Be the Solution with Maria Quattrone
Maria Quattrone, a leader in real estate with over 21 years of experience, is the driving force behind RE/MAX @ HOME - Maria Quattrone & Associates in Philadelphia. Her passion goes beyond selling homes; she’s dedicated to helping others succeed. Through her 'Rise in Real Estate' training program and the "Be the Solution" podcast, Maria shares her expertise, inspiring professionals and entrepreneurs to excel. With over 3,400 properties sold, Maria's success is evident, but her true mission is to empower others, build strong brands, and foster meaningful connections.
Be the Solution with Maria Quattrone
When You Stop Trying So Hard, Magic Happens
What if the key to real estate success isn't working harder, but shifting your energy? That transformative question lies at the heart of this eye-opening conversation with veteran Philadelphia real estate professional Janice Bensock.
Drawing on 21 years of industry experience, Janice shares her remarkable journey from operating in constant "doing mode" to embracing a more balanced approach that welcomes abundance through allowing. Her story of starting a real estate school after a casual thought during a morning run—and having it fully operational just 34 days later—demonstrates the extraordinary power of aligned intention.
The most profound revelation comes when Janice explains how she built a thriving agent cohort by changing her vibration from one of desperate effort to inspired attraction. "God isn't finished writing your story," she shares, "stop trying to grab the pen." This shift from controlling outcomes to allowing opportunities produced immediate, tangible results that surprised even her.
Both hosts dive deep into practical strategies for building genuine client relationships, with Maria revealing her approach of having up to 20 meaningful conversations daily. They dispel the myth that real estate success requires aggressive cold calling, instead emphasizing authentic connection and problem-solving. As Janice puts it, "We're not in the business of houses, we're in the business of people."
For agents feeling stuck in routines or struggling to gain momentum, this episode offers refreshingly actionable advice, including the surprising power of decluttering a single drawer to spark new thought patterns and opportunities.
Ready to transform your real estate business through the power of mindset? Listen now and discover how your thoughts truly do become things—and how shifting your energy might be the breakthrough you've been searching for.
Connect with Maria Quattrone:
Facebook: Maria Quattrone
Facebook Page: REMAX at Home Facebook
Facebook Page: Rise in Real Estate Facebook
LinkedIn: Maria Quattrone
YouTube: Maria Quattrone
Instagram: @maria_quattrone
TikTok: mariaquattronerealestate
Website: MQrealesate.com
Office number: 215- 607-3535
This is the Be the Solution podcast and I'm your host, maria Cuatrone, and today I have a return guest on Janice Bensock with Settle Down, philadelphia, jbrea Academy, and today we are going to talk about mindset, so I'm excited to have Janice on. Janice is a friend of mine and we've been both in the industry. Basically, we entered at the same time, so we've both been in the industry for 21 years here in Philadelphia real estate and Janice. Today. I have a quote specifically for you.
Speaker 2:Oh, you do Okay.
Speaker 1:I do. And this is the quote If you can dream it, you can do it, and that was by Walt Disney. Dream it, you can do it. And that was by Walt Disney. So, if you can dream it, you can do it. And that is the quote that I specifically picked for you this morning and it resonated with me for you because we have a lot of the same things that we think about life, and thoughts become things. An idea becomes something. It starts with a thought and so, with that, welcome Janice.
Speaker 2:Hello, thank you.
Speaker 1:Good morning. So what do you think If you can dream it?
Speaker 2:Oh, I live by that quote. I absolutely live by that quote. That's how I started my school. I literally was out for a run and decided maybe I should look into starting my own school. Up for a run and decided maybe I should look into starting my own school. And by the time I got home very shortly after because I'm not a big runner my laptop was sitting on my dining room table and as I was walking in the door I was thinking, oh, I'm going to have my assistant check on what it takes to open a school today. And then I saw my laptop and I said, oh, I'll do it myself. And within 30 seconds, everything has started falling into place and literally 34 days later, my school was open, which I can't even believe the record speed it would have happened. Every single thing fell into line and it was because I had a thought Quantum, it's quantum physics, it's law of attraction, it's just the universe. And absolutely that happens and that's the key to mindset.
