Do Epic Shit

Push. Pause. Adjust. Repeat. — Sometimes the Pause Is the Power Move

• Colleen Basinski & Kimberly Neill • Season 2 • Episode 11

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Ever feel like you’re flooring it with no map? We break down the real cadence behind building something that lasts: push when it counts, pause with purpose, make small adjustments early, and repeat with more wisdom than before. Our focus is alignment—getting people, systems, schedule, and values moving in the same direction—so your grind translates to durable wins rather than burnout and noise.

We start by stripping “hustle” of its mythology. Tenacity built our careers, but focus keeps them standing. We draw a sharp line between momentum and mere busyness, and we share the simple filters that help us choose: the Eisenhower matrix and the do, delegate, delay, delete playbook. From there, we talk thresholds and capacity—how a healthy pipeline lets you be choosy, and how dipping below baseline might justify a short sprint. Real stories from the field ground it all: open houses that work, families we fought for, and the ways we protect presence at home while still meeting the demands of a high-variance business.

We also get honest about circles and role models. Production without integrity isn’t our path. We look for rooms where behavior and results both matter, because the people beside you shape your ceiling and your floor. That’s why community beats lone-wolf effort, especially when seasons shift from fight to patience to maintenance. You’ll hear how we use AI as a quiet ally to sort chaos into clear next steps, spot red flags we’re too close to see, and keep our plans aligned with what actually matters.

The takeaway is simple and strong: not everything deserves your push. Don’t quit; calibrate. Use breaks as maintenance, not escape. Strong builders don’t abandon grit—they learn exactly where to apply it. If this resonated, follow the show, share it with someone who’s grinding without a compass, and leave a review to tell us the one adjustment you’ll make this week.

💡 Lessons we’ve learned about balancing it all—sometimes successfully, sometimes… not.

If you’re out here trying to DO EPIC SH*T, this one’s for YOU. Hit play, tag a friend, and let’s do this thing together! 👇🔥

💡 Listen now on: Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music & APPLE Podcasts!

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🎙️ Hosted by: Colleen Basinski & Kimberly Neill

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Hustle Energy And Introductions

SPEAKER_00

I'm a hustler. I grind, baby, grind. You know grinding.

SPEAKER_02

Let's go.

SPEAKER_00

Welcome back to another great episode of Do Epic Shit. Do Epic Shit. Uh I'm Callie Basinski. I'm Kim Neal. And we are here to get real with you. So we've been talking a lot lately, offline, off-mic, about alignment.

SPEAKER_01

That's been um, yeah, front and foremost lately.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and not because anything was wrong, but just because when you're building real things, leading people, carrying responsibility, we have to be intentional about where we're going and where our energy goes. And so not everything deserves all your energy.

SPEAKER_01

That's for sure.

SPEAKER_00

So it's been a hot minute since we've been here.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Hot couple, two, three minutes. And so, based on these offline conversations we've been having, we felt like this was a conversation having out loud. Agreed.

Defining Alignment In Real Life

SPEAKER_00

So today's subject is called push, pause, adjust, repeat. It's a mouthful, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01

It is. Push, pause, adjust, repeat.

SPEAKER_00

So this episode's not about like fixing the past or taking a break or narrating a pause. It's really just about telling the truth about how real builders actually live. And that's what I think we are. So you guys all know I believe in pushing through. Tenacity basically built my life. I mean, you've heard me share about my story. But I also believe in pauses, like intentional pauses, not to quit, but just to adjust so you can keep going. Sometimes life forces those pauses on you. And sometimes when you're growing in your wisdom and your maturity, you can be more strategic and purposeful about those. So uh let's talk about it. So, Kim, I have a question for you to open it up. When you hear the word alignment, what does that actually look like in real life? Like not as a buzzword, but what does that look like for you to be in alignment?

SPEAKER_01

Um, I think it's for me to be around like-minded in business and like-minded people, um, kind of going down the same path together, or at least a path that I want to be on. You know, because you can look at people and say, Oh, I want to do that or I want to do that. It's kind of, you know, choosing what which path you're gonna be on. People that align with your, I think for me, it's like business, life, you know, people that I align with morally, ethically. Yeah, do we have the same integrity? Do we align well with each other?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I think it even goes deeper than that though, too. I think you said ethically, and sometimes people look at ethic as like a surface word of like how your your morals are, but there's also this thing called work ethic. Like, do people align with you in in their work habits? Do they align with you in how they believe in building things? Sure. So people, but also systems and your schedule and all those different types of things are like congruent. I think of congruency. Are they are they congruent with each other? So I never lived a life where I had the opportunity to overthink decisions. Like I was in like fight or flight mode a lot of times, like it was survival mode. So I had to handle problems fast. When something had to get done, I just got it done. Like I didn't get the luxury of taking a step back and saying, okay, is this aligned with what I want to

Pressure To Perform And Money Math

SPEAKER_00

do or where I want to go? I just had to like grind. And so alignment wasn't always this concept that came naturally, I think, or intentionally, I think is more of the work.

SPEAKER_01

I think too when you start, you are just kind of grinding, pushing through. I think as you go through it, as you go through your career, go through life, then you can kind of think you need some experience under your belt to say, ah, that doesn't work for me, that doesn't work for me. Ah, that maybe aligns with where I'm going.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So on the flip side of that, why do you think high performers feel pressure to keep producing even when something feels off?

SPEAKER_01

Money comes to me as the first like when you have a big business, big teams, you have no other alternative but kids, family, bills, you have to push people depending on you. Yeah, and you have to push through. And I think that's when you have to align as you're going through it.

SPEAKER_00

Well, when that's what you have, like depending on you, and that everyone's counting on you, you can't pause the clock. So you have to just keep grinding, you just execute, and if it feels right in the moment, you just keep going. Sometimes if it doesn't feel right in the moment, you still keep going.

