TRANSCRIPT:

FLETCHER: There is this article in Town Hall, the 15 most annoying things about American culture. Number one on that list, it tells you just how predominant this would become in our society, how little mush cookies everybody has become. Everyone is offended by everything. That’s the number one most annoying thing about American culture. Because if one person gets their feelings hurt, if one person is offended, this is what Roger Goodell said, NFL commissioner, “If one person is hurt, if one person is offended, then we have to listen, we have to open up that debate.”

You can’t turn on the TV or watching a sporting event now without hearing about the red skins. He said it, Goodell, “If one person is offended, then we have to listen, then we have to open up the debates and we have to hear this people side of it.” Really, one person is offended? My question is this, ‘Where the hell do people find all of the time to be offended?'” If you’re an entrepreneur, if you’re a business owner, let’s just go from this, what time do you get up in the morning?

SLOPER: Four-forty five.

FLETCHER: What time do you close down shop at night?

SLOPER: I normally end the evening planning what I’m going to do, writing down the things I got to do the next day and probably reading for about 20 minutes, so typically between 9:30 and 10:00.

FLETCHER: So you have to find somewhere to get offended while you dream. How many different companies are you currently operating?

SLOPER: That I have some sort of taken of three.

FLETCHER: Here is the point that I want to make. It has to do directly with real estate, it has to do directly with business, it has to do directly with being an entrepreneur. If you have achieved anything, people will be offended by you, and they’re going to try to tear you down, they’re going to try to attack you, and they’re going to try to criticize you. It doesn’t matter what you do, you could do everything right, but you’re going to offend more than one person.

Rush Limbaugh has said it, “If you can get half of the country to hate you and half of the country to love you, you’re going to be a very rich person.” If you look at every successful person they have that in common. Steve Jobs, one of the most criticized CEOs ever. He offended a lot of people, but it’s the key to success, because if you have a message, you’re going to offend somebody. If you speak up about your beliefs, you’re going to offend somebody.

LINKS AND RESOURCES FROM THIS POST:

• Defeat Mega Agents – Ryan’s new book (FREE copy, just pay shipping)
  _
• Broken Industry_– Have agents been brainwashed? – thoughts?
  _
• Protector Video Series_– The ’12-month Experiment’ that started it all… (video series) 

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Thanks again for listening to the show! If it has helped you in any way, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the page.

Additionally, reviews for the podcast on iTunes are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each one. Every one. You could even win a FREE Agent Marketing Syndicate® T-Shirt. Just head over to iTunes, leave us a review. Then send me an email with your review, attached. Every 5th review is placed into a drawing to win. That’s a 20% chance of winning, about 7.9 millions times better than winning the lottery.  

And lastly, if you have any questions (or would like your comment or feedback to be aired on the podcast), head on over to AskFletcher.com – to record and send your message to Ryan!

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates.

Thanks again for the conversation. I look forward to our next, on the next episode of the Agent Marketing Syndicate® Podcast! 

Talk soon… Speak up! 🙂 

TRANSCRIPT:

FLETCHER: So tell me real quick. You mentioned that you had an appointment last night with the guy who had contacted you. Tell me a little bit about the process how that phone call came about and of course the conversation.

SLOPER: Okay yes, so this was a lead that I reached out to through Zillow. So many of you guys are familiar with The “Make me move” people and I am giving away trade secrets here just so you guys can no specifically what I did…

FLETCHER: Real quick. Stop, when you say reach out, be more specific because I don’t want people thinking that you actually picked up the phone and some way shape or form and quote unquote bed publicly.

SLOPER: So specifically, what I did was I went on Zillow, I did my research. I found out that people that were potentially looking to sell their homes; so there is thing called “For sale by owners” but on Zillow it is essentially called, “Make me move.”

They list a price, sellers list a price that they would be willing to sell their house like today. Now generally speaking, those are typically higher than what the market would bear.

So what I did was I created a cover letter, you and I together Ryan, created a cover letter as well as the book, here is the book. We sent out the book. We set them out, a package in the mail that basically said, “Hey, not really sure if this could help you are not. I see that you listed this on Zillow and hopefully you could get some useful information out of it.” We were not begging or doing anything other than providing them information to help them make a more informed educated decision.

So the guy reads the book, I sent that out, he probably read it within the first day literally. Because the next day which was Labor Day, he calls and leaves me a voicemail essentially says, “Hey, I read your book. I think it’s a great. I agree with your approach. Can we meet up for coffee?” So I don’t call him back obviously on Labor Day, I called them back yesterday.

He is all excited and amped up talking to me over the phone. All he can really do is recite back what you read in the book. He is reciting back that I agree with you are approach 100%. “I think this is the greatest thing ever!” Like, “I believe that real estate agents are not trustworthy,” and all these different things. So he is reciting back all of the critical points in the book; I am not doing anything but listening to him.

So I knew he was so excited, I was like, “You know what, I’m just going to go out and meet this guy tonight.” I’m just going to go ahead and meet his wife and find out how I might be able to help them out.

So I get over there and literally from the time that I walked through the door like they basically couldn’t stop talking to me. It was about basically about the book. It was about all the previous past experiences with realtors, with selling their homes and buying other homes. From moving from Oklahoma to Virginia and then not wanting to move back. They were telling me the good, the bad and the, the ugly even giving me basically tips on what my next book could be about, basically stories from hell.

