Outside The Box
Outside the Box is the podcast for real estate agents who want to grow their business. Every episode provides actionable strategies that help you grow your repeat, referral, and sphere of influence business. Referrals don’t happen on accident—they happen on purpose, and we bring you insights from top agents and coaches who have mastered the art of relationship-based growth. Tune in for practical, proven tactics that will help you generate more business from the people who already know, like, and trust you!
Outside The Box
Secret Sauce: Consistency Beats Shiny Object Syndrome | Kelley Decowski
Kelly Decowski shares her journey from classroom teacher to successful real estate agent, revealing how starting on a team and implementing consistent referral systems led to over 400 homes sold and $200 million in transaction volume.
• Left teaching career to have more flexibility for family life and school events
• Learned valuable routines and habits from successful brokers like Roger Soderstrom and Janice Petaway
• Uses Brian Buffini's referral system with handwritten notes, monthly calls, and pop-bys
• Hired a transaction coordinator after hitting a plateau, which freed up time for income-producing activities
• Focuses on nurturing existing network rather than chasing cold leads
• Provides exceptional client experiences through staging, professional photography, and moving assistance
• Receives surprising referrals from childhood connections and school acquaintances
• Recommends The Millionaire Real Estate Agent as most impactful business book
• Services Martin and St. Lucie counties on Florida's Treasure Coast
The best success comes from embracing the network you already have rather than chasing new leads. Your ideal client isn't a demographic category—it's someone who already knows and trusts you.
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Chad Armbruster – https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadaarmbruster/
Teams are a fabulous way to start. The licensing class only teaches you how to stay out of jail. It doesn't teach you anything about actually selling real estate.
Chad Armbruster:Thanks for joining us on Outside the Box, where we talk through actionable strategies that help you generate more repeat referral and sphere of influence. Business Referrals don't happen by accident. They happen on purpose. For those who don't know, my name is Chad Armbruster, ceo of BizBox, and alongside me, as always, is my co-host and full-time realtor and son, justin Armbruster.
Justin Armbruster:Today we have Kelly Dekowski, with Remax of Stewart, joining us all the way from Stewart Florida. Kelly has been serving buyers and sellers in the Stewart area since 2014 and has sold over 400 homes in her career, resulting in over $200 million in sales volume. Kelly, thanks for joining us today.
Kelley Decowski:Thank you for having me.
Chad Armbruster:So tell us, how did you get into the real estate business?
Kelley Decowski:Well, I've had a very windy road into the real estate business.
Kelley Decowski:My mom was an agent when we lived up in Boston and then we moved to Florida when I was a kid, and I don't know why she stopped selling real estate because she was pretty good at it to the office as a kid, and that was back in the days when they had MLS books and so her office had a basement and if customers came my brother and I had to go down to the basement because she didn't really want anybody to know that we were there, and so we played office, we went through the MLS books and so, you know, I don't know if that kind of planted the seed, but later on, when I graduated college, I went right into leasing apartments, marketing apartments, the multifamily side of the real estate business.
Kelley Decowski:I managed properties for a few years and then just kind of accidentally, ended up working for some residential real estate offices. Ended up working for some residential real estate offices and at the time being an agent and being commissioned only was super, super scary, so I avoided it as much as I could, and I actually ended up going to grad school and teaching public school for 10 years while my kids were little. And then I just got to a point where I was missing all of their stuff in school and I had avoided being an agent because I didn't want to work the weekends and I didn't want to work the evenings. And I decided that if I had to do that in order to go on the field trips and go to the school performances, then I was willing to do that, and so that was a little over 11 years ago, um, and it was the best leap that I could have possibly taken.
Chad Armbruster:What would you say? I guess, or maybe none or all contributed the most, that gave you the most um, you know, springboard or wisdom. Was it the fact that your mom was an agent and you gathered a lot of good information from her? Was it the um being you know yourself in the residential side, even though it was in sales or teaching? I mean, did what, I guess, any of those contribute or help you become a better agent or you took over into the real estate side?
