The Anti-Salesy Newsletter That Builds Loyalty

Steven L Burch (00:00.239)
six and he goes God bless America and it was so freaking funny when she came out like it's now almost every year we always talk about that

Ashley (00:11.726)
That's cute

Steven L Burch (00:12.161)
That's what it made me think of. You look like a trophy girl. God bless America. It is. How are you?

Ashley (00:17.816)
I'll take it as a compliment.

I'm good. How are you?

Steven L Burch (00:24.943)
Good.

Doing good, just working.

Ashley (00:33.484)
Yeah. You know, I just had a call with Robin. She's so funny and how she, well, she said that she had a meeting with you, said she only had three listings this year. And I was like, I think your numbers are wrong. Because that's not true, especially because our goals have one to two a month. So she's like, nope, it was three listings. And I was like, nope, I'm going to encourage you to go back on that because three positive events more than that. Anyway, she was like,

Steven L Burch (00:37.369)
Hmm.

Ashley (01:02.571)
Well, then I only had three listings and like 18 buyers. she's like, how bad is that? And I was like, are you listening to the words that are coming out of your mouth? Like you're complaining about 18 buyers under contract. Why do want to be a listing agent? And I was like, you are a listing agent. I'm promising you've done more than three. And I was like, we just talked about five you have coming up. So then before we got off the call, I made her share a win with me. And then she said,

Well, I had a $51,000 income month and I was like...

Steven L Burch (01:38.863)
She gets fixated on those certain little things.

Ashley (01:44.618)
Yes, I was like, okay, can you just, can you back that up now, just a minute? Like you were just complaining about not having listings or whatever. And then I was like, you just had a $50,000 month. So I feel like things are okay. I mean, not okay. It's just so funny how people, and then she's like, I'm only like number 19 and I'm normally in the top 10. And I was like, it's July. Like, no, she's not what?

Steven L Burch (02:05.262)
No, she's not.

Steven L Burch (02:09.015)
not normally in the top ten.

Ashley (02:10.761)
Well, more than she said was, but anyway. And I was like, I'm assuming you're number one in the office though, right? She's like, well, yeah. And I'm like, well, that's something to be proud of.

Steven L Burch (02:21.775)
They also don't understand that depending on how the report is pulled, either by units or by volume, typically I always pull by volume because that's lower and they don't realize it and it pushes them. Well, that's my mentality. It pushes me and versus them focusing on units. also with that being said, like we have, in last year or so there's two or three big land.

brokerages that have joined as realtors. So we're talking, I mean they're selling the 300 acre, yeah like these are they're they're big ticket items and so therefore like they focus on those you know volume numbers and that's not fair so.

Ashley (02:59.785)
Yeah.

Ashley (03:11.27)
Yeah, so it's funny trying to make her realize that she's just fine.

Steven L Burch (03:15.939)
Well, I always bring it back to what, she compares everything to Heidi. Where's Heidi at? Like, I know like, so she's doing.

Ashley (03:21.03)
I shouldn't say anything about radio on this call.

Ashley (03:25.99)
Where is Heidi? Where is Heidi at?

Steven L Burch (03:28.407)
I have no clue. I don't know of anybody. I haven't been really tracking numbers. I mean, I will, but I haven't really been in it two terms as much. I mean, I can look. Did she tell you that the other day I went home to get a it doesn't matter what I went to go get that I was getting up to the stop sign and here she comes. But I could tell like she was looking at me and so I waved.

And then she started waving really big and she pulled up next to me and she's like, what are you doing? And I was like, I'm just leaving the house. She was like, I was trying to sneak over to your house. And I was like, yeah. I was like, did you need something? Like it kind of scared me cause nobody ever comes to our house. Like is everything okay? And she was like, yeah. And then she like put through her car and parked. She jumped in the back seat and grabbed her pot by and she's like, I know you don't have kids. I know you probably don't want, you won't even use this.

Ashley (04:08.079)
of our Popeye.

Steven L Burch (04:26.435)
But I wanted to bring it by and put it on your doorstep. And I was like, well, thank you. She was just so freaking happy. Like, and then we chatted for a hot minute.

Ashley (04:37.541)
I didn't see her post, but she said that, I'll have to look back, but someone most posted something about it's been like six and a half years or whatever. And then someone else posted something about like, I've never heard from my realtor after. And I was like, but do you get, I was like, do you get why we're putting these things? Cause then people see that you're taking care of them. I think it's starting to click.

Steven L Burch (04:45.1)
six years.

Steven L Burch (04:52.483)
Yep.

Steven L Burch (04:58.991)
Right, Good. Robin in the last 12 months off of the MLS report, so there very well could be things outside of our MLS, has closed 48 units, 10.2 million. List is 13, cell 35.

Steven L Burch (05:26.863)
Heidi. So Robin is number 20 out of really 19, because the number one is non MLS. Heidi is number 28, so really 27. She sold in the last 12 months a total of 41 units, 9,000,026 list and 15 by. Excuse me, yeah, so.

