The System That Took Kevin Feely From 0 to 49 Deals in 6 Months

Suneet [00:00:00] What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Reside Platform podcast. I'm your host today, the Sun Agarwal, and I'm talking to somebody who's gonna be a great conversation. It's my boy. I'm stoked. Kevin Feely is our guest. He's the founder and team lead of the Feely Group out of Ottawa, one of the top performing exp teams in Canada.

Suneet He's built this terrific business by blending. Systems, accountability and culture. And he is leading the charge on just all things real estate teams out there. If you're a team leader or an agent who wants to scale smarter, this one's gonna be a home run for you. Let's jump right in. So, dude, Kevin, what's going on today, bro?

Kevin Ah, not too much, man. Happy to be here. weather's getting a little bit warmer outside. I hope Maybe it'll stop snowing soon.

Suneet Yes. How much snow do you have outside right now?

Kevin It's this winter's been pretty bad.

Suneet All right. But, you're still able to make it happen, [00:01:00] right? Even with the snow,

Kevin for sure.

Kevin Like right now, luckily to see the market's actually getting hot, even if the temperature isn't

Suneet awesome. so let's go back to the beginning. Like how long have you had this team going for far?

Kevin So this team, in itself, like ended 2019, right before COVID is when it started? Yeah.

Suneet Then how long have you been an agent for?

Kevin Since 2014. Yeah.

Suneet What were you doing before you were an agent?

Kevin restaurants, nightclubs.

Suneet Yes. I already knew that answer, but yes, Kevin was a restaurant and nightclub guy that took the jump into real estate. How'd that jump happen, bro?

Kevin So, I mean, I was still doing that when I first got my license for sure.

Kevin and so what happened with me is, obviously nightclub scene, like you have to be social. Yeah, I got a big network in my city from that. but I was still kind of actively partying and just selling homes to, people that knew me. and then, basically was done with that life. I decided, I was gonna get sober and [00:02:00] quit drinking and.

Kevin That's when I jumped in real estate full time for sure.

Suneet Ah, so just being in the nightclub industry and I used to own a bar and have plenty of friends that have been in shoes, like been in your same shoes. You do gotta party a lot. Like you're getting paid to party. Huh?

Kevin It was, that's, that was my full done job.

Kevin Like

Suneet it was

Kevin every single night for sure.

Suneet Do you ever listen to that Chris Williamson podcast?

Kevin I do. Yeah.

Suneet Yeah. Do you see some similarities between what Chris went through and what kind of your journey.

Kevin Yeah, for sure. I mean, a little bit different though. but yeah, I mean there's definitely gonna be similarities for sure.

Kevin I haven't super familiar with the story, like I listened to him for a little bit. I haven't listened to a little bit. So

Suneet yeah, I mean, it's, Hey guys, if you're listening to this, listen to this podcast instead of Chris is, but the guy has a similar story to Kevins. I figured Kevin might like it. so what made you decide, hey.

Suneet In 2019, I am doing solid real estate, but I want to start a team. What was that decision process like for you?

Kevin so I didn't know I wanna start a team right [00:03:00] away. What I did was I ended up going to a conference and I ended up seeing a bunch of these agents that were absolutely crushing it, and that's when the light bulb went off.

Kevin And I was like, because I was talking to 'em, I was like, these people aren't anything special. How are they? and so I signed up to. That coaching program. and I said if they can do it off this system, then I can definitely do it. And ended up doing 49 deals in six months. and, decided it was time to do team 'cause I couldn't live my life anymore.

Kevin The truth is, I actually, I did zero deals in six months trying to make like 10 deals happen. Trying to make a hundred grand, but just grinding out every single day where I was gonna quit. it was, I was done. Wow. Then six months, 40, 90. I was like, I did five times the volume that I was looking to do in the year, in that six month period.

Suneet Wow. Dude, I don't know if we've ever had this conversation, but the same thing happened to me is I had been a realtor for like two years and I went to a real estate conference and a top agent in my [00:04:00] same market was a speaker at this conference in LA and she was crushing it. I was hating kind of.

Suneet Right. I was all like, what? But then she said something, if I could do it, you could do it. what? What you said too, right, is if they're doing it, they're not anything special. Why can't I? And it really opened my eyes. Is that how you felt?

