Ep. 20 Talking with Skye Michiels

[00:00:09] Speaker A: You're listening to selling the dream. This isn't an interview, and we're not journalists. But each week, we'll ask our guests to open up and share their secrets to business success. Let's have a conversation and have some fun. Hey, everybody, welcome to selling the Dream podcast. We have another awesome episode for you today. As you know, we talk about sales, we talk about entrepreneurship. We have a good time, and we just have a discussion about all things success related. As always, I'm joined by my co host, Joe Iredell, coming to us from California. So both sides of both sides of the country here, Joe. [00:00:50] Speaker B: What's up, brother? Manifest destiny. What's up, KJ? Another ready? [00:00:56] Speaker A: Delaware county to Carlsbad, right? [00:00:58] Speaker B: That's right. Ready for another banger today? [00:01:01] Speaker A: So you, we were talking offline. Tell me where you're at. We've got, you got some pretty cool stuff happening with your diet. Is it dianetics? [00:01:09] Speaker B: Diametics. Diabetics, yes. Well, we've got our corporate location launching down in a little bit outside of Boca Raton, Florida, but I believe it is. But, yeah. So the idea here, we're going to be nationwide shortly, but if you have a foot problem, you go to a podiatrist. If you have a heart problem, you go to a cardiologist. And if you have a diabetic issue, you go to a diabetic. And that's what we got going on. And we have some really cool things that we're going to help a lot of people that suffer from everything from diabetic ulcers on their feet to just, you know, type a type or type one, type two diabetes and so forth. So we're doing a lot of great stuff. I'm really excited. [00:01:57] Speaker A: I know you are on the entrepreneur side of this endeavor and not in the science behind it, but I did hear some pretty interesting things about some of the things reading about diabetes that the tie to Alzheimer's and dementia, the ties are pretty tight. It's insulin resistance in the brain that creates and causes dementia and Alzheimer's. Pretty nuts, man. [00:02:23] Speaker B: It's, you know what, and, like, I don't, I try to tread really lightly when it comes to the medical side of what we do. I'm on a hundred percent on the business side of it. [00:02:35] Speaker A: But disclaimer, Joe's not a doctor. [00:02:37] Speaker B: I am not a doctor. I don't play one on tv. But, yeah, I mean, when it, when it comes down to it, you know, the, not to get too, too in the weeds politically or whatever, but I feel like, people are starting to become hip to the fact that we've been led astray a little bit by some. Some of the bigger, you know, pharmaceutical companies and how they've decided to treat some of these ailments that are, you know, definitely there's a better course of action if you. If you look at it from a different lens. And on the other side of it, we have horrible culture of fast food and poor diet that just kind of feeds into that. So, you know, when you scale it all back and you look at really what the root cause of a lot of these ailments that people have, it's. It's almost like a no brainer. Like, wow, well, this is. This is how you can fix it, and this. I can lead a healthier life. So, you know, we've been. I got some really, really, really smart people that I'm working with. Yeah, it's good. [00:03:46] Speaker A: I hope you hope you're gonna be helping a lot of people. [00:03:48] Speaker B: That's. That's our goal. [00:03:49] Speaker A: Very cool. Speaking of diet, I just came off a 60 hours fast. [00:03:57] Speaker B: Wow. [00:03:58] Speaker A: Yeah. Nothing but coffee and water for 60 hours. [00:04:02] Speaker B: That's pretty good. That's good. How do you feel, buddy? [00:04:07] Speaker A: Amazing. I did have my first meal today at lunch, but really, if you haven't done it, I highly, highly recommend it. It is, you know, not only. I mean, there's all kinds of health benefits, you know, not the least of which, you know, weight loss and metabolic resets and, you know, insulin sensitivity, but also, like, stem cell. You know, stem cell release in your body, and it helps you heal, and it helps, you know, pains disappear. It's an experience, man. This is the third time I've done it. This is the longest I've done. [00:04:42] Speaker B: I'm going to try. [00:04:43] Speaker A: Maybe go a little longer next time, but. Have you done it before? Have you ever fasted? [00:04:47] Speaker B: Not on purpose. I can't say that I haven't gone. There's definitely been times where I haven't, but. Yeah, I don't know. Not in recent memory. But I did start taking protein. I started, like, matching, because I work out every day and I train and, you know, jiu jitsu and fight and all that stuff, and I was always just kind of sore and run down. And my wife, who's a fitness fanatic, was like, you don't have enough protein. And I was always like, protein shakes are for meatheads at the gym. She's like, just try them. So I started taking protein. I feel way better, but I'm definitely. I'm interested in the fast, because I've heard a lot of great things about fasting. [00:05:27] Speaker A: So, yeah, again, I'm the doctor. Right? Same disclaimer, but it's. It's cool. I think it's it. You get through the first, like, the first day first. You'll get through dinner time on, on day one. And it's really not that difficult. [00:05:43] Speaker B: Did the guys from Krispy Kreme come looking for you, though, or what? Hey, where's our guy? [00:05:49] Speaker A: Phone is rigging off the hook, dude. We have a great, great show today. We have a guest I'm extremely excited to have on the show and someone even dating back to when we first started to have this idea of putting the other podcast, this was a person that I immediately thought of and kind of manifested like, this is one day we're going to have sky on the