The Agent Who Quit Selling 100 Homes to Build Something Better with Brandi Fugate

Q: How did Brandi Fugate get into real estate and eventually open her own brokerage?
A: Brandi spent 21 years in mortgage lending, got her real estate license to help with her own flips, and accidentally sold 36 homes her first year. She opened Private Label Real Estate when she realized she was already running her own operation and wanted to build a brokerage that didn’t exist in her market.

Q: What was Brandi’s production like before she exited?
A: She sold 100 homes a year for several years, running a small team and handling most of the business herself.

Q: Why did she decide to exit production, and how did she do it?
A: Family came first—Brandi became a caregiver and needed more time at home. She focused on recruiting and building systems so she could step out of production, growing her agent count by 370% and increasing brokerage GCI by 37%.

Q: What was the key mindset shift in recruiting?
A: Brandi realized she couldn’t just recruit “another Brandi.” She met agents where they were, focused on their goals, and built a culture around collaboration and support, prioritizing character and cultural fit over production.

Q: What does onboarding and training look like at Private Label?
A: New agents go through a “Hello Week” onboarding—five days, three hours a day, in person, covering tech, systems, and live lead calls. By Friday, they’re in the rotation and getting leads. Call reluctance is addressed through practice, accountability, and daily call audits.

Q: How does Brandi handle phone reluctance and lead conversion?
A: Agents start calling leads on day two of onboarding. Brandi audits calls daily, gives feedback, and encourages agents to keep practicing, knowing they’ll improve over time. She emphasizes LP MAMA for rapport and conversion, especially with shared leads.

Q: What does the admin and tech stack look like?
A: Brandi runs a lean operation with four VAs (in India and the Philippines) and one local executive assistant. They handle everything from transaction coordination to marketing. The tech stack includes Follow Up Boss, Ylopo, QuickBooks, Google Suite, Corded, Go High Level, and Trello.

Q: What’s her advice for leaders who want to build a business that supports their life?
A: Recruit consistently, get out of your own way, and let go of the idea that you need superstar agents. Build systems, focus on culture, and support agents’ individual goals. Implement fast and take massive action.

Q: What’s next for Private Label Real Estate?
A: Keeping recruiting funnels open, supporting agents to hit their goals, and developing future leaders through a pod system as agents mature.

Suneet: [00:00:00] Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Reside Platform podcast. I’m your host today, Sunni Aderal. I’m super excited for our guest today, Brandy Fugate, the owner and managing broker of Private Label Real Estate in Tulsa. Brandy, how’s it going? 

Brandi: Doing great. How are you? 

Suneet: Oh, I’m super good. Um, you guys, if you don’t know Brandy, she’s been in real estate in mortgage for decades and has built an incredible independent brokerage known for a concierge level service, strong values, and real leadership.

Suneet: Um, and when we talking to Brandy today, and not we, but when me, it’s not me in the mouse, in my pocket, it’s just me. Um. Brandi’s done something pretty incredible over this last year, so make sure you stay tuned to hear all about it. [00:01:00] Alright, Brandi? Yes. So. How would you get into this fun, wild world or real estate in the first place?

Brandi: Yeah. Funny story. So really I was in mortgage lending for 21 years. Oh, okay. And, um, that’s all I knew was mortgage lending, banking side the last several years. And, um, then I started flipping houses and was a little disgruntled that my buyer’s agent wasn’t giving me the opportunities. Quickly enough, and I was missing out on some deals, so I thought I’m just gonna get my real estate license on the side and continue my day job as a mortgage lender.

Brandi: And then, um, what I underestimated was the, my ability to do business on regular retail real estate business that first year. So I sold 36 houses, uh, accidentally, I didn’t mean to, and ended up, uh, leaving mortgage and going into real estate full time. 

Suneet: So when was that? [00:02:00] 

Brandi: That would’ve been, um, 2016. 

Suneet: Okay. 2016.

Suneet: So you were in mortgage during all the ups and downs and the craziness. 

Brandi: Oh, yeah. I saw several from the nineties to, uh, 2008. I saw several of the ups and downs in mortgage for sure. Yeah. I was in subprime back in those days, which I know that’s a dirty word, but 

Suneet: I was, that’s a, a good word though. I got a mortgage in 2002.

Suneet: Okay. And, uh. I sold a lot of option arms, let me tell you that. 

Brandi: Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

Suneet: I used one those option arms. 

Brandi: If you had a 500 credit score and less than a 60% DTI. No money down, no PMI. Easy peasy. 

Suneet: So now, where were you geographically when you started in real estate? 

Brandi: Yeah, so I’m born and raised in Oklahoma, but I started in real estate, um, in Chicago.

Brandi: I moved to Chicago in my twenties, and, uh, I stayed there for about eight years and then came back to Oklahoma, [00:03:00] um, 25 years ago. 

Suneet: Okay. So, so you were in Oklahoma for the real estate part? Correct. And then, so did you, because I, something really cool for everyone listening, Brandy. Phones and runs a successful indie brokerage.

Suneet: And on this, uh, podcast, we don’t talk to as many indies as we used to, so I’m really excited. I’ve noticed. When did you decide to open the brokerage? 

Brandi: Yeah, so it was right about two and a half years ago. I opened it September two years ago. And, uh, it was really just because I, I, I couldn’t keep giving myself excuses not to.

Brandi: Um, as a, as a small team leader, at the time I had my own office space. I had my own tech, I had my own, um, admin team. I was buying leads for my small team. I, I really didn’t need. A broker. 

