Be the Solution with Maria Quattrone

Smash the Mold: Reinventing Real Estate with Kevelyn Guzman

• Maria Quattrone • Season 1 • Episode 343

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In this dynamic episode of Be the Solution, host Maria Quattrone sits down with powerhouse real estate leader Kevelyn Guzman, a woman who's not only reshaped how brokerages operate—but how leaders lead.

As Regional Vice President at Coldwell Banker Warburg, Kevelyn has spent more than two decades building innovative, people-first solutions for New York City’s most competitive real estate environment. She played a pivotal role in the firm’s 2021 acquisition by Coldwell Banker and has since redefined agent support by treating agents as clients—championing their growth with technology, strategic positioning, and mentorship across generations.

Kevelyn’s leadership philosophy is rooted in empowerment, honesty, and impact. From launching the NYC chapter of What Moves Her, to being named a 2025 Inman Power Player, she has shown what it means to lead with heart and results. In this conversation, Kevelyn and Maria get real about what it takes to grow a business, empower teams, and stay relevant in an industry constantly in flux.

If you’re ready to future-proof your business and lead with purpose, this episode is your roadmap.


💡 Key Discussion Points:

  • Why Q1 starts NOW: Planning forward like a true operator
  • Smashing the traditional model: Agents are clients, not subordinates
  • Leadership without ego: The power of listening and humility
  • How to scale your personal brand—with boundaries and clarity
  • Daily productivity tips: handwritten lists, calendar blocking, and weekly resets
  • Real talk on AI tools: ChatGPT, CapCut, CRM automation
  • Growing as a Latina in real estate: Representation, responsibility, and resilience
  • Navigating multi-generational teams with grace and structure
  • Setting boundaries as a leader—why saying “no” unlocks greater “yeses”


🗣️ Featured Quotes:

“Everything you’re doing—or not doing—right now is a direct reflection of your Q1.”
 — Kevelyn Guzman


“You never turn it off. You’re always a realtor. You’re always building relationships.”
 — Kevelyn Guzman


“I’m not suggesting you just copy/paste ChatGPT outputs—but it’s an incredible draft tool that saves hours.”
 — Maria Quattrone


“You don’t have to be the loudest person in the room to prove you’re smart.”
 — Kevelyn Guzman


“Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching. That’s what builds trust.”
 — Kevelyn Guzman


“Video is scary at first, but with reps, it becomes your biggest brand asset. Start now.”
 — Maria Quattrone


“Sometimes, your mentors teach you what not to do—and that’s just as powerful.”
— Kevelyn Guzman

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

Maria Quattrone:

So this morning I am excited to have Kavilyn Guzman on the Be the Solution podcast, where we are going to talk about many, many things. One of which we're going to dive into is 2026. And 2026 has already started. Also, today we're going to talk about women in lead in real estate and leadership. And we're going to touch on the compass acquisition of Anywhere real estate. So welcome, Kevin. I'm excited to talk with you today.

Kevelyn Guzman:

Thank you, Maria. I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

Maria Quattrone:

Yes, my pleasure. My pleasure. So one of the things, you know, we we talk about, I had a sales meeting yesterday, is about everything that you're doing now or not doing is a direct reflection of Q1.

Kevelyn Guzman:

100%. So I I wrote about this recently. I'm an inmin contributor. And I wrote about, you know, that you're essentially working right now towards your Q1. All of the initiatives, all the seeds that you're planting, it's all for a strong Q1. If you are starting to do that in Q1, you are behind. And so I always say to my agents, you know, there's a couple of things you need to be focused on right now. Your marketing strategy over the summer, I always advise our agents. Sometimes it's a little slow, but I always advise them look at your strategy, look at your marketing strategy. What has been working, what hasn't been working? And the fall market is when you pivot and do the things that you know didn't work, but then also be a little bit more aggressive, right? Because everything, Q1 tends to be slow. So you want to throw everything at the wall and hoping that a bunch of things stick for Q1.

Maria Quattrone:

Yeah, absolutely. And one of the things we talk about a lot is conversations and having as many um worthwhile conversations with people about real estate. And so people would say, you know, connects, but I say conversations because there never was a closing that didn't start with a conversation.