show. And he and I connected about two weeks ago. We had an awesome conversation over the phone, and of course, he agreed to come on. So thank you very, very much. Sky Michaels, the head of sales at Compass Real estate. I joked that you're probably the most, the second most recognizable person at Compass next to Robert or his wife. His wife's pretty, pretty, pretty dynamic. But thanks for joining us, guy. I really appreciate it. [00:06:42] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm thrilled to be on. And ironically, I just completed a 72. The last three days of January, I did a 72 hours. Nice cleanse. Coffee, water. I didn't actually drink that much coffee because I don't like it black, but I just basically stuck to water. And I think the bigger thing is your mindset, right? Like, just the fact that you get through that, your mind changes around what you feel like you need to eat versus what you actually do eat. So I think that's the biggest thing, Ken. I think you do a 72 hours, like, give it another month or so, and then do a 72 hours. [00:07:17] Speaker A: I'll give it a shot for sure. Honestly, I probably would have gone a little longer today, but I did have a lunch appointment already scheduled. And Joe and I were joking earlier. He said, don't eat when you get there. It'll be a power move. Don't be uncomfortable. But I did eat, and it was. It was, it was delicious. The best chicken, the best tomato soup I've ever had. So when you did your fast, what was your goal for the 72 hours? Fast. [00:07:50] Speaker C: So I'm on. I'm not on. Like, I'm actually on a health journey, I'll call it. So my goal right now, I'm gonna be 47 in a month. My goal is basically to feel like I'm 27 again. I was a college athlete. I've always been an athlete. And in my mind, I mean, I still am an athlete, but over the years, through different situations of, let's say, getting divorced or, you know, starting businesses, running, real estate, whatever it might be, you know, you sort of get away from that mindset of being an athlete and really taking care of your body at the optimal level because you don't, you know, when you're an athlete, you have to show up, you have to perform. So everything you're doing, whether it's diet, health, training, sleep, etcetera, you're really getting into this mindset of, okay, I have to perform this weekend. Like, I got to make sure I'm ready to go. And so towards the end of 2023, you know, I was, I started to get into some good shape, but then I'm like, I'm actually, I want to get back into the shape that I was as a college athlete. And I'm never going to get back to there where, you know, you're, all you did was work out and compete. But I want to get back to that mindset of being a college athlete where even though I may not be performing this weekend, like, I'm going to train. Like, I have an upcoming competition. And when I was, when I trained as an athlete, you know, you watched, you know, I was calculating, what am I eating? Am I getting enough protein? How many grams of protein do I need? How much sleep do I need? And in many ways, I'm having so much fun right now just getting back into that athlete mindset. So I did the 72 hours because I had a goal of basically sort of lowering my body fat percentage down and my weight down. So I'm, I was, at the beginning of the year, I was 227. By the end of the year, I want to be 205, but I don't want to be a thin 205. I want to be an athletic 205. Right? [00:09:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:49] Speaker C: So, I mean, so I'm not really that focused on, like, weight loss per se because of the fact I'm lifting heavy right now. I'm training. I basically train every, every day. I believe the body should move. It doesn't necessarily mean, like, I think a lot of times people say, oh, I'm gonna work out three times a week or four times a week, and that messes with your mind a little bit, rather than saying, I'm gonna work out every day and there are days I don't. But if I make my goal every day and then I get six days in. It's like, oh, great. Like, that was a good week. So that's the mindset I have right now, that every single day, my body should be moving in an athletic world. Maybe it's yoga. It could, it doesn't necessarily mean I'm lifting weights every day or, you know, sprinting or running or whatever it might be, but I want my, this body should be in motion in some way every single day. [00:10:41] Speaker B: That's awesome. [00:10:42] Speaker A: It's amazing how, how you, you perform mentally in your, whatever your job is when, when, when physically you feel good. I mean, I remember, Joe, I don't know if you know this, but the first half marathon that I ran the Philly was, I guess it was the love run. It was the love run. It was, it was during that time frame we're in the 05:00 a.m. Ers where I met sky and a bunch of other phenomenal people. And sky was, was one of the people that kind of, like, I signed up completely ignorantly ignorant of what it was going to take to run it. And he's like, nah, man, you can do it. You can do it. And then after the marathon, I asked, you know, he was, this guy was telling me about full marathons. I think I could, you know, he's like, dude, if you just ran a half, you can definitely run a full. And there were two, there were two people in my head when I was running the full marathon. One was sky saying, if you ran a half, you can definitely run a full. And the other was Mark Gordon, who said, you're way too heavy to run a marathon. And they were both in my head the whole time I was running. So I don't know if you do that, sky, but that's, but, yeah, when you're, when you're up, when you're, when you're physically in a better place, you are mentally in a better place. [00:11:54] Speaker B: 100%, 100%. [00:11:56] Speaker A: So important. [00:11:57] Speaker C: So true. [00:11:58] Speaker B: I would, I started that