Episode 141

Why Your Team Is Failing (And It's Not What You Think) with Tracey Hernly

· 33:30 · Host: Suneet/Nick/Mie

Brooke sits down with Tracy Hernly, a powerhouse realtor, team leader, broker owner, title company owner, and race car driver who leads the #1 team by units sold in the Greater Lansing area. Tracy shares her incredible journey from mortgage processing to opening her own brokerage during COVID…

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Chapters

  1. 00:00:00 — Opening: Tracy's Journey from Mortgage Processing to Real Estate Success
  2. 00:02:00 — Making the Leap: Leaving a Steady Paycheck for Real Estate
  3. 00:04:00 — Building the #1 Team by Units Sold in Greater Lansing
  4. 00:06:00 — The First Hire: Why Tracy Needed an Assistant to Scale
  5. 00:09:00 — Leadership Growing Pains: Learning to Manage People and Expectations
  6. 00:13:00 — Clarity is Kindness: Transforming Leadership Through Accountability
  7. 00:17:00 — Building Culture Through Core Values and Mission Statements
  8. 00:20:00 — Community Involvement: Racing Events, Cookies with Santa, and Local Leadership
  9. 00:25:00 — The Racing Realtor: How Tracy Found Her Niche in Rural Real Estate
  10. 00:30:00 — Looking Ahead: 2026 Goals, Recruiting Focus, and Work-Life Balance

Read the full transcript ↓

Show notes

Brooke sits down with Tracy Hernly, a powerhouse realtor, team leader, broker owner, title company owner, and race car driver who leads the #1 team by units sold in the Greater Lansing area. Tracy shares her incredible journey from mortgage processing to opening her own brokerage during COVID, revealing the hard-won lessons about leadership, team building, and maintaining work-life balance while scaling multiple businesses. She opens up about her early leadership struggles, including high turnover rates and a "rough" bedside manner that she had to transform to build a thriving culture. Tracy discusses how she leveraged her racing background to carve out a unique niche in rural real estate, why clarity is kindness in leadership, and how implementing core values and mission statements changed everything for her team. She also shares practical advice on community involvement, client events, organic team growth, and why she's focusing on recruiting and refining systems in 2026. This episode is packed with real talk about the messy middle of business growth, the importance of knowing your "why," and how to build a sustainable business that doesn't sacrifice your family or personal passions.

Chapters:

  • (00:00:00) - Opening: Tracy's Journey from Mortgage Processing to Real Estate Success
  • (00:02:00) - Making the Leap: Leaving a Steady Paycheck for Real Estate
  • (00:04:00) - Building the #1 Team by Units Sold in Greater Lansing
  • (00:06:00) - The First Hire: Why Tracy Needed an Assistant to Scale
  • (00:09:00) - Leadership Growing Pains: Learning to Manage People and Expectations
  • (00:13:00) - Clarity is Kindness: Transforming Leadership Through Accountability
  • (00:17:00) - Building Culture Through Core Values and Mission Statements
  • (00:20:00) - Community Involvement: Racing Events, Cookies with Santa, and Local Leadership
  • (00:25:00) - The Racing Realtor: How Tracy Found Her Niche in Rural Real Estate
  • (00:30:00) - Looking Ahead: 2026 Goals, Recruiting Focus, and Work-Life Balance

Links and Resources:

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Full transcript

The complete conversation, in order. 6,132 words.

Tracey [00:00:00] I just had to literally grind it out and sell as many houses as I could virtually to carry my payroll and make sure I didn't have to lay people off and continue to employ them. And on top of that, learn leadership and learn how to lead people appropriately without being crazy.

Suneet Hey everyone. Welcome back to the Reside Platform podcast. I'm your host, Brooke Reiki, and today's episode is gonna be all about speed, strategy, and unstoppable drive. I'm sitting down today with Tracy Herley, who is a realtor, team leader, broker owner, title company owner, mom, wife, and race car driver.

Suneet Tracy brings the energy, the heart, and that smart strategy to everything that she does. So I'm very excited to have her on the show today and talk to her just a little bit more about how she wears all these hats. Tracy, welcome. How are you doing today? [00:01:00] Great.

Tracey How

Suneet are you? Thank you so much for having me.