Suneet: Broker. Sure. Um, 

Brandi: broker, other than the legal, um, [00:04:00] the, the, the legal protection. But I, I, I never got sued. I, and, and I thought, you know why?

Brandi: I’m, I’m just, I’m not opening a brokerage out of fear. It seems silly to give up 20% of every penny that we earn just out of fear. So finally, about two and a half years ago, made the decision and opened private label real estate September, 2023. 

Suneet: That’s super cool. I remember when I opened up my indie, um, I kind of had the same thought and also I just wanted to have the opportunity to work with more agents.

Suneet: That was irrelevant of where they were in their C career. Did, did, did you ever think about that when you were opening up the brokerage or was it more financial? 

Brandi: I mean, it was both. Um, honestly, I, I would’ve never opened up the brokerage. Uh, if there were a brokerage that existed in my market that offered everything that I knew a brokerage should.

Brandi: I, I had no ambition. I had no desire to be a [00:05:00] business owner, to be in leadership Zero. Um, but it was really out of necessity that there, it just didn’t exist. So I had to build it. 

Suneet: And was that the first, like LLC or business that you started? 

Brandi: Uh, yeah. Yeah, it was. 

Suneet: Wow. That’s so cool. He just jumped right into the fire.

Brandi: I did, I did. And, um, uh, you know, and I’m not a natural, um, uh, I’m not a natural leader. It, it, it took a lot of a learning curve. Uh, reside helped out a ton with that, with systems and processes. But, um, uh, I’m, I’m a, I’m a high c. Personality type. I’m not your typical D or I that most team leaders are. Um, you know, set me in a corner and give me a checklist to follow, and that’s my natural jam.

Brandi: But, um, but I’ve found that it’s actually been really rewarding and I was missing my calling. I love to train, I love to teach. I le I love to lead people, but it took 50 years for me to figure out that [00:06:00] that’s, uh, that’s my new jam. 

Suneet: So I’m thinking about all the pain that I had when I opened up my brokerage.

Suneet: And I remember like. Sitting there and check started to come in. I was all, and my Adam was, all we gotta do the compliance. I was all compliance. What did, did you ever have any of those moments when he first opened? 

Brandi: As a high C I’m all about compliance. Are you kidding? I can’t think 

Suneet: about it. Yes. Audit 

Brandi: contracts for eight hours straight and I’m, and I’m in love.

Suneet: So you were ready for that stuff. 

Brandi: It’s put me in front of a room full of new agents to host. Hello? Week for four hours a day for an entire week. That’s where. I start to get, uh, a little nervous, not in the compliance part. 

Suneet: Yeah, that’s so funny. I am the opposite, which is totally going into what you’re saying about disc profiles.

Suneet: Um, so you start your, you start your brokerage. Mm-hmm. [00:07:00] And in the beginning it was fairly just like any new business, smaller Right. 

Brandi: Yeah, sure, sure. We just had a handful of agents, uh, the majority of which were, um, doing real estate on the side. Either they were stay at home parents or stay at home caregivers to disabled loved ones, or had full-time jobs.

Brandi: Um, I only had a couple of agents that were actually looking to do this full-time, and my definition of full-time in this business is about 30 hours a week. So, uh, yeah, we started off really small. It was mainly me. I, I was selling for the last several years. I was selling a hundred homes a year personally.

Brandi: So it was, uh, the business was very much ran by my personal production. 

Suneet: Okay, great. A hundred homes a year for many years is a lot. 

Brandi: It was a lot. 

Suneet: It’s a lot. And I know from knowing you and coaching and working with you through Reside is that you really went deep on online leads. Is, is that fair to say? 

Brandi: Oh, [00:08:00] absolutely.

Suneet: Yeah. Um, what was the moment that you decided to get into that game? 

Brandi: Honestly, I’d been a realtor.com subscriber since back in the mortgage business. I had realtor partners that I was co-sponsoring or co-branding with them on realtor.com. Um, and I bought mortgage leads. Um, there were a handful of different online lead companies for mortgage, you know, back in the lending tree days and, and whatnot.

Brandi: So I, I’d been an online lead company, uh, subscriber since the beginning. So it was just natural to do the same once I jumped the fence from mortgage to real estate. 

Suneet: I love that. And I have the same moment as during mortgage. We used to spend about a million bucks on mail every month. So a lot of mail, um, and it would just be calls so our phones would always ring, right?

Suneet: Mm-hmm. And then when I got into real estate, that was, you know, my story. I was penniless. I didn’t have anything. And, uh, one of my buddies. [00:09:00] Who had gotten back into mortgage. He said, Hey, you know, there’s online leads for real estate too. I was like, oh yeah, of course there are. Uh, I’m all, when it’s a website, he goes, dude, it’s Zillow.

Suneet: And I was all, duh, uh, looks like the cheapest zip code is like 400 bucks a month. I had no money. I was all. Can I borrow 400 bucks? And he loaned it to me and that’s what, that’s what led there. So it’s cool, right? Like when you come in, having that little bit of experience with the leads, which we both had, I think it definitely helped both our success.

Brandi: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And when I moved over to real estate, I, um, I didn’t wanna invest anything in it because again, I just wanted to have MLS access for my own flips. Yeah. I didn’t wanna invest anything in it, so, um, but I’m also not a. Person who practices moderation. I’m either all in or I’m all out.

