Navigating Growth Across Businesses with Kaleo Kina
Oct 10, 2023
Raquel Quinet
In this episode, I interview Kaleo Kina, a real estate entrepreneur running multiple successful companies while being an amazing husband and father. We discuss the key ingredients behind his success.
Kaleo stresses the importance of bringing value to your relationships, as the right connections can change your life and business. He also shares how proper financial literacy has been a game-changer for him in making sound business decisions. Finally, Kaleo talks about effective time management through diligent time blocking for each of his businesses.
Key Takeaways:
Strong relationships that you bring value to can change the course of your life and business.
Proper financial literacy helps you evaluate deals and make informed business choices.
Time block days and times for each business to focus your meetings and priorities.
In this episode, I interview Kaleo Kina, a real estate entrepreneur running multiple successful companies while being an amazing husband and father. We discuss the key ingredients behind his success.
Kaleo stresses the importance of bringing value to your relationships, as the right connections can change your life and business. He also shares how proper financial literacy has been a game-changer for him in making sound business decisions. Finally, Kaleo talks about effective time management through diligent time blocking for each of his businesses.
Key Takeaways:
Strong relationships that you bring value to can change the course of your life and business.
Proper financial literacy helps you evaluate deals and make informed business choices.
Time block days and times for each business to focus your meetings and priorities.
I really believe in the power of people. The right relationships has the opportunity to change the course of your life. And so how do you show up in a way to bring value to the relationships that you find or the potential to have a lot of value in,
Raquel Quinet:
You are listening to Kaleo Kina, real estate entrepreneur and investor who continues to scale multiple companies year after year, all while being a husband and a father. In this episode, we break down the key to scaling multiple companies, the importance of leadership, the secret to all of his success. This episode is for anyone who has a big vision and wants to grow multiple companies year after year without going crazy. So the question is, how do entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and experts scale to create a massive business all while having fun and impacting lives? Welcome to the Raquel show. I'm your host, Raquel Quinette, business coach, real estate entrepreneur, investor, wife, and sports mom. This podcast will give you real quick tips, strategies, tools, and inspire you to help you play bigger in business and in life. Are you ready? Let's grow to the next level. Welcome to the Raquel Show. This show is for entrepreneurs who want to play bigger in business and in life. And today I have a very special guest who I met in a mastermind. His energy. stood out in a room full of investors and I connected with him because he was a team leader for an office and I was a team leader for several years and the role is probably one of the most challenging roles yet most rewarding. You're running a big mega team or you're the CEO of an office where you're responsible for recruiting, growing sales and keeping the office Profitable regardless of whatever the freak the market does, , right? Plus he had a mega team, and in a world of shiny objects and where owning different companies could be a sexy thing, very few people that I have met can actually operate multiple companies at one time. It takes discipline, skills, and special ingredients. that happens where it continues to grow. And my guest today is going to share all of that and what it takes to run multiple businesses and be an incredible husband and father. Welcome to the show. Kaleo Kina.
Kaleo Kina:
Wow. Thank you for having me. It's an honor and a privilege, Raquel. I'm super excited to just be invited on and bring as much value as I can. That, I pride myself on intros, but that was a really good 140.
Raquel Quinet:
Oh my gosh. It's Nothing but the truth. And I want to break it down. That's why I'm excited to have this conversation. And when I reached out to you, I was like, Oh my God, he'd be the perfect person for especially what's going on the market. But I want to break it down for our audience so that they have just context. You're an owner of a Keller Williams office. How many agents do you guys have in your office right now? 140, right? And you're also an owner of a real estate team, which is the number two team in the state of Virginia. And you guys intend to finish the year out this year with what? That's
Kaleo Kina:
The goal is 300 units. So right now we're at 1. 9 and closed GCI year date. And so we'll be over the 2 million GCI mark here shortly.
Raquel Quinet:
amazing and impressive, right? And I know that my audience and our audience is probably listening, going okay, like, how does he do it all? Plus you're an investor and has created multiple ancillary like services and businesses. I knew that this didn't happen all at once. So walk us through because I think when people see the Kaleos of the world, they're like, Oh, I could do that too. But I know that there was steps for you to get to where you're at today.
