Key Takeaways
- Calculated risks can create extraordinary growth when they are supported by accurate data, disciplined tracking, and scalable business systems.
- Every lead has the potential to become a lifelong client, trusted friend, and superfan who generates years of referral business.
- Artificial intelligence is most powerful when it improves efficiency while preserving the human trust, judgment, and enthusiasm clients still need.
The REI Agent with Mike Bjork
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When an Unexpected Second Act Becomes an Extraordinary Breakthrough
Mike Bjork did not enter the property industry with years of sales experience, a famous personal brand, or a carefully mapped path to becoming a top producer.
He entered because his children were getting older, he needed a new challenge, and he wanted to earn enough money to justify buying a slightly nicer car.
What followed was anything but ordinary.
After working as a firefighter and trauma medic, spending years as a stay-at-home father, and signing up to become an Uber driver, Bjork earned his license in 2019. Within two days, he had his first contract. Within a few years, his team surpassed $100 million in annual sales.
Yet the most inspiring part of his story is not the number. It is the way he repeatedly adapted when the original plan stopped working.
Bjork built his career by studying data, investing before he felt completely comfortable, creating genuine relationships, and treating every opportunity as the beginning of something larger. When success arrived earlier than expected and left him searching for a new purpose, he reinvented himself again through artificial intelligence and technology.
“You just got to make yourself one of the top 10%.”
The Career Path Nobody Could Have Predicted
From Firefighter to Full-Time Father
Before building a high-performing sales team, Bjork worked in emergency services. He served as a firefighter and trauma medic in Tucson, Arizona, before moving with his family to Omaha, Nebraska.
When his wife’s medical practice began growing, Bjork stayed home with their children. He remained active, even competing in 24-hour mountain bike races, but eventually reached a point where he needed a new professional challenge.
That challenge arrived during a conversation beside a swimming pool. On the same day, he applied to become an Uber driver and began pursuing his license.
His initial ambition was modest. He thought earning a few hundred dollars each month might allow him to upgrade his car without creating a disagreement at home.
He never completed a single Uber ride.
Instead, he kept the Uber window sign as a personal trophy. It became a reminder of how close his life came to taking a completely different direction.
“I never drove anybody, but I still keep it on my little trophy case.”
That small decision captures an important lesson. A person does not need to see the entire staircase before taking the first step. Sometimes the first decision simply creates enough movement for a better opportunity to appear.
He Interviewed the Brokerages Instead of Waiting to Be Chosen
Preparation Started Before the License Arrived
Bjork did not wait until passing the licensing exam to begin studying the business. He visited open houses, spoke with active professionals, examined company cultures, and evaluated which brokerage could support the future he wanted to build.
His mindset was different from many new professionals. He did not approach brokerages hoping someone would accept him. He treated the process like a business owner evaluating potential partners.
“The brokerages, I am interviewing them. They are not interviewing me.”
That confidence was not arrogance. It was preparation.
He understood that the right environment could shorten his learning curve, expose him to stronger performers, and help him build the systems necessary for rapid growth.
One of the first open houses he visited was hosted by a new agent and her team leader. Within approximately a year and a half, both of them were working under Bjork.
The person who had entered the room as a curious beginner eventually became the leader others wanted to follow.
The Bold Investment That Changed Everything
From $1,200 to $8,000 in One Night
Bjork credits Zillow with helping him accelerate his early career, but the platform alone did not create his results. His willingness to study the system, track performance, and act quickly made the difference.
He discovered that spending at a certain level could provide early access to newly available markets. To reach that threshold, he initially purchased opportunities in several lower-priority ZIP codes.
Then a major luxury area became available.
While established competitors hesitated or failed to respond in time, Bjork moved. His monthly commitment jumped from approximately $1,200 to $8,000 almost overnight.
It was a dramatic risk for someone who had only recently entered the business. It also generated approximately 50 leads per month.
Bjork did not rely on instinct alone. He tracked ZIP codes, conversions, agents, lenders, title partners, expenses, and revenue in detailed spreadsheets. He wanted to know where every dollar went and what every dollar produced.
That data allowed him to approach potential partners with evidence rather than vague promises. He could show lenders how many transactions they received and calculate a contribution level that remained profitable for everyone involved.
Data Created Confidence
After only a few months, Bjork presented his production numbers to his broker. He showed how he was performing compared with established leaders in the company and explained that he wanted to start a team.
The broker agreed immediately.
On the first day in his new office, another agent walked in and asked to join him. Bjork had momentum, credibility, and visible results, but he was still learning the fundamentals of team leadership.
He did not even know what a customer relationship management system was at the time.
Rather than pretending to know everything, he learned each new system as the need appeared. That willingness to grow in public became one of his greatest strengths.
Every Lead Was More Than a Transaction
Planting Seeds Instead of Picking Low-Hanging Fruit
Bjork never viewed purchased leads as disposable names on a spreadsheet. He saw each person as a potential long-term relationship.
Some professionals chase the easiest transaction and immediately move to the next opportunity. Bjork took a different approach. He wanted every successful interaction to produce trust, referrals, friendships, and future business.
“You can be the agent that just grabs the low-hanging fruit, or you can be the agent that grabs the fruit and plants a seed that is going to grow more business.”
That philosophy transformed online strangers into loyal advocates.
Years later, while looking around the room at his 50th birthday celebration, Bjork realized that several close friends had first entered his life through Zillow. They were no longer simply clients. They had become part of his personal community.
They also continued recommending him without needing scripts, reminders, or referral campaigns.
Super Fans Cannot Be Manufactured
Bjork believes professionals can learn follow-up strategies, communication systems, and referral techniques. What cannot be faked is genuine excitement for another person’s success.
His enthusiasm helped his neighborhood watch his career grow. Neighbors saw that he cared about their community, understood the area, and celebrated every client.
That authentic energy turned ordinary relationships into super fans.
“You cannot fake the excitement.”
People can sense when they are being treated as commissions. They can also sense when someone genuinely wants them to win.
Bjork’s story demonstrates that enthusiasm becomes a competitive advantage when it is backed by competence, consistency, and care.
The $100 Million Goal That Almost Crushed His Motivation
What Happens When Success Arrives Too Early?
Bjork entered the business with a realistic first-year goal of $2 million. By his second week, he was already approaching that number.
He rewrote the plan.
His larger vision was to reach $100 million in annual production by his fifth year. Instead, his team reached that milestone during year three.
From the outside, it looked like a dream fulfilled. Internally, it created an unexpected crisis.
“When I hit that in year three, it almost crushed me.”
The goal that had been designed to motivate him for five years disappeared two years early. Bjork was still ambitious, but the finish line had moved behind him. He had to determine what success meant next.
This is one of the episode’s most powerful lessons. Achievement does not automatically create purpose. Sometimes a person reaches the destination and discovers that the pursuit was providing more energy than the result.
Systems Made the Growth Possible
Bjork’s rapid expansion did not survive on excitement alone. He installed transaction coordinators, centralized his processes, and created consistent operational systems.
He understood that growth without infrastructure would eventually become chaos.
Those systems allowed the team to handle increasing volume without forcing Bjork to personally manage every detail. They also created the foundation for new ventures in title, mortgage, coaching, and technology.
When the market shifted and lead performance declined, he did not continue spending from pride. He studied the numbers and reduced his monthly investment before it became unprofitable.
The same data that encouraged him to take a bold risk also told him when to pull back.
A New Mission Through Artificial Intelligence
Two Hours a Day Changed His Direction
Bjork’s transition into artificial intelligence began with another unfamiliar challenge.
His mastermind group planned to discuss AI at an upcoming meeting. At that point, Bjork had barely used ChatGPT. Rather than showing up unprepared, he committed approximately two hours each day for an entire month to studying tools, problems, workflows, and possible applications.
During that period, he discovered that he could build solutions instead of simply purchasing them.
He created his own website templates and systems, then compared their performance with existing paid products. His early version was already outperforming some of the tools other professionals were buying.
That discovery opened a new door.
Bjork began building a centralized AI platform designed to help professionals use multiple tools without constantly switching services. The system could pull listing information from the MLS, generate marketing content, support social media creation, and check materials for compliance before publication.
He did not begin with a traditional programming background. He began with curiosity, disciplined learning, and an understanding of the problems professionals faced every day.
Knowing What He Did Not Know
Bjork also understood that personal creativity was not enough to build a secure and sustainable technology company.
He brought in experienced partners with leadership backgrounds in AI, enterprise technology, and programming. Rather than pretending to be the strongest person in every area, he surrounded himself with people who understood the technical infrastructure he did not.
That decision reflects mature leadership. The best leaders do not need to possess every skill. They need enough awareness to recognize which skills are missing and enough humility to recruit people who have them.
AI Will Not Replace the Professionals Who Keep Showing Up
Technology Exposes Effort
Many professionals worry that artificial intelligence will eliminate their careers. Bjork offers a more direct perspective.
“The only agents I think AI is going to replace are the agents that are not putting effort in to do what they need to do.”
Technology can automate follow-up, accelerate response times, produce content, and organize information. It can make speed to lead almost instantaneous.
What it cannot fully replace is trust.
A bot cannot sit beside a nervous first-time buyer at closing. It cannot walk through an inspection and calmly explain why a minor repair should not destroy an otherwise strong transaction. It cannot celebrate a family’s new beginning with genuine human emotion.
“AI is not going to show up at closing.”
Bjork believes the strongest professionals will combine old and new methods. They will use technology to become faster and more efficient while preserving personality, judgment, and human connection.
The future does not belong to people who reject technology. It also does not belong to people who hide behind it. It belongs to professionals who use powerful tools while remaining deeply human.
The Most Powerful Marketing Still Happens in the Community
Food Trucks, Neighborhood Parks, and Real Conversations
Despite his enthusiasm for technology, Bjork still recommends simple local involvement.
In his neighborhood, he worked with the homeowners association to organize recurring summer events featuring food trucks at local parks. Families purchased their own food, the association had limited expenses, and Bjork provided drinks for adults and children.
The events were affordable, useful, and social.
Most importantly, they allowed him to have real conversations with people throughout the neighborhood. He demonstrated expertise because he had worked in the area, but also because he lived there and genuinely cared about it.
This approach was more effective than a magazine advertisement he had previously sponsored. The advertisement placed his name in front of people. The community events allowed people to know him.
Visibility creates awareness. Relationships create trust.
The Luxury Myth and the Lifetime Value of Ordinary Clients
A $300,000 Buyer May Be Worth More Than a $1 Million Buyer
Many new professionals dream of entering the luxury market because larger transactions appear to promise larger rewards.
Bjork does not discourage ambition, but he challenges the assumption that the largest transaction always creates the greatest long-term value.
“If you do it right, this $300,000 house is going to generate you way more money than helping someone buy this $1 million house.”
A first-time buyer may remain in the community for years. That buyer may refer friends, relatives, coworkers, and neighbors. As careers and incomes grow, the buyer may move into increasingly valuable homes.
The original transaction may be smaller, but the relationship has room to compound.
First-time buyers also experience the process emotionally. A skilled professional who guides them through uncertainty can become a trusted adviser for life.
Bjork’s lesson is simple. Professionals should not overlook people because their first transaction appears ordinary. Today’s modest client may become tomorrow’s most valuable advocate.
Calm Is a Competitive Advantage
Keeping Business Problems in Perspective
Bjork’s experience as a firefighter and trauma medic shaped the way he handles pressure.
When a transaction becomes tense, he does not treat every obstacle like a catastrophe. He assesses the problem, looks for a solution, and helps clients regain perspective.
“Losing a deal at the end of the day, no one died.”
That perspective does not mean he takes the work lightly. It means he refuses to make fear more powerful than the problem itself.
Clients remember the professional who remained steady when everyone else became emotional. Teams trust the leader who can absorb pressure without spreading panic.
Calm thinking creates room for better decisions.
Mike Bjork’s Golden Nuggets for Sustainable Growth
Spend Money With a Measurable Purpose
Bjork’s first major lesson is that growth sometimes requires an investment before the outcome feels guaranteed.
He believes professionals should not be afraid to spend money to make money, but his story also shows that spending must be tracked carefully. His aggressive Zillow strategy worked because he measured performance, understood conversion, and changed course when the numbers declined.
Risk without measurement becomes gambling. Risk supported by data becomes strategy.
Follow Up to Build a Family, Not Just Close a Sale
Bjork’s second lesson is to continue the relationship after the paperwork is finished.
His follow-up style was not always highly automated. Sometimes he simply called a past client while driving through the person’s neighborhood. Those casual conversations often turned into invitations to visit.
The method mattered less than the sincerity.
“One super fan can lead to 10 clients instantly.”
Great follow-up does not make people feel managed. It makes them feel remembered.
Build Something That Can Survive Its First Customer
Bjork also warns entrepreneurs that launching a product is easier than sustaining one.
Many creators build an impressive demonstration, secure their first client, and then spend all their time repairing missing systems. Sales stop because the founder becomes trapped in troubleshooting.
A sustainable product needs security, infrastructure, support processes, and a reliable backend before rapid growth begins.
The same principle applies to every business. Growth magnifies whatever already exists. Strong systems become more valuable. Weak systems become more painful.
Success Is Not a Finish Line, It Is Permission to Evolve
The Courage to Keep Building After the Original Dream Comes True
Mike Bjork’s journey is not simply a story about rapid production, purchased leads, or artificial intelligence. It is a story about reinvention.
