The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic may have prevented the Illinois REALTORS® Young Professionals Network (YPN) from gathering in Springfield during April, but it didn’t stop three REALTOR® panelists from sharing their brand-building ideas virtually.

“I feel our gift to the industry is to share our knowledge and (learn from) our mistakes,” said one of those panelists, Sam Powell of Dream Town Realty in Chicago. Together with Rebecca Donatelli of McDowell Homes Real Estate Services in Cleveland, Ohio and Mabél Guzmán of @properties of Chicago, they formed the panel for the “#Werk Your Brand” webinar.

Facebook, niche marketing and design

The panelists agreed that authenticity was an essential and a common ingredient in building their own brand. For Powell, her success began by using her talent for photography and graphic design to create and distribute her own fliers to businesses in Lakeview and Andersonville. She also found some social media helpful as she developed a niche market in the LGBT community. “I was an early embracer of Facebook,” she said. “The digital face-to-face . . . allowed me to be more authentic.”

She has a passion for educating consumers and colleagues, loves volunteering on local charity projects and has won numerous awards during her 17-year career. Powell is Governor for the Women’s Council of REALTORS® Illinois and has been active with the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and Illinois REALTORS®.

Instagram, coffee and photography

Instagram is the platform of choice for Donatelli, a REALTOR® for less than five years who has achieved “influencer” status with more than 14,000 followers. “It’s not something that happens overnight,” she says. “When I started, it was more of a hobby. (To make it work) I really make it a point of doing something every single day.”

A love of photography and social media helped Donatelli gain a small following initially. However, her involvement with her local YPN group and competing for REALTOR® Magazine’s 30 Under 30 Class also played roles in her growth. Most of her followers, she says, are more interested in her personal experiences than her real estate successes. “Instagram is a great way to show who you are and help people learn to trust you before they even know you,” she says.

Occasionally someone will recognize her for photos involving her love for coffee. “I leveraged my brand so people reach out to me,” she says.

Research, politics and networking

Guzman is the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) vice president for association affairs and a past president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS®. She’s also the Illinois REALTORS® State Legislative Contact for state Sen. Iris Martinez of West Town (Chicago). She’s testified before Senate and House committees on real estate-related issues. She’s developed a reputation for professionalism, tell-it-like-it-is honesty and relationship-building.

About 22 years ago, Guzmán began her career with the idea that she wanted to make a difference in her community. She decided that one of the best ways she could succeed was to prepare herself by learning the business thoroughly and to be able to educate consumers using data, facts and relatable stories. She became involved in a local WCR chapter, volunteered on a Habitat for Humanity project while attending an NAR convention in New Orleans and developed a reputation for helping consumers get the real estate information they wanted. Today, some people refer to her as their own personal Google search engine.

“By them reaching out to me, I get a chance to go back to them for follow up,” she says. “For me, it’s about consistency and being that resource for someone.”

“If I don’t have all the answers, I’m going to connect you to the right resources,” she says. “I have a list of resources to share and I’ve built a network of friends. You start building resources by connecting with each other.”

Illinois YPN Chair and REALTOR® Eddie Ruettiger served as moderator. Ruettiger, a broker for Baird & Warner in Plainfield, is the State Legislative Contact for state Sen. Pat McGuire of Joliet and was the 2018 REALTOR® of the Year for the Three Rivers Association of REALTORS®. Illinois YPN Vice-chair Megan Beechen, of Realty Executives Elite in Lemont also helped put together the event.

Full Transcript:

Kim Buscher: Welcome to the Illinois YPN podcast, where members of the Illinois REALTORS®, Young Professionals Network or YPN, share their tips and resources for your real estate career. Our topic for this episode is on how to work your brand with social media, in the industry and through personal everyday interactions.

I’m Kim Buscher, Illinois REALTOR® staff liaison for our state YPN advisory board. This episode was recorded from a recent webinar Illinois YPN held in place of our in-person event that normally happens at our annual Capitol Conference.

The work your brand topic comes at a unique time during the COVID-19 pandemic, so you’re also going to hear how our panelists are adapting to the rapidly changing environment to keep their brand and business going strong.

With that we have a great episode ahead for you guys. Next up is Eddie Ruettiger, the 2020 chair of Illinois YPN, who moderated the discussion. He is a REALTOR® with Baird & Warner in Plainfield and also the 2020 president elect of his local board, Three Rivers Association of REALTORS®. So, let’s jump right into it.

Eddie Ruettiger: Thank you so much for joining us. I know each of these panelists have so much insight to offer. Branding is more important than ever in today’s real estate market to make yourself stand out authentically and real. And no one better than these three panelists who are nationally known experts.

We have Rebecca Donatelli who served on the National Association of REALTORS®, YPN advisory board and is founder of the Rebecca Donatelli Team with McDowell Homes Real Estate Services in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2019, she was named to REALTOR® magazine’s 2019 class of 30 under 30. She has built her brand to become recognized on social media in Cleveland area and has built relationships with other successful agents around the country, many of whom have sent referral business her way, sharing daily stories about her life and engagement with clients on Instagram. She has led to becoming an influencer of status and has over 14,000 followers. Welcome, Rebecca. Thanks for coming. Give us a little more about your background.

Rebecca Donatelli: Thank you for the wonderful introduction. As Eddie said I manage Rebecca Donatelli, I am team lead and founder of Rebecca Donatelli Team here in Cleveland, Ohio with McDowell Homes Real Estate Services. Last year on top of 30 under 30 I actually launched a speaking consulting business, RCD Seminars & Consulting and had been fortunate enough to travel around the country. Not right now obviously everything is virtual, but otherwise to help other REALTORS® build their businesses through social media specifically, which has been wonderful for me as well. I also sat on the NAR YPN advisory board, I represent Region 6. I get to do a lot of traveling for that as well, so I’m really glad that we can be here virtually together to continue to learn.

Eddie Ruettiger: Excellent. Thank you very much, Rebecca. Next, we have Mabél Guzmán who is National Association of REALTORS® vice president of association affairs, a past president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and REALTOR® with @properties in Chicago. Within the industry she’s respected for her professionalism and telling it like it is honesty. Passionate about her role in the real estate and in public policy Mabel has represented over 1 million REALTORS® on the national level testifying before the U.S. house and Senate committees on issues important to the industry. She is considered to be among the industry leaders who will help shape a positive future for the real estate industry. Mabel, so give us a little bit more about your background.

Mabél Guzmán: Well, first of all I would have say, hello to everybody. Sorry we can’t be in person, but this is really the second-best way that we can all connect. And I want to thank you and Illinois Young Professionals Network for hosting this panel. Well, and also, I’m glad to be on this panel with Sam and Rebecca who are two very impressive leaders in the industry to talk about branding. For me, and we all know that it is crucial to protect your brand. For me, my experience has been really about collaboration, right. So, it is all about collaboration wherever I can. And then I looked at opportunities to where I can make a difference. So, it wasn’t more that I was looking to be somebody, I was looking to do something. So that’s where actually I’ve been known. And if you speak with president Vince Malta yeah, I’m very tell it like it is, no BS, which he’s told pretty much everyone and so is everyone else.

Mabél Guzmán: And I guess that’s truly about it, right? That you have to be your authentic self. And when someone asks you a question or you need to say something about something that’s troubling you, you need to be real with people. And that’s really what it comes down to. You can’t have one persona somewhere and then a persona somewhere else. You have to be true to yourself because when you’re true about who you are, other people will then say, yeah, this is someone that I can, I have confidence in and that I can trust. So, branding also goes to who you are and how people perceive you and the impact you make in your profession, in your industry.