Kaleo Kina:
yeah, so I guess to start, I I didn't get in the industry until 2017. And so I was I was a Naval Academy grad and I served in the Navy as a Naval Warfare Officer for eight years. And so I transitioned out in 2017. That was my first foray into the real estate industry. At that point, I joined a local boutique brokerage down here in Hampton Roads, Virginia or Virginia Beach, Virginia. And so I started in sales as a producing agent. And so in 2018 and 2019, I grew my personal sales from 24 units to 45 in my third year, I closed 98 units, right? So 98 families served. And at that point, I was looking for more. And so towards the. The end of 2018 going into 2019, I was searching for opportunity and what that opportunity looked like wasn't more deals. It was more business education, understanding over, you know, different models and how to actually run a business and not just be a salesperson. And that's how I found myself with a local mentor at a Keller Williams brokerage. And so, I found my, I made my way over there and I started to grow a small team. And throughout that journey that mentor was trying to hire me as the team leader pretty much at all times. And I kept saying, no, I wanted to focus on my sales team. And then in 2020 October, I took the position at interim at the same time that I grew my, I was growing my sales team. I identified a business partner. Who's my current business partner today on the retail sales team, Megan Anderson. And so we joined forces and so we run COBA collective realty. I'm out here in Hampton Roads and we do over 200 units year over year. And this year we're on pace for 240. And so when I took over the brokerage and the team leader or CEO position, I simultaneously partnered with Megan on the retail sales team. I believe in the power of people. And so. You know, 1 plus 1 can't equal 2. 1 plus 1 has to equal 11. And what I found in her for that side, I think made sense. And then when I took over the brokerage, I brought over a partner. So he was my co team leader or co CEO from a different brokerage. And he's my best friend today. He currently runs the office as the team leader. And so then we went on that journey. So for 18 months, I simultaneously ran the brokerage and I ran our retail sales team. And so I grew the brokerage from 60 agents to 140, right? Roughly 130. We've grown some a little bit this year. And so during that time, that's what happened. And then October of last year, I bought half of the brokerage. And so now I am the owner, investor of the brokerage. I have my leadership team in place there. I still partner on the retail sales team. I'm in leadership in there. And then from some of the networking events we've been at, I've been on a huge wealth building and investment journey. So we did launch an investment arm wholesaling and flips last year in October. And so we've. Started to generate that arm of the business. So that has really kind of, I would say the last three years of my life, I've been living on a rocket ship, you know, and so it's been super exciting. And with that being said, before she. Beats me up because you know her, I've done all of this while doing my best to be the best husband and father I can be. And we have four kids under six. And so my wife and I have also been growing our family in conjunction with our businesses. And so it's been a heck of a ride. And it's been super awesome as we've transitioned and tried to manage, you know, the different markets that we've been in over the course of the last three years.
Raquel Quinet:
Oh my gosh. What an impressive like breakdown, by the way, I absolutely love cat. So, and I've seen you guys also grow your family. So that's been nice. Here's the thing is what's the secret? to managing it all. And I'm sure, I mean, that's not a long time to build all the things that you were able to build. It's really, really impressive. So what's the secret? How do you manage it all?