Suneet Thank you for coming. Doing great. You're doing great. Tracy. Before we dive into everything, that you're doing currently, I would love to hear a bit more about your journey. How did you first get into real estate? And I'm, I'm curious, based on your past, did your experience as a race car driver lead you here?

Suneet How did those two worlds connect for you?

Tracey so when I first graduated high school, I wasn't a great fit for college. I always just was a really hard worker and, really great with people, but didn't really love school that much. So I, was working as a co-op student and I was offered a mortgage loan processing position when I was fresh outta high school.

Tracey So I did that for a few years and then a real estate attorney, That owned a real estate brokerage And of course, you know, practiced real estate law recruited me to come and work for him, and I worked as his assistant for, five years. And then I went to work for a title [00:02:00] company and helped new branch development and manage the title company for about nine years.

Tracey And at, after that I had learned a lot of the backend knowledge of real estate, of course, with financing law and . With all my title knowledge and I thought that, man, the only thing that was missing was basically me listing and selling, right? And I love people, so I decided to get my real estate license, leave the title company.

Tracey That was a pretty good, you know, cushy job. Stressful, but a nice salary and, you know what I mean? It's a steady paycheck. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Estate a guaranteed paycheck estate. Yeah. Um, and get my real estate license. And after my husband, got over the fact that he wanted to kill me for leaving my, you know, guaranteed paycheck position, we.

Tracey Just kind of dove into me selling real estate all the time. And, I did that because I thought I would have more flexibility and, availability for my family. However, [00:03:00] if you're gonna perform at a high level in real estate, and get started, right? That was not really the case for my first few years.

Tracey And you just have to, live it and own it. And, so I did that. and that was in 2013. And since then, I have been able to build a really great team. We're currently, sitting number one in units sold in the Greater Lansing area. so like out of 864 agents, here in the area, we have the most, units sold.

Tracey And then of course with a real estate brokerage, I run the team and the brokerage. Separately, but together. Right. and so yeah, it's been, well, it's been, it's went really

Suneet well for me. Amazing. And congratulations. That's not an easy, an easy title or easy metrics to hit. So congratulations to you.

Suneet Thank you. So tell me a little bit about your, let's back up a little bit and tell me a little bit about your history as you [00:04:00] grew. So you, you started as an agent yourself, kind of realized pretty quickly that flexibility was kind of earned and not, not given at the beginning. How did that change for you to where you turned into saying, okay, you know what, I can make this a career of mine and not only can you do that, but I can also help others make this a career and build a team.

Tracey first I was just focused on. I'm very competitive, so of course I didn't want to, you know, not pull big numbers. So that was kind of like a driver thing. The racing

Suneet background, I'm sure that racing background probably came in very quickly, where you're like, I am, I'm gonna get there quickly and I'll be first

Tracey figure it out.

Tracey Right. And I'm a very hard worker. Like I'm very obsessive, but I also know I'm really great with. People and doing those types of things. So I knew I needed to reach the threshold where I needed to hire an assistant because which that was my very first hire when I, was just a solo agent, was an assistant because the paperwork and all of the details and keeping up with that stuff consistently, I knew wasn't my [00:05:00] jam my time was better served.

Tracey Doing sales, right? Being in front of the people. I always call it STP. So see the people. and so that was my very first hire and I wasn't really keen on starting a team at first, but it was out of necessity. I was just dying. I couldn't keep up after three or four years in the business. I was working 24 7.

Tracey My kids, I had three young kids, so that was super difficult. it was just a lot. So I had to, I kind of had to take on teammates and I had one agent that she's still with me today and she does a lot of the reside stuff. Sarah. And Sarah was a new agent. She moved from Texas and she kept coming to my open houses and she would be like, Tracy, don't you need help?

Tracey Don't you wanna start a team? and I would say, Sarah, no, no, I don't really wanna start a team, you know? And one day she, she asked me again, she was on me. She's like, I really wanna be on your [00:06:00] team. Don't you wanna start a team? And I was like, you know what? Yes, that sounds like a great idea.

Suneet Right person at the right time, you're like, please take deep leads on. Yeah. And she

Tracey was very persistent. So she gets like five stars for that. which is such a compliment to me thinking back on it too, that she seemed that in me and wanted to learn from me as well. And so she was my very first teammate.

