On this episode of the Real Estate: Real Success podcast, Chiyoko Kakino has an in-depth conversation with Geneva Tetreault, CENTURY 21 Masters, about how to cultivate a positive workplace culture and use it to attract the right agents and grow your business.
Interested in opening your own brokerage? Learn more here
On this episode of the Real Estate: Real Success podcast, Chiyoko Kakino has an in-depth conversation with Geneva Tetreault, CENTURY 21 Masters, about how to cultivate a positive workplace culture and use it to attract the right agents and grow your business.
Interested in opening your own brokerage? Learn more here
Welcome to the Real Estate. Real success podcast, where we talk about key business, successes, and Lessons Learned along the way in the hopes of inspiring brokerage owners, and managers to find new ways to grow their business. I'm your host. She okok Aquino. And in this episode, we're going to talk about the importance of culture in building a successful Brokers. So I'm super lucky to be joined by Geneva Tatro. She is the associate broker/owner partner. I've sent you 21 Masters in Edmonton. Alberta Geneva, thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you. I'm super excited to be here. Well, and you know what? I just recently saw you down in Palm Springs for our Chairman's Circle event. So it's nice to see you online. I prefer a person but it's still good to see, you know, can you give us some background on yourself and your journey into real estate? So let's start there. Oh, yeah. So actually I was just looking, I licensed myself in May of 2002. So I'm actually about two weeks away. From being 20 years in this business, which is kind of crazy but my history sort of started out by chance as I was working as an assistant to a realtor back in my early 20s and kind of like the idea of, you know, what I saw. There's there's the business side and the people side and systems and processes and I loved all of that. So just sort of led me to that path. I got licensed when I was 23 and worked for two years as an agent. What I quickly discovered was I felt like there was a significant Gap. A pin, you know, the training and was sort of a brokerage model that I was looking for. And so a couple of years after I was licensed, I decided it would be a great idea to open my own brokerage and tackle that myself. So we opened up our far Century, 21 office in 2004 brand new startup, you know, just a couple of Realtors and me and figured things out from there. Well, you started your career in real estate young and you know, you're an entrepreneur. Yeah, like 25 26. You're an entrepreneur. Running your own brokerage. So you had mentioned, you know, you want to start your own brokerage. He chose Century 21. Why did you choose Century 21? You know, when I, when I was looking around at the different options, I knew that I wanted a recognizable brand and I loved that Century 21. Had that brand recognition actually internationally. I love that. I saw it when I was in Ireland and France and in the United States, so I knew that it had some strength there, but I also wanted a brand that you know, the that wasn't in the Forefront of the Realtors do something that kind of sits quietly on your shoulder people recognize it right away, but they can get And learn more about the agents and what that service piece looks like and Century 21, you know, really, really provided that I thought. And I also loved the executive team and, you know, really the the way that the the national 5021 counted organization came out and approached their business model. So it was a really good fit all around great. And so 20 years. Almost 20 years in the business. You must have seen so many changes. Not only in the industry, but also In the company since you joined in 2004, so what are some of the biggest changes that you've seen? I think, I mean, technology has to be the biggest thing that, you know, we go from when we when we first started. When I first started, we were downloading, you know, listings once a day, and to our database. So that we could see what new inventory was, there would pagers. I mean, obviously doesn't seem like that long ago, but it sure is, you know, all the way into, you know, the way we generate leads social media, even how we interact with our clients. So technology for sure, is that is the biggest thing that I see, you know, Mean, obviously, and Century 21. I think the biggest change in the 20 years, is the Rebrand that happened. A few years ago. And that just was a massive facelift. Catapulted us into a really modern dynamic, which is been a lot of fun to be a part of these last three years. Well, you know, when you've done such a great job leveraging that new brand were to talk about that a little bit later in this podcast, but, you know, for those people that are watching because everybody's watching from across Canada and also internationally tell us a little bit about the Edmonton. Edmonton. Alberta, tell us a little bit about, you know, the competitive market there and what you're seeing. Yeah, I mean, I'm in tune and always an interesting Market Alberta as well. But Edmonton itself. Our board has will just over 4,000 agents and we think, I think we're pretty near to 300 brokerages and we have, you know, lots of big Brands we have. We also have a lot of small Independence, our average single family homes Praises, just finally creeped over the 500,000, Mark in March. So, that's kind of a nice thing that we've seen. And we've really struggled up until covid. 25 years prior to covid, since 2005. As oil prices dropped Alberta's economy. Very much was in a recession. We struggled to help our sellers get, you know, value out of their properties. The prices were slipping. It's been a real grind for our clients and our Realtors, over the last five years, leading up to covid, you know, and I think that was something that set us apart, from a lot of perks of Canada's that we weren't in a hot Market coming into covid. We were in a really struggling Market, thankfully as we've moved through covid and onto the other side of that. Our Market definitely has escalated out. We've seen a lot of growth. The Realtors are really busy. We've seen price escalation. So we're starting now this year and last year as well, to get to realize a little bit of the positive Market. Some of the area other areas of Canada have seen. No, as, you know, I'm located in Vancouver. Here. Are you seeing like, people from like the Metro cities? Big cities? Vancouver? Toronto, are they coming into your area? Or what's that looking like? Yeah. I definitely either absolutely as an Acts of of population coming and looking to purchase properties in Edmonton, Alberta from the East and the West Coast. We're seeing that a lot. And you know, I mean everything to two people that are coming from those markets seems like a