Shed Talk with Kevin Halliday

Corinne Lyall, CEO and owner of Royal LePage Benchmark, joins Kevin for a candid conversation about leadership, panic attacks, grief, market cycles, and hidden burnout. She shares how she moved from selling real estate to leading more than 220 realtors, why high achievers need boundaries, and how purpose and volunteer leadership helped her through difficult seasons.

Guest: Corinne Lyall - CEO and owner of Royal LePage Benchmark

With over 30 years of experience in the real estate industry, she brings a strategic vision and a deep understanding of Calgary’s dynamic market. Corinne has held prominent leadership roles, including Past President of the Calgary Real Estate Board, Chair of Pillar 9, and President of CREB®’s Charitable Foundation, where she helped create impactful community housing initiatives.

In this episode:
- Lessons From Three Decades In Real Estate
- Supporting More Than 220 Realtors
- From Realtor To Broker-Owner
- Taking Over During A Downturn
- Panic Attacks And Big Decisions
- Grief, Trauma, And Moving Through It
- Purpose Through Work And Leadership

Chapters:
0:00 The Pressure Behind Performance
14:54 Grief, Trauma, And Moving Through It
29:32 Why Real Estate Is Not For Everyone
40:35 Why Benchmark Means Excellence
56:31 Technology, COVID, And Boundaries
1:05:24 Boards, Travel, And What Comes Next

Follow the show in your podcast app for more full conversations.

What is Shed Talk with Kevin Halliday?

Shed Talk with Kevin Halliday is built on a simple belief: the right conversation can change the direction of your life.

From a shed in Calgary, Kevin sits down with entrepreneurs, experts, community builders, and people with hard-earned stories. Together, they move beyond titles and highlight reels to talk honestly about what worked, what failed, what changed them, and what others can learn from it.

Grounded in the three pillars of health, wealth, and mindset, Shed Talk explores the whole person behind success—the habits, relationships, pressures, choices, setbacks, and moments of reinvention that shape a meaningful life. It is not inspiration for a moment; it is practical wisdom you can carry into your business, your family, your health, and whatever you choose to build next.

Kevin believes life does not end at 50—it starts. Every episode is an invitation to stay curious, challenge what you think you know, and turn insight into action.

You don’t know what you don’t know—until you know.

Kevin: What if the person who appears the
Kevin: strongest is actually the closest
Kevin: to burnout?
Kevin: Today's guest understands the
Kevin: pressures behind performance.
Kevin: Corinne Lyall is the CEO, owner,
Kevin: and broker of Royal LePage
Kevin: Benchmark, where she leads more
Kevin: than 220 realtors. With over
Kevin: 30 years of experience, Corinne has
Kevin: led people through changing
Kevin: markets, economic uncertainty,
Kevin: growing customers expectations and
Kevin: we all know it exactly what that is
Kevin: and the
Kevin: constant pressure to produce she is
Kevin: a past president of the Calgary
Kevin: real estate board a former chair of
Kevin: pillar nine and was named Krebs
Kevin: Realtor of the
Kevin: Year in 2023 but today's
Kevin: conversation isn't about houses and
Kevin: it isn't about sales numbers it's
Kevin: about the people behind those
Kevin: numbers how do we lead and
Kevin: recognize hidden burnouts? How do
Kevin: we support the people who always
Kevin: appear strong?
Kevin: And how can we have men over 50
Kevin: continuing succeeding without
Kevin: losing their health, their
Kevin: relationships, or even their sense
Kevin: of worth? Corinne Lyle, welcome to
Kevin: Shed Talk.
Kevin: So what do you think?
Guest: I'm very excited to be
Guest: I know,
Guest: here.
Kevin: so am I. And it's interesting
Kevin: because we got together and we've
Kevin: known each other for, oh my gosh,
Kevin: 25, no, No, 15 years and
Kevin: celebrating EO together and growing
Kevin: up together and everything like
Kevin: that.
Kevin: So I really appreciate you being on
Kevin: EO and or on EO,
Guest: On Shed Talk, yeah.
Kevin: So it's very exciting.
Kevin: So just to jump into this, I have
Kevin: to ask you the first question to
Kevin: get going is after three decades,
Kevin: okay, in the Calgary Real Estate
Kevin: Board, okay, and you've been doing
Kevin: this for
Kevin: a long time, and what do you
Kevin: understand about the market today,
Kevin: and your people, that you didn't
Kevin: know when you first started?
Guest: that there's opportunities in every
Guest: market you know and one of the
Guest: things that i have realized too
Guest: about living in this city in this
Guest: province is that we're incredibly
Guest: resilient we've survived so many
Guest: many different markets and when you
Guest: talk to other real estate
Guest: individuals across the country they
Guest: have no idea what it's like to live
Guest: in this province and have gone
Guest: through the things that we
Guest: have gone through it's actually
Guest: only recently the provinces like
Guest: Ontario and BC have experienced
Guest: what we have with all of our in the
Guest: past we don't experience them now
Guest: but our bus boom
Guest: type of cycles they had all the
Guest: time that we were kind of doing ups
Guest: and downs in the market they're
Guest: like and so now they're they're
Guest: suffering a little bit and i've
Guest: been invited a number of times to
Guest: talk to um the agents about trying
Guest: to survive different markets but i
Guest: mean here we just like it's just
Guest: another day and
Kevin: it's interesting because it's like
Kevin: another day and we, and we always
Kevin: say, oh, okay, here it is. And we,
Kevin: we talk about down east, the east,
Kevin: the west, whatever that is and how
Kevin: things are changing. But in the
Kevin: real estate side, like, cause you
Kevin: have 220 employees or 220 realtors.
Kevin: How do you manage that many?
Guest: You know, I don't like to say that
Kevin: Herding cats.
Kevin: call it herding
Guest: cats. No?
Guest: so much.
Guest: And a lot of people in our
Guest: industry, too, say, oh, you're
Guest: babysitting these many people.
Guest: No.
Guest: I don't treat them like babies.
Guest: They're not.
Guest: These are adults.
Guest: right? And they're individuals that
Guest: are trying to run their own
Guest: businesses. And so my job is to try
Guest: to support them, right? And also we
Guest: so
Guest: provide a ton of training.
Guest: We do mentorship. We try to make
Guest: when
Guest: ourselves available for whatever
Guest: they need at that point in time in
Guest: their career. And so it's
Guest: something, I feel more like I'm in
Guest: partnership with those people. And
Guest: I know
Guest: everybody. I know everyone in my
Guest: office and I take great stakes in
Guest: trying to know them.
Kevin: So when you look at real estate
Kevin: because you when you first started
Kevin: you're obviously in real estate way
Kevin: back in the day selling a widget of
Kevin: commodity houses and then all of a
Kevin: Yep.
Kevin: sudden switch that over
Kevin: to be a brokerage the mindset must
Kevin: change because yes you understand
Kevin: how they talk yes you understand
Kevin: what they need their wants and
Kevin: needs but now you're on the other
Kevin: end as the brokerage helping
Kevin: helping these guys succeed. Where's
Kevin: that transition point there?
Guest: Yeah, I love that you asked me this
Guest: question because I made a decision.
Guest: I love selling real estate. By the
Guest: way, I loved it. I thrived in it.
Guest: I did it for 12 years full time.
Guest: And the reason why I got into the
Guest: broker side is because my mom,
Guest: unbeknownst to me, was grooming me
Guest: to become the next broker owner of
Guest: the company.
Guest: And so when she said to me, hey,
Guest: listen, like I want to retire at
Guest: some point and I would like you to
Guest: take over. I think that you have
Guest: leadership skills. I think that you
Guest: would do a really good job of this.
Guest: I agreed to do that. And a big part
Guest: of that was a mental shift for me
Guest: because I was the type of realtor
Guest: that would focus so much on my
Guest: clients, you know, and I didn't
Guest: spend that much time sort of
Guest: thinking about what other realtors
Guest: were doing, right? Other than, oh,
Guest: that person does a great job of
Guest: marketing.
Guest: I'd love to learn a little bit from
Guest: them. But beyond that, my focus
Guest: were my clients. And so when I got
Guest: into the broker side, I said, what
Guest: do I need to do differently here?
Guest: Now I have all these realtors that
Guest: are looking to me for support and
Guest: help.
Guest: And there are clients. As owners of
Guest: the company, as broker, these are
Guest: my clients, or the realtors. So I
Guest: took that mental shift and said,
Guest: you know what? every single person
Guest: I know has value. So I'm going to
Guest: switch from looking at my clients
Guest: as having those value into looking
Guest: at the realtors as my clients as
Guest: having value.
Guest: And so with every single person
Guest: that I know, I look for something
Guest: that I can connect with them on,
Guest: that I see them as providing value
Guest: in some way. So how can I help and
Guest: support them and help them grow?
Guest: So that was the big mental shift
Guest: for me was just moving from you
Guest: know members of the public to the
Guest: real estate realtors and shifting
Guest: that that value perspective so
Kevin: So when you're in that transition,
Kevin: okay, so you're doing that mindset.
Kevin: Mom is grooming you that you didn't
Kevin: know she was grooming you. So the
Kevin: things you know that you didn't
Kevin: know and saying, thanks, Mom, for
Kevin: helping me out with this. And then
Kevin: she's grooming you.
Kevin: And then you're in the real estate
Kevin: for X amount of years.
