OCTOBER 2023
Icon Corner Kudos and Tips from Experienced eXp Agents
Welcome New Agents New Faces Jumping on to the X-Team
Meet TEAM XCELLERATE MONTHLY NEWS
POWNALL NO LIMITS
ISSUE 08 VOL 3
06 14 17 19 25 26 27 40
Sheila Pownwell Two Time Breast Cancer Survivor
What's Happening
October Birthdays
What To Do
Marketing Tips Agent Spotlight MEET Penny and Phantasa Mother/Daughter Real Estate Duo
XTeam Events
New Agents
TABLE CONTENTS
TABLE Our Cover OF CONTENTS
FROM
UNEXPECTED& PREPARE FOR THE
Thrive
This is an exciting time for us in business! Sellers are needing our expertise again; finally. Tom Horn, an appraiser I trust, recently posted that appraisals being ordered are down 34%. We are back to a normal market where preparing for the unexpected is not only smart, but will give you confidence as you're looking for new clients to serve. The best way to prepare is to get lean by reducing your expenses. Right now, I'm taking a course about finances called Wealth with God. My instructor challenged me to cut $1000 out of my expenses within one week. I became so diligent about this task that I have now found and cancelled OVER $3,000 per MONTH. I've been able to give myself a $36,000 raise per year starting immediately. Let's make this happen for you, too. Start by simply going through your last month's bank statements and analyze each item. Ask yourself if you have another system that you're utilizing or can utilize to wipe out this expense. By getting one system that does multiple things, I was able to get rid of mailchimp, ($240 per month), lead pages, ($67 per month), bombbomb, ($19 per month), and eventbrite ($112 per month). Then, I noticed that I have multiple subscriptions of the same types of services like Sirius Satellite radio, Sonos, and Spotify. I binged one show and got it out of the way so that I could cancel Hulu for $7.99 per month. This challenge has been such a blast for me. When times are good, we can take on lots of expenses because the income is there to cover it. But, now is the time to reduce all you can so that you can be in confidence and freedom from financial burden while you're prospecting for more.
"Commission breath" reduces sales. When you NEED a sale to happen, it most likely won't. So, I'm challenging you to find $1000 of expenses to eliminate by the end of October. Then, take a look at your eXp benefits; your stock account, and your rev share. And, remember the more sales you have, the more stock you get.
Happy Saving!
Genny Williams and Gusty Gulas
r
TRAINING & EVENTS
CALENDAR
TRAINING & EVENTS
Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88017896837#success
OUR
COVER
Sheila
MEET POWNALL Chelsea, AL agent, Sheila Freeman Pownall is a TWO TIME survivor. For the past 15 months, she's been fighting breast cancer AGAIN and she's winning. Even though she's been attending chemo treatments regularly, she and her devoted husband, Kirk, found a way to earn ICON again. With all that she has faced and conquered, Sheila is the best face to brace the cover of October; breast cancer awareness month. Sheila is first a wife to Kirk and mother to Keely (26) and Michael (22). Her favorite thing in the world is to spend time with her family. Of course dancing and gardening are fun for her, too, but her family is always first. In 1994, Sheila was dating a guy whose parents were Realtors. They were trying to convince their son to become one also, so she took the class with him. He dropped out, but Sheila graduated and earned her license. She later became a broker as a requirement to the Apartment Locator business she owned. But, she didn't start selling houses until she joined eXp Realty in 2019. And, wow, from zero to ICON 3x now; even while fighting cancer. Her story is inspirational and moving. Being a fierce competitor with herself, Sheila likes to push herself each year to do better than she did the year previously. ICON gives her that goal to aim for that makes her continue to strive. It's truly the best incentive.
OUR
COVER
Sheila joined eXp Realty because she and Genny Williams had previously worked together at another company. She felt like if Genny chose eXp, it had to be good. And, it's paid off for her family. As a mentor, Sheila says to keep adding to your toolbox through education and implementation. But, always nourish your relationships. She currently sends magazines to her sphere of influence every other month, uses billboards in Chelsea, and stays visible on social media. Kirk handles all negotiations. His philosophy is to follow the contract, be firm but reasonable, listen more than you speak, and get it in writing. Today, Sheila is getting stronger and healthier. She's focused on working smarter so she can spend more time traveling. If you'd like to see an example of her magazine, send her a prayer for healing, send her a referral, or ask her anything, give her a call at 205-222-3938.
Appreciation
is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. -Voltaire
Congratulations! Katherine Craft welcomed a sweet grand babyRiley Katherine Craft. Congratulations, Katherine!
Kathy Merkl got a sweet surprise when her horse had a foal! Congratulations, Kathy!
