True Grit and Authenticity: Skyleigh McCallum's Path to Real Estate Success

In this enlightening episode of our podcast, we sit down with Skyleigh McCallum, a dynamic real estate agent from Kamloops, British Columbia. With a background that spans from small-town upbringing to thriving in the picturesque city of Kamloops, Skyleigh shares the unique journey that led her to the world of real estate. After transitioning from her early career as a server, Skyleigh was propelled into real estate by a chance encouragement from a mortgage broker. Overcoming her initial hesitations about a commission-based income, she discovered crucial skills in customer service and multitasking that have shaped her professional outlook.

Skyleigh opens up about some of her challenging experiences in real estate, including a memorable moment when a client ignored her advice, leading to complications at closing. She stresses the importance of alignment in client relationships and utilizing DISC assessments to better understand and communicate with various personality types.

The core of Skyleigh’s success lies in her commitment to authenticity and building genuine relationships. She divulges her simple yet effective marketing strategy—making heartfelt phone calls to connect with leads. Furthermore, Skyleigh discusses how she mastered the art of phone conversations by developing a script book and diligently practicing her approach.

Listeners will also gain insight into Skyleigh’s philosophy on work-life balance, her proactive steps to prioritize personal well-being, and her thoughts on the evolving landscape of organized real estate. Committed to community involvement, she shares her favorite mantra, "Just keep swimming," reflecting her resilience and proactive outlook.

Tune in to discover how sincerity, dedication to client relationships, and staying true to oneself can create a fulfilling and successful career in real estate. Whether you’re a seasoned agent or just starting out, Skyleigh’s story is sure to inspire and offer valuable lessons in both life and business.

Links:
Instagram: @skyleighmccallum
Website: skyleighmccallum.com

Takeaways

🔥Overcoming the fear of commission-based income is possible by focusing on the pros and benefits of working in real estate.
🔥Customer service and multitasking are essential skills for success in the industry.
🔥Working with like-minded people and understanding clients' personality types can lead to better relationships and referrals.
🔥Being authentic and true to oneself is more important than trying to fit a certain image.
🔥Building relationships through phone calls and genuine care is a simple yet effective marketing strategy. Building relationships and genuinely caring about clients is key to success in real estate.
🔥Overcoming fear of making phone calls can be achieved through preparation and practice.
🔥Prioritizing personal time and maintaining work-life balance is crucial for long-term success.
🔥Different brokerage models may present challenges for organized real estate.
🔥Giving back to the community is important for real estate professionals.
🔥The quote 'Just keep swimming' serves as a guiding principle in life and business.

Transcript

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Welcome back to the podcast. Today we have Skylie McCallum all the way from Kamloops, British Columbia. How are you today, Skylie? I'm great, thank you for having me. It's a real pleasure. Now tell us a little bit, did you grow up in Kamloops? Kamloops is a beautiful city. I lived there for a short little time, just working in some restaurants there, but I got to know a lot of people from there. Yeah, actually I've been in Kamloops for about 15 years. Where I'm originally from, I feel like most people have no idea where it is, but I will tell you anyway. Do you know where Blue River is? It's like heading towards, you do. It's like heading towards Jasper, for those of you guys who do not know. Really, really tiny. My parents used to own the Husky on the side of the highway. And then we moved from there to Clearwater. Again, really small town, again, like 3,000 people. We were there for probably like 10 or 11 years and then yeah now I've been in chems for about 15 Yeah, I actually had a client I sold his home. They were moving to Blue River because he was cooking for a heli skiing outfit up there. Mike Wigley's is there. It's like huge heli-skiing. It's massive and beautiful, beautiful mountains. It's a really cool resort. Yeah, unbelievable. I think if anybody has a chance to go up there and do some heli-skiing, it is absolutely stunning. So what do you like to do in Kamloops in your spare time? Well, I mean, the weather here is beautiful. There's tons of recreation. That's probably one of the biggest things that I like about it. There's lakes any direction, probably within 10, 15 minute drive. There's lots of camping. I also love that it's very... There's just lots of mom and pop shops around. There's a lot of supporting local. So there's farmers markets. And yeah, I really love all that kind of stuff. on a day where I'm not sure really what to do, or I wanna take some clients to go check out the city. I'll take them downtown and we'll check out all the local shops and stuff like that, because it's a lot of fun. awesome. What's your favorite restaurant there? Favorite restaurant? Probably Peter's Pasta. It is, have you been there? It is so good. I'm cheering if you're listening to this, you can't see. I was going to say Peter's pasta is my favorite. It's so good. yeah, so the owner right now, her name's Nicole and her husband Barry own it right now, but she ended up inheriting it from her