The Business of Homes Podcast

On today's episode, Micheal is joined by Chris Grimes, who attended Barney Fletcher's School of Real Estate in Atlanta and worked alongside his mother, a Realtor in Metro Atlanta. In 2014, he joined Nashville’s Sotheby’s Realty affiliate brokerage, and by 2018, he earned his broker license, becoming part of the Executive Leadership Team at Tennessee’s only RE/MAX Collection office. Later in 2018, he became the Principal Broker.

In 2022, Chris and partners John Grimes and Joey Skibbie left RE/MAX Collection to form their own team. They affiliated with Corcoran Reverie. Aside from his real estate pursuits, Chris is actively involved in community service, supporting organizations like Greater Nashville Realtors, Nashville's Symphony Ball, Habitat for Humanity, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, and the Antiques Garden Show of Nashville. In addition to his professional life, Chris enjoys tending to his farmette, which houses a fruit grove, cats, and dogs, and spending time with his spouse.

Topics covered:
How Chris has used winter to sharpen his tools in the past
How being a broker has changed over the years
How focusing on your failures can be more impactful than looking at your successes
Deep dive into the steps to take this winter to create a successful backbone for the upcoming busy season
So much more

A huge thank you to Chris Grimes for being part of the podcast. Go follow him on Instagram @partnersingrimes and let him know how much you enjoyed their story. 

Check out the video version:
https://youtu.be/ylWGsyEWXF4

Don’t forget to subscribe on your preferred listening platform, and make sure to follow us on Instagram as well @thebusinessofhomespod.

Do you have any feedback or want to suggest someone for the show? Email us at thebusinessofhomespodcast@gmail.com

Thank you again for listening!

What is The Business of Homes Podcast?

Join us as we take a deep dive into the real estate market with insiders in the industry.

018 Transcript

00:00:18:08 - 00:00:42:17
Michael Conrad
Welcome back to the Business of Holmes podcast. Michael Conrad here again, and I'm excited to bring you a Christmas episode with my friend Chris Grimes. I thought today we would sort of dig into the world of winter months and what are we all doing if it's too cold outside to actually sell at home? Are we working on our business and what does that look like?

00:00:42:17 - 00:00:59:13
Michael Conrad
And so Chris has operated as a an affiliate broker, a regular broker, a principal broker. He's been all the things. And so I felt like he would have a lot of great advice for audience here about what to do in the winter months when you're prepping for the future. Chris, thank you for being here.

00:00:59:19 - 00:01:02:07
Chris Grimes
Thank you for letting me put the Chris in Christmas.

00:01:02:09 - 00:01:04:21
Michael Conrad
yeah, I'm been thinking about that one for a while.

00:01:04:23 - 00:01:07:21
Chris Grimes
I did.

00:01:07:23 - 00:01:37:18
Michael Conrad
So it's full on winter. It is cold outside and no doubt we are seeing a classic seasonal drop in activity pretty much across the board. It doesn't help that we're also in kind of a weird ebb and flow market. Sometimes the rates shock us and sometimes they excite us. I've been seeing some exciting numbers recently and and so buyer behavior is certainly hard to forecast first.

00:01:37:18 - 00:02:01:20
Michael Conrad
And sellers are always inevitably just sort of hunkered down for the holidays. And so, you know, for those of us that are practicing real estate long term and are excited and looking forward to a new year, we usually take these winter months to sort of take stock, look back, consider where maybe we found some successes or had some struggles in the year previous.

00:02:01:22 - 00:02:15:21
Michael Conrad
And we're going back to the workbench and we're sharpening those tools and getting ready for sort of the coming new year. What does that look like for you in the past?

00:02:15:23 - 00:02:40:14
Chris Grimes
That's you know, that's a loaded question because when looking from a business perspective, that's exactly what we should be doing, taking advantage of this time when maybe the market is slower. But let's be honest, how many holiday parties do you have on your schedule in the next ten days. Right. Like so, I think it's easy to get distracted because we're thinking about our friends, we're thinking about our family.

00:02:40:16 - 00:02:47:16
Chris Grimes
Every company party out there and all the colleagues in sister industries that they're inviting us to, things.

