Today we sat down with fellow podcaster and top producer Steven Weirich who shared his unique and brilliant strategy of podcasting to provide value to his community. Steven hosts Arlington-Prospect Advice Givers, a show dedicated to showcasing local businesses in Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights. By providing this service to local merchants, Steven has generated a tremendous amount of goodwill which has naturally translated into real estate business. In this episode Steven shares why he became a podcaster, why he NEVER mentions that he’s a real estate broker, and why giving value without immediate gain is the key to his success.
Steven Weirich can be reached at 847.607.6711 or csw@stevenweirich.com
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:14
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real. The only podcast made by Chicago real estate agents for Chicago real estate agents. My name is DJ Parris, and I am your host through the show, and I want to welcome a lot of new listeners who I know are going to be checking out this episode. The reason I know this is kind of a tick, tell you guys kind of a funny story. So just this morning, I was checking our traffic to the podcast, and it was skyrocketed over the last like 48 hours. And almost to the point where it was in, we were in danger of actually taking our website offline and crashing our server because so much traffic was coming, which really doesn’t make a lot of sense, because there’s a finite number of Realtors here in Chicago. And you know, we get 1000s of them that listen, but it’s never so many that you know, we’re going to take our site down. Well, all of a sudden, we were getting this point where we were getting like, well over 10,000 people were now checking out podcasts in the last day or two. And we weren’t, I was like, well wonder what happened. Like all of a sudden, we became popular, like really popular. Well, that’s as much as I would love to say it’s because I’m so amazing at the show. It’s really not. So I went on Google because I was trying to figure out where all this traffic was coming. And I was tracking it. It was coming from all over the country. And I was like, Well, this is really weird. So I went on Google, and I typed in Chicago, and I did it in like an incognito window to get a true search, which I typed in what I type in real estate podcast. And it turns out our website, keeping it real pod.com is, at least for now, on the front page, the first page of Google when you search for real estate podcast. Now it’s probably a fluke, I’m sure it just shot up there for some reason, in the last couple of days. And so people are finding it by doing that search. And then of course, clicking on the website and listening some episodes. So that’s a big long introduction. And the reason I’m going to explain a little bit more about what we do here on the show. So we’re here in the Chicago market. However, this can really apply to realtors anywhere in the country. It’s not particular to Chicago, it just happens to be where I’m from. And so we interview local Chicago brokers all who are in the top 1%. And there’s about 40,000 Realtors here in the Chicagoland area. So we essentially talk to the top 400. So if you’re listening for the first time, and you don’t live in Chicago, that’s okay. Because you’re going to hear from the very top brokers, what they did to grow their business, typically what they did in their first year, what advice they have for brokers who are looking to increase production mistakes they’ve made, and just general tips and advice. So I want to welcome everyone to the show, don’t let the Chicago thing throw you if you don’t live here, this is applicable, I guarantee no matter where you live, and we have almost 70 episodes under our belt. And we’re so grateful that you’re listening. And we’re so of course grateful to our regular listeners, we’re getting fan mail, or email and all the time. So please, if you want to, you know, stay on top of what we’re doing, you can sign up for email notifications on keeping it real pod.com. Also on Facebook, we’re constantly posting content there along with every episode as well, which you can find just search for keeping it real podcast, you’ll you’ll see it. And again, thanks for listening, I hope our server doesn’t go offline. Although we’re so grateful that people seem to like the show and are sharing it. So if you know other realtors, either in the Chicagoland area or elsewhere, please send this over. It’s really a lot of fun. And again, just want to say thank you to everyone who’s ever been on the show. We’re so honored and grateful that you take time out of your day. Today is no exception. We have Steve Lariche who’s really cool interview because he is doing something that nobody I have interviewed yet has done. So let’s get out let’s get right to it onto our interview with Steve.