Eddie Ruettiger: Excellent. Thank you Mabel. And last but not least, we have Sam Powell. Sam serves as a governor of Women’s Council of REALTORS® for Illinois and is a REALTOR® with DreamTown Realty in Chicago. Sam is passionate about making industry better through educating the consumer, definitely something of my line in the work road. If you have worked with her or not, peer to peer sharing, she’s always sharing tons of information out there and her volunteer work in her local community is outstanding. She’s received countless awards in the real estate industry, most recently named, the 2019 Chicago Agents Who’s Who in Chicagoland real estate. Thank you so much for joining us today. Sam, how are you?

Sam Powell: Good afternoon everyone. I’m awesome. Hopefully, it will remain a little quiet in my condo as there are three dogs laying in bed in a room next to us. I’m in a loft space as many of us throughout the Chicagoland. So, it’s amazing to be in this virtual space with you guys and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of lives happen around us while we’re on screen together. I don’t promise anything but if it turns out almost every time something happens that we get to deal with in a way it’s super fun. So, I’m super honored to be here. I feel and have felt for a really long time that our gift back to the industry is sharing our knowledge, our mistakes. Things that we’ve tried and succeeded at is raising the bar in our industry by being willing to share our talents side by side, arm in arm.

Sam Powell: Mabel is a huge, beautiful example of that in my small circle, having been a part of volunteerism with her and going head to head in amazing conversation and dialogue. Because she for sure is one of those that is not afraid to say, wait timeout, there are other sides to this conversation that ought to be heard. So, it’s an honor and pleasure to be here with all of you. Rebecca, great to see you remotely. I’ve heard amazing things about what you’re up to, so proud to be here with you guys.

Eddie Ruettiger: Wonderful. Thanks Sam. All right, let’s get into this. So, I want to start off with the very first question and that is, let’s talk about first the evolution of marketing and your brand. How have you shifted your brand over the years and maybe even right now, how have you shifted your brand in our current state of real estate? And I think we’ll start with Sam since she got to introduce last.

Sam Powell: All right, thank you. So, I started in real estate in 2002 and I was an early adopter of wanting to personalize who I was in the marketplace and sort of to speak to a niche market for lack of a better term. And so early on in my career I wanted sampowell.com no surprise. Right? And that was taken by a law firm out of Kentucky of all places, so I had to get a little creative. And a super good buddy of mine, I’ m going to give her a shout out, Stephanie Western who’s here in Chicago. She said, how about ask for Sam? So, she gets true credit for the askforsam.com evolution in that regard. And so I started this whole campaign in concept around promoting my real estate, persona using askforsam.com. What you’ll see interesting on my screen is there is no askforsam.com there and through the evolution I learned a couple of things early on in my career.

Sam Powell: That when you leave your outgoing voicemail and you say something like, hi, this is Sam Powell, you reached my virtual office, whatever. People oftentimes would hear, Pam Powell, so instead of hearing this is Sam, they would hear, this is Pam. And so, for many years, early on in my career I also owned the URL askforpam.com that would forward to askforsam.com because I guess was heartbroken about missing out on potential opportunities there. And then a couple of years ago I had an interesting experience where I had sold this family a home, years later, fast forward, they wanted to resell it and couldn’t find me. So, through every fault of my own, I didn’t stay in touch with them in the rightful and just way. And they knew Sam, they knew to look for Sam and Sam’s a REALTOR® in Chicago, but they weren’t real apt using technology or Google as an example.

Sam Powell: So they actually called the company I was working for at the time, which was companies ago for me now. And they had the best Zappos and experience in that phone call, they basically said, “Hey, we work with this agent, her name was Sam, Samantha, does she still work for your company?” And the brand said, “She doesn’t, I know we have no Samantha’s in our company right now, but let me pull up the entire multiple listing service of all Samantha’s, read off the last name and see if any of these are your kid.” And sure, enough they got the Powell and they were like, yep, that’s her. So, no surprise to you, more prominent in my brand is Sam Powell. So that it’s easier for you to find me in searching for me because ask for Sam was not enough information for the first 15 of my 18 years in this industry. So just quick and dirty evolution in that.

Eddie Ruettiger: Excellent. Mabel, tell us how your brand has been moving through and the evolution of it over the years.

Mabél Guzmán: I started 22 years ago, so one thing that wasn’t around 22 years ago is social media. So, with that said, I was already in the business. I am a person. If you do not have Facebook do you exist? Yeah, you do. The thing is you have to, however you exist in the real world is how you should exist on social media as well. So there has to, again, it goes back to the authentic self, whatever you’ve been conveying all those years prior to any social media activity or even now when you’re interacting with people, it can’t be two different stories, there has to be a level of consistency, right? Because it goes back to people are going to read that as you’re not real or that you’re not forthcoming, therefore it’s a trust issue.

Mabél Guzmán: Now in the circumstance with this pandemic, I’m doing buyer meetings through Zoom and that’s how it’s happening. I use share the screen, show all the documents that I email them in advance. So again, another shift, I’m still doing the things I’m always doing. I’m just using a different platform to convey who I am and the consistency, so I can maintain that level of consistency. So they’re like, you know what? Nothing’s really changed here. We’re getting the same information, and this is someone we can trust.

Eddie Ruettiger: Absolutely. So Rebecca, the biggest question I look at when we’re talking about the evolution of a brand. For you, how do you get to 14,000 followers? I know that’s what the biggest question ever. How do you evolve to that? Because that’s what everybody’s probably wondering right now for real?

Rebecca Donatelli: Yeah, I do get asked that quite often actually, and what I really try to let people know is that no, obviously it’s not something that happens overnight. I started my real estate Instagram account right at my first-year anniversary, if you will, in real estate. I got in business at 24, I was just about to turn 25. I did have a pretty successful first year, I was working a year at my company. I had a pretty solid first year, but I was realizing by that point that I needed to figure out another way to stand out. And when I started the account, I really didn’t have any intention of actually making it a real business generator or brand builder essentially. For me it was just a hobby. I love real estate and I love photography on the side. So it was a great place for me to share my love for both. And as I started sharing that, I started realizing this can actually become something. People were engaging with me, they were wanting to chat with me, I was building relationships with people.

Rebecca Donatelli: And so I said, this is what I’ve been looking for to really build my brand and be able to stand out, especially going to listing and buyer consultations up against agents that have been around for 20 plus years. They had a big book of business behind them, I, my first year maybe did 24, 25 transactions and I was still trying to figure out how to say I’m the person that you need to connect with and work with. So, I really started making it a point every single day to be on there, follow people, put out content that I thought they’d be interested in. I basically did what any new agent is told to do when they get in the business. You write out your sphere and you contact all of them. So, I basically did the same thing on Instagram. I followed my entire sphere. I follow local bloggers, sports, people in the sports industry. In fact, one of the biggest food bloggers in Cleveland is one of my current clients right now. We connected through Instagram, developers and builders in Cleveland I connected with many of whom I’ve worked with.

Rebecca Donatelli: And really just grew that following by constantly chatting with them, engaging with them, wishing them a happy birthday, even if I didn’t know them. If it was an agent around the country, I’d give them a little push if they posted a listing, I said, great listing, it’s going to sell quick. I didn’t know if it was priced well or not because I’m not in their market, but just giving them that extra little encouragement. And slowly but surely the following started to build.