Brandi: So, um, I would get up in [00:10:00] the morning and look on Zillow for, for sale by owners. And that first year I would just call FSBOs and offer a 4% listing, a, a full service, 4% listing, 3% to the buyer’s agent, 1% To me, the only. Caveat is that they had to let me work as many open houses as I wanted and I would do five open houses in a weekend.

Suneet: Yes. And, 

Brandi: um, I found that I developed 2.7 average buyers for every listing I took by hosting the open houses. So I wasn’t making a killing on those 1% listing commissions, but the buyers I was, I was generating off of those, uh, worked. So after I did that for. A year. I mean, that’s how I did really the 36 units my first year and then 48 my second year.

Brandi: And that’s when I decided, alright, let me start putting some money into this and go back to the, the lead generation online. So signed back up with realtor.com and Zillow. 

Suneet: Do you remember those old school like realtor.com leads that came in like just like. Just like an email. It was just some [00:11:00] typed in there.

Suneet: It was so funny. I’m like, this is a lead. Like this looks so janky, but mm-hmm. But they were there. There was an agent in my office who didn’t want ’em, but paid for ’em. He would just give them all to me. You go, if you get something, gimme a referral. I ended up getting a bunch of ’em, so it was cool. 

Brandi: It kills me how people think that these leads don’t perform.

Brandi: Like, are you kidding? These, these leads do. You’d have to know how to work them. You have to have a good action plan in place. You’ve gotta have good automations in place, but these leads are fantastic. You just have to work them. 

Suneet: Yeah. You just have to work them. Yeah. Um, so when we connected. Uh, at, was that at a Zillow unlock event?

Brandi: Um, 

Suneet: or Tahoe 

Brandi: maybe? No, I, it was Tahoe. It was Tahoe. So Paul started reaching out to me, well, actually I started following Che Black Online, and I did one of his discovery calls, I think six months earlier. He said, honestly, I would love to take your money, [00:12:00] but you don’t need me at the, at the level you’re at.

Brandi: What you need is reside. And I kind of felt like, well, I don’t know what reside is and I feel like this guy just blew me off. So forget that. So six months later, uh, Paul’s been following up with me every month and he says, come out to Tahoe. Just check us out. And uh, that’s where I met all of you guys and signed up on the spot.

Suneet: So what was going through your head when you first even reached out to Shep? Yeah. 

Brandi: Um, I just knew that I, I needed something different and I, I was a big advocate of coaching. I’ve had coaching since I first started. Okay. Um, since day one in 2016. I’ve always had a real estate coach, uh, and they were great to get me to the levels that I was at, but I knew.

Brandi: Um, a year ago, a year and a half ago when I started with Reside, I knew that it was time to make a change and, um, I, I knew that I was turning 50 soon. Um, the days of working seven days a week, um, 12 plus hours a day, [00:13:00] um, that was in my rear view mirror and it was time to make a change. So. I, I felt like Reside was probably a good tool to help me make that transition from producing agent and not just producing agent, but a hundred a year.

Brandi: Man, that’s a lot. 

Suneet: That’s a lot. 

Brandi: It’s a lot. Yeah. Um, and it, and it worked. This 2025 is. A, a huge blessing. I mean, we accomplished exactly what I set out to accomplish with, with your help with you coaching me and all of the systems and the playbooks. We did it 

Suneet: well. I mean, that’s the thing guys, and this is what I was talking about to all the listeners and viewers, is Brandy was able to get out of production due to personal reasons, right?

Suneet: Um. How was that? Dude, that’s, that’s the story right there. I mean, everything else was just a little warmup, like Yeah. What, get into that. 

Brandi: Yeah. I mean, glory to God, really. I mean, it’s, it’s [00:14:00] been a huge answered prayer. So to dig in a little bit about the personal story, my grandmother will be 97 in April and she has dementia.

Brandi: And about a year and a half ago, we got to the point that we knew we were going to have to put her in a nursing home, and she did not want to go into a nursing home at all. She lived about two hours away and we made the decision to move her to Tulsa and my mom moved my mom to Tulsa as well. The three of us moved in together and we’re her in-home caregivers.

Brandi: And, um, you know, it was too much to expect my mom to stay home with her in nine to five while I’m at the office. And then also me run out showing homes and listing appointments on evenings and weekends. So I knew something was gonna have to change and I, I needed to come outta production to be more present for my family.

Brandi: And, uh. Now with the intentional time blocking and eating the frog first thing in the morning. I’m here at nine. I’m usually home by three and I don’t usually leave the house after three. I am there and available and present for my family [00:15:00] 

Suneet: it seems. Wow. Wow. So you moved your mom and, and your grandmother.

Suneet: Did you guys buy another house or did they move in with you? 

Brandi: Yeah, um, we bought a, we bought a house in Tulsa. Um, we had to find one that had no steps and wide hallways and things like that. So we found one, it’s a mile from my office, so the location’s Perfect. 

Suneet: That’s awesome. 

Brandi: Uh, three blocks away from the hospital.

Brandi: So yeah, we found the perfect home. 

Suneet: Um, and then, so I gotta get out of production family first. Absolutely. So what was the first step? 

Brandi: Um, the first step was really you guys, um, and knowing that, um, or being taught by you guys that it’s all about recruiting. Um, to make up for my a hundred transactions a year, I’ve gotta recruit.

Brandi: And, um, if you remember in the beginning, I was stubborn. I thought I [00:16:00] do, I’ll recruit another brandy, someone who’s gonna come in with a hundred transactions a year. And, uh, so then I, that didn’t work. So then I thought, well, let me get two 50, uh, unit a year. And then it, you know, kept going and kept going and, you know, not, there’s not a lot of people who want to sell a hundred homes a year.

