03:33:24
Unknown
Like. Well, I will say that, it's. We always kind of just sit on our hands from the end, middle of December to probably the first or second week in January, because for real estate agents, especially those of us that keep track of goals and productivity, it's a clean slate. So we start out 2026 with a zero and we're like, okay, how's this going to shape up?

00:03:33:25 - 00:03:58:22
Unknown
What are the numbers going to look like? And coming out of the gate, we were very, optimistic because it was it was looking fantastic. It was a fantastic January, February. Then, for whatever reason, our march slowed down just a little bit more than normal. And so April's numbers didn't look that great. It was still because the first part was so heavy, it still looked okay.

00:03:58:24 - 00:04:20:26
Unknown
But now I don't know what clicked again for consumers, but they're back into the mode of buying and selling. Yeah. And so we're looking at a really good April May right now. That's awesome. Yeah. That's awesome. Especially since April's gone. So we're looking at a good May and June. Any, any milestones or moments in the, you know, this first quarter that stand out?

00:04:20:28 - 00:04:44:08
Unknown
Well, we've been five years in our building now. You have visited our property. And so we're pretty excited to be right there on the East side and have served the community in that specific neighborhood for five years. And we're very pleased and happy with our location there. Milestones other than that, just that we're out there still buying, selling and invested in real estate.

00:04:44:10 - 00:05:05:21
Unknown
Yeah. So take me back to the beginning. What's, before real estate? What was life like for you? Well, I made a really good chicken parmesan sandwich at Burger King. Oh, okay. And I could. I couldn't quite beat the production line when I was making hamburgers. There's a couple of guys. V.J. was one of them. And he could whip up a hamburger faster than anything.

00:05:05:23 - 00:05:29:21
Unknown
And I tried my best, but they kept me behind the register. So that was way before real estate. And then, got married really quick out of high school, 19 years old, and settled down and started having a family and to support. Well, I dabbled a little bit at Pepsi-Cola, doing the reception work up there, and that was fun meeting all the people of that organization, but never really triggered me to stick around.

00:05:29:21 - 00:05:50:03
Unknown
And then children came. So I wanted to be home with the kids. And in order to do that and help support the family, I took up some house cleaning. Loved it. Probably would still be doing it today. Parks. Except my back gave out on me and I thought, gosh, what can I do now? And so I thought, well, sell these big, beautiful homes.

00:05:50:05 - 00:06:14:08
Unknown
And so that's what launched me into real estate about 23 years ago. Nice. So, so out of high school. Got married quickly. Was a stay at home mom. So what kind of education did you need to, you know? Or what did you need to go through to get your your license and start selling houses? Yep.

00:06:14:08 - 00:06:43:27
Unknown
So high school education. So that's always, in the past, that's always kind of held me back because a lot of people that I work with rub shoulders with have college degrees, master's, whatever, and I'm just a little college or high school graduate that's trying to make a living. And so when it came time to do real estate, I had to throw myself back into education, which is the 60 hour, licensing requirements to get your to get, license as a real estate agent.

00:06:43:29 - 00:07:06:12
Unknown
And you have to go to the classes, take the test and study, and, then after that you have continuing ed that you do throughout the year. But gosh, there's so much more than just that 60 hours of education that you'll need to make it in real estate. And a lot of that you do not learn and it's just a learning process along the way.

00:07:06:26 - 00:07:40:06
Unknown
Yeah. So how many years are you in the real estate business now. 23 years as last month finished 23 years. And I didn't know if I'd last one year part. What was that first year like. The first year. Let me take it back to that first year. The first year I was on a team, and I didn't understand the flexibility that when they say that you're going to be your own boss, kind of like what you're doing and that you're going to be able to control your schedule and things like that.

00:07:40:09 - 00:08:00:10
Unknown
You don't always control your schedule. It's the client that controls your schedule. And then you work around it. I didn't understand, that sometimes to get a transaction, put together a real estate transaction put together, that there might be some give and take, not just from the buyer and seller, but also from the real estate agents, the people that are party to the transaction.

00:08:00:12 - 00:08:23:01
Unknown
So I, I maybe should have started keeping track of how many refrigerators I had to purchase because maybe a seller took one out and they weren't supposed to. And the buyer's ticked and they're not going to close. And I'm like, okay, where can I find a refrigerator? And who can get it in the house for me? Or people that walk out of the house and leave a bunch of crap inside the home and you're like this, poor buyers I've been helping.

