Episode 216: Orlando Herrera
On this episode of The Brad and Taylor Show, we sat down with Orlando Herrera from eXp Realty!
To watch the full episode, check it out on YouTube below. In the meantime, here’s a transcript of the conversation…
Here’s what you missed from Orlando Herrera…
00:00:00:14 –> 00:00:16:02
Taylor: Welcome to The Brad and Taylor Show. Today we have Orlando Herrera.
Brad: You’re listening to The Brad and Taylor Show, a podcast that inspires entrepreneurs to pursue their passions. We’re sitting down with some of the best to learn how they got started and some lessons they learned along the way.
Taylor: Hey, how are you?
00:00:16:26 –> 00:00:19:09
Orlando: I’m doing well. Thank you guys for having me.
00:00:21:07 –> 00:00:25:20
Brad: Awesome. Well, let’s get this show started. Tell us a little bit about you, what do you do?
00:00:26:21 –> 00:01:04:19
Orlando: Yeah, my name is Rolando Herrera. I’m known on social media as Orlando, that’s probably where you got that from, but I’m actually a real estate agent, but I’d like to consider myself as more than that. I got into real estate because I was passionate about investing in real estate. So that was a way for me to learn more and gain more experience by getting my license. And along the way, I’d like to consider myself more of an educator of real estate rather than a real estate agent. And just guiding clients is just kind of an added perk.
00:01:06:03 –> 00:01:08:05
Brad: Do you have a team right now or are you solo?
00:01:09:05 –> 00:01:52:01
Orlando: I have one other agent on my team with me right now. My wife and I actually purchased a convenience store in Gladwin, Michigan. This past year we’re using it. We’re going to have a real estate office. That is our future goal. I’m working on getting my broker’s license so that I can be an associate broker for eXp. So we had to start building a team. It was kind of forced and we found Katie. Her name is Katie and she’s phenomenal. She has another job at the moment, but we’re using this time to kind of educate her on everything she needs, but then also I’m able to pay her portion of our commissions to where she can kind of survive during those early times.
00:01:52:08 –> 00:01:56:05
Brad: Totally understand those beginning ones. That’s a let’s go. You got to get started.
00:01:56:29 –> 00:02:01:18
Orlando: Sign up to be something that I wish I had when I first started. Yeah.
00:02:01:25 –> 00:02:07:10
Brad: Yeah. That’s awesome. So let’s back it up a little bit. How in the world did you get into real estate at all? What’d you do before this?
00:02:08:08 –> 00:03:03:13
Orlando: Yeah, so I was in the military before this and actually it was like 2014. I just got out of boot camp and my wife bought me a new laptop and I Googled how to get rich. And that kind of led me into investing. I was really interested in wholesaling and hopefully becoming a flipper one day, but then I started reading more into the wholesaler and got into that and I got my license, worked with an investor and I realized the wholesaling wasn’t really for me. So that’s how I began looking into real estate. And as I became an agent, I really did enjoy helping other people, educating them about real estate. It always seems like something that’s just like far away from people you don’t, it’s like for big dogs, you know, to go invest in real estate, but really everybody should be educated on the perks that real estate provides.
00:03:03:23 –> 00:03:09:16
Taylor: Yeah, absolutely. What is the worst property you have seen or the worst showing you’ve been to?
00:03:10:22 –> 00:03:41:02
Orlando: Yeah, so I just mentioned, I worked with an investor when I first got started and I was the disposition manager. So I would go to the Detroit properties, meet the investors there and show them the property while one of the owners left the property the night before. And I got there at like 10:00 AM to show an investor. And from that time to 10:00 AM someone stole the water heater. Oh, there was pretty much a fool in the basement and yeah, I didn’t end up selling that one to the investor.
00:03:41:28 –> 00:03:44:29
Brad: It’s crazy just to steal that cause it’s not something light.
00:03:45:29 –> 00:03:49:19
Orlando: Yeah, exactly. And for them to get it out that fast, it was pretty crazy.
00:03:50:19 –> 00:03:51:23
Taylor: They must have had that planned.