pretty good pretty good sale price here, you know, when people are selling houses for over a million dollars and being able to buy a similar and comparable property here for half of that. You know, it's good. So definitely we see a lot of purchases happening within our own our own clientele here, but absolutely. There's been a push for some, some people coming from out of Province on because, you know, really, you know, now that we've experienced covid, we all know we can work from home, right? So you people have more flexibility to work like virtually from other places, right? So it's just it's interesting to see, you know, all the shifting that's taking place, you know, throughout Canada. So I know that 20 years has been a long time and I want to talk a little bit about your growth in the Journey of you're broke. So you've been with see 21 for since 2004, then in 2018, you merged with your partner. Today's partner, which is James, maybe. And at that time, you know, just before you merge. I think you had about 46 47 agents, you merged with James and of course, organically grew. And now you have 104 agents and four offices. So that's basically double in five years. So congratulation that, you know, a 25 year old entrepreneur, that you know, had an idea. Tia, and now you're seeing so much success, so we're really, really proud of you. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's been interesting over the years. I mean, we've looked to grow lots of different ways and some of the growth comes just organically, bringing realtors in New Or experienced, and we've had some murdered mergers and Acquisitions and, and all those different pieces play into to how we've seen that growth, and what we continue to do losing forward for sure, right? So, how are you, you know, you talk a little bit about, you know, mergers and Acquisitions and and that's, you know, some been some of the Ingredients to growth. What are you doing now to recruit agents to your business? Because I know that you're putting even more of a focus on recruiting agents and we're going to talk about all the great things you're doing. So you are set up for success and now it's just an opportunity to invite more people to join your brokerage. Yeah, I mean, you know recruiting as any broker owner knows recruiting and growing your offices and ongoing thing and so mean James and I've worked really hard to position ourselves in the marketplace and make sure that we have a good reputation. We volunteer, we get involved a lot and so we have a lot of opportunity to network and with other agents as we go through those those different volunteer roles, but it internally as a brokerage that one of the best things we did about a year and a half ago is higher Celeste to who we really put her into a position. To assist us with that recruiting component, and also add value and assist with, you know, supporting the agents that we have. So, that was really key because we found that in all the roles that James and I have in terms of running and training supporting the current agents, you know, often looking outward and trying to provide that growth opportunity was challenging for us to to always focus in our the way that we needed to. So Rings last on board has been great. She's been able to take some conceptual ideas that we had and execute those and add some extra value. Into that for us as well and definitely. Yeah. Sorry. Go ahead. No, I was just going to say a Mets lasted, the Chairman's Circle meeting and she's just a bright light. You could just tell she wants to make a difference, right? She's full of ideas. She's full of determination. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah, and I mean, it's things that, you know, like the social media pieces, or posting the jobs or, you know, that have two career nights and bring those bodies in and trying to get our messaging and our communication out to as many people as possible that she's We've been able to go and, and be super influential on that component. You know, you talked about a little about how you and James positioned your Brokerage in the marketplace. So how do you differentiate your brokerage from the other brokerages in your Market? Yeah. So I mean there's there's a lot of different things that we think we're doing and we know we're doing, you know, as I mentioned before, when I first opened the brokerage one of the main key components for me, and for what I wanted to do. And I know this was the The same for James was that training and broker support peace. So we just feel really strongly that, you know, we're very agents are professionals that need continuing support and education as things shift and move and so that is something that's that we hear from other agents is different. We need to join us from other brokerages. They say like, I've never had training Hands-On training or customized training to this level. So I think the training piece, the agents know that they can get a hold of James and I have any points. We try really hard to make sure that Available to them a lot and we encourage that collaboration idea, sharing those kinds of things, you know, there's opportunity for the agents to collaborate with each other but also for them to phone dreams, our eye and say, Hey, you know, this is the circumstance, this is what I'm thinking. How do you what do you think? Because, you know for us to focus is let's get it right before we go rather than trying to fix something after the fact. And, you know, I think that because we have that approach and that collaborative approach to everything that we do with the agents as well. Well, you know, that creates that whole team mentality within the brokerage to be a brokerage of, you know, the size we are and still have people feel like they're a part of something that's, you know, unique and still has that closeness is what we're trying to accomplish. And I think we're doing not too bad out of it. Well, you know and you just you described it perfectly and it's what it really is this culture, right? It's that it's that unique feeling of, you know, feeling like you're part of something feeling like you're, you know, bringing value to the team feeling like you're supporting. David and, you know, people care about you, whether they're providing training or the support 24/7, that you're giving your agents, you know, really kind of, you know, really just sums up. What I know your culture is like, so, you know, and it's interesting. I love talking about culture, you know, but everyone always says round. Yeah, I got great culture. I got great culture. So, what does culture mean to you? Well, I think, you know, positive culture is just sort of this collection of attitudes and beliefs, and it creates this energy, that's in the space you're in. So, I mean, it's it's a, it's a collaborative thing. One person can't created everybody has to agree and be a part of it and it creates this energy and dynamic this Common Thread that everybody relates to and connects to you know, in that group of people that you're that you're talking about. So, you know, I know that in the real estate brokerage model is different from other. Relations, you know, you have companies and, you know, you have the employees that
