Nick Carlson - Elevate: A Podcast For Driven Real Estate Agents - Episode 10
Watch the Episode Here:
This week's episode features a conversation with Nick Carlson. Nick has been a real estate agent since he was 24 years old and he is now the Vice President and COO of Wilson Associates here in Greenville SC. Nick is also the up and coming President of the GGAR (Greater Greenville Association of Realtors), which enables him to keep his finger on the pulse of the ever-changing real estate scene in Greenville and helps make him a trusted advisor with his clients.
In This Episode We Cover:
The changes in social media and tips to use it like a tool.
How to stand out among agents.
Some tips for agents just starting out.
Listen Along!
Read the Episode Here!
Nathan Whitworth:
Having your colleagues know and believe that you're the best in your respective spaces. Why is that important?
Nick Carlson:
If I'm sitting with a seller and I've got seven offers in front of me and they all look exactly alike and the seller can't choose who to go with, I can say, I've worked with this one eight times and I've never had a problem. There's my sway right there. So I think it's important that you have a good relationship with the people that you work with because it's going to pay off in shades. Yeah.
Nathan Whitworth:
Well spent, well said. Hey guys. Welcome back to another episode of Elevate. I am glad that you're here because I have got a guest that is going to drop, I'm sure, a lot of interesting knowledge today. I've got Nick Carlson from Wilson Associates. How you doing Nick? Doing well. How are you doing? Good, man. Good. So I've gotta tell you I wanna pay this compliment, and I told you I was going to do this on the air before we started recording. So I had a meeting with another broker, I won't say who it was probably two weeks ago now. And I said, so if you're marketing in a perfect world, if you're marketing looked like someone else's, or in a perfect world, what would it look like? And the answer, he looked at me, he looked at me dead in the eyes and he said, Wilson Associates, yes.
He said, that's that. In a perfect world. He said, that's what my marketing strategy would look like. That's cool. So I wanted to pay you that compliment. Thank you. Because I smiled when I, cuz we adjust maybe a month ago now. We had lunch and it was interesting getting to know you and getting to know what you guys are doing at Wilson Associates. And when I heard another broker say that, I thought that was pretty cool and I was like, I've gotta tell Nick just compliment. I appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah, a hundred percent man. So Nick, before we get started, tell us a little bit about you. You get started in this insane business of real estate.
Nick Carlson:
I started when I was 24 years
Nathan Whitworth:
Old. So you were
Nick Carlson:
Young. I was young. I was really young. Greenville did not look like Greenville does now. It was an interesting
Nathan Whitworth:
Environment. What year was this?
Nick Carlson:
2004, 2005. Okay. Yeah, right on the cusp of that. Yeah. Went to work for a brokerage in town actually went to work over the Pelham Road office that they had. Oh cool. And so I did a lot of things over in five four s and Pelham Road and things like that. But I lived downtown and that's where I wanted to do the majority of my sales. And so then I started working the North main market. 2008 came, we consolidated offices, I moved down to the downtown office and then started ramping up everything when all of my friends got out. And then it just kind of spiraled from there. It's
Nathan Whitworth:
Been fun. Interesting. Yeah. So you've seen some things.
Nick Carlson:
I've seen some things.
Nathan Whitworth:
I mean you literally have worked in a massively evolving market that we have here in Greenville. It's evolved, man. I mean obviously just the national, there's been ups and there's been downs in the real estate industry, but here in Greenville it's really, it's changed. It's not the same as it was in
Nick Carlson:
2005. Really not. And it's kind of funny when I'm over in North Main and I'm selling the same house that I sold back in 2005 and 2006, but it was like $150,000 less at the time. Yeah, it's very interesting to see.