dad, which was like the original owner and they make all the pasta there. Everything is just so good. Like I, if there's a place that I'm gonna go and I'm gonna eat until I like can't walk anymore, that's where I'm gonna go. So good. Yep. so good. Yes, I remember back in the day when Peter owned it and Peter was from Switzerland and I worked for a time in Switzerland as a chef before I got into real estate. And so I had that sort of commonality with him and I used to talk and visit with him and stuff like that. And I have some fond memories of eating far too much pasta at that. things that I cannot do anymore. It is so good. So, well, I love that we both like that place then. It's funny. It is like when you talk about it, it is an institution. It's like a mom and pop institution. And I used to love the fact that Peter was the only server on and he ran the whole place. His wife was the cook. And then they just had a slew of helpers and it just really, really worked for them. It was amazing. So. and that's the same way that they're doing it now. Now Nicole is the server and Barry's cooking and then they have like hosts, they have a host and then they also have like some food runners and stuff like that. But yeah, I walk in and Nicole knows what I order. Like it's just, it feels like very intimate and like it's nice, yeah. I love that now that we're talking about it, I feel like I need to make a road trip down there. I'll take you for some pasta. I'll come down and take you for some pasta. So what did you do before you got into real estate? Um, so I was, um, serving actually. I was going to school for psychology, uh, at the university here in town, Thompson rivers. And I was just serving at like the local pubs, um, paying my rent and going to school. So. Yeah. And then, um, funny enough, like I ended up, there was a mortgage broker that was a regular at the pub. And so then when I had my daughter, I was like, I don't wanna go back to serving and like going to school anymore. Like I just, I kind of woke up like four years into my university degree and was like, I actually don't wanna do this for a living, but what do I do? And so I ended up actually sitting down with the mortgage broker that was a regular at the pub. And then I was like, oh, but I don't wanna sit at the desk all day. And he was like, you should go into real estate. And that's kind of how that happened. He planted that. What do you think you learned as a server that help you in this industry? Oh my God, you know what? I actually know quite a few people who are in real estate that were servers and they do very well. It's kind of a funny commonality. Honestly, customer service probably is one of the biggest ones. I mean, you kind of have to be helping your... I think we lost audio there for a second. Oh, we're back. Oh, weird. Okay. I was just saying that customer service is obviously really important. And then I think multitasking is probably another one. Because in the real estate world, you have a number of clients on the go, and then you have them all at different points of the process through buying and or selling. And you got to remember where everybody belongs and all of that stuff. So I think those are probably the two. You asked me for one, but I'm telling you two. That's okay. What sort of drew you to that? Like when the mortgage broker said that you should, you know, maybe go into real estate. You know, when you looked at it, what did you find appealing about the career? Well, you know, I kind of thought about real estate as a career because I bought like my first house in 2014 and I, I mean, you're like looking on MLS and like looking at houses was fun and then going shopping for houses was a lot of fun. So, I mean, I kind of had that planted in my brain already. Plus, I'm a huge people person and this is like an industry of talking. So here we are. Um, so there was that, but then I was just like kind of nervous about like the, um, obviously like working for commission. Obviously, there's a lot more to it than what surface level of like you get to go house shopping every day is. So I would just like was kind of on the fence as to like what it really looked like on the back end. And it only really clicked in for me that it seemed like it would be a good fit after I talked to the mortgage broker because he was like, obviously, you get to build your own schedule. There's no ceiling for your income. You can work as many or as little hours as you want, depending on what your compensation is that you're looking for. There's just like a number of things that he kind of said. that being a mortgage broker and being a realtor have in common. And then it was kind of the fact that I didn't really want to sit at a desk all day that pushed me to the real estate side instead of the mortgage side. But there's a lot of things that were common with real estate and the mortgage broker world that he was able to talk about. And then when I actually... There's a... team leader here in town. So then I went and I sat down with him and was talking to him about real estate. And so that's kind of what pushed me over the edge. I talked to him and then within three months, I woke up with my real estate license. That's fantastic. Yes, so I walk into it. Now you talked a little bit about the commission fear and that's a fear that stops a lot of people from getting into this industry is the fear of not having a constant paycheck and being able to count on that. How did you overcome that? You know what? Like I think that the fear mostly came from my parents Because I had mentioned it to them a couple times and they were like, no, you don't want that you don't want