901: Long-Time Listener Turned Rockstar Shares Real Estate Tips: Edmund Bogen

Aaron: Rock Star Nation. This is Aaron Amuchastegui, I am so excited to get to introduce you today to Mr. Edmund Bogan, Edmund’s from South Florida. He’s got a big business out there. He runs his own masterminds that we’re going to hear a lot about, and a lot of different lead ideas, things like that, great story from where he’s come from. Edmund, thanks for coming.

Edmund: Aaron, thank you so much for having me. I can’t tell you, I’m so excited. I’ve been a fan of Real Estate Rockstars now for a few years and it seems that every episode I’ve listened to, there’s always a little nugget of information, even the ones that weren’t so great. It was like, wow, you could take it back, and the thing that’s so great as you take it back to what you do and immediately make money from it. I hope that my words can have a similar effect and I’m honored to be in everyone’s grace.

Aaron: That’s great. Thank you. Thanks for coming on in and listening. That was one of the things we’ve talked about one of the pre-interviews. You’ve been a listener for a long time and that’s really the goal of Real Estate Rockstars. We interview all these agents that are excelling and their levels, their parts of the US, so we get to hear how one area of the US does a little bit different than others. That’s why we get to interview people nationwide and everybody it’s like that one or two tips that they come away with and go, “Wow, I can actually use that action today.” Whether somebody is doing 10 deals a year or 100 deals a year, there’s always something to learn, right?

Edmund: It makes you think that people have made their fortunes in many different ways. Some people love to cold call, some people are farmers, some people are advertisers, some people combine all this, and so in any case, I thank you so much for having me.

Aaron: How long you been in South Florida?

Edmund: My wife and I moved down here seven years ago from Manhattan. I wish all my colleagues up there well because I know they’ve been having a rough time but we moved down seven years ago, still have deep roots from there and much of my business is really drawn from those relationships that I have up there too.

Aaron: Did you do real estate when you’re in Manhattan?

Edmund: Very little. Some of the commercial ends. My background is I owned a marketing company in a conference company and I’ve got real estate investments in Manhattan, and when I came down to Florida, I was saying, “Boy–” Florida is a place where people do reinvent themselves to some extent. I was living very well in New York but as I looked at some of the online cost of living calculators, I figured that for every dollar I spend in New York, I’ll spend 54 cents in Boca Raton, specifically where I live, so when we moved mathematically, it made a lot of sense.

I was trying to buy a business and there was really nothing that was A, cost-effective and B, was me, so a shredded company and different– Great businesses, it’s just not for me. I took a giant step backwards in my mind at that point and became this realtor. I felt a big letdown but as I discovered within a few months of doing it, that boy, it is a great career, it could be as serious and as profitable as you really make it and in that time, I’ve done fairly well, so I’m very pleased.

Aaron: You’re used to running a business or even looking into running businesses, when we first came out to Florida it was like, what businesses are out there and then in real estate, you become the business.

Edmund: I still do. I want to stress I still have investment properties, and I still borrow what, and I’ll get into this with you, a big mistake that a lot of realtors make because a lot of people come to this from another career. I’m 52 in May. I’m 51 now, so I’ll be 52 so I got into it much later than a lot of folks and I wasn’t about to leave my past behind and I think that’s a mistake that some people make.

Aaron: Go down that train of thought with me for a second, so you got into it and sounds like there was a decision like can you be a real estate and do nothing else or can you do it all, can real estate on top of what you were doing, is that part of the process? I’m wondering.

Edmund: It came down to the self. How do I see myself? If you look at people, if you’re the person that answers the phone and I say this to every salesperson, when you get a sales call, other than the bots, forget the little robots that are calling, that’s nonsense but when somebody actually calls, it’s just a person trying to make a living. If you take that call, you’re giving yourself permission to make that call.

If you think about it’s so natural. If you slammed on the phone whenever you pick up a sales call, and you need to make sales call, what are you thinking about that? You need to make a psychological shift, and that’s one of the things that in real estate I never really had that much respect for realtors until I actually got to know them and become one myself and realize, the ones that are successful are really hard-working, super-smart business people.

Aaron: That’s really interesting. Yes, they are really smart business people, you’re talking about the sales call in general. Are you saying when you get a sales call from somebody right now, do you take the call? Do you listen to the pitch?

Edmund: Everyone, every single one, and I’ll even say if I’m in the middle of something with a client, “I am in the middle of the client, this is not a dodge, please do call me back at this time.” It doesn’t sound like the type of thing that I necessarily want but I want to give you the opportunity to pitch it. Look, why bother listening to Real Estate Rockstars, or studying or reading or doing any of these things, if you’re not going to learn that your best training ground is from other people trying to do it.