He reinvented himself after emergency services. He reinvented himself after years at home with his children. He reinvented his business after reaching $100 million sooner than expected. He reinvented his purpose again when technology presented a new frontier.
At every stage, the next chapter began before he felt completely prepared.
His experience shows that extraordinary progress often starts with a simple decision to learn, act, and adjust. The first plan does not need to be perfect. The person pursuing it must be willing to keep growing.
Success did not remove every challenge from Bjork’s life. It gave him the responsibility to choose a larger challenge.
For professionals standing at the beginning of an unfamiliar path, his message is deeply encouraging. A modest goal can become a remarkable career. A purchased lead can become a lifelong friend. A month of focused study can become a technology company. A goal that once defined success can be replaced by a mission that creates even greater meaning.
The future belongs to those who build systems, cultivate genuine relationships, remain calm under pressure, and refuse to stop evolving after the first dream comes true.
Stay tuned for more inspiring stories on The REI Agent podcast, your go-to source for insights, inspiration, and strategies from top agents and investors who are living their best lives through real estate.
For more content and episodes, visit reiagent.com.
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Contact Mike Bjork
Mentioned References
Transcript
[Mattias]
Welcome back to the REI Agent. My guest today is Mike Bjork, owner of Bjork Group at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, ambassador in Omaha, Nebraska. Mike entered the real estate in 2019 after spending time as a stay-at-home dad and in under six years, built a team to over 100 million in annual sales with a focus on luxury positioning.
He has since expanded beyond active selling into coaching other agents and teams and now runs a business dedicated to helping realtors actually use AI in their daily workflows. He is a referral from one of our past guests, which tells you everything you need to know about the kind of reputation he has built in this industry. Mike, welcome to the REI Agent Podcast.
Well, thank you for having me. Yeah, so from stay-at-home dad to a top team leading agent, how did that happen? How did that transition?
[Mike Bjork]
Oh, it was a little bit more than just that. That was the simple version, I guess. So I retired from the fire department in Tucson.
So I was a firefighter, you know, that was in 2010. Worked as a trauma medic when we moved to Omaha. My wife’s practice took off.
I stayed home with the kids. I used to do like 24-hour mountain bike races. I’d always be doing something.
Once my kids hit high school and middle school, I got bored. I literally was walking around the pool, talking to a friend, and I signed up to be an Uber driver the same day I signed up to get my real estate license. And it was just because I was like, well, if I can make a couple hundred dollars more or a couple hundred dollars a month, I could get a little bit nicer car without having to fight with my wife.
[Mattias]
So I’d take it the Uber career didn’t really blossom?
[Mike Bjork]
I never drove anybody, but I still keep on my little trophy case. They make you buy one of those things for the windows. Not saying Ubering’s bad, but I just kept it as my little reminder.
Keep you motivated? Yeah.
[Mattias]
No, I interviewed somebody once who relocated to a market and they did both. And it was actually kind of genius because they were able to learn the streets really well. We were able to learn the area super well as an Uber driver.
Most of the time they spent doing that was hours that they weren’t spending as a realtor. So it actually worked really well as a pairing and maybe a good life pro tip for anybody who is relocating to a new area and needs a little something to sustain them while they get their sales business off the ground.
[Mike Bjork]
I agree. It’s all networking, but it was like I was on boards like the Friends of Children’s board. So those things kind of helped when I did start.
[Mattias]
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So you would have been, so you relocated from Tucson. How long were you in the market before you, like how much of a network had you established?
How much did you have to intentionally kind of get involved in these kind of community things to build up your sphere?
[Mike Bjork]
Not too long, but I was in Omaha for a while, right? So we got here at the end, like let’s say beginning of 2011. I got my license, I think April 23rd of 2019.
Okay. So my kids are younger. There’s a network of school parents, neighborhood friends.
That kind of helped. At first that was kind of tough, especially because it was a little, it was considered a luxury neighborhood. So building it quickly kind of really made me dominate the neighborhood too, because then all of a sudden I had not just these friends, but I had all these super fans.
But if they knew someone else that was there, that’s what kind of got me into the luxury pretty quick.
[Mattias]
Okay, that makes sense. You said your wife’s practice took off. What practice is that?
What kind of- She’s a physician. Okay, okay. So there was probably some networking there too, right?
With her peers and co-workers.
[Mike Bjork]
Yeah, not as much as you would expect, because she would never promote it at all. But it’s funny, both of her partners, I’ve helped buy houses and tons of her nurses. So yes, there is networking there, but it was, at first she didn’t promote it much.
[Mattias]
Sure, you’re not trying to shove a different business.
[Mike Bjork]
And she’s good at what she does, because, I mean, it’s all about her patience. Like she’s just a workhorse. Sure.
And maybe that mentality also rubbed off on me over 25 years, who knows?
[Mattias]
Yeah, I mean, you clearly built an awesome team here. I’m curious what were two or three operational decisions in years one and two that you would point to as the actual unlock, and which of those would still work for someone starting cold in 2026?
[Mike Bjork]
It’s a little bit of a mix. So I started preparing even before I got licensed. I made the mistake of not getting my fingerprints, right?
So right away, which takes several weeks when you’re ready to take that test. Sure. So I was studying networking, even to choose the right brokerage.
I always knew that, hey, I took the approach that the brokerages, I’m interviewing them, they’re not interviewing me.
[Mattias]
Yeah.
[Mike Bjork]
Right? So I would go to these open houses and talk to different agents and kind of get a feel of, okay, what would be the best fit for me? That’s where I ended up where I did, but- That’s interesting.
[Mattias]
Can I ask a question about that real quick?
[Mike Bjork]
Yeah.
[Mattias]
Did you go in under the guise of a potential interested buyer or did you just talk to them? Hey, look, I’m getting my license. I’m curious what your thoughts are on your brokerage.
[Mike Bjork]
Well, it’s actually funny because the first one I went to, it was someone that was just getting their license, but she was also there with an agent that’s been doing it for a little while, like that was her team lead. Within a year and a half, both of them came and started working underneath me.
[Mattias]
Nice. That’s awesome.
[Mike Bjork]
And I’ll give like the big reason, like a lot of people either hate it or love it. Zillow did jumpstart me quite a bit. I also figured out ways to manipulate it when I started.
So within two days of being licensed, I already had my first contract. Wow. And that was because I was looking at different things.
I did like for our neighborhood, they used to have a magazine that went out. I sponsored a page that, I mean, never really got me anything anyway except for my name. The events I did is what drew more attention than that magazine.