Kelley Decowski:I think it really was the whole journey. Um, it was really even the start from seeing kind of what my mom did working in residential real estate offices and seeing what those agents did, as well as the managers and coaches. I got to work for some amazing brokers. I worked for Roger Soderstrom in Lake Mary, florida. He was running Sterling International Realty at the time. Eventually it became Sotheby's. I also worked for Janice Petaway when she opened her exit real estate offices. She is now the vice president of exit and I learned an incredible amount from them. And those are two really hard working people, and Janice especially, because Janice was a working mom and she ran a really successful real estate business and she never missed a thing for her kids. And so when I was, you know, trapped in my classroom and, you know, missing Halloween parades and having to skip going on the field trips, I often thought of her. You know, she managed to do it and was really good at it. So if she could do it, so can I.
Chad Armbruster:Love it you, if I'm, if I'm understanding what you said, right, you had got into real estate, not necessarily for the money side, but it was. It seemed like it was more freedom of schedule. It was going to allow you to be a better mom. Did I understand that right?
Kelley Decowski:Yeah, yeah, that's it, that's exactly it. Because you know, we we do have some freedom of schedule in real estate, um, and a lot of it is driven by our customers, um, but you can make that trade off of I'm going to work a couple hours on Saturdays and show buyers, so that I can have Wednesday morning free to go over to the school, and so, since you're in business, basically for yourself, you can make those choices, and so that was really appealing for me as a mom and wanting to be a good mom.
Justin Armbruster:And I imagine too, at the time when you made that transition, it was purely a personal decision, in that I want to be a better mom, I want to be with my kids more, but probably over the last 11 years that's probably been a good source of business for you is being involved in your kids activities, going to those things, meeting new people, would you say that's right.
Kelley Decowski:Oh yeah, absolutely. Um, in fact, you know as we're talking about. You know're talking about referrals. Referrals come from the people that you're spending time with and the people that you're meeting and the people that you have things in common with being involved in the schools, and being involved in the schools twofold, because I was there as a parent with my kids. But I also knew a lot of people because I had been a former teacher and now in my current role, I'm actually sit on the education foundation board for our local school foundation. So I meet school related people that way. So I've kind of been in the school world either as a teacher or a parent or now as a board member for a long time.
Justin Armbruster:Love it.
Chad Armbruster:So you, since you brought up the referral aspect, I guess what's the the one habit or routine that you kind of helps you consistently stay in front of your sphere of influence?
Kelley Decowski:So I use Brian Buffini's CRM and so that for me makes the referral part pretty easy. You know, brian's system is the note cards, the phone calls, the client events, and then a monthly email and a monthly. He calls it an item of value, I call it a newsletter. I very often stick my own stuff in that mailing. So but you know, if you follow it then you are reaching out to your sphere and touching base with people on a regular basis, and you know. That, I think, is the secret. It's the regular, rhythmic routine of it that makes the difference. You can't just call somebody once a year or mail them a card at Christmas and expect them to send you business for the next 12 months.
Justin Armbruster:So can you say that again, the people who aren't familiar with Brian Buffini's maybe CRM or coaching what are the key kind of things that he tells you to do?
Kelley Decowski:So Brian Buffini's whole system is only working by referral and his idea is that if you follow his system, you should never have to really call cold leads, um, or chase people down, because you are constantly nurturing your sphere of influence and the major components of it is that you take your sphere, you group them into A, B, Cs and then you are focused on the people that are most likely to refer you, so that would be your group A's, and you are reaching out to them on a regular basis. So you're calling them once a month, you're sending them a handwritten note card, um, rather than you know the generic pre-printed Christmas cards. You're actually handwriting the notes on a regular basis, Cause who does that anymore?
Kelley Decowski:Um as well as sending them a monthly mailing that hopefully hits something that is timely, with useful information for them.
