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“I know you’re in Africa.”
That’s how the text opened.
No “hey girl.” No “hope you’re enjoying your trip.” Just a woman who’d been watching my stories, knew exactly where I was, and didn’t care one bit.
She went on. She was leaving the house. It’d be vacant. She was putting it on a lockbox. Then she sent me the code, like she was handing her spare key to a neighbor she’s known for years.
In a way, she was.
I want to tell you how that text happened. Not the pretty version, but the version with dates, tags, notes, and automations, so you can build it too.
A Birthday Gift, A Week Away, & Two Listings I Didn’t Chase
My birthday is the 18th of September.
On the 19th, I was headed to Morocco.
It was a gift from my guy, and it was the best trip I’ve ever been on.
Morocco has been on my heart since I was a kid. Some dreams sit quietly in you for decades, waiting for the right season. This one finally got its season, and I got to live it.
We left on the 19th and didn’t get back until around the 26th or 27th. I didn’t work the whole time.
Business still went on.
I came home with two listings.
I’m always going to be honest with you, so I’ll say this plainly. Could I have worked while I was there? Yes. Should I have? Some of y’all are going to say yes. And if I’d been home, heads down, phone glued to my palm, I could’ve doubled those two listings.
But at what expense?
At what cost?
What good is building something if you can never slow down long enough to enjoy the thing you claim you’re building it for?
Most Agents Can’t Take The Trip, & It’s Not Always The Money
Most real estate agents don’t take vacations.
Some can’t afford to.
But a lot of them can afford it. They just can’t leave.
Their business doesn’t stop when they stop. It doesn’t run without them. It is them. So the second they step away, the leads go cold, the past clients forget their name, and the follow-up they were holding in their head falls on the floor like a dropped plate at the cookout.
That’s not a business. That’s a job dressed up in a business’s clothes.
Part of what we’re working for is the freedom to go somewhere like Morocco and actually be there. Present. Tasting the food, not tasting your phone screen. Hearing the people you love, not the ding of another email.
To get there, you have to build systems you trust enough that when you leave, they gather at least some of what would’ve been lost.
Not all of it. I lost some business on that trip. I already told you, I could’ve doubled it.
But I didn’t lose the relationships. And the relationships are where the money comes from anyway.
Run The Seven-Day Leave Test
Before you plan your next trip, run this test on paper. Write down what happens in your business if you disappear for seven days.
→ A new lead comes in. Who responds, and how fast?
→ A past client has a birthday. Does anybody know?
→ Somebody in your sphere mentions they’re thinking about moving. Where does that information land?
→ A transaction hits a deadline. Who’s watching the calendar?
→ Your quarterly calls come due. Does anything remind you when you get back, or do they just quietly die?
If every answer is “me,” you don’t have systems. You have a memory and a prayer.
And I believe in prayer. I do. But God also gave us the wisdom to build things that work.
The Listing Didn’t Start In Morocco. It Started In December 2020.
Here’s what people miss when they see a story like mine.
They see the text. They see the lockbox code. They see “two listings from Africa” and think luck. Or think it’s because I’ve been doing this a long time.
Time helps. But time alone doesn’t do anything. Plenty of agents have been licensed for 15 years and couldn’t tell you what their past clients did last Christmas.
Let me walk you through her timeline, because this listing was built one touch at a time.
→ December 2020: She buys her house with me.
→ The day she closes: She stops being a buyer in my database and becomes a seller.
→ Every month after that: She gets my newsletter.
→ Every year: Her birthday plan fires. Her home anniversary plan fires.
→ Ongoing: My neighborhood nurture keeps her informed on home values in her area.
→ Every 90 days: I get an alert to call her, and I do.
→ 2024: On one of those quarterly calls, she mentions she’s considering moving to Alabama. I write it down.
→ About two months ago: We have the real conversation. She wants to list.
→ September 2026: I’m in Morocco. She texts me the lockbox code.
Read that again.
In 2024, I started nurturing her for a 2026 transaction.
Two years of nurturing a single sentence she said on a phone call.
Nearly six years of relationship for one text.
