Why Social Media Isn’t Working For You — Stefanie Lugo, AZ

Back by popular demand is one of our best guests of all time, Stefanie Lugo with My Home Group in Scottsdale, AZ. Stefanie and her husband Bryce are top performing agents who went all in on their database. Their business is 100% repeat and referral and they use social media to spread the word from those already in their network to those just 1 connection away. In this episode we discuss how social media is changing and why what worked for lead gen in 2019-20 isnt working anymore. Stefanie reveals her new secrets for how she makes Instagram deliver results.

Stefanie is also the owner of The Market Authority podcast and coaching program where she offers current tips and tricks of what is working for her real estate business in real time.

Get in touch with Stephanie: https://www.stefanielugo.com/

The Neighborhood Realtor is proudly sponsored by Treadstone Funding and Neighborhood Loans. For more tangible tips in real estate marketing, check out Matt's book, The Tangible Action Guide for Real Estate Marketing available on Amazon.

Learned something new, or have a suggestion? Message Matt Muscat on Instagram! 

Transcript

Stefanie L | 00:00:03:03 | The way that we were posting in 2016 could not be any more different than it is today. People are wondering how to buy a house in this market. They're wondering why they would even consider it.
Matt M | 00:00:20:20 | Do you ever eat a meal so great that the next day you just want to have the same thing again? I interview Stephanie. We're talking to you today over a year ago, and it was one of my all time favorite episodes because she's so relationship focused. It's the kind of strategies that work in every market. So, Stephanie, welcome back to the show.
Matt M | 00:00:39:05 | You're one of the first guests we've ever had on your voice.
Stefanie L | 00:00:43:24 | Really? That is such an honor. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for having me. We always have great conversation. So let's get to it.
Matt M | 00:00:51:18 | Yeah. So Stephanie told me, where have what have you been up to since the last time we talked?
Stefanie L | 00:00:58:00 | I am a quite not not quite a year postpartum with my second kid. And I know that sounds like it has no relevance to business, but it does when you and your partner are both real estate agents. This last year has been really, really crazy for us personally. With the market changing and my husband and I both growing our families kids now, it's been really, really nuts.
Stefanie L | 00:01:23:23 | And so as far as real estate goes, those days are really good. And we've had to learn not only how to navigate this new market that we're in. Since the market shifts, but also how to navigate the challenges of a family of four now, which is crazy because it never just it's never really just business, right? It kind of bleeds over into that personal life, too, sometimes, especially when you're husband and wife duo.
Matt M | 00:01:48:26 | What I think that resonates so well for like most people, because everyone's a realtor and something else, right? Like, you're a realtor and a mom. You're a realtor and a parent. So when you look at the business you have now and the business you want to have in the future, what are you? How are you rebuilding and what changes are you making to build the business you want to have?
Matt M | 00:02:14:01 | Because right. The market is either going to go up or it's going to go down or stay the same. But your family's going to still be there. Like, how are you? What changes are you making? You kind of make your life the life you want.
Stefanie L | 00:02:25:06 | I think the easiest way to answer that is to go back to why we got into the business. So we left our corporate 9 to 5 almost ten years ago to get into real estate. Not for any good reason other than we just were kind of sick of the corporate grind. And we knew nothing about the real estate industry, but it just seemed like an easy way to create freedom and flexibility.
Stefanie L | 00:02:47:05 | And then the joke was on us. There was like, the hardest thing we ever did with you being our 9 to 5 cold turkey to get into real estate full time with having absolutely no experience and no clue what to do. But but really, what drove us then is the same thing that drives this now is we really just wanted to have control over our lives.
Stefanie L | 00:03:06:09 | We wanted to feel empowered to tap into all of our potential, not just our income earning potential, but our potential to love, live life, to explore, to be spontaneous. And that's a lot of what drives us today still. And a couple of years ago, when we decided to grow our family back in 2019, we really got serious about our business and implementing the right systems.
Stefanie L | 00:03:32:19 | So that we were generating business in a way that was going to provide us with persistent revenue while accounting for the fact that we were planning at some point in the future for a maternity leave and for travel that we wanted to have. And I think that in order for your business to be able to sustain that and for it to really be, quote unquote, successful, it can't just work when the market's hot.