Eddie Ruettiger: That’s amazing. All right, so what are some of the tips do each of you have for starting out and the marketing to each of the areas that you’re covering? We have Mabel who is the vice president with NAR. We’ve got Rebecca who’s got a huge social media presence and then Sam who just loves and knows everyone. And I have to be honest, if you’re at any Illinois events, Sam knows everyone. And we’ll start off with Rebecca on this.

Rebecca Donatelli: Sure. So for me it really honestly was the social media. I just started pumping out content, really trying to connect with as many people as possible. Again, I was young, I was new in the business, I really didn’t know much other than social media and I knew real estate or I was getting to know real estate and I knew photography. And so, I really just started sharing that with people pretty early on. And it did build my brand a lot quicker than I thought and gave me some wonderful opportunities that I never honestly thought possible. I also got involved on the industry side of things with YPN about the end of my first year in the business. And so, when I started sharing that side of things and then I was elected to sit on my board of directors, and I started sharing that side of things too. A lot of people really took to that because they can see that I have a voice in this industry, and I can also talk about that on top of just real estate sales.

Rebecca Donatelli: And so I used social media as a great platform to share both those sides to things. I love, I shared that I was in Miami for President Circle and I had people asking me, what were you doing in Miami for work? So, it allows me to talk about that side of things too and really connect with people a little bit more. So, it’s really just about putting yourself out there, showing who you are, people getting to know you. It’s not about the sales, people don’t care about the sales, they want to know who you are. And my goal is for people to trust me before they even know me. A perfect example, I had someone reach out to me on Instagram last Thursday or Friday. They said, “Hey, I’ve been following you for a while, I have to buy a house with my husband right now, we need to go this weekend and I feel like I already know you and I’m not interested in interviewing anybody else.” And I just got them under contract over this weekend. So, it’s a great way to just share who you are and allows people to trust you.

Eddie Ruettiger: That’s amazing. Moving on to someone that’s extremely involved and definitely I would say a mentor, my own Mabel, let’s talk about your brand and your involvement with the National Association and how you built that up.

Mabél Guzmán: Well, at National, I think it was pretty much that I was seeking to make a difference. So for me, volunteering or participating in a committee wasn’t really getting something, on a resume, it was really about making a difference. If there was an issue that I was really passionate about or I felt like, you know what? They don’t really have the right kind of, they don’t see my perspective in this conversation. I wanted to share that perspective. So I would even go to committees that I wasn’t on and I would sit in the room and when there was an opportunity to ask a question, because I knew the subject matter was going to be about something like they don’t know this issue. I would raise my hand, I would say something about it and people appreciated that, right? They’re like, yeah, we didn’t really think about that. So it’s really more about, and then that kind of involvement, people were like, wow that person was very prepared. And even when I became a chair of a committee and eventually liaison and now vice president, your vice president association affairs, it’s really about being prepared.

Mabél Guzmán: So when I meet with my clients, it’s that level of preparation as well, right? Where they’re going to meet with me and I already can anticipate the questions they’re going to ask. So that’s really what it is about.

Mabél Guzmán: So that’s really what it is about. It’s about having a presentation that is solid. It’s based on facts. You have good data, good storytelling, and you have a lot of anecdotes that you can go with it. So, it’s the same thing that when I do a presentation for my client that I’m also in front of a national stage or at a committee meeting at NAR, I’m doing really basically the same thing. I am doing a presentation based on facts, data, and some stories to share with everyone so because it’s really an educational process. I see myself as an educator and a facilitator and that’s across the board, whether it’s my REALTOR® family or if it’s my clients or any other thing. And there’s a big responsibility with that as well because then people come to you, all of a sudden you are that resource.

Mabél Guzmán: So, you have to be ready. I may not have the answer for you now, but I’ll tell them I didn’t hear about that. Can you give me a day to research this and can we talk about it tomorrow? And they’re like yes. So then all of a sudden, I research all this stuff. We have a conversation the next day. They could have done the same thing, but I feel like I’m your little personal Wikipedia, “realtorpedia” where they can go to me and they have a question and they’re like, we know that you’re going to do it the right way because the level of information that’s out there is very confusing. And when it comes to a real estate question, there’s only so many ways that you can answer it because this is based on data, facts, and anecdotes.

Mabél Guzmán: So that’s really where I’ve developed I guess sort of that persona of that I want to be an expert and because I want to be an expert, I need to study and I need to be prepared and anticipate any kind of question, especially my clients have or if I have to do a presentation nationally.

Eddie Ruettiger: I know you’re in my circle and I’ve had to call you on condo stuff because you’re so good with condo issues and things along those lines. Sam, what are some tips for you that you would give if you were starting off today?

Sam Powell: Well, I have to say I started in 2002 and if you know me today, I’m know to be like this paperless agent that will smack your hand if you approach me with paper or touch paper in my presence. But I’ll have to say back in 2002 when I started, my degree is photography. So, Rebecca, we have a passion for photography together. And so, I had some graphic design background, photography background and no sales history to speak of. And I’m also not from Chicago. So, I moved to Chicago in 2000 working for a dot com. It gets dot bombed and then now unemployed so I start my real estate career immediately during unemployment. So, this is what I did. I created a little flyer that had a photo of me because I wanted me to resonate with people because people are going to want to work with somebody who they can relate to in a way.

Sam Powell: And I was openly gay at the time. I know I don’t wear like a I’m a gay face. So that makes it pretty clear to people that I’m approachable. I’m just kidding. So, my branding was clearly out and open and comfortable in my own skin. And every month I would walk up and down the streets of two of my favorite communities here in Chicagoland, Lakeview, and in Andersonville. And my first week out I went in and introduced myself to every shop owner I possibly could. Anyone that had a community bulletin board, I got their permission to put one of my flyers up on their bulletin board and simply ask, “Can I put a new flyer up every month?” Because every one of them has a rotation on when they clear off those boards. So, every month I’d go get a Starbucks coffee. I’d walk up and down the streets that were my favorite and then it became super-efficient. Walk in, put a flyer up, walk out, move along.

Sam Powell: And that’s how I sort of introduced myself to the marketplaces where I wanted to draw attention from the consumers that might possibly want to buy in that area or move out of that area. And ironically, one of my first at bats in my career was an ad designer for a company and she liked the style of my flyer. So, the first voicemail I got like a five year old giddy kid was, ” Hey, I saw your little flyer, I’d love to sit down and meet with you. I’m looking to buy a property.” And I lost it. I was just like, “No way. This actually worked. This is so super fantastic.” And so, what it felt like looking back is engaging with guerrilla marketing in a way but engaging with your community in a one on one kind of opportunity.

Sam Powell: So putting yourself out there and I would go to these couple of restaurants every month and they would be like, we were wondering when you were going to back because all of your flyers were gone and people were asking were there going to be new flyers coming in because they didn’t pick one up when they had a chance to last time. So anyway, long story short, so this is pre social media, and as soon as social media hit, me being a tech nerd anyway, my degree is out of the Rochester Institute of Technology, so I have this love and passion for all things tech. I was an early embracer and adopter to the Facebook world and environment. And so I would, if Rebecca was going to be a potential customer of mine, I would find her on social media first, ask her to be a friend on social media first as sort of a precursor to us having a real face-to-face.