Whether it happened this year or next year, that listing was always going to be mine. I didn’t know it would come the weekend I was out of the country. But I knew it was coming, because I’d been in relationship with her the entire time.
Her File Reads Like The Front Pages Of Grandma’s Bible
You remember those big family Bibles.
The heavy ones on the coffee table, with gold edges and a cracked spine.
And in the front, those pages where somebody wrote down everything: who was born, who got married, who moved to Detroit, who went home to be with the Lord.
That family record told you where everybody was in life. Nobody had to guess. It was all written down, in pen, by somebody who cared enough to keep it.
That’s what a database is supposed to be.
Not a list of phone numbers. Not a spreadsheet you exported from your old brokerage and never opened again. A living record of people’s lives, organized so you know what season they’re in and what’s likely to come next.
When I opened her file on camera, I scrolled all the way to the bottom, to the beginning, so you could see the whole story. Every touch. Every note. Every plan. That’s the record.
Let me show you what’s in it.
Tag What They Tell You, Not What You Wish They’d Say
At the top of her file, she has three tags.
→ Past client
→ Email list
→ Seller
Notice that last one.
She bought her house with me. While she was buying, she was tagged as a buyer, because that’s where she was in life.
The second she closed, I changed her tag to seller.
Why?
Because the next predictable life event in her real estate journey is selling that house. She just moved in. She’s unpacking boxes. She’s not thinking about selling. But I am, because I’m building a business, and businesses plan ahead.
From that moment on, everything I sent her, every message, every piece of content, every deliverable, was built around selling. Not buying. She’d already bought.
Now look at what’s not on her file.
She’s not tagged as an investor.
Could she have become one? Sure. Lots of homeowners buy a second property eventually. But in all the years I’ve known her, she never once said anything that pointed in that direction. Not on a call, not in a text, not at closing.
So I don’t tag her as an investor, and I don’t send her investor content.
This is where a lot of agents go wrong. They tag people based on hope. “Well, she might want to invest one day.” “He seemed like he had money.” Then they blast those people with content that has nothing to do with their lives, and the people tune out.
You tag what they tell you.
Your Tagging Rules
If you take nothing else from this section, take these.
→ Tag by life stage, not by wishful thinking. A buyer who just closed is a future seller. That’s a stage. “Might invest someday” is a wish.
→ Re-tag at every milestone. Under contract, closed, listed, moved, married, divorced, new baby, kids moved out. Every one of those is a moment to open their file and update it.
→ Never add a tag without something they said or did to back it up. If you can’t point to the conversation, the tag doesn’t go on.
→ Let tags drive content. Sellers get seller content. Investors get investor content. Nobody gets everything.
One client is not one transaction. One client is a lifetime of life events.
They get married and need more space. They relocate for a job. The kids leave, and suddenly that four-bedroom feels like an echo chamber. They go through a divorce and need to split one household into two. Every one of those is a transaction, sometimes two.
One relationship in my database has generated $192,000 in GCI over 19 months. One relationship. That’s what happens when you stop thinking about closings and start thinking about lifetimes.
The Four Touches I Never Have To Remember
Now let’s talk about the plans running on her file.
In my database, I use smart plans. Smart plans fire off on their own. I don’t have to think about them, remember them, or keep sticky notes on my monitor.
Take her birthday plan.
I get an alert seven days before her birthday. Another one two days before. Then two on the day itself.
Four touches. Every year. Without me lifting a finger to remember.
The system doesn’t send a generic “Happy Birthday!” email for me and call it a relationship. It gives me a task that tells me it’s time, so I can show up personally.
That’s the difference between automation that replaces you and automation that reminds you.
How I’d Have You Use Those Four Touches
If you’re building your own birthday plan, here’s how I’d coach you to use each one.
→ Seven days out: Decide what you’re doing. Card, small gift, a quick video, a coffee drop-off. Seven days gives you time to mail something and have it land on time.
→ Two days out: Draft your message. Pull up their file and read your notes first. Mention the trip they took, the promotion they got, the dog they adopted. Make it sound like you, not a greeting card.
→ The day of, touch one: Send the text in the morning.