Speaker 1:It is the key to mindset it really is. It's like you know I go back to like. I love quotes and I don't know why I do, but I do, and one of the favorite ones I also have is Henry Ford. Whether you think you can or think you can't, either way you are right and it's the belief that comes from the idea. Maybe we don't know how we're going to do it. From the idea, maybe we don't know how we're going to do it. It doesn't really matter. It's the belief that we want to do it and that we can figure it out. Everything's figureoutable, right, marie Forleo?
Speaker 2:I love that book.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's a great inspiration, has a very successful online business, very successful with her B school, and mainly that's for, like, creative types of people. But she talks about that all the time that you know, everything is figureoutable, we can figure it out, or or we can sit in the victim mentality of excuses, and I am not one for that, anything about me. You know that is a no-no in this office, that we can't make excuses, and we either have results and progress or we have excuses. So, making that decision each and every day how you're going to show up, and I think, janice, one of the things that I love about you is that you like you, just like I'm doing it, and you said that to me a few months ago. We were sitting in the Philadelphia Library downstairs, which I never even knew they had a downstairs, so thank you.
Speaker 1:I know it was so cool there the Philadelphia Library, the big one over on Spring Garden Street. I go that way because it's so cool there. The philadelphia library, the big one over on spring garden street I go that way because it's north of here, right, and we talked about you know what's the next thing? And yours was like I'm gonna recruit agents and start this cohort of people and attract them, you know, to my me, to your real estate company, and so that was a, that was it's not like you didn't do it before, but it was a different way that you are going to execute this time. And the thing is, we've tried this, we try that, and as long as we don't give up and we keep trying because I think that's really what it comes down to like never giving up, because I think that's really what it comes down to, like never giving up, right, you could just be like oh okay, it didn't work, so I'm not going to do it anymore.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but there's something also that shifted, that was different. So, first of all, I have the most amazing cohort of they're all women, except for we have one man. It just so happened that way. So I say a cohort of women, but there is one man there. So quasi-hero business, just a shout out to you. But it's this amazing cohort of people, of agents.
Speaker 2:And when you said the word, the key word for me was attract, because, even though I believe in Marie Forleo's, everything is Figureoutable. I love that. What she stresses, though, mostly is the doing energy, the masculine energy, and that's important. But for me, I find the most success when I let my feminine energy side, the receiving side, come in, the allowing side, and so there has to be a balance of both. We all have a balance of both. It's not about men and women, it's about everybody has a balance of both. We all have a balance of both. It's not about men and women, it's about everybody has a balance of both energies, and I used to focus mostly on the masculine energy.
Speaker 2:Thinking I had to wake up every day and do, do, do, do, do. I was very hardcore, in fact. I had a LLC at one point it's still there called IGSD LLC, standing for I get shit done LLC, because I was so into like get up, go, go, go. And over the last six or so years I've really started to allow the feminine energy side, the receiving side and that's what's different about this cohort that I have.
Speaker 2:You say I tried it before I did, but all the times I tried it before it was from the masculine energy side of like trying so hard to do this, to do this. But that day, when I sat in the library with you which was an amazing experience, we should do something like that again Something shifted in me because I put it out into the universe that this is something that I really desired and then everything just fell into place and I didn't even try. It was like I literally woke up one day and had an idea while I was getting ready for class, mentioned the idea in class and within four days I had a whole bootcamp set up with 11 women signed up and not one of them has dropped out. They've all gone through it. They're all getting their licenses now and starting to get deals. It's amazing and it's the coolest group of people.
Speaker 1:What exactly happened? What changed?
