How They Crushed It

Colleen Rippey | Entrepreneurial Experiences, Valuing Recognition, & The Power of Active Connecting

• Direct Mortgage Loans • Season 2 • Episode 1

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Colleen Rippey, the guest on the How They Crushed It podcast, shares her journey from selling Cutco knives to starting Real Producers. She talks about her early entrepreneurial experiences, the importance of mentors and recognition, and her shift from selling to homeowners to selling to realtors. This led her to create Real Producers, a platform to connect with top real estate agents. Colleen's story highlights the value of building relationships, finding a niche market, and continuously striving for growth. Colleen discusses the concept of Real Producers, a community of top-producing realtors, and how it provides vendors with access to these agents. She talks about her own journey in sales and the importance of being willing to put yourself out there. Colleen emphasizes the value of active connecting and how it has helped her build a successful community. She also shares the importance of calendar prioritization and planning for success.

Direct Mortgage Loans (00:

00.014) People always love to be around people who are well connected. Sometimes I look back and I'm like, I can't even believe I did that. You're pretty fearless. Ooh, like I can make things and then make money. You keep getting hungrier. We ask ourselves all the time, are we poor again? I've always worked really hard to be an active connector. The fact that there's no limit. Any avenue to build relationships with agents was where I wanted to pursue my time and energy. Naivete is sometimes the greatest thing. Skinny Grapefruit Crush on it. Welcome, everybody, to season two, episode one of the. How They Crushed It podcast brought to you by Direct Mortgage Loans. Today's guest is a longtime friend of DML, Colleen Rippey, who runs Baltimore Real Producers and Coastal Real Producers, and she definitely crushes it. She's one of the most connected people we know, and we're pumped to talk to her. Welcome everybody to season two of the How They Crushed It podcast. Today is episode one of season two with our friend Colleen Rippey from Baltimore Real Producers and Coastal Real Producers. You are the real producer as far as I'm concerned. Welcome my friend. Thank you. I'm so grateful to be here. Thank you for the invite. Yeah man, absolutely. Colleen has a great story. Colleen is definitely crushing it. A lot of you have seen her all over the place in this town. That's kind of what we talk about, how people are thriving and crushing it in today's environment. We do a couple of segments here, everybody. Colleen, we talk a little bit, we're just gonna talk a little bit about some fun stuff to get us rolling. We're gonna talk about little Colleen and your story, how you kind of got into business, what's happening in your world today, and what we always end with, what's the one thing you're doing right now that's really working that everybody can take something away from. Love it. When we get into this. So without further ado, I kind of lead off a lot of times with, do you drink crushes? I love crushes. What is your favorite? Skinny Grapefruit Crush. Skinny Grapefruit. I love that. I love that. Yeah. Well, we have it at our company at Direct Mortgage Homes. We have what we call DML Crush, which is half grapefruit, half orange. OK. That's a spin. Mike Naylor, who you know, who I work with. That's what he calls it. That's DML Crush. The DML Crush. So Skinny Grapefruit is what you go with. That's my order.

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07.918) I will remember that when I see you out, I will have one waiting for you next time. Please, I would be so impressed. Since we're in the summer of 2024, this is a question I ask everybody because it's kind of topical lately and the person behind the camera over there, she just rolled her eyes as she knows what I'm going to ask. Are you a Swifty or not a Swifty? Big Swifty. big Swifty. I just saw her in Sweden. No. Have you been to Eris Tor outside of Sweden? I saw her on the first leg, so like in Arizona. You should be on camera by the way over there, Swiftie. I went to see her in Nashville. Nice, we saw her in Nashville for the Reputation Tour. Yeah. So I'm a late stage Swiftie, so I wasn't like going to concerts that early on. Right. But now I'm like obsessed. Actually, the Aris Tour is what made me obsessed. Like I didn't go there being like, I knew her main songs, but after that I... got obsessed and now I'm trying to find a way to go to like New Orleans before the tour is over because now she's infused the new album. Yeah. yeah. It's so good with the new album. The joke I like to say, which she knows about Tiffany back there, my son told me, dad, get on the right side of history. Anyone who's not, I'm like a little bit skeptical of because I'm like, what's not to love? They just sometimes people just want to be haters of something popular. Like they're like, I want to be... Which is fine. It's not my favorite music. I have other artists that I like better, but I totally get it. Yeah. It doesn't mean you have to love her music. It's like, I just want, especially men, to respect her as a business owner, as a billionaire, as a bad big. A marketer, like everything. Yeah, everything. Hold on. Everybody, she's definitely crushing it. She'd have a bigger studio than this. She'd have a bigger studio than this, Colleen, for us on that. Okay, well good. Second thing, we always look at what Google questions are out there, what Google's asking. Google's saying, do you know how to get rid of fruit flies? Do I know how to get rid of fruit flies? No. I kind of do. Detergent and like vinegar mixed together and then they fly into that and can't get out. Actually that's really helpful because we do get fruit flies from time to time and I've never spent the time trying to figure out how to deal with it. Vinegar. Vinegar. And like soap. And soap.