Congratulations!
to these cappers
UNEXPECTED
Shane Plyer
Bev Gallegos
Richard Eaton
Congratulations!
MARY MARTIN BROWN
CASEY AND AMBER BLACKBURN
KRISTEN SUTTON
NICK HOLMAN
NATALIE BASS
CHAD AND JENNIFER BEASLEY
GUSTY GULAS
MATTHEW WILLIS
SHIRLEY HALL
JARED FAGAN
DREW TAYLOR
DAWN JENKINS
Congratulations!
BARBARA TURBVILLE
MARY GAIL WEEKLEY
ROB DRUM
SHEILA POWNALL
LEA CORLEY
JILL COLLINS
GENNY WILLIAMS
STEPHANIE BRUMBELOE
BRENDA BLANTON
Congratulations!
KAREN BURNS
KAYLA WYATT
LORI FULLER
ALEX ACUFF
EVAN CRAWFORD
CHANCE HIGDON
STEPHANIE SCHULTE
TAYLOR JACKSON
CHRISTIE AND KARL HECKMAN
DANIEL ZIA
WHAT'S
HAPPENING
Loved seeing these faces at eXp Con this year!
After the Lunch n Learn, Austin Matthews got right to work with creative ways to reach out to his sphere.
Matt Willis and Evan Crawford met Glen Sanford at eXp Con!
WHAT'S
HAPPENING
Hey everyone - I’m an agent in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and for the past 3 years I’ve been a part of The Brown House Community. The Brown House Community is a nonprofit organization that helps underprivileged kids and families in our neighborhood with tutoring programs and holiday assistance and other activities. Each year we ask people to donate for the holidays by purchasing a pumpkin kit which provides kids with a pumpkin, a carving kit, and some candy. I’ve attached two links below, one for the pumpkin kits and one for donations. If you aren’t able to make a donation please lend a hand by spreading awareness of the organization, we greatly appreciate it. Pumpkin kit link: https://www.brownhousecommunity.org/shop Donation link: https://www.brownhousecommunity.org/donate-1
Trae Driver
XTEAM
EVENTS
Regional Rallies Coming to YOU
this November!
You asked for more ways to recognize, educate, and inspire, we delivered Regional Rallies. Our team is collaborating with 28 Regional Rally Agent Hosts across the U.S. and Canada to put on a series of spirited events this November. We’ve been collaborating with these 28 enthusiastic hosts to bring you a series of spirited events that will leave you motivated and empowered. These are led by agents, for agents, and they’ve been equipped with tools to ensure each Regional Rally provides an incredible experience for all attendees. Mark your calendars for November 1-17 because a Regional Rally is coming to a location near you! Here are a few compelling reasons why you won't want to miss out: Recognition: These Regional Rallies will celebrate milestones at various stages of the real estate agent journey, from Rookie Rockstars who closed their first sale ever (!) to cappers and ICONs. Motivation: Our Regional Rally hosts have been hard at work crafting jam-packed agendas featuring inspiring ICON speakers from both near and far. They will share best practices and career-earned wisdom, ensuring that you walk away from each event with a wealth of knowledge to immediately implement into your business plan
O C T O B E R Birthday
Mark Fehn / 2-Oct
Richard Eaton / 6-Oct
Stevi Tushek / 6-Oct
Taylor Lucas / 7-Oct
Ethan Cantin / 9-Oct
Matthew Bradshaw / 11-Oct
Susan Patterson / 12-Oct
Kelli Pate / 14-Oct
Michael "Carter"Pair / 17-Oct
Zac Kennedy / 18-Oct
Bridget Lovett / 20-Oct
Marsha Bates-Pike / 21-Oct
O C T O B E R Birthday
Yevette Trussell / 21-Oct
Sheila Pownall / 22-Oct
Lillian Lynn / 29-Oct
Angelia Joy Fields / 23-Oct
Michael Smith 30-Oct
WHAT
TO DO
Download now!
You asked that we reduce the number of emails to agents during and immediately after onboarding and we delivered! By leveraging My eXp notifications, we have eliminated the majority of emails being sent to joining agents, effectively streamlining critical communications. Pre- and post-join notifications will also be searchable in My eXp, making it easy to find notifications that may have been missed. As a reminder, all eXp agents worldwide can access and review valuable Revenue Share information quickly and easily on the My eXp website or on the My eXp App, which is available in the Apple App Store and Google Play. Agents can download reports directly to their device and then sort the data to derive critical insights.
TO DO
WHAT
Introducing
SkySlope Books Initiate payments and transfers, track money, and get valuable financial insights with SkySlope Books, a seamless office accounting and commission disbursement solution that syncs to SkySlope transactions. Check it out at skyslope.com
Autosplit and Assign Improvements Machine learning continues to improve the speed and accuracy of our AI-powered feature that divides, names, and assigns document packets to your SkySlope Checklists.
