Justin Stoddart: Did you know that you could actually win at work without losing it life? ⁓ today's guest is actually one of my favorite humans. The guy is just an amazing man. And I'm excited to highlight the fact he's built an incredible business and he's done it in a way that he's continued to put his faith in his family first. On today's episode, you're gonna learn how to do that and how ⁓ you can be a little bit more like him. I'm still striving for that. Today's episode is gonna be awesome. Join us. All right, I'm excited to have ⁓ my good friend ⁓ Garrett Maroon here on the call today. And ⁓ I'm ⁓ I'm not seeing Garrett, but I know he's here. Garrett, can you see me?
Garrett Maroon: Yeah. I yeah, you're frozen, but I see you. not sure what's Yeah, that's okay. I know you're there. Let's do it, buddy.
Justin Stoddart: Frozen in time. Well, we got the audio, so let's keep let's keep rolling with the audio. ⁓ I think ⁓ it's showing that ⁓ we're we're still recording. So anyway, excited to introduce you again. I know that ⁓ you were a a a a favorite guest on ⁓ my previous podcast, Think Bigger Real Estate. And ⁓ now that I've ⁓ we we become ⁓ friends ⁓ at a at a deeper level, ⁓ I've started to learn how your principles, the way that you've grown a business and really focused on ⁓
Garrett Maroon: Nice. Yeah. Hm. Yeah.
Justin Stoddart: things that matter even more than business have have have applied have kind of universal applicability, right? And ⁓ and now we've locked arms to really build out what's called the homeowner concierge in your community. And ⁓ I'm just seeing how many professionals will benefit from working in this manner, right? Well where they they they don't have to lose it life to win at work. So I want to d dive into that. At what point, Garrett, did you realize that that was a possibility for you where you didn't have to give up most important things for ⁓ you know, the victories that are needed at work.
Garrett Maroon: Yeah. Man, so thanks for having me, buddy. ⁓ you know how much I respect you and love what you're doing. I I think that man, the the biggest shift for me was how easily it was this moment of time where I realized 2021, I realized that all I was in pursuit of, right? I'm in real estate. All I was in pursuit of is building a bigger real estate team, do more deals, make more money, right? And that that was it. And and it wasn't that was inherently bad. That's what I saw all around me. Every single person. Who mentored me, everybody in my office. That's what everyone was striving towards. And so I just thought, okay, this is what we do, right? If you're a successful real estate agent, you just get a bigger business, you do this, you add agents, you sell more homes. And it was 2021. We had had our third child. We we have five now, but we had our third child. And I realized, Justin, that the only way I'm sitting there trying to plan out how am I gonna double this business, right? And I came up with a plan. Here's how I'm gonna double sales, here's how I'm gonna double my profit. But the only problem was I couldn't figure out how to do it without working 60 hours a week. I was working about 40 at the time. And so I just couldn't figure that out. And so I just had this moment of clarity that honestly the Lord gave me of Garrett, if you could look back on this man right now today, five years from now, if you could look back on him, would you be most proud of the guy who doubled his profit but saw his kids less? Or would you be most proud of the guy who intentionally figured out a way to keep his profits where they were? They actually ended up growing, right? But keep the profits where they are and maybe spend 15 to 20 hours so you could spend more time with your kids. And man, when that when I was able to ask that question, when the when really the Lord gave me that question, the answer was super clear. Like that's what I want to do. The only reason I was in pursuit of a bigger business and more money, more stuff, more fame, more, you know, higher ranking, all the things. The only reason was because that's what everyone around me was doing. And I had fallen into this idea that the only way to define success in my industry was simply by how many deals did you do, right? How much money did you make? When in reality, I wanted to define success on my own terms. And so I totally transformed the way I ⁓ define success for myself. And every single day, it's still a fight, buddy, right? But like every single day fighting to say what my neighbor is doing. has nothing to do with whether I'm succeeding or not. They don't get to determine what that looks like. And because of that, I'm gonna keep my head focused on my North Star. I'm gonna go straight and I'm gonna do my best to just honor what I actually set out to create.
Justin Stoddart: You know, I think so many people want that, Garrett. And I think so many people don't believe it's possible, probably because they've never kind of stepped out of the boat like Peter did, right? And ⁓ and ⁓ hearkened the call to to try and walk on water. For many of us, that's what it feels like. Of like, how can I how how does that work? The law of physics tells me that if I work less, I'm gonna earn less. Therefore, you know, I've got a big family. I've got it like I've got a l a lot of responsibilities. I've got parents that gotta take care of whatever it is for your situation.
Garrett Maroon: Yeah.
Justin Stoddart: I think there are countless people who say, like, ⁓ I don't know if that's gonna work. And the fact that the Lord put that on your heart to say, Hey, Garrett, just so you know, some of these things aren't gonna matter in a few years and some of them are gonna matter a lot. Right. So be sure you got your priorities straight. I think that's it's it's it's beautiful to hear your story because I think that that's probably the invitation all of us are having at some level, right? Hopefully we're even feeling that inside a little bit, being like, hmm, okay. I I would like that. And now Garrett, I'd like to ha to have you maybe share even some tactical right of how you do that because ⁓ You know, it's it's it's fun to say that, but it's like, okay, Garrett, so tell me, if if if I am gonna maybe take that step out, right, in in in into faith, ⁓ and and put put some other things first, how do I do that? Like how how do I prioritize? What does that look like? So if you could walk us through that.
