Podcasts about opcity

In this episode of the DreamHuge podcast, Pete and JP interview Jim Remley, a real estate brokerage coach and owner of eReal Estate Coach. Jim shares his success story and offers insights into the real estate industry. He discusses his journey from being a college dropout to becoming the largest independent broker in Oregon. Jim emphasizes the importance of adapting to change and shares his strategies for dominating the real estate market, including targeting for sale by owners, expired listings, and absentee owners. He also highlights the need for brokerages to focus on recruiting experienced agents and solving their key problems, such as sphere of influence management, follow-up, and marketing. In this conversation, Jim Remley discusses the importance of follow-up in real estate and shares his experience with lead generation and conversion. He emphasizes the need for a system to handle leads and highlights the success of using OpCity to filter and qualify leads before passing them on to agents. Jim also provides insights into his coaching program, which includes accountability-based sessions and access to his agent-level coaching. He shares his biggest failure, the books that have inspired him, and his greatest accomplishment. Jim's closing thoughts focus on the importance of taking consistent action and identifying non-negotiable tasks to achieve success. Takeaways Adaptation is key to success in any industry. Targeting for sale by owners, expired listings, and absentee owners can lead to success in the real estate market. Brokerages should focus on recruiting experienced agents and solving their key problems. Key problems for agents include sphere of influence management, follow-up, and marketing. Utilizing a CRM and following up consistently are crucial for real estate success. Follow-up is crucial in real estate, and having a system in place to handle leads is essential for success. Using a service like OpCity to filter and qualify leads can significantly improve conversion rates. Jim Remley offers a coaching program that focuses on accountability and covers topics such as recruiting, retention, technology, systems, and profitability. Modeling the behavior of successful individuals and seeking mentorship can greatly contribute to personal and professional growth. Two books that have inspired Jim's success are 'Awaken the Giant Within' by Tony Robbins and 'Influence' by Robert Caldini. Jim's greatest accomplishment is raising his four children. Consistent action and identifying non-negotiable tasks are key to achieving success in any field.    

Leads are the lifeblood of real estate businesses. In today's episode of The Real Estate Podcast, Jimmy goes over 10 different leads with no upfront expenses to help your business grow.   Opcity   Opcity is owned by Realtor.com and gathers up leads either looking to buy real estate or sell their existing properties. Once you connect with Opcity, you'll get placed into one of two grounds: New real estate agents or experienced real estate agents. The more deals you close with Opcity, the more profitable leads you'll be given.   Redfin   Redfin is mostly known for being brokers, but they ALSO offer referrals to leads. Redfin prioritizes agents who close a lot of deals, typically around 6-10 per year. Positive reviews are also KEY for being eligible for Redin's referral program. Make sure you close frequently and receive good feedback from your client if you want to utilize Redfin.   Rocket Homes   Rocket Homes is an affiliate of Rocket Mortgage. All of RH's leads are already qualified to receive mortgages and are ready to purchase homes. Just like Redfin, to qualify for RH's leads, you have to have been in the business for at least 2 years and closed 8 deals in the last year. Just like Redfin, positive customer reviews are essential with RH.   Estately   Estately requires agents to have AT LEAST 3 years worth of experience although 5 years is preferred. They also look at customer reviews, so make SURE you are receiving quality reviews from your clients. Estately is also selective; they only partner with one agent per area. In exchange though, you will receive VERY high-quality and profitable leads.   Veterans United Realty   VUR is an affiliate of Veterans United and works specifically with veterans. If you live near a large number of veterans or a military base, VUR would be a great agency to partner with. VUR looks for agents with positive reviews as well as a history of working with military buyers.   Home Light   Home Light utilizes an algorithm to match clients with agents. Just like the rest of these agencies, Home Light is looking for experienced and well-reviewed agents to partner with. They look into several different statistics to match clients with agents.   Ojo   Ojo looks for agents with at least 3 years of experience in the industry and 25 transactions within the last year. Despite the high entry barrier, Ojo delivers HIGH QUALITY and profitable leads. If you're an agent with a solid history, Ojo is definitely an agency to look into.   UpNest   UpNest requires agents to have made at least 6 transactions within the last year and also have at least 3 years of experience. UpNest is a bit different from the others, though. Through UpNest, you have to COMPETE with other real estate agents to secure leads. A strong online presence is a necessity if you use UpNest.   Agent Pronto   Agent Pronto doesn't have any requirements, unlike all of the other agencies. However, AP does take your AP profile and specialties HEAVILY into consideration. If you want to utilize AP, make sure you have a strong and solid profile. AP will then match you with ideal clients, depending on your specialties.   FastExpert   Out of all of the agencies discussed, FastExpert is the toughest one to partner with. You have to be within the TOP 5% of agents to receive leads. Your ranking depends on your performance in your specific market. Although you can create a profile as long as you're within the top 25%, only the top 5% of agents will receive leads. Do you have a video or content idea perfect for your business? Share it with Jimmy! Connect with Jimmy Burgess on LinkedIn and Facebook, and his YouTube channel.  If you like what you heard today, we'd love it if you'd share a rating or review and then subscribe to the podcast and tell others about it. You can find The Real Estate Sales Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and our website, The Real Estate Sales Podcast.