Today on the show, we have Steven Wyrick from at properties. Steve is an entrepreneur and a relentless Innovator of the real estate industry. He’s also co creator of the value driven approach to sell real estate, author of the infamous report frauds lies, cheats and unethical scams and founder of The Arlington prospect advice givers, a weekly podcast broadcast on iTunes and Stitcher. The podcast interview provides a platform for local entrepreneurs, business owners and thought leaders in the community. Steve’s also a licensed agent with that properties where his distinctive approach to selling real estate has been helping clients get the results they deserve. Why Rick has also been called provocative and entertaining but also committed a committed philanthropist for his mission to raise and donate over $10,000 to local charities every year with the donations received from his book. Steve is a leader in the Arlington Heights mount Park. spec business community as well and co founded EMG, which is the entrepreneurs networking group in Arlington, Arlington Heights prospect, I’m sorry, Arlington prospect. Chapter made up of exclusive group of business owners sales, people and entrepreneurs focused on the three pillars of impact, which are philanthropy, business and growth. So welcome to the show, Steve.
Steven Weirich 5:20
Thanks for having me on today. DJ, I’m excited. I listened to the podcast and I really love what you do with with the with your guests.
D.J. Paris 5:28
Well, this is our I think the first time I’ve had another broker on who has their own podcast. And I think that is so compelling and interesting that you have created one yourself and actually used it in your own in your own business. Yeah.
Steven Weirich 5:42
One ball, one podcast or to another.
D.J. Paris 5:47
That’s right. So I want to hear your story about how you got into real estate. So can you take us back to that?
Steven Weirich 5:55
Yeah, so DJ, I was a, I was a bond trader down at the Chicago Board of Trade, futures pits, and in two by 2005, I started in 1999, the electronic trading world had really started to take over, all the revenue from the pits were gone. And so I decided to take my skills to a computer platform and started trading Well, I really made a big mistake, because the years of preparation that I took to becoming a good trader down the floor, I thought I would just, you know, package them and start trading from a computer. And that was a big mistake, I lost, I lost pretty much everything. And at that point in time, I really didn’t accept that, that failure very well. And I went into about a six, seven year long, you know, self pity party, as I would call it. Sure. You know, I, I worked. I mean, I had a job. But, you know, all I looked forward to doing was going out on the weekends drinking to excess and really had no purpose. And life or what I was doing, I was just kind of time was going by in 2013. You know, we’ll fast forward. I had a long weekend out. I woke up on a Sunday morning, and I literally had a panic attack. I had never boy, I never experienced anything like that my heart was racing 100 miles an hour. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, my chest was tightening. And I remember I went to the bathroom that morning was a really, really bright day. And a lot of light coming through the through the bathroom window. And I looked at myself in the mirror and those bloodshot and glassy eyes. Were not something that I I’m not supposed to be that guy. You know what I’m saying?
D.J. Paris 7:40
You’re just looking at, you look back in you, you didn’t recognize the guy in the mirror.
Steven Weirich 7:44
Totally. And it was just that reflection. Point. I mean, it took a long time to get there. Because I was very sure and be motivated guy. And earlier in life. I mean, I started trading when I was 23 years old, I saved every penny and I was a pretty good trader. And at that point, I said, this has got to stop, I have to change my life. And funny enough, you know, I’m an entrepreneurial type of guy. I wanted to work for myself. So I ended up getting a real estate license, and it kind of all started there.
D.J. Paris 8:13
Yeah, you know, it’s interesting, I think having purpose is so critical. I know that there’s times where I’ve had other careers where I’ve made pretty good living and but it wasn’t a very fulfilling, you know, career for me. And it really the money didn’t over didn’t overcome the boredom or the loss of fulfilment I felt in those jobs. And there’s other jobs where I’ve even I’ve made less money, but it’s been really exciting and fun. And I think having that purpose and having that vision is so critical.
Steven Weirich 8:46
I complete agreement.
D.J. Paris 8:49
And you’re out in Arlington Heights. Are you from originally that area, or did you
Steven Weirich 8:52
move in or northwest suburbs? Yeah, my wife and I bought our house in Arlington Heights a couple years ago and always knew I wanted to live here. And it’s definitely a great real estate market to to be involved with. And at properties. We actually just opened up an office about a month ago here. Oh,
D.J. Paris 9:08
exciting. I was born in Arlington Heights. I did not grow up in Chicago, but I was born there. I lived there for a few years. And then we moved out of Chicago, unfortunately, but that is my only time Arlington Heights that I was technically born at the hospital was convenient, but so tell us so Okay, so we got to a place where you got your license. Tell us about starting your real estate practice.