00:02:47:18 - 00:02:48:09
Michael Conrad
We're celebrating.

00:02:48:09 - 00:03:11:10
Chris Grimes
We are celebrating. And we have a we've got a lot to celebrate considering what all this world has been going through. And if we can have a couple of weeks of peace and reflection, that's wonderful. I'll tell you, I have been that person in the past that's been very guilty of just floating by the holidays. yeah. And making sure I've done my Christmas shopping first.

00:03:11:10 - 00:03:32:03
Chris Grimes
That's the priority. But I think ever since I stepped down from being a principal broker and started a team, my perspective has it's shifted. It is easy as a broker. I'm not saying it's right, but it's easy as a broker sometimes to to go into glide mode, you know.

00:03:32:03 - 00:03:33:02
Michael Conrad
Let your foot off the gas.

00:03:33:02 - 00:04:11:18
Chris Grimes
Yeah. Pat yourself on the back. If you've been able to retain your agents, you've been able to grow the company, grow numbers. But working in a team, in a team environment, it's much more personal. There is a lot more accountability or maybe it's a different level of accountability. Maybe that's a better way to put it. So with, you know, Joey and Jackie, John and Larissa, for me, this has really been a season of working on our keeping morale up because it has been really tough when interest rates or as they have been higher.

00:04:11:18 - 00:04:42:00
Chris Grimes
Yeah, it's you know, we've got tons of work in the pipeline, but it's just all kind of clogged, you know. So keeping, you know, keeping morale up is that's been a priority. Yeah. For when it comes to planning for the next year I think we are our team is constantly in a place of evaluating how we have performed on the last transaction because we feel as though you're really only as good as your last transaction.

00:04:42:02 - 00:05:08:18
Chris Grimes
That's what people remember. And we're in a place now where we have enough experience and our belt we market ourselves, but probably 80% of our business is coming from clients, whether it whether they're referrals or things like that. So we're kind of in this constant cycle of reevaluation. And, you know, we still have things in the in the hopper to be closed this month.

00:05:08:20 - 00:05:18:09
Chris Grimes
So it's kind of hard to assess our if you're like me and you're very annoyed about numbers. Yeah, it's really hard to assess what you've done in the year. And so you really closed out the year.

00:05:18:11 - 00:05:38:04
Michael Conrad
Yeah, that's that's been hard for me as a business owner too. I have a very rigid idea of the calendar and I really want to be able to capture January 1st to December 31st and understand how did we perform, fail, succeed, etc. And then I want to try to pull the data out of it. Yeah. And then make new decisions out of that data.

00:05:38:04 - 00:06:00:21
Michael Conrad
And I think what you're sort of touching on here is data driven decision making, which is so important because this is an industry where you're going to have a lot of feelings, you're going to have feelings, you're going to have down days, you're going to be all around based on kind of what's in front of you. Because it's such a relational industry, it can't help but be emotional.

00:06:00:23 - 00:06:42:22
Michael Conrad
However, what do I then do? My really flow out of a more data driven decision making approach? I like hearing that you're constantly looking back at the transaction behind you and knowing that you can't rest on laurels and you have to look at where the inefficiencies and where can we make improvements. But what I most love about what you're saying is that in this new, fully, relatively newly formed team, as opposed to sort of Chris, of the past, you're being conscious that the forward moving energy, the numbers you put on the board or things that are getting clogged in the in the hopper, it it's a business driven approach.

00:06:43:04 - 00:07:30:05
Michael Conrad
You're running not just an individual revenue sort of stream yourself, but a larger business, and that there is considerations over how your team members are performing and that or how you are supporting said team members, or what is your overall result, not just your individual successes and failures. And yeah, I mean, I'm sure that nobody listening here is surprised to hear that a maybe a more traditional old school broker mindset might not consider that quite as much because at the end of the day, the broker is the leader of the brokerage, not necessarily there to foster your individual success and I know that might be a slightly contentious idea, but ultimately the agent is sort

00:07:30:05 - 00:07:32:22
Michael Conrad
of the consumer of the brokerage and brokerage.