Kevin: But that transition going over and
Kevin: finding those people, because you
Kevin: had to relate, but finding those
Kevin: people, where was it really
Kevin: difficult what was the the hard
Kevin: part from going to real estate to
Kevin: brokerage because now they look at
Kevin: you different
Guest: because
Guest: i what was the difficult thing um
Guest: because
Kevin: it wasn't an easy transition
Guest: a good question i i think kevin
Guest: you'll understand this it's
Guest: actually you you know going from
Guest: your little business and how you
Guest: operate it to something much larger
Guest: and so all of a sudden now I'm the
Guest: chief bottle washer right I've got
Guest: to do everything and I have to
Guest: understand operations I have to
Guest: understand the finance part I have
Guest: to go through budgets I have
Guest: to really understand where the
Guest: company is going and how it's going
Guest: to grow and at the time that I took
Guest: over for my mom I always say my
Guest: mom's brilliant because she wanted
Guest: to partner with me
Guest: in 2007 does everybody remember
Guest: 2007 it was a phenomenal like you
Guest: know our market was going crazy and
Guest: everybody was making money the oil
Guest: and gas world was amazing and then
Guest: what happened
Guest: 2008 happened so in 2007 she
Guest: partnered with me we had a
Guest: shareholders agreement she sold my
Guest: you know her company her 50 of the
Guest: company to me for x amount and uh
Guest: we're winning all day long
Guest: And then 2008 happened in the
Guest: market, like, you know, everything,
Guest: you know, across North America and
Guest: globally, right?
Guest: Everybody got impacted by what was
Guest: happening. And so at that point,
Guest: we're like, oh, my God, like, we
Guest: have to restructure the company.
Guest: And that was my first year as being
Guest: broker and owner.
Guest: And so then we had to, we actually
Guest: got some outside help and
Guest: restructured the company in a way
Guest: that we thought would be good. And
Guest: I think the realtors really
Guest: responded to that well.
Guest: And then I had some opportunities
Guest: and I was able to buy some
Guest: companies along the way that really
Guest: helped in obviously building our
Guest: company profitability and
Guest: operations.
Guest: But I mean, I was flying by the
Guest: seat of my pants, you know, so I
Guest: didn't know what I was doing.
Kevin: And it's interesting because here
Kevin: you are, 2007 goes into the eight.
Kevin: All of a sudden,
Kevin: bought the company, X amount of
Kevin: dollars. Everything's going. Then
Kevin: all of a sudden, bang. And then all
Kevin: of a sudden, you're thrown into it
Kevin: now as an entrepreneur going in
Kevin: there and you're thinking well
Kevin: everything's been going good mom's
Kevin: been doing really well then all of
Kevin: a sudden here I am and what yes the
Kevin: market's
Kevin: there like that's got to take a
Kevin: toll on your mental mentally and
Kevin: the companies that you took over
Kevin: because when people jump out of
Kevin: businesses like so the market goes
Kevin: down this is a great time
Kevin: to buy so you either expand or you
Kevin: die okay grow or you die there's no
Kevin: You lose money or you gain it.
Kevin: staying stagnant so when you
Kevin: start going into these other
Kevin: businesses like all entrepreneurs
Kevin: it's like all right what's the
Kevin: value you where can we go right now
Kevin: that the market's going down versus
Kevin: it's not a restructure it's a
Kevin: growth strategy
Guest: because
Guest: Yeah, I think it's a good point,
Kevin: all of a sudden it's like okay how
Guest: yeah.
Kevin: are we going to grow during this
Kevin: downturn we know someone's going to
Kevin: buy a house eventually somehow some
Kevin: way that it's going to going to
Kevin: change but watching the
Kevin: opportunities come into play you
Kevin: must have seen a lot of great
Kevin: opportunities
Kevin: come across your door and then say
Kevin: all right how do i take that next
Kevin: step because it's got to be scary
Kevin: as an entrepreneur
Guest: it was so scary i i you like
Guest: vulnerability on this show i will
Guest: tell you that i went into full i i
Guest: didn't realize that um i was
Guest: susceptible to panic attacks
Guest: but i you know my the first company
Guest: that i bought i i remember meeting
Guest: with the leaders at royal page
Guest: canada to talk to them about it and
Guest: um we met at a conference um a
Guest: little while before um
Guest: I put pen to paper with this broker
Guest: and I fully went into a panic
Guest: attack that I didn't know what it
Guest: was. But I couldn't, if anybody's
Guest: had a panic attack, they know you
Guest: can't make choices, you
Guest: can't make decisions, you're kind
Guest: of stuck. And I had no idea what to
Guest: do. And it was an interesting
Guest: experience to live through. I mean,
Guest: it was fine, obviously, and I got
Guest: through it, but I didn't know
Guest: know how to manage that and so you
Guest: know obviously came out the other
Guest: end of it and this gentleman and I
Guest: you know put together we would meet
Guest: at the keg this is what he'd love
Guest: to do so we'd meet at
Guest: meat the cake
Guest: the keg we talk about um me buying
Guest: his business over a bottle of red
Guest: wine and so we built it all on like
Guest: one piece of paper and then took it
Guest: to our respective lawyers and just
Guest: did it right and um
Guest: And I made the agreement based on
Guest: something I'd heard on how other
Guest: brokerages buy other companies. It
Guest: was something I'd heard, and I'm
Guest: like, I think I can do this. And so
Guest: we built it all over many meetings
Guest: oh
Guest: at the keg
Guest: over bottles of red wine.
Kevin: my gosh so you sat there now now
Kevin: with panic attack before this just
Kevin: before this correct
Guest: and having
Guest: It was just before we signed pen to
Guest: paper. I'd already been meeting
Guest: with him. We'd already agreed that
Guest: this was going to happen.
Kevin: It was
Kevin: a
Guest: just, yeah. Yeah, so it was, I
Guest: wow and
Guest: think it was weeks, just a few
Guest: weeks before it was going to
Guest: happen.
Guest: I can't remember exactly, but,
Guest: yeah.
Kevin: then so you here you are you're
Kevin: going through a panic attack
Kevin: because i want to dig down a little
Guest: No, no, I knew you would.
Kevin: bit deeper yeah because the thing
Kevin: about it because my listeners and
Kevin: guys are listening this and then
Kevin: looking at and experience a panic
Kevin: attack and say Say, okay, you're,
Kevin: oh, my God, I can't do anything.
Kevin: And then the first question is, how
Kevin: do you get out of that? Like, how
Kevin: did you recognize it? Because now
Kevin: you're going into a big deal.
Kevin: Like, you're looking at how to grow
Kevin: and go to the next one. It's like,
Kevin: all of a sudden, you went from zero
Kevin: to hero, like, overnight.
Kevin: So the panic attack was kind of
Kevin: like the precursor to blast off.
Kevin: yeah
Guest: Is there anybody who would
Guest: i don't know i guess anybody who's
Guest: been through some sort of like
Guest: anxiety or panic attack would
Guest: understand you're you just feel
Guest: like you can't move forward somehow
Guest: and it's usually only for a short
Guest: period of time and i realized um
Guest: you know i'm sure you'll dig into
Guest: this later but you know many years
Guest: later my first husband died and um
Guest: for a year straight
Guest: I'd go through many panic attacks
Guest: but by then I knew what they were
Guest: right and I knew how long it was.
Guest: they'd last typically and I and
Guest: talking to my mom actually she had
Guest: suffered them as well in her
Guest: lifetime so obviously she passed on
Guest: that lovely gene to me and so
Guest: through talking to her about it
Guest: as well I learned that if I just
Guest: took some deep breaths and centered
Guest: myself that it was just you just
Guest: had to move through it and so it's
Guest: yeah it's for me they take about 20
Guest: minutes other than the
Guest: first time I did it because it was
Guest: just really something I didn't know
Guest: what was going on and so it lasted
Guest: much longer and I might have dealt
Guest: with it by drinking a mug of vodka
Guest: because I didn't
Guest: know what to do poor poor decision
Kevin: A mug
Guest: of vodka.
Guest: kevin
Kevin: poor decision this
Kevin: Mug
Guest: was years ago
Guest: of, yeah,
Kevin: a mug of vodka,
Guest: wow, okay.
Kevin: Not that there's anything wrong
Kevin: with that, hypothetically speaking.
Kevin: yeah yeah
Kevin: So, okay, so here you are, the
Kevin: panic, and I really, what was
Kevin: interesting, because I got to hear
Kevin: is all of a sudden, that 10, 20
Kevin: seconds of sit up and just breathe
Kevin: yourself
Kevin: through it relax yourself and
Kevin: understand that you're in it was
Kevin: that a point that actually changed
Kevin: for you like you really practice
Kevin: that
Guest: did i think that i'm not
Guest: so
Guest: sure that i had any other panic
Guest: attacks so that so this was 2012 i
Guest: think when i bought my first
Guest: company and that was the first time
Guest: i'd had that experience and it
Guest: wasn't until after that i kind
Guest: of realized what happened and what
Guest: you shouldn't do when you're going
Guest: through a panic attack which which
Guest: is drink a mug of vodka. Perhaps,
Guest: you know, maybe go for a walk or do
Guest: something that's distracting that's
Guest: probably more physical than it is,
Guest: you know, by trying to drown it.
Guest: you're
Guest: And...
Kevin: in that whole system of I got to do
Kevin: this which is the opposite of it
Guest: Yeah, and then I think, you know, I
Guest: think the years went by and when my
Guest: husband passed in 2016
Guest: was when I noticed them again
Guest: because I didn't... that's a lot of
Guest: trauma to your body to experience
Guest: somebody close to you passing.
Guest: And so, you know, even if you don't
Guest: want it to happen, things do happen
Guest: to you, right? If someone close
Guest: passes and it does create some
Guest: trauma to your body,
Guest: and even if you try to resist it,
Guest: it typically does. So the best
Guest: thing you can do is move through
Guest: it. And for anybody who's lost
Guest: someone close to them, it takes
Guest: about at least a year of all the
Guest: firsts, right?
Guest: the first birthday the first
Guest: Christmas the first you know all
Guest: the all the dates and I would find
Guest: myself standing in Ikea which by
Guest: the way I can't stand going to Ikea
Guest: because there's all these
Guest: different ways there's no way out
Guest: of that place I feel like I'm
Guest: trapped and that's actually a
Guest: feeling of how I feel when I'd go
Guest: through panic attacks is that I
Guest: remember standing in the middle of
Guest: Ikea with my mom and I couldn't
Guest: move she's like what's happening
Guest: and I said I think I'm
Guest: having a panic attack I can't
Guest: decide which way to go I don't want
Guest: to be here and I remember her just
Guest: kind of holding me and saying
Guest: Corinne just breathe you know
Guest: you'll work you'll get through
Guest: it and like I said it takes about
Guest: 15 -20 minutes and then okay I
Guest: think I can get through this I
Guest: never want to go to Ikea again I
Guest: think the last time I went was with
Guest: my my new husband Tom um
Guest: and he's made it okay for me to
Guest: shop in those places again
Kevin: He won't put you in the corner.