Direct Mortgage Loans (04:

15.694) Yeah, look at soap. Okay. That was Google. I'm learning, I'm learning today. That was Google. We asked Google what's the most Google question today and that was the most Google question today. so that's how you get that. A lot of times. Okay, cool. I love it. And then another one to be topical is something that's important to me, I know important to you. Do you know what the biggest Pride festival in the United States is? The Pride event. Is it New York? It is New York. Is it? Yeah. That's awesome. I've never been to New York Pride. I go to Baltimore typically every year. To DC maybe once. Philly, I went to school at St. Joe's, so Philly was a place. Our family's been to all three of those. yeah? Yeah? Yes. That's cool. Well that was it. That's all the icebreakers. So ice is broken now, my friend. We always like to start off with, take us back to little Colleen and tell us a little bit about your story because you got a lot going on in your business world, a lot that's thriving, a lot that I love hearing about and I purposely haven't written down a ton of questions because I just want to hear your story and talk about it. But like, what got you into all of this? Well, Little Colleen, I guess I started off as it relates to business, I should say, because there's a lot of angles and, you know, yeah, this is about business and good principles about how people can thrive and succeed. Perfect. You know, when you say Little Colleen, I could go into things I'm sharing with my therapist and I'm going to leave you a tip afterwards if you want to go there. She's great at that. Let's go there now. So. The first memory I have of I guess being entrepreneurial, which I think kind of like parlays into business today, is making marshmallow guns. You ever heard of those? Yeah. And they're with like PVC pipe? Yeah. My dad was a plumber. So yeah. How old were you? I was, that's a good question. I think I was like, somewhere between like 10 and 12. And I have a hard time tracking the days, but about there. And I would go to like, I found out about this, I don't even remember how I found out about it. I probably saw one at some flea market or craft fair or something. And then I was like, I could make these. I'm not super crafty, but I looked it up and it was really easy and went to Home Depot, bought a bunch of PVC pipe. And then you just have to kind of attach them together. My brothers were better than I was, but I know what you're talking about. Did you ever make one before? Yeah.

Direct Mortgage Loans (06:

26.702) Yeah, absolutely. They're so cool and they go far. I mean, when you blow into that thing, I mean, they're like rockets. So I knew because I was obsessed with them. Like I think I bought one at a, you know, at some craft fair and I was playing with it and I was like, I could like sell these. So I bought a bunch and then like booked a vendor table at, I think it was at the, what is that park? Cromwell Valley Park. Yeah. And they had this like little event for families and stuff. And I had like a little station where I was like, I had a bunch of marshmallow guns and then people could like paint them there. And like they bought a bunch of them and it was like, you know, I got this taste of like, ooh, like I can like make things and then like make money. It was like very exciting as a young kid. So that I think is just like what, just one example of what kind of springboarded me into, I guess more of a entrepreneurial path. Have you ever brought those back by the way? Let's stay there for a minute. Have you ever, at all the events you throw in town, have you ever brought out the marshmallow guns? No, but I should, I should have like a, Marshmallow gun, you know tournament or something. I'm not gonna take all of our airtime talking about it, but when we're done I'm gonna tell you absolutely need to do something. There's something there. Yeah, welcome people. Yes, I mean I miss them talking about it makes this perfect weather for this like I want to go play with them again. That's a good idea. Out of nostalgia's stake, but so yeah, that was kind of the start. So you add this aha at that. Little Colleen has this aha. I can make this stuff and I can make money on a weekend. Yeah, even though I'm a kid. And yeah, and I always I guess had sort of like the personality for sales. Was always like really good with people, very like persuasive, so people would tell me that. And so I guess my first career, you know, fast forward to being in college, you know, I started with some of the usual jobs that a lot of people do, you know, as they're a young person being like in high school or college, which is, you know, serving or being a hostess here and there. I had a couple of those. And I did fairly decent at those, it didn't light me up necessarily. But I remember getting recruited for Cutco, and this was my sophomore year of college, and it's a huge college recruiting company. I mean, as we know, there's a lot of DML. There's a couple DMLers. I think three DMLers are from Cutco. Yeah, wait, I know. Mike. Mike, for sure. DeftObes.