You can learn more from people doing the bad than doing the good. You could say, “God, that was a lousy pitch, I would never want to do that,” but you can uplift someone’s life and you can say to someone, “This is really not for me. Here’s my suggestion. Here’s how I would make that approach.” You’ll find that while you’re doing and giving to these people, you’re giving yourself permission to do the same thing. It’s a change of paradigm.

Aaron: Real Rockstars, that’s big idea number one of today’s podcasts. Nobody’s pitched that to me before. I haven’t heard that before of, “Hey, if you want to be good at cold calling and selling that way, you’ve got to be willing to take the calls and learn from them.” I think that’s great advice, Edmund. I think that’s something that people can use. You’re out in South Florida, how many deals are you doing a year? What’s the price point? What’s the stats?

Edmund: Sure. Last year, and I just was checking this before, I did 22 deals. One in my immediate farm area, by the way, which I’d like to get– any Rockstars out there have ideas, I’m having a very bare of a time getting over the status quo, which is the tough agents that are here, but I did 22. I did 380,000 in GCI and after expenses, I did about 300,000.

Aaron: All right, so what’s the average price of the house on that?

Edmund: The average price, I’ll have to back it out. It was about a 2.75% commission blended. I don’t have the average price here. Let’s put it this way, I did one deal for $5 million. I did the cheapest deal, which was my friend’s mother had passed away, I sold the house for $80,000 and I did both within six weeks, guess which one was the hardest job?

Aaron: The $80,000 was probably the hardest.

Edmund: A bloody nightmare. You would have no idea. It really. I’ll do anything. Somebody needs a garage door opener, I’m Mr. Garage guy, I go in and fix the garage. I give them an opener. These people were just really– Actually, they were lovely. They had a son who was this real estate guy who was just I don’t know what he did but he was just such a jerk.

Aaron: It’s such a funny example because the selling of a $5 million house is different than selling an $80,000 house but it’s but one isn’t easier than the other, they’re just different. The ones that work and the people that you have to get– I guess what I’m trying to say is price doesn’t change. It doesn’t make the transaction a good one or a bad one. People are always like, “Oh, I want to have the more expensive listing because it is the more expensive commission in that.” Some deals you’ve got great people you get to work with and they’re really fun transactions and other transactions aren’t any fun.

Edmund: Yes. Today I’ve got two clients, they’re stuck in New Jersey. I’ve got the walkthrough today, the closings on Wednesday, I’m going to do it through FaceTime or Skype or whatever platform they want. I’ve got my checklist of things that were fixed in the home. I’ve got my jury-rigged hazmat suit or whatever we’re putting on and you go in and you do it and they’ve been an absolute pleasure. I know we’ll be friends with them for years to come. I know for a fact that that there’s opportunity on both ends, by the way, me to them and them to me. I think it’s important to embrace that.

Aaron: You’ll be able to help each other out. So, $380,000 in gross sales, you said your net profit is $300,000. Do you have a team, do you have some assistants? What are your expenses that go into that?

Edmund: I had several assistants over the years. One of mine, she’s a lovely woman, I’m still friends with Samantha, but she had to get married and go and want to start a family. I’m being sarcastic now, but I hired a couple of people after her and nobody was quite as good. I wound up getting MyOutDesk, the virtual help and I’ve got this one young guy named RA, he works full time. He’s affordable. He’s smart. He worked for another realtor in South Florida for several years until she retired. He knows the contracts cold, it’s pretty good.

Aaron: That’s pretty awesome. For listeners out there, you’ve probably heard Daniel Ramsey come on here. He came on here a few weeks ago, when we were trying to teach people how to actually work remotely during the coronavirus time, like what’s changing. Maybe a few weeks before that we actually interviewed him about what it was like when he was building his virtual assistant business. If you go to hibandigital.com/myoutdesk, you can see all stuff on, Ramsey and his company, and even get some like promotions, some free Star stuff. Did you first hear about MyOutDesk on Real Estate Rockstars?

Edmund: Correct. It’s worth mentioning. Yes, it was advertised. Pat, he could sell rabbi a ham sandwich. [crosstalk] I looked at it and I said, “Why don’t I interview these guys.” When I initially started with them, I didn’t have the right assistant. They corrected it, they paid for the difference, they brought in this new guy. People think you have to get it right all the time, always.

I like people who own the problem. MyOutDesk, saw that I was a guy genuinely trying to get a solution and that match wasn’t right and they fixed the problem. It’s been months now and I wouldn’t let this guy go. I just think he’s a sensational young guy who’s hungry and thoughtful and wants to succeed and knows the business.

Aaron: That’s awesome. Let’s talk about assistance for a second, are they’re virtual or not? What are the things that if an assistant does it, you go, “They’re not going to be the right assistant”? What are the things that when they do it, you say, “This person is really going to help me in my business?” When you’re trying to hire that assistant or fire that assistant, how do you do that?