Nathan Whitworth:
That's awesome. So I wanted to have you on to talk about a couple things. Okay. So first off, you're the incoming president of the G G A R, which I am by the way. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. So that's really cool. The G G A R is the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors. Correct. So
Nick Carlson:
3,800 members
Nathan Whitworth:
Strong, 3,800 members strong. So congratulations. Thanks. That's a huge accomplishment. Yeah, that's awesome. And so I feel like you really got your finger on the pulse of Greenville and of the upstate of South Carolina and obviously with what you've done at Wilson Associates, which again, congratulations on all your successes there. Thank you. Everything that you've done there had a lot of experiences that has pulled together. Really some interesting topics of conversation that when we met probably about a month ago now, we were talking about new agents, kind of their mindset, what they were thinking. I want to have that conversation here on camera because you brought up some really, really good points that honestly I had never thought about at the time. So let's kind of talk about this. We are going into a more normal market that we have here. And yet I think for most agents, the challenge is that there's a lot of people, and I've spoken personally to a lot of people who just got into the business within the last, I would say four or six months, and they're thinking to themselves, man, I think I missed the boat. I think that the opportunity I was thinking I was going to have is long bond. Right. Talk to me about that. Is that a real do they, have they missed the boat or is that perhaps just a false belief?
Nick Carlson:
So it's interesting what we just got out of and how we're going to this normal market. I think we need to define what a normal market is because that kind of sets the stage for what these agents who are getting into this business are going to look at. Sure. A normal market is between five and six months worth of inventory, normalized appreciation, roughly anywhere from zero to 3% normal days on market versus the 25 days on market that we just came from. So while people were saying that they may have gotten in late, I think they're getting in at the right time because they're learning all of the things. And I'll give you an example of this. I had an agent started working and she had been doing this market for the past two years and she called me over the summer and she was like, okay, how do I negotiate out this contract?
And I was like, well, what do you mean wanna negotiate out? She meant actually negotiate out the contract. The kind of market that we just exited was one where, I mean, you had to run, see it, you were competing against everybody else and you had to throw out the best thing that you got. Well now we're entering an environment where everything's normal. So you've got to sit down and advise your clients and actually go through the process it normally should be gone through. It's fascinating. It's fascinating what we just came from. If I was a new agent coming into this business, I would just absorb everything you could while you've got the time to do it. So
Nathan Whitworth:
I love that. Yeah. So what's really interesting is I threw at you what a lot of people are feeling when you brought back facts and statistics. Yeah. And I don't feel like there's enough of that going on. That's not enough. People who are going, okay, well hold on, let's look at the data and let's look at that historically that let's try to figure out what is this really that we're in. It may not be the same as it was two months ago. Right. That's, you may have to develop a slightly different skillset now or a skillset set that you probably should have either anyway. That's right. What you're referring to. But it doesn't mean that the opportunity is lost.
Nick Carlson:
No. And too is right in front of you,
Nathan Whitworth:
The opp opportunity in front of you. And I think that this is a big thing. This is a big topic. And typically when I'm having these conversations with agents, my response is right now is a massive opportunity to develop that Rolodex, to develop that clientele, to develop that base of your business That's right
From that's right here on Will Excel, right? Mm-hmm. Buy low, sell high. Right. I mean it's kind of that same concept except with building a business while right now you might not be able to go into, somebody else said this, I thought it was funny, you may not be able to go into the grocery store, hold up your business card and walk out with four clients. You may not be able to do that right now. Right. But if you do the right things and you spend your time doing the right things right now, it will lead That's right. To a massively successful business within just a few years.
Nick Carlson:
Right. And I think the important thing that has been lost, especially in this past couple of years is service. And is if you provide good service, that's going to come back to you in spades. Well said. You're going to have your clients referring you out. You're going to be getting referrals from different states. You're going to be doing a lot more business than you normally would by actually taking the time and doing those steps well. So providing that service. So that, that's very
Nathan Whitworth:
Important. That's very cool. Yeah. You were mentioning earlier that you were very excited about the people who are getting into this at a young age. Yeah. Why is that?