00:08:23:04 - 00:08:37:22
Unknown
Now they're moving into their beautiful home that they're just so excited about. Maybe a first time home, but they've got all the leftovers from the seller. Who's going to do that for me, and how are we going to get this right? So a lot of that you don't learn that kind of stuff in real estate school or how to treat the customer.

00:08:37:22 - 00:09:07:21
Unknown
You don't learn that in real estate school. And so there's been a lot of things along the way that you learn, and you just treat people how you want to be treated. Yeah. Were there any specific moments where you realized that, you know, I can build something bigger than just me? Wow. I don't think that I've ever thought or had that moment where I thought that I could build something bigger than me, but I think it happens.

00:09:07:23 - 00:09:32:17
Unknown
And then you're like, wow, how did that happen? Because the success that we've had or that I've had in real estate has come because of those people that I put around me. And, I to this day, even 23 years now into it, I feel incredibly grateful, for the path that we've come along and where we're at right now, today.

00:09:32:20 - 00:09:56:14
Unknown
And you feel that churning and I, I just talked to my husband about that this morning. We feel like there's a churning going on. We don't know what it is, but we think it's going to be something pretty cool. And it's just, our faith comes into play in a lot of that. And I said, I, I'm not sure what God has prepared for us, but I feel like there's something that's going to be pop in here and good or bad.

00:09:56:16 - 00:10:16:28
Unknown
You know, we don't know. But, we feel like we're being prepared for something. Even each day that you wake up, you're being prepared for something ahead of you. But for some reason, this morning, my husband, I both thought there's something that's going to be happen. Parks, you're the first one I've talked to about it. So you can mark the calendar and see what happens.

00:10:17:06 - 00:10:39:11
Unknown
Any suspicions? No, not. Not at all. I have no clue. I just know that we feel very strongly about some decisions that we're making here. And, we think that it's to prepare us for the next. So we'll see. Stay tuned. Yeah. Stay tuned, I guess. So tell us a story about running your business out of your basement.

00:10:39:13 - 00:11:09:24
Unknown
Oh, sure. So, at one point, we decided that I wanted to break away from the franchise companies. I worked for Remax, Keller Williams, Berkshire Hathaway, and my boys, encouraged me. Just go out on your own, mom. Get your own brokerage. You'll do fine. And so I I'm not real big on big and flashy, and we can work hard and quietly behind the scenes.

00:11:09:24 - 00:11:32:28
Unknown
Kind of like the hidden hustle, right? And so, I thought, well, we got this basement at this rental property. It's in Altoona, Iowa, where we sell, you know, quite a bit of our where our sphere of influence is, besides the metro. So let's just camp down there. So we did my assistant and myself. We worked on a white church table, and this was five years ago.

00:11:33:02 - 00:11:48:27
Unknown
Well, I guess we had a better thing than a table. But about six years, seven years ago, we were on a just a folding table. We each had a folding table, and I don't even know where we put our files, but we got the job done. We closed 233 homes that year, and it was just we are tucked away.

00:11:48:27 - 00:12:08:25
Unknown
Nobody could get to us. We had no, yard sign or anything. And then, my son Joe came along. He wanted to join I well, I was actually hiring, and so he came. I said, I'm going, I need help. So he came along and he said, hey, do you think we'd get some desks? So not a big ask, but we got some desks for everybody.

00:12:09:01 - 00:12:25:19
Unknown
And then the next year my son, other son came along. We got, we put up some walls. We did put a bathroom wall up because that was very necessary. But then we put other walls around. So we each have an office. The city of Altoona, would come and inspect every three months or every three years our rental.

00:12:25:22 - 00:12:45:19
Unknown
Well, the third time they came, this would have been almost the end of the six years. They said, hey, you can't be doing this anymore. What the heck we've been doing? Now you can't because you got renters above you and you got your office here. You guys can't be breathing the same air. You can't be sharing space. I'm like, they are my parents.

00:12:45:22 - 00:13:09:05
Unknown
They gave birth to me. What are you talking about? Why can't we share space? I love going up and saying hi to my mom and dad. They said no, it's against code. Whatever. So then that's when we plummeted to where we are right now. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. So tell me about that. Because that's also a was it a like originally a residential house.

00:13:09:05 - 00:13:27:15
Unknown
Yes. Your office. But it was, it might have been zoned multifamily or something. So we've hung on to that and we still use it as a rental today. But we are, we are very happy to be out of, out of the basement. What other companies of tenants do you have on that property. Do you. Right.

