Keller Williams Realty OUTFRONT Magazine

VOL. 15.2 2018
Turning
professional
failure into
tremendous
success

JOHNDAVIS
President & CEO
At its heart, Keller Williams is a company of
growth – growth of our people’s businesses,
mindset and abundance. The journey of
personal and professional growth is not always
clear-cut – hurdles may pop up and, yes, we
may stumble or even fail. We grow by learning
from those who have gone before and from the
obstacles we encounter along the way. Success
doesn’t mean never failing – it means picking
yourself back up after a failure and soldiering
on with a new perspective and just as much
energy and enthusiasm as before.
Within every failure and challenge lies
opportunity. When, shortly after Gary Keller
co-founded Keller Williams, 10 of our top
agents packed up and left to join a competing
brokerage, Gary convened the first Associate
Leadership Council (ALC) and reinvented the
company. In 2011, after going backward in
agent count and profitability, we launched the
Growth Initiative and started down a historic
path to unprecedented prosperity for our
people. And now, recognizing that technology
is rewriting the rules of our industry, Keller
Williams formed Labs to ideate, test and
develop the next generation of real estate
technology, side by side with our agents.
In this issue, we highlight failures together with
subsequent successes. You will meet agents
who have leveraged setbacks – both personal
and professional – to drive them to all new
heights. And, you’ll find practical turnaround
strategies to power through any obstacle
toward the big business – and big life – you’ve
always imagined.
FROM THE
DESK OF
JOHN DAVIS

VOL. 15.2 2018
Look for associates accelerating their success with KW MAPS Coaching.
KW MAPS Mastery
Coaching Client
BOLD Graduate
308
264
36
12
40
16
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43
JENNIE WOLEK: YOU ONLY FAIL
WHEN YOU QUIT
Jennie Wolek knows the pains of poor hiring and
the rewards of rebounds. Through BOLD, she
rediscovers her passion for selling real estate and
builds an expansive referral network.
RYAN AND HEATHER BIGGER: USE
YOUR PAST AS MOTIVATION
A leap of faith into a career in real estate takes
Ryan and Heather Bigger from food stamps to six
figures in just 18 months.
TOM FRANCIS: TWIST, TURN AND
BUILD THE CAREER YOU LOVE
Instead of being sidetracked by industry changes,
Tom Francis harnesses twists and turns as
chances to build a business that supports his fam-
ily of 10 and BIG life!
HI BOSS, WELCOME TO THE
KELLER CLOUD
With 170,000-plus agents as technology partners
and the powelful data of the Keller Cloud, Keller
Williams is moving at record speed to respond to
the evolving needs of agents and their consumers.
SHANNON SELIG: CHANGING LIVES
THROUGH MY VOICE
Unwilling to compromise her morals, Shannon
Selig, a team leader in Portland, Maine, puts her
music career on hold to find her true voice – train-
ing others to be successful at Keller Williams.
VIJA WILLIAMS: A BIG LIFE RE-
QUIRES BIG FAILURES
Vija Williams lost $10 million worth of listings in a
matter of moments – and most of her team within
a few months. Looking back, it was the best thing
that could have happened to her.
HEAD-TURNERS
Meet hundreds of the industry’s top producers
who are now proud to call KW home.
PUERTO RICO SE LEVANTA
(RISE UP)
KW Puerto Rico embraces their country’s rally cry,
Puerto Rico se Levanta, to become the number
one real estate company just months after Hur-
ricane Maria.
KW RESEARCH: WHY ARE THEY
RENTING?
Learn about homeownership desires and hesita-
tions among U.S. renters and how you can help
bridge the gap.
NUMBERS
Congratulations to our top performers of Q1 2018!

FAIL
OFTEN.
FAIL
FAST.
FAIL
FORWARD.

ONE OF THE SECRETS TO GREAT SUCCESS IS TO CHANGE
YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON FAILURE. YOU SEE, EVERYONE
EXPERIENCES FAILURES BEFORE THEY ULTIMATELY SUCCEED.
SOME LET THEIR FAILURES STOP THEM. SOME KEEP
TRYING. IT MAY SOUND LIKE DOUBLE TALK, BUT FAILURE IS
PROGRESS. AT THE VERY LEAST, IN ATTEMPTING TO ACHIEVE
A DREAM AND FAILING, YOU’VE LEARNED TO ELIMINATE THAT
APPROACH THE NEXT TIME YOU TRY. USE YOUR FAILURES
AS STEPPINGSTONES. THE NEXT TIME YOU TRY SOMETHING,
BEAR IN MIND THAT HISTORY HAS MADE IT VERY CLEAR
THAT YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE TO FAIL A FEW TIMES
BEFORE YOU GET IT RIGHT. TOO MANY PEOPLE LIVE THEIR
LIVES UNDER THE MISTAKEN ASSUMPTION THAT SUCCESS
IS A MATTER OF AVOIDING FAILURE. THE PROBLEM WITH
THAT APPROACH TO LIVING IS THAT WHEN YOU ACTIVELY
AVOID FAILURE, YOU TEND TO AVOID CHALLENGES AS WELL.
SUCCESS IS NOT ABOUT AVOIDING FAILURE. FAILURE IS
ABOUT AVOIDING FAILURE. SUCCESS IS ABOUT TRYING.
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent

4 VOL.15.2 2018
Jennie Wolek of the
Keller Williams Realty
Advantage (Okla.)
market center knows
the pains of failure as
well as the rewards of
the rebounds.
JENNIE WOLEK TULSA (OKLA.)
4 VOL.15.2 2018

5
In 2010, after nine steady years in real estate, Jennie
Wolek enrolled in her first BOLD. She was hungry
for new learning opportunities and looked forward to
enhancing her business. Little did she know, but the
experience would be one of many to have a profound
impact on her life. With each BOLD would come new
lessons that would propel her forward. In BOLD, a
transformative eight-week program by KW MAPS
Coaching, she remembers being pushed out of her
comfort zone, restructuring her mindset and truly rec-
ognizing the missing link in her business – consistent
lead generation.
The importance of lead generation had been a con-
stant refrain in her life, but still, she avoided it.
“I knew it was important, and yet I wasn’t doing it,”
Wolek says about her hesitation with calling her data-
base daily. “BOLD coached me to change my mindset
from, ‘I’m bugging people’ to ‘I’m great at helping
people.’” It infused her career with a newfound energy
that allowed her to approach each call knowing she had
something great to offer. Her genuine desire to help
was well received by clients and her business doubled
in one year.
Band-Aid Hiring
To keep up with the influx in clients, Wolek would
need help.
“When you go from 20-something units to 50-some-
thing units in a short time, it’s chaos without help,” she
reflects. This increase in business as well as the pressures
of raising a family propelled her to quickly make her first
hire. Hiring without training or a KW MAPS Coach
proved to be a costly mistake.
“Because I had not been at this level in business
“You only fail if you quit.”
JENNIE WOLEK
before, I was in the middle of the chaos of how busy I
was, so I hired out of desperation ... I made Band-Aid
hires,” Wolek says. “I hadn’t yet attended any training
to teach me how to hire and train a team, and I didn’t
yet think of myself as a business owner either. I needed
help − fast.”
It didn’t take long for Wolek to experience the conse-
quences of her rush decisions.
With her first hire in place to assist with administra-
tive tasks and another to help with buyers, she was still
just as busy as before. By not properly training, Wolek
was paying salaries for positions that weren’t helping
bring more money into the business. This increased
pressure caused her to believe she needed more team
members to ease her situation, although her KW MAPS
Coach advised otherwise.
“My coach and I talked about how my production
wasn’t at a place to have a listing agent,” she says. "How-
ever I was so stressed, I decided to trade time for money
with his blessing.”
Even with a coach advising Wolek in a successful
direction, her mindset was her true navigator.
“Many think a coach will push you to do something
you don’t want to do, and that is not the case,” she says.
“You are only held accountable to what you say you
want.” A coach will coach and it’s up to the individual
to choose the play they want to make.
Still overworked, Wolek was now in a tough spot
financially and emotionally. A lack of training and
accountability for her team members led to fur-
ther strain. “I didn’t properly hire, train or hold my
team accountable, which is a very expensive lesson I
learned,” she says.
Wolek withdrew and began to lose even her passion
By Allison Teegardin | Photography by Ryan Kelly
FAIL FORWARD
14

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7
for selling real estate and helping people. “I didn’t want
to talk to anybody,” she recalls. “I wasn’t a good leader
because I wasn’t growing and nurturing my team at
that time and I just burned out,” she remembers. In
the same week in March of 2015, both agents left the
team. Still having her administrative team in place, she
knew it would be okay.
She recalls feeling sorry for a moment before she real-
ized she had been given a clean slate and it was time to
start fresh.
When you are at the bottom, the only way to go is up.
The first thing Wolek did was get right back into
BOLD. In fact, that year she took BOLD four times
and has taken it a total of 14 times to date. This
time though, Wolek got even more strategic with her
BOLD experience.
Rather than staying close to home, she purposefully
took BOLD in cities that were approximately two hours
away so she could extend her referral partner network.
“When you go to a market center two hours away
from your own, it is very likely that agents there will
know people in your city and vice versa,” Wolek says.
With 32 percent of her referrals coming from fel-
low agents, Wolek’s strategy has paid off. Last year
alone, she received 111 agent referrals and returned as
many as she could. Through her blog and KWCon-
nect, Wolek maintains relationships with her referral
network by sharing business tips and sparking big
thinking among the group – something she is ex-
tremely passionate about. She is also an avid user of the
Agent-to-Agent Referral Platform and has connected
with over 1,700 agents!
Wolek has also attended Career Visioning several
times to tune up her hiring process. Through CV and
the help of her coach, she has rebuilt her team.
Paying It Forward
Going from financial strain to gain has allowed
Wolek to not only take care of herself and her team
but the community they serve as well. A certified
Quantum Leap (QL) instructor, she is passionate
about inspiring young adults to dream their biggest
life possible.
Already donating a percentage of her commissions
to her clients’ favorite charities, Wolek formed her own
nonprofit, Keys to the City, which is also funded by a
percentage of her closings and used to offer training,
classes, mentorship, and scholarships to young adults.
“I know when I get up every day and I am talking
to people, it helps bring in business, which helps my
agents on the team have an awesome big life, and it
allows me to keep doing what I love – traveling, train-
ing and sharing,” Wolek says. “When you know why
you are doing what you are doing, it is easy to go to
bed at a good hour and get up to tackle it with a time-
blocked schedule.”
Having learned from her own lessons, Wolek advises
that if you are lost at the moment and need to get
back on track, understand your personal talents, find
and follow your passion and do not stop. You only fail
when you quit.
“WHEN YOU ARE
AT THE BOTTOM,
THE ONLY WAY TO
GO IS UP.”
FAIL FORWARD