Direct Mortgage Loans (08:

45.526) I forgot Jeff too, yeah. And Jamie Lopez, our... Was she too? She was an administrator there, but now she's an administrator for us. That's cool, that's really cool. It's such a great springboard for any sales career really. And they have such a great training program. So they recruited me in as a young college student, and I was hooked right away after the three -day training that kind of launches you into it, because it was just so exciting to me that... I could make really as much as I wanted to make with effort. Like just the idea of the harder I work, the more I make, you know, you eat what you kill kind of thing. By contrast to working at like Models when I worked at Models or some of these retail places where it was like, I just wasn't, I really wasn't a good employee to be honest. It's not like I'm just this natural hard worker. Like I wanted to do as little as possible because I just wasn't, I was gonna get paid the same either way. So it sounds horrible, but I just like, I'm not. really a good employee in that way. I want to do as little as possible for the amount of being paid. So I have to be incentivized to work hard to earn more. That's kind of how I operate. So that's what kind of a treaty. And eat what you kill is not something that ever goes away. Right. I believe. I agree. I agree. It just keeps, yeah, like you keep getting hungrier. Yeah, well, exactly. And the fact that there's no limits and no ceiling is what I hear from tons of entrepreneurs. Yes. Once they taste that, they can't go back from it. Exactly. I mean, I'm the same way. So yeah, it's once you get there. I mean, and you know what's funny? You say you weren't a good employee. I always felt like I was the greatest employee when I was young, but I was always dying to get out of there and not be an employee anymore. Yeah. But looking back, I would say the opposite. I'm always like, I was a great employee. I just couldn't wait to get the hell out of there. Yeah, I mean, it's not like, yeah, I would say I wasn't like bad. Like I was very friendly, but I never went the extra mile. I wasn't like, I'm thinking of Modell specifically. I mean, serving is a little different because you kind of have to hustle because you're trying to earn tips. So there's a little bit of, there's commission there. But at a retail environment, it was like, what do I want to do? Sit here and chat with my coworkers or go hang clothes up on the hook and organize things. Like, my gosh, I would do everything, but like just organize things. There's always something you could do.

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59.054) But I never was motivated to do that. I was just like, let me just hide away. So when you moved to Cutco, how long were you there? So I started Cutco in 2008. OK. Remember it was 2008. That was kind of the best time to start too, because it seems like everything would be falling to shambles in the economy. But I felt like I didn't know any different. So I was trained and launched during that year. And in a way, I feel like that was. the best environment because if I could succeed at that time, you can kind of succeed anytime. I'm gonna come back to that in a minute. Yeah, so I really felt like I was kind of in a bubble. Like I just didn't know any different. They never made a big deal out of it. I didn't even understand anything about the economy anyway. So I was just, yeah, launched in 2008. I was a sophomore. I just did really, really well. I have to credit, and I know that, you know, Jeff. and Mike and probably Jamie you remember, Jeff Gamboa, he's a very pivotal figure in my training. He was the guy who directly trained me and he was like a divisional manager for a long time and he was somebody who believed in me, which I had just never experienced before. Not saying my parents didn't believe in me, but it's a different relationship when someone who's a mentor. Look, I wrote down the word mentors before you even said it, but it's something, every one of these we've done for every person that we've interviewed that's in much different, you know, walks of life. They all had mentors that believed in them. They said exactly, a version of exactly what you said. So tell me more about that. Yeah, he immediately kind of took me under his wing and he made me feel so special and so talented. And I just, I gained the sense of confidence from just being in his presence. And he gave me so much attention. Like he's a guy that completely understands how to pour into your top 20 % who are producing the most. And he could, he could pick that out. before I even really produced, like he saw that I was going to be great. And it's almost a chicken or the egg. Like, did he make me great because of what he believed? Or did he just know I was going to be great? Because how he believed in me, I think also created the results. It's a little of both. Yeah. I always believed that you... Well, Collin, you have greatness in you and he helped you pull it out. So it's not quite chicken or egg, but it's in there. Yeah. Yeah. He said to help you let it fly. Yeah. Yeah. I agree with that. Yeah. So...

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21.646) because of his mentorship and extra attention and like, he really, I could tell, gave me disproportionate amount of his time and attention and like, met up with me and talked to me and take, he's like, no, you call me directly, you're not talking to this manager, like, I'll mentor you through this initial, they call it like a fast start, you know, when you have your first 10 days. And I did, I crushed it, did really well. And then - That was good, good tie in, thank you. I was like, okay. And - Then, you know, it was just for the summer, because I was still in school, but, you know, was one of the top salespeople for the, you know, the entire region that summer. Came back, did the same thing again the next summer. Was he still there? He was. OK. Yeah. And then came back the third summer and actually ran a branch just like Dobbs did. Yeah, it was like that was like in a more management position where I was recruiting people. That was a really great experience, but wasn't what really lit me up. So I went back to sales. and ended up being with Cutco for a decade. Wow. I mean, it ended up being a long career. Aren't they like dog years there? It means like you were there like 40 years. Yeah, yeah, basically. It's such a big recruiting company that people kind of weed themselves out and they're in for usually a summer or a couple weeks. I mean, most of them weed themselves out within the first couple days because it's hard. No, but even the ones I don't, I mean, I never worked there, but everybody that I've always heard, if they kicked butt, you had a summer. Then you went back to school. Exactly. And not a lot of people come back. But I was addicted to it. I was addicted to the high of closing sales. But what I learned from Cutco, and I try to use what I learned in terms of how I help lead people on our team, is the importance of recognition. They were so good at recognition and recognizing performance and success in a world where we can... And I'm still working on this myself, of course. who's working with me watching this will be like, well, you're still, I still have a tendency to be like, you know, focus on what's wrong, missing or broken instead of. Well, that's the opposite of recognition. Exactly. So I have to like, that's something that I constantly have to remind myself of and remember how he was. Like that's something that I learned directly from him is like the value of recognition and lifting people up based on what they're doing well.

