175 | From $0 to 7+ Figures: How Joey Martin Made It Big in Real Estate!

Mar 19

[00:01:03] Chaz Wolfe: All right, everybody, I'm Chaz Wolfe back at you this week, gathering the King's Joey Martin at the King's Table, my brother. How are [00:01:10] Joey Martin: you doing? Fantastic. Fantastic, Chaz. Thanks for, thanks for having me. [00:01:15] Chaz Wolfe: Absolutely, man. It's my pleasure. I love. obviously all of our guests are, are pressing in and, and going to the next level, and, and that's valuable for our listeners. But you specifically, man, we've connected a couple of times and each time we talk you have so much passion and so much just, everything you say is so heartfelt and, I'm super jazzed for, for the listener today to be able to, to walk away with a changed mindset because I feel like that's what, is your, is your superpower whether you realize it or not yet. So Joey, I know you're in multiple businesses. Tell us what brings you to the King stage. What businesses are you in? [00:01:46] Joey Martin: Okay. well, JW Martin Real Estate, that's my, my primary business. that's, we're representing buyers and sellers. I also do some investment properties, do some little bit of house flipping here and there. and I have some, rental properties, that, that acquired over the years and, more recently got into, some real estate development. So, all things real estate, , all things real estate. Yeah. I, I, I forgot about the all eggs of one basket thing. [00:02:12] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Well, I love, I love, actually what you're doing because, it's not all. Basket, they all the baskets might be the same weaving type or the same color, or the same material. Mabel, but, but they're not the same basket. Right. that, everybody else may or may or may not. But, I love too, because it's not just real estate. What you're building actually are multiple businesses and, and that's mostly our conversations have been offline. building the team and strategies and processes and structure and leadership and all of the cool things. and so I don't even see necessarily this conversation around real estate today. I see it as you being ex, uber successful in multiple businesses. And, and that's what I'm gonna pick your brain, but. before we get into your story and kind of how you've gotten to where you are, the fact that you are where you are is ridiculously, awesome. You've, you've made some, some moves that you probably never even thought possible when you were younger, just like me. Simple, simple beginnings. But my question to you is this, even after all the success that you've had, Joey, you still push our conversations before this podcast have been about you going to the next level. [00:03:17] Joey Martin: that, that's a, that's a good question. it's, it's never enough, you know what I mean? I'm never satisfied. so, I, I would imagine you could probably relate to that too, but, oh yeah, just,just, you hit a goal and achieve it and, or, or you, you reach a milestone that you, you thought might not be possible. But then it's just, it's just not enough. I wanna keep on growing and, and then not, not just for me, but I've got some, some guys on my team here, all my team. It's very important to me. Yeah. And so, I want these guys. , to, to grow with me. I want these guys to be just successful and more so than I am. So, yeah, so a lot of it, a lot of it is just my, never ending, just passion for, it's just never enough, I guess. and, and then another part of it is, my, my team's, my family and, and so I want to take care of my. [00:04:04] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I love how that comes through. Even just a few seconds ago when you were talking about, it's never enough. It wasn't just a, never enough for Joey. It was never enough for my team and never enough for their families. And, and, when your team is, your family, like you just said, it, it takes. Your desire for their success, as well as then their commitment to the overall picture of where the ship is headed to a whole nother level. and so I think that, I think that that's, a, a piece that maybe you and I realize that maybe some of the, the listeners haven't gotten to yet. So I wanna dive into that a little bit. But I love that perspective and you sharing about that. I, I, I can feel the passion that you have for people every time we talk. It's incredible. So, let's go back into your story just a little bit. Let's talk about how you got started. How, how did entrepreneurship start for you? [00:04:52] Joey Martin: well really, the, the career in real estate, was, was really unexpected. I was, I was, I was very young when I got started in real estate, 21 years old. so I've been working since I was 14. my, one funny story when I was, I didn't even realize this, but in third grade, I was, getting the latest, hiphop cassettes, . I would dub them, I would dub them and try to sell 'em to my friends. Oh, that's awesome. I was, I didn't realize that was illegal, but, right in third grade I was, trying to make cassettes and sell 'em. But, and then, as a teenager I was always, building. Speaker boxes and things like that for my friends and selling, yeah. Stereo equipment. But as far as like, 17, through, 17 through 21, I was just job hopping. I was, I went after high school, I went and worked in the mill with my mom, cuz you know, that's what she knew as, success. You, you gotta, you just go get that steady paycheck at the mill and, and, and, come home. And that's a good life. And and I tried it and I was miserable, Yeah. working swing shifts and you get a buzzer to go take a break and a buzzer to go back to work is basically felt like a robot. Yeah. And so, tried working at the mill, a chemical plant. I drove a beer truck for a year, took a. Big rig. Cross country. One trip. That was enough. Wow. . Just [00:06:04] Chaz