Kevelyn Guzman:

Absolutely.

Maria Quattrone:

Absolutely. And looking at the day, I said, this is work. People say, work, well, my day is over. I said, well, the day is over when the day is over, when the work is done. And it takes what it takes. So I think it's going to take a little bit more this time, this year, than in past, uh, based on everything that's happening in locally, in our markets, but also in the world. And it does have a direct impact on real estate because we don't live in a vacuum and we're emotional people.

Kevelyn Guzman:

Yeah, absolutely. I and so I always say you never turn it off, right? So if you're at your kids' school, if you are at a networking event, if you're hosting a community event, you never turn it off. You're always a realtor. And so you walk in, and yes, look, it's a turnoff to be always talking about properties in the market, right? But you always have to figure out a way to get that conversation going. I'm really big on networking events in New York City. This is the time of year where there's a lot of holiday parties. There's, you know, a gathering everywhere you go. And so this is a critical time to be putting yourself out there. And we're in a relationships business, right? So you're building relationships with people and you're connecting with them on a deeper level. Sometimes that relationship that you meet that might seem like it won't turn into business could potentially turn into that. So you're always cultivating relationships everywhere you go.

Maria Quattrone:

Everywhere you go. And your relationships are what your life's about, really.

Kevelyn Guzman:

Right. Is it right? It life is about, you know, cultivating relationships. And, you know, you never know where that business is going to come from. And so it's important that you are really just nurturing your relationships.

Maria Quattrone:

100%. So you had mentioned to me that you prior to getting into real estate, you were you were working on Wall Street. What made you pivot and get into the residential commercial real estate business, Kevlin?

Kevelyn Guzman:

So numbers are fun, but I am I realized um early on that I like people. And so I like people, I like um, I'm a bit of an extrovert, and I love socializing. And just being in front of a computer all day looking at numbers, I was like, well, maybe this is not quite what I ought to be doing. And so I then said, well, maybe it's real estate, because real estate, you know, I get to see uh properties in New York City, I get to build relationships, I get to network. And what started off as let me just, you know, see how it goes, I ended up loving it.

Maria Quattrone:

And it was just really easy when you started, right?

Kevelyn Guzman:

It was okay. It was okay because it was okay. I wasn't, I wasn't selling or anything like that. Um, I was more on the operations side. Um, and you know, it was it was uh eye-opening because the company that I was first with ended up closing their doors, right? So I had this great experience, but then suddenly, oh wow, there's this side of the business that you have to be producing on a regular basis because if not, that can happen. And so I learned a lot about the business side of it. And then I figured, you know, if I'm gonna go to a larger firm, which was still boutique, by the way, I figured, you know, I'm gonna go into operations and then I'm gonna learn everything else in between. And that's exactly what happened. And I have to say I learned in 18 years, I not only know every all the aspects of the business ground up, but I help the agents today with their strategy, with building their business. And New York City is a very competitive market. We have over 10,000 agents, and so you kind of figure you're at a dinner, somebody else is a real estate agent. And so really, it's just helping our agents get those properties out there, get them sold, creating their strategy, but also pushing the brand forward in New York City.

Maria Quattrone:

What do you think allows an agent to stand out in your marketplace?

Kevelyn Guzman:

So it is not um having the listing. People think that, oh, you have the listing, you stand out. You do a video, you post it on social media, and that's it. But that's not that's not all of it. You know, you have to stand for something. People want to follow and buy and sell from people that are actually doing more than just the business. It shouldn't be about the transaction, it should be about caring about the people that you're working with, and that shows in everything you do. So for an agent for you to stand out, you have to be doing more than just listing. And that more is being involved in your community, right?

Maria Quattrone:

So there's the creating a movement, so that's one of the reasons why I created this movement, the Be the Solution movement, because I believe that we are our own solution. As humans, we have the answer within us, right? It's just getting out of our own way and allowing it to happen. And it doesn't happen when we want it to happen, it happens when it's supposed to happen. Divine timing.

Kevelyn Guzman:

I I truly believe in that. I believe in divine timing. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and sometimes that fear that keeps you from you know propelling or growing comes from within. And so you're right in that you have to look deep and say to yourself, what are the things that are holding me back? And it might not just happen today, but you have to keep, you have to be consistent, you have to keep working at it until you get to where you want to.