Steven Weirich 9:28
So when I started, I was mentored by someone I knew who really kind of showed me the ropes and the process of real estate and all the things you need to know that we all know as brokers, you don’t learn during your real estate licensing class, right? Many things you don’t even have a clue about so you’re it’s really good to have somebody who can mentor you and take an interest in seeing that you develop your career. So for a couple of years we we work together and And he was he was extremely helpful and got me going. And then, you know, the purpose and the beginning of like, okay, now I’m building my career up in real estate, I had kind of another reflection point around 2015, when I started to feel like there was more than just, you know, to me than selling real estate, it’s like, how are we going to share their story? And how are we going to build more or less like an audience in branding my business that way? So let that all kind of started in 2015. And we’ll be talking about that more as we go.
D.J. Paris 10:33
Yeah, I’d like to, I’d like to dive into that, because I think that is so interesting. And it is a conversation that I’ve really yet to have on this podcast with someone who is, you know, maybe maybe not just had that thought, but then actually executed a plan to get the stories out there. Obviously, your podcast is doing that. And I know you’re you’re an author as well. So can you talk us talk a little bit about those projects and sort of how they came to be?
Steven Weirich 11:01
Yeah, so I in 2015, I ran across a gentleman by the name of Brian Fletcher, who he has a podcast called the agent, marketing syndicate. And Ryan, we have a group of about 100 agents across the country, who network together, we talk about writing and storytelling and building a business outside of just being a real estate agent. I was one of the original members, founding members of the group. And it has grown quite a bit since then. I mean, we only have like 15 members when I was originally involved. But Ryan is really inspired me to share my story. So it all started by literally locking myself in a room for six months, my business actually suffered in 2015 quite a bit, because I was teaching myself how to craft stories, and how to write in an effective way to to show the process that I have for selling homes and how we can tell personal stories and how we can relate that back to real estate. I mean, it really did, it took me six months, locking myself into room reading books, understanding how to, you know, structure a story and tie it back into into business without being salesy. Sure, because the last thing, one thing that real estate agents have a kind of is a bad taste in people’s mouths. It’s a sales industry, and I’m trying to take away that sales, salesy effect by by telling and crafting stories. So, that’s kind of how that started. And with the podcast, the whole premise behind the podcast is really to, you know, get people locally to understand that shopping with small businesses with entrepreneurs, is really important for the community, because they’re the ones who give back the most. I mean, all the guests I’ve had on these people are so involved with charitable foundations, they volunteer their time for this and for everything. And they don’t really have a platform to have their story told, and that’s what I’m providing. And at the same time, I want them to give advice on a specific topic that they’re an expert in. And it’s been, you know, it’s been something that’s been very fulfilling, and then they get into my world, and they’re reading my weekly email my monthly hardcopy newsletter, and that kind of has generated business on the back end. For for my real estate, my real estate operation,
D.J. Paris 13:28
and you’re primarily featuring business owners in in your local area is my understanding. Yes.
Steven Weirich 13:35
Yeah. So I’ll approach or they’re approaching me more and more now. Because recently, I was on the front page of the Daily Herald, they did a story about my podcast, and how I’m shining light on business owners, and make a difference in the community. So it positions me differently in the sense that where I never DJ, you’d be surprised I never introduced myself as a real estate agent when I meet Sure. I meet them. And I talk about how I host Arlington prospect advice givers. And, you know, this is the whole this whole story behind it. They’re intrigued. They want to talk more. And then they always ask me, Well, how do you fund this? Like, you don’t make any money you don’t like, as of now, I don’t make any money. I fund this money. You know, transacting in real estate, I’m a real estate broker. And they’re like,
D.J. Paris 14:25
oh, yeah, I’ll come and say, what do you do, then? Oh, by the way, what else do you do? Oh, I’m a broker. Yeah, sure.
Steven Weirich 14:33
Because more times than not, I’m sure when people ask you, if you host a podcast, they’re interested in talking to you. They think it’s intriguing. So I’m able to break a barrier and have a conversation like to normal, you know, individuals are gonna have a conversation and then they ask how do you find it? And then it’s real estate. Well, now the barriers gone. I’m not trying to sell them on anything and it you know, they get into my world and they start consuming my content. And then hopefully that turn into referrals and understanding that my whole process and approach that I use is something they would refer to their family or friends.