Stefanie L | 00:03:56:26 | It has to work when the market is shifting as well. And so I go back to a lot of those like changes that we've made to our business that we continue to make. And it comes back to focusing on relationships, focusing on serving our community, not just like our geographic community. We sell in the Phenix Scottsdale area, but focusing on a community of people who we've been able to build in terms of friendships and referral partners and business vendors focusing on serving them, especially as the market has shifted and the economy has become uncertain and everything else in life feels big and Harry and scary.
Stefanie L | 00:04:30:09 | And in doing that, we've been able to continue to see our business run smoothly.
Matt M | 00:04:34:23 | One, it's crazy because it really feels like, you know, the transactional side of real estate is pretty dead, right? Like, if you were an agent focusing on being transactional, it's hard to make it in this market. But you're you're so relationship focused, you're able to not only enjoy the business, but do more and serve your people better.
Stefanie L | 00:04:54:23 | Yeah, yeah, it's true. And it's it's, it's more fun that way anyways. Right? And what we had found was between the years of like 2014 and 2015 up until 2018, 2019, when we made our big pivot into this type of business, we we found that we were really in a chasing energy where it's like, you know, the boats were burned after every lead closed and we were starting over from the beginning, right, like constantly starting over after every closing.
Stefanie L | 00:05:24:25 | And that's exhausting. That leads to burnout, that leads to resentment of the business that does not affords you freedom and flexibility, which is what most people get in real estate for They imagine some sense of freedom and flexibility, whether with time or income or somewhere in between. And when you're focusing on relationships and you get to enjoy such a more rich way of doing business, because not only do you get to get paid well, and you do if you do this for long enough, but you also get get the return of amazing friendships that really last for a long time.
Stefanie L | 00:06:02:02 | Right. And I think that matters.
Matt M | 00:06:04:15 | Well, I think another really interesting thing there is that the market that we're in is really it's really interesting to see who is doing well and who's enjoying it. I think like in the previous market, you could have a great personality and get lucky and get business. But now we're in this place where you really need to have relationships and be good, but you have to have passion for this.
Matt M | 00:06:29:26 | If you're not into this, if you don't enjoy it, it's going to be really hard. It's going to be a huge grind. And it also gives you more to post about on social media. I know you guys are huge on social. Have you had to change your approach this year based on based on the market and based on your goals?
Stefanie L | 00:06:49:03 | We have we have. And social media has gone through a massive change in the last year or two and the market notwithstanding and it's constant changing and evolving. And as soon as you figure out a strategy that you think really works, the next thing you know, you have to pivot again, which is fine. Like that is what keeps things fresh and exciting.
Stefanie L | 00:07:09:01 | We left our 9 to 5 because we were just kind of feeling bored and stagnant. We got into this business for the change and for the growth and we're excited. Any time changes in the way we do things allow us the opportunity to grow. And you see, Nikhil, when we started really leading into Instagram, for example, that is our biggest lead for us outside of our database.
Stefanie L | 00:07:31:24 | We started that in 2016, like going all in and the way that we were posting in 2016 could not be any more different than it is today.
Matt M | 00:07:41:21 | Back then, I think that's like, I almost have to cut you off. So that's the first takeaway for people in the audience, right? Like if your social media strategy is the same today as it was five years ago, it's time to reexamine like that. That would be like a hard one for you. Like email yourself if that if that applies to you and make a new strategy tomorrow.
Matt M | 00:07:59:16 | So what what has changed for you? Tell us. Tell us like what you've seen.
Stefanie L | 00:08:03:18 | What used to work really well is posting educational content and proof of success. And so for a while you could get away a little bit with just posting about open houses or school photos with your happy clients. And a lot of the what I like to say is like, this is so mean, but Google regurgitated, right? So like how to buy a home in three steps.
Stefanie L | 00:08:25:14 | Very informational, all surface level content that just kind of provides quote unquote value. And that is not going to do it anymore because we have to look at it from the consumer's point of view. People aren't wondering how to buy a house in this market. They're wondering why they would even consider it, because they're looking at headlines and clickbait stuff on social media that reinforces the message that this economy is uncertain, this economy is unstable, the housing market is slow down to practically a crawl.
Stefanie L | 00:09:01:16 | It's a horrible time to buy. Interest rates are super sky high. And so the consumers are saying that and they're not going any they're not thinking critically about what opportunities might be behind those objections because it's not their job to first of all. And second of all, the one thing that is going to really provoke them to start exploring that and seeing if those are actually true or real barriers to buying or selling.
