Sales Meeting Content – Page 3

Stop Being Your Own Bottleneck

10/17/202510/24/2025 Mark Johnson 1 Comment

In a flat, hyper-competitive market, every player in the industry is looking for an edge. We analyze data, scrutinize marketing spend, and pressure-test recruiting strategies. But the real game-changer isn’t in a new piece of tech or a proprietary lead list. It’s in the mirror.

Inspired by a recent blog from James Clear, who pointed out that as the pace of change accelerates, the intelligence that matters most isn’t necessarily your market knowledge or your decades of experience. It’s your ability to avoid being your own bottleneck.

Your agents, your C-suite, and your competitors may all have the ability to succeed, yet so many talk themselves out of trying the things that would actually move the needle.

The Three Traps

Your business or your personal production will only grow as fast as your willingness to confront these three core traps: a lack of skills, a lack of connections, and a lack of certainty.

1. The Trap of Perfection: Lack of Skills

“If you lack the skills, be willing to look foolish while you learn them.”

The market has shifted. The skills that closed deals in 2020: simply being responsive and writing offers are not the skills that will close deals today. Today’s success demands mastery in pricing strategy, complex negotiation, and sophisticated listing presentation.

The Bottleneck: Refusing to develop a new skill because you’re afraid of the initial awkwardness. A broker-owner might avoid implementing a new AI-driven CRM because the training is messy. A top agent might cling to outdated marketing because learning video feels “foolish” or takes too much time.

The Action: Embrace the “Messy Middle.” Put your ego aside. The most intelligent move you can make right now is to become a beginner again. If you or your agents need to master video content or AI task automation commit to looking foolish for 30 days. The short-term discomfort is a minuscule price to pay for the long-term competitive advantage.

2. The Trap of Isolation: Lack of Connections

“If you lack the connections, be courageous enough to reach out and build them.”

In a competitive market, who you know dictates where the off-market opportunities, the strategic partnerships, and the high-level recruits land. Success is rarely a solo sport.

The Bottleneck: Waiting for opportunities to come to you or assuming you already have all the connections you need. This often manifests as a reluctance to cold-call, attend new networking events, or pitch a strategic partnership. Fear of rejection keeps the phone in its cradle.

The Action: Be Courageous in the Outreach. As a recruiting manager, are you only calling “warm” leads? As an agent, are you afraid to reach out to the area’s top estate planner or CPA for a referral partnership? Start small, but be systematic. Every week, set a non-negotiable goal to initiate three new, high-value connections. Stop waiting for the network to find you; you are the catalyst.

3. The Trap of Indecision: Uncertainty

“If you feel uncertain, be bold enough to figure it out along the way.”

Stagnation is often masked as analysis. When faced with uncertainty: Should we open a new satellite office? Should I pivot part of my marketing budget to YouTube? Should we sponsor this high-risk, high-reward agent? Some stop and wait for a perfect, guaranteed answer. That answer never comes.

The Bottleneck: The belief that you need 100% certainty before taking action. This hesitation is deadly in a fast-moving market. While your competitor is testing a new strategy at 70% confidence, you’re still designing the perfect spreadsheet.

The Action: Prioritize Momentum over Perfection. Action creates clarity. Set a minimum viable commitment and launch. If you’re unsure about a new tech platform, commit to a 90-day pilot with five top agents, not the whole firm. If you’re uncertain about a new neighborhood, host one high-end open house there. Be bold enough to take the first step, and trust that the path will reveal itself as you move forward.

The Bottom Line for Leadership and Production

Many people have the ability, but they talk themselves out of trying.

Your role, whether as a broker-owner leading a firm,, a recruiter or an agent leading your personal business, is to redefine intelligence. It’s about mental toughness: the willingness to fail forward, the courage to ask for help, and the boldness to act before you feel ready.

In this market, the most successful individuals and firms will be the ones who spend less time perfecting the plan and more time overcoming the fear of action.

Where in your business are you currently the bottleneck?

Time Management is Dead. Long Live Time Multiplication.

10/15/202510/13/2025 Mark Johnson 2 Comments

I’m going to drop a truth bomb that every top agent, broker owner, and recruiter needs to engrave on their whiteboard:

Feed the Ally

“Time will multiply whatever you feed it. Good habits make time your ally. Bad habits make time your enemy.”

