Leader and builder of companies. Background in behavioral science with a focus on learning and motivation. Specialize in Performance Improvement and Leadership Development habits that create long term success. Strong aptitude for logistical and organizational effectiveness as well as communication and interpersonal skills. Years of experience in sales and marketing and management.
[Podcast Transcript Using Artificial Intelligence]
Umar Hameed 0:00
Are you ready to become awesomer? Hello everyone! My name is Umar Hameed, I'm your host on The No Limits Selling Podcast, where industry leaders share their tips, strategies and advice on how you can become better, stronger, faster. Just before we get started, I've got a question for you, do you have a negative voice inside your head? We all do, right? I'm gonna help you remove that voice and under 30 days guaranteed, not only remove it, but transform it. So instead of the voice that sabotages you, there's one that propels you to much higher levels of performance and success. There's a link in the show notes, click on it to find out more. All right! Let's get started.
Umar Hameed 0:02
Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of The No Limits Selling Podcast today. We have Jon Goodell here with us today. Welcome to the programme.
Jon Goodell 0:10
Thank you very much Umar. It's a pleasure to be here.
Umar Hameed 0:12
So you're in Manhattan and you look after upstate New York is kind of your domain.
Jon Goodell 0:20
I'm more well, we're really focused in Manhattan. I just I have a house up in upstate.
Umar Hameed 0:24
Oh, okay. Great. You know, that's where that's the centre of the universe, pretty much.
Jon Goodell 0:29
Yes.
Umar Hameed 0:31
So I noticed you've got a guitar in the background there. So your musician?
Jon Goodell 0:36
I tried a bit, I tried a bit.
Umar Hameed 0:38
And you're trying to be a realtor. So how do the two things know you're successful at it? But how do the two things kind of connect, you think because there's something about, I was listening to this great jazz great, and he was like, 89 million years old, he was being interviewed by you know, probably somebody in his 20s on this radio programme, the 20 year old says is, uh, you know, been doing this for a while, so you probably don't have to, you know, practice or rehearse anymore he says "Son, that's my favourite four hours of the day, is doing that." So something about learning riffs and going along and creating harmony, how does that relate to being a realtor and dealing with clients and agents?
Jon Goodell 1:17
Well, I think music relates a lot because you, it allows you to hit a different part of your brain, you have to be creative, you have to work at being at least I do, I have to work with, you know, playing guitar and, and seeing and, and just improving myself. So it's definitely out, it's always been outside of my comfort zone. That's something that was naturally good at. And I just enjoy it. And so it's a nice hobby for me in the background.
Umar Hameed 1:45
Yeah, in whatever craft we do, whether we're keynote speaking, or playing music, or being a realtor, or negotiating, just getting good at the craft is so important. And the only way to do that is a practice, and to just always learning. One of my friends, I was staying with him and his wife. And for like, a month, and he would practice every day, he was a professional musician. And even my untrained ear could tell the difference between, you know, the start of the month, and by the end of the month, he got better. And it was like, wow, you know, that that became a defining moment for me is whatever craft I pick, I need to really be devoted to it and try and be the best I possibly can. And that comes from learning and practice and failing and succeeding.
Jon Goodell 2:33
100%. And you have to be willing to fail, I think in order to succeed and whatever you do. Because you know, the first running back who's you know, star running back was not the star when they first got on the football field. And so you just have to be willing to go outside your comfort zone and be willing to put the work in. There's a great quote by Vince Lombardi says that "perfect practice makes perfect". So not just practice, because you can practice the wrong thing over and over again. And if you're practising the right thing, you should be improving every time.
Umar Hameed 3:04
Absolutely. The something on the news feed came over today it was Tom Brady became the most sacked quarterback in the history of the game. And that just comes from longevity and just doing it so well. For so long. That's just gonna happen. So failing is part of success.