D.J. Paris 15:08
Well, you and I are cut from the exact same cloth. Because the whole purpose of this so so just I shouldn’t speak for you. But the purpose of your show is to provide value to the community, by all by showcasing these, these entrepreneurs, these business owners, where they maybe don’t have as strong a voice on their own unless they’re purchasing advertising, buying spots, or maybe getting lucky getting featured in a newspaper. But likely, they’re probably mostly overlooked, you’re giving them a voice, you’re giving them a platform, so you are providing value to them, and also the your listeners. So we do the same thing here. Obviously, the idea is to provide value to the entire broker community and say, Hey, this is what top brokers are doing. And this is a great conversation, because you’re doing something so unique. But of course, like you were saying, what happens as a result of providing this value as people become clients, or they refer business to you, just the natural progression of the deepening of that relationship, by providing value, it sort of just comes back your way, without you having to ask him that same thing with us. Ultimately, the reason my boss lets me do this show, it’s it’s not entirely altruistic, right? I mean, that’s our intention is to provide value. But I’m hoping that in this happened, it’s been very, we’ve been very fortunate, where people then go, hey, where do you work? And oh, maybe they’ll come take a look at our firm as well. So similar sort of thing. I don’t specifically ask for that. And that’s by design, of course, like you. But it works by providing this value and its unique value, and no one else seems to really be doing it. So I cheered cheers to you.
Steven Weirich 16:35
Right, and just thank you and just think of it, this podcast that we’re recording today, it’s not about you. It’s about your guests. It’s about, you know, sharing with the broker community, how there’s different ways to run your business, or how you new ideas to possibly implement into your own business. And then for me, my podcast is nothing about me. It’s not a personality driven show where it’s like, oh, we’re listening to Steve Wyrick. No, we’re listening to that guest. And before I have that business owner, when before we hit that record button, I tell them the importance of sharing your story. And in making it compelling, because you’ll be able to resonate with the audience. And there’ll be more drawn into your world and we can hopefully direct some traffic and you can use this link to the podcast and market it yourself and position yourself as an expert. And it’s not about me. And when you get response, as soon as it’s about you, you you it’s you’re not going anywhere. Well, I
D.J. Paris 17:37
that that and I’m just not that interesting. Like that’s the thing. Nobody cares what I say. But thank God because who I try to be interesting every week on my dumb show, like nobody would care. I mean, I’m not I first of all, I’m not out there doing I’m not a broker, right? I mean, I am technically one but I don’t I don’t work with clients. So I don’t even I don’t know. So I’m I got asked the people that do like you. So that’s, that’s really cool. And I think this is an important point for listeners to understand is what what is Steve really done, let’s take the podcast out of it. Because even though that’s the cool, exciting thing that the vehicle he’s used, and I know you’ve written you write as well provide a lot of value with articles as well. But this idea is he is just about he’s thinking about how do I provide value to someone else without expecting anything in return, and true value. And really, it’s a quite a brilliant approach. It’s a quite brilliant approach, I think. And by doing that, he ends up getting a lot of business just by nature of providing value, but the whole idea is I am going to provide and let me ask you this, how do you actually find your your guests? Do you just contact them directly? Or do they reach out? Or how does that work?