Guest: that's true unable to know which
Guest: direction to go yeah
Guest: Wow.
Kevin: And then, so going through that one
Kevin: year after your husband had died
Kevin: and opening that up, like, the
Kevin: firsts,
Kevin: and then opening up to people,
Kevin: like, so other people when we talk
Kevin: through the Shed Talk, like, people
Kevin: that have lost loved ones to
Kevin: understand that it's okay to mourn
Kevin: and get through that. Like, how did
Kevin: you get through that? Like, what
Kevin: was your greatest strength through
Kevin: that?
Guest: don't laugh i probably told you
Guest: this i don't know if you'll
Guest: remember but um
Guest: so a lot of things happened that
Guest: year um and in fact um there was a
Guest: a sister company company, Royal
Guest: LePage Foothills, who unfortunately
Guest: met their demise.
Guest: And it was, again, 2015 was a tough
Guest: market, right? That was our other,
Guest: you know, oil and gas world blew
Guest: up, and so did we in the real
Guest: estate market. And unfortunately,
Guest: there was a number of real estate
Guest: companies that
Guest: were struggling. And so this one
Guest: company, they blew up, and about a
Guest: third of those agents came came to
Guest: us. And so I remember canceling
Guest: our, our Christmas and me staying
Guest: home and basically
Guest: booking appointments from six in
Guest: the morning to 11 o 'clock at night
Guest: for like two weeks straight until
Guest: we could get those people
Guest: onboarded. And, um, you know,
Guest: beyond that too, my husband and I
Guest: were kind of going through a little
Guest: bit of some rough patches as well,
Guest: but we, you know, we made it
Guest: through that year. And, um, and
Guest: then when he passed, it was, yeah,
Guest: it was a traumatizing event.
Guest: so I stayed at my parents for about
Guest: a week and then I went home and
Guest: started like reorganizing my whole
Guest: house because I can't stay just
Guest: passive like I need to just do
Guest: things and then I thought
Guest: well what am I going to do now I
Guest: mean sure I have this company to
Guest: run and that's really distracting
Guest: and great but I thought you know
Guest: what I'm going to ask I'm going to
Guest: ask the Googles right let's
Guest: ask the internet what someone
Guest: should do when their husband dies
Guest: and so I did I like did a search in
Guest: I probably told you this.
Guest: Google and said, what do you do
Guest: after your spouse dies? What should
Guest: you do? And so it actually
Guest: responded to me and it said, you
Guest: know what, this will be your next
Guest: year of your life will be just
Guest: about you. It's probably the only
Guest: time in your life that you're
Guest: allowed to be a little bit selfish.
Guest: And I would suggest making a list
Guest: of all the things that you want to
Guest: do. And so that's what I I did. And
Guest: so I booked a yoga retreat. I took
Guest: a writing course.
Guest: What else did I do? I went on some
Guest: trips, you know, so I had a big
Guest: long list of things I wanted to do.
Guest: And because that's what Google told
Guest: me to do. And I think it really
Guest: helps, right? Because it got me to
Guest: focus on
Guest: this list of things I wanted to
Guest: accomplish. So
Kevin: it's interesting because here
Kevin: you're Googling
Guest: not
Kevin: AI -ing it.
Guest: no ai was not a thing back
Guest: All right, here's AI.
Kevin: then right this is this
Kevin: no, totally not.
Guest: is 2016 so yeah
Kevin: And then so here you are, you're
Kevin: Googling this, and then you're
Kevin: going in it. And now you have to
Kevin: create action because, you know,
Kevin: yeah
Kevin: OK, am I going to have am I having
Kevin: gonna have am i having the victim
Kevin: the the victim statement?
Kevin: statement oh for me i just lost my
Kevin: Oh, poor me. I just lost my
Kevin: husband or okay wait i gotta
Kevin: husband. Or, OK, wait, I got to get
Kevin: myself through this because I got
Kevin: to I got people to lead. I have all
Kevin: these people that are that are
Kevin: counting on me to be the greatest
Kevin: hero possible.
Kevin: And I need to be accountable for
Kevin: them as entrepreneurs. It's kind of
Kevin: like you can't sit back. you have
Kevin: to go through it and succeed like
Kevin: that transition point where did you
Kevin: find that
Kevin: courage at that moment to say okay
Kevin: and to be selfish okay that i need
Kevin: to lead because it's it comes to a
Kevin: point where there's dictating and
Kevin: yes i
Kevin: then there's leading
Guest: okay so
Guest: agree
Kevin: where does that come into play for
Kevin: you because you had to make that
Kevin: defining moment
Guest: what i do fulfills me so much um
Guest: that when i went back to work after
Guest: a week or so i it brought me joy
Guest: right i i felt supported by
Guest: all the the people that i worked
Guest: with um it gave me focus um and it
Guest: also just filled my cup and so
Guest: leading to me um and volunteer
Guest: leadership i've always been
Guest: involved in volunteer leadership
Guest: those things really hit me in the
Guest: heart and it's something that I get
Guest: really excited about so going back
Guest: to work I know a lot of people that
Guest: might not be what they want to do
Guest: or need to do and I
Guest: respect that it's what I needed to
Guest: do and I needed to go back and be a
Guest: leader and show resiliency and
Guest: focus on the people because that's
Guest: what makes me happy
Kevin: It's interesting because you just
Kevin: said it, and a lot of people when
Kevin: well
Kevin: they go out there,
Kevin: uh
Kevin: and I'm going to talk about older
Kevin: guys too, is finding purpose and
Kevin: meaning at that particular point,
Kevin: but you just made a comment there
Kevin: about volunteer leadership and how
Kevin: important that was to you as
Kevin: all
Kevin: important it is to other people.
Kevin: Give me some examples about
Kevin: volunteer leadership. Well, I'm
Guest: my life and and i you know i give a
Guest: lot of credit to my mom because i
Guest: she really
Guest: supported that um when i first got
Guest: into real estate she said you
Guest: should get involved right don't
Guest: just you know sit back and be you
Guest: know the armchair kind of
Guest: a chair, so
Guest: politician person complaining
Guest: about what's going on in your
Guest: industry get out there and get
Guest: involved and get your hands into it
Guest: because that's when you can have
Guest: influence uh and i mean it goes
Guest: back to even when i was in
Guest: university um i volunteered i
Guest: volunteered for the sheriff king
Guest: home for a couple of years that and
Guest: And it opens your eyes, I think, to
Guest: different people in different
Guest: circumstances.
Guest: If anybody doesn't know, that's a
Guest: YWCA emergency shelter for people
Guest: fleeing domestic violence, women
Guest: and children.
Guest: And, you know, I wanted to make a
Guest: difference. And so from there, when
Guest: I was paid by a
Guest: I got into real estate, I
Guest: volunteered for the Cal Real Estate
Guest: Board.
Guest: I was on their social committee,
Guest: Kevin, because that's, you know, I
Guest: like to get involved in events. And
Guest: so that was fun. and naturally then
Guest: they as soon as you're one of these
Guest: people that says yes to a lot of
Guest: volunteer
Guest: leadership is that you get invited
Guest: to do more and uh then eventually i
Guest: was on the cal real estate board
Guest: board of directors and in fact i
Guest: was president in 25 2015 as well so
Guest: it was a pretty
Guest: crazy year um 2015 and then i've
Guest: time.
Guest: also i think you mentioned in your
Guest: in your introduction um i've
Guest: I've been in Pillar 9, which is our
Guest: one Alberta MLS system. So the
Guest: technology for those that are in
Guest: the public, that realtor .ca,
Guest: you're familiar with that, where
Guest: you go on to look for listings.
Guest: Pillar 9 is the database behind
Guest: realtor .ca. So typically that's
Guest: only going to
Guest: owned by the real estate boards.
Guest: In Alberta, what happened was a
Guest: number of real estate boards got
Guest: together and said, hey, let's start
Guest: a new company.
Guest: We'll be shareholders in that
Guest: company, and we'll have one MLS
Guest: system. So there's one MLS system
Guest: across Alberta except for Edmonton,
Guest: although we do have some data
Guest: sharing with Edmonton.
Guest: So it's a technology company, and I
Guest: was asked to actually come on that
Guest: board when it first started as
Guest: chair, and then I was chair twice
Guest: Yes.
Guest: because they needed that kind of
Guest: – but, you know, I love it. I
Guest: love being involved, and I love
Guest: having a little bit of influence
Guest: and turning the dial a little bit,
Guest: so.
Kevin: And it's interesting when you talk
Kevin: about volunteering because here you
Kevin: are, CEO, you're the president, and
Kevin: then you're volunteering for these
Kevin: organizations,
Kevin: and a lot of people, they don't
Kevin: realize, in organizations that you
Kevin: volunteer with, and you could be a
Kevin: laborer, you can be anything out
Kevin: there, and when you volunteer, you
Kevin: don't realize
Kevin: they maybe have the volunteer that
Kevin: they become, and it's not
Kevin: necessarily present of that area,
Kevin: but they would be giving advice to
Kevin: presidents and CEOs to do this, to
Kevin: do the delivery. So you get to do a
Kevin: role play reverse
Kevin: Because the CEOs, take you as an
Kevin: example, the president, may be
Kevin: doing menial tasks, but then all of
Kevin: a sudden, who's to do menial tasks?
Kevin: Here's now the president of it. So
Kevin: they get to communicate with CEOs
Kevin: and have experience sharing with
Kevin: volunteering, because you'll have
Kevin: your highs and higher people, lower
Kevin: people, and I use that tongue -in
Kevin: -cheek, lower people.
Kevin: but it's a really building a
Kevin: purpose and meaning that you get to
Kevin: interact with and connect with
Kevin: great leaders.