journey two and a half years ago, and it started with waking up at 430 in the morning and working out and, and to your point, sky, I don't take a day off. And the day that, and that doesn't mean, like, I lift every, I try to go to the gym and lift every day. I do jiu jitsu every day. There's a, like, but it, on the days that I can't, it's become the norm that I do it, that I feel uncomfortable that I haven't done it. And it's, it's the reverse of how most people live, where it's like their big day is like, rest and then go to the gym. And so when. When you get into that habit, it's. Your body transforms. And, you know, the whole. Ken and I have talked about this in a lot, but not drinking, I quit drinking. And your brain, just your body, everything just gets so in tune, and it's. It's awesome. I mean, if, you know, I'm so. Such an advocate for that, for people to do that at our age, especially huge. [00:12:57] Speaker C: And I think the one thing I'll stress, too, is, like, for me and for you guys, it sounds like. Like we start connecting with ourselves through. I started connecting with myself through my physical state. If anyone is listening to this, it does not. You don't need to connect with. It could be a different thing that you use to start to connect with yourself. And I always think in terms of mind, body, spirit, right? So someone listening to this, maybe for you, athletics is not a huge part of your life, but spirit is a big part of your life. Right? So the key thing, I think, for anyone that wants to start this process of improving is to identify the one thing that you is, like, the core of who you are. So, once again, maybe for you, it's like anyone listening, it's like going to church and being spiritual is the core of who you are. And then, you know, the working out and the reading is something different. Or maybe you connect by reading a book, right? And early on in life, like, you read books, and that, for you, brings back this ancient memory. So I think I want to challenge everyone that's listening. Just because I'm saying I connect physically with, like, being an athlete, that doesn't mean that that's what you need to do. What you do need to do is you need to identify which side of what I call the triangle of life. Mind, body, spirit is the core of who you are. And you always want to, when you start a self improvement journey, start with your core and then build from there. So, for me, I always start if I'm physically fit, because my ancient piece of me is an athlete growing up. That's what I. That's my identity. Right. Maybe your ancient piece, you, though, is a spiritual person, a spiritual leader. So connect with yourself spiritually. Start. And then you could add the other two pieces of what I call the triangle of life. Right. Mind, body, spirit. So, for me, it's like, every day my goal is to make sure I'm working on my mind, my body, my spirit, and that's if I do those three things each day. Then the rest of this stuff we do professionally, building companies, training agents, you know, doing mortgages, whatever it might be that you're doing, the rest of it is just sort of play, you know, this is the work that really matters. If you're out there trying to really become a better person, better professional, better husband, better, whatever you want, whatever you want to fill in the blank, it always starts with those three things, but identify the ancient thing first and start there. [00:15:30] Speaker B: So, yeah, I think I love that because I feel like for me, it was kind of, I had an epiphany of number one, I wanted to be, for my kids, I want to be a much better lead by example. But then I scaled it back and I was an athlete in college as well. I'm like, what got me here? What gave me joy before I found the joy of, or the distractions of work and drinking and stuff like that. What was it? That's what it was. So I think that's an awesome point of, you know what, if you've read books, if you went to church, if you do all this stuff, if you get back to the strip everything away, and what is it that, is that your core that makes you happy? Focus on that and be disciplined about it and make it a routine. And everything else seems to fall into place because that's what built you to where you get to that point. [00:16:22] Speaker A: I love that you, for a second, I want to pivot. So we had talked earlier and you had used a phrase, and I want you to kind of expand on this phrase and I guess tell us how it resonates in your current role. And it's the humanization of real estate agents. Why do real estate agents need to be humanized? [00:16:43] Speaker C: This is probably my current passion professionally of what I'm doing. When you think about real estate sales, actually think about a lot of what you do, too. Ken. Right. Mortgage sales. When you think about real estate sales, the core aspect of what realtors do has not changed for decades or really even centuries. At the end of the day, a realtor's job is to take care of people, right? That's at the core of what a great realtor, any great realtor. You see almost inevitably 99% of them, the core of what they are is someone who takes care of people, right? And over the years, I think in real estate, I will go back to, we'll start with like the third party lead aggregators. I'm not going to name any names that may begin with a z, but third party lead aggregators got us into this world where we would sit behind a computer, an email would come in, we would respond to the email, and then we would start working with someone like that, right? And then we had COVID hit, and when COVID hit, all of a sudden every realtor adapted to this virtual world where we disconnected from people. And similar to what we're talking about with the core, our health journey, right? We disconnected with what the core root of what real estate is, which real estate is helping people. And in many