WEBVTT - Ryan Serhant - Founder of SERHANT. 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:09.360 Really. I go into a lot of meetings with my 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:12.119 staff and they've got lots of ideas, and I don't 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:15.280 like most of them until like two weeks later I 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:18.120 decide I do because I learn new things, new information. 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:20.320 I reserve the right to change my mind. I am 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:22.919 not a stubborn I try not to be anyway, a 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:25.720 stubborn leader. Where my way is the highway. I think 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:29.640 our growth is indicative of my listening to smarter people 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:34.280 about their specific niches, and I try to find people 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:35.960 who are uniquely qualified. 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:42.440 That's Ryan Sirhand, CEO of Sir Hand the real estate brokerage, 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:45.320 as well as my fellow Today's show guest, and someone 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:49.680 who's built a business by staying open, adaptable, and relentlessly 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:53.600 forward looking. You probably know Ryan from Million Dollar listing 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.120 or from his massive social following, but in this conversation 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:00.360 we get to see the strategists behind the showmen. Ryan 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:02.880 and I have known each other four years, and this 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:05.800 felt more like catching up than conducting an interview. We 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:08.080 talk about how he leads a team of over one 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:11.399 hundred and sixty employees, what he's learned from launching a 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:14.400 company in the middle of a pandemic, and how Ai 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:18.240 is transforming real estate from the inside out. And yeah, 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:20.800 we talk about hand modeling because of course we do. 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.920 I'm furnished to Rabi and this is leading by Example 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:30.880 executives making an impact. Ryan, Sir Hant, welcome to Leading 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:32.080 by Example. My friend. 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:33.800 Excited to be back with you. 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.280 I know, we go way back and actually, fun fact, audience, 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:40.080 Ryan and I are speaking virtually, but we actually saw 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:43.119 each other in person this morning, because that's how much 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:44.880 the universe wants us to hang out. 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:47.720 Yeah, so I walked into the dressing room at the 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:50.559 Today Show and you were like, wait, you're not Sarah 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:52.400 Jessica Parker. It's like, no, I'm not. 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.240 She was there though, but you were cooler. You're actually 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:57.120 going to be in just like that again in the 0:01:57.160 --> 0:01:58.480 new season. Congrats on that. 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.360 Thanks playing the role of Ransore hand. Someone had to 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:01.640 do it. 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:03.160 Someone had to do it. 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:03.400 Well. 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.080 You know, as you and I were chatting in the 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:08.320 Today Show, my producer she's like, what's going on there? 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:11.000 I said, Oh, I'm interviewing Ryan later for Leading by Example, 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:14.080 and you know he's got an incredible story. Did you 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:17.640 know he used to be a hand model. And she's like, 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:20.480 I'm sorry what I'm sure you love this story. But 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:22.800 let's go back to your hand modeling days, because if 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:23.959 we're going to get into it. 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:27.000 Sure why not. Yeah, I definitely hand modeled in New 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:29.720 York City to pay my rent. That is a true story. 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:32.600 You can google it. Those images are there forever the 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:35.800 Internet is written in permanent inc. I think, though, today, 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:39.519 that's a job that probably doesn't exist much anymore. Why 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:43.639 would you pay me one thousand dollars for my hand 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.480 when AI can just do it. That's where things get 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:47.959 a little bit tricky now. So you know I was 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:49.840 probably a hand model at the top of the profession 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.760 and then realize I couldn't do hands forever. 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:55.919 No, you did act, and then of course real estate 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:58.920 and later I do want to revisit artificial intelligence and 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:02.079 how you see it impact real estate. But let's stick 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:03.720 with the pass for a second here and talk a 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.680 little bit about your pivot from acting to real estate. 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:10.920 Would you say that getting into reality TV was like 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:11.680 the pivot? 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:15.200 Yeah, Well, I got into real estate at the end 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:17.800 of two thousand and eight and basically put theater and 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:20.200 acting to the side so I could just make money. 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:21.840 In two thousand and eight. By the way, that was 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:23.560 quite the time to jump into real estate. 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:26.840 Yes, and it was hard, but I didn't know anything different, 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:28.960 so I just assumed it was always this hard. But 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:30.880 for me, I was coming from the bottom, so it's 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.000 not like I had a stock portfolio, so it didn't 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:35.480 really affect me the way like two weeks ago the 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:38.240 market correcting did. That's the market I learned in was 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:41.160 a really, really tough New York City market. Put acting 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:44.040 to the side. And then there was a casting call 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:49.160 in twenty ten around this time, fifteen years ago for 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:53.280 the New York franchise of the show Million Dollar Listing, 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:55.240 which was set in la and I went to an 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:58.040 open casting call with a couple thousand other real estate 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:01.560 agents and there's a long process after that, but the 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:03.360 rest is relatively history. 