Forget the old clichés about time management. You don’t need to manage time; you need to leverage it. The difference between a good year and a great career isn’t how busy you are, but how intentional you are with the 1,440 minutes you get every day.

We’re in the leverage business. It’s time to treat your calendar like your single most valuable asset. The question is simple: are you feeding it fuel or junk food?

The Enemy: The Linear Grind

In real estate, bad habits don’t just hold you back; they actively subtract from your future productivity. They create a linear, one-to-one relationship between effort and result. You work an hour, you get an hour’s worth of output. That’s a trap.

What does feeding the enemy look like?

The Reactionary Trap: You check emails and social media first thing in the morning. You’ve just handed control of your focus—and your day’s leverage—to everyone else’s priorities.
Inconsistent Prospecting: You only make calls when your pipeline is dry. This creates the infamous real estate “feast or famine” cycle. You spend half your time generating business and the other half doingbusiness, constantly starting from zero.
Database Neglect: You treat your CRM like a digital rolodex instead of a financial instrument. Every unorganized contact, every missed follow-up, is a future commission you’re actively dismissing.

These are the habits that turn time into your enemy. They keep you hustling, but they prevent you from scaling. You end the year exhausted, having run faster just to stay in the same place.

The Ally: The Compounding Engine

Good habits, however, create compounding returns. When you invest consistently in the right activities, the output of one hour of work today can generate three hours of results six months from now. That’s time multiplication. That’s how you build an empire.

This focus on intentional action over reaction is exactly what my friend Todd Duncan talks about in his book, Life On The Wire. He argues that the key isn’t a mythical “balance,” but Purposeful Imbalance—the ability to intentionally and strategically lean into the things that move the needle without sacrificing what matters.

Todd reminds us that we can’t manage time, but we can manage the decisions we make with the time we have. Every choice to engage in a high-leverage activity is a step toward that Purposeful Imbalance, building a strong foundation beneath your high-wire act.

How Top Producers Feed the Ally

How do top producers, owners, and recruiters shift from the grind to the engine of multiplication?

1. The Sacred Time Block OR Daily Action Checklist

It doesn’t matter how you track it; it matters that you do it. Whether you thrive with a structured calendar or a bulleted list of daily “must-dos,” the core action is the same: consistency in high-leverage tasks.

For Top Producers: Whether you Time Block 90 minutes every morning for lead generation and follow-up, or your Daily Action Checklist mandates 30 calls and 10 video touches, this is a non-negotiable appointment with your future self. This consistency ensures the pipeline is always full, eliminating the famine cycle.
For Broker Owners/Recruiters: Use your method (block or list) to prioritize Culture & Coaching first. Consistent, dedicated focus on one-on-one agent performance reviews and structured recruiting outreach is the engine of multiplication for your entire firm.

2. Mandatory Delegation

The best use of a top producer’s or broker owner’s time is the activity that only they can do—prospecting, negotiating, and strategic planning.

The Multiplier Rule: If a task can be done 80% as well by someone else, it needs to be delegated immediately. Every administrative, marketing, or scheduling task you delegate instantly multiplies your time because you reclaim that hour for high-leverage, income-producing activities.

3. Systematized Discipline

The systems you build are the tracks your time runs on. Time isn’t multiplied by working harder, but by automating harder.

Implement a 33-Touch Campaign. Set it up once and let the system multiply your touchpoints while you sleep.
Standardize Listing Presentations. Build one best-in-class presentation, and your agents or yourself can deploy it repeatedly, saving hours of prep time.
Create Onboarding Playbooks. For recruiters, a highly polished, repeatable onboarding process means the time invested in a new agent multiplies their productivity faster.

The Final Audit

You don’t need a motivational speech; you need an audit.

Open your calendar or your task list right now. Look at the last three days. Were you feeding your time engine with high-leverage, multiplying activities, or low-value, linear noise?

Time is going to multiply whatever you feed it. You’re either building systems that work for you while you’re focused on the big picture, or you’re stuck on the hamster wheel, multiplying distraction and exhaustion.

