No Plan B: Selling Jewelry to Rent and Climbing to the Top of Luxury

Transcript

[00:00:00] My guest today drove into Los Angeles a single mother with a three month old a broken down

[00:00:04] Volkswagen no degree and rent money she raised by selling her own jewelry. Her baby slept

[00:00:10] under her desk while she learned the business. She went on to sell billions in luxury real estate.

[00:00:16] We're going to talk about exactly how she did it step by step stay tuned.

[00:00:20] This episode of Keeping It Real is brought to you by Real Geeks.

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[00:01:19] real geeks are coming to real. Today's episode is brought to you by Corded.io.

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[00:02:49] and now onto the show.

[00:03:03] All right welcome to keeping it real. I am your host DJ Paris we are the largest podcast made

[00:03:09] for real estate agents and for real estate agents I'm your guide and host through the show and

[00:03:14] today I am super excited to bring on a guest who really is quite a renaissance woman of sorts. She

[00:03:23] just done a lot of super cool things and she's done it all herself which obviously she's had help

[00:03:30] but she's the driver of her own success and I'm just so so honored to be able to talk to her and

[00:03:37] so impressed but her name is Valerie Fitzgerald and she is a luxury real estate agent entrepreneur

[00:03:42] author television personality and founder of the Valerie Fitzgerald group Coldwell Banker

[00:03:49] one of LA's most recognized luxury real estate brands with decades of experience representing

[00:03:55] premier properties across Beverly Hills Bell Air Brentwood Malibu and the Westside these are some

[00:04:01] of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the country she has been ranked among Coldwell Bankers top

[00:04:06] 10 agents nationwide they only have I don't know 100,000 agents so pretty big deal and recognized by

[00:04:13] the Los Angeles business journal for her exceptional sales achievements she is known for representing

[00:04:18] some of Los Angeles most prestigious properties and also the author of Heart and Sold. She is host of

[00:04:25] two podcasts one is about to drop which is really exciting called Queen Bee grit grace and reinvention

[00:04:31] it's really a women entrepreneurship and women reinventing themselves in the business world

[00:04:36] when that does drop we will let you know she also has another podcast called Real Estate real laughs

[00:04:42] and she's been on TV she was on HGTV with on selling LA for three seasons she's done a TED talk

[00:04:48] and the link to her book Heart and Sold for Amazon will be in our description please follow her

[00:04:54] on Instagram Valerie Fitzgerald will have a link to that in the show notes Valerie welcome

[00:05:00] well thank you that was quite an introduction I'm like oh is she I know I so rarely get to be on

[00:05:08] people's podcasts and I don't have anywhere near the Vitei that you have but even when people do

[00:05:14] read my stuff I'm like oh look at all the stuff I did I didn't even realize but you have really

[00:05:18] done a lot and I'm really grateful to have you when we've had we've had a lot of agents from the LA

[00:05:25] area on the show over the years and I'm always so fascinated by you know the luxury world and how

[00:05:32] how you've broken into that world but before we even get into sort of that I want to talk about

[00:05:39] sort of the struggle a bit because this is truly an incredible incredible story so you drove to

[00:05:46] LA with a three month old I believe no degree and money from selling your own jewelry so

[00:05:52] right yeah most people in that spot are they're just trying to survive the week but what made you

[00:05:58] decide that real estate was going to be the path and what was the very first thing you did to get a

[00:06:05] deal so that's I'm curious if you remember that that's not yeah sure so when when I first came we

[00:06:11] came from New York and I had my daughter and I was going to be a single mother with her and when

[00:06:18] I brought her I had this little broken down Volkswagen that was my car and I figured I had to

[00:06:26] always had to figure out how to leverage yourself I mean you need help you or you need to

[00:06:30] find out what you're going to do so I came to LA to work for a cosmetic company that position

[00:06:34] came fell apart two months after I was here and then I had no money so I just sell the jewelry

[00:06:40] and things that I had in order to have some cash and a friend of mine came over and said well why don't

[00:06:45] you go into real estate and I said well I don't have any contacts any business I'm not from here

[00:06:50] yeah I'm not yeah I don't know the areas I how would I do that he said you'll just do it and I

[00:06:56] said okay so I heard a neighbor next door who had a baby crying I look at the window I said hello hello

[00:07:03] and winded up being friends and we did what I called sharing hours so she would take care of my

[00:07:08] daughter because she had a daughter about the same age so that I could go to school at night and I

[00:07:12] would take care of her daughters to see it's a freedom during the day on weekends so we kind of

[00:07:17] got this groove of sharing hours so that I could get some help and leverage and then a friend of mine

[00:07:22] who had a real estate company in Beverly Hills he said I'll give you a desk and I said okay we didn't

[00:07:29] have cell phones or a computer at the time and so I said okay so I took my baby with me and she

[00:07:34] slept under my desk while I was trying to learn you know different areas we had one shared sort of

[00:07:40] computer with maps on it there was all about maps in those days and trying to learn what the

[00:07:45] areas were and all that and then I just get my car and go look at houses when we had those

[00:07:49] caravan days the brokers are familiar with and I took my daughter so my daughter kind of everybody

[00:07:54] knew her at the time because she's always with me I go I my first open house the opportunity I got

[00:08:00] was a five million dollar open house and I begged the guy to let me sit on it and not give me the listing