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:09.280 So you're a bravolebrity and you're building your real estate career. 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:13.120 At what point did you realize I want to expand 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:16.760 always in all ways, which is your mantra? What was 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:18.560 that a byproduct of? 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:21.800 Well, the honest answer is I had to come up 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.960 with that tagline because in season one of Million Dollar Listing, 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.479 the producer said, you need a tagline. I said, I 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:31.719 don't know what taglines did realtors have, Like everything I 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:35.880 touched turns to sold. No, I can't use that. And 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.760 I was just kind of thinking about the structure of 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:40.599 my life and how it was always about growth, and 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:42.400 I was leaning in on something that was like, if 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:44.720 you're not growing, you're dying. But I didn't want to 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.200 have the word dying being my tagline, and so that 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:50.560 it just came my mottos to grow. My modos expansion. 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:52.440 You always have to be building, You have to be 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:54.320 doing a little bit more than you were doing before, 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:56.440 and how are you going to do that? To do it? 0:04:56.480 --> 0:05:00.120 Always in always, oh my gosh. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:04.120 There you go. Winner is that you think specific to 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:06.680 real estate? Are all industries? Can you apply that? Or 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:08.839 how does it work in real estate? Not everyone goes 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:11.400 in with that ambition. They want to expand, maybe always 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:15.200 in a zip code or in a particular state. But 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:18.200 this morning you said you're opening up, sir hand in Atlanta. 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.279 You're expanding. Why is it so important in real estate 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:23.440 to always be growing in all ways? 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:26.800 Well, in sales, it's a volume business. You want to 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:29.080 be able to serve as many customers as you can. 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:31.680 And I do it in part so that you can 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.880 weather downturns. The market's been pretty rough in the United 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:39.480 States the past three years. Inflation, interest rates spiked, low 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:42.960 inventory at a national level has been tough. But we 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:45.560 have great volume, and we're in a lot of different markets, 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.159 and we're always expanding, and so even if one market 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:51.160 is slow, another market might be strong. I do the 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:53.919 same thing in our businesses. If real estate brokerage is slow, 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:57.800 real estate education will be strong. If real estate education 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:01.039 will be having a hard time, real estate technology will 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:03.880 be strong. If everything is having a hard time, content 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:07.800 the TV shows, people will turn to media, right, That's 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.240 what we saw happen in twenty twenty. Everything kind of 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:13.680 went down, but then people turned into our content. Our 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:17.200 content drove commerce. We built a massive audience for what 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.040 we sell. We have obviously a clear niche, and then 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:24.479 education came back, and then brokerage came back. So that 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:28.640 expansion is also to kind of generate the strongest wheel 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:31.719 that I can to continue propelling the machine so that 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:34.359 we can sell as much as we possibly can to 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:36.640 the largest group of customers all around the world. 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:40.200 Diversification, well, why don't you just kind of go through 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:43.480 the portfolio and the breakdown of Sir Hand, your real 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:45.640 estate empire. You started this in the middle of a 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.720 global pandemic, No big deal, since you also got started 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:52.720 during the financial recession, so you're no stranger to adversity 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:55.839 and challenges. You've come even quite a long way since 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.839 over the last five years. You've mentioned a few of 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:02.800 the things that you're doing education, obviously real estate sales. 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:05.240 But tell us sort of about the anatomy of sir Hand. 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:07.880 Yeah, so I got into the business in two thousand 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.119 and eight. I built a sales team, so I knew 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:12.120 how to sell real estate. I knew how to manage people. 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:15.840 We knew how to provide great customer service the buyside, 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:18.200 seal side, and development side. I had a large group 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.160 of people underneath me, about sixty five people through twenty 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:23.760 nineteen and into the early days of twenty twenty. I 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.360 then blew all that up started my own company. We 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:29.440 set up a holding company called Surhand Technologies, and underneath 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:32.640 it sits real estate brokerage, sales training which is sell 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.680 it dot Com, our production studio which is called Studios. 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:38.200 So we have our show on Netflix. We have obviously 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:41.000 all of our social content. We do across platforms, and 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:43.960 then we have an AI service i'll call it, which 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:46.760 is called Simple. So we have those four verticals as 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:49.880 of now that operate kind of in the entire family. 