welcome everyone to another exciting episode of the team lead talks podcast i'm your host out of Alexandria Virginia Andrew Becker on this call today one of my new friends we were just talking before the episode we just completed a 72 hour fast together that was really cool Rich Robledo of the Robledo Group out of Las Vegas, Nevada. What's up, Rich? How you doing, man? I'm doing great, Andrew. How are you doing? Good, dude. So let's just get the fast stuff out of the way real quick. We just went through 72 hours. How are you feeling? Did you like it? Did you not like it? I feel amazing. I didn't enjoy it. One of the virtues I like to live my life by is self-structured suffering, right? So that is something that helped me focus on that, Andrew. And I ended it last night with a 30-minute sauna. Okay. And I celebrated with sushi. So I feel amazing this morning, man. Excited to check with you today and looking forward to get going. Yeah, man. We had such a cool conversation on our connection call a few weeks back. So I've been looking forward to this one ever since. So, Rich, let's jump right into this, man. We know you're in Las Vegas. You have a real estate group, but let's get the high level, like who Rich is, how you got started, that kind of thing. Then I'd love to hear about your business operation. Yeah, man. So Rich Worldblood, I've been in real estate for 22 years, man. Like most people who get in the real estate, it wasn't something I sought. Bought my second house and one of my buddies pulled me aside. He goes, hey, I think you should do real estate. And I kind of asked him, said, I'm buying my second home and I think I'm doing all right. Why would you say I should try real estate. And he, he says, man, he goes, everybody loves you. And I think he would do really well. Nobody likes me and I'm doing really well. Right. Andrew. Yeah. Yeah. He was my agent. He was somebody I was in the air force with. Right. And I remember going into an open house once with him, Andrew, and he was wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and you figure this is 2001. right so there wasn't really a lot of agents in casual gear at the time yeah and the open house agent pulling me aside and making a comment about what he was wearing not being professional and how he would like to represent me yeah in the purchase of uh of a home and uh i'll never forget mike unro man is that is the guy who got me into real estate so i was in cable sales at the time and i go back to the cable uh office you know you're always seeking mentorship or some some sort of guidance. That's my direct supervisor. I think I'm going to try real estate. And she goes, well, you're making really good money. I don't know why you'd want to try something different. Couldn't this be good enough? And then I said, well, I really think I want to try it. And then her comment that caught me was, well, there's a lot of real estate agents in Las Vegas. It'd be difficult for you to get started. Well, I don't know if that's really a reason for me not to. And then she finished with, I got my real estate license and I wasn't able to be successful. So I don't know if you should try. Wow. How did you think that, man? Yeah. I kind of, you know, you listen a lot. And then I went and I asked the vice president of marketing and it was the same conversation, right? You're making really good money, Rich. You're one of our top guys. Why do you want to try something that you've never done before? there's too many real estate agents in Las Vegas. And then the, the, the two people I asked for help finished it with, I got my real estate license and I wasn't able to do it. So I don't think you can do it. Yeah, man, dude, we talked sports earlier. Did you ever watch the last dance, the Michael Jordan Netflix thing? I watched it with my son and we listened with podcasts and I love Kobe, Michael and Tiger. Yeah, man. This is reminding me of one, I forget what episode, but someone told Michael Jordan that he like, couldn't do something and he just went, okay, okay, okay. And then you, you did that too. And okay. So now you talk to everyone in the cable company telling you, no, you're not going to be successful because I wasn't like that has anything to do with it anyways. and then what happened after that? So after Al told me I should try it, you know, that weekend, I thought about it. Then I signed up for the class. I know how I study. So I was told that you just need to memorize the information to pass your license. So I took class and I would go to class after my work and I would just sit in the class, read the book and do the sample tests. And that was all I did. It was one month and that's what I did. And then I went in and I took the test and passed on the first time. Nice. And then I went in and I told told them that I'm going to go into real estate. And they're like, why? I said, because you guys said I couldn't. Yeah. Nice. Stuck it to them Right Yeah Well it was just this thing man where I believe too many people listen to other people failure of their dreams to define their life Yeah Right And I was just like, good point. That's for you guys, right? There's no reason to say that I can't be successful or I can't do it. Right. So dude, how that was in 20, 2001, 2002, you said sometime. Yeah. Yeah. That was the end of 2001. So I got into real estate in 2002. All right. So 2002, now we're in 2026, 24 years later, flash ahead. You have a group in Vegas. You're crushing it. Let's talk about that. Who do you guys help? Let's talk about the structure and how everything in the Robledo group goes down here. Well, listen, man, because of all the social media and things like that, people will have this idea that I only help luxury clients, right? However, I am honored to help anybody from a first-time home buyer to an investor or that luxury client looking to buy a finished product or to buy a lot, go through the process with the architect, the general contractor to get that finished product, right? I sold a mobile home last year to a friend of mine who bought it six years ago for a friend of his son who passed away. Right. He called me. He goes, Rich, I know it's not what you typically sell. I said, the process is the same. And it was honorable when you help this young, this young man when he was 18 and his father passed, you gave him a place to stay. Right. And now that he's moving into a transitional home because he needs more care, I'd be honored to help again. Right. It's not so much for me, the dollar amount, Andrew, it's more about the relationship and the facilitation