Ashley (05:56.484)
That's probably what she compares herself to on the list side, but I still think she's doing great.

Steven L Burch (06:02.863)
She is number.

Steven L Burch (06:09.657)
four, five on the number of cell side for agents in the entire MLS.

Ashley (06:20.227)
That's amazing. I also have to, I told her, you have to remember that she had 18 transactions or buy side this year. And I was like, those are 18 potential sellers in the next three to five years. So just remember that. Okay to have buyers cause you want them to sell at some point in time.

Steven L Burch (06:38.735)
So, I mean, she's number one in our company. Last 12, so 10.2, then Heidi is nine, Ryan is 5.9, Becky five, Missy 4.5, Neva 4.5, Jason 4.1, Leilani 3.5. I mean, she's doubling.

Ashley (07:01.441)
Yeah, mean literally. So funny when people are so hard on themselves. I looked at my numbers this morning and I think I was at like just under 15 million. I remembered it was like, I don't know, I think it was maybe like in November or something and I remember calling Rita and I was like, oh my God, I think I might close 17 million this year. I wonder what a big deal that was. Kinda funny.

Steven L Burch (07:33.047)
It's, you know, I was kind of thinking about this the other day, like how each time that you hit a milestone, like I don't care if it's, you know, paying the car payment or adding another staff member or whatever, like the very beginning, you're like, oh, I don't think I can do it. And then now you do it for a while, you're like, okay, it's not that bad. Like we made it.

Ashley (07:52.672)
Okay.

Ashley (07:58.122)
I tell you that we were at, for the Jude numbers, we are at 34 million and century 21, which is second, is at 20.

Ashley (08:12.831)
Yeah. So that gap just keeps on getting. I'm sure she, like when I'm served, I'm sure someone showed her our post of our 35 contracts. I'm like, like, guys, that's a lot of volume for these other businesses that aren't, they haven't even done that many transactions yet this year. And we're basically an office of eight agents. Like that's tremendous.

Steven L Burch (08:25.251)
Yeah, that's great.

Steven L Burch (08:40.303)
It's amazing. Again, mean, it goes to your guys' systems, your team and leadership and everything.

Ashley (08:41.737)
So, yeah.

Ashley (08:47.124)
Yeah. And it's everybody like everybody's firing everyone's writing offers, everybody's listing. So it's good.

Steven L Burch (08:57.057)
I have another question for you but I remember it.

Ashley (09:00.415)
You got my buyer packet that I sent you.

Steven L Burch (09:02.293)
Thank you. Do you have one for the sellers or do you what do you use for that?

Ashley (09:07.431)
I used the CMA but I've edited it so I'll get you an updated one.

Steven L Burch (09:11.951)
Can you just forward me one of your resowings?

Steven L Burch (09:17.487)
wanna, it's split, well, we'll see. I haven't looked at the forecast, but it was supposed to rain all week. I was like, the, one, I can't sit in the house all weekend, two, I can't hang out with my parents in the house all weekend, like, I'm gonna have to work on something, because I can't do all that shit.

Ashley (09:38.941)
without what you're doing this weekend is hanging out with your parents.

Steven L Burch (09:41.263)
Yeah, probably. We have that thing. What is it? Freedom? Freedom Fest? I call it freedom fisting. There was a... Because for 50 years, it used to be called sundown salute.

Ashley (10:02.343)
sundowns and salutes.

Steven L Burch (10:04.175)
sundown sloop. And so for like the it was all political and then the the group that was putting it on, they moved it to the town of Milford for the 50 year anniversary because that's where it originated from. Well, then all the political people, the ones that were the naysayers and everything else, I mean, they hustle, they get shit done. But this is the the EDC group and everything else. Right.

They were pissed, so they decided to start their own and do it on the 4th of July in town where they used to have Sundown Slute. So it just became this big old battle and so I always called it now Freedom Fisting and now they're staying and Sundown Slute is now a Labor Day or Memorial Day event and I just have to... I don't like it. It's the same fucking thing. They just changed the name and now there's a whole new group in charge of it.

Ashley (11:03.26)
So where is it? it in Milford or?

Steven L Burch (11:05.859)
No, it's injunction. It's our heritage part, our main part.

And it's what five days or something like that. And I can't remember how many 60 or 80,000 people that come to it like throughout the week. So it's exhausting. It's smelly people. It's. Yeah. So we'll see. Melee wants to watch the fireworks downtown. So that's what we'll do.

Ashley (11:25.221)
Keep going.

Ashley (11:36.827)
Yes, I'm assuming that they're gonna have fireworks at this wedding tomorrow.

Steven L Burch (11:42.543)
Wait, is it like a themed Fourth of July wedding?

Ashley (11:48.988)
So don't think so. So we're going up tonight and then tonight is a band and the theme is red, white and blue and then tomorrow night is the wedding. So we're going to call it tomorrow during the day. But should be like, I they'll skirt any bad weather until Saturday. It looks like it's going to pour all day on Saturday.