Stefanie L | 00:09:27:05 | The only thing that's going to shake a consumer today, like a member of the public out of that space is a family change that's going to necessitate a move. And those are the easy, low hanging fruit deals, right? The relocation that tops you on the shoulder that says, hey, I've got 30 days to buy a home. The military peace is great for our military.
Stefanie L | 00:09:47:03 | It's literally in that niche. The, you know, the family dynamics that changed in terms of people say the kids, family growing, family getting smaller as kids sleep. And that's right. So any of those big life changes are obvious to look for. But beyond that, if a real estate agent can't figure out how to speak to somebody who isn't in that exact space, then a lot of times they just don't really know what to post.
Stefanie L | 00:10:15:07 | And so again, they either default to just informational posts or they don't post anything and they lose their clients anyways.
Matt M | 00:10:23:18 | Real estate has a lot of contracts. I want this podcast to have a social contract as well. Here's what I need from you. If you're listening to the show and you get something valuable out of it or you hear something that you think that's awesome, I want you to send me a dime on Instagram, or if you find my email, send it that way.
Matt M | 00:10:39:01 | The more feedback that I get helps me to put together better shows and attract better guests. I mean, it's kind of like the joke when I think about real estate agents on social media is I think of people posting like canvas templates about Happy Labor Day and Happy Holiday poster like no one gets business out of that, but people pay firms to like design this stuff for them.
Matt M | 00:10:58:00 | But you just hit the nail on the head with the trend of making content to where it's people who are in a life stage that is leading them to move, right? Like in this market, we need to focus on where the transactions are, right? Because they're coming from different places than they might have been before. For people were just buying because rates were low and houses were cheap and now they're buying because they want to buy a house like you could almost say The buyers right now are more serious than buyers in any other market that we've ever had before.
Matt M | 00:11:29:16 | How are you? How are you looking or spotting these opportunities in your database? Like, are you just like posting social content? And I'm like, hoping and praying that they reach out to you or are you is there a second side to it?
Stefanie L | 00:11:42:17 | So there is there's top of mind brand awareness, and then there's actual engagement. Right? And so one thing that I've always done really well, if I do say so myself, is not just posting just to post and creating more noise, but actually layering that with thoughtful engagement. And so I can get to the content side of what we've changed on the content side without being able to back it up with that relationship nurture aspect.
Stefanie L | 00:12:07:24 | It's never going to be as impactful as it could be, right? So so one thing that we're doing and really focusing on right now is finding ways to serve our clients who are not actually needing to buy or sell right this moment. And a lot.
Matt M | 00:12:21:09 | Of so some agents might say, why are you doing that? So let's just address that elephant in the room like a lot of agents would hear. Like, well, if they're not going to buy soon, why am I why am I wasting my time? Like, how do you counter that?
Stefanie L | 00:12:31:24 | I am obsessed with the idea of taking everyone closing and turning it into five five referrals. Repeat business. I want five deals from every closing in the following five years. That's how you create exponential business and an ever growing database of like, clients, right, of your ideal clients. And so the first thing that we've done is we've really understood our ideal clients have gotten very, very crystal clear on who they are and what their needs are in this cycle.
Stefanie L | 00:13:00:23 | Homeownership for them and and understanding what their biggest needs are, what their biggest challenges are with what their life stressors are, whether it's regarding real estate or not. We're really being thoughtful about how we're reaching them in that space. So, for example, some of our clients right now are finally coming out after like that pandemic phase, and they're starting to travel again.
Stefanie L | 00:13:24:10 | And a lot of them have had kids just like we have, and they're trying to figure out what their life looks like post-pandemic. They haven't have the benefit. This is super niche. They haven't had the benefit of being able to take their kids out and doing a lot of playdates and and have that experience as young families. And I went there, too.
Stefanie L | 00:13:42:26 | That's a new things that I'm learning as well. And so what can we do to provide value while we can? We can coordinate savings. We can we can get that like belly to belly in-person stuff going on, right? Like we can we can make sure that we are meeting in person and having fun and having this really deep, enriching conversations that humans need.
