Discipline vs Motivation: The Real Secret to Real Estate Success

Walter Key (00:00)
⁓ Every single person that’s hearing us right now has been lied to their whole life, right? Everyone in the sound of our voice has heard at some point, knowledge is power, knowledge is power. Bull crap, right? Knowledge is not power. Knowledge is nothing more than dormant potential. And if you never execute,

Quentin Edmonds (00:10)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on, bro. Come on.

Walter Key (00:21)
on the knowledge that you gain, it’s powerless. Right? So when you take that mindset, Knowledge is good. There’s nothing wrong with knowledge. I was talking about earlier, I’m working on my master’s degree, not because I need to, because I wanted to. Knowledge is fine. But if you never execute on the knowledge you acquire, it’s absolutely useless to you, right? So you’ve got to put in the consistency of learn, by all means learn, but then go execute. You don’t have to learn everything. You don’t have to learn anything perfectly.

Learn a little, do a little. Learn some more, do some more. Learn at a higher level, do at a higher level. But never stop that cycle of learn and execute. The execution is where the power is.

Quentin Edmonds (02:33)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds and I’m excited to be here today. I have another fantastic guest and people used to call this gentleman the cold call king, right? And he had to stop him. He said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Hold your horses. This is not cold calling. This is the way he reframed this. I’m just reaching out to friends that I don’t know who haven’t met me yet.

That’s all it is to it. And I love that perspective. And listen, he ain’t just saying that. I’ve been listening very actively. It’s in his language. It’s just not a tagline. He is a service-oriented person. And y’all know what I say. I believe that the foundation of any sustainable business is servitude. And this gentleman loves to serve. So I’m so excited for us to get to talk to Mr. Walter Key. Mr. Walter, how you doing today,

Walter Key (03:27)
I am doing fantastic. It’s great to be here.

Quentin Edmonds (03:29)
Absolutely, man. Great to have you, Juan. I’m excited about this, excited about the way you think, the way you serve. And so, Mr. Walter, I am the type, I like to dive right in. So I would love for you to tell the people, what’s your main focus these days? Also, if you can give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got into the space that you’re in. We love the hero’s journey. And then, tell them part of the world you’re in as well. So what you’re up to, your origin story, and where you are. Mr. Walter, you

Walter Key (03:48)
Yeah.

Sure.

Yeah, well,

let’s start with the origin story, because that’ll lead us into what I’m up to. So ⁓ I came into real estate a little bit differently than most people. At age 15, I charted out my entire life. And so I was going to join the Navy. I was going to go into the Intel business. I knew exactly what I was going to do for decades. And so at age 15, I started training myself to join the Navy. I spent 21 years and some change in the Navy. So I’ve been all over the place.

What happened early in my Navy career was that I bought a house. Young guy, VA loan, doesn’t really cost me a ton to get into it. And we bought a really, really ugly cheap house. Cause that’s as a young guy in the Navy, can get paid well, your house is going to be cheap and ugly. And that’s okay. But what I learned from that experience when we sold that house less than two years later and made a profit is

Quentin Edmonds (04:24)
Mmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Walter Key (04:44)
I kind of liked this real estate thing. I don’t think I’m ever going to rent the house again. Like why would anybody rent? And so I was a real estate investor by necessity almost. And every time I moved in the Navy, which was on average anywhere from about two and a half to three years, sometimes I moved multiple times inside the same tour. And what happened is if as the Navy moved me, said, okay, well, I’m going to buy my next live in investment.

Right? So I know I’m only here a couple of years, so I got to buy smart and I’m either going to buy something ugly that I can make pretty and force some equity and then I’ll sell it in a couple of years, or I’m going to buy something knowing that it’s in the right market. If it’s in the right location, it’s the right size and shape that I can turn this into a good long-term rental when I leave. And so that’s what I did for 21 years. I just bought houses as I moved.

Quentin Edmonds (05:33)
Mmm.