→ The day of, touch two: Follow up later with a call or a voice note. Most people get 40 texts on their birthday. Very few get a phone call from their real estate agent.
That last one is what people remember.
Every 90 Days, My Phone Tells Me To Call Her
All of my clients go on a quarterly call plan.
Every 90 days, I get an alert to call. So I call.
Simple, but most agents don’t do it. They close the deal, send a closing gift, and disappear until the client’s house is already on the market with somebody else.
And this is the plan that got me the listing.
On one of those quarterly calls in 2024, she told me she was considering moving to Alabama.
I took a note.
That one note turned into a 2026 listing.
If I hadn’t been calling, I wouldn’t have heard it. If I hadn’t written it down, I would’ve forgotten it. And if I’d forgotten it, somebody else would’ve been at her front door with a listing presentation while I was in Morocco wondering why my pipeline was empty.
The Math On Quarterly Calls
People hear “call every past client four times a year” and panic.
Let’s run the numbers.
Say you have 100 past clients. Four calls a year each is 400 calls. Divide that across 52 weeks and you’re at about eight calls a week. Not even two a day.
You can make eight phone calls a week.
### What To Actually Say When You Call
Most agents dread these calls because they think they have to pitch. You don’t. A quarterly call is a check-in, not a sales call. I’d have you keep it simple.
→ Open with them, not real estate. “How are y’all doing? How’s your mom feeling?” Your notes from last time should tell you exactly what to ask about.
→ Listen for life events. A new job, a baby on the way, a parent moving in, a kid heading to college, a “we’ve been talking about…” Those phrases are gold.
→ Mention real estate only if it fits. If they bring up the market, talk about it. If not, let it go. They know what you do.
→ Write the note before you hang up your next call. Not later. Not tonight. Now. Capture who said it, what changed, when it might happen, and how they felt about it.
That last part matters. “Considering moving to Alabama” is a note. “Considering moving to Alabama, wants to be closer to family, thinking a couple of years out, sounds excited” is a roadmap.
Every Plan Has A Job
Her file isn’t running one plan. It’s running a few, and each one does something different.
→ Monthly newsletter: Keeps my name in her inbox and my value in her mind.
→ Neighborhood nurture: Sends her home values in her neighborhood, so she always knows what her biggest asset is worth.
→ Birthday plan: Makes the relationship personal, once a year, every year.
→ Home anniversary plan: Celebrates the day she got her keys.
→ Quarterly calls: Real conversation, four times a year.
Think of it like a good meal at your grandmother’s table. Nobody serves just the greens. There’s the main dish, the sides, the cornbread, the sweet tea, and the dessert somebody’s auntie brought. Each one has its own job on the plate. Together, it’s a meal you remember.
Email keeps you present. Texts keep you personal. Calls keep you close. Annual moments keep you meaningful.
Miss one, and the plate still feels a little empty.
The Plans I’m Turning Off Now That She’s Selling
Here’s a part nobody talks about.
Automation is a blessing. But automation without judgment will embarrass you.
Now that she’s selling, I’m taking her off two plans.
First, the past client home anniversary plan. I was celebrating the day she bought her house. But she’s selling it. The day she bought it doesn’t matter anymore, and an automated “Happy Home Anniversary!” in the middle of her move would look like I don’t know my own client.
Second, the neighborhood nurture. Once she closes, she won’t live there anymore. The last thing I want is my database automatically emailing her home prices in a neighborhood she used to live in.
It’s like your cousin asking about your ex at Thanksgiving. Everybody at the table goes quiet. You were there. You should’ve known.
That’s what an outdated automation does. It tells your client you stopped paying attention.
The Status-Change Audit
Every time a client’s status changes, open their file and check every plan they’re on. Here’s what I’d have you look at.
→ Did they just close as a buyer? Switch the tag to seller. Add them to your past client plans. Start the home anniversary plan.
→ Did they just list? Remove anything tied to the home they’re leaving: anniversaries, neighborhood value updates, maintenance tips for that property.
→ Are they relocating? Update their file with the new area. Think about who you know there for a referral, and stay in touch so you’re the one they come back to.