Stop managing time. Start multiplying it. The scale of your future business depends on the discipline of your habits today. (And if you want the blueprint for that intentionality, go grab a copy of Todd’s book.)

Stop Chasing the Goal. Start Honing the System

10/13/202510/14/2025 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

As a broker, a recruiter, or a top-performing agent, you know the power of a big number.

The $100 Million Goal. The 50-Agent Team. The Recruiter of the Year Award.

We plaster them on vision boards, we shout them at sales rallies, and we tell ourselves that the sheer will to reach them is enough.

But let’s get real. The truth is much harder, and much simpler:

You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.

That $100 Million closing volume? That’s your desired outcome.

The collection of daily habits you rely on when the market is slow, the leads are cold, and your motivation is shot? That is your system.

And in the cutthroat, 24/7 world of real estate, your system is the only thing that saves you from a freefall.

The Fatal Flaw of “Goal-Driven” Thinking

I’ve seen too many talented agents and savvy recruiters crash and burn because they were purely goal-driven. They focus on the summit, but forget about the boots, the rope, and the trained guide.

When you’re only focused on the goal, you perform well when the conditions are perfect: You have a hot lead, a smooth closing, or a great candidate referral.

But what happens when the goal seems impossibly far away?

When your buyer suddenly walks away.
When your top recruitment prospect ghosts you.
When you’ve done 10 CMAs this week and haven’t secured one listing appointment.

If your effort is tethered only to your distant goal, your energy collapses. You get discouraged, you skip your calls, and you fall back to your default—your low-level, self-sabotaging system.

Build the System That Guarantees the Rise

Your system is the non-negotiable routine that powers your entire real estate operation.

Here’s a breakdown of what that means for your role:

For the Top-Performing Agent

Your goal is your closing volume. Your system is the daily habit that ensures that volume:

The Follow-Up System: Non-negotiable 30 minutes every morning dedicated only to following up with the people you promised to call yesterday. No social media, no emails—just calls.
The Lead Nurture System: Consistent, relevant value content sent to your sphere of influence every single Tuesday, no excuses.
The Prospecting System: The three specific, high-leverage activities (e.g., door knocking, expired calls, or relationship-building events) that you execute every day before lunch.

For the Broker-Owner & Recruiter

Your goal is team growth. Your system is the infrastructure that makes growth automatic:

The Daily Outreach System: A set number of calls or emails to potential recruits, logged and tracked, every day, without exception. Consistency beats intensity every time.
The Agent Development System: A structured weekly coaching call with your C and D-level agents, designed to lift their performance to the B-level.
The Retention System: A proactive, scheduled check-in process for your top agents that focuses on their needs, not just yours. No drama, just value.

The system is your fail-safe. It’s the standard operating procedure that keeps you moving forward even on the worst days. It means you don’t need motivation to make the calls; you just need to follow the checklist.

Stop staring at the $100 Million. Start obsessing over the 30-minute follow-up routine.

When the dust settles, the people who win aren’t the ones with the biggest goals—they’re the ones with the best, most reliable daily systems.

Now, look at your calendar. What is the one non-negotiable system you’re committing to today?

Why Experts Say Mortgage Rates Should Ease Over the Next Year

10/10/202510/13/2025 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

From my friends at Keeping Current Matters: “You want mortgage rates to fall – and they’ve started to. But is it going to last? And how low will they go?”

Experts say there’s room for rates to come down even more over the next year. And one of the leading indicators to watch is the 10-year treasury yield. Here’s why.

The Link Between Mortgage Rates and the 10-Year Treasury Yield

For over 50 years, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate has closely followed the movement of the 10-year treasury yield, which is a widely watched benchmark for long-term interest rates (see graph below):

When the treasury yield climbs, mortgage rates tend to follow. And when the yield falls, mortgage rates typically come down.

It’s been a predictable pattern for over 50 years. So predictable, that there’s a number experts consider normal for the gap between the two. It’s known as the spread, and it usually averages about 1.76 percentage points, or what you sometimes hear as 176 basis points.

The Spread Is Shrinking

Over the past couple of years, though, that spread has been much wider than normal. Why? Think of the spread as a measure of fear in the market. When there’s lingering uncertainty in the economy, the gap widens beyond its usual norm. That’s one of the reasons why mortgage rates have been unusually high over the past few years.