[00:08:05] but let me sit on it so I did I went and I took my baby with me and met some people and just started

[00:08:12] gathering up some people and names and staying you know communicated trying to create relationships

[00:08:17] and people could see how hard I was trying and I go and listing appointments I took her I'd

[00:08:22] the bottles in my pocket and walk in you know with my diaper bag and her and the whole thing it was

[00:08:28] yeah a lot of stories I always think like nothing is more impressive than a working mother

[00:08:34] you know even when you probably ideally wouldn't want to bring your baby to a to a you know walk

[00:08:41] through or whatever or or showing because maybe you know maybe there'd be an issue but I love

[00:08:46] when when people do that it really I think in deers the agent to the client because they're like

[00:08:53] look at how hard this woman is working to you know create a future for herself and her child I

[00:08:59] love that and so begging for the open house I love that too we tell agents to do that constantly

[00:09:06] that that is a constant refrain I've been doing the show eight years hundreds and hundreds of

[00:09:12] top producers they all they all did some version of that and I love that you know hey please please

[00:09:18] please sit in open house and then you know everything can kind of go from there so I love that

[00:09:23] I also know that you are a really big proponent of something that that I try to live as well

[00:09:32] though it's very difficult but is be afraid and do it anyway because and I we haven't really

[00:09:39] talked about this but everything's scary right like everything that's worthwhile is definitely scary

[00:09:44] so the fear is just going to show up anyway but this idea that like I can coexist with fear that's

[00:09:50] like I can I can still do the thing and be afraid I love that you said that because I think that's

[00:09:57] such an important thing that gets glossed over these days we we you know we just think about the

[00:10:03] fear and then it really shuts us down but I want to hear the system so when the fear was loudest for

[00:10:10] you you know look not only are you not from the area you're not from the state you're from the

[00:10:14] other side of the country where you know maybe you had a few friends that move that did that

[00:10:20] that did that kind of move I don't know but it sounded like not you know how when the fear was

[00:10:25] loudest like how could I actually do this you know how did you get yourself to physically do the

[00:10:31] things that you needed to do to build your business the interesting thing is that I learned from a

[00:10:37] man who now has passed away was a coach and he had a he had a company up in Seattle and he I went

[00:10:46] to I went to see one of his seminars and he talked about blind faith because we live every day

[00:10:51] and blind faith we do it every day even today all the time so I in order to build my business and

[00:10:57] be a mom I didn't know how to be a mom and I didn't know how to build a business and I didn't know

[00:11:02] how to do a write a book when Simon Schuster said I would you be interested in writing a book I

[00:11:07] said yes I was I was okay I'll do that and or podcast I'm not by cast a I did my TED talk that

[00:11:14] was probably the scariest thing I've ever done with TED talk yeah because but um blind faith just

[00:11:21] kind of just go with it and you just you just I was afraid every time I was didn't know I didn't

[00:11:26] have a blueprint or how it's going to do any of this but you just do it you say okay you take on

[00:11:32] the next challenge and it's actually kind of uplifting once you dig in and you believe in yourself and

[00:11:38] you hold that hold that true that you are capable and you can do it you start to figure it out

[00:11:45] yeah I agree I I love that um in in dialectical behavior therapy DBT it's very popular right now

[00:11:52] because it's all skill focused and one of the things that that they will suggest when somebody is

[00:11:58] in distress um when they're really feeling like captured by fear is to imagine what the

[00:12:05] a different person who would be able to totally handle that particular fear for example let's say

[00:12:11] it was a play and somebody was cast in the role of the person who would absolutely not be shut down

[00:12:17] by that fear and if the way our brains work if we can get ourselves into the mode of oh I'm going to

[00:12:24] try my best to emulate what that person would be like a lot of times you know that is all we need

[00:12:31] to be able to take that first step and that second step and then just kind of keep going and to just

[00:12:36] imagine you know it's um it's certainly we don't want to fake anything and you know like I don't

[00:12:41] like the fake until you make it because it suggests there's like no competence there but the fear is

[00:12:46] certainly there even if there's competence when you're first trying something so I love I love that

[00:12:51] you said that and I believe that that everybody has a little fear yeah of course I think I mean I

[00:12:57] don't think there's anyone that goes right I've got it all handled and sure I could do this and

[00:13:01] I don't believe that I believe that everybody has a little fear behind everything every in their

[00:13:07] in their day you go to the doctor and you're gonna go okay am I gonna be a man every time I go

[00:13:12] to get my physical even though I'm like I think it's gonna be okay but I have a moment where I'm

[00:13:16] like what are they gonna find yeah yeah so I just think blind faith and a little fear is okay be

[00:13:21] at all both of these things really have driven driven me and help me to help guide every meaningful

[00:13:27] decision I've ever made well then then the thing too is you realize fear while it's difficult

[00:13:34] is really kind of your companion like it's not a bad thing to be afraid it's what keeps us safe it's

[00:13:40] a really good instinct and we're not in we're not being chased by saber-toothed tigers anymore so

[00:13:47] our fear kind of works in ways in which it interprets threats that you know if we're being mindful

[00:13:53] we can say oh that's my fear creeping in and that I acknowledge you I got you but hey I can do

[00:13:59] this too and I I'm such a believer in what you just said and we should we should reference your mom