Walter Key (06:21)
And so I call those live-in flips, right? Cause it’s not your standard, I’m going to buy it 90 days where we’re out, we’re reselling, but intentionally buying it ugly in order to force the equity and make it pretty over the period of a couple of years, no rush. And then we move. And so there was a point where I had five different properties across three different States as I was just darting across the country in the Navy. then so early on, I knew like at some point when I do retire from the Navy,

Quentin Edmonds (06:44)
Yeah.

Walter Key (06:50)
real estate’s my thing. It just didn’t make sense to dive in and get a license and really start getting active with it until I knew where I was gonna land because I was always moving from place to place. And so that’s kind of what led me into real estate. And then towards the tail end of my Navy career, I was like, okay, well, I know I’m gonna retire. And I got a few years before I retire.

I should probably go ahead and get my real estate license, start building that real estate business. know, statistically speaking, it takes several, several months, if not years to start growing it. Right. I wanted to build that business while I still had the Navy supporting my income. And this really neat thing happened in the first year I was licensed in real estate. made more money in real estate than an 18 year Navy career was paying my salary. And I laughed to myself and I went, gee, how quickly can I retire?

Quentin Edmonds (07:32)
You

Walter Key (07:37)
And, and it was a really fun experience because I didn’t have to stress over the income. just went out and I met people and I kind of serve people and deals closed and things just happened. And then I, what happened that led me down this coaching path I’m on now is in year one, year or two of my real estate career, other agents in my market were reaching out to me and saying, Hey, wall, we’re looking at your stats in the MLS, man. We see you’re killing it. I, what are you doing? Can I pick your brain? Can I take you out to coffee?

And of course, the Navy guy is never going to turn down free caffeine. So I’m like, sure, take me out to coffee. We’ll talk. And I was just having really the same conversations with agents over and over and over again. I was talking about structure, consistency, discipline, make a plan and execute the plan. And

Quentin Edmonds (08:20)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Walter Key (08:26)
A lot of what I realized was that I didn’t know at the time. then I quickly realized that the real estate industry as a whole is rife with failure from the investor who just can’t seem to start or the real estate agent that statistically quits before their first license renewal. There’s a very, very high failure rate on the real estate space. So I started looking at my service as.

how can I serve other people in the real estate? So it’s not just my clients. Like I love serving clients. love buying and selling houses with them. I love all that. But how do I serve the industry at a larger whole by serving the individual people that are also touching clients? Right? Because if I can make one real estate agent more successful, that ripple effect makes the entire industry better. It makes our reputation to the customers better. Right? It’s just, it’s just a win all around. And so I started coaching agents.

I started doing free classes and Facebook groups, started building coaching programs for different people. I wrote a book a few years ago. Eventually when I finished my master’s program, I’ll probably finish writing the second book that I’m in the process of writing. And I just love being able to find ways to help the next person who needs help. It’s a lot of fun. So that’s kind of the origin story. That’s how I got there. What I’m into primarily now, I’m still an active agent.

I hate the word top producer. feel so cliche, but I am statistically in the top one to 3 % still, even though I don’t do as many transactions as I used to, I still close more than most. But I’m really into coaching and mentoring now. I have an organization of my own of about 120 agents across the country. I built some coaching for my current brokerage. So we do live training every day of the week. And so I was one of the committee members that built that out. It’s just so much fun to teach people.

to do things well and just let the, and the way I coach is a little different because I don’t, tell people all time, I’m not a philosopher. I’m not interested in flowery words and platitudes. I’m gonna teach you what I do cause it works or I wouldn’t do it. I’m not gonna teach you anything I don’t know works. I’m gonna teach you and I’m a very practical. If I can’t, if you can’t leave the call with me knowing what you’re gonna execute, I failed. And so when I do a coaching call, you will leave with homework.

Quentin Edmonds (10:13)
Yeah, yeah, Yeah, yeah.

Mmm.

Walter Key (10:35)
And that homework will close deals. And that’s just kind of the perspective that I’ve always brought into it. So that’s a lot of fun. I’m doing a lot more of that these days. I’m still doing transactions, but I’m doing a lot more. then, when investments pop up, I’ve kind of liquidated a lot of my investments. I had this journey from long, the long-term rentals and the live-in flips to let’s acquire some Airbnb’s, ⁓ did a sub two transaction or two. ⁓

And then I’m at a point now, I just moved into a house I’m sitting in literally this month.