Tracey and that started about four years after I started. So we were, so that would've taken us to, 2016. And so since then, I've added on to the team. In, 2019 is when, I left the brokerage that I had started at. And opened my own brokerage and we've grown that since then.

Suneet Amazing. So talk to me a little bit about that piece, about building a your own brokerage, because not only are you building a team now and having to run that as well as, you know, run your team at home with your kids and your family.

Suneet but now you are taking on this other venture. So what made you decide to take that on and how's that been since? So at the

Tracey time in [00:07:00] 2019, the company that I was working for had been acquired by another firm. The two guys that I had started with, they were very, well-known and very well-respected brokers.

Tracey Retired and sold the company. And so the people that I had went to that company to work for and admired and, knew, like, and trusted right, and wanted to learn from, were phasing out or already gone. And things just started to change. The dynamics started to change, with the acquisition.

Tracey And so I was young enough in the business that I started interviewing the other brokers in our area, and I wasn't really finding what I wanted and the culture that I wanted. Some of them I really liked and I respected and, trusted and all of that, but they were also at the age that they were gonna be phasing out or retiring, and I didn't wanna go through another merger acquisition.

Tracey So at that point I just decided that opening my own brokerage was best because I just wanted a good place that I could work and I'd go to, you know, knew what to [00:08:00] expect, that I could go to work. Everybody was gonna be happy and, it was gonna be a great culture. It would be stable and I wouldn't have to worry about that anymore.

Tracey So then all of the real learning came into play because opening a brokerage is not an easy feat. And also managing, you know, staff people and really learning leadership mm-hmm. Was also. Probably one of the most difficult things that I've encountered.

Suneet Yes, absolutely. And I think that's something that anyone hearing this can relate to.

Suneet let's talk a little bit about those essentially growing pains I think that we all can experience. Once you step into leadership, whatever realm that is, what did you find was the biggest challenge that you weren't expecting? And then how have you overcame that?

Tracey So honestly leading people in my bedside manner. intro: Mm-hmm.

Tracey because I, and this probably comes into my racing, you know, background and, growing up and being very competitive.

Tracey and [00:09:00] also being an overachiever, I hold myself to a very high standard and I also work a lot. Mm-hmm. And hiring staff people and then managing them and managing my expectations of, employees was very difficult and my bedside manner was rough at first.

Tracey And, you know, it was definitely a learning curve. It was also during COVID, like I opened the brokerage in 2019, in September of 2019, and then we got shut down in March of 2020. And I had opened the title company in January of 2020.

Tracey And so at that point, like I needed a minimum of six to eight staff people. And you couldn't even hire people really to come to work. And then you were trying to manage people from [00:10:00] remote, so it was just really, really difficult. And then when you're that new into the business, a lot of the incentives that the government gave to new business owners I didn't qualify for because I didn't have two years of.

Tracey Tax returns or anything like that because we were such a new business. So like a lot of the bailout stuff and the payroll protection that was offered, I didn't qualified for. So I just had to literally grind it out and sell as many houses as I could virtually to carry my payroll and make sure I didn't have to lay people off and continue to employ them.

Tracey And on top of that, learn leadership and learn how to lead people appropriately without being, Crazy.

Suneet Absolutely. Because when you have that high standard for yourself, it's very easy to think about that with other people and expect that same level that you would expect for yourself. So what has, especially during that busy time where you are juggling all these things, so [00:11:00] what changed for you where you said, okay, I need to change my bedside manner a little bit.

Suneet I need to change my approach with these agents if I wanna see them truly succeed. What. Happened there and what's, it been looking like since?

Tracey Yeah. I didn't have an issue leading the agents. I definitely had a issue leading the staff people. Mm. That was where a lot of my issues came because the agents as 10 90 nines, you can't set expectations for them.

Tracey I mean, you can, but you can't. Right. Like, I can't say you need to be in the office from this time to that time and you need to, you know, like I can recommend that. But I can't hold them accountable like that. But for my staff that were gonna answer to me and all of you know, and I was paying payroll to, I had very stringent expectations.

Tracey And if they weren't meeting them, I. What I said mattered, right? Yes. And so that's where, like that book that we go over with Reside, and I've taken, you know, the Rise class with mia, which [00:12:00] has been, it's an excellent class. I tell all my agents that, exactly what to say and how to deliver that stuff is so important because.