→ Did they go through a divorce or lose a spouse? Pause anything celebratory tied to the shared home. Reach out personally. Let the automation wait.
→ Did they get married or have a baby? Add the new family member to their record. Their needs just changed.
Five minutes per status change. That’s what it costs to stay sharp.
92%: The Number I Watch Like A Heart Monitor
Back to her file. Up in the corner, there’s a number.
Contact health: 92%.
The healthier your database, the more money you make.
I’m going to say that one again, slower. The healthier your database, the more money you make.
I don’t know about your database, but mine can predict how much money I’ll make, based on how I’m engineering it with AI. That’s not luck either. That’s what happens when the data going in is clean, current, and complete.
A sick database is a list of names you’re scared to call. A healthy one is a living, breathing pipeline that tells you who’s coming next.
Give Your Database A Check-Up This Week
Pull up 10 past clients. Just 10. For each one, ask yourself:
→ Is their contact information current and complete?
→ Do their tags match where they are in life right now?
→ Are they on at least one active plan?
→ When was the last time I personally reached out?
→ If I read their notes cold, would I know their story?
If you’re answering no more than yes, don’t beat yourself up. Just start. Fix those 10 this week. Fix 10 more next week. A database doesn’t get healthy overnight, the same way a body doesn’t.
But it does get healthy.
What I Showed You On Screen Is A Taste. The Course Is The Whole Recipe.
Everything I just walked you through is real.
The tags. The smart plans. The quarterly calls. The notes. The pruning. The health score.
But it’s a snippet.
Inside my signature master course Database to Databank, it’s this times ten. And it’s not just systems. It’s the mindset work, because if you don’t understand how to build a business like this, you’re going to struggle in every industry you ever touch.
It’s lead generation on a different level. A new model for building relationships that turn into business, again and again, across a client’s whole life.
My database has been professionally appraised at $10M+. That number didn’t come from cold-calling strangers. It came from building exactly what I just showed you, then teaching it.
One of my students, Krista, closed a deal within 72 hours of finishing the course.
Before Anybody Texts You A Lockbox Code, You’re Going To Knock On Some Doors
Now let me be fair to the new agents reading this.
You don’t have a database yet.
You don’t have six years of quarterly calls. You don’t have a past client sending you codes from across the ocean.
So I’m not going to stand here and pretend you can skip straight to that.
In the beginning, you need to lead generate, and you need to do it the hard way. Cold calling. Door knocking. Get some skin in the game. Get your feet wet. Put on your big girl boots, your big guy boots, your britches, whatever you’ve got, and go.
It’s going to give you tough skin.
It’s going to teach you how to have conversations with people who don’t owe you anything. It’s going to build the skill set you need to manage relationships later, when you have more of them than you can count.
Customer service is like cooking fish. You can have the best seasoning in the world, the hottest grease, the perfect cornmeal. But you have to get the fish in the pot first.
That’s lead generation.
And the database is what keeps that fish from ending up in the trash two weeks later.
Hustle Without Structure Is Just Exhaustion
Plenty of new agents get this half right.
They make the calls. They knock the doors. They go to every open house and every networking mixer in a 30-mile radius.
And then they don’t capture anything.
The name goes on a napkin. The number goes in their phone as “Mike open house.” The conversation about their daughter’s wedding goes nowhere at all.
Six months later, they’re exhausted, broke, and starting over, because they were collecting conversations and throwing them away at the same time.
So from day one, every conversation goes somewhere. At minimum, capture:
→ Their name and best contact information
→ How you met them
→ One personal detail they shared
→ Where they are in life right now, if they told you
→ A tag based on what they said
That’s it. That’s how a database starts. One conversation at a time, written down by somebody who cares enough to keep it.
Know Your Numbers Before You Knock
Hard work goes further when you know what you’re aiming at. Let’s run sample numbers so you can see how this works.
Say your income goal is $120,000 in GCI this year. Say your average commission per deal is around $8,000.
$120,000 ÷ $8,000 = 15 deals.
If you convert one out of every three appointments into a client, you need 45 appointments.
