Welcome to Action Solves Everything, the show for those who want to stop overthinking and start producing. I'm your host, Alex Montagu, broker leader and founder of Lockstep Realty. Around here we believe movement creates momentum. Clarity comes from doing. And the agents who take action are the ones who win. Every episode is built to help you grow your skills, your confidence and your career. Now let's get to work. Welcome to another episode of Action Solves Everything. We got my good friend, a colleague in the business, somebody that I love working with every day. He is one of the most skilled no nonsense negotiators in the real estate market here in Indianapolis, James Robinson. He clipped north of $38 million of business last year on just shy of a 700, $750,000 per transaction price. James totally crushes it. Dude, man, I've been working to get you on this pod since we kicked off. What's up dude? How you doing? I'm good, Alex. How's things? Ah, man, it's, it is the spring market in Indianapolis, you know what I mean? Certainly is. We're rocking and rolling. Yeah. So look, I mean one of my favorite things, you know, meeting you a handful of years ago and essentially joining forces at EXP is just watching you operate with a centralized focus around just getting the job done every single day. And I'd love to touch on like, I want, I want to talk about how you just like the mindset behind you attacking this business and what makes you you every single day. Sure. Well, I mean I've been so. Just, just to go back. I'm 37 now. I started, I started the job when I was 18, straight out of, straight out of school. Didn't go to, didn't go to college immediately because I knew I wanted to get into the, the world of work, real estate. Real estate. Defin with me because I felt that it, you know, matched my skill set that I was starting to develop as a, as a young adult. So jumped in, operated in the UK market for 13, 13 years or so. Started as a, what they call as a trainee negotiator over in the, over in the uk. The interesting, the interesting part is there's no, no licensing requirements in England. I actually dropped off a resume into a local real agent that said that I'd always wanted to get into banking because I was handing my resume out to banks and to real estate agents. And the manager of the branch phoned me up and said, you just dropped me a resume that said you've always wanted to get into Banking. I said oh, you know, my apologies, I'll come and drop a new resume off shortly. Which I did. So printed one off the correct version, dropped it off and she said, well appreciate that, we've actually got a position opening, you're available to start tomorrow. And the next day I was showing houses so that the barriers to entry in the UK are significantly lower than they are in the US which was obviously positive in this instance. And yeah, like I said, started my career as an 18 year old after three years or so I was managing that branch that I started at three years prior and never looked back. Worked for two of the largest corporate real estate agents in the country. The self employed model didn't actually exist in, in the UK until actually until fairly recently when Keller Williams and EXP launched in, launched in London which is, you know, both are going from strength to strength at the moment. But prior, very different, like I said, very different model but it was an awesome place to cut my teeth and you know, eventually help set me up for success when I moved over, you know, when I moved over here 13 years later. So why don't you talk about some of like the, like the substantial and stark differences between like business over there and some of the roles and responsibilities you had there versus like what a day in the life is like for you today or even when you moved over, you know, 13 years later. Yeah, so very different. I mean as I said when I started, no, no self employed model. So I was employed by a corporate, a corporate company and I was given and tasked with or had various different roles and responsibilities and I had my management team that I had to report into. There were several levels of management as there are in most corporate structures. Initially when I started the job as a training negotiator, I was out there in the field knocking on doors, cold calling, looking to match, match buyers with, with properties. The interesting, the interesting difference in the UK as opposed to the American model is obviously over here we have buyer and seller representation which makes perfect sense. In the UK there is no buyer representation, only seller representation. The buyer represents themselves in the transaction but they have to come to you as the listing agent in order to, in order to place the offer. So you're essentially working both sides of the deal whilst only having produce your responsibilities to your, to your seller, you know, so the buyer's on their own essentially. So that's a, you know, it's a pretty stark difference but what it did was it gave me exposure to just about every negotiation situation that you can, you can imagine I mean, over the course of my time in England, I, you know, put together well north of a thousand transactions, essentially operating on both sides of, of each of those in a sense. So wow, again, there isn't, there isn't a situation that I don't feel equipped to deal with. Real estate can always surprise you, but by and large feel equipped to deal with. And I credit that to, you know, the experience I had in the, in the UK market for so many years. That is. Look, I think oftentimes agents in our marketplace take so much stuff for granted in terms of like the resources we have or the. I mean, I couldn't imagine marketing a property where I can't