Kevin Well, and that's actually why I started the team, because I'm like.

Kevin It isn't anything special. it's not brains, it's not whatever. it's too many people trying to reinvent the wheel and kind of skip the work. But you find someone who's done it right and you implement and duplicate and copy and it's completely repeatable.

Suneet Yeah. What are there challenges?

Suneet Although I'm gonna assume the answer is yes. Were there challenges doing that right on the tail end, right. During COVID.

Kevin for sure. But, luckily, I mean, so for us in our market, from when I started in 2014, even until like 2018, like [00:05:00] before I actually jumped in full-time, it was a buyer's market.

Kevin and so it worked out that I wasn't, doing tons of business. 'cause that's what I was working with. I was working with buyers, right. and then, so that, that was pretty good. And then it, the market started to heat up really. Inventory got short in 2019. And so I started to see that wave. And then when COVID happened, we were like, oh no, we're already kind of, the appraisal had already come up so much in the past year and a half.

Kevin this can't last. Like maybe the market could crash and obviously the exact opposite happened,

Suneet right? Yeah. It just became a firestorm.

Kevin Yeah, it got crazy, right? Yeah. So, yeah.

Suneet Yeah. were you guys locked down?

Kevin Oh, yeah. Multiple times. Do

Suneet you remember how long?

Kevin So, funniest thing is I was on a cruise when the world actually locked down.

Kevin Oh,

Suneet shit.

Kevin Yeah. So I actually, I was in Asia in January. When we were flying back home from Valley, you couldn't even find masks 'cause it had already broke out in Asia and people were freaking [00:06:00] out. And so we got back, probably early February and, but we land like as soon as we landed in Europe to connect flights, everything was normal again.

Kevin We got back home, everything was normal. And my wife's birthday is March 9th, so we got on a cruise March 9th and, outta Puerto Rico. And then, Then the 13th, I think the world shut down. And then, we got to Puerto Rico. And Puerto Rico says, you're not getting off the boat. And so we got an extra two days as we went to Orlando and we got off in Orlando and it was just like, welcome, welcome to Florida.

Kevin And then it was, and then, but when we got home locked down, we couldn't, like, we had to quarantine, we had to,do all that stuff. And then. We were back out, a couple months later, but then again, December that year, we locked down again. yeah. Like the second wave. So, and then iac, I happened to be heading to Costa Rica at the time, and so I got out and so like, I happened to be in Costa Rica, like wearing the mask and all that type of stuff.

Kevin but we were locked down at home again. [00:07:00] Like some, like New Year's. New Year's, 21 or whatever. Yeah.

Suneet You guys, Kevin and his wife do some epic traveling. They have great experiences. So if you wanna live vicariously through Kevin's travels, 'cause I do, make sure you follow Kevin on social we'll drop those links,in the show notes for you guys to check out.

Suneet what's been your favorite place that you've been to? Dude.

Kevin so I mean, I'm actually like, I'm trying to mix up my timelines now. 'cause I was also in Maldives during COVID, and I think that was, no, I think that was January of 22. So it was still going on. where we were still having to PCR test to travel.

Kevin Yeah. That's what happened. But because it was, because the world was shut down, we ended up getting like the craziest deal.

Suneet In Maldives, which is typically expensive

Kevin at the Ritz, which had just opened. So I paid the same price for the seven nights as like one night costs.

Suneet Wow. So Maldives, what is your top?

Kevin Yeah, that was amazing. but I, Southeast Asia, I used to go every [00:08:00] year,every winter, like after years bar's done. I leave for January. No one's at the bar for January, so I was gone every January when it was cold and whatever. So, valley, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, have social place.

Suneet We gotta talk more about that sometime because I wanna go to those places. But back to business. So when you were a buyer's agent, like how would you make the transition to like getting more listings?

Kevin So it all worked out really well where, When market blew up, all the people that I had helped buy homes ended up, their values doubled.

Kevin So they all became buyers and sellers. and then I started getting signs on the ground. Whereas at one point there was one street, I had five sold homes. Like it was like literally the whole street was just like sold with my face. So. Yeah.

