This post continues coverage of eXp World Holdings’ Shareholder Summit, which is being held May 17-19 in eXp’s virtual world environment. Here’s a recap of Monday’s General Session. We will share updates on events and highlights each day right here in eXp Life.
_________________________
The morning’s keynote stage was shared by Brooke Baldwin and Jamie Kern Lima, two remarkable and successful women. Baldwin, a former CNN anchor and author, interviewed Lima, the co-founder of IT Cosmetics.
Baldwin is a Peabody Award finalist and author of “Huddle: How Women Unlock Their Collective Power,” set to release April 2021 with HarperCollins. She is also the creator and former host of CNN’s digital series “American Woman,” which focuses on the stories of trailblazing women. After 13 years at CNN, Baldwin left the network on April 16, 2021 to focus on amplifying the lives of extraordinary Americans and storytelling. Appropriately, she interviewing a woman with a great story to tell, Jamie Kern Lima.
> Watch the video recaps of Day 1 and Day 2 of eXp Shareholder Summit
How Lima Overcame the No’s and Rejections to Start a Multimillion Cosmetic Line
Lima started IT Cosmetics in her living room and sold to L’Oreal for $1.2 billion, becoming the first female CEO in L’Oréal’s 100-plus year history. But her story of how she became a multimillionaire was inspiring. Lima suffered from rosacea and could not find a product to help conceal the condition. So she went to work in her own kitchen and created a concealer, which led her to try to sell her product to help other women. This effort to get her product to market led to hundreds of rejections over many years.
But, a few things she said she did right were to trust her gut and understand her ‘why?’
“A lot of us give up after the second, third or hundredth no. It’s really tough when people don’t get your vision or dream.
“There are moments in all of our lives and how we handle rejection or the word ‘no.’ These are defining moments of our lives. People talk themselves out of their dreams. Hearing no is equating to self-doubt.”
Lima recalled a rejection from an executive who told her people wouldn’t buy her makeup because of “her body and weight.” She recalled in that moment she got this feeling in her gut that he was wrong.
“Rejection is the universe’s protection,” Lima said. “Six years later, the day L’Oréal acquired me and the news went out in the press, that guy contacted me and said, ‘Congratulations. I was wrong.’ I now embrace rejection. Because he didn’t believe in me, I got a better deal.”
Lima’s big moment was eventually appearing on QVC. At the time, she was selling two or three units a day and she was down to her last savings. It was a do-or-die moment and she had 10 minutes on QVC to prove herself and her product. Experts advised her to use ultra glamorous models with perfect bodies and skin types to appear on the show, but she stuck to being authentic. She walked into the QVC session with her models of different body sizes and skin colors. And 10 minutes later, success was hers. She went on to build the biggest beauty brand in QVC history.
“We are in this digital and social media world and it’s so easy to get distracted by their highlight reels. The biggest secret to success is authenticity. You can’t fake authenticity.
“A key differentiator for me to scale to a $2B business was by making the decision to keep blinders on to what anyone else was doing or what was trendy.”
Highlights From Breakout Sessions
The always-popular breakout sessions included nine tracks, with themes such as Big Agent Breakouts, eXp Realty, eXp Realty Growth & Attraction, eXp Global (including a Spanish-speaking track), eXp Commercial, eXp World Holdings, SUCCESS and Virbela.
Some takeaways:
eXp World Market Update: Fireside Chat with Dave Conord and CoreLogic’s Pete Carroll
eXp Realty President, U.S. Growth Dave Conord spoke with CoreLogic executive Pete Carroll about data and research around the U.S. housing market. Conord called Carroll’s job the “canary in the coal mine” by identifying trends before others see them.
Some takeaways:
- GDP growth — “Significant contraction in 2020. GDP fell 12% in 1946, which is amongst the largest, but what is remarkable is that we’ve had an unprecedented stimulus effort. This might be the biggest policy intervention since the New Deal (following the Great Depression) that has resulted in real GDP growth in 2021 to 6.5% growth. Biggest since 1984.”
- Housing market — “There’s lots of factors to consider — the headwinds and tailwinds and balancing it all. But, I’m feeling upbeat and optimistic about the economic outlook and the housing market in general.”
- Policy interventions — “Worth noting the size of these. $2.2 trillion CARES Act to sustain families and we follow that with $2.9 trillion rescue plan, which is a tremendous amount of money allocated for housing. $10 billion for homeowner assistance. And this infrastructure bill is out there. It’s what’s creating this whiplash effect of growth in the economy, but we will settle back in.”
