Twin brothers, Clint and Shane Neal jumped into the real estate business right after they graduated from Texas A&M University in 2008. After spending 4 years as solo agents, they realized that although they are successful, handling everything independently has become difficult and they needed some leverage in order to take some time back to themselves.
That’s when they decided to build a team. In less than three years, the Neal & Neal Team has sold more than 500 homes per year. With the right people joining their team, they now focus on growing to become great leaders.
In this episode, we talked about:
05:44 How Clint and Shane shifted from working in the business to working on the business
07:18 The importance of surrounding yourself with the right people
08.06 What differentiates a great leader from the not so good ones
13:25 How Sisu helps agents with positive accountability
16:38 How to double your transactions in 24 months
18:54 How does the systems Shane and Clint use today differ from what they used 3 years ago
20:20 Does removing duplicate entries due to spreadsheets have a significant impact on their team’s efficiency
24:15 How to get over challenges in today’s market
30:31 What business advice does Shane and Clint have for anyone growing their business
32:15 How to set yourself up for success despite changes in the market
34:23 How Shane and Clint strike a balance in their lives
36:45 The role of virtualization in expanding businesses
38:56 Where does Shane and Clint plan to take their business 5 years from now
41:52 What is the biggest avenue of learning for anyone who wants to grow.
Episode Transcript:
Brian Charlesworth 0:35
Alright, Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Grit podcast. I'm Brian Charlesworth, the founder of Sisu and your host of the show. And today, we have a couple of guests that I've known for about three years, I believe now. Shane, and Clint Neal. And they are from the Neal gene in Texas used to be the Neal and Neal team, right?
Shane & Clint Neal 0:59
Yeah, still Neal and Neal team. Yep.
Brian Charlesworth 1:02
Okay. So they're out of San Antonio, Texas. And I've Geez, I've had the opportunity to watch them grow their business like you can believe. So when I started with you guys, you guys came up and met with me in Salt Lake. And how many transactions were you guys doing back then?
Shane & Clint Neal 1:22
We're doing probably a little over 200, maybe only
Brian Charlesworth 1:26
A little over 200. Last year, you guys did 450. And it's super fun to do what I do the most fun thing about doing what I do is I get to see people like you guys, your business every year, which is was just so awesome. That's like, that was my goal when I started Sisu. And being able to witness that with people like you guys, it's just, you know, it really, really makes me makes my life fun. So,
Shane & Clint Neal 1:53
Absolutely.
Brian Charlesworth 1:54
So anyway, maybe you guys could just back up in time you're over at kW. How did you guys get business? How long have you been in real estate? Why did you work together as brothers? Some Yeah.
Shane & Clint Neal 2:06
The good thing, we're actually twins. So we graduated from a&m and oh, eight. And then I literally jumped right in real estate right after that we did both of us, we kind of in the mindset of our doing all this concrete on our own, and about four years, and we're like, we need to like, change this up a little bit. Let's, uh, let's start building something a little bit bigger than ourselves. So that's really where we try to put in a lot of time. So totally, we've been in the real estate business for 10 years, but six of it has been built on the real estate team and early focusing on that aspect of it.
Brian Charlesworth 2:39
Okay, so we're at six years now. So you guys started your team in 2015? Correct?
Shane & Clint Neal 2:45
Yep, that is true inside of it. Yeah, going from solo agents, doing everything ourselves for a good four years, and then rolling right into the team. The last like Clint said, six years. So it was kind of that not breaking point. But realizing that defining truly what we want out of the real estate industry in itself, and growing a business and really working on the business and getting agents involved in all of that stuff. So that's where that transition happened about four years. And here we are today with it.
Shane & Clint Neal 3:17
And kind of even starting on the team side of it, the first couple years were super, super heavy in production, making up a lot of it. And then that was kind of another breaking point of, Hey, we really want to kind of everybody says you want to work on the business. And that's what we really kind of took to heart. And I say that's probably one of the hardest things to do is to really even in a team atmosphere, it's I almost consider us. We're a true team. But it's we're kind of set up in a team brokerage way, I guess if you want to look at it, because we essentially don't make up much of the production at all 10 to 12 deals a year maybe is all we each will do. So that in itself a feat was going from selling setting 580 homes a year to 10 to 12 is that's, it's a mind struggle. So going through that was definitely a challenge. But it was something that took about two and a half years. And we're kind of at that now. So now we're really pouring back into it. And that's why we see I know that's why we're growing. And obviously, we'll Sisu too. So.
Brian Charlesworth 4:15
So you guys, you guys were doing, as individuals 75 homes a year.
Shane & Clint Neal 4:20
Yeah. About Yeah, we were doing 75 around each for that first four years is burning the candle at both ends and nonstop and we have
Shane & Clint Neal 4:30
Yeah no transaction coordinators, just handling everything. It was crazy. So we got to the phase of Okay, we definitely need some leverage in that aspect took time back because it was getting at pretty crazy.
