If you’re gonna sell something, you might as well sell something expensive because the checks get bigger. The three most expensive things we could think of were jets, yachts, and houses. We didn’t know anything about jets or yachts, so we ended up with houses.
– Oliver Graf
7 “Bolt-On” Income Streams from Brokerages to Bitcoin as an Agent or Investor w/ California’s Fastest-Growing Brokerage Cofounder, Oliver Graf
Cofounder of Big Block Realty, Oliver Graf, has quickly helped to start and grow one of the top brokerages in the United States. Their “gym-membership” approach has shaken up the industry and attracted some of the area’s top agents to their team.
Here’s how Oliver and his team have gotten creative to become San Diego’s top brokerage, while also generating multiple streams of income. Plus a special conversation in which Trevor and Oliver discuss his strategy for Cryptocurrency.
Whether you are an agent, investor, or entrepreneur, Oliver Graf is a guy you want to know…
Read the Full Show Notes Below…
This episode of the podcast was a fun one for me as we live-streamed the entire thing. Having Oliver as my guest was ideal as he has an incredible story and offers an abundance of wealth.
We were able to dive into the history of Big Block, what they’re doing differently, and how they are using creative strategies to disrupt the industry. As one of the top, fastest-growing brokerages in the nation, it’s exciting to see where Oliver and his team are heading!
Causing Disruption
One of the many reasons why Big Block has been so successful is because of the way they run their business. Standing out wasn’t an option, it was something they knew they needed to do.
Their logo, branding colors, and commission structure are unlike anyone else in the business. They charge their agents a small flat fee each month, in turn allowing them to keep 100% of their commissions.
Big Block combines both a brick and mortar office building, with the most cutting-edge technology available. Their creative marketing has helped them to recruit agents, allowing them to franchise the business to locations outside of California.
7 Business Ideas to Bolt Onto Your Current Business
One of the most proven ways to build wealth is by creating multiple streams of income. You don’t want to be stuck or reliant on transactions forever. Oliver is a big fan of “bolting on” services in order to provide better service for his clients. A few of the examples he suggested include:
Owning your own brokerage if you are a high-volume agent or investor.
Buy a moving truck and offer your services to clients who are buying or selling.
Partner with a solar company to collect referral fees for all of the clients whom you refer and eventually buy.
Start a title company. While it can be expensive to set up, it can pay off if you are high-volume.
If you are a brokerage, create a transaction coordinator position and offer the services to the agents you work with.
Start your own marketing business to not only serve your needs, but to also work with other agents and investors.
You could also start a photography business, offering your services to other agents and businesses in your area
If you get creative, there are many other services you can offer your clients as an agent or investor. They say, in order to grow your business, you need: more customers, you need to charge more per customer, or you need to turn your customers into repeat buyers, giving you money on more than one occasion.
Oliver on NFTs and Cryptocurrencies
I am fascinated by NFTs and the cryptocurrency space. Recently, I was a part of a mastermind in which everyone was into crypto, and I was very much out of the loop. Oliver regularly invests in cryptocurrency and has been doing so since 2017. Many people are dismissive of currency that isn’t tangible, that is located in a world that is only digital. However, Oliver believe this is what the future will look like. He believes that in the not so distant future, people will be able to pop on their goggles and tour a home from their couch. Friends will be able to meet up in digital places, having real experiences while spending time together.
Oliver predicts a lot of change in the next few years, both in real estate and with the rise of cryptocurrency. As far as he is concerned, we are only in the 2nd inning when it comes to crypto – it’s not too late to get your foot in the door. Start with a small investment and see how you do. Over time, you will be able to add, build, and grow your digital wallet.
Being creative in your marketing, investment strategy, and how you run your business can pay off in big ways. What sets your business apart from the competition and how can you better serve your clients by offering them services they already need? After listening to the whole episode with Oliver, I challenge you to not only figure out which business you can bolt on to your current one but to also to get at least $100 into your crypto account!
Hey Carrot Community! In our ongoing quest to help our members always stay ahead of the game when it comes to all things performance (SEO rankings, page speed, and conversion rates) we wanted to dive into a new Google algorithm update coming down the pike this summer called the “Core Web Vitals” update.
The cool news is that anyone with a Carrot website is already ahead of the game a good bit. Page speed optimizations we’ve made over the years and additional optimizations we have coming to mobile this summer put Carrot sites among the fastest on the internet today.
Alright, in this post we’ll dive into…
What is Google’s “Core Web Vitals” update?