come into the office, 8:30 to 5:00, whatever it might be. And, you know, and you can do things to, you know, create that culture. But in a real estate brokerage really everyone's entrepreneurs, right? They're all independent contractors that are coming together and you don't know when people are coming into the office. So, you know, why is it important specifically for Real Estate brokerage to have a good culture? You know, I think if you know, in real estate is such an interesting business to be in because it is actually a very secluded. You know, when we're out there working with our clients. We're going to, like you said, they're all their own, your own, their own, their own business owners and they're in this little bubble, running their own business. And so to be able to come back to a group of people and debrief, or vent, or share an idea and have that, you know, as humans, we all want to be part of something that feels positive and good and brings us maybe out of a negative mindset into a positive, one or share some of that. So, I think that, you know, really people gravitate towards that environment where they just feels comfortable Feels Like Home, you know, they can let their guard down kind of unpackage some things, and then, and then, carry on. And, you know, I mean it, like I said, it's human nature. We want to be a part of something, and I think in this business, sometimes it's we don't make enough time for that because it yet sort of head down and get into the, into the clientele side of the business. Well, you know, it's interesting because a realtor wants said to me, not too long ago. She said, do you know, being a realtor is a really lonely profession and I thought, you know, because I don't have my real estate license. I have I, you know, I don't sell real estate and, and I thought about it. I'm like, yeah, I guess because you say, you're kind of your your own business, you know, owner you're running your business and that's why it's always great. As you say to have kind of a home base that you can go back to, right? And that you can network with other like-minded individuals and you can share some, you know, maybe some, you know, a coffee and just have that opportunity as you say. Kind of let your hair down and just be yourself. You know, I know that you Foster an amazing culture over there at c21 Masters. How would you define your culture? So someone was to ask you what your culture is? Like, how would you describe it? You know, I mean, I think that like whenever I think about the office and the people that are here and the culture that is a part of it. I'm always so proud and honored to be a part of it. And I, you know, I don't think, I don't think it's something. Thing that, you know, obviously we try to set some some examples in terms of what we want the office to be like, but at the end of the day, it's the people that are here that make it that. And so we just sort of guiding it along the path. But you know, we have agents that are happy and positive. They definitely have a collaborative approach to their business style and they like to their eager to learn and to share and support each other. There is a ton of respect between our Realtors and, and for James and I with our Realtors, there's just a massive amount of Going going both ways. And so, you know, whenever I think about that, I just think, you know, that, that is one of the key components. We also really truly like each other and we actually like to have fun together. So we have this work hard side, but we kind of have this play hard side where I actually really enjoy just having a glass of wine, you know doing some of the fun things that we do outside of it. And so it's all of those things kind of packaged up together. And how do you think how important do you think culture is in retaining agents in it? Attracting new agents, your brokerage because you know a lot of times we always want to talk technology. This is the technology. This is what's going to keep agents, you know, having good technology. This is what's going to attract agents, but you know, culture is so important, right? And so, how would you, how do you how important do you think culture is? When you know keeping your agents happy that you have and then attracting new people to your business. I mean, I feel like it's massive. I mean, I think it's one of the most important things that we do, I think, In this business and probably lots of businesses. Everybody comes in with the approach of you know, let's get down to business and get the job done and carry on. But but um, having that that culture having that, you know, that collaborative kind of approach to things they want to, they want to be a part of something and it is a lonely business, and I think that, you know, culture is what keeps people together. It's what, what pulls on the heartstrings that allows them to to enjoy each other and, and it feeds a positive mindset and State through into their business. I mean, if they're out there working hard and it's been a tough situation comes along. They know that they've got the support back here from James and I and brokerage the staff from the Realtors, you know, all of that in assisting them along the way. So mean, it is a lonely business and it's super competitive out there and I don't think there's any place for that kind of - competition inside The Brokerage walls. This should be a safe place for them to come back to. And I mean, I think that the agents that are with us and the Agents that have stayed with us. For a long time. I mean that's that's a big part of why you're here. I mean, it's not just numbers. It's not just the walls, the things that anybody can put up and make the same. It is about the people right within the company. So, you know, you know, we talked about your your journey into real estate. So you're 25, 26 year-old, you decide to open a brokerage. What would you tell to a 25 or 26 year old? Who is just about to open a brokerage? How would you, how would you, what would you say to help them? You know? Create a good culture for their brokerage. I mean culture is such an interesting thing. I think it just can't be fake, like it has to come from the heart and passed a really be an extension of who you are as a person. I mean, we all are on high alert for a sales pitch and being sold to. And we know when somebody is selling a Sevilla goods and so, you know, we definitely don't say anything and do anything that isn't who we are through and