pick up a phone and call an agent or I'm navigating a deal. I mean, I do know of a handful of times I've represented a seller on a transaction where a buyer came up unrepresented. And I'm pretty certain none of those opportunities ever closed. And so I can imagine part of the education for you is like learning how understanding people, motivators, some wild stuff. I'm sure you have some crazy stories behind that. Yeah, no, for sure. And I think one of the other big pain points in the UK as well is just the sales cycle. So an average transaction in the UK assuming, assuming that there's just one buyer and one seller involved and no related sales or purchases, which we call a chain in the, in the uk, which is very common. I mean, you might have, you might have a transaction that's actually got seven, seven related properties and they all have to, they all have to close simultaneously. But if you've got one buyer, one seller and you know, which is essentially one transaction. Yeah. You're at least, you're at least four months out from it closing. The first time that Inc hits contractors on the day of closing, there's no earnest money. So there is, there's no contractual obligation from buyer or seller until the day of closing. So you can, you can pull the plug with zero repercussions. Either party can pull the plug with zero repercussions right up until the day of closing. And the, you know, the agent certainly doesn't get compensated for any expense or time. Buyer is at risk for, you know, mortgage fees, survey fees, whatever else. You know, I mean, I've had situations where everybody's been packed up and moved and we're ready to, we're on the road ready to close and the seller wakes up and decides they don't want to sell their house. How does that get handled? I Mean, like I said, there is no, unfortunately there's no, you know, that there isn't any, there's no repercussions essentially from the seller's perspective or the, all the buyer's perspective if they decide to, you know, if they decide to pull the plug. Zero recourse is the word I'm looking for. Was looking for that. There aren't any avenue, there aren't any avenues to, you know, to essentially obtain back any of those funds or lost time or oh my God, stress or whatever it may be. I mean you're just, you have to, you have to go and find another house. Makes it easy in a sense. But Sergeant Trucks, I was going to say that was one of the, one of the beautiful things here, if you like, was that the process is, is structured infinitely, infinitely better. I mean I thought it was incredible that we were putting offers together and there was a signed, you know, it was a signed contract with earnest money and a showing of, you know, a showing of financial willing right from the outset. And then the average time for that transaction to move through the gears and get through to closing was, was, was 30 days. So like I said, the sales cycle is squeezed dramatically. Significant less stress involved for all parties, you know, agents, buyers, sellers. So yeah, I mean the UK could certainly learn a thing or two from the American system or model and they've been talking about overhauling it for years and years and years, but nothing ever changes. Yeah, well, look, I think it's awesome to understand that as a key pillar to your background and part of your success story, but I'd love to roll that into you coming over to the US getting settled here because I think the timing of all of this is like it, it makes your story so impressive. Talk about like when you got in. Share with the listeners a little bit about like what the beginning was like for you and how you started building your business. Yeah, so I arrived over in the summer of 2019. I came over, got my license and big. My first kind of official day in real estate, if you like, was the 1st of April, 2020, which coincided with first COVID lockdowns. So I thought to myself, you know, my word, this is a, this is horrific timing. And there was obviously a lot of, you know, a lot of unknowns around it and you know, certainly some, certainly some fear because I didn't really have a choice but you know, but to succeed in this. I knew that I was always going to do my best to find a way but you know, I had no idea as to you Know, what Covid, if you like, was going to do to the market and you know, the, just the, you know, essentially the scope, you know, the scope of success, particularly for a new agent in the market who didn't know anybody and didn't have any, you know, didn't have any contacts. Now, obviously, fast forward five or six years, we didn't realize was that Covid would become a, you know, pretty tremendous period in the, in the property market, at least where, you know, demand was heavily outstripping supply. And actually the conditions were there for people who are willing to go out and work, which I was. There was definitely plenty of opportunity for success. So as I said, it landed here. Didn't have a network, certainly didn't have any financial resource behind me. So I knew I just needed, you know, essentially talk to as many people who wanted to buy and sell property as possible. I mean, I knew that I had a lot to give. I had, you know, 13 years worth of experience, tremendous amount of exposure to, you know, to the real estate market. And essentially I was just, I was going to be able to use my skill set and just apply it in a, you know, apply it in a different market. But I needed clients to be able to do that with. So, you know, I researched how to do that and quickly realized that a good, you know, a good opportunity for me, given my experience with, with listing homes, because that was one of my biggest responsibilities as a sales manager in my, in my branch, I decided to start