Maria Quattrone:

And an everyday thing. I said, I said, well, how did you do what you do? I said, the question is, who what did you have to go through to get where you are? It's not how you did it, what you had to go through to get where you are.

Kevelyn Guzman:

You know, it's not, it's not easy um being a Latina and a woman in New York City in this business. And so you find yourself having to dig really deep and find the strength in places that you never even thought was possible or that you even had it, right? Because oftentimes you have the naysayers and you have people that, you know, sometimes don't agree with your approach, but it actually does work. And and so it's not always easy, but you have to find the strength in you to be able to move forward.

Maria Quattrone:

And that's on a daily basis sometimes, because we go through seasons, you know, just like the rain and the snow and the sun. It's not always sunny out. No, that's why when it's raining, we appreciate it's the sun. And I think that sometimes in life, you know, I don't my belief of real estate is just a vehicle to live the life of our dreams, but to get better at it, you have to get better at you. Who do you need to become to go to the next level? What do you need to remove from your life? What do you need to work through? What trauma? You know, like you said, you're a woman, a Latino woman in New York. But I am definitely um in Philadelphia, it's definitely very much more male-dominated in development, and which is a big area which I worked in and still working and investing. And it's no, it's not easy. And you gotta have a lot of strength and grit, perseverance, and I think one of the most important things is your integrity.

Kevelyn Guzman:

Absolutely. It's what you do behind cold stores when no one is watching. And if you do the right thing when no one's looking, then you're you're you're you have integrity.

Maria Quattrone:

That's what it's really comes to because you know, I call it anybody can buy a listing. Oh yeah, we can get you a million dollars, and it's like right, it's 700. Right. You know, I see it all the time. I say to people, uh it's just like you watch like for us, I could just go in the MLS and say, oh, it's still there, not sold, it's not going to be sold. I'll just call them back when it expires off the market.

Kevelyn Guzman:

And I I always say to our agents, you present the facts. And if that seller wants to go with another agent because they are promising to get them more money, let them go because I promise you, after it sits in the market for six months, they will be back and they will be reaching out to you.

Maria Quattrone:

Exactly. So who are some of the people that you follow and that you look up to and that are your mentors?

Kevelyn Guzman:

So it's interesting because we always think about mentors, and um sometimes your mentor doesn't do the right things, but but they show you the things that you don't want to do in the future. And so you take the things that perhaps you feel as a leader, I would never do that. And that's still positive because you're still learning from them, right? So, like some of the things that I lead with today, that I learned from mentors in the past, are you know, the fastest way to ruin a business and to destroy morale at a company is with a big ego. If the person in charge has a big ego, you can you can trust and believe that it will destroy morale with your agents, with the community, with relationships. And so I've always said to myself, these are the three things that I would never do. And I learned those things from mentors. And the one thing that I would say, I don't have a big ego, right? Being having humility, being humble, it's something that I keep at the forefront. And also, you don't have to be the loudest person in the room to show that you're smart. And that is another thing that I lead with, right? You have to listen. The most important thing leading or in anything you do, when you walk into a pitch and you're talking the entire time and you're not listening to what the seller is saying, then you have a problem because you might be missing things that are important to that seller. So listening for me is also key. And then the the third one is leading with integrity and making sure that, you know, it's easy to look at something and say, well, we could cut corners here, but is that the right thing to do? And I always say to people, what you don't, what you do in our will come to light. And so I've the mentors that I've had, I've learned the things, what not to do, and I've taken note of it and I've led with that.

Maria Quattrone:

So good. Really important. It's like also you look at that, and it's what not to do, what to say no to, so that you can say yes to something else. You know, so often we just want to, and I see this with agents and not just agents, people. We want to make sure our days are filled and busy. Busy, doing busy things.

Kevelyn Guzman:

Well, most people like being bit everybody likes to be a busybody.

