The Not So Black and White Real Estate Podcast

In this episode of the Not So Black & White Real Estate Podcast, hosts Sir Colin Campbell and Gary A. McGowan sit down with Justin Jeffery, a top real estate team leader in Canada, to talk about his personal journey through burnout and how he rebuilt his leadership approach. Justin shares candid insights on the fast-paced nature of real estate, the mental toll it can take, and the importance of prioritizing health and well-being while striving for success.

Key Takeaways:

• Justin’s personal experience with burnout: how it happened and how he recovered
• Recognizing early signs of burnout in high-performance careers
• The importance of self-care and mental health in real estate
• Leadership strategies for building successful, motivated teams
• Tips on delegation, focusing on long-term goals, and creating a culture of balance

Guest:

• Justin Jeffery: One of Canada’s top real estate team leaders with a focus on sustainable leadership and team success.

Hosts:

• Sir Colin Campbell
• Gary A. McGowan

Topics Discussed:

• Burnout in the real estate industry
• Leadership challenges and strategies
• Real estate career advice
• Building a supportive, balanced team environment

Resources Mentioned:

• For The Love Of Real Estate Conference – where the episode was recorded live
• Mental health tips for real estate professionals

Episode Description:

In this episode, we dive deep into the topic of burnout and leadership with one of Canada’s top real estate professionals, Justin Jeffery. Justin shares his personal story of hitting a breaking point during his career, how he rebuilt himself, and what he’s learned about leading a successful team without sacrificing personal well-being. Hosted by Sir Colin Campbell and Gary A. McGowan, this episode is packed with valuable insights for anyone in the real estate industry, particularly those looking to balance high performance with health and happiness.

Whether you’re a real estate agent, team leader, or business owner, this episode offers essential tips on avoiding burnout, building resilient teams, and leading with purpose.

Tune in now to learn from Justin’s experience and gain actionable strategies to implement in your own career.

Creators & Guests

Host

Colin Campbell

Host

Gary McGowan

Hi 🇨🇦 I'm a Super cool Dir. Bus Dev for Keller Williams Realty Centres, Investment Property Owner, Soccer lover, Christ Follower. Father of 3 and Hubby of 1.

Guest

Justin Jeffery

Over the past 11 years, Justin has worked with great effort to build a team to service clients at the absolute highest level. In doing so, Justin has created a 90% referral-based business which has shot him into the Top 1% in Canada, and awarded a spot on the Top 25 Teams in Canada list by Keller Williams.

What is The Not So Black and White Real Estate Podcast?

Two Canadian guys interviewing multi - million dollar business owners that are setting the bar for their competition while giving back to the communities they love.

In the midst of building what I was

building, I burnt out.

Right.

And it happened fast and

there was no warning signs.

Yeah.

It's just I was go, go, go, go, go, and

then my body stopped working.

You're listening to the Not So Black &

White Real Estate

Podcast with your hosts,

Sir Colin Campbell and Gary A. McGowan.

We're tuned into the Not So Black & White

Real Estate Podcast.

We're on site right now at For The Love

Of Real Estate Conference.

It's booming, it's jamming.

If you're not here, I

don't know where you are.

However, we're about to

launch into another podcast.

We have, I'm obviously here with my

partner and friend Gary A. McGowan.

Now we're back in the hot seat.

So now today we are kicking

it off with Justin Jeffery.

We were talking to one of the number one

team leaders in Canada and we were like,

"Okay, we're looking for a few people to

add to the podcast."

They're like, "Justin is your guy."

So Justin, tell us why you're here.

That's really, really kind.

So my name is Justin Jeffery.

I have a team that's based

out of Halton Hills in Ontario.

We also serve as kind of

Halton, Peel and Toronto.

We have some expansion

team members in those areas.

But I think we're here to talk a little

bit about probably team building

and how you can grow from a

small team to a large team

and a relatively quick period of time.

So quick question off the bat.

How long have you been in business?

So I've been a realtor for 10 years.