calling through for sale by owner. For sale by owner home. So spent the first, really 12 months of the. The business doing that. I think in my first, just casting my mind back in my first nine months or so. So between April 1 and December 31, I think I was able to list and sell 22 or 23 for sale by owner homes. That equated to, you know, approximately $10 million in, in business. And you know, obviously from the back of that began to gain some traction from a referral standpoint and starting to get my, starting to get my name out there. But, you know, I was just picking up the phone and picking up the phone and calling anyone and anyone who was, you know, it was selling their home. It didn't matter where they were. I certainly wasn't focusing on one particular area. I was going, you know, east, west, north, south. Didn't matter how far off my license allowed me to, to do it. Then, you know, I'd go and make myself available and yeah, like I said, was able to start building my, start building my business from There. And that was very much the. That was very much the foundation. Look, I think there's a lot there that should be highlighted and celebrated. I mean, you say things like, man, all I was doing was picking up the phone. But I think what makes our industry so unique is like 99 out of 100 realtors won't do that. And so look, man, the fact that you recognize, hey, you know, I'm in the U. I'm coming from the uk and when I was there, I door knocked and I cold called and this is what I did. A backup against the wall. And I don't have another option. I need to make this work. I love that story. I think it's. I think that is like part of what makes you and I great friends today is an appreciation for that. I did for sale by owners when I started, and I was 25 when I started, and for sale by owners expired listings and open houses and look like it's a. It's a lonely thing in the business to sit there and stare at a phone and call somebody that doesn't want your service. So the fact that you were able to in 2020, look, that market was. It was a great market. Stuff was moving, but it was also like, there was a lot of fear, like you said, and a lot of challenge. So the fact that you had 2022 listings in eight or nine months talks about the skills that you learned overseas, and it truly had set you up for incredible success. But look, man, you went and did the work, and so many folks associated with this industry won't do that. And that's the difference of sitting in the seat you sit in today versus the seat many folks sit in of talking about problem conditions of the market or being a prisoner to it. Yeah, I mean, I think one of my favorite quotes I heard some time ago, which I think really resonates, is your ability to tolerate discomfort will determine your level of success. And there's nothing comfortable about calling a For sale by owner, but, you know, you start to build up that tolerance through repetitions essentially. And that, you know, it just became obviously over the years of doing it in the, you know, something similar in the UK and, you know, continuing here, it just, you know, just becomes water off a duck's back. I mean, I get sworn out. Yeah, the phone. You have the phone put down on me. I mean, you know, you're. You're disrupting somebody's day essentially. Nine and a half times out of ten. They don't want. They don't want to torture you. But if you can learn to get comfortable in those situations and you can, you know, you can roll with the punches, then, you know, you give yourself, you give yourself a better chance than most. It's, it's, it's funny. My, my brother had put his house on the market in Michigan a couple years ago, and I don't know what happened with this contract, but he took his house off the market. He never sold it, and it expired in their mls and he started getting cold calls and he got a lot of them. And he's texting me, how do I make this stop? And I'm laughing. I'm like, hey, this was me, man. Like, this is what I did. And he calls me on a Sunday and he's like, some asshole just knocked on my door on a Sunday asking me if I still want to sell my house because he has a buyer. And I was like, you have no idea how hard it is for that person to get out of their car and do that. I said, that is the hardest work that anyone in our industry will do. That person is an incredible testament to what we do every day. And he's like, I can't believe this is what you do and this is what it is. So handling that discomfort, man, I love that story and I'm a lot of respect to you for that. But I want to touch on like, you know, you come over in 2020 blazing the trail for sale by owner. All of a sudden, the last couple years you've done over a hundred deals, 24 and 25 combined. You built a business that I have nothing but incredible respect for. In a market that look like you've established a brand quickly, you are a powerhouse. Like, how have you gotten here? And then what is life like for you today as an agent? What is business like today? Yeah, I mean, things have been, they always say that if you can get in real estate, if you can stick it out for the first five, if you can stick it out for the first five years and you give yourself a good chance of success. I was told that by my managing broker in the first, my first couple of weeks of being an agent over here. So I always had that, I always had that in mind. And obviously we're going into that, that six year realm at the moment, if you like. And I'm definitely seeing that to be, seeing that to be true. I think my, my days are, my days are a little different now. I mean, like I said, whereas previously a non negotiable was, you know, getting up and making 50 phone calls and connecting with as many folks who are looking