00:13:27:21 - 00:13:49:29
Unknown
We have three. So there's a heating and cooling, and then there's just some guys that like to work on their grease monkeys, and they like to work on their cars. And then, we also then a family lives there as well. And so it's worked really well for what, what it's served for. And then out in the back, that garage, that's for that's where the, that's where the, the, the grease monkeys are.

00:13:50:01 - 00:14:12:00
Unknown
That's what I call them. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Gotcha, gotcha. So how did you build that team from one, one woman show to what it is today? What was that your first hire was your son, right? Right, right. So that year that we did all those transactions, the 230, some, I. I told my assistant, we can't do this again next year.

00:14:12:03 - 00:14:33:17
Unknown
And she's. Oh yeah, we're going to do more. It said no physically I can't. It's affecting my health. And secondly, our clients I don't believe are getting my full attention and the service that they deserve. We're getting the job done. But what is the transaction like? What is the family like? How are they? What's the customer experience like?

00:14:33:20 - 00:14:51:16
Unknown
Right. And so, that's when I said, Joe, I'm hiring. If you want to come, you got to come now. And so then he came. And then Lauren, my other son wanted to come, of course. And then, we didn't think much of it. I thought that it would be mom and two sons, like two men and a a mom or something like that.

00:14:51:18 - 00:15:14:19
Unknown
So, we started out that way. And then another person who I really respect in, in the Des Moines metro, specifically in Altoona, would be Mark Vander Tyke. And he came to me and he said, because I had listed some stuff that he would work on and flip, and he said, I'm going to be getting my real estate license because I'm done at the church, Lutheran Church of the cross, and I would like to work with you.

00:15:14:22 - 00:15:28:27
Unknown
I thought, whatever, you know, I've heard so many people say they're going to get their license and then they never do. Sure enough, a year later, he called me and said, my license. What do I do? So I called my sons. I said, hey, Mark Vander tyke. He did get his license and he does want to sell force.

00:15:29:00 - 00:15:45:14
Unknown
What do you want to do? They say, well, that's a no brainer, mom. He's he works for the he he built up that church. He's got good people skills. He does. He works well with volunteers. And he he doesn't make, like, a huge income. So he wouldn't be doing it for the money. He'd be doing it for the people.

00:15:45:16 - 00:16:16:10
Unknown
And so he joined us. And then shortly after that, when we moved, before we moved to that house that were the office that we're in now, just people started calling me. I'm like, wow, that's where parks where you say, you know, how did you know you could create something bigger than you? I didn't I didn't. People saw it in me before I understood it, and that would be probably the same in a lot of successful people's lives, is that maybe they didn't see it, but somebody else did.

00:16:17:24 - 00:16:41:29
Unknown
Because there were there were several times I wanted to quit, and the first time was when another agent yelled at me, and I've never been yelled at like that. And I just came home and flopped on the bed crying and said, I'm going to quit. And my husband said, no, you're not. Don't worry about. And I didn't understand that in the business world that you can be very angry with somebody one minute and the next minute you're putting a deal together and everything's fine.

00:16:41:29 - 00:17:02:07
Unknown
I'm like, what? Another time I was going to quit was when I decided to not be on a team any longer. And, I told my broker, I think I'm just going to sell my car, and I think I'm just going to go get a job, waiting tables because that's still a dream of mine is to wait table somewhere.

00:17:02:10 - 00:17:28:24
Unknown
But it hasn't happened yet. And he said, no, you're not. You're going to get your signs, you're going to go stickman yards and you're going to sell houses. Penny I'm like, okay, I'll give it a try. Yeah. Yeah. What you know what got you through those those hard moments? I think, having some good people around you that believed in you and that could, give you advice that have gone before you and then also your faith or my faith, I should say.

00:17:28:26 - 00:17:49:16
Unknown
And if you wake up every morning believing that you're doing what God wants you to do, it doesn't matter what's thrown in your path, because there will be a way out. And and you just got to trust and believe. And that seems easy. It's hard. But, if you are right where you believe God wants you to be, then all the other details don't really matter.

00:17:49:18 - 00:18:18:20
Unknown
So that first year that you went out on your own and you got your your own brokerage, what was your secret to scaling? You know, like you were at a point where you wanted this to be done and. Yeah, and then you had this seemingly huge success. Yeah. So I think that, you know, when I think about flopping on that, I crying because somebody yelled at me or sitting in my office crying because I didn't know how to send a fax machine, a fax, do you even know what a fax is?