And at the end of the day, it was like I met this guy and he was honestly like a guy that I have known for 15, 20 years. There is only one way that that could happen Ryan and that’s because he identified with me through my book. He got to know who I am, what I stand for, what my message is, what my approach is, how we are unique. And there is nobody else out there in the marketplace that’s really truly different. Everybody can say that they have a unique program, a guaranteed sale program. Basically “I will let you out of your listing agreement early no questions asked.” But these aren’t really approaches.

He felt compelled, he was in the military. He felt compelled he knew everything about me so he went from the book, the next place he went was online. He types in my name in Google and see, once again when you do something right, you basically get confirmation of that when they basically recite back every step that they took to contact you. He is telling me he went from the book to making the phone call to going to the Internet to researching my name, finding the videos; Gainesville and Bristol Daily Homes, finding out then that I had a radio show, telling me he doesn’t know how he has missed my radio show and how he needs to listen to it.

And I mean at the end of the day, these are the type of clients that they want because they agree with my approach! I am not going in blind. They already had three or four real estate agents through their house, all of which were pretty top-tier agents. I had nothing bad to say about those agents. So the only difference between them and me was that I took a unique approach and actually reached out to him blindly. It was like he knew me. As a matter of fact, he made a statement that he probably would have shook my hand if I didn’t send him the book.

LINKS AND RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Defeat Mega Agents – Ryan’s new book (FREE copy, just pay shipping)
  _
• Broken Industry_– Have agents been brainwashed? – thoughts?
  _
• Protector Video Series_– The ’12-month Experiment’ that started it all… (video series) 

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Thanks again for listening to the show! If it has helped you in any way, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the page.

Additionally, reviews for the podcast on iTunes are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each one. Every one. You could even win a FREE Agent Marketing Syndicate® T-Shirt. Just head over to iTunes, leave us a review. Then send me an email with your review, attached. Every 5th review is placed into a drawing to win. That’s a 20% chance of winning, about 7.9 millions times better than winning the lottery.  

And lastly, if you have any questions (or would like your comment or feedback to be aired on the podcast), head on over to AskFletcher.com – to record and send your message to Ryan!

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates.

Thanks again for the conversation. I look forward to our next, on the next episode of the Agent Marketing Syndicate® Podcast! 

Talk soon… Speak up! 🙂 

TRANSCRIPT:

SLOPER: I had all of this going, I was generating good lead flow through these two sites then created the book which was just a recent rollout obviously. Now became a published author. Now actually I am a twice published author because I had one in the mortgage business.

So now everyone wants to know not only – you’ve done our radio show, now you are doing… Then a podcast, now you have a book. What in the hell is going on here? How do you have time to do all of this stuff? And really, I think I credit most of the jump in business to just continuing to further my positioning and my authority in the marketplace.

FLETCHER: So one thing I talk about is that it doesn’t matter what you do until you have something to say. And so if you want to have something to say; you go out, you study great communicators or you study Warren Buffett. What is he doing? And so authority is really a function of ideology, is a function of business religion, it’s a function of proof as a direct compliance to that is his religion and then of course it’s about visibility. 

Once you have that message, now you can go on the radio. Once you have that message, now you can write it in the book. Once you have that message, now you can do a video. And of course all of this leads to an elevation in status and naturally people perceive you as an authority.

And so one of the things I want to talk about real quick is you mentioned the book and this is a book that collaboratively, a number of agents wrote within the Agent Marketing Syndicate and they used the James Patterson secret. And so if you’re not familiar with James Patterson, he the world’s number one best-selling author; he’s got the Guinness world book of records for number one best-selling titles. He’s sold over 350 million books. Hands-down he sells more than Dan Brown, John Grisham, Stephen King all combined. And so he uses a very specific secret, we’re going to talk about that in a future episode.

Also, we’re going to talk about 31 reasons why a book should be the foundation of your marketing. And so real quick, I don’t want to drag this out too long. We will have plenty of time in future episodes to dive back into the systems.

Another thing that we talk about is using political ideology to drive entrepreneur networking groups. So it’s called ENG and is a funny story about the research that I was doing and it essentially is, “Ryan, you are an asshole,” “Ryan, stick to business and marketing,” “Ryan, stay out of politics.”

What the people who were saying that didn’t understand was that I was doing research. I wanted to see the feedback to the message if it resonated and then of course I would roll it out. And so it worked, it worked brilliantly and now all across the United States and Canada we’ve launched 28 branches and we are building massive referral networks really very, very easily with direct mail packages with video with online lead generation, with follow-ups, with sequential mailings.

And the book is now really the core of your business in terms of conversion. Again, conversion is the process of people seeing you as a someone. Donald Trump again, he doesn’t need to sell you on why you should work with him. You see him, you get the opportunity, you run for it.

LINKS AND RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Defeat Mega Agents – Ryan’s new book (FREE copy, just pay shipping)
  _
• Broken Industry_– Have agents been brainwashed? – thoughts?
  _
• Protector Video Series_– The ’12-month Experiment’ that started it all… (video series) 

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Thanks again for listening to the show! If it has helped you in any way, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the page.

Additionally, reviews for the podcast on iTunes are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each one. Every one. You could even win a FREE Agent Marketing Syndicate® T-Shirt. Just head over to iTunes, leave us a review. Then send me an email with your review, attached. Every 5th review is placed into a drawing to win. That’s a 20% chance of winning, about 7.9 millions times better than winning the lottery.  

And lastly, if you have any questions (or would like your comment or feedback to be aired on the podcast), head on over to AskFletcher.com – to record and send your message to Ryan!

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates.

Thanks again for the conversation. I look forward to our next, on the next episode of the Agent Marketing Syndicate® Podcast! 

