Speaker 1 (00:00):
Talent alone is never enough. Even the most gifted athletes don't make it in the NFL if they don't stay focused on mastering the fundamentals. And the same is true in real estate. In this conversation, Brian Leonhardt shares how he created success in the transitions from NFL player to real estate agent to co-team leader how decision-making in the division of labor work with a co-team leader where and how they found their operations leader, how their value prop has evolved from bringing on the first agent to their 10th, what the team did early on to set themselves up for success as they build toward a hundred million dollars in sales. And what's transferable to real estate sales and leadership from an NFL career. If you're an early stage team leader or thinking about starting a team, you will love this conversation with Brian Leonhart right here on Real Estate Team os, no matter where your

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Business is today or where you want to take it, you'll get there faster and more profitably with an operating system. Welcome to Team os, your guide to starting, growing and optimizing real estate team. Here's your host, Ethan Butte.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Brian, we are about a week out from the start of another NFL season, so I'm excited to talk with you about teams and teamwork in the context both of real estate and of football. Welcome to Real Estate team os.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Appreciate it. Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Yeah, excited to get into it with you and what's coming. I think you, are you a viewer or a listener or both?

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Viewer and listener. I listened to it on YouTube is what I actually,

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Okay. Okay, cool. So this one's coming and it's what is a must have characteristic of a high performing team?

Speaker 3 (01:33):
It's really important I think for culture on your team. It's having that continuity of what do we do and how do we do it well. And then also systems and best practices that are easily translatable to newer agents and experienced agents. Also with a good mind on business strategy and what profit margins look like. That business strategy piece to it of going, how do I make this team as good as possible for every agent that's in there in this organization. So those three things are the attributes of a high performing team.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Awesome. Well we're going to get into that a little bit. I want to know about the division of labor between you and your brother Josh, but before we get there, I'd love for you just to share the story in whatever detail you'd like of how did you wind up as a real estate team leader? What were some of the key steps on that journey?

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yeah, yeah, so we'll probably get in this at some point. I mean, so my background before I got into real estate, I actually played professional football for four years. When I got done doing that, I had had a few opportunities open up for me and looking at, hey, what skills or attributes fit my personality best? I actually did strengths finder assessment. That was actually really helpful for me to go, Hey, what things am I actually good at that could be replicatable in the real world right outside of football and had a couple of opportunities and then I ended up actually me and my cousin, it's actually that I run the team with Josh. We were rafting on the river for a kind of family event and he's like, Hey, I knew he was doing real estate. And he's like, Hey, this is what it's like.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
This is what you do. Are you interested at all? I'm like, I've never really thought about that as an option. And behold I got my real estate license. Ended up joining on a team with him. Did that for two or three years at a pretty high level. Sold 37 homes in my first year into real estate and learned a bunch about real estate from Josh and then three years in or so he asked, Hey, let's partner on this team and let's grow it into something a little bit different and a little bit bigger. So we've been doing that for three or four years now of building out the base and foundation of a team.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
What has gone, as you maybe hoped or expected once you started that partnership and committed to building a team? What's gone like you hoped or expected and hasn't

Speaker 3 (03:54):
The beauty of having a team? The best thing that I really enjoy about it is the fact that you just get to build really good relationships with agents inside of your team. The friendships that are there, the ability to show somebody how to do this at a high level that they may have not gotten anywhere else and being able to teach them and seeing their career kind of blossom from your input and your help and guidance and being able to introduce new systems that are really helpful for each agent. I think that part of it has been eyeopening and really enjoyable. Obviously it comes with its difficulties. I think starting a team to start off is a difficult endeavor. I think people don't realize actually what it's like to go from a high performer or high producing agent to cut back as far as you can to be able to service and be able to help these agents grow and be able to create opportunities for them and spend a ton of time with them and kind of pull away from a ton of time in just the sales aspect of things.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
I think as far as the roadblocks and problems that do come up that you see that come out of nowhere, you just end up having more problems when it comes to running a team. You're not only dealing with your client's problems with a transaction, any real estate agent, you're also dealing with personal, internal problems. Do we make this choice to add this system in here? It's going to be really expensive. We don't know if it's going to work. There's a lot of trial and error and risk kind of involved and hey, do we add this thing on? Are we ready for it? Should we do it? What's the next kind of move? So I think that building of a foundation just takes longer than I think we anticipated it would and building it the right way. So I mean a little bit of both on hey, the struggles of what it's actually like to create something that's sustainable and that will hold.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, I think that focus on sustainability and long-term is the key. I think foundation is also a key concept. I think a lot of people, some sales successful salespeople, the personality type is just like straight, we're plowing, we're running, we're running, we're running, we're running. And we've talked a couple of times, you seem very thoughtful about it and so we're going to get into some of that. But what I would like to do first is have you characterize the team as it is today here as we record like mid 2025, market size, structure, culture. What is the team as it stands today?