Suneet so it just kind of happened. That's awesome, dude. that's the way, right?

Suneet People want to say, oh, I'm just a listing agent now, bro. No, you're not. Like, you'll go take that buyer out too. Like why segment [00:09:00] your money? do you feel the same way when you hear agents say that?

Kevin So one of the first agents on my team who, absolutely crushed it, you met him actually. He went and started his own team after, and.

Kevin ,he's wears hard on his sleeve and he will call me and he'll be like, I'm never working with sellers again. and then I'll never working with buyers again. And he'll be so, he'll switch it every time, every time the market switches, right? it's just funny.

Kevin But that's what it's, you can have, you have tough, sales on each side and you can have easy ones on each side, and you never know where it's gonna go.

Suneet Yeah, you never know. So like, don't stereotype any side of the transaction into being a certain way, right? Like, you'll get that buyer maybe online lead, you sell it, you show 'em one house and they write on it and it's done.

Suneet And then you'll get that luxury listing on the street. You always want it, and the sellers will be so difficult and way unrealistic on price. And then you're just working your butt off for free [00:10:00]

Kevin and expenses. Right? It's not free, and that's the thing,it's, there's good and bad scenarios.

Kevin It's just like everything. You need more at bats and you're gonna run into more good situation. You're gonna run into more bad situations.

Suneet Yes, totally. so you talk about systems and accountability and culture, like what does systems look like for you in the feely group?

Kevin Yeah, I mean, it looks like constant change, to be honest with you.

Kevin We're always trying to improve, right? just. Just when you feel like you have something set up,you find something else that you can improve, but it's, again, it's having a pathway, right? I find that a lot of people in this business, they get into it to be entrepreneurs, be their own boss, which is great, but they have no system.

Kevin They have no plan, and they have no predictability, right? So it is really about tracking, everything that we can so that we can, have a good idea of what to expect. So we're not guessing this,

Suneet what are some systems like CRMs or programs that you're using right now? Like [00:11:00] website, all that.

Kevin Yeah, for sure. I mean, CRM, vault Boss website, Sierra, we actually have YPO site too. We run 'em both 'cause we see,advantages to having both and different systems. So that's again, yeah, we're trying to put every system we can together, in Canada. we don't have all of the cool gadgets that you guys do, but those are three that work.

Kevin Great. And then always looking at, what else we can improve. Right.

Suneet Well, you guys use go high level, right?

Kevin Of course. Yep. For sure.

Suneet What do you guys, what's something cool that you guys use? Go high level for.

Suneet So, I mean, a lot of stuff, this is where, I, even me, I'm not the best person to ask on that, I know, but that's why I want your perspective as someone who probably, I mean, do you go in and go high level every day?

Kevin I do.

Suneet Because I'm making you Right. But, yeah.

Kevin Okay. But aside from that, no. Like, I don't, I scratch the surface of that thing, I've probably opened up maybe 10% of what the capabilities are and what we use it as a team.

Kevin But that's the point of having a team is having the people in place that know how to do that [00:12:00] stuff.

Suneet Yeah. So why don't we talk about that, because let's talk about your person you have in place. 'cause she's pretty badass as far as I'm concerned.

Kevin Yeah, I mean, there's another example of, you never know where things are gonna go.

Kevin she came to me as an agent originally, and, because she had gotten her license, but she was living in a different province, but she had the Ontario license. So she came to me, basically she had already, I'm at exp. She already joined exp like with a, kind of, without knowing her sponsor and other teams had rejected her so that they only wanted people that were in there down,

Suneet which is a mistake.

Kevin Big mistake, and so, she was with me as an agent and then we just saw how good she was with systems and everything like that. And then she just progressed into basically running my company.

Suneet Okay. Wow. Also she's super good at tech. And does she just learn it on her own or does she come with that skillset or what?

Kevin Yeah, like she's out there buying like crazy expensive AI courses on her own dime and stuff. Like she, that's what you, people around you that are looking to grow, right? [00:13:00] Like, that's,

Suneet yeah, dude, that's what you need. And you just kind of fell into that. Like you weren't even hiring for that role?

Kevin No, she was an agent, and then,things just progressed.

Kevin Things just progress and we saw a better use for her.