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:53.480 What made you want to also add like media company 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.040 to this. That requires a lot of you, right, And 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.080 I think one of the challenges of sometimes when your 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:00.160 name is on the company, you don't want to to 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:02.440 be all about sort of your brand, right, but really 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:03.920 about the brand of the business. 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:07.440 Yeah, we thought about and we workshopped a lot of 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:11.240 different company names so that I could have some autonomy, 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:13.600 you know, especially if anything ever happened to me. I 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.360 wanted to make sure that the company was protected. But 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:18.040 at the end of the day, when you're starting your 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:22.920 own thing, one getting copyrights to normal words is hard, 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.400 and my name is unique. There's only so many surhants 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:29.120 out there, and it's what people know the most, and 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:32.320 so it's the biggest driver of business for us. So 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.160 any other name that I could have come up with 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:38.760 for our company was going to actually be less beneficial 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.400 to lead generation and to the growth of our businesses 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:44.920 than if I just named it after myself and then 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:46.320 we just put a period at the end of it. 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:49.080 In our logo mark as kind of an end statement 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:51.480 like that, is it when you want to choose who 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.839 to work with, you choose period, And that's the level 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:56.560 of service we try to bring to the table. 0:08:57.160 --> 0:08:59.720 Tell me a little bit about real estate today versus 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:03.840 say twenty ten. The ubiquity of the Internet and all 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:06.560 that it brings. For one thing, I mean, how would 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:09.840 you characterize the buyer, the seller and the salesperson today 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:11.800 and where do you see it going? I mean, it's 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:13.840 a really tight market, as you said, So how has 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:17.640 that influenced the relationship between buyer, seller, salesperson. 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.080 Well, they're all far more connected now than ever before. 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:23.560 It used to be that you would go to salespeople 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.120 for information, but now you don't need to. You would 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.000 go to the salesperson for access to the listings, access 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:31.040 to buyers. You have no idea what's for sale in 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:32.640 that building or on that neighborhood, you have to go 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.120 to a real estate agent for it. When that changed, 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:39.240 we went from information enabled to tech enabled. So okay, 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.840 now your agent is enabled with the right listing software, 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.480 with the right applications to be able to get the 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:46.959 news out there about your property and to be able 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:49.440 to put off markets in front of the right buyers 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:53.240 to now being AI empowered kind of as your companion 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:55.880 and to our agents. Anyway, we talk about it almost 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:57.920 like fighter pilots, right, Like you're in the front seat 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:00.360 and then you've got your copilot behind you. That's where 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:03.400 AI comes in to enable you to fly faster, to 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.880 win more deals, win more battles, etc. And I think 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:08.000 that's how things have changed. 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:12.120 Would you call this a housing crisis or an affordability crisis? 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:16.080 What do you see as the real achilles heel right now? 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:18.280 And if you had to add more supply to the market, 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:18.920 what would you do? 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:24.559 State and federally owned land tax incentives for private developers 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:28.040 to build and to have affordability requirements. Same thing they 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:29.559 do in New York City, except they got rid of 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:32.520 tax debabits. For the most part, I think it's an 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:35.960 affordability issue for sure. I think that's what happens when 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.280 you pumpour trillion dollars into the system and then say 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:40.360 figure it out. And that's the situation we're dealing with 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.000 right now. We have clients who just cannot afford to 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:45.400 sell because their rates are so low. So when you 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:48.360 have a really really low interest rate environment for fifteen years, 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:50.960 and then you just take it away from everybody. They're 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:52.920 going to hold on to that for the longest time 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:55.680 they possibly can, and we're coming into a new normal now. 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:59.400 It's slowly happening, slowly but surely. You also have a 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:01.800 big wealth trains for more money is being transferred to 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.199 women by twenty thirty than ever before. I think it's 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:08.280 in the trillions. We have more baby boomers buying real 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:12.280 estate for millennials and gen zers than I've ever had 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:15.160 in my career. So there's a wealth transfer into real 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.520 estate that way. But I don't see a housing crisis. 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.280 There's not enough houses. I think that there's an inventory 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:25.040 crisis because people aren't selling and people aren't building because 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:28.640 it's too expensive, especially now with everything that's going on today. 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:31.320 If tariff stick and whatnot, it's going to cost you 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:33.959 twenty five percent more to build a home potentially in 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:35.800 twelve months from now than it does today. And today 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.199 it costs you nearly double than what it costs you 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:38.880 four years ago. 