Sam Powell: So we’d have a digital face-to-face first. She’d either accept it or not, which would be a red flag or not looking at reading into that or not. I could learn a little bit more about her, find ways that we could be relatable so that when we did meet face-to-face, I don’t do well with small talk, but if we can have real talk about real conversation quickly, it’s a game changer. So, if I know Rebecca has a dog, I can be like, hey man, I saw your dog Harry on Facebook. How awesome. I have two dogs too, whatever. It just allows for a more authentic small talk conversation because I don’t handle rejection well.

Sam Powell: So then fast forward, very quickly getting involved in our industry, which I didn’t really do. So start real estate 2002 start volunteerism in 2009, 2010. So there was a gap where I was just tunnel vision, working on my business and then I raised my head up above the clouds and was like, there’s got to be more to this industry than just me feeling sort of solo and alone and on an island. I have stuff to contribute. I want to share with peers and be a part of something in a bigger collaborative way not unlike Mabél, I want to make an impact and make a difference.

Sam Powell: So I started getting involved in the Women’s Council of REALTORS® here in Chicago and Illinois. And I started volunteering for a women’s tackle football team here in Chicago. And then slowly, because I was a big chicken, this confident kid you see in front of you today was not the kid who would be doing this interview in 2002. In fact, I would have said no to the interview because I would have absolutely felt like I have nothing to contribute. I have nothing to bring to the conversation. And when I ordered business cards for the first time, I legit looked at them like, who in the world am I possibly going to give a single one of these to? I’ve never sold a piece of real estate. Why would anyone trust me?

Sam Powell: So that took some baby step successes for me to get some confidence to grow confidence in an industry I had no background in. So, the first client I ever sold a property to was this lesbian police officer couple. And it was kind of the best experience I could have ever had because they’re a lot like me, a lot like you Mabél, no filter. Like here’s how it’s going to work; here’s how this relationship is going to be. And they gave me the best advice on things to do and not do when I’m walking through properties that I don’t know who’s in there or what I might find behind a door or in a basement. So, the learning curve was super fun and energizing right out of the gate where those around you, your peers and your clients help you sort of jump over those roadblocks a little bit faster.

Sam Powell: So anyway, fast forward in Facebook, I was an early adopter of not only asking people for friendships, but in building relationships with my peers locally for sure, for starters. And then slowly trickling that out around the country because we do interact with each other in these community-based volunteerisms that we do. So, Women’s Council, we’re obviously national, Illinois association, the national association. If you have a fear with connecting with your peers around the country, that’s something to really take an internal look at because we do this business together and the ability to collaborate and learn from Mabél through the years and not reinvent the wheel. It’s kind of magical to me.I have one class that I teach and it’s if I knew then what I know now, and it’s a lot of that conversation about if I could go back and start over, what would I have done differently? From a marketing perspective, I probably would have started it out the same.

Sam Powell: But perhaps because I was a big chicken at the time, I would have tried to force myself into more engagement in those communities at a hyperlocal level faster. I think that would be my advice is don’t wait five, seven years to engage in your industry and within your community, right out of the gate push yourself. But to do that, maybe bring a buddy, because even for networking events, I’d go to a networking event, maybe Mabél would be there and I’d go pony up to the bar, get a soda or a drink of my choice, drink my drink, go home, check the box on my to-do list. I went to a networking event. Where are my referrals? What am I doing right or wrong here? And so early in my career I would get a buddy to take me to a networking event because I would be a big chicken to walk up and introduce myself who felt I was a nobody to myself, to introduce myself to someone like Mabél Guzmán in a room.

Sam Powell: Align yourself with people who have been along that journey before you because they will help you navigate the same fears that we’ve all had in our own way. I mean I’d love to hear Mabél’s stories about some fear-based stuff because I of course look at her like she’s never had fear, came out of the womb like she is today.

Sam Powell: And I know with certainty that because I did it, there’s a strong chance Rebecca and Mabél also had to navigate this self-acceptance and self-evolution and there was a small period of time where I actually started wearing business suits because I was told that’s what I needed to do to be successful in this industry that I’d come to love. And after a week I was just like to heck with that. That’s not me. It’s not authentic. I’m not comfortable. And if I’m going to wear this every day, I’m just never going to leave my house to meet another human being because I’m not comfortable in my own fabric skin anymore. And so, I went back to wearing what makes me feel comfortable and confident. And that’s the key for me is being yourself and when you are and you have the knowledge and the data and you’ve done the research and you learned it when you speak from confidence about stuff that you know internally, it’s the game changer for real.

Eddie Ruettiger: So I’m going to give you 30 seconds. What was on the flyer when you’re posting them up on the coffee shops and the stores?

Sam Powell: Well, it was just a photo of me, and I’ve always sort of had this contained concept of real people, real answer is real estate. And so it was basically just trying to engage in dialogue with people about questions they might have about any of that.

Eddie Ruettiger: Okay.

Sam Powell: So, we did meet…it was like a large business card for lack of better term.

Eddie Ruettiger: Okay. Very, very cool. Very cool. All right. So now we get an idea of what each of your individual brands are. How has that brand now impacted your business? And we’ll start with Mabél on that.

Mabél Guzmán: Very positively, I have to say people see me as an advocate. So also, when it comes to issues that are happening in D.C., I’ll even have clients call me, “Hey, this thing is happening. Do you know what that’s about?” Especially when it comes to property issues and we’ll have a nice chat about it. Luckily, I do know about it. So, then I’ll tell them, when SALT was done away with in Illinois, that was sort of a big deal. So, we talked about that and some other strategies that they can do.

Mabél Guzmán: So moreover, this FDA loans, I’m getting a lot of calls. So, we talk about it. Even for my kids. So, it’s sort of like being able to be a conduit and also direct them if you don’t have the answers. Because if I don’t have all the answers, I’m going to say, I’m going to give you some resources where you can even ask additional questions where I’m going to connect you with someone who actually processes these loans. You could ask him all those questions or if you need help, I’ll stay with you and we’ll talk about let me know what portions of the application or whatever you don’t understand. I went through the application process, so I felt like, okay, I kind of get these questions. So, it’s like, again, they refer to you for a lot of these issues. But not only that, do you have a plumber? Do you have an electrician? Do you have a really good contractor? I have a whole list of people and resources that I share with other people.

Mabél Guzmán: Sometimes I actually come in a bind and I’ll call up another REALTOR® as I did like Sarah Ware the other day because all my cleaning services were not working, and I was like do you know anyone who’s still cleaning houses? I just need this place cleaned up. I just need to get it on the market. So, it’s not only having resources to share, it’s also building a network so you have areas that you can go to and get those resources. So that’s really what it’s about. It’s a network. You have your network of clients where they see you as this flowed through of information, but then you have a network of friends and especially business associates like Sam, Rebecca, you, Eddie, Megan, all of you, people watching online and you’re like, you know what? I talked to them about that thing. I’m going to reach out to them because they may have somebody, or my electrician is busy but so-and-so I know mentioned that they have a really good electrician. Let me reach out to them.

Mabél Guzmán: That’s how you start building resources by connecting with each other. And then for me, I mean that’s what’s going to strengthen my brand where they reach out to me and I’m like, I am their solutions officer. That’s what I am. I see myself as a solutions officer. They have an issue and it’s a problem for them, but for me it’s an opportunity to show them how I can help them. So then again, when they refer me to somebody they’re like, you know what, this girl can get it done. There’s something going on. It’s doesn’t seem like it’s stressful or it’s not working. It works. She’ll get it done. Or she’ll tell you bail. Either way, I’ll exhaust every possible opportunity I can to keep something together.