00:18:18:20 - 00:18:45:01
Unknown
Parks? Maybe. Okay. Those moments when I wanted to give up for silly reasons to where we are now with the team of, I think, 15 or 16 agents and, strong staff. I think I had to learn that I can't do everything within the company. So when my son came by and I needed to. Okay, here's some buyers.

00:18:45:01 - 00:19:15:12
Unknown
Go go show him some houses. And he actually did really well. And I'm like, well, those were my buyers. Not that I wanted the income from those buyers, but those are my people. The relationships in a relationship, business and real estate. And what do you mean they're happy? They didn't. I didn't get to help them. And realizing that there are a lot of people that can do a lot better job than what I can do, and giving them the resources to get the job done, the encouragement, the support, the training, and then watching them blossom and flourish.

00:19:15:12 - 00:19:39:20
Unknown
Whether it's in real estate or in podcasting or whatever business that someone's venturing out on, I get a lot of satisfaction by by giving, by supporting them and encouraging them. And so I think that's what's really helped our business grow in scale, is just being not trying to have my hands on every little thing and giving it to people that can do it much better than myself.

00:19:39:26 - 00:20:03:05
Unknown
Yeah, I talk to a lot of small business owners that feel stuck in, whether it's a one man band or just them and another person you know, they feel like they're stuck doing everything themselves. So, you know, what advice do you have to get them out of that? And to have a hiring process to to bring on good be sure it is scary.

00:20:03:05 - 00:20:26:20
Unknown
I will say that. And my first hire was my my assistant April, and she's been with me probably for, oh boy, maybe 18, 19 years. And when I hired her, there was no sleeping in for me. It's probably what drove me to those 200 plus sales in one year, because I had to make her payroll. I had a she wasn't.

00:20:26:22 - 00:20:48:13
Unknown
It wasn't that I was getting out there and getting the job done because our family needed it. Now. It was because I needed to pay a payroll and her family was depending on me to do well. And so sometimes, maybe because I didn't have a college degree in business, I didn't get in the way of knowing what could happen.

00:20:48:15 - 00:21:11:17
Unknown
I just thought, okay, this is what I'm going to pay her. So this is what I need to make, right? And it's what caused me to get up in the morning and get the job done, because I knew I had expenses. So, I mean, that's a hard spot to be in. And then you also need to not take the foot off the pedal because, even though April was taking care of things, I couldn't just be absent.

00:21:11:17 - 00:21:37:10
Unknown
My absent business owner, I still have to be involved in in the weeds, right? Yeah. Well, people say you're a marketing master. Well, what? What are some scrappy, smart, things that you've done to stand out? At the beginning, you had to be very careful that not everything that shines and sparkles in front of you is going to be good for your marketing, so.

00:21:37:10 - 00:22:05:10
Unknown
And you need to scale with that, too. So when you jump in, you might want to try every latest and greatest thing. But you need to have a plan. You need to lay it out and have a plan and then an affordable plan. Because I think some of the things, because we're in a relationship business, my marketing, you want to you want people, you want to know how they feel after they've experienced being with you or seeing your brand.

00:22:05:10 - 00:22:30:06
Unknown
What what does that make them feel? So for me, it's not going to be a billboard that's up there for 30 days. People. The social media aspect has really helped because they get to see you being real. Like, right now I'm being very real. Yeah, I'm not polished. I, I, I didn't do my hair today. You know, things like that.

00:22:30:06 - 00:22:54:09
Unknown
You want to be real with people because they're inviting you into your into your. I'm being invited into your home and so that's being pretty transparent. And so I'd like to try to be transparent with them. That's the subtle part of marketing. The the other part of marketing, the logo, the shirts, the t shirts, all that. But until you can do that, maybe, maybe volunteer through the chambers.

00:22:54:09 - 00:23:17:23
Unknown
The Chamber of Commerce, I will say, is the foundation of where you start. I've had so many people that I've met relationships long term. We're talking about 20 years of being in the chambers, meeting these people. And the chamber gives, you pay a one time fee for the year, and then you have all these opportunities to help serve, and that's where it's going to come back to you.

00:23:17:25 - 00:23:37:16
Unknown
And then listening to people that are smart in marketing. I happened to, farm boy, Jason McCarter was the first, first person that I ever talked to. And he was new in the business and I was new in the business. And I said, Jason, I don't have a team anymore. I'm doing my own thing. Can you help me?

