Category: The CarrotCast Podcast

From online marketing to mindset, join us as we unlock the best stories, tactics, and strategies from America’s top investors and agents.

EP 41: Finding Your Purpose: Carrot Intern, Mike Blankenship, Asks About Mission, Setbacks, Collecting People, And Why Giving Up Isn’t The Answer w/ Trevor Mauch

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As an entreprenuer, you like to start new things and you want it to be perfect. But, a lot of times it’s hard to trust anyone other than yourself.
Mike Blankenship

You’ve considered quitting on the dream you’re pursuing. If you haven’t, then it’s just a matter of time. How do you give up on this give-up mindset?

Carrot’s latest intern on the Content team puts Carrot CEO, Trevor Mauch, on the hot seat, diving into Trevor’s past — the moments and lessons that have led to where he is today.

Mike asks questions regarding purpose, passion, the story of Carrot, and how Trevor was able to get through his biggest setbacks to come out even stronger.

This conversation will give you several actionable “success habits” that could change the direction of your life and your business.

Listen to our other episodes at www.CarrotCast.com

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In This CarrotCast Episode, We Cover…

2:20 – Who is Mike Blankenship? – From Christian Ministry to trying to find a new passion.
7:40 – Connecting with great people – How Trevor and Mike connected.
9:30 – Mike discusses the freedom to creatively work on targeted content as one of the main reasons he chose to take an internship at Carrot.
15:20 – Trevor’s struggle to allow more authority within Carrot teams and his understanding, that, to attract “A” players, you must allow them to march forward without resistance.
18:10 – Q&A – How long has Carrot been a company?
19:45 – Q&A – What are the biggest setbacks Trevor has experienced with Carrot and how did he overcome them?

24:25 – Why it is important to set a mental tone for your day. The life of an entrepreneur can be one heck of a roller coaster ride.

Image Via Derek Halpern

26:10 – Part of finding your purpose is finding your unique abilities and learning how to work within them. One important step is creating a daily productivity program. Check out these examples…

Download Trevor’s Daily Productivity Worksheet

Download Adrian’s Daily Productivity Worksheet

32:40 – How Trevor deals with life and the struggles of entrepreneurship: Build a foundation so you’re living life rather than cleaning up messes.
33:20 – Why having a mission is vital for success, how to find it, and how to decide on a business model that fits within your purpose.
35:00 – Stories about culture, longevity, and finding a purpose that forces you out of bed.
44:30 – Being Practical – Stop focusing so much on finding your purpose and just do the best you can.
50:00 – Decluttering your life and amplifying your leaders using the Pumpkin Plan method.
54:30 – Take care of the little things and stop putting pressure on yourself to find purpose.
55:10 – Keys to keeping a positive attitude.
59: 50 – Two pieces of advice for inspiring entrepreneurs: Incredibly easy methods that work.

April 4, 2017
EP 140: Hiring “A” Players: Our Hiring Process to Attract High Quality Employees and Build an Amazing Team w/ Trevor Mauch

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If you’re looking to add someone who can come in and improve a certain part of your business… if you’re looking for someone to add system, add expertise and up-level your business, you have to find an “A” player employee.
Trevor Mauch

“A” players, as many people call the best of the best employees… aren’t easy to come by. But there is a way that you can increase your chances of grabbing the attention of “A” players and hiring them onto your team.

“A” players can often make 10x the impact that a “B” player can make and Carrot CEO Trevor Mauch shares how to structure your company to make “A” players want to work for you, how to create your hiring process so it filters out the “B” and “C” players, and how to motivate “A” players to come work for you.

It’s not a “copy and paste” solution so be ready to get to work and fundamentally change the way you’re currently looking for great people.

Be sure to listen to Part 1 of our hiring series: “Why The Kolbe Score Is Critical To Knowing What Person You Should Hire First (or next)“

Also, don’t miss our other episodes at www.CarrotCast.com

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In This CarrotCast Episode, We Cover…

1:40 – Why we use tools such as the Kolbe A Index to match Carrot’s needs and values with our employees.
4:20 – How and why you need to build a foundation to your hiring process.
6:40 – What does it look like to create an amazing place to work?
8:05 – Why it’s important to really nail your internal communication channel.
12:10 – Safeguard your rockstars by showing them how much they can grow in the company.
14:45 – Don’t be stingy with your tangible benefits. Benefits that can help that person and their community grow.
16:45 – What it means to find budding rockstars that you can groom into something BIG.
18:50 – Why you need to provide a clear vision and mission of your company.