Garrett Maroon: Yeah, yeah. No, it's good. And and you know, speaking to a broader audience than just real estate agents, so the first thing I would say is this: we have to question the assumptions. And so here's what I mean. So ⁓ when I started in the industry in 2014, it was my I was going into my second full year, I was 28, 29, and I told the leader of our office that my goal that year was to sell 50 homes all by referral, 100% by referral. I'm not from this area. ⁓ you know, I was 29 years old. I had done maybe 20, 27 sales the year before, which is really good. But, you know, being ⁓ doing 50 sales by myself would put me in the top one percent. And she literally laughed at me and she said, that's not possible. And so I I remember going back to my office, buddy, and I was like, all right, I don't know if that's true, right? I I know what they're telling me. I know that they're saying it's not possible. Let me test that. And then what was amazing genuinely is like, all right, what would I need to build in order to sell 50 homes a year all by referral and do it under 40 hours a week? That's another story. But ⁓ and and I went out and I built a system and I executed that system and literally sold 50 homes exactly. Not 51, not 49, 50 that year. And so that was number one. Number two, when I tested the assumption, same season of 2021. When ⁓ everyone's building a bigger team and and the whole philosophy in our industry is like, you gotta build this big massive team. That's when you finally get to freedom of your time. And I remember saying, I this can't be the only way. I bet I could figure out a way. Instead of having 10 agents and 10 admin, how do I get out of full time day to day production so I could spend more time with my family while my kids are young? I said, I I bet I could figure out how to do it with one agent and one admin. And honestly, same thing happened, right? Like, and these are great business people. So there's no no hate on them at all. But every single one of them said, Garrett, it's not possible. That's not how this is done. And I said, Okay, you might be right. I don't believe you yet. I'm gonna go test it. And then what was amazing was in that first year I got out of full-time production with one agent and one admin. And so my point is it's not that I'm a closet genius by any stretch of the imagination, right? I got seized throughout college in a communications degree. ⁓ but the reality is for me, I just learned to test the assumptions. I wasn't just gonna take them at their word because this is how it was always done. I was gonna go try to solve the problem for myself. And what was crazy, Justin, is the year that I sold 50 homes by referral, instead of them saying the next year you can't do this, it turned into, hey, can you teach us how you did that? Right. When I got out of production with one agent and one admin, it wasn't, hey, you can't do that. It was, hey, can you show us how you did that? Because we want to do that too. And so that's the first piece of advice. Just test the assumptions. What assumptions are you making that are Dictating the way you run your business, right? We're talking to way too many potential businesses out here. So I don't know what the scenario is for everybody, but that would be the first thing. Test the assumptions. And the second thing for me was what I talk about, the scoreboard, right? Defining success on my own terms. So I had a profit goal and then I had two personal goals. So for me, right, it was how do I, how will I earn? And it was my profit goal. How will I earn X amount per year? While taking a weekly date night with my wife and taking every seventh week off, I created what I call this guiding question, right? This filter that was gonna run every decision through that. So now I knew my goal was X amount of money, right? Take a weekly date night and take every seventh week off with my kids. Whatever it is for you, your definition is your own. It's gotta be unique to you. Don't choose mine. But what happened, Justin, was is. You I I believe that our life is pulled in the direction of the questions we ask ourselves. So if I ask myself a question, how will I earn X amount while taking a weekly date night and every seventh week off? It forces my brain to start moving in that direction. So cool, I got this opportunity. Fantastic. I don't think the challenge in business is what do I say yes to? It's having clarity on what yes is. So we say no often enough. Right. It's the no's that cause the problem, or excuse me, it's the yeses that cause the problems. And so now I have clarity. When an opportunity comes to me, whoever you are in business, whatever kind of business you run, you just run it through a filter. Is this going to help me make X amount of dollars? Yes. Is this going to allow me to still take date nights? Yes. Can I take every seventh week off with my kids? No. I can't do it. Right. And so it just forced focus into what actually mattered. And what was gonna pull me in the direction of the of the dream and the goal and the success that I was looking for. So, you know, I I don't know every business, so I don't know how much more tactical, happy to do whatever, right, and share anything. But I would say those are the principles, man, for us to really hone in on. And and it's good to see you again, by the way, now that the video's back. ⁓ I enjoyed that part. Yeah.
Justin Stoddart: Great. I was I know. We got that part figured out. ⁓ you know, I loved how simple you made it, right? And I think anybody who's really built anything great, it really comes down to how simple can we make it for people to implement it. It's really what matters most to you? Is it faith? Is it family? Like you defined very specifically, right? Every seventh week off, date night with my wife, and everything runs through that simple filter. And think if we would do that, right, the decision comes down to being, as you said,
Garrett Maroon: There you go.
Justin Stoddart: Yes or no. Very simple. It's not like, well, should I think about it? Like, how does this work? It's like, does it help me or does it not? Period. End of story, right? So so simple. Love it. And really, when you when you look at again some of the most successful companies throughout history, like for example, we could use Apple as an example, right? They really hit their stride once they start saying no to more things, right? Really honed in to say, this is who we are. This is how we want to be defined. And so therefore, I'm going to.
Garrett Maroon: Hm. That's right. Yeah.
Justin Stoddart: pursue everything that allows us to do that and and nothing else. Right. And I hear that's that's really what's coming through. It's that key business principle that's really a a life principle, right? Is is the power of focus and and and putting those things first. So ⁓ Garrett, I I know go ahead. Please, please.