Mabél Guzmán: And then you’re like their personal Google. It’s all good. I enjoy it because guess what? Now I have a follow-up conversation with them. So, by them reaching out to you, by asking you a question, is also an opportunity to follow up on the services that other people that you recommended, and do they need anything else? So, it’s this little ping pong. It goes back and forth and it’s excellent. So, and then in the middle of a transaction, which is great, they always refer you to somebody else, or if you help them with a situation, they’re like, a friend of mine is starting to look. So, you’re at top of mind, and that’s really what it is. It’s about staying top of mind so that they don’t forget about you.

Eddie Ruettiger: Excellent. So I want to keep this moving faster. We’re going to pick up the pace a little bit and see if our other two panelists have anything they want to add when it comes to how their brand has impacted their business.

Rebecca Donatelli: Yeah, I’ll just say I’ve really leveraged my brand for, and I’ll kind of play off of what Mabél said is that I’ve leveraged my brand so that people get to know me, especially using social media. I want them, like I said, to be able to trust me and feel comfortable reaching out to me for anything before they’ve even met me. And so one thing that I joke about, anyone that knows me knows that I love coffee. I drink so much coffee. In fact, the last blog posts I wrote for NAR was about how coffee has actually helped me build my brand online. It’s called how Starbucks; I think I entitled it How Starbucks Helped Me Build My Brand and I’m not talking about the caffeine or something like that.

Rebecca Donatelli: And so I drank so much coffee that it ends up in a majority of my posts. And so people were starting to refer to me as this Cleveland REALTOR® who loves her coffee and agents around the country with tag me in pictures with coffee in them who I don’t know. So, guess who they send referrals to when they needed somebody in Cleveland, the Cleveland REALTOR® who loves her coffee.

Rebecca Donatelli: I’ve gone to coffee shops and Cleveland local shops where the baristas, this has happened twice to me. The baristas say, “Oh Hey, I follow you on Instagram. I know who you are. You love coffee.” I’m like, that’s right I love coffee. So, I’ve been able to leverage that to really be able to stand out in the Cleveland market. If anyone needs anything, they know that they can come to me. Everyone knows also through my brand that I have a network of agents nationwide. So, any, pretty much any city, any state. I have friends through NAR that I know I can go to and call pretty much anywhere. Or if I don’t know someone, I can just go on Instagram and find somebody for them pretty easily. So that’s really how I’ve been able to leverage my brand for my business.

Sam Powell: Okay. And I’ll, I’ll just to keep this going for you Eddie, I’ll piggyback on that and say I’m for sure one of those kids that loves to market my personal brand, like wear it on everything. Even my glasses are actually branded to say, askforsam.com on the side. I don’t know if you can see it, but I also have my word of the year, which is integrity, embossed inside as well. So, I love being able to be on 100% of the time, but I feel like real estate is a lifestyle and so if you choose to partake in it in that way, I encourage that. If you choose to compartmentalize your personal life, your business life, and have business hours, I respect that. Mad respect for that. So, control and discipline too. I prefer to be active and alive and share who I am at all times.

Sam Powell: So it’s just part of my authenticity. This is me 1000% of the time. And so I also love working remote. So that’s one of the things that has sort of been a little bit different for me is now I’m always working with my green screen behind me, where before I could work from a recliner, from the dining room table, from the couch, from the island. And I find during this pandemic I really prefer to be in this space and have kind of compartmentalized where I’m only here and working for a certain amount of time.

Sam Powell: But having your brand on your person or on your technology? If I’m working at a Starbucks or a local coffee shop, it says, ask for Sam. Right? And it says, I’m a REALTOR®, clearly branded a REALTOR®. And another tip that I’ll give away is my hotspot, which I’ll always be on my own hotspot, even in a Starbucks environment. And partly for this reason, if you go to check out the Starbucks hotspot, it will say, askforsam.com dash REALTOR®, as the name of my hotspot. So now you can see there’s a REALTOR® in the room and if you glance around, you’ll see the laptop that says the same thing as the hotspot did. And I find in airports, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, I’m approachable and engageable because I put it out there that I’m approachable and engageable. So, don’t be afraid to do that.

Sam Powell: Yeah, Rebecca mentioned using your, and Mabel, about resources like plumbers, contractors, blah, blah, blah. I’ll take it one step further. I use Facebook, Facebook’s my go to platform and I will use Facebook to get someone that person that I don’t have. So I’ll ask all of my peers and I don’t just isolate it to Chicago because I’ll make the ask of all of my peers across the country because let’s face it, there are some companies that have a national presence. I don’t want to avoid or limit the conversation in where these resources are going to come from.

Sam Powell: I’ve also used Facebook twice in one year when my yellow Volkswagen beetle at the time had some electrical issues and the battery kept dying and I would put on Facebook before roadside service, Hey it’s Sam Powell. Obviously, they knew, cause I’m making the posts, I am stuck at the corner of blah blah with a dead battery. Is anyone nearby that can come and jump my car. And I kid you not both times. First time it was a client of mine, a different police officer, but a client of mine rolled up and we’re nose to nose, and she couldn’t get her hood of her car open to jumpstart. So, she made the best of intentions to be there and help and we had to get someone else to help us get her car open so she can help me anyway. And then, and then the second time it was a REALTOR® who actually was like, listen, I live in the neighborhood and came right over and jumpstart my car are with me.

Sam Powell: So the power of that tool in as a communication tool, as resources in our industry and outside of our industry is amazing and awesome.

Eddie Ruettiger: We’re going to do a little light speed round here, so I’m going to ask a couple of questions in your area, topic or expertise and I’m looking for just a quick thirty second answer on each to these. So we’re going to start with Rebecca. We’re going to start with social media because I think right now that’s where everybody’s focusing on. How often are you posting?

Rebecca Donatelli: So I’m, my main platform is Instagram. As I’ve mentioned, I saw someone asked on here what my, my Instagram name is, it’s Rebecca Donnatelli dot REALTOR®. So, you guys know I am posting on my feed maybe three to four times every week. And then on my Instagram story I’m there every single day because I want to stay top of mind and share with people what I’ve been up to.

Eddie Ruettiger: Okay. And then of course, you know the obvious question is do you do anything outside of social media for advertising or branding?

Rebecca Donatelli: You know, to be honest, not really. My team, I encourage my agents to go to networking events. Well now obviously we cannot, so we’re not doing that now. But you know, under normal circumstances we do do that. And that has helped build our team name, our brand as well. But it’s really social media. And the beauty of it is that I have not spent a dime on any of it. I did one Instagram ad one time for 30 bucks. I joke that I feel like I could’ve spent that 30 bucks better at Starbucks. So, and I know some agents that are great with Facebook and Instagram ads, it’s just not my thing. So, the beauty of it is that I’m able to market myself on there and not spend any money and the return is crazy.

Eddie Ruettiger: And then so what do you think is the biggest thing that sets you apart on Instagram?

Rebecca Donatelli: For me it’s really just been focusing on that specific brand. In Northeast Ohio market that I’m in, every buyer and seller has over 8,000 choices of agents they can work with, right. So, when I go to a buyer listing consultation, I want them to know who I am. And a lot of them do reach out through social media. So, they already have gotten to know me a little bit before I walk in the door. And so, the key is really just sharing who you are. It’s like Mabel said, just be yourself, be genuine, be real. It’s not about the real estate sales. I have a top producing team here in Cleveland, Ohio, and you don’t even really see my sales on social because that’s not what I want people to know. I want them to know me, I want them to know my love for coffee and tag me in their coffee posts and tell me what the latest coffee shop is in Cleveland so I could go check it out. And so, it’s really just building a brand that will set me apart from the other 8,000 agents here in my market.