Speaker 3 (06:24):
We're a team of 10 agents right now, three administrative personnel. We did about, I think we did 169 transactions last year for about 68 million. We're probably at around 115 or 120 transactions right now, kind of halfway through the year and 40 million. So we're kind of on track to be able to get to around 80 million this year. The culture of the team, I really like people that come in here that want to learn and want to grow and that are competitive. I think that our team is a highly competitive team. We have a ton of challenges. We create a ton of competition and I think also just being a team player, I think we truly are one of those teams where we're better together than we are alone. We're always leaning on each other for advice on how to do things, on how to help solve problems, to pick up shifts or if it's a showing for everybody. So I think that team comradery that we have the culture of just being hardworking and being able to willing to learn to want to know, hey, what did I do wrong? How do I do this better? So I think that's a little bit of what defines our culture and we like to have fun together too. So a really competitive, fun work environment is what we try to create every single day.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Cool. Give a little bit on the path from, we're two guys who know each other and trust each other and we both have had our own success as real estate professionals. We're going to partner up, give me a quick run through of two guys partnering up to 10 agents and three support staff.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
The first step was really just identifying the goal of, hey, where do we want to go? What does that look like? What are the hires in place? Do we need to be able to make it there? How do we take some time to be able to do this kind of role? What do meetings look like? What do our leadership meetings look like? What metrics are we defining and realizing and looking at? So I think kind of setting that foundation. Then also, so it ended up being our first hire, which is now of a director of operations. Her name's Tani and she absolutely is a rockstar, does is a wizard when it comes to our systems, when it comes to all the work that we really do in this business. So she's been an integral hire for us early on and then going into taking some things off of her plate.

Speaker 3 (08:50):
So we've added two virtual assistants when it comes to the transaction management side of things, kind of expanding roles as our team's gotten bigger. We have a social media person for editing videos for all of our YouTube and podcast information and stuff. So just really trying to one take and realize that she's really good at what she does, how do we take away the things that we could kind of outsource that she can just manage to be able to open up a role kind of bigger for her to be really in the strategy of the business. And then from there it was just adding agents and interviewing and making sure people were right fits and kind of building out just this strong foundation of who we want this team to be and making sure that everybody that comes in there is a value that's added to the rest of the team members on the team.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
So that was kind of the progression from what it was four years ago to what it is today. And I think the biggest thing that we took on really early was to go, Hey, who's done this really well? How do we replicate what they've done? Which is also why your podcast has been just integral. I think for agents that are creating a team or running a team is to go, Hey, what are the best in the business? What are they doing? How do I emulate some of that on my level? So I think doing that early on to go, Hey, this is the thing that we want to build so it's not built on a foundation of sticks. So we have a really strong base in making sure that we have all the best systems and practices we could possibly have for our agents, all the best practices, all the best plays to run for each of our team members. So that's kind of been the trajectory or the evolution of this team thus far.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
Awesome. That was a great overview and you sketched out some of the spots I really wanted to go to and I'll just say 'em out loud. I mentioned division of labor between you and Josh and how did you each find your roles here? You used the word competitive a few times, so I definitely want to talk about what translated well from your NFL background into real estate and now into leadership within real estate and then how you found the right fit agents. I have a note from our first conversation that you have kind of three value or belief filters that you use to make decisions. So I want to get a little bit into that, but what I want to do right now is figure out where you found Tawny or how she found you guys. That's what so many people really need and want.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
I think a lot of people find themselves in a position that you and Josh were, which is I'm ready for the next step in building something. I feel pretty good about what I've built so far. I have a trusted partner or I have a clear direction on where I want to go, but I need that person to help make it happen. And that operations person is such a key person that's missing or hasn't worked out or hasn't stuck or hasn't evolved. You talked about the way that she's evolved and you've helped her by helping remove some of the obligations from her so she could become her best self in service of this vision of the team. So how did you guys connect?