Brian Charlesworth 4:46
So it was really only I guess about the time we met two and a half, three years ago, you guys started saying hey, rather than working in the business, we're going to work on the business is that right?
Shane & Clint Neal 4:57
Yeah, that that literally was and the system side of it. I mean, it was a huge focus of the spreadsheets and all that to get into what, uh, when I saw obviously Sisu got introduced to that. And I was like, Oh, there it is. And then we just now here we are. It's just kind of crazy to think it's already been three years. So
Brian Charlesworth 5:16
I'm grateful we can be a part of that journey with you guys. But what you guys have done is really incredible. I mean, she's I don't know what your pacing for this year, but I think it's over 500 homes and just like, how do you go from working in the business? to less than three years later? You guys are doing over 500 homes. I mean that. That is impressive. Right? I mean, yeah. So talk about kind of how you guys made that shift. I mean, all of a sudden, you guys were like, Hey, we're overworked. We're burning out? And how did you make that shift?
Shane & Clint Neal 5:54
Yeah, I think I mean, making first accepting the fact that my goals for what I wanted out of it were not I said, basically, in the production aspect of it, we really wanted to get it to the business aspect of it and working on the business. And as everybody knows, it starts with the right people joining the team. So really focusing, really growing as leaders, that was a huge thing of going from production focus to now people focus, that's a whole different animal of leading people. So really investing in that aspect of it, and doing really everything to get the right people in the company in the right seat, getting our organizational chart set up. So that we can have a clear path of where we wanted to end up to.
Shane & Clint Neal 6:40
And all that stuff takes time. That's what I think a lot of people think that it's like, oh, we can do this in one year. Man, it is not it's a it's literally a process. And I'm both of us are so urgent. I'm like non stop, everything's got to be done. So it's always been a struggle with that. But over the last few years is just kind of, I've really not pulled the reins off, it's just more of less just trying to succeed and push it through the people we've hired to do the job and just really step back and let them develop it. And that's what I think I know, that's what we've done the last two years really well, because that's all I've been focusing on is doing that, you know, instead of trying to jump in and try to fix it.
Brian Charlesworth 7:17
So step number one, surround yourself with the right people.
Shane & Clint Neal 7:20
Absolutely
Brian Charlesworth 7:21
right. And you guys have attracted the right people I've met, as you guys know, I've met with many people on your team several times, and they're definitely talent. And that's really the things that I'm in our business right now. I mean, we just went from about 12 employees to 25 employees, this, you know, just in the last 90 days. And, you know, it's it's really attracting and bringing those right people in to take the business to the next level, right. So we're in the midst of that right now and Sisu, but that is something you guys have done a great job of I've been I've enjoyed my time with your team there. But one of the things you said Shane was you talked about being great leaders. So yeah, what makes the difference? Like what is the difference in someone in real estate? I want to talk specifically real estate right now, even though it rubs off in other industries, but what is the difference in a great team leader, versus a not great team leader? Like what are the things you do differently on a daily basis?
Shane & Clint Neal 8:30
I honestly think that you've got to invest. You invest in your business to build your business, but you have to invest in yourself in the leadership capacity to know how to lead people. And I mean, really, for us, I feel getting out of production, and not having per se a band aid of like, Okay, well, we're still in production, we're going to kind of the numbers side of it, that that can influence that in some degree if you don't treat it like a business for us, when we pulled out of production and made that decision. Realizing that leading through people in order to accomplish the overall goals, we're gonna have to invest in ourselves. And that is, I mean, that's a day-to-day thing, learning every single day of how to be great leaders. I mean, it could be getting a business coach, it could be just educating yourself on a proactive approach. I mean, that was huge. you elaborate on
Unknown Speaker 9:23
Always taking in stuff every single day. I think it's, I think it's a continuation every day, you're kind of building off of it. Because things happen every day you learn from that you've never seen before. It's real estate, but it also happens in the leadership capacity too. And I think if you're just absorbing that stuff as you go, and you just kind of take in a little bit at over time, it just builds on itself and you like I said, you'll always be kind of raising your lid when it comes to a leadership capacity. But I think the willingness to always be learning that's that's the difference. If you get the production side the leadership side I mean, you can float the line between too, but they are very, very different. In my opinion, you really start dialing in on kind of why you're in this business, because some people in production, that's awesome. That's what really drives him on my side. I'm like all business, I really want to that's my Why is to figure out that aspect. So yeah, I think it's just dialing
Shane & Clint Neal 10:17
it goes back to goals and clearly defining where you want to end up, how's real estate gonna be that vehicle for you to accomplish what you want to do. And anybody that comes into that organization, it's there define where they need to be as well. And they're in the right seat on the bus. And to learn how to do that and put those people in, like seat and really look at their goals and all of that and have an organization that supports it is key
Unknown Speaker 10:42
That's amazing people on the backbone that it all comes down to processes. We are a very, very system heavy team. Now it's we have dialed it back. And over the years and
Shane & Clint Neal 10:53
Well with Sisu I mean we saved a lot of time
Shane & Clint Neal 10:55
Saved a bunch of time. But now my philosophy is how simple can we get this? And how streamline that we can show and replicate what we've done over the years. And that's really, that's really we're kind of in that honing in phase right now, I guess, as you would call it. I've really simplified and bringing in all
Shane & Clint Neal 11:11
This stuff is scalable. I mean, yeah, it's a lot easier scale of a couple systems and 10 of them. So that's really the stage we're at as well.
