Unlock Your Success: 7 Essential Mindset Shifts for Real Estate Entrepreneurs

John Harcar (00:00.435)
Hey, welcome back to our show. You know, I’m here today with Cory Williams and what we’re going to talk about is both his real estate journey, but also how important it is for him to be a guide, not only to his clients, but also to his coaching students. Remember guys at investor fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers. mean, all real estate entrepreneurs, two to five X their business.

by providing tools and resources to build the business they’ve always wanted to have and live those lives they’ve always dreamed of. So Corey, welcome to our show.

Cory The Guide (00:38.274)
Thanks for having me, John. It’s an honor and a pleasure. I’m looking forward to having a great combo today.

John Harcar (00:44.459)
Yeah, me as well. I know we talked a little bit before we went live and you know, I’m excited to learn about your journey and I truly believe in what you’re talking about as far as a guide for your clients, you know, to be a resource and an advocate. But before we talk about all that, why don’t you give our audience a little background on you? You know, how you got into real estate and kind of what got you here?

Cory The Guide (01:06.84)
Thanks for asking, John. Yeah, it has been an incredible journey. And I started in construction 25 years ago. So 15 years in the construction industry. Truth is, I grew up kind of remodeling houses. I if you ask my dad and my brother, they’ll just tell you that I was a supervisor. However, I did something, right?

John Harcar (01:30.818)
Ha

Cory The Guide (01:33.262)
But we were always around that, you know, sort of that concept of, you know, fixing places up to gain equity and build wealth through, you know, putting the sweat equity into homes and understanding that. so construction was a natural kind of fit for me. So I worked my way through sales manager jobs and things of that nature. And then I just kind of got to a point where I was

John Harcar (01:42.625)
Mm-hmm.

Cory The Guide (02:02.606)
I’m tired of working for people. I wanted to provide for myself and my family. said, what do I know the most about? And I had been a senior project manager for a remodeling company and had done a lot in the stone fabrication. I said, I know the most about homes. Why don’t I just sell those? And so I got into nights and weekends, kind of getting things done. And then one day, my boss just kind of

had a little, you know, some few words to say in a meeting. I walked into my office, I called my wife and I said, Taryn, I am quitting today. And she said, good. Two weeks later, I have my real estate license, have my first deal under contract, you know, within a couple of weeks and the rest is history, my friend. So just learned a lot about building relationships and now I carry that into the real estate industry.

John Harcar (02:44.47)
good for you.

John Harcar (02:59.176)
I love that and I love the backstory. I always like to ask people like, know, what is there one instance, one book, one something, one relationship, one family member that got and pushed you into real estate. So did your dad have a reconstruction or construction business?

Cory The Guide (03:14.134)
No, just kind of nights and weekends and doing the extras of what he could do, right? And so that was just our own homes growing up. then later on, he worked on a few projects outside of work after, you know, the kids were, my brother and I were older and stuff like that. So just kind of learned through, you know, through osmosis. He is a pretty handy guy to have around and he always taught me if you do it and it’s not the way you want it, just do it again. So.

John Harcar (03:23.766)
Okay, got it.

John Harcar (03:42.366)
right?

Cory The Guide (03:43.544)
you know, learn some just real practical, logical ways to, you know, approach remodeling and gaining equity.

John Harcar (03:53.417)
and your wife extremely understanding to get that call and say, good for you. What was it like when you made that transition? Obviously, know that people have a mindset of that W2 income or that paycheck. But when they go and they start their business, the golden net’s not there. I what kind of mindset shift did you have to have?

Cory The Guide (04:16.118)
Yeah, it was incredible. Like all entrepreneurs out there, like pro tip, you have to have a supportive spouse in your journey. is non-manual. Okay. And then, and this is a prerequisite, I digress. You just said something that’s important. Amen. And so for me, I had trust that God was going to guide me through this process. And you know that

John Harcar (04:25.644)
Amen.

Cory The Guide (04:44.214)
no matter what, I was going to be able to pay my bills and it was time for me to take that leap. So, you know, just did everything that it took to build that business. And, you know, here I am today and it’s been a lot of ups and downs and it’s been an incredible journey that has led to, you know, a lot of success and I’ve helped a ton of people along the way.