Talk soon… Speak up! 🙂 

TRANSCRIPT:

SLOPER: I told you the other day in conversation that I was worrying more about my numbers the last two years and I feel like now when I stop worrying as much about the numbers and more about the relationships, the numbers are taking care of themselves. And I really truly do mean that.

I think that next month could be one of our bigger months. It could end up being somewhere around 5 ½ to $6 million depending on how things shape out. And for my team to basically be able to have a month like that in one month, I know that in the beginning, that’s what I made if I was lucky in one year.

FLETCHER: And so real quick, let’s talk about numbers because you have seen impressive growth over the last say 2 ½ years; and so your transition from loan officer to real estate agent. It’s hard fought, tough struggle but you are outgoing, you are a hustler, you get to six, 8 million and then the next year, you double to 16, the next year you go to 25 and this year you could be on pace to close to 40 in production with the record month that you have coming up. So we’re talking about $40 million production from literally in about three year span.

What do you credit that to? And I want to talk about conversions specifically. And so talk about a couple of the authority symbols that you have in your business now, that… And I always say this, is that you can go out and generate 1 million leads and it won’t make a shit bit of difference unless the people who you generate the leads from, they look back at you and say, “That’s a someone, that’s the guy on the radio. That’s the guy who has written the book. That’s the guy who is the leader in the community, that’s the guy who is a philanthropist, that’s the guy who will protect my best interest.” [The Guru Party wants to preach “lead generation”, because “the numbers” are something they can hold you accountable to, but conversion is about your perceived authority and reputation, which requires that you be a writer and storyteller. i.e. Publish or Perish.] 

SLOPER: Right.

FLETCHER: And so you have built up a reputation. And so talk a little bit about how you’ve done that.

SLOPER: Yeah, so over time, obviously I had the radio show. Had the radio show and it really started to realize that people really looked and talked about me differently when I had the radio show on. And I was that, “Okay, how can I continue on this?” And I really became a student of direct response marketing. I found Dan Kennedy which obviously is… Those of you who don’t know him could look up his name immediately GKIC.

That was my first touch with direct response marketing was Dan Kennedy. And then from there, that was my first introduction to direct response marketing and then I believe it was in probably what, 2012 Ryan? Is when I came across probably one of your webinars that you did with Josh Henley. That was my next kind of big introduction.

I was always looking for somebody that was in real estate that was focusing direct response marketing in the real estate. I could never really find it right? I could finally examples through Dan Kennedy and GKIC but you were really the first person that I came across that really like took it to light the next level. You had created programs and basically positioning and authority and all these different terms that I always heard about but I actually saw you physically doing it in the real estate space.

So I was completely intrigued by that, dove a pretty deep into direct response marketing. Still to this day, that is the only thing that matters, if you are creating marketing that’s generating response then what the hell are you marketing for?

Then I started two websites in addition to my radio show which is now a podcast, it’s Real Estate 360 so I do a real estate podcast that can be found in iTunes [inaudible 25:21] podcast can. I have two other main websites Bristol Daily Homes and Gainsville Homes Daily for those of you that want to check those out.

Those are basically two lead generation websites. So I finally said to myself, “I don’t necessarily want to be the guy that’s known to go all over Northern Virginia because Northern Virginia is to be for me to handle and I live in Bristol Virginia. I really wanted to kind of focus on Bristol and Gainsville which is the neighboring city. What better way to do that and to start to do videos?”

Once again, this was a positioning thing for me. I committed that I was going to do these videos for a minimum of one year every day I was going to get up, I was going to shoot a video of all the new listings that came on the market.

Painful is the word that comes to mind when I think about when I started doing that because nobody really wants to get up in the morning at 5:30, 6:00 in the morning, shoot a video or two reviewing these listings ever single day but I did that. I committed to that. We had an opt in page, landing page through Google Ad Words where basically I was driving traffic; for anybody that was looking for homes in Bristol homes, in Gainesville, we had certain keywords that we were targeting and we had them driven to a landing page where they would opt in; name and email.

Once they opted in, that starts the conversation Ryan. So we had to continue that conversation. My plan was to continue that conversation for a minimum of one year with these people.

So positioning was huge for me so it created these websites Bristol Daily Homes and Gainsville Homes Daily along with podcasts. I had all of this going, I was generating good lead flow through these two sites then created the book which was just a recent rollout obviously. Now became a published author. Now actually I am a twice published author because I had one in the mortgage business.

So now everyone wants to know not only – you’ve done our radio show, now you are doing… Then a podcast, now you have a book. What in the hell is going on here? How do you have time to do all of this stuff? And really, I think I credit most of the jump in business to just continuing to further my positioning and my authority in the marketplace.

END: Listen to the full episode here. Or Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. 

LINKS AND RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Defeat Mega Agents
   
• Broken Industry
  _
• Protector Video Series

THANKS FOR LISTENING/READING/INSPIRING ME!

Thanks again for all your support! If it has helped you in any way, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the page. And comment below… 

Additionally, reviews for the podcast on iTunes are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them. You could even win a FREE Agent Marketing Syndicate® T-Shirt. Just head over to iTunes, leave us a review. Then send me an email with your review, attached. Every 5th review is placed into a drawing to win. That’s a 20% chance of winning, about 7.9 millions times better than winning the lottery.  

And lastly, if you have any questions (or would like your comment or feedback to be aired on the podcast), head on over to AskFletcher.com – to record and send your message to Ryan!

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates.

Thanks again for the conversation. I look forward to our next, on the next episode of the Agent Marketing Syndicate® Podcast!