Stefanie L | 00:14:05:01 | Like beyond the transactions, beyond just people. Humans need that nurturing face to face relationships. And in just providing a space for that, we are deepening a relationship that goes beyond the transaction. And so the next time they hear somebody who needs help with the relocation or who's looking to buy or sell, we're the first person they think to because we're not just reaching out to them saying, Hey, just checking in.
Stefanie L | 00:14:30:09 | We're reaching out to them, saying like, hey, how is you know, how are things going after after Fido passed? Right. Like after their dog passed or something like actually having a a real conversation that goes beyond just the service level. And I think that if we have that perspective, the opportunities to continue to serve and database are endless because people's lives are just subscription complex yours and just recognizing that you can provide value there is helpful in and of itself.
Matt M | 00:14:58:02 | And that's so huge. And I think like whether you have a ton of business happening right now or whether you have a limited amount of business, I think you can really use it as an opportunity to look deeper and look for big opportunities on every single transaction. Right? Like what? Like take a pause and think of like the last five transactions you did and think what was the was the biggest opportunity I had with this transaction is it.
Matt M | 00:15:23:12 | So maybe they bought more expensive homes, you know, they have money and maybe you can sell them an investment property now, but maybe like they just moved to the area and they don't know anyone and you could be their friend and you could recommend like grocery stores and sports leagues and churches and whatever you're into. Like you could be a gigantic value to them.
Matt M | 00:15:42:27 | And then as they grow their network, that in essence will grow your network because you were there for them and because, like you positioned yourself as like part of their group. So now is their pros. You're part of it and you can grow with it. Or like maybe your client is the director of the company and they can get you in with the company that they work for.
Matt M | 00:16:02:12 | I mean, just like just in the market we were in before we were so busy with transaction lines that we didn't have time to stop and think. And I think a lot of opportunities were missed. But it sounds like you guys have really gone deeper on spotting those opportunities and figuring out how to capitalize on them.
Stefanie L | 00:16:20:06 | Yeah, and this is the first time that we've had to do this. This is exactly what we did back in 2020. Back in 2020 and January, February, we were looking ahead and I was like six months pregnant and I was like, What are we going to do? Like, I'm not going to go showing houses a week after having a baby that is not going to be me.
Stefanie L | 00:16:37:15 | I'm going to have an actual maternity leave because our business, you know, should be able to sustain that. And then we all know what happened in the spring of 2020 and the pandemic hit everything shut down. And we were like, what is going to happen at this point? Well, we we had already started leading our business towards that relationship style, like really leaning on those database referrals.
Stefanie L | 00:16:57:20 | And we closed the house a week that year through having a three month maternity and paternity leave through dealing with the pandemic. It had nothing to do with the height of the market because like if you remember a good three months of that, everybody was sitting on their hands trying to figure out what was next. Half of us weren't even essential depending on what state you were in.
Stefanie L | 00:17:15:10 | And so we had that. Sorry about the thought process, but but it's it's just it's just recognizing like what? What are we going to do beyond the transaction? And then the second part of that is just how are you going to ask for the referral? Right? So it's one thing to like really be nurturing your relationships and loving on your people.
Stefanie L | 00:17:37:21 | Are you asking for the appointment? Are you asking for the referral?
Matt M | 00:17:41:01 | We're really I need to go deeper on this one because I think like especially people our age, like, I feel like we're in that like elder millennial bucket of salespeople or like, we're not pushy salespeople, but if you don't tell people that you want their business in referrals, it's also less, less easy to get them right. Like if they don't know you want it, they don't always refer it.
Matt M | 00:18:02:28 | And some people aren't natural referrers. So how are you really keeping that message? Top of mind without being too salesy or too untrue yourself?
Stefanie L | 00:18:14:08 | We have to understand how to sell in real estate. That's just a part of it. You can't get away with not having basic sales skills and it doesn't have to feel icky and it doesn't have to be exploitive, like exploiting your people. But you do have to have an understanding of how to sell. And I think that we need to accept that.
Stefanie L | 00:18:31:29 | First of all, I think that there's a lot of people in the marketing space that are trying to like, circumvent that truth. But at the end of the day, this is a sales. And in order for us to generate more sales, we have to understand how to have a conversation that identifies a need that matches a solution that we can provide.