Edmund: Well, I think it’s important that you outline a very detailed job description. That’s the master of the obvious, everybody knows that. What they might not do is test it and say, “Okay, walk every step of the way through what you want them to do.” For example, I do a lot of social media, I do a lot of videos, I do a lot of– he’s learnt how to edit a lot of these things for me, he’s learned how to build rapport with my mastermind group and reach out to those people on a regular basis.

Even in the pandemic, you have to say, he and all these other assistants saying, “Is there a place for me?” The answer is, “Yes, I’m busier now because I’m building up that relationship with a core group of agents nationwide. These people know someone who’s moving to Florida.

This guy’s instrumental to me communicating with those people.” There’s all sorts of stuff, my Think Tank, and my FaceTime interviews with people, and all this is just building up to a point– I know for a fact that if close to half my business came from other agents and I was communicating with them over here, just by 6 inches, and I go 6 inches higher, I double it. Theoretically, the outcome should be double. It might be a more of a longer tail today. The more you communicate, the more conscious you are of it, the greater the opportunity.

Aaron: Tell me about your mastermind group or your Think Tank. What do you what do you do? What is that?

Edmund: Well, it’s something that I started years ago, I think it’s hilarious that everybody suddenly knows what Zoom is because my biggest problem was trying to get people to understand this thing called Zoom. We meet on Wednesday mornings currently 9:00 AM Eastern time, we are made up of agents from all over the country. when I mean all over I mean Los Angeles, I mean Aspen, Colorado, Chicago, Houston, Texas, Brooklyn New York, Manhattan, Upstate New York, Washington DC, various parts of Florida.

I even have people in England every now coming. What you’ll find and what I found was we all have the same issues, we all have the same insecurities. We all have a farm area that we may want to sell, or we may be questioning certain technology. Since coaching has become the rage, this is almost like group therapy for realtors. The funny thing is that leads come from the relationships that have been built several alumni of Real Estate Rockstars participate in this group, by the way, has been on your show and I don’t know if Pauls has been.

There’s been a bunch that comes to my thing. All of us have that same philosophy of trying to learn, trying to nurture. The group’s been– we’ve got a private Facebook page. The conversation goes on beyond that. It’s something that I got started. Every week, there’s at least 30 people, certainly, if anyone listening wants to give it a shot, just my info must be with you.

Aaron: We’ll be able to share all that near the end of the show, so people could reach out to you. I think right now listeners we’ve been talking about this a lot lately. We’re at an interesting time in real estate, things are different, the people that are good are going to get better. The people that aren’t trying are going to be left by the wayside. It’s a great time to find a mastermind to find people to chat with, there’s all sort of them out there for people.

You don’t want to be going through this alone. That’s why we want our listeners to be listening to the podcast, so they’re not alone, because they have those options. There’s other ways out there and other people out there to be reaching out to. People love sharing ideas, especially during tough times. Right now there’s a lot of information, it’s changing every day.

Depending on where someone gets the news, or who they’re talking to, or what strategies they’ve heard, everything is changing constantly. It’s a great time to be, looking deep at that and doing it as a team.

Edmund: You could gain the love and interest of your sellers, the love and interest of agents. Let’s think about dynamically from a lead source standpoint, existing business agents out of state, my sphere of influence, these are all important things to add to me, it might not be the other people, but this is what’s important to me. A Facebook Live with a woman named Tinka, who I’d done many deals with, she’s one of my dearest friends.

We said, let’s stage this the way the news media stages a broadcast, I’ll be anchoring. I’ll have something behind me on my green screen. She’ll get into the house and walk through with the camera. I’ll ask her questions. We’re streaming this on Facebook Live, questions are coming in at the same time. You could take a look at my Facebook page. It was sensational. Now we’re doing this over and over and over again.

I got to tell you, it’s only because of the pandemic that we learned about this, the client who’s a developer loved it. The agents who we normally wouldn’t reach saw it, is that going to be the silver bullet? Absolutely not, but it’s one more tool in our toolkit to actually get the job done. I’m very pleased with it.

Aaron: That is great. One of the pre-questions we gave you that says if you’re on stage for how you succeed, what would be the name of the panel be? Your answer said you have the leads, how to extract new opportunity from the contracts you already have. Tell me about that. Extracting the info.

Edmund: Sure, there’s many systems. I have a friend who owns a sales training company, I won’t give the name. I said to him, so I guess you think your brand is the best. He said “No, the brand that you use is the best.” He said that people don’t use– If you’re not going to use it, it means nothing. I came up with my own simple system. I’m sure it’s not original, maybe my names are, but I don’t think there’s any that many new ideas, but the way I do it is fairly unique. People have A leads, B leads, C leads. I got two different types of leads. I got SOI Gold and SOI One. Then there’s everybody else. SOI Gold are the people that I’m going to rank them and say, “I’ve got a 10% to 20% chance of them giving me a significant lead in these 365 days.” I’ve got 99 people in that list currently. It’s a moving target, keep this in mind. I’ve got about 500 people in my SOI 1 group.