And I’m at a point now where I’m like, I got a lot of things going on. I’m just going to slow down on the investment side, wrap up some life stuff, finish the masters, yada, yada, yada. But I’ve done a little bit of, I won’t say everything, but a little bit of almost everything in the real estate investing space, right? Long-term, short-term, Airbnb. I haven’t done a pad split, but I love the concept.

did some sub two transactions, both for my own clients because it served them well and for my own investments because I was able to help the person on the other end by putting the sub two transaction together. So, and then right now I’m sitting in sunny Northeast Florida. I’ve been all over the place, 25 countries and counting. The house that I’m in right now, like I said, we just closed on it this month. The house I moved out of that this March was four years in that house. That’s the longest I’ve ever been at one address my whole life.

So a lot of moving around, lot of, whether the old saying, a rolling stone gathers no moss, I ain’t got no moss. Just kidding. At some point I’m going try to just relax and get some moss.

Quentin Edmonds (12:39)
Yeah, yeah. ⁓ man, sir. Thank you, man. Thank you. I put a premium on story. So I love great storytelling. so I love, thank you for taking us through your journey. I think story-telling, it kind of hits people in their soul. It’s so relatable. I think you just planted so many different seeds, man. So thank you for taking time and just explaining where you are, how you got to where you are. And I’m going take some things back to you, because I’m going make a statement and I’m going ask you a question.

And so, and let you know, I was actively listening, man. So 15, you charted out your life. 15, you charted out, you talking about planning. 15, you charted out your life. You did 21 years in the Navy. You bought a house early in your career. You said it was cheap and ugly, right? You sold it, I think you said two years after you bought it. And then you just became an investor by necessity. And so that led you to the realization that

Walter Key (13:13)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Quentin Edmonds (13:32)
the next property, you just wanted to kind of optimize the opportunity. So you started turning into living flips, right? Living in flips, right? And then it’s accumulated five different properties over different states. You knew you would retire eventually and you wanted to get your license kind of when you retired, right? And then when things really started rolling, you made more money in real estate than you made in your Navy career. Did I hear that right?

Walter Key (14:01)
Yeah, that’s

right.

Quentin Edmonds (14:02)
Yeah, man. And so I regret to say all these things because this is my statement that I make. Destiny has no wasted moments. Right. And sometimes when we when we trace it back, when we track it back, we see the momentum has been building for you since 15 years old. The momentum has been been building. And I don’t know. I don’t know for you. Sometimes things go pretty fast. Sometimes things go pretty slow. But

Walter Key (14:11)
Yeah.

Quentin Edmonds (14:28)
All of that time has passed and you find yourself sitting in the seat of success. So I would love to know what has the journey, what has the moments revealed to you about yourself? Has it revealed discipline? Has it revealed patience, resilience? Like what has the journey revealed about you?

Walter Key (14:39)
Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, what a good question. I would say that I learned to fail well. All right. Cause obviously you hear the highlight reel and you’re like, that sounds amazing. There’s a lot of, a lot of steps in between there, right? When things don’t always go the way you want, you learn every day. And if I can leave the audience with anything, right, don’t be afraid to go fail your way into it. Right. You’re fear of failure.

will crush your dreams every day of the week, but your failure will actually move you forward faster than you can possibly imagine. The failure is where we learn, so don’t be afraid of that. I learned to fail well early on. And then, know, one of my favorite words is discipline, right? The consistency of knowing what you need to do, and even on the days you don’t feel like it, you put in the work. ⁓

I said, you know, in the real estate space, have CDAs, Commissioned Disbursement Authorizations, right? That’s how real estate agents get paid at the closing table. I tell agents all the time, if you want your CDA, you got to put in some CDA, consistent, disciplined action. Know what you need to accomplish in a day and do it regardless of whether you feel like it or not. Cause there will be days you don’t feel like it. That’s okay. Do it anyway.