Justin Armbruster:Oh, I love that. I love the note cards. That's something that I have implemented into my business and I think it's one of the best pieces of marketing that I do, because it just means so much more than a postcard or a marketing magnet or whatnot. You took the time to write out a note card for someone. I even had my own postcards made with the text on the outside that says this is not a text and then, when they open it up.
Justin Armbruster:You know, I wrote yeah because sometimes you know those things that you write to them. You could, you could text them. You know you could text them or call them, but just go on. The extra step is means a little bit more.
Kelley Decowski:Absolutely. Couldn't agree more.
Chad Armbruster:So what are some common mistakes that you see realtors make when they're trying to grow their business?
Kelley Decowski:So I think the most common mistake, which I'm a hundred percent guilty of myself, is not hiring help soon enough. I had hit kind of a plateau in my business. So when I first started full-time sales, remember, I was terrified of it. So I joined a team and I was on a team for three years. It was great. After three years I felt like at that point my own sphere was really sending me most of my business. So I stepped off of the team and for about three years my business stayed kind of the same the three years after I left the team.
Kelley Decowski:So I had realized I had kind of hit a plateau and wasn't really sure what to do. So I spent a good year stressed out and struggling until I finally hired a transaction coordinator. Her name is Leslie and she is the backbone of my business and that made such a huge difference. It freed up my time to a huge degree and I was able to focus on those income producing activities a lot more. Leslie's role with me has grown over the years. She now does a lot more admin work to help me out as well. But if I'd hired her earlier I could have saved myself a whole lot of time and a whole lot of stress and I think for a lot of agents that want to grow their business, there's that fear of I'm going to have to commit to another person, I'm going to have to start writing a check every two weeks or every month and start with a huge. You know what can seem like a huge expense, but I think the earlier you do it the better, because it does allow your business to grow.
Kelley Decowski:And then you can focus on that sphere of influence and those referrals instead of focusing on whether or not the addendums have been signed from the inspection and whether or not the escrow deposits are there on time.
Justin Armbruster:So you said not hiring someone soon enough, and obviously there's not a blanket answer for everybody, but what would you define as soon enough? When should an agent be thinking about? Hey, it might be time to bring on a transaction coordinator. Is there a? Obviously income is so you know up to everybody, but is there a particular time that you think would be best?
Kelley Decowski:I think it's as soon as your business starts to stagnate, so when you are at the point where you, you, you can't really do any more. So you know, if you have sold 20 homes a year for two years in a row and you're just not getting over that 20 mark, then you should hire somebody. They need to take some of the stuff, some of that admin stuff off your plate those transactions, the chasing, the other agents, the setting up the showings, so that you are free to go make more connections with other people, to go find some more buyers, go find some more sellers, so that you can break through and get over that 20 transactions.
Justin Armbruster:I love it.
Chad Armbruster:So is there anything unique that you do to generate referrals or to increase your business from your database?
Kelley Decowski:Honestly, this isn't rocket science.
Chad Armbruster:Before we dive into that, the Outside of the Box podcast is all about building repeat and referral business, because smart realtors know that serving clients is the secret sauce.
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Kelley Decowski:It really is just a matter of being consistent, and so maybe that's the part that makes me unique, because I am consistent in doing it.
Kelley Decowski:I get up every morning, I have my coffee, I check the MLS, I sit down and I write my notes. My notes are in my mailbox by 8 am in the morning to go out. So and then you know, the rest of the day I focus on dropping off my pop buys, making my calls and any kind of miscellaneous tasks that show up. But you know, the consistency is absolutely key and if you are consistent with nurturing your database and going after your sphere of influence, then it absolutely makes a difference.
Justin Armbruster:I think that is significantly more unique than even you think it is being consistent. I mean, as a realtor, we're constantly being advertised to you know, whether it's a new marketing thing or a new ad, a new direct mail line, and it's easy for us to get, and I know, because I'm guilty of it, shiny object syndrome and that you know sometimes the things that are right in front of you that you know your coworker has been doing for the past 10 years. There's a reason they're successful. You know, maybe those things work you just got to do them consistently.