SPEAKER_01

Sure. And it's trial error when you have, like you said, like a big business or teams and people that depend on you. Um, yeah, I think you you have to keep pushing.

SPEAKER_00

How

Momentum Versus Being Busy

SPEAKER_00

do you personally tell the difference between momentum and just being busy?

SPEAKER_01

That's kind of what I'm doing now.

SPEAKER_00

Um, we talked about we we talked about this yesterday on the phone about you taking a step back and looking, okay, like I'm going to be on purpose about doing this, not just servicing the the you because you have a lot of leads, you have a lot of business, you have a huge database, but being on purpose about controlling the destiny of where that business goes.

SPEAKER_01

It's it's um it's hard actually, especially when you're grinding and working and doing it's hard to but now's the perfect time, and we've had a brutal winter here. So it's a perfect time. Schools were closed. I mean, the kids were like bad, hunkered down. Um, so I feel like you know, it it's a good time to stop and then reset and um go ahead and take a look at you know where I'm going or what I'm doing, or like you said, um there's a lot of leads. There's you have to be on purpose. I feel like now's the time to do that. Yeah. Before, because you know as well as I do, uh we're in a seasonality this year. I feel like this year's seasonality. We've talked about this. Um, so because it was so cold and it still is actually, and now's time to take a step back to move forward.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I remember, and this is kind of off off topic, but on topic, you know, years past. We used to say February 1st was when our real estate market started. Sure. And then, you know, COVID happened, and you know, I we keep talking about damn COVID. But COVID happened and the market just got uh ripped crazy, like crazy, like muscles like you wouldn't believe, like it just powered through like it was nothing. It was like brute force. Um, and it was busy and it never slowed down, it was non-stop. Um, and this year, and to some extent a little bit last year, we felt it, but this year especially, I feel like it's going back to normal. And now that it we're into February, I feel like it's picking back up again, which I think also allowed us to take a pause back

Market Seasonality And Intentional Resets

SPEAKER_00

from recording, which I was grateful for, so that I could really be present in the holidays with the kids and you know, purposeful resets. And and we had our vacation, we had our cruise together, and so I think um, you know, let's talk about you know what that looks like and how to make that decision. I I'm in a season now where I still move forward, but I want to move forward on purpose.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, that's a that was the the name of the game for me. It was just busy, busy grind, grind, grind, grind. Nothing, not that nothing wasn't on purpose, but it was just grind, grind, grind. Well, I I was just saying it out there as I'm just kind of reorganizing my database and getting everything done. I feel like it has to be like I want to get it all organized on point so I can just power through. So I have to take a step back to move forward.

SPEAKER_00

So, in terms of our podcast, or even like in terms of our real estate content that we put together, what's the difference between creating content and actually contributing something meaningful?

SPEAKER_01

Um, I think you know, creating content content is great. I I mean you do it all the time. I'm just starting kind of that. Um and I think pot, I think what we're doing here is really on point. It just kind of gives um it's the truth. It's like what regular agents or busy agents in the industry do and what we face and see, and we haven't even touched on it really. No, we're just starting to build on that.

SPEAKER_00

I feel like everything we've put out so far has been from the heart and on purpose, and not just to fill episode slots. Sure. I love and appreciate that about what we're doing. And you know, obviously, because this isn't a a money maker for us, it actually costs me more money to put this out than it does, but it's a passion thing, right? So I hope, and this was the question I was gonna ask you that we're actually adding value versus just filling space.

SPEAKER_01

Well, and I think that's the most important because when I got in the business, if I would had something to reference to or know that I'm not the only one doing that or going through that or said that or that happened, it sure would have been a lot more helpful.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I love that you said that because that's a perfect segue into something that's not in my notes that I wanted to share. Sure. Is that this year we've got some great, great guest speakers lined up. Yes. So we've got I I'm not even gonna name, it's all gonna, you're just gonna have to wait. However, um, I purposely went through like the things that I knew that I wanted to talk about, that you wanted to talk about, that we wanted to share and get out there, and found people that could share their personal stories and their personal journey as well, so that we could put out something that actually adds value and that matters and not just filling

Content That Adds Real Value

SPEAKER_00

space. Sure. In business, doing things just to stay busy costs you money. Yep. In leadership, it costs you trust. And I don't want to lose the trust of you guys, so I want to make sure that this matters.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

So pushing through. Okay. So we're all about alignment and oh, am I gonna do this? Am I not gonna do this? What's that gonna look like? Blah, blah, blah. But when do you need to push through anyway, even when you don't feel like like, hey, I don't know if this is right or whatever. So when does pushing through still matter? Well, because here's here's why I asked that question. Because I feel like that in this culture, a lot of times people will use that as an excuse or a cop out to not do the hard work.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, for sure. I've always had a problem with that. I've watched as I was, you know, I've watched a lot of people step back and say they'd like to go into this direction. And then it really isn't because they didn't want to do the work or they didn't want to put in the work, they didn't want to do the work. You do the work, I'll sit here and facilitate the work.

SPEAKER_00

Well, but I also, yes, and those folks that just want to just take a seat back and then just like find a way to build by pushing their work on someone else. But also I've seen a lot of people that can't handle this and that. It's only this or that, like meaning something's going on in their personal life, or you know, oh my gosh, this this happened and I I can't come back to work, I can't do anything. Like, life is gonna happen all the time. Like I pushed through homelessness, I pushed through being a single mom, building businesses when failure meant losing everything. And there were no backup plans. It was there were no safety nets, it was just pushing through, pushing through. And that was the tenacity and that resilience is a character that's required to be a business person, especially in this business.

SPEAKER_01

I mean a lot of business, but this one, because you could get beat up five times in a day, yeah, and not even, you know, I think you gotta have grit.