Steven L Burch (12:07.535)
Huh, don't like it. Okay, what do you want to talk about? You put a couple of different ideas in, not blank.

Ashley (12:14.872)
I did.

Steven L Burch (12:17.561)
They're called Slack.

Ashley (12:19.214)
I remember what I put in there.

Steven L Burch (12:27.311)
who's not your ideal client. Real estate is a 24 hour day career, but that doesn't mean you need to be introvert versus extrovert.

Ashley (12:40.858)
Yeah, or I thought it was in my newsletter, but it's an interesting topic that Caitlin Clark effect. What? Not you.

Steven L Burch (12:56.569)
Tell me about it.

Ashley (12:56.953)
I don't know if you read my last one.

Steven L Burch (12:59.639)
I have not read it. no.

Ashley (13:01.209)
Bye.

Steven L Burch (13:05.103)
Is that your recommendation in your book? Is it a red cover?

Ashley (13:09.678)
No, just in my intro paragraph, I talked about the Claytain Clark effect, about how you're punished for being good.

Steven L Burch (13:18.551)
yes.

Ashley (13:20.185)
And then I talked about how that Sophie Cunningham and the whole stood up for her and now her like, her numbers have like outgrown Caitlin Clark's numbers. So it's just an interesting concept that you stood up for someone and then now you're skyrocketed for doing the right thing, right? That was interesting.

Steven L Burch (13:46.447)
I'm gonna have to read it then.

Ashley (13:48.386)
No, stop, fuck.

Steven L Burch (13:51.087)
Like, no, I'm gonna have to read up on it, because I don't know anything that you're, other than like, I know who Caitlyn is, but like...

Ashley (13:53.304)
Okay, we'll read up on it for next time.

Okay. Yeah. So you need to read up on it. So. Right. Like if you, you should just read up on it. So they target her like all the time, right? Cause she's the best. We knock her down at basketball games, all that other stupid shit. So they did a, they did like a, I don't know, like they pushed her over at a game like two weeks ago. And then the other girl like chest pumped her right after it. And then later in the game, this Sophie who is.

Steven L Burch (14:00.461)
Bye!

Steven L Burch (14:07.023)
Right.

Ashley (14:27.042)
Caitlin's teammate basically like took this girl like when she was coming for a layup, like by the back of the neck and like throw her down on the ground. And it created this like frenzy and like, right, she did it because she was tired of like no one ever stands up for Caitlin Clark. then within I think like 48 hours, she went from like 20 Instagram followers to like over a million. Her jersey sold out overnight. Like it's just, it's just when you, you should read a couple of the stories of like how they're.

Like talking about the Caitlin Clark effect, but really like the Caitlin Clark itself without Sophie is just people hate her because she's good at what she's. She's good at basketball and people don't like it. So that's what I referenced in my newsletter is like, can relate to people not liking you because you're good at something, which it doesn't make sense. So then it said that there should be like more Sophie's in the world that are willing to stand up for people or just say like.

Steven L Burch (15:17.763)
Yes.

Ashley (15:26.816)
good job or why can't we be happy for people when they do well? Like, why is it such a competition?

Anyway, we'll do that for you next time.

Steven L Burch (15:34.511)
I'm going to read up on it then. I I've watched some of the things about Caitlin Clark. I think she's freaking phenomenal. Yeah, like, but I don't know why everybody's hating. It's no different than like Travis Kelsey, right? Or Taylor Swift and like, I mean, different dynamics. get it. But like, because the Chiefs are doing so well, everybody hates them. Everybody hates Travis and Tay-Tay together. I mean, come on. They're not the same.

Ashley (15:40.543)
I don't really want to see her.

Ashley (15:46.518)
Thank you.

Ashley (15:59.358)
Okay. I did think it was pretty cool that she came out on like play with her guitar last week at their Pieden University.

Steven L Burch (16:08.655)
They're amazing people for sure.

Ashley (16:10.879)
Okay, what else was on my list?

Steven L Burch (16:14.447)
put it down.

Ashley (16:16.342)
Sorry.

Steven L Burch (16:18.167)
Ashley Slack podcast. Who's not your ideal client? Real estate is a 24 hour day, but that doesn't mean you need to be introvert, extrovert.

Ashley (16:41.398)
I was just throwing them out as they came to me.

or anything else that resonates with you.

Steven L Burch (17:00.727)
I have some in Notion.

Steven L Burch (17:24.055)
Overwhelm. Being overwhelmed isn't a character flaw. It's a system design problem.

Ashley (17:33.019)
Also a people pleasing problem.

Steven L Burch (17:40.399)
work from triggers not being from being triggered.

Steven L Burch (17:46.883)
those were, I'm trying to work on getting topics from my recordings and stuff so that we have a shlue of them to pick from, but those were just people.