ways, my theory is that we as human beings are never going to beat computers in certain things, right? We're never going to beat a computer in the speed of response or in aggregating online data or in doing certain things. But what a computer can't do, a computer can't take care of people. And the second thing, a computer can't make someone feel like they matter. So if you are a real estate agent out there or a loan originator, right? The two things you can do in 2024 to increase your business is to care about people and make people feel like they matter. And this is the rehumanization of the real estate business. And the reason why this is so critical and so important is because if we try to compete with computers, we're going to lose. So rather than take technology and try to compete with it, we need to take technology and actually allow technology to make us more human. And then the time that we gain through using technology needs to be reinvested in our human relationships and connections. And those connections, they can't be a sales connection. They can't be a phone call saying, hey, are you thinking of selling your home this year? That's, that's not humanization. And the phone call has to be like, oh, my God. I saw your name and it made me smile. I realized I haven't talked to you in a year. I just want to call and say, you know, that was so great. You know, I was going through my records today. That's the human thing, a human smile. You made me smile. What does that say to the other person? Like, you actually matter to me, you know, and you're not doing it a sales way. You're not calling them saying, hey, are you doing anything involved in real estate? No, you're calling them to check in on them. You never know what's going to happen from that conversation sense. Oh, my God. Yeah, like, I'm struggling right now, or you know what I'm like on a health journey, hey, let's do a half marathon together, you'll get a client for life right through that. And that's, I think, one of these things that every agent that's listening to this, or every loan originator, really, every entrepreneur, we need to go back into this world where we can always win when we're being human beings. And this is a line I use, which I got from Robert Rufkin. It's the first time in history where caring is a competitive advantage. Imagine the craziness that whoever cares more about people, love, that is actually has a competitive advantage over the people in the marketplace. That's a crazy thing to think about for a second, that all I need to do to be to actually beat my competitors is care more about the human being on the other end of the line. And in many ways, this is like we need to get from out behind our screens, we need to get out from behind our emails. We need to get back to the basics of what real estate is, which is community. It's people, it's helping people. It's making people feel like they matter. And if you have a database of 30,000 people, I challenge you to throw that away and create a database of 200 people that matter to you, and then you make them feel like they matter. My theory is you'll do way more business than the database of 30,000 people that you're drip campaigning too, if that makes sense. So much there. [00:21:35] Speaker A: I gotta. So you literally going back to the first part of our conversation where you're saying people will forget. People will remember how you make them feel, right? They'll forget a lot of details about a transaction, but they'll always remember how you made them feel emotionally. How we feel has that, that instinctively stronger memory. And that's why you go, when you're trying to start that health journey, you go back to what made you feel great, what made you feel like you were operating at your. And for some of us, it's help, for some sports, for some of it, it's praying. For some of it, it's reading or intellectual exercise. I mean, that's a great correlation, because that just proves, you know, those are both pretty, pretty, pretty good proofs that how you feel and the memory from how you feel lasts a very long time. [00:22:34] Speaker C: Yeah, Ken, just think of our relationship. Five, six years ago, I challenged you to run a half marathon. But I didn't just challenge you, I actually supported you. I gave you positive affirmation. You will always remember me like you have that memory in your memory bank for the rest of your life. And if we take that mindset into our business that, you know, I'm going to create a memory that this person will remember the rest of their life. That is the goal you want in your business. And I think in many ways, a lot of us focus on customer service, and that is what we actually. We need to throw that out the window. Customer service is the standard. Customer service is the 800 number that you call to get something done right. People hate customer service. What do people love? They love client experience. And what your goal should be is to look at everything you do as a professional and say, how can I make an experience that people will remember the rest of their life? And then make sure that's in some level of a systematic way so you're not, each time recreating the wheel from scratch, which, by the way, ruins customer experience. You want people to feel like they're in a unique custom experience with it being a system. So once again, Ken, for you, like, you should go through, okay, when someone's getting a loan from me, what do they experience? And how can I up level that experience? Right? Can I send them, you know, a bottle of wine? Not at closing, when they lock in a rate or. You get the point, right? It's like, you go through. And then even for you, Joe, like, when someone walks in a diametics, I think I said it right. [00:24:27] Speaker B: Diametrically. [00:24:29] Speaker C: Medics. [00:24:30] Speaker B: Yes, sir. [00:24:30] Speaker C: What is the experience? Because