Suneet Yeah. I mean, she's a badass dude. Like you did. Every time I'm on the call with her on our coaching calls, I'm like, wow, I'm all, dude. Where do I find one? I got some, but yes. just I'm super stoked for you guys to have that, have that role. What about like task management dashboards?

Suneet You guys use notion, right?

Kevin We do. Yeah. That is pretty much how we track everything in our business. from, where our lock boxes are to where the commissions are, to, you name it. Like she's got a spreadsheet for it.

Suneet Yeah. So your ops manager built that out in notion, it wasn't you deciding, Hey, we need to get notion.

Kevin no. I didn't know what notion was until we already had fully implemented in the business.

Suneet And now, do you love notion, or you just use, is it good for what [00:14:00] you need it to be?

Kevin I swoop in and I look at the numbers that I wanna look

Suneet at, and it's super easy to find and it's always updated, and that's good that she has the ai, Expertise. 'cause you can sync everything into Notion now and you get those dashboards right? So for everyone listening and watching, this is something that I talk about a lot and Kevin and his team are a perfect example like I call Notion and monday.com. I call them actually the wrong thing, but I consider it like a project management tool initially.

Suneet They don't want to be labeled that, these days in 2026. They don't want to be called a project management tool, but that's why I believe a lot of them, at least Monday, was created. Dude, tell me if you agree with me, is having a system like that a game changer for business?

Kevin Yeah, for sure. I mean, obviously we're trying to grow and so when we're able to add employees in, and then plug them into the system where it's all tracked, like [00:15:00] it, it just becomes simple.

Kevin Everything becomes scalable,and trackable.

Suneet Yeah, I mean, I use Notion as my personal, CRM task management and then I use monday.com for reside, for my team, for kfr, for everything, right? So I think if you're listening to this call, looking for a nugget, take it from Kevin. If you're not gonna listen to me.

Suneet Right is some kind of tool like that really will elevate your organization, both like the organization, your business, but also the organization in your brain. Right. Do you think so, Kev?

Kevin Yeah, for sure. And I think it, it all kind of equates to when I have the conversation with agents that are successful, but they're trying to do it all on their own, right?

Kevin it's, they're looking at like giving hires. It's always. You want someone who's going to bring you to a different level. Like, I would've never known about this stuff if I didn't, have the right people around me to kind of implement. Right. And, that's the biggest thing [00:16:00] is I don't know how I could like, yeah.

Kevin Where I would be without having the people to find these systems to implement it. Right?

Suneet I mean, you guys, if you want to grow, you need to have the people that are gonna grow with you. Right. And like I'm sure that your person, your director of ops is like, obviously she's taking courses on her own. She's looking to grow on her own.

Suneet Right. That's so cool, dude. I didn't know she was taking and paying for her own courses otherwise.

Kevin Yeah. And. Like she's got kind of, she sees that this can be a lot bigger than what other people see at us, And the avenues, obviously, you're the perfect example of like how many different businesses you've been able to open from success in real estate.

Kevin Right. And at see's the bigger picture, of like right now. We somehow have ended up being the go-to team to call if you're in high school or if you're look for co-op or an internship. Right. Like right now we have three full-time co-op students and two [00:17:00] interns, from like other countries, from France,

Suneet out here.

Suneet Really?

Kevin Yeah. and it's not even like we do. At first because, and it's a funny thing, same thing happened, one of 'em this week was like, do you know how many companies we called before we got to you? And you said, yes. and it's like, I get it. 'cause most people don't have the capability to take these people on.

Kevin But now we're at the point of we're even building out systems in place of, of how we leverage these people who are interested in real estate and the things that they can do to grow our business. and we see that as even something that we can share. Agents once we perfect this of what agents can be doing,team leaders especially of taking on, these high school students and these, university interns to help grow their business.

Suneet Yeah, dude, that's awesome. so as we're talking about tech and all this, what do you think about the fine line between using tech efficiently and losing personal touch?

