Bernie Gallerani’s Rise from Agent to Top Broker Using the Mike Ferry Sales System

Welcome back to another edition of Mike Ferry TV. This is the week of September 11th. For this week MFTV we are bringing you a Vault-exclusive video in a new series that we have started called Life Behind the Listings, where we interview top producers and gain insight into how these top producers got their starts and how they began to grow their businesses into what they are today. For more of this series please visit The Vault. Today’s interview will be with Mike DeHoyos (Mike D) and Bernie Gallerani (Bernie G) and they will be talking about how Bernie went from an Agent to Top Broker Using the Mike Ferry System  

Mike DeHoyos: Thank you, everybody, for joining us today. We are going to interview the great Bernie Gallerani. Thank you for joining us today.

Bernie Gallerani: Well, thank you. I appreciate you guys inviting me over. And I know about what great means, but just hard work, right? Just a lot of hard work. It’s hard work.

How did you get your start in Real Estate?

Mike D: So I want to ask you first, where did you start selling Real Estate?

Bernie G: Well, I lived in Las Vegas, actually. Ironically enough, moved from here and was in franchise sales when I lived here and decided that I wanted to get out of that industry.

Mike D: Out of curiosity what franchise?

Bernie G: I worked for Postnet out here in Las Vegas, and also I worked for a water to go company that was like a vitamin supplement company. So I did that for many years. It was just time to move on from Vegas. And so when I right before I had left Las Vegas, I actually was deciding to get in the Real Estate business, got my license here, received my license here. And then about a week or two after I received my license, my wife said, I’d love to get out of here. So I said, Listen, if we’re going to do this, let’s do it now because I’m going to get in the business. So we moved to Tennessee and so ever since, just being in Tennessee, I’ve been in the Real Estate business. So it’s been about 19 years now.

Mike D: And why did you guys land on Tennessee out of curiosity?

Bernie G: I mean, it’s like anything else. I think we had two young girls and we wanted to not raise them here in Las Vegas, naturally. Yeah. I mean, well, I mean, it’s for some people, but not for. All right. I don’t want to knock Vegas. I mean, I did live here for ten years.

Mike D: I still live here. Yeah. With my daughter.

Bernie G: Yeah. Yeah. Again, for me, it just was it was a decision for our children more than anything else. But so we looked at a lot of different places. We were originally from California. We lived here in the West Coast for a lot of years, looked at other places in the country, too cold, too humid, too hot, that kind of kind of thing. And so Tennessee was kind of just in the central part of the country. And so we just we had one friend that actually lived out there, and he had moved three weeks before we went to visit to make this decision. So he didn’t really know anybody. And he and he so he’s like, yeah, come on out. It’s really great. And so we went out and we bought a house and we moved six weeks later into that home and we’ve been there ever since.

Mike D: So you land in Tennessee, and you decided to get into the Real Estate business. How long did it take you to really start getting, like, getting into a groove?

Bernie G: Well, it’s interesting enough, so I wanted to get into some sort of understanding of the culture that I was living in. I’m an Italian guy from the West Coast, so I talk fast naturally. So I lived in the South where it’s really kind of the southern drawl, as you probably hear, right? And so I really was concerned about it, to be honest with you. I mean, more more enough that I was willing to pay a coaching fee to say, Hey, how do I talk to the Southern people? Almost like it’s a whole different language, you know? And so that’s how I started kind of researching coaching. And so I had two in mind. One was MFO and the other one was another company out of out of the West Coast. And so anyway, I chose MFO. And so that’s kind of how I decided to get into Coaching.

What made you go with the Mike Ferry Sales System?

Mike D: What was the deciding factor to go with MFO?

Bernie G: Well, it’s an interesting story in that Ron Cronin actually was in the sales team at in those days, back, way back in the day before he was who he is today. Right. And so I had talked to the when I was making this decision, the other company said, well, would you like to speak to the coach who you’d be working with just to make sure it’s a fit? And I said, sure. And that fee, the monthly fee was $750 a month. And then Mike at that time I think was $1000. So I interviewed with that coach or talked with that coach and I told them my background and where I came from. And I said, you know, my goal was to make $100,000 a year, which as a realtor. Now that’s not uncommon to say, right? $100,000 20 years have passed it’s still $100,000, right? That number never goes up. So the coach said, well, you know, I said, is that likely that I can do that? And he says, Well, let me tell you, it’s not impossible, but it’s not likely you’ll do that in your first year. I said, Well, that’s fair. You know, I wasn’t really sure, I didn’t know whether the answer was right or wrong. So I then interviewed Ron and I told the same story. This is where I come from, this is my background. And I said, And I want to make $100,000 my first year as possible. And Ron’s like, Well, I’m not sure why you’re setting your goal so low. And so I gave my credit card and that’s how I chose MFO, Right? He just gave me the hope that I could do what I wanted to do. And, you know, and my first year, I made $170,000.