Nick Carlson:
I was young when I got into it and I remember trying to figure it all out. And I've seen there's another agent that we've got, she was 24 when she got in this business, and you just see the roadmap in front of her. I mean, I can see how she's going to build her clientele early and she's going to follow people throughout the stages of their life. So whether it be getting married, having kids, getting divorced any of those things, she's going to be with them to provide service and build her career that way. I think that that's fascinating for anybody who's getting in, especially in their twenties. I mean, it's scary because it's your own business. You've gotta go in there and you're not getting a paycheck. You've gotta actually earn your keep. Right. And to be able to do that, I think Bill's character. And then number two, I mean, it's just awesome that you can carry something like that throughout your entire career.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah. So well said. And what's interesting is if you start young, right? If this is, maybe it's not your very first career choice, but let's say that you start early 24, 26, 28, you're able to develop the correct mindset. Correct. In my opinion, that leads to a successful agent, right? Correct. Far too often, and I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, cuz I have seen it many times where there's a W2 person who comes on over into the agent world who becomes an entrepreneur, who becomes their small business owner, which is what all of you guys are. Right. And they were able to make that shift Well, but it's far easier to just develop it correctly in the beginning. Right. Which is really what you're you's right saying heres, and I, I've always thought it was really interesting. I mean the people who make it, because it's very typical. I mean, I don't know if you know the statistic on this, but I know it's a lot of agents who come into the business as a second, third career choice, mid thirties, mid forties. That's pretty typical. Yeah. And yeah, I
Nick Carlson:
Think the average age of a real estate agent around 55, 56.
Nathan Whitworth:
Oh, gotcha. That's interesting. And so it's really, it's funny because I, it's always difficult, just like you said. Yeah. You have to learn how to fish. And it is not easy if you're coming from a world that you know, were told what to do from nine o'clock until five. Yeah. And you just did those things and you didn't have that hunger and you didn't develop that drive and you didn't understand, okay, this is what I've gotta do and these are the numbers I've gotta hit. That's right. And if I'm hitting these numbers now, we'll find success. If I do the right thing every single day, then I will find the success I'm looking for. But most people don't live that life. That's right. And so when they try to leave their current W2 and go into that life very different, I think a lot of people do struggle with it.
Nick Carlson:
And it's funny, I had one of my good friends, he was on a panel and he was talking about his previous job and he got into real estate as a second career and they asked him what was important to him and he said, stability, which is not something that you think about in a 10 99 type world. That's interesting. But it was like, well what do you mean by that? And he said, I don't have a job relocating me. I've got time to spend with my family. I've got holidays that I can spend around town and doing things like that. And it's like, that's a different perspective I didn't even think about. But
Nathan Whitworth:
It's true. It is true. You are in control. You are in control. You're in full control of your success. The amount of effort that you put in time that you put in is going to be a direct correlation to what you get out of it. That's right. Yeah. That's so interesting. That's a really good point. That's really cool. What's probably one of the biggest, and take a second if you need to think about it, but what's probably one of the biggest pieces, or maybe top two or three pieces of advice that you would have for that young person who's coming in for that 26 year old, let's just give 'em 26, 28 year old who's thinking about maybe doing this or has already started down the pathway of becoming an agent, but they're really driven. They really wanna build a strong business. What's the advice that you would have for that
Nick Carlson:
Person? Well, a couple of things. First, with the finances end of things. Make sure that you have some saved up because you're not going to hit the ground running. You think you are. I was fortunate enough to do that. I've seen some people do that. The vast majority of people don't gotta have some savings in line. Also, try to figure out if you're young, the whole dynamic of the tax situation, how you're going to pay yourself retirement, all of the things that you would normally do with the W2 job that you really are not doing since you're working for yourself. You've gotta figure out a way to get all of your finances in line. Also I think Judge Judy said it best. God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason. Listen I think it's important to listen to all of the experienced agents who have been there cuz they can guide you on how things have been and where things are going. I would say meet as many people as possible, especially who you're going to be working at, not as a direct industry realtor to realtor person, but mortgage lenders, contractors new home specialists. Meet as many of those people as possible because they're going to be the people that are your listen to your broker, your broker's not going to steer you wrong.
Nathan Whitworth:
It's in their best interest not to,
Nick Carlson:
It's in their best interest, but they've been there, done that. There's a reason why they're as high up in the food chain as they are just cuz they know how this market is acting now and what's going to be beneficial for that agent. I mean, there's so many things <laugh>, I think books have been written on that.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah, dude. There's books have been written on that. No, but those are great places to start. I'm going to hone in on something really quickly, which is the relationship between the person and their broker and where they choose to hang their license. I'm curious what your thoughts are there. How does a person who's getting into this, because that's a big decision and often people don't get it right the first time. That's right. So I'm curious, what's your beliefs on this? How should a person be thinking about where to hang their license in, what broker to work with and learn from?