Kevin Yeah. So I mean the AI calling and all that type of stuff we've done every which way have tried it. Right. and currently we are back to, [00:18:00] us curating the messages,

Kevin and so there's both sides of it for sure. I mean, I think, the, a AI calling, I just don't see as something that, that makes sense for us because of like the disclosure when someone picks up. It's definitely, it is definitely good, like it works, but yeah, I mean, I think it's, everyone's always looking for like that magic potion that's gonna solve the problems.

Kevin So it really like it, it's, every tool is great, but if it takes, if it supplements the actual work, then it's not gonna work.

Suneet Yeah, exactly. And I think what you said about the AI calling. Is really important because people expect it to be perfect, right? And people expect it to be the Silver Bullock magic potion, but at the beginning of the call when they say, Hey, this is digital assistant, in my perspective, any

Suneet above anybody with a high price point, [00:19:00] I am going to assume has some level of education. Right? And like will that educated person and the kind of price point that we want to sell to wanna talk to a fucking ai? What did you find?

Kevin Well, it's the same thing and it's even, it's now people are so looking out for ai.

Kevin Like, I mean, look at an Instagram post and like anything cool, like half the people are calling it ai even if it isn't right. Everyone's just like looking out for ai, right? And so even when I get calls, from. From say, someone who is just isn't skilled, they're not professional at their job. I sometimes I'm like, is this ai?

Kevin Right? Like, like my right away, my, my brain thinks this must be ai. and that's where, that's the huge difference that I always try to express to my team too. 'cause like, I get cold calls,from tons of different businesses every day, right? But there's a huge difference between a professional who does it.

Kevin An amateur. And the amateur is the same as ai. Like they're just, they just, they're slow. They're not like, they're not building a report [00:20:00] in any way. But when a professional calls me, even though I have no time for their,I'll say on the phone, 'cause I respect skill, right? Like, you can tell when someone is confident, knows what they're doing.

Kevin And so like, the AI is the same as like kind of, a telemarketer from overseas, from, we could list the countries that they're from, right?

Suneet Yeah. how does somebody become a professional on the phone and good at the phone?

Kevin A lot of mistakes.

Suneet A lot of mistakes. A lot of reps.

Kevin Yeah. A lot of reps for sure.

Kevin Right. I mean, when I started, I used to call and if I stumbled, I would hang up. Oh,

Suneet yes. Same. You just so embarrassed. No. Know what to say. You're, oh,

Kevin okay. Oh, click. You know what I mean? And now, like, now I'm just like, my heart doesn't skip a beat. Like I have no, no qualms with just talking to somebody, and just keeping them on the phone.

Kevin Right? People are gonna be resistant to not expecting it first. But if you're offering value in some way and legitimately just trying to see who's on the other line, like think it goes a lot different. People can,

Suneet You're looking to help somebody, right? So ask the [00:21:00] questions, and I don't even know if there are the right questions.

Suneet Just leave open-ended questions to have the conversation going. Right? I mean, do you think it's much more complicated than that, Kevin?

Kevin No. Like it's like really? You can say you can screw up so many times, but if you just stay on, like that's all it takes, right? It's like so many times I tell 'em no.

Kevin Like they, someone, who's not a professional, like they just give up so easy and feel it, right.

Suneet They just should give up, but then they wear it and then they may never pick up the phone again. What advice do you have to people who may be listening to this with call reluctance who may be hanging up when they make a mistake or just get paralyzed and they look at the phone?

Suneet What advice do you have?

Kevin Yeah, like you spend the exact same amount of time sitting there thinking about not making the call. Then if the worst case scenario where they just said, no one hung up, the exact same amount of time has gone by. You know what I mean? And then, yeah. Like, it's crazy. Like you, no time is [00:22:00] wasted.

Kevin You're wasting the time thinking about it. And all you need to do is, it's worth going through it. Like right now, I'm in the habit of, I'm doing, one call a week. I'm doing it on Zoom where anyone on my team can go through it. And first thing, it felt awkward 'cause I wanted every conversation to be a smash, but Marker

Kevin it's not always gonna be like that.

Kevin But no, there's no hour that goes by that I don't have a really good conversation. Right. And it's just like, if I just did that, like what would. Any agent on my team or any agent in, in, in any city in real estate. Right. If they did that for an hour a day, like they're going to see success.

Suneet Oh, bro, that's really all it takes.