But with Zillow, it was what I figured out was, and it’s changed since then. So this may not be great for someone new starting, but at least it gives an idea that there’s always ways. So I went in, I learned that, okay, if you have, at least in our local market, if you’re spending $1,200 a month, you have an opportunity to get the new markets before anyone else, right?
And at that point, it was all sold out. I had to put, I scraped like three or four different lower zip codes than I wanted just to get that 1,200. What ended up happening is the nice, really heavy luxury part of Omaha, that’s a big zip code.
That and a couple others came out. And from one night, I went from $1,200 a month to 8,000 a month because all the other top agents that were spending that, no one turned it in on time or didn’t expect someone to just come in and grab it all.
[Mattias]
Okay.
[Mike Bjork]
Right, so because I kind of, the way I always did it, even when I raced, like I would track people’s numbers and see what they did from year to year, right? And that’s how I kind of based my growth. So I am a very data-driven person as well.
So my Google sheet from day one, not only counts, but keeps track of everything on my agents, if it came from Zillow, what zip codes are performing, but I even break it down to lenders, title companies. I want to know where every single penny’s going. Sure.
Right, and especially because I didn’t think it was fair to go ask a lender, you know, I was excited at first. I’m like, oh, you know, lenders can pay up to 50%. Realistically, you know, it’s closer, what I found on an average for them to make their money back is them spending closer to 30%.
[Mattias]
Okay.
[Mike Bjork]
Right, but I at least had the data to go to say like, hey, we’ve given you this many deals or, you know, this, like I had like data backing me, which got me support right away. So like I said, once I got that 8,000 a month, all of a sudden I was getting like 50 leads a month and it was just me by myself. So I went to my broker, I print it out because it used to be able to give you where every agent ranked in a zip code.
And I went to our broker and our broker is unique. Like there’s not many brokerages anymore that have, you know, 49, 50% of a market. Sure.
Right, so, you know, and several top 10 people come out of here that, you know, in the network completely for Berkshire. So it’s a great place to learn. But what I did is I went to him and, you know, he had no idea who I was.
I’ve only been doing real estate for three months at this point, you know, three months. I think I was already at 8 million within that three months. That’s wild.
Or six months, let’s put it. And I just showed him, like, here’s where I’m showing up compared to all of your top agents in this brokerage. I was like, I would like to start a team.
He’s like, you need to start a team. So then, you know, people heard me talking. Like I got my office, I’ll never forget it.
It was the first day I walk into my office, sit down, I kind of had it set up. And then within 30 minutes, an agent walked in and just said, I’ve heard what you’ve been doing. Can I join your team?
And I was like, okay. I didn’t know what to do. I was like, okay.
I didn’t even know what a CRM was at that point. So I was using Zillow CRM and then they brought up, well, do you have a website? No, so I was like, okay.
So then I started all that, you know, where, you know, there’s several different platforms out there. Yeah, by that point, the one I was using was probably pretty watered down a little bit. So, but yeah, Zillow was a huge jumping point, just figuring out, like, it was always profitable, even like at one point I got up to like $25,000 a month, but I also had like 25 agents.
[Mattias]
Wow.
[Mike Bjork]
And it wasn’t so much as Zillow was profitable, but was really more profitable was teaching the agents how to nurture their sphere and how to create super fans, right? So, and I purposely did that because Zillow was expensive. So I took way more of a cut on any Zillow deal, right?
Now they have Flex, which Zillow takes a cut, right? So it was generating more money just by teaching them how to do it. The luxury, I always had a little different approach, like, cause everyone wanted to be luxury, not saying they can’t, but I always had a strict rule, like on my settings, even with Zillow, like I could set it for price points on who got those calls.
I made, to able to get a luxury call, you had to qualify for the luxury designation, which means like three sales of like the top 10% price in a zip code, right? I thought that was fair. That has worked out.
One of the people that I was just talking about, that first person I met at an open house before I was even licensed that came to me, she was in luxury. Her first Zillow call was a three point in which is outrageous in Omaha at that point was 3.2 and she ended up negotiating it to 3.8 adding all this land in as well. That was her very first Zillow call.
Top back. So she was sold. So then not only did I have a agent that’s a fan, but she’s also now a fan of Zillow, which is a luxury agent was like, they were not big into Zillow.
And to be honest, like every single year I’ve gotten a 2 million plus deal from Zillow when I was in it.
[Mattias]
Yeah. So, okay, a couple of things I wanna tease out here. And I think one of the points I like to make about buying leads is, it’s not necessarily a bad thing in my mind at all.
And obviously you’re making a strong case here for it. I think buying leads is great, but I think you need to understand fully that you’re not in control of, like you mentioned, they changed the way that the system works, et cetera. So you’re not fully in control of everything in that process.
So like they can change the rules, they could get more expensive, all these different things can happen. But as you’re getting leads in, I think you also have to be able to balance, being still that, generating super fans, working your sphere, working the people that you got from Zillow or wherever to be in your sphere and like to nurture them long-term so that they are then repeat buyers or referral partners, et cetera, going forward. In case you don’t want to, or they change things and you don’t want to do the buying of leads anymore.
Because I think ultimately, at some point when you’re very busy, you also probably want to decide how you want your business to look, how you want it to operate, right? So like, do you want to be, I don’t know what your conversion rate was with these Zillow leads, but, personally- 22%. 22%, that’s really good.
And you’re going to be talking to, that means out of 100, obviously you’re going to be talking to 88 people or 78 people that will not convert. And that’s a lot of phone calls, that’s a lot of spinning the wheels, even at a really good conversion rate, right?
[Mike Bjork]
Yeah. So, and it’s changed. Like obviously, we got into COVID a little bit, right?
Which changed everything. Which then we learned how to write a contract different, but we can get into that different. But I always looked at Zillow, like me being older, jumping in, I wanted to build a client base quick.
Yes. Right? And I teach my agents that too is, I mean, the reason the conversion was so high was because there are certain key metrics that if you ask the right questions, you get a higher score on Zillow, right?
A higher score means more leads. Okay. But to me, it was always using that as a jumping board.
So a new agent, like, don’t be afraid to take leads. Like, I know sometimes the splits aren’t fair on them, but use it to build your client base. You can be an agent, because I look at every single one like a seed, right?
Or a piece of fruit. Each lead that comes in as a piece of fruit, you can be the agent that just grabs the low hanging fruit, or you can be the agent that grabs the fruit and plants a seed that’s gonna grow more business. And I looked at it, I always looked at it from that way from the beginning.
A prime example is even, got at my 50th birthday party a couple of years ago. I shouldn’t say how old I am, but like, I’m looking around the room and I invited just kind of close friends. And as I’m kind of looking around the room, I realized like, oh man, there’s David.
Like, I would have never met him if it wasn’t for Zillow. Like, there was like a couple of just really good friends that I actually met through Zillow, which then became super friends and generated business. But at that point, I didn’t need them to.