Speaker 2:What changed was when you said you don't know how it's going to happen, it just happens. That's the allowing side, that's the receiving side, that's your vibration. And something changed in my vibration where, instead of trying so hard and I'm not saying, don't do I we have to take inspired action to make things happen. We can't just sit there and expect things to happen. But it's inspired action versus I'm going to keep trying, basically throwing enough crap against the wall until something sticks. That's what I was doing in the past, but this time was different. My vibration changed and I actually had this desire where it wasn't just for me, it was for something bigger than me, it was something greater than just me and wanting to get, I wanted to get done. It was for a connection, it was for an attraction. And there's a saying and I tend to shy away from the word God, I use universe or spirit, but there's this quote that I love and it has God in it and I use it anyway and it says God isn't finished writing your story, stop trying to grab the pen. And I was like there you go. I love that because that's exactly what I was trying to do before is grab the pen and say it has to happen this way, I have to do this.
Speaker 2:And it was coming from a place of fear and scarcity and lack. And that is what I see in so many people, especially new agents, which is what I specialize in, because they're usually coming from a place of transition, and a lot of times people enter the business because they need financial freedom, they need time freedom and they're feeling in a place where they're desperate. And that feeling of desperation, that feeling of lack of scarcity, that changes your vibration and that attracts more lack, more scarcity, more desperation. And so that's the place that I was coming from before and when I came from, a different place of abundance, of like, we have this amazing thing and I want to create this amazing thing for me, for them, for all of us. It just literally downloaded. I had an idea. I remember I was standing there getting ready for class and all of a sudden, I just had an idea, and it was probably 20 minutes before class started. By the time class started, I had already figured it out and I told people about it and they were in.
Speaker 1:That was a lot.
Speaker 2:It's a lot, but that's what happens when you start allowing.
Speaker 1:Great. Do you know this woman? Her name is Kathleen Cameron.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:You know, bob Proctor.
Speaker 2:I've heard of Bob Proctor. I think I read one of his books. What did he write?
Speaker 1:oh uh, what was his I have a book wait, I think I have it right here actually so I'm rereading it. Is it here is?
Speaker 2:it here Bob Bob Proctor. He's one of the famous ones, it's like I forget. I'm going to Google him so we can edit this, bob Proctor. Anyway, what about Bob Proctor?
Speaker 1:Well, he talks about exactly what you're talking about.
Speaker 2:He's died now, but oh, he was in the Secret and what did he write. Anyway, I have the book. I don't know where it is. Oh, he was in the Secret and what did he write. Anyway, I have the book. I don't know where it is. Oh, he's talking about Law of Attraction. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I read a lot. I don't know that I've read his. I read Wayne Dyer, I read Joe.
Speaker 1:Dispenza. Well, he's Wayne Dyer.
Speaker 1:He is you know I am whatever, I am confident. I am confident, I am loved. I am special. I am unique. You know there's only one you, there's only one me, and so we have unique talent and the message that's received is received differently from different people. So you need you know. I always say that everybody has something to teach and to learn, and and and toff to obviously learn, but everybody is something that they can teach other people where they are today. So there's tons of people out there right now who need your message, who need my message.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we have to trust that the right people are going to find it. That's why I post on social media. If one person shows up, if a hundred people show up, it doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is that I just trust that the right people are going to find the message, and if it's not the right person and not the right message, they're just going to not see it or just go right by, and that's totally fine. And that's how I feel about my business too. That's why I'm more in the allowing than I am not Like. You and I are so different the way we similar in a lot of ways, but we're still different in the way we run our businesses. If I worked with you, I would drive you insane. You would be like what are you doing? Why aren't you on the phone making calls? And I'm like, just chill, it'll come, and it always does so.