Nick Carlson:
I think it depends on how they like to be structured and taught. I know that the different brokerage models out, there are some that have training platforms, there are some mentoring programs. There are some people who say, I only need you when I need you. So I think it's important if you're getting into the business to interview with a couple of different brokerage firms, interview with the brokers, and then kind of ask what their teaching style is and what their, well stylistically what it is that they do. Do they like to provide information at meetings? Do they like to do more? And does it mesh well with the way that you take in information? I mean, like you said, there's a lot of people who get it wrong the first time, but when they mesh up well with a good broker, they get it.
Nathan Whitworth:
So that's really interesting. I think I'd like to take it one step further. Cause I think that's great advice. Talk to some people in the brokerage.
Nick Carlson:
Yeah, right.
Nathan Whitworth:
Oh yeah. I mean, absolutely. Typically, absolutely. The person that you're going to speak to, and this is just speaking candidly. Yeah. They're the closer. Yeah. They're the recruiter. Yeah. That's the person you're speaking to. They're probably going to be pretty good at their job about convincing you why it's a good idea to
Nick Carlson:
Go there. Yeah.
Nathan Whitworth:
Take it a step further, get that information, listen right process. I think that's important. But then go speak to some people who actually work in the brokerage.
Nick Carlson:
That's
Nathan Whitworth:
Right. I think that that's there. That's tremendously undervalued and it should be one of the biggest decision factors. And honestly to, for the most part, if the brokerage has a good number of agents and not numbers is everything by any stretch of the imagination. But if they are there and they've been there for a while, it means that they're probably happy for a reason. Right. So that's a good indication. But go speak to some people and get some real on the ground feedback to see how much of what you were told in that initial meeting is true. I
Nick Carlson:
Agree. Yeah, I totally agree with that.
Nathan Whitworth:
So I want to step aside just really quickly and talk a little bit about, and we talked about young agents. Yes. Getting into it, we talked about some things to consider, some ways to be successful when you're just starting out. I'm curious if the advice, and I think it's going to be the same, is the advice the same or is it different for somebody who is a third career for some, from somebody who is coming from a w2?
Nick Carlson:
I think it depends on where they come from. I can teach people houses. I can teach people about different styles of houses, what comes with houses and everything else. I can't teach sales. You either have sales or you don't have sales. And if you come from a background where you have that sales knowledge that we can talk shop all day long, but if you just don't have a clue on the sales portion of it, you're going to struggle. I think you've got to know the correct questions to ask and don't be afraid to ask them. I see that a lot with people too who are coming in as a third career where there was an agent I knew and we were talking about sales techniques and trying to do some coaching and some mentoring and everything else. And I kept getting pushback. Well, I don't operate that way, I don't operate that way. I'm like, okay, that's fine. She's no longer in the business. But it's kind of like if you want the business, you gotta ask for it. I mean, it's not rocket science
Nathan Whitworth:
<laugh> like that. If you want the business, you gotta ask. I mean you do. It's true.
Nick Carlson:
I mean, it's not rocket science and especially you've gotta lean on the people that you already know your sphere of influence. And I see people not wanting to do that. Either they're scared to do that or they feel uncomfortable doing that and it, it's kinda like, come on guys. I mean, they want to see you succeed as much as you want to succeed. So asking them for help is never a bad thing. Let
Nathan Whitworth:
Me ask you something. Was it always easy for you?
Nick Carlson:
No.
Nathan Whitworth:
Oh, do you remember back in the beginning, I mean, I know it's been a little while ago, but
Nick Carlson:
I mean, who wants to trust a 24 year old with the biggest purchase of their life? How did you get
Nathan Whitworth:
Serious? How'd you get around that
Nick Carlson:
Market knowledge? I read books. I read statistics. I was able to throw things out there and I focused on a neighborhood like North Main and I went with it. So at that time I could tell you every two bedroom, one bath that was on the market, how much it was worth, what percentage it sold for, all of that stuff. But I had to do something that made me stand out.
