Trust Beats Sales When The Market Shifts

A $300 fish dies on the drive home, a store owner throws out a challenge, and a new San Antonio small business is born. That’s just one of the stories Ronil Harwood brings as we reconnect on Real Estate AF. Ronil is a Keller Williams real estate professional with a background in aviation and the co-owner of CHARE Aquatics, and his journey is a masterclass in what happens when you refuse to stay comfortable.

We talk about the practical foundation that shaped him early, including a church-led youth program that taught real-world skills like resumes, interviews, finances, and how to carry yourself with confidence. From there, we trace his move from New York to Texas, how buying his own home exposed the lack of home buying education, and why today’s real estate market rewards trust more than a polished sales pitch. If you’re a San Antonio Realtor, a new agent, or a homeowner thinking about buying or selling, you’ll hear clear guidance on pre-approvals, setting expectations, and having the tough conversations that protect your time and your client’s outcome.

We also go deep on entrepreneurship, collaboration, and building systems that scale, from dependable vendors and redundancies to relationship marketing that keeps you top of mind long after closing. Ronil shares daily non-negotiables like God first, staying healthy, and giving people simple moments of positivity, plus we swap routines on doing hard things daily to sharpen mindset.

If this hit home, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review. What’s one habit you’ll commit to for getting better every day?

Transcript

The Daily Better Question

SPEAKER_00 0:00

At the end of every day, look at yourself in the mirror and ask, did I get better today? Monday, get better. Tuesday, get better. Wednesday, get better. If you do that for five years, ten years, fifteen years, how much better will you be? Are you getting better every single day? That's the real question. And it all comes down to taking small steps. You don't have to accomplish everything in one day or even one week. Just focus on getting a little better every single day.

Meet Ronil Harwood

Mark Jones 0:34

And welcome back to another episode of Real Estate AF, where the AF stands for and finance, and I'm your host, Mark Jones, and we are powered by Lone Bot, Smarter Mortgage Matching, now available on the App Store and Apple Play. And on today's discussion, I'm bringing on an old friend that I haven't seen in quite some time. So it'll be a good time catching up with him. But I'm going to read you his quick bio real quick and then we're going to introduce him. So this gentleman is a San Antonio real estate professional with a background that goes well beyond the traditional sales. He has worked in real estate since 2019, currently with Keller Williams, while also co-owner of CHARE Aquatics, a San Antonio aquarium business he launched with his family in 2021. His broader background includes aviation maintenance, operations, and technology-related roles and public profile. Also notes that he studied aviation maintenance and management at Andrews University. He has said he grew up in Barbados, which is what helps him shape his long-term passion for marine life and entrepreneurship. So without further ado, Ronil Harwood. How you doing? All right, how you doing? Doing very well. So it's been a quite a while since I've seen you and I'm ready to catch up with you. But before we do, if you could tell us about yourself, Ronil.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

Oh man. Well, first of all, thanks for having me. Absolutely. So uh a little about me. I would say I do a lot of things. Um being in real estate, having a business in marine life, and also having a passion for young people for our community. Yeah. That's one of the biggest things that's part of my journey. And one thing I feel when it comes to describing who I am as a person, it goes back into history of who has molded me to be the person who I am today. Okay. Tell us about that. And it and it starts off with, you know, back then when you talk about a community, our church community. Okay. Our churches have a very big part of our young people's growth, development, and also becoming uh an adult.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

And so when I was younger, I grew up in New York City, Queens, New York. Okay. Corona, to be at Zach. They said there's more people in Corona than there is in New York, in the in the Queens borough.

unknown 2:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 2:56

But in Corona. Yeah, man. So in Corona, New York, our church, we had a a ministry platform for young men. Okay. It was it stands for young men with purpose. I love it. And I think it was fit in for the time frame where we are in our lives and what time frame it was. It was within like 1990 to 1991, 1992, and so forth.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:19

And with all the the bad influence when it came from gang-related street violence, that kind of stuff, the church really honed into keeping the young men and young women inside the church. And with that being said, it molded us as young men to know basically first off how to dress. Yeah. How to approach not just people, but especially young ladies. Yes, sir. How to write a resume. We did these uh you would say these role plays of interviews, um, also how to structure our finances. It wasn't just got paid and bought your kicks right away.

Mark Jones 3:55

So now all of this was with inside the church's structure or at least the group structure of what you were learning at what age?

SPEAKER_03 4:04

This was an age of 14, 15, and 16.

Mark Jones 4:07

I'm super impressed, blown away by just that concept, because that, in my opinion, is something that yes, can it be learned in the church? Absolutely. But also parents, schools, things of that nature should be preaching that type of message as well to all young women.

SPEAKER_03 4:26

Yeah, all young women. Definitely. And I mean, Drew, in that time you had a lot of young men like myself who came from a single family, um, single-parent home. Okay. So the church stepped in when it came to keeping that balance of um raising young people. Yeah. And from that on, I mean, as I grew up, I never forgot, you know, those trainings. I mean, there's there's a verse in the Bible that says train up a child in the way they should go, and when they're old, won't depart from it. And literally, I live by that.

Mark Jones 4:51

Absolutely. No, I love that. Matter of fact, that that we just had our men's Bible study this morning at eight, eight a.m. That's that's kind of what we were talking about in today's lesson. So, man, that's that's that goes deep.

SPEAKER_03 5:04

Oh, yeah.

From New York To Texas

Mark Jones 5:04

It really does. Oh, yeah. So, what brought you from New York to San Antonio or Texas in general?

SPEAKER_03 5:12

Well, uh, that was aviation provided, I would say. Okay. So when I got out of college and I got into aviation, I was in New York City at the time. Okay. And we we used to commute between upstate New York and is the airport called White Plains, New York. Okay, which is a 45-minute drive. Yeah. And there was an opportunity to say, hey, there's some openings in Texas, New York at a service center. Service center is called Assess and Citation. Now it's called Textron Aviation. Okay. And they're like, hey, there's some openings, you guys willing to go. And the first thing I thought about is, you know what? I already know what New York looks like. Let me just check it out. So we did what you call a TDY trip. Okay. And I came out to see what San Antonio had to offer. And when I went back to New York, people were like, You gonna move for real? I'm like, yeah, man, San Antonio is like, what's in Texas? You know, the first thing to think about is horses all over the place, you know, the 10-gallon hats, you know. And I'm like, no, and no, it's it's a lot more than that. I mean, the I mean, the the platform of me even growing in aviation, I just saw it just happen and just visiting San Antonio.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:19

And literally that's what happened. Wow. It's just knowing to write in on the walls when the time is for you.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:24

And so what got me to Texas was through work. It was just my wife and I at the same time. We didn't have our child yet.

Mark Jones 6:31

Okay. And you were able to just pack it up and let's go try something else. Worst case, we come back.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Yep, yep, yep. Or make it work.