How it may impact Google rankings for real estate agent & investor websites moving forward
Why page speed is important (and what we’ve done and have planned to keep you ahead with blazing fast websites)
Some simple things you can do to increase your page speed in addition to the updates we’re making for you
What is Google Core Web Vitals and How Does It Impact SEO?
But before we dive in… I want to give you the high level in one sentence.
Basically, Google is making an update that favors websites that have a better experience than ones that don’t, and part of that experience is how fast pages load (on both mobile and desktop). Google has found that when a website loads fast, it’s a better experience for the website visitor than when a website loads slow.
Why does Google care how fast your website loads you may ask?
Google’s money comes primarily from the advertising it sells on Google searches called Google Ads. When a Google user loves the experience of searching for information and when they have a great experience on the websites Google serves up to them (a site loading quickly vs. slow for example)... more people will continue to use Google.com for their web searches… which increases their ad revenue.
Google announced in November 2020 that Core Web Vitals would roll out in May 2021, but that has been postponed to at least mid-June 2021 with a full rollout by August 2021.
Here are the elements of Core Web Vitals (this next section is going to get a bit techie):
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – Measures loading performance. To provide a good user experience, sites should strive to have LCP occur within the first 2.5 seconds of the page starting to load.
First Input Delay (FID) – Measures interactivity. To provide a good user experience, sites should strive to have an FID of less than 100 milliseconds. This involves how long it takes the user to interact with your page including clicking on links from the main menu and navigation bar, filling out forms, and opening up “accordion text” on mobile devices. These are some of the aspects that are taken into consideration for a good user journey experience.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – Measures visual stability. To provide a good user experience, sites should strive to have a CLS score of less than 0.1. Any elements that take too long to load can cause users to click on something they didn’t mean to and cause a bad user experience. This is particularly important for mobile devices.
Core Web Vitals are comprised of three aspects of page experience: Loading, Interactivity, and Visual Stability. Each of these aspects have their own associated metrics that have zones that correspond with “Good,” “Needs Improvement,” and “Poor.”
In a nutshell, Core Web Vitals are a subset of factors that will be part of Google’s “page experience” score. It’s basically, Google’s way of measuring your page’s overall UX.
You can find your site’s Core Web Vitals data in the “Experience” section of your Google Search Console account.
Page Experience:
We’re taking this update seriously. That said, we believe there is one way, that has not changed, that you can reap the splendors of search engine optimization. It is:
Create great content.
Take it from Google:
“While all of the components of page experience are important, we will prioritize pages with the best information overall, even if some aspects of page experience are subpar. A good page experience doesn’t override having great, relevant content.” – Google
Technical considerations have always played a role in determining search rankings. So, in that regard, the page experience update is not unique.
Great SEO has to be preventative, not reactive.
That’s why since the start of Carrot we’ve taught our members to create Evergreen content to enhance their overall inbound marketing strategy. Evergreen content is the “relevant content” you’ll need to create to stay preventative rather than reactive.
Why Page Speed is Important
Google is setting expectations to have websites have high loading performance or how fast your content appears on the screen.
Carrot has always taken page speed serious. In fact, in a study, Carrot outperformed ALL other website builders, (except Google’s own Google My Biz websites) including Wix, WordPress.com, Placester, Shopify, Hibu, just to name a few in page speed.
So page speed isn’t anything new. In another study done in 2014, Walmart found that for every 1-second improvement in page load time, conversions increased by 2%.
For the upcoming Core Web Vitals update, Google has set the bar as… “For a good user experience, aim for an LCP (Largest Content Paint) of 2.5 seconds or less.” This Carrot site loads in 602ms.
At Carrot, we are constantly working to improve the speed, rankings, and conversion rates of our member’s websites. Since we’re smaller than Wix or WordPress and others, we can dedicate more time to helping our members succeed at business.
Why is Google including Core Web Vitals in its algorithm?
Google makes money by delivering relevant and valuable content to people searching for it. When a motivated house seller goes to Google and types “sell my house fast for cash Spokane”, Google wants to make sure it serves up the results that are going to provide the best experience for the searcher.
A great experience means people will keep using Google, which means more people will click ads in Google, which means Google’s revenue goes up.
So, in their continued drive to influence the way the entire industry builds websites and creates content, Google is making a move to make the “page experience” factors even more important in the way they rank websites.
We actually see this as an AMAZING thing for Carrot members.
How will this change impact you and your business
Ultimately, Google has indicated that sites generally shouldn’t expect drastic changes in search rankings. While this update is intended to highlight and favor pages that offer a great, fast, and stable user experience, Core Web Vitals are not intended to replace the priority placed on informative, relevant content. It’s just another ingredient in the mix to ensure site visitors have an awesome experience — a win-win for all!
