Les Walden - Building Systems And Using VAs To Get 5 Star Service In A Changing Market - Elevate: A Podcast For Driven Real Estate Agents - Episode 2
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For the second episode of our new podcast we brought in another power player in the Upstate's real estate industry, Les Walden. Les was born and raised in South Carolina and has been practicing real estate for nearly 30 years. Les and his team, The Les Walden Real Estate Team, was a part of the market during the 2007-2008 housing crisis and he believes that it is important to keep the context of the real estate market in mind. With all the talk today about the Federal rates and interest rates changing, Les constantly reminds people that the market is “normalizing”, it is not crashing.
In This Episode We Cover:
How the market is changing and returning to a normal state.
How using VAs (virtual assistants) can provide tremendous value to a business.
Using systems to chase a wow and get results.
Listen Along!
Read the Episode Here!
Nathan Whitworth:
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Elevate Guys. I am here today with somebody. I am extremely happy to share his story with you the guy who gave us our start in real estate as far as being a real estate media company, Les Walden. Les, how you doing man?
Les Walden:
I'm doing great, Nathan. How about yourself? I'm
Nathan Whitworth:
Doing good. I can't tell you how much it, I appreciate you being here and how much I appreciate you agreeing to come on and share your story. Cuz man, you've got a lot to share. You've got a lot to share.
Les Walden:
Well, 27 years will give you a lot to share in this industry, I promise you.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah. Well, and I also wanna say thank you and I wanna say this publicly because when I was first thinking about starting a real estate media company, you guys were one of the first people I came to. Your meeting that I had in your office was one of the first meetings I had. And I just wanted to say, I appreciate what you saw in us and I appreciate you giving us a chance. And it, we've just really enjoyed working with you guys. Cuz I gotta say I, I've been spoiled <laugh> because the first listings that we were going to, the first rounds of work that we were doing, your houses are always immaculate. Your listings are just so well prepared the way, and we're gonna get into this, I wanna dive into this, but the way you prepare your sellers is insane. I mean, it is so well done and above and hands down, above and beyond what we experience with most other agents. So I'm excited for you to share how you do that with everybody. But before we get into all that share, share with us who is Les Walden. Tell us a little bit about your story we get here today.
Les Walden:
Right. Well, let me first say thank you for allowing working with us what y'all do for us and what we call our visual experience, we feel like is second to none. Thank you. And that is because of what y'all do for us. So it's been a great relationship. Yeah, I'm glad you feel the way you do on your end. Know that we feel the same way on our end. Awesome. So Les Walden, who is Les Walden? Well, I'm a country boy. I was raised on a little farm in York County, South Carolina. Rode a tractor a lot which is kind of funny now because when I was a teenager riding that tractor, I would've told you it was cruel and unusual punishment, <laugh>. And now I find myself driving through the country occasionally and seeing a tractor and wondering to myself, wonder if they'd let me drive that tractor.
<laugh>. I don't get it. Maybe my father does. Today's my dad's birthday. So that's kind of cool. Cool. Oh cool. Yeah. But yeah, a farm boy ended up at Clemson University, the only school I wanted to go to. So I came across the state about two hours and went to school. My parents chased me or actually beat me over here. It was kind of interesting. Got accepted to Clemson at the end of my junior year of high school and wasn't gonna give up my senior year. I was enjoying it too much. But my dad was a Duke Energy employee and in that summer he was transferred to Oconee nuclear station. So he beat me to the area, but they allowed me to have a great Clemson experience. And then I graduated and went into the corporate world moved back up to the Charlotte area, was in media sales, which was really cool.
Taught me a lot about marketing and advertising, which my degree from Clemson is in marketing. But I learned a lot working with other people in that field. So after about three years in the corporate world, probably a little ego I said to myself, I think I'm smarter than everybody. I work for <laugh>. I saw the amount of money I was bringing into the company I work for, and I saw what my check was and I was like, something about this doesn't work. So started thinking about it and doing some research and ended up in the real estate feel because I thought that one, it would satisfy my need for marketing to be challenged in that area. A need in sales. I liked talking to people and dealing with people, but more importantly, I think I found out that my inner being was about helping people. It was purely about can I help you accomplish your goals? And real estate seem to be the golden brick road.
Nathan Whitworth:
Well, so one of the things, when I think about Les Walden, and I wanna say this really quick. How long have you been in business
Les Walden:
Now? 27
Nathan Whitworth:
Years to 27. Nearly 30 years
Les Walden:
Of things
Nathan Whitworth:
It, I didn't mean to say it like that.
Les Walden:
Nearly 30 years.
Nathan Whitworth:
30 years. How? Didn't even say it like that. Yeah, no, but nearly 30 years. I remember my father and I were right when I started the real estate media company. We were catching up. We were on the front porch and I was just telling him, I was like, Yeah, there's a guy cuz we're from the same area.. We grew up in Seneca. We've had that conversation. I was a teacher at Daniel High School for some time, and I said, Yeah, there's a brokerage Les Walden. He said, Oh, Les Walden <laugh>. And it was so funny, and he had very great things to say about you, and I don't know that my father had ever worked with you guys, but your reputation definitely perceived you. And I think that really comes from the time that you spend and how you value the effort and the work that you put into your community.
And I think that that's something that's really special about you, Les. I don't see that with a lot of other people, a lot of other agents, a lot of other agents. It feels very transactional. But you put a lot of emphasis in not just understanding your market, which is what every agent out there can do,, but actually being a member of your community. And I just want you to talk to me about that. I know that you love Clemson. I know that you love the upstate. You have a huge passion for it. But just a few years ago, we had a hurricane that came through one of our towns. And I remember seeing you on video, man. You were out there, and you were putting in the work, you were putting in the hours, you were helping the community clean up. And this didn't affect you at all, right? But you acted like it did. And just kind of talk to me about that.
Les Walden:
What's the But one, it was a tornado, right?
Nathan Whitworth:
Tornado, Sorry. Heard tornado.
Les Walden:
Big one. We thought it could
Nathan Whitworth:
Have been, Yeah, it was
Les Walden:
A big one. One it was really, I think the largest tornado that had ever gone through Seneca and devastating, just absolutely devastating. If I remember correctly the tornado was a half a mile wide and it stayed on the ground for 16 miles and went right through the middle of Seneca and destroyed so many homes. It destroyed businesses. One of the things that some people might remember was our Borg Warner facility, which is the largest Borg Warner facility in the United States was destroyed so much and had such an impact on the entire world. That Ford Motor Company put out a statement through Bloomberg that their production would be off. Wow. Because they couldn't get some of the parts that this plant made that make Tor transfer systems. So if you happen to drive a four-wheel drive made by Ford, chances are the system that makes it four-wheel drive comes from Seneca, South Carolina.