Mark Jones 6:38

I like that. I like that even better. Now, question for you super side note is there a drastic difference between New York and Texas?

SPEAKER_03 6:48

Oh, yeah.

Mark Jones 6:49

Drastic.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

Man, where would you start with that?

Mark Jones 6:52

Give me a couple differences. Because I I I I've got a great perspective on New York. I used to travel to New York once a month for a good while in my life. And I know there's differences, but but from your perspective.

SPEAKER_03 7:06

Well, the saying that says if you make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. It's true. The lifestyle in New York is what molded me into having that tough skin.

SPEAKER_02 7:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

That work as hard as you can to make it. They say that if you're in competition, you you're replaceable. But if you make yourself uh position yourself, you become that person that someone picks. That's right. Literally, that's how it is in New York. It is so much talent in New York that you have to be better than everybody else. Yeah. So moving to Texas, for me, I realized people were comfortable where they were. Yeah. You know, and for me, I knew that I wanted more. Of course, yes, when it comes to finances, your money to me stretches way much more here in Texas than in New York. Yeah. But when it came to growth financially, stability, uh career-wise, yeah, I saw the difference that you know you can move that way. You go to New York right now, and I can still find people live in the same place, you know, because they are comfortable where they are. Sure. But it is not that easy to move around New York. In addition to move up in New York. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:12

So, you know, it is definitely something that was eye-opening for me.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

Yeah. I mean, we when we came here, we were looking for apartment complexes. Then the lady's like, well, you guys could get a house. I said, we could rent a house for$11.50. He's like, Yeah. And we went and saw this house. It was actually in Ceno, in Ceno Rio area. And it was an upstairs, downstairs, three-bedroom, two-car garage. He's like, I said, all of this. And my wife's like, shh. Because she's like, you know, don't blow this. Don't show them our your cards. Yeah. It's like, no. And it was a big eye-opener coming from a two-bedroom apartment. Sure. Um, that was paying almost the same more. I believe it. You know, I believe it. With no garage, and you have to shovel your car out in the snow and brush it off, and you know.

Mark Jones 8:58

And then deal with the trash on the side of the streets every week.

SPEAKER_03 9:01

Yeah.

Mark Jones 9:01

I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_03 9:02

I move your car back and forth. You know, you say, yeah. So it was a big, it was a big difference, big difference. People-wise, as well. I I feel like, you know, it's one of those things like people like have like their blinders on. Like they're just all about their business. In New York. In New York. For sure. You know what I mean? Down here, the first thing is even moving in, people came over and brought us an enchilada disc. And I was like, what's in this?

Why Home Buying Led To Real Estate

Mark Jones 9:24

What is this? Right. And it's kind of like, why they're being so nice. And I'll tell you a quick story. So the first time I ever rode up to New York, jumped in the taxi. And matter of fact, it was one of my first times in a taxi. I was 19 years old, there on my own, visiting a girlfriend that I had been with in high school. And I start talking to the cab driver. Just, how you doing? What were you from here? Da-da-da-da-da. He turned around and said, Are you from Texas? I said, Yes, sir, I am. I said, How'd you know that? He said, You're way too nice. Okay. Noted. Noted. It's like that. Yeah. So in your transition here, you were doing the aviation thing, probably all the way up past 2019, because that was around when I had met you. You were with Phyllis, Phyllis Browning at the time. And what led you into real estate?

SPEAKER_03 10:22

Believe it or not, it was the us buying our house. Okay. Tell us about it. Just the experience of us buying us buying our house.

Mark Jones 10:29

And that is not the first time or the last time, I'm sure I'm going to hear that.

SPEAKER_03 10:33

Oh, yeah. Truly. It's true. Shout out to all the agents that I have helped me along the way. But I realize that in the process of buying a house, how much is taught? Oh no, no, no. I'm going to say the lack of information that makes you feel like you are not ready to buy. And it just takes few people to say, oh no, this is more doable. Right. And when you tell people, hey, it's easier to buy than to rent. It is so hard concept. For them to grasp. Yeah. To let go. Yeah. And once you write it down on paper and you show it, then it's like, it makes sense. But still, there's something down the road that makes them feel like, am I not ready? Yeah. It's not my time. You know, and and you have then you have the spiritual people that say, you know, you know what? This is my time, God will provide. And I'm like, it is true. It is true. But at the same time, you also have to do the steps to see at least what it is. Absolutely. You know, you know, I was telling a client the other day that, you know, just going looking at houses before we get pre-approved is almost like me walking into the bank and I know my place is a lobby. And then I say, hey, can I go and look at the vault?

SPEAKER_04 11:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:44

Yeah. Just because I'm here. That's right. That's a great point. Is it's not is not doable. And I think that part of me when I when we were buying a home and just saw the flexibility this person had all day. Yeah. I'm like, oh, I don't get off of work to like five. So well, I'm flexible all day. I'm like, I don't want to be flexible. And then how much you make? Yeah. You know, and then and then it snowballed into just looking into it. Now, I have an uncle that's in New York City who was a loanery generator there. And he told me, hey, I'm looking at how things are going in Texas. If I were you, man, I would get into real estate.

Mark Jones 12:20

And this is riding on the wall. What year did you get in? 2019? 2018? 28.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

Okay, 2024. Yeah. And and he, you know, he's one, he's one of the main mentors in my life as well. And he was like, hey, if I were you, he said, look, I'll go ahead and pay for the classes for you. Because you know how it is. You can buy a bicycle and you'll take care of it. But if your parents did bought it for you, you drop it on the side of the road. You, you know, you leave it at the park because you have no skin in the game for it, right?

Mark Jones 12:47

And that is why my parents made me pay for my own college. Hey, that's why that's true.

SPEAKER_03 12:51

Mine too.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:53

But yeah. So, so with that, you know, I just got into real estate because of the flexibility of, you know, just having a career.

Mark Jones 13:03

Yeah. That makes sense. That makes sense. And at what point in time did you decide to leave the aviation to go do real estate?