Kevin: And here's another thing that I
Kevin: didn't mention this, but as also
Kevin: the president of EO.
Guest: yes i was president of eo in 2022 i
Guest: think yeah you
Kevin: And did an absolutely amazing job.
Kevin: So everything that you touch, and
Kevin: then we talk about, you've touched
Kevin: this and you've gone in, out of all
Kevin: the volunteer work that you've
Kevin: done, okay, and organizations that
Kevin: you've been on, i don't know if
Kevin: and I'm not going to say which is
Kevin: those ones
Kevin: the best one, it's like which was
Guest: yeah
Kevin: the most challenging that you
Kevin: really had to think about that like
Kevin: oh there's a lot of work to this
Guest: and
Guest: I don't think I can say that
Kevin: work in a good way not as oh i nine
Kevin: nine to five
Guest: there's one that was most
Guest: challenging because each
Guest: organization is so different.
Guest: The only for -profit organization I
Guest: worked for was Pillar 9,
Guest: or was on their board. Everything
Guest: else has been mostly non -profits.
Guest: I've been on a city board. I was on
Guest: something called Doors Open YYC,
Guest: and it was a little bit grassroots
Guest: but we worked with the city of
Guest: calgary and so that was a totally
Guest: different kind of organization when
Guest: you're working with someone well an
Guest: entity like the city of calgary
Guest: they provided a ton of support for
Guest: us but also too you know it's
Guest: challenging when you're
Guest: dealing with um lots of red tape
Guest: and you know politics in general
Guest: but you know they were great
Guest: grateful
Guest: partners and then what else have I
Guest: done you know even EO is a very
Guest: different structure I would say it
Guest: it probably lacks the most
Guest: governance of any board
Guest: that I've sat on but I get it
Guest: because it's it's they're all
Guest: volunteers who are entrepreneurs
Guest: and they're all trying to operate
Guest: their own business day to day and
Guest: you know trying to get them all on
Guest: the same page and working as one
Guest: one
Guest: organization is not always easy.
Guest: But I would say that was
Guest: challenging in a lot of ways
Guest: because I was used to working on
Guest: boards with lots of governance in
Guest: place and then trying to put that
Guest: in. Well, you were on my board. And
Guest: so trying to bring that into EO was
Guest: very hard
Guest: because I'm not sure, no offense to
Guest: Global,
Guest: is that I'm not sure they
Guest: understand governance. Not on what
Guest: yeah
Guest: your typical board would look like.
Kevin: and no and i know when you're on
Kevin: the board and then you're a
Kevin: president and then you'd
Kevin: voluntold me to come
Guest: come on the board,
Guest: for sap
Guest: which is,
Kevin: which is i love the voluntold
Kevin: because someone's going hey you're
Kevin: going to be on okay i guess i am
Kevin: it, huh?
Kevin: okay thank you and not and for me
Kevin: watching you okay
Kevin: Because you go on to all these
Kevin: boards, you're learning all the
Kevin: time. Like you would be doing, so
Kevin: you're on the board committee, then
Kevin: governance, like to learn how to be
Kevin: in the governance, how to be on the
Kevin: board. So you've already had that
Kevin: training behind you.
Kevin: Now, here's an interesting
Kevin: question.
Kevin: You started, you had Foothills came
Kevin: in and they were making a change
Kevin: because you're getting all their
Kevin: realtors over, so they're coming to
Guest: Well, about 30 % of them,
Kevin: you.
Kevin: Yeah, coming over and they're
Kevin: making change.
Kevin: Now, the markets are shifting, how
Kevin: the markets are shifting, but what
Kevin: happens is everyone's getting older
Kevin: now realtors there's there's some
Kevin: ancient realtors that have been
Kevin: there a long time some newbie
Kevin: Did
Guest: you just say ancient?
Kevin: realtors yes ancient i date
Guest: If anyone is listening to this,
Guest: myself okay
Guest: This is, you know, an older, more
Guest: senior realtor. Do not take offense
Guest: to what Kevin just said.
Kevin: okay
Guest: i
Guest: I'll tell
Kevin: use myself the old guy like me the
Kevin: old boys club and it's interesting
Guest: Yes.
Kevin: because here and i look at it so at
Kevin: 50 here i am 58 years old and then
Kevin: what happens is we become wisdom at
Kevin: at 58 for some reason here it is
Kevin: years old.
Kevin: Yes, yes, yes. It's
Kevin: hey look at this
Guest: like i think i
Guest: the gray hair, Kevin.
Kevin: totally but what's interesting is
Kevin: I told you.
Kevin: that now here's guys in real estate
Kevin: okay been there a long time and
Kevin: then you've created this great team
Kevin: where do you recognize the leaders
Kevin: in the real estate guys like each
Kevin: individual
Kevin: and where where do you see their
Kevin: down to side like example like um
Kevin: burnout
Guest: Okay.
Kevin: The guy's going out and recognizing
Kevin: guys burning out and recognize it
Kevin: it.
Kevin: because a lot of people don't
Kevin: recognize burnout like you talked
Kevin: about out here it is anxiety and
Kevin: going okay this is a part of it you
Kevin: recognized it but real estate's
Kevin: tough okay
Guest: you're
Guest: It's not for everyone.
Kevin: only as good as your last year
Guest: so
Guest: Yeah.
Kevin: you sell one year there's there's
Kevin: your year your sales are this then
Kevin: it's like okay start all over again
Kevin: like it's a tough it's a tough gig
Kevin: and how many realtors get in
Guest: about
Guest: Oh, geez, yeah. So if 100 realtors
Guest: join today, in three years, there
Guest: will be about 15 to 20 left.
Kevin: That's amazing.
Kevin: it's
Guest: Yeah. So it's not for everyone. And
Guest: I think a lot of people come into
Guest: our industry expecting it, number
Guest: one, to be easier than they think
Guest: it is.
Guest: Everyone thinks that they're going
Guest: one thing um
Guest: to be more successful than the next
Guest: person.
Guest: Even though I mentor people and I
Guest: say, listen, like you need to give
Guest: yourself some grace, give yourself
Guest: some time to build a career.
Guest: It's not going to happen overnight,
Guest: like any entrepreneur. Right. And I
Guest: think that that's a big part of it
Guest: is that people don't come into our
Guest: business treating it like a
Guest: business.
Guest: You know, so all of a sudden now
Guest: you are, you know, Kevin
Guest: Incorporated. Right. Right. So how
Guest: are you going to it? And especially
Guest: if you came from like a corporate
Guest: nine to five job, all of a sudden
Guest: now you have zero structure.
Guest: You have to make your own schedule.
Guest: You have to go out there and talk
Guest: to as many people as possible about
Guest: real estate and try to convert
Guest: those people to your clients.
Guest: That's not going to happen
Guest: overnight. And I try to tell people
Guest: wouldn't matter what kind of
Guest: business you started. You should
Guest: always start with your where your
Guest: clients are going to come from.
Guest: That should be where you're
Guest: thinking. Because if you have no
Guest: idea what that looks like, you're
Guest: going to have a tough time, right?
Guest: I mean, there's certain things
Guest: So
Guest: that obviously we train the
Guest: realtors to think about, but a lot
Guest: of them just didn't really expect
Guest: what they needed to do.
Kevin: it's interesting. You say they
Kevin: really have to understand where the
Kevin: clients are coming from. all All
Kevin: right, let's talk a little bit
Kevin: about that one. sure
Kevin: What does that mean?
Guest: uh so
Guest: when we're thinking about a
Guest: business like your like spindle
Guest: stairs and railings for instance
Guest: you know you you i know where your
Guest: business is coming from and you
Guest: probably when you started you had
Guest: to think about that okay well you
Guest: know i've got to develop some
Guest: builder relationships for instance
Guest: right
Guest: or am i going to try to go out
Guest: there and find renovation work or
Guest: where are my clients going going to
Guest: come from? And typically, most
Guest: businesses have one to three, at
Guest: the most, I call them
Guest: buckets, but like buckets of
Guest: clients that they would potentially
Guest: connect with.
Guest: And so just like real estate, you
Guest: should be thinking about, well,
Guest: where is my business going to come
Guest: from? Do I have a big network of
Guest: people I know? Am I very good at
Guest: connecting? So potentially your
Guest: sphere of influence,
Guest: right so maybe the people you know
Guest: but a lot of times in our business
Guest: maybe other businesses
Guest: your friends want to stand back and
Guest: they want to say I want to look and
Guest: see how well is this person going
Guest: to do yes they want to support you
Guest: but they don't want to be the ones
Guest: being guinea pigs right they want
Guest: to you know find somebody else to
Guest: be the guinea pig and so it takes a
Guest: while
Guest: to earn their their trust and their
Guest: business and so then okay so it's
Guest: not going to be my sphere of
Guest: influence right away. Okay. So
Guest: maybe it's going to be, I'm going
Guest: to become an expert at open
Guest: houses because typically people
Guest: that come into open houses, there's
Guest: a good chance that there's a reason
Guest: why they're there, right? They're
Guest: looking for, some are looking for
Guest: design ideas, I guess.
Guest: And some of them are being nosy
Guest: neighbors. We like to call them,
Guest: but a lot of times people are
Guest: coming because they're genuinely
Guest: interested in real estate. At some
Guest: point, they either want to buy or
Guest: they want to sell or they want to
Guest: do both.
Guest: Okay, so, you know, that could be a
Guest: place that I could get my clients.
Guest: Or maybe I'm really good at
Guest: networking or volunteer leadership,
Guest: right? I built my business on
Guest: volunteer leadership,
Guest: not because I went and did
Guest: volunteer leadership to get
Guest: business. It just becomes organic.
Guest: And so you've got to think about,
Guest: okay, so where is my business going
Guest: to come from? And I better be
Guest: thinking about that before I even
Guest: get started.
