How to Become a Better Real Estate Agent Through Experience | Jack Bruce

Jack Bruce (00:00)
But specifically an instance I’m thinking about is when I was doing a showing and two pit bulls came running out from around the corner and

I had to be there to yell at the pit bulls as they came up trying to bite my ankles. And my clientele was right there behind me and I dealt with the situation and hollered at the pit bulls and they tucked their tail and ran away after that.

Joseph Crooms (02:03)
hey, everybody. Welcome to *Investor Fuel Real Estate Pros Podcast*. welcome. I’m your host, Joseph Crooms. I’m your today I’m joined by someone I’ve been looking forward to chatting with. His name is Jack Bruce.

Who’s making some serious moves in the industry? I’ll let him speak about it, but he’s also interested in saving the world. So I’ll let him elaborate on that more. So Jack, say hello to everyone.

Jack Bruce (02:32)
Hello everyone!

Joseph Crooms (02:35)
I think our listers are really going to take something away from how you’re approaching business and you call you called your business realtor. Is that is that correct?

Jack Bruce (02:44)
Correct.

Joseph Crooms (02:45)
All right, so let’s dive into it. Why do you call your business realtor?

Jack Bruce (02:50)
I call my business realtor because back in twenty nineteen, that’s when I vowed to become a realtor.

Joseph Crooms (02:58)
Okay, and is it any other name? Is it realtor L O C or just realtor?

Jack Bruce (03:05)
Yeah, it’s realtor with the little circle and the R, realtor. I believe that to be the patent.

Joseph Crooms (03:11)
Okay. Okay. And what is your volume of business? how long well first of all, how long have you been in business?

Jack Bruce (03:20)
How long have I been in business? I’ve been in business for around ten years.

Joseph Crooms (03:25)
Okay. And in that ten years, where is your book of business or value of revenue on on a monthly basis? Where where are you at now?

Jack Bruce (03:36)
So the books are up in my bedroom.

Joseph Crooms (03:41)
Okay. And what is your monthly revenue?

Jack Bruce (03:44)
What is my r monthly revenue? What specifically do you mean by that?

Joseph Crooms (03:47)
So on your on your reality, huh? What’s your volume or or your pro your portfolio? What does it look like?

Jack Bruce (03:52)
What does my portfolio look like? My portfolio looks like realtor buying, selling, and renting.

Joseph Crooms (04:00)
Okay. Are you mostly into flipping homes or renting homes? What’s your niche?

Jack Bruce (04:53)
What’s my niche? I like it all. I’ve done it all of those buying, renting, and selling. That’s the niche.

Joseph Crooms (04:59)
Okay. Are you better at one than the other?

Jack Bruce (05:03)
Am I better at one than the other? Yes, I am better at one than the other.

Joseph Crooms (05:08)
Okay, can you elaborate? Which one you’re better at?

Jack Bruce (05:10)
Yes, I can elaborate which one I’m better at. I’m better at

I would say buying and renting.

Joseph Crooms (05:18)
Okay. Are are you into residential or more into commercial?

Jack Bruce (05:23)
I’m into both of those.

Joseph Crooms (05:24)
Okay, so that all right, so what give us the short version. What’s your main focus these days? What markets are you operating?

Jack Bruce (05:33)
Give us a short term what markets am I operating?

Joseph Crooms (05:36)
Yes.

Jack Bruce (05:36)
I am a operating in all of the markets.

Trying to diversify.

Joseph Crooms (05:42)
Hmm. Okay. which air w what where do you want to diversify in most? I’m trying to trying to have this conversation with you. so I I you know, just for r remember this is a listening audience. They want to hear from you, that they want to hear from you. So you’re diversifying from where to where?

Jack Bruce (06:01)
Diversifying, you know, just doing more volume in all of the categories of being a realtor.

Joseph Crooms (06:09)
Okay. so on that volume, you know, from where you started, from where you started 10 years ago, five years ago, what is your volume? What is your book of business like now? How many units are you moving? How many commercials are you moving?

Jack Bruce (06:27)
How many commercials am I moving? What year are we talking about?

Joseph Crooms (06:31)
I’m talking let’s talk about the last two years.