Speaker 1:I think that you know sometimes it's the yin and the yang right that when you meld them perfectly together, you get something amazing. That happens, and I think you need both. I mean, I definitely have more of the masculine energy than the feminine. However, I have been over the last I'd say year-ish a little more focusing on more of the feminine kind of like. Let be, I'll give an example. I was always present for my sales meetings always, and it's like you know, I don't really need to be present in person. I can be present on Zoom and in fact, it's actually better because the message is delivered better. Now you have everybody who has to sit and watch, versus now. It's different in a good way, because I actually can teach If you have a group of people that are like watching you, like I'm in my office. So here's the TV on the wall here, right, it's like yay, big. I don't know how big it is, but pretty big, big enough. This is my big faces on there. You know everybody's watching it on the TV, versus.
Speaker 2:So you have them come in, but you're on zoom. Yeah, oh, I like that. I thought everybody was on Zoom.
Speaker 1:No, everybody's here.
Speaker 2:That's good.
Speaker 1:Everybody's present in the room together and I am on Zoom.
Speaker 2:That's great and that's more efficient for your time as well.
Speaker 1:It's more efficient. But I also think that the message is delivered differently, because I actually have to be completely orchestrated right, like I have to be a little bit more. I want to say prepared, because I'm always prepared, but like literally I'm watching my time because our meetings are one hour. We start on time and end on time, purpose, purposely, like at noon it starts and at 12 59 it ends, and that's to be so. Everybody understands the value of time.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to go over the time that I said and we're going to start when it starts, not waiting for anybody, you know, and I think it sets a tone, though, where the expectation of time you're their time, my time, client's time is how you do. One thing is how you do everything. So if you're constantly running around and you're late, I mean that sets a whole different tone than if you're showing up and you're like, okay, sitting in my car waiting for my client, why go in? Every? The lights are on, I sit there, and now you know I'm sitting on some stage furniture, relaxed, waiting for them. You show up differently. Yeah, so you know, mindset is, I think, 90% of it and the actions are 10%. And, yes, I do believe in making calls but I know you do.
Speaker 2:I loved your challenge that you did that was amazing.
Speaker 1:Those things are still rolling in, that's great. That's incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean the thing is, everybody builds their business differently and that's my jam is that I. I started in this business and you were close, but I've actually been in the business closer to 30 years. It'll be 30 november, it's okay. It's okay, it's nothing, it's, it just means I've been around a long time. It doesn't whatever.
Speaker 2:But when I started in this business there was no internet. There was, like you know, I went uphill to school barefoot in the snow, both ways, like that jam, but no one, no one validated how I wanted to run my business. I was told to you know, get on the phone and make calls. And that never, ever, sat right with me. It's just not my thing. I've never done it. I probably never will do it. It works for some people, doesn't work for me.
Speaker 2:So I had to kind of struggle to figure out my own way to build my business and I started building it organically. But I didn't start calling it organic or paying attention to how I did, I just did it and it was working. And I remember my sales manager a long time ago telling me to make calls and I kept saying I would do it, but then I would choke, I couldn't pick up the phone and cold call, and so he was giving me a hard time about it. But I had deals in the pipeline and he's like how did you get them? And I told him he's like, you can't do it that way. I said what do you mean? It's working Like I'm talking to people, I'm doing my thing, and so what my business has really evolved into over the years now as a broker and owning the school is allowing and empowering agents to realize that they can build their business their own way.
Speaker 2:They could build you build it, they could I build it, they could build it any shade in between or something new that hasn't even been created yet. And that's what's really important to me. It's not how you build your business, but how you allow yourself to build your business and how to live your life, and to me, that's what mindset is all about. And what you said earlier everything begins with a thought is dead on, because thoughts become things. That's it. If you think it already exists now, you just have to wait for it to manifest.
Speaker 1:Exactly. You have to wait for it to manifest. So one of the things that I do do when I am making my calls, which is my calls are follow-up calls.
Speaker 1:These are people that already called this office, raised their hand that they wanted to sell something. They just didn't do it then. So it's a follow-up. But what I do is I assume they're going to be listing, I assume that I am sending them a listing contract. I, you know, begin with the end in mind is the assumption that they are going to work with our firm. It's not like you know desperateness, or it's just like are you ready? If you're ready, great, we're moving forward.