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43.182) because that is what motivated me to stick around for so long. That's great. And you said something earlier that it's a term we use at our company quite a bit is pour into. We ask ourselves all the time, are we pouring in? Are we pouring in? Are we pouring in? And I think that's a healthy exercise because it's different than are we showing up and doing a good job. It's no, are we pouring in? Are we giving everybody what they need, not what we need to give them? There's a difference. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I have definitely an area of improvement there, but... A lot of great people like Jeff along my way have helped show me how best to kind of manage or lead people in ways that have worked really well for me. So when you leave Cutco, is that when you got into real producers at that point? Yeah, so it's kind of like a correlation there. So with Cutco, I was with Cutco for ultimately 10 years, but around 2012, so like four years in, I shifted my focus from... selling Cutco, these are knives for anyone watching, because we didn't specifically say. We haven't even told everybody exactly what Real Producers is for those that don't know. We'll get to that in a minute. Actually, this kind of transition would help explain that, like why I started Real Producers will help explain what it is, because it does relate back to Cutco. So selling Cutco knives, you think kitchen knives, right? So it's good for homeowners, like anybody who has a kitchen. So that was my focus in terms of... who I was selling to was just homeowners, consumers for the first four years. Going to home shows, going into Mr. and Mrs. Jones' kitchen and just sitting down with them and showing them my stuff, you know, my trench coat. That's not what it was, but. That's pretty good though. Yeah, I can picture like. So that was what it was. And then I shifted in 2012 to selling more to realtors. So that shift was instead of going and meeting with homeowners, where you might get a sale for a couple knives or maybe a set, you know, a couple, they're expensive knives. So the sets were like a couple thousand dollars. A lot of times, I mean, they're amazing knives. They last forever. We just shipped ours back for sharpening and they just got back actually. So you can sharpen it. They're forever guaranteed. They're amazing. So the incentive for people to keep buying them over and over again is not really there. I mean, it just wouldn't be as residual as I wanted it to be.

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59.662) So the conscious shift to selling realtors was, realtors are always looking for good gifts to give their clients. To homeowners. At closing, or yeah, to homeowners at closing, or just as a thank you gift, referral gift, whatever. So they're buying stuff anyway. They're already spending 100, 200 bucks on gift cards or wine or a basket or something like that. My pitch was always, okay, but you can give that stuff. It's not such a thing as a bad gift, but it is consumed and ultimately forgotten. So you wanna be memorable. then give something that lasts forever, has staying power, has, and is gonna be used in the most used room in the whole house, the kitchen. And of course, you know, realtors love to brand things. So smack their logo right there, engrave it on the blade. And it was like, you know, the sharpest realtor in town, Suzy Q. Or they say - You have a lot of sharpest realtors, didn't you? Yeah, they love these taglines. They're like, cut above the rest, you know, all the things. Looking back, it is kind of cheesy to put your brand on a knife, but - It worked out really well and I shifted to selling realtors and ultimately in 2012, that was like a transition year, but by 2013, all of my efforts were my lead generation instead of trying to find homeowners to sell to was trying to get in front of real estate agents through getting their office meetings or going to the association events. Any avenue to build relationships with agents was where I wanted to pursue my time and energy because... going back to the residual piece, if I could spend, you know, 30 minutes at someone at a real estate sales meeting, do my five minute pitch to 30 people, set up a table and get multiple orders for 10 sets or more, then what's gonna happen is they're gonna give out all the sets and they're gonna need more. So it became this system. And that's how I kind of pitched it, was like, your closing gift system. So you buy them in bulk, we spread the payments out so it goes with their cashflow, it's perfect. They ordered them, they run out and order more. So it just made sense to go deep in that just because it allowed me to kind of build my business a little bit faster and more efficiently. Now this led to Real Producers because being a real estate vendor wanting to market to realtors, I did really well, of course. I worked there from 2012 up till ultimately 2016 when I started transitioning to Real Producers. But what interested me in doing Real Producers was,