But here’s a sign for optimism. Even though there’s still some lingering uncertainty related to the economy, that spread is starting to shrink as the path forward is becoming clearer (see graph below):

And that opens the door for mortgage rates to come down even more. As a recent article from Redfin explains:

“A lower mortgage spread equals lower mortgage rates. If the spread continues to decline, mortgage rates could fall more than they already have.”

The 10-Year Treasury Yield Is Expected To Decline

It’s not just the spread, though. The 10-year treasury yield itself is also forecast to come down in the months ahead. So, when you combine a lower yield with a narrowing spread, you have two key forces potentially pushing mortgage rates down going into next year.

This long-term relationship is a big reason why you see experts currently projecting mortgage rates will ease, with a fringe possibility they’ll hit the upper 5s toward the end of next year.

Here’s how it works. Take the 10-year treasury yield, which is sitting at about 4.09% at the time this article is being written, and then add the average spread of 1.76%. From there, you’d expect mortgage rates to be around 5.85% (see graph below):

But remember, all of that can change as the economy shifts. And know for certain that there will be ups and downs along the way.

How these dynamics play out will depend on where the economy, the job market, inflation, and more go from here. But the 2026 outlook is currently expected to be a gradual mortgage rate decline. And as of now, things are starting to move in the right direction.

Bottom Line

Keeping up with all of these shifts can feel overwhelming. That’s why having an experienced agent or lender on your side matters. They’ll do the heavy lifting for you.

Stop Selling Volume. Start Mastering Niche.

10/08/202510/03/2025 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

For my brokerage owners and elite agents, the latest C.A.R. 2026 California Housing Market Forecast isn’t just a set of numbers—it’s a data-backed mandate for strategic change. The era of high volume and effortless appreciation is over. The next three years are about constrained recovery, demanding surgical precision in your operations.

The forecast is telling us to stop waiting for 2021 volume and start maximizing profit from the current reality.

The Hard Truth: Sales Stabilize, Prices Rise, Affordability Dies

The market isn’t collapsing; it’s normalizing at a low equilibrium. This signals a hyper-competitive, high-price, low-inventory environment where the best-prepared brokerages win.

Metric	2026 Forecast	Strategic Insight
Median Price	$905,000	Appreciation is back (3.6% by 2026). Your sellers will get their price, but buyer qualification is paramount.
Sales Volume	274,400 Units	Sales remain flat and low. Success is zero-sum. You must take market share through superior niche execution.
30-Year Rate	Easing to 6.0%	The “Golden Handcuffs” (low existing rates) are loosening only slightly. Inventory will remain tight, demanding a focus on Tax-Advantaged Seller Strategies.
Affordability	Stuck at 18%	The mass market is priced out. The three key target pools are the Wealthy, the Assisted, and the Strategic Seller.

A 3-Point Strategic Playbook

This forecast demands a shift from a generalized sales approach to a highly specialized, risk-managed business model. This is the Niche Mandate for talent attraction and profit protection.

1. Own the Niche: The Wealthy, The Strategic Seller, and The Assisted

Your agent training and lead generation budgets must be fully allocated to the three segments that offer the highest probability of closing:

The Wealthy Niche (28% of the Market): All-cash sales are at a 13-year high. Your top-tier agents need training in wealth management, high-end negotiation, and complex 1031 exchange structures. Pivot marketing dollars away from first-time buyer search engines and toward wealth-focused media and referral networks.
THE STRATEGIC SELLER NICHE (55+ Tax Transfer): This is the most overlooked, transaction-ready inventory pool in the state. Thousands of sellers aged 55+ are locked into low tax bases but are unaware of their ability to transfer that basis to a new home (via Prop 19). Your competitive advantage is becoming the expert who unlocks this equity.
- Action: Implement mandatory Prop 19 certification training for all listing agents. Target outreach specifically at probate attorneys and financial advisors whose clients are in this age bracket.
The Assisted Niche (The New First-Time Buyer): 83% of consumers are unaware of Down Payment Assistance (DPA) programs. Your brokerage’s competitive advantage lies in becoming the local DPA and grant expert. This is the only scalable way to capture new buyer traffic.
- Action: Launch an internal “DPA Authority Certification Program” to give new agents immediate, qualified client access.