And so I’m not a fan of the word motivation. I can’t stand that word. I could get all nerdy into the scientific definitions of why that’s motivation is not garbage. Let me just leave it at that. You need the discipline to say, I know what I need to do in order to accomplish what I need to accomplish. And the only thing standing between what I need to do and what I will accomplish is me putting in the work. You don’t have to like it. You just have to do it.

Quentin Edmonds (16:06)
Talk about it. Yes, sir.

Damn, listen, I know you’re not one for cute little words and platitudes or whatever, but I have, I want to talk to failure. It’s like three things I want to talk to you that you just said. Hopefully I remember them all. But so I thought, Mr. Wall, I thought this was an original saying that I’m about to say. And I did some research this past weekend and I was like, dang, somebody already said this. But anyway, cause I was about to put it on t-shirts. I was about to blast it up, but I still believe in the quote.

Walter Key (16:48)
Nice.

Quentin Edmonds (16:51)
So I often say on here, failure is fertilizer. Bro, and if you know anything about fertilizer, some fertilizer is just dumb. It’s just like, it’s mess, right? But when you let those nutrients get into your roots, get into that nutrients of the fertilizer, it creates something that’s abundant, that’s plush, it changes the greenery.

Walter Key (16:55)
I like that.

you

Quentin Edmonds (17:16)
⁓ and I mean, then we got fresh flowers growing and then the smell has changed. And so when you talk about failing forward, the failure, just fertilize it. Don’t be scared of the failure because it literally can grow you. ⁓ when you talk about consistency, one of my mentors say, consistency beats intensity any day. And he’s every time, right? So we consistent, ⁓ I can’t remember the other thing. I’m going let that go, but you just, you said so many things.

Walter Key (17:29)
Absolutely.

every time.

Quentin Edmonds (17:45)
that just lined up with a lot of things that I say here. And honestly, the things that I try to preach and practice myself. And so I appreciate, everything you said. Thank you for that reflective, well-reflective thought out answer, because it just, it speaks volumes to me. It really does.

Walter Key (18:43)
I’ll leave you one more for the audience in that vein, in that regard of consistency and discipline and execution. ⁓ Every single person that’s hearing us right now has been lied to their whole life, right? Everyone in the sound of our voice has heard at some point, knowledge is power, knowledge is power. Bull crap, right? Knowledge is not power. Knowledge is nothing more than dormant potential. And if you never execute,

Quentin Edmonds (18:59)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on, bro. Come on.

Walter Key (19:10)
on the knowledge that you gain, it’s powerless. Right? So when you take that mindset, Knowledge is good. There’s nothing wrong with knowledge. I was talking about earlier, I’m working on my master’s degree, not because I need to, because I wanted to. Knowledge is fine. But if you never execute on the knowledge you acquire, it’s absolutely useless to you, right? So you’ve got to put in the consistency of learn, by all means learn, but then go execute. You don’t have to learn everything. You don’t have to learn anything perfectly.

Learn a little, do a little. Learn some more, do some more. Learn at a higher level, do at a higher level. But never stop that cycle of learn and execute. The execution is where the power is.

Quentin Edmonds (19:50)
man, I love the way you talk. Well, like I always say like it’s applied knowledge. It’s not just knowledge is power, it’s applied knowledge. Like taking it from information to implementation. That’s where the power is. the last thing, cause you was talking about motivation and I love how you touched on all the psychological stuff we can talk about being motivated, right? And one of my words that I have examined over my life is dopamine.

Walter Key (19:55)
Yeah.

That’s it.

Quentin Edmonds (20:15)
and noticing how I’m always chasing that next spike. So sometimes I’m motivated because I’m chasing the spike. But what if I’m not motivated? What if the spike is not there? Then what do I do? Do I stop being motivated? So it’s like I’ve learned to stop chasing my next dopamine hit and learn to be consistent.

Walter Key (20:24)
Yeah.

Right?

And just do the work. Yeah. I

use an analogy when I’m talking about this, cause I’m a former marathon runner, right? And, I paint that picture for people. imagine Omaha, getting a little chilly out there in the winter, right? So when you’re training for a marathon, you’re running through the winter because the spring marathons are when the weather’s a little cooler still. Right? So active duty Navy, gotta be showered, shaved uniform on, butt in seat at seven 30 in the morning.