Ashley (17:57.704)
did, it didn't work for Shannon's and that was maybe after, that was before I talked to Brandon, but I talked to Brandon and then this last time we were thinking that maybe it because I was using my phone for calls, but this last time with Robin I got the transcript after, from my fixer. So that should work.

Steven L Burch (18:17.135)
Good. Do you like it? Like, does it break it down?

Ashley (18:22.637)
I just saw it came through and it all broke out because I her call was right before this. I haven't looked at it but I saw that it created one.

Steven L Burch (18:29.913)
Well, I think that once we get this somewhat together on our notion, it'll be really beneficial for both of us. And some of the things that I'm working on with Brandon on, even these type of recordings and stuff, we can use these for our personal branding and whatnot too. So just how to...

how to streamline it without having to have it saved in 10,000 different places so we can have it all in one place.

Steven L Burch (19:09.113)
What else is there out there right now?

Ashley (19:12.784)
People are fucking nuts is what is out there right now. I said people are just fucking nuts. We live in a different world.

Steven L Burch (19:15.788)
What is?

Good.

Steven L Burch (19:24.719)
I don't get it. Is it that we're more conscious, like paying attention to it? Or is this the it's always been? are tolerances no longer there?

Ashley (19:44.976)
I think like it could be tolerance for sure. But I mean, like, for example, like our rentals, like this guy was supposed to sign a, I mean, the amount of people that were supposed to sign a fucking lease over the last two weeks and haven't. whatever, send them the lease. And then he was like, I need to know the, what was it? The speed test for the internet. Cause I like to stream. And I was like, I mean, it's connected to like the internet that is for the whole entire city. You can stream.

So I sent him the lease or whatever and then he's like, I'm unwilling to sign unless I can do a speed test. And I was like, we'll do a speed test. And he's like, well, you'd have to have the current tenant do it for me. And I was like, the fuck is this? I was like, no.

Steven L Burch (20:29.177)
Yeah, reach out to the internet provider.

Ashley (20:33.397)
Alright, so I texted Ben, I'm like, you can take care of this, I'm done.

Sorry, nope, not my cup of tea. And there was another girl that was like, I see that there's a grace day for there's a five day grace period for rent. But I was like, correct. Like it's a late fee if it's more than five days. So I don't have pay on the first. He's like, well, that's when it's due. I mean, it would really be for like circumstances. Yeah, I'm just going to wait till the fifth to pay then. But then she told the neighbor, but then the neighbor didn't pay her rent until and I was like, what are we doing?

Steven L Burch (20:37.625)
Yeah.

Hmm.

Ashley (21:07.759)
What are we doing?

Steven L Burch (21:11.243)
I with tenants, I'm telling you, they will find a loophole for everything. They will bitch about everything. Like...

Ashley (21:19.577)
and I break my security deposit up over the length of my stay.

Steven L Burch (21:23.213)
No. Simple.

Ashley (21:24.655)
no. Can my rent come out of my security deposit? No. I mean, if they ask these stupid questions, I'm just going move on to the next person.

Steven L Burch (21:36.239)
Absolutely.

Ashley (21:39.811)
I didn't used to be, I don't probably get used to be like that, I could be wrong.

Okay, we're gonna type that.

Ashley (21:49.879)
I'm going to take that. Hold on one second.

Ashley (22:02.787)
Okay.

Take something. Ready, set,

Steven L Burch (22:08.635)
You know, like I literally have a

Steven L Burch (22:19.449)
Honestly, like, I know it's simple, but what about your newsletter? Like, talking about it. Because I think people complicate stuff.

Till the sun.

Ashley (22:30.894)
Yeah. Two of my newsletters, both my newsletters.

Steven L Burch (22:32.591)
Yeah.

Steven L Burch (22:36.461)
Yeah, all of them. More so, mean, yesterday somebody asked me, like, I don't know how to, I don't know what to do with my CRM and how to talk to, like, contact people.

Steven L Burch (22:51.983)
So.

Ashley (22:53.057)
I think that doesn't Vulture will create like if you want an engineer newsletter.

Steven L Burch (22:56.985)
Yes.

Well, I don't want to be too celzy. If you're giving from like information of value, it's not as else. So.

Right? Here we go. Welcome to the Leaning Lane podcast. Ashley, you've been doing newsletters and constantly reaching out to your sphere and your past clients and people maybe never even purchased anything from you. So I get asked all the time, I don't even know what to do with my CRM. I don't know what to do with my sphere. I don't know what to do.

And every time I say newsletter, I kind of get an ick because I feel like it is kind of a sales side of things. But you draft and publish your newsletters completely differently. How do you do yours differently than maybe the industry standard or what a salesy typical newsletter looks like?

Ashley (23:59.637)
Sure. I actually have two different newsletters. So I have one that is a little bit more focused to my hometown. And then I have one that is just meant for anyone really, probably a little bit more female centric, if you will. But I have a lot of male readers as well that commented, even Ryan told me how much he likes it. So the point for the local one, which we probably started with Caitlin's help probably about three years ago.