[00:14:05] right now only because in the reinvention part your mom is she's 93 93 she's published she

[00:14:13] she is well she is written and is producing her own play first time playwright at the senior

[00:14:21] living center where she is she has cast all of her the people at the senior living center are

[00:14:25] gonna be playing the roles she's doing that for the first time at 90 like I can't imagine you know

[00:14:31] thinking that you could even pull that off and she's doing it that's a nice doing it yeah yeah yeah

[00:14:37] yeah yeah why not yeah why the whole thing is why not so I think I think if you have a little doubt

[00:14:42] you have to have some courage yeah and having courage is it the absence of fear no you know it's not

[00:14:49] but if you have some courage you have a little fear I mean all these things sound negative to a lot

[00:14:53] of people but to me I think there's a motivator if you have a little courage a little fear a little

[00:14:59] excitement you know I think you can do a lot more than you realize you can agree and I like to think

[00:15:05] if there was only one quality I could have that would serve me better than any other quality I think

[00:15:12] it's courage I think that's the one to develop and that's the one to in that blind faith it comes from

[00:15:18] that's you have to just assume that whatever ends up happening it won't be so bad I can't handle it

[00:15:23] and it might actually just work out too which is great so you've reinvented yourself multiple times

[00:15:32] model single mom agent team builder author Ted Talk presenter TV now a second podcast

[00:15:41] so is there a pattern to how you reinvent or rather if you had to sort of name this step so

[00:15:47] these are all things you've done but never had done them before so how does it work for you you're

[00:15:53] like so Simon and Schuster reaches out hey we want to write a book yes Simon and Schuster one of the

[00:15:57] great great publishing you know firms of all time but I'm not a writer so how do you get yourself to

[00:16:04] be able to to do those things even though you haven't done them before I just say okay you know

[00:16:12] it's interesting absolutely when they said would you would be interested in writing a book I said

[00:16:16] sure you know and and and if they said would you be interested in doing a Ted Talk I said sure I

[00:16:23] mean what had ever done anything like that remotely before no as a matter of fact one of the one

[00:16:28] of the biggest markings in my local career here is that I became the the head of sales

[00:16:34] are marketing for a number of high rise luxury new developments here that nobody else had ever

[00:16:39] done before and I did it by when I read in the news in the news I heard that a developer was going to

[00:16:45] buy a building in century city in Tarotana Pocondo's I looked up who they were I called them up

[00:16:51] and they're in New York and I said hey I'm going to be in New York next week which I wasn't I

[00:16:56] going to be in New York next week I'd like to stop by and talk to you about this development I'm

[00:17:00] a high end broker here and Los Angeles and they said great they booked me the appointment and I got

[00:17:05] on a plane and went like I was already going to be there just stopping in and I did that two or

[00:17:11] three times and I just made it up and I went and talked to them and I ended up handling three

[00:17:16] major high rise luxury developments here in Los Angeles and now I have my own another one but it's

[00:17:22] you just you just step into it and first of all I get excited I like the change I it's not

[00:17:29] stressful to me and you excite to me all the changes we're doing now in our business we've never

[00:17:35] done before the AI stuff and we're just making it up as we go at each time it's it's a new challenge

[00:17:41] and I can really excited about these things I like it as well and it's it's fun to try something new

[00:17:48] it's also a little scary and it might just work out and I can't imagine too many other LA agents

[00:17:56] thought you know I should probably go to New York I should probably try to get in front of these

[00:18:02] people I mean maybe maybe some did I suspect you were the only one not that I was the only one

[00:18:07] yeah yeah brilliant I mean that is why not I love it why not even if even if they had said hey

[00:18:19] you know what we already have somebody and we you know we have a relationship we can't they

[00:18:24] would have been so impressed that you did that that something could have come in a different way

[00:18:30] you know oh hey you know there's another development firm that you should talk to or you know

[00:18:34] there would have been something else that probably happened and even if that didn't happen you

[00:18:39] would have been like I did something very cool even though it didn't like work out the way I wanted it

[00:18:44] to and that's that in and of itself is like really fun because from that what happened from that is

[00:18:50] that that spread that I became one of the experts and sales and marketing for luxury high-rise

[00:18:55] developments and then I got two more other big projects so cut to 15 years later I get a call

[00:19:01] last week from this major developer who I haven't worked for in 15 years who said hey you know we're

[00:19:07] in Palm Beach and for Struggle a little bit and we're seeing some a lot of California buyers here we

[00:19:12] need you to come to Palm Beach and let's let's talk let's chat and I said I'll be there and I'll be

[00:19:17] there the week of August and I gave him a week I'd be there because I wasn't but I'll will be and

[00:19:23] then I'll just go and see what that's about but I think you've got to be open to it you can't be

[00:19:28] fearful you I mean you can't let me can't let you think stop you you've got if you're interested

[00:19:32] I mean I'm interested I love I'm interested like interesting people like interesting things like

[00:19:38] interesting challenges I love the challenge so yeah I'm gonna go well I also love the fact that

[00:19:46] you started this business with essentially nothing which is so impressive and I always you know

[00:19:53] it's funny it's like almost the gift that I know that there's probably I think there's a book called

[00:19:57] this the gift of desperation which which is funny sort of a ironic thing to say but it really does

[00:20:04] people are so resilient and when left with kind of no other alternative they figure things out