Nathan Whitworth:
Well
Said. So which brings us perfectly to the next topic, which is how do you stand out if you're, I mean, dude, you've seen Yeah, not that I spent a whole lot of time there because man, there's some crazy effing people in those Facebook groups. But the times where you see somebody just drop a little, Hey, please recommend an agent. We're moving to the area who need to know. Yes. And then the comments, all of the people who start reaching out, how do you set yourself apart? Not necessarily specifically on Facebook, but how does an agent set themself apart? And I think that there's some gold in what you literally just said right there before this, which is you become the expert, you are the go-to guy because that's right. More than anybody else does. It doesn't have to be about Greenville. Right. But if you know more about North Maine than anybody does That's right. Then you become the go-to person for North Maine.
Nick Carlson:
Right.
Nathan Whitworth:
I know the agents who I can see that we work with, who are doing more transactions than anybody else, they know inside and out their market. They know who they're working with and they know the homes that are being traded with that particular niche of the market that they work with. That's, and they are the best damn agent in that marketplace.
Nick Carlson:
What's that saying? Jack of all trades? Master
Nathan Whitworth:
Of none. Master of none. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm curious, what do you think about that? Has that always been your approach? Yeah. Have you, because again, that takes a lot of determination to, and this is another thing, which for me has always been interesting. I don't think that there's necessarily a right market or a right place instead of North Main. You could've chosen a different area. Correct. And then you would've been just as successful. It's not where you pick, right. That's right. It's that you pick.
Nick Carlson:
Yes, that's exactly
Nathan Whitworth:
Right. So I'm curious, what do you think about that?
Nick Carlson:
That's one of the things that they first teach you in real estate is Oh, okay. Is pick an area that you're comfortable with, preferably the neighborhood that you live in and run with that. I don't live in North Maine. I live in another neighborhood in town. I love that neighborhood. And so the fact that I can go in there and see how things change and who to market to within all of that, I think is fascinating. One of the things that I think that agents get into is they want to just do this scattershot approach and just see what sticks. And that's not necessarily the best thing to do. If you go to a church, focus on those. If you are interested in organizations, go with that sphere of influence. It doesn't necessarily have to be a neighborhood, it could be a group of people.
Nathan Whitworth:
That's interesting. That's a great point.
Nick Carlson:
But with neighborhoods I would pick one and hit that hard and be the master of your own domain. I think mean it's great when, from a real estate perspective, I work the North main market, so I get a lot of calls from other realtors who have clients who are looking in that market. I know certain realtors who work in other markets and they're my go-to as a realtor if I'm looking for something within their domain, like a Botany Woods, an Alta Vista a Thorn Blade, a Greenville Country Club. You kind of know your go-to people. And if you can own that, then you're going to gain the respective, not only the clients that you're trying to serve, but also your fellow realtors. And I think that's super important.
Nathan Whitworth:
Can you talk to me about that for a second? Yeah. Why is the respect to your fellow look, why is it that having your colleagues know and believe that you're the best in your respective spaces? Why is that important? How does that help you build your business? Because, well, I'm not sure I'm that there's a lot of agencies, younger agents who understand the significance of that
Nick Carlson:
Yet. I can give you a good example. And this is just what we exited from. If you're sitting there looking at seven offers, if I'm sitting with the seller and I've got seven offers in front of me and they all look exactly alike and the seller can't choose who to go with, I can say, I've worked with this one eight times and I've never had a problem. There's my sway right there. So I think it's important that you have a good relationship with the people that you work with because it's going to pay off in Saints. Yeah.
Nathan Whitworth:
Well said. That's interesting. Talk to me this is, and I didn't prep you for this, so if you don't wanna go here, but we don't have to, I'm curious because you guys talk to me about Wilson Associates a little bit. How did Wilson Associates get started? Talk to me a little bit about the history there. When did you get involved? How did you get involved? Kind of talk me through that
Nick Carlson:
Just for a second. Sharon and I started in 2014. We both worked at another brokerage. We had just gotten out of the doldrums of the great recession. We found out that we worked somewhat alike. We were one of the first two who grabbed onto social media as a marketing tool. Interesting. And so we opened up shop, had some agents had some brand new agents join us too. And one of the things that we really pushed hard was social media. So since the brokerage is the entity that owns the listing, we were able to advertise that throughout all of our agents. So if I have a listing the next day, Sharon would get it on her Instagram and Facebook page and then it would go down the list from there. We don't care who gets the listing as long as we get the household. The household is the big push. That's kind of the way we started doing it.