For me, that came out of the frustration of people saying that there's nothing to do in Marshfield. And I feel like that couldn't be further from the truth. And I was like, how can I just get that out to people? And also really it is ideal for people that are moving to town to now have a list of things to do or people that are in town. Like I just sent a thank you card to someone that is from our show, has lived here for like, I don't know, 30 years. I sent her a little coupon to a coffee store that's been open for like seven years.

She's like, my gosh, I've never been to that coffee shop. I was, you know, so again, like we live here, but we just get stuck in our, in our own little ways. So, I think a lot of people will choose to take a news, like a real estate newsletter and it, and it can just be like salesy. Like, if you need me to help, you know, buy or sell your home, call me and here's all my listings. So I try to make my intro just more like a, an update. Cause let's be honest, everyone always asks, how's the market?

What's new in the market? They might not be in the market for buying or selling, but they're still curious or maybe that might change for them. So I normally like to do something that's just, you know, a little bit about the market. Like we're busy, we're short on inventory, whatever that might be. And then they can use that information however they want. And then it's really the next 30 days of local activities. So it's the people on the farm, it's the circus, it's the, you know, yoga in the plaza, all those types of things. And then at the bottom,

think we normally do like a home maintenance tip or something that's a little outside of the realm. And then I do normally like one featured listing. So maybe if I have a listing that's been sitting there and it's funny, like, you you put people on it that are past clients and sometimes you never hear from people. So you're not sure if they're, you know, reading it or not. And I think one of them, had an office space that I put for Lisa on there and he messaged me back right away and I was like, could you tell me more about this? And I was like, like you want to not work from home anymore? Like,

Ashley (26:22.362)
You know, might some things change that we just don't know. But you know that the newsletter will also post like those events and other places. And now I have people that are reaching out to me to specifically ask me to put their events in my newsletter. So that's just another touch for me. I think as far as like real estate, again, like when you're when you're touching base with your database, I don't feel like it should be solely real estate driven. It should just be I always try to look at it as like you're their expert for whatever that might be. So

Here's a good painter recommendation. Here's our local coffee shop that we really enjoy so that they open those and they know it's not going to be salesy.

Steven L Burch (27:02.041)
Right. Well, they can if you if you compound this together and if you're doing you said yoga on the plaza, right? If you go to yoga on the plaza, you as Ashley and you're inviting other people from your newsletter to attend yoga, they're going to see you and then they're going to spark a conversation because, maybe they didn't know about it and they went because of you. And so now you are creating that connection and relationship even further. You're creating the rapport. Right.

I think people put too much overthinking into, do I say? How do I say these different things in a newsletter? But in reality, think of it as you're the mayor of the community and you want to be able to invite everybody to all these different events that you're gonna be going to and or you're trying to help promote. It's that simple.

Ashley (27:52.482)
Well, I look at it for people that are brand new to the city, right? Like how do we get it so that they stay? Right. So it's same for your town, right? Like it's hard with people, you know, military in and out. So here we have a medical facility. can help, people can be in and out, especially I feel like if they don't make connections, so if they never really meet anybody or become part of like a group or whatnot, it's hard. It's easier for them to leave, right? Where if you tell them there's all these things to do, then they start.

you know, going to meet people to me that lends them staying here longer because they've made these relationships and they've made these reports with people.

Steven L Burch (28:30.189)
And you're constantly staying top of mind with them. It's even if I'm not going to go to yoga, right? Like Shani the other day, but we had a yoga with cows here and Shani made a post about it and everybody's like, my God, I didn't know about it. I think that would have been a great topic to not only promote to get people to go see you there. And then now you have all of this content of

Ashley (28:32.844)
Yeah, I mean, it's not.

I'm gonna make you part of yoga.

Steven L Burch (28:59.651)
being able to share that you're doing yoga with cows. You never know what anybody's going to spark an interest or spark a conversation. It just shows the different dynamic of who you are as well. And it doesn't have to be this big elaborate plan. Go ahead.

Ashley (29:17.281)
I think the other part of that too is, you people are always just looking for ways to stay in touch with their database. And can be a newsletter. I believe in, you know, social media as well. And same thing. Sure. Like our posts are probably more geared towards real estate because that's what we do every single day. But I also tell my clients like they have to know you outside of real estate. So they need things that they can relate to with you when they see you in person. So same thing like.

You should be in tune with what's going on with people. if you see that they were in Italy last month, the next time you see them in person, you have the ability to talk to about that. Well, same thing is true for me, right? When I post like that we were on vacation, I had people that I saw in town that were asked how Curacao was right. They are giving these, these opportunities for these conversations where you, you know, build rapport with people. So same thing. had a client that posted about her or her workout class. Well, same thing. I told her, you know, take it a step further and

wear your franchise hat or your franchise shirt or whatnot when you're at this workout class and over time people probably start to remember that or ask you something and it's just because they saw you there.