Suneet Right? If you could do five hours of calls a week, I mean two, that changes everything. One conversation a day from that, like one solid one. Yeah. One. Yeah. One solid convo. I love that. let's talk about accountability in the team. How do you hold high standards around [00:23:00] accountability without making it feel like micromanagement?

Kevin Yeah, so that is for sure. That has been my biggest struggle personally. 'cause I don't like to be, the mean guy. I like to be everybody's friend. but there came to a certain point when I realized that I was failing them by not holding them accountable because it, like, people are joining me because they have certain goals in mind.

Kevin They have, bills to pay. If I'm not leading them in a type of way that keeps them accountable to get that done, then I'm failing them. Right. And I'm basically relaying the, like prolonging the process of them failing anyway. So it needs to be a lot tighter of like, okay, this is. Crystal clear of what needs to be done.

Kevin If you wanna hit these goals, like not my goals, your personal goals, we run through them, we run through our exact metrics, so we have exactly how many calls, conversations to appointments, set, met, signed client deal, right? And so we know exactly what that number is to hit your income goal based on splits, average price point, commission, all that type of stuff, right?

Kevin And I just make [00:24:00] it crystal clear. And so, then I'm looking at, okay, what level accountability do you want? And, the funny thing is, when I started inputting this, the good people got better and the other people got out and it just made everything so much simpler.

Suneet So do you do any kind of like accountability exercises with the team?

Kevin So, I ask everyone what is their kind of, what are they looking for? And so the people who want it the most. I'm talking with them. I have a scheduled call once a week. Just real quick, little quick run through with them. then we also have everyone's weekly goals in our team meeting. And the people who have chosen hot accountability, we go through them.

Kevin Anyone who's chosen like, less than that, then we don't review them. They just get to look at them on the board. Right. And then depending on where you are as a newer member or whatever, we have extra calls, for them, depending.

Suneet Yeah. So what's that call look like with somebody who wants accountability?

Kevin So we know exactly what they're looking to do [00:25:00] every week. So first thing is. Did you do it right?

Suneet Yeah. So let's say an example. I want to have three, two minute conversations this week, right? Well, that's kind of light. let's say five. I want to have five, two minute. I want to have five, two minute conversations this week.

Suneet Is that's something that you've heard from one of your agents?

Kevin So we have every type of goal that people want, right? So we have certain people that are wanting to do YouTube videos, social media posts, follow-ups. Or just like lead generation conversations, open houses, even, personal goals, whatever that is, right?

Kevin But most people are, have it down to, conversations or appointments set along with, reach out attempts on different platforms, that kind of stuff.

Suneet So then you talk to 'em and you say, Hey, did you do it?

Kevin Mm-hmm. And then it's. yes I did. and they're happy to share the great success or no, I didn't.

Kevin And then we're looking at, okay, and what got in the way, and then are you looking to double down this week? [00:26:00] Or what are we gonna do? Because we know that number is ultimately what takes you every week to hit your goal. And so where do we go from here? Do you need to adjust the goal? Or where are we?

Suneet And then, so what typically happens? Do you think most people are doing what they say or are not?

Kevin Yeah. I mean, after the first couple ones, if they're not doing it, the calls don't typically last. Right. And then they don't

Suneet wanna show up anymore.

Suneet Exactly. Right. and that's its own thing. But then, everybody else, I mean, the right type of people that want that accountability, usually how it goes around and they don't wanna, be saying the same thing every week and they see it in their business, Yeah. Those people thrive. What have you seen in these calls as the biggest thing that's getting in people's way of doing what they say they want to do?

Kevin it's always like trying to make it perfect, right? So, okay, I wanna call in the evenings because that is the best pickup rate. We know what happens by the time [00:27:00] evening comes life.

Kevin And so it's like, yes, I agree you're going to have a certain percentage better pickup rate if you call in the evening, but it's zero if you don't make the call. And that's the thing. It's like you need to do it when you can do it right? and that's why I love a follow boss too. I tell people, throw your phone in a different room.

Kevin Call right from the computer, close your email. Like there shouldn't be anything else going on because life.

Suneet Dude, what a good suggestion. Go put your cell phone in the other room if you're using follow bus and just call through the computer. Everybody watching and listening. That's a writer downer. If you run a team, dude, that's good.