I don’t even have to coach them at that point on how to do it. But they’re people I hang out with now, so.
[Mattias]
Yeah, yeah. And I mean, just so you’re getting to my exact point is like, if you’re treating these people as like friends, or you’re getting them into that, you’re nurturing, you’re taking care of these people, they’re becoming referral partners, super fans, that’s the ideal. Because if you’re depending solely on these new incoming leads and you’re not really caring about what you’ve already transacted on or who you’ve talked to, et cetera, then you can get yourself into troubled waters because again, they can change the rules.
It can make it more expensive, the leads can dry up. I heard, you know, especially after, I heard some people complaining about what the lead quality or how the lead quantity looked like, you know, kind of when rates spiked, like things changed and it was a little bit harder. That may not be true in every market.
[Mike Bjork]
Yeah, like right now I feel there’s not a huge quality of great leads out there. I know the system has kind of changed. I don’t even do any Zillow anymore.
I just help coach a couple of teams that are on Flex to make sure that they hit their 90 day goals. But yeah, it has been, I’ve been hearing it here because I help a team in Arizona, I help a team in Arkansas as well. Like I hear it not just here, it seems to be across, right?
It’s hard to say. I think that there’s just uncertainty right now and the rates aren’t really that bad, you know? And to be honest, in my opinion, I could be wrong, but the next time the rates go that low is it’s gonna take a circumstance that we didn’t predict coming.
It’s gonna take like a 9-11, it’s gonna take COVID, it’s gonna take the market crash. Like it’s gonna be things like, so we’re not, people have got to realize we’re not back down to that level, right? With those rates going down, I do feel especially a lot of builders, like now they’re stuck with a much higher price point than it was two, three years ago, you know?
It’s kind of crazy, because I look at like my house in the square footage and go find one that’s half the size for the same price and a new construction. So there’s gonna be changes, the market always adjusts. I mean, there’s a reason that the top 10% do 90% of the business, right?
You just got to make yourself one of the top 10%.
[Mattias]
Well, let’s get into that a little bit more. You talked about how you were coaching these people to become super fans, or what’d you, how you described it?
[Mike Bjork]
I don’t necessarily coach them. You know, a lot of coaches will tell you like how to get your past clients to promote you or give you referrals. That’s the coaching part.
The super fans are natural. And that’s one thing I’ve learned is, you know, people like even starting a team and people wanna come do, like they saw the numbers that I did in a short amount of time, and they wanna do that. You know, but you can’t necessarily teach someone to be you.
And part, at least for me, I figured out why, is it’s you can’t fake the excitement. And I get excited for every single person. And you can’t, that’s just something you can’t fake.
Because when you’re excited, like I said, when my neighborhood watched me grow really quick, it turned into everybody referring to me in there. You know, just, that’s part of the excitement. And I think that’s hard to teach in a real way.
[Mattias]
Yeah, no, that makes sense. And I mean, I think that takes a lot of special things. I mean, I mean, you can imagine, you know, things going viral, there’s excitement, there’s hype, whatever.
That’s, I mean, that’s essentially what you’re talking about. And, you know, has that been something that you’ve had a hard time sustaining after getting, you know, I mean, I’m sure there’s been periods of time doing that much business where, you know, you might feel burnout after a while. I mean, I know going through COVID, the pandemic, doubling my, you know, my business in one year, even though the year before was a hallmark year, I doubled it the next year.
And I just, after that year, I was like, oh my gosh. I needed a bit of a breather.
[Mike Bjork]
This is a little crazy. Yeah, and I get, I changed my philosophy a little bit because, like, I always had a business plan. Like, my original business plan getting into real estate was I just tried to be realistic.
And I was like, I’m gonna do two million my first year.
[Mattias]
Yeah.
[Mike Bjork]
By week two, I think I was already close to that. So I scratched that off, new plan. I still save that book too.
But I built it, like, okay, with systems. Like, okay, if I’m gonna grow a team, I need systems. So I made sure I had transaction coordinators in place.
Everything was taken care of. Everybody’s on one dot loop. Like, everything is confined.
I at least had my control and knew that I could handle that because I had the right systems to handle it. Mm. But even that, like, my goal, my five year, the hundred million, to hit a hundred million in a single year was my, was planned for year five.
When I hit that year three, it almost, like, it was the opposite, it almost crushed me. Like, I didn’t know, I’m a driven person. And I took, I just knocked my drive away two years early.
Right, so then I had to rebuild. So what kind of helped that drive a little bit is then, like, I started looking at the numbers, running axillaries. Like, okay, then, like, with this many units, I know I need 600 units to have a very sustainable title company.
Got the right people involved that had other units besides just me. Started title, went into mortgage ranch. So those kind of kept me somewhat excited about real estate.
You know, the market took a hit. Everyone kind of went on their own. Or, you know, the lead completely stopped.
At that point, I had to stop the 25,000, too. Like, I dropped it in half just because I saw the numbers coming from the way it was, like, just the down. Like, I can do, you know, I’ll cover a quarter ahead, but it was, like, okay, it’s like, okay, now I’m gonna be losing money if I’m spending this much versus where I was making money spending that much.
You know, and that’s partly why now I run an AI SaaS company as well, you know?
[Mattias]
Yeah, no, I wanted to get into the AI side of your business as well and what you coach and how you teach people to use AI in their systems.
[Mike Bjork]
Yeah, I took a little different approach to that. I don’t necessarily teach people. I built a platform that made it that you can just go to and it’s like, you just go and everything’s there in one spot.
It makes it super simple and I have no, like, where I came from either, I don’t have a real big coding background unless you count video gaming when I was younger, but that’s about it. You know, a little tech, but once AI came out, what ended up happening, so I do these masterminds as well with other top agents, like, once a month. And it was July, our next mastermind was August, and they’re like, okay, we’re gonna talk about AI.
I didn’t even, like, I’ve heard of AI. I barely even used it before that. I used ChatGPT a couple times, so the whole month of July, I spent two hours a day studying all the different problems and all the different systems to do the different things.
And then I, within that time, I was like, wow, I can actually build, so instead of paying, it was kind of funny because at the presentation, like, one person brought up, like, hey, and I don’t know if you want me to share names with the product or not, but they’re like, hey, we used AI to find luxury presents. It has the highest this, and I was like, I was up next and what I did is I took it and I built my own site, my own template, all the stuff, and it was actually, when we compared numbers, it was already outperforming what they were just paying for. Yeah, that’s awesome.
So that’s where I had the ideas, like, okay, this is a template, everyone needs a website. You know, like, the website’s great, but it, I mean, where we’re high in the website is I figured out how to show up on all AI searches. Sure.
We can get our clients to do that as well. And that’s huge because that’s where the search is going. Yeah.