SPEAKER_00

Well, it's funny, you said grit and I have of that word right here on my page. I was just gonna ask, so what kind of situations actually deserve your grit versus not? So, like, how do you say, like, this is not in alignment with me, so I'm not gonna grind, or you know what? I need to grind here no matter what because of what's going on. Like, how do you keep going when you just want to throw your hands up?

SPEAKER_01

Like right now, like

When To Push Through And Why Grit Matters

SPEAKER_01

I think right now is a great um because I feel like I'm all over the place, and I'm sure agent all agents go through this, all busy agents, all successful agents. I you know, you could have 20 deals in the hopper, and you could have two deals in the hopper, and I think for me, I start to panic. It's all over the board, kind of a little bit. You have to rein that for me.

SPEAKER_00

I have to rein that in and say, okay, in order for me to continue gear, I have to get this in order, or I have to get my so are you saying like you have a baseline or a threshold? And when you have things going and you get above that threshold, then it allows you to be more choosy about what you do. But if you fall below that threshold, you're just gonna put your head down and grind no matter what.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, pretty much.

SPEAKER_00

Pretty much. I'm so good at reorganizing your words when you put them out there.

SPEAKER_01

You are, you get me because I am all over the board.

SPEAKER_00

That's just because there's so many things, just like everybody. Well, you have a lot on your plate right now, though. Like kids at home, and you have two investment projects going on, two flips going on right now that you're working on, plus your business, plus you know, closing out the year, plus us getting these episodes out. And you know, there's a lot. Kid got into a car accident, and like you I mean, you've got a lot on your plate. Like you're not you're not just floating back saying, huh, this is you know.

SPEAKER_01

Sure. I mean, I think we all do. Yeah, you're still grinding. Yeah. For me, it's just every day. It's for you, too. It's for most of the people in our office. You just come in and you have to grind. Listen, I've taken, but I just got stuck in Florida week.

SPEAKER_00

So I mean people are like, oh, she got stuck. That's so awful. Well, no, it was cold and the weather, it was not planned.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it was not planned. That's really when I sat down, I thought, okay, what do I need to do to come back? Get things in order to start the year out strong so I can keep moving forward. I think again, stepping back to move forward is huge for me. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00

I was thinking of it for me from a different perspective, because I've had some crazy shit happen. You have not epic shit, crazy shit, like bad crazy shit happen. And I was thinking about a question that I got asked is like, how do you get through it? How do you keep going? Right? Yeah. I mean, we were recently in a conversation where someone asked me that question, and I was like, huh. And I don't think in the moment I fully answered it to the best of my ability. So I think how do you keep pushing through? And when does pushing through still matter? I think, first of all, um, when your life depends on it. Yes. Right? Like, think about it that way.

SPEAKER_01

You bet.

SPEAKER_00

And sometimes it's like about proving other people wrong, right? So, how do you get through it? I said prayer. Prayer helps a lot. Like, you know, I lean on my faith to each his own. I love you all, whatever your religious practices are. I'm a Christian, so I believe in that. So I prayed and I went to church a lot more than I'm not obsessed about going constantly. And for some people, that's what they need and that works for them. For me, it was a good balance and just pouring into it a little bit more for my own relationship with God, I think was important. So, number one was that praying, going to church more. Um, number two was knowing who was in my circle and pulling my circle in close to me. So, like when I look at the people in my circle, is their life gonna be impacted if I don't push through, or is it gonna be impacted if I do push through? Like, what where do I need to grind here? Is grinding gonna help them or is grinding gonna hurt them? And not just in the short term, but in the long term. So, like when you're like, I'm exhausted and I can't do this anymore, or I'm gonna miss this game, or I'm gonna miss this thing with my kid or

Thresholds, Capacity, And Real-Life Load

SPEAKER_00

my grandkid or whatever, or my relationship with my spouse is struggling. Is it a short-term thing or is it a long-term thing? Like, is it gonna struggle more if we're homeless on the street? So, yeah, I might miss that game now, but I need to provide for my children. I need to provide for my grandchildren. Like, so I'm raising my grandson, so that's why I say grant, but everybody's different, but you know, family night dynamics are different. So it's is it a short-term struggle for a long-term purpose? Is it grinding through to get me through? Or am I just in grind mode 24-7 forever?

SPEAKER_01

It's actually a really good way of looking at it, just that question. Am I gonna grind now? I've really never thought of it that way, even though that's what you do. Like you said, it just reminds me of you know, your soccer games. Like, okay, maybe I can't make this one now, but because I'm at work, but in the long run, I'll be there and through the summer.

SPEAKER_00

And that doesn't mean I miss all of them either. Like, there's people that just like work, work, work, and miss all their no, but in the moment, sometimes there's a decision you have to make, or I even call it a season. Like people come into your life for a season or for a reason. Well, struggles and circumstances come into your life for a season or for a reason. So is it, you know, these couple of weeks, I just have to just refocus, get back on track, realign myself, and push forward so that things are set up. Like I, you know, we do open houses a lot. So that's one of the core pillars of our business. It's a foundational um piece of real estate. And any real estate agent that says it's not, uh, I'm sorry. Skip back to the base. Yeah, I'm sorry that you haven't learned the system around it or haven't had the right mindset around it. And clients, they do work. Um, you know, we've we just sold a million dollar property um because of an open house for that client and got them, you know, full price. So it would definitely make a difference. Um but do I like super enjoy giving up every single every single weekend for that? No.

SPEAKER_01

No.