Maria Quattrone:

Right. But what are the most important things to to get done? And sometimes you don't need, you know, uh 10 hours in a day to do it. Sometimes you might have it done in four hours. Sometimes, though, it may take a lot more time than you thought, and so I think also in the market that we're in, it really just kind of takes what it takes, and it may be more than you're accustomed to doing, right? In the past. At least that's what I see in our marketplace. We have a lot of things that are kind of um inventory that's sitting, it's taking much longer to sell. There's less buyers, you know. In the in all of the United States, we'll have the least amount of home sales ever this year. Ever. Which means that's less business, which means, and that's why we're also seeing people exiting our industry.

Kevelyn Guzman:

Um and I feel like the the industry is always under attack. I feel like every time we blink, there's a new lawsuit, there's a new something happening, there's a new change to agreements. And so the industry as a whole has been changing. And so you add to that the market, um, interest rates and everything else, it's it's it's been almost a recipe for disaster.

Maria Quattrone:

Yeah. This is why, and this is why we're talking about this today, about the fourth quarter. We know that it's gonna be, it is what it is, we're in it, and doing everything. And and I and I talked yesterday in our meeting about doubling down right now. Doubling down, like you said, I'm a networker when I'm feeling my best self. I'm I love I go to every holiday party that I can go to in Philadelphia. All the top, you know, attorney for law firms, right? They have these big events, and like our Building Industry Association, the Union League of Philadelphia, all these things, you know. You can if you're not part of groups, you should be part of groups, different groups. What things you love to do? Be around things that you love to do so you can connect with people organically.

Kevelyn Guzman:

And and in authenticity, right? Right. So it I always say to our agents, do you like playing pickleball, tennis, join the club, right? Join your the the favorite, you have to be passionate about it because then it's gonna, it's not gonna, it's gonna come across as disingenuous. So you have to make sure that whatever you're doing and connecting, that you choose to do and connect with people, you have to be passionate about it because then you won't show up. There's no point in signing up for tennis if you dread it and you're forcing yourself to go. So you have to do things that you are passionate about. And look at those clubs, like whether it's, you know, maybe even a cooking class, maybe you like to cook or want to get better, but you now join a group of you know people that cook every other week, right? So it's finding the things that you like to do and then joining that. It's a perfect way to network.

Maria Quattrone:

We love doing things. And if you go to something that you love to do, you're gonna go to it. It's not gonna feel forced, it's not gonna feel like this is work.

Kevelyn Guzman:

Agree.

Maria Quattrone:

You're not the other side. No, go ahead, Kevin.

Kevelyn Guzman:

I I I also say the same thing is true for social media, right? With social media, you also should be, I mean, it's free marketing. You should be joining those groups on social media, you should be um adding value to some of those conversations. So you're doing in-person, you're doing social media, like those are some of the key strategies that you should be working on. You know, you join the clubs, whether that be tennis, cooking, whatever you're passionate about. But then you also do the same thing in social media. You are consistently posting in on group chats that it could get your information out there further. I always say to people, if you use social media strategically, then you will benefit from it. We I am consistent with our social media and we get business from social media. We've had sales uh through our social media platforms. And so if done correctly, it could it could be great. Absolutely.

Maria Quattrone:

It's all about though, the end of the day, I believe, being your true self. People want to know who you are, they want to know who they're working with, they want to know what you believe in. And I do believe that something should be left unsaid. Absolutely, absolutely. The negativity that is being posted today, the no one cares, right? All these things, it's not really anybody's business until you make it their business, and then you become you will be attacked 100%. And so why put yourself in that position? It's almost like I believe it's like a self-destruction.

Kevelyn Guzman:

Agree. So I always say when you're about to post, ask yourself, is this adding value? Is this going to make a difference today? Or do I am I looking for an outlet to, you know, just rant? Because if that's what you're looking for, call call your sister, your mom, or your friend, right? Right? But don't, you know, don't use social media for for that. Ask yourself, am I adding value? You know, how do I want to connect with people? How do I want people to see me? Do they want me to see me as a real estate professional that can add value about my neighborhood, about the best restaurants, you know, how are you adding value? And so I you can't control what people do, right? And and some people have bad days and they like to go to social media and and share that experience of theirs. But I always caution that once you post something out there, it's in that, it's in that ether, right? You can't take it back. You can't, you know, someone's gonna forward it to someone, and you can't take it back. So just be mindful before you even post something.