Fatherhood And Leaving Aviation Travel

SPEAKER_03 13:14

Believe it or not, it was the same year I opened my shop. Okay. Tell us about that. Tell me about that. It was like three, it was like two things and three things happen at the same time. Okay. One of the things that made it change, and I and I know you can relate with this as a father. When your child is born, everything you think about when you were a child, you want to either recreate or you want to be better. Yeah. There's things that people would say, you know what? As as especially a young man growing up without a father at the time, I was like, you know what? I don't want to just recreate my fatherhood. What I think I want for my father, for my child. I want to give her the father she deserves. That makes sense. And what that makes is thinking out the box, going into a place that you're uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:03

Man, challenging yourself. Even with my drumline, I tell them this, this, this, uh, this phrase that says, if you don't challenge yourself, you won't see a change. And if you keep making a mistake, you made a decision not to change. Oh, that's a good point. You know, you haven't, you so for you're now negligible for that. So when she was born, I'm like, I want something more for her. I just don't want just to be working, come home, work, come home. I want to leave something that when she grows up, she now can start from where I left off instead of creating her own, her own. Now, listen, whatever she does from that point in time, she can, but I'm gonna put it somewhere that you know she's not gonna get certain things until you know a certain kind of type of like maybe school or behavior accomplishments and stuff of that happens. So, what happened for for from that time of real estate, when she was born, I realized that I wasn't flexible anymore. I I was still traveling with with with the company in aviation. So I was here, there, and everywhere. Literally, I came back from um paternity leave and I was in Sacramento for three weeks. You know, and then and I and I came home and her features look completely different. Wow. And it changes so quickly. Yes, it does. So I think it was a mindset, and then I look back at what I made in real estate and I was like, I I just pocket all of this. Right. I can either put this into a fun to grow, or I can go ahead and invest in myself since I know how hard I work. That's right. So that's what I did and invested myself. And from investing in myself, I created that business to hear quite my wife and I, and she was like, hey, if you're gonna create this, I want to be involved because there's some things that I see that can change. Yeah. And if anyone ever gets a chance to go, they can tell it's a completely different vibe. You know, it's a little more of a boutique.

Mark Jones 15:45

We'll definitely get into that. But uh, you raised something that I want to kind of hone in for a moment. Uh, and and that is the idea of us as parents wanting to give our children the life that they deserve, that we believe they deserve. And you correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel as though a lot of us, in me included, we tend to safeguard our kids from failure when for me, my parents, they let me fail, they let me learn. And that's kind of what I have to hang my hat on as to why I am so successful today is I I don't know how to give up. I don't know how to fail and not continue to figure it out, that kind of stuff. And I feel as though today's generation of parents is shielding the children from failing. And that has a lot to do with why what we're seeing in the media and what we're seeing the I don't know, these these large what do you want to call it, stereotypes that we're giving the kids these days.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Yeah.

Mark Jones 16:53

Does that make sense? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:54

It's almost called like kangaroo parroting. Okay, okay. Yeah, is that kind of is that kind of stage of like you put them back in a pouch when you don't want them to experience certain things. Right. And no, definitely she experienced things that you know we give her a chance to fail. We sometimes I want to step in, say, nope, let's let's see what happens. Yeah. You know, she's not gonna have training wheels on for the for her whole entire lifetime. And and us as parents, we are some of those training wheels, depending on what it is. That's right. Now we have to allow them to make those mistakes. But I think when it comes financially, even if it is mistakes, I think there's still some some safeguards you can put together, but also some comfortability for the future for them. That's great.

Launching An Aquatics Shop During Covid

Mark Jones 17:34

With balance, yeah, absolutely. I agree with that. And and I also let my kids fail. Oh, yeah. I I like playing devil's advocate when asking questions. I am the type to let the kids fail and teach them the idea of why you failed. Did you learn anything? That kind of concept. But anywho, we'll get back to the uh premise of this discussion. So you opened the aquatics place in 2021. That was at the midst of the height, and at the same time, right when it was about to fall off the ledge of our industry.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

Yeah.

Mark Jones 18:08

What was that like going through this? All right, everything's gonna be great, bringing in the money over here, we're opening up this place. Oh no, what happened to the market? Or was it great timing on your part in leverage, in um risking, in setting out to do something that you're very passionate about?

SPEAKER_03 18:27

Yeah. And that's where it becomes tricky, the feelings of everything you just said, because knowing that real estate was taken off that time and it was drew in us. I mean, I tell people sometimes we forget it was a very sad time. It was a time that people was losing family members. Correct. You know, we didn't know the state of what a world was gonna be. When people say, I can't wait till we get back to normal. No, it's a new norm. There's not gonna be a norm. That's right. And believe it or not, when I started doing curbside, you know, a lot, I'm like, things started getting invented during this time for businesses to keep going. Yeah, you had some businesses that couldn't adapt for change, right? So they they were either closed down or either had to change ownerships, or you had the bigger ones who had the expandable income and finances to figure out how they can pivot. Yes, sir. And literally, you if you look back at all the people who have pivoted, literally is still successful today and still keeping those same um attributes towards their business. Yeah. And I mean, I mean, you think about all the businesses out there that has either done delivery or I mean, even the food delivery stuff. I mean, I even mean I said to myself, so the height of COVID, I got somebody bringing my food to me in their car solo. I don't know how they're what their health is like, right? Right, but still we trusted it. Absolutely, you know, because it made sense it's like less people around. Yeah. So opening it, opening up see here aquatics during that time, I realized I could just bring a difference to the hobby. Okay. And people wanted change. I know I needed a change in it. And it's because I'm very passionate about what I do, and anything I put forward, I always try my best to do the best, the best of what it can do. That's right. So, what I wanted to do is in more like introduce to San Antonio a shop that has more options, more education-wise, different platforms of different services. Not only do we do aquariums and like of um corals and salt water, we do a lot of like water features and okay, ponds and bubble walls and so now you guys also install in homes and stuff like that?

The Shift From Sales To Trust

Mark Jones 20:35

Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. Wow. Okay, we'll get into that. We'll get into that. Wow. Yeah, I didn't know that. So as you transition, opening up the new business, real estate was starting to peter out, so to speak. How was your business on the real estate side at that time?

SPEAKER_03 20:55

It was great as well. And that's the thing. The term is busy. Yeah, I was busy and I didn't want to lose focus on creating this business and also lose momentum in my real estate track. Right. Back then, people, of course, we had we called the bidden wars or multiple offers. Absolutely. And we had to be creative. And one thing I was telling someone is in real estate, real estate shift from being uh perfect in sales then to turn into a trustworthy entity. Okay, explain that. Meaning, meaning you could be a great salesman. Okay. And back, I want to say people got your business because you uh pitched or you did a list and presentation well.

Mark Jones 21:37

Right.

SPEAKER_03 21:38

Right. And you can show that you are great at sales. Yeah. But when it comes to the trustworthiness now of today's market, it is the people that you can trust, meaning the person that's going to tell you the right from wrong, the person who's gonna give you that tough conversation, the person's gonna say, hey, we can't sell it for this much, or we can do this, or it's not the great time to buy, or it's not a great time to sell, depending on their situation. And I think that's where for me, when the market was joined that time, I actually had to shift gears of, hey, I am this busy creating my business. Right. I can't just be like, okay, yeah, I can go and take you to this home, even though I know you're not pre-approved, and see if we can increase your, you know, I had to be honest.

Mark Jones 22:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:18

And be like, look, we can't waste each other's time because this is a waste of your time as well. Because they start to look into this vision, like, man, I love this, I love this, I love this. And then we realize you can't have it. You can't have it. And a little of all of it comes down to me to give you that impression that you could. That's right.