Kevin: that's interesting it's kind of
Kevin: like uh selling without selling so
Kevin: setting yourself up say i'm not
Kevin: there to ask for the sale i'm there
Kevin: to show you who i am so i can
Kevin: bring it to you later on and say oh
Kevin: here's corinne you know watch
Kevin: you're actually in the real estate
Kevin: i had no idea you were that and
Kevin: then networking properly through
Kevin: that part so
Kevin: Well,
Guest: if you become the expert, right,
Guest: Kevin, so if I learn as much about
Guest: the real estate market as I can,
Guest: even as being new to the business,
Guest: people will look to me to get
Guest: information, right?
Guest: And then organically through
Guest: intentional real estate
Guest: conversations, people then will
Guest: gravitate towards you because you
Guest: are the person providing them some
Guest: good knowledge and some good
Guest: expertise,
Guest: and so you start earning their
Guest: trust.
Guest: right? Like if I want to know about
Guest: stairs, I'm going to come talk to
Guest: you. If I want to know about how to
Guest: create a podcast, I want to come to
Guest: you because you've been doing it a
Guest: long time. And you know, there's
Guest: ways that you can learn about a
Guest: business in an industry very
Guest: quickly
Guest: if you do the right things and, and
Guest: put some intention into it.
Kevin: interesting because we talk now
Kevin: intentions okay and here's our
Kevin: three buckets now let's go way back
Kevin: now at the beginning because now
Kevin: you're in the real estate side okay
Kevin: selling real estate now you had to
Kevin: look at the broker like the people
Kevin: now because now you're
Kevin: selling uh real estate people not
Kevin: not the actual they're yes they're
Kevin: selling the houses but now Now you
Kevin: have to look at that bucket of how
Guest: do i attract realtors to our
Guest: you're getting those. How do you
Guest: track them?
Guest: business yeah is that what you're
Guest: asking
Guest: correct
Kevin: In a roundabout way, it's like
Kevin: you're my integrity keeper to help
Kevin: me say it better. But yeah, because
Kevin: you had to do a shift, just like
Kevin: them. So how did you get those
Kevin: people on board?
Guest: that's a good question uh i think
Guest: that part of it is uh is some
Guest: intention for sure um our Our
Guest: reputation is very good within the
Guest: industry. I challenge anybody that
Guest: I talk to, I say, go out there and
Guest: ask about myself
Guest: or Rollapage Benchmark and what
Guest: people think in our industry about
Guest: our company. And our realtors know
Guest: I have high standards and I think
Guest: that they appreciate that and they
Guest: respect it. And so through that,
Guest: I think that we attract the people
Guest: that we want, right? So people that
Guest: want to be professionals, that want
Guest: to have success, but also
Guest: appreciate high standards and doing
Guest: things the right way.
Guest: And we've also built a very good
Guest: infrastructure of support.
Guest: And so not only do we provide
Guest: training and ongoing mentorship and
Guest: coaching,
Guest: but our staff are all trained to be
Guest: a support system.
Guest: And so not all companies, and that
Guest: just doesn't go for real estate,
Guest: only the
Guest: but not all companies, I think, do
Guest: a good job of really looking at
Guest: their infrastructure infrastructure
Guest: and seeing how, from an operational
Guest: standpoint, how do we support our
Guest: agents?
Guest: And I did a good job of that, but
Guest: Tom, my husband now, and also my
Guest: director of operations, brought a
Guest: whole, he joined me a couple of
Guest: years ago, and he worked for Frito
Guest: -Lay in operations.
Guest: And so he took all his learning and
Guest: brought it into our company. And I
Guest: think he's done an amazing amazing
Guest: job of really enriching a lot of
Guest: the roles of our support staff to
Guest: look at our realtors as
Guest: clients and be able to provide them
Guest: the support they need to run their
Guest: businesses in an efficient way and
Guest: to get more business. And that's
Guest: our intention all day long. And
Guest: those are the kinds of people we
Guest: want to attract. Like I'm not, I
Guest: don't hire everybody.
Guest: There's lots of companies that
Guest: will. We want people that are
Guest: focused on making this a career,
Guest: right? So don't have other full
Guest: -time jobs because it's really hard
Guest: to put a hundred percent into
Guest: something
Guest: if you're a hundred percent
Guest: somewhere else
Kevin: right
Guest: and I and I know like I'm not
Guest: saying that there aren't people out
Guest: there that can figure it out but I
Guest: would say most of my Realtors that
Guest: have ever started with a full -time
Guest: job with the
Guest: intention of leaving it because I
Guest: will make those exceptions that
Guest: focus so hard on it will eventually
Guest: just leave their other job right
Guest: So while
Guest: and make this their
Guest: their full -time job
Kevin: doing this, what's been the hardest
Kevin: doing what exactly I
Kevin: challenge
Guest: getting
Kevin: people on board? Where do you see
Kevin: the challenge?
Guest: think people
Guest: Because they all have
Kevin: totally
Kevin: different characters. Everybody has
Guest: yeah yeah
Kevin: their own different personalities.
Kevin: but what's the challenge?
Kevin: I
Guest: I think when people focus on too
Guest: much on the costs in our business
Guest: uh I think that there's always that
Guest: value cost
Guest: balance that has to happen and just
Guest: like I when I when I sold real
Guest: estate I would I would talk to to
Guest: my sellers, and I'd say to them, I
Guest: said, if we put the commissions
Guest: aside, right, because
Guest: you can find people that will do it
Guest: for less. Absolutely.
Guest: Totally get that. But if we put it
Guest: aside, what's the other major thing
Guest: I didn't have any other means.
Guest: that's important in this? Because
Guest: after we sign a
Guest: contract, guess what? We're in a
Guest: relationship.
Guest: So what is that relationship going
Guest: to look like? Is it transparent?
Guest: Are we in a relationship where we
Guest: feel comfortable talking to each
Guest: other?
Guest: So if you put the money part aside
Guest: and you feel that you're being
Guest: supported and you're being given
Guest: the systems and all the things that
Guest: you need to be successful,
Guest: and this goes for sellers as well,
Guest: sellers and buyers, is that if
Guest: you're feeling supported and you
Guest: feel that your realtor is working
Guest: 100 % for you,
Guest: not saying that money doesn't
Guest: matter but within the scope of
Guest: things do you not want your realtor
Guest: to work their butts off for you to
Guest: get the best price possible with
Guest: all the means they have at
Guest: their ability because if you start
Guest: cutting away at their fees guess
Guest: what they have to do they have to
Guest: cut away at all the things that are
Guest: going to support you with and
Guest: that's the same with us if
Guest: you start just thinking about well
Guest: how can i cut you know the
Guest: brokerage fees well then we have to
Guest: start thinking about how we're
Guest: going to cut all the services we
Guest: provide we want to provide you
Guest: with as many services as we can to
Guest: it.
Guest: make you as successful as we can
Guest: right that's our goal and
Guest: we don't make money unless you make
Guest: money that's the way our structure
Guest: Right.
Guest: works and so am i going to
Guest: do my best to try to help you be
Guest: successful as you want to be and
Guest: everybody's interpretation of
Guest: success is different i never try to
Guest: tell somebody what their
Guest: interpretation of success is
Guest: But I think that's the number one.
Guest: I don't tell people we're the
Guest: lowest cost brokerage out there
Guest: because we're not. We're probably
Guest: at the highest, right, or one of
Guest: the highest. But we feel that we
Guest: deliver the value and the services
Guest: to really support the agent.
Guest: So there are agents that we
Guest: struggle with that kind of say, no,
Guest: I'm going to go over here because
Guest: it's costing me less. Okay, you
Guest: know, that's for you for sure,
Guest: right?
Kevin: And it's interesting because a lot
Kevin: of people don't know. So we look at
Kevin: this and say, why is it called
Kevin: Royal LePage Benchmark? oh
Guest: okay oh um so royal we're a
Guest: franchise right so we own um we own
Guest: our own company but we're
Guest: a franchise of royal page because
Guest: we chose to join royal page about
Guest: 24 years ago 25 years ago and we
Guest: felt that um royal page provided
Guest: the systems and support that we
Guest: needed but also to
Guest: to the culture, you know, and I'm
Guest: very proud to say it today, is that
Guest: Royal LePage is the only major
Guest: brand that's wholly Canadian. And
Guest: so if you're hiring a Royal LePage
Guest: realtor, for instance,
Guest: you know that any of the fees that
Guest: they pay us or they pay Royal
Guest: LePage stay in Canada.
Kevin: So no United States.
Guest: No. So no offense to some of my
Guest: competitors that are owned by U .S.
Guest: companies, companies but
Guest: unfortunately the some of the fees
Guest: that you pay to them um the
Guest: realtors that pay
Guest: those brokerages a piece of the
Guest: fees may not stay in Canada right
Guest: they may go to the states and so
Guest: it's something that we're really
Guest: proud of also too Royal LePage's
Guest: mantra is helping you is what we do
Guest: that's like so Canadian isn't No
Kevin: it yeah
Guest: doubt, eh?
Kevin: But let's talk about the word
Kevin: benchmark. Like, what's the purpose
Kevin: of benchmark?
Guest: so benchmark is the stamp that
Guest: jewelers put on their works of art
Guest: right so it's their stamp of
Guest: excellence and so when we when we
Guest: moved we were a small French we
Guest: belong to a small
Guest: franchise called Realty World years
Guest: ago which we loved it but it was
Guest: locked you in.
Guest: bought by
Guest: Royal LePage and we had to make the
Guest: decision do we stay with Royal
Guest: LePage or we go somewhere else and
Guest: so my mom at the time said this is
Guest: our opportunity to change her name
Guest: because we're a Realty World tempo
Guest: which was not a name she
Guest: she chose. She had partnered with a
Guest: woman who owned that company, and
Guest: that woman passed away in the early
Guest: 90s. My mom took over. And so when
Guest: we were able to change our name,
Guest: this was a name
Guest: she really liked. And so we put it
Guest: out to our realtors at the time,
Guest: here's a couple of names, and then
Guest: we had them vote on it. But she
Guest: really influenced them to pick the
Guest: students.