Brian Charlesworth 11:19
Okay, so I usually don't dive into Sisu we'll come back to Sisu in a minute. And then now it's I know you guys, like use these two at a very deep level to grow your business. But couple things you guys talked about. One is always be learning. So I like to say, you know, always constantly growing, but whatever the case is they're learning. You're always learning growing. My wife happens to be the best example of anybody I've ever met on this. She spends over $100,000 a year, investing in herself just in her growth. Yeah. And it's always impressed me, because she's every year she's taking her life just to that next level. And I seen you guys do that. So, but you talked about goals. And one of the things I've noticed, because I'm very close to her business, is she's gone. You know, she's gone from five agents when she started on Sisu as well, up to 30 plus agents on our team. And I think you guys have done something similar to that. But I remember her having one on ones. And coming back, you know, she has one, she's always had one on ones every week with 13 members. And now she has you know, a team leader that does a lot of those. And I get to do a few of those. For her so that I stay No, I stay involved in the business. But I remember when she used to feel like she was their personal life coach or counselor, because they always came to her with their problems. But now, her conversations have completely switched where she is talking numbers. Like, do you guys have a dashboard behind you? I have a dashboard behind me. Yep. When I meet with an agent and do a one on one. And I know she does the same thing. The I have the agent pull up their personal dashboard. And then they pull up their personal agent accountability report. And we go through their pipeline, and we see exactly what they have pending and all this stuff. Right that you should do it in a one-on-one. And it's completely changed the way she does business. I'd love to just hear a little bit about that. Because you talked about goals a second ago, Shane? So talk a little bit more about goals and how you guys hold people accountable for those goals. But just the positive accountability. How do you guys manage your business from that perspective? And not? Let's talk about the agents goals. And let's talk about your team goals.
Shane & Clint Neal 13:43
Yeah, on an agent level, I mean, it's very, very important when an agent comes on that we defined business personal goals because I think they're equally very important to me personal drives your business goals. So we really define that on a level of it could be monetary, it could be really what is defining what is really important to that agent. And you mentioned, kind of the transparency of pulling up their dashboard. The pipeline reports, we have, I would say a very accountability-centric culture. Everything is transparent like the TV behind us. We've got two other TVs, this stuff is running at all times. We've got a lot of stuff integrated within slack as well. So accountability is that sense of culture, but the transparency with goals with the agents is holding them accountable to their goals. If they're telling us what they want to do. We layout a plan that's going to get them to that in a year. And it's then putting that into Sisu. And allowing that system to tell us where we need to work with certain agents. On one on ones that we do every single week is what I love about Sisu you can see if people are pacing you can see if they're behind you know where to come from the agent in order to accomplish their goals by a quick glance at the systems
Shane & Clint Neal 14:59
It's almost teaching them to run like a business or run their own bit like within our team. And that's what we've kind of really kind of focus on to is teaching them to run it like or running it because they have just enough, or just the same data that we're looking at for their own business. So it's really looking at that. And they can kind of audit themselves as far as what their, what their metrics should be, where they're at, where do they need to work on. And so it's really cool when you kind of go to some of these things. And they say, Well, I can tell I'm already doing this wrong. I know I need to work here. Well, the only reason they know that is because they're looking in C soon they're looking at looking like a business. And that's a big goal as you're coming in when
Brian Charlesworth 15:38
You're actually teaching your agents to run their business, like a business. Absolutely. Right. I mean, everyone needs to treat their business like a business if they're serious. If not, they should probably get out of the business. Right?
Shane & Clint Neal 15:48
You have to and I think it's a hard thing. I mean, back in the day, we did not do this at all. And I think it's more or less it's been me and Shane always looking at numbers and knowing where everything's at. But then when you kind of have that mindset shift are like, Well, everybody needs to know this, because everybody needs to know where they're going,
Shane & Clint Neal 16:06
Why it was so hard to like, put that out in like a visual format. So I think it was just you kind of get paralyzed, like, Okay, well, how are we going to get all this data to compile Sisu as we look at it for the business, it looks the same as an individual agent on the team. And we're talking the same language. So that's where over time if you just keep having the same conversations it, it becomes a resume and like, so that's a big thing for us the lead running like a business.