Wolfe: the one, [00:06:04] Joey Martin: huh? One trip? Yeah. the, the, the, the guy was training me. He, I was like, Hey man, I gotta take a pit. Stop here, man. It, uh, He pulls a jar out from under his seat and says, here it, [00:06:15] Chaz Wolfe: there you, you go, here's your pit. Stop. . [00:06:18] Joey Martin: No thanks. No thanks. But but yeah, that was, that was an eye-opener for me there. But, then I got into sales. I was doing door-to-door sales when I was, 18, 19 years old, knocking on doors, looking for donations for local volunteer fire departments. If they made a donation. Yeah, they got a free family photograph up at the fire station. And, and then also paddle siding, sales, just all kind of stuff. But,all along the way, I was, I was doing side jobs. I was out doing, a little side hustle with, with one of my best friends. His dad had a farm, 60 acre farm. We were out there baling hay. And, that's from some rough labor. And, after the, after the day, we were just kind of, I was propped up against the barn sweat. And, and, Mr. Davis, his name's Jeff Davis. He, he said, he said, Joey, you do really well in real estate. And, honestly, I didn't have a clue what that meant at the time. literally I thought, I thought that meant if I saw, so I saw a real estate agent sign in front of a house. I meant that, that he owned that house. That's what I thought he was trying to sell. at that point in time. That's how little I knew. And, so from that point, he took me,offering opportunity as a real estate assistant, Charleston, South Carolina. And, so from there I had about a, nine year, 10 year career with, again, resorts and clubs, selling really, high, high-end golf course, real estate, right? second home kind of kind of stuff. And then, 2008 hit, and people were not, not buying a second home real estate anymore. But, I was, by that time I had with the game company, I worked with them in Charleston, Orlando, Florida, and Lake Oconee, Georgia,lake Ocon. I was trying to kind of running from the market. Orlando got hit worse and first Sure. those,destination areas like that got hit first. And so headed to, lake Oak County trying to run from it, and it finally caught up. so I came back, back home to Clemson, South Carolina, and was decided on, to get involved in a more modest price point that, and, and also the market hadn't been that affected in Clemson, at that point in time. So, came back to, head of, real estate sales at, at a community here in in Clemson, and which is where I am now. I was, head of real estate there for about three. . And and after in 2011, I decided to start my own brokerage. Yeah. So that's when I guess I officially, real estate's entrepreneurial as it is. Yeah. But, but I'd worked for developers,at that point in time. Right. Which there's a little bit of a safety net there. yeah, 2011 is when the safety net was gone, and it was, it was me on my own sink or. [00:08:41] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah. I love it. I love, I love how that, all of that, the, the work history, the figuring it out through the different markets that you were going through, all of it culminated to sink or swim champ. Okay. And I think we all have to face ourselves at some point, right? Like we can, we can be entrepreneurs, we can do little side hustles. We can go from here to here, we can kind of make things work. We can, kind of hodgepodge patch things along the way. But, in order to. Have what you have today. You had to kind of look yourself in the mirror and be able to be willing to take a risk that you hadn't really sized up yet and and really go all in. And so I want to know about those things, obviously, but tell me, tell me specifically in that moment, like, okay, so you decided to go do your own brokerage. Was it out of spite of like, these people don't think I can do this? Or was it because the market was so crazy? Was it outta survival? Like, what made you finally have that conversation with yourself in the mirror, take the risk and like go all in? [00:09:47] Joey Martin: well, honestly, that, at that time, it wasn't spiteful. I, I wouldn't say, I definit. I've always had a little bit of a chip on the shoulder, kind of got something to prove. sure guy. but, but,I would say at that time they had brought on, an additional salesperson to the, to the team. I was the, the lone wolf there for a while, and they brought in an additional one, which was gonna, probably trim my, my commissions down. So it, it wasn't necessarily. A welcome addition to the team, I guess you could say for me. Right. But probably, looking back at it now, from a business perspective, it was probably a smart one cuz I was, I was there six and seven days a week. yeah. And so it was probably more to my benefit, but everything happens the way it's supposed to. You know what I mean? So. Right. honestly, we. We were having discussions at that point in time about the New edition. And, and honestly as a, it was kind of mutual, that me, me leaving the company, it wasn't necessary. So it was almost a forced entrepreneurial thing. It was like, yeah, am I search for another developer to work for or do I just, do I just do this on my own? And, and so, so I would say,kind of, , it was mutual time for me to, to, to part ways cause I didn't agree with what they were doing. And so, so yeah, almost, almost kind of forced, that I, that I jumped out there. [00:11:07] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I lo I love those moments because it's like, either we run back, like all the way back. Yeah. Or we jump, and the, the moment that you jump, you have that, but then you realize, oh, this is gonna be incredible and not. Not easy, but incredible. Like the jump's gonna be incredible. so let's talk about the jump. tell me about a good decision you made along the way. Obviously other than jumping, but