Mark Jones 22:39

So I I gotta be honest. And and you know, I I love that you're you're mentioning that because I believe that that is one of the biggest faults of today's market and why you're seeing realtors not as busy, why you're seeing them not have as much business, that much referral repeat customers, because people are still buying. Don't get me wrong. But the newer to the business agent is not confident enough in their craft and in their specialty that they can articulate, just like you said, the truth with conviction and with passion to know that I'm the expert. This is the advice that I'm gonna give you. Why? Because, like he said, we're not gonna waste each other's time here. If you are a serious buyer, let's go on ahead and see how we buy this home before we go and fall in love with this home.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

Yeah. And even on the seller's point now, yeah, is when I do lists and presentations, I say, no, well, what well, we are here to see if this this relationship is a bull fit for both of us. So they were like, Well, what do you mean what it means to you? I'm like, Well, depends on, okay, if I can give you information or like a point of either contact or either homework or even to see how quickly or how sound that it becomes. And it's almost kind of like, okay, I cannot continue to represent if you like I don't have a I don't have a uh a magical ball that's gonna make things work. You have to do your part as well, you know, and it it is one of those things that when you start to have those tough conversations, you can do a little maybe a laugh or icebreaker or stuff like that. And they understand is like, you know what? He's a little different. Absolutely. And I've I've had I've had positions that they've interviewed four or five other agents, and I get selected because I come in and I'm not being rough, I'm not being strong. I'm just saying, look, this is gonna be a both thing because I let them know, look, this is what I have on my plate, and this is what I have on other plates. And you know, it's almost kind of having like tradesmen that overcommit, right? You know, you you get or you get like a service company that said, Well, we could do it, we could do it, and it started and stopped. And then three days later, start it and stop. And it's called almost kind of like I don't want to overcommit when I know I have so much else going on. Correct.

A Dead Fish Sparked Entrepreneurship

Mark Jones 24:58

So if I get an opportunity for list and presentation, I may have another agent with me and say, Hey, this is going to be your point of contact, and then I do a referral to that agent so that you know and what what you're essentially doing in that is setting proper expectations, painting yourself and being true to the fact that you are an expert, and you probably set out to do it to protect your the rest of your schedule, the rest of your businesses that you have going on, but all the while that is the right way that it should be done to protect your time, to protect their time, to protect your value that you're providing to them. And for some odd reason, people haven't kind of taken to that yet. Yeah, they still want to do the sales thing instead of doing the truth thing, if that makes sense. Yeah, you know. So, anywho, tell me more before we go into more real estate stuff. Tell me more about this aquatics place, man. Oh man. I know you got the passion for it from Barbados. Oh, yeah. Still got a little bit of the accent from the islands.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

Yes, yes, I do. I do.

Mark Jones 26:06

There it is. I love it. So obviously, your passion for that. Why did it come down to this to see her aquatics? Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_03 26:18

The story is long. I'm gonna try and keep it short. I'm one of those people that when I get challenged, I'm very competitive. Okay. I I teach my young people with my drum line as well to be competitive. I grew up with a competitive group of young men in Corona, Queens. Okay. Every one of them are very successful up to this day. So that's the competitive part of it. But when I see something that even though I had I'm not aligned to do it, but I know can be done better. Yeah. And this makes you change. And literally, that's what happened. I bought a fish that died before I got home and it went back, and it was like, hey, this fish died. Now, mind you, in this hobby, I know some people's hobbies. My wife told me my hobbies, you got all expenses hobbies from the sneakers to the fish, you know, dropping like$300 and$400 a year.$200 like cars and watches. But no, but some of these fish get very very expensive, you know. You know, I bought this fish for like$300-something bucks. But see, hey, it's not a watch, but it's still$300 something bucks for the fish and it dies on the way home. And my wife was like, You bought a dead fish.

Mark Jones 27:24

So I go back and you know, hey, it's still worth$150. No, right?

SPEAKER_03 27:28

So I go back and to keep the story short, uh had a conversation with one of the employees, and then um the owner came and we talked outside. And and lucky for me, you know, I think it was a perfect time that my daughter's with me because I don't know if my anger or if I was just like, no, what, you know what, I'm not gonna come back here ever again. I think it made me think a little bit more because I had I was switching arms consistently talking to him about this case, about my dead fish, you know? And and and it the terminologies that that I mean the different words came to his mouth. He wasn't happy, but I'm like, wait, I'm the one that shouldn't be happy. I spent all this money and there's nothing right to show for it, not even for two hours. And he said the words of, you know, if you think you can do this better. Oh, no, you know, he said, when you open up the business of uh of a fish store you ever thought about dreaming about doing, you could do what you want to do. Oh, and I said, bet. I might just do that. And that and that that new that New York that New York came out of me real quick. I was at bet. All right, I got you. So I drove home and wife was like, Where you didn't get back a fish? I said, We're opening a store in San Antonio. And she said, Why? I said, Well, he didn't give me back a fish. She's like, You want to open a store? We couldn't get back a fish. Don't be ridiculous, Reneal. And being ridiculous, she saw me really interested in it. Yeah, I started doing the the business plan. Sure. And then I actually had a client that her husband had passed away during COVID.

SPEAKER_02 28:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:53

And she had a fish thing. And she wanted to get rid of it. And then one day she's like, you know what? It means so much to me. I watched him do this every Sunday. I'm gonna keep it, but I just need to move it. Guess what? Without thinking about the business, I thought a thing about me being a realtor. You know what? As realtors, you step in and do whatever it takes to make it happen, even if it is not even something that's within your platform, right? Helping move, helping dust, helping swimming. You do what it is.

Mark Jones 29:20

Matter of fact, it says it right behind you.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Yeah, yeah. There we go, whatever it takes. And and we were at the gym one day, and I told the gods say, Hey, y'all want to flex the muscles for real? Y'all want to move a fish tank this weekend? And they move the fish tank. And when she saw that we did it, she's like, Well, who do I who do I thank for this? And they were they pointing at me, I said, No, well, you can't pay me, you gotta pay them, and I'm just a realtor. And then two, two, two weeks or so with Donovan Road, she said, Reneal, you need to go into business for yourself. Oof. She's like, I called around town and realized how much it costs to move one of these things, and I think you got a niche for it. Wow. All the fish was accountable for looked like it never moved. And I started toying toying with it, and things went down and up. Then that's that's when my wife hopped in and she was like, you know what? If we can do it, it's let's let's sit down thing a business plan. So my my my invest in myself came from me doing my real estate deal. Sure. And instead of thinking about banks and stuff like that, I say, What's what's there to lose if I invest in myself? Right.

Mark Jones 30:18

And so that's lesson, worst case scenario.

