IAM917- Brokerage Owner Helps Analyze The Elements of a Move

Transcription

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00:11 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

00:39 – Gresham Harkless

Hello, Hello, Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Danny Davis of San Diego Brokerage. Danny, it's awesome to have you on the show.

00:48 – Danny Davis

Hey, you know what? I really appreciate the opportunity to be on the show.

00:51 – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Definitely appreciate you for taking some time to come on the show. Before I jumped in, I wanted to read a little bit more about Danny so you could hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Danny is the broker and owner of the San Diego Brokerage in Encinitas, California. San Diego Brokerage is the culmination of Danny's experiences over nearly 2 decades in residential real estate. San Diego Brokerage helps home sellers and buyers analyze the financial and emotional lifestyle elements of a move while going above and beyond to make the process easy for them every step of the way.

01:19 – Gresham Harkless

Danny's focus is on cultivating long-term relationships with his clients, and building trust for help, advice, and referrals long after the sale is completed. Danny's clients build a lifelong bond predicated on reliability, reciprocity, and genuine connection, which is a key attribute to Danny's value proposition for success. Danny, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:44 – Danny Davis

I am ready, I am ready.

01:46 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome. You gave me all choked up with you, with all the awesomeness that you're doing. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about how you guys started. Could you take us through what I call your CEO story? We'll let you get started with all the awesome work you're doing.

01:56 – Danny Davis

Sure, so you know what? I mean, I actually, grew up in Northern California and I moved to San Diego to go to college. I graduated from San Diego State. And I still remember my mother came down to the graduation. She said I'm so proud of you. Congratulations. When are you coming home? And I said I was home. This is me. So I fell in love with San Diego. And when I graduated, I graduated with a degree in business and then a degree in hospitality and tourism management. And I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do.

02:25 – Danny Davis

And I had, we were living like on oceanfront walk, 10 guys in a 3 bedroom trying to get through college. And a guy that graduated a year earlier for me, is kind of dating myself. I've been doing this for almost 20 years, but he came remember those big brick cell phones?

02:41 – Gresham Harkless

I think so. Yes. Huge ones with a wire that goes out.

02:46 – Danny Davis

Brick home material, right? Yes. He came back to the house with 1 of those and all the guys were just like, oh my goodness, he's made it big time.

02:55 – Danny Davis

And, you know, I was graduating, finding out what I wanted to do. And he was a mortgage broker. So he worked, and he helped people get loans. And so I realized that that aspect wasn't for me, but I've always been interested in real estate, a role model in my life, my aunt, was a real estate broker, and I always had an interest in it. And so I asked him, you know, how can I, how can I get started? He actually introduced me to 1 of the top teams in La Jolla, and I got my real estate license, and I started on that team. And man, that was almost 2 decades ago. And that's how it all began. And I haven't looked back. It's my passion. It's basically what I do almost every single day of the year. And I'm fortunate to be in my shoes, I think.

03:42 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. That definitely sounds exciting. And I'm glad to hear that the brick cell phone was the thing that sealed the deal, it sounds like.

03:48 – Danny Davis

Really over the edge.

03:49 – Gresham Harkless

Exactly, exactly. But I think it's a really phenomenal place where you feel really passionate about what you do and you're really able to make a big impact, make a great course of great living. And I think when you reach that level, that's when things kind of go to an entirely different space.

04:03 -Danny Davis

Yeah, I look at other people that are, you know, I mean, it's something, your job or your career is something that you think about or do every day. And I'm fortunate that when I wake up in the morning, I'm happy to come to work. I love what I'm doing and I love the people that I meet and I'm helping people. I'm impacting people's lives in a positive way and that helps me sleep at night and it helps me wake up early in the morning.

04:25 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. That's definitely a great thing. And so I know I touched on it a little bit when I read your bio. Could you take us through how you're helping your clients and how you're serving them? Could you go through that and a little bit about the process and how that works?