how, how, what have you done along the way that was just so instrumental to your success that you've had today? What can you share with us? [00:11:42] Joey Martin: I would say when I, when I finally realized that, that I need systems in place. To, to go to the next level. the first few years of, of ownership, it was just me, and then it was me and an assistant. Yep. And which, which was, that was also a key decision right there is, is admitting that I can't do this a alone, I can't get to where I want to by myself. Did you [00:12:09] Chaz Wolfe: genuinely think that you could before? Was it like an ego thing? Like, I genuinely think I can do it all, like I'm Superman. No. [00:12:17] Joey Martin: No. I, I think, trusting, trusting someone else to, the ability to trust someone, that would come and care about my baby as much as, as I do. That's right. [00:12:28] Chaz Wolfe: How did you get over that? man, or did you just have so much going on that you literally said, holy moly, if I'm gonna survive, I need somebody else? . [00:12:35] Joey Martin: I remember the day, I remember the day that I made the decision to move forward and I was out showing property all day long. it was, I mean, dust tilled on showings and I get, and I don't answer my phone while I'm with clients because I think it's rude. Yeah. And, and so, I get back to. Back to the car, exhausted from showing all day. Looked down at my phone, 75 missed calls. Wow. And at that time, people left voicemails, It's just about, and just a ton of voicemails. I was like, good lord, I'm gonna be here for hours. Just going back through these voicemails, I was like, I gotta get some help. And so from that point forward, anytime, I was able to provide a higher level of service right away. I set it up to where my phone, if I can't answer it automatically, it wouldn't have my assistant. So my phone was getting answered all the time. Yeah. and then, eventually that resulted in, I was, on my own doing, probably 70 plus sales a year. and just, it's exhausting. Yeah. And so, that's right. Never really intended on, on growing from there, but then I had a couple. Younger guys that approached me about, coming to work with me and me teaching 'em, showing 'em the ropes and, so yeah, I mean, I was excited to do that and it's just kind of grown from there. . [00:13:44] Chaz Wolfe: yeah, I think that the, the two pieces that you, that you highlighted, I think are super applicable for everybody listening. Number one, I almost guarantee that everybody listening at some degree or level has quote unquote, per Joey Martin so much going on that I gotta get some help, right? And so I think that that step one is when you have that moment where you're like, Ooh. Right, because I think a lot of people feel the ooph, but they don't have the rec, the, the, the, the, the aha, right. That I need help. They, they just, they. go through the voicemails, they call people back, and then they do it all over again tomorrow and, and, and, which is fine, but there, there's just no way to grow. And in fact, in that process, not only are you losing new clients, but you're losing current clients because like you said, you can't. Offer the same amount of service, whatever business that you're in. And so literally, that person that you're gonna bring on to help you is gonna pay for themselves instantly from the fact that that you're not gonna be missing certain new business and the fact that you're gonna be providing a higher level of service, which will keep your current clients and get you referrals. So I think there's even what he just said, just like fast forward to the aha, please, right now, stop everything. Write down what you're currently doing. I guarantee you there's at least. 10 things on your list that you do that you shouldn't. and go find somebody and because immediately they're gonna pay for themselves. So Joey, I appreciate you sharing that. What do you feel like in that moment, like you said it was trust, and so did you have to find like the absolute perfect right fit? Or tell us about, find that first assistant, like, what was the mindset behind it of just like, just anybody, help, help us, help us go there. [00:15:29] Joey Martin: no. At the, at. At the time, it was a, it was a pretty easy decision. It was,someone that was, that was close to me. and, and so it was just pretty easy to bring 'em on and because I wanted to help mold them into a, into an agent as well. so, so yeah, that was a pretty easy decision there as far as who, and, and, And I know that's, that's a good question, guys. You got my, got my wheels turning a little bit on that one. . Yeah. So that was,I didn't, I didn't,I have also made the mistake of,since then, of, if I, I got lucky. You know what I mean? It turned out to be a great hire. She turned out to be incredible. Right? And, so I. also done the opposite. I, I didn't, take the time to interview people and Really, and really, yeah. And had an issue. Yeah. And it wound up, wound up being a, a bottleneck, in the company at one point in time, which, yeah. But, but I, I would say,if you're, if advising someone, Looking to get to the next, next level? I, I would say, I got lucky on the, on, on my first one. it was an, it was a hurry, but it turned out to be fantastic. yeah, but [00:16:33] Chaz Wolfe: I would say, but I mean, what's the worst case scenario if it's a bad decision? Like you said, you've made one of those a bad hire. Like what, what is the worst case scenario for the person listening? Joey, they hire the wrong person and. [00:16:44] Joey Martin: Even I get, even if I hired the wrong person, at least it does take some pressure off. but, but hiring the wrong person, for me, just, it can be detrimental because, that person, has, has a key position in, in the company, that that's the, that's the face of the business every day. Sorry. Right. that's