How Kevin Mejia worked 12 hour days for a year, then learned to take weekends off

Ren Jones00:06

It’s that time. Welcome to Roadmap, How to Take Three Listings a Week Until You’re Ready. Each week we interview a great agent who’s consistently taking several listings each month, and we have an exciting guest today. We encourage you to take notes and apply as much of the knowledge as quickly as you can, and then use the copycat principle. If you’re watching on Vulcan7 or the Lead Gen Facebook group, we welcome you. And let me introduce my co-host from San Diego, Carley Hathaway. That’s carleyhathaway.com. Hi, Carley. How’s the real estate business?

Carley Hathaway00:43

Hey, Ren. Hey, everybody. Real estate is great. Really good time to be a listing agent.

Ren Jones00:49

Great, great. Things going well in San Diego?

Carley Hathaway00:52

Of course. Couldn’t be better.

Ren Jones00:55

Good, good, good. Before I introduce our guest today, as I started to say, I want to remind everybody, we’re simulcasting the show on the private Lead Gen Facebook group. They have 51,000 members; I think 52,000 now. So we have a large audience there today as well. And we’ll be pausing for a commercial message during the show as a thank you to the Lead Gen folks. Let’s welcome our guest today from beautiful southern Florida, from Miami all the way up to Jupiter-

Kevin Mejia01:22

Yes.

Ren Jones01:22

… And everything in between in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Mr. Kevin Mejia. Hi, Kevin.

Kevin Mejia01:29

Hey, guys.

Carley Hathaway01:30

Hey, Kevin. Thanks so much for being here today.

Kevin Mejia01:33

Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure.

Carley Hathaway01:35

Awesome. So let’s get right into it. How long have you been in real estate?

Kevin Mejia01:40

So I’ve been in real estate three years coming March of 2020.

Carley Hathaway01:45

Okay, so not super long?

Kevin Mejia01:47

No, not at all.

Carley Hathaway01:48

Okay. And how’s it going so far?

Kevin Mejia01:50

It’s going fantastic. I haven’t tried to reinvent the wheel from day one. I’ve just been following the process, following the steps, and everything else just comes into place right after that.

Ren Jones02:06

Great. What’s that looking like? What does that look like? What’s your goal for this year? And we’re almost at the end of it.

Kevin Mejia02:15

Absolutely. So my goal for this year was to do 50 units. I usually focus on how many units I’m going to do for the year, and right now we’re on track to close 51.

Ren Jones02:27

51, great. Sounds like-

Carley Hathaway02:28

Awesome. Good for you.

Ren Jones02:30

So because we’re near the end of the year, what’s the goal for next year?

Kevin Mejia02:33

The goal for next year would be to bump that up to 70, at least.

Ren Jones02:37

70. Okay. So roughly taking six, seven listings every month. It sounds like you may be getting near that point now, although I don’t know what that looks like in Florida in December.

Kevin Mejia02:50

Well, right now my average is about five listings a month.

Ren Jones02:54

Great. Fantastic. And they just all call you, right?

Kevin Mejia02:59

I wish. It’s not gotten to that point just yet. That’d be nice.

Ren Jones03:04

Yeah. Well, as the database grows-

Kevin Mejia03:07

Yeah.

Ren Jones03:08

Good.

Carley Hathaway03:09

What’s your main source of business? How are you getting these listings?

Kevin Mejia03:13

Sure. So when I first got started, year one, I plugged into Vulcan and I just started calling expireds. It was incredibly tough at first because you deal with a lot of rejection, a lot of insults, and it really kills you on the inside. However, once I started focusing on my scripts primarily, I started taking a couple listings here and there.

Carley Hathaway03:42

Okay. And what scripts do you use?

Kevin Mejia03:45

So when I first got started, if I’m not mistaken, I started using Tom Ferry’s and Mike Ferry’s scripts, and I would just try each and whichever one felt more like me and whichever one got me the results I wanted, I just started sticking to it.

Carley Hathaway04:03

Okay, that makes sense. And so when you first got started, you mentioned that there was a lot of rejection and it hurt inside. How did you overcome that? Because that’s tough.