Talk soon… speak up 🙂 
  

TRANSCRIPT:

SLOPER: So I then had this whole epiphany. I just randomly took a phone call… I have always been big into studying and learning and reading and listening to the radio and things like that. I just happened to… I don’t know if I was on a mastermind call or whatnot, but it was an opportunity to basically start my own radio show. So in 2010, let me get this right…

FLETCHER: Let me pause you right there, real quick, because I want to make a couple of very important points. You talked about being labeled. One of the reasons that I talk about failure in real estate and why most agents fail is because they are labeled, they are stereotyped, but not in the way Sloper was in being real estate agent versus loan officer. It’s really in the fact that, you are a real estate agent which means, you are a telemarketer, you are a car salesman, you are a politician and you will do anything to buy the votes of the voter.

And so there is it’s very negative perception and reputation that you get labeled with. And so as a result, you are hated before you arrive and distrusted before you speak a word. That’s the biggest obstacle to success in real estate; it’s overcoming that gap.

Now the second thing is in real estate, if you can achieve authority, you made it, you are done, I mean, it’s magical. But the one thing more so than anything else that kills authority is public begging. Again, another thing that Sloper said. So the question you have to ask yourself, always, and this is like a litmus test, “Would Donald Trump do that?”

So Donald Trump is this person perceived as this massive authority in the business world. “Would Donald Trump do that?” And if the answer is “No,” then you shouldn’t be doing it because it kills your authority.

So this segues into my next point, which of course is, Sloper getting into radio, take it.

SLOPER: Okay yeah, so I figured that in order to elevate my status, in order to become an authority on any subject or business for that matter, you have to position yourself properly. And I figured this is a great opportunity. Everybody else was saying that they were creating radio shows out on the West Coast for mortgages and real estate. I was like, “You know what, I feel like I could really position myself as a real estate expert in northern Virginia, DC Metro area and I will start a radio show.”

Now keep in mind, I didn’t know a damn thing about radio. Not a clue! But I just said I’m going to do it and I’m going to figure it out on the fly. And I have always had that mentality where it’s kind of like, “Say yes and worry about shit later.” And that’s kind of what I did with this show. I had no idea how it was going to go down, but I did know that I was going to get to tell everybody that I was on CBS radio.

So one thing I knew, I didn’t really know anything else, other than I was going to be able to go around and tell everybody else that I was on CBS radio. That I got to go down to the station in Fairfax Virginia, that was right on Main Street, where everybody knew this station sat, where the sports junkies LaVar Arrington, Chad Dukes, all the big names where I got to meet them. I was always hyping up myself and saying, “Hey, if you ever want an introduction to so-and-so…” But that’s a much different play than saying, “Hey, I worked for US Realty partners, a family owned US real estate brokerage, you probably should come talk to me.” No!

The questions I then got were, “So what do you talk about on your real estate show?”

Well as a matter of fact, all you have to do is tune into the program that comes on between 10 and 11 on 1580 AM CBS right before the Dennis Miller show.

FLETCHER: Quick question okay because I love the authority aspect but, what was that first… Because I thought about this before, I have always been fascinated with radio. And it took me a long time to even get comfortable to do this show. I mean, you are super critical of yourself always whenever we go into a new venture. Whether it be the spoken word, whether it be on video, whether it be live to potentially thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people, you being in the DC/Virginia area.

So what does that… You walk into the studio, first episode, what’s it like? First show?

SLOPER: Oh, it was terrifying man! I honestly thought I was going to pee my pants. I felt like, you know how when you get nervous and your hands get all clammy and then you feel like you’ve got to run to the bathroom three or four times you know what I mean? So I am sitting and I had no idea what to expect.

Well, the first thing that made me extremely nervous is the board operator shows up basically five minutes before the show starts. I am there an hour early, like reading over my notes, like ready to go. So I am pretty much squirming. He doesn’t show up before five minutes and all of a sudden he is pointing at me like, “Go!”

So I start going and I am just like talking. I ended up having a guest on that day. So it was, I believe, one of the other real estate hosts on the West Coast. So they started this whole syndicated real estate show across the United States. So I had one of the other show’s hosts on, Craig Sewing, which if anybody follows Craig Sewing, he is still doing radio shows out on the West Coast, he is fantastic. I mean he, literally, has positioned himself in the mortgage industry as the “go to guy” and it’s no surprise why. Because he started with radio. I think he has a daily show now. He also does TV shows and everything else.

So I have Craig on and the show is going along, I am asking him questions. He’s actually helping push the show forward, because I don’t really know what questions to ask, and it’s like an hour radio show. It’s no joke! Like I could sit here and do and hour podcast, no problem now, but an hour radio show when I started, it felt like it was going to be 24 hours.

There came a point in the middle of the show where like, I just ran out of stuff to say and I just basically went silent for three minutes. I am live “on air” and the board op is looking at me like, “What the hell is he doing? You’ve got to talk.” He’s holding up notecards and saying, “Just say something! Say you’ve got to go to break, say something! You can’t stop talking!”

So of course I felt like a fool and I am thinking to myself, I probably told everybody and their mother that I was going to be on radio that day. So everybody is tuning in to hear what the heck I’m going to say. So completely scary man, I felt I fell completely on my face.

At the end of the day, though, I felt like I accomplished something. I was on the radio, I did it. How many other people would have the nerves and the balls enough to just step up to the plate and try? And that kind of… That launched me right there. I was actually pumped because it was like an adrenaline rush.

After that first show I was like, “You know what? It wasn’t so bad, I got through it. Now let’s just make it better.”

