On this episode of rokrbox, we’re back in our usual rhythm, ready to bring you some very inspiring client success stories. This week, Josh brings on two special guests from up north: Akash and Shaneil of Nexxus Realty Group!
Welcoming them to the show, Josh takes a second to mention how much he loves the team’s tagline, “Nexxus Realty Group: it’s more than just a transaction.”
“One of the biggest myths I tell onstage is that real estate agents don’t actually sell homes,” Josh adds. “What you sell is professional services.” He invites Akash and Shaneil to share a bit of background with viewers, asking how they built their amazing team in Edmonton, AB.
[1:00] Akash explains that he got into real estate four years ago. It wasn’t until he made the switch to a different team that he heard about rokrbox. After leaving that team to pursue his own path a year later, he connected with Shaneil, who was in the process of making the transition from banking to real estate.
“When we made the initial jump, I decided to go out on my own. He came with me, [and] we partnered together,” Akash explains. He says that he relied on past exposure with previous teams to implement best processes and procedures into his business, and Akash and Shaneil began to build their team.
Josh invites Shaneil to share his unique career path. Shaneil answers that he started out as a financial advisor, and was then promoted to commercial. One day while asking one of the bank’s cashiers—who he knew was also involved in real estate—how things were going.
“He was just like, ‘Honestly, it’s good,’” Shaneil remembers. “[He said] it’s a good career path, I have a flexible schedule. Everything about it was intriguing to me. I finally decided, ‘Hey, let’s make the jump.’”
He tells Josh that it was perfect timing. “What a perfect person to learn from—someone who’s been in the industry for so long, and he’s a good buddy of mine as well, so it just made a lot of sense,” Shaneil explains, adding that he relied heavily on Akash’s expertise when he got started.
[3:00] Commending Shaneil’s story, Josh says he totally understands wanting to pursue your own entrepreneurial venture. “As entrepreneurs,” he says, “we get into business to create freedom in our lives, to do whatever you want—spend time with your family, fun projects or vacations, community events, whatever that might be.”
Diving into his next question, he asks Akash and Shaneil what challenges they faced in the early stages of building Nexxus Realty Group from the ground up. Without hesitation, Akash replies with an answer that any realtor would likely agree with.
“Cold calling as a whole takes a lot out of you mentally,” Akash stresses. “It drains you, it’s time-consuming. You have to have a strong mental fortitude to do it day in, and day out.” He adds that it’s important sometimes to delegate tasks you suspect you won’t be able to devote your full attention to.
“I didn’t want my leads to go to waste,” Akash says. “And given the work that I saw rokrbox [doing], and the ROI I was getting from being on previous teams, was why I decided right away [to partner with rokrbox]. It’s about buying your time back too, right?”
To maximize your ROI and have that time back, Akash states, you have to find a way to delegate it. Maybe it does require you to spend more money, he cautions, but as long as you find that return on investment—well, that’s what every business is about…and that’s what makes it worth it.
[5:00] “Don’t get me wrong,” Akash continues, “you do have to call leads, but when they’re warmed up—they’ve already had the conversation, that first step’s already been taken for you—it’s so much easier! It’s night and day. You don’t realize how big of a difference it truly makes. It’s done for you. You just have to go in, have a conversation, be yourself, get them to like you…and that’s all it takes to help you close that sale.”
He mentions that obviously when you’re starting a new team, there’s always a concern about keeping costs low. But Akash confesses that rokrbox was the one thing that he was comfortable spending money on, because he knew that he would eventually see that ROI back.
[5:30] Agreeing with Akash, Josh concurs that it’s important to delegate your weaknesses and bet on your strengths when running a business—and most importantly, create that leverage in your life, and get your time back.
“We have to have a good balance in our lives of things that we enjoy—things that we must do, things that we want to do. So it’s great [to hear] that we’re giving you that time back, and creating that scalability and leverage in your business.”
Acknowledging Akash’s previous statement about cold-calling, Josh adds, “It’s tough cold-calling leads. There’s a lot of work that goes into it. “There are so many leads that are nosy neighbors, or just kicking tires.”
Of course, this all ties back to rokrbox’s namesake: the rocker box, an old gold-mining tool used by miners to scrub through the dirt and the rocks, and eventually get down to something of value: the “gold flakes.” In the real estate world, this value is found in hot opportunities: motivated buyers and sellers who are ready to take that next step.
[6:15] “We work it down to that smaller list of people that you can actually get a step in front of, and actually demonstrate your expertise where it’s needed,” Josh says.
When asked what Nexxus Realty Group would say to those considering an ISA service, or even just looking for insight within the industry in general, Akash encourages those people to just trust their gut, and trust the systems in place.
[8:45] “If you’re struggling with something [that’s] not working, try to delegate it,” he says. “I’m very transparent with our numbers, and we’re on pace to close just rokrbox sales only, not counting our own sphere or anything.” He specifies that their team is on pace to close $70K in GCI since starting just 5 months prior, adding, “To already get that kind of an ROI from just strictly rokrbox leads? That’s huge for us, especially with us getting started from ground zero. And it’s only going to get better.”
Akash adds that they can only go up from here as they continue their partnership with rokrbox while taking the time to build their sphere and their database—a process that takes months to start seeing results.
“Just give it a shot. Give it some time, give it 4-6 months at least just to see what the progress is, but I guarantee that you’ll see that return.” The other huge thing, he concludes, is buying your time back. “That’s huge, especially in this industry,” he says. “Having that ability to reset, not worry about all these calls , having somebody take care of it for you…That’s huge.”
[10:15] Nodding, Josh agrees with Akash about the work and time required to produce the results you’re looking for. “That 6-month mark is really when you start seeing the compounded results of the work,” he says, explaining that even after rokrbox hands off a hot opportunity—a motivated buyer or seller looking to pull the trigger within a 90-day window—there is a lot more to be done.
“There’s life that happens, there’s negotiation and the whole process of getting someone to close,” he explains, “so like you said, it’s really at that 4-6 month marker where boom, all those closings just start rolling in, and now you’ve got a predictable revenue model for your business.”
[12:00] Thanking Akash and Shaneil for coming on the show, Josh encourages those seeking a referral in Edmonton to give Akash and his team a call at (780) 982-9747. They’d be more than happy to lend their expertise to your homebuying needs, and help you through every stage of the homebuying process!