Garrett Maroon: I think one of the can I jump in real quick? Sorry, buddy. Is that okay? Yeah, I think one of the struggles is so, and I'll I'm not gonna say the name, but I'll use an example. There's a local coffee shop here, and I've actually talked to the owner twice, tried to coach and consult and support her because my wife loves going her going there. She's on year seven, and every few months you see her post on social like, Hey, community, I need your help. We're thinking about signing a lease, but we're not making money. Will you come buy coffee? Right. Basically, like a an appeal. You know, and it's annoying at this point to be honest. But here's the problem that she has that she's unwilling to accept, truthfully, is when I when we started talking and I just reached out to her to try to encourage her, when we started talking, her goal was like, I'm gonna change the world, which okay, I applaud you for that, right? Like if you're gonna win a Know a beauty pageant, that's what you're gonna say, right? But and it doesn't mean that a coffee shop can't. Don't hear me say that. But I was like, but what specifically are you gonna do? Here's what was working for her. She was the only place that had a c a space set up for moms to bring their little kids to play. It was perfect, right? So from like 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., it's just a coffee shop for moms. And I'm like, why don't you just be that? Be super clear, you're a coffee shop for moms. No, I want to be for the entrepreneur. Now she's starting, you know, we have weekly teas and now we have dinner. Now we're doing meal delivery and now we're doing all these things. And it's like here's the real she's the nicest woman in the world. But here's the reality: because she has this grand desire to be all things to all people, she is actually killing her own business. And it's really sad to see. And I think one of the struggles that I know that I have, we all have, especially in a social media-driven world. Is that I want to be so famous for what I do that it causes me to do more than I'm supposed to do, right? It's outside my lane. Why don't I just stay in my lane? I don't know. Because maybe if I get out of my lane, I'll become an Instagram influencer or whatever the struggle is, right? If I'm if I'm ⁓ you know a contractor and I'm thinking about, well, what if I get out of the lane of just like kitchens and baths, kitchens and baths? I wonder if there's this big world out there. I'm not saying there's not times to, you know, adjust. But I am saying, like, become really good at one thing. You know, what what was the biggest blessing in my life has been when I came into the industry and I did all the classes, cold calling, door knocking, you every way you could generate business. And I came in and said, you know what, I don't like, I don't want to do those. They don't align with who I am. I was stubborn, right? So that helped. I was 27 year old, thought I knew what I was doing. I didn't. But I came in and I said, I think if I just master referrals, it will change everything. And it did. Right. That's all I've ever done in 12 and a half, almost 13 years. I've literally never done anything else. And so when someone asked me, you know, ⁓ if I was a contractor in my world, it'd be like, I'm the kitchen and bass guy. So if someone came to me and said, Well, will you add on a deck? The answer is, hey, no, I can't. Right. That's not what I do. That's not who I am. That's not what I'm good at. If if she just became, you know, in my opinion, the coffee shop for moms, just be the coffee shop for moms. You would really crush it because you would know who you're serving. You would know what you're trying to accomplish. You would understand what they need. Right. There's so many pieces of that. I think so many businesses are struggling because they just haven't defined who they actually are. Right. So, you know, the the point of saying that is we certainly can't get to the point of saying, how will I make X per year? Well, taking a weekly date night and every seventh week off, or again, whatever the scenario. You certainly can't define that if you can't even define what your business does and who you serve. And so we've got to just stop long enough. To have clarity. This is who I am. This is what I do. And that means almost everything else in the world, 99% of other business opportunities, I don't do those. And guess what? That's totally okay. Because doing this 1% is actually how I build the life that I want to build. Right. So I just think like we've got to have that clarity and understanding. This is who I am. This is what I do. This is who I serve. And because of that, it allows me to build this life. And if no one's gonna write a book about me one day, which they won't, that's okay. Right. I would rather live a quiet and faithful life than be the guy that everybody talks about and my family can't stand me. Right. So like we've just got to get clear on those things.
Justin Stoddart: You know, it's ⁓ it really is to me, instead of a life of just success, it's a life of significance, right? And that's that's what ⁓ I believe at the core most people want, right? Most people want to be loved by by the people who they love the most, right? And these trophies and awards and top X percent of this, all of that is so fleeting that people don't remember, you know, who the Super Bowl MVP was last year, right? And that's the Super Bowl, the MVP of the Super Bowl. And
Garrett Maroon: Yeah. It's true. I don't remember and I love football. It's true. You're right. Yeah. Yeah.
Justin Stoddart: No one cares. I don't either, actually. And and that's that's a remarkable thing, is is you can give you can give your entire life to getting applause from people who actually don't care about you, right? Whereas there's people around you who who need you and want you and will be by your bedside, right, to the very end. Those are the people that we should be optimizing towards. Now, I want to bring up another point here, Garrett, is that what what we all ought to ⁓ really Reconcile is the fact that specialists make more money than generalists, right? So there's just a principle there as well, is that when when when I need an an eye specialist, right? Or a a foot specialist or a knee specialist, I recognize that that word specialist after it is gonna come with a price tag, but I know that I'm getting somebody who all day, every day focuses on eyes, all day, every day focuses on feet, whatever it is, whatever my problem is, right? And we just come to grips with the fact of like I've got a real issue and I want this resolved. Right. Therefore, I'm gonna go to somebody who does this all day, not does something all day that's r somewhat related, right? So really narrowing it down to say, this is who I am. And I believe it if if you were look back, I I'm assuming that that has something to do with your margin, is you you became ⁓ so unique to your clients instead in the sense of of how you showed up as a specialist that people were willing to not try and shop you across town because they realized they were getting more value going through you. Is is that safe to say?
Garrett Maroon: Yeah. Yeah, a hundred percent. I think, you know, number one, that's that was a byproduct that I didn't understand at the time of working by referral, right? Is the whole world, you know, the rise of AI and everything, the whole world's trying to turn us into commodities and not assets. Right. So it's exactly what you said. And and I think you've heard me say this before, but you know, in in my world, they try like we don't want to be the agent urgent care, right? We want to be the agent specialist, the agent surgeon, where you call, not. Say they had need it three months before they can see me, right? But like when they call and they say, Well, hey, I'm super booked, I can get you next week. Hey, no problem. So and so told me you were amazing. We've heard great things. Like, well, wait, as opposed to I have a problem right now. If you're not available right now, if you're not the cheapest in town, I'm going somewhere else. And the the truth is, if we allow ourselves to be commoditized, which it is easier to turn you into a commodity if you can just go on chat, you know. Not I my not that my doctor's ever gonna listen to this, probably no offense to the reach of your show, buddy, but ⁓ he's probably never gonna listen to this, right? Dr. McCormick, who I really, really love. I haven't seen him in years. I just ask ChatGPT now. But if I have a very specific problem, I'm going to that specific doctor, right? It's way harder to replace the guy who's like, or the girls, like I've had, like you said, 20 years experience. This is all I do. I get it in a way that the computer never will. As opposed to I can go DIY this project in my own home. Why do I need to hire that person? Right. And so I agree with you 100%. We need to be thinking about how do I become an asset to the people in my world, not a commodity. And I would say, and I would argue, I know this is about referrals, and I believe it too. The reality is it's where the business comes from. That's first, right? If they found you on Google, they'll go find somebody else on Google. But if they, you I know that the data is literally in the millennial generation. 91% of people would choose a referral over anything else. And that's the first generation that grew up on technology. What do they want? They'll use technology, but they'll use technology to ask for a referral. Right. I know in the real estate space, 80% of deals last year came from a sphere or a referral, right? The people you already know or someone they referred to you. 80% of the transactions. There were four million sales last year, right? So here's the point. I think. If you you you need to be an asset, but if you want to be an asset, it starts with where you generate the business from. Because if Justin says, you can call my buddy Garrett, he's gonna take care of you. I don't know that I need to hear anything else, right?