- Economy — “In April 2020, we had a 14.7% unemployment rate, which was highest in 80 years. Our forecast for December 2021 is 5.2% unemployment. Remarkable drop rate. Health of the economy affects the housing market. We have to make sure we have the balancing act going and try to increase employment as much as we can without sending inflation skyrocketing.”
- Mortgage rates — “They are forecast to remain low at 3% for a 30-year mortgage, which is an historical low or even 2.9%. But lots hangs in balance in the mortgage market. Refinance activity has a bearing on how much families can afford. As of Sept. 2020, this 3% mortgage rate number is important. It bears on what refinance volumes can look like in 2021. If housing and refi markets can stay strong, credit standards stay stable and access to home purchase availability will remain stable, which is very good.”
- Home prices — “For 2021, we have consistently marked up the forecast and we’re at 10.5% home price growth. We expect that to come down to a more normal 3.1% or 3.9% healthier home price increases, but this has been a huge driver of this kind of cycle where prices keep increasing because of lack of inventory and supply in the system. It puts pressure on credit underwriting. Major challenge in how we slow down the march in home prices. It’s a sellers market all around.”
- The pandemic — “I think this event is much more akin to a bad hurricane or wildfire season like last year, than the 2008 housing crisis. That was a major foundational issue in the global system that was never stress tested.”
- Who’s buying? — “Millennials have arrived. Median age is 33 and the largest age cohort is 29.”
- Net migration — “Data is showing us markets and a pattern of where people are moving out and moving in. It’s a very regional story as opposed to the 2008 story, which was a national crisis. Big cities are the ones that saw things first and were precursors to things that would come. Phoenix, NYC, Boston, LA are also high net out migration cities.”
- Working from home — “Working from home is obviously huge in 2020 and this is a trend that is not going away. 20-25% who remain WFH will remain for the long term. Might cement in migration from urban centers to suburbs and exurbs.”
“How to Break Through Your 11 Mindset Barriers” with John Toublaris
John Toublaris, an international speaker and award-winning author, asked audience members how many sales they were losing per year by not calling their entire database four times per year, consistently following up on leads, calling around their listings, calling around for sale by owners and calling around expired listings.
Audience members answered that they were losing hundreds of sales.
“Multiply this by your average commission check,” Toublaris said.
Attendees estimated that they were losing $94,000 to more than $2 million each year.
“I’m here to help you save that money, at least half of it or a quarter of it,” Toublaris said.
Toublaris shared 11 takeaways from his book, “Unleashed: Secrets to Break Through the 11 Mindset Barriers to Dramatically Increase Your Real Estate Sales Today”:
- Crush complacency to boost your motivation.
- Disrupt distractions.
- Let go of false assumptions that cost you millions.
- Conquer the fear of rejection.
- Overthrow the fear of follow up.
- Break through procrastination.
- Stop making priorities optional.
- Overpower avoidance behavior.
- Abolish a negative self-image.
- Escape perfectionism.
- Terminate toxic relationships.
“ExpressOffers: The Ultimate Listing Tool” Hosted by the ExpressOffers Team
Darren James, ExpressOffers and Preferred Partner Ambassador; Terri Jeffries, Manager of ExpressOffers Development; Juli Rasmussen, ExpressOffers Program Manager; and Kevin Cominsky, Lead Generation Program Manager spoke about ExpressOffers. This program allows agents to connect their clients with institutional buyers who buy in cash within a short time frame.
About 5,555 certified agents have signed up for the program, which keeps the agent in the transaction, provides training and certification and only requires the seller to pay the listing commission.
To access the ExpressOffers software platform, agents must:
- Join the ExpressOffers Community Workplace Group.
- Read the pinned post with the national map for state updates, program information and training instructions, as well as self-help links such as the Knowledge Database.
- Register for the training through the training link. Certification takes about three hours.
Agents can generate leads from their own marketing efforts, find referral leads that eXp generates or subscribe to a paid lead generation program.
“Global Foreign Investment Opportunities” Hosted by J.J. Barrios
J.J. Barrios, Corporate Tax Director for eXp Realty, moderated a panel about foreign real estate investment opportunities in Southern Europe.
When investing in the international real estate market, investors should understand local costs — not only to buy a house — but additional maintenance costs and taxes, said Renata Sujto, Managing Broker for eXp Spain.
Panelists said Southern Europe has seen a lot of foreign investment in the real estate market because of the sunny weather and a reasonable cost of living compared to the U.K., France and Sweden.
Guilherme Grossman, Managing Broker of eXp Portugal, spoke about the Golden Visa program, which allows noncitizens to obtain residence permits by purchasing a property of at least 500,000 euros.
“Many people in Brazil, Hong Kong, China and the U.S. have signed up for this program,” Grossman said. “One investment is valid for the whole nuclear family. It’s one of the best worldwide programs.”