SPEAKER_00

No, but I know it's important, and I know that um it's something that I need to grind through in order to get the outcome that's gonna overall benefit my family. And so it when I look at that, and I then I put that through the align the lens of alignment, is this short-term sacrifice in alignment with my long-term goals? Or am I just grinding just for materialistic things, right? So it's not that way. It's important to me that Julian has um a stable household and a good environment that he can grow up in because that kid's been through a lot, lost his mom, lost his uncle, you know, hasn't had, you know, it it's hard, right? That's hard. So for me, it's you know, do I try to make every single soccer game and every single practice? Yes. Do I do I make more than the average person? Yes. And at the same time, if I miss one, I don't beat myself up about it because I know that providing him a stable environment that he can grow up in, a place that

Faith, Circle, And Long-Term Tradeoffs

SPEAKER_00

he has that's safe and that's his space, and that he has the snacks he wants and the child, like that's the most important thing. So when you look at it on that scale, uh that that's how I rank it through long term. Sorry, that was a little long-winded, but I felt like I was pouring from my heart. Why do people misunderstand tenacity? Do you think? Like because there's some people that just hustle just to hustle. I'm a hustler. I grind, baby, grind. You know, let's go. Yeah. Um, so I think tenacity, back to tenacity. So, like versus that just I'm in a grind mindset. Um I think tenacity is knowing that like a no doesn't necessarily stop you and it pushes you can push yourself forward. And like, yeah, there's a saying, if it's to be, it's up to me. Like that saying. I think when I look at tenacity, I look at that. Um, how are you, you know, how are you? Where's your DNA showing up on that? Where are you pushing through to make this happen for you? And there's another saying that's like, um, it's a religious saying, it's um God helps those who help themselves, right? So, like, where am I helping myself and making this happen? And am I just giving up and waiting for him to to deliver it to me? No, I have to put my work off my work and my effort in. And so as long as I have the ability to do so and I'm not hurting anyone, and when I say I'm not hurting anyone, not hurting others or my family or the people in my circle, like as long as I can push through and I have the strength to do that, then I'm gonna keep doing it. That's I think the difference between tenacious and just grind.

SPEAKER_01

I am down such a rabbit hole as you're talking. Share, because I think the rabbit holes are the best conversations. So, like you're talking about that, like God gives you, you know, whatever. Like I just went down a rabbit hole. Like, I I feel like if you're a good person, and here I go again, like if you're a good person, like that will come with you. You know, you just have to put forth the effort and whether it's grind, tenacity, I I almost I almost feel like um I was just thinking as you were talking, like wow, you know, to be a good person and God will give you rewards. And and again, I'm not a religious You know, I I mean I go to church. We have to be kind in this business to to everybody. Um work hard, be kind. Yeah. It just um I completely went down a different rabbit hole with that, thinking, okay, God gives you back what you put into it. You reap what you sow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um and and that goes in whether it's results from hard work or if you treat others poorly, then that comes back to you. You reap what you sow. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like if you just in just in our business, if you treat somebody terrible, whether it be another agent on the the other side or clients or anybody within that transaction or within your business, if you treat them well or bad, I feel like it comes back and bites you in the ass. And that it's like, or if you're good and say, hey, I I did right by my client, even though it wasn't right by my pocketbook, it comes back to you twofold.

SPEAKER_00

It just does. I would say that um when you're a tenacious person, like

Tenacity Versus Empty Hustle

SPEAKER_00

that's just uh it's a characteristic of who you are. Like that doesn't just disappear just because your life gets more stable. Like you continue to do hard things when they matter the most.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. That is true.

SPEAKER_00

I I was just thinking about the circle too. And I we were talking a lot about like you have to be kind and you have to, you know, do hard things and all this, but I think also who you have around you matters, and we talk about our circle all the time, um, and purposely surrounding your so we're talking about alignment. So it's also about purposely surrounding yourself with people that are of like mindset or of are the in the space that you see yourself going into in the future, meaning that like um and I don't want to say idolizing people because I don't think you should idolize people. Like, I'm a very as naive and as um bright-eyed as I am and like positive and like you know, always positive thinker. I'm I'm skeptical when it comes to like higher up people because I know everyone's human. Like, and I don't know if that's a developed characteristic as I've gotten older or whatever, but I don't tend to idolize people. I do believe that you should look for people that you can learn from and that you can grow from and surround yourself with some of those people. Like who's done who's done what I want to do, and how can I follow in their footsteps? And if I can, how can I put myself in a room with those people, at least on a semi-regular basis? I mean, it's why we joined the mastermind group that we did.

SPEAKER_01

I um I I love that because that's exactly what I look for. Um, even back when we would sit in big classes, like here's a $30 million producer. I can't really relate to that. Maybe if you put me in a room with a 20, 10, 20, maybe, and then it's almost like I can see myself following in that footstep when I get to that, then I can go to that. To you know, and in steps. Um, at least for me.

SPEAKER_00

Well, and I didn't I know you always look at it as like production is that stepping stone for you. For me, I look at it more um not about whether they're a $50 million or a $10 million. I can learn from both of them, right? But do they carry their business in a way that I would want to carry it? Sure. Because I've seen some people that right?

SPEAKER_01

That is true.

SPEAKER_00

And I'm like, ooh.

SPEAKER_01

I know where you're going. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

For sure. So I do I want to put myself in a circle with those people?

unknown

No.

SPEAKER_00

Probably not. Because I I wouldn't want to handle business the way they handle business or I wouldn't want to carry my personal life the way there's another one. Okay, so when we talk about alignment, um, you know, we've had opportunities to get in and out of business with people that quite frankly, the way they handle their

Choosing Your Circle And Role Models

SPEAKER_00

personal lives, yeah, it doesn't impact their business, but it's not something that I would want to align myself. It's not in it's not congruent with who I who I see myself being. Now, does that mean that maybe do I falter? Do I make mistakes? Hell yeah, I make a lot of mistakes. We all do. But where I choose to put myself or what I choose to look for in characteristics, I don't want to bring those people into my business life. No.

