Ashley Harwood on Lead Generation, Energy Management, and Introvert-Friendly Real Estate Growth

Ashley Harwood (00:00)
There’s this common perception that in order to be successful in real estate, whether you’re on the sales end or the investor end,

that you need to be one of the loudest voices in the room and that’s simply not true, especially for investors. Investors are more analytical, numbers focused, and so introverts actually do really well as real estate investors.

Michelle Kesil (01:56)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. Today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Ashley Harwood, who is a realtor in Massachusetts who also helps agents who are introverts get better at sales. So excited to have you here today, Ashley.

Ashley Harwood (02:17)
Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Michelle Kesil (02:20)
Perfect, let’s dive in. First off, for those not familiar with you and your work yet, can you share what your main focus is?

Ashley Harwood (02:26)
Thank

Absolutely. So I still am, I should say, back in production working with residential buyers, sellers, and investors all over the greater Boston area. And a big part of my business is working with the introverts out there in the world in all the facets of the real estate industry.

this common perception that in order to be successful in real estate, whether you’re on the sales end or the investor end,

that you need to be one of the loudest voices in the room and that’s simply not true, especially for investors. Investors are more analytical, numbers focused, and so introverts actually do really well as real estate investors.

Michelle Kesil (03:16)
Yeah, amazing. And is that something that you have struggled with as well?

Ashley Harwood (03:24)
So early in my career, I didn’t know that I was an introvert.

I thought I was more of an extrovert. I was going to lot of networking events and I was very social and I did enjoy being around people, but it was very draining and I would feel very tired after. I didn’t know why. So once I understood, once I learned what introversion really means, then I made some changes in how I was structuring my days and my schedule so I could better, you know, sustain

my energy and have more time and energy to build a bigger business without burning myself out. So I see that a lot and it does all stem from my own experience years ago.

Michelle Kesil (04:12)
Yeah, and how did you overcome that?

Ashley Harwood (04:17)
I really honed in on what are the most impactful activities that I could do during my day. And I stopped wasting time, I stopped wasting energy, for the most part. I mean, no one’s perfect, but ⁓ I honed in on what are the money-making activities, where is my time best spent, where is my energy best spent. And for me, the most specific example I can give is shifting away from

cold calling to in-person events and in-person networking, but limiting that so it wasn’t being around people all day long, seven days a week. It was, okay, I’m gonna go to this event and then the next day maybe just work from home and chill and do paperwork and structure it that way so it wasn’t too much in a row, if that makes sense.

Michelle Kesil (05:57)
Yeah, absolutely. And how are you supporting others through that now?

Ashley Harwood (06:05)
So I teach a lot of classes.

I just wrote my first book on this topic. It’s called Move Over Extroverts. It’s a book on how to be a successful real estate agent as an introvert. It applies to more than just agents though. It applies to really anyone in the business world where you’re in control of your own schedule and your own energy. So a lot of the book is, is focused on that, how to balance that and manage your calendar and your lead generation. So the book has been a really helpful

tool because it’s an easy way for people to access the information.

Michelle Kesil (06:44)
Yeah, definitely. What are some of the frameworks of the book?

Ashley Harwood (06:51)
So we start off with this energy management piece where I talk people through an exercise. There’s actually a quiz people can take to find out where you fall on that introvert extrovert scale. It’s really interesting. Some people are very surprised by their results. So starting with just that self-awareness piece and understanding if you’re around people all day.

Is that gonna be draining? Or if you’re an extrovert, maybe you need that. You need to be around people all day to feel recharged and to feel energized. So we start with that and then we flow into how does that translate to your calendar? How do you schedule your days so that your most important tasks, you’re showing up in your best way, you know, and you’re not totally just a shell of a person when you’re going on a really important appointment.

And then we talk about finding business lead generation and the last section of the book is actually doing the business of selling real estate and how to manage your energy through those things.

Michelle Kesil (08:04)
Yeah, amazing. Is that something that you think a lot of real estate people find themselves struggling with?

Ashley Harwood (08:12)
I do, I do. About half of the population are introverts. And what I find in the real estate industry is a lot of people don’t even know that they are more introverted. So a lot of people are feeling burned out and feeling just more tired than they kind of should feel. And they can’t source why. So what I do is I help people understand where that is.