8 VOL.15.2 2018
With $9.75 million in production and just one year in
the industry, Ryan and Heather Bigger of the Fort Mill,
S.C., market center are making a splash. But it's a far
cry from where they were two years ago.
At that time, as their family grew to include three
children, the Biggers opted for Heather to stay home,
while Ryan left his sales job for a better-paying oppor-
tunity driving a truck. Ryan later suffered a shoulder
injury that left him unable to work, and one month
after returning to that driving job following surgery,
he was let go, meaning the Biggers went from having a
single income to no income at all.
“Being a one-income family for three-plus years,
we were cutting things tight as it was,” Ryan says. “What
I didn't realize before I took a job driving a truck is that
no one wants to hire a truck driver for a sales job, even
though I had a very good career in sales before.”
With more money going out than was coming in,
the Biggers were forced to take drastic action – depleting
their savings and 401(k), selling things online, borrow-
ing money from family, and eventually requiring govern-
ment assistance.
“I was out of work for about a year, and we were at
a point where we were pretty close to putting our kids
on free and reduced lunches,” Ryan says. “I was taking
classes and trying to make opportunities happen, and
nothing was happening.”
An Unexpected Opportunity
Coincidentally, some friends were on the hunt for their
first home, and Ryan, born and raised in Rock Hill,
S.C., would send them home listings he found online
in between job searches – Heather did as well. After
complimenting Heather and Ryan at how great of a job
“We use our past as our motivation.”
RYAN & HEATHER BIGGER
they were doing, the friends asked if the Biggers had ever
thought about getting into real estate, and a lightbulb
turned on – real estate would be a meaningful career that
would help them live the life they wanted. Plus, they had
been wanting to enter into a business together for years.
“From the moment we started dating almost nine years
ago we have been inseparable, so starting a business togeth-
er was a no-brainer,” says Heather. “We had always really
enjoyed touring open houses and viewing homes together,
but starting a real estate business had never dawned on us.”
So, they decided to take a leap of faith and borrowed
money from Ryan's parents to go to real estate school,
knocking out the classes in eight days. When they
finished, they reached out to several brokerages, many of
which weren't returning their calls. Another friend had
recently joined Keller Williams and connected them with
his assistant team leader.
“The moment we walked in the door, we were wel-
comed with Keller Williams culture,” Heather says. “It
was very warm and inviting, with everybody smiling and
saying hello. It was just a feeling. Mind you, we didn't
know anything at that point about real estate, but our
decision was made up the minute we walked in.”
The Biggers joined Keller Williams in September 2016
and enrolled immediately in Ignite – an action-focused,
results-driven course that teaches lead generation, lead
conversion, and contract negotiations.
Sticking to the Plan
“We were beyond blessed to join the market center at the
same time as our productivity coach, Jake Dixon,” Ryan
says. “We plugged in, doing everything they told us to
do.” Yet, one month in, the Biggers were concerned.
Ryan continues, “We looked around a month or so in,
Words by Shelby O'Neill | Photography by Ryan Kelly
RYAN & HEATHER BIGGER FORT MILL (S.C.)
1

9
In less than 18 months,
Ryan and Heather
Bigger of the Fort Mill
(S.C.) market center
went from food stamps
to six figures by taking
a leap of faith.
FAIL FORWARD
9

10 VOL.15.2 2018
and others were getting appointments and contracts.
So we asked Jake, ‘What are we doing wrong?’ He as-
sured us that we were on the right track, saying, ‘Keep
doing what you're doing. Look at the weekly scorecards.
You're leading in trainings and contacts. When we look
back in 90 days, you're going to start seeing the results
from the hard work you're doing today.’”
The Biggers continued performing the activities they
were taught: contacting everyone they knew, hosting
open houses, door-knocking, and calling expireds and
for sale by owners.
“We didn't try to reinvent the wheel,” Heather says.
“When we did those basic lead generation steps, like
door-knocking, we didn't have any budget for fancy-
color paper fliers, so we put three black-and-white fliers
on one piece of paper. That's three fliers for a nickel.”
Ryan adds, “It goes to show you that it's just about
doing the activity. It doesn't have to be fancy or flashy. It's
about getting out in front of people. Gary Keller tells us
to lead with revenue. That first six months, there was no
revenue to lead with. It was going out and knocking on
doors, sending text messages, and talking to friends and
family. The important lesson from that is, as a new agent,
it's more about how many people you talk to and not at
all about how much money you spend to talk to people.”
Building a Business without Business
When they weren't lead generating, the Biggers
invested all of their spare time into education, taking
every course offered.
“We weren't busy with business, so we made our-
selves productive by going and learning all that we
could,” Ryan says. “We didn't know anything about
real estate or how to build a business, so we were just
sponges. We would take people out to lunch or go get
coffee and try to absorb everything they would tell us.”
They also made an effort to come into the market
center every single day so they could avoid the distrac-
tions of home. Without offices, they would sit in com-
mon spaces, the kitchen, or training rooms.
“We would lead generate and, in between, listen to
the conversations these agents we looked up to were
having,” Ryan says. “I think it's so important for newer
agents to be present and to surround themselves with
people that are where they want to go.”
The Biggers also knew that to get business, they
needed to look like they had business.
“In the beginning, when we would go on appoint-
ments, we didn't have numbers to refer back to, so
we used the Language of Real Estate (LORE) and the
market center numbers, because that's volume,” Heather
says. “When we got into social media and made our
Bigger Group Facebook page, we didn't have listings
and weren't closing deals, so we would share our market
center's listings, and it started to look like we were suc-
cessful and busy.”
Fruits of Their Labor
In November, the Biggers secured their first listings. Then,
days before their annual dues to the National Association
RYAN & HEATHER BIGGER FORT MILL (S.C.)
“IN THE
BEGINNING, WHEN
WE WOULD GO ON
APPOINTMENTS,
WE DIDN’T HAVE
NUMBERS TO
REFER BACK
TO, SO WE USED
THE LANGUAGE
OF REAL ESTATE
(LORE) AND THE
MARKET CENTER
NUMBERS,
BECAUSE THAT'S
VOLUME.”
- Heather Bigger

11
of REALTORS® were due, with nothing in the bank, they
had their first closings on Dec. 27 and Dec. 28.
“Those two closings in 2016 were the only income we
had for the year – just shy of $10,000,” Ryan says. “In 2017,
with GCI, profit share, and the amount of money we made
off of referrals, we made over $300,000 and sold 40 units.”
What changed?
“We maintained our level of lead gen and narrowed
our focus,” shares Heather. “When we first started, we
were literally trying everything: open houses, door-
knocking, calling FSBOs and expired listings, social
media, and of course prospecting through our sphere
of influence. We realized fairly quickly that our biggest
return was going to come from our sphere. So, for all of
2017, we focused on consistently touching our SOI and
being consistent on social media.”
They began posting about how they would go above
and beyond for clients on social media, and, as a result,
have built a core group of raving fans.
“We go to great lengths to help our friends and clients
because that is what we love to do. Ryan has been known
to cut the grass at listings before pictures, trim bushes,
clean out gutters, and he once even ripped up the floor-
ing for a first-time homeowner. By doing these things,
we are growing our sphere with fans who love sending us
leads. They don't want their friends and family to work
with anyone else.”
At the core of their business is a commitment to stick-
ing to the activities, says Ryan. “We just did what we
were supposed to do. If you follow what your coaches
and the MREA and your mentors say, you can drastically
change your life in a very short amount of time.”
The Biggers’ success comes with a “big why” driving
it – their three children.
“As parents, there are times when you have to say no to
your kids, and you don't want to have to say no because
you can't afford something,” Ryan says. “That's an awful
feeling, and one that we'll never have again.”
Heather adds, “We got to take our kids to the beach
for the first time, the first family vacation we've ever had.
One of the most eye-opening things was not having to
look at our bank account when we took our kids back-
to-school shopping. Keller Williams gave us the opportu-
nity, and our lives truly did change.”
LEAD GENERATE
It’s more about how many people you
talk to and not at all about how much
money you spend to talk to people.
LEVERAGE
When you go on appointments and
don’t have numbers to refer to, use
the Language of Real Estate (LORE)
and the market center numbers,
because that's volume.
STAY POSITIVE
Don’t get discouraged if you don’t
see your business grow right away.
Stick to the activities. It takes 90 days
to see the results of your hard work.
COMMIT TO LEARNING
When you aren’t busy with business,
make yourself productive by going
to your market center, enrolling in
classes, and learning all you can.
RYAN & HEATHER’S
WORDS OF WISDOM FOR
NEW AGENTS
FAIL FORWARD

12 VOL.15.2 2018
Instead of being
sidetracked by industry
changes, Tom Francis
of the Keller Williams
McLean market center
has harnessed twists and
turns as chances to build
a business that supports
his big family and an
even bigger life.
TOM FRANCIS MCLEAN (VA.)
12 VOL.15.2 2018

13
It wasn’t long after Tom Francis and his brother-in-law,
Kevin Shiner, started flipping homes as a side gig that
Francis realized that his renovations weren’t as popular
as he had hoped. What buyers in this area of northern
Virginia really had their eyes on was the land. Small and
midsize builders, Francis learned, wanted lots – specifically
within the Capital Beltway near the Washington Metro –
where they could demolish older structures and build large
custom homes.
The Pivot
Realizing he was in the right market but chasing the
wrong opportunity, he pivoted.
Francis secured a real estate license and ran with the
wind, scouting and then strategically buying properties
in highly desired locations that he could sell “as is” for
a nice profit. After all, the father of 10, who was still
working seven days a week as an area supervisor for The
Washington Post, knew the meaning of working hard to
pay his bills. And, it didn’t take long before Francis was
in demand for his abilities to find the perfect lots, grasp
zoning intricacies, and craft winning contracts despite
heavy competition. “The plan quickly changed to adapt
to what the market wanted,” Francis says. “It was the
right place and the right time, and you had to select and
understand what you were doing.”
This is just one example of the tenacious dexterity that
Francis has displayed throughout his career, a skill that
helped him sell $41 million last year as an independent
agent. Instead of being sidetracked by industry changes, he
harnesses these twists and turns as chances to improve in a
career that he loves and build a business that supports his
big family and an even bigger life.
“Tom exemplifies what we want the public and consum-
“Twist, turn and build the career you love.”
TOM FRANCIS
ers to know about KW agents and our culture,” says Amina
Basic, team leader of the Keller Williams Realty McLean
Market Center. “He is extremely successful but humble,
always has his client’s best interests in his heart, is hardwork-
ing, learning based, and a man of faith. Working with Tom
in any capacity means winning.”
The Journey to Keller Williams
When Francis began a full-time career in real estate
a little over a decade ago, the market sank. While he
still occasionally found lots for builders, Francis shifted
again to working with buyers because that was where
the opportunity was. Then an agent with RE/MAX,
he was making decent money but was frustrated with
stagnant sales, no matter how hard he worked. “I did
the same every year,” he recalls. “Four to five million.
Four to five million.” So, after talking with a colleague
who had recently left to join Keller Williams, Francis
also made the leap. His mission: to learn how to create
a scalable business, no matter the market. Francis also
discovered what it meant to be part of a learning-based
company rooted in the belief of leading with contribu-
tion. As he points out, “There’s always somebody who’s
doing better than me who I can go to and say, ‘Here’s
where I’m stuck – what do I do?’”
Embracing Listings
At Keller Williams, Francis was introduced to the impor-
tance of a listing-based business because seller listings bring
exposure, buyer leads, and more seller listing leads. After
an initial period of telling himself he was too busy with
buyers to also take on listings, he decided something had
to change and embraced the advice. “I realized that having
builders buy the property is only one part of it,” Francis
By Lindsay Mader | Photography by Ryan Kelly
FAIL FORWARD
3