Speaker 2:Right, and that's very different as a follow-up call than a cold call. But a lot of agents don't have all of those people calling them or calling their office, and so they have to resort to making cold calls. And I know that works for some people but, like for me for example, if anyone calls me on a cold call, I immediately politely tell them I don't do cold calls. I just have zero desire to listen to any cold call and that might be a little bit of harsh but it just doesn't jam with me. I want to talk to people, relationships, and so what do the people do that that you know?
Speaker 1:how did you get all those people calling your office is the key, because a lot of agents don't have that happening yeah, well, this is a long time in the making and you know I have 50 plus thousand people in the database, that at one point how'd you get them from listings? Right, and how'd you get them From listings?
Speaker 2:Right. And how'd you get the listings right? Because which comes first?
Speaker 1:There's a variety of ways networking my reputation Back in the day, like a long time ago. Calling expires.
Speaker 2:There you go. That's something that-.
Speaker 1:Marketing, google marketing, mailers, so a lot of people. You know it's the attraction of the business, so I know people think like oh it's just like I'm calling like circle prospecting around, like listing we don't do that.
Speaker 1:We have so many people to call because they have reached out at some juncture or in past. Clients that repeat investor business, right. So there's so much opportunity that's there. I know many people don't have that, but this is what I, this is what I've been able to build over the last 20 years, and so there's many people already for the new agents to like come in and call. So if they're already gotten, like you know, for years marketing things for me, oh, motivation Monday, right, like a happy message of like, inspiration or aspiration. It's not a lot of, it isn't even real estate stuff, right, so they get to know the brand and so then when the call is made, it's like an easier call than like. Of course, some people are like, yes, but most people are like oh, those calls I could definitely make.
Speaker 2:That's a warm call, that's calling somebody that's in my database or my past client or past. You know inquiry, it's the cold calls that I don't do. But the key is, like what you said it's from 21 years and so what I deal with mostly is new agents. That's just what I attract, partially because of my students and partially it's just what I attract is new agents. I love working with new agents, but they need to get started. It's like this ball of yarn and you can't find the beginning of the thread to like, pull and start knitting your sweater. That's what they need help with.
Speaker 2:Because you did it right, you did it, you found that beginning, you found that and you started, and I know you came from sales, but in real estate you started from nothing and look what you've built Right. And now you're in this position where, yes, the follow up and yes, the calls, and it makes a lot more sense, or I shouldn't say sense. It resonates with me more that you're following up with people. But what about the new agents that are out there? They don't even know. I know plenty of agents. If they had a database of 50,000 plus people, they would be on the phone 12 hours a day.
Speaker 1:Well, lots of business out there. It's a matter of how you want to do it, but I do. I always say, like two new agents, we have new agents here and I said, every settlement started with conversation.
Speaker 1:So you need to have conversations with people, I don't care how you have them, but the more you can have, the quicker you're going to get momentum, and the cadence I look at is like 20 conversations a day. I know that might seem like a lot, but to build that business and have like two transactions a month, if you do 20 conversations a day with people that you know, maybe at one point raise their hand, you have a greater propensity to make it, and it's hard to make it these days, so it's a matter of you can do networking, you can do calling, you can do door knocking, you can do all kinds of things.
Speaker 2:Social media the thing is, with social media, though, it can work After you have a little bit of success, people want to see that you're actually doing something first, you know, and I think with social media they also want to see or at least I'll speak for me what I want to see on social media, because when I see the just listed or just closed posts, I just scroll right past them. What I want to see is relationship, personality, story. It's no, it's the. It's the agents that have a story or that show who they are and they do real estate that catch my attention, like that's the side that I veer more towards and that's something. Yeah, that's something. I see some agents struggling with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we talk about that. We actually did a broker class social media for brokers. It was a 30 hour class and we went over a lot of that stuff in there about, and it was amazing because one student who's a friend of yours, who you know who it is she went through her social media and she was like, oh my God, my Instagram is all just listed, just listed, and there were no pictures of her. There was nothing about her. No pictures of her, there was nothing about her. And so we did a lot of workshopping in that class and she has been doing some work about putting her own personality into it. And that's the thing is, it all comes down to relationships. You're talking about 20 conversations a day. It's like, what are you talking about? You're talking about things that create relationships. You're building the know, like and trust factor, and the great thing is it doesn't have to be a conversation about real estate, because every single person is a potential client. Everybody needs a place to live.