Interesting. So it was huge, but the devastation that happened was unimaginable. It was truly unimaginable. And my entire team the people around me, we all volunteered cleaned up for days on end. I know personally, I gave at least 40 hours running chainsaws and driving tractors, which kinda satisfied me. Sure. <laugh>. So it was something we felt led to do the entire community. I'd never seen anything like it in my life of how many people pulled together to help others. That's good. And it was not only noted by the community, but anytime there's a giant disaster like that in a community, all your insurance companies bring in adjusters, right? Sure. To try to work through the insurance situation as fast as they can. And even the adjusters with the state farms and the all states and the farm bureaus, they were astonished. They said, This is what we do for a living is go to these sites. And we've never seen a community come out like this community to help each other.
Nathan Whitworth:
You see, that's so interesting. And I can hear it. I can hear it in your voice. I can hear how you have a people first mentality when it comes to business. And it's not just business, but helping others. And I can hear that seething through the way you're talking about what happened and the pride that you have for being a part of your community and being able to help people. And I think that that shines through your business. And I think that, yeah, mean it's a symptom. I would never advocate for somebody to go out and just be fake and just help people just for the act of building a business. But I think that for a lot of people, if you get into business just just to make money,, and this is is the struggle that a lot of agents feel, right? at the beginning, they're thinking themselves, Hey, I'm gonna be able to create my own schedules,, I'm gonna be able to make way more money and I'm, it's probably gonna be half the effort that I'm putting into my current job. And those are the agents that will always have the hardest time in the beginning, right?
Les Walden:
Well, they're gonna have the hardest time throughout the career. In our industry, we have a phrase for that. We call it commission breath <laugh>. So if you're talking to someone and you're not genuine and you're not really looking for the solution that is best for them, that person's gonna sense that, yes, they're gonna be able to tell that. And so in the real estate industry, we call it commission breath. People pick up on that. They're not really I mean, you don't wanna work with somebody that their motive is to put a dollar bill in their pocket. That's right. Somebody that says, Nathan, tell me what we're trying to accomplish. Help me understand where you're trying to get to and keep asking those questions to, I really have a great understanding of what you wanna accomplish for your family. And then I can use my expertise, my experience, and let's lay out a plan together to get
Nathan Whitworth:
There. A hundred
Les Walden:
Percent. It might be selling your current home, getting your family in another home with as little disruption as possible. You want it to happen by a certain date. I've gotta understand all those things if I'm gonna be able to help you accomplish your goals. And at the end of the day, what it boils down to, man, if I can help you accomplish your goals and you're happy, I get paid so I don't have to worry about a hundred percent running up to you and having commissioned breath and just trying to make that deal one deal happen.
Nathan Whitworth:
You could not have said that better. Let's talk about branding for a second. You and I have had some really interesting conversations over the years about branding and about the concept of building a reputation. To me that's really what branding is,. It's the act of building reputation. It could be a digital reputation online or building reputation in your local community. I'm curious, how do you think about branding and is that something that you spend a significant amount of your time on as far as trying to evolve your branding or trying to think about what you want that to look like and feel like? Mm-hmm. smell. Talk to me about that.
Les Walden:
Well, does it evolve? Yes. Because I think you as a person, you evolve. But I would tell you that in order to find your brand, you've got to find who you are. And so our team, we have some core values that we live by, and we've lived by those. I live by those as an individual. My teammates live by those as individuals. And we live by those as a team. And those are real simple. It's honesty and integrity. Those are two different things, by the way. But honesty, integrity, loyalty, best is the starting point and have fun. And those four things are what we live by every single day. And when you find out who you are, what makes you go, I think the catch phrase now is find out your why. Then it's easy to find your brand. It makes it easier to find who you are. Because every decision I make every day is about honesty, integrity, loyalty, best is my starting point every single day and having fun with what I do. And when we do that, then your brand is there then. So then now all you have to do is figure out how to get that word out. Oh
Nathan Whitworth:
Man. And I wanna talk about that communication part. I wanna get there. Can you talk to me about how you see honesty, integrity, and how they are two different things?
Les Walden:
Sure. I mean it, it's real simple. And this, it's just, maybe nobody's said it to you this way, but to me, honesty is what I do with you, Nathan. Am I telling you the truth? The whole truth, nothing but the truth. I want to be completely honest with you right now. Integrity on the other hand is what's going on in here. Right? It's going on inside. Am I being honest with myself? So if I'm a businessman, am I being honest about my numbers? Am I being honest about the number of calls that I was supposed to make today? Am I being honest about how I put things together? So honesty to me is what I do externally, how I'm treating you. Integrity is what goes on in here. I always, like with my team, I talk about golf and because golf is an individual game in a way, but how many people do you know that maybe hit one off the tee and hit it in the woods? Well, we gonna take another breakfast ball here or shot here, or they're behind a tree and they kind of foot wedge it out a hair to hit the next shot. Yeah. Well, they're not hurting anybody else,
But they're not, The integrity was not there. Right. It's not there. And I think honestly, integrity are control your entire life. So it's not just what you're doing in work, it's what you're doing with your family, and it's what you're doing with your friends, and it's what you're doing with anyone you meet in Bus the business world too.
Nathan Whitworth:
So Well said. Talk to me about best as the starting point.
Les Walden:
Okay. I
Nathan Whitworth:
Love that. I don't think I've heard that anywhere else. Well,
Les Walden:
A lot of people might know from Clemson and Best is the standard. And that didn't make sense to me, even though I, I've actually had a discussion with De about that. And I'm not on his level of thinking. I guess he's just maybe smarter than me. But best is the starting point. Makes sense. And what that means to me is every single day with every single activity you do, are you giving it your best? No matter how significant or insignificant it is. When I explain this to my team, I talk about, you may think answering the phone is kind of insignificant, but how you answer the phone is pretty important. And you may think that presenting an offer is extremely significant, but are you giving them your best? Okay. So that's the beginning. So if that is your starting point, it stands the reason to me that if you give your best today, let's say answering the phone, you give your best tomorrow answering the phone, and the next day, your best gets better every single day because you practiced it to the best of your ability.
Nathan Whitworth:
It's the mechanism for improvement. It is. Yeah. So well said. Well, and I think the idea of best is your starting point is leads us right into our next conversation, which is your marketing strategy,.. Because if I were to look at how you market and how you think about marketing, not only your listings, but marketing yourself,, marketing your team, Right?, it's really interesting to me because everything is done at a really, really high level, and it's consistent, which we're gonna get to in a minute, right? But it is done at a super high level. So talk to me just for a second, what do you feel, and I know that from our prior conversations, you feel like marketing is synergistic, right? Absolutely. And I think that you really take that to heart and use that idea every single day. But talk to me about your marketing strategy and what are you focused on right now? Where are you trying to put a lot of your attention right now in again, marketing yourself and marketing the team?
