The Smart Agents Podcast

Episode 158 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Caryn Silvius, Founder of Olive Branch Bookkeeping and a seasoned professional with 15 years of bookkeeping experience. Before establishing her own firm, Caryn managed a real estate team with her husband, where she honed her expertise in the financial aspects of the business. She also dedicated time to training agents on effective business management and expense handling. 

Throughout our conversation, Caryn emphasizes the significance of tracking individual listing expenses for agents, provides valuable tools to stay on top of expenses, and shares more insights to optimize your financial strategies in the real estate world. Tune in now for essential tips and knowledge! 

Episode 157 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Kyle Seyboth, Broker/Owner of Century 21 Limitless in Providence, Rhode Island. Kyle's remarkable journey from entering the real estate industry started with a single goal - becoming the #1 ranked agent in the country. That goal was achieved in 2019 when he was named Real Trends #1 Realtor Nationwide.

Join us as Kyle reveals the strategies and tactics he employed to grow his real estate business, the pivotal role of video and content creation plays in his business, and how he transformed his brokerage into the powerhouse it is today. Whether you're an aspiring real estate professional or just curious about the industry, this episode is a must-watch for valuable insights and motivation!

Episode 156 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Josh Parish, a real estate professional hailing from the sunny shores of Destin, Florida. With a background in sales and personal training, Josh made a career pivot and acquired his real estate license. Working closely with one of the top brokers in his area, Josh learned the ins and outs of the real estate industry, resulting in an impressive track record of over $35 million in real estate sales over the past four years.

In this episode, Josh shares his journey and reveals the secrets to his success. Tune in as he discusses his meticulous approach to cold calling, the art of building a lead list that stands the test of time, and his insights on crafting a strong personal brand.

Episode 155 of The Smart Agents Podcast features business consultant and coach Joey Drolshagen. After a 28-year corporate career, Joey took what he learned to launch IFGT Coaching and develop the SMT Method or Subconscious Mindset Training™.
Throughout our conversation, Joey shares how mindset plays such a big part in a person's business success, explains the SMT Method and gives examples of how his training has helped transform real estate careers around the country.

Learn more from Joey at: 

Episode 153 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Amanda Kohal, Social Media Expert and Founder of The Wolfe CO. If you're a real estate professional juggling a million tasks and trying to shine online, this episode is for you. Through her years in the social media world, Amanda has pinpointed how to grow your social reach and ultimately bring in more customers developing what she calls the Instasite.

Throughout our conversation, Amanda shared her dos and don’ts for growing your social audience, tips for creating content, and advice for finding success on individual platforms.

Follow Amanda Kohal on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/thewolfe.co/

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Episode 152 of The Smart Agents Podcast features 45-year real estate vet Alexis Bolin. Based in Pensacola, FL, Alexis began her real estate career in 1978 and was with the same franchise for 39 years for before joining Keller Williams Realty Gulf Coast in July 2017.

Throughout her career, Alexis has closed over 6000 transactions, been recognized with countless awards, including a 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Residential Real Estate Council and has continued to give back to the real estate community by serving on such boards as the National Association of Realtors Professional Standards Committee and Professional Development Committee.

Over the course of our conversation, Alexis shares how she built such a successful career by being straightforward with clients while guiding them through the home selling process and explains why at 79 years old she is still hustling every day.

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Episode 151 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Minnesota-based agent and real estate investor Mike Swenson. Prior to entering the real estate industry, Mike became an accidental landlord in 2010, riding the ups and downs of the market along the way.  In 2014 he became the COO for the 19th largest residential real estate team in the United States before launching his own team and focusing on investment properties.

Using his own experience and that gained through brokering deals for his clients, Mike is now on a mission to help more people achieve financial freedom and invest in real estate. Throughout our conversation, Mike shares his tips for attracting new investor clients, getting started investing yourself and explains why agents are in a unique position to invest in real estate themselves.

Episode 150 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Denver-based real estate professional and coach Sergio Nazzaro. After ending his military career, Sergio eventually found his way into real estate and earned Rookie Of The Year Status with 31 transactions. But as he was achieving such great business success, other aspects of his life were falling apart, culminating in a heart attack at the age of 34.