Okay.

I've been a team leader since 2018 is

when we had a small team.

It was just myself and one other agent.

And then over the last 24 months, we've

grown to eight agents

three administrators

and two in-house stagers.

Wow. That's impressive.

What has to happen, whether it's in your

mind or your bank account

for you to go from a

small team to a larger team?

Well, so you need, for

one, you need the desire

because essentially what you transition

from is a solo mindset

or just worrying about

you and another person

to basically running an organization.

You go from a real estate

agent to a business builder.

And those are two very different jobs.

And I feel like a lot

of people get into this

because they want to grow a team

and they don't realize

what's actually involved.

And you have to be willing

to put others before yourself.

And sometimes to your

second point of that question,

it comes at the expense of,

you know, your bottom line.

Because let's face it, growing a team,

your margins get smaller.

So you generally have to go on

more of a volume-based model.

Beautiful.

So I got to jump in here because you said

something that kind of,

I don't want it to fly under the radar.

Your team expanded exponentially over the

last couple of years.

And over the last couple of years,

we've seen people

hold onto their wallets,

tired than ever,

needing less

transactions, less business to be had.

Yet you were in a growth base.

Talk to us about that.

Yeah. So we actually doubled

our business year over year.

And a part of that was aging count.

And a part of that was just

our team is like we're all,

we go out there and we hustle.

So we all work hard.

And when other people

were just kind of accepting

that the market was bad, we were saying,

"No, we can't accept this.

Let's go out and get it."

And that's what we did.

We were out there door knocking.

We were open housing

Saturday and Sunday, all of us,

meeting people.

We were making sure that our

marketing was buttoned down

and that we were in front of people.

Because let's face it,

when people stop spending,

that's the opportunity

to get your unfair share.

Yeah. I like it. Unfair share.

We talk about that a lot.

Yet I don't think a lot of people grasp

the understanding of that.

Right?

No.

And that's pretty cool.

Okay. So what I want to know is, it's

easy to say, harder to do.

Was there something we can kind of peel

that onion away to say,

"Yeah, what is attracting

agents to join your team?"

And most, I'm going to

guess, not just any agents.

You were looking for

something specific, yes?

Yes. Yeah.

So we generally gravitate

towards more experienced agents.

And I'd say the first thing, first and

foremost is culture.

So our team operates as a family.

There's no hierarchy.

There's no ego.

Leave your ego at the door.

This is real estate.

What are you talking about?

Yeah.

Well, and that's the hardest part, right?

Yeah, no doubt.

And so I think because I've

always run my business that way,

I attracted like-minded people.

And our business has

grown really organically.

There were periods of

time last year where I said,

"Okay, I'm not going to grow anymore."

And then a really great agent would say,

"Hey, I'm actually thinking of

joining a team. Can we talk?"

And my coach always says,

"Champer Vanche," he's like, "When

talent's looking at you,

you don't turn your

head. You make it work."

And we did.

And so I'd say team culture is the

absolute number one.

And second to that is I

think we offer a level of service

to our agents that isn't

often found in the industry.

We include a lot for our agents,

and we want our agents to

look as good as they possibly can

in the marketplace and be competitive.

Speaking of looking

good, people keep coming up

and taking pictures of

this man, and I like it.

Taking pictures of you guys.

No, no, no, no, no. I like it. I like it.

So no, you mentioned

you've had phenomenal growth

over the last couple of years.

And there's this saying, I wanted to pull

it up to make sure I say it right.

Hard times create strong people.

Strong people create good times.

Good times create weak people.

And weak people create hard times.

What were you doing during COVID

that allowed you to

scale your business so fast?

So during COVID, I literally locked

myself in my office,

and I hammered phones all day, every day

out of absolute necessity.

We didn't know what was going to happen.

I needed to make sure that our

administrators still had a paycheck.

I needed to make sure that our team

members still remained busy.

So I doubled down.

And that's all it takes, is if you need

to work two or three times

harder, that's what you do.

