Thinking OTB | Thinking Outside the Box with Steve Valentine
100 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsJoin Steve Valentine for #thinkingOTB... a real estate industry podcast about finding creative solutions for every real estate transaction that puts the people over profit (and makes a lot of profit in the process). Although Steve brings decades of experience in real estate, he is anything but traditional. If you're ready to level up your business and create a meaningful career in any aspect of real estate, this one's for you.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Episode 048 - Good Networking Means Genuine Relationships with Kacia Fitzgerald & Seena Ghetmiri
December 28, 2021 07:00 - 1 hourAre you presenting yourself professionally as a resource or as a salesperson to your potential clients? This week we have with us in the OTB studio Kacia and Seena, good friends of the show who recently had their own unique set of circumstances that made finding the right real estate professional a huge priority. This continues what we were talking about last week with Bernie’s story of finding a new home: building a professional relationship of trust with your clients is so important to buil...
Episode 047 - Thinking Outside the Box: a Client Case Study featuring Bernie!
December 21, 2021 07:00 - 1 hourWe’re rounding out the year here at the Thinking OTB studios by bringing you the story of Bernie and her journey to finding a new home. Luckily, she has a real estate powerhouse in her corner to help her build upon the buying power that she already has as well as helping her to get into a home for her and her family of pups! But it also was an opportunity to showcase what we’ve been preaching here at OTB about a different way of helping your clients because at the end of the day this is a bus...
Episode 046 - Happy Birthday, Thinking OTB!
December 14, 2021 07:00 - 1 hourIt’s our one-year anniversary here at Thinking OTB! One year ago, we got some equipment, hit the record button, and started something that’s grown into the podcast you know and love about success and building legacy as a real estate agent. And with 2021 coming to a close, what a year to start in with a market that is nothing short of bananas, but the harder things are the more valuable thinking outside the box is to getting that success. When we started this podcast we wanted a way to rea...
Episode 045 - Giving Back
November 30, 2021 07:00 - 1 hourA big part of building legacy as part of success in business is not just about how much you bring in, but what you’re giving back. We’ve talked about giving goals in the past and this week we’re speaking with guests that help expand upon that idea, that giving is not only transactional but can take many different forms, depending on what kind of impact you want to make as part of your specific legacy. This week we have with us Shawn Henss of GivingSole.org to tell us about his nonprofit d...
Episode 044 - Making Yourself More Competitive with Brian Gubernick
November 16, 2021 07:00 - 1 hourOur guest this week is none other than Brian Gubernick, Chief Real Estate Officer for Homeward, a home finance company. Brian is a prime example of someone who has come to realize that the best path to a lasting legacy in real estate is being open to outside the box ideas, and his company Homeward is one that teams up with agents to make themselves more competitive. Making yourself more Competitive We had a great conversation about what Brian and Homeward can do as a tool in every rea...
Episode 043 - Mental Coaching for Real Estate Agents with Al Fuentes
November 02, 2021 06:00 - 1 hourWhat is Mental Coaching? This week we have as our guest Al Fuentes to talk with us about mental coaching and what benefits can be had by agents looking to break themselves out of their professional slump and get on that next level. But what is mental coaching, and how can it help? According to Alfuentes.com: “Mental Coaching is not life coaching or counseling, it is a system that uses the physical body to improve the way the brain functions. Just like the mind can affect the body, the bo...
Episode 042 - Is Your Legacy a GoFundMe? | Life and Legacy Planning
October 26, 2021 06:00 - 29 minutesHere at Thinking OTB we talk a great deal about legacy. What you leave behind for your loved ones is a huge part of working and investing in real estate. Part of what legacy means is not only what you leave behind, but how you leave behind when it’s your time to pass on. Life planning is not something that people like to talk about much, but it’s a huge deal for those that are going to be settling your affairs when the time comes. Having a plan can bring so much piece of mind not only for you...
Episode 041 - How Your Business Plan Can Help You Run a Business with Purpose with guest Julie Calza
October 19, 2021 10:04 - 1 hourThis week we have with us one of the best in the business when it comes to getting veterans into homes. Julie Calza is with us here in the OTB studios to share with us how she uses business plans to keep her team on track and push her business to make as much of a difference in people’s lives as possible. We had a great conversation ranging from knowing who you are and who you aren’t, understanding what kind of impact you want to make from your business, and who makes a good team member and w...