of that process for somebody to get to their end goal. Very cool. So you help in any price point, anyone tell us about your team. This is obviously called the Teamly Talks podcast. What I'd love to hear just a very high level, like how your team is set up. And then let's talk about like some lessons learned from like, how do you, where'd you screw up? Like, I want someone to take away from this. Like, oh man, I'm running a team. I'm running to the same stuff that Rich just mentioned. And then like how you got out of it and how you made it better. But first off, Rich, describe the team. Like, how do you work? What's your model at your group? Yeah, man. So I've got an assistant, a marketing assistant, a transaction coordinator, and four buyers agents that helped me. Right. I had that process, man, earlier in my career where I had my assistant helping me with marketing transactions and a lot of other stuff. And I figured out that that was putting too much stress on her. So now I'm looking for specific people to do a specific task to better help the environment and the team. So a specialist in marketing, a specialist in transaction coordination, you've separated those roles with people in each of them. Correct. And really a lifesaver for me, and I got a compliment this week on her, was my assistant, right? In real estate, a lot of the stuff that I do professionally translates into personally. So I had to find an assistant that could help remove stress for me professionally and personally. So Jen helps me incredibly, man, with, I call her like a utility player. Like she has somebody that can fill the gaps when I need it. She knows my travel schedule. She knows my family schedule. She really has been a lifesaver for me the last two years, right? And it's something that my wife and myself will talk about. babe, I don't know if Jen should do that. And I said, I asked Jen to help me with that. And it's been as much as Andrew helping pick up my son at school. Okay. I was going to ask if she's virtual or in person. It sounds like she's in Vegas with you so she can pick up your kids at school. Yeah. Yeah. She in my right hand, right. I need people that I can talk to and I can connect with. And that's amazing. My transaction coordinator, once the team gets anything, she runs and does everything. I told my assistant, I'm like, listen, we are responsible for all of our transactions, but we trust and empower Michelle. Yeah. Open escrows, reach out to people, get everything signed and move everything forward so that you're not bogged down with the transaction stuff. Right. The paperwork aspect of the transaction stuff. Yeah. The paperwork stuff. The marketing social media is something different, right? That is, hey, what are the scripts? What are the contents we need? What are the flyers? What are the graphics that we've got to put in place? And that is something I saw that when I was asking my assistant, she wasn't versed in. So we needed to figure out that play as well. The specialist in that aspect of your game. Correct. Got it. Right. And then what I figured out a couple of years ago, Andrew, is that every videographer, as I'm looking to do more videos has their own feel and genre. Right And I still trying to find that right videographer who fits my genre Cause I figured I listen to hip hop but I listen to 90s hip hop Okay So I'm going to find the group of people that just ignite and are powerful in that space so that my brand appeal and marketing comes across effortlessly and smoothly. Got it. So Rich, having all these people on your team, your team members in specific roles and responsibilities, is a strategic play that you put into production, right? What does that do for you, Rich, the agent, in terms of like allowing you to focus on so you're not focusing all those? Because those are three very key roles in any, whether you're a solo agent or your team, marketing, transaction coordination, and just like day-to-day administrative stuff. But how awesome has it been and what have you been able to do above and beyond having to work on those lower hanging fruit type items? Well, it's kind of allowed me to help with the delegation, right? And it's allowed me to go out and promote the group and other activities in the community and other events so that we can continue to grow our social currency in the Valley to get more clients, right? And I'll tell my agents and some agents think differently of it. Nine to five pays the bills. Five to midnight creates the legacy. Right. So I am always out looking to connect in the community, whether it's hosting a cigar event, going to shooting ranges, being involved in philanthropy, politics or education, going out, getting engaged, finding those clients that are in that perfect avatar. and bringing those in so that I can kind of give that handoff with trust that it will be handled. That house for $235,000, he called me. I said, listen, we're going to have the initial conversation, but I want you to know that the team is going to take over from here and we will probably talk again when we get a contract. Some people understand that. Some people don't because they think that we should be the ones opening the door. being there for the inspection, right? Meeting the appraiser, being at the signing, doing all of those things. I think it's allowed me to step back, do bigger events and more marketing so we can continue to bring in the ideal clients that we're looking for. Yeah, what you just said is a mental thing, in my opinion. And I went through this too with our team. Like you think, Rich, you need to be there for every client at every point. But I attribute it to like, not to sound cliche, but like the doctor's office, right? Like you walk in and it's a receptionist, then the nurse, then the doctor, then the doctor leaves and then a nurse comes back and does everything else. But I'm never like upset at the doctor for not being there at the door to greet me. And I also, I almost think two things here. Number one, giving up that and leveraging other team members is hard for some people to do. And I get why, but not if you set proper expectations, like you just said, you told them this is how it's going to work. Number two, I personally think it comes across as much more professional. So it's like, man, Rich is this big team leader. Like he has his stuff together. He told me that Sam was going to do this. Michelle was going to do that. And he was kind of there the whole time, but I respect the fact that he wasn't opening a door for an inspector and standing around for one hour. You kind