that you don't want that and then I Mean I talked to a number of people in the industry and they were like, yeah, like yeah, it is commissioned but then at the same time like There's there's a beauty to commission as well. So I think that Talking about it with the people that were in the industry out All the pros outweighed the cons, I would say. And then the fact that I was always like a really hard worker. I worked two jobs since I was like 15 years old and I was trading hours for dollars. And it just seemed like there was not enough hours in the day for me to... Yeah, exactly. And so when it came down to like commission, I was like, well, you know what? The more I work, the more I get paid. Where, I mean, I guess that's the same in like the... normal working world, but at the same time, there was like a cap. You know what I mean? Someone else had a cap on my income too. So working in this industry, I was like, at least now I'm in control of how much I make instead of like working for someone else that's in control of what I make. So I think it was just like the, yeah, the pros just outweighed the cons. And I just decided that I wasn't going to let like the fear of other people like get in my way. I'm sure you've heard the crabs in the bucket mentality and that's literally what it felt like when I was first getting into it and everyone was saying all the negative things and I'm like, you know what, I kind of just like, la la, plugged my ears and just did what I thought was the right choice and lo and behold eight years later it was the best choice I ever made. Yeah, I agree. So everything, like we've said, is not all sunshine and roses. So tell us your worst real estate moment. What did you learn from it? Um, well, I think that the biggest, worst real estate moment I would say is probably there was a client that I ended up working with and we weren't seeing eye to eye on a lot of things and like he didn't take my advice and what ended up actually happening is that we were, he was renting and he was closing on a property in the halfway through the month and so my process is always like if you're renting, if we close halfway through the month then that means that you pay your rent at the first of the month, you take possession of your new home halfway through the month, but you still have two weeks to move and clean your house. I've literally lived by that because it's nice for people to be able to have that time and leave their place clean and then they get their deposit back and all that stuff. So anyways, I've lived by that. And so this one person, we kind of butted heads throughout the process. And then when it came down to it, he wanted, He only gave a half month's notice to his landlord. And then when we were closing, we closed on a Friday. And then it didn't close at the lawyer's office for God knows what reason, I can't remember. And then he was mad and he was like, well, you're gonna be putting me up in a hotel until this closes because I'm homeless now. And I'm like, well, I thought you had your place for two weeks, like that's what we talked about, like that you were gonna get a whole month's notice and then have two weeks to move and clean. And he's like, well, I wanted to save a half month's rent. And I'm like, I understand that, but holy cow. And anyway, so a couple of things that I probably learned. Number one, never close on a dang Friday, ever. Never close on a Friday. Yeah. honest. I always close on Thursdays now. Always always and I think that the next thing that I probably learned about that whole experience is that I Really like working with people that have like similar values to me and that like our personality types are like complementary and or similar in The early years like I you kind of just work with everybody and I have learned the hard way that Working with people who are like-minded or? Definitely the way to go and you're gonna have an easier easier process with them, you're gonna get better reviews from them, and then you're gonna get referred more like-minded people from those people. Yeah, so that would probably be my worst experience, because I remember he was writing me a terrible review, he was telling me he was gonna call Remax, because yeah, it was crazy, and I was like, oh my god. And it was all just... and you're new enough that you're like, oh no, the whole world is crashing down on me, but in reality, you work through those. We've all had those, right? Yeah, I can't win them all and even if we did have similar personality types, I mean, obviously things can happen for sure, but just knowing what I know now, it's like if you just work with like-minded people and never close on a Friday, we should be okay. That's really good advice to anybody. Never close a property on a Friday. So how do you now seek out those like-minded people? Are you at a place in your business where they just come to you and you can say no if you get any, you know, people like Buddy there that wanted to save two weeks by being homeless? Yeah. You know what, like I do work mostly from referral now, which has been such a blessing. And I'm so grateful for all my clients that like send people my way. And then same with agents that I work with in different areas, sending people my way. Like usually again, you birds of a feather flock together. So the more you surround yourself with like my people, it'll all come to you. So I'm very grateful for that. Yeah. They'd mostly call me now. If I do get someone who isn't really and the girls on the team have different personality types. We're complimentary to each other, but somebody who might not like resonate with me might resonate with Erica or