Jon Goodell 3:24
Yes, it has to be like Because you've never, if you haven't done something before, you have to, you have to expect that you're going to do it wrong. In order to in order to do it, right. And a lot of people don't want to do it wrong. So they don't take that step out. And in order to improve in order to become that best version of you, you have to be willing to, to fail. And you have to it takes courage to do that.
Umar Hameed 3:55
Yeah. And so one of the things I tell people is, John, you have the huge, you have the God given right to suck. And when it is, like if you did something new that you don't normally do. So let's say it was you had to plead in court, you're not a lawyer, but you had to like give it a shot. Like tomorrow, you're going to dig into the books and you're going to even though you'll suck, you'll do a pretty decent job probably better than some of the lawyers out there. And so we're so scared of failing that so many agents basically "Oh, I can't do that. So I'm perfect." And perfect is the enemy of you know..
Jon Goodell 4:32
There is no perfect. You know, it's should be taken out of the dictionary. It's just you can never truly attain perfection. Even. You know, I was a huge fan of Michael Jordan. He was always he always had a coach, you know, he was even at the top of his game. You know, it's just you see people who are super successful and they have people around them, pushing them to be better, and they're constantly pushing themselves to be better. I think a lot of times we Look at our neighbour coworker and say, Oh, they're doing well. But they can do that. But I can't.
Umar Hameed 5:05
Yeah.
Jon Goodell 5:07
You just have to figure out, you have to work against yourself not not against them. They started where they were you to start where you are, and just keep improving yourself.
Umar Hameed 5:16
Absolutely, I think good phrase there is I'll never be able to do real estate as good as John. And I'll do pretty good anyway, like, I may not be, you know, if I'm going up against Michael Jordan, there's never ever a scenario where I win. But gaping on the courts with him would be like, so fabulous, I'd certainly I'd spent a lot of six months of deep training, not to suck. And I think the second part of that the first one is, you know, you have the God given right to such, so just go do it. The second part of that, for me is very much that, what did I learn from this experience? And how do I get better? Whether it turned out well, or it turned out horribly? Whatever learn from it? How can I improve? And there's always a way, and if you don't have a way, we come down to the third thing, which is get a mentor?
Jon Goodell 6:08
Yeah.
Umar Hameed 6:09
Hey, John was doing this deal. It was going great. It just went sideways. You asked me a few questions. Oh, okay. This is where you went wrong? Here's how you need to do better. So having a mentor is critical. So are you other than the team you lead? Are you a mentor for anyone else?
Jon Goodell 6:24
Yeah, I'm a huge fan of the mentor relationship. And I definitely tried to I try to do what I mentor people in my company. And it brings me a lot of joy. But I also have mentors who have mentored me and continue to because if you, whatever you want to do, someone most likely has done it and probably been through a lot of the similar situations. So you can you can reach out to them and work with them. And then you can give back yourself. And it sort of helps me the circle. Yeah, it's a great, it's a great circle, you have to give together. I truly believe that.
Umar Hameed 7:01
Absolutely. And I think it's, some people think that, you know, I'll be bothering the person if I asked him to mentor me. And it's like, no, people are dying to be a mentor, and want help, because people help them on their journey. There's nobody out there that says, you know, I did it all on my own without any help.
Jon Goodell 7:20
And you have to do anything that was really accomplished, was done with a team. And you have to be cognizant of that need to work together with a team and you need help in order to truly do the things that you want.
Umar Hameed 7:33
And asking for help. Yeah, and asking for help is not a sign of weakness. And a lot of people hide the truth and they get so far into this mess, that it's hard to pull them out is you almost be like getting the head and dunking, I'm in further Rocky, I'll end it quickly. But getting a team where it's people, it's perfectly fine to ask for help get the guidance you need move on and move forward. And yeah, so what was one of Tell me about a time in your career, where you needed advice from someone where thing, something was going sideways, and you reached out for help, and you got like this advice that allowed you to learn and save the deal?