00:07:32:22 - 00:07:33:18
Chris Grimes
Perfect way to say.

00:07:33:18 - 00:07:57:13
Michael Conrad
Right, that the brokerage serves the agent, not the ultimate end user buyers and sellers. And so the fact that you're being more conscious of your team's ability to produce as a four unit makes a ton of sense because it's now your full orientation rather than a slightly different bench where you were as a managing broker.

00:07:57:15 - 00:08:21:14
Chris Grimes
You're right. The the old school way or mindset of brokering was really about just just looking at numbers and letting that be the sole focus of the business and how I just have to say this because I have been in those rooms with those conversations. This is not something that I think is really shared in front of agents.

00:08:21:16 - 00:08:48:22
Chris Grimes
Ooh, it's making me nervous to even say this, But there are a lot of owners of companies and principal brokers out there that they really look at their agents from just a numbers perspective. They only see the value in the agent based on the dollar that that agent brings into the company. And don't get me wrong, it takes you know, it takes dollars to pay the bills and to keep the lights on.

00:08:49:00 - 00:09:27:11
Chris Grimes
And I really am nervous even saying that just because I know that it is there, there will probably be some very shocked people to hear that because because not most brokers don't come across as being that way. But when I was in a certain position, you know, the company had to be very numbers focused. And so I would come to the table and I would say, just as an example, this person may not be producing at this level, but they are at every meeting and they are some of our biggest cheerleaders and they have helped us attract other agents.

00:09:27:13 - 00:09:33:09
Chris Grimes
There may be a different kind of value that cannot just be put into a number that can't be monetized.

00:09:33:11 - 00:10:02:00
Michael Conrad
Yeah, it's difficult because you're right, This isn't a conversation that's common. There's no book to go read about this. But conceptually it's confusing. It's muddy. Whether the broker is meant to operate as coach. And there may be a more traditional old school idea amongst brokers that like, I don't really need to coach you the individual agent. That's your job to sort of either coach yourself or get it elsewhere.

00:10:02:02 - 00:10:28:19
Michael Conrad
I'm here to provide you like a compliance oriented, safe, clean, managed to place and framework to work with. Then it's not really I'm not really here to sort of push you along on your journey. That's your responsibility. And in a lot of ways there's sort of a classic individual American individualism sort of approach of like, you're responsible for the performance of your business because you as an agent are running a business.

00:10:28:21 - 00:10:49:08
Michael Conrad
And all I can focus on is having the right people here who are putting the right numbers on the board and providing them the best possible compliance and safe in an insurance oriented framework in which to work with, then and yet the world changes and we must change along with it. And perhaps the brokers need to be more focused on coaching.

00:10:49:08 - 00:10:52:17
Michael Conrad
I don't know. Should coaching be innately part of it?

00:10:52:19 - 00:11:22:05
Chris Grimes
I think so. I think that the coaching also helps to instill a culture. You know, you get to know your leader. I mean, if when you're in a coaching environment, let's just say that the broker is the coach, you get to learn what their values, you know, what they prioritize their beliefs just through their coaching. And that will help, you know, whether you are well aligned with the company that you're with or not.

00:11:22:07 - 00:11:46:02
Chris Grimes
And if you are, it helps to strengthen that and maybe even help you as an agent. Want to bring in colleagues that are your friends that might fit that culture. I think I think I think coaching not only can help with things that the obvious things like productivity, efficiency and things like that, but I think it also creates it.

00:11:46:04 - 00:11:51:03
Chris Grimes
It can create a bond, a deeper bond between a broker and an agent.

00:11:51:05 - 00:12:20:17
Michael Conrad
So you're illustrating even more so the importance of going back to the workbench and working on infrastructure and considering your goals for next year by showing us that there is such a difference between certain brokerage level coaching, some brokers are not really helping you with that to do list, and some are saying, Hey, let's take this time, let's take stock of where we got to in this of post fall all at a time.

00:12:20:17 - 00:12:38:03
Michael Conrad
And let's now use this as a springboard into the next year. So if coaching looks so different in different teams and different brokerages, well, then let's draw out some of the things that we know are existing at the very least, some of your high producing teams, as evidenced by I know you run a great team. So what are you saying?