00:03:54:21 –> 00:04:03:25
Orlando: Well, they act as investors and hire security for their investment properties in Detroit now. So that doesn’t happen. It’s actually pretty common.
00:04:04:18 –> 00:04:04:26
Brad: Yeah well
00:04:05:04 –> 00:04:10:22
Taylor: Definitely probably needed. I know when you mentioned investment property. So I was like, oh, you’ve got some stories.
00:04:13:10 –> 00:04:14:02
Orlando: Yes I do.
00:04:14:18 –> 00:04:24:09
Brad: Yeah. Well, awesome. Well, what’s some advice that you might give to somebody starting out, or maybe your team member when they started out that you wish you would have got back in the day.
00:04:25:16 –> 00:04:28:20
Orlando: All right. So is that question number three, that you sent me.
00:04:28:20 –> 00:04:29:10
Brad: We’ll go with it.
00:04:29:27 –> 00:04:30:09
Taylor: Yeah.
00:04:30:14 –> 00:04:59:16
Orlando: Yeah, no, actually the best piece of advice is the only way you’ll fail is if you quit. That’s for me, I got that piece of advice, like after a year. And because even when you find success in real estate early on, you think it’s gonna change your whole life, but then you just gotta start right over it. So that piece of advice was given to me at a low time, you know, and it was just so good because it’s true. The only way you’re going to fail is if you quit.
00:05:01:01 –> 00:05:16:26
Taylor: I know in real estate too, especially starting out, it seems like a rollercoaster from what I’ve been hearing. Like you have some really low moments and then you get that sale, you get it, you sell it and you’re good. And then there’s another, another dip gotta keep going.
00:05:17:18 –> 00:05:26:18
Orlando: I think maybe that relates to anything in sales, the highs, and the lows, and just trying to find a way to balance them.
00:05:26:29 –> 00:05:33:26
Brad: Yeah, yeah, for sure. What are some of the goals you’ve got for 2022? So you want to add more people?
00:05:35:10 –> 00:06:26:10
Orlando: Not really. My goal for 2022 is to teach Katie how to cat. So learn the cap, teach the cap was my motto. I don’t want to teach anybody anything I haven’t done myself. So this past year I’ve been trying to get into that leadership role while at the same time trying to manage the transactions. And I think there’s a lot of that in the industry, and that’s why we have a high failure rate. So what I’m going to focus on is just becoming a better leader and teaching her how to cap. And once I perfect that, then I think I’ll start to go on and teach other agents that. But really my biggest goal is to get extremely organized, start to get my systems and processes in place to where I can scale, and become more of a manager educator. And somebody holds people accountable.
00:06:26:20 –> 00:06:35:18
Taylor: Yeah. I know you mentioned the organization. That’s huge. I know, like time blocking or just even having a calendar, just to have everything scheduled helps so much.
00:06:36:15 –> 00:06:50:13
Orlando: Absolutely. I know Brad, you do very well at this. I actually mirror a lot of things you guys do at WindowStill. And everything you’ve done has just been amazing. I use you guys for every listing I take on. Thanks.
00:06:50:26 –> 00:06:55:28
Brad: Yeah, well, we try a lot. We try to improve a lot and we have some more new things coming out, so we’re excited.
00:06:56:22 –> 00:06:57:10
Orlando: I’m excited.
00:06:59:09 –> 00:07:04:04
Taylor: If you could start over today with all the knowledge that you have, what’s one thing you do differently to start up again?
00:07:05:24 –> 00:07:27:23
Orlando: Let’s see. Where did I get that one? Massive action and focus on consistent activities. You know, when you’re in real estate, you have all the shiny objects. Yep. I’m completely over that. I know everything I need to know. And now it’s just a matter of implementing everything and just making it perfect. Yeah.
00:07:27:29 –> 00:07:41:08
Brad: Yeah. It’s funny how you realize that over time. Cause like I always get into that ready around the beginning of the year. It’s like, oh, all these new shiny objects. She has more time. It’s like, oh, this or this or this. And you’re like, no.
