Matt Teifke with Teifke Real Estate

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity radio.

Stone Payton: [00:00:15] Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon and you guys are in for such a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Teifke Real Estate. The man himself, Mr. Matt Teifke. How are you, man?

Matt Teifke: [00:00:38] I’m doing great, man. I really appreciate you having me on. I’m excited and here to be of value and add as much value as I possibly can.

Stone Payton: [00:00:46] And you know, I believe every word of that. You and I had a chance to visit briefly a few weeks ago. I could hear it in your voice. The passion and a sincere commitment to genuinely serving, serving first, serving early, serving often. And I can’t think our mutual friend Josh Carnes enough for for getting us connected. And because of that, I have so been looking forward to doing this interview. I got a thousand questions. Matt. We’re not going to get to them all. But but maybe a good place to start. How would you articulate mission purpose? What are you and your team really, really out there trying to do for folks?

Matt Teifke: [00:01:23] Yeah, I love it. Great question. Start with the core values and the core focus and then I’ll give you the the dream and the vision that we are trying to accomplish. So core values as a company, we believe, number one, that there’s opportunities for everybody, no matter your race, your gender, anything. There’s an opportunity at TRE in real estate for you. We believe that everybody works with us and not for us. So we’re a team and we’re in the trenches with you to figure out how to grow together. And then lastly, we believe in having a no fear attitude and just jumping in headfirst and taking on challenges and the core focus as a business, we say in and on make money in and on real estate in as far as commissions, wholesaling management on as far as owning properties, flipping on, building generational wealth. And so the vision and the dream is for tree to be the brokerage where you come to get more out of real estate for yourself and to do that with others. And we say, Hey, come build your brand, build your team, be a real estate professional, utilize your license as one tool, but look for opportunities constantly. And I just believe that you have to be owning properties. And I think there’s a niche of people that get their license, that want to focus on the investing side, and then they really don’t find anybody who supports them to be an agent and an investor at the same time.

Matt Teifke: [00:02:59] And so all we want to do is help people create the life that they want with real estate for everybody. That’s something a little different. Some people only want to do leasing or they only want to do retail or traditional real estate. And so we say, Come here. Recognize that it’s your own small business at the end of the day, but have a built in partner that really cares and wants to help you get wherever you want to go. And I want to be able to go around the room and talk to 100 different people and say, Hey, are you getting what you need? Are you on fire? Yes. Are you? Yes. Next person, Are you? Yes. And those two be completely different paths or aspects of the business that they’re focusing on. And so come build what you want at TRE and let’s grow together. We currently have 180 agents that are with us. Wow. We do property management, we’ve got a fund, we have construction company and all different ways to add value. So we say come and drum up conversations. Talk to everybody and then let’s figure out ways that we can grow together.

Stone Payton: [00:04:08] So I got to know, man, what is the back story? How in the world did you get into this line of work?

Matt Teifke: [00:04:16] Yeah, great question. So my mom moved to Austin when I was two years old. I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and she came here single mom with my brother and myself growing up. She raised us and she started cleaning houses when she got here. And over a 13, 14, 15 year time period, she would buy one or two properties a year. She would save up every dollar she could. She’d buy property. Eventually she got out of cleaning houses and she was working at a family business. And my uncle started doing sales for striping and paving for concrete company and asphalt. And she then she was able to buy three or four a year because she was making a better salary. And so I was very blessed to see how can somebody acquire assets and what does it look like to acquire assets? And by the time I was 20 years old, I think she had 17 properties and by no means was she raking in the money and making tons of money every month. But she was building something for the long run. And so I got to see what does it mean to own these properties? It doesn’t mean that you’re ready to retire. It means that you’ve got to prepare and manage these and have a good plan. And then also, what does it take to buy these properties? And it’s just a significant amount of sacrifice. There’s definitely a high level of risk involved, and I was very blessed to see her do that. And so 18 years old, I got my real estate license and went all in with the goal of Let me learn how to help other people buy and then let me go and buy my own properties over time.

Stone Payton: [00:05:53] Well, shout out to mom. That is a fantastic story. So this has got to be mine. I can hear it in your voice. It must be incredibly rewarding work. What are you enjoying the most about it now?