Maria Quattrone:

Yeah, that's it's so true. You really, really have to pay attention to what you're doing, and you know, we need more light in the world, we need more hope, we need more love. Uh I think people are afraid to show that, to be vulnerable, to have sadness. Everybody wants to paint that everything's great all the time. It's not.

Kevelyn Guzman:

I can't tell you the the times that I hear agents say, or even people in general, they'll say things like, you know, I'm gonna work with this agent because it seems like she has the same circle as I do, she has the same lifestyle, or um, you know, I I like her values, I like that she's part of this organization. And so people want to connect with you on a deeper level. They want to know who you are, they want to know what you stand for, they want to know if you are, if they feel that you're an honest person they can do business with. And so that's why it's important that what you're putting out there is not only professional, but can add value to someone's life. That's how they connect with people today. It is by seeing your lifestyle and see if there's a common ground between you.

Maria Quattrone:

And I think video is something that you really can take advantage of if you can get behind it and be okay with seeing yourself and listening to yourself, you know, one screen.

Kevelyn Guzman:

It's not an easy thing to do. It is not an easy thing to do. And I I it's the hardest thing for most agents to do. They're like, I don't like my voice, I don't like the way I look, and you know, it's it's it's hard. It's hard. So, but I always say to people, you just have to go out there and just do it.

Maria Quattrone:

Once you do it and you do it again, you do it again, it's just like anything else, you get raps behind it, you get repetition, you know. And I will say by having the podcast and interviewing over 300 and some people, and you know this because I didn't send you any questions, because it's an organic conversation which requires me to listen, which has made me a better listener, which has in turn made me a better leader, absolutely, and probably made me a better wife, etc. There are it's all tied together. There was a day I never did a podcast, there was a day I never did a video, but in now there's like 2,000 videos or something. I don't a lot of videos, but it does allow you to grow when you step out of your comfort zone and become vulnerable. You know, I've done videos with my hair, you know, like up in a pebbles thing. I'm on the beach, I'm in my bathing suit, I'm walking in the water.

Kevelyn Guzman:

And those probably end up being some of the best videos.

Maria Quattrone:

People love it. They're like, yeah, and I'm talking about life, and I don't even most of the time I'm not even totally talking about real estate. Because if you think about it, there's maybe five percent of people in your in your circle of people or in your world or in your social that maybe have some interest at this time. So it's like 10 posts to every one or two that are real estate related.

Kevelyn Guzman:

Yeah, and and to be honest with you, I mean, it happens to us all the time. Sometimes I'm scrolling, and if I find a page that it's all about properties, it's not it's not that interesting. Like people want a little bit more. Uh, and not just still pictures. We want, we want the videos, we want to hear your take on the market. We don't just want you to post the market report. We want to hear what you think of the market.

Maria Quattrone:

One of the things I think it's great for real estate agents to do, for realtors to do, is do a um a monthly market update on whatever market they work in. You do it on video, you do it once a month, you setting down to your database, you post it on social, and then you can have it cut up in clips if you want to. It's really easy today. I mean, there's Opus, you can use Cap Cut, you know, these it's a lot simpler, or you can hire a VA and you can have AI do it for you as well. Yeah, AI. The Cap Cut is great. I was just playing with it the other day, and uh now with you know Chat GPT, I have the one that has the assistant version. My my chat, my AI is their name is Closer. They name that so what happened is they gave me three names based upon what they know. So basically, it's named after you, and you have they gave us me three names to choose from. One was Momentum, one was closer, and I forget what the other one was, it was like something weird. So I picked closer, but I talked to closer every day, multiple times a day, and after you're doing this over and over again, your AI gets to know you and your voice.

Kevelyn Guzman:

It's it's fascinating because I saw that there is a new app where it's it's not the actual person in the video, it's your AI. So you upload a photo and then they make it live, and then it's not you doing the video. Yes, it's fascinating, but also creepy at the same time.