00:23:37:19 - 00:23:57:19
Unknown
And he said, yeah, I can help you. And he sent me the proof, and my head was on the business card and it was kind of big. And I'm like, Jason, don't just that's a big. And he's like, Penny, people need a face with your name. So trust me on this. So I trusted him. He did blue because it's loyalty that people create, blue with loyalty and stability.

00:23:57:21 - 00:24:21:04
Unknown
And then he had a little circle in the PCA that was copper, and he said, Penny copper. And I'm like, okay, whatever, Jason. But I trusted him and his estimate to do all this seemed high to me, but I thought, I don't know a lot about marketing. I need to do this. And then the other things that you repetition, things that go with your business building gingerbread houses.

00:24:21:06 - 00:24:39:01
Unknown
You've done that parks as a little kid? Yes. Building gingerbread houses. We build houses really easy, you know. I'll have some ladies. Penny, are you going on a bus trip this year? We haven't done the bus trip for five years, but we did it over and over and over the same day. The same place all the time. The tacos.

00:24:39:01 - 00:24:57:14
Unknown
People may have tasted our, fried tacos that we would serve at one of the chamber events over and over again, where one guy said to me, Penny, why do you do those tacos? And I just took a bet and a lady walked by that was serving us. And I said, hey, you acted like you knew me.

00:24:57:14 - 00:25:35:29
Unknown
Do you know me? She said, yeah, you make those really good tacos. So just little things like that that you do over and over and over again. So repetition. Yeah. Repetition. Yeah. What's your favorite? Your favorite marketing strategy that you've implemented in your business? I would say to be a big fish in a small ball. So we maybe, don't blanket all of Des Moines with all of our marketing, but we'll take specific neighborhoods, schools, and plaster our stuff there, and then they actually go out and market or, a really good tool.

00:25:35:29 - 00:25:53:29
Unknown
I like, our group that I like is B and I business network International, which you come in been a guest of mine. So when I walk into that room parks that's not, that's not I would it's still networking. But when I walk in there that's my board of directors. They're the ones that can be real with me.

00:25:53:29 - 00:26:10:07
Unknown
I see them every Thursday morning. This morning I was with them and I can say, hey, what do you guys think about this idea? And they're like, no, Penny, don't do that. We've done that, don't do that, do this. And they've been they've been trusted advisors. So I like to say, I'm going to a board meeting every Thursday morning at 7 a.m..

00:26:10:08 - 00:26:37:18
Unknown
Yeah. That's fun. How has social media changed in the like in your career? We can't ignore it. So I'm like, gosh darn it, we just got all our marketing and I'm comfortable with how we're doing it. And then I get old. And so now I have to have young people like you around to help me with the social media because you you have to do it.

00:26:37:18 - 00:27:05:20
Unknown
But I will say it's very effective and cost effective, too. It can reach people that I've never even reached before, and it doesn't cost a whole lot except when you want it produced and done well and effectively. Yeah. So I will say that when, I don't have my guy that is speaks truth into me sitting here right now, but sometimes he will be doing things like this with me.

00:27:05:28 - 00:27:26:17
Unknown
Not the podcasting, but maybe a real or something. Quit talking about yourself, Penny. Now that's the purpose of this one that we're doing here, right? But if he's saying, okay, tell me how you're going to market this property, I'll start talking about and you know, it's not about you, Penny. It's about the house. It's about the customer experience.

00:27:26:20 - 00:27:49:04
Unknown
Don't be talking about your team and what you're what you're doing and all that. It's about them. And so delivering the right message. You still need that professional in there to help you, doing the producing and whatever you'll do with this to cut it and edit it and make it look good. Yeah. You and your friend here are professionals at it, so I'm trusting you.

00:27:49:09 - 00:28:17:17
Unknown
You know what I mean? So I think it's been fun and it makes you more real than what? Just a still portrait on a bus bench. That's what I used to do on a bus bench. Will do. Yeah. That's awesome. For somebody that, doesn't know where to start or how to create content, what are some of your guys's, brainstorming sessions or, like, how do you come up with ideas to create?

00:28:18:20 - 00:28:49:07
Unknown
I have the opportunity of having my nephew, as my marketing director or social media guru or whatever. And because we have worked together now probably 18, 24 years from me diapering him to Solomon Jones, now an adult, married with a child and working on my team now for four years, we can finish each other's sentences.