John Harcar (04:50.369)
Right?

John Harcar (05:13.824)
I love it. I love the service, the service mindset, service heart. What were some of the struggles that you ran into starting off as an entrepreneur?

Cory The Guide (05:23.426)
Yeah, you know, one of the things why I made that jump immediately is because I knew I had support. knew that, and this came very early on, I had a problem, right? I had a problem that I was not in control of my destiny, that I was not in control of my career. And so,

John Harcar (05:44.556)
Mmm.

Cory The Guide (05:49.238)
You know, I look at like the hero’s journey, right? Have you ever seen the movie Karate Kid? Right. Okay. One of the greatest hero’s journey at all time, right? And so I had a problem. I’m here and I have a problem. I need to take control of everything. And so I had a colleague, Michael Beninati in the real estate industry, and I knew that I could have a guide.

John Harcar (05:55.583)
Of course.

John Harcar (05:59.371)
of all time.

Cory The Guide (06:16.652)
that would get me along, that would give me great advice. Just like Mr. Miyagi gave to Daniel, someone that could take me, I don’t know if you remember, Daniel was trying to learn karate out of a book, right? And so I learned and I was a student of real estate and then I had to come out of the book and really learn how to be

John Harcar (06:23.466)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (06:32.064)
Yep. Yep.

Cory The Guide (06:43.22)
a real estate professional and Michael was that first guide to me that stepped in and gave me that confidence and gave me a plan to move forward. And so I had confidence that I had my own Mr. Miyagi, that if I just did what he said, that I would get results like he had gotten. And so I just had that confidence through that system and, and

John Harcar (07:06.518)
Mm-hmm.

Cory The Guide (07:13.568)
listen, it’s hard work. You said, hey, what are some of the struggles you have? You know, it’s like one of the sayings that I love is like, God will give you the bricks, but he’s not going to stack them. And so it’s like, you have to go out there and do the work and really get after it. And so I’ve been very blessed with the incredible real estate market here in the Denver Metro area up into about a couple of years ago, things started to change a little bit.

John Harcar (07:41.398)
Mm-hmm.

Cory The Guide (07:43.306)
Also incredible to be able to learn and serve in that way. However, it’s just, in this particular industry, you’re the CEO, the CFO, the CMO, the CTO. You have to cover all of those bases. So one of the biggest challenges that I’ve faced, John, is burnout. And it’s like, there’s always something to do. Okay. And so, you know, Zig Ziglar said, Hey, you can have.

John Harcar (08:04.939)
Mmm.

John Harcar (08:08.906)
Yes.

Cory The Guide (08:12.974)
everything you want in this life. As soon as you help everybody else get what they want first. Now, that’s a great saying and it is like you mentioned earlier, that service mentality. However, it also leads to burnout. So you have to have that guide to get you through that. And so, you know,

John Harcar (08:19.552)
What they want.

Cory The Guide (08:41.24)
We have seasons in life, John. And I met Austin Chevron with Chevron Coaching out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. And he implemented the run-rest cycles. And so, boy, that has really helped me with the burnout where you run and rest, and it’s from the Iditarod races, where you can run farther, faster.

John Harcar (08:49.58)
Okay.

John Harcar (09:05.729)
Mm-hmm.

Cory The Guide (09:10.104)
than anyone else if you just rest and take the time to plan and be intentional. So all of the struggles that I’ve had, I’ve found that if you just take the time out to recalibrate and you set your target on exactly where you’re going, that you can avoid that burnout moving forward.

John Harcar (09:35.212)
Let’s go back to your mentor. When you reached out to him, did you pay him to teach you? Did you do work for him to teach you? How did that whole thing work out?

Cory The Guide (09:45.752)
Great question because there’s a lot of stuff going on right now, a lot of noise in social media. Coach this, coach that, mentor this, mentor that. And so this is a pro tip, right? Know that whoever you choose as your guide in whatever season you’re in, you are aligned in terms of your goals together. So it was just…

part of the split, you know, in the real estate industry, we have commission splits. And so it was just part of the split that I paid to my brokerage where he got a little bit of a spiff off of that. So I was only paying when I made money, right? And so when, when his advice turned into a deal and his coaching and mentoring and service to me,

John Harcar (10:34.262)
Got it.