2. Conquer the Transaction Killer: Insurance & Risk

The most overlooked threat to your GCI: The C.A.R. predicts a staggering 16.6% of transactions will fail due to insurance issues by 2025. This is no longer a post-offer checklist item—it’s a pre-offer deal-breaker. Stop letting operational failures kill veteran agent GCI.

Mandate Pre-Offer Insurance Vetting: Implement a “Pre-Offer Risk Assessment Checklist” policy requiring agents to secure preliminary insurance quotes and confirm insurability before submitting offers on properties, especially in rural, fire-risk, or second-home zones. This protects your veteran agents’ time.
Forge New Partnerships: Move beyond traditional lender/title relationships. Create strong alliances with Insurance Brokers specializing in high-risk property to fast-track solutions and prevent costly escrow fallouts.

Recruitment Pitch Consideration (Veteran Agents):

“Are you tired of losing two months of work on an uninsurable deal? Our systems protect your GCI. You’ll use your expertise on the highest-value opportunities, like the 55+ tax transfer (Prop 19) seller market and complex 1031 exchanges, with our risk mitigation guardrails in place.”

3. Coach Sellers Out of the “Golden Handcuffs” & Develop Agent Authority

The average seller is holding their home for 15.0 years. They are rate-locked and comfortable. Your listings agents must become consultants focused on life events and wealth strategy, not just transaction coordinators. This also creates a high-value apprenticeship path for new agents.

Equip Your Agents With Strategies to Overcome Inertia:

The Mobility Argument: Shift the focus from the new mortgage rate to the transfer of wealth. If a seller can unlock $500K in equity and use it to retire, invest, or move closer to family, the new mortgage rate is secondary.
The Tax Transfer Strategy (Prop 19): For sellers 55 and older, this is the ultimate inertia-breaking tool. Agents must lead with the question, “Do you know you can keep your low property tax base when you move?” This changes the conversation from “I can’t afford to move” to “I must move to capture this tax advantage.”
Strategic Acquisition (Buy Before You Sell): Train agents on the ethical and practical uses of bridge loans and HELOCs to enable the seller to acquire their next property before listing, eliminating the fear of being homeless and unlocking inventory.

Recruitment Pitch Consideration (New/Developing Agents):

“If you join us, you get operational expertise, not just a license. You become a certified DPA expert, giving you immediate skills to work with qualified first-time buyers. Plus, you tap into the 55+ tax transfer inventory by apprenticing with top producers and mastering our ‘Tax-Advantaged and Cash Strategy processes.'”

The Bottom Line: Execute the Niche Mandate

The 2026 Forecast is not a warning; it’s a clarification. It tells us precisely where the profitable segments of the market are. Your success over the next three years depends on your willingness to stop treating the market as a monolith and start deploying specialized, data-driven strategies focused on:

DPA + Tax Strategy + Cash Solutions = Market Leaders.

Action Item: Forward this analysis to your leadership team. Schedule a strategy session now to re-align your 2025-2026 training and marketing budgets. The time to pivot is now.

Master the Real Estate Game: It’s Not About Talent, It’s About These 3 Habits

10/06/202509/30/2025 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

Inspired by a post from Tony Robbins

“Mastery is simple. Model, immerse, repeat. Do that, and nothing can stop you.” – Tony Robbins

To my fellow broker owners, CEOs, staff, and high-performing agents, I see you grinding. You’re navigating a tough market, leading teams, closing complex deals, and driving growth. Every single day, you’re pushing for that edge.

The question I get all the time, in different forms, is essentially this: What’s the real difference between a good brokerage or agent and a consistently masterful one?

If you look around, you might think it’s talent, a better market, or just luck. But as Tony Robbins lays out, the truth is far more actionable. It’s not about some innate gift; it’s about a few timeless principles that transform potential into the kind of mastery that prints money and builds a legacy.

Here are the three habits you and your team need to adopt to build a Mastery-Level Real Estate Business.