SPEAKER_03 30:21

Yeah, so so so so and then then down the road, that gentleman came in my shop and said, Hey man, I just came by to check out your shop. See you. I said, Man, you know what the buzz. Yeah. Came hey when I opened a shop, I think there's so many owners from different places in San Antonio came to check out my shop. And it's okay. Why? Because competition makes everything grow. Everything better. And and and and but think about it is that people think I think they call that capitalism. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the thing about it is that they're afraid to collaborate. Collaboration, we realize collaboration in the past or even currently is still very much successful when you see brands collaborate. Absolutely. But I think when you're in a small business standpoint, people like, oh, you're taking away all my business or what so forth. So I've seen multiple people, and what's sad about it is that they don't remember me. The amount of money I spend in all their stores, right? They don't remember that I know who they are when they walk in my shop. Yeah. Or when they're coming to scout to see what I'm doing different. So what started it? So when that gentleman came in and checked it out, I told him, Man, I need to send you a thank you card for what you what you said. Wow. And when he went down that road, he was like, Really? It's because I said, Well, well, don't flatter yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. I saw there's money to be made. Yeah, you know, but it it uh it's all about that that expectation, the vision, and the timing. Yeah. I mean, I don't think if I started it in 2023, it would be the same. I think it was just knowing when people were coming out of that phase of getting back out into the world and starting something new. There has been a study that when I before I started the shop that since people were home more, aquarium business sales went up because people couldn't be out and about.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:02

I think I mean they they got more dogs, more cats, more pets sales went up. Yeah, because people were home.

Mark Jones 32:09

I believe that. Now, I want to go back to something that you mentioned, and it it is the idea of the collaboration. And then I think this is any industry. It's also an inspiration for this show. I have lenders on here all the time, all that good stuff. And what number one, we have all realized the folks that I have on here, same industry, same one would think, oh, he's got a competitor on there. No, no, no, no, no. That's not what we are when in this room. We are collaborating, we are working towards the greater good, but they're able to do that because they both share or we share a mindset of abundance versus this mindset of scarcity.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

Yeah.

Mark Jones 32:50

And and the folks that came to visit you a little scared, that's their mindset. Whereas yours is collaboration can only make us better or create more competition, etc. That's a mindset of abundance. Most definitely. Just wanted to let that be known.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

Yeah, yeah. And that there are some that I I there are some, maybe two or three shops out of the whole and inside of San Antonio that I do have a relationship with because if I don't have something, they uh that I would send my customers to them. If their customer, if they realize they don't have it, hey, contact Ronnie, let's see her aquatics and see if he got it, and we we make it work because it it comes that down to the community.

Mark Jones 33:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:30

You know what I mean? Just it just comes down to that.

unknown 33:33

Wow.

Mark Jones 33:34

So as you uh transition to and you didn't transition away from real estate, you were able to stack this on top of what you're already doing. What are some things that helped you successfully do that? Or was it always a success? Were there any failures going through this?

SPEAKER_03 33:52

The first thing is big shout out to my wife, man. Amen. Uh, she was the biggest part of it that she's like, Look, you know, you got all these going on. I want you to think if this is gonna be uh doable. And if it's doable, I'm here to support. She didn't she didn't say, well, we'll take this off with her in every aspect is here to support. And I think the support, first of all, comes to be the number one platform. This is the foundation.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:18

Once you have that support, man, you could open up anything. Like today, you could open up a beeper shop or a phone shop, and people might not even know what beepers are, but good point. We know about my buttons like it's just that support of knowing that this is doable because we are in it together. And open that up, opening during that time is also finding the right employees, yeah, finding the right vendors, the ones that said that they can commit to a certain time frame. Because that was one of the things that I was really concerned about. Sure. Knowing that I'm gonna be dependent on somebody else to get it to me. And when I was in aviation, we used to make all these jokes about delivery.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 35:01

Like all the delivery services is out there. You have a person that you order something from, and they have to trust a third party to get it to you. That third party is not engaged with you or that person. So if it gets there late, guess who you call? Not them, the person who sent it. Yep. So I realize we have to start having some type of trial and error situations happening, having some type of insurances, having some type of um redundancies in case something doesn't work, something else have to kick in. So we realized I went through a whole phase of just learning and deep diving. Tell people that phase of time of being a real estate agent and then getting my business off the ground, I became a ghost. Literally.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:42

I mean, who saw me at the gym saw me in the gym, and that was it.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:46

Who saw my me as my client saw me, that was it. It was like I had to be almost two places at once, but the support allowed me to prioritize, yeah. Especially what it is that I need to do more that day or less that day.

Mark Jones 35:59

Well, that tells me that you already were regiment and and very methodical in in regards to your time before you even decided to do that. Because somebody that isn't in control of their schedule, their day-to-day, probably wouldn't have made it past month one doing both at the same time. I can only imagine starting an aquatics sales service business and all that goes into that, in addition to learning how the fish need to be cared for, how this needs to be cared for, how what the tanks need to be, and all of the level, dude, I'm mind blown right now.

SPEAKER_03 36:38

Oh, well, well, man, technology have gone really far too. There's this app that I can watch all my parameters, wow, my aquariums that I have set up at businesses, schools, and and residential areas. Wow. So basically, there's some people that's like, oh, that's just too much money. And I tell them, hey, is a tool, it's not gonna save your fish, but it's gonna help me navigate and watch your parameters, make sure everything is stable. There are some people who start off the hobby without it, yeah. And then when they realize what it can do, they're like, okay, this makes sense. You know? And be and not when you say it like this, I'm like, yeah, I I I was I was two places at once. I don't know. Most of the installs we did, well, not most, every install we did, I was there. And coming from being in real estate, I was able to make them think about it on a different level. Uh when they wanted to put aquarium in the wall, when they want to put aquarium right where it is with the front doors, like, hey, that might not be a good idea. Or if you can think about cutting out open the walls, hey, you might want to get an engineering here to check out if it's a low, a low-bearing wall. Yeah. If you can put it on this side of the wall, you might want to get what else is connected to these outlets? Let's change it to GFI. Well, that's not necessary. I said, this is what might happen. If a case of even not just you, a fish splash water outside the aquarium and it just somehow ends up on a surf protector or something and blows that unit, it blows everything that's in series with that unit. Yes. I'm like, oh, so yeah.