As mentioned above, Google will begin gradually introducing these metrics and aspects to their algorithm in mid-June, with the goal to have them fully playing a role in the search algorithm by the end of August.
For more in-depth information and questions on Core Web Vitals and Page Experience, check out Google’s FAQ.
How Carrot is preparing for the changes
Here at Carrot, we’ve been tracking this update over the past several months, testing our templates and sites, and working with our engineers to ensure our network — and your site — is optimized for Google’s algorithm.
In preparation for the initial phases of the Page Experience Update, we will be making some improvements to our backend code and network to improve page experience and site speed scores even further.
These improvements include a re-evaluation of our code specifically with Core Web Vitals in mind, optimizations to certain plug-ins and script packages, and an enhanced ability for us to monitor site performance and speed data across our entire network.
Tools to measure your Core Web Vitals
Google has provided a set of tools to help you analyze performance, identify issues, and fix them ahead of the algorithm update to help ensure your rankings aren’t negatively impacted..
Google Search Console (GSC). If you’re a verified owner, you can monitor the current state of your website in the Core Web Vitals Report of the GSC. From there, you can find out your pages’ performance categorized as “Good”, “Need Improvement”, or “Poor”.
Page Speed Insights (PSI). Use PSI on the pages that need improvement to diagnose and identify specific issues.
Lighthouse and Chrome DevTools. These tools can be used to measure your pages’ specs, and identify what needs fixing and what steps to take in order to fix it.
Web Vitals Chrome Extension. The extension can be used to monitor in real-time the core web vitals of webpages on desktop. It can be used on every page of every website, regardless of whether you are the owner, and it can give you a peek of how other pages similar to yours are doing as well.
Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX). Here you can find information about the CWV performance of your website, based on real-life user data.
The future of SEO with Google Core Web Vitals changes
We are compiling a list of best (and worst!) practices so that you can be sure nothing you are doing on your own individual sites is negatively impacting your scores. We’ll be posting that guide over the next few weeks to ensure that you’ll have plenty of time to take a look at your site and make any necessary improvements before the update goes into full effect later this summer.
We have conducted full Core Web Vitals and Page Experience audits on our most popular site templates and a sample of our member sites. Our sites are already performing exceptionally well, and with the improvements our engineering team is working on, you’ll be one step ahead when Google’s algorithm update goes live. We’re happy to report that our sites perform exceptionally well.
We have our Carrot members covered!
If you’re not a Carrot member, here are some things to consider when optimizing a website for Core Web Vitals. We recommend analyzing each URL individually as you might have a different score because a page holds different layouts, content blocks, and elements. Here are some basic steps you should consider taking:
Scale images to the correct placement sizing
Compress large image files
Lazy load static content
Apply a content delivery network to the hosting platform
Remove any unnecessary render-blocking resources
Serve images in next-gen formats
Remove any unused javascript
Hit us up on the comments section below with questions, comments, or concerns!
Highlight what you are good at and the solutions you can provide – you will see a lot of action above and beyond those instant movers who buy right away.
– JT Rose
Agents & Hybrids: How to Optimize Your Facebook ads for Better Seller Leads – Messaging, Brand-Building, and More
Welcome to our forth and final installment of our Facebook ads mastery series. Today, we are talking about bringing in high-quality seller leads, buyer leads, building authority with your content, messaging for hybrid agents, and what to do if your ad is disapproved.
We are once again sitting down with Kiley and JT of Silverstreet Marketing, focusing more on agents and hybrid investor/agents. However, the principles discussed apply to any sort of business, even those not related to real estate.
For years we have been talking about how hybrid investor/agents are the future of real estate. That future is now. Investors who aren’t agents are leaving 80% of their leads on the table, while agents who can’t offer more than one way to sell are trying to fit all of their leads into the same box. As buyers and sellers become more educated about real estate, they are looking for options. Here’s how agents, investors, and those who are a hybrid of the two, can utilize Facebook ads to captivate more buyer and seller leads while building authority along the way.
Are Ads the Same for Agents and Investors?
When running ads for motivated seller leads, agents and investors should have a different approach. No matter what kind of lead you are looking for, keep their unique experience in mind.
Your messaging will be different to someone who wants to sell in a few months vs. someone who needs to sell urgently
Agents will want to get in front of leads several months ahead of time, while investors are looking for those who need to sell right away
Agents will want to get in front of their leads early, providing consistent value while the leads is contemplating the sale
When adding value, you can offer complimentary CMA reports and market data. You can take it one step further by creating content to help with their situation. For example, an article titled: “5 Repairs to Help You Get an Additional $20k on the Sale of Your Home.”