Kaleo Kina:
The secret is there's no secret, right? And so I think it's a, what I like to say is there's been three key ingredients to my success. And that's not, it's not scripted. You didn't ask me, we didn't plan this, right? But the three that I've always talked about are relationships, education, and then execution. And so I call it REE. But like the very first one is I really believe in the power of people. The right relationships has the opportunity to change the course of your life. And so how do you show up in a way to bring value to the relationships that you find or the potential to have a lot of value in, right? And so I guess my first relationship was the operating principal or the owner of the Keller Williams brokerage that I joined at first. He owned the brokerage and When I came over I asked him to mentor me. And so that was the first opportunity where he taught me business models, profit and loss statements basic financial fundamentals, where my background in the military, we got paid no matter what. I had insurance. I didn't really have to think about those things. And I actually consider myself a graduate of a pretty good school in the Naval Academy. And yet. What school teaches us and what life expects us to know, there's just a big gap. And I call that gap financial literacy. We learned how to make money in real estate, but I didn't know how to manage it. And so he was my first one where he was pouring into me. And I think that opportunity is when I decided to take the team leader position because he had poured so much into me. I wanted to give back, right? And so that helped because then I was on a fast track for business education. In that, I like to go to all the things. My first year with Keller Williams, that just happens to be the brokerage I'm at now. It's a lot of training and education. And that's where I met another relationship. His name is Daniel Dixon. I'm not sure if he's been on the show, but he's a mutual friend of ours. But we connected and he was running business at a much higher level. And so then he roped me into the room or the investor room that we're in. And in our relationship, I've been able to try to bring him value to his business. And in return the network of people and the education and resources in that room has just 10 X my opportunity to grow both personally and professionally. And then in both of my main businesses, the brokerage and the retail team, I have partners. And so Megan Anderson is my one partner in the retail sales. And Jordan Griggs is my team leader, the guy that partnered with me on the brokerage. And so I've really grown. Through and with people. And so when I say what's that, when, if you asked me, what was the secret sauce? Deep, meaningful relationships that, you know, we didn't just come together. You know, like I said in the beginning, one plus one doesn't equal two. We found that in relationship, one plus one equals 11. And we took advantage of that in these last three years.
Raquel Quinet:
Oh my gosh. I would definitely want to talk about people because I think people help us and I couldn't agree with you more when it comes to relationships. I think it's never the strategy that gets you far. It's always the relationship. When I look back at my journey, it's always been the relationships. But on the flip side of running multiple businesses and multiple companies, what's the unsexy part that people don't always talk about that you can share with our audience?
Kaleo Kina:
Just full transparency and like tracking and measuring your numbers. It is the most boring, most like time consuming, unflattering, unsexy, spreadsheet evaluating time that you have to put in. But, you know, those numbers tell a story and we can be delusional and we can lie to ourselves and make ourselves feel good about what we want it to say. But at the end of the day, evidence over emotion, if you really know what we like to call, you know, the lead measures, are they driving a result to generate the lag measures? Are those numbers what you're hitting? And do you have a baseline? And I think it's really. Surrounding yourself with the people that are going to be truthful to the business of what the business is telling you, because, I mean, unfortunately I ve been able to coach now in those roles, tons of businesses and tons of teams. And what you find is all that glitters isn't gold, right? There's confirmation bias, there's things that you'll highlight to make sure that we don't uncover the other thing, and so there's some self reflection on my personal business as I grew too, is like you have to be Fully committed and transparent to what the numbers are telling you. And you can't lie to yourself. It's easy to do, right? And so as entrepreneurs, you know, a lot of people get into it for freedom and flexibility. And what I say all the time is most times you sacrifice freedom and flexibility up front to try to generate what you thought is what you
Raquel Quinet:
Correct. Yep. Math is always the path.
Kaleo Kina:
and I'm an English major and I'm Hawaiian. So, you know, the math, mathing is hard for me. Absolutely.
Raquel Quinet:
ain't mathin something's up. Right? And so like sometimes I think when we start businesses, And for the entrepreneurs that are listening, you go all in and you kind of grow that business. And I'd love to know as you continue these businesses, they grow year after year. And besides the numbers, like what's your cadence for can you share an approach to how you actually have time to focus on these different relationships, different people that are running it? Like what's your actual like cadence or approach to scaling your businesses today?