Like almost think about faucet that’s leaking and where is that leak coming from and how to shut it off. And then where do you spend, where do you put your effort that you’re going to get the most, you know, the highest return.

Michelle Kesil (08:59)
Yeah, absolutely. And how has that supported your business?

Ashley Harwood (09:07)
I mean, it made a huge difference in my own business. I saw a big increase in my sales and my leads, my conversion rates went up. Everything got easier when I started doing less. Less but more intentional and bringing a higher level of myself to those fewer activities. And I think that’s true of…

Most industries and most facets of the real estate industry is finding those few key things that will move the needle forward and letting go of all those other pieces that are just wasted time.

Michelle Kesil (09:46)
Yeah, 100%. And so what are you most focused on now with your business?

Ashley Harwood (09:55)
So I’m about 50-50, still selling real estate and focusing on teaching classes, giving talks at different real estate organizations and conferences,

selling the book and trying to find enough people who need what I have to offer. One of the other interesting facets of this is a lot of times,

I speak with somebody who maybe is more extroverted, but their either romantic partner or their business partner is introverted. So having this understanding, might not be ⁓ directly impactful for the individual, but it could be for somebody in their life. A lot of times we’re partnered up with somebody who’s the opposite. I don’t know if you find that in your life, Michelle.

Michelle Kesil (11:23)
Yeah, I think that’s common.

Awesome. And so what are some of the keys that you feel have allowed your business to become successful?

Ashley Harwood (11:40)
Pairing down my activities, not trying to do everything, but doing a few key things at a higher level.

So for instance, right now in my real estate sales business, I still need to find leads. That’s the most common problem, right? ⁓ The most common challenge. So instead of running around and trying to do 18 different lead generation tactics, I’m honing in on just a handful. For me, that looks like networking and mailers. Those are my two big pillars right now.

Michelle Kesil (12:17)
Yeah, what have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve overcome?

Ashley Harwood (12:25)
Ooh, that’s a good question. ⁓ I mean, one of the biggest challenges was just getting out of this cycle of burnout because it was so, it felt so normal to me in my first couple of years in business that I would be tired all the time and I couldn’t source why. And so getting out of that spiral and really just finding some other things that were gonna work.

that made a huge difference. And one of the other hurdles has been spreading the word about ⁓

you know, helping other agents who are in the same situation. And I do have some investor clients as well who are, you know, they struggle in a little bit different way, but they still need to go and find deals and they have to talk to people and be in the world. So it’s just putting the word out there. ⁓

Michelle Kesil (13:24)
Yeah. How did

you heal from the burnout?

Ashley Harwood (13:31)
⁓ I started taking more breaks throughout the day and throughout the week. I always recommend, if you can, to take one or two days off every week. And for some people that’s not easy. So even if it’s just starting with an afternoon or morning here and there and then working your way up.

I feel like the best way to avoid burnout entirely is to take enough breaks consistently versus waiting for the burnout and then you’re out for a week or two. It’s not, that’s not productive or efficient.

Michelle Kesil (14:10)
Yeah, absolutely. And what do you see like your investor clients struggle with?

Ashley Harwood (14:17)
They struggle to find deals. mean, we’re in Massachusetts, so there aren’t a lot of properties where the numbers work, especially for flips, because everything is so expensive. ⁓

We are also, this might not be timely when this airs, but we are facing rent control on our ballot this year, which is really interesting. ⁓ So we have a whole campaign to educate the public on why this would be so terrible for our state. ⁓ If it passed, it would be the most restrictive rent control law in the entire country. So we’re really fighting that. That’s one of the challenges. ⁓

Investors are nervous about that right now and people are holding off because they want to see what happens.

Michelle Kesil (15:50)
Yeah, what is that? Like, what are the issues with that law? Like, what would happen?