Suneet: Yeah. There’s not, and, and that’s okay. 

Brandi: And that’s okay. That’s perfectly fine. And I, and I came to accept that and appreciate that. But, um, it, it took growing our, our agent count by 370% to make up what I had been doing in production three. And that’s okay. They’re all happy. They’re hitting their goals. And, um, not only did we make up for.

Brandi: Um, my production, but we, we even went up a bit. Our unit in, uh, unit count increased 15%. Volume went up about 30%. GCI went up about 30% 

Suneet: all great. 

Brandi: And our brokerage, GCI went up [00:17:00] 37%. So it, it worked. 

Suneet: It worked. So let’s go back to those recruiting days. 

Brandi: Yeah. 

Suneet: What did he like? So you talked a little bit about being stubborn, like what was the mindset shift?

Brandi: Um, well, I mean, it, it was you getting me outta my comfort zone and explaining that to find another unicorn. Who wants to sell a hundred homes a year? I mean, I’m even a unicorn in my market. I’m in the top 0.01% of the market. I mean, there’s just not a lot of people who wanna do that kind of business. So, um, it, it took, um, a just meeting people where they were and really getting to know the agents and what fueled their fire and what their motivations were.

Brandi: And not only the what, but the why they do what they do, and just wanting to help them succeed. And then as I would recruit one agent and then they would have a goal of. 10 units a year, I think. Okay. Gotta keep [00:18:00] going. That’s not gonna do it. So recruit another one. They wanna do five a year. Okay, that’s not gonna do it, but yep.

Brandi: Bring them on. Let’s, let’s support them. Let’s be their cheerleader, but let’s keep going. And so now we’re at, um, 37 units, or I’m sorry, 37 agents, um, with an average tenure on the team of only five months. So most of them are very new. Uh, and most of ’em are brand, brand new, just newly licensed outta real estate school.

Brandi: Um, but altogether they’re projecting 500 units for next year. 

Suneet: Wow. Awesome. So, what’s the recruiting process look like? 

Brandi: Um, so I still use your Indeed ad. I’ve not edited it whatsoever. It’s the same one you started me with, um, a year and a half ago. Um, I did, I, I am running an a and b test. I’ve been doing that for the past few months.

Brandi: One with the award experienced and there in one, um, without the word experienced. Um, and I get probably, uh, a dozen resumes [00:19:00] a week. Um. I would say more than half of them are not licensed and not willing to get a license. They don’t really understand that they have to get a license and what the costs are, especially this time of year in January, you have to pay the entire year’s dues.

Brandi: So it’s pretty hefty. But, um, yeah, we get a few good ones. I probably interview two a week. Um, and, um, that’s, that’s what’s taken us to 37 units. Or 37 agents. 

Suneet: What do you look for in those interviews? 

Brandi: Yeah, it’s all about, um, culture. So when I wrote our mission, vision, and value statement two years ago, I was really intentional about that.

Brandi: I was really intentional about who we were going to be and what kind of business we were going to do, and love that, where our character would show through. So, um, and, and our mission, vision values are everywhere. It’s posted on boards in the lobby. It’s in every single one of our handouts and our [00:20:00] listing presentation, our buyer presentation, our recruiting guide.

Brandi: It’s everywhere. So I, I, I kind of. When I’m interviewing someone, I’m, I’m looking through that filter of are they gonna fit with our culture? I could care less what their production is, could care less. Um, because I know even, uh, an agent who only produced a few deals and have been in the business for a few years, they’re gonna completely outperform what they’ve done in our, uh, in our system.

Brandi: Our system’s totally different. It’s been tried and true. They’re gonna skyrocket when they come over here. So I don’t care about production, I just care about their character and their personality and their willingness to be collaborative. And if I feel like they’re a good fit for the team, then uh, I give them a shot.

Suneet: Yes. Good. Um. Do you think it’s more about feelings and vibes or do you have any like specific ways to like understand 

Brandi: it’s feelings and vibes? To me it’s gut feeling and feeling in my heart. I mean, I wish I had the [00:21:00] magic eight ball and could tell, you know, right off of the bat if someone’s gonna be a good fit or not.

Brandi: Uh, and I hired two last year that were not a good fit. Um, but that’s, I, I figure that’s not bad too, out of, uh, 39 that we hired. That 

Suneet: ain’t bad brandy. 

Brandi: That’s not bad. Um, but you know, it became pretty obvious right away. They were not, um, they were not buying into our culture at all, and it, it stood out. Um, so they ended up finding a better place and I wish them well.

Brandi: Absolutely. But, um, you know, we, and, and one of them was a surprise. I really thought she would’ve plugged in more. The other one, though, I gotta tell you, I, I felt it in my gut. Um, and I think as a team leader, sometimes we start thinking about numbers and we want, we wanna recruit, recruit, recruit. And I just, I wanted another number and I, I, I wasn’t thinking clearly and it, it bit me in the rear because I spent about 90 [00:22:00] days really investing in this person and, and, you know, got nothing out of.

Suneet: Yeah. And, and that happens, right? And you know, maybe it’ll, that person will come back with a newfound hustle and respect for everything that he did. So you brought in all these agents and many people are bringing agents in. And you mentioned something about a hello week, which is onboarding week. Yep. Um, how do you get all these agents you’re recruiting productive?