Mike D: Wonderful.

Bernie G: Yeah. Out in Hendersonville.

Mike D: That is where?

Bernie G: Hendersonville. A small community outside of Nashville. It was a podunk little city. It had two restaurants at the time I moved there. Now, of course, with the growth of COVID and all the other kinds of stuff, it’s really growing. But yeah, so there wasn’t much there. So I went from this crazy metropolis of gambling and Las Vegas to Mayberry where, you know, after 7:00 PM no one ever went out. Yeah, it was a whole different environment. It was a little bit of a culture shock for sure.

Would you say the Mike Ferry Sales System works across all markets?

Mike D: So a lot of people say that the Mike Ferry system doesn’t really work in their market because their market is different. And here you come from two totally different places from LA to Vegas. To Hendersonville, Tennessee. Your opinion? Why do you think it works in all of these markets?

Your zip code is irrelevant to the level of your success.

Bernie G: Well, I think that the sales principles are pretty basic. I don’t think it’s a complicated system. And I think that no matter where you live, people can understand it. I am not a believer and I know that you and I are doing this interview, but a lot of people just use the negativity of why they can’t do it versus why they can do it. I would just say it doesn’t matter where you’re living. I know agents all around the country that live in small towns that excel at a high level. And I know a lot of really good agents that are very complacent and live in big metropolitan cities and then don’t do anything right? Right. So is it the location or is it the agent? And so it’s the agent and it’s and it’s really not the coaching material. I believe this what I love about MFO is it teaches you what to say, how to say it, and they coach you through the struggles of all of that. But it really doesn’t matter. A lot of times what you’re saying or what you’re doing if you’re just doing it, if you’re moving around and you’re doing it at a high level, you’re going to have some success, right? I mean, a blind squirrel will get a nut once in a while. And that’s just kind of what it’s like with MFO. There’s a lot of there’s a lot of nuts in the path and you just got to pick them up. So I think that it lines up more opportunity for you with the MFO organization. It gives you a lot of hope. You get to network with a lot of really great people. It doesn’t matter where you live. Your zip code is irrelevant to the level of your success.

Mike D: I couldn’t agree with that more. Yeah. So first year you do 170,000. How many homes was that for you?

Bernie G: 40.

Mike D: 40 in your first year. Puts that alone is impressive. There are a lot of agents that are not going to sell 40 in a year for their whole career. Fast forward to today, how many homes will you sell personally? How many will you sell combined with the team and what kind of income is that going to make?

Bernie G: Okay, well, this is going to be a shocker. So I’ll sell one home this year so far. Right? Okay. Because I run a team today, right? So and I’ll get into that. So I sold my at the height of my career, 150 homes a year. 147 was my top. And I did that for many years. And then Mike and I were coaching together and I just told him kind of what my plans were. I wanted to bring. I believed in MFO so much that I wanted to bring that culture of MFO to my marketplace, right? The challenge with any of it is, is agents don’t think big enough to want to pay to improve. So I thought, how can I put together a program to help them be involved with the MFO organization or have them be involved with my company, which was full MFO taught and directed, right? And and so how can I get them where the risk was on me to help them? And so I brought them in and I purchased some leads and I showed them how to do the MFO system. And I shared with them calling expired and by owners I actually have there’s 13 of us from my company at this event. We only have 19 agents and so 13 of us are here. So my team has really bought into the MFO style. And it’s really interesting too, because somebody asked me recently, why did I decide to start the team? And I said, you know, I’d go to Mike Ferry events and I’d get to the rah-rah and everyone’s excited and I meet some really dynamic people. And then I’d go home and it’s kind of a lonely world, you know, when you are around so many great Mike Ferry people and then you go home and you lock your door and you’re like, okay, I can’t associate with anybody outside because they don’t understand what we’re doing, right? I thought, how great would it be to find my own people every day to get up and go to work with and that I could come in and be me and be MFO style and have the same mindset? So I just went out and looked for a bunch of people in my community that I could teach it to. And so that’s how my team started.