through. That's how we live our lives inside, the walls of the company at home, with our families, with our friends, like You can't decide it's going to be something and then make it happen. It just ends up sort of being organic to some extent. And then you have to realize what it is and capture that and slide it, try to find those strong pieces within it. You know, I think it is, you know, being true to yourself and the people that are around rights mean, it's as a new person coming in to the business. As a young individual. I definitely just tried to lead, by example and try to meet, you know, care about people and heartfelt. It's and give everybody the time of day and, you know, it just kind of Grew From that organically. That's exactly how I feel. So let's Inspire our listeners today. Let's talk about some of the things that you're doing to create a good culture because I know there's some real fun thing. So why did you tell us some of the things you're doing now? I, you know, it's funny. I was trying to put a list together and things keep popping up in my mind. I mean, you know, one of the things that James and I tried to do is we sort of identified almost sort of eight different categories of people's lives. And it's all the From, you know, you know, their education and personal growth, financial career family, all of those things. And then we tried to start piecing pieces in where we can impact and support. Those different facets of people's lives, not just business. So, you know, one of my favorite things that I we do, which the Realtors know this is that we actually run a fitness bootcamp on Fridays. So we have 10 to 12 over agents that show up on Fridays or rolling. Group of us were more available and we go to see a trainer and we actually work out together Friday. Earnings and it's a ton of fun and it is not business at all. Like that is sweat and laying on the ground. And, you know, just being having your app your ass kicked to be honest. And another fun thing that we've done is like wine Fridays. So, on Friday, afternoons, probably at most of the offices you'll find James, or I sitting there, you know, either with the bottle of wine or glass of wine around, or even a group of people sitting and having a glass of wine and just chatting, we've done. I've done some athletic pieces as well, like fundraisers fun. A small group of us will go and raise money, go out and do a community run for charity. We've run book clubs before and we've done business books as well as others, but usually the business books, create some fun dialogue. Obviously. We think it's important to do the Christmas, you know, the Christmas party. We do a summer barbecue that family can come to to have an extension around that and the events and recognition that we do with the Realtors around me Awards. And even one of the really cool things that we did in the middle of covid. Is I called it mind your health and I had a train Or do a workout in a park. We had the Realtors come bring their clients with them. So we had about 35 40. People showed up in the park, with their yoga Mass. We did a full on workout and then I brought in a local gal that does mental health, speaking engagements, and she did a 30-minute session on mental health. So, we just were looking always for these opportunities to impact the agents in their personal World, Health Fitness, you know, maybe bring clients along to things. And so, you know, we do try to offer quite a Area of things and, you know, that strategic because we know, of course, not everybody is going to want to come to everything, right? Well Friday, sound fun there in Edmonton because you, you know, you work out in the morning and then you drink wine. Absolutely. No, you got you know, just exactly it's a good strategy, really good strategy. You know, I know that you and your team, your staff and the people that work with you and James on a regular basis. I know that they play a very important role in enhancing and Creating that culture can so. Can you talk a little bit about that now for sure. I mean, I think that that's the thing again, is that that it has to be the big picture, right? Everybody's everybody's walking along in the same direction with the same set of beliefs. And so we're so so proud of the staff that work within our brokerage. They work so hard for the agents. They they absolutely exude all of the the skills and pieces that we want to you know to tow that line and show that they care about the agents. We have a lot of our stuff that you know, we encourage them to but they are able to show up at some of the socializing events because you know, in a regular day for the, for the staff, they're processing paperwork. They're doing a lot of administrative things and there's not as much time for that softer side. And so, when they attend the, the social events, it's great because that's when they actually get to engage in a, in a casual, you know, way with the the staff or with the agents. And I mean, I think again, if you have to drag somebody along and tell them, they're going to go to something and have fun. That's not how it works. So we're thrilled because when the staff come to things, you know, they're really engaged. They love being a part of that and that connection with the agents as well. Then, you know, supports the staff when they're reaching out to the agent. Saying, hey, you're missing something and we need this or I asked you a couple times. There's a different relationship that happens there as well. You're right, you know, I think that when, you know, someone on a different level and you know, some of these social events, do provide that opportunity is when, you know, you get to know the person you build that trust. And so, when Call you for something, you know, you know, they have good intentions, right? Or if they're reminding you about something, you know, they have good intentions versus, you know, just reminding you to do something. So, you know, I like that that, you know, you're so aware that, you know, everybody has to, you know, your whole team has to participate in ink, and encourage, and Foster and nurture, that, that culture in your office. So, let's talk a little bit about your beautiful self, Edmonton office. How would you describe the off? Office to me now. Well, I mean, you know, we decided to do a different, totally different build out there. And so we did a quite a grant fresh and modern approach. It's very open with sort of collaborative, work spaces. We have, you know, basically a couple of office spaces at the back. But otherwise the entire space is open big long work tables. A couple small couch and sofa areas for more casual meetings and you know client room or meeting rooms at the back, but but Very small scale, it is. It's you know, edgy and fresh. It's clean. And it definitely, it's sort of like this blend of as James