Speaker 1:Everybody needs a place to live and I know more about the people that I call and their families, where they go on vacation, where they're going this year, who graduated from college.
Speaker 2:You remind me of that scene in Erin Brockovich, the one when Joy Roberts is standing there and the lawyer says to her you don't have files. And she's like ask me, do you know which scene I'm talking about? And she's like oh my God, you have to watch it. I'll find the clip and send it to you. So she's did you see the movie?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay. So Julie Roberts is standing there like with her low cut, you know whatever, and there's this attorney, all dressed, with her hair pulled back and upon perfect lips, and she's like your files are a mess. And Julie Roberts says or Aaron Brockovich is like, ask me anything. And she's like you can't possibly remember 600 phone numbers. And she goes Johnny Mays do, born in this. And then she starts reading off all these stats had this surgery, had this surgery? Likes to swim, does this? And she goes it's like the best, and that would be you.
Speaker 1:That's funny yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm going to send that to you the next time it comes across my feed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have tag, you you have. And that's the thing. It's like people always ask me well, what do you say to people and what's your script? I'm like, well, there's certain things that you need to ask people, if they're buying or if they're selling. They're different questions, obviously, I said, but the most important question is people want to know, is that people want to be heard. You know there's like 7% that are drivers that just want you to get to the point that the rest of them want to be heard, and so it's developing that relationship and rapport with somebody. I had a closing this year. I showed Miss Bonnie at my computer with me when I went to her house Point Breeze, federal Street 20, forget 2300 something. Anyway, I said Miss Bonnie, do you know how many times we spoke on the phone over the last five years? She said no. I said well, I called you 121 times. Oh my God. I just listed a property in Fairmount on Meredith Lois. We called Lois in the last maybe six months, 39 times.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Because you don't get the people on the phone, so you just dial in and answer. You don't always leave the message. Depend on the person. This lady, she's 82. I'm not leaving her a message every time I call. Right, I'm going to catch her. When I catch her she's like busy. She's winding down her business at 82.
Speaker 1:God bless her a little whippersnapper right but, the point is is like all about developing that relationship with people, and when they're ready, they're ready, and sometimes I'll say, look, I don't want to be a pain in the ass. So you know, can you just tell me when I should call you back, because I'll touch base with you then. Well, we're not going to do anything, maria, until 2026. Probably this spring. Cool, I'll touch base with you in the fall around the holiday time. Let's see how you're doing. Wish you a happy holiday.
Speaker 1:I'll talk to you then have a great summer have a great fourth A lot of people are nervous to make these calls.
Speaker 2:but what you're saying resonates because two things One, what you're saying is my thought of sales as service sales, as problem solving. Right, when you approach it in the way that you're there to help them. You're there to listen, ask questions, listen, see what they need and come up with a solution. Be the solution right. Use the tools in your tool belt. And sometimes it's listing their property, sometimes it's telling them to get a fill loan so that they can fix the leaky roof and they don't have to move right. So when you approach it as sales as service sales, as problem solving, it's easier to pick up the phone because you're not coming with that salesy, pushy vibe.