Speaker 3 (11:47):
Yeah, so it was actually a past client of Josh's daughter actually is who it was. So we were looking for a new transaction coordinator and she came in and interviewed and I think really the biggest thing that stuck out to her was us kind of detailing out where we wanted to go and just realizing that aligned perfectly with where she wanted to go. So I think one, having just that vision, being able to articulate that to somebody to realize, hey, this is what this hopefully is going to look like for three to five years from now, and making sure that they're in line with that. So I think that's been an amazing part and just being able to coach her and kind of teach her the base levels to go, Hey, you're ready for more or something different. Let's find out what that is. But I think the most important thing I think for a real estate agent to do is realize that most high performing real estate agents are good at that with the clients.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
We're not always really good with the business side of things or the marketing side of things or the day-to-day minutiae that kind of comes into play and it's kind of that leap to be able to take to go, Hey, I need to take these things off my plate that I maybe don't enjoy or I'm not really good at so I can find somebody who's better at doing this than me. I think that's always the biggest roadblock for people who are starting out with a team is they try to do everything they can themselves and going, Hey, there is somebody that can do it better than you or just as good as you, and it's probably going to make most sense for you to have somebody do that so you can work on more high priority items. So I think that understanding of we need to be able to fill the gaps of things that we aren't good at so we can get the chance to be able to really focus down on the things that we are really good at.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
And I think that's really the first component to starting a really good team and also understanding that as every step of the way is going, here's something that I think somebody else can do better than me, let me trust them to be able to do this and teach them and coach them along the way so I can do the things that I'm really good at and know the difference of where that is and not assume that I'm good at everything. I am definitely not. So understanding where those gaps are, whether it's with me or with the team in general, and then you hire your way through that and taking, which is pretty big risks of hiring on somebody and it's difficult to maintain at times, but I think if you put that full trust into somebody and they know where it's going and give them the ability to get there, you'd be amazed at where people can get to. I have been for sure, that's been the most gratifying part of running a team is just seeing how capable somebody can become.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
She understood your three to five year vision that aligned with her. What did you guys see in her that let you know that there was something there that could be a linchpin of fulfilling our three to five year vision and beyond?

Speaker 3 (14:37):
When she first came in, we didn't have systems, we didn't have good processes, we just were just good agents that just did the thing and survived on our own in a way and just needed a little bit of support and what she had done to go, Hey, here's how we can make this better. Here's how we can replicate this. Here's how we can create a standard operating procedure so we can make this replicatable for everybody and kind of take that work of things that we had been wanting to do for so long that we just never had a chance or time to be able to sit down and do. And she always just took those things on and it's kind of always been, Hey, can you take this one on? Right, let's see if this works. And it's kind just evolved to go, Hey, she can handle that and what's next and what's next.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
But I think also just in it, just this true passion for one, what she does, which I would say is just one of the most important things when it comes to being good at anything you do, is just being able this fact of, Hey, I really really enjoy this. I want my agents to call me at nine o'clock at night on a Friday. It's like, I want to be able to help you through this problem. I enjoy it. It's not a problem for me. And I think aligning as much as you can with what you do and also with what your admin does or your other support staff of going, I would just want you to do the things that you really enjoy and that you're really good at. There's something else that's outside of that. Let me find a way that we can delegate and take that off your plate.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
Okay. What was that three to five year vision, generally speaking, when you sketch it out, what were a couple of the key elements of it?

Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yeah, I think it was kind of just the set down for the goal of going how do we get to a hundred million dollars in production? That was kind of the driving factor of going, Hey, me and Josh kind of can't do that on our own bull sailing 50 million with a family. So it was, yeah, you,

Speaker 1 (16:25):
But it wouldn't have been very

Speaker 3 (16:26):
Fun. And Josh came from, when I was on the team, Josh was selling a hundred homes a year and I was selling 30 to 40 and I was going, how sustainable is this? And I think all also this way of having this passion to be able to teach other people how to do it. So I think that initial vision was just going, Hey, how do we get to that? We're going to need a team. And we enjoy that aspect of it. So hey, how do we get to there? Do you want to be in this where it's going to be new agents coming in and kind of a full change in how this business is run? Do you want to see this from the start of its infancy where it's two or three agents, an admin to 15 people now where there's interviews and business decisions and large expenses that have to kind of come out? And it was that kind of vision of is that something that you want to be a part of? And there was a resounding yes of that's what I enjoy and every step along the way, everybody on this team I think for the most part has really just enjoyed that progress and growth that we've had.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
How did you welcome the first three to five agents to the team? What was the promise? What was the vision? What types of people were you bringing into the organization that now represent 10 agents with you?

Speaker 3 (17:42):
When we first started this, we're like, oh, well we have leads. That's all you guys want or that's all it's important. It's like, Hey, we will have leads for you. And I think that that's how we recruited early on and then it turned into, Hey, we need to make sure that we're getting right fits for our team so we have people that are cohesive. And I think you had asked about those three aspects and we kind of broke down our business. I actually have it on the wall right over here of each part of our business when it comes to marketing, when it comes to recruiting, when it comes to leadership is like what are the three principles that we need to filter every decision kind of through to make sure it hits one, if not all these points, where does it get stopped? So as we grew the team as finding that hey, we need to make sure that people are, that are willing to be coached, that are in some capacity competitive and want to be in an environment that is competitive won.

Speaker 3 (18:39):
And I think then recruiting kind of onto that, where we started to get to a point where we had a really good team and then it was kind of being a little bit more selective about who kind of comes in of going, Hey, we need to make sure that this adds value to the team as a whole, not just, Hey, this person's a really good agent. I think they'll sell a lot of properties. That's great. But I think having that kind of envision and changing as we go, and I think now that we have our systems that we do have in place, we've kind of changed everything from where we were two years ago to make sure that we had follow boss being one of those systems and going, Hey, we have a plug and play system that has best practices in here, and you have administrative work taken on for you.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
You have social media posts taken on for you. And then also I think it's the most important thing that maybe an agent doesn't realize when they come through the door is just this culture of enjoyment where people enjoy being here and they have supported as much as possible. So I think that value proposition has kind of changed throughout time for us and kind of honed in on, hey, we're a place where we're going to make you better than you were yesterday, and that's the day before when you start here to when you end. You're not going to be hopefully the same person, definitely not the same agent. We're going to do everything we can to make that a reality.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
I think that kind of like the check boxes or the features and benefits of a value prop, they kind of matter. You need to be competitive with checkbox pieces, but so much of what you've offered, even going back to one of your earlier responses, but also some of what you just shared, I feel like shared belief, shared vision, I like the people around me, I trust the people around me. I like how it feels to be with these people and therefore I feel like I'm in my right place. Some of that stuff that can't really be quantified, you can't go to someone and say, listen, yeah, you could get a 5% better split down the street or a flat fee model or whatever the case may be, but you can soft quantify, we're shooting videos and editing them for you and we're posting them for you. You could make up numbers on that and that's a thing leads have a specific value that you can assign. But so much of what I feel like I'm hearing from you are the real reasons people commit and often the real reasons people stay but they can't be quantified. So I call it shared belief. It also winds up being shared values or culture or some other common words. But do you have any specific thoughts on that idea?

Speaker 3 (21:19):
Yeah, I mean I think that you're exactly right and I think shared belief, I think it's this thing of trust. I think it's when you're in the interview process of does this feel like it's the right fit? Can I trust everything that they're saying to me? I think the difference of going, Hey, here's all our features and benefits. I can list them out on a sheet of paper and hand them to you, but it goes, how do I create that action? Because with none of that, it doesn't really matter. It goes, Hey, you have the best operating system, you have all of these things. You have everything that's right here in your grasp. Do you take it? What is that? That's everything in the middle of going, how do we make this work for you? And I think looking at it kind of the same way when it comes to a listing appointment where you're talking to a seller, it's like, Hey, here's the 101 things that I do.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
It's like, well, that sounds great, but do you do them? How well do you do them? It's like a lot of people kind of do the same things. And when it comes to the features and benefits fits sheet when it comes to recruiting an agent, it's like everybody says that they kind of have the same thing. They all have the leads, they have a CRM, they have the same things that we have or the next people down the street kind of have for the most part. And it's hard to quantify that I think, for an agent, but I think the real thing that they're looking for should have is going, do I trust this person to be able to take me to the next level or for me to enjoy this job? Most importantly, those things are really hard to quantify, but I think for somebody who's interviewing with a team is just kind of to see is do I really feel like I belong here?