Nathan Whitworth:
And that's fascinating. Yeah, that's really interesting. What year is this?
Nick Carlson:
2014.
Nathan Whitworth:
It was early it,
Nick Carlson:
Social media, it was really early and everything has changed since then. And so that's why it's interesting to see the detoxification of everything. Yeah. I mean, cause before it was you would market on Instagram to your friends and friends of friends and now it's just like anybody and everybody and push a reel and it can go out to people you just don't know a hundred
Nathan Whitworth:
Percent.
Nick Carlson:
So it's like, well how do you market to that group?
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah. It's interesting. You used to and I would say even just five years ago, it didn't to I'll be all the way in 2014, the act of being successful on social media really just meant leveraging each other's networks. That's right. That's really what it was. Right. And if you had a connection and you could post a photo on somebody else's and tag somebody else and went from having 5,000 eyes on it to 15,000 eyes on it within, I mean instantly. That's right. For free. Right. It was amazing. It was amazing. It's different now for sure.
Nick Carlson:
It's different. And the way people have consumed their information has totally changed a hundred percent. Especially during covid and all of that. I mean, it seems like people relied heavily on social media and I mean personally, I need a break from it. I just need to put it up and don't wanna see it half the day. But that's how people get their information. You consume content and the fancier you can make it, the better off you
Nathan Whitworth:
Are. One of the biggest encouragements that I give agents all the time is you have to create more than you consume. Right. And that's a big issue. I mean, it's easy to get sucked in. It's literally designed to get sucked in. And so whatever guardrails you gotta put up around it to make sure that when you log in, the only thing you're doing is to communicate and consume. To communicate and create instead of consume, then you're definitely headed in the right direction.
Nick Carlson:
There's a woman realtor from Atlanta. Her name is Glenda Baker. I don't know if you've seen her or not. Yeah, she's one of my favorite ones because she gets up there and she doesn't necessarily talk about fancy houses and pretty houses and anything else. She talks about content and what people want to hear about things. And I wish that we had more of that.
Nathan Whitworth:
Can we talk about this for a second? Yeah. Cause I'm curious. It's interesting that you bring her up because I think there's a couple things that really strike me about her account. And I'm about to do a whole series on this, by the way, where I pick a few really some people in the real estate industry who have big followings and I'm going to do some breakdowns about their accounts. And so talking about Glen Baker, what's really interesting about her account is that if you were to go and you were to consume any of her videos, most of it is story
Nick Carlson:
Driven. Yeah, that's right.
Nathan Whitworth:
She's just basically getting on camera and it is highly a little bit more highly produced. There's a light and there's a professional camera.
Nick Carlson:
But it wasn't always that way.
Nathan Whitworth:
It wasn't always that way. And I would say that the majority of her following wasn't built off of that high production value. Right. The majority of her following was built off of just showing up on camera and then just sharing her opinion. That's literally what it is. And I think she even calls it like her 2 cents or something like that. Isn't she the one who does that?
Nick Carlson:
Something? Something like that. Something like that. But
Nathan Whitworth:
I think that there's something to be said for that,
Nick Carlson:
Right?
Nathan Whitworth:
Standing up, having an opinion and saying, this is what I believe in and this is what I think to be true. Might not apply to you. And it might not be true for you either. That's right. But you can tell she's not all that concerned about turning away a potential client from something that she says on that video.
Nick Carlson:
No, but what she talks about is relevant stuff. And I think that percent, that's the important distinction between just having an opinion and doing something like she does. Well said. It's relevant. It speaks to both agents, it speaks to the public, it speaks to anybody who's looking to buy or sell something a hundred percent. So she has done great in that department.
Nathan Whitworth:
I think one of the things and that, that's so true, I think one of the things to consider though is that if I had to guess, I would imagine, not that I know her, and not that I've ever talked to her, but if I had to guess, she probably spends more time thinking about what she wants her strategy on that to be. Then most people think she
Nick Carlson:
Does. Oh, I think that that's true with,
Nathan Whitworth:
I think that there's doing that. I agree. I think there's more intentionality behind it than you can see. But she puts, that puts a social first strategy in her business. And I think, again, I don't know, but I would imagine that most people in that scenario, it pays off huge dividends.