Episode 040 - Fred Delgado on Business Planning, Mindset, and Running a Successful Real Estate Team
October 12, 2021 06:00 - 1 hourThis week on Thinking OTB we’re very lucky to have in the studio with us Fred Delgado from the Keller Williams Group. Fred is a good friend of Bernie with years of being a successful real estate agent and team leader in the Phoenix area and he was gracious enough to come share some of his thoughts on Business Planning, having the right mindset about being in business for yourself, and how that mindset can translate to being an integral part of a successful team. Making the Hard Decisions ...
Episode 039 - It All Comes Back to Your Business Plan featuring special guest Billy Hobbs
October 05, 2021 09:14 - 59 minutesThis week we’re continuing our talk about building a business plan as a real estate agent to really understand what you’re trying to accomplish as a professional. Joining us this week is Billy Hobbs, Director of Operations with the Laughton Team. Billy has a huge role in not only planning out the goals for the entire company, but also building plans for the agents that work with them on an individual basis. Hopefully over the last few episodes you’ve seen that having a business plan doesn’t n...
Episode 038 - Business Plans (Part 2)
September 21, 2021 06:00 - 52 minutesSometimes thinking outside the box isn’t about a new and flashy idea that nobody’s had before, or some exotic method passed down through the ages. Sometimes it’s about going back to basics, reviewing the fundamentals, and thinking about the structure of your business and what it’s built on. That’s what we’re talking about this week in the OTB studios as we continue our talk about Business Plans and just how much clarity they can bring to what it is exactly you’re trying to accomplish with you...
Episode 037 - Business Plans (Part 1)
September 14, 2021 06:00 - 51 minutesWe here at the OTB studios want to ask you a question that could be slightly uncomfortable: do you have a business plan as a real estate agent? If not, don’t worry, it’s something that even Bernie and Steve haven’t worked on in the past, but the past is the past and honestly, it’s long past time to get one started! Like Bernie says in the episode, having a business plan is sort of like having a business constitution. It’s a document that asks questions of you to determine what kind of per...
Episode 036 - Beyond the Transaction: Greater Phoenix Economic Council
September 07, 2021 06:00 - 1 hourReal Estate is not necessarily only about buying and selling houses. The people we help into homes have families, lives, and jobs that they’re taking into consideration as well, and as agents we should be considering what needs a family has beyond living in the right neighborhood. Bringing your client resources that they can use to make and even more informed decision about where to move, that’s just all the better, right? Our guest this week is all about those resources. Colleen Schwab i...
Episode 035 - Great Ideas or Great Distractions?
August 31, 2021 06:00 - 53 minutesYou’re out there, doing well in real estate and putting in the work. You’ve established yourself as a solid agent and now you’re looking to diversify and up your game by starting a new business adjacent to what you already have going on. The reality is that branching out without a solid plan can end up costing you more than you could believe. This week, we’re talking about starting new businesses and how to tell the difference between creating multiple streams of income or creating multiple d...
Episode 034 - What's Happening with the Real Estate Market?
August 23, 2021 23:00 - 46 minutesIt’s safe to say that the real estate market in Phoenix has been bananas, as Bernie would put it. Not enough houses, listings that close in days (or even hours), this is what we’ve been dealing with for the last year or so. But while not much has changed recently, things look to be cooling down a bit, if not moving toward real change. That means a change in attitude is needed to continue to be successful in this market, and today we’re talking about some strategies to help make that change. ...
Episode 033 - How Do You Want to do Business? with Kimberly Ryan
August 17, 2021 06:00 - 1 hourThe big news hasn’t stopped here at the OTB, because this week we have a legend in the studio with us. A veteran agent, a coach, and a mentor, Kimberly Ryan is here to give us the low down about her own move to Real Brokerage and why she only wants to work with people who have the best intentions at heart. Working with a Brokerage That Values Quality In our last episode, we talked about what should go into making the decision to switch brokerages. Kim herself changed over to Real rece...