Mark Jones 38:02

And and that you didn't gain from your engineer degree from science, tech, whatever. No, yeah, you you learned that from real estate and going through the situations that I'm sure your buyers or sellers have have had before. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:16

Oh yeah. And and listen, I and I, and this is the other thing about being honest, right? When I've had guys like, hey, I want a 700 a gallon aquarium, like, hey man, that's gonna be too big for this house, or for the load for the weight for the floor, or when you walk in a room, you want it to look like it flows and not a TV and boom, there's a big old thing there. You want it to like be a focal point. You're spending all this money, let this be another kind of engaging point that you look at. Yeah. So when I come in and I share with them, hey, this would be a better option, or even if they say, Well, we want to put it here, what do you think? If we put it here, what should we do? And I said, Well, we can maybe put some like fake plants around it because all the light that hits it creates a whole another parameter difference. So just give them some insight of what can happen. And they're like, hmm, never thought of that before. Wow. And most and the fun thing, most of my clients in in in see here aquatics don't even know I'm in real estate. Really? Now, some people's like, man, you're missing out the clientele. I said, What it is is that right off the bat, I don't want to feel like trying to put real estate down, you know. But when they find out naturally, yeah, or I've come in up and say, Well, how do you know all this? So, well, I never told you, but I'm a real estate agent. Because I think what happens is that I've met people that as soon as you tell them, hey, you're in real estate, they think that the first thing you want to do is get them to buy or sell things. Right. Uh, especially I I do really well at um FISBOS. Okay, I I I like for sale by owners, man. I mean, because I have this thing that I'm like, well, okay, well, who did you talk to before? You know, and I give them all this kind of thing. So it allows me to to to give them a different point of view. Most definitely. You know, completely different perspective. And I said, if you want to feel horrible and get shut down really quick, call somebody who's selling their house already. Because they already feel like they've they've known it all, right? And also that they've feel that they've talked to every agent out there. But the difference is I always share with them, look, listen, if you don't get it sold and you want like some some feedback, I could watch some data to let you know what's doing in the area, right? I'm willing to share this with you. And I'm just sharing it as an education. And then before you know it's like, what if I give you for a month? I'm like, that's all I need.

Mark Jones 40:20

What you're doing, I know you know it. Most listening may not have caught it, but what you're doing is providing them with value. You're giving them value outside of the scope of what they currently have or have access to. Maybe they've got access to it, but they have no clue how to use it.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

Yeah.

Mark Jones 40:39

You're bringing that to the forefront, providing that value, and now being painted in their mind as an expert.

SPEAKER_02 40:45

Yeah.

Mark Jones 40:46

And for them, after a month of not having any bites, they go, Well, this guy over here is giving us free info. AKA free value. Let's see what he can do if he's getting paid.

SPEAKER_02 40:58

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:58

Yeah, that literally happened to me in Timwood Park. The lady said, I'm gonna give you a month. Wow. And she's like, I know most agents want to sign for a year and 90 days and 60 days, but I'm gonna give you a month. I said, That's all I need. And honestly, that's not all I need. I need somebody to get an offering in a month. Right, right. That's step one. That's step one. And I mean, so I said, Okay, so I so I had all my ducks in a row, and I said, before we sign that paper, I want to get to find out, hey, how soon can we take pictures? How soon can I get all this information? So I started doing everything sold and signed it in a day. We had it up. You were listed, boom. We listed. Wow. And within that, I think within two weeks, we got a we got an offer. We got a bite. Okay. I was like, Oh man, thank you, man. And then when it went from there, thank you, Jesus.

Non Negotiables Faith Health Giving

Mark Jones 41:42

You know, you know, oh man. Okay, so let's get into some things. Where are we at on time? Boom. We're probably coming out, maybe 40 minutes. Alyssa, on the little thing right there, there's a little time, very bottom right corner. All right. Telling you, time's like that. When you're having fun, there you go. Talking about stuff you know and are passionate about. It's truly what it is. And like I say for everybody, for me, this is this is the cheapest form of therapy now that everything in this room is paid for. You know, yeah, I hear that. So for you, Ronnie, what what what type of let's call it characteristics, characteristics, daily activities that you promote, that you practice, being able to, because I myself have multiple businesses. This is the one that drives the money in, not the podcast, but the more the mortgage career originating loans, but am still able to prioritize different businesses there. Me, I'm pretty regimen when it comes to certain parts of my life. On other parts, I'm not so much.

SPEAKER_02 42:58

Yeah.

Mark Jones 42:59

For you, what are some of the non-negotiables in your daily activities that allow you to not only be a real estate agent, but a pretty solid real estate agent as well as a business owner, father, husband, etc.

SPEAKER_03 43:16

God first. Okay. Starting off the day with God. Okay. My wife and I, we started doing walking in the morning times after we drop our daughter off at work. I mean, it's at school.

Mark Jones 43:26

Did you say walking?

SPEAKER_03 43:28

Yeah, yeah. Walking.

Mark Jones 43:30

How old are we?

SPEAKER_03 43:33

No, I can see Ronneer walking with a stick. But no, but actually, that's the thing. I I get out the car, then to walk her into school. I'm like, I could just drop you right there. Yes, TJ. Two shades. But it's fine. But yeah, but yeah, we walk her in some time to time. But yeah, but yeah, we my wife and I we go we we walk for a little bit in the morning time before our day gets started. But getting the day started at home with prayer and with God first is what I think keeps not thinking, I know. It keeps everything balanced. Okay. I'll be honest with you. There was one morning that we got a call that was very, it was an emergency at like one of our schools that we have an aquarium at. And that whole day was just disheveled. And I had to sit back when that evening time came, it was like, why did today feel so out of place? And it was almost kind of like that God knocking on your doors, like, because you didn't start.

Mark Jones 44:21

Something was missing.

SPEAKER_03 44:22

Yeah. You know? And I would say that is the first thing that I prioritize is not non-negotiable. The second thing is trying to keep healthy. Amen.

Mark Jones 44:30

Yeah. No, I'm I'm right there with you. Key word is trying. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:34

Trying to keep healthy. Because yes, I mean, I mean, we can we can quickly go down this rabbit hole of eating different things that people bring into the office or whatever. But trying to keep healthy, trying to keep a level eye and try to be mindful of everything that you do throughout the day. And I think also giving back. There's some people that come to me as like, man, you're always in a good good mood. I'm like, I'm glad you see that because I'm not gonna feel that way. It's the other day, I I was I did a post on Facebook the other day, I'll say two or three weeks ago. I walked into the gas station and my accent came out a little bit from Barbados, and I said, good afternoon, right? So I said, you know, in in the islands, you say good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night. That's before the conversation. You're not saying it at the end of the conversation. Right, right. So I so I walked in the the gas and said, good afternoon, right? And a guy turned around and was like, What's so good about it? Ooh. And I said, Man, you could have just messed up this guy's blessing today, you know. And I just realized that just giving that positivity back out there, like being like either a compliment or saying hello, a lot of people do not feel seen nowadays. That's very true. And when you say good morning, I knew I grew up when you walk into a room, and you the person that walked into that room, you have to say something. You have to yourself be known. Yes, they say hello, how you guys doing? Something. Yeah, but nowadays it's kind of like the the you know, the head nod of like, hmm, you know, like okay. And so I think for me, given a little part of me being positive, I I I bring up a lot about my drumline a lot because they look at leadership. Okay. I tell people that, you know, the parents is one thing, but my young people, they can tell if you are not being a great leader. Because closely, if you're being a leader, you are either being, I would say, challenged or or or rated from the ceiling to the floor really quickly. And you have to be able to do exactly what you say you do. So why should I teach or help these young people say, hey, have that relationship with God, start off the day off right, and I don't start off mine off right. So it's almost like practicing what you preach type thing. Yeah. So those are the things that I do to try my best to be to be uh successful for the day, and also that is non-negotiable.

Cold Plunge As Daily Discipline

Mark Jones 46:55

And those are solid. Yeah, those are solid. I I don't think that people realize the impact of the little things that start your day. For me, prayer, number one. Second, I get my butt in the cold plunge every morning. Every morning? Every morning. Come on, man.

SPEAKER_03 47:15

That's that's every morning.

Mark Jones 47:16

Every morning. Every morning.

SPEAKER_03 47:17

And man, I bet you I do it in two days, I'll be like, man, that's for the birds.

Mark Jones 47:21

Or you do it in two days and you're addicted like me. You never know.

SPEAKER_03 47:25

Well, what got you into it?

Mark Jones 47:27

Honestly, I so I am now CEO of Lone Bot. And when I went up to Utah about it was probably five, six, seven months ago, I met with the rest of the owners. And after we had done our complete, it was like 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. think tank of how we're gonna roll this business out, all the planning, everything. One of our partners said, Hey, you guys come on back to the house. We're I'm gonna do cold plunge and sauna rotations for us all. We've had a long day. You guys be done, you'll go back to the hotel and you'll just crash out. Like, okay, sure. So us four guys went back to his mansion and he had the hot tub set or the sauna set up right next to the hot tub was the cold plunge. And sure enough, we all did rotations, three minutes apiece, three minutes, three minutes, three minutes. And after that, it was like, Man, how often do you do this? And he said, every day to every other day. And I said, Well, why? He said, Well, the starting my day off with something hard is how I like to get my day started. So literally within that week, I said, Hey, babe, Kristen, what do you think about getting a sauna? You want to get a sauna? Yeah, as a matter of fact, uh, here's three options right away. I said, But the deal is I get my cold plunge at the same time. So I got my cold plunge, got the whole setup, and I started doing it in the bathtub, and it was getting annoying having to go to the gas station every morning, every other morning, because it would stay cold for one to two days, and then that was it. Yeah. So when I got the whole setup, I made a commitment to myself that no matter how tired I am, no matter how beat I am, I'm gonna get in this cold plunge for at least three minutes every morning. And people will ask me, does it suck? Yes, every time. Do you get used to it? No, you don't. As a matter of fact, it is like a new experience every single time. But past the 20-second mark, you're golden. Just sit there and do it. Do you there for 30 minutes? Three minutes. Three minutes. Three minutes, that's it. And on the weekends, I'll do three minutes in and then like 10 minutes in the sauna, back to two minutes, then 10 minutes, and then one minute, and then back to 10 minutes. And it just does now, mind you, all this comes from research and and seeing what it does for the blood circulation, for dorphins, for all of those things. And it leads back to what you were talking about. I want my health to be in check.

SPEAKER_02 49:59

Yeah.

Mark Jones 49:59

And if these are little things that I can do each day that aid to my better health, yeah, why not? In addition, it helps me mindset-wise. There is no doubt in my mind that I can't get up and just go on with my day anymore.

SPEAKER_03 50:15

Yeah, I've got to start with it.

Mark Jones 50:16

Gotta get that suck in. Gotta get it in.

SPEAKER_03 50:19

So it's like a system, like a chiller that that water flows through. That's exactly what it is. Believe it or not, that's what we put on aquariums for oxalavas.

Mark Jones 50:26

That's where I got mine. It's a Titan chiller. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's exactly right. Oh man. Yep. So I keep mine at about 50 degrees, and some days I wake up, it's 48. Some days I wake up, it's 52. But any given time, it fluctuates because it has to keep that regulated. But even still, it it sucks every single time. Right. Yep. But that's that. I'm just feeling cold about it.

SPEAKER_03 50:52

Yeah, give me chills. Three minutes in, three minutes out, two minutes in. Oh man. Yeah. You know what? One day I might have to try that. Come over to the house. I'm telling you, jump your butt in there.

Staying Consistent In Today’s Market

Mark Jones 51:01

You'd be addicted. I tried to get my dad to do it. He's he ain't having it. He's too old for that. So, Ronille, let's let's finish this off well rounded. Being that this is, and you've already told us how your real estate and aviation helped you open the business and some of the practice that you use there, using in today's business. Let's shift to today's market and we'll finish it off with this. You as a multi-entrepreneur, we call it serial entrepreneur. You're running multiple businesses, but still able to maintain. And is your real estate business maintaining or is it still gradually growing? We've all seen a drop. There's no doubt from 2020, 2021 to today. But in regards to that, is it still growing? Are you maintaining? Is maintaining fine while you build this other business?

SPEAKER_03 52:01

No, it's still growing. Okay.

Mark Jones 52:04

What are some things that you are doing that that could help the listeners out there that don't even have separate businesses?

SPEAKER_03 52:15

Man, a lot. Okay, so keeping in contact. Okay. Keeping in contact, but before keeping in contact, coming up with a strategy of how you do it. There's so many different platforms out there that you can put for text messages, for emails. You gotta be careful putting out last emails nowadays. Yeah. But I think just that personalization to it, keeping connected with the families and what they do in their regular day. Even like just even the kids, even the dogs, you know, just saying, saying hello, you know, I've seen you here or so forth. So keeping up with with your with your either past clients or even the people that know you. I think I've heard a lot of people say they had a friend that went with someone else who could have forgot that they were a real estate agent. And in my mind, I'm like, even people in Home Depot don't don't even leave unless Tola know I'm a real estate agent. That's exactly right. It comes up in every conversation. And I think what it is is just having that structure of okay, what am I gonna do today? Are we gonna do five people today? Are we gonna do 10 people today in either contact through different forms of um connectivity? Yeah. So back in the days, we just had the telephone, and back then we didn't even have call waiting. Right. You know what I mean? Uh you call and well they actually had real call waiting. You call and line was busy, you would wait till line is free, right? So, so so so now we have calling, you got FaceTime, you got text message, you have you have email, you have your all your social media platforms, you have now video content, you have all these different ways of connecting. There are agents that I know that actually do visual hellos to their client. Yeah, send them a video video, say, hey, and it's nothing like all suit up and everything. They're getting ready, walk to the car. Hey, just thinking about you, hope all things well. Click. Yes. It's just an engagement. So to keep knowing that who you are as a real estate agent. So the referrals also, because the referrals may not be for them. It may be through someone else who knows them that heard them talking about you. That's right. And it just goes onto a different platform. So I think when it comes to that, is definitely that. Then also building your real estate team. Okay. Having a mortgage company, person like yourself, your title company like yourself, all these people who are dependable and people who can get the job done when the job comes in place.