15
says. “They’re going to build these new houses – I should
be selling those houses.”
Francis became the listing agent on a few newly built
homes, but was still working with buyers and spending
considerable time apart from his family. Eventually, he
saw that he could streamline his efforts and produce a
high volume by working with just a handful of builders
on multiple transactions. So he transitioned to working
primarily as a listing agent, for the same builders he was
helping find lots, selling homes in the $1.5 million to $2
million price range.
The strategy is paying off. Since joining Keller Williams,
Francis has consistently increased his business every year
because of the unique value he brings to transactions with
his specialized knowledge of interviewing and hiring build-
ers, construction lingo and costs, sale pricing, and what
makes a property more or less desirable. “The builder can
talk to me and they know I’m speaking their language,”
Francis says. “They know that I understand. You can’t just
decide one day I want to work with builders. You have to
prove it to them.”
Francis helps builders find lots and obtain financing,
forms tightknit relationships with title companies to
speed up that process, and starts his day early – often tak-
ing calls at 6 a.m. By going the extra mile in all of these
areas, builders hire him as the listing agent down the line.
“I forged these partnerships that gave them every-
thing they needed to save them time so they valued
me,” Francis says.
All of this has resulted in a highly referral-based business.
In fact, Francis can track about 92 percent of his business
back to three people. Home builder Matt Rzepkowski,
who has worked with Francis for more than 10 years,
knows firsthand why he is a good partner. “I owe a lot of
my company’s growth and success to Tom because of his
continued dedication to providing exceptional service and
expertise in buying and selling homes,” Rzepkowski says.
“He is one of the most honest and hardworking agents,
and that is why he is my go-to agent.”
Leverage Takes Francis Higher
Francis will be the first to tell you that his success
wouldn’t be possible without the help of his assistants
– especially his daughter Claire Wright. At first, he was
resistant to the idea of adding people to his team. But
he also found that he kept maxing out his ability, and at
the same time wanted to spend more time with his fam-
ily. “I was in this new business and I was doing well,” he
recalls, “but it was all dependent on me. I felt bad that I
couldn’t be there as much.”
By focusing on listings and using the leverage created
by employing two assistants, Francis grew his sales by
more than $10 million in a single year. His assistants
manage all administrative duties, including customer
inquiries, the contract-to-close process, paperwork and
financial systems, while he focuses on dollar-producing
activities. His business is also well-insulated and primed
to succeed in the event of a market shift.
Most importantly, these experiences and a less
demanding schedule have allowed Francis to put his
“big why” into action by becoming more balanced and
making time with his family a top priority. He recently
traveled with his wife to Europe to visit their oldest
son – the first time he’d been overseas since he was 4 –
and he now enjoys planning and following through on
two-week beach vacations. Francis, who for eight years
served as the culture committee chair on his market
center’s Associate Leadership Council, aims to encour-
age these values in others.
“When I experienced the Keller Williams culture and
saw from the very top that God, family and business was
what the company was about – it was in perfect alignment
with how I wanted to live my life,” he says. “I can’t really
put into words what it’s done for my family.”
“WHAT HELPS ME,
I BELIEVE, IS THAT
I REALLY DON’T
CONSIDER MYSELF
A SALESPERSON.
IT’S MORE ABOUT
ME HELPING
SOMEBODY FIND
WHAT THEY’RE
LOOKING FOR.”
FAIL FORWARD

16 VOL.15.2 2018
Hi boss! Welcome to the ...
TECHNOLOGY
OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER JANUARY FEBRUARY TODAY
MASTERMINDS
Labs participants
brainstorm
potential tech
solutions to the
referrals problem.
COLLABORATION
A lab kicks off
with ideation
and screenshot
exercises.
DESIGN
Product is designed
and agent participants
sign off on the direction
and sketches.
INCUBATION
Development team
builds the first iteration
from agent designs.
Developers
continue to refine
Referrals from
agent feedback.
GENERAL
AVAILABILITY
All of Keller
Williams receives
access at Family
Reunion and are
invited to break
Referrals through
user testing.
REFERRALS – BORN IN LABS. DEVELOPED BY AGENTS
Within six weeks of Keller Williams’ release of its
agent-to-agent referral tool, Sarita Dua received
$430,000 in inbound referrals and sent $1 million in
transaction volume to agents across the country.
In the same time period, Dua added 886 agents
to her network through Kelle – the company's AI-
powered personal assistant – and made over 1,400
outbound requests to agents she carefully selected after
reviewing their profiles on KWConnect: the compa-
ny’s education and information-sharing platform.
“It is real business that motivates me to build my
personal referral network,” she shares. “I’ve added
agents in the KW network with whom I have an
established relationship, but also sought out top pro-
ducers in strategic locations with whom I’d like to do
business with in the future.”
This platform is the result of a process called Labs –
a program where Keller Williams invites its 170,000
agents to help build the next generation of software
that will power their business.
"We’re trying to solve real-world business problems
that agents are facing every day by asking them to
come sit in a room with us and solve them,” explains
Josh Team, KW’s chief innovation officer.
Prior to September 2017, Referrals wasn’t on the
company’s radar. It unexpectedly surfaced through
a series of labs for KWCommand, the agent operat-
ing system of the future. Agents were struggling to
find qualified referrals, were exhausted from shuffling
through referral requests on Facebook, and were hav-
ing difficulty communicating the status of referrals to
agents on their teams. While this wasn’t an obvious
challenge initially, it soon became clear that KW and
its agents could design a better experience. This was in
September.
A lab, containing over 225 teams with a collective
$50 billion in volume, was formed in November for
the sole purpose of solving this challenge. And, in
February, just three months later, all Keller Williams
agents were invited to use the platform.
This speed of development would have been a large
feat for even the most agile of technology companies.
KELLER CLOUDBy Lalaina Rabary | Photography by Brian Fitzsimmons

17
FAIL FORWARD
Meet Kelle, your
AI-powered
personal assistant
and expert to
navigating the
Keller Cloud.

18 VOL.15.2 2018
However, in addition to Labs, this was possible for KW
due to the foundation that the company had started lay-
ing two years prior with the creation of the Keller Cloud.
Building Our Data a Home in the Clouds
Anyone who wants to build the most powerful
technology solution for their business possible – and
outstrip the competition – first has to build an innova-
tion engine. In technology, an innovation engine in its
simplest form is a cloud service with artificial intelli-
gence built on top of it.
The Keller Cloud is a very specific cloud service
ecosystem that leverages the collective power of the
largest real estate sales force in the world – Keller Wil-
liams agents. By putting to work its massive collection
of agent, transaction and client data, Keller Williams
has an incredible competitive advantage above anyone
else entering the space and can ultimately create new
consumer experiences at lightning speed. “Everything
we do is about reaching the consumer,” says Team.
“The development of the Keller Cloud began 2 ½ years
ago after we realized that there would be no way for us
to deploy the consumer experience of the future. We
didn’t have a platform.”
For years, Keller Williams had affiliated itself with
technology companies who offered “bolt-on” products
to their agents. This resulted in silos of data, multiple
systems that didn’t speak with one another, and an
inability to access important insights that would move
an agent’s business forward and allow the company to
develop world-class experiences for consumers.
With the industry going through a period of rapid
modernization, time was of the essence. Keller Wil-
liams could no longer stick to the conventional product
development route of deciding to go build something,
disappearing for long stretches at a time, and then
releasing a product with fingers crossed. Instead, they
would have to bring a product to life in 90 days – a
milestone that was successfully reached with Referrals.
A Courageous Decision Is Made
Keller Williams abandoned the traditional product de-
velopment model and decided to pivot. Leaders were
confident that there was a better way – a route that
MASTERMIND
All labs begin with masterminds. This is where
an initial group of agents share a problem they
would like solved and collaborate, brainstorm and
whiteboard potential technology solutions for the
KW team to build or features and components they
would like to see added to an existing product.
COLLABORATION
From there, KW technologists and product teams
connect with the agents to design what a potential
solution and an ideal experience might look like.
DESIGN
Information gathered at the collaboration and
mastermind phases are delivered to designers
who create initial designs to give everyone a visual
representation of what a product may look like.
INCUBATION
Designs are sent to the product development
team. The team develops initial samples of how the
product will look and function. At this stage, the
product really comes to life!
USER TESTING
Agents – hundreds or thousands – are invited
to help technologists test the product and give
direct feedback on bugs, as well as features and
components they’d like to see in future iterations.
ITERATION
Agent feedback from the user testing phase is
consolidated and delivered to product teams to
iterate and create the next version of the product.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
THROUGH LABS
TECHNOLOGY

19
FAIL FORWARD
would allow the company to move with the shifting
landscape of technology and engage their user base.
“It was uncomfortable. There was frustration, but we
knew the model had to change. We could no longer be
accountable by the dates if we wanted to be agile and
innovative,” reflects Adi Pavlovic, director of innovation.
“Gmail was in beta for 10 years. Amazon put out the Fire
and Facebook rolled out a phone. That’s when we realized
that all of the companies we look up to have done coura-
geous things that didn’t work out at first. Why not do
that in real estate? Why not release products and get the
ball rolling forward?”
Going Back to the Roots
The same conversations that occurred in 1983 when
Gary Keller launched the company were happening
in market centers across the country. Agents were
engaged, excited and open to sharing their business
challenges.
“As we spent more time with top teams, we saw that
the feedback we were receiving was direct, honest and
nonbiased,” says Pavlovic.
They showed a genuine interest in being co-creators of
their technology. The model became clear – in order to be
successful, Keller Williams could no longer build prod-
ucts for their agents, but WITH their agents. At the same
time, they would build a collective of data together.
So, the team reorganized and refined the model of
Labs, day after day. And today, Keller Williams has
evolved into a technology company with a vision to rede-
fine the real estate experience. Paramount to this vision is
keeping the agent, with their hyperlocal knowledge and
expertise, at the center of the real estate transaction.
A Competitive Edge
The Labs methodology is proving to be superior to oth-
ers for many reasons. Pavlovic outlines several below:
FAST FAILURE
Usually, you have user testing with a focus group after
a product is developed. With Labs, however, we are
able to brainstorm ideas, quickly validate them to see
if agents find them valuable, and, if not, can catch red
flags at the incubation level and avoid failure. A major-
ity of companies would figure that out way later in the
process after spending a significant amount of money
on resources.
BIG IDEAS
The process allows anyone to throw out a big idea that
may not prove valuable today, but it could redefine
how real estate is done tomorrow.
IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK
We can get feedback immediately from core users that
other companies would long to have.
SCALE
At Family Reunion, the technology team was able to
host several labs on-site. Within 72 hours, and with
the feedback of 400 agents, the team was able to
design three products agents would find useful. That’s
powerful. No other tech company would be able to do
this. But with our army of 170,000-plus technology
partners, we can.
The Innovation Engine Roars
The core of the innovation engine has been built with
Keller Cloud and the innovation within it is powered
through Labs. Now, with allied partners like Dua and
the company’s large agent base, development cycles will
become even shorter, products will become smarter,
and Keller Williams is primed to respond rapidly to the
evolving needs of agents and their consumers.
With this remarkable leverage, Keller Williams can
move past companies who are pouring billions of dollars
into technology designed to disintermediate the agent
from the consumer.
“EVERYTHING
WE DO IS ABOUT
REACHING THE
CONSUMER.”
- Josh Team, chief innovation
officer, Keller Williams

