Said on CNBC, they were like, "You said rates might hit eight." I said, "Yeah, I said that." And the reality is we're in separation season and you guys have more discipline than the average human being. I was just chatting with Caleb and he did 90 transactions last year and he's on pace to do 150.
There is a lot of real pain in the economy. People are losing jobs. It is more expensive. Inflation is real. But that creates real opportunity in what we do. How many people are using Assumelist? Raise your hands. We are the only company to have an enterprise relationship and pay for it for everybody. So, if your hand didn't go up, ask someone.
The VA assumable part of that loan is extremely important and a very powerful tool. And if you guys serve military markets, you absolutely should be using that. And so what I'm telling everybody right now is whatever activity you were used to, can we agree that everyone's kind of been holding their breath for the last 24 months hoping for normal?
It's not coming back. This is the new normal. Winter is here. And let first of all, once you kind of let that in, you can actually relax, right? Because you're hoping for this imaginary number of maybe 4.9, 5.5 million homes. That's just not happening. We've sold 4 million homes for the last three years.
I just told Yahoo Finance we may get into the 3s. We could do 3.8, 3.9 million homes. For context, the last time that happened in the United States was 1995 with 76 million less Americans.
We are in a housing crash of transactions and we play a zero sum game. So for Caleb to do 150 units, he took that from somebody else and it is what it is and this team wins. So keep doing what you're doing. Focus on the basics, the principles. It's a lot more belly to belly. If you were having 10 conversations to get one transaction, you're going to have to have 20 conversations.
But also, that's the opportunity in attraction, right? Whatever conversations you were having about, hey, there's an opportunity for you to have an additional revenue stream, that's not it. Because that person who's like, this person is telling me about additional money, I'm trying to make my mortgage payment next month. So the conversations you need to have, let me show you how to do two more deals with this thing called Assumelist with the VA that we have that nobody else has.
Let's have a conversation about getting you from 10 transactions to 12. From 10 transactions to 14 transactions, focus on the basics. Thank you so much for what you do. I'm honored to be in business with you guys and our esteemed leaders do an amazing job in this company. So, we are actually going to present arms right now. So, if everybody would rise, remove your cover and we're going to face over here to my left, your right. We're going to do presentation.
Right. Hey. Hul. Arms. Ready, go. Left face. Present. Ready. Go.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
Please remain standing for our national anthem.
Guys, that was West High School. Let's give them another round of applause. These kids are between 14 and 16 years old, by the way. So, that was pretty amazing. Thank you guys again.
All right, let me get my notes, y'all. Let me get my notes. Okay, so hi everybody. I'm Michelle Martin. I am the chair of the eXp Military Network. I want to thank you guys so so so much for being here. I really, really, really appreciate it, as does the rest of our board. Wow. It's just what a day.
So, okay. I got lots of exciting things to share with you guys. But first, I want you to take a look around the room. It's completely full. Yes, this is over 150 of you. Over 150 of you chose to be here. Agents, leaders, veterans, spouses, supporters, our executives here. Every one of you have somewhere else that you could be cuz there's lots of things going on, but you chose to be here instead.
So before I go any further, I want to thank a few people. Of course, corporate, thank you for putting this on for us. Thank you for doing this. Like amazing. Thank you. So round of applause for corporate. Also, Cameron for doing everything that you do for one. Cameron, you guys have no idea how much Cameron advocates for us and for all of one eXp. Literally, she's like everywhere. Like the squeaky girl that gets the like, "Let's do this, please, please, please."
So Cameron, thank you so much for all of that. And I want to thank our board of directors. We have worked tirelessly all year and especially the last couple of months working towards this event and all of the other events that we are putting on. So, thank you guys for all of your hard work and to everyone out here who helped put this event together.
So AV, the food staff, everybody who put these tables out here, all the volunteers who came out to put all those cute little things on the tables for you. Thank you so much for everything you've done. We appreciate it. All right, so what is today? What is today really? On paper, it's a luncheon cuz we're eating. It's a luncheon, right? But it's more than that. It's more than that.
Military life teaches us how to start over. New orders, new base, new state. I've been through it. Sometimes a new license, right? A lot of us have to get licensed in other states whenever we have to move. That's a bummer. New schools for the kids, new neighbors, and people we don't know. We just have to start all over so many times. Just have to go where the service takes us. And every single time you rebuild.
A lot of people in this room have rebuilt their lives more times than they could count. And a lot of you rebuilt your business at the same time. This room is proof that you don't have to rebuild alone. That's what the military network is. It's a place where people get it. Where you don't have to explain what a PCS is or why your spouse missed another holiday or why you're licensed in three states. You walk in and people just understand.
Today is about honoring that and honoring the people that make it real. So, let's do that right now. Let's talk about it. So, when I call your group, I want you guys to stand so we can see who's in the room. So, first up, if you're a veteran, please stand up. Round of applause for our veterans.
If you're currently serving on active duty, guard or reserves, please stand. Active duty guard and reserves. Thank you. If you're a military spouse, please stand.
Thank you. And if you are a supporter of our military community, if you love and serve these families every day, please stand. Oh, and our family members, children, siblings, everybody who loves the military, please stand.
Look around, guys. This is our community. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for everything that your families gave up so that you can serve. So last round of applause for everybody.
All right. So guys, we need to think about giving back. And today we've actually partnered with Folds of Honor. So we're supporting two causes. One takes care of our eXp family and one takes care of our military family. So first is Extend a Hand. You guys know what that is, but in case you've been living under a rock, I'm going to remind you.
So, this is eXp's nonprofit. It's built by agents for agents. So, when an agent or staff member is hit with a medical crisis or a natural disaster or the loss of a family member, Extend a Hand steps in with emergency financial help. It's how we make sure that no one in this company faces the worst day of their life alone.
The second is Folds of Honor, which I think you guys have little goodies on the table from them. Folds of Honor gives educational scholarships to the spouses and children of service members who were killed or disabled while serving. Their name comes from the folded flag handed to a family at a funeral. Folds of Honor makes sure that the family story doesn't end there.