Kevin Mejia04:13

It is. Well, it all starts in the mind. They say success in the business is 90% mindset. So it all starts as to whether or not you’re going to believe what those people are saying. So what I have in front of my computer, or when I wake up in the morning, I have affirmations. I read my affirmations out loud. I have about 20 to 30 of them, and that helps me realize what the truth is. The truth isn’t that I suck or that I should quit real estate. The truth is that I’m great at what I do and that I will be the best listing agent in my local area.

Carley Hathaway04:49

I think that’s huge because you’re right, it is mindset and you have to keep reminding yourself.

Kevin Mejia04:55

Absolutely. So whenever I get insults, whatever it is, there’s a quote I have in my head, which is, “Some do, some don’t. So what? Move on.”

Carley Hathaway05:07

Love that.

Kevin Mejia05:08

It’s a numbers game.

Carley Hathaway05:09

Yeah, definitely. Because it is always the next one, you-

Kevin Mejia05:12

Absolutely. Every no is just that step closer to that yes. That’s all it is, and that’s how I approach the day. I don’t approach, “Am I going to take the listing or not? I don’t want to deal with rude people on the other side of the line.” It’s just like, “All right. How many people am I going to have to speak to today in order to achieve my goal?”

Carley Hathaway05:36

That makes sense. And so when you first started, you’re learning the scripts, you’re trying to figure it out. How long did it take you to get consistently good at this? Like getting listing appointments E every day.

Kevin Mejia05:49

So when I first got started, my whole first 12 months in the business, I know some people don’t want to hear this, but it’s the absolute truth: I worked seven days a week, 12 hour days for the first full year. I mean, it wasn’t easy, but I stuck to a schedule. That’s the thing. If you don’t have a schedule and you don’t stick to it’s incredibly hard to be consistent. So I felt like that helped me, the ability that I did it every single day, and the fact that I followed a schedule, by the second month, it was just habitual.

Carley Hathaway06:27

Right, you-

Ren Jones06:28

Now when you slowed down to five days a week or six days a week.

Kevin Mejia06:31

Now it took me about a year later, a year and a half later. I have a coach, and my coach always used to tell me, “Kevin, you’re going to burn out. You’re going to crash. I know this is incredibly important to you, but you’re going to burn out if you keep doing this.” And I’m 22 at the time, so in my mind, I have all the energy in the world. After about a year and a half, I had a burnout. It was really tough because I started questioning whether this is for me or not. And what I did is I started taking every Sunday off, and then a year later, which is this year that I stepped into, I started doing my weekends off. If I have to do a little bit on the weekends, I’ll do it if I have to, but I make sure I don’t put anything for those two days just to keep my sanity.

Ren Jones07:20

You’re primarily a listing agent, which it sounds like you are.

Kevin Mejia07:23

Yes.

Ren Jones07:24

You’re working Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday listing property, so that Saturday and Sunday nights and weekends, the agents who love buyers show your listings. Is that right?

Kevin Mejia07:35

Absolutely.

Ren Jones07:35

Love that.

Kevin Mejia07:36

Absolutely. That’s the game plan.

Ren Jones07:38

Love that. Love that. Good for you.

Carley Hathaway07:40

So you mentioned that what really helped you was your routine. So can you walk us through your morning routine?

Kevin Mejia07:47

Absolutely. It’s totally different now, but my first year I would wake up at five. From 5 to 5:30, I would do my affirmations, prayer, meditation, whatever works best for the individual. For me, it was affirmations and prayer. Then from 5:30 to 7, I was at the gym jogging, lifting weights, just because it helped me put my mind, and it felt like I took control of my day instantly, and I did all the difficult stuff instantly.

08:21So after 7:00, as the day progressed, in reality, the day got easier as it went along. And so from 7 to 8, I would eat breakfast, script practice. My first year I used to script practice heavily with my best friend who was also in the industry. And after script practice from 8 to 12, lead generating, calling everyone I knew, everyone that I’d come in contact with: my family, my friends, people in my Facebook every single day until I got my first listing, 8 to 12.