SPEAKER_01

Because they do go hand in hand.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, even if we say, well, what they do outside of of business or work is is their business, which it is. Absolutely. But at some point it seeps in in you, it just can't be helped, whether they want to or I want to, or you want. It just comes, it goes hand in hand.

SPEAKER_00

And I've gotten, I'm just gonna wrap myself out here. I've not always done that. Like, I've gotten better about it now, but there were times where I wanted to build something so bad, and I'm like, okay, well, like I gotta, I gotta get in business with this person. I won't act the way they do, but like this is what I need to get to the next step. And like I feel sick about it now, like literally sick to my stomach. And I can think of multiple occasions, a set couple of different examples. I know you're thinking of one, but there's one even further back that you can think of um of someone that didn't know how to handle their liquor or someone that got into a lot of fights.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

See, you knew right?

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I'm like, that's not who I like. I don't get into fist fights with people. Like, I don't get drunk and belligerent and start swinging. At least I don't think I do. No, no. So I mean, yeah, is that the kind of person I'm not in alignment with that? So I don't care how many sales they can make, I don't care how many, uh, how much um investing experience they have or how many businesses they have or you know what their portfolio looks like. That's not a person that I want to align with.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, hell no. Hill because it because again, it does come back. Well, it's a reflection on you too. Absolutely, and it does come back to you.

SPEAKER_00

See, we alignment, we can go a lot of different directions with this. So we started out with like goals and time and energy, and now we're into circle and people. So there's a lot of different directions we can do.

SPEAKER_01

Because I think that's what alignment is, and I think you're it's ever changing right throughout, I mean, for anybody.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I said this before and other episodes of our podcast, and I know I've put it online, and someone even reminded me I said, when you know better, you do better.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

And so I'm on a journey of self-improvement constantly. Well, I think that's also though why we always pour into ourselves, why we still continue to go to um convention and learning, like not the same stuff for the same stuff's sake. Like I want to learn different things from different people and put myself in different situations, um, which I'm super excited about our new mastermind group because I I want to share with other people and I want to learn from those people and then pour into those people too, because that's part of my my why.

SPEAKER_01

It's so refreshing, like, and that sounds so cliche like so refreshing, but it's so different than what we're what we've heard in the past and things that we've been surrounded, you know, with before.

Not All Battles Deserve Your Energy

SPEAKER_01

So it's it's new ideas, new people. I I enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00

So kind of changing directions just a tad bit. What happens when people treat everything like it deserves the same level of effort? Like, how do you know when effort stops being strategic and just becomes so like I'll give you an example. So early in my life, everything was an emergency. If I didn't push, I was push, push, push, things fell apart. That kind of urgency wires your nervous system to believe everything deserves maximum effort.

SPEAKER_01

No, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um, I think I well, the hard part now is unlearning that, right? Yeah. Um not because it was wrong, but it doesn't fit this season of our life. Wow.

SPEAKER_01

I think that comes with the more business you do, the older you get.

SPEAKER_00

Um how can we help people shortcut that though, so they don't have to go through all the the damn mistakes?

SPEAKER_01

I don't know if if that feathers flying in. I know they're all over. Um I don't know. Can you really cut that short for somebody? Or is it part of who they are and you have to learn to like well here here's what I would say um personal growth.

SPEAKER_00

That's how you do it. So instead of having to go through the experiences, you purposely put like I love um watching or reading anything, Alex and Layla Hermosy. Like I and I didn't even know anything about them. I thank Sharon for introducing us to him because Alex and Layla came to one of our um Rise conventions for real San Diego a couple of years ago. And so then I started following them on Instagram and Facebook and everything. And they really, I just love learning from them, right? So like it's helped me to have systems and um concepts to filter through that. So there's one that's called like um the Eisenhower matrix, like you run everything through it. So like if it's important, um, urgent, urgent, important, or not important. And if you run through that, you pause instead of making everything an emergency and you run it throughout, okay, is this important? Yes. Is it it urgent important? Is it not important

Small Adjustments Before Big Problems

SPEAKER_00

or does it not matter at all? And that's like the way when people talk about, I think there's another like analogy to it that they talk about like delete, delay, delegate, or do. Uh-huh. So do I do it now? Do I delegate it? Do I delay it to later, or do I delete it off my off my to-do list? Same kind of concept. So I think if you started um treating your energy and your focus through those same types of filters, is it important? Is it urgent, important, is it not important?

SPEAKER_01

It's actually a great way to be. If if everybody and if we did that, I'm getting better at it.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, but I think that's how people shortcut it by studying people who share these tools and how they think about it. Because, you know, there's only so many hours in a day, right? There's 24 hours in a day, and top CEOs or bit people that own multiple businesses don't have any more hours in the day than the average Joe that's out there. So, how do they accomplish more? And what are they looking at? And what kind of filter are they running through? So, so yeah, it's reading those types of things and following those people and listening to those types of podcasts where you can learn those things.

SPEAKER_01

Sorry. I always think of Elon Musk.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I if somebody must decide. How do they accomplish all those things? Yeah, like he's got 24 hours in a day. We have 24 hours in a day. So I always think when you when you talk like that, I think, oh, well.

SPEAKER_00

Well, and and precision matters now more than force, right? Like at this stage, when you think about it. So not everything deserves the same level of fight, too. Right. And it's also knowing when to walk away from a battle, like, and I'm fight, I fight with my husband on this a lot too, because he just wants to make every and it's not that I don't care that it happened or I don't care that someone hurt me or did this or whatever. But does that well you're laughing because it's true, right? But does that deserve my attention or my energy or my focus? Because is it gonna get me to the uh, you know, just because it wasn't fair or it wasn't right, doesn't mean I have to get into a fight about it. Right. I deal with that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I I deal. My husband is the same way. Is it really um worth my time and effort? Is it really going to make the situation or things better to give it that much attention?