10 Ideas to get Listings in Today's MarketRead full blog & watch us LIVE!We have reviews multiple ways of attracting Seller leads in the past but with the changes in the market, we thought you could always use more!  Here are some ideas to kick off the New Year!Automate the process of sending them comparable home sales activitySet up a search of their neighborhood from your local MLS and send them the sold listings as they close so they can keep up with the activity in their neighborhood.Send an unsolicited CMA every 6 monthsDo a CMA a day for someone in your database and depending on how many in your database, you can cycle through them eerie 6 months.  Pair the unsolicited CMA with a Bomb Bomb video.Email the homeowners in your database a monthly newsletterThis keeps you at the top of mind so they remember to call you, the local expert when it is time to sell.  Make sure you include an item of value in the newsletter.  Build a real estate database filled with homeownersYou should fill your database with friends and family members who own homes in the areas you service. You should include: • Your past buyers. • Owners you've met at open houses. • Past expired listing homeowners. • Homeowners in your farm area that you have communicated with.Email your entire database 2 different questions1. Are you planning on selling your home in 2022/20232.Have you had any thoughts of selling at these peak prices?Adopt Agent databases who are leaving the businessThere are many ways to do this:  buy the book of business up front, pay a referral for everyone in that agents database that uses you to buy or sell in the next 5 years or forever as long as retiring agents still has a license for referralDo FB or Instagram live in front of Sold Sign of house. Ex:  It's Kerry @ RE/MAX Elite.  I am standing in front of 123 Main Street.  We just closed this property at ___% of listing price.  How you ask? Our / My marketing and negotiation skills.  (we don't love posting just solds, but an occasional one which is video with stats and info is OK).Sign up for seller attractions Sites - you only pay a referral if you close the transaction. - Homelight or UpNest or OpCity to name a few. Create a seminar for seniors called "Big to Small House" - create a mailing campaign, create a landing page, run a FB ad. USE Instagram story Polls to engage potential clients  Are you living in your Dream Home now - Yes/NoHave you had any thoughts of selling your home in 2022/2023 - Yes/No  Then message the people that answer no to question 1 and yes to question 2 and tell them you would love to help them find their dream home 9of course they need to sell to buy )

This is the " Agent JumpStart Podcast "  Hosted by "Bill Davis", He has 10+ years of experience in Real Estate Business and running large high producing team in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bill is also teaching people the Work Model of Real Estate through his Training Sessions& helping them to achieve their dream living through Real Estate. Bill is now looking forward to share his life experience in real estate to other people to help them build their Real Estate career, to get more exposure & live their dream life the way they ever wanted by revealing & sharing the insights of Real Estate world he gained by his life experience through "Agent JumpStart".