Brian Charlesworth 16:35
Okay, so let's take the goals a little bit further to the business side. So you guys have gone from 200 transactions to 500 transactions. In a couple of years, you guys said that you guys must have set some big goals because that doesn't happen if you don't have a vision for it. So let's talk a little bit about how you've accomplished that.
Shane & Clint Neal 16:54
Yeah, I mean, I think, I think a number one of that coming to jumping up in that kind of production level. It's like we were talking earlier, it's the right people, it's setting up the agents that come on the team to succeed, that's the organizational chart, it's before we even say, okay, we're gonna scale it's, you break down the systems, well, can the system scale, as well as organized organizational charts support, that level of volume. So behind the scenes, there's a lot of work to get everything ready to do that. And I think that plays a very key to me an organizational chart on laying out what that looks like, is very, very, very important. And then diving into these scalable systems on that side of it, and having constant
Shane & Clint Neal 17:39
flow recruiting like we have director of growth, that's all she does, is we're always recruiting are always looking that is a super important piece of it. We're always putting it out there what we're doing, getting content out there on different all the social media platforms. I mean, there's nothing crazy. And I tell us to kind of everybody, there's nothing like crazy that we're doing. It's just like the secret sauce. It's just doing it.
Brian Charlesworth 18:05
You're measuring, right?
Shane & Clint Neal 18:07
Yeah, I'm measuring what we're doing. And we're just saying, okay, that's working. So let's do a little bit more over there. And it's just, it's like continuous, like every day. Yeah, that consistency day in and day out of kind of doing the same thing that you always hear about that. And then all of a sudden, you look up and you're like, oh, man, it's all built? Well, that's kind of what it is. It's nothing
Shane & Clint Neal 18:24
The mistake in two and a half years to really one get in a position of working on the business to putting scalable systems in place that is within the organizational chart as well. So it's a process to get there. It's not for us, at least it wasn't a wake-up, let's add more agents. And let's scale I mean, that's the quickest way to blow it all up, in my opinion. So you just really have to, we had to dial that piece in and make sure that that was the foundation of it will set up correctly.
Brian Charlesworth 18:53
So I've heard you guys talk about scalable systems several times now. Tell me what systems you were using three years ago, and what systems you're using today. Like what is what's been the shift there?
Shane & Clint Neal 19:07
I think I mean, obviously the major one on the back end, from a tracking standpoint, we were using, obviously CTE from a spreadsheet, it was actually been a virtual assistant that came in and literally built all of how CTE works. And then CTE came out. So then we kind of halfway transitioned to that. We ran that for a couple years. And then obviously Sisu came on board. When I looked at that, and we started, we jumped right into that
Shane & Clint Neal 19:34
We had, I mean, obviously we use Boomtown as the main lead management Sisu now, but backing up from that it was Trello to CTE and really just spreadsheet for everything. Trello really helped organize that well then Sisu got the format of that. So we've kind of migrated over to that and really condensing it down to really Boomtown and Sisu at this point.
Brian Charlesworth 19:57
Okay, so you went from Boomtown Three years ago, you had Boomtown CTE a ton of other spreadsheets and Trello. Today, it's just Boomtown Sisu. So we've been able to eliminate your CTE, which is really spreadsheets, and your other spreadsheets, and also your Trello. So
Shane & Clint Neal 20:18
that was a big thing. And I'm
Brian Charlesworth 20:20
talking about scalable systems. And for me, like when I think about spreadsheets, that's a big part of why I started Sisu, when I think about spreadsheets, I think about the duplicate entry. When I think about Trello, I think about the duplicate entry. I remember having that conversation with you guys about the duplicate entry. So how I mean, is that made a major impact and no longer have?
Shane & Clint Neal 20:42
I think it's an it's an efficiency thing that I think the biggest time saver, I mean, I know, I can't measure down in the exact minutes and all that we're saving per deal. But it's substantial. And we have T C's that are doing 40 deals in a month one TC, I mean, handling everything. So I think that's very, very impressive when it comes to that side of it of allowing them to be working in once they
Unknown Speaker 21:06
And talk about the transaction. I mean, yeah, we did a lot in Trello. But yeah, just moving that over a loan, condense everything, on efficiency.
Shane & Clint Neal 21:16
So we got virtual assistants to do, they will just check things, but it's nothing like it was before of having to go enter in here, enter in here and then submit now it's, once you put it into the system, one time, it kind of just flows throughout the entire process and this kind of ecosystem. So that's why I really love it. And I think you have to have that if you're going to build a team. And I think it is, to me, it's almost the number one things, you have to have scalable systems, and just systems, in general, to build off of any business is built on systems and people's number one and then the systems but they go hand in hand, you got to have stuff that people can follow that is proven successful. And then just reparable, you can just keep going.
Brian Charlesworth 21:59
So I think a big part of it as well is when you're putting your data into a system, make sure you have reporting coming out of that system, right? That's probably, you know, or Monday or something like that. If if you're putting in all this data into Boomtown, and you're putting all this data into a Trello, and then into spreadsheets. How do you just bring all that reporting together?