Now, why didn’t I just do SOI One and SOI Two? Again, psychologically, it’s not that SOI 1 isn’t important, they are important, they’re still number one, but Gold just happens to have proven themself to me as people that have given out the leads. I could look back and track the volume of great opportunity that comes through some people. You could then judge what you’re going to do. I’ve got 99 people in this. How am I going to communicate with them? What changes do I need to make?

I, up until the pandemic, had a cocktail party every three months since I was 25. That’s been a big leading factor in the relationships that I’ve built. Now, we’ve got to get creative again and come up with other ways of constantly keeping in touch with these folks and finding out about them. I’ve got idea after idea that’s come up in this pandemic that I think people just might not have considered.

Aaron: People are having to innovate so much. You got your Sphere of Influence One, your Sphere of Influence Gold. The Golds are the 99 people that you’re sure or that have a really good chance of getting you, somebody. In normal times, you would throw parties, get together with them, reach out to them just to make sure that they remembered that you were buying and real estate. Was there an ask? Would say, “Can you help me?” What were those conversations like?

Edmund: The parties, I also have a thing for the Notorious BIG, I rap, which is very funny because I’m a big white guy and you just don’t expect that.

Aaron: I did not expect you to rap.

Edmund: I know the song, Juicy word for word. You could look it up on social media. It’s kind of funny. I go in there, I rap, we have trivia, we have games, we do all kinds of stuff. They might even be able to hokey, but it builds relationships and that’s what happened in those meetings. That’s what happened in those groups. That’s one side. By the way, this SOI Gold isn’t automatically 99. It could be 104. It could be 87. It just happens to be that these are people that I have a really great relationship.

Many of them have bought and sold with me. Many of them have tried consistently to give me leads. I’ve got a billionaire in that list and I’ve got a college student in that list. If somebody with the greatest set of leads that doesn’t give them to you or doesn’t help you or you’re not helping them, it means nothing.

Aaron: It’s really interesting to take your lead list and categorize it like that. Something we’ve been talking about a lot on here the last month, Paul Morris and I, every time I get Paul on here, it’s something we’re reminding everyone to do, is just reaching out to people, reaching out to your customers, to your families, to anyone, even with a text and a phone call saying, “Hey, how are you? How are you doing through all this? Is there anything I can help you with at all?”

Not necessarily real estate-related. It’s just really caring about people. In times of pandemic, in times of craziness, in times of when we’re home, you look at your text messages, you see family and that’s it. Everyone’s afraid to reach out and chat, although everyone right now has a ton of time on their hands to be able to talk on the phone and have those conversations.

We just want to remind all the listeners out there, maybe there’s a new way to do that. You take your list and you can categorize them two ways. You take that SOI Gold which are the people, get you some listings or get you some referrals, but start reaching out to them. Just go, “Hey, how are you? How’s everything going?” A friend of mine posted on Facebook yesterday and he goes, “Hey, I’m going to Home Depot. Does anyone need anything? I’ll deliver anywhere.”

He’s like, “I’m out doing this and if anybody needs a random favor right now, I’m your guy.” Right now, it’s tough to say, “Hey, can you get me a referral,” but it’s a really easy time to reach out people and just offer value and say, “Hey, are you okay? I’m thinking about you.”

Edmund: It’s not wrong to give to a charity and hope that it builds your profile. I know there’s a lot of people that have this guilty feeling. One thing I didn’t mention, I went to a lot of fundraisers before this and they’re like, “Well, Ed, people see you’re a realtor there.” I’m like, “I’m not pimping myself out.” I show up to these things and certainly, it’s that relationship mechanism. I love your idea about going off to a store and helping a neighbor, particularly an elderly neighbor. I think that’s a great thing.

Aaron: Anything right now. It’s like, “I’m at the grocery store already. Do you need anything? I was just thinking about you and I’m actually about ready to go. Do you need anything?” I’m sure that people be like, “Actually, yes. That would be really helpful.” My daughter got super sick and somebody reached out to us and said, “Hey, we’re going to go to the grocery store today. Do you need anything?” At the time, we weren’t allowed to go out.

It was like, “Yes. Actually, if you could drop off some groceries.” I was not too proud to say, “Yes. Please. Drop off some groceries in my driveway. If you find this, this, or this, I’ll be excited.”

Edmund: It’s something that every salesperson I think needs to get passed. This is a great time to do it, to be able to just get use to picking up the phone, making phone calls, being able to initiate some of these discussions. One of my Think Tanks, it’s terrific, since I already identified real estate agents from out of my area as a great lead source. When they come to my Think Tank, I got a reason to invite them. “Am I charging you? No. What are we doing? Again, I want you. I want your knowledge base.”