They make sure those kids still get to go to school and still get to chase their dreams. So many of us in this room know a family who has received that flag. So today, I'm asking you to give any amount. It all matters. Scan the QR code on the screen or take a picture of it. Save it for later. But every amount matters and it's important. It's important to give back.
We're all very blessed to have woken up today and that's not the case for a lot of other people. I want to introduce our board because you guys heard me, oh the board, the board and all over WhatsApp the board. Here's the board. I want to introduce them to you. Okay. So, I have the honor of doing that.
So, as I call your name, if you guys can come up here so everybody can say what's up and we can get a picture. So, first up is our vice chair from Anchorage, Alaska, Rishan Spray. Next is our director of education from Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, Caleb White. Our administrative director from San Antonio, Texas, Enz Garcia.
Our director at large from New York, New York, Michael Garvin. Our national events director from Knoxville, Tennessee, Aisha Feligga. Our other national events director from Houston, Texas, Garrett Howell. Our state leader director, Silas cannot be here with us, but his name is Silas Va from El Paso, Texas.
And our director of membership engagement from Vidalia, Georgia, Christy Harris. So this is your directors' guide. So, they give their time, their energy, and their hearts to this community for free. Please give them a round of applause.
Squeeze in. Thank you. Thank you guys. It's all good. Okay. So, our board leads from the top, but our state squad leaders are on the ground in every state every single day. So, if you're a state squad leader, please stand up. We want to say hi. We want to give you a round of applause. Yay. These are your state squad leaders, guys.
Here's a few of them on the screen. We have a lot. So, there's more slides. Ready? There's another one. There's more. One more. Thank you to all our state squad leaders for everything you do. We really, really appreciate you guys. And you weren't counting, but that wasn't 50, right? That wasn't 50 states.
So, we still need more state squad leaders. So, if you guys are interested in stepping up into leadership, this is the best place to do it. I'm biased, but you know, so take a look at that, scan it. There's an application there. We'd love to hear from you. Please step into leadership.
I mean, if not for me bugging a bunch of people two years ago about how can I get involved and please let me volunteer with one eXp, I wouldn't be standing up here with you guys today. So, it's a really great opportunity. So, there's that. All right. So, okay. There's so many papers up here. Okay, here we go.
I already said that. Okay. So, guys, let's talk about our mission because some of you, how many of you have never been in the room with MilNet before? Is this your first time? Like first time at a luncheon or anything? Ah, look at our noobs. Say hi, noobs. All right, so let's talk a little bit about MilNet.
So our mission, guys, everything we do comes back to two things. Our mission and our vision. So first up, our mission is to impact military-connected agents by offering mentorship, training, and community that grow strong businesses and leaders. When our agents succeed, their impact reaches military families across the nation.
Our vision is a nationwide network of military-connected real estate professionals who are united in service, integrity, and expertise. We see agents across the country growing stronger together, supported by education and collaboration, and raising the standard of service for every service member, veteran, and military family.
I want you to hear that last part again though. Every service member, every veteran, and every military family. When you grow, they win. And that's why we're here.
Okay. So, let's talk about fun stuff. Let's talk about what we built this year. So, grab your phones because this is not the first QR code you're going to see. So, just in case you're not like in the sauce, I'm about to get you in the sauce cuz I don't want to hear about I don't know this info. I'm about to tell you where to get the info.
Okay. So, these next few slides, like I said, full QR code. So, get ready. First one, these are some of the things we've accomplished this year. So, of course, we got into the hub. Raise your hand if you're not in the hub yet. Good. Okay. Cuz we have Leo in the room.
Yeah. Okay. So, everybody's in the hub. So, we're on there, too. So, if you guys have not joined the MilNet group in the hub, please do that. Okay. We're in there and we have lots of announcements and lots of fun things going on.
Next, we launched the WhatsApp group so our members can stay connected and within the WhatsApp community, we have subgroups, okay? So, like you can find your state in there. There's a group for referrals, all kinds of fun things. So, this works the best when everybody's on it. So, go ahead and get on it. Please get on it.
I'm going to give you all a second cuz I see you guys with your phones. And I hope that if you don't have your phone, it's because you're already on these things because I can see you. The lights are blinding me, but I can see you. Okay, we also got an Instagram, guys. Where are my Instagram fans?
We should have way more Instagram fans than that. Okay, but we are on Instagram. So, I'm sure you're going to be taking lots of pictures today. So, tag us cuz we need content, please. So, there's that. Everybody got it? eXp Military Network. All right.
We also, oh my goodness. Sorry. We also created our website, expmilnet.com. So, all of these links that I just told you are going to be on there anyway. But this is a place to find, like for example, if you haven't registered for our happy hour or our spouse's coffee, that's on the website.
So, anything that you guys need of our training and education links, everything is on there. So, just remember if you forget anything else, expmilnet.com. That's easy, right? Right. That's easy, right? Okay. Thank you. We need collaboration here.
All right. We also have all of our training replays on YouTube. So, if you guys are like, "Dang, I'm busy in the middle of the day on a Tuesday. I don't have time for all this." Or if you're on the West Coast or in Alaska and you're like, "That's way too dang early for me." You can go and watch all of the replays of the trainings that Caleb hosts on YouTube. Okay? And that link is, by the way, on expmilnet.com as well. I can't make it any easier for y'all.
Okay? So, there's that. And let's look at some pictures of things we've done this year. Does that sound fun? Yes. That doesn't sound like it was fun. Does it sound fun? That sounds fun. Okay. You guys are going to make my Latina come out. Okay.
So, all right friends. So, we took the network on the road this year. So, our board and I spoke at six regional rallies on behalf of the military network this year. Some of you might have seen me going around on our little tour. But that was six rooms full of agents who learned that this community exists.
I can't tell you how many people are like, "What is MilNet? I've never heard of MilNet" and that's unacceptable and it should be unacceptable to all of you too. So, we need to spread the word about MilNet. Look at us. Yay. At the rallies. So cute.
And we also went global, my friends. Our director at large, Michael, along with several state squad leaders in the room. Yes. Yes. You guys represented the military network at eXpCon in Paris. Let's give a round of applause for that. They make tons of connections for our community and they prove something important that this network does not stop at the border. Look at those pictures.