Steven L Burch (30:26.925)
Right. You know, I remember I went to the grocery store and I had my name tag on. So, you know, this is a while ago. And our company mascot is a little orange French bulldog. somebody, you know, the cashier, she was like, my God, I love Frenchies. And, know, what does that mean? And then so we started having a conversation. You don't know where the conversation is going to spark. People want to talk. People are curious. They want to, you know, ask you questions.

And, you know, I think in any sales industry, it's really not sales. Like, and I know that's maybe an oxymoron, I don't know, but it truly is about the relationship and it's about the connection. And I think that if you lead into something and we were talking about it over this last weekend, Ryan said that, you know, one of the things that, you know, in car sales for him when he first started was never to say, you know, is it something I can help you look for? Because then

they can instantly say no. And so he talked about how then he would go into the weather, you oh, it's hot out today. I was like, that is the most sales 101 not to do, right? And everybody kind of looked at me and I was like, no, what are your goals today? Like, how are you? What's your name? And it's so funny that we forget to jump, know, to have the, know, shake their hand and have a conversation.

and see if you're actually genuine people and they can build the trust with you. But people want to be able to see that you are actively working. They want to see those newsletters. They want to see you actively on social media, out in the community. And all of those are building trust. And even when you think that nobody's reading or nobody's listening or nobody's watching, you always have eyes on you. You always have people, you know, seeing what's going on. So it's just being consistent with it.

Is the light.

Ashley (32:21.54)
Me and this sponge mine over here is like, woo. You know, and it's funny, so I have the real estate newsletter. And then I think it was maybe four months ago, I started a more personal real estate, not real estate, a more personal newsletter. And I think the goal for me is that, one, I think that we live in a strange time, which you and I were just talking about. There's a lot of negativity. think people are just drawn to negativity. People like to post about negative things like,

You can scroll through my social media and I would find it very hard for someone to find something negative in my social media. And that's just because that's not who I am and that's not who I want to try to present to people either. And let's be honest, people could use a little positivity in their lives. So my goal of that one was to just try to be, I think, one more open to like me because a lot of people think they might know me just from that outside, but they really don't, right?

but also just like random things, like a book recommendation, because I know you and I talked about it too, but I do believe there's a science behind for me, the audible, but books, like they can be a game changer. can make you think differently. They can make you see things, not how you would have thought you would. I like to offer those to people. and then like lately it's been, all about proteins. So, you know, some different recipes or, things like that. And.

You know, it's funny, you send it out there and you don't know who is going to read it. If anyone's going to read it, you don't know, but very thankful. the people that have reached back out every time they get a newsletter and be like, my God, I needed this today. How did you know this is what I needed? Thanks for your message. And so that's the other thing I encourage people to do too, is if you do get something that resonates, if you like pop a simple message back to someone and be like, needed that today. Cause a lot of times I'm like, I don't know, maybe no one read it. And then I'll get like three messages. And I was like, okay.

people got it and it resonated with them.

Steven L Burch (34:17.737)
and you know, it goes until you're putting different things out there that other people may not know. And we initially started and you were asking about, you know, if I read your newsletter and about the Caitlin Clark effect and no, know who Caitlin Clark is, but I don't know the whole gamut of everything that's going on right now. Right. So being able to even start and spark those conversations. And it's funny because I was like, I don't want to talk about that because I don't know about it.

But that's literally why you do newsletters and these different types of outreaches because it is thought provoking and starts conversations. So tell us about the Caitlin Clark effect and what you wrote in your newsletter.

Ashley (34:59.7)
Yeah. You know, so interesting because I played basketball in high school. I mean, obviously there's a, you know, basketball piece that I enjoy. If you don't know who Kaylin Clark is, she played for Iowa Hawkeyes, which that's another connection because I was born in Iowa. So my dad's a diehard Hawkeye fan. And, you know, she rose to fame quickly because she was just so, so good at basketball. And now she plays for the Indiana Fever. You know, but if you've watched it at all, I mean, there's a,

There's a strong following for her, but like within the WNBA, there's a strong dislike for her. And it really comes back to like people don't like people for being good at something, which I just have a really hard time understanding why like one people get so caught up into not liking someone that they don't know that. And we talked about it's no different than, you know, Travis Kelsey or Taylor Swift. I mean, it's just crazy that.

Mean things that people will say and like they've never met him. It's just something they read on online. So, uh, you know, she continues to do extremely well. mean, I'll be honest. I don't ever watched the WNBA until she was there. Uh, you know, that industry has grown, but, uh, she gets bullied a lot. There's a lot of plays where you see that people will purposely knock her over or hardfowler and just, you know, I'm sure it's.

These older girls in the WNBA trying to pull their weight, which reminds me of when I started in real estate and there are these older real estate agents that would be mean and say things, you know, trying to get you to probably drop out of real estate, which I never understood. But as you know, there's a game, I think maybe three weeks ago where like hard fell there and then the other girl like chest bumped her and she fell over.