Les Walden:
Okay, let's take a step back with marketing first and understand, in my opinion, there's two phases to marketing and real estate. There's the phase of marketing a property. Yes, there's certain things you're gonna do to market that property. And then there is the phase of marketing who you are. Okay? All right. So two different things to market in real estate. You've got this listing, you need to put the word out about that property, right? Sure. You need to do it the best you possibly can. Sure. But you also need to let the market know who you are, right? Through marketing and what you stand for and why they should work with you. So the consistency of those messages is important to me. I think it should be important to anybody. One of the things I think about is if I drive from here to Charlotte and I see 22 McDonald's, that big golden arches never changes <laugh>. Or if I see 15 different people with Nike sportswear on that swoosh never changes. Or as I used to say, the check mark <laugh>, right?
Nathan Whitworth:
No, they call it a
Les Walden:
Swoosh. I guess they're marketing as strong as it should have been. But it never changes you as soon as you see it, Who that is. So let's talk a little bit about marketing properties for sure. It's the easiest. It's what most agents think about the most. Yeah. They got this listing. How do I market it the best that I can? Well, the thing, and one of the things you've helped us with is what we call our visual experience. I mean, you've got to have professional photography. I still know agents that take their pictures with their iPhone.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah, we see it. We see it. Stop
Les Walden:
It. We see it. Just stop it, <laugh>. Just stop it. Okay. One, it looks bad when I'm looking up the property. I can't imagine what it looks like in your marketing, so just stop it. So great professional photography. I'll never forget our first meeting. I had had one question for you about photography, and I said, I've always wanted the picture from inside the room that I could see the room beautifully, but I could see the view outside the window. And I said, My eyes can see it, dude. How come a camera can't do it? And you explain to me the difference in how many points of light your eye can see and how many a camera can see, and how you accomplish that picture to give the real sense of being in that room. And I said, Well, wow, this guy knows what he is talking about.
<laugh>, it impressed me that you could explain it on a level that someone that's not a professional photographer would understand. Sure. But we believe in professional photography. We like 'em video that we like the video to try to give a sense of what it's like living there. Here's our features. Here's, here's something that you're gonna love when you zoom in on a burning fireplace. Or you go into a kitchen and you see all these things where in the heart of the home, which is the kitchen, and then the 3D photography or the 3D imaging that you do for us, What that does for us is it really puts the property out in such a way or allows us to put the property out in such a way that by the time somebody comes to the home to see it, that's their second showing. That's their second showing. And we help our sellers to understand
Nathan Whitworth:
That. That's so interesting.
Les Walden:
The first showing is because our visual experience is so good, they've already visited the property
Nathan Whitworth:
Once. That's so interesting. Well, and I think what's really fascinating, and you guys are the only ones that I know of that do this. You have the same visual experience regardless of the property, right? Regardless of the property, regardless of the price point., regardless of who you think you're marketing this thing to, you invest the same You invest attention and detail and effort into your visual experiences no matter who the person is that you're selling a property for. Can you talk to me about that? Why is that important to you?
Les Walden:
Yeah. Well, it's extremely important because the first thing that we talk about all the time on our team is every home is that person's castle. I don't care if it's a million dollar home on Lake Kiwi or Lake or in Clemson, or if it's the $175,000 home in downtown Seneca. So
Nathan Whitworth:
Good. Yeah.
Les Walden:
That is their castle. And for us to be able to represent that seller in the way that they deserve to be represented, we've gotta put that out that way.
Nathan Whitworth:
So
Les Walden:
Good. Because guess what? The buyer of that home is probably gonna be their castle
Nathan Whitworth:
Too. A hundred percent. And I think that that goes back to the integrity piece that we were talking about earlier. Absolutely. Right? That's exactly. You're making decisions based on the integrity that you have as a business person. You would never treat one of your clients regardless of their home, regardless of their situation, regardless of who you're trying to sell this thing to. You would never treat that person any differently than anybody else,
Les Walden:
Right? Correct. Correct. I mean, I wouldn't wanna be treated any differently, so I'm sure they don't either. And it also goes back to our third core value. Best is the starting point. Not half of your best, best is your starting point. So just with what y'all do for us, it is phenomenal. And just so you know, because we hear these things and you probably don't, we get comments from other agents Oh, cool. That tell us how great our visual experience is.
Nathan Whitworth:
That's awesome.
Les Walden:
And we tell 'em all the time. Well, it's there for you to do too. Yeah,
Nathan Whitworth:
For sure. Yeah. Well, and I think what's really interesting about this is not only are you putting a lot of effort and a lot of energy into creating a great visual experience for them,. But it, what's really interesting is you guys have, you're big on systems, and you and I have never really talked about this before,, but I know that you're big on systems because I see the result of those systems in practice every single day. So when we go and we create media, you are taking that media and you've got somebody that's repurposing things and placing it in 12 different places. And you've got that process nailed down on not only creating high quality media for your listings,, but also getting the word out there to the other agents about that property and getting the word out there to the potential sellers. So talk to me about that system a little bit. I also wanna talk just for a minute about, I know you've got a VA that that's who we actually interact with. And I think for a lot of new agents that could be groundbreaking, right?
Les Walden:
Right.
Nathan Whitworth:
So let's first talk about systems and consistency in your marketing. How do you approach that? How do you think about the consistency part? Is it important to you,, and then how do you actually execute on
Les Walden:
It? Right. Well, our first thought always is five star service. We talk about chasing a wow all the time in our office. If we can get our client to say, Wow, then they're naturally gonna tell somebody about that. Whether that be somebody at their work or somebody at they go to church with or a family member. They're gonna say something along the lines of, You're not gonna believe what my realtor just did for me, <laugh>. And that's what we want 'em to do. We want them to say that. And a system allows you to do that over and over and over again so that you're not just trying to, Oh, well, let's do this. Oh, let's do that. We've gone through and figured out how we get to that from our clients, and we've put that into a system. Now, a system could be as simple as a paper checklist.
Sure. Now we've evolved through the years and hours are all electronic now, which is awesome. We launched what we call a workflow in the particular system we work in. Cool. The transaction management system. And it tells us what and when to do and how to do, and then they just check them off as they do. And it comes into a particular order. So we know what we're doing every single time. But again, we sat down, we thought about it, me, we being me and my team, how we get to the wow, How do we get them to say, Wow. Because what we want 'em to do is tell somebody, Huh? And so we put all that into a system and we follow it every single time. And we have a system. New listing comes in that workflows launched. One of the things is to contact you guys to get on the calendar for the visual experience. We know when that visual experience comes in, it's being placed on all of our social channels. There's blast email out to all the other agents. There's blast email out to all of our 17,000 plus buyers in our database. We've got all those things listed out in that system. But a system is simply figuring out the roadmap to get to the wow. Because if you get to the Wow, then they're talking about you in a great way.