Maria Quattrone:

It is creepy because what if somebody takes you, Kevlin, and starts doing your videos? Right. But it's super cool. I think Genesis does something similar to that, but I haven't played around with that. I mean, I have as you probably do, we have limited time. So I'm like doing my, you know, it's like 7 a.m. and I'm on chat, and I'm saying I'm saying, okay, Miss, here's my thoughts today, and then I get something back, and I'm like, oh, that makes sense. A lot of sense. Thank you for clarifying that for me.

Kevelyn Guzman:

Yeah, no, I think you know, there's been so many people against AI, but we've embraced it and we all think it's wonderful. It is that one more thing that kind of helps you get stuff out. I mean, look, I'm not suggesting that you use it and then you don't check what it's writing or that you just take it word by word, right? Because I don't think it's always right. Like 90% of the time it's pretty accurate, but you also have to check what it's doing. You can't just like take everything it says, like we have people run property descriptions through there. And but you you still, it's a draft, you have to then go in the front. Right. It's not just okay. Well, ChatGPT said this is what the property description should be, and that should not be used that way, but it is a wonderful tool to have.

Maria Quattrone:

It's it's really interesting uh in regards to if you want to analyze something. I'm not talking about a property, uh, maybe different. Should I use this CRM, this CRM, or this CRM? Or should I invest uh in this platform, this one, or this one? It will take them and outline everything, and then make you can actually have it make crafts for you. And uh it's it's pretty fascinating. It really breaks it down and it saves so much time for you to do that research because we have to spend the time client-facing, interacting with our clients, with our agents. Since I'm also, you know, I'm a um uh a coach and I'm a producer, so I have like a dual role, which you know is interesting and uh challenging at times, but as you're doing this, you know, you only have so much time in the day, is my point.

Kevelyn Guzman:

Right.

Maria Quattrone:

And you have to like, you know, I run off of a calendar. I'm sure you do the same. Like everything is blocked out, and I look at my calendar on Sunday, and I re-evalue the week before, and then I look at my calendar for the week ahead, and I see where what times is it that do I have open? I have to place in my calendar my time. I'm gonna do my outreach into the community, gonna do my outreach into for calling sellers. I'm gonna have my my trainings are already always, always booked. So, you know, making sure everything that I have to get done is calendared. I even write down what we're having for dinner in advance.

Kevelyn Guzman:

That's I mean, that look, that that's great. I have to say that um I as much as technology is great, I like to, I still old school style, I like to handwrite, and I have my to-do list, I have my calendar, my outlook calendar, but I also have my my book. Then I like to write everything. I like to, it feels good to cross things off the list as I'm doing that.

Maria Quattrone:

Don't worry. I have that too.

Kevelyn Guzman:

I have a composition notebook. I think it's it's it's wonderful. It works for me. And and just like you, on Sundays, I look at my week ahead and uh I tend to do two things during the week. I block time and I do handwritten notes, and it's part of my recruiting strategy. So I do handwritten notes, I um I create strategies in terms of uh events that we're doing. I've created a bunch of things to connect to the COW Banker Network, and so I host a lot of events, I write for Inmin. And so I in my calendar, I block times so that I can get all of this done.

Maria Quattrone:

And I I think that's something that uh would help a lot of agents. You know, a lot of people want to have a a little bit more of a free-flowing schedule, but then you can't accomplish all the things that you really want to accomplish with the free flowing schedule.

Kevelyn Guzman:

Right.

Maria Quattrone:

Right. You I know you see it, I see it. And you know, training on calendar management, you know, is should be a training. It should be because I recognize how many people still don't really use that feature, and it's a great thing to have to do because it keeps you organized. And once you're organized, your brain is organized.

Kevelyn Guzman:

I absolutely I also like to look back at my week and see if I've accomplished everything I set out to do. And the only way to do that is if you write it down and you're crossing it out. And then I say to myself, okay, I had a productive week, right, based on everything I was able to do. But it's important to write it down, get your tasks done, and then look back. Look back and see why you couldn't get some stuff done, figure that out so that you can get it done the next week. Sometimes it's, you know, you get interrupted in the office, um, and and it's hard to get certain things done, or you have a lot of meetings on your calendar, and then you can't get to some of the other things, but you have to go back and see the reasons why and say, okay, well, maybe this time of the day is not the time to get this done.