Episode 032 - Shit's About to Get REAL
August 10, 2021 06:00 - 50 minutesThere are some big changes going on here at OTB behind the scenes. Steve is proud to announce that he’s started a new partnership with Real Brokerage, giving him a new place to hang his license and pursue new business opportunities. This change in business brings up a subject that all Real Estate agents eventually will go through: what does it mean to change brokerages and when does a move like that make sense? Relationships, Leadership, and Resources The simple truth about where you,...
Episode 031 - Producing Your Brand with Dennis Gable
August 03, 2021 06:00 - 1 hourThis week joining us in the OTB Studio is Dennis Gable, the brand producer for Digital Sundays. Dennis specializes in building a brand identity for individuals and has a great deal of experience with Real Estate agents. We had a great conversation about building authenticity in your brand, targeting your marketing, and the human side of the real estate business, and just how much the industry has changed from the old days of suits and ties. Here are some notable quotes from Dennis during ...
Episode 030 - Hard Money
July 27, 2021 16:11 - 59 minutesWhen you’re dealing in real estate, the simple truth is that money solves problems. As a real estate agent, knowing where to get money when you need it and what kind of relationship you have with money can be the difference between solving a problem and losing a client. You have to know what your options are and how you can best use them. So, this week we’re going to talk about hard money and how it can be used in thinking outside the box to create solutions for those problems’ money can solv...
Episode 029 - How to Help Your Real Estate Clients Who Went Into Forbearance This Year
July 20, 2021 06:00 - 50 minutesAs of June 30th, homeowners with a federally backed loan could no longer apply for forbearance under the terms laid out in the CARES act. The last year and a half has been a game changer in so many different ways, and like any huge change there’s a great deal of misinformation and rumors floating around regarding what the market will look like moving into the future. On this episode, we’re going to go over the reality of the market and how we as real estate agents can best serve our clients a...
Episode 028 - Work Ethic, Communication, and Family Values with Special Guest Christian Valentine
June 29, 2021 05:00 - 53 minutesThis week we have the second half of the Valentine Duo, Christian, Steve’s eldest son. Christian is a little more reserved than his younger brother and chooses his words carefully. This episode is very interesting when listened to alongside the episode with Chase, his brother, for how they think similarly but with different perspectives. But you only need to listen a few minutes to see how much he respects his father and how much the Thinking OTB mindset has rubbed off on him. Who he is a...
Episode 027 - Parenting with Emotional Intelligence and an Investment Mindset
June 22, 2021 06:00 - 48 minutesWe’re continuing our series about smart parenting with an investment mindset. This week we are talking about keeping a mind to the future. We all want a future that’s best for our kids and the whole point of invested parenting is hopefully instilling the lessons they need to make good decisions for their own future. What can we do to help them make those decisions well? Emotional Intelligence Leaving high school and moving into adulthood is terrifying and exciting all at the same time...
Episode 026 - Chase Valentine on Money, Decision Making, and Parenting the Next Generation
June 15, 2021 06:00 - 54 minutesWe had a great time speaking with the Valentine boys a couple weeks ago, and as a follow up we decided to bring them both on one by one to share with us a little more of their own point of view and personality. Chase is joining us again to talk about how he thinks about his life as a teenager and his relationship to his jobs and money, and how he feels that contrasts with his friends that are the same age as him. Life as a Teenager in 2021 Chase is 16 years old but talks like someone ...
Episode 025 - Thinking OTB for the Next Generation (Part III)
June 08, 2021 04:00 - 47 minutesWe’re continuing our series on teaching kids financial literacy this week on Thinking OTB, and for this segment we’re tackling something that may seem easy but can be very difficult. We’re talking about listening to your kids. Sounds easy, right? The truth is that the relationship between parent and child is mostly a one-way street. For the first part of their life, we make all the decisions for them because they just aren’t capable of doing so for themselves. This is the “Because I said ...
Episode 024 - Introducing the Valentine Boys, Christian & Chase
June 01, 2021 04:00 - 1 hourIt’s a special Thinking OTB this week! We have with us two guests who are very close to Steve’s heart: Chase and Christian, his two teenage sons! They’re here to answer some questions about what it was like growing up with two entrepreneur parents, how they think about money management and hard work, and some advice they have for parents from a teenager’s perspective. “What’s your Favorite thing about your Dad?” As the sons of two successful entrepreneurs, it’s very clear that these b...
