Rising Strong: The Power of Self-Discipline and Authentic Living with Allie Vasquez

Transcript

[Mattias]
Welcome back to the REI Agent. I’m here with Allie Vasquez. Allie, thanks so much for joining us.

[Allie Vasquez]
Hi, nice to see you.

[Mattias]
You are not too far away from me. Coming out of Maryland, you said Frederick, Maryland?

[Allie Vasquez]
Frederick, Maryland, yes.

[Mattias]
Let’s go. East Coast represent. Well, like before we get into your story too much, let’s give me a bird’s eye view of who you are and what you do in the real estate space.

Sure.

[Allie Vasquez]
Well, my name is Allie. As we said, I am, I primarily, so I started off helping Spanish speakers and that’s kind of where my business started growing. And now I help everyone kind of in the Central Maryland area.

If you’re familiar with Maryland, Eastern Shore is not really feasible for me, but pretty much everywhere else, that’s where I am. I am, I am primarily a listing agent now, but I started off 100% as a buyer’s agent and just kind of made my way over. I had a team, I fired everybody.

I’ve been up, I’ve been down, I’ve been thrown all around. And right now I truly do feel the best that I’ve ever felt in the 10 years that I’ve been in real estate.

[Mattias]
I love it. We, as you can see on the screen, if you’re watching this, a holistic approach to life through real estate is definitely a theme of ours. It’s too bad my wife, the licensed therapist, isn’t able to join us today, but yeah, tell us a little bit about how you said you’re feeling the best you ever have been.

So, I mean, tell us more about that.

[Allie Vasquez]
Yeah. So I am in real estate coaching and my coach is wonderful, but I think a lot of times us as agents, we go to these events, these conferences, we listen to podcasts and we hear these powerful morning routines and people are getting up at four o’clock in the morning and going to the gym. And I think that we need to take a, of course, like physical movement makes us feel better.

Mental health makes us feel better, but we need to take a big step back and see, is that accessible for everybody in that exact same way? Right? So as I said, when I first started real estate, I had one child, I had a husband, um, and now I have no husbands, thank goodness, and two children.

And you know, I have been through a lot and I tried to force myself into that mold of wake up, you know, meditation, this, that I have never once in my life been able to meditate. And I actually now see that as a strength. My brain never turns off.

Right. But in the morning now I read and I have read how the eye motion from left to right is, you know, it mimics kind of the things that you do in EMDR. It mimics a lot of like therapeutic practices. Uh, I also walk, um, which again, that just that right to left movement.

And then sometimes I walk, I, a lot of times I try and walk with friends to just kind of like have a download for the day. And honestly, those things have helped me a lot more than wake up before. And how, how is a single mom supposed to wake up, go to the gym, get the kids ready, do all that’s not possible.

CPS would be here in a minute. You know what I mean? So I do what I can do and it makes me feel better than trying to fit in this mold that everybody else does.

And, um, that’s something that I really think is, I think everybody needs to make little incremental steps where they are. And that is so much more helpful than trying to, I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning and everything’s going to be different. That’s just not possible.

And then you get double down on yourself because you can’t follow that model.

[Mattias]
A hundred percent. So I know I’ve heard Erica talk about this in the past. Um, and like another example she would give, um, would be like, let’s say you are, uh, simply you’re just not, you’re not functioning well right now.

It could be you’re depressed. It could be that you just have so much because you know, kids take up a lot. Real estate takes up a lot.

You have to be honest with where you’re at and make expectations right. Like you’re talking about. So, so one of the examples she gives, like, you know, if you, if you walk into the kitchen, every time you see this pile of dishes, um, that you haven’t gotten to yet and you makes you feel like a failure and it makes you feel bad about yourself.

Like, you know, maybe at this stage of life, you need to switch to paper plates and plastic where throw them away, move on.

[Allie Vasquez]
And then I had a conversation with my business coach yesterday where I said, if I do like we’ve been, my family and I, we’ve been in town, out of town, in town, out of town. And I said, I should, you know, I had it like a six hour prospecting block scheduled today. And I said, if I look in a corner and see a pile of clothes one more day, I’m going to scream.

And she said, then take the day off and figure out the pile of clothes in the corner. And those are the kind of tweaks that we really like, you know, of course now there are lots of people out there who make excuses. Um, I, you know, talking to a lot of agents in my office, I’m like, oh, is that the lie that you tell yourself?

Like, that’s cool. You know, a lot of reasons why we can’t do this, we can’t do that. Um, that’s kind of a different thing that I also would love to talk about because we tell ourselves a lot of really, really interesting lies.

But, um, but, you know, sometimes you do say, Hey, you know what, if I’m, I’m also the CEO of my house and we got to get this under control.

[Mattias]
Well, and it’s, it’s not that I think that a lot of people would be like, I can’t do that. That’s so wasteful. Like I need, you know, I need, it’s not good for the environment.

And there’s all these things that like, you know, reasons why you might be like, I just can’t do that. Um, but you got to tell yourself like, this is just a season and what I need right now. And this isn’t like who I am forever.