Cory The Guide (10:44.952)
turned into business in this industry, then he got a little bit of a cut of that. So it was a win-win relationship. So anybody out there listening that’s looking for that guide, when I talk about alignment, I’m talking about finding somebody that has that win-win relationship where both people win from the relationship.

John Harcar (11:10.38)
No, 100%. Yeah. And especially now with the advent of the, well, not now. mean, the internet’s been around for a while, but so many people are turning more to what we call the analysis paralysis stage versus reaching out and actually finding somebody. Why was that more important for you to, I mean, I know you joined a brokerage and you probably could have joined any brokerage and you know, you could have gotten information, but why was it important for you to seek out versus learn on your own?

Cory The Guide (11:36.332)
Yeah, it was, that’s a really great question. And if I can just really pinpoint that, would be just realizing that I looked at someone and I said, listen, they’re having the success that I want. Okay. So it was a proven track record. And so why reinvent the wheel?

when you know the round wheel rolls best. Okay, I’m not going to reinvent a square wheel and be like, look, it rolls really great. The round wheel rolls best. So I didn’t want to reinvent that wheel. I knew that I already had relationships. And so I picked someone that knew a lot about the construction industry, was heavily involved in it so that I could transfer all of the relationships that I had built.

John Harcar (12:03.98)
Mmm.

John Harcar (12:15.414)
Yep.

Cory The Guide (12:30.272)
in a logical and powerful way. In other words, I just want to serve the same people now with a new and different set of resources that I had to serve them. So it was just knowing that I didn’t want to pull the wagon up the hill by myself with no wheels, that finding that partnership was going to be important moving forward.

John Harcar (12:36.236)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (12:49.994)
Right, right.

John Harcar (12:56.236)
That’s awesome. So what is, are you still with the same brokerage? Do you have your own brokerage? What does your business look like now?

Cory The Guide (13:03.266)
Yeah, awesome. So moved from that brokerage with Michael to he started his own brokerage. So I moved with him and then I was at EXP for a little bit and now I’m a partner at Blue Pebble Homes. And so, you know, we talked about kind of those seasons and how we just find that different.

guide and as entrepreneurs, we’re always looking for opportunities as well. And so now as a partner with Blue Pebble, I just find alignment not only with where the market’s going, Wayne Greskey said it best, right? You want to skate to where the puck is going, not to where the puck is. Okay. And so that partnership with Blue Pebble Homes again was a

John Harcar (13:47.773)
is going.

Cory The Guide (13:58.936)
foresight that the only types of relationships that are going to last in this world and certainly in the real estate industry are win-win. And so that partnership with Blue Pebble allowed me to put the agents that I coach, train and mentor in a win-win situation and my clients in a win-win situation as

John Harcar (14:20.96)
Okay, now let’s talk a little bit about the importance for being a guide for your clients and your coaching students. Elaborate a little bit more on that for us.

Cory The Guide (14:29.922)
Yeah. So there is this ego mentality in this world right now. We see it all over social media. Everybody wants to be the hero. Everybody wants to promote what they’re doing and how great they’ve done. know, what we really realize, John, is that it’s all a facade in most cases. And the true value and worth is creating not an ego relationship. That’s a…

one-way relationship, but an eco relationship where we all get to work together and create a win-win. And so most there’s, I’m not going to say most, there’s a lot of agents out there that want to make themselves the hero and the key in my estimation is that you really need to position yourself as a guide that will

Provide a plan, call your agents or your clients to action. And here’s what’s really important, help them avoid failure. And so it’s all about humbling yourself to the needs of, know, in the case of my agents, they’re my client. In the case of people I help buy and sell homes, they’re my client.

And so it’s really that humbling, understanding the right questions to ask so that you can provide a plan that is going to help them wait for it, accomplish their goals. Has nothing to do with you. Right? Has nothing to do with you. Okay. You, when you help people, I mean, we go back to that zig ziglar, it is all about helping.