Kaleo Kina:
You know, I think that, you know, in full transparency, nobody, I didn't have it perfect. And I still don't, I'm still discovering every single day. But I think that like time blocking is you know, it's one of those buzzwords that everybody says they use, but I'm actually time blocked for specific meetings in each of the businesses, right? And so in the brokerage, like Wednesdays and Fridays, right? Wednesday, the whole day, Friday mornings, I'm dedicated. To driving results with my leaders in that specific business and then Monday, Tuesdays and Thursdays on the retail and investment side I'm committed to driving results in those areas as well. And so. They're just a real cadence with your leadership team. And again, we come back to people. I have people
squadcaster-2dhh_1_10-03-2023_130102:
that
Kaleo Kina:
know their roles and responsibilities. And so we're having real conversation on a very regular basis on what it is. And I think oftentimes we try to get out of it by Oh, we'll do monthly, honestly, I'm having weekly meetings with all of my key direct reports, right? And we're having real conversation on, you know, the weekly, the monthly, the quarterly and the yearly results and what we're trying to do. And so they've given me the opportunity and freedom to go attend. You know, the education, the meetings, the bigger picture, and they always get excited when I come back. So we just came back from Arizona, which you were at an event. I did a whole download for my real estate team in terms of the opportunities for us to implement immediately. And then tomorrow I'm back at the brokerage and I'm going to do the same exact thing for that leadership group. And so it's really, you know, it's not spending the whole day. It's really being intentional and maximizing the hours you are spending on the business. And so, I guess. As entrepreneurs, we've all seen it. You've ever had a day, you spent the whole day in the office and you got nothing accomplished, and then there's that day where like you're super focused and it's only been an hour and you're like, I did everything today, like I just
Raquel Quinet:
usually the day before I leave.
Kaleo Kina:
Exactly. Right. And so, you know, it's one of those things that like, I try to be as focused and create an agenda and talking points for each of those meetings, but there's probably about six meetings a week between 30 minutes and an hour that are highly leveraged with my leaders.
Raquel Quinet:
So walk us through like a simple agenda of like how you're bringing results to the people besides like you giving them updates of where your education piece what does that agenda look like?
Kaleo Kina:
So I, so my, you're talking about what, like what I did today. Oh, cool. So I'm Hawaiian. I'm a simple man, right? And so I do not try to recreate. I believe I learned in the Navy that school was wrong. Like you go look at the best people and what they're doing. You try to do it. You duplicate it and personalize it as much as you can. And so one of the things when we're at those events, one of the items that Brett Tanner, a mentor of mine has taught us is there's like your top 10 takeaways. And then there's the five things that you can focus on or implement in the next 24 hours. And so what I actually do is I do it personally, but I also do it for each business, but I scale it down. So it's like, all right, what is three things that I can take back to each business and then what is one thing that I can have that can be of value to them? Tomorrow. And so, for example, when we went to this last one, we talked about property and agent avatars for running your investment profile. So that was the biggest takeaway from our investment side. It's are we so clear about our property avatars, whether it's a flip, wholesale, hotel? I can give you this right now, and you can fill it out and explain it to me, and we're on the same page, right? That was for them. For my retail sales team, it was actually wealth building. And so, We have a, we want to have impact, not just drive sales. And so is what Mark Durth talked about as state planning, but the core four, right? And so I brought back and I asked people to raise their hand, like who has a living will and trust and revocable trust, who has a durable power of attorney, the healthcare power of attorney, right? 90 percent of my people didn't have it. So I scheduled a zoom call with Mark Durth. Who I have on retainer to like now bring that to my people. And I'm probably going to do that same one for my leadership in the brokerage. Just because that can affect them personally, like we've been driving sales all year long now in the fourth quarter, I just want to have a real good value add, but that's what I did specifically for this last event.
Raquel Quinet:
Oh my God. So good. You know, you brought up, I mean, there was so many takeaways from that. That's why I love going to those things is because and the cool thing and we talked about this while we were out there is a lot of us are implementers where we go like they tell us one thing and we're like. in motion by the time we get out of there. You know, you talked a lot about relationships, and I'm a big believer in team talent, and I know you've done your fair share of recruiting, finding people. You've got some really great partners as you talk about them. What's something that you look for in people today when it comes to building together and partnerships?