And, you know, there might be a time where I bring back real tissues as an example. Um, we have an awesome laundry service, uh, you know, Oh my gosh, love a laundry service.

[Allie Vasquez]
Yes.

[Mattias]
I, um, you know, knowing how it is with kids and stuff, you know, that’s, that’s an idea I have had for like gifts, like to give to, uh, clients that have had a baby recently is like, here’s the same thing.

[Allie Vasquez]
You know, when some, or if you are on Facebook and you see someone died, you know, like a family member close to them died. I send services. I don’t sit like, you know, flowers, all that stuff.

I’m sure it’s nice, but I’m like, Hey, these people are going to come and pick up a load of laundry, you know, pick up loads this week and you don’t have to think about it. That’s the kind of thing that when you’re tuned into other people, it really, really helps.

[Mattias]
Yeah. And, and that can be for yourself too. And you know, now that we’re talking about, I’m like, you know what, that’d be a great gift to my wife sometime too.

Like when I know I have like next summer when I’m slammed and we have a million things and I’m not around as much as I want to be. Um, you know, that could be a really good gift too. Just like a, Hey, like let’s not, let’s not be a, we don’t have to be heroes.

We don’t have to be superheroes. We’re not a perfect and we can’t do everything.

[Allie Vasquez]
So you get medals for sales. You don’t get medals for being the best, you know, laundry folder. Get out of here.

No way. No way.

[Mattias]
Yeah, no, that’s awesome. Well, I mean, so what, what do you, what do you have to say about the, the lies we tell ourselves? Like what’s well, okay.

[Allie Vasquez]
So again, 10, 10 years of this and I have undergone so many changes, like, you know, just, um, I can’t even tell you where I began to where I am now. You know, um, I have done, I’ve been in therapy, I’ve been out of therapy, I’ve been in coaching, I’ve been this, I’ve been that. But to me, I always say that like being an entrepreneur is holding up the world’s largest mirror and you have to look in all the dirty, grimy little corners that you thought you could hide things.

And if you don’t, then just know that those things are not going to get resolved and it’s gonna, it’s going to reflect in your work. You know, there, I was a high school teacher. There was a lot of times where I could, you know, I, I, it didn’t require the looking inside myself as much as it did.

Of course, like, you know, when you want to make things accessible to a child, you’re like, oh, okay, let me think of a new idea. But this is the light. It’s all the attention is on the kid.

Now it’s all on me. And I have to figure out what my major malfunction is so that I can do my best. And you know, I, um, one of the things that did not work for me is going into the office.

I barely ever go into the office because there’s a lot of people there doing a lot of things that aren’t work. There’s a lot of people there who haven’t gotten down to, you know, that are telling themselves lies, you know, like, oh, well, it’s just so busy. And after this and after that, and, um, you know, we’re in the DC area, the government shut down and dah, dah, dah, dah.

And it’s like, okay, but when the bill collector comes, are they going to listen? Right. And like, when you are at home by yourself with your own thoughts, are you going to listen?

Like, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s all kind of linked. And, and, um, I, when I come into the office, people say to me, oh, can I pick your brain? And I have said to say, listen, if you pick my brain all day long, there’ll be nothing left for me.

So respectfully, I’m going to say, hi, I’m gonna pick up my mail. I’m going to sign the things that I need to sign. I’m going to get out of there because that doesn’t work for me.

It doesn’t.

[Mattias]
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think one thing that comes to mind on this topic is, you know, kind of having total ownership, um, and that concept.

And I think if you’re not honest with yourself, if you’re not kind of taking responsibility for things, it is easy to make excuses. And the thought of, uh, that often scares the crap out of people. Cause they’re like, do I have to admit that I failed or whatever is holding them back or whatever is the fear that prevents them from doing this?

But in reality, it really just enables you to take control, um, enables you to have, um, I mean, it’s kind of like, uh, in some ways it’s kind of like when you first get into the self, um, employed, the investor, the, the, you know, the realtor, the business owner, whatever space, it seems scarier, but in reality, you kind of have more control of your, your outcomes. Then if you’re, um, if you don’t succeed, that’s really just based on what you’ve done. If you do succeed, it’s based on what you’ve done.

And so if you can get past that fear and start accepting and taking ownership of the outcomes that happen, um, you’re going to start making choices that help you succeed.

[Allie Vasquez]
Very much so. Yes. Um, when I quit teaching, I got, I, this is at the time I thought it was fate.

Now looking back on it was probably stupidity, but I got my, so I got my license in January and I’m still full-time teaching. I got my first listing in March and I got my first offer. Well, the offer that ended up selling that house on that listing on the last day of school.

And I said, I am either going to sink or swim. And this is, this is me throwing away my life jacket and I’m going to swim. I emailed and I said, I quit, I’m done.

I’m not coming back next year. And thankfully, thankfully, my only small life vest was that I had summer pay. So I was like, okay, for the next two months, that’s my little life vest, but that’s it.