right now, in our world, most people are used to feeling like a number, right? Used to feeling like they're, you know, they're in a drip campaign or a system or. Right. You click on Instagram, I click on a link. Next thing I know, I'm getting emails from this company. All I did was literally click on a link to look at a t shirt. The next thing I know, I'm being inundated with emails. How can we actually get out of this mode and out of this world of dripping people or really selling to them automatically? And we go back into, like I said, rehumanization. And part of that rehumanization is creating experiences that people will remember the rest of their lives, and that for each of us on this call and everyone listening, it will be something different for all of us. But what is common for all of us is to really take a step back and look at what we do and ask ourselves the question, am I creating an experience versus just providing a service? If you provide a service, you will not be remembered unless it's a horrible only way they're gonna remember. [00:25:42] Speaker A: It's terrible ad service. [00:25:43] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. [00:25:45] Speaker C: And that's the only way they remember it. But people don't remember good customer service. Why? Because it's just basic. Yeah, but they do remember experiences. And I think that's the. This driving force, because let's be real real estate. The real estate world is changing. You know, think about the number of agents that are gonna leave this industry because of the fact that there just isn't the transactions to support these agents. Right. You know, we're. If you look at some of these numbers, we're half of the inventory we were in 2019. Yeah. In some of our markets, like, there just isn't the sheer volume of transactions to support everyone. So the people that are going to win are going to be the ones that care the most and create the most memorable experiences. And that, I think, is what's so critical about this world we're walking into, which is actually. It's actually exciting in many ways, because all I need to do is actually not focus on more people. Focus on less people and go deeper. [00:26:47] Speaker A: Sounds like Jerry Maguire. Oh, it's true. [00:26:54] Speaker B: I mean, it's one of those, you know, there's definitely two. Then to play a little bit of a devil's advocate here, it's a better way to go. Quality over quantity wins all the time. But you definitely. There are people who are successful calling every phone in America, telling them they need to get their car warranty done. So it really just comes down to which way do you want to skin the cat? And I would say that if you want a lot of poor quality clientele, then go scale, hit everybody up with your drip campaigns and emails and follow up, and you will grind it out and you'll get the number you want, because that's all mathematical. But if you want to have a long term sleep at night successful business where you're proud of it, then, you know, a much narrower, deeper funnel is proven so well. [00:27:56] Speaker C: And, Joe, I think we could even apply to anyone that does do drip campaigns. And by the way, if you're listening to this and you drip campaigns, I'm not telling you not to do drip campaigns. What I'm telling you to do is look at your drip campaign. And in your drip campaign, what experience am I even providing there? Right, so, and Joe, to your point, like drip campaigns in CRMs, very, very effective tool to generate leads from people you don't know. Yeah. By the way, I am not opposed to that. What I want to challenge people who do that technique is when was the last time you looked at your emails in your drip campaign. And how does that email make someone feel? [00:28:38] Speaker A: And does it sound like you wrote it? Like, does it sound like it came from you? Like, if everyone in the company has the same drip campaign, you know that you think that automation, that systemization is going to help you, but in reality, it's only for. It's only putting you in a less organic space in their, in their mind. And, and the other thing, if they're, if you're listening, and I know mortgage people and real estate people and entrepreneurs all use drip campaigns in some fashion. Make sure you have a way to pivot away from the campaign when it makes sense. I think that where a lot of people go wrong is like, yeah, you pre approve someone. In my business, you pre approve someone, and then you send them an email, hey, just want to let you know I'm here if you have any questions. [00:29:17] Speaker B: Great. [00:29:18] Speaker A: And then another couple weeks goes by, hey, how's the house hunt going? Oh, let's go. But then they reply back, hey, I decided not to buy right now because XYZ. And then three weeks later, they get another email, hey, how's the house hunt going? They're like, didn't I just reply back to, like, you have to be able, like, you still got to be in tuned with the communication, and it just can't be. I don't think there, there exists to set it and forget it in a people business. And it's a perfect point or perfect example sky, because you do, you got to look at it, you got to read it, you got to know what people are seeing. Sometimes that stuff changes. [00:29:55] Speaker C: Well, and Ken, I think this goes back into another thing I coach, too, which is CRM. And when I coach to. So, CRM, for anyone that's listening, the R and CRM is a relationship. And what most agents have is a CSM or a spam management tool. All they do is they use it for email. So what I really coach to is actually a lot of agents use maybe a sphere ABC system, and what they typically will do is they'll say, well, every one of my past clients is a sphere a, and then anyone that I want to do business is a sphere a, and then sphere B is people I think I can do business with. And then sphere C is people I hope