WHO'S IN YOUR EAR MATTERS MORE THAN WHO'S IN YOUR PIPELINE

WELCOME

Hey y’all! I’m writing this from the good seats on Delta, somewhere over the first third of the country. I’m headed to Los Angeles for a big birthday celebration with Lucas, among other activities.

Now, it hit me about thirty minutes into the flight that I wouldn’t even be on this plane if it weren’t for what I learned from my mentors years ago. There was no big, dramatic speech or anything so much as I just modeled their behavior.

Learning from a mentor helps you adjust your aim. That’s the key because once your aim is right, you’re so much more effective. This week, we’re going to cover mentorship, because if you’re paying attention to the right person, the entire trajectory of your own journey changes.

So let’s get into it before they serve those breakfast sandwiches that I love!

STORYTIME WITH GLENNDA

The Education of Miss Glennda Baker

As I watch Lucas sleep in the seat next to me, I find myself thinking about one of the earliest lessons I ever learned in this business. That message wasn’t flashy or inspirational in the way people like to package things now, especially on social media. The lesson I learned was simple. Practical, really, because it came from watching someone who was doing it better than I was.

People are convinced they need a formal agreement when it comes to mentorship, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Many times, mentorship doesn’t present as a senior person with a vested interest in your success, who sits you down and tells you exactly what to do at three prescribed times per week. (If you actually have this, consider yourself fortunate indeed.) So much of mentorship comes from just paying attention. You’ve got to approach everything with a willingness to learn, especially when nobody’s tasked with teaching you.

When I got into real estate, I’d been assigned a mentor. Back then, formal mentorship was required. What that means was, a senior person was assigned to me… and they took half my commission. My first real check was $2,100, and by the time everyone else got paid, I walked away with $525. At that stage in my life, I didn’t fully understand how to use the mentor I’d been assigned to. While I had access to someone successful, I didn’t understand how to leverage the access the way I should have. That’s on me.

Not long into my tenure, what changed the equation for me in terms of a mentor was something a little less obvious than going to a restaurant and having heartfelt conversations about my goals.

What did I do? Well, I moved my desk.

When I first started and was thrown into the bullpen, I was told I could sit anywhere. But after being at that brokerage for a spell, I began to notice who stood out in the office. The woman who was number one was there every single day, unlike a lot of the agents who I rarely saw. Oh, my stars and stripes, she was never not on the phone! She was perpetually in the middle of a deal. I thought it was interesting that while everyone else treated the office like it was optional, she treated it like it was a business. And I thought, I need to do what she’s doing. So I went to the broker and asked if I could move my desk right outside her office, so I could hear every word out of her mouth.

My education came from eavesdropping because that agent never formally agreed to mentor me. She probably didn’t even realize what I was doing. But, oh, did I listen and watch. I paid strict attention to how she spoke to buyers, how she handled sellers, heck, how she talked to other agents! I’d make notes about how she structured her day. Anytime she asked me to do something, I said yes, whether it was holding an open house or putting together a listing presentation. If she were to say, “Hey, Glennda, can you make me five copies?” I’d make six, keeping one extra copy for myself.

Here’s the part people often miss when they hear that story: I didn’t just watch her. Oh, no. I paid attention to everyone who was doing well. The number two agent had a completely different style than that first lady. Another agent ran her business in a way that felt more natural to me. Someone else had a better system for follow-up. I started collecting all of it, helping myself to everyone’s best practices. I took the most powerful pieces of what I saw, and I adjusted them until they fit me, my personality, my market, and my clients. I called this process “Glenndafying.” I wasn’t imitating so much as I was adapting. There’s more than one way to succeed. So when you’re getting started, your job is to figure out how to make the best strategies work for you. The key is listening to people who are actually doing the work at a high level.