likes to say, Starbucks, meets apple and I think we were thrilled with how it turned out. I love that Starbucks versus Apple. How many square feet is it? Please? Just 1,200 square feet. Yeah. Well, that's amazing. So, that's your fourth office. So, feminine area when you were building it out or designing it or talking about it with James did. You take your culture into consideration when you're designing your office there. Yeah, for sure. I mean, we, you know, we struggled a little bit by building an office without having rentable office, space in it. But what we really decided what we needed and wanted more of was a collaborative space that we could use for different kinds of things. So a big space that can be used for a train, a larger training session or even rent it out for training, obviously hosting events. There. We kind of brought in more of the collaborative components, into that piece thinking, that it would be more about idea, sharing and sir. Out of people sitting around and having having coffee having chats during things, but it also allows the agents to use that space for other things outside of business hours so high. I holding up buyer seminar there, you know, or even doing something, that's not real estate-related, you know, renting it out with a little mom's group where the ladies I'll get together for, you know, gift exchange or something. So there's some opportunities there where, you know, our Realtors could utilize it and can utilize it for things outside of just real estate related components. You know, that's a good idea. Because of course, I swear, I haven't seen your office in person. But I've, you know, I've seen I've seen the video and for, you know, I can't, we can't unfortunately show the video because it's a podcast. So people can't listen to a video, but, you know, it's definitely on my Facebook page. So definitely check it out if you want to. But, you know, I never thought about utilizing the space, like, afterwards for, as you say, by our seminars. Or you can sure you can have career nights or you can have yeah. If their realtor wants to do some sort of social Gathering or or client, Appreciation Day. Night, you know, that's the opportunity to do that. I would just, you know, I always looked at it and just thinking, okay, that you know, justify its thought of it 925 versus thinking about the
possibilities after after 5:00. So that's great. The, as you say, the office looks beautiful. Looks fresh looks contemporary. It has all the new branding as he say. That's, you know, one of the most exciting things that have happened to Century. 21 was this complete makeover? How does the office? How does, how does the Office. Look and feel and the design of it. How does that affect your culture or does it? Yeah, I mean, I think it does like we you know, it's an interesting question. But when you, when people walk in there, you know, it definitely looks different enough and modern and unique enough that people always comment on it. And I think that the agents are proud to have that that space that they can use and bring people to. I think they also appreciate having other spaces that offer different things as well, depending on what their needs are. But it absolutely is one more layer and one more option for for them to utilize. So, you know, I mean I, I think that as we as covid opens up and are able to have people out. Again, that's the other pieces. We opened it when it's Gatherings were for the most part kept small. So it's limited things a bit, but now we're on the other side of that and I think that there's some great opportunities there, but it's just nice to have that at their at their disposal to use as they like and absolutely just as an extension of what we're trying to offer to the agents know. I know that it's an interesting question. The reason I ask is I'm a big, you know, marketing's my But I'm a big believer that you create a. I can temporary environment that you know, there's a sense of Pride that comes with that and when you feel proud you feel more excited and motivated and you stand a little taller. And so it's really nice that, you know, that you feel the same about that. How do you communicate or demonstrate your culture when you're recruiting new agent? Because, as you said, you have Celeste there, you put a little bit more emphasis on some organic growth initiatives. Cultures a really hard thing to explain to someone. So, How do you communicate that when you're recruiting new agents? Yeah, I mean, again, it's, you know, it's kind of that practice what you preach, peace. So, you know, when James and I and Celeste even are delivering, you know, the pieces that we see as value to somebody that we're looking to recruit it. Also, I think just comes through and how we express ourselves and how excited we get and they hear us talking about how proud We Are of the office in the agents and how great our Realtors are and how well trained and you know how professional they are. And that collaborative thing so is We get talking about all the things that we think our office has to offer. It's one thing to have it written down on paper and point to things and say oh when we do this and we do that, where the buy-in is and people really connect with is, when they hear the passion or voices and how excited we are to share the things that were doing and I mean James and I can never say enough about the realtors that we have that work for us. They're fantastic. We think they're the best in the industry, you know, and we truly truly believe that and you see it everyday. So somebody sitting Across from us. Very quickly starts to go and recognize that this is this is something that we feel truly passionate about. Yeah, you're right, you know, when you when someone talks with passion they talk with excitement. Like it's contagious, right? You can make you can feel that from the person and that's as you say, it's a great way to Showcase your culture on the flip side. When you're in a recruiting presentation, you meeting with that person, you know, you're showing all your passion, your excitement. But how do you ensure that that person will fit into your culture? Do you have Have like a standard list of questions that you ask them or how can how can you know if that person is going to be right for the type of culture that you provide? Well, it's interesting because I mean, I think we probably should have some really fantastic scientific. You kind of answer for that some but we don't I think it's actually, you know, people either resonates with them or it doesn't people either say that's something that I want to be a part of because I connect with that and we hit all these hot buttons and that's how I feel. And I am excited about that too. Or they're just like, no, I don't want to know anybody. I just want to get down to business. I don't care where I work, who