And I have to make it here. And thus began, you know, the craziest 10 years of my life.

[Mattias]
Allie, before we get into that story, um, I’m curious if you think that is the right way. Do you think that burning the fleet, uh, having no, you know, no other option, but to go forward through the difficult swamp and battle?

[Allie Vasquez]
Yes. Yes. Yes.

And so like, I, I, I, you know, again, going into the office and, you know, let’s just say I wouldn’t know a healthy relationship if it were like, you know, right here in front of me. But, you know, hearing people say like, oh, well, you know, my husband’s doing, my husband’s doing fine in his business. So I don’t have to work as hard.

I’m like, oh, wouldn’t, wouldn’t that be nice. But I work like my life depends on it every single day. And of course, like, you know, obviously my, my track record speaks to that.

But then when they asked me, how do you, how do you do what you do? And I’m like, well, very simply, I have no other choice, right? Uh, I don’t, I don’t have a fallback plan.

And at first that felt very scared that, I mean, that, that scared me a lot, but now I’m like, first of all, we don’t need anybody. And second of all, like, you know, it, it is, it’s, it’s freeing in its own way.

[Mattias]
Yeah. I think, I think it’s also dependent on, on who you are and you should, you know, first really understand yourself and what motivates you. And, um, if you are incapable of, like, if you’re just not going to have the energy for like two careers, for example, for a time being, if you have kids, you have all this other stuff, other responsibilities that you just may not be able to do it all.

Totally. Um, I think that there are some people that can, uh, be really focused, um, on where they want to be, um, and get, and get there without jumping ship all the way. But that might be more of the, that, that may not be the, you know, the normal that might be.

[Allie Vasquez]
Yeah. I think that that is the minority and not the majority. I think that, you know, all those things, you know, I mean, we all know teaching doesn’t make a lot of money, right.

Um, it just doesn’t. And I was, I was the sole breadwinner in my family with one baby. And I, you know, I said, I need the amount of work that I put in to equal dollar signs on the way out.

Right. But still I was scared because, Oh, I mean, little stinking pension that I had, right. Which now I can make my pension.

I mean, I could make that in like a year. If you just like said, Hey, Ali, go make it, go make a retirement. I’m like, yeah.

Okay. I’ll be back in a year. But you know, those were the things that held me back and looking back, they were so small.

They were, of course they were valid then, but you need to cut the safety net, the safety net, at least mentally, if you can do it. I don’t think a lot of people can mentally cut themselves for that safety net. That’s why I, I quit.

That was me cutting my safety net.

[Mattias]
Yeah.

[Allie Vasquez]
And I burned the bridge too. It wasn’t just like a nice, I quit email. It was burning it all the way to the ground.

I said, uh, when I die, I would like for the school system to be my pallbearer so they can let me down one last time. I mean, I made sure that I was never going back there and you know, it worked out. And I mean, I love children.

I would do that if I could, you know, in a heartbeat, but it wasn’t going to work for me and this works for me. The great thing about real estate that I tell people is that I’m, you know, maybe I’m not an agent forever, but this field is just so nuanced and there are so many different careers that you could pick from that I could be, I could work here forever.

[Mattias]
Yeah. And I think once you kind of get into the space and get comfortable with it, probably you have to first, um, of being, you know, more or less your own business being, you know, uh, owning a business, uh, as well. I mean, if you, if you do make it bigger than yourself, et cetera, um, it, it just, it’s really, really hard to think about going back to working in an industry or working for, it’s, it’s, uh, I just can’t.

And again, that might be personality dependent. I mean, that, that just, I would, I don’t know what I would do sooner than do that, but, um, well let’s, let’s get into like what, what that looked like then for you. So you had the summer, you had a closing, like the last day of school or whatever, and then you had a summer pay.

Um, so you had those paychecks. Um, what, what did you do? How did that time go to, were you able to drum up more business?

[Allie Vasquez]
Um, I, so the funny thing was, is that I don’t know if anybody else has had this experience, but my family and friends didn’t want to talk to me because they’re like, you’re new, you don’t know anything. So I just went to the places that I normally went to and refuse to stop talking about real estate. Right.

So I went to other schools and I went to parent nights and I would ask to set up a table and I would talk to parents coming in. Um, the, the, the, the story that I always tell is that, um, someone came up to me and they asked me about buying a house. This is also in Spanish.

They asked me about buying a house. I said, let me come to your house, you know, where you rent and I will, you know, talk to you. And so I drive out there and I was in a trailer park and I was like, Oh, okay.

All right. And there’s not a lot of trailer parks in our area. So I was like, I, first of all, I didn’t even know this was here.

Second of all, Oh my goodness, I’m here. I sit down and she says, can you wait a second? And she runs next door, grabs a neighbor.

And it’s like, she’s thinking about it too. And then, you know, we’re sitting, talking, she’s like, hold on. I talked to somebody down the street that all of a sudden I had a seminar going on in this trailer.

And it was, that’s really those little things are how I got started. I signed up for every Latino festival in our area. And I said, you know, you’ve been told it’s not possible.