Jon Goodell 8:16
Well, I have a great mentor I've used he's a behaviourist I studied behaviour in college. His name's Ken Wagner, and he multiple times where I wanted to help improve things in my company and go to him and his company and help to, you'd help me. And he's just always very giving with his knowledge and expertise. And he showed me to really do the same.
Umar Hameed 8:42
Yeah, brilliant. What's kind of interesting is certainly in let's say, life or sports, I'll pick up a skill. And I'll get good at it. And after being good at it for a while, all of a sudden pick up more subtleties. Wait a minute, this is why this is working. And I can do it better. So there's always like plateaus of learning as you go. And as long as you realise you never reach the pinnacle. It allows you to be like always improving,
Jon Goodell 9:12
Always improving. And that's the key just to focus on improving yourself. And the more you get it in as part of your habits, anything that you want to work on, anything you're really struggling with, is probably because you have a subconscious programme that's against it, either that learn young or you picked up along the way and so you got to work you know, through habit or other ways to reach that subconscious and change that programme so you can really do what you do what you want. And then it becomes effortless when it's a habit. It's effortless. You know.
Umar Hameed 9:41
Yeah,
Jon Goodell 9:42
Right? About when we learn how to drive or brush our teeth. It's effortless. You don't think putting getting dressed and putting on your shoes or your or your shirt is a habit but it is if you see you know, my my kids are young, sometimes you got to, you know, help them put their shoes on and, you know, get get changed. It's just part Part of that, because it's a habit for us. But for them, they're still they still have to work through it. So it's a, it's, you know, the more the more you make things in your life that you want to do a habit that you know, the better you'll be, it'll be effortless. You want to think about it.
Umar Hameed 10:15
Brilliant. So you've got a team. So how many people in your team?
Jon Goodell 10:20
We have about 80 people I think.
Umar Hameed 10:22
Nice. Brilliant. And it's you and a partner?
Jon Goodell 10:27
Myself and my partner. Yeah.
Umar Hameed 10:29
And who's your partner?
Jon Goodell 10:30
Sarah Salzberg. She's a very successful playwright and producers and on Broadway. And so she brings that sort of artistic vibe.
Umar Hameed 10:39
Oh, I love that.
Jon Goodell 10:42
Bohemia. And that's..
Umar Hameed 10:44
Come on darling. Let's sell some Real Estate.
Jon Goodell 10:47
Its a great vision. It's a real, very lucky to meet her. Actually, she rented me my apartment, when I first moved to the city. And that's how I got into real estate.
Umar Hameed 10:59
Love that.
Jon Goodell 11:00
We just developed a great working relationship.
Umar Hameed 11:04
So there's 80 people, and you guys are trying to figure out what's going on. So what I wanted to do was you and I went mostly you because you're the smart one. Let's let's make this industry better this year. And so I want to do you to kind of think about what are the five challenges facing real estate agents right here, it's going to be November 2022. Interest rates stuffs going on. So what are the five biggest challenges? Right now? Let's take them one by one. woman first comes to mind?
Jon Goodell 11:37
That's a great question. My first I would say the, you know, interview said interest rates, right. So I think a lot of people are, you know, concerned with how that will affect the market. And it's are you, um, for our clients, it's there's always someone looking to buy, there's always someone looking to sell. And so a lot of times sales, people can get in their heads about what is that the market is going to go down. And so they don't actually try to find the people who are willing to sell right now for regardless of the interest rate are looking to buy. And I think a big part of it is to focus on what you can control and you can't control the interest rates. So focus on what you can control who there are buyers out there, there are sellers out there, and welcome to connect with them.
Umar Hameed 12:26
And one of the things just to add to that is is that we're all guilty of it at some point in our lives, where we match our thinking onto our clients. Oh, they want to, they want to want to pay that much. There's this interesting test. If you ask someone, you know, do you think $500 is a lot of money? And for a lot of salespeople, it would be Yeah, I think 500 was a lot of money. And then it shows you their relationship with money. And other people like, oh, even if they don't have $500 They're like, No, that's not a lot of money at all. And I think so don't map over your thinking on what people can afford, or whether they're gonna buy in this market or not just figuring out what they want.