Speaker 3 (22:59):
I think that that's when you're talking with the sellers like, Hey, this conversation that we're having about all the things that I do doesn't matter if you don't believe me or if don't, I don't actually know what I'm doing. And you can kind of understand that pretty quickly I think with when you're interviewing somebody, I guess if you're on the seller side and interviewing with an agent, right? It's like, Hey, awesome sheet that you have about all the things that you do, but I want to know that I can trust you when times get tough.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
And that's something that it's earned. And it's also a lot of gut too. I think a lot of decisions that we are made on gut, which I think we like to beat up because we need to be data driven. But I think to honor the human experiences to recognize and honor both of those dynamics, I think I've still got two more open zones that I mentioned that I wanted to hit with you. So I think the next one we'll go to is co-team leaders most of the time on real estate team os I'm talking with the team leader and the team leader. If they're fortunate like you and Josh have a great operations manager or director of ops or COO or whatever that is, and that's kind of where the partnership is. And then they fill it out with a leadership team and this person now is in charge of agent success and this person's in charge of marketing or whatever the case may be, but it's typically the leader and CEO. So I think I'd be remiss if we didn't take a few minutes to talk through co-team leadership. How has that gone for you and has anyone else asked you about it? And if so, what do people wonder about co-team leadership?

Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, I mean I think it does get asked a lot of, Hey, what happens when a problem comes up? What happens when you guys disagree? And I think we've had this really good relationship of going this kind of the idea meritocracy where it goes, Hey, best idea and best practice is going to play out. Nobody's opinion is better than another one as long as, hey, we have good decision making when it comes to what we do. I think when it comes to having somebody like Josh in my corner when it comes to running the team, we running the team together is we get this chance to be able to make decisions together that are difficult ones and we have this backing and support of each other to be able to make them. It helps I think in a way, especially early on for me, and I think for Josh too, to go, Hey, we can take this risk.

Speaker 3 (25:18):
We both believe it and we'll both go down with this ship if it sinks. So I think it just helps us make decisions almost quicker just knowing, hey, I have somebody else to be able to back me up when things kind of turn south. And then I think also just this chance to be able to always be talking about new ideas and what we can do and how to implement them and knowing what he does best versus what I do best and just dividing that labor up of trying to make the best team possible. I think having somebody that's in your corner in every way in every capacity just makes it a formidable force and being able to take those risks and ideas and being able to divide up labor when it comes to what it takes to run a team.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
What were some of the early signs that you knew this would be a good partnership specifically around complementarity and how much of it was discovered through the journey of making decisions and moving forward?

Speaker 3 (26:11):
You'd mentioned that shared belief kind of idea earlier on when it comes to, hey, joining a team or on the recruiting side of things. I think that was obviously really important early on of going, Hey, do we want to go the same direction? How do we look at this in the future? Do we both want to be a part of it, right? Is somebody's ego going to get in the way? And so I think understanding that early on that we just had this high level of trust for each other, or at least especially from me to to know that he has the team's best interest in mind to go, alright, I can trust this person to be able to take this throughout the way when it comes to the part of discovering, hey, what is somebody good at? What is somebody else not good at?