Antonia. So usually like I'll hand them over to somebody else if I feel like their personalities will match better. That being said, I have learned a lot about disc profiles. I think that my first disc profile was the very first agent that I talked to about getting into real estate. He got me to do... a Tony Robbins disc assessment. And I thought it was like the coolest thing ever. And again, I have like a psychology kind of background as well, so when I got introduced to that, I was like, wow, this is so cool. And then when I started working with Jason and Joe over at Sims Coaching, they do a lot of disc assessments as well. And Joe actually also has a psychology background. I don't know if you knew that. Um, yeah. Jane and Joe. They're wonderful people. Big shout out to everybody over at Sims, by the way. Amazing group of people. when I started working with them, I kind of dug into the disc assessments a little bit more, especially with Joe, and we were talking about hiring your team and having the disc assessments kind of compliment each other. And we were talking about how if your client does X, Y, Z, it means that they're this personality type, and if they do this, then they're probably this personality type. So it's kind of, nice knowing that because now I can kind of catch what type of personality they are before getting to know them too much and then again we can like push them where they're going to be best suited and where they're going to get the best service. Yeah, disk assessments are great. And even to go a little bit farther on that, when hiring people onto your team, whether it be listing agents, selling agents, or assistants, never hire yourself. Never, you know, like you love to hang out with people just like you, but don't hire those people. Hire people that will fit into the slots that you're not good at. Yeah, yeah, I definitely agree with that. And it wasn't something that I thought about before, so I'm glad that you brought it up, because yeah, something that Joe taught me that, and I had no idea that was a thing, and I'm like, it makes sense. You need someone to fill in where you're lacking. Absolutely. I'm like a 30,000 foot view person. I like to look at the big picture and I have to hire people that are into the micro because I don't look at the micro. I don't look at the small stuff. I like the big stuff. I get bogged down when I start looking and drilling down into things. So... Let's look back eight years from when you first started and what advice would you give to yourself? Hmm I mean, I wouldn't change a thing. Like everything that I did in the beginning, I wouldn't change a thing. I started in a boutique brokerage, I started on a team. It was the best choice that I made. I learned a lot. I think that maybe the best advice that I'd give myself would probably be that bigger isn't always better and more isn't always better either. I've always been this type of person to run to the finish line. but then I realized that finish line keeps freaking moving. So I got really burnt out probably my first three years. Like I was pretty drained and I think that maybe just like being consistent and not trying to like drown yourself is gonna be important, especially if you're, like I'm a type A person so I mean. There's people who need to be extremely motivated. So if you're not an extremely motivated person, take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. But I was killing myself. So I think that if anybody out there is similar to me in the sense that you just like, I was literally working 12 hours, 16 hours a day, grinding it out, just nonstop, not spending time with my family, missing out on stuff with my kids, just kind of taking a deep breath and just being consistent and setting boundaries. But like, making sure that you're still enjoying it as you go. That would be kind of the advice that I would give to myself. I think that's really, really good advice because people like us, I tend to drive, right? And I get obsessed with something and I go, go and thus work all the time as well and get burnt out. But if I could look back, I would probably the same advice is to go a little bit slower. I think what it comes from is the worry about. where the next paycheck is coming from. You know, that's a big worry for me. And you know, we have so many solo agents and in other episodes of this podcast, we talked about the power of joining a team when you first start. And I think more people need to look into that to get started on a team where, you know, you're not the big fish and that's okay. And to give yourself time to grow and learn. is so important. Yeah, yeah, there's actually you reminding me there's a there's a podcast that I've listened to it's blissful dissatisfaction by Ed Mylette. And it is such a good it's so good. And it's just like, oh, so good. And you just like slow down, right? Like it's you're gonna get there, you're gonna get there and like enjoy it along the way. Because again, you're gonna like wake up and you're like, where the heck Yeah, I've been really trying to slow down a lot more lately and enjoy the process and not look at the goals, but become married to the process and the things that we do to get to the eventual goal. You know, that's sort of what I've been really, really trying to focus on this year. Mm hmm. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, so we've all had, you know, the big moment where, you know, everything clicked and everything makes sense and we gain a sense of clarity. Tell us your aha moment, that moment that sticks with you and helps push you forward. You know, when I first started, I remember the team leader that I had, I remember he was like, if you dress like they do on suits, you'll do really well. And then, and I actually never watched the show, but I was just thinking about it. And as I got on throughout the years, I kind of realized again that... people wanna work with you because of who you are. And being authentic is probably more important than putting on a fursona of somebody else. And so the aha moment, I guess, was just, I think after my second year or something like that, I looked back at all the deals that I had done and all of them worked with me because of me and my personality and that like, We got along really well and they trusted me because I was authentic and I kind of, it's funny my wardrobe has changed significantly from when I first started because again, when I first started I was like, oh you need to like drive this car and you need to like wear these clothes and this is like, right? And so now I'm like ripped jeans and crop tops and that's not for everybody. Do what you wanna do, like I'm very blue collar. But like, it's just, it's me and people appreciate that. And even like my social media, like it used to be like all real estate. And now it's like, no, like I have kids and we go do fun things and there's fun things to do in the city and like, I enjoy living here. And do you know what I mean? Like I think that maybe that was probably like a big aha moment. for me just being like you can be yourself and still do well in this industry because the people that wanna work with you are gonna be people who are like you. So yeah, I just realized that my... is very much like that as well. Very blue collar and I used to wear a suit. Don't wear a suit anymore. Sometimes I put on a sports jacket with jeans. Kind of think that's about as dressy as I get, but people aren't drawn to that anymore. They wanna just know that I care. They don't care what kind of clothes I wear. They just wanna know that I care and that I'm gonna take care of them. So can you open up your toolbox and share with our listeners what are your marketing secrets? What has worked for you when you first started and what is working for you right now? Marketing secrets. Okay, well, I don't know if it's a secret, but when I first started, I lived and breathed the pay-per-click ads. And so I made phone calls for hours a day. I ended up selling 40 houses my first year from literally like just making phone call after phone call I that's I mean, it's not really marketing like it's just paper. I mean, I guess it kind of is it's just It's just it's just so simple. Do you know what I mean? Like it's not like any I Don't have like a crazy secret Like it's just so simple like you just bring the lead in and you build a build a relationship Like you just call them and I genuinely care about what your dog's name is Like, that's my secret. I think that's a great secret. You know, like because not a ton of people up here do pay per click and my team, my team, that is what we focus on. That is the easiest way to get somebody on the phone, talk to them. And like you said, build a relationship with them. Yeah, it's just connecting with people. That's my secret. The more people you connect with, the more deals you'll do. The more you genuinely give a shit, the more deals you will do. So like I said, I actually care about your dog's name. I do, I care about your kid's name. I do, so, I mean, that's my secret. Excellent, just build relationships at scale. How did you get good on the phone? Like take me back to that point where you were like, OK, I'm going to do pay per click and I'm going to, you know, get internet leads and I'm going to pick up the phone and I'm going to phone these people. How scared were you at the beginning and how did you get better at it? Terrified. Okay, so I started at a boutique brokerage. It was a team and they were paying for the lead generation on their own. I was just told, here's a database of 500 people, go make some phone calls. And I was like, what is happening? And then I had such anxiety about it because I'm like, what if they say this? And what if they say this? And then I don't know why, but I... solved my own problem and you know those like sheets of paper, not sheets of paper, they're like books that you can get and they're yellow and they have like a bunch of lines on it and it's like a flip. So I had one of those and I remember sitting there and I'm like, what is it that they're going to say to me when I call? And I would write down what I was scared for them to say and then I wrote down what I should say back. And so I had a flip book of all of these like possible objections that they were gonna have which is hilarious because now that I'm like coaching scripting and stuff like that I'm like, I can't believe I came up with that on my own But either way I made my own script book because I was so nervous that I overprepared myself So that if they did say something that I would like be able to look in my book and then read From from my script. Um, so that's kind of how I got good at it. I I wrote it down, I practiced it, I just made mistakes and kept trying. There's a really great book called Go for No. There's a handful of different versions of it. But I think that the other thing that really helped me be good on the phone was the fact that I knew that every phone call I made was getting me closer to a yes and in return all those nos I actually get paid for. So every time I picked up that phone I'm like, if I got one yes out of 10 nos and I make let's just use easy numbers, let's say 10 grand when I make a sale. They're just made $1,000 per phone call. So I just, I don't know. I think I read enough books and that