Kelley Decowski:Yeah, I absolutely agree. And you know it's just like exercise. You know, if you consistently exercise, you know it's just like um exercise. You know if you, if you consistently exercise, you will get in better shape, if you consistently do the activities that nurture your database, you will get more referrals.
Justin Armbruster:Yeah.
Chad Armbruster:On your pop buys? Do you have something you just consistently do on pop buys, or is it customer specific, time of year or anything?
Kelley Decowski:on pop buys, or is it customer specific, time of year or anything? Okay, so, speaking of shiny object syndrome, that is what I fall victim to is, um, I, I like the pop buys, I like the marketing and the creativity of it. So I have some things that I do consistently, but I can definitely all of a sudden see a great idea on Facebook and go running to the craft store to put it together. Um, so I, I consistently do poinsettias for my customers at Christmas time. Um, we do the pot, the reverse pop by the pie party at Thanksgiving. Um, I do Valentine's, a Valentine gift of some sort. That kind of changes every year, you know.
Kelley Decowski:So I think the secret to Popeyes, which has taken me about 10 years to figure out, is that if you look at the calendar and you can Google it and get a calendar of all of the made up holidays Like we just had National popcorn day on Sunday, and so you know those can if you pick one or two out per month, those can completely guide your pop buys.
Kelley Decowski:Um, and then you know there's a zillion websites out there for cute, you know, pop buys that you can put together and drop off on a consistent basis. Some of them are really nice. Like nobody knew it was National Popcorn Day and, quite frankly probably nobody cared. But the pop buy that I made for it, which unfortunately I don't have in the room, but the pop buy that I made for it, really I could drop off all year long. So you know, having those made and ready is really nice because on busy days you can still get it done, because I can still grab them and drop them off at people's houses. I try and do four to five pop buys a week, which according to Brian's system I'm supposed to be doing 16 pop buys a week.
Chad Armbruster:And that's just not realistic for me.
Kelley Decowski:So if I can get four or five dropped off in a week, I consider it a win.
Justin Armbruster:I love. It's as easy as you know. You don't have to be creative. Google it what's a made up holiday, you know. And then you know popcorn day. Google a pop by with popcorn and you know someone else has done the work.
Chad Armbruster:You just need to duplicate and repeat absolutely yeah, that's awesome on you four or five a week? I I mean, are you ever I mean a rotation, is it? No, everybody in my database gets one a year and I spread it over four to five a week. Or are you doing it to the whatever your top ones, like your a, your a group, several times a year?
Kelley Decowski:So my a group definitely gets more than anybody else, um, cause they are the top priority Um, so they're absolutely going to get pies and poinsettias and, um, some of those consistent things I do every year. They absolutely get them. Um, but then you know, I have to cycle in new people because I want you know my, the customer that just closed last week. I want them to hopefully send me somebody in six months. So the, the Buffini CRM kind of prioritizes the people for you based on how many referrals they've sent you and what category they are A, b, c, d. So that kind of makes it easy. But some of it's by neighborhood. I have a couple of neighborhoods I farm and so if I feel like a couple of months have gone by and I haven't really been in there, then I will put together pop buys and go drop them off in one fell swoop. What is the? I'm drawing a blank.
Justin Armbruster:What is the name of Brian's CRM? I will put together pop buys and go drop them off in one fell swoop. What is the? I'm drawing a blank.
Kelley Decowski:What is the name of Brian's?
Justin Armbruster:CRM A referral maker. Referral maker Yep, I've heard. I don't use it personally, but I've heard great things about it.