If one out of every 10 conversations turns into an appointment, you need 450 conversations.
Spread that over 50 working weeks, and you’re at nine conversations a week.
Nine.
Now you’re not just “doing lead gen.” You know exactly what Monday through Friday has to look like. Plug in your own numbers. The math will tell you the truth about your week faster than your feelings will.
If you’re in that boots-on-the-ground season and you don’t want to piece your business together like a patchwork quilt, How to Start & Structure Your Real Estate Business is where I’d send you first. It walks you through the foundation: your CEO mindset, time management, your effort vs. efficiency zones, your economic & activity plans, how to categorize your sphere of influence, 10+ lead generation tactics, objection handling, sales systems & funnels, and the tech tools that keep everything from slipping through the cracks.
Hard work gets you started. Structure keeps you from starting over.
My Business Is Slow Right Now. My Relationships Aren’t.
I’ll be real with you.
The market is slow.
My business is slow right now too.
But my relationships are still strong.
There’s a difference between a slow business and a dead one. A slow business is a field in winter. Nothing’s growing on the surface, but the soil is still being tended. A dead business is a field somebody abandoned.
When this market turns, and it will turn, everybody will want to do business again. And they’re going to do business with the people they’re in relationship with.
Not the agent who went quiet for 18 months. Not the one who only shows up when rates drop. The one who never left.
So don’t take this slow season as permission to fall back. Be all over your database. Make your quarterly calls. Clean up your tags. Fix your notes. Get your health score up.
Keep Posting, Even When It Feels Like Nobody’s Watching
My client knew I was in Africa because she’d been watching my stories.
Sit with that for a second.
She wasn’t on a call with me. She wasn’t reading my newsletter that day. She was scrolling, and she saw me living my life. That kept me top of mind at the exact moment she was ready to move.
That’s why I keep telling you to post.
Posting is engagement. Engagement is mindshare. Mindshare is the space you take up in the minds of the people who’ll be your future clients.
People want to do business with people who have motion. Who are moving, building, growing, showing up.
And you don’t need to be polished. Post your wins. Post your struggles. Post whatever helps people connect with you.
At the core, people want to relate to you. When they relate to you, and they can see you’re a good human who does good business, you’re going to secure the win every time.
A Simple Slow-Market Posting Rhythm
If you’re not sure what to post, start here.
→ One win a week. A closing, a happy client, a lesson that worked.
→ One struggle a week. The deal that fell through, the slow month, what you’re learning from it.
→ One piece of your life a week. Your family, your faith, your trip, your Saturday morning.
Three posts a week. Real ones. That’s enough motion to stay on people’s minds without burning yourself out.
These Skills Don’t Stay In Real Estate
I want to say something before I close.
I’m at a place where, if I ever wanted to do something else, I could do sales in any industry across the board.
Why?
Because the skills I’ve built in real estate are transferable. Building relationships. Having conversations. Following up. Running systems. Knowing my numbers. That works in any business.
And yours are transferable too.
If you came from teaching, nursing, the military, corporate, retail, the church office, whatever it was, you didn’t walk into real estate empty-handed. You walked in with a toolkit God’s been filling your whole life. Every job, every hard season, every person you had to learn to talk to was preparation.
Honor that. Use it.
Seedtime & Harvest
There’s a verse I come back to all the time.
Genesis 8:22. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest shall not cease.
The seed in this story was planted in December 2020, when she got her keys.
The watering happened every month, every birthday, every anniversary, and every 90 days on the phone.
The harvest came in September 2026, while I was on the other side of the world, celebrating another year of life on a trip I’d dreamed about since I was a little girl.
I don’t take any of that for granted. Not the client, not the trip, not the birthday, not the grace that let me build a business that kept moving while I sat still for once. I give God thanks for every bit of it.
But I also know harvest doesn’t come to the farmer who never planted.
If you want different, you’ve got to do different.
So go open your database. Somebody in there is already thinking about their next move. They’ve maybe already said it out loud on a call you didn’t make, or a note you didn’t write down.
Go find them. And don’t say you ain’t heard it here first.
Coach Cheese 💕