Kevin Well, I mean, like we're on this call right now. I'm not checking my phone, right? It's the same thing. Pretend you're at a listing appointment. Listing. You're not sitting your phone.

Suneet Yeah. In fact, your daily prospecting may be more important than a listing appointment. Right. It's putting money in the bank.

Suneet You're, setting up your future listing appointments. That's so good. you said that mentorship is a [00:28:00] big differentiation in your business, right? What does great mentorship look like to you?

Kevin Yeah, I mean, it depends too. I think there's a difference between mentorship,and coaching.

Kevin And I think,mentorship works for people who are looking to do the same thing that you have done and you can mentor them through it. But, and that's how I used to lead. But then I realized that not everybody is me. Not everybody wants the same goals, and so I want to find out more of what they're looking to do and coach 'em through that.

Kevin Right. And then obviously if they're at a point when I cannot help them, I will reach out. To someone who can't, And I think that's, ultimately, the best way to do it is finding the leverage. that's why I'm a part of, organizations like your own.

Suneet Yes. Good. Yes. I think that's so important.

Suneet Yeah. The team leaders, our business owners in general just think, well, everybody wants to be like me. No, bro. People want different things. And guess what? That's okay. [00:29:00] Right. When you look at teams, that scale versus those that struggle, what do you think is the big differentiator?

Kevin I think it's the actual entrepreneur spirit of the risk level when, yeah, I think a lot of people, when things go bad, they retreat, and they want to cut everything and they want to go back to their comfort level.

Kevin And they're two,having that push through, that new expenses, that new, all that type of stuff, you have to be able to fight through the storm and have the bigger vision. also having the right support. if you don't have people to go to, then it is a, a failed plot.

Kevin But like, I look at it like this. If I wanted to open a restaurant, if I wanna open a gym, if I wanna open anything, it's like, I'm not looking to make money. I'm looking to pay back all the loans I just took. Right. And in real estate. We have the ability to make as much money or more than any of these things without any debt, And sometimes maybe you have to take a little debt, but it's nothing [00:30:00] compared to what you'd have to do, opening any other business.

Suneet Yeah. Like opening up a restaurant is a couple mill a good one.

Kevin Like, you wanna make your money back in three years. That's, and that's like, that's if everything goes well.

Kevin Right. and real estate, we're too afraid to put our, we look at, oh, well we were making more commission when we had less expenses, bit more in our pocket. But like, you gotta re, you gotta reinvest your money into a business that grows, And if you don't do that, then yeah, your business will fail.

Kevin And I think that's the difference, is that people wanna keep their money in their pocket and they see their money is their money and not investment money to the team.

Suneet Yeah. I mean, you look at, people say that the a that the failure rate for real estate agents is 80 something percent in five years.

Suneet Fine. What they don't say is, what's the failure rate for restaurants? What's the failure rate for nightclubs or clothing stores? It's way higher, right? So when you see these things, you gotta look at the full perspective. I think

Kevin for sure that's exactly what it's, it's a business and the thing [00:31:00] is.

Kevin It truly is a lot less risk than any other business I could open right now.

Suneet I mean, you could literally start with nothing but hustle. Right? and if you do want to grow growth, Jake, sacrifice growth, Jake's sacrifice of time and sacrifice of money, period.

Kevin So like the thing, it's, I was like.

Kevin Thinking about it the other day too, is just, it's like people get into, a lot of people get into real estate thinking it's gonna be easy and all that type of stuff. Right? but yeah. But then, I mean, by the time you're like in Canada, I mean, I think California is a little bit like you have a little bit of force and stuff like that.

Kevin We have five courses, right? It's gonna cost you, Five, 10 grand to get started. Right. and then, but it's like once you've gone down that path, if you don't understand that, like it requires work to see the success. You know what I mean? Like, I'm not articulating it well, but it's just, it blows my mind sometimes of,people know what the failure rate and still think that it's like gonna be different for 'em.

Kevin I'm not sure.

Suneet I know. It's silly. so you've got [00:32:00] a lot of recognition, Forbes, top Agent Magazine, a bunch of stuff. What's been the most meaningful win for you as a leader in your career so far? That's a good question. By the way, shout out to, to my producer for helping me with that one.