Stefanie L | 00:18:50:12 | Now the difference is whether or not you can actually make that relevant to a buyer or seller. So, for example, one thing that realtors have done for the last five years up until 2022 was posted and shout it on social media. Guess what? Interest rates are historically low now is a perfect time to buy. Well, what do you say now?
Stefanie L | 00:19:11:17 | Now that interest rates are double what they were 18 months ago, you look like a liar if you're trying to say like now it's a great time to buy, right? Instead, we have to have more of that consultative approach to understanding again what the biggest needs are for our ideal clients and being able to speak to that. And when you can really dial in that messaging, it's actually fairly simple to translate that to social media in a way that's going to work.
Stefanie L | 00:19:34:17 | And so if you see what I'm doing on social media, on my stories or on my tiktoks, I am selling all the time, but it's in a way that's providing awareness to a challenge that's agitating the needs that my ideal clients might have, and then providing a solution that gets them to reach out to me. It's never me like pointing at the screen saying, These are the three things you need to do to buy or sell, or if you want to be in a home by the holidays and you need to go right now.
Stefanie L | 00:20:01:04 | Like that's not how you create urgency. You create urgency by identifying what's providing stress. Technically in sales. You provide urgency by helping people move away from pain or towards pleasure so we can figure out which of those two are stronger and you just speak to that and provide a solution that makes sense to your ideal clients. Then you will sell effortlessly.
Matt M | 00:20:22:02 | Epic client The Neighborhood Realtor podcast is proudly made possible by the support of our sponsors Treadstone Funding and Neighborhood Loans. Two amazing Midwest mortgage companies that now have offices all around the country. You're a realtor and you'd like to learn more about connecting with one of our lenders. Dammit, Matt must be aided and often acting with someone in your market.
Matt M | 00:20:42:06 | If you're a lender and you want to join the right mortgage company in DME and I'll connect you as well. You're making social media more like a story, right? Like when you think about like a movie that you're going to watch, a movie has a beginning, a middle and an end, and usually there's a climax in the middle when you focus on like what your what you could or what your help, what you're helping current clients overcome, other people going through that same stuff in their life are attracted to that.
Matt M | 00:21:06:20 | And it's kind of like going back to niche content, but on the same and the same concept. There's millions of people out there going through all of these things, and I think you'd be surprised to know how much of your network is going to resonate with the five different conflicts that, you know, the average buyer or seller faces in a transaction.
Stefanie L | 00:21:27:02 | Yeah, absolutely. And you can speak for that in a way that allows you to go a little bit deeper. And when you go a little bit deeper, again, you're showing that you have a higher comprehension of what is actually occurring. And I think that we have to get we have to understand that when you are trying to get somebody to buy or sell a home, this is not a little thing.
Stefanie L | 00:21:52:10 | This is where people have refuge. This poor people will lay their head at night. This is where they go to feel safe after having the worst day of their lives. Or this is where they go to celebrate after having the best day of best news, right? Like like just getting something to buy or sell that cannot be boiled down to just numbers.
Stefanie L | 00:22:13:20 | And I think that as millennials, like maybe in our demographic, we're very, very cognizant of that. So, for example, for me, I lived through the worst of the Great Recession. I was a teenager when my family was foreclosed on and we had to leave our home and go run out in a completely different state because that's where the opportunity was.
Stefanie L | 00:22:37:07 | And we were absolutely victimized. Like it changed everything about my life. Everything about my life from that real estate experience, changed who I am and who I was. And it was a really huge deal. And so I'm obviously not everybody's most formative experience is going to be a tragic real estate bear, but everybody is most formative experience starts and ends at home.
Stefanie L | 00:23:04:06 | And so we do have to make sure that we're recognizing that and speaking to that more emotional, intuitive side, because if we're just boiling it down to the transaction, you're missing an entire conversation. I mean, what do people have right now? We are in the economic report just came out this week and poverty rates increased at 12 and a half percent.
Stefanie L | 00:23:27:09 | 40 million more people are impacted by the increasing levels of poverty as of 2022, up from 2021. That is a huge thing. Why would anybody in their right mind be wondering about whether or not they should buy or sell right now when they don't know if they're ever going to have their job or they don't know how they're going to purchase and afford basic basic commodities.
Stefanie L | 00:23:51:14 | Right. And so if you are glossing over the fact and with that fact and missing that part of the conversation, you're going to sound tone deaf and it's never going to be resonant, especially on social media, where you already have kind of class barrier.