Nathan Whitworth:
All right. So I know everybody's listening to this and going, Yes, I want that <laugh> it. That's obvious. That's what we need. I think for agents who have been doing this for a little bit of time, and even new agents, the problem is time having the time. They're feeling very stuck in a lot of ways. They're stuck in transactions, they're stuck in phone calls, they're stuck, Which there's so many other things are very important tasks that need to be done,. They're essential tasks., There are essential tasks to be done and be done Well,. So this is a catchy phrase that everybody talks about. How do you work more on your business than in IT <laugh>? How do you get to the point where, and I'm wondering what that process looked like for you. How did you evolve from being the agent who was handling everything to being the agent who could say, Okay, wait a minute. Let me step back for a second and let's figure out a system to make this work so that it can just happen every single time and I'm not having to spend any time doing it. Right.
Les Walden:
Well, let's take a step back and because I was an individual agent at one time, instead of having a team of people to help what I do. Sure. And to be honest with you, every agent has a team of people. They don't think about it this way sometimes, but is there a lender involved in their transaction? Is there a home inspector involved in their transaction? Is there a closing attorney? All these people are part of their closing team. So then the question becomes, Well, how do I systematize some of these things using other folks? Well, I could take pictures with my all day. Sure. But they're not gonna be of the quality and what we want to accomplish. So now Nathan and his group at Angled Light are part of our team. They're part of our team, and you're part of our system. So when you start though, you do have to, I think the biggest thing agents don't do is time block. Yeah. They don't, Time block and time blocking is nothing more than saying before you start your day, maybe the night before, I'm going to do this at this time of day, It could be working in your business, making prospecting, phone calls. It could be
Nathan Whitworth:
Working, which is important.
Les Walden:
You gotta do it. You gotta do it. You gotta do it every day. Gotta do it. If you're not doing that every day, as our market is normalizing, your business is gonna go away. Okay? It's gonna go away. I promise you. 27 years, I've been through all of it. If you're not doing the things that you should do every single day, your business will go away. Yeah. It's gonna fall off. But you could also block time to work on your business. And you've gotta be true to yourself. If I were gonna show Nathan a home at three o'clock today, I'm not just gonna not show up. Sure. If I'm gonna work on my business, looking at it from 10,000 feet, maybe saying, Okay, today I'm gonna work on my pending system, So
Nathan Whitworth:
Good.
Les Walden:
Then don't break that appointment. That's right. I'm not gonna not show up for you. Right. Then why would I not show up for me? I would argue that the appointment with me is actually more important. More important <laugh> than they are, than the appointment with you as much as I like you. But it's still very, very important. But so many agents get caught up in the whirlwind of life that it distracts them from what they really need to be doing. The only way to pull that back in is to time block by scheduling the evening before.
Nathan Whitworth:
I love that. It's so funny because everybody talks about the opportunity, cost of money,, but nobody talks about the opportunity, cost of time,. And that whole idea of I need to keep that appointment with myself to work on the business., you might have been able to help that one person with that time, but if you don't keep those appointments with yourself and you're not working on the business to structure it in a way where you can help more people,, that is the opportunity cost of time.
Les Walden:
Right. Absolutely. And I would argue with you that the opportunity cost of time is a bigger loss than the opportunity. A hundred percent of selling one house.
Nathan Whitworth:
A hundred percent. That's so good.
Les Walden:
If you want that extended business.
Nathan Whitworth:
So you were the person who actually brought this out to me. And I think this might be a helpful little tidbit for people who's now looking to try to work on their business and get themselves out of those tasks that doesn't absolutely require them.. Let's talk about VAs because this is a kind of hot topic over the last couple of years,, there's been more and more people as the technology has gotten us to a place where we can communicate more efficiently with other people from across the globe. And frankly, there's a lot of great benefits to using help and other places. Kind of talk to me a little bit about how you use VAs in your business and how you've seen it be a benefit to
Les Walden:
You. And we're talking about real estate. Yes. So let's define VA first because Sure, that's true. VA could be alone. In my industry, a VA is a virtual virtual assistant. Some people like to call them VPs, virtual professionals. But it, it's just someone that lives somewhere else that can work for you. I've found a tremendous amount of benefit. Matter of fact, we're gonna add another VA to our team. Cool. Here soon. I've got actually a call later today with a virtual professional company That's cool. To start the search. I actually have two over the next two days with two different companies to start a search. What we have found is we can find extremely talented help, extremely talented help that produces some really great things for your business at a fraction of the cost. Right. Now, don't get mad at me. I've got people too <laugh>.
But let me tell you some of the cool things about this. And when you've made mention earlier that I care about people, the VA that I have right now lives in the Philippines. He works for me. He makes 20% more. That's right. Than the going rate in the Philippines. That's right. But it also saves me some money at the same time. That's right. Now, would I love to have someone here locally to handle his job? Absolutely. I can't hire his level of professionalism, his level of education, his level of experience for anywhere near what I'm getting his services from. A
Nathan Whitworth:
Hundred percent. And the reason I wanna bring this up, so we actually, we employ VAs as well, and the Philippines. And well, we found the ex to be the exact same thing. I was really proud of the fact that his name's Marvin and he has a wife. He has two kids. We are supporting his family in a way that he can't get that support locally in the Philippines. And he's been a huge asset to our business. I think what's interesting about this is a lot of people are looking for ways to be able to hand off the tasks that you can hand off, but I can't afford to. I just can't afford it yet. Right. This might be the way that you can do that, right?
Les Walden:
Yeah. I would tell you it is. Yeah. It, it's a first step. And as you mentioned earlier, cause of technology, because of Covid and us figuring out we could work from anywhere. I don't like to say work from home. I say work from anywhere. You could be on a beach as long as you got an internet signal. But working from anywhere and technological advances has allowed this to be almost like someone sitting in your office. I meet with Frank once a week via a video call. We review what his major tasks are we discuss them. So he gets my feeling on where I want them to go what I believe the branding should look like. And so we're always on the same page because
Nathan Whitworth:
He handles a lot of your graphic design,
Les Walden:
He handles a ton of it
Nathan Whitworth:
And it looks great.