[00:20:09] and you did and continue to and now you're just like oh I have all these experiences where I

[00:20:15] just did something that I never had done before and it worked out and I'm sure you have stuff that

[00:20:20] didn't work out too yeah but you're like I know sometimes it does it so I might as well just try

[00:20:26] everything and like your mom I'm just gonna write a play and see what happens and I love it so I've

[00:20:31] interviewed um but I also know that there comes time when you're first starting when you probably

[00:20:38] wanted to quit and I'm not that you probably could because you didn't really have anything else

[00:20:43] to go back on um but how you know tell me about the moment that you almost quit I'm assuming I'm

[00:20:50] assuming that there was a moment for you I'm gonna surprise you I never for

[00:20:56] one second ever thought about quitting anything I mean I quit relationships I've quit people

[00:21:06] sure but as far as as far as you're like hey I'll figure out a way there's no I'm not gonna quit

[00:21:13] because this is what I'm going to do so there's not even an option for you it's just we'll just

[00:21:18] could keep trying different things until it works right absolutely a build on that and learn and

[00:21:22] learn so much along the way you learn so much along the way that and that for me it's just

[00:21:30] I don't know growth growth doesn't happen when you're inside your your comfort zone

[00:21:35] growth happens when you step out I'm always out of the box always I'm like oh there she goes you know

[00:21:41] I'm always out of the box think of new I'm we're doing so many new things right now my business

[00:21:46] I'm so we're so excited about that then I know nobody's doing them around here I know that

[00:21:52] would chiefan excites me more so in five years I'll be going see yeah I love it

[00:21:58] a building a building a luxury business from outside of the club is really tough you know there's

[00:22:04] you didn't have the warm network in Beverly Hills and how did you get your first affluent clients

[00:22:11] to sort of take you seriously um because before you had this amazing track record

[00:22:17] I think when you show up in the part then people will take you seriously I don't think it's what you

[00:22:24] wear I don't think it's what you say I think when you show when you show up and you are standing in

[00:22:31] those shoes that you that as a leader then they will follow you they will listen to you they will

[00:22:37] ask you questions and I think you have to learn how to you have to also know the relationships are

[00:22:43] very important that that's the basis of what we do in real estate yeah we sell houses but really the

[00:22:48] the the basic the basic of what we do is we change people's lives I mean they could have financial

[00:22:53] issues divorce issues loss financial wins all different things that we sort through but they're all

[00:23:00] relationship based and they lean it works sometimes psychologists as you know advisors lawyers were

[00:23:06] were wrapped up into so many different things but and there's no lessons for those things I think

[00:23:11] when you stand up in the space and people trust you they'll listen to you and you ask questions

[00:23:17] and they ask questions and I think it it's something that just kind of authentically organically happens

[00:23:26] a lot of agents believe that playing it's safe in a down market is kind of the way to go like

[00:23:32] maybe I'm going to cut spending or go quiet or just wait out the market but you have said playing

[00:23:37] it safe means playing small and what did you do in your scariest market that like everyone told you

[00:23:44] not to do or the other agents weren't doing well when I first started out the interesting thing was

[00:23:50] there are a lot of these older ladies that were tough like tough as nails and I'd walk into like the

[00:23:57] the room or pass through the room where they were and they'd all be grumbling you know because

[00:24:02] they all played like they called them what they call them farms farming you stayed in your little farm

[00:24:08] and I came into the market and I did I worked 13 markets I still do nobody did that at the time

[00:24:15] and so they were you can't come to my farm you can't come in my farm and I always go why not

[00:24:20] I mean who says why not what's there's a rule I mean so I wasn't a favorite in the beginning because

[00:24:26] I was just doing it all doing it everything and you know I mean later it had its results

[00:24:34] they also had its complications because I remember when I first hired an assistant I'm like I don't

[00:24:40] know how to hire an assistant so I made a list of everything I didn't want to do and I met this

[00:24:44] I met this girl and I said here's your job description because I didn't know what else you

[00:24:49] know that was my job description and then I remember that I needed the money some little money I

[00:24:55] was making here and there for my joy and all that I had to use for my business so I didn't pay

[00:25:01] my taxes and of course that had a result a couple of years down the road too I mean I you know I

[00:25:06] had to skirt some things and shine new things and always moving and spinning and doing that but

[00:25:13] I always had to believe in myself even though the outcome wasn't guaranteed and the outcome

[00:25:20] is never really guaranteed no I mean I've spent $50,000 on a particular listing here and there over

[00:25:26] the years which I don't do anymore and lose the listing because they took it away I mean so you

[00:25:33] get a spanking every now and then and you relearn you know what are you doing with your money and

[00:25:38] what are you doing and how you approach things and you become a little more you fine tune things if

[00:25:43] you will as you go along yeah and yes I have talked to a lot of luxury agents who put a lot of

[00:25:52] money into listings and they all have a story or two or three where the listing gets pulled and

[00:25:59] they're like yeah that's a tough day but but you keep going and you know it's it's things happen

[00:26:06] and so the business you started in it's almost unrecognizable now because now things are different

[00:26:12] we have buyer agreements commission conversations AI is now part of like every listing I guess

[00:26:19] but if you were rebuilding from zero today in 2026 what would you do differently or would you do