00:12:38:08 - 00:13:02:08
Chris Grimes
I'm going to take a step to the left. And I believe that brokerages, they also wait until you get to the path to the end of the year and start the next year. Like right now, administrations, brokers are sitting back and they've already kind of planned out what they're going to be doing in January, which is traditionally a very slow month in real estate.

00:13:02:10 - 00:13:21:11
Chris Grimes
What they're what they're going to be doing to help like to either coach or what kind of resources or tools they're going to be given their agents the next month. As an example, our company is they're going to be hosting ninja classes. That Ninja is a great program than just selling selling tools.

00:13:21:11 - 00:13:23:00
Michael Conrad
Yeah.

00:13:23:02 - 00:13:54:15
Chris Grimes
It I experienced that a few years ago with a different company. So I, I know it's a they teach you some great practices, some great systems. I've tried to teach those systems to my team. I would attribute most of my what I call success to employing those practices. But brokerages right now, are they already have or they are planning to roll those things out the first month or two of next year.

00:13:54:17 - 00:14:07:06
Chris Grimes
And it's probably because we are all overwhelmed with holiday parties and travels and things like that as well. So I'm just going to, in my mind, take myself into January. What will I be doing next month?

00:14:07:07 - 00:14:07:23
Michael Conrad
Yeah.

00:14:08:01 - 00:14:33:06
Chris Grimes
I will be assessing my numbers. I like to look at like everyone else. It makes you look it makes you feel good when you can look back to see what your closings look like. It makes you feel great when you can see what you're active and coming soon I find looks like. But I like to look at my expired and canceled and, and sit down and really ask myself what happened with that.

00:14:33:08 - 00:14:55:15
Chris Grimes
If it was a cancellation and I put it back on the market, why did I have to do that. Did I overprice it. Was I not giving it my best with marketing? Did I not market the best aspects of the house? What did I what was I not doing that made that active? I closed and and then I take it from there.

00:14:55:17 - 00:15:14:18
Chris Grimes
I also like to I like to print out all of my closings and look to see, okay, who was that client and how did I get to know that client? Was it this person before them or, you know, was it from another client? In the past, when I was training agents, I used to call it Who's your granddaddy?

00:15:14:20 - 00:15:40:08
Chris Grimes
It was my way of saying, how far back can you trace that in your tree and go back to those people and, you know, show them your appreciation? A lot of times you'll see that you'll find repetitive business coming from the same people and sometimes just having that on paper and putting it in front of you will remind you of those people.

00:15:40:10 - 00:16:03:06
Michael Conrad
Okay. Does that make sense? Yes. These are massive gold nugget drops here. And I want to highlight it because I think it's worth mentioning that for your listeners here who are current practitioners of real estate, some of them are getting in, some of them been a long time. This is boots on the ground information that you may not be sharing elsewhere.

00:16:03:08 - 00:16:27:10
Michael Conrad
So let's talk about a classic sort of way to improve ourselves. And that's like, look at our failures. It's not as fun. It's certainly not as fun. But if you're struggling to reach a running distance in a in a certain amount of time, what is causing you that pushback and that resistance, if you're hitting expires and cancels? You know, these are great places to learn where you could use improvement.

00:16:27:10 - 00:16:51:12
Michael Conrad
And yes, the scariest phone call of all would be to reach out to that person that was in that transaction with that client and say, wow, help me understand why this happened. Get their feedback. that would just be very difficult. But I mean, the outsized amount of learning and knowledge you would get out of this considering those situations or even making those phone calls could be massive.

00:16:51:17 - 00:17:18:09
Michael Conrad
I mean, if you can figure out not how to get new opportunities quite as much as how do I capitalize on the opportunities that I already have or where did I lose out on the opportunities that were presented to me? You know, if you can consider those things, literally your efficiency, parentheses, profitability goes way up over time, but it's literally less work, more effect.