It’s hard in other countries. It’s a lot easier than you think here. Maryland has great down payment assistance programs.

I just went in there and I would say my, you know, my average price point, my first three years was, was sub 200.

[Mattias]
Yeah.

[Allie Vasquez]
I did the things that nobody else wanted to do. And, and I, and you know what? The best part is that those people that I helped now they’re buying 500, $600,000 houses.

And it’s, it’s, you know, obviously they’re hard work, but we got them in on the ground floor and now they’ve been able to cash out and do so much more with their money.

[Mattias]
So did you find that when you, when you helped a Latino family that you then got in with like, yeah, all their cousins and like, not just that right now I’m working with a family where, I mean, all of a sudden this person’s calling me and I’m like, who are you?

[Allie Vasquez]
And they’re like, Oh, I’m, I’m Daisy’s cousin. And then somebody else calls me and I’m like, um, hi, you know, there’s no like confidentiality. We’re all just, you know, and, but it’s great, you know, it’s, it’s great because you know, when I work with other families that are not necessarily, you know, that’s not their culture, they’ll be like, well, don’t tell my dad that I called you today.

And I’m like, okay. And now, now I’ve just learned not to say anything. I act like every day is a blank slate.

I’m like, all right, whatever you say. But it’s, it’s, it was that community. And it was community.

And like, I am not, I am not Hispanic. I learned Spanish in school, I, you know, really immersed myself in the culture. And then when it was time to do real estate, I remember, I sat there, I took my real estate license exam.

And then I spent the time that my listing was on the market. I made my own little glossary of like, because I don’t know what the word mortgage is in Spanish, right? You know, I’m teaching my kids out of that.

And I, you know, I don’t use the word mortgage in Spanish. So I go through all of those, I made my little glossary. And when I, that’s how I got started.

I mean, I was reteaching myself a lot of things.

[Mattias]
So did you, did you like have that understanding that that would be a niche for you? Like right away? Yes.

[Allie Vasquez]
So I was hired by a, on a team that was the, that was a very short lived situation. But the team leader heard me speaking in Spanish on the phone and said, wow, I need an agent who speaks Spanish. So then I joined.

And then, you know, everything wasn’t all it cracked up to be. And so then I think I spent, man, I think I only spent two or three months on that team after I closed my first deal. And then I jumped again.

And I said, that’s it, you’re going to be a solo agent. And all I had were maybe five leads that he gave me, you know, and for all of you who’ve ever quit a brokerage before I started walking down. I, like I said, I quit, that’s it.

I’m sick of you. I’m walking down the steps and my phone’s blowing up and that’s my CRM, him taking all my leads out. He’s calling my family.

He’s calling my friends. And I was like, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, chill out. So I, but the only, you know, he obviously had all those people’s contact information.

It was my job to make sure that they came to me and not to him. And so that’s kind of how we went. So I went from, I think I closed six transactions that first year, you know, even though I didn’t even work full time that first year, then 12, then 24.

And I close around 40 deals a year right now.

[Mattias]
Nice. Now you said 11 years ago, is that, is that 10 years? So 20, uh, 2015 ish.

Yeah, we were, yeah, we have a similar timeline. And funny, funny enough, I also came from a high school. Um, I, I was a behavior specialist.

Um, and, uh, yeah, but I started in 2014, got my license. So funny, funny coincidence, but, um, yeah, no, I think that’s, I was quitting as well. Um, no, uh, it was, that was a rewarding job, um, for sure to see, to see some improvements in, in children.

Um, but yeah, no, I think, I think having that kind of niche and understanding where you can go with it is such a great thing to, to get started with. And like you said, like, you know, yes, you’re this other person may have had your contacts. Um, but you know, let’s be real here.

Pretty much every one of your contacts knows like five different agents, um, at least, right. So you need to do more than just know the person. Um, so, uh, providing value for them, which you were doing with the seminars, et cetera.

Um, and, and yeah, it can be hard, uh, at the beginning, uh, if, if people, yeah, to, to, to build a trust like that, you know, Hey, you just started this. Like, why would I want to entrust the biggest financial decision of my life with you who just started? And I’ve seen, um, or I’ve heard people kind of want to like avoid that and kind of tiptoe around it.

Um, but I think like, yeah, if you’re another idea would be to like, kind of just share your journey on social media. And, um, especially if you have some really good people behind you and be like, look, I’m going to be completely honest with you. Um, I don’t know everything, but I am very, very committed.

And this is what I want to do. And I’m going to find out any questions you have, and I’m going to be relentless and I’m going to spend more time and energy on you than you would get with somebody who’s working with 60 different people or whatever.

[Allie Vasquez]
So social media is a big part of my journey. Um, I mean, I, I am known for video marketing. And the funny thing was I was in the hospital having my second child and I was like, you know what?

I’m done with this phone. I’m done with these apps. I’m just going to delete it all.