You ever see someone, they got a flat tire on the side of the road and how everyone stops to help the guy, “Hey, your tire’s low.” You get all these people helping the guy out. Why? Because it’s something that I might be able to do. Let’s say the guy with the flat has a Jaguar and they’re a millionaire. I saw this. I saw this in Manhattan. All these people were stopping to help the guy.

If he had a bag of groceries, nobody would’ve done anything. If it was raining, they wouldn’t have helped him out. The car, they could really demonstrate their knowledge base, really their demonstrate their worth. That’s what people are trying– People get that great feeling. I honestly believe people are more generous than they think.

Aaron: I think you’re right. People are more generous than they think. This is a great time where we talk a lot lately about during the time of us all staying at home, what are some of the positives that are coming out of this. People are walking at night and saying hi to their neighbors and being kind to each other. I think maybe people figure out they’re more generous than they think if they get brave enough to do it. Let’s say listings versus buyers. What’s your percentage? Do you have more listings than buyers?

Edmund: Not at all, I’m almost, let me see. Of the 22 deals, 5 sellers, the rest are buyers. It turns it on its head. This year was going to be my big buyer year. At least, my plans called for it, but the best-laid plans oftentimes need to be changed. Now, I think once again, I’ll have another great buyer year. You got to remember, I’m with Douglas Elliman. They’ve got a heavy, heavy New York base, and a lot of my business comes from, not only Elliman but agents from out of state. I’m their Florida guy.

As a result, I get a lot of buyers looking for that. Now, I sold someone a home a couple of years ago and she wants to list. I’m going to speak to her later today. That’s a listing. I got another listing here at my country club. I’ve got listings in different spots. It’s been very, very heavy with the buyers.

Aaron: You get some listings, mostly buyers. Right now, if you were going to make just a bold prediction– It’s kind of funny. Everybody right now is just guessing because the world is so strange. If take all of our guesses and we average them out, we’re probably going to find the accurate number in there. Do you think that this is going to be an extended winter where as soon we’re allowed to go outside, real estate will pick up again?

Do you think more people will be moving from New York to Florida and calling you? Do you think the market’s going to slow down for a while? Any predictions you would give to the real estate market and what you’re trying to prepare yourself for?

Edmund: Sure. Well, I’ll break it down by territory. I think New York City’s got a lot of problems. I think a place like Manhattan– My heart goes out to my friends who I know will be listening. It’s got a lot of problems right now. If you think about it already, who’s going to pay for all this? The property taxes are going to go up even higher. New York’s not been a very friendly place from a business person’s standpoint. We saw that with Amazon.

Again, I don’t want to get into politics about why this happened, but we just see that companies had been wanting to move out. Those that have the ability to move away– I think things like Zoom and these meetings that we’re having today has proven to a lot of people that they can be remote. Then you get down to a place like my area in South Florida. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a big place, but Palm Beach County has less than three-and-a-half million people. New York City has over nine million. I just see that the smallest uptick of people would mean a lot of business to us.

I think my equity country clubs, where you have to pay a membership to join, are going to be problematic because people aren’t going to want to spend the money on those clubs. As far as getting into good school districts and being able to move, my guess is that if the country opens up, I’m going to be very, very busy with buyers as of June and July. That’s my prediction. Everywhere else, I hate the crystal-ball-lookers. Here’s another thing, Aaron, to look at, luxury living, condominiums on the ocean in Boca Raton in my town here. As of this morning, there were 53 people. It’s 53 units on the ocean, meaning right direct oceanfront that are over a million dollars. That’s not a lot of property for an area that’s got such great brand recognition.

Finally, if you want to take a look at on a global scale, historically, whenever the United States government pumped so much money in a stimulus, a trillion-dollar plus some period of time afterward and history has taught us this, that there’s a reverberation in real estate. Also if you believe, as I believe that inflation is going to be the only answer to rising rates, real estate historically has been a very good hedge against inflation. I think long-term, we got a lot to look forward to. I think long-term and short-term on Florida, we got a lot to look forward to. I just, we have to weather it.

Aaron: Yes. I know a lot of people that after September 11th moved from New York to Florida. I know several guys that was their thing. That was, it was like the extreme opposite for them. Who knows, maybe you’re going to see a similar thing. Where people are starting to– people are in their houses right now more than they’ve ever been or in their apartments or anything else and now’s the time where they say, “Hey, maybe I’m ready for a change,” or “Maybe if I’m not allowed to go outside or if I can’t have all that to hang out with people, maybe I want to be somewhere where I can go for a walk on the ocean.”

You were talking about inflation and for all of our listeners out there, what we’re talking about right now, inflation is when your dollar just can’t buy you as much. Right now that the government, all these stimulus packages, they’re giving a bunch of people money. They’re giving businesses money and people money. Now a lot of that stuff is just going to make up for the salaries that they lost. When you talk trillions of dollars, that means there’s more money that just got printed.