Mike D: I think that’s interesting because a lot of a lot of people don’t realize that MFO top producers want the market to get better. They want the Real Estate agents around them to get better. They want to help people improve. I don’t know why that is, but it’s just something natural that happens in this environment. Why do you think so many agents resist that?

Bernie G: To invite people to …Like how many?

Why do agents resist the Mike Ferry System? 

Mike D: Why do agents resist the MFO system and speak negatively of it when all we’re trying to do is help everybody get better?

Bernie G: Hmm … That is such a good question. I would say that MFO people, I would say they were not special, talented people. I just think that we’re our ability to open our mind, to learn allows lots of things to open up for us that we’re willing to put kind of all on the line to see what our life can be like. Most people aren’t like that. I mean, just I was a believer that if I could do the MFO system, anybody can do it. And I still believe that anybody can do it right. But what I’ve also started to understand and I’m going to say this and people are getting mad at me, but how people don’t value their life and the quality of what it can be if they just get out of their own way. And really, this is just a getting out of your own way. And the real question I think here is why doesn’t why don’t more people just get out of their own way? Mike would say lots of fears. They don’t dream big enough. They don’t want it bad enough. And so they’re so stuck in their conditional beliefs from before, it’s easier, you know, it’s easier to point the finger at somebody and say, that doesn’t work or that’s not good because it makes them feel really good. But I look at it and go, What makes me feel good is seeing somebody that actually says, I’m going to change who I am so I can have the life that I’ve always wanted to have. To me, I respect a lot of people, people who do that. Most people won’t do that, though, right? So we live in a community which is really great. And for those that are watching. And I say this to my group all the time. If what we’re doing is going to be easy, then anybody would do it. And if anybody could do it, it wouldn’t make anything we do special, right? So we’re not really all that talented other than maybe we can just get out of our own way and see that our future is brighter than we are in currently today. And that’s all this has been for me, is looking at some of these great realtors around town and seeing these people here at this event and seeing some of the lives that they have and getting to experience them as a friend that that life and say, man, I’d love to have that.

So talk to us about how you built out your team.

Mike D: So tell us a little bit of the structure of your team. So you invite all these people who’ve got bigger minds, who really want to work hard, who really want to improve their life. Now, how do you structure your team and keep it productive? There’s so many agents out there trying to start a team and they have no idea what they’re doing, so they just kind of hire anyone who’s interested in working with them. And that turns into zero profitability. It turns into putting money into their company rather than taking money out of it. So how do you structure it?

Bernie G: Yeah, well, there’s probably a lot of things, and I’ll go into some of that here with you. I would say that the idea of having a team is something that most people fantasize that is actually a good idea. And I would say for most it probably should never happen. Right? As great producing agents doesn’t mean we’re going to be great managers and leaders of people. Agreed. Okay. I had no several teams, some of them building here at MFO who are just not profitable. And so we’ll talk and they’ll come and visit me in my office and my group and I’ll share with them things like, what are your gross commission dollars? You know, what is your team bringing in? What are you bringing in? And it’s staggering on how many of them have to write checks just to keep their doors open. And I’ll look at them and say, why would you go to work every day to list and sell property to then take your income and put it into your team. So and then you have 10, 12, 15 agents. They’re not making the company any money, but yet you’re feeding them. Explain that one to me. Right. And so they’re like, you know, and they give me the answer they think that they believe in. And that’s that’s fair. So I’ll tell you what works for us. And most people can’t do it and most people won’t do it. But it works really well for us. Our industry is not an industry filled with a high level of accountability. Right. Okay. Which is why the production of most agents is zero to none.

Mike D: It’s why MFO exists.