Ashley Harwood (15:57)
It would be really bad. It would be a statewide law. So it would have the same rules for a very urban area like downtown Boston as Cape Cod, which is a vacation hub, ⁓ as Worcester, which is there’s a lot of universities. ⁓ It would cap rent at either 5 % or inflation, whichever is lower. So inflation has been hovering around 2.5 historically. ⁓

It would also not allow for a reset at vacancy or at the term of sale. So no resets. couldn’t, like landlords would not be able to bring up the rents back to market if they’d been keeping it low for a good tenant. We see that sometimes. If you have a tenant who’s been there for years and you keep the rent below market for them, those landlords are going to be penalized if this passes, which is not good.

Michelle Kesil (16:58)
Yeah, that’s definitely a challenge.

Ashley Harwood (17:01)
Yeah, for sure.

Michelle Kesil (17:05)
Are there any opportunities that you see in the real estate market in your area?

Ashley Harwood (17:12)
I mean, I do see a huge opportunity for buying three-family homes. We have a lot of two- and three-family homes that were built in the early 1900s, and this is already being done a lot in Greater Boston, but in other pockets of Massachusetts. There’s still an opportunity to buy those and do a condo conversion.

So that’s one of the best ways, as long as you can keep the cost down, those construction costs, but turning those triple-deckers, as we say, into condos is one of the biggest opportunities if investors want to stay in the state.

Michelle Kesil (17:51)
Yeah, absolutely.

And as far as like your career as an agent, is there anything that you’re seeing as well for more of the home buyers?

Ashley Harwood (18:04)
I’m seeing we have several different markets happening at the same time. I’m seeing a lot of buyers wanting to be in the single family home out in the suburbs. So those properties, as long as they’re in good shape and they’re priced right, those are flying. We’re still seeing bidding wars and you know, a friend of mine just said she had her buyers got outbid and there were 39 offers.

So that is still occasionally happening. On the other hand, we’re seeing a kind of mass exodus out of downtown Boston. The condo market has really slowed down this year. So properties are sitting on the market a lot longer. There’s more inventory, which is a good thing for buyers, but the sellers are struggling because the comps aren’t what they were a year ago.

Michelle Kesil (18:57)
Yeah, and do you think that’s just because of pricing?

Ashley Harwood (19:01)
⁓ Part of it is pricing. Of course, price solves everything, but if you have somebody who paid a certain amount and they don’t want to sell for less than that, you’re kind of stuck. You’re at the mercy of the market. ⁓ But we are seeing a lot of people leaving Massachusetts right now, which is interesting. A lot of people are going south, going to the Carolinas, going to Florida. It’s an interesting time.

Michelle Kesil (19:29)
Is that because of the

price of Massachusetts or what do think it is?

Ashley Harwood (19:33)
I think part of its price, part of its weather, ⁓ part of its politics, and some of it is uncertainty too, around what’s going to happen in the world.

Michelle Kesil (19:46)
Yeah, a lot of things out of the control.

Ashley Harwood (19:48)
Yeah.

Michelle Kesil (19:51)
Yeah, so what are you most focused on solving or scaling to next?

Ashley Harwood (19:59)
I’m focused on really scaling my speaking business as well as my real estate business. So I’m excited to be traveling to a conference in about a month where I’ll essentially audition for a bunch of event planners around the country. So that’ll be a good opportunity to get my name out there in the speaking community a little bit more.

Michelle Kesil (20:23)
Amazing. That’s exciting.

Ashley Harwood (20:26)
It is. It is. How about you? are your goals for the future?

Michelle Kesil (20:31)
Yeah, just continuing to grow our podcast and our community.

Ashley Harwood (20:37)
Love it.

Michelle Kesil (20:39)
Awesome. Well, thank you for sharing all of that. And before we begin to wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out, connect, learn more, where can people find you and connect with you?

Ashley Harwood (20:54)
Absolutely. So I’m on Instagram @AshleyHarwoodRealtor. I do run a Facebook group called Introverts in Real Estate, so you could join that group. And then my website is moveoverextroverts.com.

Michelle Kesil (21:10)
Well, your time and your story. Thank you for being here.

Ashley Harwood (21:14)
Of course, thank you so much for having me.

Michelle Kesil (21:17)
Yeah, of course. And for the listeners that are tuning in, if you got value, make sure you have subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Ashley who are building real businesses and we’ll see you on our next episode.