Jack Bruce (06:33)
Well, realtors kinda have a confidentiality policy, so that’s one of the things there, you know, to you know, keep my clientele and everything confidential.

Joseph Crooms (06:43)
I’m not actually about your clientele. I’m actually on the on the the book of value. I don’t I don’t even know the clientele or anything.

Yeah, how many volume how much volume of commercial properties do you have? How many volume of residential or if you put them side by side, you know, what’s the ratio?

Jack Bruce (07:00)
What’s the ratio there of volume of sales volume?

Joseph Crooms (07:04)
not necessarily. This just your book of business. How many commercial properties do you have? Or how many residentials? Do you have two family homes? you know, just give us an idea.

Jack Bruce (07:16)
Well, when I vowed to become an agent in twenty nineteen, one of the agreements that I made there was confidentiality. So I have to keep all of that fully confidential to keep my client’s best interest at heart.

Joseph Crooms (07:29)
Okay, I wasn’t asking a client if I misrepresented myself. I’m not asking about any clients. I’m just asking a a volume number or how many

homes have you flipped how many homes have you invested in how many well commercial properties do you have

Jack Bruce (07:47)
How many commercial I’ve I have some commercial experience. that’s not really, you know, there’s some opportunities out there definitely.

Joseph Crooms (07:58)
So so commercial’s not your niche. Hasn’t been your niche over the last two years.

Jack Bruce (08:02)
Well, with commercial business it was when I was first getting started and I didn’t really have the experience that I do now. So now I’m able to handle it much better.

Joseph Crooms (08:13)
Okay. And so so the this on on residential seems that has residential been your strength?

Jack Bruce (08:20)
Yes.

Joseph Crooms (08:20)
Okay, what about flipping homes?

Jack Bruce (08:22)
It’s good. It’s a good, really good strategy.

Joseph Crooms (08:24)
Okay, so so understand my question. How many homes have you flipped in total?

Jack Bruce (09:04)
In total, well, I see, you know, a lot of homes out there getting flipped every day. Here and there, you know, there’s a lot of different specific addresses here and there. all that specific information is confidential. I vowed to keep that confidential when I became a realtor.

Joseph Crooms (09:22)
What’s been the key to keeping your machine running smoothly?

Jack Bruce (09:25)
What’s been the key to keeping my machine running smoothly? I would say being with my family and educating myself.

Joseph Crooms (09:33)
Okay. now I know every operator’s had a moment where things got real. Do you mind sharing a time that something went sideways or a time that you had to pivot fast?

Jack Bruce (09:44)
Absolutely, yeah. in my first portion of business, I was doing a lot of showings in Dayton, Ohio, and a lot of the properties are not in very good condition. So you’re dealing with a lot of odors, a lot of clutter, a lot of, you know, pollutants, and a lot of other, you know, hazmat zones.

And so that’s certainly something to watch out for there. Make sure you, you know, are, you know, taking care of, you know, dealing with that stuff. You know, it’s a lot of lot of work out there at first.

But specifically an instance I’m thinking about is when I was doing a showing and two pit bulls came running out from around the corner and

I had to be there to yell at the pit bulls as they came up trying to bite my ankles. And my clientele was right there behind me and I dealt with the situation and hollered at the pit bulls and they tucked their tail and ran away after that.

Joseph Crooms (11:35)
I’m happy they tucked their tail and ran away from the Jack. Okay. that’s the kind of stuff people don’t talk about. That is very dramatic. It separates the people who’s who’s just dabbling from the ones who stay in the business. Why are you still in real estate? What is it that you love about real estate?

Jack Bruce (11:51)
I really love the literature and learning about the literature and you know, trying to make sure that I’m just being the best realtor that I can.

Joseph Crooms (12:01)
and so you said your business has been in in existence for ten years, am I correct?

Jack Bruce (12:05)
Correct give or take.

Joseph Crooms (12:06)
In the last five years, what have you done to to make your business better?

Jack Bruce (12:11)
In the last five years, what have I done to make my business better? I’ve been trying my best to, you know, be the best realtor that I can. And just help help out everybody and provide a positive experience and just, you know, try my best.