the, the face of the business. Day in and day out, and yeah, so when the team comes in and, and they, the face of the business just, has a negative attitude, then yeah, the whole culture of the team can be affected by it. And so, 5%, so in, in our case, it, it was, detrimental and I, I had complaints about, this person from, from several of the agents. And, and. I'm a, I'm loyal to a fault, and so I'm very loyal. and then so I, I probably held on a little bit too long. Sure. And I, I, I probably lost, I maybe lost an agent or two cause of it. Yeah. So, so I, I would say take the time to, to make sure you got that, that right person. If, if you, if you have the time to really, dedicate,an interview process. [00:17:44] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, a hundred percent. I love, I love putting the perspective of what's the best and worst case scenario. And I think to your point, the best case scenario is if you're able to take the time, you're able to process through personalities and specific key role and how they fit into that, that specific seat on the bus. And I think that all of that makes a huge difference, actually. I think that you're spot on. I think that the worst case scenario. Yeah. You ha you hit some of that as well. culture, you can lose other people. you can lose clients like lot of fear there. Potentially, not enough fear to ruin you, right? Like even if, even if they, they got rid of everything, you had no clients, no agents know nothing, you still have you and you can still go on about you, you get rid of them and you move on. and so, Thinking about that from, from the person who's listening right now going, okay, I'm, I'm nervous about making my first hire or about the next hire because I've had bad scenarios or whatever. Well get better at the process, get better at at learning people get, be, become a better leader. and and then worst case scenario, you, you get rid of the bad ones and you keep moving. Cuz I'm going to hire someone. Who isn't gonna be a great fit. I guarantee it. As much as I know about personalities and the right fit and the team building and, and I'm a great leader and X, Y, Z, there's still gonna be somebody that I hire that I'm gonna have to figure out a different, a different path for them. Right? Yeah. One other thing I heard you say that I think is just super important that I wanna point out for the listener is you said you had people approach you. To work for you, work with you. And that speaks to character, that speaks to leadership, that speaks to just the things that you're doing in the marketplace when nobody is looking, or at least that you don't think is, is looking. But they were, they were looking, they were watching you from a distance, and they wanted to be part of the movement. And so I think that, that's applicable for every entrepreneur, whether, whether you're in the trades, whether you're in marketing, whether you're in real estate, whether you're, in retail like me, in some of my businesses. People are watching how you make decisions, how you treat people, and they're either gonna wanna follow you at a deeper level because of that or not. Absolutely. Okay. Let's talk about a bad decision. Joey, you kind of mentioned,the, the flip coin of, of not hiring properly, but give me a, gimme, a juicy, just terrible thing that, that, you can share with us to help keep us far, far away from your mistakes. [00:19:58] Joey Martin: probably, probably, the first year, 2011 when I opened up j David Martin Real. I also started a restaurant the same year. . Oh my [00:20:08] Chaz Wolfe: dear goodness, [00:20:10] Joey Martin: bought in or bought into a [00:20:11] Chaz Wolfe: restaurant. It was, now, now I know we're p we're cut from the same cloth. I, I knew we were cut from the same cloth. I knew we were both crazy, but now I know that we're both [00:20:20] Joey Martin: crazy Oh goodness. And it was, yeah. Never, never been in,service industry in my life. Well, maybe Wow. 15. I worked at Long Gone Silvers, I think . But, but [00:20:34] Chaz Wolfe: the, the confidence, the gumption that you have to have man to, to open up a restaurant the same year that you opened up your, your real estate business and have no experience. Like I, I just, my hat is off to your confidence level. Holy geez. . [00:20:50] Joey Martin: So, , had a pretty good run with it, kind of, but it was, it was never, it was never, right. I mean, the whole time it was just a, yeah, a mess. But,I, I was basically, the end of it is, wind. I wound up, closing the doors on, on that one, that, But you know, I learned a lot from it, you know what I mean? Definitely. Oh, I'm sure. Hopefully it didn't stop me . So yeah, [00:21:12] Chaz Wolfe: you're still here. And so like, tell me about that process. Like you said, you learned from it. What, first off, before you tell me what you learned, why was it a bad decision? I mean, obviously I can infer that doing both of these things at the same time was not a good decision, but, but why? [00:21:30] Joey Martin: Just too much? just. just way too much going on. I was already as busy as I could be with real estate, so, I would finish a full real estate day. which for me, I was also flipping homes at the time as well, so Wow. I would start my day at, check it on the flip house at seven. Yep. And then go into the office at nine, get, get all my, my work stuff for, for my appointments. Then take appointments in the afternoon, in the evening, I would come home and I would, I. , come meet and greet people at the, at the restaurant and even hosted trivia nights and things like that. So, wow. It was literally, just never ending. Yeah. never ending, just work, sleep, work, sleep. And, you'll just, you, you will eventually burn out and, if you ever get to the point where like your phone's, your lifeline, and, and real estate and many other businesses