SEO is not gonna be around. It’s gonna be around in YouTube the longest only because AI can descript a video, cut a video, but there’s only like four platforms that can truly read a video, and so YouTube’s the last. And that’s where, like, Hagen, we partnered with at the beginning to create our avatar so we can produce stuff on YouTube quickly or any agents can that use the platform.
We actually, the biggest hurdle with that, though, is like, because I know one of the things is like a lot of these fizzle out. And some of the times I realized that, okay, these demos are great, people are using them. What I found out early is that they don’t understand AI either, right?
So the first version I built kind of around my mind a little bit, and then I also brought in partners to help, right, to help with all the true server stuff that I don’t understand. So one of my partners, she resigned from Union Pacific where she was the vice president, head of AI and tech. She was also in the same spot at Walmart International, same way with our master programmer.
So like they built all this stuff for these major companies and already understood it. So I made sure I brought in like bigger people. One, because I don’t know how to run a tech company either.
That’s where I defer on them. It’s where I’m having my most fun now, but it’s kind of like the hardest hurdle was getting the agents to understand how to use it. So that was version one, right?
Because we’re connected to the MLS. So if you have a listing, like your social media, the difference, one of the differences about us is that it’s not just a link to your social media. You can pull straight from the MLS.
Let’s say you have an open house. You pull from the MLS, what pictures, click the button, does the description, and it also checks for compliance because I learned as a team lead, the number one reason you’re gonna get fined is letting your agents do their own social media, right? So I made sure that I built all compliance built in, like so it will check it and won’t even post it if it’s not compliant.
But people still don’t understand like when they’re trying to do the creative stuff, it was probably a little confusing. So then the newer version just has like a board and we already built all these templates in. Like so if you have a listing, I tried to leave creativity to everything on it because even here, like with some of the brokerages, if you’re sending out those emails or those templates, they all look the same, right?
I was trying to create individuality because that’s how I got to where I was at was by creating things different, not just following the same template. So I always left that open, but now it’s pretty easy. And you just put, you have a board and it says, what do you wanna do?
And then it has a conversation with you before it even creates. So you don’t have to know how to prompt, you don’t have to do, because that was, I mean, that’s the biggest thing is like, Jason Pantano does great teaching it and has like an academy. I just made it all, like every product that he ever talks about is already partnered with us.
So what I did is I took it a step further and instead of just like teaching people how to use it, like why not make enterprise accounts with all these major AI companies? So it’s actually cheaper to have all the AI in one spot instead of having agents jump, right? And it changes three months.
Claude’s great now. Jim and I used to be, it changes every three months. So that’s why I’m more into AI now, because I mean, I take a month off and I’m three months behind.
[Mattias]
Yeah, yeah, it is wild, the shifting landscape there. What, can you talk to, I know a lot of agents might have some reservations, some concerns about being replaced. That’s always kind of been the fear.
I mean, ever since I think, I don’t know, the internet, I know when the internet came out, that was a big fear, getting the MLS onto the internet as opposed to just the book that only agents had. The fear was that agents would be replaced. And I think that there are a couple big companies actively trying to do so, lawsuits and AI.
What can you talk to about, how can you tell agents that they should be still using this to further their business and make themselves more powerful as opposed to being worried about it being something that’s gonna replace them?
[Mike Bjork]
The only agents I think AI is gonna replace are the agents that aren’t putting effort in to do what they need to do.
[Mattias]
Okay.
[Mike Bjork]
I don’t think that you’re not, I’ve created several bots that even have size, somewhat emotions when they’re dealing with a client, like talking to it, but you’re never gonna fully replace that person. I think that it is, and to be honest, let’s look at it, the whole history of real estate, agents are replaced every day. Like they’re replaced, like the whole concepts of some of the brokerages is more like, all right, let’s just get the numbers.
It’s like the numbers game. They are replaced every day. Yeah, yeah, a lot of them don’t make it.
Right. And that’s what I’m trying to change is like, okay, like one, you can’t change the motivation. It’s not easy.
It’s great to hold a license. Even think about it for what the cost is, like selling, I think that the percentage here last year was like, I think 87% of the agents only sold one or two houses in the last year or two. That’s not sustainable.
You know, that does count assistants, licensed assistants. So it’s a little skewed, but it’s the work. And that’s where for teams, like new agents, like don’t necessarily scoff at the opportunities to get leads.
Cause like I said, that’s where you build your business. And if you build your business in three years with repeat leads, you’re not getting replaced. You’re going to have your super fans.
You’re going to have your clients that you stay in touch with.
[Mattias]
Yeah.
[Mike Bjork]
You know, that’s the idea is to mix both. Like everyone’s like, oh, so like, I remember one of my first days is I had an agent come up to me and go like found out I was spending, you know, a couple thousand dollars on Zillow and said, you know, if you really want to learn how to make it, I’ll show you how to do it without spending any money. And I’m like, well, I’ve got a plan.
Let me see it through, you know, it’s don’t, don’t get rid of the old, you know, the other stuff, but make it more efficient, right? Where AI helps more is on those teams, right? And it potentially helps the agents because, you know, you’ve probably done it long enough.
You know, the old saying was speed to lead. With AI, that’s gone. Your speed to lead is instant if it’s done right.
And then it hands off like a fresh thing. It may not teach the agents properly sometimes, but you know, you have the option to turn it on and off. Like for a team, for an individual agent, I’d still say get your own personality and do it yourself.
You know, we’ll help with social media. That’s where AI would help for a newer agent is getting your SEO, AEO up there through social media. And that’s free, don’t, like I’ve heard some ridiculous numbers of people spending like 5,000 a month for like SEO and you don’t need it.
[Mattias]
Yeah. Yeah, that’s fascinating. What would you, I mean, what kind of playbook would you give a person that’s getting started in 2026 for, yeah, trying to, we can’t really expect the growth that you saw probably now, but you never know.
I mean, what kind of playbook would you give somebody getting started now?
[Mike Bjork]
You know, social media, if you’re hitting the right things, especially because no one else knows, people might be following you and know who you are, but don’t know what you do.
[Erica]
Right.
[Mike Bjork]
So to me, that is like getting it out there, making it so everyone sees you like that. To me, that’s why I also did Zillow, because at the time it would always show like the top agents in every zip code. Like, and it was based off what you were paying.
It wasn’t an accurate statement, but the public didn’t know that.
[Mattias]
Right.
[Mike Bjork]
You know, and that since changed, that’s what helped me, but like, I don’t know, sponsor things. Like what I did for my neighborhood is, and it cost me nothing more than what I paid for drinks, but like we had a couple of parks. So I got the HOA, you know, I did get involved in the HOA, but I also got them.