Matt Teifke: [00:06:10] I love the ability to make new relationships and help people break out of barriers that they thought existed and to do that with them. And I get to have them teach me as well. So I just constantly get to talk to people, see them grow, grow with them, take on challenges, take on risk. I get to build with people that I love and trust, and we have an amazing team in place, people that I’ve known my entire life. And there’s an energy that people really understand and they realize, like these guys truly are here to help support me. Nobody’s ever waiting on us. We almost overly check in, Hey, you’re good. You need anything? How can we help? Yes, Matt, I told you I was good yesterday, but we ere on. Hey, we care. And if you want to get more, we’re here. I’ll meet you here 7 a.m.. I’ve got a fire in my eyes and a deep drive that came from my mom. Subconsciously, you know, seeing a single mom raise two boys and hustle. It’s like I don’t know any other way. Almost to a fault where I got to, like, slow down sometimes and find some balance, which I’m. I’m in the process of learning that in a big way right now, but just very motivated to grow with people and to do things different. And I have a businessman and I study other brokerages. I read their financials, I see how they’re operating. And I’m constantly with my partner, Alex, thinking, what can we do to be better every day? What can we be doing that nobody else is doing? Whether that be the way we approach our social media or the way we buy real estate with agents that are partners with us. And I just feel blessed, man. You know, I don’t think everybody is clear on exactly what they want to do with their life and business life and a lot of ways. And I don’t have that question. And so all I got to do is wake up and start getting after it, which nobody has to tell me to do that. I really enjoy it.

Stone Payton: [00:08:02] And it’s also. Professor Matt. Yes, that’s another way that you express your talent and purpose and passion, isn’t it?

Matt Teifke: [00:08:11] Hey, man, I’m teaching tonight at 6:00 at Austin Community College. I teach real estate, math and also law of contracts. And that’s just something that I really enjoy. I my focus is to support and build the people on the team. And, you know, that might be helping them write a contract. Although we have somebody that’s full time for that, or it might be helping motivate them or going to a listing or meeting an investor. And I grew up playing baseball and I’ve realized I was a catcher, right? I was the guy behind the plate in some sense, kind of the heartbeat of the team, you know, not I didn’t need to have all the fame or the glory, but I was I was a workhorse and I was a grinder. And I look at what we’re doing and I’m like, Guys, I’m the catcher here. Like, I don’t I might not have all the answers, but I’ll do anything to support you. And when the is at the plate, I’m not going to drop the ball so you can count on me for that and just solely focused on me supporting. And then we have other people that have different roles. And back to the with, not for even the people that are full time employees, they don’t feel like they work for us. They just feel like they work with us. Which it’s almost like a pet peeve now when I hear people say, you know, I’ve got 100 people that are my agents or that they work for me, and other people can say or operate however they want, but it makes me cringe to think these are they’re not my agents, right? They don’t work for me. And so it’s a deep meaning on Come build what you want, and we’re here to support you and we’re going to grow together.

Stone Payton: [00:09:48] Now, there is a unique way that you utilize the word entrepreneurial. Speak to that for a moment, if you would.

Matt Teifke: [00:09:57] Well, it’s at the core is to be an entrepreneur. I mean, that’s why people want to get into real estate, I feel like, and a lot of them get put down these certain paths and they forget why they got into it. And I was always kind of drawing out our logo and being a little artistic on how we want to design things. And then the tree right in the middle of Entrepreneur just popped out and it just looked so perfect. So let’s entrepreneur capitalize the tree right in the middle of it and it means something. We got it trademarked, you know, we own that and come be an entrepreneur and represent clients. Absolutely. But also represent yourself and create properties that you’re going to pass on to your kids and your grandkids. And think of a 100 year business type mindset where this company is still around and not just, hey, how do we go make as much money as we can right now?

Stone Payton: [00:10:51] So was it a catalytic moment or more of an evolution that made you such a huge believer in the power of connecting and and adding value?

Matt Teifke: [00:11:05] Over time. I mean, it started when I was a commercial broker right out of college. I got my master’s degree in real estate and went and worked for a company called Edge. And my my boss would say, go get the information on these five properties, and nobody would call me back. These commercial brokers are notorious. They’re not going to call you back. And so I started to reach out in other ways because I could never go to my boss and say they didn’t answer. I don’t have. They’re like, Well, what do you mean they didn’t answer? Did you? Did you call them ten times? Did you text them? Do you show up at their office? So I started buying people coffees and then I enjoyed it. I enjoyed talking to people, I enjoyed hearing things and getting these puzzle pieces and learning how the different aspects of the business worked. And I was I went all in. I mean, I was having 4 to 6 coffees or lunches scattered throughout every day, like six meetings, 4 to 6 a day. And I would get their number. I would I would say, how can I help you? I would say, give me a challenge.