I do business with. Right now, the challenge you run into there is that when you put people into your a's, that you don't really like. All of a sudden now your CRM relationship tool becomes something you dread looking at. You dread going into it. So you want to fall back on automation because of the fact that you look at your CRM as this thing where you. You're like, oh, I do not want to talk to those people. So the way I coached to agents to do their CRM, you create sphere A, sphere B, and sphere C, but instead, sphere a is people I love. Sphere B is people I like. Sphere C is people I don't know and don't care. And from there, what happens is your CRM becomes this tool that you are excited about going into, because most of your time is going to be spent dealing with people you love and you like, and then all of your marketing drip campaign the hell out of the c's. Your a's almost never receive a real estate communication from you. You know why? Because they know you're in real estate. [00:31:44] Speaker A: They're already going to refer you. [00:31:46] Speaker C: Yeah, already going to refer you. So now you don't have to worry about being salesy or annoying someone or bothering someone. And we all know those realtors that, you know, call, and they're just. You're just like, why are you even saying this? Like, this is so bad? And now we get into a world where you actually can take your a's and you can elevate the experience you provide them because of the fact you're inviting them to a charity event, or you're, hey, let's go see the Flyers game this weekend. Or, hey, I'm going for a run. You want to go for a run? And you almost never talk about real estate to your a's, your b's. Maybe you have a little bit more real estate. You know, maybe it's like 20% real estate. And the vast majority of it is all about the community and life and all this other stuff. And then your c's, it's all real estate, because you don't know them, you don't care about them. And really, the reality is most people are probably only going to have 30 to 48, but most of their business will come from the a's, right? And you could use the same mindset can in the loan origination world where you take all of your realtors and like, all right, I'm going to have it ABC with my realtors that I work. You know why? Because I don't want to bring this asshole to lunch. We all know who you know, agents. You probably look at agents, Ken, you're like, oh, my God. Wow. [00:33:11] Speaker A: I love every single one of them, Scott, for anybody listening, that's not what you were just talking about. [00:33:17] Speaker B: Who was that guy you were just saying that about? [00:33:20] Speaker C: It's in California, right, Joe? [00:33:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:24] Speaker C: Not in Jersey. [00:33:26] Speaker A: So I want to shift gears a little bit, if you guys don't mind. And we're going to kind of. We're going to piggyback on everything we've been talking about so far. But one of the things that Joe and I have been talking about in sky, it was the foundation of us. First meeting was the 05:00 a.m.. Ers. And for the people that are listening, the 05:00 a.m. ERS was a group of primarily housing industry related professionals that decided to start getting up early with the idea that the discipline it takes to get up early carries into your day the productivity that you get. The productivity boost you get when you're able to function where everyone else is still asleep and you can get stuff done. And the camaraderie and knowledge from the books we read, it was an amazing, life changing experience for me. Not to oversell it, but it really, really was. And I think that it's the morning routine that matters. And, you know, talk about that for a minute. Sky, how has that 05:00 a.m. Ers evolved for you, and what do you do to bring the right morning routine to help you be productive and why is it so important? [00:34:34] Speaker C: Yeah, so the origination of the five ammers was, came back to when I was getting divorced, and I was in a, you know, I had a very lucky. I have a great. I've actually have a beautiful divorce. I have a beautiful relationship with my ex wife. We have an awesome co parenting situation, we do holidays, et cetera. But going through it, even at the time, is very, very challenging. Emotionally, physically, you know, you name it, it was really, really difficult. And so one of my best friends, Jake Dreyfus, knew I was going through a shitty time. And so we followed a guy named Jocko Willinek, who would post a picture of his watch at 430 every morning. [00:35:13] Speaker B: Yeah, Jaco's out here. I see Jacob. Do you really? Yes. Yeah. His daughter wrestles for point Loma, and my son. Yeah. And, yeah, he owns a jiu jitsu gym down the street. [00:35:27] Speaker C: That's insane, man. I've been to some of his trainings and stuff like that, so. So Jake just started to text me in the morning to wake up early, right. And so I would start to get up, and then we were like, wow, this is actually pretty good. We're like, what if more people want to do this? So we sent an email out to people we knew, and ten people were like, hey, we want to do it, too. So we did it for a month, and that started progressing, and then we did it for another month, and we did it for another month, and each month, it just got bigger and bigger and bigger. And to make a long story short, eventually we were sort of doing these calls, and there are people joining from all across the country to make Jake. Over time, he moved to Colorado. I shifted to Compass. We sort of stopped making the calls at 05:00 a.m. And life went on. And COVID hit. When COVID hit, I was, at the time the managing director for Compass in Philadelphia, and I was, March, what is it? Maybe March 12 or 13th, whatever it was, we go home and we start doing, you know, you're eating and you're drinking and you're watching Netflix and you're waking up late, you're going to bed late. You know, just. Life was out of control. And I really was in a point where I was, like, so frustrated by the end of March. So I was like, you know, I'm going to relaunch the six Amherst inside of compass. And I did. I think it was great. In hindsight, I actually was really excited about doing it at 06:00 a.m. Versus 05:00 a.m. Because 05:00 a.m. Is early. [00:37:07] Speaker A: It's. Right. [00:37:08] Speaker C: 05:00 a.m. Is early. 