Shane & Clint Neal 22:23
Yeah, that's one it does definitely a really, really good job with that. I know, I look at that stuff a ton. But it's also even on the agent side, I mean, back in the day, it was, the agents would have to go in and ask the virtual assistant, hey, what's, uh, how much money am I making this month? Well, then she'd go run the spreadsheet, pull it out, send to her now it's like, they can click two times and see exactly what they're have coming in with the clothes, like so things like that. And it's what's clarity to business.
Shane & Clint Neal 22:51
And it's, it gives an agent at their fingertips, literally their business, not just the business owner. So,
Brian Charlesworth 22:57
and just so you guys know, we just wrote a report out this last week, I think that's rolled out that actually lets the agent, see an income report very similar to what you guys see in business, but it just lets them see it at the transaction level on their own. So
Shane & Clint Neal 23:25
Powerful stuff,
Brian Charlesworth 23:26
You might want to have your agents check that out. So
Shane & Clint Neal 23:29
we'll get on it.
Brian Charlesworth 23:31
Let's talk about today's market for a minute. I see people all over the board. There are some people that are really thriving in today's market. Obviously, listing agents are thriving, the number of transactions hasn't gone down. Some people feel like oh, there's no inventory. But there's still inventory, the inventory or there are more sales this year than last year, the only thing in the story doesn't last longer than a day or two. Right? So it's just a little bit different than the flow of that inventory. Getting on the market and then exiting the market is almost instant. So you know, I hear people complain about 30 offers 40 offers on a home that they're competing against. So what have you guys done in this market to just dial that in? And you know, so many people think this, the biggest problem is, you get this thought in your head that today's market is the challenge and you can't get through it. And you create that it's a challenge and you can't get through it, versus coming up with a solution on how to grow your business even more and take market share. So what have you guys done in this market?
Shane & Clint Neal 24:37
I would say number one is training strategically how to navigate this market. And that comes with strategic ways to submit offers. It could be before I mean obviously before all this you have the ability of submitting offers and you're kind of in the driver's seat now it's, well how do you approach this to be competitive in every situation. It could be anywhere. I mean, there are just so many tactics within especially contracts here in Texas. What is a peaceable to a seller? What legally can we do so really seeking a bunch of resources to position ourselves as really experts in the negotiation? Because at the end of the day, you get 30 offers 40 offers on a home, how do you stand out? What can you do that's going to make you stick out? I mean, it can be calls to the listing agents build the relationship with the listing agents, it's writing letters to clients. I mean, there are just so many tactical things. So we really invested a lot in the training of what, how are we going to stand out? And then we take how are we going to stand out and define that on actionable items that we can do within the contract outside of the contract? Really the controllable things?
Shane & Clint Neal 25:47
Yeah, and it's, it's a hard thing to say it's like the market is so good, it can be bad, which is I've heard that multiple times. But it's also I think, it's the pivoting and being able to implement things, when you know, something can work because yes, or maybe 30 offers, but I guarantee 28 of them are probably or 25 of them aren't even written like they should be. So although there is a lot, I mean, in this city, and even how many agents are now 12 knows more than 13,000, more than home more than homes, that's what I on the market. So there's that many agents will a lot of them. I mean, they may be either newer, or they haven't had the proper training, or they don't truly know how to write a competitive offer. So although there may be a lot there, still, you can make yourself stand out quite a bit. So
Brian Charlesworth 26:36
You just said something, Clint, that I think it's more crucial than ever, that agents coming into the business, and probably even long term. Like, it's more important than ever, that they're on a team, and then have somebody like you guys coaching them. And, you know, advising them on how to get things under contract in this market, having systems in place for them. So they can focus on cells, rather than focus on paperwork, you know, just all those kinds of things. And you know, as I look at this market, there are some powerful listing agents out there that will be around a long time because they know how to generate their own business. But you know, that standard agent coming into the market today, just a brand new agent, in my opinion, their chance of survival is almost zero, if they're not on a team. How do you guys feel about that?
Shane & Clint Neal 27:28
It's hard. I mean, I can see it. I mean, I just, we can see a little bit of it. But some new agents like say, coming in right now.
Shane & Clint Neal 27:37
It's so competitive it, it's really, really competitive. So if you don't have the proper training, more than they need to be coming in the business, realizing that training is the most important thing in my eyes, because that's how I viewed when I got in it was how much can I absorb and learn. So you have to have that mentality coming in with the wrong expectation of I'm gonna sell 40 houses in a year as a new agent, not saying it can't be done. But the reality of that in this competitive market, it is on top of being new is very, very difficult. It's just biggest advice I can get is training, training, training teams are a great resource on that aspect of it. They've got the proper stuff set up to do that. super valuable. And I do believe that because I'm partial to it, because I have a team. But that's a reason why we started the team too. Because it's, I mean, we succeeded at it at a high level, and then we're like, turn around, and how do we reach this again, and that's why we're sitting here right now. I mean, that's literally what we're doing and how we're teaching the agents we have on the team to build an actual business that you don't always stay in. I know Jeff Cohen says all you know, you don't want to stay in the rabbit wheel forever. And then that resonates with us like crazy, because no one should have to if they do it, right. Yeah.