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24.75) as a vendor in real estate was trying to get in front of realtors. And I did all the things I just mentioned, going to sales meetings, happy hours, association events, seminars, whatever. But the challenge was, how do I get in front of the real producers? I mean, not these, but the real producers, the agents who are selling the most real estate, who are actually moving and shaking, who are doing the majority. of the production. Well, let me ask you, before we make that jump, was the majority of your knife sales at that point, two realtors over homeowners? Yeah. You had transitioned that part of your... Basically, 2012 was a transition year, and from 2013 on, I wouldn't say 100%, but probably like 90 % of my sales were real estate agents. Okay. Got it. So then it was like, constantly asking myself, how can I be more efficient? How can I continue to elevate and grow? And the biggest question was like... I'm not really getting in front of a lot of these top agents that I keep hearing about. They're not here. They're not at the sales meetings. They're not at the places that I'm marketing myself. So how do I reach them? And so that platform essentially did not exist. You know, you could get referred directly to people and there's all sorts of ways of, you know, marketing to people if you get their information, but I didn't have a way to access them at scale. And so... That's kind of where the concept of Real Producers came from. That wasn't completely my brainchild. We launched the, I think it was the fifth franchise across the country. Today there's like 130, so it's really exploded. So we were really early on, but my friend Remington launched the first version of Real Producers in Indianapolis. He also sold cutco closing gifts, so that's how we were connected. So he launched Real Producers. It wasn't even called that at first. So it was like, it got rebranded. but he started the first iteration of it. It was kind of his, mostly his brainchild. And at first I wasn't really like, I didn't understand, I was like, what do you mean a magazine? This is like, it was 2015 when he really started doing this. And he was telling me about, he's like, you gotta do this. And I was like, no, I got a good thing going with Cutco, I'm good. But then around 2016, I was like, you know what, I'm ready for something new and I can see the value because again, I couldn't.

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35.95) I wanted to find a way to get in front of the top producers. So that's where kind of Real Producers came into play, which essentially it's a community of the top producing realtors in a market. And it gives vendors, previously like myself, an opportunity to directly access the agents who are otherwise kind of inaccessible on a consistent basis. You know, I wrote down a couple things here, listening to you. I mean, talk to me a little bit about, I've always thought of you as fearless. And hearing your story makes me realize, you're pretty fearless. I mean, a lot of people in sales get, I believe, get caught up a little bit on their own fear and their own inhibitions. I mean, when you're in college and going for it like this, I mean, how do you get over that? Yeah, that's a great question. And I appreciate that you see me that way. I wouldn't call myself fearless. I definitely have a lot of fears. But I guess the difference is, you know, you just take action despite that fear. But it was really... hard for me at first, like even just starting Cutco and putting myself in front of these adults. I mean, because I was still in college, so you, they're still - I have college -age kids and I tell them all the time, you gotta be willing to put yourself out there. Yeah. That's the way I explain it to them and whatever it is they're doing. And they had my three kids do different things, but it's, you gotta be willing to put yourself out there. And so maybe fearless is wrong, but you were willing to put yourself out there. Yeah. And I really do credit so much of it to the culture and Cutco because - And, you know, I have to give some credit to, you know, my parents and how my mom's personality and just being so gregarious, like, I was always easy to kind of talk to. And I don't know if I was scared of talking to adults, but it was a whole other ballgame to be, you know, calling, cold calling, essentially, these homeowners. And now it is by referral, but it's still like, hey, Susie, hey, Susie, this is Colleen. Judy told me to give you a call. I met with her the other week, just going into it and you're like, you're trying to get them to say yes to let you sit at their kitchen table for an hour on a Tuesday night. Sometimes I look back and I'm like, I can't even believe I did that. I don't know if I could do it now. Hold on, time out. I've heard this one a ton and I've said it a ton. Naivete is sometimes the greatest thing. Yeah, you're right.

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57.486) Not even knowing that you shouldn't, not knowing what you don't know at the time. I mean, that's what, I tell my kids, that's what perspective, now that I'm old, I call it perspective. But you know, really it's just looking back at your former self saying, how the hell did I come up with the guts to do that? Yeah, I think about it. I'm like, that to me just epitomizes the power of the culture and what Jeff... instilled in me. I mean, there are others there too, others there who probably didn't see it. But you found it. I'm gonna give you credit. You found it within yourself to just say, I'm gonna wake up tomorrow and grind again. Wake up tomorrow and grind again. Yeah, and I wanted to, I was so motivated for the recognition and I mean, obviously the money was awesome because as a college student being able to make $10 ,000 in a summer, like that's a lot of money for a college kid. There's still a lot of money now. Yeah, yeah, right, you're right. Not to, yeah, poo poo it. It's... Especially like a college student in the summer, I felt like I was rich and you don't have all the expenses you do it as adults. So it's like, my God. So I was motivated for that, but I thrived to be like ranked at the top. And I had a colleague of mine, his name's Theo. Shout out Theo, if you watch this, cause we're still friends. Yeah, I'll have to tag Theo. We were like, we started at the same time and we were like this, like competing like neck and neck every week throughout the whole summer. And that was such a powerful motivator for me is that competition element. Healthy competition is a great thing. And we were like really good friends. And I know there was a part of us though, like if you know, we would compare notes and be like, all right, how many appointments you have today? Five? All right, so yeah, I'm going to Owings Mills and I'm going down to La Plata. I mean, we were all over the place. And then he would call me and be like, my God, there was a no show. And I'll be like, really? Yeah, I'll be like. I mean, like, you said. But you don't really need it. You want them to do well. I do, I do. But you want to beat the best. I know, but I like, we both admitted, like, we were, like, sneaky kind of happy when things weren't going well for the other one because we were that competitive, but it was all, of course, in love and kids. Well, now that you said this, I definitely want you to tag Theo. Yeah. Please, please, please do. Especially that part, yeah. But now, like, I'm giving a lot of credit to everyone around me because I do believe, like, the ecosystem that you're in. I don't know that I would have...