Kelley Decowski:People who commit to that system will just dominate it. Yeah, I have a couple of agents in my office I mean a lot of agents in my office use it, but I have a couple that actually don't like it because they feel like it's too simple. For me, simple works. You know there are other agents that want to be able to capture cold leads. They want to do internet stuff and it's it's just. It's just a different business model. So for them Buffini system might not be robust enough. But you know, I'm a single agent and I am perfectly happy to just consistently stay with my simple system that works.
Justin Armbruster:Yeah, absolutely.
Chad Armbruster:Yeah, so how long have you used Brian's systems?
Kelley Decowski:10 years.
Chad Armbruster:Oh, pretty much. Yeah, I started with it when I was on a team when I very first started. So would you I guess you've mentioned the team thing Would you recommend that? A lot of times it's a good idea for new agents to get into the business through a team to start with, or what's your, I guess, what's your philosophy on that?
Kelley Decowski:Yeah, I think teams are a fabulous way to start because you know the licensing class only teaches you how to stay out of jail. It doesn't teach you anything about actually selling real estate, and brokerages vary. You know there are some brokerages out there that are really good, that have great training systems, and there are others that earlier. You know the successful people in your office are successful for a reason and so if you join a team, you're putting yourself with successful people, You're learning what to do. Hopefully you're learning good habits, good routines, and you know the one thing that I see I see people that stay on teams way too long, and not that there's anything wrong.
Kelley Decowski:I mean, I know some agents that have been on teams for 10, 15 years and if that's working for them and it's putting them at a level of production that they're happy with, there's really nothing wrong with it. I just think that you plateau kind of your own growth 10 to 15 years on a team. But then I see people that are on teams for six months and they're like I got this, I'm done, I'm just going to go out and sell, and then they go from selling 10 houses a year to two and are scratching their heads wondering why. So I think that anywhere from three to five years on a team is a really good way to start, and it sounds like a long time, but for most of us, if you're a career agent, you're going to be an agent for 20 or 30 years. So three to five years in the beginning is really not not that much.
Justin Armbruster:Yeah, and I love what you said and I think more people who get into the business and join teams need to maybe think this way. But when you join a team, you're not necessarily joining the team for today's money. You're joining it for to learn about routines and habits that what makes that team leader successful. You know when do they get into the office? What are they doing with their time? How much time are they spending on social media just scrolling in the office? You know how do they have conversations on the phone, learning some of those things and not just getting leads from your team leader. I mean, those are invaluable. That I think people learn but don't actually realize. That's the big part of why they can go out on their own.
Kelley Decowski:Yeah, absolutely. And you know again, I mentioned some of the role models that I had Roger Soderstrom did not have a team he was running a brokerage but Janice did have a team. He was running a brokerage, but Janice did have a team and she you know I already mentioned is a really, really hard worker and so she ran a really successful team. And so when I was looking for my own team to join, I did the same thing. I looked for a really successful agent and I learned an incredible. Her name was Susan and I learned an incredible amount from her, and a lot of that was those habits of being at the office early in the morning. You know you don't start your day as an agent at noon. You've got early, bird catches the worm, you've got to be there early and, uh, you know that that might mean that you have a really long day, but you know she's successful for a reason.
Chad Armbruster:Yeah, yeah. So if you had to start over today, what would be your top priority for building a strong network of repeat and referral business? Be your top priority for building a strong network of repeat and referral business.
Kelley Decowski:So I think that I would spend more time embracing the network that I already have. So I think that when I first got into the business even you know, when I joined the team I think that I fell victim to what a lot of agents do, which is, you know what, I'm not going to worry about my friends or the parents at school. I'm going to do open houses and I'm going to get those leads and I'm going to, you know, chase after some of the leads that my team leader has given me. And I don't think I realized I had this whole big network sitting right in front of me. So I wish that I had started nurturing that sooner. It took me a little while, it took me a couple of years before I kind of had that light bulb moment where, you know, my ideal customer is sitting right in front of me. I just need to reach out to them and ask them to help me. And once I did, they did. Some of my best referral sources are the moms that my kids went to kindergarten with.