In theory, you can’t buy, if something costs you a dollar before, and now it’s going to cost you $1.20. In real estate, it’s the same thing. The reason real estate is the ultimate hedge is that house you used to be able to buy for $100,000, now you’re going to have to pay $120,000 because the dollar just isn’t worth what it used to be. They’re talking about people that own real estate as a hedge, a lot of people are talking about inflation right now, that’s the definition of it. The more money that’s in a market, the less valuable that dollar is, the more dollars it costs to buy something. In opposite of that real estate prices should go up.

Edmund: Sure. Another thing too very well said, and another side to look at it is if your house costs $500,000 and it cost someone to build it $350,000, again, all this is theoretical numbers and now that you just gave 20% inflation. Let’s put those same numbers there. 20% of 350 is 410. Now, it’s going to cost so much more for the builder to build every nail, every tile, every brick, every employee. Every single one costs more, so therefore the stuff that’s on the remaining market becomes a bargain and therefore push the price up.

Aaron: Exactly. Yes. Every everything costs more. If a hamburger costs more, a hamburger costs more, the construction costs more and everything. You talked a little bit about your sourcing and how you go through. When it comes to buyers, you get most of your buyers through referrals, through the company you’re a part of. Any other tricks on how you get buyers?

Edmund: Yes. I get a lot of buyers from the community that I live in. The community that I live in, while I’ve not done many deals in here, I’ve gotten a lot of buyers, that I meet at the gym. I work out in my country. Well, I did, now it’s closed, but my daughter wants to buy a Brownstone in Brooklyn. Can you help us in Brooklyn? Well, yes. I’ve got someone that I could refer out to. I got somebody who came up to me. I spoke to her, Milner of the years and I just happened to give her a call, and this is why agents listening, you should make a phone call. I said, “How are you?” She said, “Well, I’m great, but I wish you were here.”

She told me that the agent that was supposed to meet her, stood her up. I said, “Actually, if you’re willing to take my referral, I am there,” there being Los Angeles. I made an introduction to an agent that I knew there. 84 days later, she closed for $15 million, $150,000. That was a shocker. That was the biggest referral I’ve ever given out. Believe me, there’s been several base hits that I’ve given out as well, but it just goes to show that if that kind of behavior of embracing your SOI and your SOI goals that can actually pay off. Some people say, well, that never happens. Every year something like that happens to me, not that big, but every year, there’s a few things, so it happens.

Aaron: Well, that’s the big thing with real estate is you never know when it’s going to happen, but if you don’t do the work, it will never happen. If you don’t make the phone calls, it will never happen. It’s like putting money in the bank. You’re always putting it in there every time you’re making a call, you’re putting it in there and sometimes you’re like, “Oh, that was worthless, that was worthless, that was worthless,” but it’s like, you’re fishing. Then every once in a while, one of them does come through or one from six months ago or from a year ago and you go, “No, that’s why you do all the work,” because 1 out of 100 or 1 out of 200, you never know when it’s going to happen. If you don’t do the work, it won’t happen. If you don’t make those phone calls, it won’t happen.

Edmund: Now is the time. Now, we’re pushing people out of the way that never produced. Now, they’re going to look at the dollars they’re spending on being just a member of the Realtor Association or paying their errors and omissions insurance. Doing whatever it is to just maintain this theoretical business that they’ve never really done and the silly listings that they get as a one-off, because it’s their cousin’s home.

We’re going to be clearing a lot of those folks out, so get psyched guys. It takes a while, but if you really– everything takes a strategy. If you like to sit down and make a list of businesses that are going to do well right now, no matter what, you could probably think something like McDonald’s long-term, you could probably think of that bankruptcy attorneys. You could probably think about divorce attorneys, hate to break it, but people are going crazy living together now.

You could probably think about moving companies. You could probably think about the rental market if we get into real estate. You could probably think about the referrals, that money that you could make by giving referrals to people who are moving out of state. There’s money that could be made in many, many different ways. Take time right now and make an exhaustive list of where. It doesn’t even have to be real estate, but whatever you think will bring revenue into you, and then ask yourself the honest question, does it work? Or does it not work?

If it doesn’t work, don’t beat yourself up. Just come on, do it and see what happens. I call that a crisis audit and I’m engaged in this now constantly and some phenomenal ideas. I mean, right now phenomenal. Can I give you one Aaron? Could I give you just one?

Aaron: I’m ready. Yes.

Edmund: Okay. I’ve got 4,300 friends on Facebook. Obviously, I don’t have that many friends. I wish I had 4,300 friends, but I am connected to them. Every day at least 10 people have a birthday. Statistically, that makes sense. Every morning now I write a heartfelt email and here’s the thing, it’s universal, everyone’s going through this, “Dear Aaron, I know this couldn’t have been what you planned on your birthday to be locked up. However, I hope that you’re happy and I wish you well, sincerely Edmund.”