I was do or die because I was the primary breadwinner and I just wrote down everything that could happen to me and yeah, handled it. I love that. And it's just repetition. It's just like taking reps, right? Yeah, yeah. It's funny though. I think about that. I think about that yellow sheet of paper that I had to flip through and I just think it's so funny. I've only been in real estate eight years and I don't use yellow books of paper anymore. But when I first got into real estate, I had yellow books of paper and I looked like I was from the show Suits. Which is not me. Look at me. Like no. Weird. I think that sounds really good. So, let's just do an improv little script here. Phone me. What am I calling you for? You sign up to my website? I just signed up on your website. I'm a PPC lead. Okay, bring bring. Hi. Hi Colin, this is Skylie from Forever Chem's real estate group. Hi Skylie. Hi, I'm actually just giving you a quick call to make sure that we have your account set up properly. I'm the concierge on the back end of our website and I just wanted to make sure that I'm sending you all the accurate properties for your home search criteria. So looks like you're going for a three bedroom, two bathroom home and your preferred areas of town is North Shore, West Side, and Bachelor Heights. Does that sound right? Sounds awesome. Skylie, that was great because it's usually the opening that people get scared. Like once they get over that opening, then it's easy to talk to somebody if they're willing to talk to you. Like once you get over that first opening and your opening is beautiful. And I love the fact how you come at it, that you're just there to help. You're not trying to sell. See, too many people when they're working PPC leads, think that... I need to sell this person something right now. And the way you do it, which is absolutely brilliant, is that you come from a point of just helping them, helping them with their home search. You're not there to sell them anything. I always tell my team on that first phone call, do not do any selling whatsoever. You're just there to make sure that they're taken care of and that their search is set up. Once you build the relationship, then you can ask for the order. Yeah, and I always come at it from a way of like, how can I help? Like, how can I help you? I don't want anything from you. Like, how can I help you? And then usually, again, people are very reciprocal to that. And then the other thing. is that a lot of times people are like, do you have a minute? Or like, how are you? And that gives you an opening for an objection. So I didn't ask any of those. I just sat in that silence, which can be like the most painful silence in the entire, but I waited for you to say, okay. and then carried on. I know, but like I sat, I was like, I'm gonna sit in here until I'm gonna sit in this awkward silence and then the person's gonna be like, okay, like, what do you want? Do you know what I mean? in that initial bit there, you never asked how I was. That's a killer. That'll stop your conversation right there is saying, hey, Colin, how are you? And then quite often. is this a good time? No, it's not a good time. Never. It never is it never is so you just blew right through that you didn't give me a time Time to say anything you blew right through that and got to the point of why you're phoning me And it wasn't to sell me something. It's absolutely brilliant You know anybody listening to this podcast take notes write down What she said there and that is a beautiful opening line now you've alluded you have a couple of children and You know, for a lot of us, when we become successful at real estate, we're sacrificing time. How do you keep a work-life balance and what advice could you share with anybody? Um, well, I've learned this through, um, like, Sims coaching as well. Joe was the one who kind of taught me how to build my calendar. Um, and he always says, like, you need to put stuff in your calendar for you first. So I always put something that fills my cup first. It's like putting the oxygen mask on you instead of other people first. Because if you're not filling your cup, then how are you supposed to fill everybody else's? So putting my cup on my calendar. Yeah, yeah, so putting into my calendar stuff from me first, regardless of what it is. Maybe I like gardening, or I have a hobby that I really like, or time. time for me to go for like a walk, stuff like that. And then the next, can you hear her in the background? Yeah, we love dogs. That's what happens when you work from home, right? Like the pros and cons. The next thing would be putting in your friends and family into your calendar, because obviously you need time for them too. And then after that, or in kids, yeah, miss the kids. That was the whole point of this conversation. And then putting in like your clients next. So, I mean, obviously you need to put everybody into your calendar, but like how you strategically place them in your calendar is gonna create that work-life balance. So again, I build my calendar with me first, friends and family, kids second, and then put my clients around everything else. And so when someone asks me, like, hey, can we do an appointment at this time? If I have something in my schedule with my kids, my family, my friends, or myself, I'm like, sorry, I actually have an appointment at that time already, like, does this time or this time work for you? Instead, and nobody ever asked me, like, well, what's your appointment? Like, they don't get to know what that appointment is, like, I have an appointment with myself. Like, they don't ask that question, so. Yeah, and you know, they don't