So every, during the summer, every second Friday, you would have a food truck come up and we’d have a thing in the park. I would have like my stuff out there, drinks for the parents, drinks for kids, things like that. And the food truck didn’t have to pay a dime for it because everyone in the neighborhood still paid.
And as long as the food truck got their minimum, they were fine. So the HOA wasn’t paying a ton. I wasn’t paying a ton, but I gave me a chance to be one-on-one with every single person in the neighborhood and show that I was an expert, not just because of what I’ve done in there, because I lived in there.
Like that’s the excitement. I did love the neighborhood. You know, I wasn’t doing it to get out of the neighborhood.
So, you know, things like that will really help, you know, keep a CRM one way or the other. I know one of the top agents, I still think she uses just her spreadsheet and she does like 30 million a year, but she’s also a workhorse, you know. You’ve got to find your work-life balance because I also found when I got into it, I was going for 12 hours a day.
You know, you’re just going, going.
[Mattias]
Yeah.
[Mike Bjork]
And you got to do that at the beginning. Later, you can start picking your clients or, you know, then you have referral opportunities, things like that. Like at this point, I just refer most of my stuff off.
[Mattias]
Yeah.
[Mike Bjork]
Don’t be afraid. Like everyone that wants to go into luxury, I’ve always told my client or my agents, do you realize like if you do it right, this $300,000 house is going to generate you way more money in the span of me selling, helping people buy this $1 million house, right? Because they’re going to stay longer if you get there in that, right?
Then you have other friends. So you might do a ton in that, which makes up the difference, but then you also have a much larger client base growing that has more opportunities for upscale.
[Mattias]
No, totally. Yeah, I was telling my team about, you know, they were talking about wanting to get a, you know, this million dollar listing or they would love to get one like that. I’m like, I mean, maybe.
I mean, it can be great. Don’t get me wrong, you know, but I think I’d rather have like six townhouses. Yeah, you can definitely turn those over faster.
And, you know, you can definitely get, yeah, more activity from them, like, you know, potential buyers, et cetera.
[Mike Bjork]
Yeah, and it’s crazy market though here right now. Like going back to that question, sorry to divert. Like the million plus market is still pretty strong.
[Mattias]
Nice.
[Mike Bjork]
It’s the five to eight that really is hurting.
[Mattias]
Okay.
[Mike Bjork]
And I’ve seen that a couple of places, so.
[Mattias]
Yeah, I’m sure Omaha is big enough that there’s different like sectors, et cetera. So like there’s probably the median sales price for the whole area is probably, I mean, not in the million range, I would guess, right?
[Mike Bjork]
No, not the median, not even close. I think we’re closer to four or five for the median.
[Mattias]
Yeah, and then you’d have sectors that would have enough activities so you could have your own kind of like, you know, whatever, median sales price, if you will. But that five to eight, it sounds, yeah, like it would be pretty tough.
[Mike Bjork]
Yeah, and those take longer too. Like so, I mean, that’s why like take the first time home buyer, that’s your best bet. Like that’s where you, like if you do it right, you have a fan forever.
Yeah. Because it’s emotional too.
[Mattias]
Yeah, and I think that’s, you know, that’s exactly one of those reasons when we were touching based on like where, you know, getting replaced by AI or whatever, like that’s doesn’t really, I don’t know many first time home buyers, for example, that would feel comfortable with a bot. Usually they’re coming with their dad for a little bit until I can convince them that I know more than what their dad knows.
[Mike Bjork]
Yeah, and AI is not gonna show up at closing.
[Mattias]
Yeah, or, you know, be able to figure out like, you know, I’ve been through, you know, hundreds of home inspections and, you know, I can help make sure that we’re not walking into a disaster, which AI definitely can’t.
[Mike Bjork]
Right, or like when a client freaks out over like, oh, like the gas line’s not grounded. I’m like, well, it’s because the house is built in this year. That’s a $50 fix.
You’re not walking away over gas line not being grounded. We can get that fixed.
[Mattias]
Yeah, yeah, the AI would be like, that’s a valid concern. You are very smart for thinking about that and reacting to this. Bring up all the dangers, right?
[Mike Bjork]
So, right, so I’ve also really, I really dove into what AI answers to because, and it wasn’t, so one of the programs I then created was, or platforms called, I think we, I think the legal name is Client Social IQ, just because Client IQ was taken or, but what it does is we figured out, like, how to scrub your past client’s social media, okay? Now, that we get permission from, but that’s as simple as sending a thing like, hey, we’ve changed our website or sending something like, hey, follow us on social media or let us follow you. But what the algorithm does is it picks, so we use several different personal profile places, and what it does is it gives key indicators that will automatically flag your CRM or call them if you want, of key moving factors, like growing family, empty nesters.
It does also, and we do have it broke down enough with another program that can go through LinkedIn free where you have how to negotiate with people. So not only that, like we’ve learned that, okay, the husband might be the decision maker, but the wife is the influencer on it. So if she’s posting stuff, we know who to target, and then it will even do a key target if it’s a divorce situation.
Now, where I dove in to start playing with it is, to me, my son hates AI and feels like it’s destroying the world, right? Like, you know, just graduated, he’s also into filming, things like that. So, you know, we have different points of view.
So I always say that I wanna do something good with every AI creation as well. This particular platform, now with our medical background, my wife’s medical background, and having several friends that have published papers, we are starting a foundation because theoretically, with the right input, it could also be used for suicide prevention, right? Because then, I mean, the goal’s low, and that is all we need to save one person, like, who cares?
But then I started diving into the AI systems, like, okay, what are the red flags when people do this, right? So I always have hell at first, like, hey, I am not, like, this is for my research, but like, what do you say if I say I’m filming, like, doing this? But then it kind of goes into other things, so you kind of, I learned how AI, how it’s programmed to hit certain things but doesn’t necessarily have that part that we need that’s not gonna replace agents.
[Mattias]
Sure. Yeah, that makes sense. There’s definitely some pushback.
I’ve heard a lot of grads are feeling that way about AI, and I think I’ve heard, is it Jonathan Haidt talk about, have you heard his perspective on AI in general?
[Mike Bjork]
I’m not sure if that’s the guy I’m thinking of, but I’ve heard several, so.
[Mattias]
Jonathan Haidt would talk about, he was all about the impact of social media on children, on teenagers, et cetera, and how that increased their depression, that kind of stuff. Well, now he’s on to AI. His thesis is that social media was taking over and getting your dopamine cycles, like, they were wanting to harness that natural part of your brain to, your attention goes there, you’re getting your dopamine hits, and your attention gets worse as a result of it, et cetera, and his thesis about AI is that it’s that, but for attachment, so that you’re getting attached to this artificial being, and that it is now a good thing. Everything starts off nice and honky-dory, like social media was great at the beginning, and then they have to squeeze the lever of a profit, and the real talents start to show, but it is interesting. I think there’s, it’s not going away, so I think that anybody who completely resists it, if they are in the business space, they are missing the invent of the internet.