Kimo Quance is on track to close 163 transactions this year with a volume of $100 million in San Diego, California. In a competitive market with higher price points and thousands of agents and iBuyers, Kimo pulls in between 500 and 700 listing leads every single month thanks to his internet lead generation strategy. He has learned how to fine-tune his search engine visibility as well as how to generate seller leads from buyer leads. In today's episode, he shares exactly how he does this.  Download Kimo's Quarterly Client Letters -- READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT -- 1. PPC - Kimo generates the majority of his listing leads from Google PPC ads, spending $3,500 to get a minimum of 500 leads a month, which results in an average of 3 deals. He ranks #1 for the search term “homes for sale in Santee, California," and generates a ton of listing business, even though his PPC campaigns are focused on buyers. Kimo's client acquisition ROI blows past the national average, and part of his success can be attributed to the work he's put into building a highly authoritative, relevant, and fast website, which reduces what Google charges per lead, and helps Kimo rank higher in organic searches.  2. Sphere - Kimo stays in touch with his database with Vyral Marketing emails. He also sends quarterly personal letters to a few hundred past clients, and he has found that using physical mail to communicate with his most valuable contacts is worth paying for.  3. Paid Lead Providers - So far this year, Kimo has generated 10 deals from lead providers like Homelight and Opcity who charge a 25 - 35% referral fee for every listing. Most agents are willing to pay 20% of the cost of the commission to acquire a lead. With lead providers, they take on the risk of getting that lead so paying an extra 5% of the lead acquisition is actually good, especially because the listing to lead conversion is so high.   Download two of Kimo's quarterly client letters for FREE by filling out this form.

One of the biggest trends in real estate today is the utilization of lead generation platforms. In particular, a growing number of platforms feature no upfront costs and instead take a referral percentage of the final sale. This is an excellent strategy for realtors looking to grow their business without stressing about an upfront fee.    1. Opcity   Registered brokers can invite you to join, and you can join regardless of your experience level. However, you will not be the only person sent leads; they'll send out a text to 4-5 potential agents, and they are distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis. Remember, because Opcity only gets the money if you close, maintaining a constant stream of communication and updates will make you a better realtor in their minds! 2. Upnest     You need to have at least three years of experience and at least six closings in the past twelve months to gain access to this platform. They look for people with positive reviews, great communication skills, and a solid social media presence. You're likely to get fewer leads with this platform, but they'll be much higher in quality. A great place to look if you are an established realtor or team looking to expand your business. 3. 55Places     This platform focuses on communities of people aged 55 and older (hence the name.) While you don't have to be that age to gain access, it does require you to be familiar with a specific community type that is a great platform to find leads if you're already established and knowledgeable about real estate needs for these communities. 4. AgentHarvest.com     AgentHarvest sends each lead to three to five agents, and those agents then compete for the client's business.  They look for people familiar with specific areas and then match potential leads based on your expertise.   5. Redfin   While they are a real estate firm in itself, Redfin outsources clients when they have no available agents in the area. 6. Ojo.com     Once they get a lead nurtured to a particular level, they'll pass the lead to a realtor in real-time. Once you qualify on the brokerage level, you can distribute these leads to anyone on your team. 7. Estately.com     A high-quality platform, Estately requires three (but preferably five) years of experience from their realtors.  They stay Involved throughout the real estate process, continuously surveying their lead to ensure they have received the service they want. It is a high-touch, high-quality process that requires established realtors who understand the industry. With any of these platforms, you'll get better leads once you deliver results. While it might seem slow, persevere to receive those high-quality leads you deserve! Do you have a video or content idea that is perfect for your business? Share it with Jimmy! Connect with Jimmy Burgess on LinkedIn and Facebook and his YouTube channel.  If you like what you heard today, we'd love it if you'd share a rating or review and then subscribe to the podcast and tell others about it as well. You can find The Real Estate Sales Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and our website, The Real Estate Sales Podcast.