That wake-up call caused Sergio to take stock of what he wanted in life and set boundaries. Throughout our conversation, you’ll hear all about how Sergio gained such real estate success, how setting those boundaries impacted his business and his tips for agents struggling in the current market.

More From Sergio:

Episode 149 of The Smart Agents Podcast features returning guests Tonya Eberhart and Michael Carr, Co-Founders of BrandFace to talk all about how you can create a profitable personal brand and attract your ideal customer base. In an increasingly saturated industry such as real estate, it is vital to your success that you define a point of difference.

Throughout our conversation, Tonya and Michael share their 5 Critical Questions All Successful Brands Must Answer, their proven strategy for defining a target audience and so much more.

Episode 148 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Adam Lesperance, Broker and Team Lead with Terri Hastings Real Estate Group based in the Grey Bruce region of Ontario.

Jumping into real estate in 2020 after many years of owning his own tree removal business, Adam found immediate success holding the  #1 spot for team sales in both 2020 and 2021, all while co-leading the team to become one of the top four producing real estate groups in Canada.

Throughout our conversation, Adam shares how he found such immediate success in the industry, the uniqueness of listing the one-of-a-kind homes in his market and touches on the impact hiring a coach made for his business.

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Episode 147 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Conor Kelly. Based in Vancouver and just a little over 2 years into his real estate career, Conor has gone all in on Social Media, specifically TikTok to drive business. In his first year alone, Conor closed 57 deals and is now managing a team of 20.

Throughout our conversation, he shares how he first broke through on TikTok, tips for creating content as a social media newbie and dives deep into what type of content performs best on the platform.

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Episode 146 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Holly Brink, Designated Managing Broker with eXp Realty Iowa. Now managing more than 330 agents, Holly shares how she got her start in real estate and found herself in the position she is today. We also dive into what it means to be a managing broker and tips Holly has for agents when looking for the right brokerage to hang your license under.

Episode 145 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Founder of Ugly Mug Marketing, Wayne Mullins to talk all about how you can stand out from the crowd and turn past clients into evangelists eager to sing your praises.

Throughout our conversation, Wayne gives actionable tips for staying top of mind with clients, shares his five questions to ask yourself when determining if your website is set up for success and explains the key difference between digital marketing and social media marketing.

Episode 144 of The Smart Agents Podcast features San Francisco Bay Area broker Milana Ostroy. With more than 20 years of experience, Milana has been through countless market shifts and found success every step of the way. Relying on face-to-face interaction and an ability to problem-solve for her clients she has been a force in the luxury market.
Throughout our conversation, Milana shares how she positioned herself for early success, explains why the number one attribute an agent needs is faith in the market and describes how she has adapted as new technology has emerged.

Follow Milana at

Episode 143 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Artificial Intelligence expert Manuj Aggarwal. Working with clients such as Microsoft, IBM and Pearson Education, Manuj holds four patents in AI and has immersed himself in the space for more than 15 years. By now, you’ve surely heard of or even begun using things like ChatGPT to enhance your real estate business but with Manuj tips you can easily take its use to the next level.

Throughout our conversation, Manuj shares his tips for better interacting with Artificial Intelligence to not only streamline tasks but also learn to become better communicators with clients.

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Episode 142 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Taylor Stanecek of Colorado Springs-based Mountain Management and Real Estate Inc. Like many, Taylor did not find immediate success when he first entered the residential real estate space. After a few years, he realized commercial real estate was his calling and joined his family’s property management company.

Now thriving in property management, Taylor shares how owning the commercial space benefits his relationship with tenants as a property manager.

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Episode 141 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Jessica Armstong, life coach and Founder of TCCREATED, a successful transaction coordination business. With her years in transaction coordination, she focuses her life coaching program on helping real estate agents move from feeling overwhelmed to being transformed and thriving in their careers.

Throughout our conversation, Jessica shares great tips and advice for setting goals and communicating boundaries with clients. She also shares why actively setting aside self-care time is so important to your business's success.