Les Walden:
Pretty much all of it. But that's his area of expertise. He has two bachelor's degrees, one in marketing, one in entrepreneurialship is credible with the technology that that's needed to create these pieces. And it's, it's worked out wonderfully. The great thing is now Frank works for us, full time. He works our hours, so he's working a graveyard shift. But you can hire these folks by the hour,, you can hire them half and you can hire them. So the answer to your question is absolutely. This is a way to hand off tasks that are keeping you from working in the things that you need to do on a daily basis.
Nathan Whitworth:
A hundred percent. And what's really interesting about the process of bringing on a va, I've talked to some others who's tried it and they said, Yeah, it just didn't work for me. I think it's important to recognize that when you're working with a va, you have to work with 'em like any other employee in your business. Mm-hmm. Like it's really important. They still need that training. They still need that leadership. You have to still provide that leadership. So having the weekly calls with 'em, making sure that they understand, the ultimate goals that you're trying to get to you really to have an effective va, you really shouldn't treat them any differently than any other person on your team. I agree with that. And I can see that you're doing that. Just from my conversations with Frank, cuz he communicates with us when
Les Walden:
It's well with anybody else, you help them prioritize their workload. You help them understand the end goal. Right. My job as a leader is to paint a picture that's clear enough that where you're
Nathan Whitworth:
Going a hundred percent,
Les Walden:
I don't have to tell you how to get there. Right. It's just like with your GPS for your car, All I've gotta do is give you the address. I don't have to give you turn by turn instructions. So if I can give you an address, which is a pretty clear picture. Exactly. You can get there. So with a VA or any other employee you have, whether they're on site or not, you've got to be as a leader, able to paint a clear enough picture that they know where they're going, and then back up and let 'em go. Because chances are they're better at it than you are. Yeah, <laugh>. Hundred percent. I mean, I figure that out.
Nathan Whitworth:
<laugh>. Hundred
Les Walden:
Percent. I'm really good at talking to people past that. Everybody else is great. <laugh> they That's true.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah. Talk to me about your process with your sellers. How do you educate them? That's something that I've really, we've talked about this a couple times at this point., your homes are always ready,, they're always ready for us to come in and do that. And what's really interesting is when we talk to the owners, when we step inside and we're introducing ourselves, they're excited for us to be there. Right. Different man. It's not that way with every agent. Right. I'm just really curious, what does that process look like? How are you preparing your sellers and getting them in the right state of mind when it comes to preparing their home for not just the media to be taken, but for the listing appointments and all that kind of stuff. Can you take us through
Les Walden:
That process? Yeah. Well, let's break that down into two phases. Okay. Okay. I'm gonna take the easy one first, which is why they're so excited about y'all. Yeah. Okay. They're excited about y'all because we have spoken of y'all so highly. We're so impressed with your work, what you've done for us. We genuinely are excited to tell them about you guys. Look, we're not taking pictures with an iPhone. <laugh> bringing in these dudes that are like, they're like pros, man. <laugh> like the best I've ever seen. They got these big old cameras and stuff, <laugh>. So we're so excited because what y'all been able to do for us, we pass that excitement along to our sellers now we pass that along to them in a way that is we tell them what you guys are gonna do. Sure. You're gonna show up, you're gonna make sure we're ready.
You're gonna shoot the steel photography, the video photography, and then the 3D photography. We tell 'em it's probably gonna take an hour, hour and a half, maybe even two hours, depending on the size of the property. And we wanna be ready. This is our first showing. As we said earlier, our visual experience is so good. By the time somebody comes to the house, that's actually their second showing. So we wanna be ready, just like we'd be ready for a showing. So we get them really excited about you guys because we're so excited. It's easy to get somebody else excited about something when you're excited. And so now I'm getting the properties ready when we're discussing listing with a potential client. Again, we're asking lots of questions. Help me understand what you're trying to accomplish. Sure. I mean, I've got all this expertise. My team has all this expertise.
We've helped over 3,500 families handle their real estate needs. And we've got all this expertise, but just me blowing expertise that you doesn't maybe help. Sure. I need to understand what we're trying to accomplish. So we do ask a lot of questions in the interview process. Sure. If you will, in the listing process. So I'm asking Nathan, help me understand what are we trying to do here? What's your reason for moving? What's your, Why do we need to get in another school district? What's going on? I know you've got children, so you help me understand and just keep asking those questions. And then once I figure out what your true motive is, what your why is for making this decision, then I can tap into my experience, my expertise, and let's put a plan together. Now, part of that conversation boils down to me having walked around your home with you to start with.
And then we're sitting at a table much like this. And then I'm gonna say to you, Well, we've got a couple options here. We can get the home ready so that we can maximize your dollars and shorten the amount of time on the market. Or we can sell it just like it is. And I think any agent out there would tell you right now, at least in the recent past, you don't have to do anything to a home to get it sold. Right? Right. You do have to do something to maximize the dollars and to shorten the amount of time. But the choice is yours. My job is just make sure Nathan understands this. You may be in a situation that you can't do any of the things that I'm gonna recommend. Sure. But I'm gonna tell you, do you want to sell it like it is and leave some money on the table and maybe be on the market a little bit longer? Or do we want to get it ready, get all the money we can absolutely get and make that timeframe shorter, which inconveniences your family the least. Wow. And so then it's your decision. So if you commit to me, Well, I want all my money and I wanna do it quick. Okay, well, let's talk about what I need you to do. That's what I need you to do to get the home ready. If I'm just gonna go in and spew at you about getting things ready, then you don't see the reason.
Nathan Whitworth:
What's interesting about this, and I think that most every agent has heard the idea that you have to educate your sellers on the process, but I don't know that people are really going step by step when you are in those listing appointments, you, you've trained your team to do, and those listing appointments, you're saying, step one, this is what's important. Mm-hmm., step two, this is what's gonna happen next, and this is what's important. Step three, if you're wanting to maximize, this is what you have to do,, then this is what's next. I think that process that you're going through with your clients, you're communicating that just in a much clearer way then that I think most other agents are. And I think that what's interesting, you mentioned this earlier, and I wanna touch on this, and I think this is really important.
This is a pens a pen. I wanna put in this. You're talking about the reason why you have the visual experience that you do is because you want those potential buyers to have already basically made some decisions before they walk into that property, which is, I think, different than a lot of other agents., I think a lot of other agents is, will say something along the lines of, I just wanna pique their interest. I wanna want them to be interested enough in the property to where they want to come and do. Showing your approach is No, I want them to have basically made the decision. in a lot of ways,. So at a higher level, and I want you to correct me if I'm wrong, but at a higher level, it's almost like you're trying to prequalify a little bit more thoroughly the people who are about to walk into that home. Is that true? Is that
Les Walden:
Yeah. Yeah. That's absolutely true. Okay. I mean, again, we view the first in person as the second showing. Sure. And if you understand that, I, I'm sure most agents could tell you right now, they sold properties sight unseen. Right? Right. But did you have 10 offers? Sight unseen. Right. Right. And we did. We had opportunities like that for our sellers. Now, the market was not normal. It was not normal, but we were getting more success, having more success selling our properties for more than the other agents by one, getting them ready. Two, having this visual experience, it was very simple for us especially if it was our buyer as well. Somebody would come to us and say, Well, I just wanna see this one. Right.