Eddie Ruettiger: Excellent. All right, Mabel. Well again, looking for 30 seconds, actually, 15 second answers at this point. Where did you get started in your involvement first?

Mabél Guzmán: Women’s Council of REALTORS®. That’s where I started in Chicago. That’s where my leadership roots are.

Eddie Ruettiger: And then where did, how did it progress? What was after that?

Mabél Guzmán: Okay. So then after that, okay, so Women’s Counsel REALTORS®, then I decided to just do general volunteering and there was an opportunity after the levees decimated New Orleans, I wanted to go. So, I went and there was going to be a conference at the same time. So, I went down there and I worked with Habitat for Humanity for a week and with 15 strangers from all over the country and I got to know them and it was really quite the experience. I was invited to do a car dinner, people got to know me, I told them and they will, in Leanne Luckett who does, all of them said, Oh my gosh, I just found out my friend has been doing all this work with Habitat for Humanity this past week. And I got up, I told them what I did. Some of the work that we did was working on gutting houses for seniors and disabled in Saint Bernard Parish.

Mabél Guzmán: So then after that I was asked to join the board. I was actually appointed, but that was kind of like, okay because somebody was leaving. And so, I came in, I thought the board was really dry and really boring. I’m like, God, what are we going to do here? Then we did a strategic planning session and that was it. And then I was home. I was like, okay, this is what it’s about. I want to be here to decide the color of the carpet. I want to be here about how we’re going to do and improve our members’ lives. This is really what it’s about.

Mabél Guzmán: So from there, that’s what I did, but I took initiative, that’s the thing. I think people didn’t ask, in a sense for Women’s Council, it was asked. And then after that I just took a lot of initiative. So I went to Illinois REALTORS®, it was in Peoria. Drove up there. I don’t know what to expect. Just went, then I was on Illinois REALTOR® meeting. Then you know, for NAR, I was on the board. I was like, well, they’re going to D.C. I should go. I’m on the board. Went on my dime, went to the main meetings, you know even AEs are just like, that’s amazing that you came here. You didn’t have to come here. I was like, well, if I’m in, I’m all in. I’m not going to be here like half-assing it. I don’t know if that’s going to get bleeped or not, but anyways.

Eddie Ruettiger: Once again honest

Sam Powell: It was her, not me.

Mabél Guzmán: If you’re going to do it, do it. Be all in. Participate at every level. Find out why are they going to the main meetings, what’s going on in Peoria, what’s happening in Springfield? Don’t half-ass it. Once you say yes to volunteering and you’re going to be part of the board or a committee, commit because you know what? It’s the best experience ever. Because the thing is you grow in that experience and then you get to network with people and guess what? Then you get referrals from all over the country. I get referrals from Spain, from New Zealand. I mean that’s, that’s a whole thing, right? That’s the cool thing about it. The other cool thing is you’re doing a lot of great stuff that helps the members and shapes the association that impacts everyday people’s lives, including 60 million homeowners that are out there.

Eddie Ruettiger: Absolutely. So we’re going to go to Sam. We’re going to put Sam at a ten second, ten second. Sam, 10 sec. You kind of touched on the first one was what’s your personal touch for branding and marketing already? But out of all of those personal little touches, which one is your favorite?

Sam Powell: So one of the things that I highly encourage us to do is we’re so heavy into the digital world as this digital space and have been since the onset of social media. What I encourage us doing is letting it be a roadmap. So for example, my parents, they just had to put their dog down. If it wasn’t my parents, I would take that nugget of information. I take it offline, I’d have a custom, something adorable and sweet made and sent to them. So take a relationship that’s sharing up information digitally, take it offline, actually engage with the humanity of that experience. In that moment that’s happening. And interestingly enough, what happens, a lot of times it is, it comes full circle back online where they show this touching wonderful item that was received because somebody cared about them. So it’s important to bridge that river of the life and spaces that we play in is to make sure that they intertwined and you’re not just living in the world of social media. Take it offline.

Eddie Ruettiger: It’s a great answer. Look at that she got it right on the money when I started counting her down. All right, let’s take some questions from the audience. Megan, what do you have?

Megan Beechen: Okay, so one important question that was brought up, I’m trying to bring it back to where we are currently in our current world and pandemic that we’ve got going on right now. How are you shifting your brands or voices to respond to how things are right now? So I guess relevant to any of you.

Eddie Ruettiger: How are you shifting your brands currently? Let’s go ahead Sam, you’ve got your hand up. Let’s go with Sam.

Sam Powell: Yeah, so like Rebecca as well. I know that we travel and speak quite a bit and we’re a bit grounded in that regard and watching everyone else around us offering free content and free information and free engagement. I’ve found myself right in that wheelhouse too. So the presentations I would be traveling to give, we are absolutely sharing. I’m doing two or three of them a week sometimes and they sometimes are an hour, hour and a half, two hours or more in just deliverable content to help raise the bar of our peers around us.

Eddie Ruettiger: Very cool. Anybody who had anything to add to that?

Mabél Guzmán: Yeah. Actually I did a video for NAR doing remote showings, virtual showings, which is if you go to NAR.REALTOR or to YouTube and just look to see National Association Realtors. It’s on there. I’ve been doing virtual showings, remote showings for over five years, so for me when they said, you need to go remote, I was like, that’s not a big deal because I’ve already been doing it. Have I done transactions that way? Absolutely. I have clients who had a problem. Their problem was I don’t want to miss the opportunity and I travel a lot. How is it that I’ll be able to actually see property not miss out on something, especially in the community or a time where you have very tight inventories and not really enough, and I said, easy. I’ll go do the showing you stay at your desktop or wherever you’re at in the world, we’ll figure out a time zone and I’ll show it to you and they’re like, seriously?

Mabél Guzmán: I’m like, yes. Let’s figure out the app. Do you have WhatsApp? Do you have Google Hangouts? Do you have Skype? Let me know what you have. So, I simplified it for them. If you watch the video, there’s three tips on there. Really basically it’s adapt to your client with regards to what app they use. Make it easy. It’s about them. Number two, communicate size, space and time, especially if it’s vacant, doesn’t really work out. So, you need to use find really good verbal cues. References talk about volume, space, size, even in reference to where they live. If you see where they live, say Hey, that bedroom, your bedroom is the same, this room is the same size as your bedroom, stuff like that.

Mabél Guzmán: The other one is degree. So at the end I talked to them, I ask them about their experience that they want to continue and I’ll tell you what, I had a client who traveled a lot, she was home for the weekend. She didn’t want to go out. She sat on her couch drinking wine while I did the three showings and she was just like, this is awesome. And I was like, yeah. And every time she talks to me, that’s how she wants to do it. Remotely.

Mabél Guzmán: So, once you start that way, it’s basically that’s the relationship you’ve developed with that individual and they want to keep it that way. They find it that they can still see you, they can talk to you, engage with you. So, I would, for me with regards to this pandemic, I would say if you’re an essential worker or not, in Illinois, we are. Follow the guidelines, especially if the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, but just no more than four people at a showing do it remotely if you can. And on top of that, I’m doing 3D tours. So, the thing is how are you adapting, how are you pivoting and are you being a solutions officer for the person who’s selling? And are you also that same solutions officer for someone who is buying. Like I said, do buyer consultations online. Whatever you’re doing it, if you can do it remotely, do it. There is a way of doing it and having wonderful success.