Option to Add Property Type To enhance listing accuracy, a new Skye workflow can be turned on by your brokerage requiring agents to enter both “property type” and “property subtype” when listing a property.
Custom Folders in Transaction Documents Organize your workflow and create custom folders in SkySlope. Add documents to your folders with a few clicks.
New Enhanced Agent Experience A faster way to find transactions has arrived. One search bar now delivers matching search results from across all SkySlope solutions. Look out for this feature rolling out to all users over the next few months.
Expanded Representation Types Select and tag transactions with more specific representation types such as “lease tenant,” “lease landlord,” and more.
TO DO
WHAT
Make sure you have your mailing address set to your home. You may be missing out on some important mailings by having things sent to the office!
www.reallygreatsite.com
WHAT
TO DO
Are you checking your stock awards regularly?
OCTOBER
AGENT SPOTLIGHT
MEET
Penny AND
Phantasa Family means everything to Tuscaloosa's Pointer Home Team. In fact, Penny and Phantasa are a mother daughter real estate duo. They enjoy spending time with each other so much that they work together while also taking care of Penelope, Phantasa's beautiful daughter. Penelope does her part on the team by being adorable in all social media marketing and making all the clients fall in love with her. Besides working, both Penny and Phantasa enjoy spending time with their husbands; Jeremy and Ricky, who both work at Warrior Met Coal Focused on enjoying life and living to the fullest, Penny and her husband actually take 3 to 4 cruises per year. Relocating from Virginia in 2017, both Penny and Phantasa were social workers. Penny decided to make a transition into real estate when she settled in Tuscaloosa. After seeing Penny's immediate success, Phantasa joined her mom in the business in 2021. They chose to align with eXp Realty a year after having met Genny Williams. "I had a buyer who wanted to make an offer on one of her listings in Duncanville. Her warmth and kindness left a lasting impression. She invited us to several training events that always taught us more about the business. Penny finally decided that it was time to make a change," explains Phantasa. Aligning with the eXp model allows them to be a member of 3 MLS, which would be a challenge with other brokerages. They believe unwavering consistency is the key to staying successful. But, they also value continuing education and seminars; especially about marketing trends. They strive to stay ahead of the curve with innovative technology and methods.
OCTOBER
AGENT SPOTLIGHT
Trust, consistent effective communication, and complete honesty are the three factors Penny and Phantasa feel are the most important in creating long lasting client relationships. In fact, transparent communication prevents negative situations and unreasonable expectations that can often happen in an emotionally charged real estate transaction. The team's 2024 goal is to expand their listing inventory and continue to develop their exceptional service. The best advice they have ever received and what to share to you is: never give up, work hard, and treat others like you want to be treated! To send Penny and Phantasa a referral or to collaborate, contact them at (276) 7013684, (276) 451-5322, or by email at sold@pointerhometeam.com.
MARKETING
TIPS
We've shifted from a harvest season to a seed-planting season.
How do we plant seeds? Do All the Things: Now is the time to do all the things we always say we'll do when we aren't so busy. It's time to revamp your business/brand, learn and expand what you have to offer your clients, and evaluate what's working and what's not.
Revamp: Canva should be your best friend right now. Spruce up your branding and templates. Create that listing presentation you've been putting off. Beef up your database. Your network is your net worth. Create a newsletter so you have a way to reach all of your people if we wake up one day and social media has disappeared.
Learn: XTeam and eXp World have countless training options available on demand. Collaborate with other agents like never before. Consider a new certification. Read! Evaluate: Take inventory of your business. Where are your deals actually coming from? Cut unnecessary costs. Check your subscriptions. Trim the fat. Not one dollar needs to be wasted right now.
Last but not least, touch your sphere! You will have more seed-planting opportunities in Q4 than you had in the first 3 quarters combined... from tailgates, to Thanksgiving, to end of the year parties, to Christmas & New Years celebrations.
NEW AGENTS
XTEAM
Welcome to the Future of Real Estate!
Kelli Bracey
Christina chapman
Shae Fagan
Brittany Jackson
Michael Armstrong Vijayakumar Arunachalam Morgan Davis Donielle Fagan Kenneth James Edgar Rodriguez
X-TEAM OCTOBER
CALENDAR
TRIVIA OF THE MONTH! The first 3 people to text Sarah the correct answer will win a delicious sweet treat!
Text: 205-339-5966 with the answer
! W NO TRIVIA QUESTION: As an icon agent, how much money in stock is awarded when you attend a regional rally?
September Trivia Winners Jordan Holt
Phantasa Rose
Jane Grace
Tonya Lee