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:41.600 So what does that tell you. Everyone's throwing out words 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:44.360 like recession. I know you're not an economist, but what 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:47.440 are your friends in the industry talking about in terms 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:51.120 of worst case scenarios in twenty twenty five and beyond, what. 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.200 It seems like we'll almost have is a series of 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:59.160 corrections instead of one large recession or depression even And 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:02.120 I think you see that starting to happen now, and 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:04.000 there will be quick fixes, and then we'll go into 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:05.960 another one. It'll be quick fixes, and I think maybe 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:10.040 the exhaustion from those series of corrections. We'll see what happens, 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:11.439 So we'll see if it kind of puts the brakes 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:13.360 on the economy. It's like driving on a road that 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:15.920 has tons of potholes, Like eventually you're just like, dude, 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:17.959 I got to pull over. I need to figure out 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.800 how I'm going to go down this road. People get nervous, right, 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:23.760 they get afraid. It seems like there's a little bit 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:26.480 of that going on, But I don't know. That's not 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.240 my purview really, and I'm not as much of a 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:33.000 global economic market prognosticator as I am someone who looks 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.959 at real estate markets, which just need more inventory and 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:38.160 need lower rates. Right, the housing market is defined by 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:41.400 three things. Supply, demand, interest rates, Like that's it. If 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:43.400 we have enough people who can afford the supply, and 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:47.640 there's enough supply to handle the demand, and rates are 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:50.640 reasonable at a pace where people can afford it based 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.199 on income growth. Because you live in your monthly payment, 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.280 you don't live in the purchase price. Then you have 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:57.800 a liquid market. You don't have houses selling in one hour, 0:12:57.880 --> 0:12:59.800 but you also don't have them selling in a year. 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:03.120 And I've been in both markets. Twenty twenty one was 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:04.400 I don't even need to put it on the market. 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:05.800 I'm going to call a few people in this house. 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.560 It's going to sell. That's not healthy. I've also been 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:11.360 in twenty eighteen where the average days on market and 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:15.120 most urban markets was over three hundred. Wow, that's also 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:18.800 not a liquid market. And now like one hundred and 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:21.520 fifty six cities in the United States have a starter 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:26.040 home price of over a million dollars. So again, all 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.200 of that brings me back towards affordability. And if there 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:31.840 was one thing that I lean on in my business 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:35.520 to the Trump campaign promise, whether it was a promise 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.040 or not, who knows what happens now, was there was 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:44.400 talk about creating incentive to turn federally owned and state 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:49.200 and local municipality owned land and defunct buildings. You're seeing 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.800 that now with a little bit of the doze stuff, 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:54.360 and give it over to private real estate development to 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:57.080 create affordable housing, to create market rate housing, just to 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:01.240 create more opportunities for people to own their property. And 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:03.040 we'll see if that happens. But if that happens, that's 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:06.000 going to be across the swath of the Southwest, the 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:08.440 little of the southeast and southwest, which is in part 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:10.280 why I don't think I've said this to anybody yet, 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:12.160 but you know I opened up and down the east 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:14.320 coast for Sir HNT And on Wednesday this week I 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:16.040 fly to open up Arizona. 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:19.320 Wow, why did you like Arizona so much? Tell me again. 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:23.160 It's the anchor of the Southwest. It's a big feeder 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:26.480 market for money that's coming out of your Midwest and 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.800 northwest quadrant. It's a good tax state, and it's a 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:32.120 lot of people coming out of Los Angeles in southern California, 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:34.840 and it's a good market. Scottsdale is just a good place. 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:36.400 It's a good place to be a business owner. It's 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:37.840 a good place to own and operate. 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.240 A lot of boomers, so you got that wealth transfer. 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:43.360 Yeah, a lot of boomers. My parents had a place there. 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:45.680 They're the most boomers. But then someone knocked on their 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:48.000 door during COVID and gave them a number to leave, 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:50.200 and they took it. Oh, like crazy people. 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.280 They didn't call you first though, Did you do that 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:53.600 deal or no? 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:56.000 I wasn't licensed in Arizona at the time. Man, I've 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.400 dealt with my dad now on like two deals in 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:00.520 Florida because they live in Florida now half of the year, 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.160 in New Hampshire for the other half. And man, oh man, 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:05.960 am I glad it's only two He hit me on commission. 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:07.040 Oh my goodness. 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:08.560 He was like, well, I don't know what your guys 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:11.400 really did. I'm like, Dad, this is what we do. 