Maria Quattrone:

The most important things I always try to accomplish in the morning before the day gets crazy with people calling, and and I, you know, I don't know if uh a lot of people do this, but in our CRM, we can schedule our emails and schedule our text messages. So like at 7 a.m., I'll be sending messages out and then scheduling them for like nine, 10 o'clock. So that and then by that time I'm doing other work. So then when I'm done with that, I can go back, take a look if I've got responses from agents from sellers. And this way I'm not bothering them at some crazy hour when they're not up, but I'm getting it off my plate. You could do it even at night, you're sitting there. Well, waste a lot of time watching TV. You could be like scheduling your messages. I don't know.

Kevelyn Guzman:

Yeah, I tend to do that at night. Um, I have two kids, and so when I put them to bed, that's when I catch up, right? And catch up could be, you know, let me send that email that I should have sent earlier today, or let me just go through my emails and see if I missed anything. And so once I put them to bed, that is my catch up time. And and then I just I oftentimes I schedule things, or sometimes I'm just like, look, that person's probably sleeping right now, so they won't see it until the next day. Um, but either way, at nighttime, I try to get the things done that I wasn't able to get to during the day.

Maria Quattrone:

Yeah, Kevin, you know it's it's really important. I think sometimes we look for shiny objects that are going to change our world, our business. And it really is about the tiny hinges that swing big doors. And the things that we're talking about, they're tiny things, but they change your business in ways you wouldn't even understand by taking care of these little things that doesn't seem like they're big, but it's the tiniest things that make all the difference in the world.

Kevelyn Guzman:

That is true. It's like um it's like when you have an issue in the office and you sweep it under the rug and you just cross your fingers and hope for it to go away because you think it's small, it's insignificant, but then it blows up and it turns out to be something bigger than you thought. Yeah, those little things can turn into bigger things. And so even though it sounds like, oh, you know, keeping your track of what you're doing, your to-do list and crossing it out, but oftentimes you hear people say, I feel like I'm spinning my wheels and I'm not moving. Right? Because you're they feel like they're so busy. But if you were organizing yourself and keeping track of what you're doing, then perhaps you would figure out why it is that you're spinning your wheels and not moving. What are the important, urgent things that you should be focusing on? You know, sometimes it feels like everything is urgent. You get that call, you get that email, and you're sort of like, everything is urgent, but is it really? Right? So it's also figuring out what is important and what should be taken care of this second and the other tomorrow. The only way to do that is if you're organized.

Maria Quattrone:

The only way to do it, organization. So before we wrap up, I just want to touch on the acquisition. The compass is acquiring Anywhere Real Estate, which is your parent company, and your viewpoint on that.

Kevelyn Guzman:

So, you know, it it's it's been like with everything, the first 48 hours, it's news, but then it kind of the dust settles, and everyone then just kind of moves on. I think for us, it's going to be a phenomenal opportunity uh for many reasons, but here's what I'd say to my agents. And I and so it the timing is perfect because I just wrote an article for Inmin on this. How to not focus on real estate soap operas. Oftentimes agents are, well, this person just jumped and went to this company, and they must be getting this split. And they got, you know, everyone is always so focused on what's happening in other firms, and it's all noise, all noise. And I say to our agents all the time, stay focused on your business. You're an independent contractor, and at the end of the day, whether or not compass is acquiring anywhere is not going to affect your business, right? Because why? At the end, it's you're gonna get more. So always see the glass half full and not half empty, right? Focus on your business, continue to push forward because if you lose those 48 hours, that is it could be detrimental to your business. And so, in my opinion, and I'm in, I'm in it, I can say I can give you maybe a hundred reasons why this is a good thing and why it's not a bad thing, because I will never focus on the negative, focus on the opportunity. And I think that there is a big opportunity here for us with this merger.

Maria Quattrone:

Oh, excellent. You put that very well, very eloquent. Thank you. It has been you're you're great. I love your energy. Um, I love the way that you think, and it is it's refreshing. And it has been my pleasure to have you on the Be the Solution podcast, Kevin. And thank you for having me.

Kevelyn Guzman:

You are great.

Maria Quattrone:

Yeah, my you are so welcome.