1. Modeling: Collapse Decades into Days

In this industry, we often try to reinvent the wheel. We spend massive amounts of time and capital figuring out lead generation, team structures, or commission splits that have already been perfected by someone else.

Success leaves clues.

Tony learned this early when he modeled his mentor, Jim Rohn. For us, that means identifying the best in the business—the brokerage owner who built an unstoppable culture, the CEO who scaled across state lines, the agent who consistently closes $50M a year.

For Broker Owners/CEOs: Stop just reading the headlines. Get specific. Who has the retention rate you want? Who’s crushing your local competitor? Devour their strategies, study their systems, and learn their philosophy until it becomes part of your own blueprint.
For Agents: Don’t just admire the top producer; model them. How do they run their morning? What’s their listing presentation look like? How do they handle the most brutal objections?

By standing on the shoulders of giants, you truly collapse decades into days. Why take five years to figure out a strong P&L when you can model the best in six months?

2. Immersion: You Can’t Dabble Your Way to the Top

If you wanted to learn Spanish, would you study a book for 30 minutes every Sunday, or would you drop yourself into the heart of Barcelona? You’d pick it up faster in Spain because immersion demands growth.

In real estate, immersion means more than just attending a monthly company meeting.

It’s about creating a culture where the desired skill is the only option. Tony’s high-energy events are built on this—surround yourself with the mindset and strategies until they become second nature.
For Broker Owners: Are you creating an immersive, multi-day, high-energy environment for new agents to get fully steeped in your successful methodology? Are you putting your seasoned agents into intensive, focused training on the current market shift?
For Agents: You can’t just “dabble” in new lead sources or marketing tech. You need to carve out a hyper-focused period—a week, a month—where that skill is your singular focus until it becomes a habit.

You have to live the skill to master it.

3. Repetition: The Mother of Skill (and Consistency)

Tony reminds us that world-class athletes don’t stop practicing a move when they get it right; they practice until they can’t get it wrong.

In our world, this is the hardest pill to swallow because we chase the “next big thing” instead of mastering the fundamentals.

The agents who win aren’t the ones with the flashiest one-off ideas; they are the ones who are incredibly consistent in their daily lead generation, follow-up, and contract review.
For Broker Owners/CEOs: What are the three non-negotiable, high-leverage activities for your staff (recruiting, coaching, financial review) that need to be repeated daily or weekly? Are you holding them accountable to a standard of consistency, not just intensity?
For Agents: Commit to repeating your sales script, your objection handling, and your listing presentation until you are a world-class professional on autopilot.

Excellence doesn’t come from one intense, brilliant quarter—it comes from consistency over time.

These principles aren’t flashy. They’re simple. But simplicity is power when you act on it.

If you want to take your team, your business, or your commission level to the next level, ask yourself these three mastery questions:

Who can I model? (And how will I systematically copy their success?)
Where can I immerse myself? (And what environment will I create to demand my growth?)
And what can I commit to repeating until it becomes who I am?

That’s the real path to mastery in real estate. Here’s to unlocking yours. What’s the one habit you’ll start modeling today?

A System Will Produce What A System Will Produce, Nothing Less and Nothing More!

My Friday Mindset: The Foundry of Uncertainty

10/03/202509/26/2025 Mark Johnson 1 Comment

Happy Friday, everyone. As real estate broker owners, CEOs, staff, and high-producing agents, you’re all too familiar with the chase for the “sure thing”—the guaranteed closing, the proven lead source, the market you know inside and out. It feels safe, but I want to challenge that comfort zone today with a powerful idea:

“If you know something’s going to work, it’s not worth working on… The unknown is the foundry where you forge your chips. Everything important is uncertain.” – Eliot Peper

If It’s a Sure Thing, It’s Not the Work That Matters

Think about your greatest professional wins. Was it the predictable, run-of-the-mill transaction, or was it the deal that almost fell apart five times? The one where you had to invent a solution, pitch a completely new strategy, or dig deep for a resource you didn’t know you had?

If the outcome is guaranteed, the work required is just execution. It’s necessary, yes, but it doesn’t grow your business or your leadership capacity.

True growth—and lasting impact—is forged in the unknown.