Justin Armbruster:Yep, that is so funny. We hear in marketing and in real estate all the time who is your target audience. You know who is your ideal customer and I think a lot of agents get distracted by maybe some of the tags they can put on clients. You know my ideal clients first time home buyers or I want to do luxury or relocation and it just hit me a couple months ago. You know my ideal client is someone who already knows me. Yeah, you know, it's not a particular type of client, it's someone who I already know, someone who's already in my network. That's the people I want to work with and there's lots of those and I think agents miss out on that maybe ideal client because they're just not even thinking about it.
Kelley Decowski:Yeah, I would absolutely completely agree with you. In fact, you know so many. I hear so many people say you know I specialize in investors and my personal network. There are not really any investors and, quite frankly, I hate working with investors. I work with people who buy things based on emotion, the things that they like. I show houses to people who walk in and go oh my gosh, I can imagine my family living here. Not the investor who's crunching numbers, going yep, that doesn't work for me. So that is not my ideal client, and I completely agree. I think that sometimes agents feel like it's a multiple choice question who is your ideal client? Pick investor, first-time home buyer, luxury, move up, vacation home, and they just feel like they have to pick one out of those categories. And you're going to bond with the people that are most like you, the best, and those people are right in front of you.
Justin Armbruster:And what most realtors don't realize is that type of clientele is easier to work with because they already like you, they already have a sense of trust with you, they they're calling you. You don't have to chase it. Your quality of life will be immensely better if that is your, your target audience. Just because I think that, just from experience I've chased leads, I've done the open houses, I've tried to, you know, go after first time home buyers and do first time home buyer seminars and while you know, at the end of the day they'll all buy something, hopefully with you. But it's sometimes, it's the road that you get there. It's just easier when they already know you in the first place.
Kelley Decowski:Yeah, absolutely, and the nice part is they talk to other people that are like them. They're going to talk to the people that are also in the network.
Kelley Decowski:And so when you've done a good job for them and you've given them a great experience, they're going to tell all your friends who are all in the same group, who are all your ideal client, and it multiplies much better than relying on that open house lead who lives in a neighborhood that you've never gone to. They come from an area you've never visited. You really don't have anything in common with them other than the fact that you sell real estate and they want to buy real estate.
Justin Armbruster:Yeah, I couldn't have said it better.
Chad Armbruster:Yes, what do you think is the key to turning a one-time client into a lifelong referral source?
Kelley Decowski:You have to give them an amazing experience. They, they. So it's the restaurant analogy If you go to a bad restaurant, you tell you know 500 people and you post it on Facebook. If you have a good restaurant experience in this day and age, you might post it on Facebook, but you're also probably not going to tell anybody. You're probably going to walk away going good, I paid $50 for my meal and I had a good meal and that's the way it should have been.
Kelley Decowski:So I feel like real estate's the same way. You really need to give them a fantastic experience. They need to feel like the whole transaction is smooth and when it's not smooth, they need to know that you're out in front of it, You're taking care of the problems. You're there to make their life easier because, quite frankly, they can buy a house on their own. They can sell a house on their own. We see for sale by owners all the time. So, in order for them to choose to work with us, there has to be a reason, and that reason usually is that we're going to make it a great experience for them. We're going to relieve the stress of it from them.
Justin Armbruster:You nailed it. I think I've said it on this show before but you don't get referrals or repeat business by doing a good job. You do it. You get repeat business and referrals by doing a great job, going above and beyond. Doing a good job is just doing what you were hired and paid to do. But when you go above and beyond, now they're fans, now they want to refer you. They get excited when they hear that one of their friends is thinking about buying or selling and like oh, I know someone you know people love to refer and people love to be a connector. But you have to do a great job. You can't just do what you were hired to do.