too. If, if you get to the point where you hate to hear your phone ring, that's real bad. And it's real bad to. To get that fire back. So, yeah. Yeah. [00:22:26] Chaz Wolfe: So what did you learn through the process of, too much? Because I think there's a lot of entrepreneurs who are doing too much, but then there's also entrepreneurs who aren't. They're just, they're content. They're not really doing enough. They're probably not the ones listening right now, because they're, listen. To get things from you and I to go to the next level. So I don't think these guys probably are doing enough. but like what did you learn through the process of like too much? [00:22:51] Joey Martin: it's physically exhausting. the, the wear and tear on the, on, on the body physically, mentally draining. you're not, yeah, you, you, you're not giving. You're not giving a hundred percent to either, to either business. And so what would, if I'd continued with the restaurant, I would've ended up taking down two businesses instead of one. yeah, I would've taken out my passion, which is, which is real estate and a restaurant also. So, I learned that, you gotta learn, when it's, it's time to,just cut it loose and, and move. Yep. Even though, I hate to, I hate to lose at anything. I'm super competitive, so , I cannot stand to lose at anything. And, but it, you know it, even though it feels like you're losing, you're, you're really not. You're, you're gaining. Your life [00:23:36] Chaz Wolfe: back and yeah, it's a, it's a net positive. You gotta, you gotta, you gotta, take it all back into, the, the equation of what it is that you want. And, I don't share a whole lot of my, of my personal journey on here, but, I can remember a time where in the same like six week period, , I was opening up my fifth, sixth, and seventh franchises, and four months before that I had, I had four franchises, but I had gone back to work, full-time as a salesperson. And so I'd had a sales job before I got into franchising. And so I had left, built four franchises, purchased a few, but had four locations and. Put systems in place. Felt great about it. Came back to work cuz I wanted to invest in real estate. And so here I am working a full-time job while managing my four businesses. And then all at the same time, within the same six weeks, I opened up three locations. In three different cities, three different states actually, while working, while still managing my four other locations. And I'll tell you what, my, my schedule looked very similar to what you just said. I was up at five, five to, 7 30, 8 o'clock was me working on, producing all of the things necessary for that day in my businesses. Then I would go to work literally at my job until 5, 5 30 and then from five until midnight, I was. Paperwork and preparing for three, hiring, preparing for three new locations in three different cities. It was absolutely nuts. I learned a ton, so thankful I did it. But everything that you just said, I had no, I had no balance there. and that was still when I was married, I st I had, I had, I had one, I had one, one, I had my first child. But it was like that first recognition, and when you, what you just said is, This isn't sustainable. It's okay for a period of time, but it's not sustainable. So I need to create better systems so that, I can, I can last the long haul plus I wanted to be with my kids, Yeah. So, okay. Well, let, let, let's flip the, let's flip the script here. You've given us the, the, the good and the bad. Help us understand now, now that you've gone through this. , how do you make decisions now? Is there a certain process that you take or anything that you kind of like step by step? Anything like that that you follow? [00:25:54] Joey Martin: I usually like to, in incorporate when it's a, when it's an important decision that is gonna involve the, the whole team. I, I think, I like to incorporate my leadership team,which is,Amy, who's administrative, assistant here, and then, Couple team members, Justin Ali, I like, I'd like to, get some input from my guys. Yeah. And so we can just look at the, look at the overhead view of the, of a, of a decision. [00:26:17] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, a hundred percent. Okay. And, what do you think from like a decision perspective, like, I mean, obviously we're making decisions all day long. you've, like right now you've got development, you've got real estate deals, you've got flips happening. Like you've got so many things happening and inside of each one of those things are multiple decisions every day. Is is it like a muscle that you're still building? do you feel pretty confident at this point in your decision making? Like how do you feel now about kind of just decision making? [00:26:46] Joey Martin: overall, I, I feel, pretty confident with the decisions I make, but I'm still, not ashamed to admit that, that when there's growth,when I wanna grow, I'm licensed in four states. I'm currently operating out of one. So, why am I licensed in four states? I need to, actually too, I'm operating out of, but I want to. I want to expand on those states, and in order to do that, I've got to get more organized. And so recently I've enlisted the, some coaching services, to, for myself and, and, my team, to, just to get a clear, clear picture of where the company's going, get a clear vision. And so not only I have a clear, clear vision, but everybody on the team has a, a clear vision of what. what our goal is, what we're all shooting for, and, so everybody's on the same page. [00:27:31] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, I love that, man. I think that, not only just for yourself, the clarity, but then also being able to communicate that into your team, is what the next level looks like. I think that, there are plenty of people listening here today that already have