The Unknown is Your Foundry

In the world of real estate, the “unknown” is everywhere:

For Agents: It’s prospecting a new neighborhood, learning a complex investment niche, or trying a radically different lead conversion script.
For Owners & CEOs: It’s investing in a new technology platform, expanding into a completely new market, or implementing a bold, unproven culture initiative.

The uncertainty isn’t a problem to be solved; it’s the forge. It’s the heat that shapes your skills into something tougher and more valuable—the “chips” you forge are the innovative processes, the resilient team, and the powerful personal courage you develop.

Embrace the Discomfort

This week, my note to self (and to all of you) is this: Embrace the discomfort of uncertainty.

Don’t just fill your time with the easy tasks. Identify one thing on your plate that has a high potential payoff but also a very real chance of failure. Lean into that ambiguity. That’s where you will find the:

Courage to make the bold call.
Faith in your own ingenuity.
Real breakthroughs that change the trajectory of your business.

Let’s dedicate this week to tackling the biggest, most uncertain challenges. That is the work that truly matters.

What is the one uncertain move you’re committing to this week that could create a breakthrough for your business?

The Myth of Collapse: Why AI Won’t Bury Your Real Estate Empire

10/01/202509/26/2025 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

A Message Inspired by Spartan Founder, Joe De Sena: To High-Grit Producers

You feel the world speeding up. AI is moving too fast. Your anxiety is valid, but it’s not new.

In 1910, people said cars were ripping life apart. In the 1800s, Americans feared “nervous collapse” from telegraphs. Plato himself warned that writing would destroy wisdom. Every generation looks at a new tool and says: this is the end of us. Every generation has been wrong.

Humans adapt. That is our superpower.

Acceleration feels terrifying because our wiring is ancient. Our instinct is to panic. You see it now in the AI debate: the fear that jobs will vanish, that agents will lose their edge. It’s the same script with a new cast.

The Truth of the Tool: You Are the Craftsman

Look at running. Critics said “super shoes” would ruin competition. Instead, athletes used the tool, reset the standard, and shattered times. That’s not collapse; that’s evolution.

In your business, AI handles the mechanical, transactional parts of the job. It automates. It doesn’t replace the craftsman, it sharpens them.

As Geoff Colvin argues in his book, Humans Are Under-rated, the market increasingly rewards skills AI cannot replicate. These are the Deep Human Connections:

Empathy: Can the machine sit across from a nervous client and build trust?
Negotiation: This is a battle of wills, psychology, and timing—not a math problem.
Creativity: For every generic algorithm, there must be a human artist bending the tool into a unique, market-cutting angle.

AI is a power tool. It frees your agents from data entry to focus on high-stakes performance and relationship building.

The Hard Way: Outbuilding Comfort with Grit

When cameras appeared, critics said painting was done. They were wrong. Today, the camera is part of the art. AI is the camera for your brokerage.

Fear is part of the human condition, but weakness isn’t inevitable.

Technology can smother you, or it can sharpen you. It depends on whether you let it own you, or you are the boss.

AI can replace your efforts, or it can multiply them. The question is whether you can build grit faster than the world builds comfort.

I’ll take the challenge over comfort everyday and twice on Sunday.

The Power of Keeping Your Eyes on the Target

09/29/202509/25/2025 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

I recently came across a quote from the legendary Estée Lauder, a woman who didn’t just build a cosmetics empire—she built a dream from the ground up. Her words really resonated with me, and I think they’ll resonate with you, too:

I’ve always believed that if you stick to a thought and carefully avoid distraction along the way, you can fulfill a dream. My whole life has been about fulfilling dreams… Whether your target is big or small, grand or simple, ambitious or personal, I’ve always believed that success comes from not letting your eyes stray from that target. Anyone who wants to achieve a dream must stay strong, focused and steady.

In a world that constantly bombards us with new trends, notifications, and “must-dos,” her message feels more important than ever. We’re all trying to achieve something, right? Whether it’s a career goal, a personal project, or simply a healthier lifestyle. But how often do we get sidetracked?

The Cost of Distraction

Think about your own goals. Maybe you want to learn a new skill, write a book, or finally declutter your home. You start with so much energy and vision. But then, a shiny new distraction appears—a trending social media challenge, a new show to binge, or just the endless scroll that eats up your time. Before you know it, days turn into weeks, and that initial momentum is gone.