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FAIL FORWARD
“If our innovation engine allows us to build anything
we want in 90 days, that means there is a race any time a
disrupter comes into the market,” emphasizes Team. “Be
confident that as these disrupters come to take your mar-
ket share, you have the largest, strongest platform behind
you pivoting. In order to be successful, they would have
to get more market share than you and your 170,000
fellow agents have combined in less than 90 days. This is
our greatest strength.”
And, because KW operates with only the best interests
of the agent in mind, the company has made a data
pledge to its people: We will always respect your data as
your business and we will always allow you to take your
data with you.
“I am very excited about the future of technology at
Keller Williams and am a firm believer of the team,” Dua
exclaims. “It became very clear to me, as I sat in the Vi-
sion Speech at Family Reunion listening to Gary [Keller]
and Josh [Team], that we’re doing things differently.
We’re moving faster than ever before. I feel very fortunate
to be a part of this company.”
The Loken Group, one of Keller Williams’ top
teams and the first to get involved with Labs,
has reveled in the opportunity.
“We really wanted to be a part of Labs so we
could be allowed to present ideas that would
help our agents,” shares Sara St. Marceaux,
VP of Luxury for the group.
The team enjoys the collaborative and trans-
parent process, which keeps the agent at the
heart of the initiative.
“I love having the opportunity to see the bigger
picture and vision at the beginning of a lab.
And then breaking into small groups to see
how it could work well for our business,” says
Amy Flynn, VP of The Loken Group’s inside
sales division.
For Lance Loken, owner and leader of the
team, Labs works because it gives agents a
microphone – an opportunity that doesn’t exist
in any other brokerage.
“When we’re in a lab and suggest changes,
within a week the changes we request are
implemented. It allows us to see changes in
real time. And, instead of having something
launch and have glitches, we see the glitches
as they happen.”
DATA PLEDGE
WE WILL ALWAYS
RESPECT YOUR
DATA AS YOUR
BUSINESS AND
WE WILL ALWAYS
ALLOW YOU TO
TAKE YOUR DATA
WITH YOU.
FEEDBACK FROM THE FIELD
21

22 VOL.15.2 2018
From the age of 9, Shannon Selig wanted to be a pro-
fessional singer.
“I want to change people’s lives with my voice,” she
told her mom.
For the next decade, music would take Selig on an
unexpected journey, where she would eventually use her
voice to change people’s lives at Keller Williams.
A First Album – and a Turning Point – at 14
With her parents’ support, Selig began training profes-
sionally in the classical music genre and released her
first album at the age of 14. That led to the opportu-
nity to sing on stage with Mo Anderson, vice chairman
of the board and a pillar of KW culture, at that Inspi-
rational Morning. The annual program, which features
stories of service and acts of kindness, concludes every
Family Reunion event.
A seed was planted as Selig listened to teenager Ryan
Hreljac, who through Ryan’s Well Foundation had pro-
vided access to clean water to many people in develop-
ing countries.
“I remember sitting there thinking, ‘If he can do that,
then what’s stopping me from anything?’” she says.
Selig left Las Vegas more determined than ever to
succeed in the music industry. So, after high school,
she attended McGill University as a classically trained
soprano for two years and Berklee College of Music.
A Stint in Nashville
At Berklee, Selig’s eyes were opened to the competitive
nature of the music industry and she felt ready for her
next move – Nashville – where she would build a country
music career. Once she raised $15,000 for her first na-
tional album, she began working with a producer. Soon,
“I want to change people’s lives with my voice.”
SHANNON SELIG
a record deal was on the table, but something didn’t feel
right to Selig. “I walked away from a record deal because
they wanted to compromise my morals and they wanted
me to change,” she says.
So she opened her own record label, Blue Chicory
Records, and released an album as scheduled in 2013.
“Without compromising a single moral, and doing it the
way I wanted to,” Selig says.
She started touring around the country and won several
music awards. But Selig was still being told she’d have to
change if she wanted to get airplay. “I kept saying no,” she says.
The Start of a Real Estate Career
Every penny Selig earned went into music, rent and
student loans. She was struggling to stay afloat. Her
mother, who had just transitioned from an agent to
the role of team leader, suggested Selig use real estate
to fund her “perfect life of music.”
She was licensed at the end of December 2013,
and in January, despite several unexpected housing
expenses, Selig bought a ticket to Family Reunion,
knowing the impact the training event could have.
“I couldn’t even afford my electric bill at the time,”
Selig says. “When I came home, there was a lock on
the box, but it was worth it.”
Family Reunion had her fired up. The event and
the training in her market center equipped her with
the models and systems she needed to hit the ground
running. As her business began to grow, she decided to
put her music career on hold.
From the Field to the Classroom
Selig did well and paid off debts, but soon she began
falling off track with her lead generation. On Jan. 1,
By Dorothy de Souza Guedes | Photography by Ryan Kelly
SHANNON SELIG GREATER PORTLAND (MAINE)
6

23
When Shannon Selig
of the Greater Portland
(Maine) market center
temporarily put her
music career on hold
to sell real estate, she
found her true voice
training others to be
successful.
FAIL FORWARD
23

24 VOL.15.2 2018
2015, she was in the same position she’d been in a year
earlier: broke and unfocused. Selig started over, this
time focused on her ONE Thing, which was practic-
ing scripts. She re-enrolled in BOLD and became so
effective at role-plays that many other agents requested
to be her partner. This led to a mentorship with one
of Keller Williams’ top agents, David Huffaker, and a
teaching role at her market center.
“I spent a lot of time in the classroom teach-
ing. And I realized that teaching wasn’t making me
money, yet it was fueling my soul,” she says.
In the fall of 2015, just two years into Selig’s real
estate career, Sara Stephens, team leader at the Nash-
ville - Mt. Juliet market center, asked her to be the
productivity coach for the office of about 140.
Although young, Selig had a made an impression
on Stephens when they met in 2014. Selig had a vi-
sion for building a business in real estate and she led
with relationships first.
“It was that she had an amazing energy about her,” Ste-
phens remembers. “I thought, ‘This girl is going to blow
up the real estate world.’ She stays positive and thinks big
and is passionate about people. She makes their struggles
her own and that’s a part of failing forward.”
An Unexpected Offer
Selig loved her new role and intended to stay in Nash-
ville, but after a call from Dottie Bowe, one of the
founders of Keller Williams Maine, in May 2016, her
plans changed. The two had known each other since
Selig was a child – Bowe had even invested in her first
album – but they had lost touch.
Bowe had reached out to Selig after speaking with
her mother, Janice Ryder, hoping for a lead on a pos-
sible team leader for the Maine market center.
Selig talked to Bowe about the open position and
wound up flying out to Maine to interview for the
role herself. She described herself as “scared out of my
mind” to be 26 years old and interviewing with one of
the top market centers in the entire company.
From the moment she met with investors, Selig was
well-liked. However, without a proven track record
of leadership with a market center of their size, they
questioned if she would be the right fit. Knowing that
“WHEN YOU
TRULY FOCUS
ON YOUR
PEOPLE,
COMPLETELY
AND
UNSELFISHLY,
YOU GET
EVERYTHING
YOU DESIRE.
AND THAT’S
WHAT I DID.”
SHANNON SELIG GREATER PORTLAND (MAINE)

25
success leaves clues, Bowe trusted her instincts and de-
cided to move forward with the interviewing process.
“I had known Shannon since she was in grade
school. I was well aware of her commitment to suc-
cess, watching her pursue her singing career and
succeed at a high level as a KW sales agent and as a
productivity coach.”
After taking Selig through Career Visioning –
Keller Williams’ proven path to hiring – and a group
interview with the Associate Leadership Council, the
team agreed she possessed what they needed to take the
market center to the next level.
The job was hers.
Rebuilding a Culture, Changing Lives
Under her leadership and training, the office swelled to
450 agents, a net gain of 111, and slowed its attrition
from 30 percent to 17 percent in two years. She did
this by building relationships.
“I spent quality time with the agents to learn about
their personalities, hobbies, families, etc. I also made
sure to spend a lot of time with our Associate Leader-
ship Council. The ALC really helped fill the market
center with positivity and the culture of Keller Williams
began flowing,” she says.
“When people know they are loved and cared about
by their leadership team and peers; it makes a differ-
ence. When you truly focus on your people, completely
and unselfishly, you get everything you desire. And
that’s what I did,” Selig says.
Selig also adhered to the principles of the Growth
Initiative.
“The Growth Initiative gave me a clear path for
hitting our market center goals and made the role of
my job clear. I spent the first year focusing on our cap
management to purposefully increase our profits.”
The unexpected twists and turns in her life have
allowed her to “connect with those agents who are
exceeding at a very high level, as well as the ones just
coming in,” Bowe says.
Steven Chicoine, a team owner based in South Port-
land, Maine, has been a beneficiary of Selig’s energy and
unwavering commitment.
“I wouldn’t have all the talent I have today if it
wasn’t for her,” Chicoine says. “I have utilized her as a
resource and am always running things by her to get
her opinion.”
Chicoine’s goal was to have the No. 1 team in Maine.
“And in 2017, we were! She’s helped me achieve my
goal, and I know she’s helping all the other teams as
well,” he says.
Free to Be Me
At Keller Williams, Selig can be herself without
judgment and pressure to change; something she
craved but was unable to experience in the music
industry. She loves that she can succeed at a high level,
without compromising her morals, and have support
from others on the team.
For a long time, Selig thought failure was bad. But
she’s changed her mind … failure is just a stumbling
block around which she can reroute and try again.
“If you give up, that’s failure to me,” she says. “Fail-
ures are just like little struggles along the way.”
These days, real estate is Selig’s focus, although she
hasn’t given up on Nashville altogether.
“I want to change people’s lives with my voice. I al-
ways assumed that was music. And now I realize that is
just who I am. And that’s what I’m doing every day.”
FAIL FORWARD
“I PROBABLY
WOULDN’T HAVE ALL
THE TALENT I HAVE
TODAY IF IT WASN'T
FOR SHANNON. I HAVE
UTILIZED HER AS A
RESOURCE AND AM
ALWAYS RUNNING
THINGS BY HER TO GET
HER OPINION.”
- Steven Chicoine

26 VOL.15.2 2018
Vija Williams of the
Kirkland (Wash.)
market center lost
millions in a matter of
moments – and most
of her team within a
few months. Looking
back, it was the best
thing that could have
happened to her.
VIJA WILLIAMS KIRKLAND (WASH.)
26 VOL.15.2 2018

27
It was May of 2016, and Vija Williams was living the
dream.
With her at the helm, The Vija Group was 17 members
strong and closed roughly $70 million, earning the title of
No. 1 sales team in the Keller Williams Eastside market
center in Kirkland, Wash.
After an arduous two years working to assemble her
team, Williams was finally at the point where she could
move out of production – her goal all along. A listing spe-
cialist was on board to take over her day-to-day role, and
she felt ready to ascend to the next level of leadership.
With a strong pipeline and full confidence in her team,
Williams took a leave of absence, spending seven weeks
away on business and personal travel.
A Shock to the System
It was August when she returned, and she was sched-
uled to meet Monday morning with the new listing
specialist to regroup. Instead, her excitement turned to
heartbreak as she received shocking news. The person
she had handpicked to run her office tendered her
resignation – then handed Williams paperwork, effec-
tively canceling $10 million in listing inventory.
“She had gone to each seller and had them cancel
the listing while trying to take team members with
her,” Williams recalls. Over the next few months, the
majority of Williams’ sales team left. The final blow
was in December, when her longtime administrative
assistant left to join a competing team. In less than a
year, her group had gone from 17 to just a handful of
members. Pummeled, Williams thought about leaving
the business entirely.
“I had many inner analyses: ‘Should I cut my losses
at this point?’ ‘Am I cut out to be a leader of people?’ I
“You don’t get to live a big life without big failures.”
VIJA WILLIAMS
doubted everything, and I really did think about quit-
ting,” she recalls.
But that didn't feel like the right answer either. Dur-
ing one of her lowest points, she met her mentor for
lunch. Williams was so upset that she couldn't eat. Her
mentor encouraged her not to give up, saying, “I'm not
just going to watch you throw this talent away.”
Deep down, Williams truly believed that she was
meant to influence and develop people. She loved
real estate and saw it as a way to accomplish both her
dreams and her calling. So, she decided to stay and
fight for her business.
The Comeback
“The rebuilding came from within, 100 percent, and
the rebuilding was about me and my leadership,” says
Williams. “In retrospect I was a horrible leader. Deep
down I knew I was a good leader; I just had to face
things I didn’t want to.”
Williams began by reading leadership books and
thought about Gary Keller who, in the mid-1980s,
lost seven of his top 10 producers to a competitor
in a tough economy. He had used the experience to
make changes and relaunch with more vigor than ever
before. She could do the same with the support of her
husband and her KW MAPS Coach.
During this period of deep introspection, Williams
began to embrace the idea that this devastating fallout
held important lessons and opportunity.
“I had to face weaknesses and face who I’ve become,
which wasn’t easy,” she reflects. “It’s not easy to change
and I had to change everything. I’m a very fast-paced
person and I like fast growth, which is what happened
and why my team ultimately crumbled. We did 700
By Gwen Moran | Photography by Brian Fitzsimmons
FAIL FORWARD
3