at selling their home as possible and doing it with a little bit of a scattergun approach. I mean it's much more, it's much more focused. Now I'm not suggesting that I wouldn't pick up the phone and call an expired listing or for sale by owner, but I think I'm not afraid to. I'm not afraid to say no to a client and I'm not afraid to suggest that I'm not the best fit for a client if they don't align with my brand and essentially respect my time. Because there's plenty when you're doing cold outreach that don't. So yeah, like I said, it's a little different. I've been, been able to, you know, been able to build a strong referral based business. Now obviously, I mean I'm out there, I'm out there from a marketing perspective with, with Zillow and using other, you know, another kind of marketing tools as well to spread the net as wide as I possibly, as wide as I possibly can. But by the same token I'm, you know, I'm looking at, you know, building a, you know, building a small to medium sized boutique team that, you know, hopefully is going to mean that when I do, you know, eventually start to step away in X amount of years time, then, you know, I've got a business that can continue to continue to tick without me. I don't have necessarily any, any ambitions to have a, you know, 20, 25, 30 person team. Kudos to anybody that does, you included, Alex. But like I said, that's not necessarily, that's not on my, on my bingo card if you like. But you know, I do want to build something meaningful and I do want it to have a degree of legacy. I don't want West State Property Group to fade away into the background when I'm not, you know, when I'm not selling houses anymore. So I think part of the, part of the play behind opening the office space in, in downtown Carmel and doing what we did with that, with that office was I wanted it to become a, you know, a kind of centerpiece within the, you know, within the, the Carmel community essentially and be known as the go to luxury real estate experts in the, in the town. So like I said, that's a, that's a work in progress. That's still, that's still moving. But you know, every day I just keep edging closer towards being where I want to be. I love that. I mean, look, I think I run A monthly mastermind. And we're my next one at. And it'll be right around the time that this episode will launch, but we'll be talking about building a powerhouse brand. And you mentioned Zillow. And look, I think this is a fun conversation to have. I've tried to buy leads in Carmel and have been challenged and have not had a ton of success behind it. And I look at you and I look at, like, as somebody that just, like, owns that market on the. Especially on the lead side of things, like, we could buy the same leads, and you're closing them at a much higher clip than what. What me and my team had. And what I would say is, like, you have the brand that aligns with boutique and crisp and clean and an expert of the space and ingrained in the community. And you have the look and you do the job and you. You walk the walk, and that's truly brand ownership. And I think for a lot of agents out there and look like, I started this way and you did too, where it's like you line it up and you spray as much as you can to get as much as you can to start. But as you evolve in your business and the dust settles a bit and things shake themselves out, ownership of who you are every single day, it's really important to. For the agent identity, but it's also really helpful for the clients. And, you know, you saying something a minute ago, hey, I'm not afraid to tell a client that I'm not the right fit for them. Look, that's a. That's a hard thing for an agent to do. I think so many agents out there have this scarce come from this place of scarcity where if I say no to that lead, like, I don't know, they could tell everybody or I may not get the next lead. And. And look, man, like, you own who you are and what you do, and the clients understand that. And I think the other side that makes you great is like, having that clarity allows them to not only respect who James is as an agent, but look, man, like, you got a couple kids at home, your wife's also a friend of our families. Like, it allows you to be more than just James the realtor. Yeah, for sure. And I think again, I mean, this job can kick you around and run your ragged essentially. And, you know, as you, you know, as, you know, as you kind of progress through life, if you like your, you know, your mindset, your mindset set and your priorities shift. And obviously, you know, I've got a beautiful family at home who are my, you know, absolute pride and joy and priority. And now I know that if I'm saying yes to a. If I'm saying yes to a client, then I'm potentially saying. I'm potentially saying no to something at home or, you know, time I could be spending with, you know, my wife and my kids and whatnot. So, you know, for me, it's, you know, I'm, like I said, I'm extremely determined to continue to grow this business, but I'm going to grow it, you know, my way and on my. On my terms, essentially, which will, like I said, allow me to be able to be the best agent I can be, but, you know, also provide the. The life that I want to provide for. For the family, which, again, that's. I mean, that's what life's all about. Love that. Love that clarity, man. You've touched a little bit about, like, where you're headed and, like, what growth looks like. Can you touch a little more on that? Dive a little deeper in that? And it's like, you know, I'm not asking, like, five, ten years future facing, what's it look like, but, like, where are you progressing? Like, you've mentioned your boutique team. You know, I know you've added some great agents this year to. To help with