Bernie G: This is exactly right. That’s why MFO exists is to help people get out of their own way. Mike and I were talking recently about It’s so weird. It’s almost like they go to Real Estate school, and as they walk out after they pass their exam, they stick a chip in their head and they say, Okay, now you’re in a bit of a contract. You can go do whatever you want to do, right? And that’s the mentality of a realtor. But yet I’ve never really found one that works really hard that ever does anything significant. So in our market, 89% of every agent that gets a license is completely out of the business within 24 months. Sounds right. All right. So let’s just say 90% out of 10. So let’s say 90% of the people are gone. To me, it’s a flawed industry. And I had to look at everything that MFO offered, the accountability, the numbers, the direction, the scripts, the skills, and then my belief that I had to work really hard in order to accomplish those goals. And I wanted to find people like that. So what we did is we built a structure within our organization that said, okay, you’re an independent contractor, that’s perfectly fine. I’m going to provide all of these sources, resources for you inside my company, which you as an agent really like. And in order to have that continual resource in your life, these are the things I’m going to hold you accountable to. And one of those things is you have to show up at the office every single day by 8:30 AM, not 8:01 AM, not 8:03 AM if the traffic got in the way, sorry, you know, come back tomorrow kind of thing, Right? You have to close a minimum of two transactions every month. You have to log a minimum of two hours every day, five days a week. And you have to make 100 contacts within the company. And then we have core values that, of course, that we make sure everyone upholds. And we kind of hand-pick our people to have 20 agents on our team. We have to go through 200 of them to find 20.

Mike D: I’m surprised it’s only 200.

Bernie G: Well, and there might be more. We hire and we let go constantly. So we every quarter, we typically will bring somebody in, a couple of people in and then every end of every quarter, if they don’t meet minimum standards, we have to let them go. And so it’s a revolving door. Some owners might say, well, how does that make your other agents feel when you bring people and bring people out? The good ones love it because they don’t want to hang out with people that aren’t productive, Right? So we have an average of 30, 34 sales per agent on our team. And so it’s incredible when you when you look at the industry selling, let’s say, four, right? I think Mike put out a report last year and it said that 8% of the 1.7 million, eight licensed agents sold four or more homes. Right. 50% of those 1.7 didn’t sell any homes at all last year. Right. So the industry is just flawed. And so what we’re doing is we are trying to find somebody motivated enough to get out of their own way. To work in our system. That is super difficult. And so my team understands one thing, Bernie’s going to bring them in and Bernie’s going to fire them and Bernie’s going to bring them in. Bernie’s going to ask them to leave. And right. And so and how we do it is we get away with it by saying, Listen, we’ll provide you these leads and these sources. We’re going to ask that you do these things. If you don’t do these things and you don’t have these minimum standards, then you’re not going to get these leads. And if you don’t have a minimum standard of X amount of sales, then we’re just going to ask you to leave. Give me your license here.

Bernie G: Yeah, that’s fine. I mean, we’re not attached to it, really. You learn in my world that I love them all that work for me. And we’ve had my number, my buyer’s agent who has been with me the longest. He’s been with me 13 years. Right. And I love when other agents come and talk to him. When they’re new, they’ll say, well, why does he do it this way? Why does he do it that way? And here’s Raymond’s response. Every time, if you don’t like it, just go, Yeah, we don’t care. We’re only we only want to find people here that really want to work the business the way it needs to be worked. Right. And so that’s my answer, is just holding them accountable for. And then I would say the one thing that I ask them to do when they come in is everybody fills out a coaching contract with me, right? And in there it says, These are our minimum standards. And then on the end of the contract, it says, What would you like us to hold you accountable to? Well, on day one, everybody’s excited and they’ll do whatever they ask you to do. So I want Bernie to hold me accountable to all these things, plus this, this and this. Right. And then can Bernie hold you accountable to that? Yes. And then once we have that and they’re saying, if I don’t do this, you can ask me to go and most of them don’t do it.

Mike D: Right. We see that all the time here at MFO. People say, well, we really want a strong Coach until they get one. That’s a whole different story.

Bernie G: Yeah. Wouldn’t you be hard on me? Right? It’s like, okay, I’ve heard that before, right? Then I’m hard on you. Then you want to quit, right? It’s like, okay, well, you know, I think it was maybe Tony Smith who told me this. He said, you know, all of this is just prequalifying them. So if you’re meeting with the agent, you’re sharing them the expectations and then you come into your office. I’ve said it to my agents like this. It’s kind of like dating in a way. That’s probably a bad analogy, but it’s like dating. It could be the best and that. And so on day one, we’re getting to know each other a little bit. Right? Right. Day two, We’re getting to know each other a little bit and we’re kind of seeing, you know, where is this going? And this is like hiring an agent. So when we bring an agent in, it’s like the dating process. We interview you. I ask them out on a date. We decided to get together. They come into the office and we’re trying to find whether or not it’s somebody I want to spend any more time with. Right? That’s all dating is. And at some point in a relationship, it either works or it doesn’t work. And we find out in week one, month one or year one that it’s probably not going to work. Right. And somewhere along month one or week one and one year, we most likely will ask you to leave because we don’t really want to continue our relationship anymore. Right?