I love it. All right, but none of that happened by accident, guys. It happened because people in this room showed up and we're just getting started. So, here is what we're going to do by eXpCon 2027. I'm saying it right here, but I can't do it alone, guys. I need your help.
Okay. So, goal one, we're going to have a leader in every state. Do you guys remember that state squad leader application? Yeah. We need to make it happen. So, a state squad leader in every single state. Oh, and Puerto Rico, too. Puerto Rico, too. Okay. Can't leave them out.
And we're not just filling states, okay? We're building more structure and we're building more value into that state squad leader program. So, all of our current leaders, get ready because the program's going to get super revamped. There's going to be lots of value in that for you guys as leaders as a thank you for stepping up and helping grow our community.
And speaking of growing our community, I know. Okay, number two. Double our community size. Okay, so our official way of counting our community members is through the hub now. So, last I checked we had, gosh, I think it was like 1400 or something members, something like that.
We're going to get to 3,000. That's the goal. By this time next year, we're going to get to 3,000 members. So, if you are out here and you come across an eXp military-connected agent, I need you to direct them to expmilnet.com so they can get involved with us. Pretty please with a cherry on top. Okay? Because every military-connected agent needs to know about us.
We also want to grow our voice. So, remember that Instagram that I told you about? That's the best way to reach people outside of this community and to use it for agent attraction. Everybody likes that, right? Yes. I'm going to try that again. Everybody likes agent attraction, right?
Okay. So, we are going to grow our Instagram following to 2,000 followers. So, if you're not following us, you guys can be the first ones to kick this off. You know what I'm saying? So, make that happen for us.
And then goal four, we're going global, guys. Going global. So, we're introducing country squad leaders. Yay. Because guess what? Military life takes our families all over the world, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, like literally everywhere. We're going all over the place. So, anywhere the mission sends us and Paris showed us what's possible.
So, and we've had, believe it or not, you guys, we've had so many people from overseas reaching out to us and we're like, we have to create this. So, in 2027, we're launching the country squad leaders program. It's going to be the same model as the state squad leaders, you know, revamped and overseas.
Okay. So, we're going to help build community for MilNet wherever we are, wherever our families are stationed, because that's what they deserve. So, our goal is a leader in 10 countries by eXpCon 2027. Can we do it?
Okay, I love it. We're doing better with the energy. I love it. Okay, I know it's lunch time and we're really full, but you know. All right. So, but here, we have a special surprise. So, I know I said we want 10 by eXpCon 2027, but we got a head start and we have the first three.
So, first up, Jason P. Jordan, who's right there, all the way from Germany. He is our Germany squad leader. Congratulations. Unable to be with us are Josh Palano and Josh John David Wheelen who are the people of Portugal.
And then last but not least, we have Sebastian Valet from France who's going to be leading up our France squad. But guys, that's only three. And if we know math, right, we have seven more to go. So, are you guys going to help us do it?
Yes. I love it. I love all this buy-in. Love all this validation. I love it. All right. Cuz guys, no matter where you're stationed, you belong here at eXp Military Network. All right.
So, every one of these goals needs you guys. So, join the hub. Bring a military-connected agent with you. Follow us on the gram. All the information that you need to get plugged in is at expmilnet.com. So, I don't want to hear I don't know when the training is. When is the training, guys? Tuesdays at 12. I didn't tell you that. That was a trick question, but it's on expmilnet.com.
And they're great. That's what Caleb said. All right, guys. So, let's see. What am I doing? Okay. Is that everything? I think I got everything. All right. So, thank you guys for being here again. Thank you for being a part of this. And thank you for the service and sacrifice that brought so many of you into this room.
And now, it is my honor to welcome a very special guest to speak for us. Please give it up for our vice president of growth at eXp and veteran Tony King.
Thank you. All right. Howdy. How y'all doing? Oh, energy still high. Thank you for that. You kept the energy high. So, for those of you all that I have not had the opportunity to meet, I am, as previously referenced, Tony King, vice president of growth here with eXp. And I also have the honor, distinction of being a United States Marine.
United States Marines in the house. Hoorah. All right. I'm not gonna ask about the rest of them because you know, listen. All right. So listen, you get a microphone. Marines have the mic. What do you want me to say? Right.
So that said, and that's kind of where I want to start. And just I was asked to share a few remarks and I spoke here a couple years ago, I think. And so looks like many of y'all may not know anything about my story. And so today, or actually this month marks my 20th year in the real estate industry. 20 years. Oh, that's cool. Well, thank you.
Thank you. But what led me to that actually was 2006, October actually to be specific. I had the again honor distinction of serving as a United States Marine in Fallujah, Iraq. Anybody in Fallujah? Anybody? Fallujah. Okay, good. One, two, awesome. MSR Friend. Some of y'all know MSR Friend in Fallujah.
It's not the safest road and I found that out the hard way on MSR Friend. And so I got hit by an IED going down MSR Friend, standard sort of deal, and hit by a real IED bomb. I was in the front seat that you see there. Had a piece of shrapnel come in, knock me on my noggin, traumatic brain injury, all of the things.
Had to learn to walk again, talk again, all of the things. And well, I appreciate that. And so I was awarded a Purple Heart for that endeavor. And that was sort of the beginning or the end of one chapter I guess and maybe the beginning of another.
What I mean by that, if you ever were injured overseas then you know you go to sick bay or you go to the recovery centers or what have you. And while I was there I was bored. There's not a ton to do except focus on your recovery. And so they have a couple libraries. They have DVD libraries.
And so for y'all Gen Z folks, a DVD. It's a circular disc, right? And so on this disc there are movies, right? There's no Netflix, right? So I know you're like, "Oh, you'd be bored. There's Netflix." There was no Netflix. It was like one bookshelf that had DVDs on it. And you would watch these DVDs.
And I watched every DVD that was on there like two or three times. And I was absolutely bored to death in my recovery process. And so I had to pick something else to do just out of sheer boredom. And so at that time I wasn't really into reading. I wasn't a reader. And there was a bookshelf. And on that bookshelf there was two books.
And I don't want to hear any Marine Corps jokes about there's only two books. No, we're not doing that. All right. Neither one of them were crayon books. Neither one. I don't want to hear none of that stuff. Okay. There was two books on that bookshelf. One was the Bible.