How Do I Build Long-Term Authority With My Content?
Adding value through content will also help to position you as the authority. Regular content builds trust as well as your online presence.
Your social presence is meaningful – you need to exist
Facebook and Youtube are often used as search engines – your content should offer information and answer questions
Celebrate your successes on our social media platforms by sharing the stories of those you have helped
Include content that has nothing to do with real estate, just to make your name known throughout your local community
The key is getting people engaged. Helping out with charity events, creating content about your community, and busting standard objections will help you find higher-quality seller leads.
How Do I Modify My Ads to Get Both Buyer and Seller Leads?
Don’t just go after those seller leads, buyer leads are instrumental too. If you are targeting the right class of buyers, you will see that 50% of them not only wish to buy, but they need to sell too. You will be able to work both sides, while doing the work to bring in just one lead.
Buyer leads are higher conversion and lower resistance
Buyer leads will often cost less
Send your leads to a simple and direct landing page, with a CTA form that is front and center
Don’t overcomplicate things for your buyer leads
Find out how early you can market a house before it hits the MLS – this varies by state
Before finalizing your ads, make sure you know how you are going to follow up with the lead. Highlight the ways you are good at what you do and how you can help.
What Sort of Messaging Should Hybrid Investor/Agents Use?
Hybrid investor/agents should focus on the multiple solutions they are able to offer.
Highlight the fact that you can help the seller explore multiple options, offering custom solutions
Let them know that your solution puts them in control – you don’t have to conform to any selling method
Kiley and JT have a great ad that highlights 3 selling options. The seller can get a cash offer, sell privately to one of the buyers in their network, or list on the MLS. Your hybrid messaging should let your leads know that you can offer the solution that best fits their life.
What Happens if My Ad Isn’t Approved?
With Facebook guidelines becoming more strict, many ads are often unapproved. This happens quite often to people running their own ads, and can quickly cause them to lose access to their ad account.
When dealing with anything having to do with real estate, make sure the special ad category is selected
Make sure you do not have any political references in your copy
Try to avoid overusing the word “you.”
If you have created an ad, followed all the rules, and still find it isn’t approved, you can appeal the decision. Facebook ad approval is far from perfect, you aren’t alone.
We hope you enjoyed this Facebook Mastery series. We’ve looked at ads from a high level, refined creative, and helped you to better optimize your current ads. Learn more about setting up your ads at carrot.com and get help from our marketplace to have Kiley and JT help you through the process!
When receiving a negative comment on your ad, if you can skew it into a positive thing, you can use it as an opportunity to clear a misconception or highlight your customer service.
– Kiley Newbold
How to Maximize Facebook Ad ROI + iOS 14 Update
In part 3 of our Facebook ads series, we are sitting down with Kiley Newbold and JT Rose of Silverstreet Marketing. They are going to show you how to maximize your Facebook Ad ROI by setting the right budget and tweaking your creative. We will also discuss the best ways to respond to negative comments on your ad and what exactly you need to watch out for with the iOS 14 update.
As an agent or investor, you can use Facebook Ads to find motivated, high-quality leads. In the first two parts of our series we talked about launching your ad and the creative aspects. Now we want to help you maximize your Facebook Ad ROI by helping you set a budget, tweak your ad as necessary, and how to properly engage with comments to your ad. We will also let you know what you need to be aware of with the iOS 14 update so you can adapt accordingly.
How Do I Set My Facebook Ads Budget?
Your budget will vary depending on your market and your desired result. Different goals will require different budgets. As a very basic rule of thumb, JT and Kiley recommend..
$500/month or about $17/day for those who are targeting a broad audience to build brand recognition
$1000/month or $34/day for those who are ready to really dive into Facebook Ads, using their page for lead gen and to increase website traffic
How Should I Tweak My Creative for the Best Optimization?
If you are not happy with how your campaign is performing or if you want to find ways to increase your ROI, there are several things you can look at.
Reach – If your ad isn’t getting in front of enough people, even if your conversion rate is high, your volume will still be low
Clicks – If people are seeing your ad – are they clicking on it? If not, you may want to change up your creative to garner more interest.
Conversion – If they are clicking, but not converting, there are a few things to look at. You can see if your page is slow to load, if your landing page is structured properly, and what your lead form looks like.
If your campaign isn’t working, don’t just quit. If it were direct mail, you wouldn’t just throw it all away. You would tweak it, refine it, and try again. That is exactly what you should be doing with your Facebook Ads to maximize your ROI.
What Should I Know About Engaging With Comments?
