Welcome to the Secret Passage.

Hey, it’s Bart Vickrey (founder of Bart Vickrey & Co Real Estate – Creator of the Real Estate Good Life, the Author of Real Estate Good Life, and host of the podcast Real Estate Good Life.

So glad you’ve stopped by to check out the website’s secret passage!

By the end of this journey together (reading and interacting with this web page) you’ll either hate me or love me. If you’re like me and HATE cold-calling and door-knocking – you’re gonna love me.

Either way, this time together will be life-altering.

Before I allow you down this rabbit-hole – Let me share with you exactly what’s in store. Over the course of the past five years I’ve sold 1,472 homes – while working a schedule of No Evenings, No Weekends, and No Fridays.

In my business I make No Cold-Calls and do No Door-Knocking. In fact, I make zero outbound calls whatsoever. (And no, I do not have a Filipino call center.)

Why?

Because I do not like to make phone calls.

I also believe in the Golden Rule:

Because of this belief – How can I possibly justify telemarketing (cold-calls) and trespassing (door-knocking)?

I cannot.

So I built a business around my preferred lifestyle. This business model was not a genius plan hatched from my pea-brain, no.

It was the result of the life-changing question my Bride asked me back in December 2012. That question changed the course of my life. I will share that question with you very soon. And the reason I cried my eyes out when she asked it.

I will also share with you EXACTLY how to build your business to be lovable.

And think about it, unless you are a sociopath – you cannot build a Lovable business if you have to telemarket and trespass in order to make a living.

At the end of this web based interactive journey (the links will lead you to life changing books, videos, essays, and marketing material) I will ask you to JOIN the Good Life for $59.

I wanted to share the price with you upfront so you don’t have to guess where this is going.

The price is $59 a month. Cancel at ANYTIME. Upon joining, you will gain immediate access to ALL OF THIS.

There are no upsells, “But Wait There’s Mores”, or anything else to buy… ever.

My long-form answer to your question, “What’s the catch? Why so cheap?” Can be found here >>>> Good Life November 2018.

Now, without further ado… ENJOY THE RIDE!

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Ever read the book Zag?

If you haven’t, you should. It’s amazing!

As real estate agents we have two choices:

1. Do (copy) what everyone else is doing, only slightly better, or for less commission, or slightly faster.
2. Or do something DIFFERENT and truly distinctive. Something that stands out. Something that produces exponential, not marginal results.

Disruptive strategies begin with the courage to zag where others zig. If agents in your marketplace are all starting to turn left, you look right.

There’s so much more value for you, and the people you seek to serve, when you choose to turn the other way.

And it’s actually not that hard to do.

It takes no brilliant foresight.

It does not require seeing what others don’t.

It simply requires reading the herd.

When your competitors all start running in one direction, you just need to ask:

What if I ran in the opposite direction?

But it’s not a path for everyone.

Because it takes guts.

Guts to stop copying the masses and incumbents, and to move in the opposite (more “risky”) direction.

It’s very scary.

But this is a good signal. A signal you should lean into, not seek to avoid.

It’s the only way forward if your desire is to be NOTICED and stand out in our ever crowded world of real estate agents, Zillow, and the distracted masses.

The herd mentality creates an opportunity for the outlier, the creator, willing to choose a different path; a path that may not work.

Before I go on, let me tell you a story.

My parents divorced when I was young.

I didn’t get to spend much time with my dad growing up. He liked to drink.

For some reason, on January 5th 1983 I was with my dad in his trailer for his 40th birthday. The only thought running through my pea sized brain was, “Man, my dad is old!”

Fast forward (in the blink of an eye) to April 9th, 2011. I turned 40. Same look on the faces of Kid1, Kid2, and Kid3.

Time is ever moving forward. Time is finite. Time is fleeting.

That night I sat down and wrote out a list of goals:

Here’s the list:

Quit chewing tobacco (finally did it, once and for all, on June 14th, 2014).

Get straight teeth (braces on Nov of 2011 – braces off Sept 2014).

Write and publish a book.

Learn to swim (self-taught in the backyard pool in 2012).

Sell the Dairy Queen.

Bring the abs back.

Pay off the house.

The reason I share this story with you is to draw you into the one thing I have that nobody else has. And as I draw you in and then explain why – I will then spend ALL the rest of our time together convincing you to do the same thing.

We are in the copycat business. We are in the easy button business. We are sold the same song and dance over and over again from all of the GooRoo Coaches, OG Brokers, and Rock Star agents.

If you want to be a Mega-Agent, if you want to be a Rock Star, if you want the riches that awaits you in the real estate sales business… then you HAVE to become a telemarketer and a trespasser.

You have to be willing to sell your soul in order to get the gold.

I’m here to not only tell you but to convince you – that cold-calling and door-knocking are not required to build a business.