28 VOL.15.2 2018
“IT’S BEEN
INCREDIBLE TO BE
A PART OF VIJA’S
GROWTH OVER THE
YEARS. ONE OF HER
GREATEST STRENGTHS
IS REALIZING AND
PUTTING INTO
ACTION WHAT HER
TEAM NEEDS TO BE
SUCCESSFUL.”
- Josh Parker
percent growth in four years. And for me, that was
too fast.”
Losing her team humbled her deeply. Now, it was
time to get back to basics and implement the models
and systems that Gary Keller outlined in his book The
Millionaire Real Estate Agent – the lessons that count-
less agents worldwide had used to build their thriving
real estate businesses – and take another run at fulfill-
ing her dream.
Rebuilding on a Strong Foundation
Even after suffering such a setback, Williams wasn’t
going to shrink her goals. And now, when those around
her assume she is going to downsize this time around,
she’s got a standard response.
“I always say, ‘No – the goals have not changed; I have
not wavered on my goals.’ What has changed, though,
are my tactics, and that means the speed of growth has
been changed, not the actual growth itself,” she says.
She did, however, change her approach to hiring. No
agent becomes part of The Vija Group until they come
to a team meeting and gain fellow team members’ ap-
proval. She also vowed to commit to Career Visioning –
Keller Williams’ systematic approach to hiring.
“When I was doing my analysis of the breakdown, I
realized I was skipping a lot of steps and following a very
broad outline of the Career Visioning process and not
really adhering to it. We adhere to it now.”
Additionally, Williams realized that she had been
so focused on hitting her numbers that she didn’t pay
enough attention to culture. Even if it takes more time to
find the right people, it’s essential that they are a good fit
with her new team, she says.
“My job is to preen and recruit. I find the best candi-
dates and attempt to assess whether or not I think they
can cut it in real estate. If I think they will do well, it’s
then up to my team to determine if the candidate is a
cultural fit. Culture is of paramount importance after
what happened,” she says.
No More ‘Business as Usual’
Williams also implemented a new approach to some of
her internal office norms. No one has a private office
anymore, including herself. The “open floor plan” ap-
proach boosts collaboration and transparency. Wil-
liams is able to maintain a clear picture of everyone’s
day-to-day activities as she works right alongside them.
“Before, I had an office that I would just kind of walk
in and hole myself up in. And I would go through almost
whole days without any interaction with team members”.
That’s changed. “Gary says that, in a certain sense, leader-
ship is wandering around, being there,” she states.
Additionally, Williams and her team members have
adopted “massive accountability.” Every Monday, the
team meets for a Power Up at 8:30 a.m., where every-
one puts their ONE Thing they want to accomplish
that week on a white board, and she checks up with
them throughout the week. “What’s your ONE Thing
for the day?” she asks. Or, “How did you do on your
ONE Thing today?” They report daily numbers on a
Slack channel – an instant messaging system – to ensure
everyone is meeting their goals for contacts, appoint-
ments, listings, recruitment, and to provide support to
one other. Each team member sees everything because
transparency is now a core value, she says.
“Our culture of transparency allows us to have buy-
in into one another’s goals and successes,” shares Josh
Parker, a member of The Vija Group. “If I know my
VIJA WILLIAMS KIRKLAND (WASH.)

29
“YOU DON’T
GET TO TAKE
BIG SWINGS IN
LIFE AND LIVE
BIG HUGE LIVES
WITHOUT BIG
HUGE FAILURES.
YOU DON’T GET
ONE WITHOUT THE
OTHER. AND SO,
THE QUESTION
ISN’T, ‘ARE YOU
GOING TO FAIL?’
THE QUESTION IS,
‘HOW WELL ARE
YOU GOING TO
FAIL?.’”
teammate’s goal for the month and they aren’t pacing,
we can have a real conversation as to what’s going on
and how we can get back on track. Likewise with my
own goals. If I’m not on target to reach my monthly
or quarterly numbers, Vija and I work together to map
out additional prospecting ideas.”
Williams realizes that, while she thought she was be-
ing transparent in the past, she really wasn’t. She made
decisions and sprung them on her team members ... she
called the shots. Today, she is mindful about seeking
buy-in, and the team is now invested in the decisions
that are made, she says.
The concept of congruence – the alignment of beliefs
and actions – is vital to the team’s success. Five of her
team members have decided to model their belief in
real estate as a wealth-building tool: each has agreed to
buy a home by the end of the year. It may be a primary
residence, vacation home, or investment property, but
the goal has given each member a big why in motivat-
ing them to reach their goals.
A Big Vision Stands Resolute
Although the team is smaller than years past, the vision
is still big, Williams says. Her goal is to have 20 agents
and close $100 million in the next few years.
By stripping emotion out of her experience, facing it,
learning the lesson quickly, and then pivoting; – with
her new team by her side – Williams is confident she’ll
get there. Her renewed focus on leadership has made a
significant impact on her team.
“It’s been incredible to be a part of Vija’s growth over
the years. One of her greatest strengths is realizing and
putting into action what her team needs in order to be
successful,” says Parker.
Williams says she’s “awesome at failing” and encour-
ages more people to get good at it.
“You don't get to take big swings in life and live big
huge lives without big huge failures. You don’t get one
without the other. And so, the question isn’t, ‘Are you
going to fail?’ The question is, ‘How well are you going
to fail?’” When you get good at it, you can bounce
back stronger than ever.”
FAIL FORWARD

30 VOL.15.2 2018
HEAD
HEAD-TURNERS
While the reason for making a brokerage
change is personal for each and every
agent, the desire to grow personally and
professionally is evident in all.
Top-notch agents choose Keller Williams
for the value they receive and the
endless opportunities they have to build
careers worth having, businesses worth
owning, lives worth living, experiences
worth giving, and legacies worth leaving.
In every issue of OutFront, we celebrate
these individuals. Here’s a look at a few
who are now proud to call KW home.

31
&JULIE DORGER
SARA MCCARTHY
CHICAGO, ILL.
“We’ve found at
Keller Williams
you can be whoever
you want to be. And
there’s support to
help you get there.”
In October of 2017, realizing they’d outgrown their brokerage, Julie Dorger and Sara
McCarthy – of the Chicago-based Dorger McCarthy Group – left Coldwell Banker after
13 years.“The growth potential at Keller Williams was definitely appealing to us,” Dorger
says. “It’s where our heads are focused – being with a company supportive of growth
for our team and ourselves, for growing who we are within our community and within
our market center.We want to shift our focus to giving back, and we envision being able
to do that with Keller Williams.”
Since joining the Chicago-O’Hare market center and closing out 2017 with $30 million
in volume and 65 transactions,Dorger and McCarthy have become part of the leadership
team opening the new Chicago-Lakeview market center.“We’re really looking to create
a synergy-filled environment – helping each other out, helping with training, helping
people build their businesses,” McCarthy says. “We’ve found at Keller Williams you can
be whoever you want to be. And there’s support to help you get there.”
The new market center will be nestled in one of the many unique neighborhoods of
Chicago … neighborhoods the Dorger McCarthy Group enjoy exploring every day
with their clients. “We are passionate about educating our clients on the diverse
neighborhoods within our great city and we are encouraged by their confidence and
trust in our market knowledge and negotiation skills,” McCarthy says, while Dorger
adds, “The culture and education offered at Keller Williams is really helping us grow in
our mission to provide first-class service to our clients.”
Team Production | 12 months: $30 Million | 65 Units | $600,000 GCI

32 VOL.15.2 2018
HEAD-TURNERS
32 VOL. 15.1 2018
CHRIS KNIGHTON
GRIMSBY, ONTARIO, CANADA “My big why in life is to help people create
the biggest lives they can. It’s selfish of
me to hold myself back. Not living life to
the fullest doesn't do anyone any good.”
When Chris Knighton launched his real estate
career three years ago, it wasn’t his first rodeo
in the industry. He’d worked in commercial
real estate in Houston for 10 years, but after
moving back to his hometown of Hamilton,
Ontario, Canada, he made the leap to
residential and found his perfect fit at Keller
Williams. “In every company I’d had before, I
really tried to build this culture of knowledge-
based learning, this team atmosphere-type
thing,” he says. “I didn’t even realize that
Keller Williams had done that with 130,000
agents at that point.”
Three years later, Knighton’s team ranks
number four in the country, with just under
200 transactions and $89 million in volume
for 2017. He would never have gotten there
without Keller Williams and, specifically, KW
MAPS Coaching, he admits. “My coach asked
me, ‘What would success look like to you?’
and I said, ‘Walking away with a few million
bucks and not having to work too hard,’”
he recalls. “‘That’s pretty selfish,’ she said.
‘You’re going to limit the people that help
you get to where you want to be.’ Once I had
that shift in mindset, that's when we started
building our team out and building something
bigger than myself. It’s selfish of me to hold
myself back. Not living life to the fullest
doesn't do anyone any good.”
Today, Knighton is out of production and
instead focuses on helping his team leaders
build big lives. “My life is centered on diving
into leadership, coaching and training our
people,” he says. “It’s not just my vision;
it's the visions of 14 or 15 people. None of
that would've been possible without Keller
Williams and my MAPS Coach, who pushes
me every day.”
MARY GILBERT
ROSEBURG, ORE.
Team Production | 12 months: $92 Million | 189 Units | ~ $2 Million GCI
“Learning from others and
hearing and seeing firsthand
from top producers has helped
me remove the barriers I’ve
placed on myself. There are no
barriers, and the opportunities
are unlimited.”
For Roseburg, Ore., native Mary Gilbert, Keller
Williams gave her the opportunity to grow her
business in ways both visible and not. Since
leaving Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices to
join Keller Williams on Oct. 28, 2016, Gilbert
has experienced a considerable boost in
name and photo recognition. “Being able to
have my personal branding on my signs has
made a huge impact on my business,” she
says. “Everywhere I go, I run into people that
recognize me or want to list their property
with me because they say they see my signs
everywhere.”
As for those less tangible ways, Gilbert credits
Keller Williams with eliminating limiting
beliefs. “Learning from others at regional
events and hearing and seeing firsthand from
top producers has helped me remove the
barriers I’ve placed on myself. There are no
barriers, and the opportunities are unlimited.”
One now-obliterated limiting belief was the
fact that the nearest Keller Williams market
center was 70 miles away. “I worked for
exactly one year out of the Eugene Springfield
market center, and my team enjoyed our best
year ever in real estate, closing the most units
and volume out of our MLS area.” For 2017,
that checks in at 157 closed units at just
over $37 million in volume and more than $1
million in GCI.
Gilbert also received a boost as a member
of KW Luxury International. "It has provided
me with additional marketing avenues and
education to best service my clients,”she says.
“The global exposure is also a huge benefit to
my clients. I am the go-to agent for luxury
listings in the area. Many clients explain that
they want someone that is experienced with
luxury and high-end properties, so that is why
they call me.”
Team Production | 12 months: $41.5 Million | 156 Units | $1 Million GCI
Words by Shelby O'Neill