Direct Mortgage Loans (27:

07.31) continued with Cutco, I definitely wouldn't have if they hadn't kind of created that culture that made me want to do well. Because I cared more about significance or recognition more than the money, more than really anything else. And that's what kept me with Cutco for as long as I was. Well, you know what I hear with entrepreneurs a lot, and I wrote this down too, and I see this in you both with Cutco and with your transition into real producers is you were open to opportunity. You let the world come to you. And you know, you like to sometimes look back and say, well, I was brilliant. I saw this opportunity. No, you just allowed the opportunity to come to you is really what happens a lot of times. And you make the most of it. You made the most of Cutco. And as we're transitioning to talking about real producers, you're making the most of real producers. But it came, the world brought it to you and you seized it. You put it in the headlock and ran with it. Well, thank you. That's a good way of putting it, that it came to me. I mean, I look back on my career and I mean. I wish I could be, say I was brilliant and I found this opportunity, I found that opportunity. You kind of gotta keep going and let them wash over you. When you see it, you gotta be smart enough to just hit yourself then stop and say, no, this is what I should do now. That's a good point. Yeah, I mean, I hear that in the way you're talking about it. So tell us more about Real Producers. With Real Producers, we own two franchises. One's Baltimore, the one that you are a part of. That's where we're sitting right now, everybody. Yep, whoo. And then we have... Coastal Real Producers, which we just launched actually, not even a year ago. It's hot off the press and we are loving it. So essentially what Real Producers is, and I mentioned earlier, there's like 130 franchises across the country. So we just own two of them. Every market has their own nuances and differences. Well, hold on. We're from Baltimore. This market definitely has its nuances. It does. It does. And not to brag, but Baltimore is number one in the whole country. Crushing it. It's crushing it. Skinny grapefruit. There we go, I like that, skinny grapefruit crush in it. So yeah, Baltimore is number one currently out of all the other pubs in terms of total revenue, which is really the only thing I guess we can measure on that. But, so essentially what it is, is it's a community of the top producing realtors in the market, and in our case, Baltimore, the market is like central Maryland, like Baltimore and the surrounding counties, and we assess that just through the MLS production, and specifically, it's the top 500 agents.

Direct Mortgage Loans (29:

27.086) So the top 500 agents in this market in Central Maryland are doing 78 % statistically of all the production in all of Central Maryland. So, my god, the 80 -20 rule is actually a real thing. Exactly, it's just about 80%. So it's the real movers and shakers, the people that I always wanted to reach and get in front of when I was selling Cutco, kind of all in one bucket. So what we do for that community, if you're a realtor, is when you earn your spot, you have to rank in the top 500 for that year. They get a monthly copy. of Real Producers Magazine, which is really a storytelling platform so that we can shine a light and spotlight the different members of the community who are doing awesome things, who are crushing it. Just a different medium of doing that. Instead of a podcast, we're doing it through the magazine. That comes out every month. Then we have events that we host that bring the community together in the flesh so they can build relationships. And this fun woman knows how to throw a fun party. thank you. Thank you. We do love our events. We have a huge one coming up, our big soiree is on June 20th. A couple of the people out in that hallway were talking about it before you got here. That's awesome. Yes, it's a blast. There's 400 plus people at that one. It's a really, really awesome event. So that's like our big summer party. So we host a few social events and then we also have mastermind events that are more educational learning environment type events, which I know that maybe not you, but I know Blake and some other people on the team have been to. So we host the events, we got the magazine, and then we have this private Facebook group that hosts the community online that just creates a great environment for people to share resources, ask questions, and really talk shop, because it's just for the top agents in there, so they don't have to worry about their buyers or sellers or clients or whatever seeing the chatter in there. It's a private group, and it's really been a huge resource for agents to get recommended to various businesses that they need to be connected to, that their client needs. or just like asking advice like, hey, I have this weird situation, what would you guys do? So it kind of drives that collaboration and camaraderie. So the agents love it, it's free for the agents. So they just really get excited that they get this magazine, they get to come to these events, they get to be a part of this community. And so it's all funded by our preferred partners, of which DML is one, so thank you guys. Our preferred partners are the businesses that are directly referred to us by the agents in the top producer community, who are the best of the best and they're vetted.

Direct Mortgage Loans (31:

47.15) And so they basically support the community and have an ad in the magazine. They get invited to be at these events so they can build relationships with everybody. And they get added to that Facebook group so they can be a part of those conversations too. So that's kind of the whole community at large. It's the agents plus our preferred partners in this awesome group of high caliber individuals who are operating at a high level that build relationships and just kind of collaborate and... Do business together. Colleen, as somebody who's watched this thing grow, I'll tell you, it's more so than a private Facebook group or a magazine. You've built a community, or events, I'm sorry, those are all things you do, but you've built a community. You've built a functioning thing, like its own ecosystem. It's been really fascinating to watch, and listening to your story about how you've learned to sell, how you've learned to put yourself out there, nobody taught you to community build. How does that come to you? That's a great question. Because you're gifted. I mean, I've watched, but in all of your story, you haven't said, I was a part of this big community and we did all these things. But you're doing a heck of a job with it. Talk to me about that. Thank you. I think if I think about how this whole thing really took off, it wasn't necessarily experience building a community in the past that I think was the difference maker, at least for me. I will give credit to just the real producer's model first as an aside because the model kind of just helps create that ecosystem. Even somebody who doesn't have the background I do or isn't skilled in certain things, but maybe other things. Really, like, if you're printing a monthly magazine, highlighting and spotlighting people, that's going to engage the realtors, creating space for people to show up to network. Baltimore is not a big market. And the fact that you are the number one of 130 with a bunch of other markets I'm guessing, I don't know the list, but I'm guessing a lot of them are a lot bigger than Baltimore. But yet you're thriving here in a medium -sized market because you built a community. Well, thank you. I think, at least based on some feedback, like what people appreciate about this community, and it doesn't mean it contrasts to other markets, not making a comparison or anything, but I think it's like I've always...

Direct Mortgage Loans (34:

08.141) worked really hard to be an active connector, not just like a passive connector, meaning, yes, the Real Producers model aids itself in just being kind of a passive connector in a sense that we're hosting events. So by default, we're bringing people together and helping make connections and hosting the Facebook group that's making connections. But the active connection is whenever I see someone like, for example, in the Facebook group post, hey, this just happened the other day. Like, hey, I'm... I have a client who needs to remodel three bathrooms, who do you know? I'm thinking, okay, we have like four preferred partners who can help with that. I should introduce at least one of them like based on where it is or just like, you know, who needs a little love right now? I'm gonna send an introduction from between that agent and that partner like right now. So like part of my day is, it's never of course like planned, I probably should, because it's between stuff, but I'm constantly monitoring that Facebook group for example. Because if I see something pop up, I not only wanna tag them and be like, draw attention to it, I want to then send a personal introduction between the person who asked the question and the person who I think they should connect with. So then realtors appreciate that because they're like, wow, like she's really going out of her way to send this introduction and make sure we connect. And of course the partner appreciates that because they're trying to make these connections and they want the business and they want the work. Such a great term, active connector because. You know, I've been accused of being that. My mother or grandmother would say it to me. You're always connecting people. But it's something you have to lean into. Again, pouring into, leaning into, you have to lean into that. And you can help everybody. Yeah. Like at the end of, we do agreements for our preferred partners. At the end of the agreement, when it's time to renew, my goal, of course, is for them to look back and be like, this is a no -brainer. And there's... Because I've been connected. Yeah, because I've been connected. I want to provide as many opportunities for them to track some semblance of a return on investment as possible. Because, yeah, you know, I think it's up to them to a degree in terms of if we're going to host these events and do all the things, I want them to show up to it. You know, I want them to work the network to a degree it works to the extent that they work it. But if I can do my part and work as hard as I can to drive them business or help promote them actively.

Direct Mortgage Loans (36:

32.654) I know that they appreciate and recognize that. And to me, that seems like that's worth more of the investment than like, I'm running an ad in a magazine, you know? Well, I usually get near the end of this thing and I start asking the question as to what is the one thing you're doing that could help anybody in any business right now in this environment. And I'm still going to ask you that question in a second. But before I ask you that, can you talk, I mean, I think active connecting is one of them for anybody in any environment. I mean, You agree? I totally agree. I think that is one aspect whether you host a community that is kind of built on connection or you're in any role. I think that is just one aspect that makes you so valuable to other people. I appreciate that so much in other people when, you know, let's say sometimes I'll randomly get a text and be like, hey, I thought of you today. I met with this guy and he said he was looking for this and you seemed like a great person to... talk to about that so I'm gonna connect you two." I'm like and in some cases I'm thinking, there's really nothing in it for that guy. He just really wants to add value here and it doesn't even if there is something in it that doesn't make it you know that's still there's a difference between if somebody just says, hey Colleen knows everybody. There's a difference between them saying that sentence and saying Colleen knows everybody and she's always got somebody that can help me if I need help, if I need a resource, if I need to be connected and again and that's there's a big difference than if they just said, Colleen, she knows everybody out there. That doesn't mean anything. That's a period at the end of that sentence. Yeah, you're right. I think a lot of realtors too, that's who they want to be to their clients because they always want to be... Hold on, that's what they should want to be to their clients. Yeah, that's what they should want to be to their clients. The more they can stay in touch and be the connector for their clients who need anything related to the home or otherwise, honestly. Hey, like if they position themselves as like, hey, kind of like the mayor of the town, you know, like I know the best restaurants, I know the best flooring company for that job. And that'll keep that client in touch with them too and elevate them, I think in terms of status and respect because people always love to be around people who are well connected. So I think. I think so too. I do.

Direct Mortgage Loans (38:

46.126) I do too. You're taking the words out of my mouth before I can say them. So then let me, since we're looking at the time, and by the way, everybody, Colleen and I could do this for an afternoon, evening, and never stop. But taking Active Connection out, what is working for you right now in today's environment? It's June of 2024, the economy's a little weird, we have an election coming up, and the point of this podcast is not to talk about the specifics of any of that, but. There's challenges, there's always challenges in different times. And by the way, you said earlier, you told yourself you can succeed then, you can succeed anytime. And some people are feeling that way about the real estate and mortgage world right now. That if you can succeed now, you can succeed anytime. Talk to me about what's working. What would you say is your main differentiator right now? What's really working well for you? I think the biggest differentiator in the last, I would say even, it's been like a slow, it's been like. an incline over the last year, actually ever since a key hire, Hannah Benson, shout out to Hannah who's our COO and just everything person. I mean, she's amazing. But ever since we brought on Hannah and then starting especially, it's been accelerating the last few months, is our ability to calendar prioritize. That has been the biggest thing that has moved the needle. So specifically one thing that has changed it for us, and if this isn't your speed, you know, take it for what you will, but every Friday, Hannah and I have blocked off from three to 4 .30 p It's a 90 minute meeting. That's a chunk. Friday afternoons in the summertime. And it's Friday afternoon, but it's become immovable in my calendar. And what do you guys do then? That is for planning the week ahead, which it was a game changer because I would always say planning till Sunday. Who the hell wants to plan on a Sunday? I don't want, I want to be enjoying the Sunday and then calmly easing into my Monday with a smile on my face because I planned on Friday already. I mean, the best feeling ever is going into the weekend already planned. So what that looks like for us, it's different for everyone based on the system is what we go through asana, which is where we have all of our like tasks assigned to, it's our, you know, workflow manager system or whatever. And so we go through that and like, okay, what are all the things that are due or upcoming next week?

Direct Mortgage Loans (40:

59.406) what's already on my calendar, I have the podcast, okay, let's schedule some time for you to prep for that podcast. Where can we squeeze a half hour for that? And it's like looking at the meetings ahead, where do we need to schedule time for this? And then basically it's just time blocking the entire week so that I come into my week, I have my meetings, I have my little windows, and then I'm just operating so much more efficiently. That's allowed me to do way more sales appointments, which given the times that we're talking about, I've. had to do so much more activity to get the same result. Yes, exactly. So that's the best, I guess, advice I can give someone watching, especially I'm a very high ADHD person. Planning for me is everything. If I go into the day not knowing what I'm going to do, I will blow the day. I am still that way. Like, if I don't know what I'm doing every second of the day, I will be scrolling social media for whatever windows I don't have planned because I don't. I can't just walk in and know what I need to do. So the planning for me is a game changer every single week. I love that. Colleen, I have a son, one of the three. I'm not going to name him here. He'll know who I'm talking about. But he just started his first real job slash internship. He's a senior in college. I told him, have a notebook. At the end of each day, write down what your to -dos are for the next day. I said, then you can go out at night. You can get up late. You can do whatever you want in between. The next day, the hardwired stuff is already planned. You've already planned it for yourself. Yes. And he looked at me like I had three heads, but after the first couple days, he told me I was right. So he validated us. That's awesome. So good for you. Do you do the same thing? I do. I do. That's awesome. Yep. Where's my phone? there's my phone over there. The calendar, I couldn't live without it. I look at it before I go to bed. I look at it when I first get up. Usually it's the same thing, hopefully. Unless we had a couple of skinny grapefruit crushes, and then maybe I'm thinking things a little different. But actually, that's an example of when I need to be even more planned. Yes. If I'm gonna go out and do it. If I'm in the least bit, not 100 % hungover, whatever it may be. Yeah, if I'm not planned and I can't just walk into my day and follow the guide, yeah, I'm gonna blow the day. Well, Colleen, look, this has been awesome. Look, everybody, this is the most active of all active connectors. I'm hoping that that little phrase sticks. I'm gonna call you that every time I see you now. I've never, I don't think, said that before, but I like that term. I've thought it a million times, but I've never heard it. That's what you look, I wrote it, you circled it. I know, I know, this came out. I like it.

Direct Mortgage Loans (43:

21.87) Look, she pours into people, that's definite. She recognizes people. She's the most active of all active connectors. We're lucky to know you, my friend. thank you, Dean. But look, everybody, she's crushing it. A lot of great stuff in here. We're glad you took time to check us out. Skinny grapefruit for this person. But check us out next time. And thanks for spending time with us. Thank you. It's a pleasure. Thanks.

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Dean Johnson

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