Nick Carlson:
Right,
Nathan Whitworth:
Exactly. And I'm not saying it's necessarily what every agent needs to be doing. I think that there's ways to be a great agent and to earn a healthy income and to have a great life without doing that. I'm not saying that you have to, I'm just saying that there's opportunity there.
Nick Carlson:
Well, I mean, again, it goes back to what we were saying, it's find your niche and as soon as you find your niche and you can go with it and run with it, then you'll be fine. Her niche is
Nathan Whitworth:
That. Well said. That's awesome. All right, man. So my last thing I wanna wrap up. I wanna respect your time. You are the incoming president of G G A R. Yes. It's going to be a busy year.
Nick Carlson:
It's going to be a busy year. It's
Nathan Whitworth:
Going to be a dude, I'm excited for you. It's awesome. Talk to me just for a second about the G G A R as a whole. What does it feel like to be a, because I think there's a lot of people who, a lot of agents who are thinking to themselves, I can see myself in a future working to serve, being on a board, being on a committee, doing something. Yeah. Talk to me for a second about what should they know about being a part of your local organization and being active.
Nick Carlson:
Well, not only are you serving with your fellow realtors in some capacity, whether it be committee memberships or something like that, you're also working for the public. I mean, one of our big responsibilities is making sure that the public is in a good place. So a lot of the committees that we have are Habitat for Humanity. We've got some social committees too to encourage people to come on board, big on philanthropy. But we're big on making sure that our members are number one, ethical. Number two, play well in the sandbox. And number three are out there supporting the community. That has done so well for us. And so I feel like if you are active in your organization, any association, especially great Greater Greenville Association, then you're going to feel a sense of pride and see how your career choice and all of your peers career choices has really helped affect the community in which we live. And I think that that's very important.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah, it's always interesting. And that's a great point. It's always interesting cuz what's still saying, it's kind of corny, but I think it's true. Your net worth is your network. Yeah.
Nick Carlson:
Something like that. Something
Nathan Whitworth:
Your network is your net worth. Yeah.
Nick Carlson:
Yeah.
Nathan Whitworth:
Man. If there's one thing I've discovered as I've gone through life and built some businesses and things like that is that the connections that you make that's right. Is probably the most significant factor in the success or failure of whatever venture you're trying to do. And this goes for any industry, it doesn't matter.
Nick Carlson:
Right. And our association, I think is special in the fact that when you're starting in this job, they offer all of the resources right there. You've got training classes, you've got all of the tools at your disposal. All you've gotta do is go up there and ask and sign up and do all of these things. So they really do a lot. We're 3,800 members strong,
Nathan Whitworth:
Which is significant. It's
Nick Carlson:
The third largest in the state. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. Very cool.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. So
Nick Carlson:
We do a lot for the members. Membership does a lot for
Nathan Whitworth:
Us. That's awesome. Yeah. That's very cool group. Yeah. That's awesome. Nick, this has been amazing, dude. Thank you. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you would come and just share with us. Thank you. Everything that you've learned, and give a little bit of give back to the community, whether they're here in Greenville or whoever they're, wherever they might be listening this from. If they have a question or if there's something that they would like to ask where can people find out more information about you and Wilson Associates?
Nick Carlson:
You can go to our website@wilson.net. Email me nick@wilsonassociates.net. I get a lot of spam. I try to filter as best as I can. Yeah. Try those avenues first. That's awesome, man. Yeah, they can usually get in touch with
Nathan Whitworth:
Me. Well, listen, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Thank you. And thank you so much for being here. Sounds
Nick Carlson:
Great. Thank
Nathan Whitworth:
You. Yeah, you're welcome man. Guys, hopefully you were able to take away a few things from this conversation. I know I did. I learned a few things I didn't know before I sat down and chatted with Nick. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to him or reach out to us guys. Merry Christmas, happy new year. Go out there and crush it. I'll talk to you soon.
Nick Carlson:
Bye.
Nathan Whitworth:
Hey everyone, thanks for listening. Hopefully this was really helpful to you in your journey of building a business. If you liked 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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