TThis 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 and Day 2’s events.
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Morning Keynote: Rory Vaden Says Successful People ‘Take the Stairs’
Rory Vaden, a leading expert in the psychology of ultra-performance, presented the morning keynote on how to overcome procrastination and other success saboteurs by building self-discipline.
Vaden is the author of “Take the Stairs: 7 Steps to Achieving True Success,” a No. 1 Wall Street Journal, No. 1 USA Today, No. 1 Amazon and No. 2 New York Times bestseller.
“Which one do you think most people choose, stairs or escalator?” he asked audience members, who answered “escalator.”
“We gravitate toward the path of least resistance,” Vaden said. “But what is amazing to me is that even though most of us take the escalator, when you study successful people — we work with people who are billionaires, people who have started huge churches, and celebrities, athletes and entertainers — every time you hear their life story, what you find without fail is that success is not about taking the escalator. It is about taking the stairs.”
To cultivate a take-the-stairs mindset in an escalator world, Vaden spoke about how procrastination only amplifies problems.
“Discipline is about making life as easy as possible — the shortest, most easy path is to do the hardest things as soon as possible and to rewire your own brain.”
As for fear, that is “your creativity working in the wrong direction,” Vaden said. “It doesn’t mean you’re destined for failure or doomed to be average. It means you have a perfectly functioning, average brain designed for survival. The brain creates images of how horrendous something could be to keep you from risk. But you don’t want that to be the case when pursuing success — when it’s not about danger, it’s just about fear.”
He told a story of when he was on vacation in Jamaica and there was a torrential downpour. He asked the cab driver, “What is the deal with all the rain?” The cab driver replied, “In Jamaica, we don’t have rain. We only have liquid sunshine.”
“In that moment, it finally clicked in my head what the real definition of attitude is,” Vaden said. “It’s extremely pragmatic, the way you choose to see things. You can choose to see rain or liquid sunshine, but you can’t choose when the drops fall from the sky.”
Instead of asking “Should I?” a successful person cultivates a positive attitude and asks “How will I?” Vaden said.
“The moment you start asking this, creativity starts working in a positive direction rather than a negative direction,” Vaden said. “You’re looking for answers, not reasons why it’s not possible. Psychologically, this changes everything about the long-term trajectory of your life.”
However, Vaden said, success is not a final destination.
“Success is never owned,” Vaden said. “Success is rented and the rent is due every day … Get momentum and see real results. And look up and realize that a life of success was about small, seemingly insignificant, nearly invisible choices that we make each and every day.”
Midday Keynote: Gina Bianchini Speaks About Mighty Networks
Courtney Chakarun, Chief Marketing Officer of eXp World Holdings, spoke to Gina Bianchini, the founder and CEO of Mighty Networks, about the new social network and purpose-driven community.
Mighty Networks, which recently raised $50 million, is built on five principles:
- Communities are awesome.
- People pay attention to what they pay for.
- You don’t need to be an expert, just one half step ahead.
- Online courses and community belong together.
- People need community now more than ever.
Bianchini said it has been important to push the headlines out of her brain and stay focused on Mighty Networks’ vision.
“I do this because I want to live in a world where there are millions of unique and vibrant communities that have their own cultures, their own goals, their own place where people can show up, and software has done such an amazing job where they just basically look around and they’re like, ‘Wow, I’m home. I can be myself here. But more importantly, I can be myself in a way that I can realize my full potential, that I can see what’s possible, I can navigate challenges, I can seize opportunities and build new practices that have been super hard for me to do on my own, and I can take steps into the world and the life that I want to live. To me, I will bust through walls to make that vision a reality. And the rest of it is kind of noise.”
She spoke about how the narrative around mentors and mentorship is selling the big picture short. Sponsorship, which is defined as people who use their political capital to provide opportunities for other people, is more important than mentorship.
Her advice for entrepreneurs and solopreneurs is to remember their purpose, think about their goals for the next year, engage their network, work hard but smart and to turn ideas into results.
Afternoon Keynote: Tim Storey Speaks About a ‘Miracle Mentality’ and Resilience
James Huang, eXp Commercial President, introduced acclaimed author, speaker and life coach Tim Storey as the afternoon keynote speaker.
Storey is known for inspiring and motivating people of all walks of life, from entertainment to executives, celebrities and athletes, to adults and children in the most deprived neighborhoods in the U.S. Tim has visited 75 countries and has spoken to millions of people.
He talked about being raised in Compton, California, where his seven-person family lived in a two-bedroom apartment.
But just like Walt Disney had a conviction that he would build something extraordinary and magical, Storey had what he calls a “miracle mentality.”
“The Miracle Mentality: Tap into the Source of Magical Transformation in Your Life,” is also the title of his new book, which was published in March 2021.
He outlined five traits of people who have a miracle mentality:
- They think uncommon thoughts.
- They make uncommon plans. “Even when you were little, there was a knowing that you were supposed to make uncommon plans.”
- They take uncommon risks. Sit, stand, walk, run and soar. “You can get a mentality and that mentality becomes your reality.”