35
Jeffrey Johnson of Colorado Springs, Colo., had been
looking to Keller Williams for inspiration for a while before
he officially joined in November 2017. While at RE/MAX,
Johnson found wisdom in Gary Keller's The Millionaire Real
Estate Agent.“It blew my mind and rocked my world with just
a simple statement: ‘You only hire empire builders,’” recalls
Johnson, whose team closed 367 transactions in 2017.After
finishing the book, he attended Family Reunion for the first
time. “Between those two things, it changed the entire way I
ran my team,” he says.
Eventually,Johnson realized that a change of brokerages was
in order.“I had nothing negative about RE/MAX, but it was all
just better at Keller Williams,” he says. “When I stopped and
thought about what had gotten me to where I am, RE/MAX
had nothing to do with it. I wasn't even with Keller Williams,
and Keller Williams had a whole lot to do with it.”
Johnson’s team posts more transactions than anyone in
Colorado, but adding to those numbers isn't what drives
him. “The culture of God, family, and then business is what
attracted me to Keller Williams, because that's how I run
my team,” Johnson says. “I keep seeing the whole. It’s like
nesting dolls – you take our team, fit it inside a market
center with the same values, put that franchise within
a corporation with the same culture and values, and
it's just awesome.”
Community giving aligns with Johnson’s values,
as well. His team gives close to $20,000
annually to local charities, with foster care as
the main beneficiary.“The really big thing for
me was the heart behind the people higher
up in Keller Williams and how much they
give back,” he says. “That's our heart as
well, and we want to surround ourselves
with people like that.”
JEFFREY JOHNSON
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.
Team Production | 12 months: $93 Million | 367 Units | $2.9 Million GCI
“It’s like nesting dolls – you take
our team, fit it inside a market
center with the same values, put
that franchise within a corporation
with the same culture and values,
and it's just awesome.”

36 VOL.15.2 2018
RECRUIT CITY, STATE/PROVINCE PRODUCTION
Carey Butler Anchorage,Alaska $10,200,000
Trina Hammond Fayetteville,Ariz. $20,000,000
Brad Bergamini Prescott,Ark. $22,000,000
Jordan MacNabb Port Coquitlam, B.C. $27,600,000
Russ MacNabb Port Coquitlam, B.C. $18,600,000
Dan Ledeoux Port Coquitlam, B.C. $10,100,000
Lorri Malloy Yorba Linda, Calif. $10,500,000
Richard Buckisch Burbank, Calif. $14,600,000
Marc Garbell Calabasas, Calif. $10,100,000
Susan Thomas Carmel, Calif. $13,200,000
Philip Gibbs San Diego, Calif. $11,380,000
Jaclyn Little Folsom, Calif. $10,000,000
Edmond Bina & Sherwin Soumekh West Hollywood, Calif. $50,000,000
Rod Watson West Hollywood, Calif. $10,000,000
Joshua Campbell Huntington Beach, Calif. $10,020,000
Branden Park Irvine, Calif. $11,010,000
Ashley Rosenhain Laguna Niguel, Calif. $13,740,000
Heather Albertson Newport Beach, Calif. $11,040,000
Guy Blume & Sophia Niu Oakland, Calif. $60,000,000
Robert Kalin Rancho Mirage, Calif. $10,000,000
Kim Heng Palo Alto, Calif. $28,000,000
Lauren Yoon Rolling Hills Estates, Calif. $19,900,000
Dede Hsu Rolling Hills Estates, Calif. $18,500,000
Antonia Lavender Rolling Hills Estates, Calif. $11,600,000
In the first quarter of this year, 241 of the top agents producing
$10 million and above made the decision to call Keller Williams
home. These agents alone represent more than $2.3 BILLION in
volume, creating a $4.6 BILLION shift in market share!
TAKING
HEAD-TURNERS

37
Kevin Cruz Burlingame, Calif. $20,000,000
Jeremy Williams San Francisco, Calif. $24,480,000
Laura Coffey Valencia, Calif. $26,000,000
Brian Ends Valencia, Calif. $20,000,000
Stefan Walker Saratoga, Calif. $20,000,000
Sheri Aguilar Stockton, Calif. $10,000,000
David Serpa Temecula, Calif. $58,500,000
Nunez Team Temecula, Calif. $15,900,000
Justin Bringas Temecula, Calif. $10,540,000
Stefanie Angel Hesperia, Calif. $11,090,000
Amit & Preeti Manchanda Yorba Linda, Calif. $14,870,000
Wendy Rawley & Brian Packham Yorba Linda, Calif. $12,820,000
Sherry Juneja San Francisco, Calif. $32,780,000
Mia Takami San Francisco, Calif. $15,000,000
Angelo Baglieri San Francisco, Calif. $12,500,000
Anna Shea San Francisco, Calif. $11,500,000
Rob Meissner Castle Rock, Colo. $10,300,000
Jami Baker-Orr Pueblo, Colo. $32,000,000
Randy Musiker Stamford, Conn. $10,300,000
Maurice McKinney Washington, D.C. $14,000,000
The Jason Kapit Group Coral Springs, Fla. $28,000,000
Ian Anderson Port Orange, Fla. $12,000,000
Robin Suslick Ft Myers, Fla. $10,000,000
Tara Olson Ft Myers, Fla. $10,000,000
Jorge Suazo Jacksonville, Fla. $32,000,000
Christina Griffin Tampa, Fla. $34,000,000
Tomika Spires-Hanssen & Kimberly Mkhwane Spring Hill, Fla. $19,000,000
The Small Group Vero Beach, Fla. $27,000,000
Hadar Goldberg Wellington, Fla. $10,000,000
Sherry Kwintner & Angela Hunter Alpharetta, Ga. $20,000,000
John Foster Suwanee, Ga. $12,000,000
Christy Hymas Boise, Idaho $10,000,000
Kevin and Carol Burnett Coeur d'Alene, Ill. $20,000,000
Kim Keefe Barrington, Ill. $15,000,000
Jackie Reed Barrington, Ill. $10,700,000
PK Johnson Chicago, Ill. $10,000,000
Aaron Greenberg Chicago, Ill. $10,000,000
Stephen Hnatow/Ryan Wells Chicago, Ill. $16,520,000
Patty Wardlow Downers Grove, Ill. $28,000,000
Brad & Brenda Chandlers Edwardsville, Ill. $15,000,000
Mike Lenz Jr. Naperville, Ill. $17,000,000
Nina Klemm Carmel, Ind. $10,000,000
Drew Tomasik Indianapolis, Ind. $10,200,000
Tony Huynh and team Bowling Green, Ky. $35,000,000
Dwayne Pierce and team Bowling Green, Ky. $18,000,000
Al Beaudoin Andover, Mass. $10,000,000
Richard Schultz/Karin O'Connor Boston, Mass. $10,500,000
Michelle Gillespie Westborough, Mass. $14,600,000
Gary Kaufman Westwood, Mass. $28,000,000
David Shapiro Westwood, Mass. $10,000,000
Lynda Hughes Westwood, Mass. $10,000,000
Gizely Guimaraes Worcester, Mass. $12,600,000
Lance Stitcher Ocean Pines, Md. $10,000,000
Robyn McGrew Westminster, Md. $13,000,000
Tracy Vasquez White Plains, Md. $11,000,000
Ashley Hines Timonium, Md. $19,000,000
Anne-Marie McKenzie Portland, Maine $14,000,000
Joy DiMaggio Birmingham, Mich. $12,000,000

38 VOL.15.2 2018
Marie Sexton Commerce TWP, Mich. $10,000,000
Yvonne Perry's Team Grand Blanc, Mich. $12,000,000
Mike Smallegan (Smallegan Real Estate) Grand Rapids, Mich. $24,500,000
Andy Straub (The Elite Team) Grandville, Mich. $40,000,000
Rob Montgomery Rochester, Mich. $20,000,000
Laurie & Floyd Ott Woodbury, Minn. $24,000,000
Susan Hurley Chesterfield, Mo. $15,000,000
Doug Lutz Springfield, Mo. $10,000,000
Reece Nichols Raymore, Mo. $12,000,000
Jerry Rowan Kansas City, Mo. $10,000,000
Rachel Witt St. Louis, Mo. $15,000,000
Kris Hanson St. Louis, Mo. $14,000,000
Tammy Hanson St. Louis, Mo. $14,000,000
Dustin Walsh St. Louis, Mo. $12,000,000
Andy Boyd St. Louis, Mo. $12,000,000
Frontgate Partners St. Louis, Mo. $10,000,000
David & Juliet McNamara Asheville, N.C. $11,000,000
Lisa Andres Asheville, N.C. $10,300,000
Tina Caul Cary, N.C. $67,000,000
Dylan Hale Durham, N.C. $12,000,000
Karen Tehrani Durham, N.C. $12,900,000
Jason Dapkevich Durham, N.C. $12,000,000
Henry "Hank" Saye Durham, N.C. $10,000,000
Larry and Cherri Cheeks Wilmington, N.C. $50,000,000
Jessica Zombek Ferris Winston-Salem, N.C. $11,000,000
Bill and Debbie Overbey Winston-Salem, N.C. $10,000,000
Victoria Kreck Lincoln, Neb. $15,000,000
Garrett Turnbull Ocean City, N.J. $13,140,000
Jeanette Larkin Moorestown, N.J. $20,210,000
Maria Remboski Moorestown, N.J. $12,080,000
Garry Winters Toms River, N.J. $30,000,000
Scott Riehl Hoboken, N.J. $12,940,000
Cynthia Apicella Maplewood, N.J. $10,200,000
Donna Goode Montclair, N.J. $11,850,000
Bill Boswell Morristown, N.J. $41,000,000
Ron Aiosa Morristown, N.J. $38,000,000
Barbara Lewis Summit, N.J. $20,340,000
David Axelrad Tenefly, N.J. $16,000,000
Adrianne Baird Albuquerque, N.M. $10,000,000
Sarah Lopez Albuquerque, N.M. $10,000,000
Diane Heaton Reno, Nev. $17,150,000
Shannon McCarthy Latham, N.Y. $22,050,000
Robenson Paulema Manhasset, N.Y. $10,000,000
Eileen Fennell New York, N.Y. $11,640,000
Alan & Susan Trugman New York, N.Y. $10,470,000
Liz Benuscack Team New York, N.Y. $10,170,000
Barry Paley Woodbury, N.Y. $30,000,000
Deepak Hemrajani Woodbury, N.Y. $30,000,000
Nicole Campisi Woodbury, N.Y. $10,000,000
Helen Challenger Brooklyn, N.Y. $30,790,000
Jacob Cohen Brooklyn, N.Y. $11,800,000
Mark and Jodi Rosko Beavercreek, Ohio $15,000,000
Chip James Beavercreek, Ohio $10,000,000
Rebecca Geiger & the Gieger Team Cincinnati, Ohio $10,800,000
Craig and Amy Balster Westerville, Ohio $10,000,000
Diana, Laura, Lindsey Duncan Edmond, Okla. $19,500,000
Jessica Scott Tulsa, Okla. $18,500,000
Jason Burroughs Tulsa, Okla. $10,000,000
HEAD-TURNERS