Okay. Done. <laugh>, go. Or we sold several, just FaceTime going in and saying, Here, what do you want me to tell you about the property? We'll go specifically to look at that, show it to 'em via FaceTime but they were already so interested in the property. And you earn a reputation over time. Most agents in our market know that if they're gonna go see a listing by Les Walden real estate team, it's ready. It's ready. They're not gonna have to try to explain away, Well, I'm sorry that their underwear is on the floor. Right. Or, Yeah, that wall needs paint or this needs that. They're not gonna have to try to explain that away.
Nathan Whitworth:
And I think to just really emphasize what you're saying there, I remember one time I came out to a listing and it was you and another agent a team member of yours,, and the home was vacant. There was nobody there,. But it was not up to your standards. And you were visibly upset that the house wasn't ready. There was still things that needed to be done. It needed to be cleaned on a little bit deeper level. There was just things that you thought to yourself that this is not best if we're gonna, It's that integrity thing. like best is the starting point. This is not an acceptable level for this house to be in, to get it on the market, to have people come and see this thing. So I think I can just attest to the fact, cause I've seen that firsthand, how you do have a very high standard.
There was something else that you mentioned to me and it was a couple months ago that thought was really interesting. The fact that a lot of agents, they feel like they're inconveniencing,, the sellers. I, and I think this is true. I think a lot of agents are really in a lot of ways, they're afraid to They're afraid. Maybe they'll feel like they're talking down to the seller, that they're to their clients, that if they take 'em through that process and they're like, Hey, this is what you need to do,, that they're afraid that they're gonna
Les Walden:
Offend. Offend,
Nathan Whitworth:
That's the right word. Thank you. That they're afraid that they're gonna offend their seller. And I think that that's a hundred percent true. Can you talk to that? Just
Les Walden:
Absolutely abs, and I agree with you. Yeah. There are lots of agents out there that are great agents, but they don't wanna upset anybody or hurt anybody's feelings. But we look at it completely differently than that. We look at it as, Okay, Nathan, do we wanna maximize our dollars and shorten the time? Or are you good with where you are, which is potentially even money on the table, and it may be taking a little longer. Now if you tell me that that's what you want, then I'm gonna explain to you what that really means. Right? So we might be leaving 10 to 15,000 on the table. Now what do I mean by that? What in the market we've been in, that might be 10 to 15,000 above the full listed price, right? Might not be below, Somebody might not come in and offer you below that price, but in the market it's still 10 to $15,000 and it might take 30 to 60 days when your goal was to be in your new home before school starts.
Right. And we don't have that kind of time, but if that's your choice, that's your choice. Sure. Now, if Nathan says to Meles, I wanna maximize my dollars, we're moving to this district. I need to be in my new home by the time school starts, then it's my job to help you get there. And if I need to talk to you about how we prep the home and what I need you to do, Nathan, your closets outta control, man. Yeah. I mean, let me tell you why. When stuff is coming up from the bottom of the closet, you got clothes hanging down from the closet, it creates a solid wall right at the door. So the closet's about that deep. If we can get all this stuff off the floor, all the stuff you got on the shelves either needs to go away or be folded so that it does not extend past the end of the shelf. It's gonna make it look like we've got more space. And that's just coaching you up. Because look, I don't care how you live your normal life. You've asked me to maximize your dollars and shorten your amount of time. So now I need to use my expertise to help you. You get there. So I don't see it as offending you. In addition, I've already asked you which way you want to go, Nathan
Nathan Whitworth:
<laugh>. Right?
Les Walden:
Do you want to maximize?
Nathan Whitworth:
Which I think is the
Les Walden:
Key, right? Yeah. You've gotta ask up front because you may be in a situation that you couldn't do that right now, we also help with the prep. Now what do I mean by that? We've got a black book a guys, people, I'm say guys, people that can do anything to help you. If you need paint, touch up, we've got that painter. If you need some things done around the house that a handyman can do, we've got that guy. If you need landscaping spruce up help, we've got that guy. And so we can open up our black book and assist you in getting these things done. We're not gonna throw it all on your plate to either do them yourself or to try to find somebody to do it
Nathan Whitworth:
For you. Yeah. I think is so true. Well, and it's so funny because this is the one thing that I have the most trouble understanding when it comes to a lot of the agents who feel this way, is that you're not offending them. You're working with someone on one of the biggest investments that they're making in their life. for most people. Mm-hmm., one of the biggest investments they're making in their life and they're trusting you, is the agent to guide them through what they need to do because they don't know. Right? Right. They don't know if I surgery, I wanna go to the best surgeon, that's in town,, and I wanna know that they're gonna do their job at the highest level. And if I need to do something after that surgery to ensure that it's like gonna stick, then I need you to be upfront with me. Right? Say, Hey, you need to lose 50 pounds. I don't want you to worry that you're gonna offend me. I need to know that information.
Les Walden:
And again, the key is asking upfront. The key is asking, and then that will take some of that fear from the agent of, Oh my gosh, what if I say something that offends them? Because what you're telling them at that point is helping them accomplish the goal that they identified for you. That's so true. And it does make it easier, I promise to the agents out there that feel that way, ask that question first. We really have two ways we can go with this. We can maximize your dollars in the shortest amount of time, or we can maybe leave some dollars on the table, maybe take a little bit longer, but we can sell it like it is now to do this. We've gotta be ready. We've gotta wow. The buyers when they walk through the door or when they see our visual experience over here, they're gonna end their mind say, Well, I need to do this and this. I've got to allow for that in my budget. Right? And then our market is changing. It certainly is not crashing. I wanna make sure everybody hears me say that we're not in a market, Shout
Nathan Whitworth:
It from the rooftops,
Les Walden:
Not it's not gonna happen. We're normalizing <laugh>. I mean, if you've only been in the business for a few years, I've been in 27 years, what we've been experiencing over the last two to three years is not normal. That's not real estate. That was a frenzied market that was dropping a piece of bloody meat into a pool full of sharks and watching them go after it. That's not normal real estate. But we still have the same expertise. And the better you can get your home, the more prepared you can get your home seller, the better off you're gonna be with your listings.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah. So good. So talk to me. We're wrapping this up, getting towards the end, but talk to me for a second. How are you talking to your team about the current market conditions? How are you trying to help them through? Because I think this will be really helpful for a lot of new agents out there,. How are you really helping them through how to guide and how to talk to the general public about this? Right. Because it is, man, this morning I opened up my phone, looked at the news, and there was another sensational headline about the real estate market, the crashing. Right.