I work with. I got friends outside of it, you know, so either they're buying in to, you know, the excitement and the energy that we have, or they're not. And and we feel like in those meetings with people. We very quickly can assess if somebody is like, you know, not interested in any of that. Then obviously, the probably not the right person for us. And so, it kind of self the end up sort of self betting themselves out or we just say, sorry. It's not a fit but it is so much coming so much of it comes through in the conversation, in that meeting and that appointment is to get them talking. So sure. Well, you know, it's interesting because, you know, over my career. I've, you know, hired a number of people and one of the things that I'm doing all the time as laughing, or I'm just being silly, right? So I'm always like, I'm always hoping to hire someone who you know can be silly with me. Can laugh. You know what anything. So usually when I'm doing an interview, I just say, something really random and and see if they laugh like, how do they react? Are they like? Um is that, you know, that's how I can tell if they're going to fit in, you know, with with my department with myself, but I really I really like that. You but you can always see it, right? If you start talking to that person, you get right into it. You can always tell the type of person they are and whether they're going to be good for your team. Well, and I think there's that energy piece that comes through and and also, you know, James and I do. I mean, truly, truly enjoy working with each other. We have a lot of fun together. We don't take ourselves too. Seriously. We are one of everybody else. And so in those meetings, when we do them together, especially I think people really get they enjoy seeing how we interact together. And I mean, we just don't take ourselves too. Seriously. Thought Life Is Life, is meant to be positive and fun. And so, I think that, you know, you find that when there's two of us there, even more of our personalities come out. That person that's sitting there feels more comfortable. And so there's that opportunity to feel like you really getting to know each other. And yeah, I mean the energy is what people are connected to, right. So, you know, we talked about your journey and you know, you've gone through this process is 2004. You've merged businesses with James, you've acquired, you know, some other brokerages. How do you seamlessly integrate a new organization into existing one without losing or changing the culture? So if you know it brokerages are looking to, you know, acquire or merge with another organization. How do you do that? And not lose the great culture that you've created? Yeah, so there's a lot of pieces to that question questions. So first of all, I wish there was such a thing as seamless. I don't think that that is, you know, entirely possible. I think that any time you're taking one group, who feels like they have their own, their own peace. They want to hold onto a little bit. You there's a lot of work that goes into connecting with them and each individual person maybe has their own concerns or things that they need a dressing. So, you know, really Really, I think more. So it's about moving moving those people over with care and compassion and making sure that they feel heard. And that they that they feel like they're not just being dumped into a group of somebody else and sort of losing their identity on that. We found obviously great success in just having really heartfelt one-on-one conversations with each of those people and making sure there's that time finding out what's important to them? Letting them see who we are, making sure they know they can reach out to us if it any questions at all and when things happen that aren't Fact, you know, the focus is not that it's mistake-free and necessarily exactly seamless, but if something pops up that we're dealing with it immediately efficiently. We're working through that to get a wow, at the end of it rather than, you know, got it done. And you know, I think it is also about encouraging them to join in things and meet people. Obviously, there can be that little bit of division there. And I think also whenever you bring in a larger group of people, your own culture, for sure, need some additional Additional nurturing and care because the the, you know, the agents that are on the team already are kind of watching to see what's going to happen. And they are also concerned that it's going to rock about that that they're quite happy on. So, there's bandaging on both sides. I think, you know, I like I said, I don't think that seamless is really a, it's not possible, but it is about making sure that everybody knows that you're got ever their best interests at heart that you really care about them all. And you're giving everybody a lot of Time of day to feel comfortable in that transition and it takes time, you know, letting people slowly merging and visit the agents and get to know them over a period of time. It doesn't, it doesn't, you know, instantly happen. Some people for sure but most people it takes a bit of time for them to see consistent, behaviors practices energy from the other Realtors. And then, you know, we just did an awards event recently. And, you know, I had a couple people come up to us from some of our other, you know, from of some of their This isn't just say this. It's been so great to be a part of this team. And every time I attend something, I see more and more. You know, how much the agents care, how much you guys care. And so, it's a, it goes over time. It isn't instant, you know, and I like that you said not only do you have to, you know, Foster and nurture a culture with a new people coming into your organization, but not forgetting, the people that are there, because they need that Comfort, right? They need that nurturing. And I think that's super Foreign because I think a lot of us can get so concerned about, you know, new people onboarding them, you know, focusing on them. Making sure they feel welcome. But it's also making sure that, you know, the other people don't feel like, you know, they're forgotten right? And caring about them. So that I think that's an amazing tip, you know, someone's looking to you know, choir another brokerage or merge with another brokerage with with over 100 agents. I'm sure you have a variety of different age groups. How can you ensure your culture is relevant to a variety of different? Demographics. Yeah, I mean, I think the core pieces of culture and who we are. Are the same no matter if your new agent and experienced agents. Young person older person in those core values are the same day. I'm changing their unchanged. I think James and I work hard to treat everybody the same no matter where they are, you know, everybody deserves the same amount of time and respect, but we