Matt M | 00:24:05:11 | Well, well, I think, you know, it's a good idea for people to examine their social being, to say like, is there emotion in this? Does this reflect the tone of the broader economy? Like, where is this going to fall and how are they going to interpret this? I think in the past market that we were in, you could get away with all this stuff, kind of like you said before, like it's not working anymore, but you could get away with it because everyone knew it was a good time to buy a house and they would just see that you happen to be a realtor and that you had some cute educational stuff.
Matt M | 00:24:35:24 | And so they'd be like, okay, fine. But now you need to hit some sort of note with them. You need to resonate with them. It's your job to convince them that they need to buy a house and that they that they can do it. Like if you can convince them on those two things, you're actually helping the market, you're creating inventory, or you're creating a new buyer opportunity to buy someone else's inventory.
Matt M | 00:24:58:27 | But I think that's where most people, social media and probably marketing in general, this is out there. Not most marketing is not creating new opportunities. It's just it's giving people like a little hook who already knew that they wanted to be in the market.
Stefanie L | 00:25:13:04 | Yeah. And I think that that has completely changed my approach to social media in general is just the way that I'm presenting myself. Right? And so if we use one one just random example, I think that a lot of you always ask the question of like, well, should I be posting personal or professional stuff or should I keep it separate?
Stefanie L | 00:25:32:03 | I really can't keep it separate anymore. Right? You do have to integrate that in a way that doesn't mean you have to share the private stuff that you want to keep close to your heart. But that does mean that you have to show a little bit more than just like the transactional stuff. Because if you're just posting the sold photos or the fact that you're doing an open house, you're missing how and why somebody went through the steps to actually get to that point.
Stefanie L | 00:25:54:11 | And to your point, your marketing does have to convince somebody that they have a need. But I think more so you can help somebody come to that conclusion on their own and it is going to be way more impactful. Right. So instead of saying to somebody who's thinking like, man, I'd really love to stop renting, but I just can't afford to buy an interest group like it wouldn't be cleanser cost the same, you know, that's a completely different conversation when you can turn it around and say like it doesn't cost the same because you're about to stake $25,000 on that over the next four months, rent payments.
Stefanie L | 00:26:34:25 | So like you're either paying, you know what I mean? So you can have these different conversations that like revisits these these old narratives that are going through people's minds and provides other opportunities and other solutions that have nothing to do with like strike while the iron is hot. You got to buy now. You got to sell now. Like now.
Stefanie L | 00:26:51:26 | Let's look at your situation. Does it make sense to buy and like if it does and if you can truly say that as a professional, because remember, we're realtors, we're going to protect the public. It's in the code of ethics. That's what we're here to do. And don't forget that important piece. And it is in their best interest, and I think it is in everybody's best interest right now to buy as much properties possible.
Stefanie L | 00:27:12:14 | I genuinely, genuinely believe that. I think that if people are not, they are leaving themselves at risk for a lot of different reasons. Beyond that, though, if they can and if they should, then are we not fulfilling our duty as protecting the public and creating those while building opportunities for our community? Of course, we know the benefits of real estate.
Stefanie L | 00:27:36:04 | We know the benefits of enriching the community through real estate. We know what that does to people, to neighborhoods. And so we do have to make sure that we're bringing it down to their level and helping them get to that conclusion as well. Because if they're not and if the voices that are stronger are their parents saying like, well, you shouldn't buy right now because interest rates are so high.
Stefanie L | 00:27:56:24 | And when we purchased a home, there is only $80,000 like all this stuff. Like if they're like listening to that other noise and they don't have a voice of reason, helping them actually come up with a solution that makes sense to them, then they're going to see they're stuck and they're going to miss out on a ton of equity that they could be building and they're going to be throwing away their money and the rents and that the prolific rent machine.
Stefanie L | 00:28:18:02 | Right. And they're going to continue saying that like that person that just never was able to take advantage of one of the greatest wealth building opportunities in America.
Matt M | 00:28:27:08 | Yeah. And I think, you know, a lot of times when you have those voices saying that it's a bad it's a bad time to buy or that it's it's not a wise decision because prices are high, we're comparing it's like a grass where at any point in history it was the worst time to buy. Gas prices were the highest.