So her teammate who is new, I think to her team this year, Sophie Cunningham, maybe a couple other plays later. And I said in my newsletter, I don't condone violence, but the situation, you know, someone on the other team was going for a layup and she like hardcore felled them, wrapped her hand around their neck and like pulled them down. Right. So I get that it's the same thing that people are doing to Kaelin, but this was out of the blue. mean, you know, Sophie does, and I think it was more or less this her standing up.

Steven L Burch (37:00.399)
Thanks for watching.

Ashley (37:20.531)
for Caitlin for seeing like what people continuously do and just being like, if you're going to do it, I'm going to do it. We're not allowing this type of situation. So the, the interesting thing was what happened after that. So Sophie has like a decent following or whatnot, like overnight, she got like a million followers on Instagram. Her Jersey's now sold out. think she has like something more than what Caitlin has. And so it was just really interesting to me, like

There are the people that out there that see like she was trying to stand up for her. So my newsletter just focused on like, can we maybe try to be that person that can see that someone's struggling and can be that light to help them or a simple like thinking of you great job. And I think when you're someone like, know, Caitlin Clark, or you think, you know, rely like to Kobe, cause she knew Kobe well, right? Like when you're at those levels, like there aren't a lot of people that will tell you like,

you're along your competitors, right? That you're doing great or good job and it's kind of people at the lower levels that always get those compliments. So it's just, I think it's interesting. think what I was just trying to do is get people to think that it's okay to tell people they're doing a good job. It's okay if someone's doing better than you. You don't know if that, what that means at home life. You don't know what that means at any point in time. So it's only facade that you're seeing and you really shouldn't be judging off of it.

Steven L Burch (38:43.447)
Absolutely. And I think it's, I mean, we've talked about all the time about how, especially in small town America, you know, always having a target on your back and being high performers and everything else. But when you're at that level as well, like at that professional level, there's not a lot of other people that are above you. You're really a small fraction of the 1%. Right. And so who else is there to cheer you on? And I couldn't even imagine, you know, being at that level.

and the constant shade and daggers thrown and the target on your back and the little things that you can do for people go a long way. I think that people, you know, seeing a whole bunch of, you know, stadium full that may be cheering her on, but you don't know what's really going on. And I actually think it takes a lot of courage for one person to stand up for another person. And especially on a stage and a spotlight like at

Ashley (39:40.691)
Yeah.

Steven L Burch (39:42.511)
like that scale, right? So it's small things. And yeah, I mean, it's a contact sport too, but let's, mean.

Ashley (39:51.878)
Why? think it's just. I think the other thing that probably makes people mad, which I can relate to is that she doesn't really give in to the like negativity, if you will, as far as like she doesn't post about other players or negative comments. So, you know, they also try to always compare her and Angel Reese, right? Like there's this ongoing battle, but she always says like horrible things about Hatelyn Clark, but you don't necessarily see her saying those things. I think that there's that part of it too of just.

rising above all of that. Like I know that people talk about me, talk about us, whatever, and it doesn't really bother me anymore. It's their choice. And I don't have time for it. So I try to find the people that are excited for me or for us or for our company. And those are the people that I try to focus on, you what do they think? Are they concerned about something? But it takes time, man. it

It takes a lot of time. takes a lot of daggers. It takes a lot of bruises to be able to get to that point where you can just wash it off and realize that at the end of the day, that's the problem that they have and it's not on you.

Steven L Burch (41:00.355)
Absolutely. You know, there's this saying like, I don't care if you're talking good about me or bad about me, as long as you're talking about me. Because as long as you're talking about me, I'm doing something and you are helping promote me one way or another. So I'm here for it. Talk about me. it is.

Ashley (41:08.785)
Mm-hmm.

Ashley (41:18.226)
I thought like, gosh, do I bring this up in my newsletter? Is it going to be controversial? You know, but then I just thought like, I mean, again, like I'm opening up a book to me that people don't necessarily see. And I think that's the messages that I received after it. I was like, yep, I did the right thing by just bringing it up and bringing light to we could all do a little bit better.

Steven L Burch (41:38.521)
Well, mean, what you're doing is you're showing that you're human. showing the, not the facade, right? Like there's the sales facade, if you will, but like, this is me, this is who I am. This is who I'm showing up to be, like me or don't like me. But I think standing tall, standing strong on who you are, who you're like being your true self.

that attracts others and it also is going to potentially detract others, but those are not your people anyway. And that's okay. And I think the more that you can surround yourself, I mean, we have that with, with Ben, right? Like the, the last podcast that we were on, the more people that you can surround yourself, the better that you're, going to be, you're going to continuously to improve and push. And if you don't detract people from coming over to you and being in your circle, you're not really going to move. You're going to have to make that move. You're.

you know, move them away from you. So that's an easy way to be able to do it is express your opinions and thoughts. And also with that being said, it's okay to be friends with people that don't have the same opinion of you does not mean that you need to bring them down. This world has enough of the negativity. We don't need any more of that shit. So.