And so my mom, God rest her soul, made sure I was a pretty good scholar with that one. And so I wasn't interested in reading the Bible. She made me promise to read it every day while I was over there. It must have helped, I guess. I don't know.
And so the other book though, I didn't know what it was. I didn't know what the other book was. It was an old ratty book and it was like swollen up because it had gotten wet. It seemed like a wet book, but it's all like swollen and the cover was ripped off of it and like the first probably half a chapter was ripped out. I had no idea what it was.
And so I picked the book up and I started just kind of thumbing through it and it turns out the book was about a Marine as I'm kind of flipping through the book and not only a Marine, but it's about a Marine Corps pilot, right? And that Marine Corps pilot, he flew in Vietnam. He's a helicopter pilot.
And so really a part of my story was that I was supposed to be a pilot until I got hit by the IED. For some reason they don't let you fly multi-billion dollar aircraft unless you have brain damage. I don't know, go figure. And so that was the end of kind of that vision. So I figure out, hey, what's next?
And I read this book about an ex-pilot in this old writing book. And so in this book, he starts with his journey as a Marine and pilot and then he transitions into entrepreneurship. Anybody want to take a guess what that book was?
Guess Rich Dad Poor Dad. It was Rich Dad Poor Dad. And that's when I got bit. I got bit by the entrepreneur bug, by the real estate bug in that moment. And it clicked for me and I was like, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to be an entrepreneur. I'm going to be a real estate investor. I'm going to go all in on real estate when I get back.
So, I got back from my deployment. I spent my deployment money on my first couple of investment properties. I got my real estate license and I went all in on this real estate thing, but it was due to what happened in October 20 years ago and kind of put me on this journey, right? And now I'm vice president of a publicly traded multi-billion dollar company. Awesome.
And so in that process, right, so not only was I bit by the real estate bug, but also by the personal development bug, right? And so one of the incredible individuals that I got introduced to on this reading journey, like once I became a reader and started wanting to just improve myself more and more, I also got introduced to this young man. Anyone know who this young man is?
Jim Rohn. That's right. This is Jim Rohn. And so, oh no, you can't see something. It's all good. All right. And so this is Jim Rohn. And so Jim Rohn is considered by many to be one of maybe the father of personal development, right? He mentored Tony Robbins, worked closely with Zig, worked for all of these people, right? Les Brown, all these incredible folks.
And so some of you may not know that eXp World Holdings, formerly eXPI, has actually been now entrusted with carrying forward the legacy of Jim Rohn, right? And so Glenn Sanford, he was influenced by this guy, built out an entire program under our success platform. So check that out.
But in that process when I got introduced to the teachings and the philosophies of Jim, I want to leave you all with this. He asked four significant questions that changed my life, changed my world forever. And I'm hoping to leave that with you as well.
And shout out to the leadership team. By the way, y'all didn't tell me that we were wearing like OD green. You got Cameron running around in an OD green suit. I see you, Cameron. I didn't know we were doing green. That's okay.
But, so I love the fact that this is like a pregame, right? Like this is your PMS check, right? This is right before we actually get ready to deploy on this mission here at eXpCon. So, I love the timing of this event. Like, it's like a launch party.
And so as we head into this, I want you to ask yourself these same four questions that Jim Rohn would ask if he were here today. The first one is why. Write this down. If you got paper, move the plates and stuff aside. Everybody eat. Move the plate to the side. Take out your notebook. Write this down. Why? Why? You want to get crystal clear on your why.
Why are you here? And by the way, that question is more significant to this room than probably any other room at eXp because we know what it's like to, I guess it's called survivor guilt, right? Because what I didn't talk about is, yeah, I was in the front seat of that Humvee, but not everybody made it out.
We lost 22 Marines when I was over there in our deployment, right? And so we know what it's like to be here and be like, man, like why did that guy not make it out and I did? Like why am I here? Like he was better at everything than me. He was faster than me. Like he was stronger than me. He was smarter than me. Like that guy's gone and I'm not.
And so get crystal clear on your why. Why are you here? Why did you choose entrepreneurship? Why did you choose real estate as the mode of your entrepreneurship? Why are you here? Why are you doing this for yourself, for your family, for your vision? Okay, next question. You can't see there. Why not? Why not?
Listen, you guys have already done, guys and gals, families have already done the hard part. You've already done the impossible, right? You've spent days, you spent months, you spent years away from your family. You've been shot at. You've been blown up. You've been disassembled, put back together mentally, physically.
You've already done the hardest things there are to do on the planet all while being unsupported, all on your own trying to figure things out, right? And so why not now see what's possible for you, right? Why not go all in? Why not see what you're capable of in this moment as we get ready to launch eXpCon?
Why? Why not? Why not you? Why not you? Listen, I know I told my story and I wish we had time to pass the microphone around because I know I don't have the most incredible story in this room. You all, I'm just a representative sample of how incredible you all are, right? We all have very similar stories. Many of you again have way more incredible stories than I do.
But that said, you are going to hear some awesome stories while we are here at eXpCon. The people going up on stage, they're going to blow your absolute mind. And some of them you're going to be like, if that guy can do it, like I know I ain't got no excuse. If that chick is successful.
And so ask yourself why not? Why not you? If they did it, if Tony King can do it, I can. Listen, if somebody with brain damage can be up here, you can do it. And so why not you? Ask yourself why not you?
And then finally, why not now? Why not now? Why not in this moment? Why not take the next few days to design the rest of your life and make the change, make the discipline, which again, Leo represents the discipline that this room has. That's all it takes. We are going to show you this week what to do. And we already know that you have the discipline to do it.
And so why not now? What are you waiting? Write this down. What am I waiting for? Are you waiting for somebody to say the right words? Are you waiting for Leo to get up here? Are you waiting for someone to inspire you? Here's a question. What if they don't show up?
Write this down. You got to turn yourself on. Not like that, Marie. All right. But the reality is, what if that person doesn't show up to flip your switch? Turn yourself on. That's it.
So, and as I close out again, just know that you can ask for help. You can ask again, there's no room that understands this quite like this group of veterans. We understand that there's no mission that's ever been accomplished alone, right? Not even the ones you see on the movies as we know, right? That's not reality. Okay?