that growth, but, you know, what do you think West State looks like next year or the following year? Yeah. So, I mean, we're, like I said from launch in 2020, we're touching 150 million bucks in closed transactions. I'm pretty confident we'll cross the 200 million barrier this year, certainly towards the back end of the year. Beyond that, I do want to, like I said, I want to continue to. To grow, but slowly I've got. I've got an awesome assistant, Ali, who's also a licensed agent, who's making great strides, who bought somebody onto the team recently, Jason, who is a former managing broker, 20 years worth of experience, and is just a great guy. We bought Jenner in recently, who's newer to the area, newer to real estate, but taken to it like a duck to water. So I'm building with, like I said, the right people, essentially. So I want to continue to do that, but also keep my nose to the grindstone and, you know, keep. Keep working on this Carmel market and, you know, keep getting in front of people and ensuring that I'm the first name on people's lips when they want to, you know, when they want to look at selling their, you know, selling their home. So Again, over the last couple of years, the transaction count has obviously, you know, it's been rising year on year. So is the sell is the average pip price point? Now, obviously, that is due to, you know, the markets continue to move forward, and of course that's going to happen naturally. But we're also, you know, we're attracting the caliber of clients that, like I said, you know, aligns with the position of our brand in the market. So I'm just going to keep, you know, keep fine tuning, keep working, and, you know, like I said, keep making sure that we're top of mind. You're doing a good job of that. I, I. When we have an opportunity on our team that comes up in the Carmel Marketplace, you're always our first phone call, and that's like, like, hey, we got an opportunity. We'd appreciate a second set of eyes. Or do you have a buyer for this and look like. You walk the talk, man. Like, you nail it and you do it. And so you're that for us and you're that for many in the marketplace, that's for sure. What else is going on? Is there anything else you want to jump into or share with the listeners today while you have them? No, I know we talk about or you talk about on this podcast. You know, I think you ask your question, you know, what is, what does action. What does action mean to you? And obviously, I put some, I put some thought to that because I think it's, you know, I think it's important. And I found a quote which, again, I think resonates perfectly. And the, you know, action is the, the bridge between intention and result. A lot of us have got, you know, me included, you know, big ideas, big aspirations, big dreams and goals. But you've got to, you've got to do the activities that are going to move the needle and get you, you know, and get you closer, essentially. So I'm always extremely conscious of that. Again, I look to take action every day, and I take action quickly and decisively because, you know, our time in this world is finite and, you know, I want to make sure that I'm making as big an impact as possible in the shortest space of time. So, yeah, action. Action's a big one for me. Yeah, you nailed it. And you beat me to the question. So I appreciate that. The, you know, this intentionality thing that you, that you mentioned and actually doing something. Look, so many people want to have one more conversation. They want to read one more book, listen to one more podcast, get one more coach to help Them they want one more conversation and it's like you already know the blueprint. Just do. And so often we get so afraid of like failure or mistakes or anything like that or like a shortcoming associated. But. But the faster you can take action. And I would say somebody like you, they likely decide act and can redirect before many will even get started. And look, that's a skill of yours and something I've always respected. So, you know, I think you nailed that and that's a really, that's a really good one, man. Where can folks find you online and where are you guys at? On in Carmel? Where are you guys located? Share with the listeners on that. Yeah, so online Instagram at West State Property Group WestStatePropertyGroup.com Our office space is in the heart of downtown Carmel, right on main street there next door to Monterey, opposite Anthony's Chop House just on the moon on. So anybody wants to pop in, we've got a working bar in here. We've got a champagne fridge and happy to pop out and open a bottle and pour you a glass. Awesome, dude, thanks so much for your time. This was fantastic. So many great nuggets for the listeners. And James, you're a great and somebody I looked up to in the space and I have a ton of respect for all you've accomplished, man. Congratulations and thanks for your time today. Yeah, likewise, Alex. And you know, I appreciate all the support that you've given me since I, you know, since I came over to EXP five years ago. Hey, it's the least I could do, man. You make it easy, brother. Congratulations again. We'll talk to you soon. Cheers, Alex, thanks for listening to Action Solves everything. If today's episode pushed you, challenge you or help you even take one step forward, send it to someone else who needs that same nudge. We all get better when we grow together. And if you're looking for a partnership that actually believes in coaching, collaboration, accountability, and actually becoming the best version of yourself, shoot me a message online at All Social handles at Alex Montagono. That's a L E x M O n n T a G a N O. Remember, success rewards the ones who move. Take action and I'll see you on the next episode.