Steven Weirich 18:47
It’s kind of in the beginning, it was me reaching out as you are doing, you know, reaching the brokers who you were interested in knowing and through that they had is going in the beginning for me, I would reach out to business owners who I thought were you know, I liked their business, or I’d actually you know, use their service or bought products from them. And I would say hey, I’d love to have you on this podcast. I’ve only I’ve done 89 shows I’ve only had a couple people who didn’t want to do it most likely because they’re technology adverse. You know, they don’t know how to use a short little skit and want to be on but now I would say it’s about 30% of me reaching out and suddenly percent people contacting me going through the channels to get to me and say hey, I would love to come on the show. Do you think it would be a fit and if they have a good story I want to share it
D.J. Paris 19:42
Yeah, it’s it’s such a smart idea and I’m so glad that you that you you’re doing that and you’ve had success with it. I would like to pivot just because this is so interesting to me. So I apologize for the for the quick about face, but I would like to talk about Zillow and And the idea of purchasing leads that Zillow sells. I know you have a very, very strong opinions about this. So I would love it. Can we talk about that? Is that okay? Yeah,
Steven Weirich 20:08
yeah, I just wanted to finish. One quick point is, if I record that podcast with a guest, and they never hear from me again, then, you know, obviously I want to get their information out, I promote them, that’s great. But if you ever want to take on something like this, you have to find a way to stay in touch with them and not be, you know, annoying. So by sharing these stories I have I have all my past guests on the weekly email. I mean, they send me messages all the time saying, Man, I love how you write I, I just find your stories to be very interesting. And they’re very motivating. So they’re, I’m always kind of on their mind, but I’m not selling them on it. Yeah. Martha’s, you can’t just record the interview, and then never be in touch with them again, you got to provide a value for them. I just wanted to share that.
D.J. Paris 20:56
No, I want to I want to add to that, too, because that is a very, very, very important point. And really, it’s it’s part of a larger conversation to where if you’re a realtor without a podcast, which of course everyone else probably doesn’t have a podcast, that this could be very similar to, Hey, I just sold that person a house. Now what right what do I how do I stay in touch? How do I you know, keep providing value to them. But I’ll tell you, with our with our and by the way, every realtor should be thinking about that, you know, the transaction is not the end of the relationship. But with our podcast is the same thing. It’s oftentimes we like, like you do after the episodes live, we send them the links and say, Hey, if you want to promote it, go right ahead. We tag them in all the, you know, the social media posts. And then what was the weirdest thing has happened. And I just always assumed these top producers are too busy to really pay attention to any other episodes because they are too busy. But what we find is that they’re all friendly. A lot of these top producers are friendly with one another. And they get so excited when someone else that they know, has an episode. And so I don’t know if they’re just paying attention through the emails we send because we do that similarly. Or if they’re just noticing on Facebook or whatever, but they’re seeing their friends. And then they’re commenting on that they’re sending us things saying, Hey, you just interviewed my friend. And so it sounds like that sort of same sort of things happening on your end. So
Steven Weirich 22:16
yeah, well, I knew I wanted to be on your show. When I heard I was listening to one of the past episodes. It might have been with Ryan Diem. Oh, yeah. Right. It’s great. Yeah. And you and you guys, were talking about how if you’re going to contact past clients, or people, you just call them up and have a conversation right? And you say, I hope everything’s going well. And that’s it. Yeah. And the phone conversation, too many other brokerages are teaching people at the end of that phone call. Hey, do you know anyone by worse, right now, if you call me twice, by by quarter three, you calling me in August or September saying this I’m not answering the phone anymore? Don’t ask anybody for anything. Call them be a normal person to have a normal conversation. My conversation is through the written word and the newsletter I do it that’s how I do it. Everyone has their own way. But don’t call up and say it you only want buying or selling real estate.
D.J. Paris 23:12
Yeah, it’s it’s tacky in it and it’s just uncomfortable and awkward. And again, I guess maybe it works for some people, but it would it would put me off as well, let’s Okay, let’s let’s talk about Zillow. I because I want to get your opinion on this.
Steven Weirich 23:29
Okay, so one of the things I just failed to understand. And I’ve only been in the business really for three years and I’ve grown quite a bit organically the way I’ve we’ve been talking about what I don’t understand what Zillow in the leads, I mean, people are spending agents are spending 1000s And some are spending 10s of 1000s dollars a month to have a lead generation platform to where if the they get pinged and they gotta call him back within two minutes or their rate of success goes down, which just completely weird to me. But at that point in time, you make the contact and you get this lead in your in your world. I don’t understand I don’t get the relationship and it’s a total sales game. But see what I see happening in this is completely my opinion and some things I’ve read and I’ve kind of gathered my own thoughts is that eventually what happens to the real estate agent that is pouring all this money into it and a huge portion of their business business is dedicated to a zillo lead. What happens if Zillow takes those leads, pulls the rug from out underneath them and uses those leads for themselves and starts their own brokerage.
D.J. Paris 24:44
Yeah, I mean, I would think you’d almost have to be pretty naive to think they’re not going to do I mean, I certainly don’t know I have no information on Zillow, and they’ve always been very nice to me. But you know the people Zillow are always very kind, but like, I would assume they’d have to be thinking of opening up their own firm like, you make sense.
Steven Weirich 25:06
40% or whatever the number is 40% of the market goes to Zillow into their inner everyone loves her interface. I mean, they have a jury. And so we, all these agents spend, you know, tons of money on gathering these leads well, okay, so if that’s your whole business, your whole business model, and they then take it away in three years from now, then where are you? What do you do? Right? Law? Yeah, it’s
D.J. Paris 25:31
it is it is funny. It’s, you know, for some brokers that I think just like to sit behind a desk and pound the phone, and they’re okay, calling somebody 15 times before they pick up I think, you know, that’s a good fit, you know, at least today. And but then it seems to be the much more difficult path or at least more labor intensive path. And also, yeah, and then what happens if Zillow becomes like Redfin, and all of a sudden says, Hey, we’re just going to do it all ourselves. And obviously, that would dramatically impact someone’s production. And it’s funny, too, because just if, regardless of my opinion about it, because what do I know? But literally all the people I’ve interviewed, I don’t think unless they just didn’t share it. I don’t know that even one person ever purchased as purchased leads these topics. That’s not to say that it’s a bad idea that you shouldn’t do it. But there’s a I just, it’s very rare. When I talk to somebody who’s really successful, who does, maybe they’re just too busy.
Steven Weirich 26:29
I mean, because you know, the good agents who are creating everyday building relationships, that fuel more business and more impact on clients and getting great results for him. That’s good. But I just see this 10,000 pound elephant in the room name Zillow. And I can’t remember what I wrote about but I wrote a whole thing because I don’t write a lot and that everything I write about, it’s about real estate. But one thing I wrote was called the wrath of Godzilla a little while ago, I can’t remember the premise, but it had to do with this whole idea that agents are really kind of digging their own graves the way I think that’s just the way I see it. And that’s my opinion. But you know, I hope that in 10 years from now, we’re still kind of running the same model of business, but things are changing and there are disruptors out
D.J. Paris 27:17
there. Yeah, I think so. I think they’re disrupting, though, really the brokers who maybe aren’t doing such a great job, right. So I think that if you’re a really strong broker, Zillow, Redfin. Well, you know, Zillow is not a threat, of course today, but Redfin is like better. Maybe a better example is like, are you really worried about Redfin? Most of the brokers I talked to go now my clients like me, and they’re willing to pay a little bit more for my service. And, you know, and but then the people who wouldn’t want to pay those fees, maybe they are better served at Redfin. I don’t know. But it seems to be that the brokers I talked to on the show don’t seem to be too concerned about it. So I suspect that means
Steven Weirich 28:01
about it either. And, and believe me, I can see, I can see, like a huge difference between the quality of agents who are with I’ll call them blue Gail, because I don’t want to name but I can see the difference of dealing when I negotiate or go to a transaction with an agent from, you know, a REMAX an app properties or anywhere with these agents are and then I do deal with blue Gail, and it’s a whole different world.
D.J. Paris 28:32
Yes, I think that’s fair. But But I think you’re right, so there’s a lot of brokers, listening to the show. And again, you know, my thought on purchasing leads is probably very similar to Steve thought is, number one, it’s very expensive. Number two, you have to number one, number two, really, you have to be a certain type of personality to even do well. But with those types of leads, because these are people like Steve, this is a, this becomes a sales conversation, where and by the way, you’re probably competing with at least one or two other agents Anyway, on that same call. Because those they’re probably getting that lead to at least one or two other people. Or it’s certainly possible that they are so yeah, it’s it’s a very easy, it seems like a quick or good fix. Like, I’ll spend five grand a month and if I close one or two deals, you know, hey, it pays for itself. But yeah, it seems like it’s a tougher road, where you get where you can go out and meet three people in a day who don’t know you, or like Steve does create a podcast, go talk to business owners give them value, and then watch when they go, Hey, what do you do outside of this podcast?