Brian Charlesworth 28:51
Yeah. You know, I grew up with a dad who was in real estate. He, he shifted from his he was an entrepreneur, he shifted from his one business and got in real estate. I'm not sure what he would say probably late 30s right around 40. And, you know, he actually created his own brokerage and had you know, like 100 agents and all that kind of stuff. But building a business was not possible in real estate back then. Like it is now. Like these power teams, like you guys and people doing 1000 homes and, you know, like, it's tough to compete against somebody doing that kind of volume as a standalone agent. Just because of all the systems that you guys have in place because of the training that you have in place because of the lead flow you have in place you know, there's so much going on that that makes it really tough for these people to compete, but I guess my point is like it didn't use to be possible for a couple of guys like you to say Hey, we're gonna, we're gonna build this power team, and we're gonna step out of the business. We're gonna work on the business in the business. And here two years later, you're doing 500 homes plus a year. So, no.
Shane & Clint Neal 30:14
Yeah,
Brian Charlesworth 30:15
So congratulations, you guys, if you were to give advice today, you just like to listener, and most of our listeners, not all, but most of our listeners have something to do with the real estate industry. But it could even just be business advice, like, like, what is the one thing that you would say, make sure that you're doing this, as you grow your business?
Shane & Clint Neal 30:36
I guess I'll start, I would say, if you're building a business, and you're going to be working with people, having people on your team, know that investing yourself as a leader not only going to raise your own lid, but it raises them to grow as well. I think I go back to the
Shane & Clint Neal 30:54
definition of finding your why. Why are you doing it? I mean, I know everybody says that but it truthfully comes back to that, that is probably number one. And
Shane & Clint Neal 31:03
always be growing in the leadership aspect of it. That's my thing. Because if you do, if you don't do that, you'll hit a ceiling. And then you just want to keep growing big.
Brian Charlesworth 31:12
Or even if you're not in the leadership side, always be growing, right? If you're a new agent to the business, or even been in the business couple years, there's nothing more important you could do, then to always be growing, right? Start with your skills, because otherwise, you won't survive in this market.
Shane & Clint Neal 31:27
Now, real estate, it's a moving target, and you've always got to be moving with it. And that's a
Shane & Clint Neal 31:34
that's kind of over the next two, three years, everybody knows it's gonna look probably totally different. So it's just staying ahead of that, and really just watching it and pivoting and having the ability to pivot. I mean, I think that's the big one. I mean, we can work anywhere, we need to work everybody on the team can so we're set up in office and anywhere. So it kind of works works pretty good on that aspect.
Brian Charlesworth 31:56
So you guys have always I mean, ever since I met you, you've always been like on top of just trying to see where the markets going and just set yourselves up to be successful, you know before other people are successful. I mean, what is your vision of that? And you just talked about the markets changing? You everyone know, you said everyone knows the markets changing over the next two years? Well, what's happening?
Shane & Clint Neal 32:19
I mean, everybody sees it now. I mean, you're obviously your eye buyer stuff, the open door stuff, the Zillow from that aspect, like consumers are going there. I mean, it's just reality. They I mean, we see it, we do have partnerships with Zillow and stuff like that. But it's where the consumers are going. So I think as an agent, people can build very successful businesses on referral stuff. But I think building teams and you've got to have two best of both worlds. You want to have a steady lead flow on the intake, but you also want to have a very foundational, solid referral business and I think it can totally be done. But some people sometimes may get caught up in that. Oh, Zillow, Zillow, Zillow, but that's I mean, man, that customers are there. It's just, that's where everyone's going.
Brian Charlesworth 33:03
So you guys have embraced Zillow. It sounds like
Shane & Clint Neal 33:07
That's a pillar of the business. Yeah, we do.
Brian Charlesworth 33:08
Are you guys in the Zillow offers program? Are you working for agents, Zillow flex, what are you doing?
Shane & Clint Neal 33:14
We're in flex,
Shane & Clint Neal 33:16
flex, okay. Yep. Yep. So it's, everybody's kind of got philosophies when it comes to kind of the lead stuff. And to me, and I know, we've always felt this, too, is getting, I mean, we had tons of different lead sources, but it's just building database and building long term through, there's been in the millions of dollars to on that stuff. So we, it's just, it's taken care of the clients.
Shane & Clint Neal 33:37
They become your database. I mean, it's, you can get a client from any source, any type of lead generation, but it all comes back to the foundational piece of taking care of them. So it's, they're all pillars of business. Now, I agree. You don't want to focus all your eggs in one basket. I'm a firm believer of that, but it's also utilizing all everything out there to grow your business.