FLETCHER: Okay. And so you got into radio, you started to establish authority, you changed the conversation from, “By the way, do you know anybody who is thinking about buying or selling,” all the traditional real estate stuff, that again, kills authority. And now you’re talking about being on the radio, tune into… And of course you can make a call-to-action on your radio show and/or give out CDs or send MP3s, everything to establish authority.

What does your business look like now? Just a brief overview. Do you have a team? Do you have an agent? How many agents do you have? Do you focus mostly on buyers or sellers? What are the key components?

END: Listen to the full episode here. Or Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. 

LINKS AND RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Defeat Mega Agents
   
• Broken Industry
  _
• Protector Video Series

THANKS FOR LISTENING/READING/INSPIRING ME!

Thanks again for all your support! If it has helped you in any way, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the page. And comment below… 

Additionally, reviews for the podcast on iTunes are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them. You could even win a FREE Agent Marketing Syndicate® T-Shirt. Just head over to iTunes, leave us a review. Then send me an email with your review, attached. Every 5th review is placed into a drawing to win. That’s a 20% chance of winning, about 7.9 millions times better than winning the lottery.  

And lastly, if you have any questions (or would like your comment or feedback to be aired on the podcast), head on over to AskFletcher.com – to record and send your message to Ryan!

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates.

Thanks again for the conversation. I look forward to our next, on the next episode of the Agent Marketing Syndicate® Podcast!

Talk soon… speak up 🙂 
  

TRANSCRIPT:

SLOPER: So I did that, I was getting deals, I just was not getting enough. Then I realized that these agents that I was basically helping generate new business for could care less about me. They didn’t feel like they needed to return the favor to give me business. And so I really had this complete mental shift that I just needed to basically get the hell out of mortgages and start doing real estate because I figured that if they can do it, I sure as hell can do it. I am already generating a lead, why should I just give them and donate 3% for them to basically show a house and that’s it? What’s the contract?

FLETCHER: That’s interesting, you bring up two main points. And so I often talk about this. There is really three main reasons according to my research, as to why people get into real estate. Either 1] their mother or their father is in real estate so it’s a bloodline thing, “I’m just going to follow in the footsteps of the family business.” The second one, which is, like me of course, rejected from medical school 47 times so you get into real estate by default.

“I used to be a teacher, I didn’t like it, I got into real estate. I used to be a corporate worker or a CEO, I got laid off, the bubble burst, I got into real estate.” And then of course, there is the third one which is – if that person can make that much money doing a shitty job and or not providing their clients a top-level service, then think of the Fortune that I could make and/or the people that I could help? And so a lot of people get into real estate thinking that they’re going to be welcomed with open arms, seen as a superhero to basically all of society… because they know what is being offered out there and provided by the real estate agents. What was your experience with that?

Now hold to that thought for one second. I want to make one more point because I had a very similar experience where early in my real estate career, I had partnered with a loan officer. And so you thought you had to real estate agents to get leads, and I thought I had to go to loan officers to get leads, for one reason; most smart people, what would they do? “I’m going to go home shopping, I need to know how much I can afford; they go to the bank, they get pre-approved.” That’s how an intelligent person would think.

But I discovered it was just the opposite. Most people they go looking at houses and then they come back and say, “Can I afford it?” And so, I partnered with this loan officer, we are exchanging… I was giving her ad revenue, and therefore, she was running ads. Little did I know, she was siphoning off all of the leads and passing them to other agents. So I was, literally, getting the short end of the stick. I would like to say another word but, we we’ll keep it a little bit clean.

And so I realized from that point forward, kind of like you did, that you have to be in control of your lead source. Period! You can’t depend on anybody else, you can’t lean on anybody else. If you don’t develop that skill then you are screwed. 

LINKS AND RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Defeat Mega Agents – Ryan’s new Book.
  _ 
• Broken Industry_– Have agents been brainwashed? – thoughts? 
  _
• Protector Video Series_– The question/experiment that started it all. 

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Thanks again for listening to the show! If it has helped you in any way, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the page.

Additionally, reviews for the podcast on iTunes are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them. You could even win a FREE Agent Marketing Syndicate® T-Shirt. Just head over to iTunes, leave us a review. Then send me an email with your review, attached. Every 5th review is placed into a drawing to win. That’s a 20% chance of winning, about 7.9 millions times better than winning the lottery.  

And lastly, if you have any questions (or would like your comment or feedback to be aired on the podcast), head on over to AskFletcher.com – to record and send your message to Ryan!

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates.

Thanks again for the conversation. I look forward to our next, on the next episode of the Agent Marketing Syndicate® Podcast!

Talk soon… speak up 🙂 
  

by RYAN FLETCHER

For the entrepreneur, this boils your blood. But the mainstream media will not make a big deal of it, because it does not serve the “Quit Work” movement, of the liberal agenda.

I’ll get to the business lesson in a minute. And yes, I’m going to talk about politics, because politics affect business owners and entrepreneurs, usually, in negative ways…

It’s never been a secret, the extreme Leftists, the Democrats; the dyed in the wool liberals have executed their power-grab by making the unable-to-fend-for-themselves masses dependent on their “welfare” programs and policies. This is by design. Obama preaches upward mobility, but that is just talk. Obama and the libs do not want economic prosperity. They want dependency. Dependency breeds compliance. Dependency wins votes. Dependency keeps the poorest, least skilled, least capable citizens dependent on government “handouts.”

What happens when 50 million people depend on food stamps to feed their families? Who are these dependents going to vote for in the next election? The politician who promises “more money” on their EBT card, or the other guy who says “We can’t afford it” and moves to make cuts in the welfare program?