Quentin Edmonds (20:42)
Okay, cool, cool.

Walter Key (21:02)
Which means to train for a marathon in Omaha, Nebraska in December, I was waking up at three 45 in the morning to go outside and run before my day started. And what I tell people is if I watched a recording of a professional running event the night before, Oh, I’m motivated right then I’m ready to go run right now. But now’s not the time to run. That’s not where the plan says you don’t run at nine o’clock at night when you got to be up early.

Quentin Edmonds (21:22)
Ooh! ⁓

Walter Key (21:30)
There is no motivation at 3.45 in the morning in Omaha, Nebraska, when there’s a sheet of ice on the ground, it’s negative 20. The only thing that will get you out of bed to go execute that plan is the discipline to know there’s a goal at the end of this plan and there’s a plan that has to be executed. You will not be motivated in your greatest moments of progress. You will very likely not be motivated at that moment.

because it’s the daily grind. It’s the get up and do it anyways. It’s the, what I used to say, grab a straw and suck it up, right? You’ll enjoy the success at some point and you might be motivated by the success, but the realization of the success is gonna come in the days where you’re not feeling it, but you did it anyway. You pushed a little more. You did that one more rep, right? That’s where the success is gonna come from. When it’s not in the limelight, it’s not on a podcast. Nobody’s watching you.

but you gotta go do your plan. gotta go, we used to say plan your dive and dive your plan, right? Stick to the program. That’s where it all comes together.

Quentin Edmonds (22:28)
Yeah.

Yeah. One of my favorite books, I didn’t know it was going to become my favorite book. One of my favorite books is a book called My Year of Running Dangerously. it’s about, he actually, he’s a pretty well-known journalist. I can’t remember his name, but his daughter was getting into running and she needed, you know, she would call him because he used to run, you know, they would talk about, he’d be trying to, you know, just encourage her. But he was like, you know what, I’m going to do one better. I’m going to start training with you. And so.

Walter Key (22:47)
Okay.

There you go.

Quentin Edmonds (22:58)
I had no idea the training schedule that you have to keep in order to build up your stamina. And you can’t miss days. So if it’s raining outside, had to run in rain, ice. mean, toes is getting damaged. And all that stuff. He had to keep the same routine in order, one, wanted to accomplish his goal, and two, be accountable to him and his daughter. And so I had, listen, I’m not a runner. I’m telling you, I’m not a runner.

Walter Key (23:02)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Gotta do it.

Quentin Edmonds (23:25)
I wasn’t expecting to love this book, but I loved it because of the commitment that he had to wanting to be a father there for his daughter. so, yeah, when you go back, yeah.

Walter Key (23:34)
Yeah. I think the principles of

a marathon runner, right? Lay out a plan well in advance with a tangible goal at the end, work the plan. All of that, the principle of that is absolutely applicable in the real estate industry. Whether you’re an agent, whether you’re a lender, whether you’re an investor, you’ve got to have a plan. You have to know what the plan is leading you to.

and you’ve got to put in the daily actions to move yourself forward on the plan. So I love the the marathon analogy because I just feel like it has so many great parallels to life. Yeah.

Quentin Edmonds (24:05)
Yeah,

yeah. I think that’s why the book hit me. You’re absolutely right. I think that’s why the book hit me in a place that it hit me in. ⁓ Listen, man, what’s next for you, sir? Like, what are you looking to solve at scale next? What’s next for you?

Walter Key (24:17)
man. I’m probably going to, in 2027, I’m probably going to slow down in real estate transactions. I’m going to ramp up in coaching, training, mentoring. I’m really going to be focusing on helping real estate agents scale their business and get locked in. I’m just at a point now where I’m, I’m not that old, but I’m at a point now I’ve been blessed with some, some decent financial success. So I’m going to start winding down my active business a little bit earlier than most could.

Quentin Edmonds (24:29)
Yeah. Yeah.