00:07:42:06 –> 00:07:57:13
Orlando: And it’s not easy when people are literally reaching out to you trying to sell you their new item or generate leads for you. So as a new agent starting out, just find a mentor and do exactly what they tell you to do. Don’t think about anything else.
00:07:57:27 –> 00:07:58:12
Brad: Yes.
00:07:59:02 –> 00:08:01:20
Taylor: Yeah. Those new shiny ad jokes can be distracting.
00:08:02:13 –> 00:08:03:11
Orlando: Yeah, absolutely.
00:08:04:13 –> 00:08:07:24
Taylor: What is the best business book that you’ve read that you could recommend to somebody?
00:08:08:19 –> 00:08:54:22
Orlando: I was really excited about this question. So when I was deployed in 2016, I listened to the audiobook, Crush It by Gary V and then I also really listened to it about a year ago. And I didn’t realize how much I took out of that book and implemented it in my business when I was starting out. So I was like when I joined, I was licensed with Real Estate One. And the reason I picked them is that they had a media room and this was before everybody started putting up videos and you could go on and not see all these agents on social media. So I was able to stand out. And now that I look back, it was because of that book that I read. And it was just tons of business. I’d say the new way to run a business. Gary V touches on that, in that book.
00:08:55:21 –> 00:09:08:05
Brad: Yeah, that was actually, I think that was one of the first couple books that I read, which then ended up getting me into audiobooks, like crazy. Like a hundred, I don’t know, a hundred, 150 of them that I read now. And just awesome.
00:09:08:05 –> 00:09:10:05
Orlando: I’m not shocked to hear that.
00:09:12:09 –> 00:09:28:09
Brad: That was one of them. I think I read it on the way to Chicago. One day it was like the first audiobook I think I’ve ever had. And I was like, I read it the whole way there. And then like the whole way back, I started over and read it again. Like I literally read at twice that I was like, holy shit,
00:09:28:11 –> 00:10:20:22
Orlando: No, everything comes together as well. So I didn’t want to become a real estate agent. I want to invest in real estate. But then after reading that book, I was like, man, I got to find a business that I can start. When I got out, that’s why I got my real estate license and then realized you could build a business around that. But it’s funny that that book talks a lot about him running a convenience store and somehow a convenience store got dropped on my wife and I this year. And it’s like all meshing together. And actually, the cool thing about the convenience store is we have a hundred conversations a day working in it, and they’re all from people who live in Southeast Michigan, and then they have an up north property that they come up to every weekend. So the majority of the people we’re talking to are all from where we sell real estate.
00:10:21:05 –> 00:10:23:08
Taylor: Nice building those connections.
00:10:24:12 –> 00:10:36:18
Orlando: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. That kind of opened my eyes too, you know. Don’t have to go and try to get all these leads. You just talk to people.
00:10:37:21 –> 00:10:47:08
Taylor: Yeah. Yup. Absolutely. Awesome. Well, I know you mentioned a little bit about how we can get ahold of you on social media. You said your name is Orlando on social media. Can you tell everybody all of your contacts for that?
00:10:48:00 –> 00:11:18:20
Orlando: So literally today I am fighting, trying to get my Facebook account back. Yeah. They took over my business page. They took over my personal page. So all I have left right now is my Instagram and LinkedIn. And you can find me @ohmyrealestate. Or you can email me at [email protected]. But yeah, I’m currently working on that right now.
00:11:20:01 –> 00:11:21:06
Brad: It’s posted.
00:11:22:06 –> 00:11:30:06
Orlando: I’m kind of like if I don’t get it back, I’m kind of excited to start over, maybe document how I can build that page back up.
00:11:30:07 –> 00:11:38:22
Brad: Yeah. That’d be awesome. It’d be perfect. Perfect content. That’s perfect. Well, awesome. Hey, thanks for coming on and sharing your story with us today.
00:11:39:19 –> 00:11:42:28
Orlando: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you guys for having me and I will be in touch.
00:11:46:00 –> 00:11:47:08
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Check out Orlando Herrera:
mi.exprealty.com/agents/102468/Orlando+Herrera
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