Justin Stoddart: Game over. Game over at that point, right? So Gar, just in our final couple of minutes here, I I want to ask you two questions. The first one is how important is it for you to surround yourself with other professionals who have a similar set of values and ethics and and and standard of care that you have for your clients? Like talk to me about that.
Garrett Maroon: Yeah, for real. Yeah. So I'll tell you a story. ⁓ this is not a good story. But ⁓ so 2016, I'm I'm helping this seller. It's a husband and wife. Husband's already moved to Pennsylvania. I'm in Virginia. The wife's here, sales going well. I brought bring my contractor out there to do the work, to do some repairs. And I get a call from the husband who's just super angry. He's like, Garrett, your contractor who I'd worked with before had just cussed out my wife. Right, right in front of her. She's crying on the on the floor. I'm like, ⁓ my gosh. So I go to this house and I'm talking to her. She's like, she's so sweet. She's it's not your fault. I'm like, it is my fault. Because I put my name to this person. So I call up the contractor, long story short, and say, if you don't go apologize right now, we're never working together again. He's like, I'm not gonna apologize. I'm like, all right, bro, I'm never calling you again. And I never did. I was giving him so much business, right? My point in saying that is what it caused me to do was I want to be even and I thought I was being careful, but even more careful to the quality of their work, but the character of the person. And so it made it so when I'm going to put my name to somebody, that matters, right? And it already mattered, but it matters even more because I don't want to have the husband calling me that the wife is crying because my guy cussed her out. Right. That was insane that that happened. And so it is the most crucial thing because the more I put my name on things, if that just starts to fall apart, the less and less they trust me. And that's what referrals are built on anyway. So man, it is probably the most important piece.
Justin Stoddart: Well, you know, I think if we were to talk about ⁓ the best way to not become a commodity, right? Whereas you're lined up and it's who can who who can charge the cheapest, right? But it's how do I take care of all the other concerns that my industry doesn't take care of, right? What are all the other things that my homeowners are gonna need? And and what, as you know, what we've created, what we're building together, right, in your area is the homeowner concierge, it's ult this ultimate aftercare program, right? That you enroll your clients into where they have somebody That you approve of, right? Taking care of everything related to their home. Imagine it's kind of like Garrett shows up for the next 10 years until they need you again, taking care of all these other things, right? Because these are professionals who have come recommended. These are people who who who embody your same value system. And ⁓ I would just love to hear kind of your thoughts and excitement about again, attracting. Again, we've kind of positioned the first part of this episode to let people know who you are and what matters to you, right? And this is a bit of a clarion call to the other professionals in your Area to say, hey, if this resonates with you, if the conversation that Garrett and I have had here today resonate with you, this could be an interesting opportunity for you to apply for one of those positions because that's unique, right? Because Garrett actually wants you in front of his clients because he can't be there doing all things. But if you can have people that are like him taking care of his clients, that's ultimately what you what matters to you, right, Garrett, which is your clients get that extraordinary care forever and ever, right? Is that safe to say?
Garrett Maroon: For sure. 100%. I think that the key is, you know, if you're in any business, you got to stay top of mind. Now I have a system that does that and you know, all the things, but ⁓ truthfully, most professionals don't. Right. And so what's one of the ways that you stay top of mind? It's when I think about, ⁓ there's a leak. ⁓ I need to call somebody. ⁓ let me just grab Garrett's app. Let me scan, you know, the magnet on my fridge and let me reach out to that person. And then that person follows through and carries through and does a good job. You know, it the We don't have time to go into the science, but the science behind it, right, literally is if I do a good job for you, right? If I do a good job for Justin and Bill referred me to Justin, Justin thinks highly of me, but Justin thinks more highly of Bill. Cause like, dude, Bill must know some really cool people, right? So all it is is just growing the value that the entire community of professionals has for one another. Is because if Justin does a good job, then when they go scan and they see that Bill also does HVAC. Well, they're gonna assume Bill's gonna do a good job too, because Bill's in the same community, right? And so I think it is a crucial piece to have those relationships and to constantly be getting in front of new potential customers. For me, for my, you know, contractor friends, for my insurance buddies, for all the things, the people that I know and love that are good and local. It's important for us to continue to get in front of them and just to serve this local community super well. 'Cause at some point they're not gonna wanna go anywhere else. They're gonna ask their friend, who do you know that's a good plumber? And that plumber's gonna be so and so and that plumber's gonna say, Well, hey, if you need anybody else, so all we're doing is expanding our reach and who we serve. It's it is a brilliant concept. Like it really is, man. And I'm excited to partner with people that we can just serve the community in a more intentional and better way.
Justin Stoddart: Yeah, when when you have forty people around you who are all out promoting this amazing group, right, that's been handpicked. Homeowners, right? I I bet homeowners that are listening to this are like, dang, how do I get my hands on that? Guys like Garrett in all industries, like, ⁓ my goodness, right? Pretty awesome. Anyway, we're excited. You're you you ⁓ epitomize what we're looking for in all communities across the country, Garrett, because you you really have ⁓ such high moral character, such high ethics, the way that you
Garrett Maroon: Right. I don't want to go anywhere else. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It is awesome.
Justin Stoddart: ⁓ in ⁓ interact with clients the way you commu communicate, it's it's it's phenomenal. So we're fortunate to be ⁓ linked arms with you. So anyway, want to thank everybody for tuning into this episode of the Built On First Podcast. ⁓ Garrett Maroon, everybody, ⁓ if you're if you're have any real estate related needs or any needs, now he's got this growing team of people who can solve anything, right? ⁓ throughout the in fact n I know Newport News is where you're centered. How far do your professionals go?
Garrett Maroon: Yep. From Richmond, Virginia down to Virginia Beach. So anywhere in there we can take care of ⁓ Yep. Yeah.