Carley Hathaway08:55

That’s a lot. How long did it take you to be able to build the stamina to do it for that long a period of time?

Kevin Mejia09:01

Well, the stamina was already built within me. The reason is because I moved from New Orleans, Louisiana, and I moved here with, say, $30,000 in my pocket, and it was a do or die situation, which was, all right, I either make it in real estate or I try my best, I go broken, and I go back home to New Orleans.

Ren Jones09:25

You burned the boats, huh?

Kevin Mejia09:27

Yep. That’s exactly what I did. So it’s almost like I left my mind with no other option but to survive. And so that alone just gave me this. It didn’t feel like, to me at that time, it wasn’t incredibly hard. It’s just I had nothing else to do but that.

Carley Hathaway09:45

Yeah, that makes sense.

Ren Jones09:45

When you think about it, and there’s so many people out there, they’re not doing that many transactions, but they spend a lot of time working on their one or two pendings when really they’ve got six hours a day that they could lead generate.

Kevin Mejia09:59

Absolutely.

Ren Jones10:00

It’s just lead generation is not quite that gratifying, but it sure pays well.

Kevin Mejia10:06

Literally, it’s the 80 20 rule. It’s the 20% that produces the 80% of everything else.

Ren Jones10:12

That’s it.

Kevin Mejia10:14

Like I said, I don’t worry about the listings or my pending deals. I start my day thinking, all right, how many people do I got to speak to today? If it takes me three hours, if it takes me two, if it takes me six, however long it takes me, but that’s my priority.

Carley Hathaway10:27

And how many people is your goal to speak to a day?

Kevin Mejia10:30

At bare minimum? 20.

Carley Hathaway10:32

That’s great.

Ren Jones10:34

And you pass that minimum, I assume?

Kevin Mejia10:37

Yes. Whenever I use a dialer, like with Vulcan, I can exceed that, no problem. But if I’m hand dialing, which sometimes I do, it could take me three to four hours to get to 20.

Ren Jones10:50

Oh, gotcha.

Kevin Mejia10:53

Yep, exactly.

Carley Hathaway10:56

So I’m sure you have days now, even though you’re in a regular routine, you’ve been doing it for three years, I’m sure you have days you wake up and you’re kind of like, “Ugh, I just want to stay in bed, or I’m not in the mood today.” How do you get over that hump?

Kevin Mejia11:09

That’s a great question. Honestly, that only happens to me when I’m not taking time off. When I’m not taking time off and I’m working every day, I get mornings like that where it’s like, damn, I don’t feel like doing anything today. This really sucks. And I’ll be honest with you, I listen to myself and I’ll just sleep in an extra 30 minutes, an extra 60 minutes. But as soon as I wake up, whether it’s 8 or 9, whatever the case is, first thing I do is I pick up the phone and start making calls. So if I start making calls at 9 or 10, that means I’m making calls till 1 or 2 in the afternoon.

Ren Jones11:45

Kevin, to be fair, most people don’t carry that mindset like that. Most people have an I don’t want to voice that’s a lot louder than yours. You’re in coaching, so that keeps you on track.

Kevin Mejia11:58

Absolutely.

Ren Jones11:59

What say you to people that have a loud, I don’t want to voice? And you’re doing affirmations, you’ve got coaching; those things hold cause people to do things way more than they normally would. Anything else they should be doing?

Kevin Mejia12:13

That’s a great question. I’ve learned-

Ren Jones12:16

Maybe because it doesn’t apply to you, maybe you don’t have the answer because you’re rather a hunter mentality.

Kevin Mejia12:25

You let me know if this answer your question. So what I’ve learned is that whenever I’m not learning, whenever I’m not constantly pursuing new knowledge, whenever I’m not learning from my mistakes, whenever I’m not trying to gain wisdom from the mentors and the people above me, that’s when I start having what I call, it’s a self suicide mentality: because I no longer want to pursue anything, I no longer want to work, and it’s uphill battle from there. But what I’m realized is that if every morning I learned something new or I learned from a mistake of something that I had no idea what happened in a transaction, or I’m constantly keeping my mind absorbing new information it’s as if, I don’t know, it just pushes me to want to keep moving forward, if that makes sense.