04:37 – Danny Davis

Sure. So I first started out as a real estate agent. And over the years, I knew that I was with bigger brokerages. And I knew that at some point I wanted to open my own brokerage and that's what I did. I opened a San Diego brokerage and you know, I wanted to do it the way I wanted to do it with morals and ethics and make it about the clients and not make it about myself or the agents that work under my brokerage. So we are our morals and our ethics, our guidelines that help us to put ourselves in our client's shoes. And it's really it's all about them. Our tagline, our theme is our goals are simple. They're yours. And I think you have to have that. I mean, people are spending and making the most money that they typically will spend or make in a lifetime through real estate. So we take that seriously. And we really want to have authentic relationships with people where they know that we have their best interests at heart.

05:37 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely love that. And it definitely sounds like an extension of the golden rule for lack of a better term because you're putting yourself in the same, you know, vantage point and the same perspective from the people that, as you said, are investing a lot of their money into what it is that you're gonna help them to find. And when you start to think about it from their perspective, it helps you create that win-win opportunity.

05:56 – Danny Davis

No doubt about it. And we have, there are 18,000 licensed real estate agents in San Diego County. And the average agent sells 4 houses a year. And it's hard to make a living. It's hard, you know, it's expensive to live in San Diego. It's hard to put food on the table and pay rent or mortgage. So, you know, a lot of agents don't have their client's best interests at heart. And, and you just can't go at it that way.

06:23 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I almost feel like, when you start to, I guess, lead with those morals and that value that starts to kind of spill over into everything that you do. So like while you're doing, you know, that work for the client, and they start to see it in so many different ways, because the saying is, the way you do 1 thing is the way you do many things. And when you start to do that, people can start to see that you have more of those values, and they want to do business with you and it starts to snowball from there.

06:49 – Danny Davis

Right, we actually created a specific culture that we want our business to look like. And it's ever-evolving, but I get agents that wanna come under my brokerage and a lot of times it doesn't work because I've put my heart and soul and blood, sweat, and tears into this and reputation is everything. So if they don't fit into that culture that we've created, then it's just not going to work. And we share that culture with our clients.

07:18 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. I think you definitely love that when it extends to the clients because so many times we forget those are the people that are really going to be your biggest advocates especially if you're doing really great work or not if you're not. So I want to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. This can be for yourself or your brokerage or a combination of both, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

07:38 – Danny Davis

You know, really what it is is our authenticity. It's creating relationships and really caring about the outcome, not only for ourselves but for the people that we are helping. Most of our business, in fact, last year 90% of our business was either a past client, like a repeat client, or a referral. And that says the world to me because you've got 18,000 people vying for the same job of either helping you buy a house or helping you sell a house. And so you can see through people right away. If you're authentic with people and generally care about, genuinely care about the outcome and, you know, know that what you're doing affects people's lives and come at it from that angle, you're not gonna lose, you're gonna win. And that's why we get so much repeat business and referrals.

08:36 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And I love that perspective again, because so many times we can get lost in, obviously there are different aspects of business that are obviously important, but making sure that you're putting the best foot forward for the client and understanding that they're really entrusting you not with, you know, a place to live, but you know, their future their kids potentially all these different scenarios that happen, it starts to really, you know, have a lot of intentionality with everything that you're doing to make sure that comes to fruition.

09:04 – Danny Davis

Right, right. And I mean, it shows, you know, and not only having their best interests at heart but holding yourself accountable. And we have a list of, when we meet with people, this is everything that we're gonna do for you. And if you see me miss something on this, call me out cause I'm giving you this list and I'm holding myself accountable that I'm going to do this for you.

09:26 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, and I absolutely love that. It's something that kind of keep in mind because I think so many times if people are not aware of the process, they may not know what to hold the person accountable for. But when you create that expectation and set the table, so to speak, then that allows them to know that, hey, they're in good hands.

09:42 – Danny Davis

Yeah, and there's no, there's no, they're in a vulnerable situation, but knowledge is power. So they know everything that's going to happen instead of, you know, your average home in San Diego right now is $657,000 for an average home in San Diego County. And that's a starter home. When people are spending that much money, there's a lot of anxiety. And if you're dealing with somebody who doesn't have a formalized game plan for you, you're not going to sleep at night.

10:13 – Danny Davis

And I don't want to do that to people.

10:15 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Because you never know what's going to come next. So again, creating and setting those expectations and of course, living up to those expectations is absolutely huge. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit. I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple Book or habit that you have, but what's something you feel makes you more effective and efficient?