I like it.

Interesting that you say, I'm

sorry to cut you there, Ger.

When I asked the first

question, you said desire.

And I keep coming back to that because

Napoleon Hill's book, what is it called?

Think and Grow Rich.

The single word in there is desire.

Yeah. And if you don't have that desire to

build something massive,

build something beyond

yourself, we will never get there.

So most people have the desire, however,

but they rarely put in the work.

Where did that come from for you to say,

this is not just a desire.

I'm now not only responsible

for myself and my household.

I'm going to now bring eight other people

on, and I need to think

about them and their kids.

Yeah. I think when I did the needs analysis

with everybody that I interviewed,

I realized that our visions aligned and

that my vision was big

enough to include their vision.

And ultimately, at the end of the day, I

took it as a huge compliment,

and I knew I wouldn't let them down.

I knew that given the responsibility for

these agents, I'd make it work.

I'd find a way.

And we did.

Beautiful.

Yeah.

Talk to us a little bit.

I'm going to go two ways here.

One with the agents that you're

attracting and the importance of

supporting, but also as there's

other potential team leaders and owners,

and whether it's of a real estate team,

business or what have you, it's a lot of

responsibility, right?

I'd love for you to share with us how you

kind of protect a,

perhaps your family life outside

of real estate, maybe your mental health

around that responsibility.

Because I often think we don't talk about

that enough as entrepreneurs, right?

I agree.

So what are we doing?

How are we doing that?

So I'm going to be

fully transparent with you.

And if you want to do

another episode around the subject,

I'd be so down because I

could talk about it for hours.

But in the midst of building what I was

building, I burnt out.

And it happened fast and

there was no warning signs.

It's just, I was go, go, go, go, go.

And then my body stopped working.

It was bizarre.

So yeah.

And you know what?

After that point, I was

like, okay, I'm not eating right.

I'm not sleeping right.

And I stopped exercising.

So since that happened,

that's been a huge priority.

So I work out five days a week.

I take my AG1 and my vitamins and make

sure that if I'm not gonna,

if I'm gonna be on the road all day, that

at least I have some good,

you know, foundational nutrition in me.

And I make sure that I sleep enough.

And then, you know, also relying on the

team a little bit more.

What was really incredible is because

it's a team of really talented people.

I told everybody what was going on.

I said, Hey, guys, I, you know, I burnt

the candle on both ends.

I need to take a little bit of a break.

And it was amazing, the leadership within

my team, how everyone

stepped up to support me.

So like, I'm here to be this, like, you

know, this person that

in my mind, you know,

to protect them, to help them become as

successful as they can be.

And they were doing

that for me at that time.

So it's amazing when you

attract like the right people, how,

you know, everything just works out and

we all take care of each other.

I often find as leaders, whether

everyone's a leader, first of all,

whether you're at home,

in family life, outside of business, but

we often forget how much

of an impact the people

that we're leaving can impact us both

positively and negatively, right?

Yeah, yeah.

No, that's, that's amazing.

Love it.

It's interesting that you, and thank you

for being so vulnerable

and sharing that with us,

because in this hustle culture that we're

in, you know, we forget

that sleep is important.

And if we're not getting the right hours

of sleep, and I'm not

saying it's eight hours,

I'm saying whatever it is for you,

because some of us, we can

function on six or seven,

some eight, some need 10.

I know my teenager's, my

teenager's son, he needs 22.

Yeah, roughly.

However, it's prioritizing that time for

yourself, because without you,

the business follows apart.

So just talk a little

bit more about that.

We are, because I'm sure it's hard to

say, yes, I'm not going to go to,

I'm not scheduling

appointments during these times.

This is my workout time, or

these are my thinking time.

How are you doing that?

It's just, I know for a fact, as soon as

9am hits, my phone's going to explode.

Before that, it's manageable.

So I kind of set the expectation that I

don't respond to too much

unless it's an emergency

before that time.