Carrot Mission and Core Values

25:10 – To attract high quality employees, they need to believe that they and the company can achieve the mission.
29:50 – The 3 CORE things you need to attract “A” level employees.
32:35 – Build a network for prospects before you even need to hire. And, where you can start building that network right now.
35:50 – Taking a look at an example of Carrot’s career (job) postings.
38:35 – What Carrot’s hiring process looks like.
40:20 – How to ask good questions during the interview process. Also — check out Mitchell Harper’s LinkedIn post “This Is How You Identify A-Players During An Interview”.
41:15 – You won’t be able to attract high quality employees if they don’t believe in your mission and don’t have a clear path to success.

March 28, 2017
EP 39: Why The Kolbe Score Is Critical To Knowing What Person You Should Hire First (or next) w/ Trevor Mauch
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Having a daily productivity sheet keeps me from highjacking my propensity to see squirrels at the start of my day and really focuses me in on the first task at hand.
Trevor Mauch

As your business grows… or as you realize that you can’t keep doing everything yourself, you’ll need to bring aboard great team members to help you reach your goals.

But how do you know when to hire, who to hire, and what role to put that “who” in?

Well in this episode, Trevor Mauch, Carrot CEO, walks through how he uses the Kolbe A Index to help identify, much like a puzzle, the gap that needs filling, the best personality type for the job, and the needed skill set that will fit with other team member’s abilities and disciplines.

Listen to our other episodes at www.CarrotCast.com

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In This CarrotCast Episode, We Cover…

3:55 – Why running a business with others is so much more enjoyable than running a business solo.
6:00 – What your first hire should look like if you’re a high quick start and low follow-through person.
8:40 – The Four Action Modes® of the Kolbe Test:
- Fact Finder
- Follow Thru
- Quick Start
- Implementor
13:05 – Working within your strengths instead of trying to improve your weaknesses.
15:10 – Why it is so valuable to have a daily productivity worksheet.

Download Trevor’s Daily Productivity Worksheet

Download Adrian’s Daily Productivity Worksheet

18:40 – Why understanding the way people work is so important to building out your team.
19:40 – You need to know exactly what role needs to be filled and what Kolbe score that person needs to fit within.
22:00 – Overcoming the feeling that you never feel like things are being accomplished.
25:00 – What building your team looks like after you hire your first one or two employees.

But before you do, you need to:
1. Create your core values. What you believe in.
2. Be crazy clear on what skill sets your next employee needs to have before you hire them.
3. Have a mental picture of how that person works.
35:10 – Trying to find the yin to your yang.
35:50 – The Kolbe Test brings to light the communication differences between team members. So, overall, you can work in a more cohesive environment.

Have questions about our hiring process or the Kolbe score? Hit us up in the comments section below!
March 21, 2017
EP 38: Making the Leap: How Michael Rogers Went From CPA to Full Time Real Estate Investor in 2017
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Know what you’re good at and know your cycle of confidence and stay in it. Really know what you’re going to good at. You don’t need to be good at everything. Figure out something… and nail it.
Michael Rogers

When should you make the leap to full-time in your side business? It doesn’t matter what business it is, there’s a point when it makes more sense to leave your day job and go full-time into your passion.

Michael Rogers, a Carrot client and CPA of 12+ years walks through his journey on how he did his first deal, built an income producing portfolio while still working full-time, then how he slowly scaled back his hours at the CPA firm he was employed at and eventually dove in as a full-time real estate investor, just this past winter.

Now, Michael is still focused on building his portfolio for the long-term and doing wholesale deals for his active income. How did Michael do it? Listen in.

Also, listen to our other episodes at www.carrotcast.com.

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3:45 – What are some benefits to your mindset from short-term to long-term thinking?
5:40 – How we can all relate to Michael’s change from corporate CPA to real estate investing.
8:50 – What role Michael’s family played in his decision to become a full-time real estate investor.
12:20 – Michael shares the key lessons he’s learned in the first couple of years being in the real estate investing industry.
15:20 – What type of criteria does he set when looking at properties?
17:00 – His various type of assets he invests in and how he’s built a passive income flow.
19:00 – A $35k deal – That’s how he started 2017 off! What type of growth he has experienced over the past few months.
21:38 – Using his InvestorCarrot website to generate leads and build a legit and credible business.
23:15 – What marketing mix is generating leads for Michael and helping his SEO with quality backlinks such as being featured in “The Chattanoogan” newspaper.

Michael’s Feature in The Chattanoogan newspaper

26:50 – What his ROI has looked like through his InvestorCarrot website. The important factor of “knowing your numbers.”