39
Andre Alves Toronto, Ont. $30,000,000
Nicole Brand Toronto, Ont. $11,000,000
Cam McCarroll Toronto, Ont. $10,000,000
Maggie Abril Burlington, Ont. $10,000,000
Dan Tourngeau Kitchener, Ont. $12,000,000
Nicole Brand Kitchener, Ont. $12,000,000
Cris Kambouris London,Ont. $10,600,000
Jill Johnson Mississauga, Ont. $24,500,000
Diane Salman Mississauga, Ont. $17,500,000
Julie Scarlett Mississauga, Ont. $15,900,000
Terri Hastings (Team) Newmarket, Ont. $36,000,000
Elie Nassour Toronto, Ont. $11,700,000
Andrew Doumont Toronto, Ont. $30,000,000
Don Downing Medford, Ore. $12,500,000
Yolanda Zuger Salem, Ore. $10,000,000
Merri Ott Beaverton, Ore. $13,250,000
Nancy Houston Philadelphia, Pa. $11,000,000
Erik Stroehlein Doylestown, Pa. $10,000,000
Carmen Gamone Bryn Mawr, Pa. $14,000,000
Ryan Miller & Joe Cipollini York, Pa. $48,000,000
Scott Gullaksen West Chester, Pa. $17,000,000
Sharon Dienno West Chester, Pa. $14,200,000
Candy Limehouse Columbia, S.C. $10,600,000
Handsome Properties Mt. Pleasant, S.C. $22,000,000
Deanna Kilcommons Anderson, S.C. $10,000,000
Alicia Barramore Anderson, S.C. $10,000,000
Katie Walton Anderson, S.C. $10,000,000
Eli Corum Knoxville,Tenn. $10,000,000
Jonathan Harmon Murfreesboro,Tenn. $15,000,000
The Knox Team ~ Pete Prosser & Brandon Knox Nashville,Tenn. $107,000,000
Nashville Perspective ~ Jessica Randolph & Jess Reed Nashville,Tenn. $20,000,000
Christina Beth Jones Pearland,Texas $12,000,000
Julio Lerma Laredo,Texas $10,300,000
Jennifer Hamilton Laredo,Texas $10,100,000
Rolando Gonzalez Laredo,Texas $10,100,000
Dianna Romans Lubbock,Texas $18,000,000
The AM Group Port St. Lucie,Texas $18,000,000
Rena Connors Southlake,Texas $19,000,000
Kelli Todd Dallas,Texas $11,000,000
Chris Colgan Manassas,Va. $27,300,000
Mike Ryan & Lisa Spalding Richmond,Va. $11,010,000
Kaye Kim Bellevue,Wash. $10,100,000
Peter Murphy Bothell,Wash. $13,000,000
Stephanie Dupuis Gig Harbor,Wash. $22,000,000
Lanae Miller Covington,Wash. $10,200,000
Lynn Knowles Kirkland,Wash. $10,500,000
Sherri Dotts Spokane,Wash. $10,000,000
Lisa and Kelly Green Kennewick,Wash. $17,000,000
Russ Roberts Yakima,Wash. $24,500,000
Flemming Roozen Whitefish Bay,Wis. $10,000,000
Tell the world about those who are joining your winning team and the value you’re creating.
Download our Head-turners marketing toolkit at kwconnect.com

PUERTO RICO SE LEVANTAWords by Deborah Blumberg
KW PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Rise Up
40 VOL. 15.1 2018

41
and no water, but you still had a business to run.
Instead of laying down and feeling sorry for what
happened, we had to keep going. You have to move
forward, and you have to be positive.”
Soto and his team fully embraced the country’s
rallying and inspirational message, “Puerto Rico se
levanta,” or “Puerto Rico rise up.”
Rising from the Storm
After the storm, Soto and Purcell’s priority was to
check in on agents and their families to make sure
they were safe, and to support them in whatever ways
they could. Luckily, the local market center emerged
from the hurricane unscathed, but it remained without
power for two months. Most agents and their families
suffered only minimal damage to their homes. Soto
and Purcell had been communicating with KW Cares
– a public charity created and financially supported by
KW associates, for KW associates – before the storm
hit to formulate a relief plan. Their proactive approach
paid off. After Maria hit, KW Cares was able to
respond immediately – donating 50 generators, food,
clean drinking water, and first aid supplies.
“KW Cares stepped up,” Soto says. “Our agents could
not have done what they did without electricity or
drinking water. We were solving problems and helping
people.”
In addition to tangible resources, KW Cares also sent
emergency money to local agents to help them cover
expenses over the next several months of recovery and
the immediate family members of agents in the U.S.
who were living in Puerto Rico. That gesture provided
peace of mind, Purcell says. “The moral support was
amazing,” she adds. “Knowing our Keller Williams
family was there to take care of us. That was very
reassuring.”
With those resources, agents were able to help clients
whose homes had been destroyed buy a new one, and
bring on sellers who had previously attempted to sell
their property on their own with no success. “In this
type of disaster, people start to understand that they
need an agent,” Soto says. Agents explained to sellers
how KW’s vast, global network and reach would help
them sell their homes faster and more efficiently.
FAIL FORWARD
Days after Hurricane Maria descended upon Puerto Rico
last fall, Orbe Soto sat in his San Juan office in the dark
across from a new recruit. The power was out, clean water
was scarce, and the storm – the strongest to hit the U.S.
territory in 89 years – had toppled cellphone towers.
But business went on. The new agent, Zuleika
Rodriguez, put pen to paper, joining the swiftly growing
Keller Williams family. Rodriguez was one of 30 new
agents that Soto, Puerto Rico’s regional operating
principal, and Sylvia Purcell, regional director, brought
on board in the four months following the Sept. 20
hurricane. The duo grew their team – a newer addition
to the Keller Williams Worldwide family – to over 100
agents and seized market share, making Keller Williams
the number one real estate company in Puerto Rico.
Rising to Number One
The territory is part of Keller Williams’ ongoing
international expansion. Last year, the company built
on its momentum, adding nine new regions, ending
the year with 29 total outside of the United States and
Canada, and with 6,006 international agents – a rise
of 63 percent from the year prior.
Soto joined Keller Williams after having served as
owner and president of the Puerto Rico-based Grand
Homes Real Estate since 2000.
“Anybody would tell you that business and growth
are supposed to go down when something like this
happens,” says Soto. “But we were determined to
become the largest real estate company in Puerto Rico
by the end of the year, and we did it.”
December turned out to be one of the best sales months
yet for the franchise, which opened seven months before
the storm, as agents worked diligently to help clients buy
and sell properties in the wake of the destruction. Sales in
December increased by around 30 percent compared to
the average monthly sales volume in 2017, said Orbe.
Despite the uptick in sales, Maria’s toll remained
significant. The Category 4 hurricane ripped off roofs,
destroyed homes and farms, and claimed dozens
of lives. It came just weeks after Hurricane Irma, a
Category 5 storm, skirted the island – leaving millions
without power.
“It was very tough,” Soto says. “We had no electricity

Our talented team of Concierge Specialists helps
deliver on HWA’s goal of continually providing
top-tier service and increased efficiency to our
real estate professionals with improved benefits
and features that include:
• Dedicated, toll-free VIP number for a direct
line of communication to live, tenured
Concierge Specialists that are fully trained to
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CONTACT YOUR CONCIERGE
844.483.5034
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CONCIERGE
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*All claims are subject to terms and conditions as outlined in the Contract. Keller Williams Realty, Inc.
does not warrant any product or service delivered under this strategic alliance. All products are
provided by Home Warranty of America. Inc. ©2018 Home Warranty of America, Inc.

43
FAIL FORWARD
When it came to showings, Soto’s team had to get
creative. Without power, they tried to schedule open
houses and showings during the brightest time of
the day. Gas was also in short supply – community
members waited in 10-hour lines to fuel up – and roads
were still blocked with downed trees and fallen power
lines. Agent Carlos Molina hopped on his bicycle to
meet clients at properties they wanted to see.
“Our agents were as passionate as we were,” Soto says.
“They said, ‘let’s do what we have to do.’”
Hurricane Maria arrived against the backdrop of
an ongoing recession in Puerto Rico, which has been
marked by a high inventory of homes and a slew of
foreclosures. It’s a buyer’s market, said Soto, noting that
15 to 20 percent of clients are investors from abroad
buying prime properties at a steep discount. Other
clients have included locals who after the storm decided
to move to the mainland and needed to sell their home.
Puerto Rico Agents Pay It Forward
While agents were helping clients with their properties,
they also paid it forward, simultaneously giving back to
the community and helping those in need. With the help
of KW Cares, the Puerto Rico franchise gathered crucial
supplies – food, water and generators – and delivered
them to some of the country’s most remote, hardest-hit
areas. In December, the team collected Christmas toys
for children impacted by the storm.
“Everybody on the team rose up and said, ‘How can I
help?’” says Soto. “They became leaders.” “In Puerto Rico,
and at Keller Williams, that’s what the culture is like,” says
Purcell. “We will help each other no matter what.”
Bill Soteroff, president of KW Worldwide, called the
franchise a prime example of how Keller Williams thrives
in even the most difficult circumstances, citing the firm’s
dedication to supporting its agents and local communities.
Soto and Purcell “have become icons to us,” Soteroff says,
“and the leaders we hoped they would be.”
Six months after Maria, nearly 200,000 families and
businesses on the island remained without power. Others
with power were rebuilding and reestablishing routines.
Keller Williams has been a crucial part of that recovery.
“It’s emotional to see a country that has gone through so
much join together,” Soto says. Recovery will take time,
but “people are positive.”
Soto, Purcell and their team have received a number
of referrals from families they worked with just after the
storm … and their business continues to grow.
“It’s all about helping your clients and giving them a
great service,” Soto says. “You’re part of a family every time
you do a closing.”
Purcell is proud of the impact their agents are making
on the community, especially after a disaster that brought
so much destruction and heartache to the island. “You’re
making people’s dream a reality,” she says.
“KNOWING
OUR KELLER
WILLIAMS FAMILY
WAS THERE TO
TAKE CARE OF US.
THAT WAS VERY
REASSURING.”

44 VOL.15.2 2018
WHY ARE THEY RENTING?
AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT
By Madiha Ashour, Consumer Research Analyst, KW Research
RESEARCH
For many, the American Dream includes homeownership, yet according to the U.S. Census
Bureau, almost 40% of people in the United States continue to rent. Intrigued, we sought to
understand why renters are not buying and surveyed a random sample of 1,471 renters in the
United States. Their responses revealed key insights!
1
Despite nationwide dips in homeownership,
a majority of renters are still interested
Despite U.S. homeownership being at a 50-year low*, an
overwhelming amount of respondents (81%) expressed
interest in homeownership, with nearly 50% being “very or
extremely interested.” Among those interested, over half
(57%) indicated they would like to be homeowners within
the next three years.
Why the disinterest?
Within the group, 15% said they have no interest in
homeownership at all, citing several reasons why they
believe renting continues to be superior to owning:
I do not have to worry about maintenance and upkeep
costs. (71%)
I have no long-term commitment to a mortgage. (39%)
I am not financially ready. (36%)
Interest in Homeownership
What you can do:
Replace fears with facts
Taking the plunge into homeownership
can be scary. In Your First Home: The
Proven Path to Home Ownership, Gary
Keller, chairman and co-founder of
Keller Williams, shares several scripts
to use in your conversations with skep-
tical renters. Here’s one you can use
right now.
FEAR: I can’t afford to buy a home now.
FACT: Actually, you can’t afford NOT to
buy a home.
The truth is, there is always a home you
can afford to buy that will be a smart
purchase for you. The earlier you buy,
the earlier you will benefit from equity
buildup and be well-positioned for any
future appreciation. The sooner and
more seriously you begin the process
of buying your home, the sooner you’ll
find the best buy for you.