It might be a little bit overhyped in a lot of ways, like the internet was, and there was a bubble because of the internet, the dot-com crash, there might be a little bit of something like that gonna happen in the future, we’ll see, but it’s not gonna be around.
[Mike Bjork]
Yeah, it’s a boom right now, like even setting this up, like I know that it’s somewhat like the dot-com boom, right? I know that I will never be a Google, TikTok, I’m not gonna be one of the four major places that run it, but I can have the number one platform for real estate, I can have the number one platform for restaurants, I can have the number one, like so I don’t, that’s where I’ve learned to set my standards back a little bit on being the best and being a little realistic. Yeah, it could change every day.
I mean, the problem is is no one knows where it’s going. It’s like shiny object, especially the way videos, so we do really good with our videos, and that to me is like, people see it and like, oh, that’s cool, but that’s, I mean, I remember, I’m probably older than you, I mean, I remember when you hear that, the dial tone from AOL, and like, wow, this is cool. Yeah.
Yeah, totally. I can see as far as that thesis goes, I use AI in a different way, like I don’t use it, like I use it to help a little bit, but I also use it to also build. Right.
So one piece of advice is if you guys are using AI and building something for yourself, see if it’s monetizable, we can always help with that, but it’s also because you’re gonna need the back ends, it’s hard to get a project from building to launch, harder than you think. I mean, well, it’s actually pretty easy to launch, but to get a sustainable product launch where you have everything secure, I’ve seen people like build great stuff, but problem is, is they get their first client and they’re spending all their time not doing sales, trying to fix what was going on, you’ve gotta have something in place that when you’re ready to go, you have all of those systems already set up, otherwise you’re gonna get behind.
You know, it’s easy to play catch up when you have it, like to add things to a product versus shutting down and adding things to a product every time.
[Mattias]
Right.
[Mike Bjork]
I do also see myself on that thesis that I find myself even sometimes having conversations and thinking in a different way, because I spend all day like working out problems sometimes with AI, like it’s like a mind switch. But the same way, you know, too, you just dive right back in. It’s that problem solving, like when you have a client that calls you, hey, we’re not gonna close, we have this, you’re trained enough, your mind goes into, like you just know how to handle it and you probably know how to handle it calmly.
If you handle it calmly, you’re always gonna come out on top. And like I said, to me, I started as a firefighter, paramedic in a really bad part of town, like losing a deal at the end of the day, no one died.
[Mattias]
I have pretty low accomplishment goals, I guess. Yeah, seriously, that is something that some people definitely need. I was just talking to somebody the other day that that was one of their biggest things that they kept in their mind is that nobody’s going to die.
This is not, you’re not like having open heart surgery here. This is like, keep things in perspective. Mike, I do need to transition over to the three golden nuggets.
And if so far, if, you know, there’s been a million nuggets here so far that you’ve already shared, definitely if you’re listening to this and are driving around like a lot of people are, definitely go to reiagent.com and sign up for our newsletter so that you can get these kind of golden nuggets sent to you weekly. But Mike, what golden nuggets do you have for our listeners today?
[Mike Bjork]
First one is the one that helped me. So to put like the Zillow in perspective, sometimes don’t be afraid to make money to spend or don’t be afraid to spend money to make money. I’m not saying everyone take this approach.
I was always a big fan of burn the boats. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that story. Second nugget would be make sure you follow up, like not just follow up to get the sale done, but follow up to create your fan.
Like it doesn’t have to be every day. Everybody does it in a different way. Some people are very strategic about it.
And okay, this goes out at this time. I was always a little different, but it also helps because I was like constantly with clients showing houses. So I would, like if I was driving through a neighborhood that I know someone bought a house and that I with, I would just give them a call.
Half the time they invite me over. Like I just used it that way, but at least do something to follow up with your fans because that ties in to make super fans because one super fan can lead to 10 clients instantly. Totally.
[Mattias]
No, those are great. Now we typically ask people what their favorite book or fundamental book you think everybody should read or one that they’re currently enjoying. You told me honestly that, and like many people, like you listen to more podcasts and that kind of stuff now than books, but does anything come to mind when I ask that question?
[Mike Bjork]
There’s a couple. I mean, it depends. Like right now I’m studying more.
I mean, I’m studying a lot of AI. And to be honest on even mental health, like getting that foundation going, I’ve been reading actually published medical papers. But one of my favorites that kind of helped me a little bit on negotiation, well, oh God, I forget, is Chris something.
He used to be a negotiator for like the FBI or for the government. I know exactly.
[Mattias]
Never split the difference?
[Mike Bjork]
Yeah, that’s what it was.
[Mattias]
And that is, why am I also blanking on, Chris Voss. Yes, Chris Voss, there you go. Yeah, it’s a great one.
And talk about having somebody’s life on the line.
[Mike Bjork]
Yeah, and then still having that same, like keeping that same negotiation pressure. Like, I don’t know. I don’t know.
Like to me, like there’s a couple of nuggets in there that I always use that people don’t even realize sometimes that like some of the psychological stuff in there actually works. Like the round numbers I’ve seen work well. You know, holding off even though like there’s, you know.
That’s probably the last one that I pulled information out unless you’re talking AI or medical stuff.
[Mattias]
Sure, no problem. And then where can people find you? You mentioned this website, that platform that you have.
What can you plug, socials, whatever you use?
[Mike Bjork]
Yeah, for real estate, it’s called imakepage.com. Okay. And that’s just the platform.
Besides that, I don’t, like I have my website but I use it more as a demo at this point. I only take a couple of clients a year now but I’ve handed off 4 million. So if you guys ever wanna reach out, I do ton of referrals.
[Mattias]
Sure, I’m sure you got the team in place and everything to handle it. Mike, thank you so much for being on the show. It’s been a lot of fun talking to you.
I’m sure a lot of the listeners have gained so much from the conversation. Everybody that’s listening, definitely give us a subscribe on whatever platform you use. We’re on everything.
Give us a review if you enjoy the content and check out riagent.com for, again, that newsletter. We have all these episodes turned into blogs that will, you know, another way to digest that information and is also a good way if you wanna feed AI for some good content, you can come up with a game plan by feeding it our website. So definitely check that out, riagent.com.
Mike, thank you so much for being on the show. We will talk to you soon. All right, thank you.
[Erica]
Thanks for listening to the REI Agent.
[Mattias]
If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe to catch new shows every week.
[Erica]
Visit reiagent.com for more content.
[Mattias]
Until next time, keep building the life you want.
[Erica]
All content in the show is not investment advice or mental health therapy. It is intended for entertainment purposes only.