SPEAKER_00

And on a small scale, it's something as simple as like a meal or something, but on a large scale, it can be something as, you know, we've we've had to file multiple lawsuits for our businesses and things like that. And there's certain situations like where he's like, we should sue them and we should sue them and we should and yes, we're probably just because you're right doesn't mean that it deserves my energy based on where I'm going and what I'm building. And now that doesn't mean I'm gonna let people walk all over me either. And there are certain lawsuits that I'm pursuing right now, currently still. Um, and there are other things that like I've let go. What is it? Let go and let God, right? And and I've

Using Frameworks And AI To Prioritize

SPEAKER_00

done that. And so learning to do that is a really, really tough thing too, especially when you've been hurt at a really high, high level.

SPEAKER_01

Maybe that's why you can do that.

SPEAKER_00

Maybe. So making small adjustments, I think, is what gets you there. So small adjustments before big problems.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

So why do you think that people wait until something breaks before adjusting?

SPEAKER_01

Don't we all? Well, I mean, don't I mean I think people wait because it's it's painful to do, it's hard to do. Um, I know it is for me. I mean, same with my business, I had to burn down to the ground before I had to, you know, before you could Well, and look at what look at what we're doing now. Well, that's what I mean.

SPEAKER_00

Like I had to burn it down for But I mean, as a group, like our group, we had an incredible year last year.

SPEAKER_01

We had a great year. I'm excited. Boom.

SPEAKER_00

It was good, and it's only gonna get better.

SPEAKER_01

How many deals did we do?

SPEAKER_00

We helped 160 families last year.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Um, what was our volume?

SPEAKER_00

Just right under 50 million.

SPEAKER_01

It's pretty impressive for a year together.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

A full year. Yeah, that was our first full year together. First full year.

SPEAKER_00

So back to what I was saying though, um, small adjustments. I I think also there's this saying that's you gotta sometimes you have to slow down to go fast. And we're in the grind, grind, grind, right? Go, go, go, grind, grind, grind, grind. Um, that we don't slow down enough to like really analyze the situation. And so finding that balance between the two, like some people just are in paralyzed, uh they call it um perfection, paralyzation, or I can't remember the I know the thought and I just don't get the words as frequently as I want. Yeah. Um, but you're like paralyzed by getting it perfect instead of moving forward because you overanalyze, or there's the people that just plow right through and don't stop. And sometimes it's knowing when to slow down to take a look at it and then putting all the energy in and plowing through. And you know what's helped me with that a lot?

SPEAKER_01

Huh.

SPEAKER_00

You're gonna laugh. You know, I know you know. Chat. Ah, yeah. So AI. I I learned so when people say AI is gonna take over, if you're smart about it, you can use AI as a tool to help you in those types of situations. Like it helps me go faster, it helps me organize my thoughts. I I can just blah blah blah blah blah to AI. Like, I I'm so proud of myself on teaching Mike how to use like the talk version of it. And he's like, he goes, Yeah, I was just talking to it and it did this for me and it did that for me, and blah, blah. And he like he had no concept that that was even like a thing, right? Neither did I until we were we were laying in we were laying in a bed in Nashville, and I'm like, here, look at this, Kim. She's like, holy shit.

SPEAKER_01

Right? I mean, yeah, it's and I've watched AI with you.

SPEAKER_00

AI is involving by the minute, literally.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, like I've watched it with you where where you do have 22 million thoughts going on, and you can just say it, and I've watched it just organize it like, wow.

SPEAKER_00

Well, because you know, I'm not gonna lie, I'm I'm pretty sure I have ADD. Like I've never been diagnosed, I'm not on medication for it. Not that anyone deserves to know whether I'm on medication or not, but I'm not. Um, and so for people that just like there's there's thoughts going through my mind, they're like all the time, right? And so for me, it helps me like if I can just spit all that out and then it spits it all back at me and it organizes it, and I'm like, oh, okay, so these are the five things I really need to do. I see this list of 40 things I just spit out, and I'm able to move those ones out of the way. I almost want one of those, like I'm now as I'm touching the sky, I want one of those boards where it's like oh yeah, like on Iron Man where he goes like this and he's doing all the things, right? Um, but it helps me say, like, okay, of these 40 things, these five are super important. These five, I you know, I'd like to do them, but take them off of there and then

Breaks As Maintenance, Not Escape

SPEAKER_00

narrow that down to a list of the top six things that I need to focus on and which then are in alignment with who I am and where I want to go and what my goals are and what's important to me and how I can help my team and my family and my circle.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_00

So AI has been a great tool to make those small adjustments along the way. And even like so, small adjustments before some big problem happens. Sometimes people get so married to their goal that they're like, okay, this is my plan. I'm gonna stick with it all year. This is what I said I was gonna do, instead of making adjustments, like, okay, I said this is what I was gonna do. But now that like I it's in reality, this part over here, it's not like really coming out the way that I thought it would. So let's take that off and let's add this in instead. But there's also people that just follow every squirrel. So it's like, how do you keep that core thread going without following every squirrel or shiny object, but then still I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

I think that's a hard one. I think we all get into that. Like where we're going, we have a plan, plan, and then we veer off a little bit, and then we gotta pull it in, and then you know, um, if that isn't worth I think it's readjusting and and constantly being accountable to your goals or what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I think it's knowing what red flags and what signals to recognize too. Yeah, like it and using I hate to say it again, I use AI. I'm like, here's what's happening, here's what I wanted to happen. Help me identify any red flags and where where my goals are and what's happening here. And I don't take it as a be all and all, but I'm using it as another filter. Like, oh, am I crazy in this? And he'll say, I say he because I call chat GPT Chet. Your boyfriend Chet. But it's like you're talking to your boyfriend Chet again. It's like even Juju's saying it now. He goes, Oh, grandma, is that your boyfriend Chet you're talking to over there? I was using a recipe or something for like, and I had him talk it, whatever. But anyway, what I was saying is like I could run that through that filter of like, hey, and I'll say, and I disagree with it. Like, I don't just take it and run with it. I'll say, no, no, that's not what I meant at all. You're totally missing the point, blah, blah, blah. And then it comes back with, I'm like, okay, now that feels right. And I think too, in your core, you really know sometimes you got to trust your gut more. Like, if something feels like it's way off, it's probably way off. Not just I don't feel like it, if it feels off. Yeah. There's a difference between I feel like it, I don't feel like it, and it feels off. Like, I don't feel like it is I'm tired today, and I want to do this. Like, I did not want to get up Saturday morning and drive all over town and show properties, but I did. You, I mean, we're on the phone with each other, and she's in one town showing properties, I'm in another town. We're talking to each other as we're on the road. And I'm sure there were a lot of people on uh a Saturday morning in the cold of February, they're like, you know what I'm gonna say in my fuzzy PJs today. But like maybe I didn't feel like it, but there was nothing wrong with it. It didn't feel off, like it was part of what I had to do. Right.

SPEAKER_01

So that's a good way of explaining it. I'm down a rabbit hole again with AI.

SPEAKER_00

I but I think those are good tidbits because that's the world we live in now. Like, there's nothing wrong with talking about those things.

SPEAKER_01

Like, yeah, it's um it's insane what's going on with it. A good insane though.

SPEAKER_00

I have so many cool tools I'm using now. Like it's helping me put my manuals together for my class workbooks, like organizing my thoughts. I think it's allowing me to add more value to the world because it's allowing

Goals, Vacations, And Season Shifts

SPEAKER_00

me to put more of myself out there that I wouldn't have been able to get out otherwise. So it's not replacing me at all, it's just allowing me to share more, right?

SPEAKER_01

Which is great, and do things behind the scenes that you don't have.

SPEAKER_00

Let's talk about breaks as maintenance instead of escape. So like vacations, time off, breaks, taking a take setting the reset button. So, why do you think people associate breaks with weakness or quitting?

SPEAKER_01

Because they don't do it. I'm thinking of people that I that I actively listen to podcasts and um where it's like, come on, let's go. I I never take a day off of the grind. Um, I think if you don't take a break and and um refuel or re-energize. Or I how do you how do you not do that? Really? Like I would be burnt out, crabby, irritated if I didn't take a break.

SPEAKER_00

So for a long time break is in vacation. Yeah. Well, and and staycation, vacation, whatever. Absolutely. Like we whatever. You know, we we purposefully did not record for about 45 days. Yeah. We took the holidays and took that time off and we're back in it because I think that's important. But for a long time for me, breaks only happened when like some external force came into play. Like I got sick, or like I then it forced you to take a break. My business was stolen from someone, and I'm like, okay, well, I guess I gotta take a break now. I can't do that, right? Like, but no, seriously, it's like severe external force, right? Um, a season ended, there was a crisis, my body finally just That's what mine does.

SPEAKER_01

Is my body just is like I can tell when it happens to you, yeah. I just get sick.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, um that that doesn't make me noble. It it like really just describes the reality of having responsibility. Kids don't pause, bills don't pause, businesses don't pause. So now I'm learning that breaks are more um important for staying true to who I am, staying fresh, um, not an escape from responsibility, but how I'm capable of carrying that responsibility. Like it because I'm on purpose about it, it makes me more capable. Maintenance isn't weakness, it keeps things running.

SPEAKER_01

Sure. Just like a car. Yeah, just like a car. You got a maintenance car to keep it running in tip top shape. And and I think we we in this industry, we all don't see it that way.

SPEAKER_00

Um well, I think because there's two schools of people, and then there's this tiny little one in the middle that and none of us are in this middle one. So I'm gonna talk about none of us are in this middle most one. We all work to try and be more in the middle one, depending on which one we're in. There's the schools of people that are just work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work till I drop. Yep. And they're 90 years old and they finally stopped selling real estate and they dropped, you know. Sound tired. Like grind 24-7. And then there's the ones that are on vacation 24-7 and just work enough so that they can pay for the next vacation or pay and we joke about that all the time. And and then the middle school of thought or the middle road, like when you look at the forks in the road, that middle one is the ones that like have a certain goal and have a certain end point and a certain destination, and they're working as much as possible and scheduling those breaks in order to get to that. Well, I talked about this the beginning of last year is like calendaring out your year and looking and putting in those vacations. But also, like I put conditions on them. Like I had a we we took a vacation this year a couple weeks ago in January, but it wasn't as big of one as I planned because I told Bart, I said, if we hit X, then we'll do X. But it didn't mean we were gonna do nothing if we didn't hit X. Like we didn't hit that. And he was like, Oh

Accountability, Community, And Staying On Track

SPEAKER_00

I mean, here, I'll just tell you what it was. I told him if I hit X number of sales in dollars personally outside of the team, not just the team, right? Like, because I don't pull from that, I don't pull from the team for my personal life. Like that's that reinvests into the team and builds builds the infrastructure for all of them to pour into them to give them more leads and so we can give them more systems and give them our tools, right? Is that how we do it? So for me personally, I had to hit a certain number and I didn't hit it. I mean, I still had good good numbers, like we still made decent money last year. Um, but we also had some we lost PJ last year. Yeah um had to take take some time off. That was a forced break, right? And you know, he had some he was in and out of the hospital a couple times last year too. So like those were forced breaks before. Um so I still am really proud of the numbers that we did hit and the families we were able to help and like the stories about like you know, one of the one of the my last closings of the year last year was a a lady who had it was living in like a shared house with like six other women and 14 dogs, and it it was the she couldn't have her own furniture, like it was a horrible, horrible situation and like sticking through helping her, like we started working with her in like late spring, early summer, and she finally closed in December. But like getting her into a home and being able to make a difference in like that. I'm like, I'm not giving up on you, girl. We're gonna get you there. Like, and she had some things happen in her life that like you know, she ended up in that situation, and I think before that she might have been living in a hotel or something. I don't know what the situation was, but like she was doing good, and like it was so important to me that we were able to help her. So, like those things are and now I'm on the down the bunny hole, right? So those things are so important. Um, so we've we had some really good successes last year, but also we didn't hit that number, and so I told Bart if we hit that number, I would uh we would rent a house in Key West for a month in January, the whole month of January. Guess what? We didn't spend the month of January in Key West because I didn't hit that number, but that doesn't mean I was like, okay, no vacation for you. Like we don't get a reset. We still had one, but it was a different one, a smaller one, and we had a really good time and we went on a nice cruise and we got some we got some work done while we were there. We did continuing education and CE crews, yeah. So I I think that um I have written down right here different seasons require different energy.

SPEAKER_01

That's for sure.

SPEAKER_00

So, how do you personally know when a season is changing?

SPEAKER_01

When I gotta wear my coat.

SPEAKER_00

Not that kind of season, girlfriend. Come on, like seasons in your life. So, like there were seasons in my life where everything was like full-on intensity and survival demanded it.

Final Takeaways On Grit And Focus

SPEAKER_00

Hustle wasn't optional, it was necessary.

SPEAKER_01

Right now, I feel like this.

SPEAKER_00

So you're in a season of that right now. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, I didn't have a whole lot going on. I was gone. Um, I feel like that's I'm in it right now as we're talking.

SPEAKER_00

So, how do you know though, when it's changing? Like, how can you foresee it so that you're not like in this like con that's crazy, like where I'm like, you know, just going along and then oh my god, freak out mode.

SPEAKER_01

For me, I feel like I you can kind of see it a little bit this year. Well, the end of last quarter into this quarter, I was like, I'm going, I'm doing, I'm I've had a great December. And then I'm like, oh, like it I'm in that season.

SPEAKER_00

Like Do you think that the people around you notice it sometimes more than you and having those right people to call you out and to kind of give you like hey?

SPEAKER_01

I think they do. Hey, for sure.

SPEAKER_00

Like we're like, hey, Mike, where were you? Why aren't you here yet?

SPEAKER_01

For sure. Get your ass back in the office. Um, and I think it again, it's going back to you know what you have to do. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00

Sorry. I think uh yeah, because I think that's why it's so important to that so difficult to work alone and why what we're building is so valuable.

SPEAKER_01

I could never work, I I don't care what anybody says, like, oh, I just want to do my thing, or I just I can't work alone because I would be I wouldn't be able to do the business I do if I was alone. I just couldn't.

SPEAKER_00

Well, because I think there's different seasons, like some require fight, like I'm gonna just grind through this, I'm gonna fight through it. Some require patience.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, right? They do. That is true.

SPEAKER_00

Some require maintenance, like let's get this system set up, let's get that, like, and wisdom is knowing what this season is asking and responding instead of running on autopilot. And and I don't always know either. Like sometimes I'm just and then Cory will say something, I'm like, oh shit, Corey, thank you. I needed to hear that. Like in putting ourselves around those people, I personally don't always know when the season's changing. I'm like a grinded out type of person, and um the ones we're you were making fun of, that's me a lot of times. I mean, you can totally, it's okay. Call me out, I don't care. But I think having all these people around that you know, we and I think we have we're in a comfort level where we have permission to call each other out on it too.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I think too, when you're together and when you know somebody and like our group is we're together a lot, we're in the office, and you know when somebody's for sure kind of going or tanking, um, when they need that extra like, let's do this, let's do this, to get you back on track. For me, I need that because once I start to, you know, isolate, not that I don't everybody needs to stay home and do this once in a while. But I think it once you lose that, and and I I think it's just you know, if you're sick, your kids are sick, or this, you definitely need that. Like, hey, what are you doing? Where are you at? Or what's going on, or what are we gonna do this week? We're gonna get on phones, we're gonna host open houses. Um, if I was by myself, I'd be like, Well, I'll get I'll I'll do it next week, or I'll do it the week after. And by the time I say, Oh, hey, I'm gonna do, you know, here's my goals, that I'm already halfway done.

SPEAKER_00

So, in closing, what do you hope that listeners take away from this conversation we had today?

SPEAKER_01

I think again, alignment. I think it's really about alignment and where we're going with that and what you're where you're going with it. If you're not aligned with the right people, with the right setting, I feel like it brings your momentum down. Or you have no momentum.

SPEAKER_00

I would say tenacity built my life, but focus keeps it standing.

SPEAKER_01

True. That's a good one for sure.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Not everything deserves your push.

SPEAKER_01

No. Nope.

SPEAKER_00

Don't quit, calibrate.

SPEAKER_01

True. I don't if quitting's an I don't think that option.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah. Brakes aren't weaknesses, they're maintenance.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

Just like maintenance on a car. Kim pointed that out.

SPEAKER_01

I'm I'm all for brakes.

SPEAKER_00

Um we don't stop when things get hard. We get clearer about what actually matters.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's that's perfect. You do have to get you you get clearer.

SPEAKER_00

So for the overall takeaway, I would say strong women don't abandon grit. They learn where to apply it. Yeah. Like a good foundation. Like a good foundation.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So this episode wasn't about slowing down. It's about staying sharp, honest, and on track. So the work actually matters. Thank you for being here with us on another episode of Do Epic Shit. Shit. I'm Kelly Bacinski. And I'm Kim Neal. Peace out.

unknown

Woo!