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:13.040 And he's like, wow, man, I mean you should start 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:15.200 doing a better job because I'm not paying that. I'm like, yeah, 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:16.200 what are you doing? 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:19.880 I mean maybe you're kind of alike in some ways 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:25.280 more than you. When we come back, Ryan opens up 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:28.280 about the culture he's building at Sir Hand, including how 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:32.080 he hires, who gets weeded out, and the interview tactic 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:35.960 he swears by. Will also dip into his refreshingly holistic 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:36.800 five year plan. 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.760 Doing an assessment for every hire is really important because 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:42.520 we want to see how people think critically. We also 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:45.600 want to see how people handle negative feedback. So one 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:47.200 of the most important things I've done is when they 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:49.840 bring that homework, even if it's amazing and perfect, is 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:51.520 to tell him it's awful and it's not the way 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:53.920 we would have done it, and see how they respond 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:57.239 stay with us. 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:08.400 I want to talk more now about your leadership style 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:11.040 and the culture that you've built at Sir hand. I 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:14.880 got to ask, is there anyone that you have seen 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:19.560 as inspiration leadership inspiration? You know, I want to emulate 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:22.000 some of the culture that they've built at their company. 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:24.120 Any North Stars for you. 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:26.600 I wish it could be like my dad, that guy 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:29.280 I ruled with an iron fist. I don't have the 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:31.880 heart for that. I think maybe sometimes my life would 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:34.200 be easier if I were that much tougher. I think 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:37.000 there's a difference between being tough and being fair. I 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:39.560 think I'm incredibly fair. So it doesn't mean we don't 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:41.880 let people go. It doesn't mean we don't make tough decisions, 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:44.720 but I try to be fair. I went to Hamilton 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:47.280 College and I read that biography a long time ago. 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:49.000 The big biography and then they turned it into the 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:52.240 musical and all that stuff. And I don't know if 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:56.080 I've learned as much about leadership from reading about Alexander 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:58.880 Hamilton as much as I did about innovation. Like something 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:01.280 that we say a lot here now now, especially because 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:04.160 the real estate business and the broker's business is incredibly litigious, 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:07.800 is we innovate, we don't litigate. I've only filed one 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.720 lawsuit against somebody else and won it hand over fists 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:12.480 because they were just terrible people and I had to 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:15.119 set an example, which is annoying. Other than that, people 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:18.320 have come after us and they've lost every single time. 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:21.919 And there's been other opportunities for us to litigate, Like 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:25.640 why spend time, money, and effort on litigating someone else 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:28.680 who's just going to enjoy it. Why don't we take 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:31.000 the same time, money, effort and just go innovate faster. 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.480 Let's win through success. They're just going to lose anyway. 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:37.240 Can you share what some of these lawsuits were about? 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:40.080 Were these typical in the industry? Is it just cost 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:41.600 a business sort of lawsuits? 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.160 There's a mixture like the breaking of contracts, the stealing 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:47.119 of clients. We get sued. If you go into a 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.280 new market and a new agent comes over to you, 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:52.280 you get sued by that firm for tortious interference, almost 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.320 as a defense mechanism to show their other agents, Oh, 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:56.840 you can't go over there, because I'm going to sue 0:17:56.880 --> 0:17:59.920 you too, And so it becomes this game of lawfare, 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:02.359 which is weird, but it's pretty specific too, I guess 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:04.639 our industry, but that's why we try to do as 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:06.840 much as we can through innovation. That's why we have 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.000 all the media that we have and the shows that 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:11.800 we have and the technology that we have. And people 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:14.560 can be angry. It's fine. If they weren't angry, maybe 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:15.760 we'd be doing something wrong. 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:18.600 Yeah, that's interesting because I get what you're saying about 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:22.080 the lawsuits becoming a game, and I want to talk 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.600 about innovation in just a moment. But one question about culture, 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:28.879 because I've had the opportunity to interact with many of 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:33.040 your team members and that is not a coincidence that 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.960 you assemble this team that I'm sure there along the 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:37.760 way there have been some that didn't work out. But 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:40.560 how do you hire? What's the process? What do you 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:44.639 look for in a teammate, especially someone who's in a 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:46.320 leadership position at surhand. 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:50.359 So we hire agents and we hire employees for agents. 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:53.040 There's kind of a pretty simple process. We bring on 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:56.080 principal agents that fit the culture, fit the vibe to 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:57.840 the right people. But the god who have been in 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:01.359 the business typically for least five years. They have to 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:05.200