This is how the left buys votes.

They don’t win on policy. They don’t win based on the strength of their ideas or on their commitment to do what’s best for the country—they win by making people dependent on government. The fact 93 million people have left the workforce is not a tragedy to the left. It is a victory. It means more dependency. It means less people are able to fend for themselves. It means more people, in the upcoming elections will need to turn to “vote buying politicians” to support them.

It’s all part of the left’s “Quit Work” movement.

The Obama administration (and other administrations like his)—publicly, they want to appear to be fighting for “jobs”, but secretly, they want to destroy them.

This past week, the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) reported that more than 2.5 million Americans “are likely to reduce the amount of labor they choose to supply to some degree” because of Obamacare. In other words, if people choose to work, if they get up every morning, put on their big boy pants and choose to put in a full day’s work—because of how Obamacare subsidies work—risk losing subsidies in excess of the extra income they’d make working full-time hours.

So many, according to this report, will choose to reduce the number of hours they work. Said differently, Obamacare is an incentive to convert many full-time workers to part-time workers—because it makes financial sense.   

But don’t worry. You’re an Entrepreneur.

You’ll keep working your 70 and 80-hour weeks to build your business. And so will I. No government subsidy will ever be big enough to buy my dignity. I’m proud of my work ethic. It’s my family, it’s my life, and it’s my responsibility to fend for myself, to earn and support the things I want. This attitude of self-reliance is what separates us from them: We can’t be bought. But, you better get ready: Because they can take from you, by force and mandate.

More part-time workers mean less taxes being paid to the government. More workers leaving the labor force means less in taxes being paid to the government. “And guess what?” The government isn’t going to stop spending. The government will need more money than ever, to feed the dependents they have bred with their anti-small business, job-killing policies.

“Where do you think that money will come from?”

You got it!

They will tax us, and take it.

This presents us with two choices. One, we can just accept it. We can hand over our wallet. They will impose more regulations and mandates, and impose more fees to operate our businesses, and we can be fine about that and do nothing, and over time, watch our incomes erode. Or, my preference, we can choose to make (more) money at a faster rate than they can pass laws to take it from us.

Mark my words: There will be no shortage of ways entrepreneurs and small business owners will be punished in the coming years and decade. But that doesn’t mean we must sacrifice our quality of life, financially speaking.

We just need to make more money, faster.  

Last week in another business I operate with Syndicate members, we discussed how a 30-year-old Ohio boy bootstrapped a new business, to go from zero to 7-figures ($400,000/month) in just 10 months. This was the second 7-figure business he built in just 4 years, using the model we call the “Four Horseman of Marketing”; positioning, differentiation; crafting a Message that communicates those two, and finally, a brand or vehicle capable of delivering upon the Message promised.  

This week we looked at another case study. How a real estate agent increased his income by $87,384 over the past 12-months, and put $59,000 under contract in December—to close in the first quarter of 2014—by simply changing the content of his client newsletter. The fascinating part, prior to this change, he had been stuck on a plateau for six consecutive years.  

(Note: to get a copy of those discussions, post a comment below or just let me know – I’ll have my assistant get you copies of those PDFs).

It’s not in our blood to quit working. But we’ll have to start working smarter and more effective, and more efficient than ever to offset the increased dependency by those who have no problem letting someone else pick up their tab in life.

I founded ENG: Entrepreneurs Networking Group™ so business owners and Entrepreneurs of the same mind could band together. In too many ways to count, it’s up to us to impact our families and employees, and their families in a positive way, and to be the driving force of good in our communities.

Because without us, the little engines that could, “Where would we be?”

-Ryan Fletcher

Like many of you, I have been racking my brain for months, to figure out how I can make a difference. How can one person impact a country? A community? Etc… I eventually came to the conclusion, it can’t be done. You need an Army…

Then I read a book that resonated with me. And I asked, “Why couldn’t that happen in real life?”

Do you agree or disagree with the premise?

Also, here are the comments I received to my last post.

Join the conversation. They don’t want us to talk about this. But we need to. What are your thoughts?

Which of the Three Pillars most resonates with you?

Last night, I watched the Obama’s ‘State of the Union’ address in horror. What this man plans to do to our country is damn right frightening. He is a socialist. He uses people (and their hard cases) as political pawns. Why do more people not grasp the ‘big picture destruction’ his utopian liberal policies will inflict upon us?

I admit, I am guilty.

For the first 31 years of my life, I paid no attention to the direction of this country. I believed I controlled my own little bubble, and that was it. But then I started paying attention. I started doing my research. I stopped being a kid, and started being an adult.

There is a fight going on right now, Big Government & Politicians VS. Small Business & The Entrepreneur—and I don’t plan to stand by and do nothing.

Many will. Not me.

And not the people below – see attached – who understand the magnitude of what’s at stake.

Several weeks ago, after penning the following posts, “The Bastardization of Thanksgiving” and “We Are Not Alone”, I asked if you would like me to compile the feedback I had received. A ton of people said “yes.” So I did. The good, the bad, the ugly. I compiled them all.

From fans, haters, and liberals alike, I put their comments on display.

You’ll want to print this

Some called me names. Attacked me. Demanded I take them off my mailing list – which can be done at the bottom of the page, with the unsubscribe link.

Others rooted me on. Encouraged me, “Carry on young man.”

“Go Ryan.”

“I admire your decision. It takes guts to speak your truth when so many don’t.”

“It is refreshing to hear someone from your age group stand up for the principals that made this country the envy of the world.”