Speaker 3 (26:51):
How do we kind of divide up that labor? That's just a learning for every day to day. And I think that's the same thing when we talk about adding on an admin role is where it goes, Hey, here's something that I'm maybe not very good at that I think we could outsource as somebody that's better than that than me. That same thing I think happens between me and Josh to go, Hey, I'm better at this thing or he's better at this, so hey, let's double down in this kind of role to divide that up. And I think that's an onwork journey throughout for any successful team is to always be identifying those gaps and leaks and places where they could improve or have somebody else be able to delegate and do it.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
Yeah, and the idea that it's decision by decision, project by project makes sense. Let's now hit the transition. So you wrap up a high school and collegiate multi-sport career. You get into the NFL, you do that for several years and then you're not doing that anymore. I guess two big zones here, but feel free to take it however you want. I think there are a lot of people who come to real estate from something else and there's a transition there that's maybe interesting and challenging, especially if I assume sports in general and football in particular. You had devoted so much of your life up to that point. And I think you and I were talking about a teacher for example, we've certainly talked about teachers making the transition into real estate. We've even had some of them on the show. They maybe decided at some point that they wanted to be a teacher.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
They ended up going to college and then they were in the school and they were teaching and then all of a sudden they're not that anymore and they need to make that transition. So that's kind of one category. But then the other one is kind of obvious, I think if anyone thinks about it for 10 seconds, performance coaching, training, the weight room, the practice before you get on the field scripts and playbooks and all these other dynamics. I think there's a lot. And then also now we have this layer of leadership. I'm sure you've learned a ton about leadership from your experience playing football. So just talk about that transition in general, maybe in those kind of two key categories, those categories being how do I take all the best pieces of myself in the way that I knew myself before and recast them in this new light? And then what was just really easy and obvious as a transition besides, again, disciplines in other word that comes to mind. You also mentioned competitive a few times, so that's obviously bled into the culture of the organization. I can't not see that as part of your past.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean I think that that transitions is an interesting one. It it's a typically pretty difficult time period for a former NFL player where everything you've done up until this point has been hyper-focused just in that world and in that realm. And I think the NFL kind of accentuates that of going, man, it's hard to look at what you're going to do after this or have a plan for when you do get out of it. You really don't want that kind of, it's a little bit of this idea of burn the boats when you're in it, where it goes, Hey, I need to find a way to make this work as long as possible. This is absolutely what I love to do. But I think that transition at some day, it happens for every player where the phone just stops ringing and things just shut off and you go, Hey, when do I make this transition into the working world and what do I do?

Speaker 3 (30:11):
And luckily I'd had a degree in business from college and I had had good opportunities before then. I kind of knew at least a little bit of the path that I wanted to take and had this opportunity come up. And I think it was going, how do I learn this as quick as possible? I think joining a team was an awesome opportunity to be able to do that. As I know how to work hard, the NFL kind of teaches you that you have to, there's, there's no way around it. So you have to be somebody that works hard and is passionate and how do I transfer those character traits or ideas from who I was in the NFL to who I am as a real estate agent is always battling and creating that full kind of identity shift. I think anybody that asks me about it now for the most part is like, Hey, that picture, that's a past life.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
It's not me anymore. It's not what I do. It has no bearing on who I am as a person today. I kind of talk about it as if it's a past life and different person, and I think I have no control over what happened there or what my career was or what somebody else may think of it. So it is what it is, and now it just goes, Hey, what can I take from that experience? And I think for everybody too, when it comes to you're a teacher, maybe getting into real estate is how do you take the things you maybe learned there but then learn it? How can it be applied to what you do now if you are in real estate? And I think for me, the big transition was when learning all those things, and I had this idea of the one quantifier you really have when it comes to athletics is the weight room or practicing on your own.

Speaker 3 (31:48):
Where is that? How do you create that kind of leverage to catch up to where everybody else is? Because also, hey, I was four years in it, so I'm four years out of the workforce where all my college friends have been working for four years. How do I gain that experience? And I took it on to learn as much as I could as quickly as possible, and it was reading books, it was listening to podcasts. It was any chance I had to be able to learn it as good as I possibly could so I could be really good at what I do. And I think for somebody getting into real estate as much as you can is to go, I need to be an expert at the fundamentals of this, right? It's not, I think we run into this with a lot of agents of going, Hey, it's this next new thing, or it's this new lead source.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
I just need this. And it's like, man, no. You just need to be able to do a mark analysis really, really well. You need to be able to speak with your clients really, really well. You need to understand an inspection report really, really well. The best in the business are just really, really good at those fundamentals, and that's exactly what it was like in the NFL is their footwork was perfection. It was as good as it possibly could be. These people aren't just there because they're gifted athletes. The gifted athletes that can't figure out the systems, can't figure out the playbook and don't know the right steps and footwork, they don't make it. And it goes, Hey, I'm really good at talking to people. I really like homes. It's like, well, if you don't know how to negotiate a contract or be able to solve a problem, then this isn't going to work for you. You have to be able to figure out those things and how do you learn that really, really quickly. So I think that transition for anybody, I think whether it's from athletic background or if it's from a teacher of just re-identifying yourself as an agent is just take as much chance as you can to figure out how to do the basics really, really well, and everything else will fall into place.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
Would you say there's anything about the tight end position? I'll ask one football football question. Is there anything unique about the tight end position that you think is worth sharing? It's a skill position by common definition, and I think a lot of people can recognize that is my team's number one tight end, but is there anything that goes unseen or underappreciated, do you think about the tight end?