A lot of people will avoid engaging with negative comments by either ignoring them or deleting them entirely. For many reasons, this isn’t the right way to handle negative feedback to your ad. Instead you should…
Flip it – changing it into a positive. Use the opportunity to clarify a misconception or show how well your customer service team performs
Always reply – good or bad, Facebook sees any engagement as a metric of health
Only delete comments that are spam or profane
Good or bad, it is very powerful to see a business who is actively responding to comments left online. For every comment made, there are lots of people thinking the same thing. When you are able to reply with intelligence and tact, you aren’t just addressing one person, but several who may have had misconceptions about you or your service.
What Do I Need to Know About the iOS 14 Update?
The iOS update includes new privacy protocols that will change how ads can track people. While Kiley and JT aren’t concerned about the update, there are a few things to watch out for.
You will see a difference in what you are able to track – this changing what some of your audiences look like
Make sure you verify your domain so that you can prioritize your Facebook Pixel events
Set your pixel prioritization – the new update will allow you to track up to 8 events
While your tracking may become a little skewed as this update rolls out, all will be well after the initial adjustment period. Some advertisers may see this update as a burden, thus pulling their ads. This only makes more room for those who stay the course.
Look out for Episode 4 in our series which we will dedicate more to agents and hybrid investor.agents!
Don’t be scared. Give it time. You can’t run an ad for a week and then stop. Don’t just spend money and leave. Stay the course.
– Chad Keller
Facebook Ads Mastery #2/4: What Makes Effective Facebook Ad Copy? Create Creative That Convert! w/ Chad Keller
In part 2 of our Facebook Ads series, we are once again sitting down with Chad Keller to dive into what makes an effective Facebook ad. We will discuss which ads you should launch first. How to nail your Facebook Ad copy and creative. And how to hack the competition to get a better idea of what works and what doesn’t in your market.
Chad Keller isn’t only a professional marketer, but he is an investor as well. His unique insights are helping many Carrot clients find success in the Facebook ads world. Here are 5 things to keep in mind when creating your ad so that you can maximize the reach and effectiveness.
Which Ads Should You Launch First?
Without a doubt, you should start with ads to retarget leads who have already shown an interest in your services. Your goal now is to build trust in order to achieve a conversion. Your retargeting ads should:
Include a video or picture of your face – if not you, then include a photo of your team
Highlight a testimonial from a past client
Retargeting ads can have longer copy than ads appearing to cold audiences
Serve up content that eliminates objections
After you have built up trust – hit them again with your main marketing message: “I will buy your house.”
Don’t exclude leads who have already filled out your form, but haven’t yet converted
Which Type of Headlines and Hooks Work Best?
Having the right headline and hook is critical in reaching your audience and getting those clicks. Think of your sellers and what they are going through. What will motivate them to sell to you? Good copy should:
Be hyper local, focusing on the area you wish to buy
Copy should address obstacles homeowners may be facing
Reinforce that you buy in as-is condition, etc.
How Do I Know Which Pictures and Videos to Use?
The visual appeal of your ad should be strong and geared to the audience you want to reach. If you are buying houses to fix up, use a photo of an old and run down house. If you are looking to buy land, use a photo of land. The photos and videos in your Facebook ad should:
Experiment with gifs and movement vs. still photos to see which garners the most attention
Your gif should be about 8-13 seconds so that the ad will appear across other platforms
If your gif or video is over 15 seconds, it will not post to all platforms, (Instagram, etc.) significantly lowering your reach
Keep photos relevant to the market you are targeting – avoid overused stock photos that you see on every real estate site
A digital bandit sign that is direct and to the point has been a successful Facebook ad for Chris in the past
What Are Some Mistakes People Make With Their Facebook Ad Copy?
There are many common mistakes Chris sees when working on ad campaigns. A few of these include:
Slapping their logo on or typing over a stock photo – Facebook likes when there is an element of design. Canva is an easy way to create ads that look professionally done.
Using the wrong sizing, thus allowing other ads to be seen in the same space when a potential lead is browsing Facebook on their phone
What Can I Learn From the Competition?
Whenever I see an offline advertisement that grabs my attention, I save it into a swipe file. I use this for inspiration when creating ads of my own. I do the same thing with ads I see on social media. What did I like about it? What made me stop? A few ways to learn from the competition include:
Whenever you see a great ad, click to save the video to a file you can reference later
If you see an ad for a competitor – click it. You will then be privy to how they are running their retargeting campaigns
Check out the Facebook ads library to look up competitors to see what ads they are currently running and what is working for them
Keep AIDA in mind when setting up your ad. Attention, interest, desire, and action. Do your best to work this all in, study the results, then tweak as necessary. In the next episode of this series, we will dive in even further, offering you ways to maximize your ROI with Facebook ads.
With bandit signs, you can’t measure your reach. With Facebook ads, you can see exactly how many people saw your ad, tracking it down to the cent.
– Chad Keller
The 5 Biggest Facebook Ad Mistakes in Real Estate + How To Get Started
What better way to kick off a series a new series on Facebook ads than with a guy who spends MILLIONS of dollars on ads? Seriously.
Through working with big companies like Dish, Macy’s, Chewy, TheChive, Sprint, and more – not to mention successfully running ads for his own investing business, Chad Keller has been testing, optimizing, and teaching others how to turn cold traffic from crappy ads into sellers that are more motivated than Tony Robbins on Red Bull.
Today, we’re looking at the most costly mistakes investors & agents make. Then, in the next 3 episodes, we’ll dive into the copy, creative, budget, targeting, and how to scale campaigns.
Stop blowing your marketing budget on under-performing ads & Listen to the podcast.
At Carrot, we often talk about the power of evergreen content. Providing valuable information to your readers builds credibility and trust, making you the go-to source for your target audience.
Your content needs to be created just one time but has the potential to reach buyers for years to come. But what do you do while you are building that momentum? Many savvy investors and agents will turn to Google and Facebook ads.
These ads can help you not only get leads in the door right away, but they can also help you add to your organic content as you build up your SEO. They are measurable vs. bandit signs and other forms of traditional advertising, allowing you to get down to a granular level.
Today, we are diving into the world of Facebook ads and how to use them to target your ideal client.
The Power of the Pixel
The most important part of advertising on Facebook is putting the Facebook pixel onto your website. A pixel is “an analytics tool that allows you to measure the effectiveness of your advertising by understanding the actions people take on your website.
You can use the pixel to make sure your ads are shown to the right people.” Before spending a dime on Facebook ads, be sure to set up this tool to see who is visiting your site, enabling you to define audiences for your ads.
Targeting Your Audience
When setting up your ad campaign, there are several objectives you can choose from. Awareness, reach, traffic, engagement, lead generation, messages, and conversions to name a few.
When boosting posts, for example, these are typically just to build awareness, and may not give you the conversions you are looking for. After a potential client visits your site, you may want to refine the advertising you are showing to them. Don’t reserve the same ad, instead, show them new content that will blast their objections!
In the past, many people utilized lead form ads to collect the interested party’s contact information then and there. And while these sorts of ads may be cheaper, getting the lead off of Facebook and onto your website, has proven to increase your conversion rates.
The 5 Biggest Facebook Ad Mistakes People Make
#1 – Not having the pixel installed on the website at all/properly
#2 – Not understanding the goals of each campaign objective and how they are used
#3 – Using leads form ad units instead of the conversion objective for leads
#4 – How important good creatives really are
#5 – How to properly segment and set up audiences
I really enjoyed diving into this episode to discuss Facebook ad mistakes with Chad. Look out for episode 2 in this series where we will dive into what makes for great copy, creative, and how to create ad campaigns. And later, we will get into setting a budget, scaling, and optimizing for better results.
Make a list of everything you do and ask yourself, “how can I do none of this?”
– Joe McCall
Marketing, Automation, and Delegation – How to Build Systems That Will Free You From Your Business w/ Joe McCall
Joe McCall is a pro when it comes to building processes and scaling. These skills have helped him to build a business of flexibility and freedom, that allows him to travel the world with his family.
Today, he is running his business from his laptop, spending the majority of his time on his long-running podcast and teaching other investors creative financing tricks.
Listen in as we talk about creating the right marketing, automating it so it happens in spite of yourself, and how to delegate all of your tasks to the right people.
Read the Full Show Notes Below…
Joe McCall is a returning guest and a long-time friend. We attend Masterminds together and have seen each other’s businesses grow. One thing I love about Joe is his ability to create processes and delegate tasks. He’s done it the right way, enabling him to run his business from wherever he likes.
So far, Joe and his family of 6 have hit the road in an RV and have had multiple trips to Europe, in which they have spent months at a time. Joe’s tactics and creative strategies prove that there are lots of ways to make money in real estate. Here’s how he has done it and how you can do the same.
Going MAD
MAD stands for marketing, automation, and delegation. To be successful in real estate, without having to work 80 hours a week, you will need to implement all three. Joe has multiple Carrot sites and has several VA’s who do nothing but cold calling. He has implemented the right software and created the right team.