Walter Key (24:43)
And I’m going to focus on what I love the most, which is just pouring into other people and watching them succeed. And at some point I’ll write the second book. I’ll get to it eventually. Yeah.

Quentin Edmonds (24:49)
Yeah, man.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I

held off on this. We was talking earlier and y’all again, this guy got the same through line. He started off the same way he ended. Talk about helping people. Like I’m telling you, this guy’s pretty consistent. At least for our conversation, I’m pretty consistent. It’s like 21 years in the Navy. You do not build, you you build inconsistency. But a proverb that I often say on the show, it says, when you refresh others, you in return will be refreshed.

Walter Key (25:18)
Mm-hmm.

Quentin Edmonds (25:19)
And

we talked about that. It’s try it. And I tell people the same thing. Well, like you said, try it. See if I’m lying. Refresh others and see if you don’t get refreshed in return. It’s like a boomerang. You throwing it out. It got to come back to you. The kindness to serve it to you. has to come back to you. So I don’t know if you want to keep on that before I close the show, but man, I, yeah, cause I know.

Walter Key (25:30)
That’s it.

100%.

I mean,

yeah, you hit it. We were talking before the show started. I have always tried to live my life with a very simple philosophy. We cannot add more value into the world than what the world will give us back in return. And if you don’t believe me, I dare you to try. Because you’re gonna be amazed when you just shift your focus from what do I get out of this? How does this work for me? I need, I need, I need.

You just turn that around and you say, who can I help today? How can I add value to whatever the situation is I bump into, right? It could be someone at the grocery store checkout line and you see an opportunity to add value. It doesn’t have to be this big grand thing. But when you’re focused on adding value into the world, you will end your day perceiving that the world gave you back more value than you gave away. And that’s just a beautiful way to live.

So I challenge everybody that’s listening to this, really try to reframe the way you go about your day and be actively looking at opportunities to add a little value to people. It will change your entire paradigm. It’s a beautiful thing.

Quentin Edmonds (26:45)
Sir, listen, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you,

Walter Key (26:53)
Man I tell you what if you google Walter key realtor and just look for the schmuck and Hawaiian shirt I’m known as mr. Hawaiian vibing in my in my network. That’s kind of the brand I’ve built almost every photo. You’ll ever see me online will be in a Hawaiian shirt So Walter realtor pretty big. I’m a little bit older. So I’m not so much on tick-tock I’m big on Facebook. You can also go to my link tree So if you if you know link tree, it’s just link tree backslash Walter all my social profiles contact info You know calendar all that fun stuff is there

I think there might even be a link to my first book on Amazon there, all that stuff. But love to connect any way that a person wants to connect, whatever you’re into. Even though I’m not super active on a lot of the socials, I am on threads and Instagram and all the others, but Facebook is kind of where my primary audience is at. But I’m easy to find, just walk key realtor, you’ll find me no problem.

Quentin Edmonds (27:43)
Yeah. Well, man, let me say three things to you, First, thank you for your time. I believe time is our most precious commodity. The things we do should get us out of time that it should afford us the opportunity to choose the options that we want to be able to do exactly what we want to do without time. So the fact that you gave us your time, I think you kind of wanted to be here, man. So I appreciate you. So I appreciate it. I don’t take your time for granted. So thank you for your time.

Walter Key (28:03)
This is great. It’s a great conversation.

Quentin Edmonds (28:09)
Secondly, man, thank you for your story. Thank you for your authenticity, your honesty. I’m even going to say the gift of your vulnerability and transparency. Thank you. I know a lot of things you said really planted seeds in people. And we may never see the growth, but the fact of the matter is the seed is there and that seed can take place a week from now, two years from now, three years from now, but the seed is there. So man, thank you for planting some seeds. And lastly, man, thank you for the way you think.

your mindset and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you,

Walter Key (28:41)
No problem, I appreciate it.

Quentin Edmonds (28:42)
Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all heard Mr. Walter look into the show notes, his contact information is there, get in contact with him. Definitely make sure you’re subscribed here, because I promise you, we’re going to continue to bring up great people just like Mr. Walter . So sir, thank you again. And everyone else, y’all have a fantastic day.