Les Walden:
Well, the key to what you just said was a sensational headline. The market is changing. Yeah. It's normalizing. But what does that really mean? So if the market is down, I could write a headline right now for an article, a story, or whatever you want me to write it for. It says the market is down 5% over the last 30 days, but the rest of that headline might say, But we're up 22%, right, year over year. Right. So is the market crashing? No. No. My belief in a lot of other people's belief right now is that inventory is so short. We're so far behind somewhere around 5 million homes short in the country that even with a lessening demand, because of the rising interest rates, even with a lessening demand, we're still gonna see prices increase., especially in the South, read an article recently had glowing things to say about the Greenville Metro that they're still anticipating they being the Lawrence use of the world, which is the chief economist for National Association Realtors and all these really, really smart people keeping current matters, which is a great source for great information. They're still expecting our area to values to increase by 10% this year. That's not normal either. We're typically up until what we've been seeing a three to 5% a year area. But the South is very popular for many reasons. Greenville is all over. Every article saw one recently where CNN said it's in the top 10, I think it's number three in the world, for a fall visit.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah. That's awesome. I
Les Walden:
Mean, yeah, Greenville, South Carolina, where in the heck is Greenville, South Carolina. But all these things are making the South in addition to the work from anywhere mentality. Yeah.
Nathan Whitworth:
And it's not just people moving here. I mean, that is a significant source right now of the strife, I guess. But a lot of it is also just the investment, right? I mean there, there's private equity that's moving in to the South and for a whole variety of reasons,
Les Walden:
Not as much here. The private equity those stories you heard about first time home buyers and people that weren't all cash buyers getting beat out. I saw that in Atlanta. I saw that in Charlotte. I had a friend in the business in Atlanta that was selling 120 homes a month.
Nathan Whitworth:
Interesting.
Les Walden:
To private equity. Wow. And they were buying 'em site uns saying, Cash 20, 120 a month. Wow. A month. And I thought, holy moly, we never saw that here. Did we have some cash buyers move? Certainly we did, but we didn't see anything of that magnitude. That magnitude. And Charlotte, North Carolina, similar numbers but we're still not that area where, if I'm not mistaken, Atlanta Metro has more people than the entire state of South Carolina. So if you were an institutional buyer, where would you go by? That's right. Right. That's right. So we're
Nathan Whitworth:
Very fortunate here. I guess we can fly under the radar of the big boys.
Les Walden:
We're flying at about 20,000 feet when some of the others might be at 30. 30. Yeah. So we are up there. We are. And people are finding us. And that's awesome. And I think we're having some smart growth. But to talk to my team, I try to give 'em facts. Yes. I try to give 'em really happening
Nathan Whitworth:
And empower with knowledge
Les Walden:
And power, with knowledge so that they can share that with our community. You talk about video and my belief in video, and I record a lot of educational videos and put 'em out on social medias and blast emails and share with my team about what's really happening right here in our backyard. Not national numbers, but how does this month compare to last month? And how does this month compare to a year ago this month, year over year? And those kind of things.
Nathan Whitworth:
When I think that education is so important. The only things that everyone sees are the national headlines, which nationally, they're not wrong. Even though they might be sensational and they might be misrepresenting the truths to a large extent, but to take the information that everybody's hearing and to say, Okay, but that's not here. This is what's happening here. And then here's the data and here's the facts to support that idea. I
Les Walden:
Think that's so important. And we work really hard at that because we feel like our knowledge, our ability to get the real numbers, we need to share that. Because right now, the public is so concerned about things and maybe over concerned in certain ways. I can't tell you, we used to probably six, eight months ago, never got phone calls about, Oh, I wanna buy a foreclosed property. And now we're getting 'em all the time. And we're like, Well, what makes you think there's a bunch of 'em? People have more equity than they've ever had in their property. The banks were a lot more
Nathan Whitworth:
Which is the biggest frustration I have with people saying that things are gonna tank. I mean, Right. Well, nationally there, I can't remember the exact number, but the amount of equity that people have in their homes is at an all time high.
Les Walden:
Right. So if your home's worth three 50 today, let's say it's worth 300 next week, but you only owe 200, you can still sell us. Sudden didn't come out. Okay. Okay. The other thing is, and everybody wants to compare it to oh 8, 0 9, and mortgages, we're a lot more strict this time. People could only get a mortgage they could afford to pay. So even if the market turns, let's say values did drop, which there's no indication they're gonna drop by enough to make you in a bad position. But let's say values did drop. Well, if you could afford to make the payment, who cares? Who cares? Still not a foreclosure situation. So if you think about those things, everything points to the fact that there's not gonna be a crash. We're not gonna increase in value. We have over the last two years. No, we 34% in the last two years.
Nathan Whitworth:
Nuts. I
Les Walden:
Would've told you if you told me to bet on that, I said, You crazy. You're crazy. 10 percent's even more than our normal market increase in values. So not gonna see that. Are things gonna become a little different? Yes. The market is normalizing is the word I keep using with my team. It's getting back to what real estate really is. But knowing those numbers, being able to support those facts with the facts of things that are being out there. And I'm not busting on the news. I'm not, Yeah. I'm really not. Their job is to write a sensational headline such you read more. Sometimes you'll see that sensational headline. And if you read the entire article, they'll go into all the details and you'll see that sensational headline was just that, like they said, told you half of it. Right. Values have dropped. The number of home sales have dropped. Right. But we're still ahead of where we were three years ago. Three years ago. Yeah. Yeah. So
Nathan Whitworth:
That's so interesting. Well, so as we're starting to wrap up, tell me probably what's the biggest piece of advice if a new agent were to come to you today and sayles, what should I know now in my first year of being an agent? What should I know now to really help me get ahead to how should I be thinking about things? What should I be doing on a daily basis? I, I'll let you take that however you want to. Okay. What's the biggest piece of advice that you would have for a new agent
Les Walden:
Call your sphere of influence, the people that already know and trust you. I find so many new agents in the business believe that the marketing and the advertising is gonna be what sustains their business. And it is a piece of it. But the first thing that any new agent should do would be say to themselves, All right, I'm gonna call three people in my sphere of influence every single day. Three different people just gonna have a conversation with 'em. There are some thoughts on that conversation and how that conversation should go, but it's not really a conversation to ask for business. Sure. It's a conversation to find out what's going on in their life and see if you hear any change. And a lot of new agents say maybe, Well, I don't have a sphere of influence. And I'll ask them, and I do have it in my pocket, but I won't pull it out.