Tracey I was just rough around the edges and I would just kind of dot 'em between the i's and not everybody's built to take that kind of criticism or feedback. Right. And accountability. Especially when you can't even hire people. You can't. Piss 'em off, and then they've all quit on you. You know? So I had such a turnover and it was just kind of a nightmare.

Suneet Yeah. And you, I'm sure you thought, okay, this is not sustainable. we can't have this rotating. And I like what you're saying because it's not necess, you're not saying, Hey, I lowered my standard, or I lowered the line. You're still holding the line. You still have your expectations of service and what you would like to put out there as your brand for the team and how you would like to be represented.

Suneet You just changed your approach and how you got there. Well after I failed a [00:13:00] couple times. Yes. Which is usually the best lesson, right? Yeah. Sometimes it's a hard lesson, but it's, yeah. Whenever I fail at something

Tracey or it costs me money, I always am like, Ugh, that's my education. Do that again. Right.

Tracey Gotta pay for education somehow. so yeah, I didn't, but I did have to adjust. Um, and learn how to adjust. And there's a couple of these things I've learned from my. coach Matt Smith, he coached me for, a couple years, before I joined Reside, and he was very instrumental in me recognizing the fact that, you know, my leadership had to grow and I had to change my expectations, and I also had to change my delivery methods of holding people accountable.

Tracey And them understanding my expectations and clarity is kindness. You'll hear Matt say that if you listen to his, podcast or if you see him in person, and that was one of the [00:14:00] things that really has changed probably a lot for me in my leadership journey because it's, you know, I'm still developing and growing from that, but.

Suneet Absolutely. Absolutely. And you're finding a way where you can keep everybody staff included, as well as agents, is keeping them motivated while keeping them aligned, and then still feeling that support, which I'm sure so many people can relate to. That's not easy on a day-to-day basis. So what does your approach look like when you do have a staff member or an agent that might not be.

Suneet Following your expectations or, willing to follow where you're holding the line at.

Tracey So I coach them to our mission statement and our core values. And that has made that clarity very simple for me as a leader. and also giving them that feedback. Has made it very easy because we have our mission statement and our core [00:15:00] values posted in all of our offices, including the title company.

Tracey And I hold everybody to the same standard. And so we all know if each other is not holding the line, you know, toeing the line. and so all of the companies have the same mission statement in this, in the same core values and just coaching to that. And then it takes me outta the equation. And it also takes any feelings outta the equation.

Tracey It's just about. This is our mission, these are our core values and we didn't align there and we can do better.

Suneet Absolutely. And keeping it visible is so key. So it's never forgotten. It's never, oh, I didn't realize we had a mission statement. I don't realize what our core values are. And then being able to speak with the agents and say, Hey, what aligns.

Suneet To you about this. what's a core value that you see represented in your own life or from the team and being able to be reminded of that every single day? I think that really pours into why your culture on your team is so strong, especially being [00:16:00] able to duplicate that, not only from your, personal team, but within the brokerage, within the title company, and being able to represent that all across the board.

Suneet So I think that's a very key. And

Tracey I learned this from the Perna team, or Michael Perna does this in his team meetings and, I implemented it over the course of this past year once I learned it. And we do at our sales meetings, the first things that we do,

Tracey Our sales meeting is do positive shoutouts, and they are positive shoutouts that align with our core values. And so that's a great positive and I give Starbucks cards for the positive shoutouts, and that has really helped also everybody know and be reminded of what our core values are to continue to build that culture and that incentive to make sure that we're staying on that trajectory.

Suneet Absolutely. That's really special because you are celebrating them and rewarding that sort of behavior. So they continue doing that. [00:17:00] Who doesn't want a chance at the Starbucks gift card? I'd be like, who needs help? Who needs help? Showing has this week, what, what do you guys need? that's amazing. And, such a testament to your culture as a team leader, what you can.

Suneet Create within your team, what has worked best for you to attract agents that truly fit your culture and, and what you're trying to convey?

Tracey a lot of my building of the brokerage and my team has just happened organically, and that's probably the biggest thing that I'm focusing on in 2026 is to really hone in on.

Tracey Recruiting and doing that more. And, I don't wanna use the word more forceful, but maybe more consistently is a better, is a better description of that. Because, because it's been organic, I feel like it's been slower and, But I don't have a lot of turnover. And one of the things that probably happens is I don't have a lot of turnover in my agent counts and stuff like that because I, [00:18:00] I do grow organically, but we do need to grow at a faster pace.