Justin Stoddart: Okay. Perfect. I love it. I love it. All right, everybody. Thanks so much for tuning in. And ⁓ Garrett, always a pleasure, my friend. You're one of my favorite people. And ⁓ I look forward to the next time. Talk soon, everybody.
Garrett Maroon: Always a pleasure. You too, buddy. Thanks, man.
Garrett Maroon: Yeah. I yeah, you're frozen, but I see you. not sure what's Yeah, that's okay. I know you're there. Let's do it, buddy.
Justin Stoddart: Frozen in time. Well, we got the audio, so let's keep let's keep rolling with the audio. ⁓ I think ⁓ it's showing that ⁓ we're we're still recording. So anyway, excited to introduce you again. I know that ⁓ you were a a a a favorite guest on ⁓ my previous podcast, Think Bigger Real Estate. And ⁓ now that I've ⁓ we we become ⁓ friends ⁓ at a at a deeper level, ⁓ I've started to learn how your principles, the way that you've grown a business and really focused on ⁓
Garrett Maroon: Nice. Yeah. Hm. Yeah.
Justin Stoddart: things that matter even more than business have have have applied have kind of universal applicability, right? And ⁓ and now we've locked arms to really build out what's called the homeowner concierge in your community. And ⁓ I'm just seeing how many professionals will benefit from working in this manner, right? Well where they they they don't have to lose it life to win at work. So I want to d dive into that. At what point, Garrett, did you realize that that was a possibility for you where you didn't have to give up most important things for ⁓ you know, the victories that are needed at work.
Garrett Maroon: Yeah. Man, so thanks for having me, buddy. ⁓ you know how much I respect you and love what you're doing. I I think that man, the the biggest shift for me was how easily it was this moment of time where I realized 2021, I realized that all I was in pursuit of, right? I'm in real estate. All I was in pursuit of is building a bigger real estate team, do more deals, make more money, right? And that that was it. And and it wasn't that was inherently bad. That's what I saw all around me. Every single person. Who mentored me, everybody in my office. That's what everyone was striving towards. And so I just thought, okay, this is what we do, right? If you're a successful real estate agent, you just get a bigger business, you do this, you add agents, you sell more homes. And it was 2021. We had had our third child. We we have five now, but we had our third child. And I realized, Justin, that the only way I'm sitting there trying to plan out how am I gonna double this business, right? And I came up with a plan. Here's how I'm gonna double sales, here's how I'm gonna double my profit. But the only problem was I couldn't figure out how to do it without working 60 hours a week. I was working about 40 at the time. And so I just couldn't figure that out. And so I just had this moment of clarity that honestly the Lord gave me of Garrett, if you could look back on this man right now today, five years from now, if you could look back on him, would you be most proud of the guy who doubled his profit but saw his kids less? Or would you be most proud of the guy who intentionally figured out a way to keep his profits where they were? They actually ended up growing, right? But keep the profits where they are and maybe spend 15 to 20 hours so you could spend more time with your kids. And man, when that when I was able to ask that question, when the when really the Lord gave me that question, the answer was super clear. Like that's what I want to do. The only reason I was in pursuit of a bigger business and more money, more stuff, more fame, more, you know, higher ranking, all the things. The only reason was because that's what everyone around me was doing. And I had fallen into this idea that the only way to define success in my industry was simply by how many deals did you do, right? How much money did you make? When in reality, I wanted to define success on my own terms. And so I totally transformed the way I ⁓ define success for myself. And every single day, it's still a fight, buddy, right? But like every single day fighting to say what my neighbor is doing. has nothing to do with whether I'm succeeding or not. They don't get to determine what that looks like. And because of that, I'm gonna keep my head focused on my North Star. I'm gonna go straight and I'm gonna do my best to just honor what I actually set out to create.
Justin Stoddart: You know, I think so many people want that, Garrett. And I think so many people don't believe it's possible, probably because they've never kind of stepped out of the boat like Peter did, right? And ⁓ and ⁓ hearkened the call to to try and walk on water. For many of us, that's what it feels like. Of like, how can I how how does that work? The law of physics tells me that if I work less, I'm gonna earn less. Therefore, you know, I've got a big family. I've got it like I've got a l a lot of responsibilities. I've got parents that gotta take care of whatever it is for your situation.
Garrett Maroon: Yeah.
Justin Stoddart: I think there are countless people who say, like, ⁓ I don't know if that's gonna work. And the fact that the Lord put that on your heart to say, Hey, Garrett, just so you know, some of these things aren't gonna matter in a few years and some of them are gonna matter a lot. Right. So be sure you got your priorities straight. I think that's it's it's it's beautiful to hear your story because I think that that's probably the invitation all of us are having at some level, right? Hopefully we're even feeling that inside a little bit, being like, hmm, okay. I I would like that. And now Garrett, I'd like to ha to have you maybe share even some tactical right of how you do that because ⁓ You know, it's it's it's fun to say that, but it's like, okay, Garrett, so tell me, if if if I am gonna maybe take that step out, right, in in in into faith, ⁓ and and put put some other things first, how do I do that? Like how how do I prioritize? What does that look like? So if you could walk us through that.