Kaleo Kina:
It's kind of hard. To explain, right? Obviously you want to build trust, rapport. You want them to be dynamic. You want to find their strengths, but at the core of it I just really want to know, one, are they growth minded? You got to be growth minded. Otherwise we just can't operate. Like I'm here to have a good time, but you can hang with me and my kids on the weekends if you want to do that. But in terms of like, you got to want more, not just for the sake of wanting more, but have a reason why, like for me, my family didn't come from an affluent background. And so I have to be the light. To uncover all of the financial shortcomings we've had, but I don't want to just uncover them. I want to educate and put people on along the way. And so there has to be a big vision of growing. But honestly, I tell people all the time, like there has to be eventually like you got to believe that you can love and trust this person to like the 10th degree. So my business partner, Megan is a non spouse opposite sex partner. So male, female, we're non spouse, but we're both married. But like I told her like, Hey, We're going to business day and we business dated for 18 months, just FYI. So it's not like we just jumped in. We operated on the front end as a team. We operated on the back end with three different PNLs, my PNL, her PNL, and a forecasted PNL as if we were together. So that was a real business dating period. But I told her there has to come a point where if something happens to you, you got to trust that I'll go pick up your daughter from school. And that you can have, I can have you over. I'm just. At the core of who I am, like I want real deep, meaningful relationships. And so if I can't see that in you for me I got to know you have my best interests in mind and I, you, and you didn't believe that I have yours. And that takes real relationship building. And so our recruiting process for the team is multiple interviews long, right? My recruiting process for the brokerage is multiple. And then there's just a lot of it's like relationshiping or vibe check, right? So we have a process and then we have the vibe check. And so it's kind of hard to quantify some things you can't just speak about. You have to experience. And I believe we all have been that, whether it was with your significant other, where you're like, Oh, one day you will. I freaking love that woman. Right. And then sometimes it was your business. I'm like, man, that person would be really good to be in business with. And kind of you go through that. And so it's really real relationship. Like I just, I like to connect. And then I like to mastermind and I like to have conversation. I like to build off those conversations. You can kind of see how deep or, you know, how strong that relationship could be just from that. So Daniel Dixon is one of, one of those high drivers who like, I had to go through his operations person who happened to be his cousin or sister. And so through Dom and I built that relationship. And then once I got to Daniel, like we found that we did, but it's sometimes you got to put in real work to get to know people. Do you identify. People that you don't know yet, but maybe you want to go there. And so. I don't tell this people, to people a lot, but Daniel did a speaking engagement in Denver. I had to show, I showed up, but I
squadcaster-2dhh_1_10-03-2023_130102:
showed
Kaleo Kina:
up the day after he spoke. And so people knew that I wanted to meet him and I missed him. So then I got asked to speak in Charleston where he was going to be at. And initially I said, no, and the guy called me back. I still know his name today. Kyle called me back and was like, Hey, Daniel Dixon is going to be on the same panel. I know you really wanted to see him. So I talked to my wife and literally the next day I said, all right, I'm going to go up for 24 hours because I believed that that relationship could potentially change my life. And it has, right? And so it's like, what are you willing to do to put yourself in those rooms or the value you're going to add to try to get there? To, cause. Talent's everywhere. People's everywhere. The strongest relationships are going to win. He's still a close friend with me today.
Raquel Quinet:
Yep. Oh my gosh. So much gold in what you said and you articulated it so well. So my question to you is how do you find those like talent? How do you track those talents even beyond like just putting yourself in those rooms, because I know. Like for a lot of us, like you have that because you've had that experience, but someone that's listening is like, okay, I do want to build a team later on, or I do want to build a company later on. How would I find my Daniel? Or how would I find my Megan? Like, how do you, how would you explain that to them? How do you recruit?
Kaleo Kina:
So recruiting for high talent like that, like in terms of partnership and ownership is different than I think recruiting for the market center to have an agent, like there's different levels of the recruiting. But at the end of the day, there's, I forget the book, but it's like, A talent attracts B talent, B talent attracts C talent, C talent attracts D talent. So in who not how, to me, the first who starts with you. Who are you to attract somebody in your world so talented that they'd want to be in? So, like, how are you improving yourself to the level that if you're A talent, you attract B talent or equal talent, you know? And so a lot of it is like, what rooms are you putting yourself in? That's first. But then. I believe in teaching because then you have to master material. You know, what you teach you master. And so by putting yourself out there in terms of training and education, don't just attend it. Find something that you think is valuable in the market today and then you begin to be the teacher for it. When people view you as the subject matter expert you then start to attract opportunities to get into different relationships that you may see valuable down the road. And so one of the key things is me attending different training, education events to identify who I can potentially be in a room with. And then the other one is like trying to get on the other side of that, right? Master a subject so that you can be the trainer and educator so that you can attract people to you as well.