Matt M | 00:28:41:21 | Right. There's there's occasional years where the year before resulted in better than right now but over a five year period now is always the best time. And on the same token it's figuring out it's not that now is the best time, but what's the best opportunity right now is for someone saving that's renting. Maybe it's house checking, right?
Matt M | 00:29:00:03 | Maybe it's buying a house, living in one room and renting out the other rooms to friends. And so you can afford the whole payment on your own. But like, that'll certainly be cheaper in any market than paying rent and not having anything to show for it. Right. There's it's about not just is now the right time, but how is how should I do it right now?
Matt M | 00:29:22:15 | Do you think that's the question that we should be prompting people to like start figuring out on their own? But, Stephanie, you have a lot more going on than just real estate. You are the owner of market authority and I know you have an insanely engaged group of people that you work with over there because I've been a guest on yours and I have loved so many of the students they met.
Matt M | 00:29:43:15 | So tell us a little bit about market authority and what you guys have going on.
Stefanie L | 00:29:47:15 | So I think it also goes back to my experience getting into real estate about a chip on my shoulder from my early years when when I got into this business, I was like, I'm here. I'm ready to go and where the house is for me to sell. And it wasn't like that at all. And I couldn't believe that there wasn't a solid blueprint, like a plan to follow.
Stefanie L | 00:30:11:03 | And especially in the years that followed, as we kind of did the DIY approach and figured out a real estate business model that really worked and didn't only work for us, but worked with others that we were teaching at the time. Once I figured out that formula, I was like, This is so simple. It is ridiculous that this isn't what the real estate agents almost.
Stefanie L | 00:30:31:14 | I was like a matter of practice. And so that really is what prompted me to create the Market Authority Academy. And I've learned I didn't know this about myself until like the last couple of years, but I've learned that I'm kind of a teacher at heart. I love serving, I love educating. That's the kind of thing that I love doing.
Stefanie L | 00:30:48:18 | I love tinkering and different strategies and like being able to watch them work not only for me but for others. And so the Market Authority Academy is kind of a hybrid mentorship program where not only are they getting that like coaching and support from me, which coaching and support I think is critical to success. It helps to be able to cut through the learning curve by learning from someone who's been there that in and of itself has tons of value.
Stefanie L | 00:31:12:18 | But in real estate there's a lot of coaching that lacks strategy. You have like the ra ra accountability, you have like the you got this. Are you making your calls? If you didn't make your calls and you need to pay me another thousand dollars, like whatever these like crazy, these crazy strategies are in coaching today. I think that the biggest thing that we've been able to do is provide a blueprint like a rinse and repeat blueprint.
Stefanie L | 00:31:35:17 | And that's by no means me painting with a broad brush. We've created a blueprint that can be tailored to the individual with considerations for their lifestyle and their market. So we have agents who are brand new. We have agents who have been in business for 20 years. We have agents who are part time. We have agents who have young kids at home who are caretakers.
Stefanie L | 00:31:55:22 | We have agents who are full time and they have all the time in the world to apply these strategies. And at the end of the day, our goal for all of them is the same. It's to create a business that is scalable and sustainable. If you have your best year and 2021 and then you tank in 2022, you don't have a scalable, sustainable business, you just start to take advantage of the market.
Stefanie L | 00:32:16:23 | Instead, let's create a business model that's going to give you a real option and give you the ability to pivot when the market shifts. And the answer to that is by helping real estate agents create a magnetic brand that allows them to stop chasing leads, but attract leads and then inputting systems so that they can continue doing that at a really high level.
Stefanie L | 00:32:35:12 | And as their business grows, they're working less, not more.
Matt M | 00:32:39:00 | I, I love that. So if someone wanted to get more information on joining market authority or if someone has a referral to send to the, you know, to your area in Arizona, how would they get that to.
Stefanie L | 00:32:49:09 | The best way to find me for any of my coaching and in my YouTube, any of that stuff is all. Stephanie Lego.com and I will sell it because a lot of people like throwing out a pitch at me and I do not with that. So it's STF and Lugo Lego.com. You can also find me on Instagram at Bryce and Stephanie, but that adds a whole bunch of additional confidence and stuff that's a little more challenging sometimes.
Matt M | 00:33:17:12 | That's awesome. And Stephanie, thank you so much for joining me today. It was awesome getting out with you, as usual.
Stefanie L | 00:33:23:01 | Thank you for having me.