Mike D: So you hold them to a minimum standard, two transactions a month. I think that is probably one of the best ideas I’ve ever heard so far. Most of the people that I hear that have a team, there is no standard whatsoever. And if there’s no standard and where’s the productivity come from? Where does the profit come from? So what advice would you give to someone who’s trying to build a team right now or is considering that?

Bernie G: Let me just answer one thing. You said if they’re not going to hold them accountable as a person who was held accountable,  my Mike Ferry business plan by my Coach. Right. But if we change that dynamic that got us there, then how do we ever believe that’s ever going to work differently? Right. And some of the brokers might say things like, well, it’s hard to get them to commit. I would say it’s not really hard to get them to commit if you’re if you’re attached to the body count, you’re going to go under really quick, right? If you’re attached to the production and you’re like Mike always says, for brokers, recruiting solves all your financial problems. And so if you have a recruiting method, if you have a process of recruiting and you only have so many seats in your business that you’re willing to sit people in, then you just find the top people. So I would say that I don’t believe that. If we are accountable to people, we should understand that holding people accountable. Sorry, I forgot your original question.

What advice would you give someone trying to build a team today?

Mike D: So the question is what advice would you give to someone that’s either currently building a team, struggling with the team that they’re building? What kind of advice would you give them?

Bernie G: If there are top-producing agents, I would say do exactly what you did to become an agent and don’t deviate from that. If you can’t do that, don’t even attempt it. See, here’s here’s the thing. I think top-producing agents want a way out. So they want to, you know, and I and I respect that. I mean, selling 150 homes a year, it’s a lot of work. And, you know, as Mike says, if you’re going to sell four homes a year, do it in January and take the other 11 months off. Right. If you’re going to go out and sell, you know, a bunch of homes, try to do it as much as fast as you possibly can. And that was my idea, was how quickly can I sell a thousand homes a year? How quickly can I sell 700 homes a year? And so I realized that I couldn’t do that myself. So I had to figure out a way to leverage all that and then watch all those dollars and profits to make sure that it was financially rewarding for myself, my wife and my family. I think that the agents want out so bad that they believe that the body, the agent count is what’s important. The agent count is irrelevant. The dollars of profit are the only thing that matters. And so if you start small, you stay in production. As a realtor, you have to stay in production. And I’ll tell you my story, which got me. The team started by accident at the height of my Real Estate career. I was making over $1 million a year. And I looked at this and by the time I paid all my expenses and everything else, I was at about $800,000. Okay, fantastic. My team, my buyer’s agents started outpacing my income. Wow. So when they started outpacing my personal income, so I had a collective group of people and I think I had about eight buyers agent at that time. And I hired an operations manager who still works with the company today. He’s been there eight years and he ran this group so I could go sell. So I sold. And from agent one, agent two, agent three, agent four, every agent was counted as a business. So a lot of agents what they’ll do is they’ll take their buyer’s agent team and they’ll say, Well, the team created this, and this is my level of profit or not profit. For us we looked at every agent as a business, right? So if you were coming to work for the company, I wouldn’t care what my other three were doing. I don’t really care what you’re doing. And so I would monitor your lead source and I would just get rid of you if you weren’t making money for the company or for myself. Okay.

Mike D: That’s interesting. That’s kind of what the casino is here to do now, because back in the day, the casinos, when they were all family-owned, it was just about let’s just get people to put money into the machines and they’d give you everything else for free. Now, every casino, every restaurant has to be profitable. Every retail store has to be profitable. They all have to be profitable, otherwise you don’t stay there. So it’s interesting.

“Let’s just say I have 20 agents, I have 20 businesses and every person is a business inside my organization”