Garrett Maroon: Yeah, yeah. No, it's good. And and you know, speaking to a broader audience than just real estate agents, so the first thing I would say is this: we have to question the assumptions. And so here's what I mean. So ⁓ when I started in the industry in 2014, it was my I was going into my second full year, I was 28, 29, and I told the leader of our office that my goal that year was to sell 50 homes all by referral, 100% by referral. I'm not from this area. ⁓ you know, I was 29 years old. I had done maybe 20, 27 sales the year before, which is really good. But, you know, being ⁓ doing 50 sales by myself would put me in the top one percent. And she literally laughed at me and she said, that's not possible. And so I I remember going back to my office, buddy, and I was like, all right, I don't know if that's true, right? I I know what they're telling me. I know that they're saying it's not possible. Let me test that. And then what was amazing genuinely is like, all right, what would I need to build in order to sell 50 homes a year all by referral and do it under 40 hours a week? That's another story. But ⁓ and and I went out and I built a system and I executed that system and literally sold 50 homes exactly. Not 51, not 49, 50 that year. And so that was number one. Number two, when I tested the assumption, same season of 2021. When ⁓ everyone's building a bigger team and and the whole philosophy in our industry is like, you gotta build this big massive team. That's when you finally get to freedom of your time. And I remember saying, I this can't be the only way. I bet I could figure out a way. Instead of having 10 agents and 10 admin, how do I get out of full time day to day production so I could spend more time with my family while my kids are young? I said, I I bet I could figure out how to do it with one agent and one admin. And honestly, same thing happened, right? Like, and these are great business people. So there's no no hate on them at all. But every single one of them said, Garrett, it's not possible. That's not how this is done. And I said, Okay, you might be right. I don't believe you yet. I'm gonna go test it. And then what was amazing was in that first year I got out of full-time production with one agent and one admin. And so my point is it's not that I'm a closet genius by any stretch of the imagination, right? I got seized throughout college in a communications degree. ⁓ but the reality is for me, I just learned to test the assumptions. I wasn't just gonna take them at their word because this is how it was always done. I was gonna go try to solve the problem for myself. And what was crazy, Justin, is the year that I sold 50 homes by referral, instead of them saying the next year you can't do this, it turned into, hey, can you teach us how you did that? Right. When I got out of production with one agent and one admin, it wasn't, hey, you can't do that. It was, hey, can you show us how you did that? Because we want to do that too. And so that's the first piece of advice. Just test the assumptions. What assumptions are you making that are Dictating the way you run your business, right? We're talking to way too many potential businesses out here. So I don't know what the scenario is for everybody, but that would be the first thing. Test the assumptions. And the second thing for me was what I talk about, the scoreboard, right? Defining success on my own terms. So I had a profit goal and then I had two personal goals. So for me, right, it was how do I, how will I earn? And it was my profit goal. How will I earn X amount per year? While taking a weekly date night with my wife and taking every seventh week off, I created what I call this guiding question, right? This filter that was gonna run every decision through that. So now I knew my goal was X amount of money, right? Take a weekly date night and take every seventh week off with my kids. Whatever it is for you, your definition is your own. It's gotta be unique to you. Don't choose mine. But what happened, Justin, was is. You I I believe that our life is pulled in the direction of the questions we ask ourselves. So if I ask myself a question, how will I earn X amount while taking a weekly date night and every seventh week off? It forces my brain to start moving in that direction. So cool, I got this opportunity. Fantastic. I don't think the challenge in business is what do I say yes to? It's having clarity on what yes is. So we say no often enough. Right. It's the no's that cause the problem, or excuse me, it's the yeses that cause the problems. And so now I have clarity. When an opportunity comes to me, whoever you are in business, whatever kind of business you run, you just run it through a filter. Is this going to help me make X amount of dollars? Yes. Is this going to allow me to still take date nights? Yes. Can I take every seventh week off with my kids? No. I can't do it. Right. And so it just forced focus into what actually mattered. And what was gonna pull me in the direction of the of the dream and the goal and the success that I was looking for. So, you know, I I don't know every business, so I don't know how much more tactical, happy to do whatever, right, and share anything. But I would say those are the principles, man, for us to really hone in on. And and it's good to see you again, by the way, now that the video's back. ⁓ I enjoyed that part. Yeah.
Justin Stoddart: Great. I was I know. We got that part figured out. ⁓ you know, I loved how simple you made it, right? And I think anybody who's really built anything great, it really comes down to how simple can we make it for people to implement it. It's really what matters most to you? Is it faith? Is it family? Like you defined very specifically, right? Every seventh week off, date night with my wife, and everything runs through that simple filter. And think if we would do that, right, the decision comes down to being, as you said,
Garrett Maroon: There you go.
Justin Stoddart: Yes or no. Very simple. It's not like, well, should I think about it? Like, how does this work? It's like, does it help me or does it not? Period. End of story, right? So so simple. Love it. And really, when you when you look at again some of the most successful companies throughout history, like for example, we could use Apple as an example, right? They really hit their stride once they start saying no to more things, right? Really honed in to say, this is who we are. This is how we want to be defined. And so therefore, I'm going to.
Garrett Maroon: Hm. That's right. Yeah.
Justin Stoddart: pursue everything that allows us to do that and and nothing else. Right. And I hear that's that's really what's coming through. It's that key business principle that's really a a life principle, right? Is is the power of focus and and and putting those things first. So ⁓ Garrett, I I know go ahead. Please, please.