In this episode, Hall welcomes Krishna Srinivasan, Founding Partner at LiveOak Venture Partners. LiveOak Venture Partners is a venture capital fund based in Austin, Texas. With 20 years of successful venture investing in Texas, the founders of LiveOak have helped create nearly $2 billion of enterprise value. While almost all of LiveOak's investments begin at the seed and Series-A stages, LiveOak is a full life cycle investor focused on helping create category-leading technology and technology-enabled service companies headquartered in Texas. LiveOak Venture Partners has been the lead investor in over 30 exciting high-growth Texas-based companies in the last seven years including ones such as CS Disco, Digital Pharmacist, OJO Labs, Opcity, and TrustRadius. Krishna has been investing in early-stage Texas-based companies and entrepreneurs since 2000. His current and past board involvements at LiveOak include CS Disco, Hive9, Homeward, Imandra, OJO Labs, Rollick, Telestax; Digital Pharmacist, Opcity, and StackEngine. Prior to co-founding LiveOak, Krishna was a Partner at Austin Ventures. There, he worked with companies in enterprise software and infrastructure solutions segments. Prior to that, Krishna was with Motorola where he wrote large-scale optimization software for supply chain planning and worked with a variety of business units on strategic and operational issues. Krishna received his MBA from Wharton where he graduated with the highest academic honors as a Palmer Scholar. He holds an MS in Operations Research from the University of Texas at Austin, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, having graduated with the highest all-around honors. Krishna currently serves as Chairman of the Miracle Foundation board, an Austin-based organization that supports orphanages in India, and is one of the founding members and a past board member of TiE Austin. He is a board member of the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Central Texas. Krishna discusses his investment thesis and some of the companies within his portfolio that fit the thesis. He advises startups and investors and shares some of the challenges they face. You can visit LiveOak Venture Partners at , via LinkedIn at , and via Twitter at .  Krishna can be contacted via email at , via LinkedIn at , and via Twitter at .   Music courtesy of .

Develop your brand and invest in a platform that will assist you in engaging more potential leads. In this episode, Albert Baez and Ransome Tucker discuss the relevance of having digital asset management software to assist real estate investors in growing their businesses.Key Takeaways To Listen ForHow the digital landscape drives small business owners' campaignsThe pros and cons of using a digital platform for small businessesHow to build a community of content creators Steps to create your digital assets in the right wayBenefits of subscription business modelTraditional marketing vs digital marketing Impacts of digital transformation to real estate investingExpanding market strategy through audio and video and audiogramAbout Albert Baez and Ransome TuckerBlended Sense is a media technology platform founded in Austin TX, that connects business owners with creative professionals in their local communities. Each month dedicated creative teams capture, edit, and deliver digital media assets to help start and grow local businesses.Ransome and Albert are long-time colleagues in the inside sales and technology space, helping grow and scale startups like Profitfuel, Yodle, Opcity, and Mainstreet Hub. All of these companies sold for 8 and 9 figures. In 2019 Albert approached Ransome with the idea of starting a digital platform that would make high-quality production services accessible to the average small business owner. Ransome quickly jumped at the opportunity to invest and join the advisory team. After spending the last 4 years at a tech-enabled brokerage called Home City, acquired by Better Homes and Gardens, Ransome joined Blended Sense full time in May. Ransome and Albert are obsessed with the idea that content production and distribution are an essential part of doing business in the digital age. Connect with Albert and Ransome Website: Blended SenseEmail:  albert@blendedsense.com ; ransome@blendedsense.comTo Connect With UsPlease visit our website: www.bonavestcapital.com and please click here, to leave a rating and review!SponsorThinking About Creating and Growing Your Own Podcast But Not Sure Where To Start?Visit GrowYourShow.com and Schedule a call with Adam A. Adams