06:00 a.m. Is very, very manageable. Like, you can still. You can get to bed at 1130, and you're not. You're a little tired, but you're not, like, destroyed. Sure. You know what I mean? And so I started it in my. My office in Philadelphia. We had about 50 people sign up for it. And then the next month, a sales manager from Boston heard about it. He's like, I want to join it. So it went to Boston. And then, to make a long story short, now, almost four years later, we've been all across the country, and the same principles we use in the five Amherst. We use in the six Amherst. Right? We have two zoom calls a week. Right now, we actually have four, because it's one at 06:00 a.m. East coast. One at 06:00 a.m. West coast. We read a book each month. You create a morning routine. You set a one word intention for the month. And then on Monday, Wednesday, Friday within workplace, which is like a Facebook private Facebook group, we post. I'll post a question of the day and motivational video and we've had 6000 compass agents sign up for us over the last four years. [00:38:14] Speaker B: Wow. [00:38:15] Speaker C: Huge community of people. And like I said, Kent, it's the same mindset that we had back then we have today. And I joke around, you know, we'll get in any given Tuesday or Thursday, we're probably getting anywhere from like 700 to 1000 people joining both. That's amazing. And I say all the time, I would do this if one person showed up. You know why? I don't actually do it for other people. I do it for myself. And for me. What the 06:00 a.m. Errs or that morning mindset and mentality has done. It's created a level of consistency that I don't think anything else would have created around waking up early. And I'm at a point in my life where I'm very disciplined and I'm very structured in my mornings. And I love, there's nothing I like more than getting up at 430, being in the gym, you know, I have a routine I follow and the reality is I'll fall off that routine, right? That's reality. Like, I will fail. I am not perfect in following that routine. But as you progress and as you start to do it more and more, and this is the difference between successful people and unsuccessful people. Successful people fail and fall off the rails, but that's, it's a quick bounce back into being back on the path. Unsuccessful people, when they fail, they don't just sort of fall off the track, they fall off the cliff. And that's, I think, the difference. And with the six ammers a, it's provided personal accountability that I have to get up no matter what, right. I need to be consistent. I need to goal set. And every month, the other really nice thing. I am a huge fan at this point. I don't even really set yearly goals anymore. I set monthly goals. And each month I said, all right, what am I going to accomplish this month? So let's be real. Like, the calendar is just a man made thing, right? Our bodies don't know that it's February 1 or January 31 or whatever date, you know, that it may be. And a twelve, you know, a twelve month year is just a man made thing. So in many ways, if you want to accomplish something, yes, it's okay to set a yearly goal, but it's really, really critical. You take that yearly goal and you say, all right, what is the next four weeks going to look like? And you hyper focus on only four weeks. And that's sort of what I love about the six Amherst. You have to renew, as you remember, from five Amherst each month, you have to renew. You know, and you can take months off if you want. You know, there's no pressure, but each month you have to say, yes, I'm gonna participate this month. And it allows you to sort of say, this month, I'm actually gonna get after it, or this month I'm on vacation, I'm gonna. You know, I'm gonna chill this month. And you get to ebb and flow with your life, depending upon what's happening. And I always say, like, the. We have only one rule in the group, and that is to have fun. So it's really critical that people understand it's not a bro culture, you know, it's not a, like, grind. And. Oh, my God, you missed the call. You're out. [00:41:30] Speaker A: Kind of. That's what I do with my grind. [00:41:32] Speaker C: It's like, you're out. [00:41:35] Speaker B: There are groups that you start calling people at 05:05. Where are you? [00:41:41] Speaker C: Where are you? And once again, there is a purpose for a group like that, right? So that there's nothing wrong with that. But for this group, the whole goal is basically to start your morning in a positive way. And if you're starting your morning with shame and guilt and regret and all this stuff, it defeats the whole purpose and goal of the group. So instead, you start your morning, no matter what, with positivity. And even if it means you slept in that morning, if you have shame, regret, guilt, etcetera. That's the opposite of what the goal of the group is. Instead, you sleep in the morning, and you're like, hey, you know what? I slept in. I'm going to give myself grace. I'm going to have fun today, or I had fun last night, and that's. [00:42:27] Speaker A: I think I started the 555 group inside of Princeton mortgage. I couldn't use six Amherst because sky already copyrighted it. But I think I might have to rewrite the bylaws. Guy. A little rough. You know, you gotta be their commitment. Commitment. But you're right. You're absolutely right. It's about. It's about joy, and