Garrett Maroon: I think one of the can I jump in real quick? Sorry, buddy. Is that okay? Yeah, I think one of the struggles is so, and I'll I'm not gonna say the name, but I'll use an example. There's a local coffee shop here, and I've actually talked to the owner twice, tried to coach and consult and support her because my wife loves going her going there. She's on year seven, and every few months you see her post on social like, Hey, community, I need your help. We're thinking about signing a lease, but we're not making money. Will you come buy coffee? Right. Basically, like a an appeal. You know, and it's annoying at this point to be honest. But here's the problem that she has that she's unwilling to accept, truthfully, is when I when we started talking and I just reached out to her to try to encourage her, when we started talking, her goal was like, I'm gonna change the world, which okay, I applaud you for that, right? Like if you're gonna win a Know a beauty pageant, that's what you're gonna say, right? But and it doesn't mean that a coffee shop can't. Don't hear me say that. But I was like, but what specifically are you gonna do? Here's what was working for her. She was the only place that had a c a space set up for moms to bring their little kids to play. It was perfect, right? So from like 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., it's just a coffee shop for moms. And I'm like, why don't you just be that? Be super clear, you're a coffee shop for moms. No, I want to be for the entrepreneur. Now she's starting, you know, we have weekly teas and now we have dinner. Now we're doing meal delivery and now we're doing all these things. And it's like here's the real she's the nicest woman in the world. But here's the reality: because she has this grand desire to be all things to all people, she is actually killing her own business. And it's really sad to see. And I think one of the struggles that I know that I have, we all have, especially in a social media-driven world. Is that I want to be so famous for what I do that it causes me to do more than I'm supposed to do, right? It's outside my lane. Why don't I just stay in my lane? I don't know. Because maybe if I get out of my lane, I'll become an Instagram influencer or whatever the struggle is, right? If I'm if I'm ⁓ you know a contractor and I'm thinking about, well, what if I get out of the lane of just like kitchens and baths, kitchens and baths? I wonder if there's this big world out there. I'm not saying there's not times to, you know, adjust. But I am saying, like, become really good at one thing. You know, what what was the biggest blessing in my life has been when I came into the industry and I did all the classes, cold calling, door knocking, you every way you could generate business. And I came in and said, you know what, I don't like, I don't want to do those. They don't align with who I am. I was stubborn, right? So that helped. I was 27 year old, thought I knew what I was doing. I didn't. But I came in and I said, I think if I just master referrals, it will change everything. And it did. Right. That's all I've ever done in 12 and a half, almost 13 years. I've literally never done anything else. And so when someone asked me, you know, ⁓ if I was a contractor in my world, it'd be like, I'm the kitchen and bass guy. So if someone came to me and said, Well, will you add on a deck? The answer is, hey, no, I can't. Right. That's not what I do. That's not who I am. That's not what I'm good at. If if she just became, you know, in my opinion, the coffee shop for moms, just be the coffee shop for moms. You would really crush it because you would know who you're serving. You would know what you're trying to accomplish. You would understand what they need. Right. There's so many pieces of that. I think so many businesses are struggling because they just haven't defined who they actually are. Right. So, you know, the the point of saying that is we certainly can't get to the point of saying, how will I make X per year? Well, taking a weekly date night and every seventh week off, or again, whatever the scenario. You certainly can't define that if you can't even define what your business does and who you serve. And so we've got to just stop long enough. To have clarity. This is who I am. This is what I do. And that means almost everything else in the world, 99% of other business opportunities, I don't do those. And guess what? That's totally okay. Because doing this 1% is actually how I build the life that I want to build. Right. So I just think like we've got to have that clarity and understanding. This is who I am. This is what I do. This is who I serve. And because of that, it allows me to build this life. And if no one's gonna write a book about me one day, which they won't, that's okay. Right. I would rather live a quiet and faithful life than be the guy that everybody talks about and my family can't stand me. Right. So like we've just got to get clear on those things.
Justin Stoddart: You know, it's ⁓ it really is to me, instead of a life of just success, it's a life of significance, right? And that's that's what ⁓ I believe at the core most people want, right? Most people want to be loved by by the people who they love the most, right? And these trophies and awards and top X percent of this, all of that is so fleeting that people don't remember, you know, who the Super Bowl MVP was last year, right? And that's the Super Bowl, the MVP of the Super Bowl. And
Garrett Maroon: Yeah. It's true. I don't remember and I love football. It's true. You're right. Yeah. Yeah.
Justin Stoddart: No one cares. I don't either, actually. And and that's that's a remarkable thing, is is you can give you can give your entire life to getting applause from people who actually don't care about you, right? Whereas there's people around you who who need you and want you and will be by your bedside, right, to the very end. Those are the people that we should be optimizing towards. Now, I want to bring up another point here, Garrett, is that what what we all ought to ⁓ really Reconcile is the fact that specialists make more money than generalists, right? So there's just a principle there as well, is that when when when I need an an eye specialist, right? Or a a foot specialist or a knee specialist, I recognize that that word specialist after it is gonna come with a price tag, but I know that I'm getting somebody who all day, every day focuses on eyes, all day, every day focuses on feet, whatever it is, whatever my problem is, right? And we just come to grips with the fact of like I've got a real issue and I want this resolved. Right. Therefore, I'm gonna go to somebody who does this all day, not does something all day that's r somewhat related, right? So really narrowing it down to say, this is who I am. And I believe it if if you were look back, I I'm assuming that that has something to do with your margin, is you you became ⁓ so unique to your clients instead in the sense of of how you showed up as a specialist that people were willing to not try and shop you across town because they realized they were getting more value going through you. Is is that safe to say?
Garrett Maroon: Yeah. Yeah, a hundred percent. I think, you know, number one, that's that was a byproduct that I didn't understand at the time of working by referral, right? Is the whole world, you know, the rise of AI and everything, the whole world's trying to turn us into commodities and not assets. Right. So it's exactly what you said. And and I think you've heard me say this before, but you know, in in my world, they try like we don't want to be the agent urgent care, right? We want to be the agent specialist, the agent surgeon, where you call, not. Say they had need it three months before they can see me, right? But like when they call and they say, Well, hey, I'm super booked, I can get you next week. Hey, no problem. So and so told me you were amazing. We've heard great things. Like, well, wait, as opposed to I have a problem right now. If you're not available right now, if you're not the cheapest in town, I'm going somewhere else. And the the truth is, if we allow ourselves to be commoditized, which it is easier to turn you into a commodity if you can just go on chat, you know. Not I my not that my doctor's ever gonna listen to this, probably no offense to the reach of your show, buddy, but ⁓ he's probably never gonna listen to this, right? Dr. McCormick, who I really, really love. I haven't seen him in years. I just ask ChatGPT now. But if I have a very specific problem, I'm going to that specific doctor, right? It's way harder to replace the guy who's like, or the girls, like I've had, like you said, 20 years experience. This is all I do. I get it in a way that the computer never will. As opposed to I can go DIY this project in my own home. Why do I need to hire that person? Right. And so I agree with you 100%. We need to be thinking about how do I become an asset to the people in my world, not a commodity. And I would say, and I would argue, I know this is about referrals, and I believe it too. The reality is it's where the business comes from. That's first, right? If they found you on Google, they'll go find somebody else on Google. But if they, you I know that the data is literally in the millennial generation. 91% of people would choose a referral over anything else. And that's the first generation that grew up on technology. What do they want? They'll use technology, but they'll use technology to ask for a referral. Right. I know in the real estate space, 80% of deals last year came from a sphere or a referral, right? The people you already know or someone they referred to you. 80% of the transactions. There were four million sales last year, right? So here's the point. I think. If you you you need to be an asset, but if you want to be an asset, it starts with where you generate the business from. Because if Justin says, you can call my buddy Garrett, he's gonna take care of you. I don't know that I need to hear anything else, right?