The salespeople’s ability to generate leads is the lifeblood of a business. In today’s episode, Jimmy shares 11 ways to generate buyers in 2021 and improve your business’ revenue.   Community Facebook groups - This is a group or a page filled with people who talk about things that are going on in your area. It’s a great space for you to get resources not only about real estate but the questions that people usually ask. Be a resource person and answer their questions on the places to eat, places you can have your birthday parties, and others. In the event that you don’t find a page in your certain area, then create the page yourself.   Opcity - this is a company that refers buyers to you but they do a lot of the heavy lifting beforehand. Instead of buying leads, you will have people that have already been approved and they’re ready to be shown property.  They are generating and nurturing the leads, and when the leads are ready, Opcity then refers the leads to you.   Open houses - It’s a great place to meet new sellers and potential buyers. It’s also a great avenue to refer to some other properties they might like instead.   Post on buy-sell-trade groups - Post your listings on buy-sell-trade groups to have opportunities to meet new people. You can put up links, photos, and other details.   Realtor.com - The site allows you to get qualified leads. The thing with leads is that the quality of the lead is directly proportional to the quality of follow-up.   Home video walk-throughs - Use your iPhone, iPad, or other camera to record a simple walk-through of the house. Tell them just enough details that would prompt them to reach out to you and ask about the property.   Zurple - It is a paid lead source that gives you the ability to capture leads and have some follow up campaigns that are in place. It’s somewhere between getting some leads and full out CRM.   Facebook ads and Google AdWords - If you don’t have any idea how to do this, you can go to YouTube and look through some videos. It’s a great way to generate tons of leads, get you some reps, and find some people that you can do business with.   BoomTown - For Jimmy, it is the best lead generation, lead follow up, and lead conversion tool in the market. It gives you the ability to generate leads, follow up a system, gives you a CRM to fully generate every lead that gets in.   First time homebuyer events - This is where you go out to meet renters and meet people who may consider buying. Host events like this and bring people together.   Circle prospecting to out of town owners - This is a great place to meet people who are thinking of buying another property. It also leads with the opportunity to potentially find some seller leads.   “11 Ways to Generate Buyers in 2021” episode resources   Connect with Jimmy Burgess on LinkedIn and Facebook, as well as his YouTube channel.  If you like what you heard today, we’d love it if you’d share a rating or review, and then subscribe to the podcast and tell others about it as well. You can find The Real Estate Sales Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher, as well as at our website, The Real Estate Sales Podcast.

In this episode, Jonathon explains how he has been able to be profitable with Opcity leads as a newer real estate agent. Rookie agents get the lower price point leads, and when you combine that with the hefty referral fee charged, it can be difficult to make a profit. Jonathon took a business owner approach, decided what his time was worth, and developed a system to work these leads and generate referrals in the process. About Jonathon: I am a people person, my wife often teases me for talking to strangers on park benches or any other location I pause at for more than three seconds. I was born in New York and relocated to Fairhope in the 90’s. I graduated from Fairhope High “GO PIRATES!” and moved away from Fairhope to pursue higher education then moved back home when my son was born in ‘02. My goal in real estate is to help people find their perfect home for the next chapter of their lives. I have a diverse background with a variety of sales and management positions that led me into real estate investing were I fell in love with the hunt for the perfect home by looking at not just what a house is but by seeing its potential.