00:17:18:11 - 00:17:38:00
Michael Conrad
And so consideration of those things is a time honored tradition in a lot of other places, but it's a good piece of encouragement for us in the real estate business. I know I can be accused of saying, okay, I'm good with my failures. I'm not going to beat myself up too much, but I am not going to think about them very much and I'm moving on.

00:17:38:03 - 00:17:58:02
Michael Conrad
You know, that's my Enneagram seven in me. And so moving on is a great place to be to keep you emotionally buoyant. But it doesn't sort of teacher you know, that ignoring component, it's not teaching you. And secondly, this idea of tracing back your connections, we've all heard it a million times. This is a relational business. Yeah, yeah, I get that.

00:17:58:04 - 00:18:24:01
Michael Conrad
But like. But you actually don't know everyone you work with. Not intimately, not necessarily in the same respect. And so you are going to be able to trace back relational, I don't know, energy or points or something related back to somewhere somehow someone and go and tracing that doing the work and honoring those that have been your mavens who've been passing out your true believers.

00:18:24:01 - 00:18:41:17
Michael Conrad
You know your tribe and honoring those people. But then also in a in a kind and thoughtful and not overly salesy sort of way, seeking additional branches of the tree. If there's one source and there's a branch on it, well, there might be other branches define.

00:18:41:22 - 00:19:02:22
Chris Grimes
Well, I mean, what you feed will grow. Yeah. Which you starve or die. You don't even have to go into those conversations or outreach thing. Even thinking about generating more business just by staying. And I mean they obviously trust you, believe in you like you, or they wouldn't have sent you that business opportunity to begin with. All you're doing is just feeding the great relationship you have.

00:19:03:00 - 00:19:23:16
Michael Conrad
Yeah. I mean, that is if you did nothing else between the holidays, that inevitably interesting period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, if you did nothing else but work on that or it's January one. I mean, you are spring boarding for great advice.

00:19:23:18 - 00:19:50:10
Jake Hall
Hey, everyone, it's Jake, director for the Business of Homes Podcast. I hope you've been enjoying today's episode, starting with how Chris has used Winter to sharpen his tools in the past, how being a broker has changed over the years, and how focusing on your failures can be more impact than looking at your successes. When we return, Michael and Chris take a deep dive into the steps to take this winter to create a successful backbone for the upcoming busy season.

00:19:50:16 - 00:20:06:14
Jake Hall
You don't want to miss it. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram @thebusinessofhomespod, where you can interact with us and see some great bite sized pieces from all of our episodes for you listeners out there. Did you know our entire podcast are filmed and are on our YouTube channel? Check it out.

00:20:06:14 - 00:20:25:13
Jake Hall
Next time you want to see our amazing guests, tell their stories. And are you currently watching this episode in a video format? Don't forget to follow us on your preferred audio streaming service to take us with you on the go. Lastly, do you have any feedback or want to suggest someone for the show? Email us at thebusinessofhomespodast@gmail.com.

00:20:25:15 - 00:20:32:04
Jake Hall
Please enjoy the rest of today's episode with Chris Grimes. Let's get back to it.

00:20:32:06 - 00:20:51:04
Chris Grimes
Something that I used to love to do when I had more time on my hands. I used to love to sit down and break bread or have coffee or whatever, talk with people that were in sister industries just to learn more about what they do. Kind of like what you are doing in a much nicer format than I ever did.

00:20:51:05 - 00:21:22:03
Chris Grimes
But the more that you know about our sister industries, the more effective it can make you the better of a communicator, whether that is actual love or actually a verbal conversation, or just having the knowledge to bypass this conversation and go right to step. And I think that when you network and you know, other people in other industry, whether it's its mortgages, whether it is fill in the blank.

00:21:22:05 - 00:21:45:08
Chris Grimes
You know, there have even been times where I've had a client that was moving example from New York and she had a condo. It was a co-op that she was selling. I knew nothing about that process. We don't really have co-ops in Tennessee. Nothing. I really need to use. What brain cells I have left to understand. I mean, I don't you know, but I took the time to learn about what that process looked like.