And very shortly after that, I went to my first like real estate conference that talked about the importance of video marketing. And now I see that as it’s my nurture campaign. You know, I’m not, you know, a drip campaign on email only lasts a certain amount of time, but I find that that attracts people.

Like, you know, obviously there are going to be people that see me and they’re like, who is this lady? Like, what is she doing? She is not my cup of tea.

And thank you. That’s a nice little filter. We don’t have to exchange words, right?

You know, as when people think, you know, you’re calling people and you’re learning more about them and you’re like, wow, we’re not a good fit. No. Now when people call me, they’re like, oh my gosh, I need to work with you.

I came into a restaurant in Frederick the other day. And this woman goes, I follow you on Instagram. Hold on.

I need a realtor. She like threw all of her stuff down and ran across the restaurant. And my friend was like, you’re joking, right?

She was like, you told me these things happen, but I didn’t believe it. And I was like, it happens all the time. You know, that is a really great way to you know, there’s, there’s obviously social media that like gains leads, right?

Like, you know, to comment this for a guide on this, that’s never really worked for me. Maybe one day it will, but right now it’s my nurture campaign. It is how I make sure that number one, you’re not a secret agent, right?

That there’s not, I don’t think if anybody said, I didn’t know Ali was a real estate agent, they must’ve been living in a hole. Right. But also, you know, it just providing the information for people and, you know, having them feel out if I’m right fit for them, you know, that’s, that’s very valuable.

[Mattias]
Yeah, I think you’re right. I think like, you know, we, we all try to be somewhat of a chameleon in sales. Like you hear that as a goal and aspiration, but at the same time, there’s definitely people that are just not good fits for each other.

[Allie Vasquez]
What’s going to be for you is always going to be for you. And you can’t, you can’t get something that wasn’t yours in the first place. Right?

So the client who fires you because ABC, XYZ, when you know that they’re just crazy or they’re out of their mind or their expectations are really unrealistic. Thank you. Thank you for cutting this off here and not making me spend more of my time, money, mental energy on figuring you out.

Thank you. And I will see you later on the next astral plane. Please get away from me on this earth.

[Mattias]
It’s true. I mean, I think learning to fire people, even if they don’t fire you, is a incredibly hard lesson to learn. And I don’t think it’s, it’s, I mean, I’ll be honest, I haven’t done it in a long time.

It, I haven’t had as many big problems in a long time either, but like there, there have been times where I should have let somebody go. And I just, I’ve already spent this much time showing them property or whatever. And it’s just, it’s not worth it at the end of the day.

[Allie Vasquez]
No.

[Mattias]
Yeah. So you also started a team at one point.

[Allie Vasquez]
At one point I started a team. Yes. Then I fired everybody.

[Mattias]
What’s what should people in hindsight, would you have ever done it again? Or would you do differently?

[Allie Vasquez]
I know that, I know that, that one day I will probably have to, it’s just hard finding people. Once you kind of get to that level where you’ve looked inside yourself and you’ve worked out not all of your issues, but you know, the issues that stop you, it’s really hard to then bring on somebody and have them be like, well, I’m scared. I’m scared.

Please like get out of here. Like it’s very, it’s, it’s difficult to find people who are on your level. And, and I fell into that trap because I was a teacher.

I was like, Oh, I can teach anybody anything. And I can, I can teach them the skills, but if they don’t have the, um, I don’t cause, okay. So I don’t want to say motivation because everyone’s motivated, right?

Like everyone’s motivated, but not everyone is disciplined. The discipline is what gets you to the next level. Not everyone is, you know, is able to make those changes, you know, put in the work consistently to better themselves and to better their business.

And so that’s kind of where I faltered. And I said, I would rather just not deal with any of these people. So, although, I mean, I kind of do have a team.

I have employees that work for me, but I’m just a solo agent because I can’t jump back into that sphere right now.

[Mattias]
Yeah. Well, I think it’s interesting. I think in real estate, uh, I mean, I remember when I first was interviewing brokerages, uh, it was, it was kind of like, Oh, I can interview, you know, like, Oh, that there.

And then like, you realize, okay, well, they don’t really care.

[Allie Vasquez]
Oh, I got recruited today. I remember somebody on my team said, well, you know, this agent, this brokerage called me today. And I was like, yeah, because you did one thing or because they saw that you joined with me and you know, they want to get a piece of that.

And they were like, well, they want me. And I was like, they want what you could become. You could also flop and they’re still making money off of you.

You know what I mean? They don’t, they don’t actually care. And so, you know, one day, one day I’ll get there, but I was just going to say that, that I think, uh, you know, that’s, that’s the approach.

[Mattias]
A lot of people take a lot of records would take a lot of teams might take is just, you know, quantity. Like, let’s just like, if there’s somebody here that wants to do it, let’s give them a shot. Sure.

Why not? We might have systems in place to kind of get them to be trained, et cetera. It doesn’t really take that much of our resources to do that.

We’re not paying them a salary. Right. But I think, I think especially if a smaller team should approach it more like, Hey, we are investing in this person.