Everything that you do, you got a battle buddy, you've got a team, you've got a squad, you got a platoon. That does not change here and now. You have this incredible military network. You have our executive team, the people here. You got your board here in the OD green, right? You have an incredible leader. Look, we are here. We are all in this thing together.
And so when you get jammed up, if it's confusing, if you're not understanding, all you got to do throw a hand up, ask for help, and we've got your back. That's it. I'm Tony King. I'll see you.
Well, hello everyone. Hello. Hello. I am Rishan Spray. I am the national vice chair for eXp Military Network. I want to invite three amazing individuals on stage. If you all could come up here, Britney, Dustin, and Cody.
So, this panel is called The Weight Carrying. As Tony has said beautifully, we are all in here obviously because we are a part of the military, affiliated with the military somehow as a military child, a war veteran, a spouse, a mother, all of the things. So, this panel is really to just highlight three amazing stories and for them to share with you all some of the experiences that they went through throughout their journey.
If you all don't mind, and no judgment, I'm moderating from my phone. Okay. All right. Before we dive in, I do want you all to introduce yourselves. Let everyone know where you're from and your affiliation with the military.
Hello. Hi everybody. This is Dustin Overson. United States Army, 26 years. You know what? Devil dogs got it right. Army where devil dog. So I did Iraq. I did Afghanistan. First responder for Katrina, Rita, Bosnia. A real estate agent for the last six years and I did 25 years United States Army.
Hey guys, I'm Cody Pickham. I'm from Austin, Texas. Not from Austin, Texas. I'm a transplant just like most people. I'm originally from central Missouri. But graduated high school near Chicago and then joined the army in '08 and was in for six years. Finished up at Fort Bragg and came on back down to go to Austin.
I am Britney Bunny. I was born in Oklahoma and landed in Arizona and now I'm most recently in Wichita Falls. And I am a military child, a long line of military in my family, grandpas, cousins, all of the good stuff. I've been in the real estate industry for about 10 years and general contractor for about five years.
So Britney, I want to start with you. So growing up as a military child, there are not a lot of the times people come up here, they're veterans, they're spouses, but we don't get to hear the perspective of someone who grew up with a parent that is active duty. So for you, what was that experience like? And what is one lesson that you carried with you throughout all the years from childhood to adulthood?
So I had a little bit of a different experience. I was very young when my dad was active. But when I was about three years old is when we ended up going to Arizona. My mom couldn't handle being a single mom of four children. So she took off, got into drugs.
And so my dad had a decision. He could leave the service and take care of us, depend on family which he didn't have, or come home and take care of us. So he did. He got discharged and came home and we weren't, you know, he went from being a military personnel that mattered and had a purpose to being dad. And that just wasn't enough for him. So we didn't get dad, we got lieutenant.
We got, you know, he gave us enough to survive, the food, the medical care, the clothes on our back, and that was pretty much all we got. So, you know, it's hard to say, but like when it's not normal, right? So you have a class of 25 kids and it's not normal that you didn't get your permission slip signed because dad wasn't paying attention to sign it in time.
You didn't have the dad that scheduled parent-teacher conferences or showed up for, you know, you were looking at them on stage like this and you got to see your dad, you know, in the crowd looking and being proud of you. That wasn't there. So my normal was that there was an empty seat and I didn't understand at that age why or what the weight behind that was.
So the one thing I took away from that was, you know, it's not just about what we feel because children can feel things a lot earlier than they can express it. So now as a mother I look at my children and I don't say, hey, they're being disrespectful because they're not listening. I said maybe they just don't understand. They don't understand the whole, you know, what I'm asking them to do or why. They don't get it.
But I also don't get to choose what they remember. I don't get to choose what pieces they get to carry throughout their lives. So, I have to operate in a way that they could take any one of those pieces and that could fall into their adulthood.
Thank you for that. I appreciate the vulnerability and as most of us in here, we are all parents. So, having your perspective is something that we appreciate. Thank you for that.
Cody, for you I want to talk about a moment where you were in the army and you had mentioned that it was the first time you learned where you were really going to, you could decide you were going to be yourself essentially. There was a moment overseas where a specific individual had looked at you and said you are very talented and gifted.
And so I just wanted to ask you and have you explain to others essentially what that meant for you being active duty and how you've carried that now.
Sure. So, I think the greatest place to start is at the beginning. Where's my trauma people at? Trauma childhoods. Come on. Come on. I see you guys. So, my childhood was absolutely crazy. Both my parents went to prison. Very involved in narcotics and different things like that.
My mom did wind up, she got out, got sober. So, growing up through high school, we were poor. I mean, we were really poor. And so college wasn't really a, college was not something that anybody in my family had ever done. It was not something that was readily afforded to me.
But then the University of Wisconsin called and they were like, "Hey, what do you think about walking on for the football team?" Football was my outlet in high school. It's where I could just, all this aggression and stuff from all this stuff building up as a kid could just kind of come out.
Anyways, college was not the place to be. Wisconsin was one, way too cold. I drank way too much alcohol and I did not go to class. So I came back to reserve my room for sophomore year and they were like, "What are you doing here, bro? See you." So at that time I really was kind of confused. I didn't know what I was going to do.
Called an army recruiter, was gone. I was at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in about three weeks. I was like, "What in the world am I doing?" But so I got to Iraq in 2010. And you know, having a dad growing up, and I want to make this very clear to the room. I am not a victim. I am a survivor. I am an overcomer.
And stacked against me, I'm going to win. And so I showed up in Iraq and it was the time when we were way over strength in country. They were kind of sending some people home. And I was like, they wanted to make me a supply clerk. They wanted me to hand out PT belts to people.
And I was like, "No, I just trained for nine months. I went to all these crazy ranges and no, I want to do something meaningful and impactful." And I kind of threw a fit about it. And I'm an E3. I don't know. I mean, I'm nobody. I'm not even really allowed to talk. But I'm sitting there in Iraq and I'm kind of throwing a fit.