Kelley Decowski:Yeah, absolutely. And in fact, you know, when I go on listing appointments and I talk to the seller and they find out that I'm going to provide a stager to come and do their home, I'm going to do professional photography, which which most people do by now, but we still have some agents that use the iPhone pictures. But you know, I'm going to send a cleaning crew to help them out when they're moving out and I'm going to send them their moving boxes so they don't have to be, you know, stocking the back door at Walgreens trying to get the liquor boxes. So you know, I take a lot of that stress off of them and it does make a difference with whether or not they choose me and when we're all done, it makes a difference at the end when they realize there are quite a few things along the way they didn't have to worry about because I worried about them for them.
Justin Armbruster:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you're the professional, you've done it so many times. You know what hiccups they're gonna run into long before they do. You know, if you don't remind them that, hey, you need to change your Amazon address, they're probably going to send a package to the wrong house after they close, and so sometimes it's good to be in front of those things.
Kelley Decowski:Yeah, absolutely.
Chad Armbruster:So can you share? Do you have any interesting referral success stories and what might have contributed to that success?
Kelley Decowski:Again, I have the good fortune of selling in the hometown that I grew up in, selling in the hometown that I grew up in. And so, as I have farmed my network and reached out to a lot of the people that I have known since high school, I have had some really great referrals come from some surprising places, like my church youth group that I went to in middle school. I've had two of those people reach out to me to help them with real estate transactions and it was that kind of phone call where it was like hi, do you by any chance remember me? And of course I did. But it was really cool to have that experience that 25 years later they remembered who I was and learned that I did real estate and reached out for that reason. And then again we have that snowball effect because then they knew people and they sent them to me.
Kelley Decowski:And the same thing with high school classmates. I've had a couple of high school classmates that I remember who they are but we weren't best buddies or anything in school. And then out of the blue, it's hey, so-and-so that we went to high school with told me, you're doing real estate and I would really like to work with you. So I don't know that those are really great stories, but they were surprising. Um referrals, um coming that I didn't expect.
Justin Armbruster:Yeah, that's the the coolest part and the hardest part about this business is a lot of those referrals like that. I mean you can't plan on those and you just have to hope that some come throughout the year. And when they do, it's super surprising and it feels great that they'd call you and you, you. Sometimes I feel like I don't even deserve that phone calls Cause it's like I haven't talked to them in years. But I'm would love to work with them.
Kelley Decowski:Yeah, absolutely.
Justin Armbruster:That's awesome. Well, Kelly, we like to end our time on outside the box with some rapid fire questions, some either or questions that I'm going to hit you with. Let me know when you're ready.
Kelley Decowski:I'm ready.
Justin Armbruster:Zillow, realtorcom or homescom. What do you recommend your clients use when looking for homes? Any of them any of them, like them all.
Kelley Decowski:Um. I like parts of all of them.
Justin Armbruster:Okay, okay. I think that that's probably a lot of agents answers. They're there's, there's good and they're bad to every, every one of them.
Kelley Decowski:Yeah.
Justin Armbruster:Office or home office.
Kelley Decowski:Yeah, I think it depends. Um, that's a hard one. So I have a home office In fact I'm I'm in it now, um, but I feel I worked in the office for many years and I feel like I am disciplined enough that I can work from home because I actually work. I'm not not that I don't fall victim to some distractions occasionally, but I can sit in my home office and put in a good 10 hour workday my home office and put in a good 10 hour workday, whereas I think a lot of people can be distracted with the laundry, the dinner prep, the kids that come home. So I think it really just depends on how you work. Some people have to be in the office because that's just where they are more disciplined and less distracted. I like going into the office, but I like starting my day at 6 am in my PJs, and that would be very inappropriate.
Justin Armbruster:Kudos to you. I could not do it. It would be, it would be a disaster. And I don't have kids, so it's not. I have different distractions, but it's like I'll do the bare minimum and you know, I want to go watch Netflix or my hey, it's nice out, I'm going to go golf. It's like no, you need to be working right now. Yeah, as much as I tell my wife that me golfing is working, sometimes it's not Instagram or Facebook.