One of the best decisions I ever made (and at the time it felt insane) was paying $900 in the early 90s to shadow an agent in Spartanburg, South Carolina. $900 was real money then, especially as a struggling single mom. I showed up expecting him to sit me down and share all his secrets. Instead, from 8:00 in the morning until noon that day, this man who looked like Howdy Doody and had once worked as Jimmy Carter’s Secret Service agent, made phone calls. He hit every expired listing and For Sale by Owner. He picked up that damn phone a million times, each call using the same script and cadence. At noon, he had lunch brought in. Then from one o’clock on, he went on five appointments. At six o’clock, he went home. And that was it.

I remember sitting there saying, “Well, where’s the part where you teach me something?” In my head, I was asking, Why did I spend almost two months’ rent to be here?! 

That man looked at me dead in the eye and said, “I just did.” Did I mention he’d done 367 transactions the year before?

You know what? That day stripped away every single illusion I had about this business. There’s nothing romantic about it. The glamor of showing a luxury listing is maybe a tiny portion. What I learned from these mentors is that you succeed by doing the same things, over and over again. You make the calls. You go on appointments. You do the things that nobody wants to do, whether it’s showing a cheap rental in Smyrna or fixing a faulty lock box in Dacula, because that’s what the top performers have in common: focus, discipline, and consistency.

Real mentorship entails exposing yourself to that standard. You’ve got to get close enough to see what’s actually required, not what people pretend is required on social media. I promise y’all do not need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, find people who are already getting the results you want, study them, and then Glenndafy their habits to fit your business.

That’s why I want to mention Estate Media’s agent growth program. In it, you have access to agents operating at an elite level, in multiple markets, with different styles and different approaches. Now, I realize we may not be selling the same product you are. Maybe we’re not in your city, or we have a different business model. The point is to listen, learn, take what works, and make it yours.

The agents who win in this business aren’t the ones waiting for an experienced person to hand them a perfect, customized plan over a white table cloth lunch meeting. The ones who pay attention, put in the work, and build something that actually fits them are the ones who’ve learned how to Glenndafy.

GLENNDA’S GURU

Welcome, Krista Watterworth Alterman!

I could not be more delighted to welcome this week’s guru, Krista Watterworth Alterman! Krista’s the real deal. She’s an award-winning designer and the founder of Krista + Home. If y’all have ever wondered why some homes just feel expensive the minute you walk in, that’s her lane.

Krista’s built a business around making spaces beautiful and intentional. I’m talking about how every detail works and nothing feels thrown together. She’s worked on everything from high-end residential to large-scale developments, and what I love most is that she understands how design actually impacts how a home lives and how it sells. So I can’t be more excited to share our chat!

Thank you, Krista!!

GLENNDA BOUGHT GRANDMA’S HOUSE

So Close to the Finish Line!

Oh, my stars, Grandma’s house almost finished!

Of course, it’s the little things at the end that’ll get you. I thought I could get away with leaving the driveway as-is, just clean it up and call it a day. But then I ran an AI rendering to play around with the landscaping. Wouldn’t you know it, the house looked so good in that image that the driveway suddenly looked like the piece that was dragging it down. Once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it. So now we’re doing the driveway.

We’re also swapping out the mantle, painting the brick, and tightening up all the final details. Again, this is not the glamorous part but it’s the part that makes the whole thing feel finished and worth what it should be worth.

That’s the difference between done and done right.

GLENNDAISM

Today’s Words of Wisdom

GLENNDA BAKER & ASSOCIATES

The Smart Move

My listing at 34 Arbor End SE in Smyrna, GA, is a home that just makes sense. First of all, the Hillsdale community is dialed in. I’m talking clean, consistent, and taken care of in a way you notice the second you pull in. The landscaping, the amenities, the overall feel, it’s solid across the board. That matters more than people think.

When you step inside, this is exactly what a first-time buyer or smart downsizer is looking for. Updated, open, easy. No projects, no “we’ll get to it,” just move in and start living your life. Now, the location is where this place really earns its keep. You’re right there, whether it’s the Battery, Smyrna Market Village, everything you want to do on a Tuesday night or a Saturday afternoon without having to plan your whole day around traffic.

At this price point, FHA approved and no rental restrictions, this is the kind of property I’ve been selling for years where I always think, I should’ve just bought every single one of these when I had the chance. It’s that kind of smart.