also work to create different opportunities because we know not every opportunity will work for everyone and that's why we have Have constantly a variety of things that were doing and opportunities for people to attend events and different things. You know, somebody that comes to my Friday bootcamp is maybe not going to be the same person that comes to a mastermind meeting or, you know, to our Wine Friday. And so that's how I think we work with the different demographics pieces. We just offer a lot of variety and know that we will hopefully be able to hit everybody at something if they want that and all those opportunities are there and you know, I love it. There's crossover sometimes when you don't even expect it. You know, and that's great to wear somebody shows up to something. And the other thing that I think is worked really well too is when somebody's hesitant about something like the workout, we did in the park that we called mind your health, you know, we had a lot of our Realtors posting how great it was and I had other people that probably wouldn't normally have considered that. Say, Hey, if you do that again, I'm actually going to come. So, you know, sometimes that experience through each other will help, you know, a different group of individuals feel more comfortable to come, but the variety is the is the spice thereof. Life. Yeah, that's right. Variety is key, right? You don't want to work out. That's okay. We got something that you could do. Not everybody wants to walk around, you know, like they're very smooth. So sore leg muscles for the attack. I can't sit down. I get it. That's not for everyone. So Geneva, what are some of the things that you personally are doing to foster a positive and collaborative culture? Yeah, I mean like again it is just showing up I think and being real I try to have a lot of patience. I have a lot of respect for people and treat everybody as equals. I mean I think time is a massive piece. I wish we all had more time to give. We all wish. We had more time. But you know, I think one of the key components is when the agents call that they mean, you know, God bless them. They're always say, I know you're busy you have time for this but we work. Really hard to say, of course, I have time. What do you need? How can I help? And just, you know, practice what I preach, you know, that's all I can do. And, you know, I feel like if I'm true and what they see is what they get or what I say I'm going to do, I do, and then that's me Towing the line. And hopefully that adds to the culture that we have in the company, you know, and, you know, sometimes because life is just so busy. And there's just so many things to do, you know, one of the things that I do I do personally to foster a culture. Sure. Is, I try to slow down, right? It's like as they say take time to smell the roses, right. And you know, sometimes instead of banging off an email like let's be nicer the email. But sometimes, you know, if you're you know, if you're really fast at everything and trying to do everything fast, sometimes you just have to slow down right? And take that moment. As you said. So 20 years, almost 20 years have there been any lessons learned over the years? Oh, this is you. Yeah. You know, I think there's a couple, you know, key ones that sort of, I think students stand out for me. There's so so many. Well, I mean, you've got to get up every day and love what you do. If you don't love it, you know, it's not going to work. And so it's sometimes obviously there's times when it might feel a little more trying. And and what's great is take that check out like you said, have that little break, but I think some of the big things are never to make an assumption about anything or anyone, I definitely learned in this business, especially as we're helping clients. It's working with other Realtors across the other side of the table. Sometimes what it looks like is not what it is. And so I try to never make an assumption about what's happening and what that other person is dealing with, and I have had that, you know, come back a lot where somebody's like, you know, apologizes when when you know, so they've stepped back up and I think the more you learn that in life generally it makes things a little bit easier and I work really hard to not let somebody else's bad baby my bad day, and I say that to our staff. And I see that to their agents because other will can escalate a situation and make us feel like we need to be angry or we need to be frustrated as well. And so, it really is about that pause and GAP and just, you know, let that I say, this is the staff for sure, but to the agents, like Let It Be their bad day if they want to go around in that headspace and dealing with things that way, let them so working really hard to not, you know, bring that baggage on and layer it on top of me and then carry that around and, you know, especially because I was so young when I opened the brokerage, I definitely had a lot of that. We're had to learn. If somebody was, you know, ripping a strip off you on the phone and you're having to come back at that, being able to end that call with integrity and then walk away and not let that get you down, moving forward. I think that those are probably the biggest things that I've learned over my 20 years. So, and you know what? I love that tip, like, don't let someone else's bad day make, you know, affect your day, right? That's just that's, that's a great tip. So, you know, what are what are some tips that you could give? Give brokerage owners out there if they want to grow their brokerage. So, you know, they've they've been, you know, they have a nice brokerage but, you know, they want to take their brokerage to the next level. What are some tips that you might give them. Yeah, I think that's, you know, honestly, where that comes down to figuring out what the added value pieces, are that you offering to The Brokerage and why your people are there to begin with and then going out and finding other people that want to be a part of that, you know, we definitely are looking to add always people that fit our company not Did anybody? And so, you know, identifying those those gaps in the market identifying, you know, some of the things that people don't even know that they need, but they do need them. And offering those components out. We really have found good value in. Like I said, that array those eight different areas where we try to add some value in and articulate that out. And, you know, whether it's kind of some coaching components that come into, like, my Mastermind call, or my new realtor round tables where we end up talking about family. And Personal situations. So I find that it's this business focus. Sometimes that makes everything so kind of, you know, kind of hard and you know, not as not as responsive. And so if we can sort of let some of