Brandi: Well, um, hello Week does it, you know, hello week starts out Monday morning. First thing, just getting their technology set up, getting their email set up, getting their f login set up, uh, their email signatures, you know, you name it. And, uh, by Friday at noon, they have their leads turned on and they’re in the rotation.

Brandi: They’re starting to get leads immediately. So, um, and then we’ve got a requirement that they have to complete the very next Rise class with Mia, which is huge. Um, so a combination of Hello Week and Rise. They’re, they’re in. [00:23:00] 

Suneet: So how many hours a day is the Hello? Week? 

Brandi: Uh, it’s just nine to noon. Monday through Friday.

Suneet: And what is that, once a month? 

Brandi: Month? Um, it’s, well, it just depends. Um, it, I, I, once I have a handful of, uh, of new agents, then we’ll do one. So just depends. Theoretically once a month. Sometimes it’s every six weeks, sometimes it’s eight weeks. Just depends. 

Suneet: And then you are the one that’s doing that, obviously.

Brandi: I am doing that, yes. Now I have recorded, uh, the last two hello weeks. So if I have a new agent that comes on, uh, and I am not intending to bring anyone else on for the next few weeks, I’ll, I’ll set them up in the Google Drive to watch the recordings of the last hello week. Um, and they kind of self 

Suneet: onboard.

Suneet: And now, is that in person or Zoom also? 

Brandi: It’s in person. Yeah. They, they’ve gotta bring their technology in, their iPads, their, um, their laptop, their phone. We set up their calendars, we, uh, sign them up for Rise. We sign them up for all of the [00:24:00] meetings. Um, it’s, it’s all in person 

Suneet: now. Um, is there any component of like.

Suneet: Picking up the damn phone and calling through the pond. 

Brandi: Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We start calling, um, day one. We do not, but starting day two, we’re on the phones. We’re going through the smart filters, we’re calling leads. Um, I will plug myself into the lead rotation during hello week so that I’m getting the live notifications when a new lead comes in.

Brandi: I’m showing them, you know, right there live, how I claim it, how I call them, how I talk to them. Uh, LP mama training is one of the things we do. We still go back and watch Nick McLean’s, um, LP mama training from over a year ago. Uh, and that’s what we go off of is, is LP Mama. Um, so yeah, we’re doing that right there in hella week because they need to know that’s, that’s a huge part of their job is making phone calls.

Brandi: So, especially in a lead team like us, so may as well just jump into the fire immediately. ’cause that’s, that’s a lot of the job. 

Suneet: So [00:25:00] you are bringing in these new people and on day two you have ’em picking up the phone. Yeah. How do you help people overcome the reluctance? The phone aversion? Yeah. It’s big, right?

Suneet: And I get it. 

Brandi: Yeah, it’s big. You just have to get over it. I mean, just do it. Just suck it up, buttercup. You just have to do it, and the more you do it, the less reluctancy you’ll have. You just have to get used to it. 

Suneet: Yeah. So like what’s the message though? What do you tell these guys? 

Brandi: Just keep doing it.

Brandi: You’ll get better as you go. And, and we do, I do audit the phone calls. I have time blocked from 10 to 11 every day. My executive assistant and I are going through all of the phone calls from yesterday, and we create a note and f and we market L-P-M-A-M-A. And we say, you know this, you did, or this, you could have done better.

Brandi: And so we’re constantly listening to calls and critiquing. Helping improve the agents. So, and I just tell them right up front, you’re gonna suck at the beginning. I mean, you are, you’re gonna say the wrong things. You’re gonna stumble, you’re [00:26:00] gonna sound like you’re reading from a script. But, uh, before long, you, you won’t even need the script.

Brandi: You’ll just be thinking in your head. L location. Let’s talk location, P price. Let’s talk price. And you’ll get better, and then you’ll get to a point to where you’ll get lazy and you’ll forget and you’ll, you’ll go backwards and I’ll start beating up your call audits again, and then you’ll get back into the groove.

Brandi: It’s just, it’s practice and it’s accountability. 

Suneet: I love that you’re talking about LP mama, because I feel like in this portal lead world that many of us are in, people forget about LBA and go straight to something like A A LM. 

Brandi: Oh, that’s. I think such a bad idea because especially if you’re not buying exclusive leads, getting them off of the phone real quick in a LM that just gives time for another agent to get them on the phone.

Brandi: No, spend half an hour on the phone with them. They, after that, they’re not gonna wanna answer another call thinking they’re gonna have to spend another half hour with a different [00:27:00] agent going through the whole process. Again, I, I disagree with the a LM 

Suneet: that is so money and so valid. Is, you know, some of the portal lead providers, they make it a quick phone call.

Suneet: Mm-hmm. And just get ’em to, to the, to the appointment, which I assume if it is maybe a flex lead or is it a lead where it is somewhat 

Brandi: exclusive? Sure. 

Suneet: We think it’s exclusive. However, that same. Uh, prospect, that same lead could have also gone to realtor.com. Oh, that’s website, right? Absolutely. Yep. Um, but LP MAMA is really built.

Suneet: You know, everyone watching and listening to this take notes from Brandy right now. ’cause LP Mama is built to build rapport and have a deeper understanding with the prospect. Absolutely. And for our realtor com lead, I was just telling a coaching client this yesterday far. [00:28:00] Um. For like a realtor.com lead, which Brandy and I both love and build our businesses on.

Suneet: We get the shared leads, meaning it goes to us and who knows how many other people, right? Like we don’t really know. 