Speaker 2:And the other thing is which people don't really talk about that much or talk about enough is what do we get from the relationship? What do we get from those conversations? Because those conversations light me up. I just talked to one of my past clients the other day. We're getting ready to list their house in in the fall and they moved out to the suburbs and they're renting out their house and I had a 20 minute conversation with her about gardening and cleaning out the pool and how different it is, and it was just such a great conversation and we don't talk about that enough and I think that would agents paid attention to that, about how fulfilling it is not just to get the sale. They would be more apt to get on the phone and make those calls.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's the developing of the relationship over time. So when they are ready, you are the person that they call hands down. And if you did not and here's the thing, and I don't get every single one right If you in the meantime provide value right, provide inspiration, aspiration, be a real person. Nobody wants to hear you know. A recited script.
Speaker 2:Nobody.
Speaker 1:At any given time.
Speaker 2:And who would want to be the person making those calls. That's what I'm saying. It's not just about the deal. It's like when we pick up the phone or bump into somebody or talk to somebody, that's the cashier at the pharmacy and we start. I'm genuinely interested in people. I'm going to tell you a quick story, because this is exactly what I love about this business and this life.
Speaker 2:I was in an Uber months ago and the funny thing is I hardly ever take Ubers. I ride my bike everywhere. But this day I forget why I had to take an Uber and I took an Uber. I get in the Uber and I start talking to the driver and it turns out it was like a Wednesday, it was like a Friday and I had a new pre-licensure class starting on Monday. We started talking and the next thing, you know, she tells me she wants to get a real estate license. Do you know? She was signed up and in my class by Monday and she's signed up with my agency and she's one of my. Like it turned into that from a conversation with an Uber driver.
Speaker 1:I 100% believe it.
Speaker 2:It's the most amazing thing, and that's to me that is the art of allowing, Because when you put it out there that you're just genuinely interested in people and you just want to talk and you want to connect, magic happens. And I didn't have to advertise for her to come through my school, I didn't. You know, it's just the relationship thing.
Speaker 1:It's just a relationship thing, a hundred percent. It always comes down to that, you know, and I think today it's even more important to have those strong relationships, whether it's you know partners, whether it's partners, whether it's colleagues in the industry, it's just internally in your office and the world's going a little bit nuts.
Speaker 2:I just don't look, I can't even. I'm in a bubble down the shore.
Speaker 1:Well, the bubble is not here. So even just clients people are why is my house not sold? Well, because houses don't sell in five minutes. That's why houses take four months to sell. We're in pretty much an even market now. So you know, in most markets, in Philadelphia metro market, we're pretty much in an even, except for some small pockets. You know, like up on the main line but for the most part we're pretty much in an even, except for some small pockets. You know like up on the main line but for the most part we're pretty much in an even market. So it does take longer and I think that you know also telling people up front the expectation of like the future pace and an agent Look, you're not going to learn this business in six months or a year, it's like a four year, like you're going to college.
Speaker 2:Right, I'm still learning. I always learn something new every day.
Speaker 1:Every day, every day. So you have your real estate. School is rocking and rolling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, we're on summer break. I have I took and this is I am so glad I did this and I missed out on some connections with potential students who wanted to take summer class, but I really needed a reset. I really needed to just sort of take some space and build some things and put my back together and put my life back together and next class I don't teach again until October.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I took the whole entire semester. Bless you, except for CE. I'm doing a few CE classes for GPAR. I just added some CE classes, but I think the first CE class I'm starting is in September, so I took the whole summer off. Awesome, thank you.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Good for you and your cohort. You have 10, 11 in there, yeah they're like 11.
Speaker 2:And so how does that?
Speaker 1:work. Do they? They're in real estate school or they're in?
Speaker 2:training. So all of them have finished school and a few of them have passed their state exam and become licensed and the rest are in the process of passing the exam and they're all signing up with settle down. So we've been doing a lot of training company events. We did a big photo shoot the other day for our website, so as soon as their license comes in they'll go on the website. So we did a reunion. It's just the greatest group of people. So we're doing that and they all work together.
