The $70M Exit, Strategic Scale and Staying Calm Under Pressure - Shane Smollen #124

Shane Smollen sold ten real estate offices in 2015 and then could not work out why it did not feel like he thought it would. He also argues the "million dollar agent" tag is self limiting, because three or four million is genuinely easier than one.

Shane Smollen was McGrath's Director of Sales in the early 2000s, then built and sold a ten office network, and is now a partner in the development business Central Element.

What you will learn:

- Why he says a million dollar agent is running an inefficient business, not a successful one

- What motorsport taught him about performance, where every single input is measured against a world class benchmark

- The reason he thinks agents stopped practising, and the briefcase of tapes he once paid about the price of a car for

- Why inconsistent income, not low income, is what stops most agents ever investing, and the budgeting fix he uses

- The two investment approaches he backs for high income agents, and the one he tells them to stay away from

Chapters

00:00 There was no blueprint

02:47 Driven by progression rather than goals

09:33 Motorsport, and coming back from the bad days

10:56 Every input measured against the best in the world

12:15 What sits in the gap, and how to turn it into a habit

17:35 The briefcase that cost about as much as a car

20:18 Finding the one biggest thing, not five

25:45 Putting a value on wasted time

28:28 Nothing in the diary before ten, or after four

29:47 High performers are made by other high performers

34:19 Coach against manager, and the difference in the question

40:28 When a principal should stop selling, and when they should not

43:09 Finding Doctor Fred Grosse in a room he walked into by accident

52:34 Making the glass bigger instead of breaking the ceiling

53:55 The failure he attaches the most learning to

1:09:53 Why agents with good money still do not invest

1:11:25 Why he tells agents to stay out of development

1:17:38 Kill the trough months, do not double the good ones

1:30:01 Peter Chauncey, one small patch, and market share

1:32:57 One piece of advice to his 28 year old self

Shane Smollen built businesses that were worth something on the day he sold. Property should work the same way.

Most properties only make money if the market does. The ones that pay for themselves from the day you settle are bought differently, and it comes down to four points.

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General information only. Not financial, tax, legal or credit advice. Bothsides is not a mortgage broker or credit provider.