If I happen to know you better than that, I might say, by the way, or BTW, that’s the text language for by the way, how is Jody? How’s Mary, how’s your wife, so they see that’s personal. Now they’re getting this big birthday comments instead of just happy birthday. I’ve been doing this every day. At least 50% of the people give the nicest response to it. Now, what’s that going to do? After 365 days, you’ve actually missed 4,000 people. That’s the thing that’s amazing about it. It was nothing. It was no time whatsoever.

Aaron: It’s just having that habit. That’s a great piece of advice. It’s something very simple, especially right now where it means a lot more. My birthday was next month, we had a big party going on where we were inviting friends and we were all going to Hawaii and that all got canceled. There’s a lot of people that have things way different right now, so getting to reach out like that–

I think that’s a fantastic piece of advice and it adds up over time. Something very simple, very actionable that’s either like tip four or five that Edmund’s given today that I think are great ones. He talks at the beginning. Like he hopes he gives everybody one and I know that he’s given everybody–

Edmund: That’s very kind, but the biggest tip of all, and I don’t want to let this broadcast end without saying this, “Stop making enemies out of people. Stop making enemies out of people that you think are your competitors.” Life is long, forget the whole life is short. Life is long. There’s a lot of stuff that goes on. There’s a lot of– You’ve got a lot of important work to do, and we don’t have time for hate or anger or any of that stuff.

You’ve got to be able to realize that even the competitor that you have in the office, this woman who I was talking about, she’s got a huge percentage of business with people from newbies that come in, people get sick, life happens, you’re on vacation and she’s been reaping the benefit because she’s still wonderful. Just realize there’s a lot of opportunity and people are just being sometimes not as nice as they could be to the very people that could be the best and brightest lead sources.

Aaron: Yes, don’t create enemies. I think that’s great. I keep thinking about that guy too, of the example of the $12 or $15 million house.

Edmund: $15 million, $150,000

Aaron: $15 million house and he was too busy to do the showing.

Edmund: Yes. They judged here that my contact, obviously, they’re very wealthy people and they’re from Asia and she’s kind of a hippie and has ripped jeans or might be just not in those ripped jeans so much, but just like too personable. You would think, “Wait a minute why would–” They’re unconvinced of that agent, saying , “Why would somebody so successful want to hang out with me?” Because of their insecurity. With their insecurity, not the other way around. How would like to be that agent who– It’s a deal that everyone talks about. They’ve got to read in the trades that this took place and they didn’t have time. They stood her up for lunch.

Aaron: It’s another example that life is long. You never who is going to be that client. You could help somebody buy a $100,000 house today, and in five years, help them buy the $15 million house. You just never know. Life is long and treat people the way that you should.

Edmund: It’s a compounding effect that if everyone you know– The small-world phenomenon. It was a study by a couple of sociologists that found the average person knows 450 or 454 people, and they came up some equation for why that is. When I see 450 people, I mean the dry cleaner, the gas station guy, the people that you know that will likely remember your face. We’re salespeople, we know a lot more than that. We’re not average, we’re extraordinary.

If you just do some simple math and say to yourself, “If I can have influence over my SOI Gold, 100 people.” 100 x 450 people, that’s a potential of 45,000. Is that right? Yes, 45,000 people in my second degree. Meaning your best friend, Aaron, who I don’t yet know, but I might, is in my second degree. You’ll never possibly run out of leads if you learn the technique to work it and that’s the important part. That’s what I want people to take away.

Aaron: You’re not calling people and saying, “Let me sell your house.” You’re saying, “Who do you know who I call sell?” It’s the biggest sphere you can get. It’s not just me. It’s who are my friends. Who are the people in my network?

Edmund: Often times, yes. Before it was come to the cocktails, now it’s– I did a game show with my daughter on Facebook Live the other day. We did a name that tune, and I got pulled for intellectual property infringement by Facebook. We’ve done a lot of other stuff like that and people said, “You really made my week.” There’s a lot of stuff that sucks. You got to enjoy the moments.

Aaron: You got to enjoy the moments. We’ve only got a few minutes left. This has been great, but let’s talk about earlier in your career or failures. What failure have you had that you look at today as like, “Wow. I learned so much from that.”

Edmund: I got screwed by a friend in New York. I was with a company, I brought in a deal that was significant. Significant being a $25 million deal. It was commercial real estate. I was on the hook for I think 50% of a 10% commission. It was not a little bit of money, it was a lot of money. A variety of other things actually happened, I was locked out of the office, and this is a guy– I try to keep four or five people in my life that I’m not related to that I would give a kidney to. He’s a guy that I would’ve given a kidney to.