John Harcar (16:13.228)
Who’s goals?

Cory The Guide (16:26.964)
other people get what they want, that will lead you to your success. The key is just to have boundaries and to be able to run because we all have to run, but also rest. so again, you know, this, the season of life right now and the season in my career, Austin has been incredible with helping me set realistic boundaries and stick

John Harcar (16:37.1)
Mmm.

Cory The Guide (16:56.396)
to them and by doing that, avoid the burnout and create respect as well around that. So, should give you some context.

John Harcar (17:04.108)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (17:08.197)
I love that.

Yeah, and I like your, know, when you talk about zigzag, I’m reading, I’m reading again, the go giver. if you’ve read that book and you know, one of the first value laws of stratosphere success is give more in value than you receive. so I love that part. So what, what do you think or what do you attribute your keys to success?

Cory The Guide (17:23.532)
Amen.

Cory The Guide (17:30.326)
My keys to success, absolutely just humbling yourself to make sure that you are putting others goals in front of yours. Listen, it’s interesting, because I’m in a really deep evaluation phase right now, and I realized, John, that all of the qualities that I’ve learned

Up into this point, the man that I’ve become in business is not the same man I have to be for the second half of my career here. Okay. And so it’s this constant evaluation. Now let’s not get to, we don’t need to be evaluating on a day-to-day basis. However, the point is we need to just really

make sure that we are positioning ourselves to put people in a great position to win. I think I clearly communicated that work ethic was taught to me. And so, you know, this season in addition to, you know, my good buddy Austin, I’m just really stepping into, you know, my faith.

And everything that you need to learn about leadership is in the Bible. Okay. So a lot of leadership principles, every one of them in fact, originate from there. So, so I’m leaning into that and really looking at this next phase, making sure that, you know, I have that guide from God moving forward. So just that work ethic.

John Harcar (19:03.241)
It is.

Cory The Guide (19:26.03)
putting other people’s priorities in front of mine within reason and really building a sustainable business based from service.

John Harcar (19:32.332)
Hmm?

John Harcar (19:39.242)
I love it. Are there any tools, resources, any other advice you maybe want to give to our listeners who might, you want to learn more about, you know, anything really, I mean, especially about the, you know, the real estate and, you know, think tools that might help them with their mindset or anything like that.

Cory The Guide (19:59.394)
Wow, it is very loaded, my friend. However, I’m just reading an incredible book that I’m just finishing it up and it’s The Gap and the Game. And so, excellent mindset book and it’s just a great way to look at things. Right before that, I read Bye, Back Your Time by Dan Martell.

John Harcar (20:00.97)
I know that’s a pretty loaded question.

John Harcar (20:16.054)
Cap in the Gagnum.

Cory The Guide (20:28.462)
for any entrepreneurs out there, pro tip. Read Dan Martell’s, buy back your time. It’s just really some excellent delegation principles and ways to value your time and make sure that you’re making the most of delegation strategies. So really just find that guide that’s right for you.

so that you’re not trying to learn everything off of YouTube or getting pulled by the shiny objects on Instagram or TikTok or whatever the case is and really align your values with someone that you can trust and that you can create a win-win relationship with.

John Harcar (20:55.468)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (21:15.708)
Awesome and you have a coaching program, yeah?

Cory The Guide (21:18.626)
Coaching program right now, just coaching about seven agents. I partnered with the Chevron coaching group as well. And then, you know, if anybody wants to talk with me about what I do and how I do it, you can find me on the Instagram at Corey, the guide. Love to have any conversations that anybody out there may hear this and.

You know, like you said earlier, have a cup of coffee or hop on a Zoom and just exchange information.

John Harcar (21:50.272)
So awesome. Corey, I appreciate you so much for coming on and talking about this. I mean, I think this is a very important thing, especially for people getting into the business. Find someone who’s already done it. Learn from their mistakes. We’ll put all your contact information in the show notes. Guys, I hope you that were listening had a great show and learned a lot. I know I did. Corey, thank you again for coming out and sharing our information. And guys, I’ll look forward to seeing you on the next one.

Cheers.

Cory The Guide (22:21.422)
So long.