need to. And if they do, then, you know, it's, you gotta live your life. You gotta be allowed to live your life, right? Doesn't revolve around work. Yeah, well, and I mean, and I think with this industry too, there is a lot of... The way that the schedule works is that you do have the flexibility. So sometimes I feel like people think that you are available all the time. And like if you don't time block things off, you can burn out. It's just you can't be a pop tart. I was told I was a pop tart when I first started. It was like one of the guys, the team leader was like, you got to stop being a pop tart. And I'm like, I don't even know what that means. But like, like you needed the paycheck and you're working really hard and you're new to the industry and you had a lot of energy and. Yeah, the Pop-Tart phase does not last forever, especially when you start burning out. So conserve your energy. Use your calendar. a pop tart at the beginning. You got to do it. You just got to go and do it. What is the one thing that has you most excited about the future of your real estate business? I'm actually really excited to start working remotely. I have the team right now here, and then I'm also working with the coaching company, and as things grow and progress, and as we have, as EXP has come to Canada, just all the different opportunities and platforms that we have, and structures that there are available, my goal for the next three years would be to work remotely, so I'm really excited about that. I love being in Kamloops, how amazing would it be to be like still working from my laptop in Arizona and like just enjoying it. You know what I mean? So I'm excited about that because the platforms that we have are allowing for that. So yes, snow is not the thing. Yeah, snow is not my thing anymore either. Give our listeners three actionable takeaways that you think every agent should be doing in their business right now. Um, I feel like I wrote these down as I was like thinking about it. Um, or maybe I didn't. I thought that I wrote this down. Three actual items. Well, for me, I think it's really important to like get out of your house. Get out of your house. So like anything that someone invites you to. you should be going to. Like if someone's asking you to go to a barbecue, like you should go to the barbecue. If you're asked to go to a kid's birthday party, you should go to the kid's birthday party. Like you should be building those relationships. And it's funny because I feel like that does count for work at the same time, but you're having fun while doing it. And if you're not having fun, that's another actionable item then I feel like this probably isn't the industry for you. So yeah, that's definitely one of them. Have fun. And then again, just building relationships. I said going out to all the events, which again, kind of it goes hand in hand with. Building connections, but I just, I think it's so important to kind of bring up again, is just like the more relationships you build, the better you're gonna do, and the more you can help other people, right? So. Absolutely. What do you see in the future for organized real estate? What are our challenges? Well, I mean now that EXP is here and it's like the agent-owned brokerage model, I do see a little bit of challenges with other brokerages popping up trying to use a similar model but not the same, if that makes sense. So I actually, I don't know if you know this, I ended up switching over to RealBroker for a little while. And then I switched back. And the reason that there's a lot of stuff to go on with that, but something that I learned about the other model that I was like, oh, this is going to be like a really big thing, is that at eXp, you get paid the most in your rev share when you build out your seventh line, like your seventh line you get paid the most for, where at real broker, you get paid the most on your first line. So where is your incentive to help everyone else be successful? So I think that that's probably like the biggest challenge that I'm going to be like I think is going to be in the future is that there's all these models that are coming out. They're going to be kind of like lookalikes, but they're not going to be exactly the same. And that the industry as a whole needs to be like helping each other. Like EXP's model is amazing because it can allow everyone to share secrets and there's incentive for everybody to do that. We were already in like a dog-eat-dog like industry where nobody wanted to share secrets. And then so now when you're putting a rev share model on top of that for you getting paid the most on your first line, I think that that's just going to stifle the growth of the industry as a whole, because now you're going to have people there that are only out for themselves again, where at eXp it's like everybody is helping each other be successful, which is actually better for the consumer in the end anyway. So, yeah. I really do think that it's gonna be like an issue in the future. Right, so generally, realtors are a pretty giving bunch. What are you doing to give back to your community? We, like the team as a whole, we do some fundraisers every year, which I love and I love community. Like I love our community and I love how supportive like my city is for raising funds for different. I don't even know, nonprofits and stuff. So we've done a few fundraisers for the wildlife park, which was really cool. We also have a thing called Basics for Babies where the food bank pretty much gets everybody to donate like diapers and like food for babies and stuff like that. So that's really fun. I think the Basics for Babies is one of my favorite