Ashley (42:34.757)
Thank

Ashley (42:50.859)
No, you know, but I think it's just, you know, I think that brings it back to just that the newsletter, whether you know, it's, could make your real estate when you could make it a little bit more personal so that it's not salesy. But I think that you're right. people focus on real estate being such a sales part of it, but it is honestly not. It's, it's really the relationships and you know, I talk about that like 95 % of my business is repeat or referral business, which is what I prefer because you know, they're true legit people.

But it's because there was a relationship established, right? So had there not been a relationship established, then there wouldn't be the repeat or the referrals. And it is at the end of the day, like, you I'm selling it a town, if you will. And I have to be there resource as to what's good, bad, ugly. There are things to do here, but I'm also a human too. You know, so I think that just being relatable and making sure people know that you're a light for them, you know, I, and I, we've talked about this before, but

Man, some days I should have gone to school for psychology because the conversations that come up in real estate transactions are mind boggling sometimes. you know what, the tragedies that people have dealt with and then like your, their resource to get them through that tragedy. I mean, there's a lot to be taken there that I think people don't think about. just think about, you know, a line you're sitting on the bottom line where it's, you know, here's and it's.

phone calls and not sure if they're making the right decision. And also their family's growing, right? Like we've had children, we are empty nesters. Like those are all big life things that are emotional for people. And it's nice when they can rely on someone that they know, like, and trust.

Steven L Burch (44:33.111)
Absolutely. And that's what you have to continue to do and build and get your name out there and make sure that also like you're not just forgetting about your people after the transaction either. I think that's a big part of the newsletter and being in continuous contact with your people. Yes, you know, like I think people are thinking, yes, the newsletter is salesy, but what about just the continuation of the conversation after the transaction? You were telling me that you have a

a coaching client that you're working with that is doing pot buys right now for the 4th of July. And she had a client, one of her clients that she dropped a gift off. What did they say?

Ashley (45:05.785)
them. Yeah.

Ashley (45:13.593)
Yeah, I think they posted on Facebook and they had said like, my gosh, she was my realtor like six years ago. I can't believe, you know, she still does these and someone else commented underneath it. Like I've never heard from my realtor after the trans. And that, right. will, I will preface that with, there are some people that will probably never hear from me after a real estate transaction because we worked together and that was probably good. Right. So there are people that, and it is like, you don't gel with people, you help them the best you can, but.

Steven L Burch (45:26.126)
Right.

Steven L Burch (45:33.135)
next.

Ashley (45:42.797)
Sometimes there's just not a good gel and that's completely fine. But, you know, I try to send quarterly postcards, like just write us a way for people that they remember me. That's also the part of showing up to places, right? Like when you go places, when you go to the farmer's market, when you go to yoga or whatever, you run into your clients so that you keep on in touch with what is going on in their lives. Maybe they have a new baby or whatever that might be. So I just thought that it was funny that someone even commented on there that they've never heard from their realtor after the transaction.

Again, like, that's not how I feel like a normal transaction should be. It should be like where you're...

Ashley (46:30.681)
A couple years later they called and he was like, you're my realtor for life. I mean, you know, I'll call you in like another 10 years and then maybe another 10 years after that. And that's way it's supposed to be is that you're their link for all of their needs.

Steven L Burch (46:43.491)
Yeah. And you know, like it goes, I know when I was truly selling, I did not do the pot buys. I did not do the newsletters. I didn't have a CRM, right? I did. I was literally the person that had the post it and wrote their name and number down and lost it afterwards. And so when I asked, you know, when when agents asked me like, well, what would you do differently? OK, let me tell you, I'll give you a whole list of everything that I would do differently. And like newsletters, CRM.

the pot buys, the constant continuation. And so I was probably the realtor that that person was posting about, never heard from my realtor after the transaction. So I apologize, but also like you live and learn. I didn't know those things when I first got started in real estate and looking at it, it's very simple to write a newsletter or do a newsletter. Our company provides those types of softwares and everything to people, but

It just is taking the time to do it and it's getting out of your own way. And it can be as simple as just providing thoughts, recommendations. I mean, you had a, you did a solid recipe one time and then the Amazon link to the container, the glass container that you use or something to that effect, right? It doesn't have to be anything over the top crazy. Just do the damn thing. You you and Ben on the microplastics right now.

Ashley (48:00.617)
Yeah.

Ashley (48:04.924)
Chinese people not use plastic containers it's not good for you.

Ashley (48:12.639)
Yeah.

Steven L Burch (48:12.655)
So cool. Well, I greatly appreciate you sharing what you do. And I think that we all can learn just to the simple first thing to do is be kind, say something, and then you can write a newsletter after that. Well, as always, if you have a topic or you would like to be a guest on our podcast, please reach out to us. We would love to hear from you and tune in next time.

Ashley (48:28.545)
Yeah.