Justin Stoddart: Game over. Game over at that point, right? So Gar, just in our final couple of minutes here, I I want to ask you two questions. The first one is how important is it for you to surround yourself with other professionals who have a similar set of values and ethics and and and standard of care that you have for your clients? Like talk to me about that.
Garrett Maroon: Yeah, for real. Yeah. So I'll tell you a story. ⁓ this is not a good story. But ⁓ so 2016, I'm I'm helping this seller. It's a husband and wife. Husband's already moved to Pennsylvania. I'm in Virginia. The wife's here, sales going well. I brought bring my contractor out there to do the work, to do some repairs. And I get a call from the husband who's just super angry. He's like, Garrett, your contractor who I'd worked with before had just cussed out my wife. Right, right in front of her. She's crying on the on the floor. I'm like, ⁓ my gosh. So I go to this house and I'm talking to her. She's like, she's so sweet. She's it's not your fault. I'm like, it is my fault. Because I put my name to this person. So I call up the contractor, long story short, and say, if you don't go apologize right now, we're never working together again. He's like, I'm not gonna apologize. I'm like, all right, bro, I'm never calling you again. And I never did. I was giving him so much business, right? My point in saying that is what it caused me to do was I want to be even and I thought I was being careful, but even more careful to the quality of their work, but the character of the person. And so it made it so when I'm going to put my name to somebody, that matters, right? And it already mattered, but it matters even more because I don't want to have the husband calling me that the wife is crying because my guy cussed her out. Right. That was insane that that happened. And so it is the most crucial thing because the more I put my name on things, if that just starts to fall apart, the less and less they trust me. And that's what referrals are built on anyway. So man, it is probably the most important piece.
Justin Stoddart: Well, you know, I think if we were to talk about ⁓ the best way to not become a commodity, right? Whereas you're lined up and it's who can who who can charge the cheapest, right? But it's how do I take care of all the other concerns that my industry doesn't take care of, right? What are all the other things that my homeowners are gonna need? And and what, as you know, what we've created, what we're building together, right, in your area is the homeowner concierge, it's ult this ultimate aftercare program, right? That you enroll your clients into where they have somebody That you approve of, right? Taking care of everything related to their home. Imagine it's kind of like Garrett shows up for the next 10 years until they need you again, taking care of all these other things, right? Because these are professionals who have come recommended. These are people who who who embody your same value system. And ⁓ I would just love to hear kind of your thoughts and excitement about again, attracting. Again, we've kind of positioned the first part of this episode to let people know who you are and what matters to you, right? And this is a bit of a clarion call to the other professionals in your Area to say, hey, if this resonates with you, if the conversation that Garrett and I have had here today resonate with you, this could be an interesting opportunity for you to apply for one of those positions because that's unique, right? Because Garrett actually wants you in front of his clients because he can't be there doing all things. But if you can have people that are like him taking care of his clients, that's ultimately what you what matters to you, right, Garrett, which is your clients get that extraordinary care forever and ever, right? Is that safe to say?
Garrett Maroon: For sure. 100%. I think that the key is, you know, if you're in any business, you got to stay top of mind. Now I have a system that does that and you know, all the things, but ⁓ truthfully, most professionals don't. Right. And so what's one of the ways that you stay top of mind? It's when I think about, ⁓ there's a leak. ⁓ I need to call somebody. ⁓ let me just grab Garrett's app. Let me scan, you know, the magnet on my fridge and let me reach out to that person. And then that person follows through and carries through and does a good job. You know, it the We don't have time to go into the science, but the science behind it, right, literally is if I do a good job for you, right? If I do a good job for Justin and Bill referred me to Justin, Justin thinks highly of me, but Justin thinks more highly of Bill. Cause like, dude, Bill must know some really cool people, right? So all it is is just growing the value that the entire community of professionals has for one another. Is because if Justin does a good job, then when they go scan and they see that Bill also does HVAC. Well, they're gonna assume Bill's gonna do a good job too, because Bill's in the same community, right? And so I think it is a crucial piece to have those relationships and to constantly be getting in front of new potential customers. For me, for my, you know, contractor friends, for my insurance buddies, for all the things, the people that I know and love that are good and local. It's important for us to continue to get in front of them and just to serve this local community super well. 'Cause at some point they're not gonna wanna go anywhere else. They're gonna ask their friend, who do you know that's a good plumber? And that plumber's gonna be so and so and that plumber's gonna say, Well, hey, if you need anybody else, so all we're doing is expanding our reach and who we serve. It's it is a brilliant concept. Like it really is, man. And I'm excited to partner with people that we can just serve the community in a more intentional and better way.
Justin Stoddart: Yeah, when when you have forty people around you who are all out promoting this amazing group, right, that's been handpicked. Homeowners, right? I I bet homeowners that are listening to this are like, dang, how do I get my hands on that? Guys like Garrett in all industries, like, ⁓ my goodness, right? Pretty awesome. Anyway, we're excited. You're you you ⁓ epitomize what we're looking for in all communities across the country, Garrett, because you you really have ⁓ such high moral character, such high ethics, the way that you
Garrett Maroon: Right. I don't want to go anywhere else. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It is awesome.
Justin Stoddart: ⁓ in ⁓ interact with clients the way you commu communicate, it's it's it's phenomenal. So we're fortunate to be ⁓ linked arms with you. So anyway, want to thank everybody for tuning into this episode of the Built On First Podcast. ⁓ Garrett Maroon, everybody, ⁓ if you're if you're have any real estate related needs or any needs, now he's got this growing team of people who can solve anything, right? ⁓ throughout the in fact n I know Newport News is where you're centered. How far do your professionals go?
Garrett Maroon: Yep. From Richmond, Virginia down to Virginia Beach. So anywhere in there we can take care of ⁓ Yep. Yeah.
Justin Stoddart: Okay. Perfect. I love it. I love it. All right, everybody. Thanks so much for tuning in. And ⁓ Garrett, always a pleasure, my friend. You're one of my favorite people. And ⁓ I look forward to the next time. Talk soon, everybody.
Garrett Maroon: Always a pleasure. You too, buddy. Thanks, man.