Jon Goodell 13:08
Yeah, I love that. Another mentor of mine is Bob Proctor, I got to be mentored with him before he passed. And he he would always say nothing is big or small, except you're thinking about some stuff. So you know, for some people, 500 people, it's small, some people 500,000 Some people it's small.
Umar Hameed 13:28
Yeah.
Jon Goodell 13:29
And so it's really our thing where it comes down to our thinking.
Umar Hameed 13:35
So I remember this interview with Mark Wahlberg, talking about when he was like, Marky marks the rapper. And he said, you know, he'd get a big fat check from the record, label him his posse would go out and buy a Ferrari didn't have any money for insurance at all. And he always said, you know, I didn't care because I knew more money was coming in. Like there was never end to the supply of money. And that was his mindset. And sure enough, more money came in the company insurance bought a house. And then of course, he became a movie star and is super worldwide famous now. So number one, the first challenge we identified was for real estate agents was the interest rates. What's challenge number two?
Jon Goodell 14:19
Challenge number two would be maybe Regulations, at least where I am. Regulatory changes. Just with in New York with the laws and how they affect you know, the industry.
Umar Hameed 14:35
So give me an example of one of those changes.
Jon Goodell 14:39
One of the changes, I would say with just in my industry is the there was a rent law changes a few years ago and 2019 in COVID sort of exacerbated the effects of them. And that just changed the market. So in New York, there's just a lot. It doesn't make sense for owners to put in Vitoria in the markets you have about 60,000 or, you know growing list of what we call purgatory units. So units that are just off the market and can't be rented. Because the Oh, it doesn't make sense for the owner to financially put the funds and to make to upgrade it, which you'd have to do by law for a lot of the units, and therefore, they just keep them off the market that then squeezes the market, so there's less supply. And again, exacerbated. I don't think anybody thought that was gonna happen after they passed this law So.
Umar Hameed 15:32
What's crazy is I've heard of, you know, bidding wars for buying houses. And I'd never heard of bidding wars for rental units. Yeah, so another realtor in the market was like, oh, yeah, it was like they owe me 5000 a month. 5500.. Its like, wow, Its the landlord.
Jon Goodell 15:49
Yeah, it's right now, but I would say just a lot of owners would just prefer to be able to release their their units for the prices that they think are reasonable in the marketplace. So yes, it would push the prices up. But they also have a lot of units that they can't rent. So it's, they prefer to rent everything at a more reasonable, reasonable price. Most owners are really want to provide a good service.
Umar Hameed 16:20
Brilliant. So what's the third challenge facing real estate agents?
Unknown Speaker 16:26
Third challenge facing real estate agents, I'd say is Mindset. I think that's just a, you know, consistent and consistent challenge. Sort of coming back to the, you know, controlling what you you can control but also, knowing that you're your worst enemy, and you're your your hero. So you can, you're the one who can, is stopping you from getting wherever you want. When we when we start blaming everybody around us, we're not really taking responsibility for what we can do. And then we can actually move forward. That's the real problem. Once you take responsibility, and you say, Okay, it's, it's on me, and that's a tough thing to do. Anything for everyone? Oh, yeah. But once you take responsibility, they say, Okay, well, now I can change it that gives you power. And now you can actually do the things that you need to do. Not that they're easy, but no one who's successful, didn't work and think, you know, things that aren't easy. So let's say mindset is a huge, huge part.
Umar Hameed 17:28
Brilliant. And just to add to that is what's interesting about mindset is, once you have the mindset, you're looking to validate it. And so if it's like, this never works out for me, then you start looking for failure opportunities and validating your belief. And if you're like, it always works out, then buyers come out of the woodwork because like I wasn't even looking at him. It's somebody on the subway. And so yeah, so what is number four?