29:35 – How long did it take for Micheal’s SEO to kick in and start to rank #1 for certain keyword phrases, such as, “sell my house in Chattanooga?”

Michael’s Carrot Website Ranking Number 1 in Search Results for “Sell My House in Chattanooga”

33:40 – Why and how he’s chosen to add credibility to his website through:
- Video
- About Page
- Images
- USP (unique selling proposition)
38:00 – How Michael has grown as a real estate investor.
42:15 – InvestorCarrot vs. the other guys. How Michael’s life has changed by using the Carrot platform and where he thinks he would be without it.
44:00 – Why “family” and “freedom” are the core reasons he took the leap into investing.
46:00 – Michael’s projected 24-month visions for family and business.
51:15 – Why Michael truly believes in the InvestorCarrot process and websites.
March 14, 2017
EP 37: Sitcom Based Newsletters To Build Massive Brand Affinity In Real Estate w/ Ryan Fletcher

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Anything that’s worth doing is worth sucking at, first. I think that’s a Gary Halbert think that he said. And, you don’t start writing and immediately build an audience. It takes time. I tell everybody, if you won’t write for one then you won’t write for a 1000.
Ryan Fletcher

*Warning: This podcast contains explicit language*

Brand storytelling pretty much works for everyone. If done right, it can be one of the most effective pieces of your content marketing strategy. We’re living in a time of competition clutter and brand storytelling is one way to keep your brand from conforming to the herd.

How can you grow your business to make you the only viable option for leads without having to go door to door or make cold calls?

How can you tell a more influential story to cut through the clutter and become a driving force behind that story?

How do you create a credible brand where before leads even reach out, they’re likely to go with you because of what you’ve done in your community?

So many investors and agents fall into the short term marketing “tactics” trap and lose focus on building the foundation for an amazing long-term business.

On this episode of the CarrotCast, Ryan Fletcher, host of the Agent Marketing Syndicate Podcast and author of Defeat Mega Agents, joins us to discuss gaining control of your business and avoiding some of the “tactics” that may lead you down the wrong path.

If you’re looking to rely on Facebook ads, AdWords, Craiglist… then great!

But, this podcast is for the serious, long-term agent and investor.

Build credibility and community!

Enjoy and be sure to listen to our other CarrotCast episodes at carrotcast.com.

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It’s easy to get caught up in all of the training and coachings, but you need to take control of your brand by telling a story.

But… how do you accomplish that? How do you create a brand that is so good that leads can’t ignore you? Find out on this episode of the CarrotCast.

Enjoy!

3:00 – What pushed Ryan into real estate and from $8k to $180k within one year.
7:15 – Breaking through the mindset that extended content doesn’t work. 12-page sales letters – people read them because they’re not boring.
10:00 – How Agent Marketing Syndicate helps agents break away from the clutter. HINT: Build relationships 3-5 years before someone is even in the market to sell their house.
13:30 – Creating content that builds relationships through a message and having patience.
15:00 – Why building relationships in the community and outside of real estate are so important for long-term success.
20:10 – How Ryan gets his real estate message out. The HEART is hardcopy mailers then repurposing via social media.
22:15 – Changing the failure mindset and pulling away from the canned real estate agent thinking. Building confidence to put your story on paper.
27:30 – Having a passion for great service: What is the Impact Club and how it brings together communities for the greater good.
34:30 – Creating a process for being in it for the long game.
38:15 – Want to become a better marketer?
41:10 – Making business shifts. The difference it can make in life, with friends, and with family.
47:30 – 3 Things you can do to set yourself up so others have a hard time competing against you.
52:20 – Brand Storytelling: 3 Main levels you need to commit to in order to stand out from the crowd.

March 7, 2017
EP 34: Bandit Sign Wars, Door Hangers, and Scaling With Online Marketing for Real Estate Investors w/ Edward Beck

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Within that first year I got more leads, 10x more leads, on the InvestorCarrot website, even before it was outranking the other website. – Edward Beck

You might have heard this before, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up” from Thomas Edison. Are you stopping short of success? Consistency and desire are the differences between failure and success.

Edward Beck has been through two full real estate cycles. From doing 20+ deals per month with a large team pre-2005…to trimming down his business, but focusing on fewer, but better deals… Edward has seen it all in his market of El Paso, Texas.

Edward talks about how their real estate business almost imploded, how he picked up and rebuilt the business post-crash, and what he’s doing today to stabilize and really grow his real estate investing business.

Bandit sign wars, door knocker sorrows, and how he’s using online marketing for real estate investors and Carrot to cut through the clutter… now online marketing is his #1 source of high-profit deals.