And a one-star general walks up to me and he's like, "You're talented, kid. Like, you could do something with yourself." And I was like, "What?" You know, like I never had anyone tell me that. Never. I mean, I never. I just was kind of just by the skin of my teeth, I was just white-knuckling it through life.
So that was the first time I was like, you know, dang, he sees something in me. What don't I see in myself? And so that just meant, that meant a lot to me. And that really, I came home with a plan. I was ready to go. Got myself back in college, bachelor's degree, master's degree.
Got out of the military right after that in 2014. I by the grace of God fell into real estate, working at a very high level within the Keller Williams system at their corporate headquarters in Austin. And that's when I got exposed to real estate.
And I think if there's anything I could portray to the audience today is just that we have an opportunity in this community to make such an impact. I do it constantly in the state of Texas when I'm working with a veteran or veteran family. I am so much more than a real estate agent.
I'm going to wrap my arms around those people and just love them. Whether they have transitioned out of the military 10 years ago, they're just transitioning out now. If you've been through it, the transition is not easy. It's not easy to take off that uniform.
And then as the leader of the family, whether it's the mom or the dad, you take off the uniform and you're going through stuff, but you still got all these eyes looking at you. You got all this pressure on you. It is, it's not easy. So I think that we have such an opportunity here to really just to love on a community that is so often overlooked or so often just kind of told that, you know, suck it up.
And we are, we're good at sucking it up, but we're also humans too. We go through stuff. And so I just think that that day in Iraq and all that stuff that we went through, being in that position, that was a God thing. That was exactly where I needed to be at the exact right moment with the exact right person to show me what a man looked like and to lead with integrity. And I'm just so thankful for that.
I love that. All that, all the success, going back to school and finishing it out, and I admire that very much.
Dustin, you had described a specific part in your application when you were up for this panel about a time where you had to step away from your family and that walk to the plane leaving for a deployment. So after 25 years of service, what is something that that critical part of your journey do you still necessarily carry with you or have learned from or a lesson in that moment?
So vulnerability. So it was hard. I was impacted by the World Trade Center. So I grew up in Tribeca where the first attack happened. I was coming home from school. By the time the...
The second attack happened, I was already active duty in the army and serving, and it impacted my mother. And I had anger with that, and my wife was over there taking a picture there. We got married at 17 and 18, and we're at 32 years.
And she's been with me and for me through every hardship. And just to let you know, our children, all three of them are in service. And you just brought something to my attention because I wasn't there because I got called to do the thing, and that is the connection. I didn't have a father either. And I not only left that burden with her, but I also knew to get on that plane because I was going as convoy security, you know, rolling down those roads. And I actually felt I might not come home.
And it was going to be the last time that I would ever see her. I didn't want to turn around and acknowledge that. But I came home.
Over and over again, and she was always there waiting for me, and it let me know that, you know, support was important. Our love was strong, and I love my country, and I would do it again. And I was mad, and I wanted to go serve because they attacked my block, my neighborhood.
And I spent the next 25 years repaying that debt to them.
Wow. Well, thank you for those 25. So looking back, and any of you can answer, looking back on your journeys and everything that you all have experienced, what is something that has changed you the most personally and professionally that has molded you essentially into the person that you guys are today.
Real estate. I mean, I think it was healing for us, right? So the no boundaries, there's no limits in real estate except for what you put on yourself, and I needed it more than it needed me for sure. I needed a new identity. I joined when I was 17, and I said goodbye to uniform at 44. I didn't have identity, and I needed it, and I needed a team to lead. So I have a team. I needed people to look up to. I needed something to show up for and show to and serve. And it was real estate. Not only the agents that chose me as a leader, but also the clients that needed the help. And it actually gave me time to heal. And Miln Ned, like when I filled out that survey, it was my first time. I told my wife, 'Guys, I'm 100% disabled too. I haven't acknowledged my issue. I haven't acknowledged because I didn't want to, and I don't want to. I want to continue to push. I don't worry about the hardships. I got to charge. We got to do things. But thank you for that because filling that out made me also recognize some things to work on.'
Absolutely. And just to jump in, that's what was important because all of us may not feel like we have a voice, but we carry so much. My husband has been active duty for 14 years. He's had three deployments and over 23 TDY, and we have a 10 and a six-year-old. So my husband's not home very often. So I work two businesses. I carry that weight respectfully, and it's my choice, and I love doing that. But it's just something that I don't speak on. So we did this with the intention to let everyone know there are people out there that obviously we're all military affiliated, but stories may be the same. You may be able to resonate with someone because of military child or veterans or things of that nature. So I appreciate you guys, and you will hear me say this so much for getting on the stage because it's not easy to talk about these things. So thank you. But if you did have something that changed you personally or professionally.
Yeah. I think a couple things. The military a lot, and I think a lot of people that join the military, it's controlled chaos. Maybe sometimes not controlled chaos, just chaos. But anyways, when you get out, there's a lot of... I have found what I really love about real estate is there's a lot of the same disciplines, you know, like getting up to go to PT, the same if you can make lead generation your PT of the day and you can stick to it. A lot of my mentors when I first got in the game, Chris Heler, you know, a lot of people like they religiously 8 to 11 every day, no one's touching you. There are no phone calls, there's nothing. That is your outbound calling time. That's your follow-up time. And I think so I think that I've also helped a lot of military people coming out of the service transition into this career because I think that there are a lot of disciplines and a lot of things that align very well. And then also like I love the chaos, you know, like lived in it, served in it and everything, but now I have a wife and four kids and I'm learning that it's time to back up off the chaos a little bit or hand the chaos off to some other people. So leverage is a huge thing in this business as well. And I'm learning that as I get older and older because I think a lot of the military mindset is like if it's meant to be, it's up to me. And that's true, but you're only one person and there's only 24 hours in a day and sometimes it's okay to hand some stuff off.