Anyway, I woke up the following day having a heart attack, I went to the hospital. It was actually a panic attack and I said to my wife, “There’s really no reason why we need to stay in New York at this point. I’ve got a clear opportunity right now. We’ve talking about Florida for a long time. Let’s do it.” I still don’t have very high regard for this guy, but I got to tell you, had it not happened, I wouldn’t have fallen into Utopia. I would never have actually gotten here. Everything that takes place right now as we speak, the billion-dollar business is being built as you and I are talking here that in 10 years, we’re going to hear that, “Yes. It was during the lockdown. Somebody thought of this.” Embrace it. We’ve all got a lot of important work to do.

Aaron: This time right now, it will be a memorable time in our lives for the rest of our lives. We will remember the time when we went through a quarantine and we had never done it before, and all of the innovation that comes out of it, and everyone is changing habits. One of the guests that their podcast aired today, David Hallis. I interviewed him and he’s a big inspirational speaker and business coach.

He talked about, it takes 30 days to get a habit. If you’re going to start exercising, it takes 30 days to get a habit. If you’re going to start eating healthy, it takes 30 days to get a habit. We’re forced into these habits right now. We’re going to be 45, 60 days of new habits we weren’t necessarily with, but then all of a sudden, people change and they go, “Zoom is more efficient than my regular business meeting. Now I’m going to do this,” or “I don’t need the office now.” Maybe some people are going to be, “I actually need to do my one-on-one relationships like this or I still need in person.”

Maybe some people are going to learn that it’s really hard for them to do it this way so they’re going to go work even hard for person-to-person contact when they get it and things like that. People will innovate and we will look back and go, “That was a really tough time, it forced us to do this.” I remember when my daughter was born. My second daughter was born six weeks earlier and she’s in the NICU and I was terrified and I was looking at her going, “This was my fault. My wife was working nights as a waitress at the casino.”

It was this horrible moment but that was my moment when I quit my job to really go for it with this new investing company because I was like, “I need to take this massive action.” That is when you have the tough experiences that turn into that massive action. Your example wasn’t really a failure you made but it was a bad experience that turned into a good one. I think that is important for people to see.

The last question I’m going to ask you is, as a rookie agent– Now that you know everything that you know, what do you wish someone would have told you in year one or year two? Maybe it’s something you’ve already shared today, but is there something you can think of to go, “Here’s something that you haven’t shared yet,” that you think is the most important thing that you should’ve known when you started?

Edmund: I think, definitely, if I had known how valuable leads from the people that you think are your competitors, if I’d known that when I had gotten in– Again, I’m a little different because I got into this when I was in my late 40’s. I wasn’t a young guy that already owned business, but I could tell you that I learned very quickly in this business that you got to try and take a look at where– the opportunity comes in the strangest places and you need to just really embrace that.

Business as a lifestyle. When are we not working? My accountant said, “What percentage of your vehicle is used for business?” I’m like, “If I drop my kid off at school, I run into somebody, they’re going to sell a house. Who’s to say I wasn’t working?”

Aaron: That’s 100%. If you’re a good agent, 100% of your time is spent working the– Even when you’re not because that’s the thing. You could be golfing with somebody, you can be hanging– Just like you said, going to the dinners where you’re donating money instead. Anywhere you are, there’s a potential to be working. Edmund, if you guys are looking at us on YouTube right now, you see Edmund’s social media handles behind it. We got @EdmundBogen on Instagram. We’ll be tagging him and linking him from our Instagram stuff too. He’s also on Facebook, LinkedIn, all over the place.

Like he said in the beginning, long-time listener of Real Estate Rockstars. So excited when we have listeners that have learned on here that come on here and share some of the stuff that they heard as tips, and they’re really big successful agents now. Edmund also talked about his mastermind ways out there. It sounds like there’s way to go join that. You can reach out to Edmund.

Edmund, what are your final thoughts out there? Ways for people to reach out. Do you want people to email you or find you on Instagram? How can they send you referrals if they’ve got that buyer that they know needs to go to South Florida?

Edmund: My cup runeth over. I could tell you Instagram is probably my favorite bias right now. My daughters want to get me on TikTok. I just started a TikTok thing but let’s focus on Instagram and Facebook for the most part. If you want to reach out to me, again, just Google Edmund Bogan, I’m everywhere. I’m usually extremely responsive, and certainly, if you want to give the Think Tank a try, love to have you. Be kind to one another. There’s ideas that everyone has from the popper to the billionaire that can enrich your life and there’s a lot that could be learned from that.

Aaron: That is it. For all of you guys listening out there, you’ll see it down there in the show notes too. It’s Edmund, E-D-M-U-N-D, Edmund. Last name is B-O-G-E-N. Go reach out and find him. I learned so much today talking to you. This was a really fun chat. I appreciate you getting on here, and I wish you the best of luck out in South Florida, and I’m really curious to see three to six months from now how many of those people from New York are calling you to go move out there. The time will tell.

Edmund: Part two. Let’s do it.

Aaron: We’ll bring you back. Thanks for coming on today, Edmund.

Edmund: Thank you.

Aaron: All right. Bye, Rockstars.