Matt Teifke: [00:12:11] One guy was trying to buy a landscaping business. I slid everything off the desk and for the next two days, tried to help him buy a landscaping landscaping company. And I just realized if you help people and you support people, not only do you get this amazing fulfillment and you do something good, you also will almost always see that come back around. It might not be today, tomorrow it could be in 20 years, but it means something. And I try very hard to be a person who’s not going to be a fly by night, who’s still going to be here, who you can count on. And those are principles that nowadays it seems like everyone’s just on to the next. And so we really think about things in a very long term mindset and you only have to see it work out a couple of times to realize that it’s extremely powerful to build relationships. And as many people that you can have in your foxhole that have your back and vice versa and you can treat them and lead with integrity, then everything becomes possible.

Stone Payton: [00:13:12] So how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for an organization like yours that is so focused on bringing on and providing opportunity for other agents? And do you have to have some discipline, some rigor, some structure to your marketing, or how do you approach that?

Matt Teifke: [00:13:34] Well, we run our entire business on an operating system called Traction, where everybody has KPIs daily. They have quarterly goals that they set for themselves and they go accomplish. But we’re every day, every platform, multiple videos, got a full staff, three full time people commenting, recording, editing, drumming up new opportunities. We teach this month. Right now, we have a class every single day for the agents that work with us. And so you can tap into it as much as you want. You don’t have to show up. You’re not required to. All we really ask from people. It’s to treat other people the way we try to treat you. Meaning? I have a new agent, and she. She just joined with us and she said, I’m trying to find investors. Well, I gave her my phone book and I said, Type in the word investor. Here you go. There’s literally 600 names. And I said, Take every number you want. You know, they might not remember me. Maybe they do, but call them. And that’s just a matter of time until an opportunity arises. So it’s not a structured path where you have to do this, but it’s there when you need it.

Matt Teifke: [00:14:42] You’re never going to be waiting on us and just get the lines in the water. I’ve still I don’t brag about this. It’s just, I think, a very interesting thing. I’ve never met anybody who had even close to as many contacts as I have in my phone. I store everybody I talk to. I store their number or store their information, and I scroll to the bottom of my phone and there’s 8649 contacts. Wow. And I talk to people and I’m like, Do you have a lot? And they’re like, Yeah, I got a ton. And people that think they have a ton will have like 2000 or 3000. The only one that’s ever come close, ironically, is my mom and she’s got around six, 6000. And so it’s just fascinating that there’s a differentiator there that has really led to a big database and there’s no secrets to what we’re doing. You know, it’s marketing, sharing the vision, but then executing when those leads or opportunities come our way.

Stone Payton: [00:15:41] So what’s on the horizon, I’ll call it near term, you know, maybe 6 to 18 months. Are you looking for for new partners you want to open try in new markets? What’s on the what’s on the project plan these days?

Matt Teifke: [00:15:55] Yeah, that’s the dream. We want to build this out all over the world, but we don’t want to go and say, hey, we’re tra we’re here in New York. Who wants to come work with us? We want to find the local partner first. You know, there’s limited time in this life, and we don’t want to just say, let’s go open up in all 50 states. But we would if we found 50 people that we really felt were aligned and knew who we were. So it’s a Trammell Crow old school real estate mentality of let’s get aligned with somebody that’s really entrenched in that market, that’s a student of the game that wants to build and let’s build together. So we’re constantly looking for people that like the vision. They get it, they understand it, they’re motivated, they’re driven, they’re value add, they’re long term, they’re students of the game. And then how do we go team up and build out a new market together?

Stone Payton: [00:16:48] I just love your energy and I know our listeners do as well. And in the same breath, you know, I also know that you’re that you’re human. So I’m curious when the batteries do start to run a little bit low, where do you go? And I don’t necessarily mean a physical place, but where do you go for for inspiration to recharge those batteries?