How did he do it?

Listen to his story on how he got started in real estate investing and what led to his success. Listen to our other episodes at www.CarrotCast.com

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If performed with passion and patience, online marketing for real estate investors can give you the highest ROI. Listen to this episode of the CarrotCast to learn…

2:30 – The power of reading and expanding your mind.
8:25 – How Edward got started in real estate investing 12 years ago and why consistency is so important.
10:50 – What types of business shifts did he make during the up and down cycles of the last 12 years.
13:45 – How his market of El Paso, Texas is performing right now and taking advantage of data that comes from the Dallas market.
16:15 – Edward’s business models and the changes he’s made in his marketing.
18:00 – Fierce competition – “Bandit Sign Wars”
22:00 – What types of messages he includes when marketing with print materials.
24:10 – When and why he started using the web for some of his marketing and what original results did he see.
27:00 – Why he chose to join InvestorCarrot even with a site that was ranking 1 or 2 for competition search terms.
30:20 – What type of results Edward has been getting from his online marketing for real estate investors and how the quality has been over something like bandit signs.
34:00 – His lead to close ratio for online vs. offline marketing.
37:40 – The psychological side of cutting through the market clutter.
41:50 – Where Edward feels his business would be if he hadn’t switched to InvestorCarrot.
44:00 – What extra impact Carrot has had on his business and where he’s been able to scale back on costs because of it.
45:30 – What advice he would give to other investors if they were looking to join Carrot vs. building their own website.

February 14, 2017
EP 33: Reprogramming Your Mental Operating System To Live A More Fulfilling Life w/ Trevor Mauch

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“A LIFE WELL LIVED IS WHEN WE LOOK BACK AND SAY, “YOU KNOW WHAT, I DID LIFE RIGHT… I DIDN’T LOVE HALFWAY AND I DIDN’T LIVE HALFWAY… WHAT I DID MATTERED”Trevor Mauch

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Life is a journey, not a destination” – but more times than not, our journies get complicated.

How do we structure our lives to have more passion and fulfillment? To have more time for family and friends? What do you do? How does it happen?

On this episode of the CarrotCast, Trevor dives deep into where and why he’s at this period in his life and his business. Why and where he needs to build, change and delegate so he can continue to do the things that make his heart sing. Things we can all relate to in our own lives.

Especially in the makeup of entrepreneurs and business leaders, we all come to a chasm that we need to cross. But… that chasm seems like it’s a mile wide and a mile deep. So, how do we organize ourselves to overcome obstacles?

Find out and enjoy this conversation as he walks you through the mental operating system mindset shifts you really need to explore and implement before choosing to cross that chasm you might be facing right now in your business or personal life.

Listen to more CarrotCast interviews at CarrotCast.com.

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Listen to this episode of the CarrotCast and start thinking about what’s really important in your life. Is it really to kill yourself from stress and selfishness? Or, is it creating a life full of strong relationships, fun and joy?

1:30 – Falling into the chasm of not enjoying life and hustling to make the next deal.
3:30 – New Carrot team members and brief Carrot retreat recap. What we do to plan and have fun.
10:10 – The chasm that you must go through of being “busy” to being “intentional”.
12:40 – Have a major mindset shift on your outlook on family, friendship, finances, fitness, and faith.
15:50 – How important it is to accelerate the important things in your life.
21:00 – Shifting into a new work week strategy to free up more time to spend with family.
23:15 – How to create your STOP DOING list. Stop doing or trim the things you’re not passionate about.
24:25 – Hire people to take care of the aspects of your business that you don’t enjoy. 10X your productivity.
31:50 – Finding a specific solution to specific problems you have not only in business but also in life. Move into your dream role.
33:50 – Plan strategic growth to regain more time in your life.
37:35 – What are you doing to change your mental operating system?
39:30 – The importance of investing in the things that are important to you. Get those 4 or 5 F’s (family, friendship, finances, fitness, and faith) in front you and rate yourself on a 1-10 scale.

February 7, 2017
EP 32: Investing in Student Housing, Apartments, Hard Money, and Unique Ability In Life w/ Doug Fath

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If there is something you want to do, the best way to go about and have that is to find people that are doing what you want to do. Follow them, shadow them, work with them and that speeds up the learning curve tremendously.
Doug Fath

How do you find out what you’re unique ability is so you can live the life you want? Learn some actionable lifestyle and investing tips from a successful real estate entrepreneur and build a business you’re truly passionate about.