Guest: It's a new benchmark. because we
Guest: name Benchmark,
Guest: liked the idea that we would be the
Guest: standard, right? That we would be
Guest: that stamp of of excellence that
Guest: everybody should look at and want
Guest: to be like right that we would
Guest: always have
Guest: this um level of excellence i
Guest: already mentioned i have high
Guest: standards i come by it honestly um
Guest: that we would always i don't i tell
Guest: my agents all the time i'm like we
Guest: don't want to fall below that
Guest: bar right we always want to do
Guest: better than the rest and that's
Guest: what i strive for it's probably the
Guest: thing that is one of my deepest
Guest: core values is about quality and
Guest: excellence
Guest: and how do we deliver on that and I
Guest: want to deliver on it as a
Guest: brokerage as well right that our
Guest: company runs with as much
Guest: excellence as we can all the time
Guest: and we
Guest: have and thankfully I mentioned Tom
Guest: my director of operations although
Guest: he and I have different
Guest: personalities and it's good because
Guest: we have different skill
Guest: skill sets that we bring we both
Guest: agree on the fact that we believe
Guest: in quality we believe in excellence
Guest: and and it's really important to us
Kevin: And it definitely shows.
Kevin: So, I wanted to go back from when
Kevin: you first started in the real
Kevin: estate. and it's kind of a question
Kevin: i don't know if people think about
Kevin: this or not or or it isn't so we
Kevin: talk about inflation okay houses
Kevin: back in the day
Guest: okay
Kevin: when you first started was how much
Kevin: ballpark
Kevin: Oh,
Guest: hundred thousand okay
Kevin: I'm
Guest: trying to think what I bought my
Guest: first house for. I bought it for
Guest: $144 ,000, and it was an up -down
Guest: so
Guest: duplex in Renfrew.
Guest: And it was a 50 -foot lot, which
Guest: people are probably choking on
Guest: right now. It was like 50 by 125, I
Guest: think, and I bought it for $144
Guest: ,000.
Guest: So that was 1997, 97 or 98,
Guest: something like that.
Kevin: now here's the question so in 1997
Kevin: i was able to buy a property for
Kevin: 143 thousand dollars you're the
Kevin: real estate person what was the
Kevin: commission was it like a seven and
Kevin: So 7 % up to 100 ,000, 3 % after
Guest: that.
Kevin: I'm just going to use that number
Kevin: as a vague.
Guest: I don't know what it is, but we
Guest: Okay, but I do need to clarify
Guest: could just...
Guest: something because 7 % on the first
Guest: 100 ,000 and 3 % on the balance
Guest: plus GST is the full commission
Guest: that's split between the buyer's
Guest: requires both of those. So if
Guest: brokerage and the seller's
Guest: brokerage.
Kevin: Correct.
Guest: you're going to use that number,
Guest: that's, that's, yeah.
Guest: No, perfect.
Kevin: So we'll use that number as an
Kevin: example because I want to actually
Kevin: compare it. So we go back to 1978,
Kevin: we go back then.
Kevin: 1978.
Kevin: Or whatever, whatever that date. So
Kevin: we're going to go back to that date
Kevin: and then we go to where we are
Kevin: today. day that same house is
Kevin: probably worth about say let's say
Kevin: a million dollars we'll just say
Kevin: that
Guest: It's not worth that much, but yes,
Kevin: ballpark ballpark what would it
Guest: okay.
Kevin: Walmart, Walmart.
Guest: That house probably would be worth
Guest: about 800 ,000, yeah.
Kevin: 800 ,000 okay so a couple hundred a
Guest: Well, sorry.
Kevin: little bit a hundred thousand
Guest: a bit but
Kevin: the question is it's interesting so
Kevin: we have inflation that grows that
Kevin: goes from zero here milk is this
Kevin: this goes up inflation everything
Kevin: cost of living goes up and up but
Kevin: the interesting part is that here
Kevin: we are in real estate seven and
Kevin: three back then and we're We're
Kevin: still seven and three today.
Kevin: Did they make more money back then
Kevin: than versus today? Yes, costs are
Kevin: going up. Like, we didn't have AI.
Kevin: We don't have any of those
Kevin: technology, the basis here. Was
Kevin: there more real estate people back
Kevin: then, okay, as a trade?
Kevin: And I'm going to use it as a trade.
Kevin: I'm going to say it differently.
Kevin: Because the numbers never changed.
Kevin: Yes, the value of the house has
Kevin: gone up. But as the brokerage,
Kevin: talking about your brokerage, the
Kevin: value of a brokerage today and the
Kevin: value of a brokerage back then,
Kevin: you can't even compare the two like
Kevin: you guys have had so much more
Kevin: value
Guest: Yeah, I mean, technology,
Guest: I mean, the big thing that's
Guest: happened, there's so many
Guest: variables.
Guest: So people could argue, oh, well,
Guest: you guys are making way more money
Guest: now because house prices have gone
Guest: up. Sure, you could argue that.
Guest: But there are many other things
Guest: that have happened as well.
Guest: Let's talk about the cost of
Guest: everything.
Guest: Cost of groceries, putting gas in
Guest: our car, all the things. So as a
Guest: realtor, your cost of living has
Guest: also gone up exponentially.
Guest: And also what has really changed
Guest: from the time I was a realtor to
Guest: today is the amount of money
Guest: realtors spend on marketing.
Guest: So of course, yes, social media
Guest: doesn't have to cost you anything.
Guest: There's lots of things that don't
Guest: have to cost you a lot of money,
Guest: but there are a lot of things that
Guest: do.
Guest: And I mean, if you're a realtor
Guest: that is going to be incredibly
Guest: professional, you're going to buy,
Guest: you know, get professional photos
Guest: done, make sure that if we have to,
Guest: because our regulator tells us
Guest: to, we have to do RMS, which are
Guest: the residential measurement
Guest: standards. We have to provide
Guest: those. So typically, most realtors
Guest: are hiring measuring companies to
Guest: do floor plans.
Guest: So that's another expense. And
Guest: then, of course, what's really
Guest: attractive for people today are
Guest: videos.
Guest: And so think about that. We talked
Guest: about editing. So, you know, the
Guest: cost of getting a video done and
Guest: all the editing, there's a cost to
Guest: that as well.
Guest: Um, so I would say relatively
Guest: speaking, um, yes, uh, we can make
Guest: a good living, but I would say
Guest: the majority of, of agents, um,
Guest: like I think across Canada, I think
Guest: the average number of deals that an
Guest: agent does in a year is like six or
Guest: seven. that's it.
Guest: Yeah. Yeah.
Guest: And so, I mean, that's not, I don't
Guest: know how people survive on that
Guest: unless you're selling, like you're
Guest: selling sunset and know, in that
Guest: year, but there's a lot of part
Guest: -time realtors and yes, the number
Guest: you asked about the
Guest: number of agents. So when I
Guest: started, there was probably about 3
Guest: ,800, but the population of, of
Guest: Calgary too is, um, under a million
Guest: people. It was about 700, 800 ,000.
Guest: Um, now of course,
Guest: yes, we have a lot more agents
Guest: probably, um, hovering around 7
Guest: ,000, um, 8 ,000, maybe I haven't
Guest: looked at it but uh also the
Guest: population has exploded right so um
Kevin: But it's interesting the 7 and 3's
Kevin: you can't
Kevin: never changed.
Kevin: like as an example going to
Guest: really say that because we can't
Guest: nine and two oh
Guest: say that there's we're not allowed
Guest: yeah
Guest: to say it's against
Guest: the competition act we can't say
Guest: that there are standards of of um
Guest: what we charge um
Kevin: yeah
Kevin: and that's i'm just using that like
Kevin: it could be
Guest: whatever that number
Guest: like yeah
Guest: is kind and and i would say there
Guest: are realtors that charge less and
Guest: there's some realtors that charge
Guest: more and it probably depends on
Guest: their standard of service right you
Guest: know again like i said if
Guest: if you're asking a realtor or
Guest: realtors delivering on a much lower
Guest: cost generally they can't then
Guest: unless you're doing so many
Guest: provide the same amount of service
Guest: it's impossible you'd run yourself
Guest: into the ground right unless you're
Guest: doing so many transactions that
Guest: transactions
Guest: somehow it's paying for itself but
Guest: and especially
Guest: you know that's that's
Guest: a very difficult model to keep up
Kevin: and that's
Kevin: when you talk about like the
Kevin: average is six people six houses a
Kevin: year like
Guest: yeah burn
Guest: across Canada like I think in
Guest: Alberta and Calgary it's it's
Guest: higher for sure
Kevin: now we talked about this before
Kevin: because we're getting into that
Kevin: burnouts like people that are in
Kevin: this because it's it's a tough gig
Kevin: like you're in it you're in it to
Kevin: win it it's like no retreat okay
Kevin: you focus on your real estate and
Kevin: doing it you've got your three
Kevin: buckets that you're
Kevin: you've got to be able to find
Kevin: especially first starting out
Kevin: because you don't know the buckets
Kevin: okay because you have to figure
Kevin: that out before you start the real
Kevin: estate like are you a connector or
Kevin: your family in there but the whole
Kevin: thing now comes into here you are
Kevin: you're in it you're going
Kevin: through you got anxiety you get
Kevin: this now your guys have been in a
Kevin: burnout rate
Guest: Yeah, it's, and I would say
Guest: especially for our high achievers,
Guest: like in anything, right, if, so,
Guest: how can I talk about this? Let's
Guest: talk about how the market works,
Guest: because I think that that will help
Guest: understand the burnout rate in our
Guest: industry.
Guest: So most of our business is done
Guest: between, let's say, March and June.
Guest: So that's our spring market, right?
Guest: And there's another little market.
Guest: in september and october as
Guest: There's a little market usually in
Guest: the fall that runs about mid
Guest: -September to mid -November. And
Guest: October can be a very busy month.
Guest: Sometimes I've seen it even as busy
Guest: or busier than April.
Guest: But if you think about it, if a
Guest: realtor is working, so there's the
Guest: lead up time to the spring market.