Estée Lauder understood this instinctively. She didn’t have the internet, but she had her own set of distractions to fight through. The “no’s,” the competitors, the long hours. Yet, she kept her eye on the prize: making every woman feel beautiful. She knew that straying from that target, even for a moment, could derail the entire dream.

Three Ways to Stay Focused

So, how do we apply her wisdom to our busy lives?

Define Your Target, and Write It Down: Don’t just have a vague idea of what you want. Be specific. Instead of “I want to be a better writer,” try “I will write for 30 minutes every morning.” Having a clear, tangible target makes it harder to lose sight of it.
Identify Your Distractions: What are the things that pull you away from your goal? Is it your phone? A specific friend? Saying “yes” to too many things? Acknowledging your biggest distractions is the first step to avoiding them.
Embrace the “Strong, Focused, and Steady” Mindset: This isn’t just about discipline; it’s about resilience. There will be days when you feel like giving up. This is when you need to be strong. Look back at your target, remember why you started, and take the next steady step forward.

Estée Lauder didn’t just sell cosmetics; she sold a vision of confidence and beauty. And she achieved it by not letting anything get in the way. Her story is a powerful reminder that if you stick to your target, no matter how big or small, you can turn your dreams into reality.

What’s a dream you’re currently working toward?

The Silent Killer of Your Business

09/26/202509/25/2025 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

You feel it, don’t you? That low-grade anxiety humming just beneath the surface—the feeling that you’re constantly chasing something you can’t quite catch. You’ve been busy all day.

An email dings. The inbox is a constant river, but which ones are truly important? Social media sucks you in for “a quick scroll.” An hour later, you’re lost in digital noise.

By the end of the day, you’ve been busy… but what actually got done?

This is the real killer of your momentum, and it’s a problem that plagues even the best of us. You get swallowed up by the whirlwind of a thousand tiny distractions.

You see, most of the time, we’re not dealing with big, urgent problems. We’re getting lost in what Stephen Covey would call the “Urgent but Not Important” tasks—the small, non-essential stuff that demands your attention now but does nothing to move your business forward. This is where most agents, support staff, and recruiters live, constantly reacting to the demands of others while neglecting the work that truly matters.

The people who win aren’t just enduring the whirlwind; they’ve built a system that lets them stand still in the eye of the storm. They know that:

focus isn’t a luxury; it’s a keystone habit.

Think about it:

Distraction is a cost. It costs energy, opportunity, and money.
Focus pays. It pays in clarity, profitability, and peace of mind.

How to Escape the Whirlwind

It’s time to stop just being busy and start being effective. You can’t stop the whirlwind from happening, but you can build systems that protect you from it.

1. Prioritize with Covey’s Matrix

Before you open a single email or check social media, categorize your to-do list using Stephen Covey’s Four Quadrants. Ask yourself: Is this task

Urgent and Important?
Important but Not Urgent?
Urgent but Not Important? Or
Not Urgent and Not Important?

Your mission is to live in the “Important but Not Urgent” quadrant.

This is where you put your high-leverage activities—strategic planning, relationship-building, and business development. By consciously focusing on this quadrant, you’re not just reacting; you’re building a future.

2. Create “Do Not Disturb” Zones

You are a leader, a highly productive staff member, or a top-producing agent, not a 24/7 help desk. Schedule dedicated blocks of time for your most important work and treat them like non-negotiable appointments. During these times, silence your phone, close your email and social media tabs, and let those you support know you’re unavailable and when you will follow up. If you consistently follow through on your promises, “Do Not Disturb” zones will be your breakthrough. This is your time for deep, meaningful work, not reactive busywork. Protecting your calendar protects your profitability.

3. Adopt a “Profit First” Mindset

Money-making activities and relationships are always at the top of the list, but financial worry is one of the biggest distractions of all. Take control of it. When a commission check comes in, immediately move a predetermined percentage into separate accounts marked

Taxes,
Household,
Business, and
Savings.

This simple system guarantees your profitability and frees up your mental energy to focus on what matters most: growing your business.

Stop letting the whirlwind run you.

It’s time to take control.