Brandi: Right? You think three more, but maybe more. 

Suneet: Yeah. I mean maybe three more. Unless that person’s clicked on another house. 

Brandi: Right. 

Suneet: And then it’s three more. They took another house, then it’s three more.

Brandi: Zip code specific so they could be getting three by clicking this zip code and three more in that zip code. 

Suneet: Yeah. Yeah. So when you call that lead, even if you do, you know, set a callback or let me get more information and get back to you, they’re getting another call. 

Brandi: Yeah. 

Suneet: And you are missing the up brandy.

Suneet: That is so good, what you just added. Yeah. Good job. It’s huge. Um, so, um, private label real estate. Yeah. I love the name. Thank you. You guys are known for like aptly named known for a white glove [00:29:00] concierge style service. 

Brandi: Yeah. To our agents, um, and to our clients as well. And a lot of brokerages I think, talk about this white glove concierge service to their clients.

Brandi: And of course we all do that. Yeah. But we really roll out the red carpet to our agents. We, we spoil our agents. Um, and that’s something that I think makes us so unique in our. In our market. Um, a there aren’t a lot of brokerages that are provi. Well, a, there aren’t any brokerages that are providing leads, but there’s really only a few teams that are providing leads.

Brandi: But, um, what our admin team provides to our agents, that’s been huge. You, you have to remember. You know, I was selling a hundred homes a year, and you can’t do that alone. You can’t do that without systems and processes. You can’t do that without leverage. With a really good tech, with a really amazing tech stack.

Brandi: Um, it’s impossible to do that without a really good support system. So, um, when I pulled myself out of production and started recruiting, I didn’t just. Let go of all the systems. So the systems are still there. [00:30:00] If an agent wants to come into our brokerage and sell a hundred homes a year, systems are there, admin team is there.

Brandi: It’s built, it’s ready to go. But, um, I, I’ve got a theory or a philosophy that an agent should really just focus on five key things and let our admin staff do everything else. From writing your offers to preparing your listing paperwork, to managing your inboxes in f booking appointments, sending out your bbsa, uh, typing up your repair list, um, transaction management, doing all your marketing.

Brandi: I mean, um, our, our agents are spoiled here because that’s, that’s what I had to have to sell a hundred homes a year, and that’s exactly what I, I give to them. Same thing. 

Suneet: So what does the admin staff look like? 

Brandi: Yeah. Uh, so we have, um, uh, we started the year with two VAs, um, out of India, husband and wife team.

Brandi: One has been with us for almost four years, and the other almost two years. And they were doing everything. And then we started growing so [00:31:00] rapidly that, um, just a couple of months ago, I, I went out and hired two more VAs in, uh, the Philippines. Uh, one of them is our listing coordinator. The other is our.

Brandi: Marketing coordinator, which has then freed up our initial two VAs to focus on transaction coordination and agent assistance. And then, uh, we’ve also hired an executive assistant here locally in the office. So I, I finally have a local administrative employee that’s really nice. And yeah, she helps stick a lot off of my plate.

Suneet: That’s so cool. I never hear anybody hiring VAs in India. 

Brandi: Oh yeah. Well, um, so it’s, it’s funny how it all works. So my first VA back. Close to 10 years ago, eight years ago maybe, was, um, from the Philippines and, well, I, I needed to hire a second one. And he mentioned his sister-in-law who was Filipino, but living in India.

Brandi: So I, I hired her and then she was with me for several years and [00:32:00] then she resigned to be a stay-at-home mom and said, but I’ve already hired your replacement. She’s Filipino in India as well. Here she is. I’m gonna train her in my two week notice and you’re gonna be taken care of. So, and then when we needed an assistant for her, she said, how about my husband?

Brandi: So it’s all been really organic. 

Suneet: That’s So all these deals, all this growth with four VAs and one ea. 

Brandi: Yes. And, and three of the five of our admin team has been with us for less than two months. 

Suneet: Yeah, that’s me being speechless right now. 

Brandi: Yeah. 

Suneet: Steve, how long has that ea been there for? 

Brandi: Uh, she started November 17th.

Suneet: Oh, shit. So a month and a half. 

Brandi: Yeah. How’s that going? Yeah. Oh, great. Phenomenal. Phenomenal. You know, we didn’t have anyone sitting in the office. We had this beautiful lobby with this granite reception desk and all these nice built-ins, and no one’s sitting [00:33:00] there ever. Totally. So it’s just nice having someone that’s a friendly face that welcomes the agents when they come in and out and.

Brandi: Her job description is honestly evolving more and more. As I’m learning how capable she is, I’m giving her more and more and more tasks. Um, uh, so it’s, it’s been phenomenal. 

Suneet: That is mind blowing. Yeah. Everybody watching and listening like, what’s your excuse? Brandy did this, a majority of it with two VAs.

Suneet: Like so smart on saving money, right? Like your five admin staff, if they were all over here, it’d be probably 20 times as much minimum. 

Brandi: Oh, absolutely. 

Suneet: You probably couldn’t even do it. 

Brandi: Absolutely. And then, I hate to say this about my fellow Americans, but um. There’s a different, um, 

Suneet: there’s a different work ethic.

Brandi: There’s [00:34:00] a different work ethic. There’s a huge different work ethic and something about that Filipino culture that they, they want to be involved, they want to be part of the team, and it’s prestigious to work for a US-based company. Um, and they are, they’re very much in the, in, in the system. As a matter of fact, I have a lot of co-op agents that say, I’ve never met Gina before.