In fact, they cannot be apart of your long-term plan to build a Lovable business.

If you and I are to survive the attacks from Zillow, OpenDoor, Redfin, and the countless other “disrupters” – we must build a moat around our business.

And the only way to build a moat around our business is to capitalize on The One Thing we have that nobody else does… Us. You. Our stories. Your story.

The great Gary Keller has it all wrong!

In a recent speech to his followers, Gary Keller said, “We are not a real estate company anymore! We are a technology company!”

We cannot out tech actual tech companies. And we are not in the technology business. We are not even in the real estate sales business. No. We are in the relationship business.

How do we build trust based long-lasting relationships. By being ourselves. By being lovable.

Before we get into the details and specific definitions of building a moat around your lovable business – please allow me to indulge you with this worthwhile digression.

There seems to be two types of real estate agents in our business.

Billy, who represents the most publicized agent archetype. And Tom, the lesser known type of agent.

Billy, is one of them.

Tom, is one of us.

Billy, constantly posts on Facebook about how many closings he’s going to. He loves Grant Cardone – and other GooRoo Coaches.

Tom, posts reluctantly on Facebook. And when he does, Tom tells stories. He loves telling stories about his clients. Tom loves Seth Godin.

In real estate, Tom and Billy represent different parts in the Hero’s Journey.

We all have a story. We all have a Hero’s Journey.

Start at the top of the picture, Life In The Ordinary World. Now follow it around clockwise.

Now watch this really cool video explanantion:

I’ve documented for you part of my hero’s journey:

Origin story part one:

Origin story part two:

 

From where I was as a shy kid from a broken home, to becoming a money hungry successful real estate agent, to the lovable purpose-driven real estate jedi (anti-guru) I am today… is my hero’s journey.

From the beginning of my career – all the way up until just recently – I was Billy. Following all the other Agent Billy’s, GooRoo Coaches, OG Brokers. Following their advice to cold-call and door-knock. Telemarket and trespass. To Grind till I Die. No days off! Hustle, hustle, hustle.

I like days off. I like to watch television. I look forward to the weekends. I enjoy going on vacation with my family.

Acting like Billy made me sad.

Following the GooRoo Coaches and listening to the OG Brokers didn’t feel right to me. Making cold calls and knocking on strangers doors – interupting their family time… never felt right.

This feeling, of not feeling “right”, made me feel worse! Like I didn’t have what it takes to be successful.

But I kept up the struggle. I worked harder and harder. Hiring coach after coach. Brian Buffini, Craig Proctor, Mike Ferry, Kinder/Reese, NAEA, the Core.

They all kinda told me the same thing – Make more calls!

Harrass more people!

Pound More Phones!

Trespass on more properties!

Smooch more booty!

Still didn’t feel right.

And then it happened. In December of 2012, my Bride asked me the question that changed everything…

“Should we get a divorce?”

In my devotion, maybe obsession, to building my business (for my ego – and to take care of my family) I was neglecting the very thing I was working so hard for… my family. More specifically, my Bride.

She told herself the story that I was no longer interested in her. That’s why I was paying no attention to her and all of my attention to my business. And more specfically, money.

From that moment on – I changed.

I changed my business.

I changed my habits.

I changed my life.

I decided NOT to try to be Billy anyomore. I decided NOT to copy Billy, and the GooRoo coaches, and the OG Brokers, and the Mega-Agents, the Rock Stars, and all the other flashy pants agents.

The transformation itself was not instant.

It wasn’t like snapping my fingers. Or flicking a switch.

Sadly, no. It doesn’t work like that. We don’t work like that.

The only way to make the transformation from Agent Billy to Agent Tom was to CHOOSE the call to adventure, go on the journey, and enter the battle.

The battle for my life.

The battle for my wife.

The battle for my freedom.

Experience the trauma.

Navigate the obstacles.

Slay the “Monsters” (INSERT monster article here**)

The “secret” — the elixir I had discovered and wanted to share through my story — would help the Billys of the world to navigate through the battle and crisis and emerge on the other side as Tom.

But not everyone who attempted the journey would come out the other side transformed.

Many wannabe heroes, most even, are not be fully enrolled in the journey, don’t care enough about the change required to transform, so they remain Billy and remain in the battle forever.

Forever in search of the Easy Button. Chasing the next GooRoo. Buying the next product with yet another promise of guaranteed riches.

Now, if you’re ready – let’s further define Agent Billy and Agent Tom. Let’s compare and contrast the two, while we continue down the alternative path.

The path to freedom.

The path to autonomy.

The path to a lovable business.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s required to make the transformation arc.

The first step is choosing the “call to adventure.”

It’s a choice.

Do it or don’t do it.

A decision. Like Paul Arden explains in , Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite: