Christela Amonkou: Failure Was Not An Option

Tracy Hayes  0:53  
welcome back to The Real Estate excellence podcast. Best of the Best is my goal in each and every episode today, I think I have one of the great, inspirational agents in the house I know have I've known her for almost five years now. She's built her business one customer at a time, a single mom of three amazing boys. She works extremely hard with her family, her church and her real estate business. She recently moved her business to Engle and Volkers here in Jacksonville. Hopefully we'll find out why. Let's welcome the legacy of the Cristela legacy group. Christella monk, who to the show. Thank you.

Tracy Hayes  1:36  
Yes, we've done some deals over and I've watched you slowly grow. And I tell you one of the things that hopefully will tip on, and I put in my notes here, you know you are, you are working the social media, yes, very positive message. And I know you're very involved in your church. So I want to, you know, hear how, you know, how work that circle of influence as well. Hopefully it's you know, worked into your business, helping your fellow parishioners out. So but let's start off the show. Where are you from? Well, I am originally from Hayes,

Christela Amonkou  2:04  
and I've been here for over 20 years. I came to Jacksonville in 2005 UNF brought me here, went to University of North Florida, and I kind of got stuck here. I have to say, I love it. And yeah, I'm originally from Hayes. So was it a special program, or you just wanted to go to college in the States, there was kind of like a back and forth. So as an immigrant, we came, of course, to Miami, and then I went to high school. And, of course, Springs High School. And then, you know, was searching for, you know, college time came, and I said, you know, Samsung college. So I went to New Jersey, and I went to Washington Community College, and I did not like the call. Did my two years there, and they needed to get back to Florida. And so UNF accepted me. So that got me here in Jacksonville.

Tracy Hayes  2:52  
There are a lot of Hayes that obviously go to New York City and so forth, yes, and I can imagine, yeah, that the total climate difference definitely, it's wherever you have family and support. And I did have it there, however, I did not like the cold

Speaker 1  3:09  
weather.

Tracy Hayes  3:11  
Don't blame you. Grew up there, spent my first 20 years of my life in the Northeast. So alright, so you go to UNF What are you studying there? And I mean, do you have a vision of something you want to do, or, you know, as a young person, what are you envisioning yourself as a career? So I went to UNF, and I gotta say, I was one of those people that kind of tried everything. At some point I wanted to be a nurse. My family will tell you I wanted to be a nurse. I wanted I played a violin as a young child, so I wouldn't use it. And, you know, it kind of work I do, and it kind of worked out where, at the end of the day, I was like, You know what, business administration. I've already had all the courses, let me do this. And I had my bachelor's in science in business administration. However, I did one of the courses that I took at UNF was real estate. And, you know, it spikes something in me there. And after I graduated from UNF, you know, you kind of start applying for work. And my opportunity went into banking, so kind of sort of defy that real estate class that I had, right, right? Yeah, I saw on your LinkedIn some of your your first positions were actually an operations department for lending, side processing and then into underwriting. Yes, yes. I did processing for a long time with different vendors, and then loved it. I was able to get promoted multiple time and work with different hybrid high end clients with just the different vendors, and I loved it. So you don't even go into medicine nursing at all. Touch that start tasting. So what were some of the, what were some of the things that you were, I think was roughly about six or seven years you were doing that, then in the operations department, what starts to give you the flavor to real estate? I mean, what? So I have to say this.

Christela Amonkou  5:00  
So the other side, so as a processor, you get to see, you know, even underwriting, I did that part as well, you get to see the financing side of a lot of people. Like I said, I got a chance to work with high end clients. And, you know, I think one day I was sitting at my desk and I saw a gentleman that was about my age, and he did the same thing I did as far as going to college to get a business administration degree, and I'm looking at his wealth. I was looking at his network, and the common part was houses, and a lot of those clients that would come in. I hated underwriting for this part, because I had to look at seven houses and schedule. And

Christela Amonkou  5:39  
I was just like, how many houses this man have to have? Do we have all the expenses in there? Exactly so. But it spikes something in me, because I'm looking at, there's a there's a there's a difference here. I am working every day. I'm getting my paycheck. But this gentleman here has so many homes, and he's, he's his network was, was high enough to where I was able to service them, because I was in the high network group. So that was the common denominator with all these clients. And I was like, I'm doing something wrong. There was something in me. I wanted to build generational wealth for my children. I wanted to build for my family. So I said, I'm in the world. I need to start looking into that aspect of life. So it kind of really expanded your you know, I mean, imagine, as a young just graduate, as I can imagine, most graduates, they aren't even envisioning buying their first home, but because of your first jobs there in a five or six, seven years, you start to Expand your horizon. And hey, you know, this guy can do it, I can do it. And you start seeing more of what real estate is, I think too many. Well, I make this statement because when I had Sarah Rocco on, she made a great statement about, you know, she was only in the business a couple months before she went to a convention, and it just opened her mind. And that just made me think of some of the things that I've done and expanded my vision of, you know, the mortgage world and lending. But for you, you understood it as all these great grant cardones, they all say real estates in their portfolios, and you actually are seeing it. So one thing, when someone tells you about it, right, when you actually see it, you're like, a little further, yes, we need to look a little further and and seeing how I could, how could I apply this, or I could have helped others that may not have that knowledge to get to that position. So what? Who introduces you to the agent side and draws you out of the so I said to myself, so here I am, young graduate. I got this really great job opportunity, and I'm working, and we started training, and I think it was six months in, there was a layoff, and that broke my heart. And I didn't get the Shoulder Touch, right? And I said to myself, the day I get the touch on the shoulder, I am not gonna work for anybody anymore, right? And you know what? It took 10 years before they did that. I

Christela Amonkou  7:56  
think I was expecting it too much, and it took 10 years, and then finally, I got the touch on the shoulder, and I remember walking out of the building feeling like a deep breath. I didn't know what direction I was gonna go, but I knew that did not want to go back and apply for another, you know, w2 position. I needed to do something for myself, as I've seen it on paper, for all the other

Tracy Hayes  8:15  
people I know, the feeling, the feeling you're relating to, and you have to, you know, I don't know if you had someone, a mentor in your life at this point, was saying, okay, because you really want to dig deep at this point. How do I want to, you know, I got 10 years of experience you had, you know, roughly under your belt that time. And, you know, what do you want to do, and how do you want to do it? And because you you one thing, I think you can agree with our business. We kind of live in real estate, live our business. It's not a nine to five. No Deal, absolutely. And you've got to enjoy doing it. And when someone calls you, you got to get excited, hey, I want to go, even if it's Saturday morning, and you're like, oh, I don't have anything going on. I go take the boys somewhere. And then someone calls you and says, Hey, I want to go see this house. You got to get excited

Christela Amonkou  8:58  
about that? Yes, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And so

Tracy Hayes  9:01  
we have to learn to live our business. So was that kind of a little soul searching

Christela Amonkou  9:04  
that you had to do? Definitely, was I knew I didn't want to go into something where I wanted to be available in the midst of it. I think I got the touch on the shoulder in a worse time of my life. I gotta say, when I was ready for it, it didn't happen. When I wasn't ready, it did happen. So this was also the timing where, you know, I have been separated with my my ex husband, and I'm raising three boys, and we're going, you know, there's anger there in me, and there's, you know, and I wanted to be available. That was always been a priority for me. I wanted to be that mom that wasn't that was available for her kids. I wanted to be in their soccer practice or their games and just be involved in their life. That's, that was my main thing. And I remember, after getting the tap on the shoulder and having no direction, I took like a 30 day quiet time, yeah, soul search and say, you know, God, what is it that you want next for me? So doing that 30 day, I can tell people all the. Time, this is a listen. I'm a Christian, so I talk about that all the time, but I'm sorry if this is not allowed, but, and I did hear the voice that tell me, Christel, it's real estate and education. Those were the two things that I heard. And I remember getting off my bed from like a depression state, and saying, I heard you. And then now you need to guide me to get it done.

Tracy Hayes  10:24  
You have to in some of the great people that we read or do motivational things now, using social media and stuff, they tell they a lot of them tell you, they take that time that mediate or quiet time to themselves and let their let their mind, whether they might go walking and just let their mind clear it out, yes, and that quiet time, and like you said, he spoke to you, there's, there's no if you give him time, he will, you know, because it's one thing if someone says somebody, if he came down to us in front of us, which he's not going to do, and actually say it out in words where you can hear it in a room, yes, that's not going to happen. Yes. And you have to take the time. And sometimes you have to hear him tell you three, four or five times, or put you in a predicament, as you said, you were in a rough time that it draws you, it makes you rise to the condition,

Christela Amonkou  11:13  
absolutely, absolutely. And I remember saying to myself, you know, yeah, I hear you now, make it happen. So I just took a drive, and next thing I know, I saw a sign that says, real estate classes, sign up. And I was like, Okay, I'm gonna sign up. It worked out my whole career. I think if I tell people to do exactly what I did, it may not happen the same way, but it was just that for me, I can tell you it was real estate and education.

Tracy Hayes  11:40  
So you go, I assume you just take the Crash Course for seven days, or whatever it is I did.

Christela Amonkou  11:46  
So I did sign up online. I took the class online. And then, of course, being an underwriter, loan processor, almost half of the stuff you already know. Know the lingo. Yes, you know the language, exactly terminology. So I, when I did my class. I think I took 30 days literally. I went and I took the class. As I said, I was mentally not in a great place. So I remember when I went to take my class, I went to take the test, the state test, and walked in there, and then I got some bad news, what? As I wasn't doing. And I was like, Oh my gosh, why I walked in there, and I'm taking the test, and I know the answers, right, but my my personal issues, were just taking the drive, and I remember walking out thinking I did not pass, and I'm pretty sure I did not pass. And the lady looked at me and said, You did not pass. And I said, Lady, what do I need to do? Can I take it again? She said, No, you have to wait two weeks. I said, No, I'm not doing that. I said, Where do I need to go? Then she told me, Gainesville. Okay, there's a test tomorrow morning at 10am I said, I'm going, and that's what I did. I did not open two days in a row, and I just went to Gainesville the next morning after I drive my kids to school, and I took the test. I walked out dancing because I knew I passed.

Speaker 2  13:00  
And so, yeah, that's my story.

Tracy Hayes  13:05  
That's cool. So this is, what? 2000 This was 2017 Yeah, so the brokers are calling you. Oh yeah, yeah. Start blowing up your phone. Yes. What if you want to mention your brokerage? I always leave that open so people don't want to mention their past brokerage, because somebody might be upset about or whatever. Yeah, what makes you choose that brokerage?

Christela Amonkou  13:25  
So I knew that has a loan processor, underwriter. I've always worked with companies that were big in training, and I watched it. I watched when the companies had time to train agents or train their employees, how much the result was a lot better. So in interviewing places, I wanted a company that had a great training plan, and honestly, I have nothing bad to say about Berkshire Hathaway. That was their focus, the training for new agent. It works. And so I felt that they were going to do that for me, and I sign up for them. With them, it was, it was really solely about the training and the support.

Tracy Hayes  14:05  
So was that, like, like a 90 day boot camp, or that new agent, this is what your schedule is for the next 90 days type?

Christela Amonkou  14:13  
There's been so many chances. I can't recall specifically, but I know that it was something you had to commit nine of you have to be a full time agent. You have to commit a nine to two schedule, Monday to Thursday. And you did the training. You did the training.

Tracy Hayes  14:29  
So many brokerages claim to train. Yes, I was, I said something on a while back. I said I asked the question about brokerages. Don't tell me about their education, because every one of them will sit down with you and tell you how great their training is, their technology, they're all great, right? The lenders even fall into that category as well, but you really got to take the time. In this case, it sounds like, you know, they stepped up to what they were claiming. Yes, absolutely, because you didn't. You didn't. Did you know when? Anyone there was a real estate consultant?

Christela Amonkou  15:02  
No, I did not know anyone that worked there. Matter of fact, I did, actually. I took that back. I did know someone. And I called that person to say, Hey, I know you with this company. Tell me a little bit. And the response I got is, I give up on real estate. I don't really want to do real estate anymore. And I was like, Oh, that's not a good answer. My mindset going into real estate has always been, this is a business. This is not something I'm trying failure was not an option for me. I remember I had three boys that I was raising, and, you know, I needed the financial support for them, and so failure was not an excuse. So I know I couldn't commit myself with any brokerage that we're gonna false promise me training, and then it didn't happen. Yes, so that was important. Again, going to that quiet mode and hearing the voice inside of you that says, Okay, this is the right move. And that's what happened. That was the right move for me.

Tracy Hayes  15:58  
It sounds like just by your own desire in looking for that you knew that was important. Would you agree to screw there's a lot of agents that don't even have that, you know, like your mindset was, I've worked in corporate America. I'm looking for that company that is, you know, and national has a support, you know, will have those training programs, or some just, well, they, they talk to a bunch of brokerages, and I personally feel reason why 80% of them drop out, a good percentage that 80% is because they choose the wrong brokerage that doesn't match with

Christela Amonkou  16:32  
them correct and what their needs are correct. And I can tell you, my old broker would testify to this. When I walked in her office, I had an interview sheet. I was interviewing them Yes, and I had questions that fit my business. So they actually encouraged you. I had my business plan set up, and I had a list of question and if they didn't answer it the way I was, because I this is my business. Is my future. This is failure. Is not an option. If you did not answer it correctly, I know to move on to the next that is

Tracy Hayes  17:04  
so forward thinking, because I've talked about it, and I bring it up almost on every podcast. How important it is for agent interview the broker. Yes, the broker does want to know some because I don't want they. They want to bring in quality people that aren't going to drain them, but it is more important that you fit with the broker than the broker needs to know that. You know the broker is not hiring you, not putting you on a salary, they're giving you benefits, they're providing a value and but you need to make sure that value fits you, because as many as there are brokerages, there's that many ways of doing this business.

Christela Amonkou  17:38  
Yes, correct. And this is your business, how you plan on running it? Can they meet those needs? And if they can, yes, sign with them. If they cannot, interview somebody else,

Tracy Hayes  17:49  
right, right? Very, very important to really, you know, reach out. You know, someone listening right now might be thinking about being an agent or or might be someone who's just started one of these brokerages that aren't adding value to them. Reach out to some of the top people. Reach out to Costello and say, Hey, yo, can we have coffee? I'm thinking about being an agent, but I'm, you know, I want, I want to fit with the right brokerage, because you don't want to bounce around brokerages. Although I think a lot of agents reach a lid at certain brokerages, they need to move to the next step. But you hopefully can choose that. Choose the right one first Correct. You're hopefully going to stay in the business. You choose the wrong one. You have a higher percentage. You're going to be one of those 80% yes, yes.

Christela Amonkou  18:26  
It's discouraging. It's discouraging going somewhere without a plan and then them not meeting your expectation. Then you go over. You know, if

Tracy Hayes  18:36  
you think about when you were there doing that interview, what were some of the things questions that maybe they had on there that obviously resonated with you, like, yeah, I need to or did you add what were a couple of things that you you needed to know for you?

Christela Amonkou  18:50  
One of the thing was training. I think I mentioned that I needed training. I even though I knew the terminology, I studied the book and I understood it, but I needed the training. How do I speak with clients? How do I overcome obstacles? Right? So this, these were important after the training is over, a lot of us know we go to training and we forget half the stuff when we're in the real world. What is can I have one on one with my broker? If I needed to sit down and ask question, can I come to your office and cry? If I need to. This business is not easy. No, it's not. Sometimes we have a hard deals and we need to cry. Will you be available for me?

Tracy Hayes  19:32  
The psychology 101, mediation, consultation,

Christela Amonkou  19:38  
you know, and motivation, you know, people have different key motivate. What's your motivation? And is that Booker going to motivate you to go to the next level? So all those were questions that I that I had on my list.

Tracy Hayes  19:51  
So your get started. Did you have a quick start? I mean, did you get a couple of deals? Because I imagine you have three boys at home to feed. Yes. So how do you make it through the get this thing up

Christela Amonkou  20:03  
and running? I had to say I had a false expectation, and this was something I had to learn, right? So in my mind, I was gonna get my real estate license, sell a million dollar house, and then I was gonna get back on track with my finances, you know, because I was falling behind and I was gonna get back on track. Yeah, that's easy, breezy, right? But when I started and I'm learning, I remember one of the training class, one of the trainers said, this is going to be a J curve, so you're gonna go under before you go up. And I remember thinking to myself, it almost there's no more, you know, down for me. And trust me, it went down. It went down. And my first deal wasn't until six months and it was a $65,000 deal. It was my paycheck. Was so discouraging. But I kept pushing. I kept pushing. I kept pushing. I just knew this was a career that would allow me to name my income, you know, exactly. Possibly I can say I'm gonna make up the income that I had when I was working with the banking industry. Or, if I want more, I can go more, you know. So I knew there was something there. Again, another thing that was important for me in a brokerage is being associated with other people that are doing it, yes, so that I can be inspired by them. And so that was, that was, if they can do it, I

Tracy Hayes  21:34  
can do it exactly, exactly you need to see that, that it is actually being done. Yes. We were talking on Monday with the Cotton Team and and, you know, one thing that you know them, they talk about, you know, we're out there doing it, you know, with our with the agents that are on the team, because some of these brokers, they are sitting in their office, and they tell you to go do something, but they haven't actually sold a home in years. And you need to be engaged with those who are actually out there doing it because they're failing forward, you know, they're, I think, since 17, obviously, you know the last, well, last 24 months. I guess we want to expand it to now, to the market we're kind of in now, to what it was just a year ago. Yeah? And, I mean, you have to change your game. Yeah, you know what you're doing. Where's Denali, who in the world, like would have predicted that you're going to get 25 offers on a home right? You know, how do you handle that? And how do you prepare yet still add value to the seller who thinks you can just, oh, you're just going to put it up on the MLS your offers, and you'll tell me which one's best. I don't need to pay you all that money, correct? You have to. How do the top agents still continue to add value. But also, I think the other thing to some of those agents who have been around a little bit, you know, you're in this market, but you got to be prepared for the next market. Yes, and what are you doing? And what are those basic steps that you should be doing? You know, I was talking last week with Paige Wiseman, and like doing a listing, and you know you need to, even though you're gonna get 20 offers in 15 minutes, you still need to go through the steps and add value to what you're doing, because those other people seeing you do it, hopefully you're gonna call you, and that might be two years from now. You don't want to think that you're just a sticking on the MLS person

Christela Amonkou  23:15  
exactly, and that sticks with you. It's kind of like a resume or your property that you sold, the pictures that you post online with you have a property in the market. People will not remember. This was a bad market. This was a good market. They the picture, the style that you have your marketing style is in what you put on the on the MLS,

Tracy Hayes  23:32  
and that stuff is up there forever, yeah. I mean, now on social media, you Google that address and it have the pictures that whoever took them three years ago? Yeah, yeah, absolutely the last ones that were that were taken. What were some? Just some real some, a couple, maybe, or one, maybe one, just some early mistakes that you made you, it sounds like you got lucky with the brokerage. Your heart looked for it and it found it for you, so you were comfortable there. But what were, what were some things that you, if you look back and said, Man, if I just did this, I wouldn't have waited six months for my first sale.

Christela Amonkou  24:04  
I had a missed opportunity, which is something that right now I am so big on. It was just missed opportunity. Like I said, my mindset was, I'm gonna get my license, I'm gonna get rich quick, right? And it didn't happen because I was looking for the million dollar deals I was looking for, you know, doing open house in high end,

Tracy Hayes  24:26  
which was rare today, not so hard, right?

Christela Amonkou  24:31  
Yeah. So my eyes were focused on that. And I think that if I could do it again, would probably just focus on, you know, working my sphere, walk in neighborhood, looking at a certain price point, just so I can have some deals in the book, so that I wasn't just so focused on that high end

Tracy Hayes  24:49  
So, and this is a common theme that I hear a lot of the top agents don't be focused on dollars, correct? Be focused on the the basic steps that they're taking. Telling you to do work, your sphere, and that sort of thing. It's the common thing you see, I'm seeing in the motivational reels and stuff that we get on social media. You have to love the journey. Yes, if you're because, if you're just focused, in your case, you were lucky, because initially you were focused on the dollars, yeah, and you stayed with it, where a lot of people were focused on the dollars, would have quit long before six months, correct?

Christela Amonkou  25:22  
Yeah, again, failure was not an option for me, so that wasn't something I could have done, whether there was any deal coming in or not. But I would say there was a lot of Miss opportunity there that I kind of, you know, then I started focusing, let me see what's my niche, you know, who's approaching me and really asking me about real estate. Am I ignoring them? What? You know, maybe I need to be educating again. There comes the education piece those people and get them to understand why ownership is important. So that part was, you know, I had some miss opportunity at the beginning during that six months wait period.

Tracy Hayes  25:58  
What so you brought up education? I would imagine at the time whatever Berkshire Hathaway throughout there you were absorbing Absolutely. What are other places that you enjoy going? And this question is specifically about real estate. I mean, do you regularly visit the Real Estate Board and take as many classes? Where do you absorb your real estate knowledge?

Christela Amonkou  26:18  
There is so many things out there. I tell people all the time when it comes to real estate, it's loud, especially on social media, right? So it's knowing where to go and get the proper training, always learning. You'll get me close off some time in my calendar, and I'll just decide, let me just take this course about how to use this system so that I can bring some information to my clients. So I use MLS trainings. I use, you know, Northeast Florida wheelchair training. I take courses and then getting myself more knowledgeable. And then, of course, I had a brokerage that I still do have a brokerage right now that is very big in training. So whatever information is out there that's available, I take some quiet time and do it.

Tracy Hayes  27:02  
It's a it's a common theme of every you know your episode 84 of the roughly 7075 agents, education is a big part of it. And you have to, whether you're, you're getting a loan company sponsoring it at the title company, which would come and get it landmark. And you know, there's something going on there, there's nefar Is something being there, something you could go to every week easily, if you want to block off a couple hours every week to learn. But just like we're calling and trying to schedule appointments to meet with people, and you know you're going to spend so many hours a day marketing today or whatever, you know, that type of thing that goes right, you have to insert education

Christela Amonkou  27:43  
absolutely into not ignore training, right, you know. And training with the guidelines, things that are changing, you know, we have a flexible market now become the expert. You know, we, we took our license, and one of the things I'm passionate about is that we are helping clients in their biggest decision, their biggest investment, and I pride myself in saying I'm not just your real estate agent, I'm your advisor, so that means I'm going to show you the benefit of home ownership, right? I can't do that if I'm not training myself. I can't do that if I don't understand the market, right? In order for me to understand, I have to sit in the training. I have to go to my company meetings. I have to learn from my worker. I have to learn from different sources that are giving me the right information and then share.

Tracy Hayes  28:30  
And you may spend 10 hours a month educating, or I often talk, you know, whether you go to an event and you might, might be a two day event, and there might there, sit there and listen, and out of that you get 10 minutes. That's something you can add to your business, absolutely. And some people, Oh, I'm gonna go there. I'm only gonna might get one new idea. One new idea, yes, if it adds another two or three homes to your yearly production. Yeah, yeah. I mean, calculate the dollars in that. Yeah. Is that worthwhile to go? I think a lot of people miss out on that part. And obviously, you know, no one likes to go sit in school for eight hours. But the great thing in adults is we have these nice trainings, and generally they'll feed you a

Christela Amonkou  29:15  
lot of online training now too. Yes, covid, kind of, you know, changed the way we do training. And we have zoom trainings. We have, I mean, there's so many education, education, any new agents out there, that's what I would say. Take time to educate yourself.

Tracy Hayes  29:29  
Your recommendation, any agent out there, if they're not already doing it, is they need to build in their calendar every month or every week, spend so much, yes, at some whether they're going to watch an online video, or just take an online course go to nefar, and not just go to nefar, just for the continuation. I mean, you should continually be taking those courses in every course they offer. Yes, you know, why not? I mean, they're, you're paying for it as a member, right? I mean, so you might as well go there and get as much, because. Would you agree? You know, not knowing much, you mentioned something just a few minutes ago. I'm gonna bring this all around confidence. And then, like you said, when you're talking to someone about why they should buy a home, or consulting them on home buying, when you have this, you're full of the knowledge. You just sound better.

Christela Amonkou  30:20  
Yes, absolutely. I think a lot of my referrals that are coming from clients have done business with me. One of the things they'll always say this girl, she knows what she's doing, and that's that's that they come easy. They come from just my knowledge in the mortgage industry, right? But I had to take some time and learn the real estate side of the business, and learn how it is a benefit for you to be a homeowner. If you selling, you know, how do you present your home? All that you know she knows what she's doing. Is the keyword they'll say she knows what I'm telling you. This is the one

Tracy Hayes  30:53  
so similar on the same line as education we were talking we were fine tuning that as education real estate. But what do you do to work on? You? Christina, what do you? What are you doing to work on? I know you read the book. So, yeah,

Christela Amonkou  31:08  
that the book. I read the book. And one of the big training that I went to is a ninja selling training. And I will talk about it, as you know, till I turn blue, because I think it's such a training ninja.

Tracy Hayes  31:24  
So it was just, this is not related to the Berkshire Hathaway.

Christela Amonkou  31:28  
It absolutely was introduced to me from them. But ninja selling is out there for anyone who wants to take it. So we learn how to wake up feeling grateful. You know, this is something you naturally do it. You know when you pray in the morning, but you wake up feeling grateful. You wake up thinking about somebody else other than yourself, right? And so you start doing the action. And I'm very big on affirmation, when you wake up in the morning and you enjoy something, you enjoy doing something for your family. So doing affirmation and listen to positive motivation does help you get in a better mindset. You know, from church recently, my pastor mentioned people talk about inflation, people talk about, you know, recession and stuff like that. But I do believe, no matter what the market does, I am going to be successful, right? You know it so I don't look at the negative that's being taught, because I know, no matter what, I'm gonna be successful. So my focus is on my success 100%

Tracy Hayes  32:25  
I'm seeing that a lot in the again, in the different reels or the podcast I'm listening to. You've got to wake up and, you know, feel grateful, have a positive you know, thank God that you know he's given me another day. And you got your your boys, and you know the great things that they're doing, and you have to, because people are attracted to the positivity. Correct? If you turn on that news and hear the same story that you heard at 11 o'clock when you went to bed on the news, because they're just constantly repeating themselves. They're beating it into you, the negativity on a daily basis. That's my perception of it. You have to just if you want to poke in there every once a while and see what's going on, but you cannot spend or overwhelm your day watching the news as well as overwhelm yourself on your phone and Facebook.

Christela Amonkou  33:12  
I want to tell you this. This has always been, you know, the way I was raised. You know, my parents were business owners in Haiti, and my dad always said, you know, if you wake up one day and you don't feel like you have anything to be grateful for, and you look at, you know, you have a depressing mindset. You just don't feel like it everything is going wrong in your life. And you walk in and you find a quarter on the floor, you know, take that quarter and go shine your shoes. He said that. Go shine your shoes, make yourself feel good, yes, get yourself in a better position, yes, so that you can help others.

Tracy Hayes  33:46  
There's there. I don't know anyone that hears that alarm goes off and goes Yes, you have to. You have to change your mindset. So are you? Is there anyone that you follow, whether it's a podcast or an author. Are you following anyone or reading anyone right now? Who do you

Christela Amonkou  34:05  
I'm very big with keep current matters. That's a big one. I think they do a great job explaining the market and, you know, the whole state and, you know, and we bring it down to our community and see how we're doing. I'm very big with just reading inspirational books, like gratitude books. I am always, I have an audio on my phone all the time, just kind of listening to just positive speakers.

Tracy Hayes  34:30  
Yeah, there's, there's no doubt. Well, yeah, whether it's a podcast or, like, setting an audible. And want to read some, you know, obviously everyone knows I mentioned John Maxwell a lot. I love his writing, but obviously, a lot of top agents they follow, Tony Robbins as well, for his positive he's always, always, always a positive message. Always when you're done listening to him, whether it's for hours or 15 minutes, it's positive and you're feeling good about yourself. You're ready to go. Ready to go. All right, what do. You do? Well, actually, I'm going to interrupt, because this is my second we're going to flip to the second half of the show here, although second half is not gonna be as long as first half. We've been going a little bit there, but chose to go to Engle and Volkers back, I believe, in December, correct? Okay, so what was it that that you saw was time to make up, make a move.

Christela Amonkou  35:17  
Okay, so this is a business decision, right? I always look at my business as a business, and so I got to a point where I needed to have that different setup for my business. So I interviewed Corey and he, he had the right answers. I've heard that. I've heard that recently. You know where I wanted my business to go, because you you've been doing this for five years or four years at the time. And so where else can my business go? You know, what's my future goal? What's my future plan? And then, so when I interview, he had the right answer for me. So yeah,

Tracy Hayes  35:58  
I have talked to other top people that were doing really well had teams that they brought over from their brokerage, you know, whatever Corey said, hopefully he is following up on that and making sure that happens for you. But that they had something, they said they that's exactly where they were. So I was like, Corey just said all the right things,

Christela Amonkou  36:19  
the right thing. And, you know, joining, and I can say, I can attest to the fact that it is I'm enjoying the brokerage, and I can tell you, this is someone who's always available via text, via phone call. So that's very important. So yeah,

Tracy Hayes  36:33  
and he talks about, because I've had him on the on the show back in November, I think it was, he talks about, you know, obviously Ingo and Volcker, they want, they don't. They're not with the newbies. They're not really in the train at first 96 months. Whatever they want the experience agent, they're gonna they want to focus on that part. But He also explained the synergy in the office when you put a bunch of producers in an office and how the energy around them is created. Do you feel that

Christela Amonkou  37:01  
absolutely, this is an office you will not walk in and just see a group of us just chatting and talking. We are all business first and but at the same time, we're open to help each other, right? And so there's not going to be a time where you see a Top Producing agent and you say, Hey, how do you you know, and they're gonna give you their, their all their open books. And that that was important. Like I said earlier, I said I wanted the surrounding yourself with people that are like mine, right? You know, I can name how much I make, and I want to make a lot of money.

Tracy Hayes  37:38  
Well, there's a lot of energy in that too. And you surround you know, we like to think, and when we do to a point, we attract others that think like we do, yeah? But it's, it's so inspirational walk in a room full of them,

Speaker 2  37:50  
yes, yeah. I'm like the little bit I don't know. I'm like, what I'm calling,

Christela Amonkou  37:58  
how do you do this when we have panels and meetings, that's always been like, I always have questions for the top agents. I'm like, I want to know, how, right, how can you do it? And they like, I said, they are open, and then seeing them do it, and exactly

Tracy Hayes  38:12  
you're seeing them, you're seeing them with their sales. And it's the same I, you know, the group I follow from the mortgage side and get coaching from, you know, went to a recent event in Tahoe, and you're in this room, and you got some average loan officer, but you got some people that are, you know, seven figure w2 loan officers. And you want to know how they do it, yes. And I'm like, one of the biggest challenges, I think, for agents as they grow up is to make that, make that first hire to that transaction coordinator, or whoever it is, to start doing some of the stuff so they can continue doing the sales, and it's not overwhelming, where they just hit a lid, and that's a huge challenge. And consulting with someone who's done it, yes, and now some of you know, obviously, I'm sure the successful people in your office have two or three is, you know, administrative people, because of the volume that they're doing.

Christela Amonkou  39:00  
And you think about, you know, earlier, I said something about, again, surrounding yourself with the white people, and you asked about, who do you listen to? Who your motivation? And I can tell you, I'm in an office where I don't have to go far to find motivating agents that can share with me what they are doing to be successful, right? And so I don't have to, you know, go online and google someone, and I can see what they doing on the screen. But what if I can just sit down with you, and

Tracy Hayes  39:31  
when you explain to them where you're at and where you want to go, they have advice for you, because

Christela Amonkou  39:36  
exactly they've done it, they've walked my shoes exactly, so they know what I can do, you know, and they've lived it. So it's a better story, a better testimony, because I'm here

Tracy Hayes  39:46  
now sometimes you need, you need that mentor coach right there to put things in perspective for you, too. Because I think we, we all see these things, and we want to obviously get, we want to get to the end quickly, right? And then the reality is, it doesn't happen that way. But if you input these certain steps, which is going to bring up another subject, there is consistently, you will get there. Some will get there a little faster than others, just depending on, you know, the whatever they're happening in their world. But these people have done it, and they can tell you the success of some, whatever thing they were doing consistently, or things they were doing consistently that got them there, that that shortened that learning curve, right where it took them years could only take you months, because they're basically there's and they want to tell you,

Christela Amonkou  40:31  
yes, yes, yes. I that's, that's the the key they want to share with you. It's not a layer I need to you know, it's someone who's winning and open to share with you.

Tracy Hayes  40:41  
So sounds like, I mean, yeah, I'm sure you know all the people that, if I went around the producers at inglevote, all producers is the collaboration. There's no, there's none of this. Well, I can't tell Cristela this, because she's going to get deals is going to come from me. They don't think that way.

Christela Amonkou  40:59  
Absolutely no scarcity mindset, right? There is no scarcity mindset. There's enough out there for everyone, right? Yes, right.

Tracy Hayes  41:06  
In the reality of our world, whether it's loans or real estate, it's not like you're trying to capture you pay a lot of money for a retail storefront. You want all the people to come in your store. You can only handle so many. You can only handle so many, and then there will be a point, as we know, you mentioned Melissa Rick's pre show, and so where we reach a point where you are at this level now, it's like you guys, like, take time out to go spend some time with your boys and go on a trip or something, because you want to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Christela Amonkou  41:35  
Correct, correct. I don't want to lose my boys while I'm you know, make getting rich. We do it together, consistency.

Tracy Hayes  41:43  
So let's, let's think about and you this may have changed over your career. Maybe it changed when some of the things you were doing at Berkshire Hathaway and Ingle Volker told you so that that you do differently. What are you doing in your business today that you feel moves the needle for you, you have to do it, whether it's every day, every week, what is something you're doing consistently?

Christela Amonkou  42:04  
I would say I'm very big on social media. I want to make sure that message is out there. I think, like I said earlier, real estate messages are extremely loud. There's a lot of misinformation out there. I look at myself as an advisor, and I want to make sure everyone understand the market specific. If they want to reach out to me, they can, but I put videos out there to explain the market. It's not always about come and buy a home, come and sell a home, but what when you have that home? What does it mean? You know, so that's very important to me to stay consistent with sharing a different

Tracy Hayes  42:42  
message, sharing value, sharing value, hearing some value. Now, some people might not deny interest in that video doesn't pertain to them, whatever, but you're there and you're you're constantly in front of saying, Hey, I'm here. Yeah, I don't know if I would use the term misinformation, but I think the every transaction is different. Yes, every buyer seller is different, that some people see somebody come out and say this, and they think it pertains to them exactly. You need to actually consult with a professional like yourself and you know, or myself is from the lending side that, hey, this is my situation. What's best for me, correct? And we that's all we wanted. I mean, if it's buying, selling a home, you get paid the same what house. It doesn't make a difference. If it's a loan, it doesn't make the difference to us what loan you do. We like to promote everyone to have seven pieces of real estate, like you're mentioning earlier. God, we don't like right foot all this. That's a lot of paperwork, but we do it. But everyone is so different that just because you hear a little bit of information, you need to consult with professionals to see if it's relevant to you. Correct. Correct. You've got a new someone thinking about getting in real estate, or maybe they just, they just got licensed. And what would you recommend with your years now, five years in the business? What would you give three things that you would recommend that they do from the start.

Christela Amonkou  44:02  
Create a Business Plan. If you're married, have a conversation with your spouse about how much money you need to make to make this successful for your household. I would tell them to stay consistent with whatever they decide. You know, I always say, well, the city is really not a part time job. So if you're going to commit to real estate, commit to it.

Tracy Hayes  44:24  
Yeah, yeah, you have to. You have to live and breathe it. You can't shut it off at five o'clock. No, you're an entrepreneur. You're 1099 you own your own business now you've, you've got, you've got to go. You mentioned, you said, business plan, breaking it down, knowing how much you need to make, is going to be relevant to, you know, how much in volume, in real estate you need to sell, and after,

Christela Amonkou  44:47  
I mean, we're talking going, you know, very Mac Well, you know, if you say, Okay, I'm gonna make $250,000 gross commission income, what does that mean in number of sales? So you. Have to have this amount here that so commit to that number. If it's not there, who do I need to call so I can meet those goals? Again, I always say, have a conversation with your family. What is it that if I don't make will make this not a good investment for the household, right?

Tracy Hayes  45:18  
Or, you know, sit down with your broker. Sit down with your mentor. Oh, yeah, sit down with that top agent and say, hey, you know, let's work these numbers that I that I feel I need them to make, to make this worthwhile for. And I think a lot of people will probably say, Oh, if it replaces what I was making in corporate America, that's only gonna, that's, that's only gonna last a short period of time, because you're going to want more. I guarantee it, you're going to get excited about it, especially if you get it for an early sale, you're going to be pumped up. But you need, you can really get excited. And the thing is, it doesn't have to you agree with or disagree with me, if you stick to it for, you know, a period of time, and then that could be six months, 12 months, two years, and you're grinding it, it'll all it'll turn for you. And then you are getting those past clients calling you. You've created a reputation. Thank you. They're telling others and referring. And there's nothing more surreal than to have a customer, someone call and say, Hey, Sally, who you sold the home last year to? She told me you were greatest, and I need to work with you. Yes, that's such a huge, you know, ego, and you get you get excited, and that's what I think keeps you going, is the excitement of not knowing what's under. I say this all the time, what's you don't know what's under the next rock that you overturn, but keep overturning the rocks. And I think you would agree. Sit down, like you said, with that mentor, with that broker, work out the business plan. How are we going to, how are we going to get the number of leads that we need to get it to convert? And they'll work the numbers, because those numbers are out there, right? There's national statistics on how many people you need to talk to

Christela Amonkou  46:52  
and in order to make it happen. Yeah, and

Tracy Hayes  46:54  
sticking and knowing, making that commitments like, you know, kind of like going on a diet, but a financial one, and sticking to this is what I'm going to do every day. I'm going to come in, I'm going to get up early, or whatever it is that does it for you. Mentors, yes, who are some of the, some of the people that you have whether you asked for advice for or whether you cried on their shoulder for, but that have been, have been there for you that you can pick up the phone, whether they work with you today, or they're with your old brokerage, or maybe even someone who's not even in the business, or some of the Who are some of the key people you think that you've relied on in the last five years.

Christela Amonkou  47:32  
You know, I my family. I have siblings, sisters and brothers alike, and I have to say, as a single mom, there is no way I could have done this without the support of my family. You know, when I mentioned the J curve, I remember we had a training we had to go through. And I'm big on training, right? And I remember not having the money for the training, and calling my brother, and he said, here it is, I believe in you, and that was so important to me, and all my sister saying, I'm not, can't afford my cell phone bill anymore. And she said, Oh no, we can't have your cell phone cut off. I'll add you to my family plan. And she did that for a year. So my family were like a rock rock for me, my friends been available. I'll pick up your kids from school for you. Don't worry. I'm gonna keep them for a couple hours so you can show this house. I mean, when I tell you the Jacob got low, there was a season where I did not have a car. A very good friend of mine would say, I'm working all day. Pick up my car and go show properties. Just put gas in it and bring it back by the time I get off, it can be done. You understand? So it takes a village, and I did, I am so blessed to say that I had those people around, and it

Tracy Hayes  48:45  
says a lot about you, how they believed in you. They invested in you, yes, and how, well, obviously, you made them all proud. And I assume your boy is very proud of what you do, yes, and see your accolades and so forth on the social media. There, they like that stuff.

Christela Amonkou  49:02  
No, they definitely do. And I can tell you, I created games with my boys. It was, you know, mommy's goal is five deal in a month. And so they would tell me, and if I don't have five day, we're not going to target to pick up toys.

Unknown Speaker  49:16  
So we would say, mommy's in five deal yet.

Christela Amonkou  49:21  
And I would say, well, go talk to your teacher at school. One of my youngest one time came home and said, Mom, I said, What's wrong? He said, I'm very mad. I said, What's wrong? My teacher just bought a house. Do you not do new construction? I said, Yes, I do new construction. Well, she said she bought a new construction. You wouldn't be able to help her anyway. And I'm like, Oh, well, Mommy, do new construction from now on. Just make sure everybody knows, but it was they work the business with me.

Tracy Hayes  49:47  
That's cool. And just to tap on that new construction, do not buy a new construction home without a real estate Oh, yes. Do not go in that model without your real estate agent. I'm telling you right now, absolutely a good real estate agent knows that contract. Act, and if they have experience for that builder, that's a plus, because right now, having been on that side in my previous life, you need the representation of a professional and someone who's going to go in there and not take some of the stuff. They tell you, yes, just put it

Christela Amonkou  50:14  
that way. Absolutely. What

Tracy Hayes  50:15  
are some unique things that you do, buy or seller doesn't really matter. That is uniquely,

Christela Amonkou  50:24  
I would say closing gifts. I'm very big at when I, you know, showing properties and talking to my clients, and I'm very big at listening to listening to my clients stories. And, you know, my closing gifts are always very meaningful. It's something we talked about, it's something they mentioned. So I do these signs where I'll have, like, a statement on there, and they'll remember we have the statement we talked about this. So that sounds very big for me.

Tracy Hayes  50:52  
So you leave them with something, yes, that's memorable. And every time they see it, they have to think absolutely, absolutely, all right, since we we're finishing up with closing gifts. That's the end of our formal questions. I'm gonna go to my two informal questions, and we wrap up here. We're right at an hour. What do you and the boys love to do most in Northeast Florida?

Christela Amonkou  51:12  
Oh, we just love sightseeing. We would drive around and just go to different parks, go to the beach. We do a lot of, you know, just fun things with the boys. There's so many things to do.

Tracy Hayes  51:23  
You there's a lot of things you don't even know were there. You'll drive right by them. I will see them. Yeah, I'm trying to figure someplace. The other day, and I was at us like, Man, I gotta tell my wife about this little, little place. We know, you know, it's here. I do see people on social media, and I have to go in. Where are you at? Yes, yeah, someplace here in Northeast Florida, just some little, I said, some park or something. Like, I

Christela Amonkou  51:44  
love the food trucks that we have around here. I love to eat. I have to say that I love going to different restaurants, different tacos, especially on like, you know, individually owned, not just, you know, regular, but individually owned. And then just hear the story of the people, how you build the business, put the business together, and stuff like that. Yeah.

Tracy Hayes  52:04  
Is it more important who you know or what you know?

Christela Amonkou  52:09  
Oh, man, for me, I would say knowledge. So it is what you know, who you know is coming. Welcome. I think knowledge is important. And I think once you are that person with the knowledge, the people that need the business, they'll come to you. Maybe that's not a common answer. I don't know.

Tracy Hayes  52:29  
It's I get more who? Of course, I argue sometimes with the people who say, what? But if they don't have a good argument for but you are, you are right. I mean, if you are consistent, yes, and you do, keep doing what you're doing, you and you're trying to interact with people, you will attract people you're mentioning. I'm more in the in the who, because I feel like I said, go knock on that senior agents door. That's the who they're going to tell you what you need to learn. Yes, that's, that's my side. Yeah, Christel, I appreciate you coming on the show today. Thank you. Thank you for having me. No problem at all. Wish you the best of luck on your continued success.

Christela Amonkou  53:10  
Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you.