You know, I kind of feel like I'm getting a little bit of an insight to my father's mind that he never actually gave me. So thank you. But I would say too, I never chose the life of a military child. It wasn't my decision that my mom left or my dad was in the military. That wasn't choices I made. However, I have to choose every single day what I do with that, right? The experience I had or how I grew up. Again, I got lieutenant. I didn't get the dad I could come to when I needed to talk about boys or anything really. So I didn't get that emotional side of it. And that did affect my relationships growing up. But what it did to me in business, I guess it gave me the resilience, the adaptability to be able to just handle it. You don't sit there and cry and wait for somebody to come save you because nobody's coming. You got to jump in it. You got to find the solution and you got to get to the other side of it because you are the only one doing it, you know. And break the generational cycle is I have to be the best of both worlds for my children, right? So I have to show them how strong you can be while still giving them the strength. And that's I guess a really hard part and I battle with all the time. But I say that too, like I love the chaos. You know, I just had a call the other day with my therapist and I said, you know, I want peace. That's why we went to Witchita. I got 10 acres. I want my homestead. I want my garden and I want my highland cow. But am I going to be okay with that? You know, years of survival or flight, the fight or flight. Am I going to be okay with the peace or am I going to look for something to have a problem? So I think that's really what changed me and that has allowed me to... I've built businesses for people, you know, different types of businesses, you know, whether it was real estate or accounting or builders. Like I've built businesses, full businesses, structures and everything. So it's allowed me to do that because it was almost like a drill practice and I was never even there, but that's what was given to me by my father. And so I guess that somehow kind of bled through and I'm able to do that like copy and paste. Like it's just something like you're not awake for it, but you're doing it, right? You're not awake for that early practice, but you're there. And I think that's what I took from it.
Well, thank you, Britney. I want to ask you guys about the parts of your military experience that you didn't realize are assets in your business right now. So I've heard structure, I've heard a lot of the things, but what do you carry from your experience that you really take into your business and you see it in your business as a positive aspect in it?
High level of I can't fail. You had to psych yourself up, right? But also believing in your training, your skill, and your talent. But taking that military discipline of all those years and applying it to real estate and attacking the industry the best I knew how, which is giving 100%. I actually didn't go on vacation for my first three or four years. I just started vacationing with my wife because I needed to make up for the time. I worked that hard at it. Building a team, getting title companies investing, and I got that from the army and knowing waking up every day knowing I'm going to succeed and I'm going to win because that's what we do. It's not a cockiness or arrogance. It's just I took that persona just like when I was going to Iraq or Afghanistan. I didn't want to go there thinking I ain't gonna win, right? And I took that attitude and that character trait and applied it, and that's what got me where I am.
Yeah, 100%. The option to fail is not an option at all. But also just the high level of figuring stuff out. I've seen some soldiers do some incredible stuff to entertain themselves or whatever it is, especially down range. You get basic training, man, there's not a lot to do and you got drill sergeants down your back. So when you do get a little bit of free time, people get crazy. And so, you know, it's just figuring stuff out. So like I feel like, you know, I have a lot of acquaintances in the industry and to me it seems like a lot of stuff that gets to them shuts them down or just kind of wrecks their day and stuff. I'm like, 'What?' You know, like, come on, push through that. That also turns a lot of people off, but those ain't my people. And so we're just going to keep driving forward and just... Yeah, exactly.
I'm sorry. I say that all the time. I was like, I can't, I don't have patience. Like, just figure it out. For me, I kind of see both sides of this. Because I grew up that way where like I had to just figure it out. But I became a leader to where like, hey, figure it out. Stop complaining. But also like this is why, right? So like I'm also I guess trying to inflict on them that figure it out, but like also giving them a reason, like a purpose behind it, right? So I want to try to give them that strength that I was given, you know, inadvertently given, but give them that strength and still give them that safe space to be like, I don't get it. Like, can you just show me once? And allow them to know the why. Because a lot of the times I would just get, 'Do this, do that, do this, do that. Oh, you didn't listen. You're disrespecting me. Here's the belt.' Right? And I was just like, well, why did I disrespect you? What did I do wrong? So it's kind of like giving them that side of things as well is, you know, hey, this isn't... you didn't do it the correct way, but let me explain the purpose and then see if you would do it a different way. And then I don't know about you guys, but like in real estate, I feel like sometimes it contradicts yourself because in military it's loyalty all the way, right? You're one with your brother, you're one with your sister. We are all one community. So it's kind of hard when it comes to the competition for me. It's like I don't want to step on you. You're also part of my family. And I think sometimes...
Yeah. At the end of the day, we're all on the same team.
Yeah. And that's... I think that there's some work to do there as an industry for sure. And it's with the NAR lawsuit, it's only getting worse. So I hope we can figure that part of it out.
Yeah. It's really, really hard to compete when you're like, you're looking at them and you're like, I know what you've done, right, what you've sacrificed. It's like, all right.
I want to ask one last question. So if there was any piece of advice that you could give someone in this room that they could leave with about carrying weight of their own and how to handle that essentially, what would that advice be?
That's a hard one. So I've witnessed a lot of things and I hold a lot of baggage from those decades. I've lost a lot of soldiers. I failed. I didn't show up on time. I've had to look at parents in the eyes and apologize. And I've carried that burden to today. And it's become almost a place of comfort because I've carried it so... That's part of my wounded identity. I was top... I was first on the top of failure and success as a whole. How do you deal with that? I don't think you do. I'm 50 years old and I've been through it. It is part of me and I accept it and I draw strength from it and I draw my authenticity, my genuine care comes from it and it helps me be better. And I don't want to forget those mistakes and those losses or those faces because I owe it to them to succeed in real estate because, you know, they need me to perform. Those parents still watch me. I still get the inboxes. I still get the texts and they're proud of what I'm doing, you know. My service still continues in life and after death.
That's good. Resiliency training. Stupid trainings in the army all the time. All the time. But one that I actually really, really liked was resiliency training and it really affected me when we got back from Iraq because it's like, what do I do with my hands? I'm bored. Like this is not fun. I don't want to be in formation. I don't want to hang out until my NCOs let me go home. You know, it's just... But it's very easy, especially in real estate, especially in a volatile market that we're all dealing with right now. It's really easy to catastrophize and just, I'm never going to close another home again. I'm going bankrupt tomorrow. It's really easy to take yourself 90 to nothing quickly. And one thing that I really learned in resiliency training was put it in perspective. I mean, how awesome is it? One, that we live in America. Two, that we have the opportunity to sell homes and make a great living from it and meet some incredible people along the way. We've all fought, we've all failed, we've all won, we've all succeeded, and no matter what happens, we're going to be okay. And so, like for me, I thank God my wife, she's in the back, she's a saint. She keeps me in perspective a lot. I'm just so thankful that we have the ability to do this profession and to seriously... outside of critical life-saving care, I don't think that there's another profession that makes as much of an impact as we do. It is such a serious thing that we are navigating these people through. And so I think, you know, when times are tough, which they are right now, if anybody says they're not, they're lying. It's crazy right now and it's not looking good. I think we just got to bring it back down to why we do this, what's the mission, you know, and do it to the best of our ability and we're going to be okay. We're going to get there.
