Empire Building

Being an entrepreneur can make it difficult to make – and keep – close friendships. You get so focused on your business that the people you used to spend time with start filling that time with other people. This can be painful because, although you may love your work, you don’t want it to be at the cost of your friendships. We’re going to give five tips on how to maintain and grow healthy friendsh...

Elizabeth Faircloth and Andresa Guidelli are the hosts of The Real Estate InvestHER Show. They have 27 years of combined experience and a portfolio of over $130 million. When they wanted to find a group of supportive women to build community with, they found that such a thing didn’t really exist… yet – so, like any good entrepreneurs, they created it themselves. We talk about making mistakes, futu...

Ineffective meetings waste an estimated $37 billion a year for businesses. We tend to focus on efficiency in every other aspect of our business, but culturally, meetings are seen as an accepted waste of bandwidth. But we say no time wasted is an acceptable amount of time wasted. We share five steps towards making your meetings effective and productive uses of everyone’s time. Connect on Instagram:...

Compensation and pay structure can determine whether or not the business you’re building not only survives but grows. Pay will determine behavior. If you want to get the best behavior out of your team, look at how (and how much) you pay them. We’re going to discuss the best way to handle pay structure to ensure that a company can thrive. Connect on Instagram: Seychelle Van Poole: @seychellevp Vija...

Today, we’re going to talk about the one habit that’s guaranteed to make you rich. We’re just going to come out and say it: tracking your net worth. Most of us focus on how much money we’re making, but that’s not what really matters when you’re building an empire. We’re going to share exactly what net worth is (just in case you don’t know), how to track it, and why it has such a huge impact on you...

As an empire builder, rest is important, but it’s also very difficult to step away from a busy business and completely detach in order to give yourself the break you need from time to time. We’re going to discuss why taking an actual vacation away from work is so important, how to manage the guilt that it can bring, and three things you need to do to prepare. Connect on Instagram: Seychelle Van Po...

Many of us were recently at the largest real estate conference in the country, Family Reunion. It’s our first big event in two years, and so much has changed in that time. We’re going to share what it was like preparing for the event, how best to manage your time in order to get the most out of a conference, and our biggest takeaways. Connect on Instagram: Seychelle Van Poole: @seychellevp Vija Wi...

Finding the right talent will determine if your business succeeds or fails. Every Empire Builder needs to recruit talent to grow their business – some even rely on it as a business model. Many people treat recruitment as an event, but it’s actually better thought of as a process. It should be adopted as a part of your business process. We’re going to share our 3 ‘P’s recruiting framework: Problem,...

It’s really hard to build an empire without a plan. Having a goal, keeping up with the market, and learning to scale are all vital parts. We’re going to talk about what goes into building a strategic business plan, from identifying your ideal customer, to knowing your end goals, to performing a full SWOT analysis. Connect on Instagram: Seychelle Van Poole: @seychellevp Vija Williams: @viavija Sara...

As leaders, we’re surrounded by people all day long. And yet the bigger your organization gets, the smaller your inner circle tends to be, and there are fewer and fewer people who you can truly be yourself around. That leads to our topic: leadership lonely. It might seem counterintuitive until you’ve experienced it yourself, but if you have – even if you don’t know the term – the recognition is im...

We don’t focus enough on joy in our lives – and it shows in our culture. There’s a lot of guilt around doing things for the simple pleasure of it – even taking vacations or time off. But it’s so, so important to unapologetically pursue joy in your life – otherwise what’s all of this for? We’re going to share how to find clarity around what brings you joy, how to say “no” to more (so you can say “y...

With everything that’s happened over the past couple of years, many conferences, retreats, or large events for personal and business growth have either moved online, pared back, or stopped completely. Now that things are starting to transition back to meeting in person, we want to focus on getting back into the swing of in-person conferences, and how to ensure you get the most out of your time and...