Blended Sense is a media technology company that matches the right creator to the right local projects to distribute and produce digital assets quickly such as video, audio, anything digital. Albert Baez is a wonderful communicator who does an amazing job of breaking down strategies and concepts. During the pandemic, I was impressed on one of his webinars and invited him to do a webinar for WeWork Food Labs. (On the show notes, I linked the top-secret recording of the webinar that I’m not supposed to give out, but who cares? -->note, can't find it) Albert’s Austin-based company is rapidly growing and adapting quickly to the ongoing chaotic nature of the pandemic. We get into many topics ranging from social media platforms to selling solutions to help companies in crisis. Not only are you going to get some really smart digital marketing tips, but also a lot of talk about strategy. Not only useful advice and actionable tips for your company but through Albert’s own journey building Blended Sense. About Blended Sense Blended Sense is a Media Technology company that matches the right creative teams to the right projects to produce and distribute digital assets quickly. Capital Factory's Startup of the Year, is creating a new kind of production that supports the small business owner and activates the creative community. About Albert Albert is a sales & service growth expert with 7 years of building high-performance teams for technology companies. He serves as the President of Blended Sense and is passionate about supporting small business owners with technology. Albert is also Bi-lingual and is obsessed with serving the growing segment of spanish speaking businesses in the US. Show Notes Media Tech Ventures Got some Angel investors from that Incubator I worked for YODLE and got an opportunity to grow the Austin office Abbie is a commercial film actor Surprisingly, there’s a lot of film opportunities in Film in Austin Tim Ferriss After YODLE, I built out OpCity that got sold, and MainStreetHub who got sold to GoDaddy The aha moment came from Main Street Hub as I saw the potential to figure out digital media services RINGR Why did you go into CPG/Ecommerce?: It was against my will actually but my cofounders insisted. But the community convinced me it was a good segment Was the CPG segment hard to get?: Yes, we had to position it differently. One example is with expansion, you need the assets there right away. One of our first clients was Cocina 54 Education that’s personal, educating and passionate is what we kind of recommendations for clients Welcome emails should be in audio and videos Focusing versus spreading: If you’re starting, you should spread on different platforms. Until you have customers and they’re giving you feedback, you have to see if the social media platform resonates with your audience What’s the most underrated social media platform?: It depends, but Pinterest for B2C, Linkedin for B2B What’s your least favorite?: Facebook. We wrote a post about it on our website comparing it to a popular diner Facebook now has cheaper ads so it might be good to test ads at this time What have you noticed about marketing during 2020?: Everything has changed but ultimately, people are still the same. There has to be a social interaction before a business transaction Consumers now have to like you before they buy from you How do you prove authenticity?: Consistency and Documentation. It’s low cost Gary Vee model Audio is a low friction way of introducing that We document things such as interviews with black entrepreneurs and also training You can do as much as possible and you can’t convince them. What can you do?: People are selfish generally, there’s a deeper root. Being authentic is not authentic for some people too. Generally, good content is making compelling stories based off of your Serenity Kids – Healthy Foods for Kids. An example of adapting The Dominican New Technologies ClubHouse – A terrible new networking apps Canva Do you think the pandemic has improved technology?: It’s now more focused and practical What is one thing in the food industry that you’d like to know more about?: Actually, cooking and chemistry in food products OxTail Tampopo in Phoenix Ramen Tatsu-ya in Austin What’s your favorite learning platform?: Audio is practical and I can multitask What’s your favorite podcast?: Gary Vee Podcast Cannabis Podcast Blunt Tannis My Favorite DnD Podcast Blended Sense Podcast- Tea with Abbie What were the challenges with Blended Sense?: Surprisingly, we changed by asking our customers why they couldn’t use our services even though they needed it. We made a revival kit to help all struggling services Any advice for starting entrepreneurs?: Curb your expectations. You have to havea  positive mental attitude throughout your journey Blendedsense.com Albert@blendedsense.com Most active platform: Instagram and Linkedin Instagram: @AB.postive_   

"Change is the way to realize opportunity," --Kenneth JennyREALTOR® friends and colleagues: I have a few questions for you. Have you made some changes to your business in the last few weeks, in response to COVID-19? In response to the pandemic, to self-quarantine, to shelter in place -- to keep yourself and your clients safe? Have those changes and the circumstances causing them made you think about your business differently? Have you begun considering which changes are temporary and which may be less fleeting? And which may actually make more sense in a more permanent sense?That’s what my conversation is about today with Kenneth Jenny -- Managing Director and CEO of tranCen, a consulting company which offers unique strategic business solutions for companies focused on the residential real estate industry. With clients like Zillow Group, MoxiWorks, OpCity, Trulia, Homefinder.com, PRIMEDIA Inc, LendingTree and the list goes on, it may seem like a conversation with tranCen’s CEO may not be accessible or applicable to an everyday practitioner, but I disagree. A former REALTOR® himself and now one of real estate's foremost trend-predictors, Ken is the perfect person with which to have this particular chat.HEY! What's that song Ken talks about and titled his blog post after? Here it is: "Defying Gravity" from Wicked - Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth(Ken refers to this song, so as promised, here's a link): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5V9KwppMfs&feature=youtu.beLyrics to "Defying Gravity" from Wicked: https://www.allmusicals.com/lyrics/wicked/defyinggravity.htmI also reference Ken's blog a few times during this episode. To read more, you can access it, here: https://www.trancen.com/blog (and I highly recommend it -- quite good reading!).KENNETH JENNY: Ken Jenny is an expert in the residential real estate brokerage industry and real estate marketing. Ken is a proven leader and management professional with over 38 years of progressive and diversified experience in the residential real estate industry. From sales agent to corporate executive to visionary, Ken has viewed residential real estate from nearly every strategic vantage point. Real estate firms, media companies, portals and technology companies worldwide have utilized his expertise, strategies and innovations to address the constant challenge of change facing the residential real estate brokerage industry.You can learn more about Ken, here: https://www.trancen.com/meet-ken-jenny See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ben is a fascinating founder. Over his 15-year career as an entrepreneur, he started and sold 2 companies – Yodle to Web.com for $350 million, Opcity to Realtor.com for $200 million – and hired over 2,000 people. If you do the math, that's about $35 million in value creation and 130 new jobs per year. Crazy! On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Ben about: • Disrupting Yellow Pages • How to be good at sales • How to build a 1000-person sales team • Ben’s first exit – Web.com acquires Yodle • Do founders need industry expertise? • Ben’s second exit – Realtor.com acquires Opcity • Can you buy a home without humans involved? • Future of local advertising Ben is currently on the executive team of Realtor.com and is an advisor to several startups. Startup Exits is brought to you by StartupSoft. New episodes every month, subscribe for more.