those barriers down, and look at that bigger picture, I think when we have an opportunity As Leaders to to help people grow themselves and we grow as well, you know, that's where people really connect and resonate and I think that's missing a lot of the I am just because it's business business business and then see you later. So for us what's worked is looking at that bigger picture and and outside of the walls of real estate. Oh, and I know you mentioned earlier in the podcast, but you know, kind of breaking it down to those eight areas, right? Really kind of identifying what's important to people and how you can provide value. So now, 20 years later, you know, actually, 18 years because you start a brokerage a couple years after getting to real estate, but knowing what, you know now, and, you know, of course, learning from those lessons, That you've made. What are some words of wisdom that you wish someone would have told you when you started to open your own brokerage. Well, I wish somebody had taught me how to delegate. I feel like that's some it's hard, especially, you know, in this business because we are all, you know, owners of our businesses. And so we have great invested interest in them. But, you know, learning how to figure out where your time is best spent and encouraging other people to You take something and run with it, you know, for me that's been a big, big challenge, always. And I would have loved if somebody said right off the get-go, you know, delegate that delegate you figure, those things out. On the flip side though. Those things that I still have my fingers in our, you know, things that also lead back into culture sometimes so that is a slippery slope and if we delegate out too much stuff than we lose some of that, you know, it's interesting. I definitely, you know, I remember when I said I was going to open a brokerage the broker that I worked for the time of Took me and said don't do it. And you know, I think it's interesting because I'm glad I'm so glad I did it. Definitely is come with a lot of challenges over the years from the market to you know, the business and models changing and all of those things. But I could have you know, I could have never thought about the relationships that I've been able to make and Foster and how I've grown as an individual. And I think, you know, so learning how to delegate and probably being open to learn and You know, really really understand and role with the company. And I was your, As you move along. Well, as you said, there's a fine line to delegation, right? Because you want to delegate to make sure you're productive and you're utilizing your skills and your strengths to do what's really important to move the business forward. But sometimes if you delegate, I do the same thing is that, you know, just learn how to, you know, figure out how to build a website. Then you actually really don't know ever and you can never really talked to it in detail and with passion and excitement, so I definitely agree. R. This is my final question for you, as we wrap up, Geneva, and thank you so much again for being with us today. But what is your biggest challenge that you've ever faced? Not necessarily in your career, but just in your life that ended up being a blessing in disguise. I mean that's such a tough question and you even told me you were going to ask that, and I always warn people that I don't know. Is it being a why you visit being a parent, you know, and and and those are obviously the pretty typical answers on. Thing I think about it is running The Brokerage. I think that is the biggest challenge that I've ever faced. I've been doing it for 18 years. Just when you think that you've got it all figured out a variable changes, different business models come in. Our industry is constantly changing. There are so many moving Parts. There are so many highs and lows, you know, it's there's things that are frustrating. There's these exceptional situations where we're sitting with clients and or the Realtors and they've helped navigate an extraordinary. Stan's in a positive and we're also sitting on the side of the table often where we're helping somebody navigate a horrific situation. And so, I think that that is probably when I look back at my time, I think running a brokerage is probably one of the biggest most challenging things that I've ever done. I also think I've learned the most life lessons. I've developed personally, so significantly and I just I love the dynamic personalities that I've been in contact with. So I know that's not a super exciting answer but Tonight, when I'm 43 and for 20 years, I've been in this business like it is the biggest challenge that I've ever had to work through and navigate on an ongoing basis. Well, you know, even though you had some ups and downs over your 18 years, owning a brokerage you've done an amazing job. You and James are just always continuing to rock it in the Edmonton market and we appreciate your support and your engagement in the brand. If people have some more questions or they want to have a shot with you, maybe virtual chat. How can people get a hold of you Geneva? Well, I'm always happy to hear from everybody. I I don't know. My email is complicated. It's my my name sitting up there. Geneva dot Tatro, obviously at Century 21 that CA and I'm happy to if somebody wants to reach out on social media or you're very welcome to phone me, you know, seven eight, zero nine, eight, four, zero one two, nine. Happy to connect with anybody at any point. We learn always so much from each other. So, always open to a call. Awesome. Well, thank you again so much for joining us and talking about, you know, some of the things that you're doing to create a great culture and all the other amazing things. Are doing so we really appreciate your time. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity here in these podcasts have been fantastic. So we're enjoying listening and learning a long as you go. That's great. Excellent. So you're either listening to this podcast live where you're listening to the recording on Apple podcast Spotify or Google podcast, or of course, you went to the Century 21 franchise .c a website Century 21, for those of you that don't know. Century 21 is one of the world's largest residential real estate company in the world with presence in 86 countries. And here in Canada, we are 11,000 plus strong. And we're looking to align ourselves with individuals who share the same vision for what the future brokerages. Look like. So if you're interested in growth opportunities, please feel free to reach out to me or my colleague. Gary is Aleppo. You can reach us both on the Century, 21 franchise dot c a website, or of course. You can connect with me through Linkedin or Facebook, and I love to have a chat. So anyway, thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you.