things to raise money for, especially since I have young kids and then the team also has kids as well. But yeah, we pretty much just. love giving back to the community. So anytime we hear of any fundraisers like that, we try and like get our feet in there. And then supporting local businesses, right? So I know a lot of the owners of the local businesses, like we just gave a shout out to Barry and Nicole from Peters Pasta. So yeah, I just, I love supporting the local companies. Like I think that they are very important for the city. I think they're very important for like the economy. So I try and shop and eat at the local shops as much as I can. Brilliant. So coming up, my favorite part of the podcast, and it's the soon to be famous rapid fire round. Are you ready? Oh, maybe. Hahaha. What is the one piece of technology that you can't do without and you can't say MLS or your cell phone? Probably like the electronic signature programs. I know there's a number of them, but DocuSign, like DigiSign, AuthenticSign, like all of those. I never lived in the world without electronic signatures, but I know there's a lot of people in the industry that have and yeah. So I mean, the amount of business that you can do now and like, yeah, I just imagine it. I think that we would all die without it. You don't even know how much time it saves me. What is the best book you've ever read? Um, best book I've ever read. How to Win Friends and Influence People is an amazing book. I try and read that every year. I don't think people really understand how important it is to work with other human beings and like to understand like where they're coming from. Like even when we're negotiating, do you know what I mean? Like if you can just work with other people, you're gonna get so much further in life, regardless of being in real estate or not, just like. Life in general will be a lot easier if you just play nice. You got it. What is the best business advice you've ever received? Business advice? Be consistent is probably the best one because in any business that you run, you don't wake up and things just are perfect and you can't just do something for a week or two and you reap the rewards. There's a lot of consistency behind every single business and I would say that, like you gotta test things out for a year. So consistency and setting a timeline of about a year for anything that you're gonna try. Yep. Okay, this one's a little long-winded, but it is my favorite. Imagine you woke up tomorrow morning in a brand new world identical to Earth, but you knew no one. You still have all the experience and knowledge you currently have, your food and shelter is taken care of, but all you have is a laptop and $500. What would you do to resurrect your real estate business in the next seven days? Ooh. I think that meeting people and building relationships with those people would be the biggest thing to resurrect my business in seven days. And with the $500, I think I would sink some money into hosting a community event so that I can get a lot of people in one area and then network with them, meet them, tell them to bring their friends and family. I think that would be. meeting the most amount of people in the most condensed time possible. Last question and then we will say goodbye. Give us a quote that has guided you in your life. It is like the stupidest thing ever, but it is so true. And I got a tattoo of it when I was 18. It's on my shoulder, here I'll show you. It's like written on my shoulder, okay? And it's actually, I feel like it's actually like encompasses everything we've talked about throughout this whole entire podcast today. But it's just keep swimming. It's from freaking Finding Nemo, and I'm like a child, which is fine. But it's true, like the consistency. Like just keep going and like don't let people tell you that you shouldn't do something just because they're scared of it Like it literally like encompasses everything we've talked about. So anyways love the fact that you have a tattoo of a quote from Finding Nemo. I was 18 and but you know what? Testament still stands like I still yeah, I still believe it. So I wouldn't get a tattoo of it now that I'm 30, but I mean, I still believe it so. it works and you still believe it. And it's a good quote. Now, one of the really big things that we're trying to do on the podcast is to be sort of a conduit for referrals. If an agent that is listening to this podcast has somebody coming in or out of Kamloops, what is the best way that they can reach you and give you a referral? Um, honestly, like, my email is really easy. I am easily accessible. Like, you seriously Google my name and I'm the only Skyli that you will probably find. So that's easy. But, I mean, you can call me or text me. My email is skyli at forevercamloops.com. I'm easily found on social media. We honestly keep track and watch all of those outlets for communication, so. the likelihood of you getting to me through anything online is very easy. Perfect. And I will have some of those links in the show notes for this podcast to make it easy for everybody that you can send Skyli a referral. So Skyli, I just want to once again, thank you very much. I know we had some technical issues beforehand and hey, that's all right. I have three dogs, so I totally get it. But I just wanted to thank you very much for being on the podcast. It was amazing to get to know you a little bit better and be able to provide some value to our listeners. Thank you so very much. And anybody listening, if you have somebody going to Kamloops or moving out of Kamloops, give Skylai a call. She would love to take care of them. Thank you. All the best.