I'll ask 'em to pull out their phone. And if you have an iPhone, I can tell you how to do this. Just go to your contacts. And down the right hand side is the alphabet, A through Z. At the bottom of that alphabet is an old guy like me would call it a pound sign. <laugh>. Most people now call it a hashtag. Click on that and I'll tell you how many people are in your phone. And I'll bet you you've got over three or 400 in there. Yeah. Now I personally have close to 2000 people in my phone, but that's a sphere of influence. Those people got in your phone somehow, some way. Interesting. You've met them somehow, some way. He didn't just appear in your phone. So start calling those people. And if you do that five days a week call three a day. That's 15 a week, 60 a month, you will be surprised how much business you can uncover at no cost. Once you start doing that, then dive into someone like a Nathan to say, How can you help me present myself? Cause first you're gonna have to present yourself. And you did some of that for us as well. Not just the properties, but we put together some things that help people understand who less Walden is and who Walden Real Estate is and why we are what we are. And those are just phenomenal.
Nathan Whitworth:
Good. Hoping they're helpful. And what I was really happy to see with you guys is that once we made those pieces of content, you made sure that those are front and center all the time. They're literally in every single email signature that you guys send out, which I think is phenomenal. all too often, and this goes for any small business owner, but agents in particular will do some content and then you just never see the content. Right. And they think they were really happy with it. They would. But when I say they'd never see it, they would post it once on social, but then it just kind of gets buried in the feed. Nobody ever sees it again. You're making sure that you're sticking that y video that we created for you every single time that you have a chance to get it in front of somebody, you're constantly pushing it in front of
Les Walden:
'em. And we clipped out parts of it and made smaller. That's great pieces too. Yeah's great. And that'll show up on social media. And that's good. Again, when we first started, we talked about there's, there's two things to marketing and one is marketing the property. When you get that listing, you wanna do the best possible job and the visual experience is the way to do that. The other thing is marketing yourself. People will work with you because they know and trust you. And that you've gotta give 'em away at scale to know and trust you. And that video you made for us with the why it's a video first so they can see me. Right. I'm walking down the street, they know who I am. They've seen me before. It's just like you're walking down the street and you might recognize somebody that's on TV on the news. Oh, that's such So I'm in front of 'em all the time with they know who I am. Two, they get a sense of who I am in that video. Y'all did great of pulling out of who I am. Why? And letting me talk the way I talk. That's right. I just got back from Dallas and people wanted me to talk more because they're like, Dude, where are you from? I'm like, Sounds <laugh>. So they get a sense of who you are. And then over time, that trust builds.
Nathan Whitworth:
And I think you think of it correctly, which is it is a nurturing process, right? It's a nurturing process., people have to see you often. people have to get to know who you are. People have to get to know what you care about, what you value,, what's important to you,. And they start to really get a sense of, Hey man, I like this guy. I know this guy. Cause that's the first step. people gotta know you exist. And that's like, that's the <laugh>. Yeah. If you wanna talk about marketing, that's one of the big ones. But people like you, they know that you're there and that you're available to them. But building that trust,, that's the part that I think takes the longest. Right. And consistently, again, this goes back to the systems and the consistency that you're putting out, that content people are able to build that trust and that connection with you, honestly, faster than many others. I just wanna commend you for that. Thank you. So important. And you guys just
Les Walden:
Is a starting point. Best is a
Nathan Whitworth:
Starting
Les Walden:
Point. That's
Nathan Whitworth:
Right. Going bests. The starting point. All right. So to wrap up, what's your favorite book? Either? What are you reading right now? Or what's your favorite book? Wow. Share with me what you're digging into.
Les Walden:
Wow. So I'm a huge John Gordon fan. Oh yeah. Positivity. It changed my life, reading his books. Cool. So I had a tendency to be a little on the negative side. And man, that makes your life not quite as much fun. A hundred percent. And so anything, John Gordon, if you've never read anything, John always start with the energy bus. That's what kind of put him on the map. And then he's got many, many after that.
Nathan Whitworth:
And his books are easy reads too. They're very enjoyable
Les Walden:
Written. The majority of them are written as a fable. So they're a story. So you can get into the story about this person and you learn all these lessons as this person goes through some experience in their life. And so, yeah, they're super, super fun and easy to read, but so valuable with regards to that. From maybe another perspective, one of my favorite books, and I read it once every year, I read it right around the first year, is Ego Is The Enemy by Holiday. Ryan Holiday.
Nathan Whitworth:
So I know Ryan, I read a book of his called The Obstacles The Way. Right,
Les Walden:
Right.
Nathan Whitworth:
I read that one too. Yeah. Yeah. I've never read Ego
Les Walden:
As the Yeah, you need to pick it up. Okay. You need to pick it up, it up. It's a small book. It kind of takes you through life the different stages of life. There's three main stages of life and talks to you about how ego can get in your way. Interesting. In any of those stages. Whether you're aspiring to be something more than you are growing or you've been found success or failure. Cuz we will all find all three of those in our life at some point in time. Interesting. And how ego can be the enemy which essentially means hold you back in any of those three facets of your life. So I've read it right around the first of the year for the last four years, and it's amazing. I, I've got the hard copy It's a little more in, you know, gotta read it, but I make notes in the margins and stuff and it's amazing that every time I've read it, I write a new note in a margin cause it at a different stage in my life I'm hearing different things. So true. So it's a wonderful, wonderful book. But I would say those two are the tops of my list. Right. This very,
Nathan Whitworth:
That's awesome, Les. Man, I can't tell you. Thank you so much. Well,
Les Walden:
It's been a pleasure.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah. I really appreciate it. And thank you for everything that you're doing for the real estate community at large. Well, I mean it's the number of people that I talk to that's like Oh yeah, less. Yeah. And they have a story about how you help them at some point in their journey. It's massive, man. There's so many people you've
Les Walden:
Helped. Well, that really is great to hear. I appreciate you saying that. And that is, at the end of the day, it's about the legacy you leave and that really comes from how many people you can help. A hundred percent. We work really hard
Nathan Whitworth:
At that. A hundred percent. Well thank you man, for being here. I really appreciate it. Enjoy it. Thank you so much. Yeah guys hopefully you got something out of this conversation. I know I did. I'm gonna be going back and I'm gonna be re-watching this over and over and over again because Les is always bringing some new ideas and new applications of those ideas to the table every single time I talk to 'em. Thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate your attention and your time. Until next time, hey everyone, thanks for listening. Hopefully this was really helpful to you in your journey of building a business. If you like what you heard, please click subscribe and go to iTunes and give us a rating that helps us out tremendously when we are producing hopefully content of huge value to you. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it and I hope that you have an amazing week. Go out there and crush it. I'll see you soon.
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