It’s not a, it’s not a paycheck necessarily like, you know, a monthly salary, but it, it is a lot of time and energy. And, uh, we want to, you know, make sure that the old saying like higher, higher, slow fire fast. Um, why does that not apply to real estate agents in a team or in a brokerage?

[Allie Vasquez]
Another, another saying that I think really applies to teams as well is teach a man, wait, give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish. And I will sit there in an interview with new agents and say, Hey, I, you know, I’m trying to teach you how to fish and to, and, and they’re like, I want Zillow leads. See you later.

Bye. And I’m like, okay, well then guess what? Again, thank you for not making me go down a rabbit hole.

Thank you for ending our time together. I wish you the best of luck.

[Mattias]
Yeah. Yeah. No, I think it’s a, it’s definitely, it’s a very flashy profession.

[Allie Vasquez]
Uh, I mean, I don’t know for me, it’s not flashy, but some people can make it very flashy. It doesn’t require a lot of money to get in. It doesn’t require a lot of education to get in.

And so it is very, very attractive. But when you get in it, it is not attractive at all. And people get turned off real quick.

[Mattias]
Yeah, it’s hard. It doesn’t come easy. And I think it’s almost harder if you were to have started like in the boom.

Like, so we both started in a slower time and I, the market was very similar, if not worse to where we are right now. Yeah. Well, it was a, I mean, around here, it was definitely a buyer’s market.

I mean, listings were, uh, you know, taking, you were looking at what was your plan for, you know, making sure you got the, to sign the listing back up after it expired in six months. Like there was a lot more of that happening than, um, than there is now, at least here. Um, so I’m thankful for, cause I mean, I feel like it made me start, uh, with the discipline and the, and the work that’s needed to maintain contacts that needed to do all those things.

And if I were to have started in 2021, um, it would have felt just like I just had to go outside and wave my hand up and then I’ll get a deal.

[Allie Vasquez]
Right.

[Mattias]
So yeah, I’m thankful for that at least. I agree.

[Allie Vasquez]
And I think that there are, you know, um, I mean right now, let’s see, is it almost November? Yes. It’s almost November.

So there’s a lot of, our dues are coming due right. Our real estate dues. So it’s about that time for people.

And I think this year we’re going to see a lot of people be like, you know what, I’m going to go on referral because this $800 is not it. And, and I get that. I totally get that.

But, um, you know, it’s, it’s, it is such a rewarding profession, especially if you, like, if you’re the most competitive person on the planet, like me, Ooh, I love it. Like it just scratches an itch that I didn’t even, you know, I didn’t even know I had like, I it’s, it’s a wonderful profession, but my goodness, it is not cut out for everybody. It is not.

[Mattias]
Yeah, definitely. Um, I’m curious if you have, uh, some golden nuggets for our listeners.

[Allie Vasquez]
I do. Okay. The one that gets me kicked out of my office most frequently is up your phone, pick up your phone.

I will say I’m going to the office. I’ll say to a friend, I’m going to the office to prospect and they’ll be like, Oh, um, should we pick one of the private rooms so that you can talk on the phone? Or should we, should we pick one of like the conference rooms?

And I was like, what is prospecting? If you’re not picking up the phone and they’re like, don’t, don’t talk to me about the calling stuff, Allie, that is the crux of our job. My job is to call people.

My job is to get rejected. My job is to then pick up the phone again and call someone else because all you need to do is hit them at that exact right moment and crack them and then they’re yours. And so I just, it makes me insane when people say, I don’t call people.

They don’t even call their sphere of influence. They just say, Hmm, no, that’s not me. Okay.

Then making money is not you taking your business to another level is not you. And I’m going to be calling your aunt and she, and I’m going to be the person that she talks to when she’s ready. And then you’re going to be, you know, out of luck because I mean, it is so fundamental.

And then, you know, I have people again in the office when I go to the office, Hey Allie, should I buy this lead service? All the things that you need to do are free. If you find yourself, and we talked about this a little bit before I did find myself in a very dire financial situation.

At one point, I almost had to file for bankruptcy. And what did I do? I said, I should really get back on that phone.

And I dialed and now I’m back on top. So, you know, it really, if, if the free things are the things that you need to do to get the business.

[Mattias]
I interviewed a guy once who was talking about the layup approach. He was a former basketball player. And he just like, you need to identify in your business.

What is that easy shot? What is that thing you can do consistently that you know, it’s like, you’re not going to shoot a half court shot and, and, you know, make those big, big plays all the time. Like you need to come back to like, just what’s your layup.

And that sounds like that’s an easy one for you. Like you, you can, you know, some people might be door knocking or whatever, you know, there’s different things that people might do, but it does usually involve like something simple, but maybe not something that enjoyable.

[Allie Vasquez]
Right. But it’s always free. It’s always free.

It’s just making a connection with someone. That’s what we are here to do. And, and, you know, you can’t bet that you, you have to just go.

The goal is to meet as many people and talk as much as you can. And for some of us, that’s very easy. You could, you could go take a break, go to the bathroom and I would, I’d keep going.