Tracey And so that's one of the things that I'm focused on in 2026.

Suneet What do you think the key has been to a low turnover rate for you? Has it been that time to build that relationship, or what do you think is a testament to that?

Tracey I have very good relationships with all of the people that work with me.

Tracey and I think that that helps with retention. is probably a struggle for me as a leader though because they have very direct access to me, right? And so it spreads me very thin, especially because I still list and sell. So. Managing the brokerage with the agents, listing and selling, and have my, you know, like managing the agents as well is difficult for me to, but I do think that that helps with retention.

Suneet I think that that is so key. Even though it can spread too thin, it's like creating that balance. So then that way you, they have that direct access.

Suneet They can still [00:19:00] talk to you. You still know what's going on in their business, but they also know that you are a busy woman. You have multiple businesses. They know when to reach you and where. so I think it is really key to still have that, that touchpoint with your agents, having those events.

Suneet You also do a lot of client events, as well as team events. So tell me a little bit about that. You're very active in your community, so how has that involvement started to shake your business?

Tracey we try to do two client events a year. One at the racetrack, and then one, that is Cookies with Santa.

Tracey I didn't get a racetrack event this past year because my schedule just didn't align. Mm-hmm. The racetrack event I usually race at too, which makes it a little more difficult. I love that schedule. but my clients love it, and our team loves it too because then they, it makes the racing a little more interesting for them because.

Tracey They know somebody on the racetrack and it makes it fun for them and their clients [00:20:00] to, you know, interact about it. But I couldn't get the schedule still aligned with my son's racing, as well. So hopefully we can get that one in this next year because that is kind of a, a big hit. and I do it at the local racetrack here in town, that my husband and I used to own.

Tracey So that's, fun. And then our Cookies with Santa event has. It's been, a good client appreciation event that is very diverse so I can get everybody there. kids, adults, you know, and we always do like cool gift baskets and professional pictures with Santa. And we usually have a theme this year was Elf on the Shelf last year was the Grinch.

Tracey And so,

Suneet so that makes it fun, you know? That is so cute. What advice would you give other leaders that want to build a stronger connection locally with their community?

Tracey so also just be involved with your community. Mm-hmm. So I sit on the planning and zoning commission in my local township.

Tracey I'm also involved at our [00:21:00] association. I'm a past president for, the Greater Lansing Association of Realtors, women's Council of Realtors. So being involved on the agent level, Bayer is important. now I'm just broker advisory committee, but, that's also a great leadership and learning opportunities that you can take.

Tracey and I think that that's really great. my assistant basketball coach for our varsity team, so that keeps me and my local community as well and I try to align it with things that I really enjoy it so that it's not a chore for me to do so. Absolutely. I think that when you're thinking about being involved in your community and giving back, it's knowing.

Tracey Yourself knowing who your people are. What I mean by that is if you know who your people are and who you relate to, what you're gonna enjoy, then your job is gonna be a lot more naturally, enjoyable and easier to build off of. So I definitely recommend really kind of honing in on that and trying to capitalize [00:22:00] on those opportunities versus.

Tracey Sho a round peg into a square hole, absolutely. Round

Suneet peg, whatever that is, whatever that saying is. But I understand absolutely doing those things that you're going to enjoy doing and that bring you that sense of joy or relief or. You know, those types of, hobbies or things that you're already involved in and being able to really go ahead first in it and have that time, but also turn it into business as well.

Suneet Now you're the realtor on the basketball team. Now you're the, realtor, race car driver that everyone can come see at the client event. So really just doing those things. That's gonna be continuous and keep getting your name out there. I'm sure it wasn't overnight. It wasn't like, Hey, I'm a realtor.

Suneet Okay, great. Like it was constant relationship building, constant reminding, constant, inviting them into that world for you. how do you feel like you have connected them successfully? Has it been just the, consistency over time, [00:23:00] or what do you feel like was that key?

Tracey So when I first started, I went to an Inman conference and there was a realtor that specializes in luxury down in North Carolina, Boston Reed. He was a, like a crew chief for nascar and he was on stage. And that was the first time I'd been to an Inman conference and it was almost like.