Steven Weirich 29:35
I look at it as the lead is the path to least resistance because it’s quick, you know, there’s instinct, where what I am doing or how you’ve built your audience is the path of most resistance because it takes time. Oh, yes. I’m not a writer. I don’t know how to write I mean, I literally locked myself really sacrif faced a lot of business for six months, teaching myself how to really tell stories and write in a in a way that people would want to read and go to the next sentence because that’s what it’s about. If you’re gonna write something, that person to go to the next sentence is what you want to get to where they come to a conclusion that your approach or how you do things are like, wow, I get that there’s an aha moment, I need to work with him, I need to talk to him. That takes a lot of work. And I was scared. Leaving I was I was frightened. I’m like, how will this even work? But it’s it takes a lot of time and commitment. And a lot of people are more into that instant gratification, I got a lead on the phone, let me call them and try and close this business. That’s just not the way I see a business really working in the long term. And I look at things I don’t look at things in six months, I look at three to five years out is how I’m planning my business.
D.J. Paris 30:54
Yeah, I 100% agree. And then the challenge, of course, you’re right, this is the passive path of most resistance. I mean, same thing with me, like, I am now locked into doing this podcast least once a week, it is a ton of work without any immediate benefit to me personally, and I have to put that aside and go Well, I’m providing value, people like it. And ultimately, if nothing else, that’s a good thing. But guess what people do contact me, just out of the blue, they figure out where I work, and they contact me and say, hey, I want to learn about your thing. So it does actually happen. But yeah, for the first 50 episodes or so there was no phone calls. And it’s also just not the reason I do this. And also, if it was the reason I do this, nobody would want to be interviewed on the show. And nobody would probably want to listen. So you know, and probably similar to you, I suspect if you were out there really self promoting but sort of disguising it as a hey, I’m going to interview this business owner probably wouldn’t work for you either. So that’s awesome. Oh, by the way, I want to plug your website because unfortunately, I didn’t see the website before we basically got on the air. And this is such a great website. So go to Steven wyrick.com, which is his last name, just it’s Steven Ste ve and then w e i r i c h, I will post a link to this, of course in the notes. But there’s some great stuff obviously links to the podcast. Stephen has a book on here called the value driven approach to sell real estate. So everyone should read that too. But it’s a really cool website, I’ve seen a lot. And he’s just got a lot of his content on here that you can just immediately access. So definitely,
Steven Weirich 32:30
yeah, I think I appreciate the plug, I just started loading the content on the site in the last few weeks, because I built it about a half a mil for me about a month ago. And now we’re working with techy people to try and drive people to the site. And like they’ve told me they’re like you have three years worth of content, and it’s all organic, and I’ll be able to drive traffic. So there’s a lot that’s not on there. It’s kind of in the infancy. But yeah, I’m very happy with the results and how it’s turned out.
D.J. Paris 33:00
Oh, that’s great. Well, I would love to to, to cap this off with any advice that you have, because you’re relatively we’ll just call you still newer to the game and you’re doing really well. Steve is also a top producer, we should mention that if we didn’t already, but any aside from all the advice you’ve given, is there anything else or mistakes that either you made, or you see brokers making, who are either newer to the business or looking to grow their production or just advice you have in general for realtors,
Steven Weirich 33:30
make sure you surround yourself with with good people, because from attorneys, to lenders to home inspectors, everybody reflects upon your business and you want to work with a a group of individuals who who are all have a common theme, you know what I mean? They all want to work together and they all hold the same values. And I wanted to tell a quick story. I got into the business maybe six, seven months into it. We had a lender that was trying to work with with me and the gentleman I was working with at the time. And the managing broker in my office had kind of said that. Well, you be a little leery of him. I know who he is, and it’s not good. And sure enough, a few weeks later, he asked me to write up a falsified, you know, a fake contract, so he can submit it to a bank for a short sale. And I said, Why am I can’t do that. He was like, oh, no, it’s no big deal. You just will just fill it out and submit it and I can produce a pre approval letter and that can get us a BPO done on the property and we can get it through. So we at least know the price that they’ll accept.
D.J. Paris 34:40
Oh, I see. Okay, okay.
Steven Weirich 34:43
And I said I go Ellison. I know you guys will that will then we’ll be able to close on the property and you know, we won’t like now I won’t do that. So you you I knew right.
D.J. Paris 34:56
That’s an amazing it’s amazing.