Episode 023 - Financial Planning and Preparation for Families
May 24, 2021 21:00 - 53 minutesOne thing that we’ve mentioned before in previous episodes is the idea of investing in Real Estate as a means of securing a future for your family. The more thought that we put into investments now, whether it be in a home or otherwise, has the potential to pay off greatly in the future in many different ways. This week we’re doing some Thinking OTB for financial planning and behaviors for your children’s future. Using Real Estate as a College Investment There is so much potential in Real...
Episode 022 - Greatest Takeaways from our Interview with Chris Harder
May 18, 2021 04:00 - 29 minutesLast week we were so lucky to interview Chris Harder, and as always, he delivered such great insights that we’re recapping our conversation and going over some of the key takeaways. We covered so many things in our conversation and really tried to give him as much space as we could to let him talk that we really didn’t have much of a chance to respond, and this episode is our chance to talk about what we loved and want to emphasize from the last episode. On Chris’s Mastermind and Paying T...
Episode 021: The Power of Personal Brands with Chris Harder
May 10, 2021 21:00 - 1 hourThis is a very special week for us because we have the absolute pleasure to welcome Chris Harder to the Thinking OTB podcast. Chris has been a mentor of Steve, a coach, but more importantly, a friend. We’re so grateful for him to stop by to sit and share with us some of the wisdom and insights he’s had as a highly successful entrepreneur. Our conversation hit a number of topics as we talked about everything from personal empowerment, investing in relationships and in yourself, and so on. Here...
BONUS: How are you doing with your goals? (Replay: 90 Day Goals)
May 04, 2021 04:00 - 41 minutesMany of us had grand New Year’s resolutions for 2020, only to have them smashed to pieces by living through a global pandemic. We have a different way of thinking about goal setting that is far more flexible and goal oriented: 90-day incremental goals. This is a way of setting goals we want to accomplish on our own schedule, making them more attainable and able to change course if and when circumstances change. Key points of the 90 Day Goal Set Set goals for yourself on your own ti...
Episode 020: Building and Leading Effective Teams in Real Estate
April 26, 2021 21:00 - 48 minutesThere is a great amount of value to be gained in the Real Estate industry being part of a team. Whether you are thinking of joining a team or if you’re looking to build a team around your business, there is opportunity to think outside the box and avoid some of the common mistakes made when considering what you need from your team and what your team might need from you. — Building or Joining a Team — A big reason we came into this business is the opportunity to build something for yoursel...
Episode 019: Marketing & Social Media for Real Estate Professionals
April 20, 2021 07:11 - 47 minutesIn today’s market, being able to properly market yourself is one of the best ways to set yourself apart. Social media offers a range of ways to reach present and future buyers, as well as a way to keep your name on people’s minds for referrals. Steve and Bernie both have some insight into what is the best way to use each platform to get the best results for your particular brand. — Understand your Audience — First, we want to get a hard truth out of the way: no matter how good your ma...
Episode 018: iBuyers and the Human Element of Real Estate: Man vs. Technology
April 13, 2021 04:00 - 32 minutesThe world is changing under our feet, and we as Thinking OTB real estate agents need to be able to keep up and stay competitive. This week we’re talking about iBuyers and the real limits of their appeal to people entering the market. Technology based options are going to be with us for the long run, so it’s important for agents to understand how to speak to the advantages of having a human agent to really get what they want out of a transaction. — Thinking Outside the Box: Solutions for Uniqu...
Episode 017: A Mindset for Success | Thinking Outside the Box with Special Guest Carin Nguyen
April 06, 2021 04:00 - 1 hourThis week we’re joined by our friend Carin Nguyen, a Real Estate veteran and Arizona business influencer... and just overall great person! We talked about a wide range of things from the differences between being on a team and running your own business, the importance of net worth over simple dollar values, and building a family legacy and what that can teach you about yourself. But mostly the subject always comes back around to the topic of success. What it means to achieve success is on...
