Karla Lewis, an executive sales and leadership coach and Partner with Southwestern Consulting, and Steve Frody, co-founder of City2Shore Real Estate, share the value of hiring the right assistants and what to look for when doing so, identifying your ideal client, aligning your business and team behind a shared creed (and how to create one), and why remaining coachable is an essential skill.

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This episode is brought to you by Southwestern Coaching.

Southwestern Coaching

Today, I am pleased to introduce to you Steve Frody, who is a broker, owner out in Michigan of a real estate company, and also Karla Lewis. So Steve and Karla, welcome to the show.

Thank you. Glad to be here.

So Steve, let's start with you. Tell us just a little bit about who you are, like tell us about your business. How long have you been in the business? Give us a quick background.

Absolutely, yep, I became an agent, a real estate agent, about 14 years ago, and then about five years ago, my wife and I, we actually both work together. We are co brokers of the company. We started our company, just like I said, five years ago, and you know, just me and her, and then as the time went on, we've grown a few agents here and there, and then all of a sudden, we've just gone into a little bit of a busier time than the real estate market started picking up, and it's been awesome. It's been a lot of great things going on, but it got to a point of, who, how do we get all this work done? So my wife and I, as you know, we're going to our lives with real estate. We both work together in it. And I was, I'll be honest with you, I was, it's, it's very stressful trying to keep up or just doing the day to day grind of real estate. And so as being a married couple, my wife's like, Man, I need some help when I didn't really want to hear it. And so

at that point, she my wife had actually heard about some coaching programs, and my wife suggested, hey, you need to meet this gal named Kristen. And I'm like, really? I mean, what am I going to do? You know, what do I need this for? You know, typical, I'll call it my response. And so we met with Kristen, and we had a conversation there. And it kind of was like the questions looking at my own life or going, Whoa, I was stressed out, you know, almost too much, like, what's going on? You know, what do I need to do? And I want to do more business, but and sweet, that's how we kind of introduced ourselves to Kristen, who said, Hey, and my wife and I, we both all agreed that I need to do a change in my life as a real estate agent. You know, I really value my customers, and I want to have a quick response. This industry is pretty high response rate, and we need to respond. So you got emails, you got phone calls, you got the listings, you got buyers. You're showing homes you got

and it's like everybody you're trying to help them. Friends from both past clients. You got friends from church. It's just like this circle. It's just continually circle, and it feels like I was just, I don't know, just trying to work my tail off. And it's still stressful. Think it gets to a point where I don't enjoy it, you know, like, and I love real estate, I love helping people out, and that's what we do. But it was easy to as you're, I don't know, it's like you're just doing things on a sheet of beer, just your project list, and you're trying to knock these projects off, but not really getting anywhere. But it seemed like it more affected how I enjoy the work that I do. I want to do this for a long time, and not just, oh, here's a short stint of a few years here, you know, but and then my relationship with my wife, I'm like, man, it's easy. We working together, and it's like, in effect, us both, and then how my attitude and my workload, my hours kids. I mean, my kids

are a little bit older, which helped a little bit, but it's still I got to spend time with them and hang out with them, and it's easy not to, and that's I just was realizing important stuff that I'm missing is what I was mean, what I want to do, maybe hang out with my dad, or hang out with my kids or hang out with my wife. I wasn't putting that as a priority. And so, you know, taking every phone call, every text, every email, was more priority, I think, at a point that gets you in trouble.

So Karla, tell me about your first impressions of Mr. Steve Frody.

A few of the things that I noticed about Steve right away. The first thing was how coachable he is. Right out of the gate, you know he he just is this sponge. He's such a student of the game, and is always so open, open to hearing different things, to being challenged, to being held accountable. So that was some of the first things. And one of the other things that has really stuck with me about Steve is just how much of a servant he is, just a servant to the Lord, a servant to his family, a servant to his business, a servant to his client, because he has that part of a servant, like a lot of people do, he was just frustrated because he couldn't be everything to every person. And so some of the things that we've worked on are things that help them balance that out and make sure that the things that are most important and most significant to Steve are at the top of the list. And one of the things was, you know, and Steve and I have talked a lot about this, how

it didn't matter who the person was that wanted to buy a home from Steve or list their home. Steve, it could be, you know, a 3040, $50,000 trailer, or it could be a high end home, and Steve, as the broker owner, was trying to manage all of that. And so that's some of what we have worked on is how to create what Steve calls his box of people that he will personally deal with, and I saw right out of the gate that that was something that that would significantly impact not only him, but the people around him right away.

Yeah, the box was really what's more of my ideal client, as well as, who do I really want to work with? You know, maybe it's someone from church. These are really good friends, past client, or even a price range. What's the goal for, you know, from an income standpoint, as well as a price goal or neighborhoods, to focus in on? I was really all about everything and anything and that. You know, it can work for a while, but then it's like I'm running here show this home, this buyer. Then I got quick run back over here to show this buyer. It just seemed like I was just kind of grabbing everything and not zeroing in what I really want to do, as well as my client's needs too. So I think that's what the box really was. I mean, some of those are, you know, like, I said price ranges, or certain people, or certain groups of people. I say I don't work with people. I'd say, just what's the best maybe I can pass some off, or whether we can get a referral through them.