of think differently if that were the case, right? I'm like, why is Rich here? Like thought he was this big guy, like big agent, but he's like, he's sitting in the kitchen, just scrolling his phone while we're sitting doing a two or three hour inspection. So I think it works in your favor. And it does what you just said. Like your number one goal for as a team owner is to get leads through the door, clients through the door for your team to operate. Cause if that doesn't even happen, then what's the point of having everything else, right? Yeah. And I love that analogy you used of being a doctor. We had a client say that It was actually Jen who brought that up because we sold a listing really quick. And I don't have incredible bedside manner, Andrew. I'm short, direct, and to the point. And a client was upset because we sold the house fairly quick. And, well, you weren't here, and I feel that you're not emotionally there for me. Or, like, it was a stressful situation for her. And Jen told her at an inspection, she goes, rich doesn't have to be here to put the lockbox on to take photos or to let people in right and i think she was a little upset because sometimes clients want us here and i was in europe okay and we sold the house in 24 hours and she goes i just don't think that you know you deserve the money that you're making and i'm like you hired me to do a job right and it was and jane told her, which is the surgeon you want when something is bad or the attorney you want to defend if you're about to go to jail and we're his team and we help him. That scenario you just described is few and far between, but it also is a testament to like how efficient and effective your team is And it ironic that that was one of the comments from a client because you just to me being in the real estate industry for such a long time tells me like Rich knows what the hell he's doing. He marketed it. What would you rather prefer it was on the market for two months? And no, you saw Rich every day? No. So your efficiencies and your effectiveness with marketing, with the administrative transaction items, with putting a lockbox on, You're so good at it. That allows you to do that. You removed how many hurdles for that lady because you just had your systems together and your processes down. Yeah. And there's I don't know, I guess it comes up and you just deal with it as it comes up. But what else are you going to do, man? Did you wind up like accepting the offer and closing on it? We closed it efficiently, quickly. She was able to buy her new house contingent. right we closed that and she was able to close that chapter in her life because her son started college in idaho so she was able to move close to him it was smooth yeah it's just funny and ironic to me that someone complains about how smooth a transaction can really be what's the other alternative like rich screws everything up and it's really stressful and hard well and i figured out after the transaction, Andrew, that that's what this person was used to in life. Yeah. And I was just like, I don't believe that life should be full of distraction, hurdles, pain and suffering that I want to work with people that appreciate the ease, efficiency and transition. So me, me too, man. Me too. So Rich, this time is actually like flown by very quickly. But if someone's in Vegas and wants to talk to your group and to you about how they can also get their home sold quickly for the most amount of money, how does somebody get in touch with you? How does someone chat with you? They can find us on Instagram, Andrew, at rich underscore Robledo or at the Robledo group. Google my name. I am everywhere. Always tell people that when you hire me, not only do you get the agent, but you also get a concierge to the city. So I will make you feel like a native within one month and show you all of the stuff that most tourists or people that have lived in town for more than 10 years access to. Very cool, man. We will include Rich's and his group's information in the description of this episode as well. So we'll make it even easier for those to reach out. Rich, one more question. I see this wall of books behind you. I have a wall of books behind me. It looks like we both read. Normally I say, what can you share like a resource, a checklist, something like that. But let's talk about a book. Can you share a book that someone listening out there can read that will change their life, their community or their business for the better? Man, let me do this for you. Let me see the first book I see when I turn around. Because these are all powerful. I got two. Never Eat Alone, dude. I'm reading that next. Never Eat Alone was given to me as a friend. Talks about connecting, rapport and a community, right? A friend of mine who's a political strategist handed this to me. He gives this to his new hires whenever he brings them on. And Lives of the Stoics. I don't have that one. When I don't have a book, I go to Amazon on the spot. Keep talking. But I'm going to order it right now. What was it called? Lives of the Stoics by Ryan Holiday. Got it. Okay, I'm ordering it right now. But what is that book about, Rich? The book's about is just the mentality and a philosophy where, and it is as old as time, about being able to control your emotions and what you do. And this is one of my daily books I read every morning. Every morning? What, is it like an excerpt from it? No, it's just kind of like I believe in devotion and motivational items for daily reminders to help me get started during the day. So I'll tell people my day is led by faith, family, faith, fitness and family. Cool. And it just gives you a little quote and then a story about people. And today's thing was, I don't agree with those who plunge headlong into the middle of the flood and who, except in a turbulent life, struggle daily in great spirit with difficult circumstances. The wise person will endure that, but won't choose it, choosing to be at peace rather than at war. Wow. That really, that book really gets you to think, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. It kind of, it's a reminder, man. Hey, it's not too serious. right all we do is sell houses i'm just a common man let's go make some money have some fun yeah man well that is a good thought to end with for everyone on here rich it's been so great to have you on have you in our fasting little group that we're doing i hope you do it with us again in march i'll do it so much for your time dude it was a pleasure having you thanks andrew appreciate it buddy all right bye man all right bye you