good systems. Maybe they're already even at seven figures like us or above. And, I think that, that being able to. Have like a deep, deep, clear conviction of what the vision or future looks like, and then being able to create a roadmap with your team to be able to get there, is the game changer. So, okay. You ready for the speed round? Yeah. Yeah, I'm ready. Speed. Round one. An one word answers, although I'm notorious for digging in, so, I want to know. Joey in, in each of your different businesses collectively as a unit, as all of your businesses together, what would be the one metric that you would choose to track? If you could only [00:28:25] Joey Martin: pick one? I would, I would say sales slash slash lead sources. Uh uh. Yeah, definitely. Okay. [00:28:35] Chaz Wolfe: And why do you think that that would be your go-to? [00:28:37] Joey Martin: obviously I, I want, I want my sales. If my sales are ever down, I wanna know why and I wanna know where my business is coming from. So, lead sources and,one thing with, with lead sources,I, one of, part of my business model is, internet-based leads. And, and the reason I like internet-based leads is it's consistent. And once you have a consistent. lead source and you can start doing math to predict the future. Yeah, you can, you can predict, how well your team is, taking those, that, that consistent lead source and converting it into sales. And if you wanna increase your sales, you, you need to take on more leads. If that means taking on more team members or, purchasing more leads or whatever the case may be, you can adjust according. [00:29:19] Chaz Wolfe: What you just said is to guys like you and I, so simple cuz we do these things, all the time, but it's so profound. So I'm gonna slow the track just a bit. I'm gonna reverse back just 45 seconds ago when you said if you can find a good lead source and you know the result of that lead source, you know the math on it, you can predict the future. . Absolutely. Okay. And so for a guy that's listening right now, that maybe he's all word of mouth or maybe he, he gets clients, in a certain way based on referrals from his other clients, or, or whatever, right? Like he has no paid leads or he has no consistent lead, let's just call it that. It doesn't even really matter if it's paid or not. He has no consistent lead. What would you tell that guy who doesn't understand what you just said about being able to predict the future? [00:30:17] Joey Martin: Well, your life's gonna get so much easier when you, when you have a consistent lead source. cuz I was very much the same way I was. I, I would go out to different places, bars, restaurants. I was involved in civic organizations, which are all wonderful lead sources. and I would advise anyone, to, to get involved in, civic organizations and being very active in those organizations so you can meet people. Yeah. and I'll, I'll explain a little bit more on that, but,but it's just, there's no real way to track that unless, unless you're like taking the business cards home every night and putting 'em into. and people aren't doing that, let's be honest. Yeah. Nobody's doing that. You're just flying by the seat of your pants. Yeah. If you're, that's what I was doing. I was, hoping, yeah. Hoping for the next deal and, and, just, I would get fortunate cause I was out there enough, just meeting enough people, to where it worked out. But it's still, your business is gonna be up and down, up and down. It's gonna be highs and lows. You're gonna be drinking a lot of bourbon if you, if you , if you got that, kinda that, that kinda business. [00:31:21] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I mean, the reality of what you're saying is for an individual, for you as the owner, for the person listening. As the owner, you've got skillsets, meaning you could walk into a room, you can shake some hands, you can create some relationships, which you should, but right now you're most likely using that to create new deals, which is fine. That's. But in order for you as the owner to ever be able to step away or to have consistent enough revenue where you're not drinking bourbon every other night, like Joey just said, , you've got to have a system. And the system, what's magical about it is that it's repeatable. That's why it's called a system. And so for you to be able to not. In the sales process or dealing with every single client, a k a scale, to seven figures and above, you have got to figure out a repeatable process, and in this case, Joey's given you. If there, if there are 17 keys to success, this is one of the top three. It's like if you don't have a lead source, a consistent lead source, because right now you have a lead source cuz you got a business. I'm, I'm with you. Joey said you're meeting people, you're doing this, so-and-so's referring you and all That's great. All that's great. But the reality of it is, is that you're not to seven figures yet because it's not a system. And when you think system or scaling, you need to think, how can I get someone else to do this? Repeatedly, how and how can I track them? So that's what Joey has just gifted you with. He said, you go find a lead source and it, and it may not be as good as word of mouth, it may not be as good as creating relationships in the, in the, in the, in the community. Which that's why he said don't stop those. He just said, in order to be able to teach someone else, in order for someone else to step in and, and say, what are the steps? 