So it's really a nice way to help my team as well. That was hard for me to do. Like, how would I even pass a client off to somebody else, one of my teammates. Now, first of all, I had to get people we can trust, right? You have to pass it off to someone that's going to take your client. But I had to let it go. I have to let it like I can't micromanage that particular referral or that name, you know, man, I would try to just introduce some people to the client or to the agent. I want it to be a smooth transition. So, I mean, I might have taken a little longer because I want here, I want it to be smooth, to pass off to someone else, for example, might be my daughter in the business, or another co worker in the business, or just someone that can pass it off to. So it took a while, though Karla knows it took me. It took me a long time because I wanted to, I guess, the word scarcity model, you know, it's like, I probably had that model of, Oh, I gotta, I gotta do this. I

gotta do this. Well, meanwhile, I can't do that. So that really helped me share it a little bit. I guess the biggest thing.

The first thing we did was to have Steve hire an executive level assistant, someone that he could trust with every aspect of his life. We created the success in my position document similar to a job description, but it's very detailed as far as what task is Steve responsible for. So when something happens in the moment, there's not this break in momentum. When we're talking about managing our time, managing our schedule. There's not a break in the momentum to stop and think, Okay, now who needs to handle this? They set the groundwork and set the expectations right out of the gate for who handles what. So that's that's what I'm referring to, to a success in my position document. And the really cool thing is Steve and Mary Ann on their own review this on a regular basis to make sure that it's continuously up to date. So that was the first thing. The second thing that Steve and I worked through is his actual income producing activity, rate of pay.

And we worked through, you know, through our coaching program, how, how Steve is compensated, what he's spending his time on, and then we did some evaluation of if Steve, if Steve is selling or listing a home at this price, how he is actually devaluing his time. But even more important than that, what we did because Steve, like I said earlier, has that heart of a servant. He wants to bring people in under his wing. He wants to grow they're currently franchising their business model right now. They're in the throws of all of that. Steve wants success for other people more than he wants success for himself. So it was really easy to get the buy in from Steve. Of Okay, while this is helping you, it's helping your team more. So it was really easy to work through all of that with Steve, because he's so coachable and because he wants success for other people, and then he sees how that all comes back to benefit himself.

Tell me about that, Steve, so you switching to an executive assistant, that's a big jump.

Yeah, she did a phenomenal job. And then when Mary Ann, we changed when she came on board. Mary Ann came on board, we really kind of just raised the level of the title, and really gave her more empowerment to say. A this is really a big one that took me a long time to figure out, but finally, had to let it go. As my email is she's addressing my email. That's pretty crazy, as a owner and a realtor and a dad and as a learn by church, and as she's monitoring every email. And it's like, some I was like, There's no way she cannot monitor that stuff. Now, what I've done with that is she's, I've just basically, she's got my email, and she's taken that over Tori. I still have email, but the stuff I need to work on, it's in my box. She moves it, and then stuff she works on, it's in the main inbox. That's her that's hers. And, you know, things like the quick question that comes up, I thought was, well, what about personal information? That was really a hard one. For

example, like our church, I'm involved, you know, well, if I get an email, you got to just trust the person that's your executive assistant. But we created rules in email, and I've never heard of them before, but I think it's one of the best things I've ever done with email. So every email that comes through, for example, our church, goes into a specific email box that she looked at. I do so really it's creating these rules where it moves the emails automatically so I can scan them in a quick second, look at 12 emails, rather than they keep filtering all day long. A big one for me. So, but yeah, giving my assistant, full reign of email. Whoo, that was a big one. But now I absolutely love it, because I don't have to worry as much every little thing in this hot, hot market. So I can really count on her with the things that she's working on. Her goal is to keep it as close to zero as possible, zero emails. So that's kind of a cool goal. So, but like you said, though it's really

on trust. I mean, I trust the person, and you have to, that's the number one thing. If I didn't trust it, I wanted it also. But no, it's in that's emails in high regard and how you handle things, and how you respond to things, and how you interact with my clients, I'm actually passing my clients to her now, really in responses. So it really frees up a lot of things. I don't have to go every email and, you know, every response last month I had, I think I shared with car light close, 11 transactions, and it felt like I didn't hardly close that many, because it was like, whoa. It's just a lot less running around stuff, you know, just the details of little things that can just bog me down. You know, every time a phone call rings or a text, I have to write it down. But the email is a whole nother. It just keeps coming and just knocking those down. I could leave for lunch and I come back, and most of the things could be taken care of, or certain things I might need to that's fine.

