Why Most Agents Struggle to Hire (or Use AI): The Missing Piece

Why Most Agents Struggle to Hire (or Use AI): The Missing Piece

Are you like the majority of agents who know they should delegate and automate? You try to hire an assistant or implement a new AI tool, only to have it fail miserably. In the end, you spend more time fixing the mess than if you had just done it yourself in the first place. The strategy wasn't the problem. The missing piece was. In this conversation, we get into standard operating procedures and why they're the prerequisite to almost everything you're trying to add to your business right now. We unpack why most agents have procedures locked in their head but never on paper, the restaurant dishwasher analogy Garrett uses to break a business into the small chunks you can actually systematize, the "definition of done" that turns a vague task into a finished one, the BMW brake job that paid Garrett the equivalent of $1,400 an hour because he had the experience and the process, Dan Martell's Buy Back Your Time and why we keep coming back to it, the trap of handing a brand new hire the job of writing their own SOP, and the SOP Builder we put together at tentenths.co/sop-builder to walk you through your first one. You already have the experience. The work is just getting it out of your head and onto paper, one process at a time. It comes down to picking one routine task you did today, sitting down with the SOP Builder, and letting it ask you the questions that unlock the procedure. Done right, your business becomes something you can hand off, automate against, and trust. And that's when hiring works, AI works, and burnout finally starts going the other direction. Process plus experience equals freedom. Join us in the 11 Circle for weekly coaching, additional resources, and full access to our online community. Join at https://tentenths.co Hosted by Matt Bonelli and Garrett Frey, Life at Ten Tenths. #realestate #realtor #realestateagent #realestatecoaching #realestatebusiness #sops #standardoperatingprocedures #hiring #ai #burnout

The Real Estate Data Most Agents Ignore (And Why It's Costing You Listings)

If you are like most agents, you look at the housing market data once a year, attend office meetings where market data is reviewed from time to time, read the headlines that catch your eye, and call yourself informed. The problem is you are expected to be an expert in your market, but you have done little more than someone living in your town. In this conversation, we get into our favorite tool, the one that literally makes you an expert in your market. The FHFA House Price Index has got to be the most underused tool in our business. We unpack how you can uncover regional nuances (Oakland vs. San Francisco are a great example on the latest report), how the numbers prove appreciation isn't what actually drives most real estate decisions, and what going from the top of the list to the bottom of the list really means. We get into how to pair this data with AI to spot trends, why running a blanket over a state will get you wrong every time, and the closing reality that buyers and sellers right now are choosing the agent who feels like a safe space: low drama, low stress, has answers. We also get into what we believe is the fix. The best part: this data is free, it's published every quarter, and most of your competition isn't looking at it. It comes down to picking a handful of markets, watching the same numbers each quarter, and using what you see to start better conversations with the people in your database. Done right, you stop competing on price and start showing up as the expert worth hiring. Join us in the 11 Circle for weekly coaching with Matt and Garrett, additional resources, and full access to our online community. Join at https://tentenths.co [https://tentenths.co] Hosted by Matt Bonelli and Garrett Frey, Life at Ten Tenths. #realestate #realtor #realestateagent #realestatecoaching #realestatedata #housingmarket #realestatebusiness #marketupdate #listings

The Secret to Building a Referral-Based Real Estate Business: Quantity Time, Not Quality Time

Do you feel like you are doing all the "right" activities, sending cards, popping by, doing all the things? Only to then watch a past client list with a different agent and wonder what happened. The activities aren't the problem. The intention is. In this conversation, we get into the difference between quality time and quantity time, and why the referral-based business you're trying to build runs on the second one. Years ago, Garrett's dad passed along a lesson he learned from Stephen Covey that has heavily influenced how he treats the relationships in his world. You will hear recent personal stories, as well as, get a glimpse of how this plays out in the businesses of agents we coach who are closing high volume (70 to 90 sides a year by themselves). Once again, we explore Dunbar's number 150 and how it relates to your success, and we even get into the phone-on-the-table problem killing trust before you even realize it. Buckle up, this is a wide-ranging conversation with ideas you can implement today that will turn your business around. The best part is we are talking about game changers that cost nothing but some effort on your part. Get honest about your intention before every touch, hone in on the small group of people you want to commit quantity time to, and show up without keeping score. Done right, the database stops feeling like a list to work and starts feeling like the relationships that fuel your business and your life at the same time.

The Post-Closing System That Builds a Referral Business on Autopilot

You just spent months building a relationship through one of the most stressful, emotional purchases of someone's life. Then the deal closes, you cash the check, and you move on. Sound familiar? In this conversation, we get into the post-closing system most agents never build, and why it might be the single biggest leak in your business. The real estate industry trains us to be world-class at finding new buyers and sellers, and almost nothing on what to do with the ones we already have. We unpack the four-phase post-closing program we built ( free at https://tentenths.co/postclosing [https://tentenths.co/postclosing] ), the Four Seasons Vail check-in moment that Garrett still tells people about years later, the Hall Steakhouse handwritten note and the bite of Wagyu that ruined every steak after it, the day-after-closing call most agents are too afraid to make, the lifestyle check-ins that uncover whether the reason they bought is actually being fulfilled, and the annual market impact report that turns a one-time client into a 20-year relationship. We also get into what we believe is the fix. The best part: the cost to acquire a referral is a fraction of the cost of a paid lead, and the relationship is already warm. It comes down to compressing your touches in the first 30 days, then settling into a six-month cadence that just keeps the energy going. Done right, you stop having to find the next deal because the next deal keeps finding you.

Beat Long To-Do Lists and Feeling Stuck with This

Long to-do lists, busy days, and somehow you still end up feeling stuck. If that sounds like your week, this is the episode. The word priority means the thing, singular, but somewhere along the way we pluralized it into priorities and ended up with a to-do list that owns us. In this conversation, we get into the one thing principle that can help you find your sanity and move forward. We unpack Sahil Bloom's index card method, Garrett's morning mission and vision read, Matt's dad's warning about being a realtor all day, and the alignment loop we teach as a daily cadence of ignition, launch, and shutdown. Done right, it leads to no more long lists, no more overwhelm, no more ending the day wondering what you actually accomplished. Just one thing, every day, that pushes you toward the person you're becoming.