David Perez launched Lumen Insurance Technologies in 2016. He saw a need in the marketplace for someone to provide insurance policies to funded technology startups. Lumen’s clients have included Opcity, Strangeworks, Vault, previously known Student Loan Genius, Rocket Dollar, Valkyrie Intelligence, Kronologic, Living Security and others. Lumen provides policies for startups with products like directors and officers’ liability insurance, general liability, and commercial property insurance. Lumen is based at Galvanize in downtown Austin. In this episode of Ideas to Invoices, Perez talks about the maturation of Austin's technology industry, greater access to funding, the InsureTech boom in Austin and opportunities for further growth. 

Sam Monreal is a strategic advisor, the Founder and Head of Sales of Pitchstack, and the Director of strategic partnerships at Opcity, oversees enterprise sales efforts leading to growth from $30M to over $4B in transactions in 2.5years with a successful exit to News Corp subsidiary Move, Inc. in 2018. He is also an amazing author, art collector, real-estate investor, and a dad to a 7-year-old daughter. This guy is a ‘sells machine', knows more about sales & how to scale things through sales. He has written, Why Startups Fail, and The Ten Commandments of Scale. Sam is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in the intersection of tech & real estate and has been involved with multiple technology firms resulted in over $1B in successful exits as a part of the leadership in those companies as a Sales marketing and branding expert. He's leader and owner of firms with over 600 employees in central Texas with 49 products successfully launched, scaling high productivity and efficient prospecting organizations, and mastery level proficiency in complex negotiations and deal closing. Sam grew up from a poor family and had failed so many times. He filed bankruptcy twice and failed 13-14 businesses, but Sam is hyper-motivated by the need to provide the utmost value to the society. Sam believes that his calling is helping more people in homes, doing his best for the society. He lives intentionally in all areas of his life, truthful with himself, and show up his best version. He describes himself as an ‘intropreneur', the guy that takes someone else idea and executes it. But what was so hard for Sam is building a full and end solution and held the whole journey 100% accountable. Moreover, he learned to pull his ego from the shelf and be part of the bigger journey, process, and the greater good and not having the name on the side. Sam believes that though they are working on different areas, they belong to one culture, in the same team, and in the same mission. Despite being a successful leader & negotiator, he still learning how to be more patient, be a better trainer, be a better leader, and really his own world through leverage. According to him, the best entrepreneurs really understand the power of leverage. Sam used problems as opportunities to figure out new things. He learned of not making a judgment of the people based on your perception of them but allowing them to prove who they are. Sam emphasized of being selfish enough, be honest with yourself about what is going to drive you and the things that you want and stop focusing the money and focused on the mission and the money just comes.   Some Questions I Ask:   Tell me about that epic piece of artwork over your left shoulder. (03:15) What it looks like for you before all of these massive exits? (08:13) How do you know when it's time to stop & packed it up? (11:12) Do you think that every entrepreneur needs an entrepreneur or that integrator to be successful in vice versa? (18:24) Why the first hundred clients are the hardest? (24:22) What is the couple of top points in The Ten Commandments of Scale that you think is imperative? (27:53) How did you continue to push through the challenges in life after all the failures? (38:35) How did you learn to focus on mission & not the money? (50:28) Sam's one message about finding the path for growth and rich life. (01:06:37)  In This Episode, You Will Learn: The primary reason why Sam doesn't accept the client. (28:36) The two biggest things that most companies struggled with. (31:08) The common misconception in the industry. (31:42) One of the most impactful moments in Sam's career recently. (32:22) Sam and his team mission. (35:44) One of the hardest things about scaling the company. (36:02) A unique place for an entrepreneur to get to. (41:42) The three common things that most startup companies make them fail. (43:04) The most important thing in becoming an entrepreneur and being successful at it. (45:04) The why & the mission attached to that why. (45:45) Be selectively selfish. (53:18) The tough things for people who excel in business. (56:27) Ayahuasca and the plant-based medicine experiences and the lessons that Sam learned. (58:30) The importance of practicing acceptance. (01:01:39)   Quotes: “Only buy things that you can't live without and it will make your life better if you see them every day.” “Not every idea is going to land, and not every idea is going to be a great idea.” “The best entrepreneurs are aggressively lazy.” “It's not because nobody sold it yet, & nobody's paid for it and nobody's willing to buy it doesn't mean it's not saleable.” “If you keep your eye on the future state, all now slips away.” “Cash flow over ego, it is not that important if I'm right, it is not that important if I'm important.”