So at least the day to day, little stuff can really be taken away from me. I don't want to do all that stuff. It's not profitable activities. Our business, we really didn't have a vision. I think, I think Karla might have asked me, So what are you guys about who are you? What are you looking for? What are you trying to do? You know, these are the questions that you'd probably ask. But we didn't have, we didn't have anything. And so I was challenged to create some we call it a creed, really, who we are, why we're different, and why we're choosing. You know, these are the just some characteristics there, and it's a it's been awesome. It was tough to go through. I had to get my wife involved. Was which she was like, what? But, you know, working through it together and but it was so good for us, so because we didn't know where we're going, you know, like, who you really are, and how do we explain it to people that are on our team or others that are not on our team, and why

would you choose us? And so the creed, you know, it's boy, it was vital, and it took a while, but I finally was like, I knew it was important, and then taking time to do it again. This is where I learned a lot of just putting it on your calendar, to make time to do it if it's really important, but I had to do what's important to if I don't? Yeah, I always think, I think it's important. I think it's important. But if I don't put it, Karla just pushed me to mark it on my calendar, to put a spot you need to meet with your wife to review what you want to do. To do that by creating the creed we had. You know, it took a few sessions to kind of iron it out, and really, let's figure out what we need to do otherwise, time goes on. We never would have done it. So our team knows about it now. They share it before each meeting with their team, monthly meetings. I mean, it's, they know, you know, it's it's really been awesome.

One of the things that I think is so cool about Steve and the creed is he'll tell you it took a long time. It probably took about three months, however, that that means he really did put a lot of thought into it, and it wasn't something that he just did, because it was an action item that we discussed. It was something that we talked at length about, and I just want to read you a couple of lines of his creed, because it is so powerful create environments in which people can thrive and operate with integrity, while making a solid impact in the communities of its stakeholders. And another line is provide opportunity for people to grow beyond what they ever thought they could do, taking ordinary people and making them extraordinary so. That those two lines in there are Steve Frody and just a sidebar this creed. The coolest story about the creed for me, hearing as Steve's Coach, how he utilized it was at their Christmas party, they not only invited

their agents, they invited their agents, spouses or significant others. And then they invited their vendors, like their loan originators, the insurance companies that they work with, those types of folks. And Steve planned ahead of time, which was not old Steve, but it's now new. Steve planned ahead of time and talked to several different agents, and said, Hey, I would like you to stand up at our party in front of your peers, the people who are important in our lives and our vendors that we utilize and read this creed, because Steve is now so bought into his creed that every decision They make lines up with their creed, with what they believe. And I just think that that is that's so impactful to go from really, I don't need that. Why are you making me do this Karla to it is now the driving force of their company.

It really is. I mean, I'm humbled by it really. I'm sitting here going, oh my goodness, I don't know if we wouldn't be even where we're at today without you know, it's like a mission. Going forward, here's who we are and what we're about. Business has been great. Team growth is great. We're opening up other areas, other locations, I think overall, like going back to me and my wife, you know, here we are the owners. I mean, she we don't do the same day to day stuff. She's more on the business side. I'm still on the day to day real estate side, but we're transitioning more out of that. But it's been so much more feeling good about where we're going, a direction, where we're going instead of going let's just sell real estate and here we go. Let's see what happens at the end of the day. Now it's more of like, All right, what's the next chapter? Where we going next things? It's been great.

And so Karla, let's flip for a second just what is one thing that you've actually learned from Steve and watching Steve interact with his team?

I would say the number one thing that I have learned from Steve is the importance of outside accountability and being coachable. We learn so much from our clients, but just to learn from him how to be coachable and how to open myself up and how to be vulnerable to okay, I may have done it this way forever, but listening to someone from the outside oftentimes provides that perspective that we really need to make the changes that we want, and truly seeing that anything is possible. Steve is probably one of the most humble people that I know. He increased his personal income significantly, almost doubled his income to increase his income. The amount that he did just shows me that truly anything is possible when your heart is in the right place, when your mind is in the right place, and when you just commit and go for it. And one of the coolest things that I think Steve has shared with me is, and it made me feel truly like Steve's partner in his business, is he

shared with me, he said, Please, Karla, as my coach, do not let me get so wrapped up in the money that I forget the people. And so that's why I'm saying. He's such a humble person. I know that Steve frody would do this job and make $20,000 a year if it meant he could help and serve other people. And so just him teaching me that has been really impactful.

I love it. I love it. And so Steve, if somebody out there was listening and they were kind of struggling with some of those things, what kind of advice would you give to somebody going through that right now?

It's a hard thing. I think for me, like I said before, it's like, I can do it on my own. We can't do it our own. A lot of professional athletes have a shooting coach, a dribbling coach, or a golfer. Has they all have different coaches, and so I've been pretty privileged to have the Karla on my team here. And because the I think one of the biggest thing I learned, even from Karla too, is the calendar. She drives the calendar because she knows it's important. What do you want to do in your life? You know is what's really important now in my life in my each day, in my work week, and she she does it every week. She has her calendars scheduled what she's going to do now. Yeah, there's always those moments of hectic there, but she knows important plans out. I'm working on that. She knows it's been a tough one for me, but I'm trying. I know it's valuable. I'm even now sharing with my agents. Do. Doing this, because I know it's valuable to me and I know it'd

be valuable to them, so I think that's some of the biggest things I've learned from just Karla is pushing that calendar what's priority, and you might have to get rid of some stuff that's hard to do.

Well, both of you, I wanted to say thank you for making the time here to tell the story, and we wish you all the best.

Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks, Karla.

Absolutely.