Brian Charlesworth 34:01
Yeah. Okay. Great. Let's talk about some of the stuff on the personal side. I know a lot of the times that I talked to you guys, you're up at your ranch, or I don't know if that's up or not in Texas, but you'd be up in the mountains, right. So you guys have a ranch, you spent a lot of time. Just like how do you balance your lives? And it seems like you guys are able to work from any place you want, just whenever you want.
Shane & Clint Neal 34:29
Oh, for sure. And I think, yeah, COVID I mean, it was detrimental, a lot of stuff. But it also kind of pushed us as an organization to really and actually my mindset to be like, this can be done anywhere. So I think eventually it was gonna be going to that anyways, but that kind of was a mind shift. I know both of us and open people on the team of it's just this business now can literally be done from anywhere. I mean, in my opinion, yes. You still got to show houses and meet people and stuff, but you can work from different areas. So I think That was probably the big one. And it's probably over the last couple of years of when we kind of sat back and just decided, hey, we've hired really, really good people now let them actually do their job. So Morgan has the freedom to end it did but it also let me where I wouldn't be in their way. 24 seven and down their throat all the time. So that’s my call my son is has always been that urgent. Gotta be in there, make sure it's going right. So I think the last two years, it's been a heck of a lot more peaceful most of the time, really just sitting back and kind of watching and helping and supporting. And it's been a good journey. So
Shane & Clint Neal 35:36
yep, he spent time at the ranch and try to go up there all the time. And yeah, enjoy that. That's kind of my time to recharge, and then back at it during the week. So and I think, like Clint said, the virtual aspect really, like I said, I think everybody enjoys the flexibility of that. So I think it all worked out. Well, I don't see us going back. This 100% office mandatory. It's just,
Shane & Clint Neal 36:00
I don't never, I don't think it ever happened again. People can come in and work but kind of the philosophy if you people are doing the job and doing a really, really good job at it. That's like, that's all I want. That's
Brian Charlesworth 36:12
Yeah, it's all about results, right? Whether they're their agents, or whether they're admin, you need to understand what they're doing, what their what are their results, right.
Shane & Clint Neal 36:20
That's right. If they're doing the job the hard for and doing well on it, I'm coming open our mind.
Shane & Clint Neal 36:26
We hired a transaction coordinator out of Dallas. I mean, it opened our pool of talent up to where Okay, well, let's look out further we can transaction we can do that easily out of another city as well. So it opened our mind up on that aspect of it as well. And going great. So I mean, I think it's going to be a continue to grow on that.
Brian Charlesworth 36:48
Yeah. Okay. So you guys are going to now that you see that things can be done virtual. You see, there are opportunities for you to expand in other markets. Yeah. So is that kind of your growth plan for the coming years?
Shane & Clint Neal 37:01
Yes, we're kind of in the midst right now of expansion within the team, really, cities outside of San Antonio, we're right in the midst of getting into that got one person that we're rolling out here pretty quickly. But even the admin side of it, like kind of my last statement, even eventually will go out to further bigger Metro cities here in Texas. But even just on an admin side, these transaction coordinators out of Dallas, so that that was a huge thing on that. And then on the real estate side, we're definitely expanding within cities close to San Antonio, for starters.
Brian Charlesworth 37:34
So you're one at, do you only have one admin person right now. One TC,
Shane & Clint Neal 37:39
Oh, no, we have. We have two that are here in San Antonio, and one that is the most recently hired one that's in Dallas,
Brian Charlesworth 37:46
in Dallas, you just hired a new one. Okay.
Shane & Clint Neal 37:49
That one is 100% verbal, they're all really virtual now. But she's in a totally different city. So that was I mean, I think it's, it was something that I had to get out of my mindset of, oh, they have to be here. That's just not how this works anymore. So that is we pushed ourselves and it working well, working really well,
Brian Charlesworth 38:06
The plan it sounds like you've gone from being a micromanager to letting people grow. And
Shane & Clint Neal 38:14
That's exactly what I mean, the leadership side of it. That's what we had to grow and realize and get out of our own way. And that's, that's what happens when you start going through the I don't want to call it micromanaging. Because I think it was more or less just in my mind of always being like, okay, Is this right? Is that right? Are they doing this? Are they doing that? Like, I will never really I probably did transpire that down to them. But a lot of it was in my mind, too. It's just letting it go, essentially.
Brian Charlesworth 38:42
Yeah. Okay. Well, I think it's awesome that you guys, you know, you're twins. And I think twins have an unfair advantage over most siblings in being able to work together. But
Shane & Clint Neal 38:52
yeah, it's different.
Brian Charlesworth 38:53
So like, where do you guys want to be in five years from now this business? It sounds like it's going to be growing on its own? Are you guys getting into ancillary businesses at all? Where do you guys want to be in five years from now?