Today, he only needs to spend a few hours working on his real estate business each week. This time is mostly spent checking in, reviewing analytics, and analyzing scorecards. Joe doesn’t want to be an absentee owner, but he does want to spend his time doing the things that fuel him.
He has built his business with flexibility and freedom in mind – something we are passionate about here at Carrot.
Getting Creative With Your Deals
With so many ways to get involved in real estate, finding success all comes down to how much you are willing to work for it. So many investors give up when they get discouraged, but staying the course is what will lead you to success. Joe has done many different types of deals.
One of the niches he is passionate about is lease option deals. He is able to find motivated sellers, enter into a lease option agreement, then sell the option to a third party. Just like that, he is out of the deal, with profit in hand.
Trusting the Gurus
From about 2006-2009, Joe was a professional student. He took all of the courses, read all of the books, and put in the work so he was able to quit his job in 2009. Education has been a big part of Joe’s journey, and now he is giving back by offering training of his own. Agents, investors, and real estate educators are often some of the least-trusted lines of work.
Joe is looking to change this impression by offering real value to the students he works with. Today, Joe is spending the majority of his time passing along his knowledge through his podcast and paid courses. While money is great, what fuels Joe is helping people. His courses light him up and bring him excitement. He is bringing humanity back to business – and that is something we love.
You have to do more of what makes you feel uncomfortable on a daily basis.
– Tristan Ahumada
Tech Disruption in Real Estate – How Agents Are Finding Listings Right Now w/ Tristan Ahumada
Tristan Ahumada is an agent, mentor, consultant, and editor for Success Magazine. His relationships, drive for knowledge, and insight into the world of real estate technology have helped him build a business and a community that helps elevate others.
Today we are talking about the disruptions of technology on the real estate market, and what agents and investors can do to find motivated sellers, even in a low-inventory market.
Read the Full Show Notes Below…
As a long-time investor and agent, Tristan offers incredible insight into the real estate industry. So much so that he has taken his talents to write for Success Magazine and to serve on the real estate advisory board for Facebook.
He’s created a thriving community for real estate professionals and incorporates positivity into all he does. We are thrilled to have Tristan on the CarrotCast to discuss mindset, changes in the industry, and how agents are finding listings right now.
Relationships and Community
One of the best ways Tristian recommends generating new listings or generating any new business is to reach out to those in your sphere. Past clients may be ready for your services again and can also be an incredible source for referrals. It’s important to stay in touch with people you have worked with in the past.
You can do this through retargeting campaigns, great evergreen content on your website, or through an email newsletter.
Another great idea is to build a community of professionals and potential clients. You can provide information and insight, making you the leading expert in your neighborhood.
Reach Out to FSBO’s
Another great way to generate new listings, it to reach out to those selling via FSBO. Many of these individuals will be headstrong, not realizing just how valuable an agent can be. While you may need to reduce your commission, it can be a great way to find motivated, unrepresented sellers.
Technology and Real Estate
iBuyers and websites like Zillow are changing the landscape of the real estate industry as we know it. Many agents are worried by this as they feel the space for agents is shrinking. But as Tristan does with any major shift, whether it be political, or within the industry, he will look for all of the ways these shifts will impact him and his business.
His insight into Facebook, and the future of web browsing, shows the rise of virtual landscapes. Tristan believes that in the not-so-distant future, we will slip on our VR goggles to shop, meet up with friends, and even to browse real estate.
Being at the forefront of new technology will not only make you more confident but will put you in a place to be an ambassador as the future becomes a reality.
Minding Your Mindset
When managing a business, a team, and multiple projects, your head needs to be in the right place. For Tristan, he divides his time between multiple projects and entities, reserving specific days for specific projects.
He goes out of his way to do the things that make him uncomfortable, as he knows they are what will move him forward. We all know what needs to be done. Give yourself the time to think, to get clear, and the path you need to take will present itself.
When you focus on what you have, you gain what you lack. When you focus on what you lack, you lose what you have.
– Greg McKeown
Effortless Essentialism | How Greg McKeown Trains Top Leaders to Get More Done by Trading Chaos for Calm
Greg McKeown is a best-selling author and speaker who works with businesses and individuals to help them find out what’s really important. His world-renowned book, Essentialism, has changed the way people prioritize their crazy lives.
I don’t care whether you run a growing business or you’re raising a growing family at home… if you apply Greg’s concepts from Effortless & Essentialism, they will open your mind and fundamentally change your life.
I couldn’t be happier to hear his insights & stories firsthand. It’s sort of like a behind-the-scenes look at his writing process. By the way- warning: the interview gets pretty emotional towards the end.