As Bill Holloway put it,

“It will be up to your generation to right the ship as I believe the masses who are in line for a handout will continue to outnumber those who produce the income needed to continue the Welfare State that we have become.”

Folks, this is not about politics.

This is about marketing.

The reason ‘WE’ are losing, and ‘THEY’ are winning—as Obama put it, “Out to fundamentally transform the United States of America,” is because they are better marketers.

It doesn’t matter if it’s politics or business—marketing trumps everything.

And marketing starts with a Message.

If you watched Obama’s State of The Union address last night, then you know his speech can be summed up succinctly:

“My fellow Americans, the state of the union is awesome and we need more big government to make it (more) awesome.”

His speech was filled with exaggeration, half-truths, lies, fanciful story-telling, and using people (and their hard cases) as political pawns, as if three or four people’s situation represent the ENTIRE country. And he wasn’t honoring the disabled Army Ranger, Cory Remsburg, nearly killed by a roadside bomb—he positioned him next to Michelle in the executive box, so the camera would “see” how compassionate he is, as a political stunt. Cory Remsburg, it disgusts me, but he was Obama’s Grand Finale!

“Oh, look at Obama. He loves our military.”

Then tell me.

Why did he lock the vets out of their own memorial, during the shutdown? For god sakes, it’s an open air mall. Did we really need barricades and to spend taxpayer money, to keep people from walking on the grass?

But folks, it’s stunts like that, why THEY are winning.

My generation—sadly—The Millennials—are too damn stupid to understand what is taking place. Obama promises “student loan relief” and they jump on his bandwagon like a bitch in heat.

So what have I decided to do about it?

Here’s what I’ve decided to do. Click here to download and print

By the way, Obama—he’s no lame duck. People underestimate him. He’s not a politician. He’s a revolutionary. And his revolutionary efforts to “fundamentally transform the United States of America” are on track and proceeding as intended.

Turns out. We are not alone.

A couple weeks ago I wrote on the “Bastardization of Thanksgiving”,
that article received more feedback, positive and negative,
than any article I have ever written.

I was emotionally charged. It was politically charged.

It was born out of frustration.

I’ve spent the last three weeks responding to each person,
personally. Those who disagreed with me, I didn’t
attack them like most of them did me. I kindly responded,
unsubscribed them, and wish them well.

I had an epiphany, recently:

If you were to come to my office, you would find an abundance
of resources. From books and courses, to manuals.
I am who I am today, because of the things I’ve read, the mentors
I’ve chosen, and the people I have come in contact with.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: 

Those who don’t support you in your growth, your vision,
or your mission to make a difference in the world,
they will always be a poison to you. While those, who do
support you, will act as the catalyst to get and give
everything you want in life.

(Feel free to “quote me” to those dragging your down)

Above all, never let others dictate the conversations
you want to have.

Below is one of those such people, who responded to the
Bastardization of Thanksgiving email. Apparently, her “threat”
of opting out is suppose to “punish me,” in reality,
she did me a favor:

Dear Ryan,

Stick to marketing and out of politics. You have to be sensitive to the fact that some of the people on your mailing list may actually like Pres. Obama and Obamacare (ACA). I have two kids who are in college and need to have good insurance. I am a Realtor who has needed health care for years-been praying and holding my breath nothing serious happens to me. Before you go on a political rant next time, think about the supporters or followers you are in danger of losing. I am opting out today! Have a nice life.

-Karen

Now, for those who only read my strategies for the
marketing-related lessons, here was my
response to Karen:

You may not realize it, but I wish you did. What I just demonstrated in this email – marketing-related – is the best marketing lesson I could ever teach you. ‘Audience Selection via Ideology.’ – You wouldn’t believe the number of people who wrote back entire letters, supporting my Message, encourage me, telling me we need more “young people” like me… Etc. Haven’t you noticed the vast majority of the best-sellers on the NY Times List, are books written by political commentators: Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Brian Kilmeade, Charles Krauthammer, Glenn Beck. Why do you think this is? Because they share a special bond i.e. ideology with their audience. To be a brilliant marketer, you need to look deeper than the “rant” you need to look at the “purpose” of the rant.

May your life be nice too. Sad to see you go, but if our “bond” was so weak, that one “disagreement” can separate us, then how strong (really) was that relationship in the first place. Anyhow, you wanted a marketing lesson – I demonstrated my best one.

Merry Christmas, — RYAN

PS: When you’re a brilliant marketer, you need not worry about college tuition or being able to afford healthcare insurance. You just stroke a check.

Can I admit something? That in retrospect, that last sentence
sounded a bit arrogant, and for that, I regret it. It was
not my intention. I merely wanted to make the point, you can’t
look at things so “superficial” and expect to actually
learn the good stuff….

Anyhow, never forget that: ‘Audience Selection via Ideology. ‘

Write it down.

You want to cold-call… fine!

You want to beg and chase leads… fine!

You want to overcome objections… fine!

But understand you don’t need to, not when you practice
and execute this strategy. And please,
don’t tell me it doesn’t apply to real estate.

Ryan Sloper, my P/SS Member who I mentioned in the
Bastardization of Thanksgiving email, his production
in 2013 was 26 million.

It works. It just isn’t taught by the “Guru Party” because
they don’t understand it themselves. And frankly,
it’s not easy to learn. Or implement.

So they focus on the “easy stuff” they think you’re capable
of digesting.

Anyhow – take this strategy seriously.

Next week, I want to share with you a project that P/SS
members and I have been working on. It is a video
about 20 minutes long.