[00:26:26] everything kind of the same when you as when you started I think well because me I love change and

[00:26:34] I love my team is all young I love new ideas and I love things that are way out of the box and

[00:26:39] so I would start to think of how if I were brand new and didn't have any why do I have brand new

[00:26:45] agents that don't have any you know any business that come and work with me and so we talk about how

[00:26:52] do you get the leads and from the open houses and who's who's real and who's not and how to save

[00:26:57] time because you waste a lot of time with people that aren't real whether they're buyers or sellers

[00:27:01] just want they just want you to show them houses and so there's there's a lot to learn yeah I always

[00:27:07] say takes two three four years before you really can get your mojo get into a rhythm you might get

[00:27:13] lucky here and there with a sailor too but it takes some time to learn all the structure and the

[00:27:18] things of really building a business and what I do anything different with this things so many

[00:27:22] things are at our fingertips now that weren't available to me when I was started and I would just

[00:27:28] start looking at where like okay so it's generation Z and X and Y and all those things so how

[00:27:35] and they're going to be spenders and that there's the biggest wealth coming from the baby boomers into

[00:27:40] the those generations and how are you going to reach them you're not going to reach them all on

[00:27:45] social media you're not going to reach them all you know not baby boomers yeah for sure yeah definitely

[00:27:51] not and those mailers the you know I used to do the mailers every month for five thousand a month

[00:27:55] a month for 25,000 mailers for a long time and I actually get a big return now I get zero so you've

[00:28:02] got to start looking at what is the biggest source to touch the most people we touch probably

[00:28:07] two or three hundred thousand people a week with all the stuff that we do so we just keep it all going

[00:28:13] and the content's really really important to me I'm very involved in my content because it's

[00:28:17] got to be relevant it's got to be relevant and I've seen on our Instagram for instance now it's

[00:28:21] mostly man on my Instagram I have 43 or 44,000 people I've seen it change because the contents become

[00:28:28] more important to them so and you know looking at a condo or a house and look at me how great I am

[00:28:34] isn't really anything that they can relate to or react to I've changed a lot I just did a video I do

[00:28:42] daily short reels because it's funny so I have this walk from where I park my car to where my office

[00:28:49] is it's like three tenths of a mile and I thought I should do something with that time as opposed

[00:28:52] to just listening to a music or podcast and I thought oh I could film like a little walk and talk

[00:28:59] and you know maybe give it advice to an agent because I talked of amazing people like you all the time

[00:29:04] and I just have all this information that they've shared with me and so I could you know I could

[00:29:08] probably do ten episodes on the things you or ten of these walk and talks on just the things you

[00:29:13] mentioned today but so I started I started doing this I just did one last week which I'll send to

[00:29:19] you and I'll maybe I'll share it with our audience um which is nobody cares about your just listed

[00:29:24] in just sold videos like and I don't look I don't really mean that I mean it's nice and it's you

[00:29:30] should be proud of your achievements but I said like you know I was just being so I went to the

[00:29:35] dentist today but but I I was saying like if I dentist one on Instagram was like just clean another mouth

[00:29:41] I would be like why are you why are you posting on Instagram like tell me how to prevent cavities or

[00:29:45] something right and that's where you go that's my point yeah yep that is your point is how how are

[00:29:50] you actually serving I mean look yes maybe it's it it it works to talk about just list is in

[00:29:56] just sold I'm not saying it doesn't work I'm just saying maybe there's a higher value you can give to

[00:30:02] your audience you know this and you're doing this now and I love that I've seen a change and I

[00:30:08] think it's really important to look at your stats to look at the reaction who's looking who's

[00:30:12] watching you know we I get a report every every month on everything so I can see what our open

[00:30:18] rates are we have a 52,000 newsletter list and we have about a 30% open rate so it's really good

[00:30:26] it's really good and our content's really good and so I've really changed now our social and

[00:30:31] and all those things and those things don't cost money so if you're starting today when I started

[00:30:37] you had to spend money but starting today you don't have to spend so much money there's a lot of

[00:30:42] things you can do to get up in the AI world I mean look at this a lot of free AI stuff so you've

[00:30:48] just got to have the brain to think about it what do you want what do you want what do you want to

[00:30:52] happen what's what's I talk on my TED talk about purpose you have to have purpose and my purpose for

[00:30:59] me was building when I had that baby girl in my arms and I said I'm going to build a great life

[00:31:04] for you I will not fail you I kept that promise she was my purpose she was my purpose that for

[00:31:11] many many years to to keep going keep building keep creating keep you know so I give her the best

[00:31:18] possible life and education and it'll happen isn't that amazing yeah and and it was all earned

[00:31:25] none of it was none of it was just delivered to you and nothing yeah yeah and and isn't that the

[00:31:31] I always say that like the worst I don't I don't play the lottery and I don't I'm not here to judge

[00:31:37] anyone who does but if I did let's just say I were to win which I you know I'm sure I would never

[00:31:43] win the lottery anyway but let's just say I did it would probably be the worst day of my life because

[00:31:47] I didn't earn that money and I suspect that it would not be good for me to get like a hundred

[00:31:52] million dollars all at once without earning it I suspect that that would be a very very bad thing for me

[00:31:58] so you're right earning things is is the only way that I have found to actually have true fulfillment

[00:32:06] but you're your point of you have to have purpose to be able to do the hard things to then get to

[00:32:12] the fulfillment right so I love that is know your why right everybody says know your why and that's

[00:32:18] what gets you through the hard times as well so so many agents who are listening to this are like

[00:32:25] I want to sell 30 million dollar properties because that sounds awesome and I've seen that on tv

[00:32:31] and on Instagram and and obviously there's you know pros and cons to doing any type of real estate

[00:32:38] business what is it that many agents get wrong about the luxury world to study curiosity?