SPEAKER_02 54:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:40

Because I've seen a lot of people that would say, Well, I've waited so long and now all this has happened, I feel so bad. And it's not about it flopped or fumbled, right? It's just that of the you have to know who your clients are too. Like, for instance, if you knew you had a client that owned like three different private jets compared to another client, you treat everybody the same, but you know that person is all about time. If he contacts you directly, you got to answer your phone. That's right. You know, and that's literally what it's like. So this is the structure, the strategy, also spending some time for you. Okay. I think what it is we focus so much again the business that taking care of us is not the first part. And it goes by the wayside, yeah. You know, and I think visual optics says it all. You know, if you're not taking care of you and the pride of you, when you step through someone's door or someone sees you, or you through conversation, or just meeting them right off the bat, they're like, Do you always dress like this? I say, No, not all the time, but I mean I'm at work. So, yes, you so even, but if you see me on a soccer field, my daughter, in the evening time, no, I'm not dressed like this, you know. But it is just that whole perspective of a well-balanced and you have to create it, and it has to start off in bit bite-sized pieces until you can get up to a Reese's buttercup. Amen. Literally in in that format, you know. So starting off with a strategy, starting off with taking care of you, starting off of how you build your your day, and and then do each bit at a time so it becomes a habit. And before you know it, is this part of life? That's right. Habit stacking until it's every day, is every day. And and and and I know I know a lot of people ask me, uh like you said, no, man, you're busy. I'm like, no, and we talked about before, you know, busy doesn't sound like a compliment, you know, busy doesn't make me feel like, oh man, you're doing all this. No, most people don't even know I'm doing all this stuff. So when it's like, I mean, so when it contact me and say, hey man, I didn't know you had all this going on. And in my mind, a little bit of it was like, because I didn't know if that was gonna make it or break it. That's right. Because as soon as somebody knows, oh, he got this, he got that, he got this, it was like, man, I don't know, he might be too busy for me. Amen. You know, that kind of stuff. So I just literally keep their business letting them feel like they're the only client I got.

Mark Jones 56:50

Wow. And and that's that's powerful. Yeah, it really is. Not only the regimen that you're you're painting here, the traits that you're bringing up that should be practiced by everyone, not just those that have separate businesses. But the way you go about it, yeah, truly it it is it's different, it's refreshing, and hopefully those listening gravitate towards the the actions that you're you're displaying.

SPEAKER_02 57:20

Yeah.

Being Top Of Mind After Closing

Mark Jones 57:21

Another thing that I want to make sure that I mention is the idea of when you said they forgot you, the the realtor, why they didn't use the same one. I used to give a presentation about being top of mind. And I would show how to share your mobile app or create things that are sticky, even if you've got to use technology to do so. Most of the time, realtors don't refer you, or I'm sorry, customers, previous customers don't refer you business, don't use you again, is because they forgot your name. And shame on you, because we have so many means of communication, so many different platforms. There should never be a time that a realtor is not in contact or in front of their previous customers, at minimum, with as much as we have available.

SPEAKER_03 58:12

Yeah, and also for recommendations and referrals for other things that's not real estate appropriate. Like I had a client the other day call me and say, Hey, do you know where I could find a mobile mechanic? I'm like, Yeah, I got I got a guy. And like they're calling me for things that's not even real estate, right? Because I told them, hey, at the closing table, I have a time with them, maybe we'll go out to eat, you know, or be having a be we set up another time of basically, oh, that's another thing too, is after closing, the the the the three-month check-in, okay, six-month check-in, a year, people always make it sure for Christmas. I think Christmas time is great. You get buried into everybody else who's sending you for Christmas. You know what I mean? But then I make sure that like a couple of days off of New Year's, yeah, like I'm like, hey, happy new years. It's 12 days in, but I can still say because I haven't seen you. And they chuckle and laugh, say, Hey, what's going on? We thought of you, blah, blah, blah, that kind of stuff. So that those check-ins, but but but one of the things is that is after I always make sure, hey, if you guys need anything at all, give me a call, especially when they're new to San Antonio. That's one thing I did a lot of referrals and of coming into the city, especially for military. And they're just gonna go off of what people either on base tells them. It's true, and or anything, or people next door, and most of us don't even know our neighbors, right? That's true. So, so you're not gonna go to the neighbor and say, Hey, where's the closest um supermarket? You can look online. And then someone would either reach out and say, Hey, I'm looking for this and this. Since I know you say your family's vegan, I have a family member who's looking this. Where can they find X, Y, and Z products? Hey, I got a store for you. That's right. You know, and I think just making yourself available and let them know, hey, for anything else that's not real estate available, I think, I mean, um, related, I think that's what makes them keeps you in mind is more. Most definitely. You know, so yeah.

Subscribe Goals And Final Thanks

Mark Jones 1:00:02

Well, no, this has been a great conversation catching up. Oh, yeah, man. Um, been a minute. It has been a minute, and and I'm very proud uh of where you dude. This is awesome. Well, thank you, man. Yeah. That being said, one of the previous podcasts called Key Factors, one of the key factors of this is Ronaldo is not necessarily talking to you guys about things that are new, things that are innovative, things are using AI and technology. These are all things that should have been embedded in our craft from day one. If you didn't learn them day one, you saw somebody that was doing them and you adopted them, and now you're also a prospering agent. But I think the biggest thing is actually doing them. Yeah. That that's something that folks can't stick to long term enough for it to become fruitful for them. And one that believes in just staying the course, finding a way, whatever it takes. I've seen fruits from doing those actions. And I have to attest to that. So, anywho, Reneel, thank you so much for that conversation, man. Man, thank you for having me, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:14

I mean, hey, it's it's been a minute. It's been a minute. Definitely thank you for having me.

Mirror Check And Closing Message

Mark Jones 1:01:18

Well, guys out there, Gales out there, we appreciate you continuing to like and subscribe what we have here. We are, and if you could, Alyssa, throw up the reference. As you guys can see here, we are sitting at 49,200 subscribers, about 800 subscribers away from 50,000. And this has grown almost 5,000 subscribers in the last three weeks with the trajectory that we're going. I'm certain that we are going to hit 50,000 by the end of this week. That being said, I have all of you to thank for continuing to like and subscribe and share this podcast. And then you can take it off of that thing. Bang. My commitment to you guys is to continue bringing you experts, not only just experts, but experts that are willing to share their journey, their transparency, their trials and tribulations, what it took for them to get to where they are now and willing to share how they got there. Again, thanks for tuning in. Thanks for subscribing, and uh, we will catch you on the next one.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:22

Look at yourself in the mirror and ask, did I get better today? Monday, get better. Tuesday, get better. Wednesday, get better. If you do that for five years, ten years, fifteen years, how much better will you be? Are you getting better every single day? That's the real question. And it all comes down to taking small steps. You don't have to accomplish everything in one day or even one week. Just focus on getting a little better every single day.