Brandi: And that’s our, our main va. And I say, well, she lives in India. Local people have no idea. She’s not, uh, here in Tulsa. Everyone just assumes they are, they’re in every single meeting. They zoom in on every single meeting we have. They are a beloved part of our team. Um. I mean, I’m, I’m planning a trip to India soon to, to meet them finally, after all these years.

Suneet: Oh, no way. When are you going? 

Brandi: I don’t know, this year. This year I’ve, I’ve got my going app set to track flights for me. So where do they 

Suneet: live in India? Huh? Where do they live? 

Brandi: Uh, Bangalore. 

Suneet: Bangalore. Okay. Never been there, so I can’t help you, but [00:35:00] when you do, let’s talk before you go ’cause there’s some cool stuff.

Suneet: Okay. If you’re making the trek, like you gotta see some cool stuff too, right? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. That’s so awesome. Um, you know, managing administrative staff, either locally or virtually, it involves I think, great systems. Oh, absolutely. Is there any specific tech that you use, dashboard or something that helps you with that process?

Brandi: Absolutely. Um, and, and that’s another my, my tech stack was another thing that made reside feel like such a natural fit because, um, you guys’ view on tech and my view on tech aligned so much. I was already using follow up bosses, my CRMI was already using Y lo o for website and IDX, um, and you guys have turned me on to AI voice and AI text through why LO posts.

Brandi: I’m using that now. I was already using QuickBooks, uh, already using Google Suite. Um, and aside from that, you guys have turned me on to corded and go high level [00:36:00] for, uh, recruiting. Those have been two really good additions. Uh, and then just last month I signed up with Easy Home Search for additional lead generation.

Brandi: Uh, I kind of capped out with realtor.com. I can’t get any more zip codes. I’m, I’m capped out there. So, um, adding, uh, Preston’s easy home search company. Yeah, naturally. Yeah, so we’re going from about 25 leads a week to over 50 a week right now. 

Suneet: Nice. So no, like project management software, are you doing that inside of Google?

Brandi: Uh, I’m using, I’m doing everything inside of Google. I am a, uh, Google Sheets nerd. I love me again. Spreadsheet. So I was with CTE and Sisu for the longest and just thought I can build my own and I can, I can do this better. So we use, uh, we use Google Sheets. We use Google Forms. Um. Our SOP all of our training, everything is in Google Drive.

Brandi: Um, we’re, we’re Google through and through. 

Suneet: Yeah. That’s awesome because, um. [00:37:00] Once again, you’re making smart financial business decisions. 

Brandi: Well, you know, when you, when you pull yourself out of production and you, you’re used to making full commissions on a hundred deals a year, all of a sudden you’re not in production and you’ve got agents that you’re paying out.

Brandi: Anywhere from 50% to 80% commissions, your bottom line’s going down. So you’ve gotta be lean, you gotta be lean, 

Suneet: you gotta be lean. I love that. So I’ve been using monday.com for a long time. I know that we talked about it. However, I’m not telling you to change shit because I love the fact that you’re doing Google and it’s working for you.

Brandi: My new marketing director, she is a Trello fan, so when she came on again about a month ago, she said, I’m bringing Trello. This, this is how you’re gonna approve all my social media posts. So we, we are doing a little Trello now. And then as far as internal communications, we use GroupMe, which is a free app.

Brandi: And we’ve got a GroupMe for just our lead [00:38:00] team. We’ve got a GroupMe for the whole brokerage. We’ve got a GroupMe with our, uh, lender partner, and then we’ve got a GroupMe for our, uh, agent leadership council. And then lastly a GroupMe for our events committee. So, you know, we’re lean, we’re pretty lean. Love 

Suneet: that.

Suneet: It’s so, we are making so many smart decisions, man. We haven’t talked in a while. I’m super happy to have you on the episode right now. Um, so, um,

Suneet: you know. It sounds like you’re building future leaders, not just productive agents. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Um, we kind of talked about the qualities that you look for, uh, when someone joins, but then how do you make someone grow into like a leadership role over time? 

Brandi: Yeah. That’s a good question and I don’t know that I have an answer for that yet.

Brandi: Being so new, um, I can tell you that my last three years in production, uh, I ran a pod system, which I’d learned from my old [00:39:00] mortgage days from a bank that I worked at. So I was the lead agent and I had one or two junior agents underneath me. Um, and then our, uh, a showing agent underneath them, or sometimes multiple showing agents, uh, and then our admin team.

Brandi: So I know the pod system works. I know it inside and out. I ran it for three years. And I hope that one of our agents, and again our, our agents on average have only been with this for 5.3 months. So a lot of newbies, but I, I hope that some of them will get to the point to where they’re ready to bring on juniors.

Suneet: Yeah. I love that it’s ’cause it gives you like kind of what you experienced more freedom. 

Brandi: Oh, absolutely. 

Suneet: Right. Yeah. Going. 

Brandi: Yeah. And, and how we operated that basically was as the lead agent, I went to every single first buyer showing and did the buyer consult there on the ground with the junior agent there, and then the junior agent followed up on all of the other subsequent showings until they found the one.

Brandi: And then I would go back and, and, uh, do a second showing and talk, offer strategy and talk [00:40:00] comps in that second showing. Um, just simply not having to do all of the showings on the houses that they don’t like in the first place was huge. Yeah. Especially when you average 32 showings per client. Um, that’s, that was a huge time waster.