Speaker 2:And, um, I hired or brought on anastasia duan. I don't know if you know her, but she came on and she's going to be working with them as the head of agent success. So it's the two of us and she's going to be the day-to-day and we're just building something really amazing. It's the cool, it's just magic when you see how this group I don't even know where they came from and we're just building something really amazing. It's the cool, it's just magic when you see how this group I don't even know where they came from and their stories are always like oh, I was going to wait to start school, but then I clicked on something and something and they ended up in the right place at the right time, and now it's just this amazing group that's so cohesive. I've never had such an amazing group before. It's incredible.
Speaker 1:It's all about what we attract.
Speaker 2:All about what we attract. That's it.
Speaker 1:That's not. That's what it comes down to. That's what it comes down to. So real estate is still a good career, right?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It doesn't matter what the market is If you approach it as a people business. If we're not in the business of houses, we're in the business of people, and if you approach it as a people business, you're always going to be fine always there is a ton of business out there.
Speaker 1:In fact, most people are not willing to do the work that we were always willing to do and, and you know, I'd say the market over the last 10 years was very different than the market 10 years before that, 20 years before that. So you get into a different cadence and you have to adjust. So for us, you know, it's the same thing. I like routine, I'm a routine kind of person. So you know, that's why, like, getting out of my routine, as I was telling you, has been good for me. Stepping out of like the same thing I do and taking a little bit of a different approach feels it's good, although it, which sounds weird, right, like. But I think that that's when you're, when you do things that are different and uncomfortable for you.
Speaker 2:That's when you can like expand yeah, it shifts because it shifts your mindset and if you go, if you, if you go back to the beginning, which is thoughts become things. How can you have new thoughts if you're doing the same thing every day? One of my best, quickest secrets to making stuff happen is to declutter one shelf or drawer, because when you do something like that that's why I love this magic of watching my house come back together and putting this kitchen in right. I'm living in chaos. I'm washing dishes in my bathtub, I'm sitting at my dining room table, which is pushed up against the wall. My house is filthy. There's a worker I love him to death in my kitchen right now, next to me, finishing up things. But I love it because every minute that I watch something happen, it shifts my mindset, it changes things for me and new thoughts come in. If I walked in one day and it was just completely done, then it's like it hits you all at once and it's great, but then that becomes your new normal, whereas constantly changing and I'm someone who doesn't like routine at all.
Speaker 2:I like to be constant. I feel very stagnant and flat. It makes me almost feel toxic when I'm in too much routine, like round hug day. I'm the opposite, and that's where new ideas come in. If you're feeling stuck, literally go declutter one drawer. You declutter one drawer and all of a sudden the whole world will open up, your brain will shift and new ideas will start to come, like that, and then you'll declutter another door and another and the next thing you know you're doing a closet.
Speaker 1:That's great. You know, I always get my best ideas in the shower.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It's because you're not thinking. It's like a meditative state Anytime that you can empty your brain and meditate the best ideas.
Speaker 1:You know, my bike, my bike, my best friend at the beach is my bike and in the city.
Speaker 2:Do you ride in the city?
Speaker 1:I do not. I'm scared.
Speaker 2:I don't blame you. It's scary, I do it anyway. But I'm scared and like I don't like to put the helmet on and stuff in the city because you know I got this hair and Right, I put the helmet on in the city and to me, for me, riding is better than looking for parking, so I'd rather and sitting in traffic. But anyway, I get it and New Bright is a perfect place. Sometimes I just go on bike rides and meander and let my mind wander.
Speaker 1:It's all about the thoughts become things, and that's how we expand. This has been a great episode today with you, janice.
Speaker 2:I love chatting with you every time.
Speaker 1:Yes, awesome and congratulations on your continued success. And you every time, yes, awesome and congratulations on your continued success.
Speaker 2:And you as well.
Speaker 1:Thank you, your real estate company and your school, and we'll have to check in with you later in the year to see how the cohort that's already up and running is doing.
Speaker 2:You'll be seeing them at the settlement table, so you'll know they're amazing, they're on fire. These are incredible.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it and your energy is inspiring, so thank you.
Speaker 2:Have a great day, thanks.