I think that a lot of times people assume just because you survive something that you've fully processed it and that's just not the case. So, you know, fear is real. And I think everybody within the military realm understands that fear about anything is real. Fear about the market, fear about money, fear about deploying, it's all... fear is there. Everybody has it. It's what you do with it that really makes an impact in your life. So continuing to have the mindset that there's really only two options. You either go with your environment or you dig into it, you go for it, right? Whatever you were built with, you were built with the... you know, you get to inherit this big business and you go for it, or you have nothing and you go against it and you build it, right? There's really only those two options. And ultimately, what happened to you in the past, whether it was 5 years ago, 10 years ago, as a child, you can either use that as an excuse to not do it or that you can't do it, or you can use it as fuel on why you can. And I think that just living in that mindset allows you to do it because really real estate is... you're getting into it because you think it's easy, or you're getting into it because you know it's chaos and you want the chaos. So that's what I would say.
Well, thank you three very, very much. We appreciate you all. The vulnerability, the courage that it takes to come up here and talk about things that, like you said, sometimes you don't really talk about, you haven't thought about. We appreciate you. And I want to thank you on behalf of the board and all of everyone in the audience for you guys coming up here. So give a round of applause.
I'm sorry. Okay, one second. So next I'm gonna call up... Okay. Please join us in welcoming our founder. Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. So just Miss Wendy Foresight. I'm so sorry.
Good afternoon, eXp Military Network. First off, thank you for your service and thank you for everything that you pour into your day-to-day, to the eXp Military Network community and to the larger eXp community. This luncheon is one of my favorite luncheons that we have here at the event. And I'm sorry I wasn't here to be at the beginning of it, to be here for all of it, but I'm so glad I did get the opportunity to come say thank you, to spend a few minutes hearing that impactful panel that just happened. You know, I want to bridge off what Cody was saying about resilience because resilience is something that I give a lot of thought to related to our business and it is one of the key things that I think particularly all the backgrounds, the shared thread that you all have through your military service and through families of the military. Resilience is so important and you need to be able to look after yourself before you can pour into others. And I know it's a challenging time in the market right now. And we need to pour into ourselves and making sure that we're filling up those resilience buckets. So please do that. Lean on this community. Lean on all of us as we go forward. We're here for one another. It's a big part of what the eXp Military Network is all about. So thank you so much for everything that you do. Please reach out if we can support you in any way. And it's a pleasure to be here with you today.
What is up? What is up, party people? Okay, I know that our food is starting to settle. You know, we're getting, you know, a little comfortable. But if you don't already know, every single Tuesday we have, in my opinion, the best military mastermind in all of the industry where we have a lot of our own community come in and speak about their experience inside the industry. All right. And what we're going to talk about next is about an absolute rock star, seven-time icon. Okay. And let me sprinkle something on top of that from Alaska. Okay. She is a military spouse. Okay. So she's one of our own. All right. Come up here on stage. We got MJ Mada Gillis.
Thank you, Caleb. Hi, everybody. I get to hang out with Rashan in Alaska. So we're happy to be here in warm weather.
I know that's all right, guys. Let's jump right into it. So, MJ, talk to us a little bit about what is a characteristic that an agent must have if they're going to work with the military. So as we all know that are military affiliated, the military always says improvise, adapt and overcome. And that adaptability is so critical in real estate as we all know. So adaptability I think is the most important. Okay. And then another thing I want to touch on, guys, let me shed a little bit more light. All right. MJ's been a lender and she's an agent. Okay. So tell me how you got introduced or even got into the world of...
It was over margaritas. I'll share that with you. So I used to work at Chili's when we were stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. And I used to have these really grumpy loan officers come in and they would let me serve them way too much, send them home in a cab, and they kept offering me a job. And I kept thinking, I don't want to be miserable like you guys. And this was in '08 when the market had just crashed and everybody was getting out of the industry. And if you tell me to go left, I'm going right. I always am opposite of what everybody else is doing. Definitely not a follower. And I thought, what goes up must come down and it goes back up again. So I saw an opportunity to get in when everybody else was getting out. It was rough. It's probably not the smartest financial decision. My husband will tell you that. But there was an opportunity to get in when the going was rough, to learn the market, to build my name, build my brand. I'll never look back. It was the best stupid decision I've ever made.
Well, talking about stupid decisions, what made you decide to join the dark side, the agent side of things?
Those damn loan officers. No, it was really wonderful to be a loan officer and I took a full ride to college for cheerleading. So I'm all about being a team player and I just felt like there was a huge disconnect in the industry where realtors and lenders should have been working together and collaborating and working as a team for their clients, but they were at each other's throats, man. And they were crossing into each other's lanes. They were pointing fingers. And sure, I'm only one person. I'm not moving the mountain. But I just thought, you know, I'm going to the other side and I'm going to teach these, you know what, that we need to work together. They need to stay in their lane and this is a team effort to better serve together.
I know. That's right. And talking about, you know, crossing lanes and things like that, when you got into the agent side of things, what was something you figured would be absolutely easy, but just wasn't.
I really thought it'd be easy to get clients. Not going to lie. So as a lender, I was always fighting for clients over rates that I had no control over, over fees that I had no control over. And it was like a dog eat dog world. And so, I don't know, I just when I became a realtor, I was like, 'Oh, I don't have to fight over rates. I'm in full control. I'm cool. I'm freaking fun to work with. I'm relatable. I'm a military spouse. Like, this will be easy peasy.' And holy was I wrong. I was so wrong. So I really, really had to work hard for it. Yeah, but I'm doing okay.