Kevin Yeah. You know what it is?

Kevin definitely. When I see someone go through the struggle and have the resistance to push through and see the success on the other side, that's the most rewarding thing is that I remember very clearly what it was like, and the uncertainty and just feeling like you're doing all this for no reason and then getting out the other side and seeing the success.

Kevin So like that's been the most rewarding thing and that's. The people that I've gone on that journey with, like are family to me for life pretty much.

Suneet Absolutely. And bro, like the uncertainty can still strike us at any time, right? Like, [00:33:00] I feel it. I felt it last night after I got back from my trip.

Suneet I was all, wow, like all this new stuff. Like, am I the right guy? Like, don't you still feel that way? Sometimes? A

Kevin hundred percent. I mean. Forget where I heard it, but it's like if you don't think about throwing it all away and quitting every once in a while, then you're not in this business. Right.

Suneet Then you don't care.

Suneet Yes, exactly. looking ahead, what's next for you and the feely group?

Kevin Yeah. I think, I feel like we are at, a very good. Transition point. I feel like we've spent the last couple years really building out the systems of trial and error and getting the right people together. And I feel like right now, we're gonna see a big difference between where we're sitting today on transaction volume, where we're gonna be sitting a year from now.

Suneet Awesome. And what advice do you have for agents and team leaders listening to this? Although you dropped a lot of good advice, so I didn't even know if I should ask this question. Oh wait, my little [00:34:00] daughter's coming in. Hey, I'm in a meeting right now.

Suneet Lemme finish this meeting please. Okay.

Suneet Real life. Hey honey, I'm on a call. Go on. We're gonna leave that in the podcast episode because I know Kevin has a little one too. Probably would come in and just disturb if you were at home, right? yeah. What advice do you have?

Kevin honestly, it is, To connect with the right people and always be looking for more.

Kevin Like, that's what I could see is when I first got into it and wanted to learn as much as possible, I would listen to any kind of recording of a training or a podcast just where I went, like, there's no, I'm not driving the car or walking the dog at the gym listening to music. Like I'm always listening because even if you hear the same thing twice.

Kevin There's something new that you can take from it. And so the same thing of like I'm saying, an hour calls. You get one good conversation of it. I will listen to an hour [00:35:00] of any sort of podcast if I get one takeaway. Everything,

Suneet bro, you remind me of a lot of the same stuff. I say, that's super good. That means that the sky's the limit, right?

Suneet The sky is the limit.

Kevin I mean, it's just always connecting with people, I see you doing it, so why can't I? Right?

Suneet Yeah, exactly. Whatever I can do, you definitely can. And you got years on me. When I first started, I was 38 when I got my real estate, or 36 when I got my real estate license. Right? So yeah, your time is coming and I know at firsthand if somebody wants to send you a referral or learn more about you or your business or follow you on social or join your team or.

Suneet Whatever, see your travel picks or talk to you. What's a good way to, to connect with you, Kevin?

Kevin For sure. I mean, search my name, Kevin Feely, Instagram would be really feely, but probably just searching Kevin Feely would be easier to find me. Feely group would be the team and Facebook, wherever else you can find me.

Suneet [00:36:00] All right guys. If you got a referral for Ottawa, I only send mine to Kevin, so make sure you do too. And if you wanna learn more about Kevin and everything he's got going, go follow him on social, send him a dm, and he's a giving guy. I'm sure he'll share with you some great tips. all right, dude, well, you crushed it.

Suneet You ready to wrap it up?

Kevin Yeah, it's been fun, man. Thanks a lot.

Suneet Alright. Yeah, you killed it. All right, let's wrap it up. Well, guys, I hope listen. I got a lot out of this episode and I know Kevin, I've been coaching Kevin for a while. he is a great reside team leader, so since I got something out of it, I know if you listen this far, then you did too.

Suneet Since I know you did, make sure you share the information with a friend who will also get value out of this, like, and subscribe to the channel. Don't forget to check out the links in the episode description and learn more. And we'll see you on the next episode of the Reside Platform Podcast. [00:37:00] Peace.