1, 2, 3. There has to be a consistent lead source given. They gotta know what to do with it, and they gotta know how to close. So, Joey, anything to add there? [00:33:15] Joey Martin: yeah, I mean, if the, if the value of your, of your business revolves around your involvement, then, then the, the value of the business is BA based completely on you. And so that's not a, that's not a business, that's a job. And it's not a business. And it's, you're right. It's also if you are gonna sell that business, unless you're up for sale. You don't, you don't have a marketable product. a hundred percent. As, as, it's a struggle for me because I'm, I'm a, I struggle with this because anytime my guys have a problem, I just wanna jump in and solve it and be done with it. But, but I'm crippling their ability to problem solve on their own if I do that and hindering them from growing as a person, evolving as an agent, and growing as a leader. So I've purpose. He stopped myself and allow them to, to solve problems on their [00:34:07] Chaz Wolfe: own. Yeah, a hundred percent. I've got a guy inside the, gathering the King seven figure Mastermind group who was looking at another business, a competitor to purchase, and he brought it to the table. And so some of the guys are analyzing it with him and helping him kind of understand the different nuances that he might be thinking about or maybe he wasn't thinking about. And, one of the key factors. , this guy was basically solo. He had a couple folks, but not really, and so at that point, you're not buying a business, you're buying goodwill, you're buying a phone number, you're buying, like what, what are you buying? Yeah. The fact that he's not gonna compete with you anymore. Okay. There's some price, there's some value there, but you're not buying a business. And so the price has to reflect what it is. And so, some of you might be listening right now thinking, well, I'm never gonna sell my business. Okay. I would challenge you on, on that, but even if, even if you're not going to, why would you wanna build something? that couldn't be sold in the scenario where you needed it to be sold. Cuz that's usually when the time that I have found, whether I've sold one, when I've sold one of my own, or when other people that I've known have wanted to sell. It's usually out of like, Ooh, I wanna make a move. Or, desperation. And then, and now you're left with , no systems, no process, no people. And, and, and all you're gonna be able to sell it for is pennies. So it doesn't, it, there's no value. I [00:35:27] Joey Martin: have no intention of selling my business. but you know, there's no, the people are are in business for freedom, That's right. I, I enjoy, yeah. I, I would like to have a few more vacations, see the world a little bit, yeah. Not just, not just consistently work from, from, the time I'm able to work till the time I die, [00:35:48] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. You hit it, you hit the nail in the head. It's freedom and. So just back up what we've been talking about. You can't have freedom, real freedom if the business evolve, what'd you say revolves around your involvement. I think that that's key. So, great, man. Okay. So, wow. That was all off the first speed round question. Holy moly. , wow. I kind of forgot where we were. All right. Second question. What book Joey, would you recommend that a six figure owner read to try to scale to seven? [00:36:17] Joey Martin: Oh man. So, so many of them. I I think you probably already read Rich Dad, poor Dad by, by that point. That's And who Moved My Cheese? I like those two books cause they're just really simple to read and they just have so much just meat and potatoes in there. Just really good. There is, those are ones that you can come back to. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. beyond that I would, I would. I can't name a specific book with anything around scaling. Scaling their business. [00:36:44] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I think the mindset in both of those is, plenty good. Even if the listener has read them, it would probably be a good time to circle back. okay. Do you intentionally network or mastermind with other entrepreneurs? [00:36:57] Joey Martin: Yes, absolutely. Okay. And why? I wanna get better. I always wanna get better and,you, you never know. I, recently,I'm, I'm trying to put together a, a, a group of my own here locally of, like-minded people to possibly invest together on multi-family properties, things like that. There's. . Yeah. And there's there's value in, in other people's knowledge for sure. [00:37:20] Chaz Wolfe: That's right. That's right. Okay, and last question, Joey, if you lost it all, what would you do, man? What would you do? [00:37:30] Joey Martin: I'll be right back at it again. without question, , without [00:37:33] Chaz Wolfe: question. Now the listener. The listener, can't see the ginormous smile on your face And such an odd time to smile like that, Joey. If you'd lost it all, you'd be back at it smiling. [00:37:43] Joey Martin: actually,there's some beauty in that. The ignorance of, being, being young, hungry and reckless. I miss that. I do, I do miss when I, when I first got started, as an entrepreneur and that just reckless, bad decision making, , why I see your pants, it, it's exciting. Yeah. definitely reckless. But, but yeah, I would, I would go right back. [00:38:04] Chaz Wolfe: That's awesome, man. I appreciate your passion. the, the, the thing that comes to my mind is even after your years, decades of experience, if that's your choice, after all that you've seen, man, the listeners should know that they're doing the right things, that they should just keep making good decisions or remove the things that are, hindering them from good decision. and, and even like you decades in, go be willing to risk it, be willing to press it all in. Be willing to go after it, because that's what it sounds like you've got, and then you would do it all over again, [00:38:40] Joey Martin: right? Without question. Without question. I, we got, we got time for a quick story. Yeah. Love it. All right. Well talk about just young and reckless, yeah. My, my first flip property. I went, bought at a