Right. Like, but, but for some people that’s very difficult. And so you need to find something that is easy to you.

And for me, it’s always picking up the phone.

[Mattias]
Yeah, that’s great. I love it. What about a favorite book could be fundamental that you think everybody should read or maybe just one that you’re currently really enjoying?

[Allie Vasquez]
First of all, before we talk about a book, we need to talk about everybody needs to be reading more fiction. That is my, that is one of my, I don’t know if it’s a golden nugget. I don’t know if it’s a holistic, I don’t know what, but everybody needs to be reading more fiction because I think when you get stuck, I mean, of course, like I read so many self-help books, I read so many business books, but nobody wants to be curious.

Nobody wants to have fun anymore. Like there’s a lot of this business that is not fun. And that is very like nose to the grindstone, read some fiction.

It really does, you know, help you to problem solve, think of things creatively and also realize how people create relationships and how complicated things can be and how, you know, you’re talking to somebody on the phone and, and, you know, you might’ve had the worst day, but you know, they had the best day or vice versa. Like, I think that fiction is really underrated and I think more people need to read it just to broaden your perspectives in general. It doesn’t always have to be, oh my gosh, I read this book and it changed my life and you need to read it.

No, but I think that you need to be well-rounded and read a lot of fiction so that you can escape number one. And number two, that, you know, it, it, it takes what we’re learning and it kind of just like softens the edges. That’s my.

[Mattias]
Yeah. Well, and it’s a good point you make. And, and one of the things that I’ve found is that when I have, when I only have like options that are serious and dense reads and, you know, you know, business self-help, whatever books that they, they’re just arduous.

They’re, they’re just harder to pick up. And they’re, it’s, it’s not an automatic. I might just stop reading.

It’s a lot easier, easier to scroll Tik TOK or, or, or Instagram than to read. So that’s another really good reason to have something that you enjoy. So that the, the art of reading that the practice of reading the, the, the going to have building that habit that you’re going to your Kindle, you’re going to whatever to start reading is, is kind of your go-to instead of, you know, the, the Tik TOK or whatever.

And so if that means you’re reading something, that’s not building your business further, that’s still that positive. So that’s, yeah, it’s a great point.

[Allie Vasquez]
Even if it’s a simple thing, I showed up to a listing appointment one time with like tears in my eyes because I was listening to an audio book on the way there. And my client was already outside and I was like, Oh, I’m sorry. I was like, are you a reader?

And she was like, Oh my gosh. Yes. And I said, Oh my gosh, I read this book on the way here.

She said, Oh my, I can’t believe you were reading that on the way here. I said, I know. I didn’t know that it was going to end that way.

And just things like that, making connections, realizing that, you know, you’re, you’re in somebody’s house and you see that book on the shelf and you’re like, Hey, did you read that? Oh my gosh, wasn’t that great. It doesn’t always have to be what it was a Grant Cardone, 10 X, everything.

My goodness. Take a, take a rest, chill out, enjoy yourself. Life.

Isn’t all about that. Life. Isn’t all about that.

But the book that I liked the most and, um, I liked it because it’s a mix of definitely like, you know, self-help business, more self-help. Um, but it also is historical is called discipline is destiny. Have you ever heard of that?

Oh my gosh. Okay. So it goes through history.

It goes through a lot of historical figures, the queen of England, um, different, uh, Lou Gehrig, it goes through all different kinds of, of historical figures that we all know. And it talks about their setbacks and it talks about what things they had working against them. It talks about all these things and how every single day they woke up and did things that they didn’t want to do.

And they, they made commitments that, that again, like when I said, we’re all motivated, but we’re not all disciplined. Right. They, um, they did things that were as unexpected for them, but it contributed to the overall massive success of whatever they were going for, you know, quit the queen of England before, before I can’t remember what her name, the most recent one who just died.

[Mattias]
Yeah.

[Allie Vasquez]
I’m not good with it with that. But she, um, people were like, she would wake up and have a certain amount of hands that she would have to shake every single day. And nobody else had done that before.

She was very much into I’m meeting with the people and I’m going to talk to them and I’m going to make that connection with them. And people are like, you know, you don’t have to do that. And she said, no, I don’t, but I’m going to.

And so those little things that we do every single day, you know, I feel like a lot of us, um, again, with the real estate conferences, it’s a lot of, I call it the struggle Olympics. Like everybody wants to get up there and get a gold medal for their trauma, their struggle. And it’s like, yes, you know, we all go through something, but the little teeny tiny things that you can do every day, you don’t have to, you know, uh, go off the deep end, you know, do, do three hours of therapy a week, be in the gym, all that you don’t just make little adjustments every single day.

Like this morning, I woke up and I said, man, I have the busiest day ever. Should I cancel that podcast? And I said, what, what, what, what is that going to do?

What is that going to do? I’m going to feel crappy about it later. And I’m just getting that.

Look at me. I’m right here. I’m having a great time drinking a Diet Coke.