Steven Weirich 35:00
was the end of that relationship. So my advice is to make sure you surround yourself with with people who share the same values as you do. Because as time goes on, when you find these people, your business will grow. And every one you go through a transaction, what I love is that my clients will be like, oh, man, I love your attorney, I love your, your lender is such a great guy, he did such a good, you know, he’s such a good dude, and everything. And it all is like one big happy family. And that’s what I’m most proud of, is working with the people that I that I get to work get to work with.
D.J. Paris 35:38
Yeah, and that’s another, that’s a really important point. And I think oftentimes, especially maybe brokers who were newer to the business, don’t realize that they should start cultivating those relationships, even maybe before you have clients, or at least when you don’t have clients, that’s even good time to do it, is find somebody who you really connect with and who you know, does a really good job, a good lender, a good attorney, maybe a good insurance agent, right? Maybe a good financial adviser, good tax person, a good interior decorator, etc. And getting the getting that team together. So you can just without hesitation, be able to say Oh, you have to talk to so and so. And without worrying about how they’re going to, you know, be well be received. So I think that’s really, really important, and also to a great way to continue to add value to your clients. And you know, somebody, for example, you know, a lot of times brokers who are newer might do and this is maybe more of a city thing, but certainly could be in the suburbs as well. They oftentimes do rentals for a while just to stay busy. And I always say once somebody moves into a rental, are you contacting them a week later, going, Hey, if you got your rental insurance yet, here’s a good insurance agent, right? That’s a really specific, simple example. But it’s a great way with you providing value and staying in touch.
Steven Weirich 36:57
I agree with you, because we what we do is we have our our clients are, you know, making sure that they’re speaking with my attorneys to get their, their wills and trusts are awesome to make sure their properties are protected after they buy them. You know, and as far as let’s say, there’s somebody who couldn’t be on the mortgage, and let’s say husband or wife go to buy a home and there’s only one that goes on the mortgage, we make sure that the other one is actively participating in improving their credit. So the transaction never stops at the closing table. And I think that’s another piece of advice where I think newer agents who are in sales, sales, sales, we got it, we have to generate commissions in order to put food on the table, the transaction doesn’t stop when you receive that check and really kind of begins because that’s when you really, really get to cultivate that relationship, and there’s so many more things you can do to provide value for the consumer.
D.J. Paris 37:55
Well, I couldn’t agree more that is that is as well said as anything I could have ever thought of. So we’ll leave it at that because that is a perfect piece of advice and about as good of a piece of advice, as I’ve heard. So let’s let’s stop there. So I want everyone who’s listening just to get an idea of what Steve himself has built it, which I think is so very unique. And such a high value proposition to his community is go visit Steven wyrick.com Again, Ste ve N W E i, r i c h.com, he’s going to be adding some of this, this content that he’s curated over in Britain himself over over the years, but you right now you can see a lot of content, you can listen to his podcast, and maybe even consider doing something similar in your own community. Because, you know, it’s a, it’s a good idea, being able to provide value to to your to your community. And, and it’s funny too, because I want to just make this point is these business owners are getting phone calls to promote their business, but they’re getting calls from like local radio, maybe local television, newspapers, it’s all Do you want to buy advertising? And see becomes like say no, I’ll just I’ll just promote you. This would be fun. We’ll have a great conversation. We want to hear your story. How did you build this business? You know what, you know what, why is it passionate to you and that sort of thing. So it’s really cool. And, again, cheers to you for that. But I also had Steven, of course, is a realtor. So if anyone is listening who would like to work with Stephen, of course, he said add properties the biggest and you know, one of the great, great reputation firms in Chicago. What’s the best way that you know, anyone can reach out to you?
Steven Weirich 39:38
They can just email me at C Steven, letter C and then the name Steven at@properties.com. Or you can reach me at 847-607-6711
D.J. Paris 39:51
Well, I think we set it all so this is this has been a great episode and behalf on behalf of Steven and myself we thank you for listening and please continue. If you’re a realtor out there and you find these kinds of episodes value, please pass them along to other brokers, you know, and we’ll keep interviewing great people like Steven and keep providing content. So thanks, Steven. I appreciate your time. Thanks for having me.
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