foreclosure auction, had no clue what I was doing, raised my hand that I got it . So that day I had to have 5% down, was $48,000, had to have 5% down, which I had. and not much more than that. And a preapproval letter from a bank. at that time I didn't realize that most foreclosed properties are not financable. This is, this is a long time ago. And, . So here I am with a, a house that's not financeable. The bank came out and looked at it and said, now we're not gonna loan on it. So I had to break into this house that I did not own, fix it up, fix up a home that I did not own. And I had 30 days to do so. So, so I had to break into a house that did not own, fix it up. And, the bank came back, looked at it again, said, okay, we'll finance it. And I got it to the, got it to wow. So, talk about being young and reckless and, and just, yeah, yeah. It was, but it was, what was beautiful about that is that it was, it's all or nothing. You know what I mean is right. Mindset. Put all the chips in, there's no, I'm risking it all, and so, yeah. There, there's something to be said for it. I wouldn't do it again. I, I wouldn't do it again. knowing what I know. . now But, but man, for, you gotta, you gotta stick your neck out there, man. Not, not quite that risky. Don't go that risky. But yeah, you just gotta, you gotta put it all on the line. If it's, if you notice your passion, you notice what you're meant to do. Yeah. Just get out there and go for it, man. [00:40:23] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I think that the permission that you just gave the listener is, Probably the greatest gift that they'll receive all day today. I remember making those same decisions, bobbing and weaving. we got a fam, we got families. Now we can't quite bob and weave like that, but I still more than I probably should bob and weave and move things around and place bets. Not like actual bets, but you know, investments in properties and, and new businesses and, but the reality of it is this. That's, that's, that's the, that's the game. the game, the game doesn't go away. The game doesn't change. You just play. You just play at a higher level and somewhere along the line, I feel like there's so many people who, who. Who moved the first chess piece, right? They, they left their job, or they started their little side hustle, and then they moved the ne next chess piece. And then they, they grew a little bit, maybe they got a helper or an admin assistant and they grew a little bit more. But somewhere along the line in there, they stopped playing the game. They stopped really pressing in, they stopped putting it all on the line, like you said, sticking their neck out there. And and I think the permission that you just gave is the, To the next level. For a lot of guys listening right now, it's like, no, no, no, you, you need to be able to go all in chip's, all in. And even if it literally meant that I would have to take care of my family in a different way, then, then that needs to be the confidence level for me at the baseline that's going, I would take care of 'em. It's not like I'm gonna leave my family hanging, but I'm willing to to put 'em all in and, and if the worst case scenario were to happen, I'll figure that piece of it out. That's right. [00:42:00] Joey Martin: Yeah. That, that's another thing is just becoming a master problem solver. the, the bigger the problem you can solve, the bigger the paycheck that comes along with it. That's right. That's right. Absolutely. Embrace Joey. [00:42:12] Chaz Wolfe: Joey, how, how can someone listening today connect with you if they wanna get to know you better? They wanna get a little, they wanna get a little Papa of Joey love going on. How, how, how can they, how can they, how can they get a shirt like you, he's got this, this incredible, almost like Paisley shirt. He is looking fresh as over there. How can they connect with you online, bro? . [00:42:29] Joey Martin: All right. Well, my website is www.jwmartinholmes.com. I'm on Facebook, at JW Martin Real Estate on Facebook and also, my personal page is Joey Martin. So definitely, definitely reach out. I'm, I'm here to answer any questions you may have. [00:42:44] Chaz Wolfe: That's awesome, Joey. I, I just so appreciate, the friendship that we've started as well as, and just the, pushing back and forth. The, the mindset that you have is incredible. I'm better for knowing people like you. even our conversation today has, has inspired me. And so, thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you for being here. Thank you.

Looking to learn from a seasoned real estate industry pro with a seven-figure business? Then you won't want to miss episode 175 of Gathering The Kings Podcast featuring Joey Martin. Host Chaz Wolfe sits down with Joey to discuss his two-decade journey in the real estate world, including his time on a record-breaking sales team that sold over $400 million in real estate. From working for someone else to starting his own brokerage, Joey shares how he took calculated risks to grow his business and why he believes you should too. Listen in to discover how Joey's pivotal moment of realizing he couldn't do it all on his own led to the successful hiring of a team, why it's crucial to avoid overextending yourself, and how to make sound business decisions to grow your company. Plus, find out the one metric Joey tracks across all his businesses and how he's learned from both good and bad decisions. Don't miss this insightful episode and connect with Joey and Chaz to learn more about their 90 Day Intensive program. Tune in today!

Joey Martin:

Website: https://www.jwmartinhomes.com/

Facebook (JW Martin Real Estate): https://www.facebook.com/HomesForSaleClemson

Facebook (Joey): https://www.facebook.com/jwmartinrealestate

Chaz's favorite morning drink to fuel him for his day

10% off Code: GATHERINGKINGS10