Raquel Quinet:
So good. You know, let's talk about team dynamics for a little bit because you, like you said, you have different business meetings, different things that you're trying to push every single week. When it comes to managing multiple business, what are the steps that you or advice that you would give to foster like a great environment, good communication and a collaborative environment in today's world?
Kaleo Kina:
Yeah. So I, I say this all the time in some of my coaching sessions is like, most of the time what you find is people start teams when they need help, right? I've grown so busy, busy, or I want to convert at a higher ed. Like they need help where I don't have time to show these homes and I wanna start putting people in position. But often what you see is People shouldn't start teams until they can be of help, right? Until you can help others. And when you come from that position, your environment is significantly different. Because what you're not doing for me, I'm doing for you because I have it. And then we talk about the boring stuff. I think people jump in to trying to have leverage way sooner than they've earned the opportunity to, right? So you're trying to do something that you're trying to leverage something you don't like to do. And yet you haven't mastered the skill enough. To be able to bring somebody in to then teach them how to do it at the highest level. And so it's kind of like. You know, the house of cards, you're building it on a false deck. You haven't mastered anything. And so I think that we, we take the next jump too soon. I do believe there's a certain production or financial metric. You need to understand when you're bringing somebody in your world, what does that financial picture look like? At the floor level. And so, you know, for my team, when we bring on an agent, we have a partner agent role that at a very minimum is going to make 40 to 50 K because I'm partnering them with the top agent. And there's enough meat on the bone that I know in a worst case scenario, they'll make 40 K. I can live with that worst case scenario. I've seen worst case scenarios even from close friends and I'm like, hey, worst case scenario, that showing assistant is going to make 4, 000 this year. Is that the kind of leader you want to be? That people in your organization, that their income that year was 4, 000? Now that's for you to say yes or no to, but you got to really be tied to your people. And so really understanding the economic models. on when is the right time or when are you generating enough money to take a risk to bring people in your world? And then how much of that money are you willing to give up in order to get, you know, time back or whatever it is you're trying to live? Because I think there's a balance. Somebody once told me this, it was like, you can be the producer, you can make a million dollars and get home at midnight, or you can make 500, 000 and be home by five. Which one are you going to choose? And so, shit, with four kids underneath six I'll be home by five. We can figure out, you can have the other half because there's more to life for me today, but six years ago, shoot, midnight all day long. No kids, like I would have ran it. So I think that there's stages or seasons of life that you go through that are significantly different and that's okay, but you have to always be evaluating, I think three things. It's income, it's work life integration, like what are you willing to give up for the income that you want, and then it's fulfillment in the work that you do, right? And so, every opportunity comes with those three things, like how much money can I make? It's a real thing even if it's not the only thing, right? What is my work life balance? If that is of significant value, my boy or my new agent that is 24 with no fiancé at home is ready to drive he doesn't care, he wants to work all the time, but... My top agent who's a mother of four that's been married for eight years and whose husband is retiring, like she probably, you know, values that differently. And then it's really fulfillment in the work that you do, you know, what did they say? Do something you love and you'll never work again a day in your life. I've been able to position myself in those businesses and things that fulfill me. I like coaching and training. I like doing team meetings and one on one. So like for those businesses, I still do those things, but I get fulfillment from that and I can bring value to the companies in that regard. Whether it's agent relationships, vendor relationships, and then like really running it on the back end. So I think it's a culmination of things.
Raquel Quinet:
You spoke about leadership, and I would ask you and you've been in a lot of like leadership roles. How important is leadership and communication today?
Kaleo Kina:
I think communication is the main thing. You should be studying. You should be practicing on your communication skills in presentation and in general communication, right? Fierce Conversations is a, is an amazing book. We just had an amazing speaker. I believe his name is Mike
Raquel Quinet:
Michael Bernoff,
Kaleo Kina:
Oh my God.