- They have uncommon discipline. “Uncommon discipline will take you to uncommon places.” “There’s a reason that Steve Harvey says to Tim Storey, ‘What do you want?’ There’s a reason that Oprah Winfrey says, ‘I feel led to open up doors for you, what do you want?’ Why? There’s something about uncommon discipline. Someday you will get the harvest.”
- They have uncommon resilience. “Resilient people find a way to rise. Resilient people find a way to get through difficulties.”
To get uncommon resilience, Storey advised that people:
- Wake up.
- Take an honest inventory of their mindset, spirit, family, career and finances.
- Have the right people in their life who have a miracle mentality.
- Have the right principles. Feed faith, starve doubt and have core values.
- Have the right plan.
- Learn to be persistent. Keep showing up even when it looks like it’s not working. Persistence breaks resistance.
- Stay the course.
“I believe that you’re supposed to live an utmost life,” Storey said. “I believe that your life is supposed to be different, better and more magical.”
He brought up a story from 1999 when Robert Downey Jr. told him about a setback he was facing.
“And he said, ‘Do me a favor, Tim, just help me to be okay,’” Storey said. “I said, ‘That’s going to be a problem. Because I don’t believe in just living in the land of okay.’ I’ll never forget Robert smiling really big. And Robert has quoted me around the world as saying to him as I did that day, ‘Robert, the bigger the setback, the greater the comeback.’”
Highlights From the Day’s 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:
“Accelerating Growth With In-Person Events” With Dave Conord
In the eXp Realty Growth and Attraction track, Dave Conord, eXp Realty President of U.S. Growth led a discussion of the importance of in-person events, in conjunction with virtual events in the session, “Accelerating Growth with In-Person Events.”
Jason Gesing, CEO of eXp Realty, said, “In-person eXp events reinforce, for me time and again the strength of the relationships formed and being built inside eXp World every single day between and among agents located all over the world.”
Conord concurred and said, “All year long we can collaborate virtually, but getting together in person really cements relationships and makes them long-lasting.”
Tina Caul, an eXp agent in North Carolina and a top eXp influencer, said, “Events changed my life years ago when I attended four masterminds per year for 10 years. When I joined eXp, I knew I needed to surround myself with the doers and builders to soak up their knowledge and the energy this company has. The leaders are teaching what to do and what not to do and now I’m growing at rates I’m so proud of. Events will change your life. So no matter your level of production, everyone should attend at least 3 events per year if they’re serious about growing their business and this company.”
While eXp is a virtual company, attending in-person events such as eXp Shareholder Summit and EXPCON help solidify relationships and networking. But in addition to those two in-person events, trying to attend local events, masterminds or others will help grow your sphere and network and the results will speak for themselves, said Conord.
Additionally, the suggestion is that if there isn’t something in your market, start something. It can be as simple as meeting for coffee each week or having a meeting among several eXp agents to share best practices and form alliances.
“How to Use the SUCCESS Wheel to 3X Your Results” With Ben Fairfield and Don Hobbs
SUCCESS President Don Hobbs and Ben Fairfield, SUCCESS Director of Coaching, led a discussion on how SUCCESS can enhance agents’ growth. One of the major complaints agents have is wishing for more time and financial freedom.
Hobbs shared his secrets for how he organizes his day to make sure he maximizes what he needs to do for himself personally and professionally to get it all done. He suggested that pro athletes go through rituals to get ready for a big game and agents should, too. He shared his morning ritual (graphic below) for what he does to get himself in the right mental and physical space to slay the day. It helps him build momentum and start the day right.
“Showcase IDX and eXp: The Vision and The Mission” With Scott Lockhart
Scott Lockhart, the CEO and founder of search technology company Showcase IDX, presented his thoughts for how Showcase IDX, which eXp acquired in Aug. 1, 2020, will fulfill the agent and consumer experience at eXp.
He gave an overview of the market (Zillow dominates, attracting 218 million people to its sites in Q3 2020 and 6.5 million homes sold in 2020), but Lockhart feels eXp can compete by building a strong platform with quality content, good SEO, but mostly, solving the consumer’s needs and wants. What does a consumer want?
- Simplicity and convenience
- Privacy and security
- Great experience (no spam or harassing emails)
- Functionality and speed
- Accuracy
Lockhart said the consumer experience now is poor because the user feels harassed, constantly badgered and spammed from lead generation sites. To overcome this, Lockhart said to make the initial interaction as “wow” as possible. “Create a fantastic first impression so that the consumer will be delighted and return if they are not ready to purchase yet.”
Likewise, Lockhart addressed the question of “what do agents want?” He offered the following:
- Closed transactions
- Leads
- Convenience
- Tools to add value to their business
- The right information they can use to build their relationships
- Efficiency.
- ROI
- Transparency
- Opportunity
So, how can the two come together harmoniously? Lockhart said the goal is to create a site that doesn’t treat a consumer like a lead and to make the site engaging, fun and worthwhile and they will be back.
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