Bernie G: Well, so if people ask me like my Real Estate company and let’s just say I have 20 agents, I have 20 businesses and every person is a business inside my organization. One performs better than the other, some are stronger, some aren’t as strong. But everybody is profitable, you know what I’m saying? So there’s a percentage of expenses. And so if I have, someone might say to me, Well, how long does it take for you to bring a new agent in to be profitable? It’s four to six months, so you’ll lose money in 90 days. You’ll start gaining some of that money back around month four. Okay. Now you’re still in the negative. And a lot of cases, depending on who they are, by the time you get to 180 days, you should be out of the red and into the black. And then the next half of that should be all profit, right? So how we do it is if you don’t like, for example, you have a hard time pinning two in a month, you go on probation because remember, you’re a business. So if a business you own a restaurant, the restaurant is profitable and you’re one and it’s not profitable in year two, we’re like, okay, what’s going on with this? Right? Are we coaching you correctly? So every agent, just like the Mike Ferry Number Analyzer system, because our team uses the MFO Number Analyzer system for all of our agents and every agent goes through a review and that review is every 90 days and every 90 days they know exactly how much money they brought into the company, what profit they had. We tell them, Listen, sorry, we’ve lost $12,000 on you in the last quarter. This cannot happen again. What’s our solution? We got to get this in the last quarter, not in the last year, in the last quarter. What’s going on? So I’ll give you an example. I have an agent who’s been with me for a long time. I’ve been an agent for a couple of years, but she’s been on staff for a long time and those numbers aren’t lining up. And so there’s going to probably be a termination of this particular relationship. We look at this going, well, gosh, you know, they’ve been around. They’re like a family friend. They’ve been there forever. Everybody knows them. It’s business. Right? And if I’m delivering the message hard like I do, I coach them to the highest level possible, which I try to do every day. If you’re not performing, it’s time to move on. Maybe you’re just not buying into the system anymore and it’s time to move on. And whether you’re a good friend or not, I have to see it. It’s a business first, so I would just give advice to the agents as this, every agent, every team owner who has an agent, it’s a business. Every day they have to hold themselves accountable. And if the agent is a high-producing agent and they can get away with not doing some of the things that we teach the new agents to do, so be it, that’s okay because it’s still a profitable company and every person has to have profit. So I have some agents that don’t have to follow the same rule that the other agents have to follow because it’s working, right? They figured it out for themselves. I don’t want to have to hold them, hold their hand and what they already know how to do.

Mike D: And that’s the first thing Mike Ferry will say. If you’ve got something that’s working, keep doing it. Don’t stop doing what’s working. I think that’s very interesting. Again, naturally you’re kind of taking the same approach.

Bernie G: Well, I mean, I just follow what Mike does and I’ve coached with Mike now one-on-one for seven years. And so, I mean, Mike’s talked me off the ledge many times. I mean, I can’t even tell you. I’m like, you know. And so it was really funny. I called Mike a few months back and I said, Mike, I think I’m overtraining him. And he started to laugh. He says, What do you mean? I’m like I said, I just think that they’re just not responding to some of these agents. And so he gives me some really great scenarios and he says, Let me. And I said, Well, they’re just not doing what I’m asking them to do. And he says, Bernie, how long have you been with our company? And I said, Almost 19 years. It was almost 19 years. And he says, Do you do everything I ask you to do? And I said, no. He says, They’re human beings. He says that changing somebody’s behavior takes a long time. So we just need to be patient with them, but don’t lose money on them. But remember, they’re going to grow a lot slower than you want them to, but yet it’s still a business and you still have to see a profit off it. So just be patient. And so we try to be as patient as we can. We try to pour into them all the coaching that we can. I’ll just end it with this question when you ask me that question about what an agent needs to understand, if you’re a high-producing agent, continue to be a high-producing agent until your buyer’s team or your team itself outpaces you. People go, Gosh, you know, I make $1 million a year. Great. Then that buyer’s team should be making you $1 million before you decide to throw in the hat. Right? When it replaces your income, it’s probably something you should consider. But until then, you shouldn’t do it right. And I don’t think most people should do it today. You asked me three or four years ago, I say, man, anybody can do it. You ask me today, I say everybody can do it. Most people will never be able to do it just because they can’t get out of their own way of thinking.

Mike D: Right. And what I’m picking up from you is that it’s just a totally different shift in your mindset from being a productive agent to being a productive boss. Two very different mindsets.

Bernie G: Well, I think you have to have I believe that the coaching that I give them through MFO is the best, right? If I have the best coaching. And I hand-select the person and the person doesn’t respond to the coaching. Then it’s my fault. Well, no, it’s my fault, right? If I hire an employee who doesn’t perform, it’s my fault I made that choice. It’s not. It’s not the agent’s fault for not performing. I chose that realtor to come inside my company based on that interview. And if they don’t perform, it’s my fault. And so I apologize to them and I’m sorry it didn’t work out. I thought we were in alignment with each other. And clearly it’s not the goals that you have. And so I think as a leader, we have to take personal responsibility that everything, good or bad inside that company has to do with your decision making. And if it’s good, you got lucky enough to find a really talented person who responded. If it doesn’t turn out really well, you have to also point the finger at yourself and go, I made the mistake by choosing the person who I thought could do it. And it’s okay. I’ll just as Mike says. Next. Next. Right. Yeah.