Speaker 3 (34:00):
I'll answer that in two questions there. I think that first one is a really important part is as a fan, they typically only see Sunday and what ESPN says Monday, Tuesday. I think realizing for an NFL athlete what goes on Monday morning or Tuesday during the day or Wednesday when it comes to script install, I think there is kind of this full-time job 100% when it comes to NFL that it's even in the summertime, even when you're outside of the season of going, it's still every single day of working on those fundamentals and preparing your body, and I think in the NFL, everything is funneled to being high performing on Sunday. Everything needs to be in the perfect place you can to be able to go, how do I perform well on Sunday? I look at that as kind of a similar way when it comes to real estate is everything is kind of funneled, hopefully right to being really good when you go on an appointment with a client.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
How are we prepping for all of that stuff? How are we making sure that we're prepared in every way possible of going, this is an everyday thing as much so we can be able to perform that day as good as possible. I think having a team that helps support that or understands that I think is really important. But when it comes to the tight end position specifically, I guess kind of the ins and outs of what it's like to be a tight end is you're essentially a jack of all trades, master of none in a way. So you have to block right where you're an extension to the offensive line, but the offensive linemen are only blocking for the most part, so they're really good at it. So you have to, you also have to run routes like a receiver does, right? You also have to be in pass protection.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
You kind of have one of the more complicated playbooks when it comes to being at tight end because you do kind of those dual roles of blocking. You need to know the run game, you need to know the receiving game, you need to know the pass protection game. So I think when it comes to, it's one of the more complicated positions when it comes to an offensive side of the ball, and it is one of those things is trying to be good at all of it as much as possible where it goes, Hey, I need to be able to block, and maybe that's something that I think a lot of fans maybe don't understand. When you have a really good receiving tight end, it's like, well, what if it's third and one? What are we going to do where they on that play or not?

Speaker 3 (36:14):
It's like they're going to create a gap and somebody's going to come through and tackle their running back. It is 100%. I think as much as you see it as a fan now of going, well, who catches the ball and who scores the touchdowns, that's the most important thing. It's like, man, there's 11 people in that field and as a football player that everybody has to compliment each other to be able to do the job correctly. And some people get more, not about than others would in that aspect, but I think as a tight end specifically, you have to do a little bit of everything, right?

Speaker 1 (36:44):
Really good. Thank you for doing that and good call on Sunday, Monday from a fan perspective, and the idea of the appointment and the real estate team is you have a version obviously, of a coach, you have a position coach, you have some equipment. Let's call that some of the materials and other things. You have a trainer, you're probably doing role play, all the, so the parallels are all really there. Last thing I'll ask you before the three pairs of closing questions I've got for you is any advice for someone who is where you and Josh were 3, 4, 5 years ago saying, I think we should do this? Any advice for that aspiring team leader or that person who's just getting going, who wants to get to 10 agents and route to a hundred million in revenue?