Guest: So, you know, over Christmas and
Guest: into that first month of January
Guest: and February, the realtors are
Guest: doing as much as they can to create
Guest: connections and connect with people
Guest: to, it's called,
Guest: you know, nurturing our potential
Guest: clients. and creating a pipeline so
Guest: that we know when the spring market
Guest: comes around that hopefully a lot
Guest: of those people will buy or sell
Guest: with us.
Guest: And so now, if we think that the
Guest: majority of our business occurs
Guest: between those months, can you
Guest: imagine what a high -achieving
Guest: realtor is going to feel like by
Guest: the time June or July comes around?
Guest: They are tired, right? They've
Guest: worked so hard during those months
Guest: to try to do as much business as
Guest: possible.
Guest: probably barely taken a breather,
Guest: right? Because they need to answer
Guest: all the calls. They need to be
Guest: there.
Guest: Even now, today, the best part
Guest: about technology and the worst part
Guest: of technology,
Guest: it used to be that I could go on a
Guest: vacation when I was selling real
Guest: estate, hand it over to one of my
Guest: colleagues and say, answer my phone
Guest: for me, right? You don't do that
Guest: anymore.
Guest: Very rarely, a realtor will go away
Guest: and their phones are right there.
Guest: They can do business right there.
Guest: So are they actually taking a break
Guest: They actually do business so easily
Guest: from the business?
Guest: No. I mean, our world has become so
Guest: instant and that need to answer the
Guest: that in that need to
Guest: phone at all costs.
Guest: I think the high achievers that
Guest: try to do it,
Guest: don't take intentional breaks from
Guest: people and from their business burn
Guest: out, right?
Guest: Right. And so by the time the July
Guest: comes around, you know, a lot of
Guest: them are looking for some reprieve.
Guest: Right. And it's tough. And I mean,
Guest: I know even just anecdotally, some
Guest: of my agents, we talked about, you
Guest: know, the way that I went through a
Guest: panic.
Guest: I remember one of my realtors, he
Guest: suffered from, oh, my God, Corinne,
Guest: I can't even turn on my computer.
Guest: I can't turn on my laptop because
Guest: it's just I'm frozen. chosen.
Guest: That's, you know, just couldn't do
Guest: it anymore.
Guest: And so, you know, at that point,
Guest: you're going to see Kelp, right?
Guest: You know, going to see your doctor
Guest: or maybe, I don't know, probably a
Guest: lot of realtors have therapists. I
Guest: don't know. But, you know, it's one
Guest: of these
Guest: things. And, you know, again, the
Guest: best part about our business, the
Guest: worst part are people, right? Like
Guest: some people bring you joy and
Guest: you're so happy to work with them.
Guest: And then some people,
Guest: you know they're going through so
Guest: much stress that it can bring out
Guest: the worst in people and so that
Guest: that stressful client you don't
Guest: want to take on all their problems
Guest: but you do and just like I don't
Guest: know how actually therapists do it
Guest: you know they go home at the end of
Guest: the day and how do they let
Guest: like
Guest: go of all the things that they've
Guest: heard all day long the same with us
Guest: I mean I could tell you billions of
Guest: stories about clients that have
Guest: gone through a lot of trauma um
Guest: people maybe not
Guest: totally well and um i have had you
Guest: know we've had clients that have
Guest: died while we were working with
Guest: them right there's so many things
Guest: that happen when you're dealing
Guest: with people and how do you
Guest: let go of that especially in our
Guest: business which has this reputation
Guest: for being 24 7 which by the the way
Guest: I'm really happy that the Gen Z and
Guest: even our millennials don't treat it
Guest: so much like that,
Guest: that they actually try to put up
Guest: boundaries and say, you know what,
Guest: after nine o 'clock at night or 10
Guest: o 'clock at night, I'm not
Guest: answering my phone. Right.
Guest: Whatever's happening can happen
Guest: tomorrow. You know, and I think
Guest: it's great. I mean, we used to
Guest: write my back in the day when we
Guest: used to have, you know, landlines.
Guest: My mom, when she was selling real
Guest: estate full time,
Guest: we'd have clients phoning our house
Guest: right because you didn't have cell
Guest: phones and so people would phone
Guest: our house non -stop it's and it was
Guest: this whole thing you'd put your
Guest: your home phone number
Guest: on business cards and put 24 7 you
Guest: know so people calling till like
Guest: midnight one in the morning right
Guest: so anyway so
Kevin: that's interesting because gen z's
Kevin: okay and then you're talking about
Kevin: this because you came when you're
Kevin: coming in then you're you're you're
Kevin: on you're on call all the time and
Kevin: then all of a sudden they come into
Kevin: play that generation comes into
Kevin: play and says no no no wait a
Kevin: second it's
Kevin: nine o 'clock how was that to you
Kevin: your organization as a whole going
Kevin: whoa I've never seen that before
Kevin: because it didn't happen overnight
Kevin: it was slowly gradually come in
Kevin: because I get from my experience
Kevin: from my guys working for me after
Kevin: COVID after COVID hit there was no
Kevin: more working overtime time there
Kevin: was no urgency to get a job done
Kevin: and it changed our construction
Kevin: industry totally that
Kevin: it wasn't that the customer we have
Kevin: to work weekends we got to work
Kevin: late to get it done COVID stopped
Kevin: it and said no it's okay to relax
Kevin: it's okay that we're not going to
Kevin: work this weekend and getting
Kevin: people over time is hard when was
Kevin: that change for you did I in my
Kevin: industry I
Kevin: noticed it right at COVID it was
Kevin: like no more overtime no more work
Kevin: and if when you're done It's 5 o
Kevin: 'clock, you're done at 5.
Guest: i would say uh to your point i
Guest: think it's been gradual but i think
Guest: actually when i saw technology
Guest: becoming such a major part of our
Guest: business and realtors didn't
Guest: need to come into the office every
Guest: day um that
Guest: was really when i noticed a bit of
Guest: a shift and so as a brokerage like
Guest: we have to create opportunities for
Guest: people to collaborate so you know
Guest: we'll have big office events and um
Guest: you know we have a actually have a
Guest: summit day coming
Guest: up on october 6th that will be from
Guest: nine till about three o 'clock
Guest: we'll have different speakers and
Guest: you know we'll get a pretty good
Guest: group of people that will come to
Guest: that the majority of
Guest: our agents should attend and that's
Guest: an opportunity for them to see each
Guest: other but like that doesn't happen
Guest: on a day -to -day basis. And to
Guest: your point, I think COVID even
Guest: changed our industry, even in
Guest: that little bit more, where people
Guest: wanted to stay at home, right? They
Guest: didn't want to go out and interact,
Guest: which is hard. Like in our
Guest: business, you do have to go see
Guest: people, right?
Guest: And I think people, and I'll have
Guest: to segue a little bit, but I get
Guest: asked a lot about, are you ever
Guest: afraid technology is going to
Guest: replace your business? Well, it
Guest: won't because people crave high
Guest: touch.
Guest: And I do see actually a little bit
Guest: of a shift moving from purely
Guest: online and virtual and all those
Guest: things to society wanting that high
Guest: touch again and in person.
Guest: People want to see touch feel
Guest: still, right?
Guest: But to that point, I did see a
Guest: noticeable change for people kind
Guest: of, especially the young people,
Guest: really coveting
Guest: their time with their family and
Guest: friends, right? that they make that
Guest: a priority, which I think is
Guest: awesome, by the way.
Guest: I do try to tell all of my new
Guest: realtors when we talk about
Guest: building schedules, I'm like, this
Guest: is how it should work.
Guest: You first.
Guest: Please block off all your personal
Guest: time.
Guest: If you need to do workouts in the
Guest: morning or whatever time of day,
Guest: just block it off. Call it, you
Guest: have to see Mr. Gym. Nobody needs
Guest: to know.
Guest: If you meditate, have that blocked
Guest: off in your time. Nobody needs to
Guest: know. I don't know. Call it
Guest: something else, right? right? Time
Guest: with your mind. I don't know.
Kevin: and
Guest: then, you know, then we talk about
Guest: friends and family, right? Make
Guest: sure all the birthdays are blocked
Guest: off, your anniversary dates with
Guest: your
Guest: spouse, all those things that are
Guest: important. Then we talk about real
Guest: estate and making sure we have all
Guest: the important dates and like
Guest: training dates and all the things
Guest: in real estate that don't
Guest: change then let's talk about open
Guest: houses and let's talk about lead
Guest: generation activities and so that's
Guest: how your schedule should build and
Guest: i appreciate that you know the
Guest: younger generation and
Guest: really do protect the time with
Guest: their with their family yeah
Kevin: it's interesting because that still
Kevin: still will be two boxes three
Kevin: goes into your three boxes the
Kevin: three buckets that
Kevin: buckets that everybody has to have
Kevin: everybody has to have but that's
Kevin: but that's become
Kevin: becomes one of the non -negotiables
Kevin: that starts there becomes becomes
Kevin: an unnegotiable now interesting
Kevin: question that i have here is that
Kevin: you've been in this for
Kevin: world for
Kevin: a long time three decades and we
Kevin: look at ai today and we look at the
Kevin: internet okay two key components
Kevin: in our in our history and in our
Kevin: lives that was a changing point
Kevin: which has become the greatest
Kevin: of these components,
Kevin: changing point between the two they
Kevin: all have their goods bads their
Kevin: indifference but where did you you
Kevin: see in society was the biggest
Kevin: shift that one moment that actually
Kevin: because of it changed
Kevin: everything instantly and now
Kevin: example ai is only a thousand days
Kevin: old
Guest: That's crazy to think that. It
Guest: seems like it's been around a long
Guest: time. And
Kevin: then the internet when it came out
Kevin: okay it was like whoa here's this
Kevin: thing and everybody's like this is
Kevin: going to change you 2020 is going
Kevin: to okay the millennium like 2020
Kevin: the world's going to end kind
Kevin: be a millennium. which part do you
Guest: kind of thing. So
Kevin: think has had its biggest impact on
Kevin: your industry,
Guest: or just
Kevin: in general? both your industry,
Kevin: okay, internet or AI in the
Kevin: industry, and then for you
Kevin: personally?