Eddie Ruettiger: Yeah. Megan, what else we got for questions?

Megan Beechen: Okay. So now more than ever, it’s important to be talking to your sphere across all of your platforms. So how are you guys utilizing content and branding that is welcoming and relevant to right now? What kind of things are you posting that are helping your clients in your sphere with current world events?

Eddie Ruettiger: We’ll start with Rebecca on this one.

Rebecca Donatelli: Yeah, this is kind of on the last question and then also on this question, one thing that I’ve been doing is trying to post more content of things that I’m doing at home just to relate to everyone that’s watching that’s also at home. A great example is I challenged one of my friends to a baking challenge. This was last week or the week before I can’t, I don’t even know what day it is, so, and I shared it and I invited anyone who followed me to join an on the baking challenge.

Rebecca Donatelli: So a REALTOR® out of California shared it, she posted, she was baking, tagged me. One of her friends said, Hey, I happened to be looking for a REALTOR® in Cleveland to buy three investment properties, can you hook me up? And now this investor is working with me to find three properties from a baking challenge that I shared. so just sharing things that are relatable.

Rebecca Donatelli: And then also just being real about what’s happening in the market. Here it’s still pretty busy. I’m in Northeast Ohio and you know, I’m just being real and being honest and I feel more connected to my sphere and my clients than ever before because now I’m forced to be chatting with them even more. And so I feel more connected to my clients. I’m just staying in constant contact with them.

Eddie Ruettiger: Excellent. Excellent. Mabel, you had additional stuff you wanted to add?

Mabél Guzmán: I think really pretty much follow the guidelines, right? And keep yourself safe and this is a public health crisis and it’s not of our doing. The thing is also don’t feel paralyzed, because some people do feel paralyzed. I received this question last week from Latin American brokers and I thought that was quite the moment where somebody became that vulnerable to actually say, I feel paralyzed. What can I do? Well, the thing is everything that you were doing, it’s understandable. Everything you were doing on a daily basis has stopped and ceased, especially if you’re a person that is into a schedule and it’s very regulated.

Mabél Guzmán: So my thing is meditate, pray, whatever. You got to center yourself first. Secondly, you need to come up with a plan, just plan to do and accomplish one thing the next day. Write it down, accomplish it. The next day, two more things. The following day, three more things. Start re-adapting the schedule that you had to something now, that will work for you, and keep pieces of that original schedule that you’ll be able to do easily from home. So, I think it’s you’ve got to give people direction, and right now, even our clients need direction. So, if you have pivoted and adapted into this environment, wonderful. But we’re all experiencing this together and experiencing it in very different ways. So, we have to be cognizant of other people, and because they’re experiencing it in different ways, we can’t discount what they’re feeling. We have to acknowledge it and then give them some solutions. And that’s really how I see it. But we do have to give direction. We are leaders. Let’s give direction.

Eddie Ruettiger: I agree. You know, one of the things I saw was with a restaurant, all right. You got a chance to have a meal that night, and no one’s coming into their business, so they’d have a missed opportunity. This is not missed opportunities for what we do. This is opportunities that are just put on pause. They may be on pause for three months, six months, or 12 months, but there is no missed opportunities for real estate when it comes to this. Sam, go ahead.

Sam Powell: I was going to add, in the state that we’re in right now wholeheartedly believe empathy and compassion have to be sort of top of mind at all times, because everyone is at a different place in their own personal rollercoaster of it all. I feel like one of the things that we can do right now and one of the things that I’ve been doing is this access to Zoom, like I pay for the 14.99 a month for lack of a better term, the one step up, and there are certain things you can do like A, customizable backgrounds of course, which is super fun. I host, on a minimum, three Zoom events a week that are just my own, meaning it’s like an open forum, so on Tuesdays and Thursdays I offer this Afternoon Delight with a customizable tiny URL so I can mark it every week and it’s the same tiny URL to get you into that room each and every time you might want to come and engage. On Saturdays I host a craft and cocktails everyone can hang out with me while I spend a minimum of two hours working on my paint by numbers adult painting cause I’m not an artist, and it’s a space to just step out your solo environment, engage with other humanity, and know that it’s going to be me just being me in that space the whole time. Right?

Sam Powell: So a little bit of humor, a little bit of sarcasm. We’re going to have special guests this coming Tuesday and Thursday in my Afternoon Delight, which is 1:30 Central time, and it’s a tiny URL, afternoon-delight. We’re super simplified in how this works, but I could see us as REALTORS® creating our own private, in Zoom, you can have your own private meeting. So if I wanted to invite Rebecca to a private meeting right now, A, I have a tiny URL, which is tinyurl.com/zoomwithSam and it takes you right into a very private Sam meeting and all you need is a password from me. So, I’ve also created it where my phone number is the event ID. So, if I’m like “Mabel, I’d like to talk to you at 3:00, if that’s okay. Just log in with my cell phone number and here’s the password.” And now we’re in a private Zoom together and I can lock everyone else out.

Sam Powell: So I love the ability to use like Instagram, social media, Twitter, anywhere you’re doing it, to invite your clients, customers, to have some personal engagement with you, either in this social created forum where there’s group engagement or this individual engagement. And I’m not a live phone person, just by trade. But I love this face to face Zoom relationship that that we’re able to have. I need that visual content. So, if you’re not in front of me physically, I work better in a space where in front of me virtually.

Sam Powell: And so I’ve always been this paperless, virtual work, remote play kid. So, I like to tease everyone, welcome to my sandbox, because this is what I’ve been doing my entire career as much as possible. And so, this doesn’t feel very different to me at all. It’s more like a staycation, where I’m choosing to work from home instead of choosing to work from all of my favorite locations around the city. I get to visit people in their locations around the country, and the globe, in the comforts of their own home. So there’s a lot of powerful engagement and healthy ways to look at this.

Mabél Guzmán: Eddie, can I add something?

Eddie Ruettiger: Yeah, go ahead.

Mabél Guzmán: Also, this is a great time to get education for yourself. There’s Right Tools, Right Now with NAR, where you can get an E-Pro certification. There’s also telemedicine, whoever did not sign up, it was limited, but through telemedicine, I mean you had two free months with NAR. So, look for, start leveraging, I mean, great content from Rebecca, from Sam. There’s so many resources online. What I’ve been sharing is really about SBA, the loans, which by the way they’re going to fund again, another 250 billion into Paycheck Protection, and another 50 billion into other SBA loans. So that’s the kind of stuff I guess I’ve been sharing with my REALTOR® community, with my clients. It’s really been about, are you Fannie or Freddie loan? Because if you’re a GSC sponsored loan, guess what? Call your servicer, because you can get that on forbearance.

Mabél Guzmán: That’s the kind of stuff that we can be sharing, right? That’s an instant phone call for somebody that you did a piece of business within the last couple of years and say, “Hey, I’m checking in on you.” Which is so important. Absolutely empathy. Find out how are they experiencing this pandemic, and then give them something like, “Hey, did you know, and let’s find out. I’m sitting here at my laptop. Let’s see if your loan is. If not, I’ll send you the link and you can check it out for yourself, and find out if you can go ahead and make that phone call so that you have some forbearance for the next three months, six months, years depending.”