Doug Fath is one of the couple dozen people in my “inner circle”. Entrepreneurs I’ve known for years, we’ve grown together, get together in person a couple times a year in a mastermind I started with my former business partner Patrick Riddle.

Doug is an amazing real estate investor who started with student housing in Philly, transitioned into repositioning rental portfolios, development, and now owns a hard money / private lending company alongside his other real estate businesses.

Doug is truly an entrepreneur who is grounded and has found his “Wealthy Passion”. Listen to his story on how he got started in real estate investing and what led to his success.

Listen to our other episodes at www.CarrotCast.com

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Doug Fath of Legacy Capital in Philadelphia joins Trevor on this episode of the CarrotCast. Listen as they discuss investing in student housing, hard money lending, finding your unique ability in life and much much more. Enjoy!

2:00 – How certain events have changed Doug’s priority matrix and what the purpose of entrepreneurship is in his life.
6:40 – What his development and private lending business structure look like.
11:30 – How setting the right goals and being highly intentional has changed his life.
12:35 – From sports apparel to real estate investing. How Doug got his start and a couple of key decisions he made.
16:40 – How he stumbled into investing in student housing and how to protect yourself if you investing in this type of real estate.
20:00 – The transition into true apartment rentals and the resurrecting a warehouse in Philly into family units.
24:05 – The psychological side of owning a lending company and working with partners.
28:20 – How he identified and was able to help solve problems many real estate investors were having in their business.
34:05 – Why it’s important to find your unique ability. Spend more time on the things you’re good at and that you love to do.
42:20 – The 3 key phases to finding the right partnerships so you can achieve what you want to do.
47:45 – Before diving into a partnership – take the Kolbe personality test! Be sure to know how compatible you are with your partner.
51:00 – Why it was a good moving to add hard money lending to his professional portfolio.
54:55 – What type of mindset it takes to position your company above the competition.
58:50 – Doug’s #1 growth priority.
1:00:22 – His biggest takeaway from attending the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.

January 31, 2017
EP 31: Facebook Marketing Tips for Real Estate Investors + Agents w/ Kiley Newbold

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Your first month of online marketing typically is going to be one of your hardest and least productive because you’re really cutting new trail everywhere you go.
Kiley Newbold

If you haven’t been running Facebook ads for real estate lead generation, then you’re most likely missing out and stepping behind your competition.

Getting motivated house seller leads on Facebook hasn’t been easy over the years. Cash buyers, tenants… yes. But sellers have been a harder nut to crack. Until the last 12 months, that is.

Our guest, Kiley Newbold, a Facebook marketing ninja who was the Vice President of Marketing & Technology at a $75MM company before going full-time into Facebook marketing for real estate professionals recently, dives into his strategies that are consistently attracting high value motivated house seller leads through Facebook ads.

Listen to our other episodes at www.CarrotCast.com

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Listen to this episode of the CarrotCast with Kiley as he lays out some Facebook marketing tips for real estate investors and agents. Grab something to take notes and take full advantage of these tips. Enjoy!

3:30 – How Kiley helped build the ColorRun from 0-50 countries and helped millions of people via Facebook.
7:25 – Why working and the time spent with the ColorRun was so enjoyable.
10:15 – How Kiley is bringing his passion from the ColorRun to his new business venture and entrepreneurship.
12:35 – Why Facebook hasn’t worked for motivated seller leads in the past and Facebook marketing pitfall #1.
18:16 – Taking the emotion out of your advertising decisions and instead trusting your data. Carrot ROI Tool.
20:40 – How to set your advertising budget.
21:45 – Facebook marketing pitfall #2: Don’t look at your numbers on a daily basis.
23:25 – Facebook marketing pitfall #3: Testing too many variables at once.
26:18 – Facebook marketing pitfall #4: Don’t make massive changes on a regular basis.
29:50 – How much does the actual website play into the success of Facebook campaigns and why having a personalized website makes a positive effect.
36:30 – Why it is so important to have not just a mobile friendly website, but also one that is optimized to convert while you’re using Facebook marketing.
37:10 – What first step you need to take when structuring your Facebook campaign.
39:05 – What types of ads (image, carousel, video) are working best right now.
43:50 – Quick Facebook marketing tips for real estate recap.
47:00 – The importance of retargeting and how to get it setup.
49:15 – What Kiley has seen as the biggest difference in markets. Are there markets where Facebook hasn’t worked?
50:05 – What statistics and numbers you should be concentrating on and the importance of understanding attribution.
57:00 – Take these Facebook marketing tips for real estate and apply them to the places where people hang out the most.
58:20 – Kiley’s current journey into entrepreneurship.

January 24, 2017