Matt Teifke: [00:17:13] Yeah, I mean, just I’m big into nature. I have a very strong faith in God. Did a Bible study this morning. You know, brothers and cry sisters and Christ is a huge component for me. I got two young boys, four and two have tons of fun with them. Married with an amazing, beautiful wife that supports me. But there’s a lot of people here at at Terry that handle different roles. And so, like this morning I woke up and I went on a run. I did a Bible study, I walked around the park, did some phone calls, I had one meeting, and now I’m doing this and then I’m done for the day. And so for a long time and this is my my new realization is like, I don’t have to constantly be here and show people that I’m here. They know that I’m here. I’ve proven that to them, and I’ll continue to do that. But almost I can do less and do more. I don’t have to be at the office. I could be at the park and run across people or just find inspiration and creativity. Like sometimes ideas just kind of hit me and I’ll just come up with 50 ideas, you know, every 30 days or so. And I pass them on to Alex, my partner, and maybe he likes three of them, or he says, Hey, we’re already working on some of those. But I’m I am really in the visionary role, and so I’m not required to do much. I don’t have to hold down certain roles of the company. I’m very blessed to have people that hold down different aspects, which allows me to be more creative and plug in where and how I want to on a daily basis.

Stone Payton: [00:18:48] So before we wrap, I would love to leave our listeners with a couple of actionable items. I’ll call them Pro Tips. And rather than about real estate, I think I’d like to get a couple of protests from you on on building culture, building an organization like the one you’ve you’ve described. Just a couple things we should be reading or thinking about or doing or not doing Anything you could offer on that front, I think would be incredibly valuable, man.

Matt Teifke: [00:19:18] Yeah, absolutely. I would say number one is just get to a point where you truly believe in what you’re doing and you love it and just lead by example. Show people that you’re doing this, that there’s no secrets. Be vulnerable. Show people that you’re not perfect. I’m not sitting in a glass tower telling you what to do. I’m in the trenches with you and to show people through, checking on them and having a little bit more of a conversation of, you know, they got a quick question When they call us like, hey, everything else good? You need anything that means something. And treating people with respect. I think that if people focus a little bit more on the long run and think about ten, 20 years down the line, although we have challenges today, still constantly build for that long run approach and get yourself around people that have positive energy and that will be in your foxhole and support you no matter what. So just constantly leading by example, create the life that you want. Daily life short. So I don’t think we have to just constantly be running a sprint, although you do, in my opinion, which I think a lot of people fail at, is treat this like a job for 2 to 3 hours a day.

Matt Teifke: [00:20:36] Force yourself to do things rather than just going with the flow all the time. Go with the flow most of the time, but for 2 to 3 hours, do something that is going to build your business that you can build upon. And then also I always think, how can I be different? How can I do things that nobody else is doing? And what can I do that nobody else can? Like for us, for example, we’ve got a full marketing team, so maybe our videos have a different component that most people can’t because they don’t have three people sitting there where you have a drone shot, you know, camera shot and another angle. So like do things that have a little bit of a spin that’s different and unique and just, you know, like I started with whatever that is that you really dream of or you’re clear on, then it just becomes fun and, you know, no one has to ask you to do it.

Stone Payton: [00:21:27] I am so glad that I asked what marvelous counsel. I want to make sure that if someone would like to have a more substantive conversation with you or someone on the team or tap into some of your work, I want to leave them with some coordinates. An easy way to get connected with you guys and and tap into your work. So whatever you feel like is appropriate Website, email, LinkedIn. Let’s make sure that they can do that.

Matt Teifke: [00:21:54] I’m the easiest guy, man. Cell phone number 51291448065129144806. Matt Typekit gmail.com type real estate dot com. We’re on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tik tok. We’re so easy to get a hold of and we want to be a resource. We want people to reach out, we want to support them and we do truly want to grow together. Hear your voice is heard like you got an opinion. Let us know. We’ll implement it.

Stone Payton: [00:22:28] Well, Matt, it has been an absolute delight having you on this show. Man, Thank you for investing the time and energy to share your perspective. And it’s a it’s been informative. It’s been inspiring. I have thoroughly enjoyed the conversation. You’re. You’re doing great work, man. Keep it up and know that We sincerely appreciate you, man.

Matt Teifke: [00:22:48] Thank you, sir. I really appreciate you as well. Thank you for having me on. And yeah, thanks for doing this show.

Stone Payton: [00:22:53] My pleasure. All right. Until next time, this is Stone Payton for our guest today, Matt Typekit with Tyvek Real Estate. And everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.