So please, listen in or keep reading to learn how to apply these wildly powerful ways of thinking in your life so you can do more of what makes the biggest impact and trade the chaos for calm.
P.S. – His new book, Effortless, is hitting shelves soon and will help make those essential tasks happen with the least amount of effort.
Read the Full Show Notes Below…
In this world of constant business, it’s important to sit back and think about how much more impactful we could be if we cut out all of the clutter. Greg McKeown’s book, Essentialism, has changed the lives of many, including my own.
The book has helped people discover what is essential to them and asks the questions you need to answer if you want to get clear. You don’t want to live your life just checking emails or showing houses.
Greg’s powerful insights will help you work from the inside out to live a life of impact and fulfillment. Whether you are an agent, an investor, or in another industry entirely, Greg’s dynamic lessons offer something for everyone.
Seeing Through a New Lens
One day, Greg was sitting there, staring at a piece of paper that was filled with scribbles and notes. It was overwhelming. So he asked himself, “what would you do if you could do anything?” And while many things came to mind, law school wasn’t one of them. Now, this was very unfortunate for Greg, seeing as he had this revelation while enrolled in law school, halfway around the world.
His revelation led him away from law school, and toward teaching and writing, two things Greg has always been passionate about pursuing. For it is in these things that Greg is able to operate at his highest point of contribution.
When he told his parents his news about leaving law school, his father, quoting Hamlet, said “to thine own self be true.” This gave Greg the confidence he needed to move forward into new endeavors.
As Greg puts it, if you can search out and find answers that reframe common perspectives, you can have an experience of transformation almost immediately. When you remove that set of invisible assumptions and remove the lens you have always seen yourself through, you can have a massive change in perspective and performance.
Essentialism in Your Business
While working for start-ups in silicon valley, Greg noticed there were patterns that were often repeated that determined whether a business would succeed or fail.
Phase 1 – Clarity. The business would get clear about their motivations and goals.
Phase 2 – Success. The company would be successful in its endeavors.
Phase 3 – Options. Their newfound success would give them many options and open many doors.
While this all sounds great, many times this would lead to Phase 4, The Undisciplined Pursuit of More. Greg refers to this as the paradox of success. You can choose to do anything, but not everything. Instead of looking for more, be on the pursuit of less and better.
The Mindset of Essentialism
The most important part of Essentialism is getting in the right mindset. You need to dismantle the cluttering of non-essentialism, and stop believing that you can do it all. Many believe that if they do it all, they will have it all, and both assumptions are untrue. If you try to do it all, you certainly won’t have the outcome of having it all.
Instead, you will experience burnout of body, mind, and spirit, which is the opposite of what you are after. Your relationships will become strained, and eventually, you will begin to fail at the work you spend so much time on.
People who practice essentialism see things much differently. Instead of doing the stuff to make themselves better and improve their relationships, they do things the other way around. First, they work on themselves, then relationships, then all of the other stuff, including work and business.
The only way to change is to root out the nonsense and change the cycle. You can choose to do anything, but not everything. There is true freedom in knowing this. Instead of trying to do everything the competition is doing, focus on one or two things you are good at, and build the system that works for you.
Remember, essentialists think most things are nonessential, while nonessentialists think everything is.
So What’s Essential?
It’s important to create the space to think about what is essential to you. Once you determine these things, you will also understand what is nonessential. Understand that when you are doing something, you are saying no to something else.
If you find yourself doing nonessential tasks, remind yourself of the essential things you are saying no to. Whether it be calling back your leads, starting your advertising campaign, or putting in the work on your website, doing these essential tasks are what will take you to the next level.
Here at Carrot, we have a two-week cool-down period at the end of each quarter. Instead of running full force into the next quarter, we sit back to contemplate what we would like to achieve, where we struggled, and what will be our priorities moving ahead.
Making Things Effortless
You’ve likely seen the example of filling a jar with rocks and sand If the sand is placed first, followed by the stones, then the large rocks, not everything will fit. But if the large rocks are placed first, followed by the stones, and then the sand, everything will fit neatly.
But what happens when you have too many large stones?
You may not lack in motivation, but we all face times in our lives when there is simply too much on our plate. Greg’s latest book, Effortless, is a byproduct of essentialism. When you have many essential tasks, the only way to get through it all is to find an easier path. Essentialism is about discovering the right things, and Effortless is all about doing them the right way.
Free Book Giveaway
We want to give away 10 copies of Greg McKeown’s new book, “Effortless”. Head on over to Apple Podcasts and leave us a review. The first 10 who do this and send a screenshot will get a copy of Greg’s new book sent out to them.