Unknown Speaker 17:55
Yeah. I just want to add to that, number three, what you just said, because it just hit me on something that I wanted to share with us, it's called the Reticular Activating System are pointing back my head, because it's at the like, it's at the top of your spine right before it's sort of like the bouncer for your brain, I guess this is, you know, I'm sure there's better ways to describe it. But I guess our senses pick up so much information that our brain can't handle it. And so we have it directed, some information goes in some doesn't. So when you give your brain a goal of what you want, whether it's good or bad, like you just said, then you start noticing the good things. But if you're focused on what's bad, you're not gonna see the good thing. So I just wanted to add to that, I'd say the the fourth challenge of just you got to sometimes just do the work. You got to you got to do go back to the basics, I find and just focus on the basics, really successful agents still learn their inventory, they get, you know, called previewing in my company where they, they just that they go out on a regular basis. And and they learn the inventory. And it's subconscious. They don't even think about it. And the agents who struggle I noticed, they do things inconsistently. They sometimes preview and then they stop and then they preview again. And I'd recommend to really get back to the basics and work out what makes the job successful. Part of that's common sense.
Umar Hameed 19:23
We've been interviewing a lot of really successful realtors in the business. And one of the things they said you got to work it nothing happens magically. And you got to keep on working it and just get better at what you're doing. And quoting them it's like some people think it's like all flexibility. I can work whenever I want and it's like yeah, if you want to starve do that. But if you want to work and build a business, work it. So what is a numeral five, buy biggest. The fifth challenge that real estates in 2020 are facing, 2022 are facing?
Jon Goodell 19:52
Fifth challenge I'd say their fate thing would really for me would be to sort of have belief and self confidence and what they what they can do. Because you can really do anything. If you just, you know, focus on yourself and focus on improving yourself. So I'd say just have believed that you can accomplish anything, and then do the, you know, do the work and back it up with actions, to sort of visualise what you visualise what you want, believe you can achieve it, and then back it up with the actual actions. And you can just sit on your couch and wait for your wealth to come or work a few days a week that you just said, but you have to sort of believe that you can achieve.
Jon Goodell 19:56
Love that. So just kind of getting you to just speed round. You've got 80 people in your company, most of them realtors. So what are the challenges? They're telling you? What are they struggling with? Like? What are the common things that they come to you for?
Jon Goodell 20:58
Common things I hear are usually this issues that they can't they feel they can't control things that happened in the marketplace, or maybe a deal died for this, this issue or deal with that issue. And it to me a lot of it comes back to just focusing on what you can control and what you can't. And focusing on the mindset of that I can achieve. The goal that I had out is a lot of times when you believe you can achieve stuff, something and you stay committed and committed commitment to drive. Because if you run into something, and something bad happens, actually something bad will happen. Whatever we work towards, so if you're committed to it, when you hit that obstacle, you figure you immediately think, how do I overcome it? You know, how do I get into this? When you're not committed to something? You don't, you know, your mediately thought is how to get out of this. So it's commitment just plays a huge role, I think in moving forward. Absolutely. And, you know, so I see that happen where they're, they want this goal, but they're not really committed to giving everything. And sometimes we're just off on the time, I think when we hit a goal, I want to hit this by this amount of time. If you give it your all you get there. And that's self reflection. At the end of the day, you say, You know what? I gave it my all, I'll hit it next year, and I'm going to do even better. I think that's, that's fine. A lot of times we look and say, did I really give it my all? You know, did I do everything I could? And that's the self reflection that you should do?
Umar Hameed 22:28
Absolutely. Because a lot of agents don't do that. Because they don't want to look at the bad. It's like, "Oh, it was a bad buyer's bad situation. I was awesome. Let's move on." Yeah. So what's three last questions? Number one, what brings you joy in your work?
Jon Goodell 22:45
Helping people.