It is another demonstration of this concept: ‘Audience Selection
via Ideology.’

Until then, resist the “simple cures” to complex problems.

They don’t exist.

Thanks for reading me.

Did you get your Obamacare talking points to defend
and pitch the failed healthcare system at your
Thanksgiving meal?

(yes, Obama actually issued talking points.)

Were you one of the millions that left your family
on Thanksgiving, in the spirit of shopping?

And did you count them?

How many fake, inauthentic, “Thank Yous” did you get
from people who “all of sudden” appreciated you
and wanted you to know just “how much” you mean to them—
because they wanted to sell you something?

This year more than ever, it was apparent Thanksgiving
has been bastardized.

Stripped of its meaning.

When the President of the United States turns Thanksgiving
into a platform to defend and pitch failed policy, you know
this is not the America we grew up with. That something has
gone terribly wrong.

If my Jackson or Zoey ever leave Thanksgiving Dinner at 6:00pm
to save $300 on a flat screen, I’m going to beat ‘em both
with a hose. “Your family is more important than the chance
to save a few hundreds bucks.”

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised though.

In a country that was once founded on rugged individualism,
with the core value of self-reliance, preached and shouted
from the roof tops, and truly believed in by its leaders—
it’s now acceptable for a grown-ass adult, I mean, “kid”
to stay on their parents’ health insurance until their 26
years old.

Btw, if you’re a 26-year old “kid,” and still on your parents health
plan, you ought to be embarrassed and ashamed. Get off
the teat, and forge your own way in life.

“But I have student loan debt,” says the whiny college
graduate. “But I can’t find a job” says the whiny college graduate.
“But Obama said its alright to live off the fruits and labor
of others,” says the whiny college graduate.

Folks, this is the society I’m seeing.

I’m only 32, well 31, I’ll be 32 on the 15th of this month, so this
is my generation and I’m f***king ashamed of them (sorry
if that word offends you, but we’re adults here) and their attitudes.
Their values. Their beliefs.

They disgust me.

Oh—and I counted, from the gurus’ email lists I’m on,
I received 39 solicitations to buy something, after,
of course, they said, “Thank You” and told me how much
I sincerely meant to them.

Only 2 just said “Thank You”, and really meant it.

That’s a gratitude success rate of just 4.8%.

About the same success rate of Healthcare.gov, no wonder
Thanksgiving has been bastardized, because it’s been
overtaken by government—as a platform
to pitch policy.

The government can’t do anything right, they’re the
poster child for mediocrity.

Folks, I guess I’m just frustrated.

I don’t recognize my country and I’m sick of living in a society
where the focus is on “taking.” Who knew “taking”, could be
justified and rationalized by so many, in so many ways,
even passed into law?

Thanksgiving, by definition is about “Giving.”

The holidays, about “Giving.”

Why must there always be a commercial or political message
attached to it?

Again, I’m just frustrated.

Of course, maybe I’m part of the problem. What have I done
to voice my opinion? What have I done to make myself
heard and/or paid attention to? What have I done over the last
6 months to affect change on a large scale?

Nothing really. Nothing.

I haven’t written you for weeks, maybe even a month or more
and only sporadically before that, since July.

So, maybe I am part of the problem.

I want to fix that.

In 2014 I will be launching a podcast/radio show, at your
request—from an email I sent awhile back with the subject line
“I’m honored”—as a way to stand up, do my part,
to voice more of my beliefs about business, politics, and
entrepreneurship.

“The fusion of business and entertainment.”

I can’t sit here, bitch and complain, if I’m not willing to speak out
to affect the direction of those I come in contact with.

Some will welcome this show, my loyal readers.

Others, I’m sure, will hate it. Maybe they’ll be offended and tell me
how I’m such a horrible person. It wouldn’t be
the first time.

And most, will make their decision about it after hearing the
first few episodes.

And no! I don’t want your money.

Unlike most, I just want to say THANK YOU for the many stories
you have shared with me, about your life, your success,
and about your struggles.

Ryan Sloper, a member of my Protector/Social Superhero Program
sent me this note the day before thanksgiving. It meant
the world to me:

Hey man…just wanted to take a second to say THANKS for all that you do!!! I can honestly say that you are one of the people that I am most thankful for this year…One of the main reasons my business has grown so much over the last year is because I have focused so much on being even more of an authority, staying consistent with my marketing, stepping out of my comfort zone to do video (hard to believe considering I did Live radio for 2 years but video is a different animal…LOL), creating marketing messages/sales letters using stories then getting people to respond with the use of Great Calls to actions, improving my website by making simple tweaks…..All this has happened because I have bought into YOU and your teachings and I honestly couldn’t be more thankful to have you as a Mentor!!

Before finding you I did study direct marketing concepts ala Dan Kennedy, Joe Polish, Dean Jackson etc, but you were the first person to be able to break things down on a level that not only could I understand them but I gained the confidence I needed to go out there and IMPLEMENT.

I look forward to another year of IMPLEMENTING as we head toward 2014!! Thanks again and hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving! P.S.–That quote you said the other day on a call “Vision without execution is delusion” is embedded in my head and I repeat that to myself every morning at least 10 times before I start my day!

Talk soon brother! Sloper

My message back to him was, “Thank you, you give me purpose!”

Merry Christmas my Friends,
Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!
2014 is just around the corner.

PPS: There really isn’t any excuse for me not writing you more often
over the past few months. For that I’m sorry. If you wish
to unsubscribe, I get it.

Last, let me know what you think. Has Thanksgiving been bastardized,
what’s your take on this?

Or am I way off?