Carley Hathaway13:10

Just constantly always gaining knowledge helps you keep driving, keep going.

Kevin Mejia13:15

Absolutely, absolutely. If I’m not gaining knowledge, I’m going backward or I’m becoming stale, and that’s a fear to me.

Ren Jones13:22

Most people need some sort of routine or-

Kevin Mejia13:24

Absolutely.

Ren Jones13:26

Learning something new, putting some good things in.

Kevin Mejia13:30

Absolutely everything that comes in.

Ren Jones13:32

You do it instinctively, but not everybody does.

Kevin Mejia13:35

I guess that’s true. That’s something I usually don’t think about. And I guess that’s my personality, but I’ve come to learn that if you’re not learning anything new and you’re not at least challenging yourself, you’re staying stale or you’re going backwards. And at that point, well, are you really growing in anything?

Ren Jones13:58

What’s your listening presentation look like?

Kevin Mejia14:02

What do you mean exactly? Time?

Ren Jones14:05

Well, in other words, do you do it all at once? Do you do it in a two-step? Do you send them something in advance or do you just load it all on them when you get there and do a two-hour marathon or is it in little doses?

Kevin Mejia14:20

That’s a great question. That’s something that I never knew how to approach it because you hear so many different things from so many different people. You got to send something before you meet with them, or you have to have a two-part listing presentation, like you said. But what I’ve learned is that if you speak with them enough times before the listing presentation and you pre-qualify them thoroughly before the listing presentation, what I do is once I’ve had all those conversations, I just prepare my CMA, my comps, and I meet with them and I take the listing that same day. I don’t send them anything beforehand. I don’t send them everything via email. I don’t tell them, “Hey, I’ll meet you again.” No, I will not leave that kitchen table until you sign the contract. And that’s just who I am. And I try to stay within a 40-minute timeframe, I don’t go outside of that.

Ren Jones15:17

Nice. And that’s with signing paperwork, so that’s great. So pre-qualifying heavily.

Kevin Mejia15:25

Absolutely.

Ren Jones15:26

Let’s say you’ve known him for 20 years. Well, you’re maybe not old enough to know…

Kevin Mejia15:31

No, I’m 24.

Ren Jones15:33

That you’ve known them for a while, would you pre-qualify them heavily?

Kevin Mejia15:39

That’s a no, I don’t think so.

Ren Jones15:40

No?

Kevin Mejia15:41

No, I feel at that point-

Ren Jones15:43

You just assume they’re going to go with you?

Kevin Mejia15:45

I know they’re going to go with me without a doubt. It’s just how I really try to study their motivation. Do they really want it? What’s the whole purpose as to why they’re moving? Is it important? Because like I explained to all the sellers that I meet with, I don’t take listings just to take them because at the end of the day, I don’t get paid until they sell.

Ren Jones16:05

What if the motivation is low, but they’re willing to go with your price?

Kevin Mejia16:12

If the motivation is low and they’re willing to list on my price, I just make sure I set the expectations, “Hey, listen, if I do bring you a buyer within the next two weeks, will you be ready to accept this after? Yes or no?” If they tell me no, then what’s the point of taking the listing?

Ren Jones16:27

Yeah. What’s the point? No, I get you. Get you. Okay. So there’s a relationship between price and motivation is what you’re saying?

Kevin Mejia16:34

Absolutely.

Ren Jones16:34

Okay.

Carley Hathaway16:35

And how do you handle it when they try to have you cut your commissions?

Kevin Mejia16:40

So you really got to know your scripts and you really got to know how to provide value. I’ve learned that commission objections only come up if you haven’t provided enough value upfront or at the listing presentation. And if you’re not managing all of their objections properly. But if you’re answering all the questions that they have in their mind before they come up and you’re presenting value, commission never comes up. But if for some reason it does, I know that I put it all on my broker. I’m not in control of my commission. The standard is 6%. That’s that’s what every seller pays in this market. So I take the pressure off of me.