Tracey Perfect timing for me because it really opened my eyes to the fact that I could really correlate my racing passion into my real estate business, because before I always kept my professional life and my personal life kind of separate because. Racing is a little rough, and real estate is a little polished, right?

Tracey Mm-hmm. And so it's hard to see where those two could connect. But when Boston was up on stage, you know, he talked about basically like, it was perfect for him because he understood the lifestyle and he understood and he knew all of [00:24:00] the people and they already knew, like, and trusted him. So it made me think like, why wouldn't I be the racing realtor?

Tracey why would I kind of keep that hidden and why wouldn't I just own that? And so I went into that, like as the racing realtor, it worked really well for me because I understand their lifestyle or a race car driver's lifestyle. And I understand the fact that they need a lot, a lot of garage space.

Tracey I understand the fact that they need certain power supplies and. Those types of things that normal realtors that sell a lot in like say city limits or whatnot, don't really understand at a high level because they don't live that lifestyle. So I specialize mostly in rural real estate. With big pole barns, and I know the value of big pole barns and what they mean to people and that lifestyle and what it costs to replace them or what it costs to build them if they're buying something that they don't [00:25:00] currently have an outbuilding.

Tracey And that has really helped me know, my people have those, things collide for me and really build my business at a high level.

Suneet Absolutely. 'cause you're the trusted experts where they. Know, you know what's going on in the market, you know what's going on in their lives, what they're expecting, what their needs are.

Suneet You're anticipating that and you really found your, your niche there, which is builds and, and grown since that. And you can now be able to take that reputation, that brand, and everything that you've built, and be able to pass that along with your team and have them encourage them to create their own thing or their own, you know, maybe they're the.

Suneet You know, basketball mom of the, of the group or that they know as a realtor or, you know, it doesn't have to be racing specifically, but being able to provide that example and really empower your agents, I'm sure has been a big key piece, and that's really exciting to see. Yeah. So talk to me a little bit so you, as far as your timeline, you, [00:26:00] you know, started as an agent, you grew a team.

Suneet Got the title company. Where did Reside come in within your journey?

Tracey So Reside came in as I was, you know, like going back to kind of some of the leadership struggles. Yeah. And employing people and really getting good systems and processes into place. and also juggling all of the things that I juggle because still listing and selling at a high volume is, is tough to manage that.

Tracey Along with the other things that I, I need to do, I was really struggling with making sure that when I have new agents, that I onboard them properly and that they have good resources to develop their knowledge and client care, and resources. And so with Reside, and I also wanted them to know that stuff on a high level.

Tracey so I knew. Once I had went to, you know, a Tahoe conference and seen John [00:27:00] Chapla, you know, on stage multiple times and been coached with Matt, that I was with people that also had high expectations and that are gonna perform at a high level and they're not gonna give me a product that is subpar.

Tracey And so, That was really important to me and it was really important for me to pass that on to my agents so that they could produce at a high level and be learning from people that were of a high caliber.

Suneet Absolutely. We're so happy to have you by the way. Oh, thank you. You and your team are such an inspiration and I'm curious to know what's next for you?

Suneet you own all these businesses, you're always working, you're always looking for the next thing. So do you have an idea of what's coming in 2026 for you and the team?

Tracey I'm gonna hone in on recruiting, so, that's one of my, major goals is to grow the brokerage. And right now I don't know that I have any other business ventures that I am [00:28:00] planning on, but you never know what will happen.

Tracey and yeah, I am very busy with my mom's schedule right now. Mm-hmm. So, that seems to. Take a lot of time now that my kids are in the thick of it. Mm-hmm. So I have a 14, a 12, and an 8-year-old. intro: Mm-hmm.

Tracey it was a lot easier when I just had a nanny and they went, you know what I mean? They didn't have, like, we had a schedule where they

Suneet just went to school and came home and just come and like, we're gonna, we're gonna bed.

Suneet It's seven o'clock.

Tracey Yeah. Yeah. Now we have varsity basketball games. We have travel basketball with a a u. We have. Lots of racing for my son on a national level. And so things are very chaotic and we travel a lot Yeah. On the weekends racing. And so it's just more difficult for me to now, I, I'm really focused on kind of growing what I have.

Tracey Yeah. And honing in on that, instead of. doing crazy things like [00:29:00] buying racetracks and stuff like that.