00:21:45:08 - 00:22:06:01
Chris Grimes
And as she started to experience experience some speed bumps with selling her co-op, it made me a better communicator when it came time to talking to her. People on our side, whether it was a lender or a title company I could actually speak intelligently about. Okay, well, this these are the next few steps that she's going to have to clear.

00:22:06:03 - 00:22:12:03
Chris Grimes
You know, that way everyone can kind of set expectations a little easier.

00:22:12:04 - 00:22:12:13
Michael Conrad
Yeah.

00:22:12:16 - 00:22:17:19
Chris Grimes
Then you happened to be on the line for relaying last minute information. I hope that all makes sense.

00:22:17:20 - 00:22:40:05
Michael Conrad
It does. You know, I. I'm constantly reminded that real estate and everything that surrounds the home, it really is a team sport. And there is a huge benefit in going back and watching film of yourself where you succeeding and failing and that that's that expired. And you know, Tracy back we were talking about that's really work on yourself and that's huge.

00:22:40:07 - 00:23:18:14
Michael Conrad
But inevitably it's really hard to kick the ball on the goal without a whole team around you. And so going to your sister industries and acquiring that knowledge, it's either going to be an area of self-reflection. There's going to be someone else's perspective on your business and how you operate or even you yourself. It's going to be beneficial to learn from that reflective mirror sort of conversation or it's going to be sort of a speeding up and encourager piece where maybe you're learning something from a mortgage partner who is like just dropping some new ideas you had.

00:23:18:14 - 00:23:41:22
Michael Conrad
So you launch into the new year. You're like, my gosh, there's a whole area that I can open up a new revenue revenue stream or consumer base because I have this new knowledge, it speeds you up. And so that again, going back to the shed, sharpening the tools in the relationship category is so huge because you're either going to get some personal benefit learning out of it or you're going to get some speeding up.

00:23:42:04 - 00:23:42:16
Michael Conrad
Love that.

00:23:42:17 - 00:23:45:19
Chris Grimes
Yeah. Yeah. In a world of wrenches, be a Swiss army knife.

00:23:45:22 - 00:24:14:18
Michael Conrad
Yes. Have a lot of things Your team around you is hopefully hearing this, but if they don't have that motivation within themselves, which is something we all struggle with, get out of bed and do the things we know we should be doing. What are you now doing as a leader? Not just to provide the ideas of what to do, but to be a helpful encourager, but a strong presence to ensure that it gets done, the checks and balance that accountability.

00:24:14:20 - 00:24:30:08
Michael Conrad
That's why we are building teams as leaders, and that's why we're joining teams as participants, because we want that structure or we want to be able to give that structure. I was have been looking for your team to be able to respond to these ideas that you're laying down for them.

00:24:30:13 - 00:24:44:08
Chris Grimes
My team structure is different than a lot of other teams. I am not the Rainmaker necessarily. I do have moments where I have rainy seasons.

00:24:44:10 - 00:24:47:04
Michael Conrad
Rainy season, monsoon season.

00:24:47:06 - 00:25:11:10
Chris Grimes
And I am just innately a person that I want to share because I it's I don't know, something about the fulfillment and joy that I get from being able to share opportunities with people. We are regrouping. We had been in a place where we were assessing our expectations of the company we were with and talking with leadership. I think it's healthy to have those conversations.

00:25:11:15 - 00:25:29:11
Chris Grimes
When I was a broker, I wish agents would have come to me before they made a decision to make any sort of change. Not that we were thinking about that, but I wish those agents would have thought about coming and talking through some things with me before just making the decision to to leave the bounce.

00:25:29:11 - 00:25:30:10
Michael Conrad
Yeah.

00:25:30:12 - 00:25:55:00
Chris Grimes
You know, for us, we we want to keep we want to keep a great working relationship we have with the company. So we we were assessing some things and we had some meetings with the leadership to make sure that our expectations of them were understood and vice versa. And so next year, starting in January, we're going to be getting back to our monthly I'm sorry, our weekly meetings together.

00:25:55:02 - 00:26:12:15
Chris Grimes
And we've have we have so much opportunity in front of us. I feel like we need to put it back all on the table so we can kind of divvy stuff up again as it's a little too much for me to handle on my own. And now I feel like I know different people's gifts a little better.