Ren Jones17:32

Good.

Carley Hathaway17:33

That’s smart.

Ren Jones17:34

Yeah, I like that. Good. Now you’re accumulating some past clients as you build this business. Past clients.

Kevin Mejia17:42

Yes.

Ren Jones17:43

What is your method of continuing to get business from that group as it gets bigger over the years?

Kevin Mejia17:51

Sure. Actually, I didn’t start focusing on that until about this year. Personally, because I was afraid to contact-

Ren Jones18:00

There’s nobody there, then…

Kevin Mejia18:02

I was afraid to contact some of the people that I first dealt with because truth be told, if you’ve never done real estate, and in my case, I sold 17 homes for my first year, you committed a lot of mistakes. Without a doubt. It’s quick, it’s fast-paced, so it’s quick decision making. And if you’re not well-prepared, you’re going to give the wrong advice. So at first I was very hesitant to do it, but what I learned is that if you called them four times a year and you don’t have to ask them for business, just know that you’re still there and you still care about them, they’ll send you business.

18:36For example, I’ll call them just to see how the move-in was or if they want to update anything in the house, do they need a recommendation; or I remind them of their homestead in Florida so they can get a tax exemption. You’re just there providing value. You’re not asking, “Hey, how’s the house? Do you know anybody else that wants to buy or sell?” If you did a good job and you stay in front of them and you’re providing value, the referrals will come naturally.

Ren Jones19:05

Good. So you just bring value back to them and then automatically they’re going to want to send people back to you.

Kevin Mejia19:13

Yeah. Reciprocity.

Ren Jones19:14

There you go. The rule of reciprocity.

Carley Hathaway19:18

So when you’re calling them, you’re just kind of trying to stay in their mind and remind them that you are alive and you exist?

Kevin Mejia19:24

Absolutely. And to me, that’s considered a contact. That’s a much easier conversation.

19:30Absolutely. It’s easy conversation. They know you, you don’t got to fight your way into the conversation, and you don’t have to put on a show, you just be yourself.

Carley Hathaway19:39

It’s a beautiful thing. And one day, fast forward, we see this so much: 10, 12, 15 years, that becomes a large bulk of your business.

Kevin Mejia19:47

Absolutely. That’s where most of your time is spent.

Ren Jones19:50

Yeah. A larger portion than now, because you can do it in a few days now.

Kevin Mejia19:57

Absolutely.

Ren Jones19:57

But it’s building fast and you’re doing it well.

Kevin Mejia19:59

It is.

Ren Jones20:01

Fantastic. This has been really, really helpful.

Kevin Mejia20:04

Awesome.

Ren Jones20:05

I’m thrilled we could chat with you about this.

Carley Hathaway20:08

Yeah, I think we got some really good stuff. And it’s really fun that we got to interview you because only being in the business for three years kind of gives the rest of us hope.

Kevin Mejia20:19

Right. Absolutely. Like I said, you don’t have to reinvent anything. Just follow what the people that have already done what you’re looking to do, have them whisper in your ear and just don’t question it. That’s one thing my coach, because there’s a lot of people that approach him… Because the way I got connected with him was by accident. He saw that I was struggling taking my first listing, and he asked me, he said, “Well, you should get a coach.” And I told him, “Why? I don’t need anyone to tell me I got to wake up early. I don’t need anyone telling me I got to have the right mindset. I don’t need anyone telling me I got to make calls. I know I have to do that, so why am I going to pay someone to do it?” And he laughed and he’s like, “It’s funny you think that’s all a coach is.”

21:04And so he said, “Listen, I’ll offer the coach you if you do what I say.” And then of course after coaching with him, I started realizing that it’s primarily about your scripts: it’s about what you say, how you say it, and how many people can you say it to? You do that and everything else falls into place. And I ask him, “I’m surprised you took me from selling 15 homes a year to 50. I’m surprised you’re not coaching a lot of people.” He told me, he said, “The reason is because I coach people, but they all question what I say. They don’t trust that what I’m telling them is right, and what I tell them to do, they don’t do.” So of course they struggle and of course coaching isn’t open for them or it doesn’t work for them. So it’s about just having an open mind and just being a student.