Joseph Crooms (12:31)
Yeah. You talked about you sh did you start your business in Dayton? Was that the area you started in?

Jack Bruce (12:36)
Yes, that is the area I started in. I’m in that area and that is, yeah, the area I started. That’s where I got my first couple of my you know, my first deal was a listing that I got from door knocking. And after that I got some deals in Dayton.

Joseph Crooms (12:54)
Okay. And what other markets are you operating? What what are are you up operating all through Ohio now?

Jack Bruce (13:00)
Operating all through Ohio, yeah.

Joseph Crooms (13:02)
What do you feel about AI? How has AI helped or do you feel it’s not helping your business or it’s a threat?

Jack Bruce (13:09)
How do I feel about AI? I think it’s pretty good. I’m excited to see what kind of discoveries get made and it’s fascinating and useful. It feels like AI is the virtual assistant that I always needed.

Joseph Crooms (13:24)
Do you use an AI virtual assistant now?

Jack Bruce (13:26)
I do, yeah.

Joseph Crooms (13:27)
Okay, and you know tell me about your operation systems. What systems do you use?

Jack Bruce (13:32)
What systems do I use? I’ve been using ChatGPT lately.

Joseph Crooms (13:36)
Okay, do you have CRM?

Jack Bruce (13:39)
Yes, I do have a CRM. I’m not currently active with my CRM right now, but I do have a CRM.

Joseph Crooms (13:46)
Okay. All right. what do you focus on solving or scaling next? What’s your next real goal?

Jack Bruce (13:53)
What’s my next real goal would be to achieve some more success.

Joseph Crooms (13:59)
When when you w what would what would success look like for you, Jack?

Jack Bruce (14:03)
Success to me is being the best realtor that I can and making sure I’m staying updated on all of the education and doing my best with regards to all of the realtor literature that’s out there.

Joseph Crooms (14:20)
okay, so you know, that next move, how do you think that will becoming a better educated realtor? How do you think it’s gonna pivot your business?

Jack Bruce (14:28)
How it’s gonna pivot my business is just making different discoveries through practicing every day and figuring out what the next best plan is.

Joseph Crooms (14:38)
Now I know a lot of people listening are early are either early in their journey or looking to level up. I think they’ll benefit from hearing this. What’s when it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the big biggest difference for you?

Jack Bruce (14:53)
It comes to

Joseph Crooms (14:54)
or or building relationships. What’s made the biggest difference for you?

Jack Bruce (14:58)
Practicing. Just practicing every day.

Joseph Crooms (15:01)
Okay. So you can’t fake relationships everything in this space. So we’re coming down to a close. all right, before we wrap up, if someone wanted to reach out to you, Jack, connect with you, maybe collaborate or learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way to reach you?

Jack Bruce (15:17)
The best way to reach me would be possibly on my website to my iPhone. Anything on my iPhone would be the best way to reach me on my iPhone.

Joseph Crooms (15:27)
You mind sharing that information for the audience?

Jack Bruce (15:30)
No, not at all. What would be the best way to share that information?

Joseph Crooms (15:34)
You know, if you have an email they can contact you, a website they can contact you.

Jack Bruce (15:38)
Yes, I do have a email they can contact me as well as a website they can c contact me.

Joseph Crooms (15:42)
Do you mind sharing with the audience or you don’t want to?

Jack Bruce (15:46)
No, I don’t mind. My email is [email protected] J A C K period B R U C E period JBB @gmail.com

As well as my website, jackbrucerealestate.com As well as my iMessage. It’s on the website. If you could tune in there to find my iMessage, it would be great. And yeah, that’s pretty good. you know, I’m experimenting with different social medias. You know, it’s a complicated technical topic there, and

I’m trying my best to use those other platforms as well.

Joseph Crooms (16:34)
Thank you so much. I appreciate your time, Jack. we need more people in space who are doing it right that it the right way. Thanks again for being here, Jack.

For those of you tuning in, I know you got some value from Jack today. Make sure, especially just explain some points that you need to really discover and become more aggressed on, make sure you subscribe. We got more conversations coming from operators just like Jack Bruce.

So thank you for being here. We’ll see you on our next episode of Investor Fuel Real Estate Pros Podcast.