[00:32:46] Well now you know it's really interesting because it's it's very divided when I when I have a

[00:32:52] 30 30 agents come see of like a 33 million dollar home recently a lot of them come in their their

[00:33:00] their Instagrammers so they're coming it's all about them it's all about them it is expensive house

[00:33:07] and you know look at me walking through here all that so I think my point of view is the opposite

[00:33:14] it's all about the property it's all about because every property has a story yeah so there's a

[00:33:19] story to this story should be told the story is going to resonate with the right with the buyer who's

[00:33:23] going to want it so how do they see themselves living in it? Not how great it is and you know all

[00:33:30] that stuff so I think there's a disconnect on the high end right now between I don't know how a

[00:33:35] lot of those agents are going to get those big properties because they don't know how to serve it

[00:33:40] right they don't know how to serve you know the audience the the buyer and let alone you know being

[00:33:46] being in a conversation with a seller so you know I I don't know I see everything as a story when

[00:33:53] I'm out there when I look at my properties and how am I going to present it that way? And also too it

[00:33:58] with some of these really high net worth individuals or you know the properties in the sizes that you

[00:34:07] were mentioning a lot of times these are people who have teams of people that are working with them

[00:34:12] it's not maybe even just the buyer or the seller it's the accountant or the lawyer or the manager

[00:34:18] or the agent or you you have to serve a lot of masters I imagine in some of these and that's

[00:34:25] that's a skill in and of itself to be able to win over each one of the people in the line that's

[00:34:32] got to be that's got to be a challenge and then I have I mean I can't say their name is

[00:34:37] major people that a direct item direct with and they'll say well what do you think I should do

[00:34:44] and I tell them exactly what I think they should do they go do it and that's what's really amazing

[00:34:49] I mean this has happened to me I don't know maybe 10 or 20 times in my career where somebody super

[00:34:57] super at the top of their game but there should be a whole group of people that has to beat

[00:35:01] the bull in the south they just go you make the call yeah what do you think I should do how do you

[00:35:07] feel about that counter yeah how do you feel about the price what do you think we should pay you

[00:35:12] know these things and you don't have much time to hesitate you have to really stand your ground and

[00:35:17] give an opinion so and I actually like that I gotta be most flattering moment of anybody that

[00:35:25] would be the most flattering moment of my life to have somebody who is achieved you know they're

[00:35:30] smart you know they know what they're doing they know they know how to spot bullshit and they're

[00:35:35] asking you and not their advisors what do you think I mean that's that's his flattery it's a big

[00:35:40] responsibility too because if you if you do something wrong they're finished with you right sure

[00:35:47] sure it's it's amazing I am I'm so impressed and I think I sort of get a sense from you that

[00:35:56] each day not only is I mean you talked about blind faith like we don't even get tomorrow you know

[00:36:01] guaranteed to us some people won't get tomorrow and the opportunities are so endless because you're

[00:36:09] willing to do in whatever maybe comes your way or whatever you decide to do and there's a freedom

[00:36:15] in that and and because you've done it over and over and over again like you'd never given a

[00:36:21] TED talk before you gave a TED talk right and that's a pretty stressful thing as you imagine so

[00:36:28] what's it must be really exciting to think what what can I think up next or what might come my way next

[00:36:34] I imagine that's a really a primary driver for you not that you don't have your home base of

[00:36:40] I'm a REALTOR and I have a team and I of course that's that's the day to day but these other things

[00:36:46] that you found yourself doing you probably just never think I couldn't do that yeah there's there's

[00:36:52] I mean I can give away all my secrets but there's there's a couple things which I've learned so

[00:36:57] we're redoing my website and I've written about 200 articles by prompting Chef GPT with subjects

[00:37:03] I want to talk about sure or the or people have asked me questions of and all that so I put all

[00:37:09] these articles together so we're redoing in my entire website so that the Chef GPT platforms

[00:37:17] will crawl it and pick up a lot of the the information so so that I will come up on an organic

[00:37:22] basis on the automatic searches so that's in the works right now which nobody else is doing

[00:37:27] and then I have this company which I'm really excited about super excited about that we have we

[00:37:33] I saw they gave me all the across five different AI platforms all the top 50 or say 20

[00:37:41] come real estate companies companies brokers and brokerages and where how they control the

[00:37:48] the AI questions coming into them and they showed me like 30 or 40 different questions so

[00:37:56] now their challenge is to get me at the top of that list yeah so that all those people will come to

[00:38:03] me so that's these two things are really excited about they have never been done before

[00:38:11] I'm doing a version of this too so I recruit agents for our firm and I asked AI I'd like to show

[00:38:18] up more in search results with Claude or Gemini or Chef GPT and I said what are agents searching for

[00:38:24] you know it's like minus full just ask AI and it gave me a list of things and it and I said