We’re continuing our discussion of handling objections. Last week, we discussed how to ensure that you’re actually dealing with an objection and not a question, observation, or smokescreen. But once you’ve actually identified an objection, how do you handle it? We have an easy-to-remember framework to share with you for what to do when an objection arises: Repeat Isolate Cushion Handle Cushion Con...

We are all passionate about sales. You have to be comfortable with selling in order to build your empire, and that also means getting comfortable with some of the objections that come up in that process. Objections are stopping you from getting to where you’re trying to go. In this first part, we’re going to go over how to tell if something is a question, observation, or a smokescreen. Next week,...

Losing a key employee or team member in your business is never easy. It’s even worse if you face multiple losses at once. In this episode, we break down examples from our own lives of losses we faced and how we got through them, and share three steps you can follow when it happens to you: How to prepare What to do during the transition How to set yourself up for success afterwards Connect on Insta...

No matter how big your life is, you’re bound to face disappointment with some level of regularity. Disappointment comes when our expectations don’t match the reality of the situation. In the book “Expectation Hangover” by Christine Hassler, she breaks it down into three categories: Situational, interpersonal, and self-imposed.  Left unchecked, disappointment can lead to a lack of motivation, depre...

Benjamin Franklin famously said, “If we take care of the minutes, the years will take care of themselves.” What that means is: if we make the right choices moment to moment, most of our lives will turn out OK. One of the best times to set your intentions is in the new year, when everything feels fresh and our minds naturally start to reflect on the past while looking forward to the year ahead. We...

Leaders are readers. Reading has one of the biggest returns on investment, in terms of both time and money, among almost anything else you can do. In this episode, we share our reading philosophy with you, as well as our favorite books of the year. Resources: Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Gree...

The Holiday season can be very stressful on top of everything else we deal with as empire builders. Thinking about buying gifts, hosting family, cooking meals, hanging decorations – it’s a lot to process. In this episode, we share ten tips you can use to manage stress this season. Start early Plan accordingly Set your own traditions Enlist help Buy extra gifts Tune in to hear all about tips six th...

The holidays are here! If you’re feeling behind on gift ideas, for others or for yourself, we’ve got just the thing to jump-start some inspiration. In this episode, we share our favorite things in the world and how they could make fantastic gifts. Resources: Dohm White Noise Sound Machine reMarkable Notebook Rent the Runway Tory Burch Secrid Cardprotector Spanx Topo Chico Lone River Ranch Water Be...

Today we talk about an often overlooked but very important sales technique, the follow-up. So often, the focus of sales training is on finding new leads, but if you make it a habit to follow up on those leads, you’re going to have more business than you’ve ever dreamed of. The stronger your routine, the more tangible your results. Lock in today’s five effective ways to nurture leads: Find the pros...

We get it, you hate writing copy and the thought of having to write something about yourself? Cringe. It can be intimidating, and knowing it’s something we have to do can be draining before we even put pen to paper. And yet it’s arguably the most important thing you’ll ever write! It’s the best way to make an impression online and can affect everything from your credibility to who’ll hire you, eve...

Truly, there’s a lot to be thankful for this year! Fresh off of the news of Sara Blakely breaking the billion-dollar glass ceiling for females, and with a somewhat-normal Thanksgiving holiday coming up, we spend this episode highlighting the amazing women who have inspired us in our lives. Some of our inspirations: Sara Blakely Ree Drummond Oprah Winfrey Brené Brown Connect on Instagram: Seychelle...

We both have the unique experience of working with our mom. Today, we’re taking time to get into the pros, the cons, and the things we wish we’d known when we first started this great family working arrangement. There are some amazing upsides and wins to working with family. Most importantly, nobody will ever have your back more than family will. At the same time, no one is more willing to point o...

Carissa Acker swore she’d never be a realtor. Now, she’s a force to be reckoned with in the industry, founding Real Estate by Design as a mainstay in the top 1% of North Texas real estate groups. She’s overcome a lot in the last few years, even before COVID came to town. In this episode, we discuss the profound mindset shifts that helped her get to the other side of serious health issues, and the...