Kelley Decowski:Both.
Justin Armbruster:Both.
Kelley Decowski:Both, both, and I'm on both and I do somewhat post different stuff on both, but I think that both of them are really valuable in growing your network and for networking with other agents, as well as networking in your community. I find a lot of the events and a lot of the charity stuff I go to on Facebook. I don't see as much of that on Instagram, but I feel like Instagram gives me a better chance to share real estate tips and provide value to people that are looking to buy or sell, um and and maybe even checking me out for the first time.
Kelley Decowski:Yeah, Podcast or book um a book at home or a podcast for the park.
Justin Armbruster:Love it. Do you have a favorite coach or mentor or someone that speaks into your real estate life that you listen to?
Kelley Decowski:Um, I listened to a variety. Um, I listened to, of course I not surprising. Right after today I listened to Brian Buffini's podcast, um, I love Tom Perry, tom Ferry's podcast, Um, and then I love Mel Robbins. So she's not real estate related, but I love her podcasts and I've read her books. So, um, my goal is one day I'm going to meet her, love it. So you know, those are the types of, but I also explore a little bit. You know, sometimes if I hear of a good podcast on on Facebook or Instagram, I will go ahead and check it out. But, interestingly enough, most of my podcasts and things that I listened to in the car are either real estate or business success related.
Justin Armbruster:What's the most impactful book you've read?
Kelley Decowski:You know, honestly, it was probably the millionaire real estate agent.
Justin Armbruster:We have heard that like four times on this podcast and I have yet to read it. I am going to put it on my list.
Kelley Decowski:It is. It is the closest thing that I have found to a. A step-by-step guide of this is how you set yourself up successfully, um. So, for example, the one of the things that Gary Keller says in there is to do all of your personal stuff before 10 AM, um, your workout, your doctor's appointments, grocery shopping, anything because it is really unlikely that people are looking to buy or sell real estate at 8am in the morning, and so if you get your personal stuff done before 10 o'clock, it frees you up the rest of the day to focus on customers and go show buyers and do listing appointments, and it's a really, really valuable piece of advice that I was able to easily implement into my life and my business. But there's lots of those little things in that book.
Justin Armbruster:Yeah, and what's the most underrated app that you have in your phone, either business or personal.
Kelley Decowski:The most underrated app is probably the clock, and the reason I say that is because it has the timers on it.
Kelley Decowski:And so like, if I'm going to sit down and work on something, work on like, I have a seller guide sitting on my desk that I got from another agent and I've got to edit it and, you know, change it and make it my own, and that's something that I want to do. I don't want to hand it off to somebody else, but it's going to be a long-term project. So I will put the clock, I will put the timer on my phone, I will spend 30 minutes on it and then I'm done. I've got to move on to the next task, because it could end up consuming an entire day very easily if I let it, and I've got other stuff to do. So that would be my underrated app, as simple as it is.
Chad Armbruster:I like that. I've used my this last six months. I find myself using my timers all the time, and it's not, I don't necessarily think, for the same reason you just gave for me. It's just I have to have a reminder. The calendar notification just doesn't do it for me anymore, so I'm screaming at you. Exactly, it's got to, and then I'm snooze. Oh, I got to get that eight minutes or whatever. So I actually agree with that. I like that.
Justin Armbruster:Finally, if a listener wanted to refer a client to you, what local areas do you serve and what would be the best way for them to reach out to you?
Kelley Decowski:So I am on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I service primarily Martin and St Lucie counties, so that is between Fort Pierce and Jupiter, that kind of little sandwiched area. The best way to reach out to me is simply to give me a call or a text at 772-919-5389. I'm also on Facebook and Instagram, very easy to find by my name Kelly Dekowski.
Justin Armbruster:Love it. Awesome Kelly. Thank you so much for your time. This has been a pleasure it's. This has been great Thanks.
Kelley Decowski:Thank you very much for having me.