[00:38:29] take a look at my recruiting website which you know at the time was like this is why we're so

[00:38:34] amazing and it said you're making it all about you number one and it's not about you that nobody

[00:38:39] cares who who you're calling me and your story and like nobody cares like they just care about you

[00:38:44] solving their problems as an agent and I said okay that makes perfect sense so I need to do that

[00:38:49] and and then it said you should compare yourself to every other brokerage and have a page

[00:38:57] not not one that would be really super easy to navigate to but one that AI could see because

[00:39:03] people will go into AI and say well what about Compass versus Century 21 or whatever and people will

[00:39:08] do those searches so I made a thing about our company's called kale like kale versus and not

[00:39:13] who's better but like this is what we offer this is what they offer and just throw it all out there

[00:39:17] because there's no secrets anyway and and that has been really helpful so I'm glad that you're doing

[00:39:23] that you could even possibly do that with competitors you could say here's what we offer here's

[00:39:28] what my competitor offers I AI loves stuff like that but that's really exciting I'm really excited

[00:39:33] but my intention is like I'm right now I'm focused on sellers that we just we're completing that

[00:39:39] platform and then I'll move into buyers which will be another month from now and then I'll move

[00:39:43] into recruiting which will be another month from now after that so I want to be the top of the top

[00:39:49] 30 or or or 60 questions anybody types into their computer looking to list their house

[00:39:56] so what are those prompts and I want to be at the top of all those so that's sort of the focus of

[00:40:01] what we're doing and it's never been done and you know these big companies can I really get

[00:40:06] ahead of Compass I mean we'll see well because well people don't typically search for brands or I mean

[00:40:14] they made search for a brand but they've been they want to search for the individual

[00:40:17] of those brands and really nobody cares where anybody works right they just ultimately want like

[00:40:22] who's the best agent in the area and you are doing great things you're going on podcasts you're

[00:40:27] getting what they call citation density which is for AI to sort of pick up to say hey this value

[00:40:33] person must know what she's got a TED Talk she's got podcast she's got a book I mean you

[00:40:37] it builds authority yes you build authority yes and it's all earned and it's all legitimate and

[00:40:43] so yeah you should have no problem being in the I you're probably already on a lot of those

[00:40:48] those searches but yeah that's really exciting so one last question so let's speaking of AI

[00:40:54] since it's here now oh two questions do you and I really I always like to ask this is AI gonna

[00:41:00] gonna replace the REALTOR what do you think no no it's still a human no it's still a face to face

[00:41:07] still human AI cannot give you it's an algorithm you it can't give you it can't give you the

[00:41:13] history or the opinion from experience right you know it's it's crawling what's in the public

[00:41:19] you know domain right now they can think that's where all the answers come from I know some people

[00:41:25] have personal relationships with their AI like boyfriend girlfriend like at night hi darling you

[00:41:31] know I don't know but you know there's lonely heart conversations that they have but I'm talking

[00:41:37] about from a business point of view no it will definitely not it's not gonna show a house who's

[00:41:42] gonna show the house and who's gonna negotiate the contract and who's going to give the seller

[00:41:48] real feedback so I don't think so and who's going to guide the the seller or the buyer through the

[00:41:55] emotional highs and lows and whenever I mean I suspect luxury properties are no exception maybe

[00:42:01] even more prone to this there's probably something something that always happens that threatens to blow

[00:42:05] up the deal at some point I'm sure there's always like oh this isn't gonna happen and then you have

[00:42:11] to deal with that and and keep everyone calm and resolve it and so yeah I put example is honestly

[00:42:19] a Zillow Zillow is an algorithm on those estimates and they only go by the everybody goes oh price per

[00:42:25] square foot it's only price per square foot and it's not I don't use price per square foot at all

[00:42:30] because that's not the appropriate way to price a property because when you do that it's only

[00:42:36] the building but it could be remodeled it could be new it could be better location it could have a

[00:42:40] view you have a better floor plan it could have you know all these things that the algorithm and

[00:42:46] the estimate will calculate won't have so there's a human quality that's missing there yeah I

[00:42:54] worked a lot with the Zillow over the years and they would they would say you know our

[00:42:59] estimate was it in is a version of AI it was it's our best guess and they say we don't pretend

[00:43:07] that it's perfect but they say for the agents out there that are upset with us for this they're like

[00:43:13] they should be thrilled with us that were not perfect because it gives them the opportunity to be

[00:43:19] like oh this is wrong this is not I have experience in this area I can tell you this is this is like

[00:43:26] just a crunch of numbers I can tell you what I think it's actually worth based on all the transactions

[00:43:32] I've done and Zillow can't solve for that and either can claw it and maybe one day we'll figure out how

[00:43:39] to solve for experience but hopefully not then maybe we're all in trouble well I'll become like

[00:43:44] painters or plumbers or something but but until then yeah we need experience and that's what

[00:43:56] so it well my my last question so we're living in 2026 I'm going to set the stage

[00:44:04] and imagine that you're a brand new agent because you you've been this before where you had no contacts

[00:44:10] no reputation new city so you've actually done this but let's imagine you were doing it today

[00:44:16] what would you do in the first 90 days what would be your move or your moves

[00:44:22] well first of all you have to have someone to talk to first of all I would meet the local agent I

[00:44:27] mean I would be in an office and I try to get myself on a really good open house I mean like in a good