00:26:12:16 - 00:26:41:00
Michael Conrad
Yeah, teams and their multitude of different styles and structure and you know how they're all arranged. It's such an interesting part of real estate because it allows such a unique experience and unique personalities to sort of create these structures that are entirely custom. But there is and I'm always one to say, Well, we can reinvent the wheel. That's perfect for us.

00:26:41:00 - 00:27:02:22
Michael Conrad
You know, I go to custom probably first, but I have learned, probably has a view that there is benefit in looking back and saying, well, what has worked for others in the past, you know, and when we get those intimate looks into other entrepreneurs or other business people or we get advice, maybe from a coach or something like that, and you're like, okay, yeah, maybe we will set ourselves up in a more traditional manner.

00:27:02:22 - 00:27:27:08
Michael Conrad
I think all of it's good because it's a journey. It's a journey and it's iterative and I think in business I can certainly be accused of having to feel like this is it. I got it figured, this is it and it's nothing else. And then later, if I change not feeling like I have egg on my face but saying, Nope, it's iterative.

00:27:27:14 - 00:28:00:23
Michael Conrad
We change with the times, we change with the needs, we change with the knowledge. We have to give ourself grace and go back to the table. And perhaps something I'm sort of hearing in this conversation is the winter is for a reconsideration time. It's looking at yourself and saying, Have I learned something relatively recently last six, 12, 18 months that would maybe make me change the way that I'm interacting with partners, interacting with my team, interacting my brokerage, interacting with the public.

00:28:01:04 - 00:28:20:22
Michael Conrad
I think it's a good time in the winter for us to look at all of what is structured in our business. Again, like I kind of bang this drum a lot, but you're in a business, Mr. Listener. If you are a real estate agent, you are in a business and you have to consider the decision making of how you structure yourself, how you proceed.

00:28:21:00 - 00:28:51:19
Michael Conrad
You interact with everyone around you, especially your clients as a business, not just, you know, as a person. And so it's a good thing for us to be going back to that, where places where we have struggled and thinking about how we can make improvements, it's a good thing for us to consider how we've gotten to where we are with the clients and the sister vendor relationships that we have and honoring those and feeding those, as you said, sort of, you know, growing those.

00:28:51:21 - 00:29:11:00
Michael Conrad
It's important that we maintain some level of accountability as business people, whether on a team or not. And it's good that we revisit the way we do things so that we cannot always just get stuck in the same way and be the person who has to fix something. No, we don't have to fax anymore. We can use new technology.

00:29:11:00 - 00:29:35:07
Michael Conrad
And so I think this winter months is hard. It's hard to go longer distances between transactions. It's hard to take stock, but it's so beneficial. And I'm really, really glad to hear about all the different experience that you've taken from your past as a broker and as an agent and are now kind of breathing into this exciting new team at work.

00:29:35:07 - 00:29:43:02
Michael Conrad
And every and I for one, I'm excited to see where you're going. So, Michael, thank you. Thank you, Chris, for being here. This is really cool and and always a great time to talk.

00:29:43:02 - 00:29:45:14
Chris Grimes
Well, I have always enjoyed talking with you.

00:29:45:14 - 00:30:04:01
Michael Conrad
Well, I hope that you will stick around. Maybe we'll have you on some other time to dig in another part of real estate. But for those of you listening here, hit the subscribe button and we will catch you next time. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. We'll see you soon, everyone.

00:30:04:01 - 00:30:26:04
Jake Hall
Jake again, director for the Business of Homes Podcast. I hope you've enjoyed today's episode. A huge thank you to Chris Grimes for being a part of the podcast. Go follow him on Instagram @partnersingrimes and let him know how much you enjoyed their story. Don't forget to subscribe on your preferred listening platform and make sure to follow us on Instagram as well @thebusinessofhomespod.

00:30:26:06 - 00:32:28:12
Jake Hall
Do you have any feedback or want to suggest someone for the show? Email us at thebusinessofhomespodast@gmail.com. Thank you again for listening and we'll see you soon.