it's about what's possible and not shame and guilt. Oh, man. Beat yourself up. Cause you didn't get up that day. [00:42:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:42:57] Speaker C: And, Ken, don't. Don't get me wrong there. I am part of other groups that are hardcore that you better check in. So there's a world where you need both. So just depends on what your goals are with the group. So if your goal with the group is accountability, then you sort of need a little more structure and a little more accountability. The goal of this group is really positivity and fun. So how can you actually look forward to waking up? Up? And that's. I wake up in the morning excited. I can't wait for my alarm to go off. I love it. [00:43:32] Speaker A: All right, so we are. It's crazy. This was the fastest one we've done yet. This was awesome. So much information. I hope you're willing to come back and talk about all this stuff. This is the kind of stuff we love. So, two things we're going to do now to have a little fun. One is two truths and a lie. And this is the second time I forgot to do it at the beginning of the podcast, I get so fired up that I just forget. So Joe is going to guess which one is the lie. So why don't you go ahead and give us two truths and a lie, and the human lie detector, Joe Iredell, is going to sniff it out, you see? [00:44:07] Speaker B: And let me just. Hold on, let me say this. When we do it at the end, it puts me at a grave disadvantage because I can't, you know what I'm saying? I'm going to work with what I got here, but I'm just letting you know that it's good. [00:44:27] Speaker C: All right, all right. Two truths in the lie. Let's see. I played college lacrosse. I have four nipples. I went to Syracuse University. [00:44:42] Speaker A: I have an advantage. I know Sky's background, so I think I know the answer. But, Joe, it's all you, brother. [00:44:52] Speaker B: Wow. So if you played lacrosse at Syracuse University, you're probably a very good lacrosse player. I'm gonna guess that you hope to God that you don't have to prove this to us, but I'm gonna say you do not have four nipples. [00:45:12] Speaker C: I was on the crew team at Syracuse, so I rode at Syracuse. I did not play lacrosse. And I actually do have it to you guys on camera. I had, I have two, my main nipples right there. And then I got these two little, like recessed nipples that are. [00:45:33] Speaker A: Selling the dream first, man. Oh, that is awesome. So, got you, Joe. Wow. One for sky. [00:45:44] Speaker C: That I thought, I'll. [00:45:46] Speaker B: Take l. Listen, I'll take the l on that one, bro. [00:45:49] Speaker C: The Syracuse lacrosse, I was like, athlete. I'm like trying to think what's gonna throw him off. And that's why I was like. [00:45:55] Speaker A: And you actually, when you said. Yeah, that you played, what was the third one? [00:46:06] Speaker C: Syracuse. Played lacrosse, four nipples and then went. [00:46:10] Speaker A: Okay, played lacrosse you looked up and to the right when you said Syracuse, which is interesting cause that's usually what people do when they're lying. And that was your truth. So that's. That's interesting. [00:46:22] Speaker B: He looked down his shirt when he said four nipples though. That's what threw me off when he was counting. [00:46:28] Speaker A: Rapid fire. You ready? So you grew up in upstate New York, but you've lived in Philadelphia. You've been in Philadelphia long enough now. Cheesesteaks or hoagies? All right, good. East coast or west coast? East coast. I. East. Apple or Android? [00:46:49] Speaker C: Dude, is that even a question? [00:46:51] Speaker A: Want to know? [00:46:52] Speaker C: Like why do people even own an Android? Like why? [00:47:02] Speaker A: Alright, last but not least, Simon Sinek or Jocko Wilnick? Jocko. [00:47:08] Speaker C: Jaco. I love him both. I love him both. But Jaco's. He's like my guy. Like, he got me through lots. I still, this day will listen to little podcasts and it's just. There's something about him that is like, I just have learned so much about leadership. I've learned so much about life from him. Once again, love Simon Sinek too. But if you. If I had to make a choice, Jocko, every day I have discipline equals freedom on my. [00:47:36] Speaker A: Well, I will say this was awesome. Thank you very, very much. And like I said, hopefully we can have you on again. [00:47:45] Speaker C: Anytime, man. It was great. It was really nice meeting you, Joe and Ken, it was great question to you, Ken. What race are you going to commit to running right now? [00:47:54] Speaker A: All right, so I am already signed up for Broad street. However, I did hurt my back right around Christmas time, so I'm not. I'm signed up for it. Um, I'm just gonna be. I'm gonna be uncharacteristically careful of my back. Normally I'm just like, balls to the wall. Let's go. Fuck it. I'll hurt my back. But it was so painful. I don't ever want to feel that pain again. Yeah, so my brother wants to run the Cil ten miler in August. So if it comes down to it, then that'll be the next one. [00:48:30] Speaker C: Awesome, man. Well, whenever it is, let me know. I'll be running broad street too. I'm actually doing love run this awesome. [00:48:35] Speaker A: I ran the love run last year and it was cool as shit because my brother ran it with me and he's never done a real race before. I didn't. He should have beat me on all rights. He should have beat me. But somehow or another, I. At the turn, I realized I was ahead of him. So of course, that. That fired me up. Like, I gotta beat him now, and I got to put his metal on as he crossed the finish line. It was an awesome, awesome moment. Thanks for listening to selling the dream. We know you don't want to miss a single episode, so go subscribe today wherever you get your podcasts, and then make sure to share the show with your friends and leave us a review.