[00:44:33] neighborhood good price point and then I'd learn everything around the market that it possibly could

[00:44:37] if they gave me the opportunity they get on the phone and I was because you can get the phone numbers

[00:44:42] of everybody who's around the area you can call them or email them and tell them you're hosting

[00:44:46] this open house you start to build your your your name your reputation a little something to start

[00:44:52] to give you a little a little build then you need to collect those you need to email start to build

[00:44:57] a database you have to have a database because you have to talk to people hey I just saw this house

[00:45:01] on a caravan you know it's it's a it's a good value it's a bad value it's this for that do you

[00:45:07] know anybody who might be looking to buy in the city we have to keep multiple things going all

[00:45:12] the time so people do doorknocking I don't know I mean I've never done that but I think you need

[00:45:19] you know at least five building skills or things to start to build your business and definitely get

[00:45:25] into the AI AI will help could absolutely help a new agent today understand neighborhoods understand

[00:45:31] the differences I think you have to get out and you've got to have information because that's

[00:45:36] that that's our only good is that we have information that we have knowledge and that we've we're

[00:45:41] showing them experience and we're telling why this is better than that and which AI can't do

[00:45:46] if you were starting over what would you do on social uh because at this point let's assume

[00:45:54] like you don't have listings me and maybe have an open house you you'd put up what once you have that

[00:45:58] what type of content would you be regularly posting to try to build your brand probably what I'm

[00:46:05] doing right now which is I've changed complete directions I would put I I would get 10 questions

[00:46:11] that I think are relevant put them into AI have them have those those and ask AI to do you short

[00:46:19] IG reels which they can do and then you go on social media and you have some value to share

[00:46:24] so the people that are looking to buy are looking to sell will start will notice you and then they'll

[00:46:29] start to follow you and you start to build some authority so that's what I would do I wouldn't go

[00:46:35] around and like I like the people I see now on these listings where they're they're in their you know

[00:46:41] clothes and they're trying to be hot and sexy or movie stars I think everybody wants to be a movie star

[00:46:46] here thinking they're going to get on a show so they they do all this you know selfies look at me at

[00:46:52] this 30 million dollar house and the house is beautiful bike but they're in the picture so

[00:46:57] right right so I don't think it's I think it's much easier today I think it's going to be much

[00:47:03] easier today especially if you're you have some authority and you're relevant relevance really

[00:47:08] important content because everybody scrolls so fast and looks so fast so you've got to have

[00:47:12] something that's meaningful or they skip over you yeah you have to be able to solve problem

[00:47:18] identify problems and and answer questions yeah yes and that's that's the currency it's like okay

[00:47:25] yeah maybe somebody looks a certain way and can get a lot of likes and views because of their genetic

[00:47:30] deep you know predisposition or or the way they doll themselves up and maybe they will attract

[00:47:36] a certain number of clients just because aesthetic stuff sometimes does and for the rest of us for

[00:47:43] the rest of everybody who doesn't want to go down that path or can't go down that path you could

[00:47:49] just be really helpful to people and and at the very least you will build a brand on social media

[00:47:56] that is whether or not those people use you they know that you're a helpful person they will maybe

[00:48:02] pass people over to you so I I could not agree with you more and again I understand in the luxury

[00:48:08] world it could I understand there there there is a wild factor to showcasing properties and

[00:48:14] we all want to see what a 30 million dollar home looks like so I get that yeah so that is very very

[00:48:19] cool but at the end of the day you know we want to know what is Valerie actually offer why does she

[00:48:25] get those 30 million dollar deals and you do and that's what you're showing in your in your social

[00:48:31] media so I love I love this you are such an inspiration to so many people in this industry and I'm

[00:48:38] honored once again to have you on the show I would like everybody to check out Valerie's

[00:48:46] Valerie's book which is on Amazon it is heart and soul and she's been on hgtv selling la she has a

[00:48:54] TED talk will link to that as well she has an Instagram Valerie Fitzgerald we just mentioned social

[00:48:59] media and you can find her just google her she's everywhere she has podcasts one that just

[00:49:06] concluded and one that's starting the new one is about women reinventing themselves and just

[00:49:12] crushing it and I'm excited because I just this is I do a version of that here it's all about

[00:49:18] agents who are crushing it and almost I can't think of one person I've ever interviewed was like

[00:49:25] oh it's all handed to me like I just I'm sure that happens but they haven't really never been

[00:49:30] on our show so I love talking to people who who have done it all themselves you certainly have

[00:49:35] and as always on behalf of our audience Valerie thank you for your time on behalf of Valerie

[00:49:41] and myself we thank our audience too for sticking around helping us the best way that you can

[00:49:46] assist us in growing our show is tele-friend think of one other REALTOR that needs to hear this great

[00:49:52] story of Valorys and send them a link and that's the best way also please support our sponsors

[00:50:00] and check out Valerie oh by the way if you have people that move in and out of the west coast southern

[00:50:07] california you should reach out to Valerie because she has people that move in and out of there too

[00:50:11] so if you're an agent in a different area certainly reach out if you guys have referrals or maybe

[00:50:16] just to connect she she needs to have refer agents to other places too so definitely reach out

[00:50:22] and Valerie thank you so much thank you we will see everybody on the next episode thank you so much

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