Raquel Quinet:
Stuff. Yeah. How
Kaleo Kina:
so understanding language and how it's used, the power of words is a real thing. And so how you present, how people perceive you. And so, yeah, communication to me is the thing. If you want go figure out how to communicate at a higher level. And that's why I think teaching is another one. Put yourself in those teeth. It forces you to speak and to orate and to communicate at a higher level. So communication is I think a key tenet to trying to maneuver the successful.
Raquel Quinet:
has communication changed over the years now that more and more people in your meetings are on Zoom?
Kaleo Kina:
Hmm. That's interesting. So I'm not a,
Raquel Quinet:
is your relationship person, right? And
Kaleo Kina:
Oh, it's funny. I showed you my, if I ever showed you my calendar invites for my one on one meetings, it says, In order of priority, in person. In Zoom, call, no go, reschedule. I would not I do believe that the energy in person, the subtle tales, the body language, plays a huge role in understanding. So, will I do Zoom meetings? I will. Will I do a call? I will if it's somebody I trust and I've been in business with for a long time. But in most cases... Any big decision, hiring, firing, big decisions. Those are in person meetings for me, even if I have to wait a week or something like that, I'm big on you have to see the person, you have to feel the energy, understand the discussion. And so Zoom, I think allowed business to kind of operate a little bit more efficiently, if that's what you want to call it, or more flexibility in moving things forward. But even in that for our agents, being at the closing table, like we went from being at every single closing to not being at any at all, you know, like doing virtual showings, conducting buyer and seller's consults via, you know, having community, like it's just the game has changed, but you have to adapt. That is a norm of today, but in terms of my leadership, I can control that. So I do pull those in house, but I mean, we communicate now access to information and connecting with somebody like you in Arizona, it's been an amazing opportunity. So it's really just making sure you capitalize on the right parts of it.
Raquel Quinet:
Yeah, so good. I think it's just so important as like the world shifts and adjusts like how important leadership is, how important communication is, whether it's in person or on zoom. And you know, you've got a lot of experience. I know that I could talk to you for days on end when it comes to team building, when it comes to recruiting, when it comes to building lots of businesses, when it comes to partnership. What's the one lesson that you would have wished? you learned sooner.
Kaleo Kina:
Honestly, it's not the sexy part. It's just, I would say business financial fundamentals. And so I think that if you understand cost of sales, if you understand expense ratios, if you understand gross revenue versus net revenue, like the faster you can have an understanding of the. what some would consider the basic fundamentals of reading financials and P& Ls. Like it just provides, puts you in such a more educated position to make decisions. And so I think like people speak to you on the level that you're at. So when you understand those things, the level of conversation raises a little bit because now we're not just talking about, you know, the things that can motivate you or that sound good, because this is the truth. Like when I was buying the brokerage, right? Five years ago, being a 2 percent owner and investor in our brokerage would have been over the moon, just for understanding my brokerage nets. I mean, brokerage profit margins aren't that great, right? But my brokerage nets about 200k, like on average, the last five years, 2 percent is 4, 000.
Raquel Quinet:
Mm hmm.
Kaleo Kina:
That would have been like, oh man. And then as I got better understanding, I'm like, just owning 2 percent wouldn't do it for me. I need to own half. For it to be worth my while, but now I can have different conversations because when you don't know I would have just settled into that 2 percent and been stuck there. And if I didn't have good people that really cared about me and wanted me, like you see it happen all the time, people, a hundred percent brokerages. If you don't do the math yes, if you're doing 30 deals or less, a hundred percent brokerage can be a great place to be as long as you're self motivated training education. But if I'm a 200 unit producer and it's a hundred percent brokerage and you're charging me 500 transaction fee, I mean, we're talking about a hundred K and so We can get into models, but once you learn the math, like you're able to make better decisions. Cause I think before then you're just relying on other people's interpretation of information and not your own. And that's a very dangerous place to be because you're putting your life in someone else's hands just because you didn't understand it.
Raquel Quinet:
Mm. I think the way you said it was, it was really good, right? Because when you do understand the math, you, and especially finance, you understand what's possible too, You find even like different ways of looking at models and you go into a higher level. conversation. It's like you said, it's not about who's motivated, who's not motivated. And you also will find your people in who you actually could do business and have create better partnerships with later on. If they understand math, it's a lot easier when they understand math.