Guest: I would say, this is so hard
Guest: because there's, I mean, internet
Guest: and AI. so the internet made a big
Guest: difference in our industry because
Guest: all of a sudden now
Guest: realtors used to be the gatekeepers
Guest: of all information and so we used
Guest: to have books that would have all
Guest: of our listings in them we were the
Guest: owners of those books and it was
Guest: only when the when
Guest: you know we were working with
Guest: somebody we provide them that
Guest: information it was an enormous
Guest: shift especially for realtors who
Guest: had been in the industry a long
Guest: time for all of a sudden all that
Guest: information being available on the
Guest: internet all of a
Guest: sudden the public could do their
Guest: own research they could find their
Guest: own listings they could they could
Guest: do even today now you can go on and
Guest: try to find evaluations on your own
Guest: home I'm not saying that that's the
Guest: way you should do
Guest: it because you should and so they
Guest: they don't take in account a lot of
Guest: things But all that information is
Guest: now available. I think what AI did
Guest: for us in our industry is take that
Guest: to the next level, right, where we
Guest: can go into AI.
Guest: And I think for realtors, there's
Guest: been some benefits as well in terms
Guest: of being able to build out, let's
Guest: say, business plans, to build out
Guest: marketing plans for their clients,
Guest: to create their own brands, right?
Guest: Right. So they can use AI to do a
Guest: lot of that.
Guest: But, you know, the public now has
Guest: even more ability to get
Guest: information. And by the way, I
Guest: think that's good. Like, don't get
Guest: me wrong.
Guest: I was one of the proponents of open
Guest: source and getting as much
Guest: information as you can, because at
Guest: the end of the day, you know, that
Guest: makes the realtor forced to be more
Guest: professional.
Guest: Like we have to now be able to
Guest: guide our clients through all the
Guest: information that they can get.
Guest: Sure, you can get information
Guest: overload and you're, you know,
Guest: getting dumped on with all of this,
Guest: but how do you interpret it?
Kevin: Yeah, and it's interesting because
Kevin: speaking from experience and what
Kevin: you're talking about, here I am in
Kevin: the construction industry,
Kevin: so doing this for 25 years, 30
Kevin: years, but I always go back to the
Kevin: real estate because what's
Kevin: interesting people phone us and
Kevin: they said you know what I need a
Kevin: renovation for my house and we're
Kevin: going okay what does it look like
Kevin: or
Kevin: give us some pictures or stuff
Kevin: first thing they do is they always
Kevin: go back because that house would
Kevin: have been sold sometime in the last
Kevin: 20 years there's a picture of an
Kevin: interior of the staircase so we can
Kevin: measure off of that right it's all
Kevin: real estate pictures because
Kevin: they're all high
Kevin: high professional, they're high in
Kevin: net value, like they're awesome.
Kevin: super helpful
Guest: So
Kevin: very helpful. And we're in the
Kevin: construction industry going, well,
Kevin: oh, you don't have to take that
Kevin: picture because they're selling
Kevin: that house or however that comes
Kevin: through. So it's a good lead
Kevin: generation for us. So that's where
Kevin: AI has come in. And it's obviously
Kevin: the internet's changed a bit. We're
Kevin: in the construction
Kevin: industry. We're backwards. We're 10
Kevin: years behind. So when you look at
Kevin: technology, you look where it is
Kevin: today, the construction industry is
Kevin: um
Kevin: way behind. Now, builders may be up
Kevin: there, but the people that
Kevin: are actually in the industry as a
Kevin: whole um that produce it like
Kevin: contractors and stuff are at the
Kevin: entry level like they haven't
Kevin: adapted ai they have some of them
Kevin: haven't even gone from pen
Kevin: like they're still in pen to paper
Kevin: using excel for their sheets and
Kevin: oh wow okay
Kevin: stuff like that never mind
Kevin: that so that growth potential
Kevin: especially with realtors are so far
Kevin: like plugged in and what you guys
Kevin: are doing changes the market like
Kevin: it changes the way things are done
Kevin: you guys lead it and how
Kevin: Yeah,
Kevin: how you're leading the next
Kevin: revolution in real estate, so to go
Kevin: that way.
Kevin: Yeah,
Guest: I think it'll be interesting in the
Guest: future how things like VR come into
Guest: play. So, you know, let's say it's
Guest: minus 30 out and I want to go look
Guest: at some houses.
Guest: And again, I'm not saying VR
Guest: replaces, you know, the SeaTouch
Guest: feel,
Guest: But like, you know, maybe I could
Guest: do some, you know, walking through
Guest: some houses with virtual reality
Guest: goggles and like at least, you
Guest: know, go through and eliminate
Guest: because buying a house is a process
Guest: of elimination
Guest: is eliminate the houses that just
Guest: aren't going to work. And then, you
Guest: know, focus in on the one or two
Guest: that we might consider. sitter and
Guest: so a little less time going out
Guest: there and necessarily walking
Guest: through homes that maybe
Guest: you know you have you're sitting
Guest: here in your couch in your
Guest: brokerage office or maybe at home
Guest: your realtors brought their vr over
Guest: you know and you're walking through
Guest: those houses with them i
Guest: That'll be the next step.
Guest: don't know it'd just be kind of
Guest: interesting Interesting.
Kevin: All right, so now, next step.
Kevin: Where do you see yourself in the
Kevin: next five years? You personally and
Kevin: your organization. I'll go you
Kevin: personally first because you're
Kevin: always connected.
Guest: well one of the things that i did
Guest: this year i uh took the icd course
Guest: for anybody that doesn't know what
Guest: that is um it's the it's to become
Guest: a better director right on a board
Guest: and i wanted to uh
Guest: open up more opportunities for
Guest: myself to sit on different kinds of
Guest: boards i i love our city and i I
Guest: love all the cool things that are
Guest: happening here. And I want to get
Guest: more involved and more engaged.
Guest: So it looks like I'm going to be
Guest: going on to an arts board, which is
Guest: a complete deviation from what I've
Guest: been doing, but I'm very excited
Guest: about that. And I can see myself
Guest: doing more of that, whether it's
Guest: getting involved in a City of
Guest: Calgary board
Guest: or, like I said, arts or something
Guest: where I have a little bit more of
Guest: my fingers in,
Guest: what's happening in Calgary? What's
Guest: happening in this city?
Guest: um so that's me personally um i
Guest: also anybody that knows me knows i
Guest: love to travel so you know spending
Guest: a bit more time also doing some
Guest: intentional traveling learning
Guest: about the world
Guest: something i really love to do with
Guest: my family my my parents are you
Guest: know knock on wood very very
Guest: very, very healthy things.
Guest: healthy they're well into their mid
Guest: 80s and so i want to spend time
Guest: All
Guest: with them too and make sure i'm
Guest: yeah doing some traveling and and
Guest: seeing them as much as i can too
Guest: all
Kevin: right, so last one and then we'll
Kevin: just wrap this up because I want to
Kevin: know is like for someone to get a
Kevin: hold of you wants to get into real
Kevin: once
Kevin: estate wants to learn more about
Kevin: it. Can they reach out to you to
Kevin: have a conversation
Kevin: to build up and what does that
Guest: absolutely
Kevin: mean?
Kevin: So, please tell us a little bit
Kevin: about
Guest: about that okay so first of all i
Guest: want to say something this business
Guest: no offense to construction is the
Guest: most fun industry you can can be
Guest: involved in as much as I've said,
Guest: like the highs and lows, the great
Guest: thing about working with
Guest: people and, and helping them
Guest: fulfill their dreams is like, I
Guest: don't think there's anything that
Guest: can replace that. And it's a bit
Guest: addictive, you know, for people
Guest: that really get into it and love
Guest: it.
Guest: It's, it's amazing. There's no
Guest: better business, um, you know,
Guest: creating your own structure and
Guest: being able to run your own
Guest: business. It's, it's so fun. So
Guest: yes, if you, if it's something
Guest: you're
Guest: are interested in please do contact
Guest: me i mean you can contact me
Guest: through my office look up royal
Guest: page benchmark um you can go on my
Guest: instagram and find me there corinne
Guest: chaos k -a -o -s
Guest: i'm not surprising that's my handle
Guest: and uh um yeah anyway or you can
Guest: email me it's i'm easy to find you
Guest: can go to royal page benchmark .ca
Guest: um one of the things that you'd ask
Guest: me kevin and i
Guest: I do want to finish it because I
Guest: just talked about me personally,
Guest: but through our business, I'm not
Guest: going anywhere for the next five
Guest: years. You know, we want to keep
Guest: evolving and growing
Guest: and creating even better
Guest: efficiencies and infrastructure for
Guest: our realtors. We have an office, we
Guest: have offices all, so just for
Guest: everybody too, we have two offices
Guest: in Calgary. We have an
Guest: office in Cochrane, Airdrie,
Guest: Strathmore, and Fort McMurray. And
Guest: I'm really proud of our Fort Fort
Guest: McMurray group, they, and that
Guest: market, not to get down the real
Guest: estate, um,
Guest: rabbit hole, but that market's been
Guest: improving and probably the best
Guest: year they've had so far is this
Guest: year. And I think there's a lot of
Guest: attraction there for some of the
Guest: things that, um, some of the energy
Guest: companies are doing, but also too,
Guest: is just, it's, it's become an
Guest: affordable place to live. And
Guest: there, that community is really
Guest: tight too, but we have great
Guest: realtors in Fort McMurray
Guest: And so, yeah, I'm loving still what
Guest: I'm doing.
Guest: It's been awesome working with Tom,
Guest: my husband, because he really has a
Guest: different brain in terms of
Guest: operations, and it's rejuvenated
Guest: everything for me in this business
Guest: too. So there you
Kevin: go.
Guest: That is awesome.
Kevin: you very much for being on shed
Kevin: talk listen like share hit that
Kevin: button call Corinne I'm telling you
Kevin: if you want to learn something do
Kevin: something you know when's the last
Kevin: time you did something see you here
Kevin: on shed talk with Kevin Halliday