 What would you say to an agent that has plateaued in their business and could use a boost?

Mike D: What kind of final thoughts would you give to anybody who’s either considering MFO or has, you know, kind of plateaued in their business and could use a boost? What kind of final advice would you give someone like that?

Bernie G: Well, I mean, I think if somebody is considering Coaching in MFO, it changed my life. I mean, I was 38 years old when I got into this business with MFO, and I wasn’t broke, but I didn’t have much money. Right. And so I, I and as Mike always says, I said, Mike, you know, I owe it all to you. And he says, Well, you did all the work, right? I just got to watch you. And so I would say that if we had it all figured out without Coaching, we would already have it all figured out, right? And so if you have it all figured out, fine. Maybe you need to get an ego check, right? Because none of us ever have. That’s one great thing Mike always tells us is, you know, there’s always something bigger.

Mike D: It’s always something stronger. There’s always someone faster. There’s always someone that makes more money. There’s always someone smarter.

Bernie G: Yeah. And no matter what level of success that I’ve had. I can’t tell you how many times he’s told me that.

Bernie G: I mean, no matter where you are in your life, no matter what accomplishments you’ve received, there’s somebody bigger and better and richer and better looking and more athletic and better mindset. And it’s like, wow. I mean, so I think that’s an important thing for most people to understand is unless you’re sitting in the front row, you probably don’t have much figured out, right? If you want to be in the front row, I would say join MFO. And you know what that means by being in the front row, right? You know, Mike always says the top people sit up front. Yeah. And so I would say that if you’re not in MFO, you should get in MFO. And I would say, don’t limit your dreams because I went from being able to because I was able to retire from Real Estate in 12 years. So when I started from the time that I actually ended my selling life, I was able to retire at that particular time. And so that’s when the team really came about and flowered. And I had buyers agents. They just wasn’t what it is today. And then today I could by the time I was about 50, I could become a full-time team owner and leader and so that’s what I did. I just became a full-time entrepreneur. So I would say it doesn’t really take that long. If you do what Mike says, you can go from being really pretty much broke to a multi-millionaire and, you know, 10, 15 years. And so just I would just say, get out of your own way. It such. I mean, every day, including today, I’m in my own way. Every day, like every single day. There are so many facets of a level of success and we can be righteous. If that works, then then keep it up. But if we choose to drop our ego and understand that we’re complacent human beings, as Mike says, complacency is the disease of the human spirit and everybody has it. And if you can identify and look yourself in the mirror and just say, What gets in my own way? What? Why can’t I be that person in the front? Why can’t I go out and sell 80 or 100 homes a year? And why can’t I have the house of my dreams? Why can’t I drive the car that I want to drive? Why can’t I have a bunch of money in the bank? Why can’t I take trips around the world? Why can’t I fly first class? Why can’t I fly private? Why can’t I do all of these things right? The only thing you need to do is look in the mirror and ask yourself that question because the only person in the way is the person in the mirror. That’s it. And I believe that 100%. And I preach that heavily to my people. And what’s really great, I have some great stories of people, people who are bankrupt, babysitters not making money, people answering my phones that are all making three, four, five, $600,000 a year in my team. And they’ll sit there and go. It’s amazing in time how your mind just starts to change. And now all of these entrepreneur agents that I have that work with me, they’re all like, Man, we just want to hang out with each other because we all think the same, right? Which is what we are here in MFO. Exactly. And it’s cool. And when I when I tell you, it comes full circle. Mike always says he wants to be a man who makes a difference. Right? In my community, I’m the person who’s made the difference for those 20 people in my company. And there’s no amount of money in the world that’s actually better than that.

Mike D: What a rewarding feeling. Right? Well, I can’t thank you enough for coming in and doing this. I got a ton out of this stuff that I’m going to take back to the office, and so I really appreciate you coming and doing it.

Bernie G: Well, thank you. I appreciate you inviting me.

Mike D: All right. Thank you, guys, everybody, for watching and paying attention. This was great information. Thank you so much again.

Bernie G: Thank you