10:36 – Danny Davis

My team, no doubt about it. So everything that I couldn't do by myself and being a real estate agent. It's, it's easy to get your license, It's easy to get your real estate license. You know, you don't have to have a college degree. You have to have some continuing education classes. But when I go up against a listing and I see that it's a solo agent working by themselves, they're not gonna be able to give you full service. I've got a transaction coordinator. I've got a listing manager. I've got a marketing director. You know, I have a team of people behind me.

11:15 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or potentially you might tell your younger business self.

11:27 – Danny Davis

So, 1 of the keywords that I hold near and dear to not only my personal life, but my brokerage is authenticity. Be authentic with people. Too many times you're having a conversation with somebody, you can see it in their eyes. They're not listening to me. They're thinking of their answer. So authentically engage with the people, not only in business but in your personal life and our world, everybody's texting and social media and there's too much non-authentic engagement. So just be authentic with people. Like you and I are talking right here and I'm, you know, I'm this, this isn't rehearsed, this isn't anything. It's, it's, it's you and me and we're, we're having a conversation. You're listening to me, I'm listening to you and that doesn't happen enough anymore.

12:21 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, and I almost feel like it's so funny, like a lot of these things, you know, the phones and all those things and social media are ways in which to communicate, but they seem to have taken us away from the authenticity of being able just to have a conversation, authentic conversation, and learn about somebody, what they're doing, and at the same time really be able to kind of create, you know, relationship and build that. And I think that you know, as much as these tools have made it faster and quicker, they've sometimes taken us away from the really true authentic part of building that relationship.

12:53 – Danny Davis

Right Gresham, everybody's got a fantastic life on Instagram, right?

13:00 -Gresham Harkless

Exactly, exactly. So I want to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping that different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Danny, what does being a CEO mean to you?

13:15 – Danny Davis

To me, being a CEO is a responsibility that you carry on your shoulders for not only your brand, your reputation, the people who work for you, and the people that you service. And so having that weight on your back or that weight on your shoulders, you need to take that seriously. You need to make that you're serving all those people, the people who are counting on you, who are depending on you, not only for a paycheck but the people that you're serving to make sure that, your goals are the same as theirs and be there to support them.

14:00 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I definitely look up to you.

14:03 – Danny Davis

What is that? People look up to you as a small business owner or as a CEO, regardless of if it's a Fortune 500 company or a real estate brokerage. People are looking up to you and they're looking for guidance and you've got to take that seriously.

14:17 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I appreciate you for adding that on because I think so many times, especially if you're passionate about what you do, and you're good at what you do, a lot of times you don't realize that people are watching you and they're looking at you and they're getting inspiration from you. So when you feel that, or you know that, or you're aware of that, whether you be a CEO, entrepreneur, or business owner, whatever title we might give, it makes you more aware of each of the steps that you're taking, whether you're working with a client, whether you're on a podcast, whether you're taking out the trash, all of that has a certain meaning because it all aligns with who you are, your brand, and what it is that you're hoping to create.

14:50 – Danny Davis

You gotta lead by example. Gotta lead by example.

14:54 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely, Absolutely. And Danny, I truly appreciate that definition and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best they can get ahold of you, find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

15:11 – Danny Davis

Yeah, you know, my world revolves around my family and real estate, right? So as I've been doing this for 20 years, I wanna be a resource to people. So whether I can help you buy or sell real estate, whether I can help you with any questions, it doesn't have to be about me. Feel free to reach out anytime. My cell phone number, I don't mind throwing it out there, it's 858-829-8888. Visit our website, sandiegobrokers.com, to see what's going on. You know, we do a lot of charity events and stuff like that. I implore you to please, those are on our website too, if you have an interest in stuff that we're doing, please give and I just want to be a resource.

15:54 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome. Well, I definitely appreciate you for being a resource to us as well. You know, today and I think that you know, as you said, so well, you know, givers gain and to be able to give whether it be, you know, community or, or just taking some time out to be on a podcast, providing insight allows you to give and create that, that awesome, emotion and awesome, environment as well too. So we will have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up. But I appreciate you Danny and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:20 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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