Spain offers a similar program for foreign property investors, Sujto said.
In addition to its headquarters in the U.S., eXp Realty has brokerage operations in Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, India, Mexico, Portugal, France, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Italy, Hong Kong and Spain.
Future of Work: Communities & Virtual Real Estate
Craig Kaplan, Senior Vice President of Sales for Virbela, the company that created eXp World for eXp Realty, talked about working and collaboration in a virtual space to create a community.
“Virbela is designed to be a socializing and accessible platform to be collaborative. We are all about building virtual communities by replicating the physical space. Give them back a sense of institutional memory and know where they are to work, train and have fun.
“At the office, you would go to Starbucks or lunch or office lunch room. Lots of those have disappeared and we don’t know where to find people. It’s about working with a broader ecosystem and connecting them and establishing places to recreate that institutional memory.”
Former NBA Star John Salley Delivered Wisdom and Zen During His Afternoon Keynote
Pro basketball fans will immediately recognize John Salley, a 15-year NBA veteran and the first NBA player to win four championships with three different teams (Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, and L.A. Lakers). He leads his own production company and has hosted awards shows, as well as reunion shows of VH1’s “Basketball Wives.” He is involved with Operation Smile, PETA and the fight against diabetes. As a wellness advocate, one of Salley’s missions is to educate people on the benefits of a plant-based diet.
His zen-like approach and calm demeanor was captivating. He shared some of his takeaways about life:
- On what he wanted to be: “I always wanted to be an actor or entertainer and considered professional sports to be entertainment. But I really wanted to be an entertainer like Johnny Carson, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy.”
- On his life plan: “My environment was a small housing apartment in Brooklyn, N.Y. called Bay View. And I would go up on the roof and look west. I always pictured myself in Hollywood. But I needed a plan. I knew I was going to play sports and I knew I was going to get good grades in high school. I wanted to have the best grades possible and then pick the best college that would help me in my afterlife.”
- On mindfulness: “I was able to place things where they needed to be. 9Determine) what was life-threatening or so important. I was there just to entertain. I had an unbelievable focus. (Detroit Pistons coach) Chuck Daley said, ‘John Salley you have the best mental health of any athlete.’”
- On his favorite team: “A lot of people ask me — was it Chicago, Detroit, Miami? I’m just going to say I lived every day. Whatever jersey I was wearing, I was there. I had this mentality of putting things where they needed to be.”
- On having a plan B: “I always knew I was going to play professional basketball. So my Plan B was to make sure Plan A was working perfectly. What you can do on this planet is put yourself in the right place for the future. I picked Georgia Tech. They took me to a class (physics) and got back to my mom’s. I told her I was going to Georgia Tech because they were challenging me to do something else. That was my mentality. When I go pro, I’m going to be a champion.”
- On sacrifices he made: “I had to sacrifice my teenage years when people were out experimenting with cannabis, drinks, drugs and chasing girls, I had to go to practice. I literally played every single day. There wasn’t a day I missed from 10th grade to 12th grade. Whether it was snowing, raining or race riots, no matter what. I grabbed a basketball and played. What I knew is if I worked harder than anyone else in my circle, someone would see it and I could make it.”
- On being vegan: “Veganism is going to change the world because people are going to realize it’s not sustainable to kill 56 billion land animals a year and consider that to be food. Being a vegan meant I had to think outside of just myself. I had to think outside of what I thought tasted good. Or what was tradition. It wasn’t right to take a being’s life in order to be happy. I’m 10 pounds lighter than I was in 2000. I’m healthy, I look great.”
- On mental health: During a practice, L.A. Lakers coach Phil Jackson told the players to hold hands in a practice room. “Holding hands? I don’t want to hold hands.” He told us, ‘I want each of you to catch each other’s breath. Breath in and out, in and out.’ By the end of it, we were breathing as one. We ended up winning 19 straight games with the Lakers. Only lost 8 games out of 82. It was the best mental practice I’ve ever had.”
- On compassion: “The Dalai Lama says, ‘Honesty without compassion is brutality.’ If you say something hurtful, it sticks in their brain. So I figure out how to be as compassionate as possible in everything I say and do.”
- On failure: “I believe I’m going to win every time I set out to do something. I don’t think of what would happen if I lose. Not saying I haven’t lost or failed at something, but I’ve only learned from everything.”
- On any regrets: “I overtrusted people and I believed these people would handle my business as diligently as I was. No one will do that. Pay attention to your business. Every part of it. Put people around you who treat your business like their business.”
His last words: “Stay alive. Go vegan.”
__________
Interested in jump-starting your real estate career? Learn how eXp Realty puts agents first.