I get up at, I'm not a

4am, I'm not a 4am club guy.

Like, it's just not in me.

I can't do it.

I won't be able to function.

But I get up at 6am and I'll go for a

quick 40-minute

workout and eat my breakfast.

I start my day from there.

So I think it just comes down to

prioritizing and knowing when

your busy times are and when

your available times are and just making

sure that you don't skip it.

It's just as important as

your listing appointment.

Beautiful.

Okay, I love it.

And we could go deep on a lot of this

stuff, but we've only got

limited amount of time today.

And we're going to have to reschedule, or

not reschedule, we'll have to put this on

our schedule for a

much deeper conversation.

But, love to have a few

fun questions with you.

Sure, let's do it.

To kind of see the fun side of Justin.

So I'm going to ask you

some rapid-fire questions.

Oh, God, I'm so bad at this.

No, no, no, I love it.

We didn't even prep for this, which is

the best way to do it.

So whatever first comes to

mind, that's your answer.

It's usually the best answer.

This is my worst nightmare.

Let's go.

Okay, okay.

Well, a little music

to set the stage, eh?

All right, all right.

A little rapid-fire here.

I got it.

Okay, so start with

something hopefully easy.

Would you rather be talking on the phone

or texting with somebody?

Talking.

There you go.

Your favorite season.

There's only four to

choose from, so summer.

Summer, I love it.

Okay, a little more serious.

Is it wrong for a

vegetarian to eat animal crackers?

No, no, they're delicious.

Excellent.

Going the other way,

first celebrity crush.

Oh, Margot Robbie.

Margot Robbie.

She wasn't the first, but

she's who comes to mind.

Okay.

We'll take it.

I said, okay, favorite junk food.

Chips.

Speaking of chips, speaking of chips, is

double dipping at a party.

Unacceptable.

You didn't even finish.

I just lost my headphones and everything.

I love it.

So it's unacceptable.

Okay.

I might go to a party with you then.

You can't use the other end.

If that was the other

part of the question.

Keeping a family friendly here.

Okay.

Is, oh, I love this question.

Maybe, maybe we'll,

we'll end with this one.

Name one of the seven dwarfs.

Sleepy.

There it is, my friends.

And just like Clomberg.

The number one answer

by about 99% is sleepy.

Yeah.

And I'll say that I'll say it every time.

We never read into that.

Actually, sometimes we

get, what's the other one?

Droopy.

Grumpy.

Grumpy is one, but it's, it's sleepy is

the number one answer.

My friend.

You were listening to the not so black.

Yeah, we were listening to it.

We're still listening to it.

Here we are.

That's the button I'm looking for.

I love that, you know,

we, when I asked Julia,

as we talked about right off the top

here, who do we need to talk to

without skipping a beat?

She mentioned you.

That's so nice.

I love this because this is what's really

cool about podcasts.

And as you know, is you get to meet new

people, get to interview people.

And, and you, you kind of

skip, Hey, how are you to?

Let's know about that.

Let's go right to the beach.

Right.

Let's go to your most vulnerable parts.

But it's so cool.

And I, I, I'm looking forward to, you

know, getting to know you more and

getting going better and following your

journey in this real estate game.

You've certainly are

doing something amazing.

And I continue.

I wish you continued huge success around,

you know, protecting what matters most to

you and building

others, other businesses.

That's awesome.

Thank you so much.

I really appreciate the

opportunity to come on.

Yeah.

It was great seeing you again, Colin.

Absolutely.

Next 20 event will connect again.

So in wrapping up, I always ask is how

can people get a hold of you?

You can, I think it's socials or every

group, real estate,

Instagram, you can reach me on

myself or one six four, six four, four,

nine, two, zero, anytime.

Happy to help anybody.

If you have questions about

the business, I'm an open book.

So call me if you need me.

Excellent.

So for Justin Jeffery,

that's Colin Campbell.

I'm Gary McGowan.

We'll see everybody in the next episode.

Goodbye for now.

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