Mabél Guzmán: Think about that information that you’re sharing with your clients. Isn’t that powerful? I mean that you’re telling them how you can protect them, their assets, and that they won’t go into foreclosure.

Eddie Ruettiger: Absolutely. Absolutely. And you know, the information aspect that we touched on is too huge too, because I know personally, right now, the country, and the big message we have to keep out there is, it’s not 2008. It’s 911. It’s not a 2008 event. It’s a 911 event. Over 50% of the market has 50% equity in the houses right now. People aren’t going to be walking away from a home they have equity in. So we’re going to do one more question, Megan, give us a good one.

Megan Beechen: Okay, well I’ve got a good one and then a short one.

Eddie Ruettiger: Good one and a short one. Give us both.

Megan Beechen: Let me ask one really quick question.

Eddie Ruettiger: Okay.

Megan Beechen: And this was from Andrew Romano, and he’s asking if the panelists recommend having both a personal Instagram and a business one.

Eddie Ruettiger: I was going to get that one. Yeah.

Megan Beechen: Okay.

Eddie Ruettiger: Go ahead. And what was the other one?

Sam Powell: That’s Rebecca for sure.

Megan Beechen: Yeah. And then the other one was can the panelists share their ideas for what the participants can use when the virus is over regarding business? So do you guys have a game plan in place? Do you have things that you know you’re going to do right away, once you can all go back out, what does that look like?

Eddie Ruettiger: So let’s start with the Instagram, personal or business, Rebecca, what’s your recommendation?

Rebecca Donatelli: So I still have a personal profile. I really don’t utilize it that much, but I recommend having definitely something separate for your business. And then implementing some personal things, be cautious about how personal you’re getting. If I share a location that I’m at, I don’t share the exact location until after I’ve left for safety purposes. There are certain things that I might not share. If you have kids, be cautious of how much you’re sharing about them, but I definitely recommend having two, and then implementing some personal into the business. It just depends on how personal you want to get. If you’re getting pretty personal, I would say keep that separate in maybe a private profile.

Eddie Ruettiger: So your Instagram account does not automatically feed into your business Facebook page then right now?

Rebecca Donatelli: So, actually mine is an actual business page. I’ll be totally honest. The only reason I switched from a regular profile to a business is because at the end of 2018 another Rebecca Donatelli got her license in Cleveland, Ohio. And her office is half a mile away from my office. And so my Instagram is where my whole business is. And so I wanted to make sure through Instagram people could contact me and get the right Rebecca Donatelli, so you can email and call me from the business profile. So that’s one of the reasons I really love having it. It does feed to my Facebook page, but I don’t really use that feature too much. I post separately on the two platforms.

Eddie Ruettiger: Okay. And then since we’re talking to you right now, finishing up, what is your game plan the second were all released out of lockdown and the fences are open and we’re off to the races.

Rebecca Donatelli: Yeah, I think things will definitely get a little crazy once things kind of go back to normal. I say that-

Eddie Ruettiger: As normal as it can be.

Rebecca Donatelli: Right, as normal as it can be. Kind of when the dust settles, if you will, and things go back, I do think it’s going to be kind of chaotic. And so I’m trying to prep my clients and my team right now just to say, “We need to come up with some kind of strategy.” I’ll be honest, things are still busy here, whether we’re doing things virtually or in person showings, being safe and obviously following CDC guidelines and things like that. But just really trying to prep everyone as much as possible, kind of when the dust settles, I think.

Eddie Ruettiger: Mabel, what is your game plan when the gates are open and we’re released to the public?

Mabél Guzmán: Well, when the gates are open, I think we’re going to have a hybrid culture, where there is physical and digital, and that’s basically it. And now these are the options that we’re going to offer our clients. So essentially we can’t go really back to what we were doing before. We’re just going to go back to doing it maybe a different way, right? We’re going to still sell, we’re still going to list, we’re going to meet with clients, but now it’s going to be optional whether, and it’s going to be on them to decide whether they want a physical meeting, or they want to do something digital, period.

Mabél Guzmán: Even when we host meetings, even when we do anything, right now we’re finding that some people are highly productive individuals, highly productive because of this, and to then now say, “Yeah, we’re not going to do it anymore.” I think is really kind of silly. I think we have to look at, we cannot go back to who we were. We are now very different.

Eddie Ruettiger: Absolutely. Sam, I will give you the last word.

Sam Powell: I agree with Mabel wholeheartedly. To me, this has made it very clear how much technology can add efficiencies into our lives and our world. I’ve been sort of that agent that always wanted to, I never liked being late, so I’d be outside of your house down the block, so you didn’t see me, an hour before my listing presentation anyway, putting last minute touches on final research, so that when I walked in the door it was timely data, like the a listing just went on five minutes ago, I’d know that intel. So I feel like I’m not going to do a whole lot different than what I was doing before and I’m doing now.

Sam Powell: I think I’ll incorporate more Zoom conversations because just the ability to get more done in your day because of the less that we’re out there physically in a holding pattern waiting to get from A to B to C. I find this has sort of been a game changer for the people on the other side because I’ve always been playing in these spaces. What I love now is there are more people engaged in it in a way that’s most meaningful for me. So I get to be my authentic self, and I get to bring people into this space that weren’t into the same space before. But now they’re comfortable in it because the pandemic has opened the door and everyone’s eyes to things a little bit differently.

Sam Powell: I’m a huge freaking hugger, like known for being a extended hugger, making some people uncomfortable, which is the intention. Wait till they want to release first. It’s like a catch and release program. And so I’m longing for hugs in a really, really big way. So watch out if you’re in my space. But I will say this, I will be for sure a cautious, re-engager back into our society, just because I think of all of the science behind everything that I see and internalize. I think we need to be tread very carefully about just how quickly we go back into like, I’m not going to a concert probably in the next handful of years. But just being careful and cautious and paying attention to the medical establishment guidance and advice as we come out of this slowly.

Eddie Ruettiger: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, we are way past 3:00 and I know you guys all have jam packed schedules and a lot of things to get done. So I want to wrap this up with a huge thank you to Rebecca, Mabel, and Sam for joining us today. Originally this event was planned, and I’m glad we were able to keep it moving forward, and going on virtually. So behalf of Illinois YPN and the Illinois REALTORS®, thank you so much for doing this virtually, and just delivering great content.

Eddie Ruettiger: Just a couple of quick notes. You guys can connect with the Illinois YPN on Facebook at Illinois YPN. You also can connect on Instagram at Illinois REALTORS®. These are great channels that are giving up a lot of data, a lot of information of everything that’s going on. For our Illinois REALTORS®, if you have not done so yet, checkout the recently released RELA Web Series that’s addressing the Illinois REALTORS® legal changes in our licensed law, that our legal team put together. It’s a good time to get yourself up to date and up to speed on the Illinois Real Estate License Act. There are six episodes for that.

Eddie Ruettiger: And lastly, as you connect with us on Facebook and Instagram, subscribe to the Illinois REALTORS® podcast where our YPN has put out six episodes to dates. Many of the episodes cover everyday topics for realtors, not just those in Illinois. So it’s a great series, and it’s a great series to go back and listen to old stuff, because it’s relevant content even in today’s things and what’s going on. I know what we just did one that was professional courtesies, making sure the property’s locked when you leave, making sure that the lock box is in a visible space, things along those. That being said, again, a thank you to all our participants and I hope you guys have an amazing day.

Kim Buscher: And with that it’s a wrap. Thank you for tuning in.