Check out more from Jessica at:

TCCreated: https://tccreated.com/

Success Coaching: https://lifecoach.jessicaarmstrongco.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_aha_coach/

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Episode 140 of The Smart Agents Podcast features New York City-based agent, Eirik Davey-Gislason. Over the course of his real estate career, Eirik has held a variety of roles but his passion truly lies with training fellow agents in the art of negotiation.  As an instructor with the Real Estate Negotiation Institute and owner of Archway Partners, Eirik helps agents better understand the tactics and psychology behind successful negotiation.

Throughout our conversation, Eirik shares his tips for communicating with clients to build trust and rapport and even role-plays some of his most effective techniques for guiding both buyers and sellers through changing markets.

Episode 139 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Chicago-based agent, Lauren Herskovic. After a career as the COO of a small startup, Lauren decided it was time to make a change and real estate stood out. As you’ll hear, rather than jumping right in, Lauren decided to take more of the apprentice approach and it has paid off big.

Throughout our conversation, Lauren shares how she was able to close more than $6 Million in her rookie year, tips for standing out with clients, especially the newer growing customer base of millennials and Gen Zers and advice for finding the right brokerage when starting your career in real estate.

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Episode 138 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Brandon Barnum, CEO of HOA.com. Now, as an agent listening to this, what is the #1 problem you are trying to solve in order to grow your real estate business? Most are going to say the need for more leads and listings. Pretty basic, right?

Throughout our conversation with Brandon, he breaks down his top tips for growing your list of referral partners or as he calls them, Referral Champions. From finding the right referral partners to effectively communicating the need for the partnership to be mutually beneficial, this conversation is packed full of great tips for brand-new agents and those with decades of experience.

Episode 137 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Northern Colorado-based real estate professional and founder of TopNotch Agents, Jon Holsten. After spending more than 17 years in law enforcement, Jon decided it was time to stop trading hours for dollars and jump full-time into real estate. To say he found instant success would be an understatement with 47 closed deals his rookie year. Fast forward more than a decade later, Jon has reflected on how he managed to find such early success and is sharing his findings with our audience.

Throughout our conversation, Jon breaks down his 5 Keys To New Agent Success, shares his thoughts on how to choose the right brokerage when getting your start in real estate and much more.

Episode 136 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Jennifer J Hammond, Vice President of TTR Sotheby’s, to talk about how she launched and built her 25+ year real estate career. Jennifer, a best-selling author and host of The Jennifer J Hammond Show, shares valuable insights on staying true to yourself to find success. In addition, Jennifer shares her 3 Survival Skills For Realtors In a Recession Market. 

Whether you're a seasoned real estate professional or just starting out, this episode offers actionable strategies and industry insights that can help you succeed.

Episode 134 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Austin, Texas-based agent Kat Ashley. In just her third year in Real Estate, Kat closed more than 8-figures in sales but the success was not immediate. After leaving her longtime corporate career, Kat brought in less than $10,000 dollars in commissions in her first year. It was after realizing she needed to break the mold and be herself that her real estate business took off.

Throughout our conversation, Kat shares her tips for new agents trying to grow their own businesses as well as talks about how her real estate career really exploded once she tapped into the new home construction niche in her market.

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Episode 131 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Eagle, Idaho-based Alei Merrill. Over her 18-year real estate career, Alei has made a name for herself by selling the high-end homes Eagle has become known for. Alei’s career really began to take off when she embraced the role of community expert and invested in building a website that projects that message.

Throughout our conversation, Alei shares how she broke into the real estate industry, how she grew into one of the Top-10 individual agents in Idaho and tips for new agents looking to find long-term real estate success

Episode 130 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Skye Michiels, Head of Agent Development For Compass Real Estate. Throughout our conversation, Skye shares his thoughts on how the 2023 real estate market will play out, how the role of the agent has evolved over the last few years and actionable tips for those looking to grow into successful leaders.

In addition, Skye hosts a 6AMERS Club where the focus is on personal happiness and growth in order to be the best version of yourself when serving others.

Episode 129 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Rick Elmore, Founder and CEO of Simply Noted. With their platform and first-of-its-kind handwriting robot, Simply Noted is helping more than 300,000 monthly users stand out from the crowd by delivering eye-catching handwritten correspondence to past clients and new leads.

As you’ll hear from Rick, developing a handwriting robot wasn’t exactly the plan after his playing days in the NFL came to an end. But after listening to a marketing lecture, he quickly learned the power that handwritten notes have on open rates and brand loyalty, which in the real estate industry is worth its weight in gold.

Episode 128 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Mike Panza of Panza Home Group based just outside of Boston in Newton, Massachusetts. After a ten-year mortgage career, Mike entered the real estate industry and uses his financial experience to educate home buyers and sellers throughout fluctuating markets.

Throughout our conversation, Mike shares how he has built his real estate business, his focus on client education and his thoughts on the current real estate market.

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Episode 127 of The Smart Agents Podcast features entrepreneur, real estate agent, author and leadership coach, Matt Shoup. After being laid off from a corporate banking job in 2005, Matt founded his first company, M & E Painting with his last $100. Since then, M & E Painting has grown to over $30 Million in revenue, Matt’s launched 5 more companies and has become a successful real estate professional in Northern Colorado.

Throughout our conversation, Matt shares stories of how he grew his business on a bootstrap budget and tips for real estate agents looking to stand out from their competition by building a personal brand of real substance.

Check out Matt’s brand-new book:

Painted Baby: Connect with Clients through Brave and Vulnerable Storytelling

Episode 126 of The Smart Agents Podcast features lifelong entrepreneur and business coach Pete Mohr of Simplifying Entrepreneurship. With over 28 years of business ownership experience himself, it’s Pete’s belief that business owners deserve to live the life that they want and spend the majority of their time working "on" their businesses, not "in" them.

Throughout our conversation, Pete shares his 5 P’s of Business, taking a deep dive into each to teach you how to transition from business operator to business owner.

Episode 125 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Paul Lykins, Boynton Beach, FL-based real estate agent. Going by Palm Beaches Paul on Youtube, he saw his real estate career take off once tapping into video production.

One glance at his Youtube Channel and you will see it’s not your typical real estate channel, full of market updates or current listings. While those types of videos do make an occasional appearance, what really makes Paul's content stand out is how it is all geared to showing home buyers what living in the Boynton Beach area is all about. From community spotlights to secret fishing holes, Paul's videos are engaging and give potential buyers a great view into what their futures might look like.

Throughout our conversation, Paul shares why he got into video production, how it’s impacted his real estate career and advice for others looking to get into content creation.

Episode 124 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Ameet Khabra, Founder of Hop Skip Media. With expertise in digital marketing, and specifically Pay Per Click Advertising, Ameet has helped clients achieve as high as a 500% increased ROI from their digital advertising campaigns.  

Throughout our conversation, Ameet shares how real estate agents can find the proper keywords to build their campaigns around, tips for optimizing a campaign's quality score, and what metrics to focus on in order to determine if a campaign is successful. In addition to these tips, Ameet shares some of her top things to avoid in order to launch a successful Pay Per Click Campaign.  

Episode 123 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Brenden Kumarasamy, Founder of MasterTalk a coaching business and Youtube channel dedicated to teaching the art of public speaking and communication.  

In real estate, the ability to hold impactful one-on-one conversations is fundamental to setting yourself up for success.

Throughout our time together, Brenden shares tips and actionable drills that take less than 15 minutes a day to help you be prepared for any opportunity that presents itself to get your message across. 

Episode 122 of The Smart Agents Podcast features 20-plus-year, real estate veteran D’Nette Wood. After leaving a music career behind, D’Nette returned to her hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico and hasn’t looked back since. She’s succeeded through multiple ups and downs in the market and continued learning along the way. From commercial to residential, D’Nette has done it all while providing every client with luxury service no matter their price point.

Throughout our conversation, D’Nette shares how she found success after a major life change and advice for agents of all experiences to find success in changing market conditions.

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Episode 121 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Philadelphia real estate professional Steve Buzogany. Starting his real estate career in 2014, Steve had no experience or connections. Through the teachings of Brian Buffini, he quickly learned the power of referrals and his business took off.

With all the success he was having, Steve founded The Appreciation Advocate to help fellow real estate agents and small business owners learn how they can quickly stand out among the crowd and build deep relationships with their clients, all while eliminating burnout and generating more referrals, which in turn leads to increased income and having more fun in their career.

Throughout our conversation, Steve shares how he’s gone above and beyond for his own clients, why the cliche bottle of champaign isn’t enough and how other agents can replicate what he is doing.

Episode 120 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Jason Wojo, CEO of Lifeonaire for a conversation that couldn’t come at a better time with New Years’ resolutions just formed. Prior to joining Lifeonaire as a student himself, Jason was a highly successful real estate broker but things behind the scenes were falling apart. Unhappy, stressed and overworked, Jason’s marriage dissolved.

Through the coaching and mindset change Jason received from Lifeonaire, he was able to turn everything around, reinvent himself and his businesses, as well as design a life full of true joy, passion, fulfillment and freedom.

Throughout our conversation, Jason shares how real estate professionals stuck in the same situation he found himself in can learn to delegate more and live the life they initially dreamed of.

Check out more from Lifeonaire at: https://lifeonaire.com/

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Episode 119 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Holly Grajales, real estate professional based in Texas. From the time Holly entered the industry 8 years ago, she has focused on making the experience for her clients to be as stress-free as possible.

To say her style leaves a lasting impression on clients would be an understatement. For example, Holly has completed more than ten transactions with the same family after helping one family member purchase his first home.

Throughout our conversation, Holly shares how she connects with clients and works to ensure she leaves a memorable mark on all.

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Episode 118 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Alan Kusmakov, Founder and CEO of Best Homes Real Estate based out of Arizona. First entering the real estate industry in 2013, Alan found success with expired listings and holding open houses to bring in new leads. Fast forward to today and Best Homes Real Estate employs more than 250.  

Throughout our conversation, Alan shares how he found success with expired listings and the insights he has learned building his business.  

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See more from Alan and Best Homes Real Estate at the links below!  

Episode 117 of The Smart Agents Podcast features marketing expert and author of Amazon best-seller Date Your Clients, Mark Young. The cornerstone of the book and Mark’s business philosophy is to treat every lead as a long-term relationship rather than your next transaction.

Drawing on some of his own past experiences Mark shares how real estate agents can make a lasting impression with every lead to turn them into repeat customers.

Episode 116 of The Smart Agents Podcast features United States Marine turned real estate professional and entrepreneur, Sandi Lyn Burnett. Known on Social Media as That Broker Girl, Sandi shares how an annual event she began hosting has paid off big for her real estate business.

Also, as co-founder of Virtuplicity, she shares how agents can find the most success using virtual assistants.

Episode 115 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Corwyn Melette, broker/owner of Exit Realty Lowcountry Group in North Charleston, South Carolina. Going on nearly 20 years in the real estate industry, Corwyn has dedicated his efforts to more than just closing deals.

Seeing how homeownership elevates not only an individual family's legacy, Corwyn has focused on making a much larger impact on his community as a whole.

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Episode 114 of The Smart Agents Podcast features returning guest Bob Thompson. Based in Hampton Roads, Virginia, Bob has created a successful real estate career for himself through a no-nonsense approach.

To Bob, being upfront and honest is the best way to interact with clients. While he says his approach doesn’t work with everyone, at the end of the day he has his client's best interests in mind and that’s all that matters.

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Episode 113 of The Smart Agents Podcast features award-winning public speaker and corporate trainer, Robert Kennedy III. Throughout our conversation, Robert shares how agents can modify their communication style and sales pitch to highlight their personal stories in order to build stronger connections with leads.  

Episode 110 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Denver-based, Rick Janson. Over his more than 20-year career, Rick has learned to seek out what is working for fellow agents and implement those strategies into his own. Now, in the Top %1 influencers Group with EXP and having been featured on things such as The cover of The Top 100 In Real Estate, HGTV and Forbes, Rick is giving back to the real estate community by sharing all the knowledge he has gained.