Umar Hameed 22:47
Nice,
Jon Goodell 22:48
Helping, helping people helping, you know, helping my agents, helping my staff, helping to find, you know, serve customers, I think we get paid for the service that we provide, at the end of the day. And if we provide more value, we get paid more money. Jeff Bezos provides a lot of value, and a lot of money.
Umar Hameed 23:06
Absolutely.
Jon Goodell 23:07
Order whatever I want.
Umar Hameed 23:11
So question number two, what's one mind hack, one technique you use, that would be useful for team leaders agents to just perform better, be happier?
Jon Goodell 23:23
Gratitude, I think is an important process.
Umar Hameed 23:26
Huge.
Jon Goodell 23:26
Either gratitude lists in the morning or the evening, or even just writing one thing that you're grateful for in the evening, and not just you get in the morning.
Umar Hameed 23:35
I'll just add one thing to that. So I'll ask you, John, a, you know, you're grateful for your kids, obviously. So let me ask that. Because if you said I'm grateful for my kids, because what's the because?
Jon Goodell 23:48
I'm grateful for my kids, because they just provide me so much joy. Just on a regular basis, when they're sick, or when they don't go to bed on time or go to bed. And, you know, it's, they just provide you so much joy.
Umar Hameed 24:07
And so just to add to that, so what I would do is dear listeners and viewers is go, you know, that thing of gratitude that Jon mentioned is added a cause to it. And then I'm going to ask you one more follow up on that. Jon, can you think of a time limit yesterday, one moment of joy you had with your kids and just go back there just for a moment.
Jon Goodell 24:27
So gratitude yesterday, just you know, just putting them to bed, just reading them, reading them stories, I just storytime. I probably read two to four.
Umar Hameed 24:38
And if you go back to that moment, Warmth of that moment and a bond and the love would just come in. And I think that's what moves human beings. So it's not just the gratitude, think of that because and then go back to a moment where you felt it and that supercharges your whole being to Oh my god, I'm so blessed. And I want more of that.
Jon Goodell 24:57
That's not just writing the list down. It's really like writing and Looking at it and getting in the moment of why.
Umar Hameed 25:02
Brilliant love that. Here's the last question, is there a question I should have asked you that I did not.
Jon Goodell 25:12
I'd say just just, you know, want to a key takeaway from me, that I want to say is just that you can accomplish anything you want in life, if you focus on improving yourself, and becoming that better version of you. And anything I it's a hobby of mine to studies or passion really to study the successful people. And people who have studied successful people, it's all about raising your standard, changing who you are changing your self image, and just becoming that the best version of you and that it's easy to say it's different to think, oh, I actually have to become a different person, here's we're going to change it. To get to the goal that you really want that super high goal, you have to become really a different you have to change your personality.
Umar Hameed 25:59
And a better version of yourself. And not just like, I'm gonna turn into this, Hey, how are you? Oh, my totally different person. It's like, no, it's like a better version of yourself, and the fear. So the path to greatness, I think is this, knowing who you are stepping into your authentic self, and removing the fears that stop you from fully illuminating your being, do those things and you got the right intent is not to dominate the world and kill people. It's amazing.
Jon Goodell 26:29
Truly successful people, you notice they, they really want to give because they because I've hit everything. I've done everything. So now the only thing left to do is to give, give out give my knowledge, look at people like Bill Gates, you know, one of the other, you know, give my knowledge give my money, you know? And just, that's true success.
Umar Hameed 26:51
Ah, brilliant. John, thank you so much for being on the programme today. It was a very enjoyable conversation, and I'm looking forward to our next.
Jon Goodell 27:00
Oh, me too. Thank you so much.
Umar Hameed 27:01
Brilliant.
Umar Hameed 27:06
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to iTunes and leave a five-star rating. And if you're looking for more tools, go to my website at nolimitsselling.com. I've got a free mind training course there, that's going to teach you some insights from the world of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and that is the fastest way to get better results.