00:28:49:21 - 00:29:12:01
Unknown
He knows, the direction that my mind is thinking. He also grew up making gingerbread houses. Parks like you. Yeah, but he, he also can be very real with me because I'm his aunt, so he can we can banter back and forth. So those brainstorming sessions might look like this. I send out a text to the team today, last night.

00:29:12:04 - 00:29:37:14
Unknown
Hey, we're going to go walk through a mark Van Tikes house because he's getting ready to sell it. I'm bringing a container of 100 little plastic ducks we're hiding them all over his house. Send that out to the team chat. Saul sends a text to me this morning. That is brilliant. That's hilarious. I can't be there. Please. Video and still photos of Mark not paying attention and you hiding stuff in the other agents hiding stuff.

00:29:37:16 - 00:29:51:06
Unknown
And I will put together a real and we will make it about house touring. So I don't know what he's going to do with it, you know? So we'll brainstorm like that. Or he might say, what do you got for The Living magazine? Well, this is what I'm thinking for The Living magazine. And then he goes with it.

00:29:51:06 - 00:30:10:22
Unknown
That's part of scaling the business to where? I'll tell you what, what you do takes a lot of time. It does. This might look like a cute little 45 minute session here. Yeah, but what would you say your background is going to be on this? How much time do you think you're going to spend on this to make me look great?

00:30:10:24 - 00:30:50:21
Unknown
Well, it took me half hour, 45 minutes. Put together questions. Right. Study. You know, your websites, your socials, get some background on you, and, you know, coming here with Aoki and Hill. Yep. But sitting down and, you know, this is an hour long conversation. And then after that, you know, Aki, you'll do the first round of edits and I'll go through, I'll tweak some things as well, add in animations, add in, you know, highlighted points and, you know, after that, then it's the publishing phase and then you're publishing everything, you know, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, all the Spotify, Apple Podcasts, all of those, they all I mean, shoot, I

00:30:50:21 - 00:31:12:23
Unknown
don't know, it probably takes more than six hours. I would write in all in all. So let's think about that. So if I tried to do all of that six hours, what am I? My text messaging is going to blow up because, while I'm doing all of that, because there's people that need to get in houses and people that I need to call back to list agents that maybe have questions about an offer.

00:31:13:00 - 00:31:33:21
Unknown
Who's going to make sure that, April needs questions about what another agent needs to be paid for commission, and maybe somebody else needs help negotiating an offer or doing it, you know? So then we have that's why it's so important to let the people that are doing a good job on it, let them take care of it so you can do what you do.

00:31:33:21 - 00:31:59:04
Unknown
Well, I think it's called staying in your lane. So anyway, yeah, not to mention the hours and hours it took to learn how to do all of this. Yes, yes, because there's some value in experience. And that's what I try to bring to the table when I'm working with a buyer or seller, you know, and I think as I am training newer agents, I'm understanding more what value experience brings to the table.

00:31:59:10 - 00:32:20:20
Unknown
So yeah, I do believe that if you set your mind to anything, you can learn how to do it right thing. Is it worth their time? Right? Yeah. Is it worth trusting a professional to, you know, pay them what they're worth and do and have them do it and do it fast and efficient. Right. That was hard because I was a housekeeper.

00:32:20:23 - 00:32:56:02
Unknown
So I'm not going to have somebody clean my house. Why would I change that a while ago. Yeah. For any business owners nervous of getting on camera or creating content, putting themselves out there, not just social media but marketing in general. What can you say to that? Get over yourself. I have to say to the agents all the time, because, I had to not think about coming here today, so I had to think about not not, you know, just go down there and sit with parks.

00:32:56:02 - 00:33:20:07
Unknown
It's okay. Right. And that, you know, I say to a lot to our agents, too. I said, you know what? That last podcast you watched, what was what was that person wearing? I don't even remember. What was their hair like? Did they have gray roots? Take a look. You know what I mean? They're interested in you as a person and in what you have to say, and that's what matters.

00:33:20:07 - 00:33:43:18
Unknown
So I tell people that are wanting to social media or podcasting, whatever. Get over yourself. You're not that important. You know, the people, the audience are what are important. And answering the questions transparently and to the best of your ability. What's the hardest part of running a business that people don't see? What's the hidden hustle? Your checkbook? Gosh, people don't see that.

00:33:43:18 - 00:34:11:05
Unknown
They don't see what you're juggling. And while the hidden hustle, I would think, are the hours that you put in behind the scenes, I try really hard to get seven hours of sleep, but that's not how it was at the beginning of my career. So there were there were occasions I tried not to do it very often when I wasn't my own broker, when I was working, at a brokerage, that I maybe didn't go home that night.

00:34:11:08 - 00:34:33:22
Unknown
Now my kids were already gone, but maybe I stayed up. And then I heard the front door open. It was already 8:00 in the morning and I'd slip out the back door, go home, catch a couple hours of sleep, and then go right back to it. So when you're growing your business, there's no such thing as balance. There's they talk about it a table with three legs or a stool with three legs.

00:34:33:22 - 00:34:52:12
Unknown
And you got to have balance. Whatever. No. When you are out there growing your business, it's going to be lopsided. It's going to be hard and you've got to put that in. So some agents will say, well, Penny, I want to do what you're doing. I want to be where you are, okay, 23 years. Call me up and let's see how you're doing.

00:34:52:17 - 00:35:22:05
Unknown
They don't want to put the time in and time it might be time might be ten hours today, or it might be ten years, whatever that takes people. It wasn't just given. It wasn't just given to your mom and dad. I think of your mom, Amy, and school teaching and and how many years she's done that. Now she can walk into a classroom and she feels confident and comfortable and really helping those kids and more than that, helping the other teachers that are around her or your dad.

00:35:22:05 - 00:35:48:17
Unknown
I can't even keep up with him on what he's doing and running and selling and creating. And you've seen them work. Your moms put in lots of hours after she gets home from school, or your dad, who doesn't stop, you know? And that's what it is with real estate and with my company. Now, yeah, I've been able to in the last five years, maybe been able to, take the pedal off a little bit and enjoy some of the luxury of that hard work.

00:35:48:17 - 00:36:07:02
Unknown
So that's what I would tell business owners. Just stick it out, keep track of your really close relationships because you do not want it to harm your your marriage or your family right there. But they all need to understand and buy into it. My husband has bought into it full, full, fully, and so that helps me be able to do what I do.

00:36:07:05 - 00:36:37:08
Unknown
You're impacting the community, goes way beyond business. How has your faith guided your journey? That's really a good question. So, I've had I've had to like when we talked earlier that if you wake up every morning knowing that you're right where God wants you to be, then all those little details don't matter. And so when someone's maybe yelling at me, my value isn't found in what they think.

00:36:37:08 - 00:37:11:23
Unknown
My value is found in what God thinks and I've maybe, had to rub shoulders with people that, maybe don't, well, let me back that up, because we work with contracts and helping people buy and sell. We have a lot of influence on what what may happen with that transaction or that purchase agreement. And there there are opportune opportunities in my business and anyone's business that you can you can do something so that it favors you more than another person.

00:37:11:23 - 00:37:32:02
Unknown
But what is right, you know what is right. So that's the part of the business part. But then as far as the community part, we're commanded to love one another, bear one another's burdens. And whether that and to encourage each other. And so, again, I love helping other people in the community. They're trying to better our community or and better their business.

00:37:32:04 - 00:37:54:20
Unknown
And, so I would say that that comes from a deep faith in God and from wanting to do the right thing and, and spread the gospel, and whether that's through real estate or hosting a bunco group at my house that's in the neighborhood, or inviting people to eat breakfast with somebody after. So I can't even. It was the omelet guy.

00:37:54:20 - 00:38:13:16
Unknown
The omelet King came to town and I won a breakfast through W.H.O.. And so I thought, well, I'm just going to start inviting these neighbors to some omelet breakfast, but he's going to come and make at my house. It's just been a lot of fun to have. The paths of church, business and community kind of intertwine after years of deals.

00:38:14:06 - 00:38:40:24
Unknown
What's your best piece of sales negotiation advice? This one's hard for me. I know you're going to find this hard to believe, but you had to shut up, so I had to just be quiet. So when. When I'm. And not not be over anxious to answer for the client. So I present what's going on. I usually send it off to them through a text or email and say, when is a good time to talk?

00:38:40:27 - 00:39:09:15
Unknown
So they have time to resonate. I know probably about 95% of the time now, maybe even higher of how it's all going to shake out. But my client has to get there, so I have to be patient. I would say in the sales, you're quiet listener and patient because, it might be the first time they've ever sold or bought a home, even though I've may be down at 100, 200 times this year.

00:39:09:17 - 00:39:37:08
Unknown
They need to wait and understand the process. So that's that's probably one of my biggest pieces of advice was sales. What about negotiation? And in general, negotiating with other agents or with, buyer. Seller. Yeah. Negotiating with other agents. You need to come at it as, hey, we are going to come together to try to make this the best solution for the buyer and seller.

00:39:37:11 - 00:40:01:17
Unknown
If you come together like this, try to come together like headstrong, like I'm going to get as much as I can for my buyer. Well, that's that's maybe my goal. It should be my goal. I'm going to try to get as much as I can for my client, but it's important for me to negotiate well with the agent so that the process of getting my client the best deal is not, hindered by how I treat the other agent.

00:40:01:24 - 00:40:26:19
Unknown
And that's just part of our, code of ethics with Real estate two is that we treat everybody fairly, and that's included the other agent. So the negotiation part of the sales is a process that I really like because, it's not always about the dollar. And so sometimes there's other things that we can negotiate outside of the purchase price that will make the deal successful.

00:40:26:21 - 00:40:51:13
Unknown
And then as far as my clients, I want I want my client to walk away knowing that I worked really hard. I don't like to use a word fight, but that I worked really hard to get them the most money in their pocket in the shortest amount of time. Yeah, in the smoothest transaction possible. Do you have any, creative negotiating, memories, from deals in the past?

00:40:51:15 - 00:41:16:12
Unknown
Oh, boy, I haven't, I haven't I didn't give that much thought today before I came. How can you get creative in in the game? Sure. That's a good question. So, maybe possession. So a big thing right now for buyers or sellers is it's really, really hard. And to pack up your house and clothes that day and then move into the next house.

00:41:16:14 - 00:41:32:25
Unknown
So for sellers, if they're if we're going back and forth on price and we can't quite get it and they want to feel like they won, everybody wants to feel like they won. Yeah. So, Mr. Seller, in order to feel like this is that we can accept this purchase price, even though it's a little short of what you want.

00:41:33:01 - 00:41:51:21
Unknown
Why don't we ask them if you can have 48 hours to move out? That means we close on your home, and then you have 48 hours to get everything packed up and get to your next house, because those people most likely need that money from closing to buy their next home. Okay, but the people that just bought their home, they want to move in.

00:41:52:08 - 00:42:12:16
Unknown
So sometimes we'll do delayed possession. Not a whole, with a seller. I try my hard to hardest to do that with a buyer. I don't like to see that too much because they're you're going to be in their home that they now own. And I don't want you to reckon it. What if somebody puts a couch through the wall as they're trying to, you know, so there's the whole possession delayed.

00:42:13:24 - 00:42:40:12
Unknown
There might be personal property that we could throw in. And so that's another thing that we could try to work out that way or skip an inspection. What's the best piece of advice that you've ever received? I'll tell you what, Mark Vander Tiger always says this to us because the whole office could be falling apart because of one little deal that happened, or one little issue that came up.

00:42:40:14 - 00:43:04:27
Unknown
And Mark always says, Penny, did anybody die and did anybody get cancer? And the answer is usually no to that. And so it's going to be okay. One other piece of advice that he gave to me is, Penny, are you doing what you love to do? Because if you don't stop. So I can say with confidence, I am doing what I love to do.

00:43:05:00 - 00:43:29:24
Unknown
And when I love it no longer, I will stop looking back. What's one thing you wish you knew when? When you started that everything's gonna be okay? You have a high school degree. Don't let that stand in your way. Everything's going to be okay. When you think about your legacy personally and professionally, what matters most to you?

00:43:29:26 - 00:43:58:03
Unknown
I think what matters most to me would be for my family to know that. That they're loved and that I did my best. For my clients. And, I think I think for them to know that they're loved and that they were the most important in my family, in my life, and that I, my clients feel like that'd be a personal, personal side, business side would just be that the clients know that I worked as hard as I could for him.

00:43:58:08 - 00:44:24:24
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. Any other final thoughts? No. Are we done? We're getting close. Yeah, we're getting close. For listeners working on their own hidden hustle, what's one piece of advice you could give to them? Don't give up, don't give up. And that the results might take a while, the results might take a while. And what you invest is what you get out.

00:44:25:17 - 00:44:52:09
Unknown
And high risk is high reward. So if you're not willing to risk your reward is going to be lower. Those are that's the advice I'd give. Yeah. Awesome. Well thank you so much for coming here. Yeah. Thank you parks. All right. Thanks. And keep hustling.