I’m hanging out with you. It’s fine. But again, just making those little things habit.

And then all of a sudden you, you become a very disciplined person.

[Mattias]
Yeah. There’s actually like a part of the brain that, uh, gets strengthened every time you do, um, something that you don’t want to do specifically. And, um, it’s, it’s interesting cause I heard that from, uh, you know, so the, the King of going too far and we, we don’t necessarily want to follow this person, but it was an interview between David Goggins, who is the King of going way too far.

Um, and, um, Dr. Andrew Huberman. And he was explaining this like Dr. Andrew Huberman was explained the part of the brain and all that kind of stuff. And, uh, yeah, I don’t want to be David Goggins.

[Allie Vasquez]
David Goggins is a deadbeat dad. Yeah. Sorry. But like, I want it. And honestly, I sat in, I sat at a real estate conference and David Goggins was up at the front and I was like, wow, I wish I could be more like him. And then, you know, I said, you know what, actually, I’m not sure I do.

I just want to be better every single day in the life that I have. And, you know, I just want to, I just want to do the best that I know that I can do for myself. It doesn’t look the same for you like it does for me, but you have to find something and do it well and do it consistently.

Because as much as I, you know, I, as much as I don’t, I don’t like the focus to be on the money. When you have, when you work consistently, you will make money. And then when you have money, your brain will be at a certain rest.

You know, you can put to bed those crazy lizard brain thoughts and you can do things and you can, you know, further explore things that are enjoyable to you, but you have to start off and just be consistent to make that money come in. That’s what you have to do.

[Mattias]
Yeah. And, and where I was going with that too, is that, that it is something you can develop. Like, so every time you do something that you don’t want to do, that strengthens that part of the brain.

Every time you give in to not doing the thing that you don’t want to do, um, that weakens that part of the brain. And so it is something you can do. You don’t have to become whatever the bodybuilder David Goggins is of that part of the brain, but know that you do have the control.

You can make yourself, you know, go on the podcast when you don’t want to, or go to that social networking event thing that you, that sounds like a really big, you know, that there’s all sorts of things that people don’t want to do that are good.

[Allie Vasquez]
And, and so I’m, I’m well known at my brokerage back when there were not very many of us where, um, I sat down with my CRM and I, when you would come into the conference room and I would have David Goggins would not like this, I would have lined up a bunch of different candies, right? I would have like fun size Twizzler, fun size Snickers, fun size, this fun size that, and every five calls I made, I would have a piece of candy, right? I mean, it’s, it’s kids, it’s learning, it’s one-on-one.

I’m going to reward myself for doing the things that I don’t want to do. And eventually I will like it. And that’s how, you know, you eventually make those connections and just do those things.

And so I think that a lot of people try to make it this big thing. You know, I, I, it just makes me laugh hearing people say like, oh, well I have to make this perfect. And then, then I’ll get to making my calls.

And it’s, again, that’s a lie we tell ourselves, right? That’s awesome. Great.

Um, I’m actually, if it means that I have to, you know, I’m going, well, you don’t know where I live, but I’m about 45 minutes out, uh, away from Baltimore, right? I’m going on a showing to Baltimore and sometimes I’ll do my calls in the car because it makes it feel more, uh, casual, right? Sometimes sitting there in front of the, and you’re like, oh man, and I gotta, I gotta say the perfect thing.

And you’re like, Hey, I was just thinking of you, blah, blah, blah, blah. It comes off a lot easier. So, you know, again, doing things that work for you, it doesn’t have to be, hello, I’ve copied this script from the internet and it told me that you were probably, no, like even if you’re just like, Hey, how are you?

What’s going on? How are your grandkids? Where are you living now?

Oh, great. You know, just something like that. It doesn’t have to always be.

And, and continuing to foster those connections are what are going to get you out to a wider audience.

[Mattias]
Totally. Yeah, no, that’s really well said. Um, finally, is there, do you have social media still?

I mean, you mentioned it earlier, like, um, you re deleted them.

[Allie Vasquez]
Where can people find you if they want to follow you for the re where I post, my goodness, uh, all the time. So you can find me on Facebook, uh, Allie Vasquez Realtor. You see how to spell my name right there.

Allie Vasquez, Maryland Realtor. I’m on Instagram @Allie.Vasquez.Realtor, uh, TikTok @TheRealAllieV, and YouTube. I am under @WalkersvilleLiving because that’s the town that I live in and that’s the kind of things that I like to promote the town.

And, um, yeah, I’m also the president of my kids PTA cause why not add on a couple more things, but you know, when we first started, my name was PTA queen here. I had to change it real quick.

[Mattias]
Awesome. Well, Allie, thanks so much. It’s been a lot of fun talking to you.

[Allie Vasquez]
Yes. Nice to talk to you too.

[Erica]
Thanks for listening to the REI agent.

[Mattias]
If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe to catch new shows every week. Until next time, keep building the life you want.

[Erica]
All content in the show is not investment advice or mental health therapy.

[Mattias]
It is intended for entertainment purposes only.