This week Abby & Joe talk about residents leaving certain parts of Connecticut, Marriott Vs. Airbnb, The National Association of Realtors fighting back against the commission lawsuit. 6 tips for getting your listings sold. REALTOR discrimination at the gym and quitting your day job and making Real Estate your career. Closing Time Podcast is on: Facebook Instagram    Connect with: Abby Breau Joe Aguiar   Website

Discount brokerage REX raised an additional $45 million in funding – money they may use to fuel further expansion efforts. With REX’s flat 2 percent fee, this could be bad news for agents who rely on traditional co-op splits. Listen to today’s State of the Market podcast and learn what REX’s success might mean for you. Plus, hear about Realtor.com’s decision to replace its lead-gen with Opcity in select markets, why Remine laid off two-thirds of its sales staff, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back for the first episode of None Size Fits All season two. This season Jon Boller will be hosting a variety of guests as they share their knowledge and expertise on technology, real estate, building businesses, and entrepreneurialism. Episode one features the founder and CEO of Opcity, Ben Rubenstein.   Boller talks with Rubenstein about the key features of scaling Yodle and Opcity, two companies built by Rubenstein, and how this information can be used to benefit other new businesses. According to Rubenstein, a strong foundation with a positive company culture is the first step to growing a small business. He also discusses the importance of specialization of work, division of labor, and focusing on the consumer as a means to success.   What You’ll Learn in Today’s Episode: A growing company requires a strong foundation to maintain success at scale. Rubenstein’s experience growing his previous company Yodle. Infrastructure and a strong company culture enables you to scale your business effectively. How Opcity leverages agent accountability to produce an effective product. Scale provides a huge advantage for companies. Lead generation should focus on optimizing returns, not the speed of the return. Division of labor and specialization of work allows you to focus on your strengths. Focus on lead conversion, not lead generation. Why it is important to focus on what is best for the consumer. How and why Opcity rewards agents with higher customer satisfaction ratings. The industry wins when the agent and consumer wins. Being a tech focused brokerage is an absolute necessity. Rubenstein’s opinion on the future of the real estate industry as a whole.

REALTrending Episode 20: News Corp Buys OPCity, Delinquency Drops, and Strengthening your Brokerage by REAL Trends

Ben Rubenstein is the co-founder and CEO of Opcity in Austin. The fast growing startup has created a data and analytics driven technology platform for real estate agents and brokers. It recently announced it has raised $27 million in funding, the largest Series A round in Austin this year and one of the largest ever. Rubenstein previously co-founded and served as vice president of sales operations at Yodle in 2005 and grew it to a large company with more than 1,500 employees and $200 million in revenue. In 2016, Web.com bought Yodle for $342 million. In this podcast, he recounts his entrepreneurial journey at Yodle from a 21 year old straight out of college to building and running a multi-million dollar company with more than 1,000 employees.  He enjoys being an entrepreneur and scaling a company. He has joined with his Co-Founder at Opcity Michael Lam to build an even bigger company.