Episode 016: More than an Acronym - CRMs
March 30, 2021 04:00 - 50 minutesThis week we’re asking the question: Are you using your CRM to the full extent you can for your business? There are so many different systems out there that you can use that it may seem overwhelming to choose just one. The truth is, any one of those systems is only as useful as for what you use and need it for. So, let’s dive in! — CRMs: What are they good for? — Customer Relationship Systems can be anything from a yellow legal pad, to an excel spreadsheet, to specific software. Whate...
Episode 015: Prepared VS Prequalified - Navigating This Crazy Real Estate Market
March 23, 2021 04:00 - 26 minutesIt used to be very natural for a new buyer entering the real estate market to only be pre-qualified before diving into listings. But in today’s market knowing how much you can afford is only the first step into deciding if your client is mentally prepared for the realities of the Arizona home market right now. In this episode we go into some of the hardships buyers need to prepare for to stay positive in their home buying experience. —Today’s Market is Bananas— One of Bernie’s favorit...
Episode 014: Leaving a Legacy - Contributions, Giving Goals, and Increasing Your Net Worth
March 16, 2021 04:00 - 23 minutesYou might have found some success as a Real Estate Agent and you want those trends to continue. Business might be good, but how do you go about securing success as a strategy into the future? At some point, you’ll want to start looking at legacy goals: increasing your net worth and contributions to things that you care about. Both of these long-term goal sets are going to make that business success that much more fulfilling as time goes on. Contributions Remind Us What We’re Working For ...
Episode 013: To Keep or To Sell
March 09, 2021 05:00 - 28 minutes“I own my home, but I’m ready to move on to a different house. Should I sell my home or rent it out?” This is a great question that every agent out there should be educating their clients to ask. In today’s market, if you’re not considering keeping property as a rental, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to build future wealth. This week we take a look at some of the details you might not have considered when deciding if it’s time to enter the rental market or it’s better to sell. ...
Episode 012: Lessons Learned from Disappointment | Thinking Outside the Box with Steve Valentine & Bernie Espinosa
March 02, 2021 05:00 - 18 minutesWhat can we learn from disappointment? In business, there is a tendency to try to keep emotions clear of our relationships and decisions. This can be difficult to do because at the end of the day, we’re all human. So how can we make use of those disappointments, to use them to push us forward? Disconnect the Why from the What Disappointments make us want to know why: why did this happen and why did this happen to me? This kind of thinking can lead us to spiral out of control and let e...
Episode 011: Failing Outside the Box - Lessons Learned from Business Risks | Tips and Strategies for Real Estate Agents
February 23, 2021 05:00 - 45 minutesThinking OTB Episode 11 Show Notes This week Steve is busting out the Accordion File to share some insights from his past business failures. Not every venture or opportunity is going to pan out the way that we want it to no matter how much effort or how hard we want it to succeed. Every business is a risk and any kind of risk can bring about failure, but that doesn’t need to be the end of the story. “Sometimes we take risks in order to see what happens. Sometimes you get lucky, someti...
Episode 010: Personal Development Impacts Your Business with Brian North
February 16, 2021 01:49 - 1 hourWe had the absolute pleasure of having Brian North in the studio with us today. Brian is the Founder and CEO of North & Co., a Phoenix based residential real estate firm and one of the best in the business. Considered an industry influencer, Brian is a regular speaker at local and national industry events. It’s our honor to welcome him as our first guest, and we had the chance to cover a number of subjects with him. On Achieving Success in Real Estate: Brian achieved great success but fou...
Episode 009: Relationship Capital - The Best Lead Gen Resource is Investing in Authentic Relationships
February 09, 2021 05:00 - 50 minutesWe often get the question “what is the best way to generate leads in today’s market?” For Bernie, she sums it up as TTP (talk to people). For Steve, it’s building relationships and showing Outside the Box problem solving. What it all comes down to is building Relationship Capital with everyone you can, meaning potential clients and within the industry itself. Any relationship that you have or enter into has the potential to become future business. The old school way of business was that e...
Episode 008: Invest in Yourself - Coaching and Masterminds for Real Estate Professionals
February 02, 2021 05:00 - 1 hourThis week we want to take your investor mindset and turn it back on yourself. Coaching, mentorship, and Brain Trusts are some of the best ways to invest in yourself both professionally and personally. First, let’s get the purpose of these investments straight: it’s about keeping yourself accountable to your goals, and to give you those Outside the Box ideas that can help you take your business to the next level. Coaches – A coach is there to help you make those changes in your business ...