Kaleo Kina:
I mean, it's
Raquel Quinet:
You don't have a spender that wants to spend everything, right?
Kaleo Kina:
or you just understand why they're spending or what they're spending. It's just a different conversation. It's not a sexy answer, but it's just once you're able to understand that business fundamentals and math, are you just able to make better decisions?
Raquel Quinet:
Yeah. You have a lot going on. So what's next for Kaleo? What are you most excited On?
Kaleo Kina:
I think we're in that space. Like you had mentioned, like. I'm uncovering all the things that are possible, and I'm being surrounded by people that are showing me a proof of concept. I'm not a crazy visionary. I think I have visionary traits but I'm also a step by step person. Okay, you want to go to the moon? Well, we don't even have a rocket ship yet. Like, where do we get gas? I'm that guy. What are we going to do
Raquel Quinet:
I would have never guessed.
Kaleo Kina:
I'm not there, right? Where now it's kind of like... People I know like and trust are doing big things and they're showing me that it's possible. And I think that's the key. Once you show me it's possible, I want to do it, right? And so there's so many things like in my local vicinity, they want me to become an operating principal of a market center, but it has the opportunity where there's two spaces where we can launch new brokerages or business centers. That's a huge opportunity, not just for me, because. Remember I said the profit margins aren't there, but it's for leadership opportunity for people I know, like and trust in my world that can have bigger opportunity for their lives, which by then in nature to me is an incubation of talent. Now, I have more access to talent at a higher level when it comes to the retail sales team. We're going big, right? I want to continue to grow locally to maximize market share. And then we've looked at some small opportunities for expansion. And then on the investment side, we went all in. So we've invested. You know, X amount to our key operations leader and we've given them the green light to run the play at the highest level. And so there's a couple moving parts that we're super excited about. And hopefully I'll have great results to talk about next year.
Raquel Quinet:
I don't doubt that. Where can people connect with you?
Kaleo Kina:
I'm fairly present on Instagram. Kaleokena, K A L E O K I N A at Kaleokena is on IG. That's also my Facebook. My real estate company is Cova Collective Realty. We do have a YouTube channel. My kids have a YouTube channel called the Kina kids, right? So you can find that. That is also a great tax strategy. And so mainly that, and, you know, my, my email is agent K. Realty. com and please DM me text me, my number's all over the internet. You can find me at pretty easily, but I love to connect with the right people that are looking to do big things. And so I'm always looking forward to that opportunity.
Raquel Quinet:
I love it. And we'll put it all in the show notes and as we wrap up, there's always one question that I ask every single guest on this show is what does Kaleo do to play bigger in business or in life?
Kaleo Kina:
What can I do to play bigger in business or in life?
Raquel Quinet:
Yeah. What do you do to play bigger in business or in life?
Kaleo Kina:
What do I do? Easy. Surround myself with people doing it bigger than me. And so that is quite simply relationships, people. We've discussed that the whole time. So not to be redundant, but you know, even you, I mean, you have a great track record for success and all the things you do. It's not a, you asked me to be on this. I'm here. What do you need? It's that important to me that I show up for you in that way so that you can be like him. I wonder what else he's got going on. Cause our connection could lead to the next great opportunity. And so, you know, find the people and then bring value to them as much as you can. And so that's what I do.
Raquel Quinet:
Amazing. Well, my friend, I am so glad that you came on our show. I want to thank you for your time. I appreciate you like no other. And I am so glad that I met you through that mastermind because I know we will continue to keep playing bigger and I will keep supporting you, my friend.
Kaleo Kina:
Awesome. Thank you so much for your time.
Raquel Quinet:
Thank you. Thank you for listening to this episode and hanging out with me today. If you're loving the Raquel show and you've gotten value from it for your business, For your life. Please don't forget to hit the follow button. So you never miss an episode. I'd love to connect with you further. So text me at www. textraquel. com and send me a message. You'll be added to our VIP list for updates and special events. We're hosting for our community. I look forward to hanging out with you on the next episode.