Speaker 3 (37:29):
Yeah, I think it's one, get a good idea of what that's going to look like along the journey. Have a little bit of a plan. It's going to change, but understand, hey, where does my next hire come from? Why is it that way? One, understand that you're taking on an extra role and treat it as such, right? Whether that's finding a way to take time away from whatever else you're doing or delegate that so you can be able to get the chance to help impact these agents. I think really understanding that it's going to cut into what else you do and knowing that you're going to have to take some risks and hold on and keep going and keep the agent first and foremost in your mind. I think that that has to be the thing is because an agent can feel and can tell if you're just there to add them on to, Hey, I got extra business. I just want to throw it at you. You know what I mean? I think as much as you can pull yourself into the other agents on your team that you are hiring or your administrative people, I think is going to go a long way and it's going to take time and just trust the process that you're doing it right, but do it with the right intention first.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
I love it. And people can sense that intention. That goes back to something that we hit on maybe 10, 15 minutes ago. Brian, this has been awesome. I would love to know what is your very favorite team to root for besides your own real estate team, or what's the best team you've ever been a member of? And those might actually be the same thing. I don't

Speaker 3 (38:50):
Know. Yeah, this is a question I get along. I actually don't watch football anymore, so that's a common question that I get of, Hey, what do you think about this acquisition or this? It's like I don't pay attention to it that much anymore. I really enjoyed the competitive nature and what the strategy of the game was when I was involved in playing on it. But I mean, I cheer for the Minnesota Vikings. I live in Minnesota. I was fortunate enough to have a stop there and play with them. It was with them in the off season, so I cheer them on as much as possible. And also I got a soft spot for the Raiders where I spent most of my time. So I cheered for those two teams, and I think the best team that I was ever on was the Vikings at that time period for sure. They were hardnosed, kind of really good football team,

Speaker 1 (39:35):
And they have a great tight end that used to be a Detroit lion, which they've replaced a okay, but I feel good for the Vikings. They have a lot of really good receivers. What is not that That's the only role of a tight end. What is one of your most frivolous purchases or what's a cheapskate habit you've held onto longer than you should have?

Speaker 3 (39:55):
Oh man. Okay. I got a funny story when it comes to that one. So when we were first starting out, this team, I'm very much so trying to be as efficient as possible when it comes to what I eat, what I do, and I ate rice and beans every day in the office for about two years straight. It was just the simplest recipe that I could have. I think throughout all of my real estate career, if they ever see Brian cooking something, it's usually just the simplest, cheapest thing you can put together. So I ate rice and beans for about two years straight. I had a rice cooker in the office, and I just took a can of beans and dumped it in there, and that was what I ate at my desk while I was working.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
You sound like someone who is clearly invested in books, podcasts, et cetera, but I'll ask this question anyway. You might take it to the rest, relax, recharge side, but what does it look like for you to rest, relax, and recharge? What are you doing? How are you spending that time? Or what does it look like for you to invest time in learning, growing and developing? What does it look like? What are you doing with that time?

Speaker 3 (40:49):
Yeah. When it comes to rest and recharge, I think really getting to understand, I think I try to work on this with all of my agents of knowing, Hey, what is the thing that actually brings back the most energy for you, and how do we make time for that? So for me, exercise has been one of the bigger things that I can be consistent on is getting in the weight room and still lifting and running. But I think when it comes to those big relaxation, for me, it's backpacking. We talked about this in our last conversation, is I'm absolutely, I'm an avid backpacker. I love to get out into the wilderness away from everything and just surviving on my own. So that is my best way for me to reset.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
Love it. I'm looking forward to a trip one day to Voyagers. I've not been up that way, but that sounds like as soon as you said that I was getting away, that feels like a, that

Speaker 3 (41:39):
Is exactly what that is, right? You're a long way from everything.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
Yeah. Cool. If someone has gotten to this point in the conversation, they may want to learn more about you and the team, where would you send people to follow up on this conversation?

Speaker 3 (41:51):
Yeah, so Lenhardt team is where we're at on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. So it's probably the best place to find me, or you can find me on Instagram personally at Brian Leonhardt at 87 on Instagram. So

Speaker 1 (42:06):
Cool. Those things are linked up right down below. No matter where you're watching or listening, we always round that stuff up. Brian, I appreciate you so much and I'm really glad that this show has been part of your journey and I appreciate you contributing to it as well.

Speaker 3 (42:18):
Yeah. Well, thank you so much for having me on. It's been an honor and a pleasure for sure, and keep up the good work. This has been amazing. I think for any team leader or real estate agent that's looking to get into running a team, this is one of the best resources you can have.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
Thanks for checking out this episode of Team Os. Get quick insights all the time by checking out real estate team Os on Instagram and on TikTok.