Brandi: So, yeah. I’m looking forward to it. And I, and I, I’ve already peeped out a few of these agents that are new, but I foresee them being pod leaders someday. Absolutely. 

Suneet: I love that. So. People are listening and they’re all, holy shit. Brandy is a rock star. And they’re thinking to themselves, I wanna build a business that supports my life, not consumes it.

Suneet: I wanna be home by three o’clock 

Brandi: Word. 

Suneet: What do you want them to know about what you’ve created at private label? 

Brandi: Yeah. Well, as John says, KFR, 

Suneet: I mean, 

Brandi: you just, you’ve gotta recruit, you’ve gotta recruit to make up, um, what you’re, what you’re giving up, you know? Um, 

Suneet: I believe I’m hearing you say that. 

Brandi: I know.[00:41:00] 

Suneet: It’s so great. I feel vindicated. Yes, 

Brandi: I know, I know. Um, I mean that’s and, and under and, and get out of your own way from. Your own expectations of what kind of agent you want to bring on. So good. ’cause I only wanted to bring on the brandies who wanted to do high business. And you know what? Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have liked a brandy if I would’ve brought a brandy on.

Brandi: Um, but instead I’ve got 37 individual agents who I adore. And my goal is just making sure they hit their goals and their, their goals range anywhere from five to 40. You know, they just turned in all their goal worksheets after going through Mia’s, um, 2026 goal training clinic, uh, five to 40. Our, our top agent wants to do 40 next year.

Brandi: And you know what? I’m thrilled with that. I am, I am happy as can be. And, um, and people keep asking, how many more agents are you gonna [00:42:00] recruit? Answer is I don’t, I don’t know. I mean, honestly, if, if, if I end 2026 with the same 37 agents and they have closed 500 units, they’ve all hit their goal and they’re happy and they’ve got a good work life balance, you know, maybe I don’t recruit anymore.

Brandi: But having said that, I also, what 

Suneet: I mean, 

Brandi: I and I, I say that, but on the other hand it’s been pretty easy to recruit with your Indeed ad and. Um, we, we developed a really good recruiting handbook that really goes into who we are and what we do, and explains the value proposition that we offer. Another person that we hired this year is a content creator, so he’s putting out lots of content about why someone would want to come to our brokerage.

Brandi: So we’re starting to get some social media traffic there. Um, you know, it’s been kind of easy, knock on wood, so I, I mean, if, if someone walks in my door who I think is of good moral character, I think would fit in well, I’m not gonna turn anyone [00:43:00] away, but 

Suneet: sure. I 

Brandi: also really wanna see these 37 succeed. I wanna see them hit their goals and, and be happy.

Suneet: What’s next for private label real estate? 

Brandi: Yeah, I, I think just making sure they hit their goals for this year. I think, I think that’s next. Keeping those recruiting funnels open. Um, I mentioned I hired a marketing director, one of the VAs in the Philippines. Um, and she’s just now getting turned into corded and go high level.

Brandi: We just got her on Indeed about a week and a half ago. So she’s trying to build that recruiting pipeline and then just focusing on the agents and helping them get to where they wanna be. 

Suneet: Awesome. So, um, any advice for anybody listening? 

Brandi: Well. Join reside. Can I say that? 

Suneet: Thank you. That was not planned.

Suneet: Thank you. 

Brandi: I mean, honestly, I mean, honestly, um, I had been with 1, 2, 3 different coaching programs over the past several years, and they were great in that [00:44:00] season, but to get me from where I was. September, 2024 to where I am today. I mean, it’s, it’s you guys a hundred percent. And those coaching programs were fantastic, but they never could have gotten me here, 

Suneet: you know?

Suneet: Thank you for that. But it’s also you. So we can’t take all the credit Brandy? 

Brandi: Well, R Ross does tell me that, um, uh, I can’t remember how he says it, but he, he says, of, of all of his coaching students, now that I’m with Ross, he tells me that I am the biggest implementer. So he’ll tell me to do something and within 24 hours, it’s done.

Brandi: I, I, I’m a, I’m a doer. You 

Suneet: are a doer, but, 

Brandi: but I need the guidance to tell me what to do because you guys have been there, you’ve done it, you’ve got so much exposure to all these other brokerages that are doing huge numbers, much bigger than what I’m doing. And, um, you guys tell me what to do and I trust you and I do it.

Suneet: Ah, that’s so great. Yes. You guys, everyone listening, watching that information without [00:45:00] implementation is like worthless, right? One of the tricks to life. Success in life and anything is mass massive frigging action. Right. And the implementers will win. Uh, if somebody wants to send you a referral in Tulsa, and they should because you’re the only person out send a referral to in Tulsa.

Suneet: How do they do that? 

Brandi: Yeah, websites private label realtors.com. So look us up, fill out the contact information and you’ll hear from me immediately. 

Suneet: Awesome. You guys. This was so great, Brandy. I had so much, I think we could have gone on for hours. 

Brandi: This was good. 

Suneet: This was great. So everybody, I hope you got something out of this episode with Brandy.

Suneet: She’s just positive and success story. Even when things are harder in her life, she figured out ways around it. So I hope that that inspires you guys watching and listening if it did. Like and share with a friend. Make sure to send Brandy your referrals [00:46:00] in Tulsa and we’ll see you on the next episode of the Reside Platform podcast.

Suneet: Thank you. Nice meet. All right. Don’t stop yet. Okay. We got a Hey studio chat person. Can you, uh, stop the recording?