Ren Jones21:54

Obviously you’re very coachable, which makes a big difference.

Kevin Mejia21:58

Absolutely. Just be a good student.

Ren Jones22:00

You’ve been on both sides of this. When you start, you were kind of winging it and then you started working with a very canned, scripted presentation. There are people that are like, “Well, I have my own style and I like to wing it,” which is winging it usually. It’s usually saying whatever erupts in their thought pattern. What say you? Why is a planned script like a surgeon uses, like a pilot uses, why is a script so important?

Kevin Mejia22:30

Absolutely. Well, to me it’s so that I can focus more on what the seller is saying. Because if you’re going in there winging it and you really don’t know what you’re going to say, as the seller’s talking, you’re constantly focused on how you’re going to reply; you’re not really paying attention to the seller’s needs. However, if you memorize your script and you at least have a guideline of what to present first and what to expect and how to close, you can actually focus all of your attention on the seller.

Ren Jones23:00

Yeah. That’s a beautiful thing. And they’re happier.

Kevin Mejia23:02

Absolutely.

Ren Jones23:04

They’re happier.

Kevin Mejia23:04

They feel like you care. And ultimately that’s what they want. They want someone who cares.

Ren Jones23:09

They can feel the fact that you’re focused on them and not thinking about what you’re going to say next. They can feel that.

Kevin Mejia23:15

Absolutely. Absolutely. Because if you’re not practicing, then really, and I’m sure you guys have heard this, you’re practicing on them. And practicing on them is costing you, where we live, 10 grand.

Ren Jones23:27

Yeah. So folks, there are many people watching that in the next few months are going to have somebody that needs to buy or sell a home in southern Florida somewhere from Miami all the way up to West Palm, maybe even Jupiter, all the way up somewhere along the way. What’s the best way, Kevin Mejia, for them to reach out to you?

Kevin Mejia23:49

Absolutely, absolutely.

Ren Jones23:51

Your referral.

Kevin Mejia23:51

So I have an assistant and the best way to reach out to me would be to call her directly. Her name is Allie, who’s also my sister. She joined me two years ago full-time.

Carley Hathaway24:04

That’s awesome.

Kevin Mejia24:05

Yeah. So her number is 985-249-9919. And if there’s no answer, you guys are more than welcome to text or leave a voicemail because we check every single one before the end of the day.

Ren Jones24:20

Perfect. Perfect.

Carley Hathaway24:21

Sounds good.

Ren Jones24:22

Great. Thanks so much, Kevin. Folks, if you’re watching on Vulcan7, you want to get involved with the Lead Gen Facebook group that’s simulcasting this show, they are at facebook.com/group/gotobjections. And I want to thank Aaron Wittenstein who runs the group. And finally, if you’re watching on Facebook and you’re not yet involved with Vulcan7, make sure to sign up at vulcan7.com/leadgen for a special deal. And then I was getting a couple texts while the show was going on asking, what is Kevin’s real secret? And I have it here.

24:56Kevin, after he makes four hours worth of calls, sets three appointments, and two for the same day, what he does is he goes and he gets some delicious Graeter’s mint chocolate chip. This is the one for listings. The Graeter’s mint chocolate chip is for listings. Rocky Road obviously is for buyers, but the mint chocolate chip, if the listing is slow to sell, dig a hole in the ground and bury it upside down, and that listing will sell just like that.

Kevin Mejia25:24

That’s funny.

Ren Jones25:25

Yes. Want to thank everybody for being here. Yes, and that is the secret. We have a lot of people that buy that and their listing business has just gone through the roof.

Kevin Mejia25:34

Absolutely.

Carley Hathaway25:36

Thank you so much, Kevin. I think we all learned a lot today. Thank you,

Kevin Mejia25:40

Awesome. Awesome. Thanks for having me, guys.

Ren Jones25:42

Thanks everybody. We’ll see you next week.

Carley Hathaway25:46

Bye.

Kevin Mejia25:47

Cool.

Ren Jones25:47

Bye-bye.

25:47