Episode 007: The Investor Mindset
January 26, 2021 05:00 - 35 minutesReal Estate is the best way for the average person to build personal wealth and in today’s market having an Investor Mindset is what’s going to get you to that goal. No matter if a client is looking to be a first-time homeowner or looking to move out of their current home, having this mindset can help get the most out of their investment. The idea of converting a home to a rental can seem like a big responsibility, and for that reason people will rule it out as a possibility. Like any risk, i...
Episode 006: Do Your Due Diligence - A deeper look at Arizona's current real estate market
January 19, 2021 05:00 - 41 minutesThis week we continue our deep dive into what to expect from today’s market, and how to use that to really present yourself as an advocate for your clients. Even though we’re coming out of the holidays, the Real Estate market has not shown any signs of slowing down. That has made market outsiders think that there’s going to be a crash like 2008, and they want to wait it out until that happens. But this is a much more stable homeowner driven market, so that brings us back to last week’s saying...
Episode 005: Be Prepared to Pull the Trigger - Inside the Current Real Estate Market
January 12, 2021 05:00 - 41 minutesToday’s housing market is not one for the faint of heart. It is a complicated jungle even for the most experienced agents out there. This is why today’s episode focuses on being prepared, because as Steve says: “It’s not if, it’s when, and be prepared to pull the trigger.” When new homebuyers decide that they are ready to jump feet first into the market, more and more they are finding a market that is not very sympathetic to what they want. Homes are being sold faster than our prospective...
Episode 004: Know Who You Are and Who You're Not
January 04, 2021 05:00 - 33 minutes“Know who you are and who you’re not.” – Bernie Espinosa This simple phrase is so important for understanding what you want to bring to the table as an entrepreneur. Sometimes it’s tempting to shape who you are to conform to what might seem like a model for success. But conforming to someone else’s standard of success has the effect of cutting what makes you unique out of the picture. “Nobody wants real estate professionals that are paid actors,” Bernie says, “they want to meet a real per...
Episode 003: New Year's Resolutions vs. 90 Day Goals
December 14, 2020 05:02 - 41 minutesMany of us had grand New Year’s resolutions for 2020, only to have them smashed to pieces by living through a global pandemic. We have a different way of thinking about goal setting that is far more flexible and goal oriented: 90-day incremental goals. This is a way of setting goals we want to accomplish on our own schedule, making them more attainable and able to change course if and when circumstances change. Key points of the 90 Day Goal Set Set goals for yourself on your own ti...
Episode 002: It's Not What You See, It's What You Don't See
December 14, 2020 05:01 - 33 minutes“It’s not what you see, it’s what you don’t see.” These are the words that inspired today’s podcast, taken from the book The Road Less Stupid by James Cunningham. https://www.amazon.com/The-Road-Less-Stupid-audiobook/dp/B07DJWQ7JN/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+road+less+stupid&qid=1606697728&sr=8-1 Today we discuss the unknowns of the market and how things have changed since the 2008 financial crisis. People like to compare the 2008 housing crisis with the 2020 housing market. We...
Episode 001: Introducing Your Hosts, Steve Valentine & Bernie Espinosa
December 14, 2020 05:00 - 16 minutesHere it is, the inaugural episode of Thinking OTB! Everyone has to start somewhere, and it’s no different for our co-hosts Steve Valentine and Bernie Espinosa both professionally and personally. Here Steve and Bernie talk about their past lives, what they learned from those previous experiences, and how they’ve adapted to becoming Real Estate entrepreneurs. Now, they’d like to take what they’ve learned to help others achieve the same success by thinking outside the box! The goal of this podca...
START HERE: What is #ThinkingOTB?
November 24, 2020 19:36 - 9 minutesIt’s time to move beyond traditional thinking and start Thinking Outside the Box! Join Thinking OTB hosts Steve Valentine and Bernie Espinosa as they and their guests talk about their personal experiences and their time in the Real Estate industry that led them to the idea of Thinking OTB. The Thinking OTB philosophy is to inspire, empower, impact, and influence people to break out of a stagnant way of thinking and achieve success through creative solutions! The first three episodes will...