Shane & Clint Neal 39:07
Yeah, I think obviously, our vision is having the ancillary businesses of the mortgage title, all of that surrounding it, I think being a one-stop shop, of really, someone comes into real estate, and it's really the experiences completely uniform across the board. And that is all the ancillary businesses. I mean, honestly, I, I would say, putting a limit on the goal of production and all that in five years. It's honestly about the right fits their goals, people coming in the organization, it's going to grow at the rate of the people that we attract and want to partner up with and, and, and I, I have never I don't want to force goals on that aspect of it. Because it's more about partnerships of what people want to do and more good fits working together. It's kind of really the sky's the limit. It could be I have a big goal. Being very, very large, but it's also dependent on everything else. And that's
Brian Charlesworth 40:06
Okay. What do you guys like to do in your personal time?
Shane & Clint Neal 40:11
Man, I've had recently a new baby. So that
Brian Charlesworth 40:16
Oh, I didn't know that Congrats.
Shane & Clint Neal 40:18
Thank you, sir. Juggling that with another little, little over two years old has been fun. So involved definitely with that and hunting fishing. We're big outdoors people. That's really my time to, like I said, recharge.
Shane & Clint Neal 40:31
Yeah, I'd say the recharge zone is at the ranch or patient somewhere out in some crazy place. And that's about it. That's kind of my two hobbies that I really, really focus on. Besides,
Brian Charlesworth 40:44
So you guys do that mostly in Texas. When you guys get outside of Texas. We're like, what's your favorite place outside of Texas?
Shane & Clint Neal 40:51
Colorado, Wyoming. Those are good places.
Shane & Clint Neal 40:55
I think the most extreme we went to about one four years ago, I was like, let's Google the most extreme hunt in the world ended up going to Kurdistan, which is way out there, you know, Afghanistan over there. So we went out there and went hunting for I don't we're gone 14 days or something. And that was just a crazy experience to go up in the mountains and do that. So that's kind of how we live. what's the most extreme? Let's go do that.
Brian Charlesworth 41:20
So that was in Afghanistan,
Shane & Clint Neal 41:21
I guess near Kyrgyzstan. It's in that general vicinity there.
Brian Charlesworth 41:25
Afghanistan, okay. So the closest I've been, which is right next to is Dubai, and which is in the UAE. And I've also been to Qatar. So I've been out there as well. But anyway, awesome. You guys. Is there anything else you'd like to share? I guess the one last question I have for you is like if people want to grow, what's been the best source of learning and growing three best?
Shane & Clint Neal 41:51
Me it's, I think it's a coach, to be honest. It's kind of fun in one to everybody kind of no come in. And the business books, say a new agent. I mean, there are different levels of all kinds of coaches. But if you see yourself in the future, and you say, I want to be doing this much business, I feel that you need to find someone that has been there and done that. And they have been down that road and lining up to the same vision that what you're trying to create. Yeah, that was probably the biggest thing that I know me and him did in the beginning and still do is just always meaning people always talking to people, or where I want to go and what they're doing. And I want to mirror that. So thanks. As always, it's not hard. I mean, with social media and all this stuff in today's time. And you'll find that a lot of those people, they're like, the willingness to help is crazy. No, you'd be surprised how many people don't reach out to them. And when you actually do they respond, somebody
Brian Charlesworth 42:48
willing to help for free, but I know they aren't thinking that you should, you should probably hire a coach that you pay, right?
Shane & Clint Neal 42:54
Absolutely. And I think it's kind of twofold, you kind of do a little bit of both kind of mix that just getting perspective, that's all we did, we just got perspective from everybody of how they saw their business run, how it ran. And then we just kind of took it all together and pieces of all of it and then just molded it together. So we're not reinventing the wheel by any means we're just making it roll a little faster.
Brian Charlesworth 43:17
Alright, you guys will if I wanted to reach out to you to learn more about what you guys are doing. What would be the best way to get a hold of you.
Shane & Clint Neal 43:25
Mash shoot me a text or give me a call, I'd say call me and say my number 210-413-9301.
Shane & Clint Neal 43:34
And our emails are super simple. It's my first name is Clint, I would say his Shane, but the domain is at Nealteam.com. So it's clint@nealteam.com andshane@nealteam.com
Shane & Clint Neal 43:43
That more than happy to help anybody who has any questions. I mean, we do a little mastermind calls, people reach out to us pick our brains. I enjoy it. That's what it's all about. And by all means, looking forward to it.
Brian Charlesworth 43:56
And I can attest to that these guys are always willing to help because I go to them asking for you know, their advice and their opinions on a lot of things. So they've given me some great, great feedback on what we should be as a platform for this business. So anyway, you guys, thanks for everything. grateful to have you guys as customers. Thanks for being on today. For you listeners out there. If you would go give us a review. That will allow us to get more powerhouse teams like the nail team on our show. So again, everybody, and we'll see you next week.
Shane & Clint Neal 44:33
Thank you