Suneet Absolutely. You're like, maybe we'll see. We'll see whether it takes you, but for now, I never say no because I never know what, you know, what's gonna come your way. But I think it's so important that that reminder where it's not always about adding things, but looking at what you're currently doing and how you're currently operating to see how can we get better in what we already have.

Suneet If not, maybe. Removing some of the things that aren't working anymore or don't serve. Yeah.

Tracey One of my friends told me one time, one of my, my very best friends that owns business as well said, in your thirties, you're like really focused on like doing as much as you can and building as many things as you can.

Tracey And then when you hit 40, you kind of start evaluating. What is worth your time and what isn't? And some of the things you just start unloading. And then I was like, oh, that's never gonna happen to me. Right. I'm just gonna keep building with all my 30-year-old energy, you know? And now I, now I'm in my early forties, I'm like, yeah, [00:30:00] that makes sense.

Tracey Yeah, I

Suneet get that now. Especially where you are within your, your life and those, that phase where your kids are at the age that they are and have their own thing going on, it's, it's not always. The answer to build, build, build. It's, I need to have this focus as well while still making this operation very successful.

Suneet So congratulations to you for realizing that and just saying, Hey, I'm gonna be focusing on what, what I've got in front of me now. I do hope that we see more racing from you. We're coming up. I'm excited now to see these videos.

Tracey Yeah, I don't get to race as much as I used to because, my son races a lot and so it's just hard to, you don't wanna show him up.

Tracey Well, that, and just upkeep of, of the race cars is a lot of work if you're gonna, if you're gonna perform at a high level Right. And totally be winning and stuff like that. And if I'm gonna go do it, I don't wanna. I don't wanna suck. So [00:31:00]

Suneet could have some practice. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have any final advice for any leaders that are maybe just now building a team or just now hiring the first staff members?

Suneet Those that are at the early stages, do you have any advice for those, those based on your lessons that you've learned at the very beginning, those growing pains?

Tracey just don't be scared of it. Mm-hmm. I mean, you're gonna make mistakes. You're gonna, you're gonna mess up. learn from it. Don't lose so much time on it.

Tracey Move on. it's worth the journey. Some days you'll question it, but stay the course and it'll all work out.

Suneet Absolutely. That's totally normal to question it. By the way, anyone that's listening to this and said, I wanna blow this all up. Totally normal. I'm sure Tracy, you can say

Tracey sometimes they quit a couple times a day.

Tracey Yeah.

Suneet Yeah. The key there is just know who you're quitting to, you know, texting your, say I'm quitting this, and they're like, okay, great. Yep. Alright, we'll give it a couple. My boss never listens. Yeah. They never [00:32:00] let me go. Yeah. But definitely keep pushing, coming and absolutely keep pushing and finding, going back to your why, and I'm sure those times where you get to look at your mission statement, those core values, you're reminded that's why we're here and that's what we're doing.

Tracey And getting back to your why is important. You'll get lost in the journey 100%. And sometimes you get lost for six months, sometimes eight months, right? intro: Yeah.

Tracey And, and that's okay. just get back to your why though. know that that will reset you. And that'd probably be a really big piece of advice that I would give someone is when you're feeling like that, really go back to your why.

Tracey I've had to do it several times and it's normal. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Suneet Thank you, Tracy. This has been such a fun conversation. I'm so happy we got to talk with you a little bit more. And again, I appreciate you so much for sharing your story. Love your energy and just being able to sh like, give us a little bit of, your heart, you know, to share with all of us.

Suneet [00:33:00] I really appreciate that time. and for everyone listening, I just wanna make sure you check out Tracy's businesses. We'll make sure that we link her website and all her social channels and the show notes so you can see why her clients and her team love working with her. Thank you again everybody for tuning into the Reside Platform podcast.

Suneet Again, I'm Brooke. Ricky. Just a reminder, keep leading, keep growing, and we will catch you next time. Thank you so much.

About Reside Platform Podcast

The Reside Platform Podcast is built for real estate team leaders and broker-owners who want to scale. Hosts Suneet, Nick, and Mie share the systems, recruiting strategies, and leadership lessons that grow teams — straight talk from operators who've done it, not just coached it.

See all 179 episodes of Reside Platform Podcast →

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