45
TRENDING
45
3
Significant knowledge gaps exist when it
comes to the homeownership process
When we asked renters what they thought the expected
down payment on a mortgage was, answers varied. 60%
of the renters believed the expected down payment was
less than 10%, while 24% of respondents believed that the
expected down payment should be 20%.
This points to significant knowledge gaps in the home-
ownership process, largely due to a lack of education.
41% of renters said they have never educated themselves
on the homeownership process.
What you can do:
Fill the gap
Reach out to renters earlier with educa-
tion about the homeownership process
through “Win Big with Seminars: Your
First Home.” This free course, created by
KWU, comes complete with a seminar
package filled with marketing materials,
a scripted PowerPoint presentation, and
more that will help you reassure renters
that they are not alone while generating
first-time home buyer leads.
Course info at: kwconnect.com
Expectations of Down Payment
4%
25%
23%
7% 37%
2%
3%
2
A majority of renters are taking financial
initiative to own a home
When we asked about hurdles to homeownership, we
found that 63% of respondents had hesitations about
homeownership and financial concerns represented the
biggest hurdle. However, on a positive note, we saw that
a majority of renters (67%) are proactively working on their
finances to be able to purchase a home either by trying to
improve their credit score (38%) or by saving money for a
down payment (29%).
What you can do:
Connect skeptics with a mort-
gage specialist
If your client believes their finances are
hindering them from owning a home,
connect them with a trusted mortgage
specialist. A great mortgage specialist
will reveal what they can qualify for and
provide quality advice on how they can
consolidate debts, and, if needed, refer
them to a credit counselor who can get
them on the right track with their finances.
Reasons for Renting
Download the full report at blog.kw.com/outfront

are fundamental to the value we provide.
By rewarding the associates who help our company
grow and helping them build passive income for life,
we create more opportunities for them - and more
opportunities for their families.
PROFIT SHARE AND
GROWTH SHARE,
Go to blog.kw.com/buildwealth to learn more about the
programs we offer to those who help our company grow.
Our wealth-building models,

47
NAME CITY, STATE/PROVINCE GCI UNITS
1 Bob Lucido Team Ellicott City, Md. $2,351,958.93 295.5
2 Stepp Commercial Long Beach, Calif. $2,103,133.75 31
3 Kevin Blain Team Visalia, Calif. $1,807,845.87 340.1
4 Ben Kinney Team Bellingham,Wash. $1,662,022.02 153.659
5 Juliana Lee Team Palo Alto, Calif. $1,609,262.23 36
6 Lysi Bishop Real Estate, LLC Boise, Idaho $1,458,174.99 91.8
7 Josh Deshong Real Estate Dallas,Texas $1,397,439.95 182.1
8 The Rider Elite Team Scottsdale,Ariz. $1,364,285.90 205
9 The Loken Group, Inc. Houston,Texas $1,337,126.51 417
10 Reynolds Team Realty Chantilly,Va. $1,107,156.00 88
11 Global Living Philadelphia, Pa. $1,105,008.86 201.9
12 Five Doors Network - Hub Pikesville, Md. $1,092,908.20 0
13 Chernov Team Studio City, Calif. $968,467.50 33.25
14 Laurie Reader Team Plantation, Fla. $941,777.51 111.47
15 The Stephen Cooley Real Estate Group Fort Mill, S.C. $936,581.76 155
16 The Peggy Hill Team Barrie, Ont. $925,247.92 107.7
17 Jeff Glover & Associates Plymouth, Mich. $912,218.09 155
18 Gary Hendrickson Team University Place,Wash. $890,299.44 79.479
19 Santana Properties Team Cambridge, Mass. $856,221.88 41.34
20 Fineman Suarez Team Marina del Rey, Calif. $834,928.51 21
21 The Heyl Group Austin,Texas $820,040.86 48
22 Jesse Weinberg And Associates Marina del Rey, Calif. $817,046.24 48.5
23 Sutherlin Group Hoboken, N.J. $814,148.38 41
24 Fulcrum Properties Network Washington, D.C. $810,695.57 47.202
25 Walden Team Anchorage,Alaska $797,321.95 99
26 Chris Suarez PDX Property Group Portland, Ore. $794,521.08 51
27 Jennifer Young Team Chantilly,Va. $777,040.95 83
28 The David Bradica Team Mississauga, Ont. $775,611.70 8
29 Center City Listings Philadelphia, Pa. $767,688.31 124
30 The Condo Shop Philadelphia, Pa. $766,822.20 156.662
31 Carol Royse Lifestyle Team Tempe,Ariz. $741,037.65 82.7
32 The Peters Company Peachtree Corners, Ga. $740,557.23 61.55
33 High Performance Real Estate Advisors Charlotte, N.C. $736,083.18 67.75
34 Portland Real Estate Group Portland, Ore. $724,228.03 21
35 Coyle / Becton Florida Group Lakeland, Fla. $714,345.26 125.25
36 The EZ Sales Team Westlake, Ohio $706,186.48 147
37 Kase Real Estate: Pacific Estates Long Beach, Calif. $694,973.74 41.35
38 Christie Cannon Group Frisco,Texas $681,279.61 89.7
39 Sarenpa Team Wayzata, Minn. $668,496.34 44.75
40 Laura Gillott Team Corvallis, Ore. $667,573.71 96
41 Team Chou Alhambra, Calif. $666,356.87 54
42 Team Builder KW Kirkland,Wash. $662,483.15 93.5
43 The Graham Seeby Group Atlanta, Ga. $658,303.36 64
44 The Huffaker Group Mt. Juliet,Tenn. $649,236.80 74
45 Royal Global Group Newport Beach, Calif. $647,530.89 11.75
46 Marc Fox Group Portland, Ore. $642,504.89 45
47 The Echelberger Group Laguna Niguel, Calif. $641,160.69 36
48 Noel Team Santa Monica, Calif. $640,704.44 18.675
49 Jay Schmidt Group Whitefish Bay,Wis. $635,233.14 67.925
50 Group 46:10 Tempe,Ariz. $620,097.27 36
TOP-PRODUCING TEAMS50
*Based on data/transmittals received for 2018 (January to March 2018).
Closed transactions identified with specific agent/team.
FIRST QUARTER 2018* NUMBERS
TOP-PERFORMERS

48 VOL.15.2 2018
Vol.15.2 2018
OutFront is a publication of
Keller Williams Realty, Inc.
1221 S. MoPac Expy., Ste. 400
Austin, Texas 78746
512.327.3070
OutFront is published by Keller Williams Realty, Inc. The entire
document of OutFront is copyright© 2018 by Keller Williams
Realty, Inc. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part
by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without
the express written permission of the publisher. Editorial
or advertising does not constitute advice but is considered
informative. Copyright© 2018 Keller Williams Realty, Inc. All
rights reserved.
Executive Editor: Annie Switt
Editor: Lalaina Rabary
Brand Manager: Robin Jhaveri
Copy Editor: Jeff Ryder
Art Director: Caitlin McIntosh
Designers: Karla Teceno, Kasey Plaskett
Contributors:
Allison Teegardin
Deborah Blumberg
Dorothy de Souza Guedes
Gwen Moran
Lindsay Mader
Shelby O’Neill
Photography:
AzulOx Visuals | pg. 21
Brian Fitzsimmons | Cover, pg. 19, 26, 39
Peter Bohler | Inside Cover
Ryan Kelly | pg. 4, 7, 9, 11, 12, 23, 24
Advertising:
Tom Freireich (advertising@kw.com)
Job Inquiries:
(outfront@kw.com)
50
NAME CITY, STATE/PROVINCE GCI
1 Coco Tan Campbell, Calif. $1,556,786.28
2 Kyle Seyboth Lincoln, R.I. $585,445.37
3 Matt Skrabo Palo Alto, Calif. $517,455.00
4 Gregg Phillipson La Mesa, Calif. $510,837.40
5 Stephanie Vitacco Encino, Calif. $480,018.62
6 Anthony McDonough Houston,Texas $480,000.00
7 Julie Hopkins Park City, Utah $471,601.42
8 Roger Burdiek Topeka, Kan. $471,004.50
9 Mark Tyoran Westlake Village, Calif. $428,081.00
10 Eric Delgado Encino, Calif. $405,139.00
11 Julie Wyss Los Gatos, Calif. $395,868.50
12 Paige Martin Houston,Texas $388,777.08
13 Bonnie Goldner New York, N.Y. $374,000.00
14 Brandon Gray Castle Rock, Colo. $363,744.00
15 Karen Reiter Aventura, Fla. $358,287.50
16 Jessica Lynne Romero Pasadena, Calif. $352,962.50
17 Esther Chong Duluth, Ga. $346,330.91
18 Bradley Gilboe Burbank, Calif. $344,708.88
19 Tammy Jin Burnaby, B.C. $339,713.92
20 Evangelyn Lin Pasadena, Calif. $326,637.00
21 Salvatore Cefalu San Diego, Calif. $326,596.38
22 Donald W. Moser Los Gatos, Calif. $315,287.50
23 Elizabeth Lender Fort Lauderdale, Fla. $312,837.29
24 Beth DeAngelis Hilton Head Island, S.C. $309,863.12
25 Steve Paek Bothell,Wash. $307,999.65
26 Mark Williams Porter Ranch, Calif. $300,000.00
27 Kathrin Rein Coral Gables, Fla. $292,518.50
28 Bruce Yang Palo Alto, Calif. $289,556.76
29 Joe Clair Durango, Colo. $285,840.54
30 Matthew Cossell Los Gatos, Calif. $283,092.50
31 Stewart Phillips Chattanooga,Tenn. $282,803.77
32 John King Palo Alto, Calif. $276,143.75
33 Julie Davis Los Gatos, Calif. $273,625.00
34 Grant Linscott Los Angeles, Calif. $273,215.00
35 Rita Wolff Portland, Ore. $270,780.00
36 Andre Melikian Santa Monica, Calif. $270,000.00
37 Jereme Thaxton Salt Lake City, Utah $267,150.00
38 Peter Miller Encino, Calif. $260,145.00
39 Susan Hennebry San Clemente, Calif. $258,109.23
40 Anthony Koutsos San Francisco, Calif. $256,975.00
41 Lisa Yang Cupertino, Calif. $256,681.85
42 Amber Conrad Franklin,Tenn. $254,126.17
43 Nazneen Dhanani Sugar Land,Texas $250,930.99
44 Mike Dolan Big Bear Lake, Calif. $248,718.00
45 Tom Francis McLean,Va. $239,587.09
46 Wendy Gimpel Woodbury, Minn. $239,135.47
47 Terrence Tucker Danville, Calif. $238,927.30
48 Chloe Mei Cupertino, Calif. $238,110.34
49 Ronald Ferrara Jackson Heights, N.Y. $234,075.00
50 Michael Haywood Burlingame, Calif. $231,250.00
TOP-PRODUCING AGENTS
*Based on data/transmittals received for 2018 (January to March 2018).
Closed transactions identified with specific agent. All production completed by non-
commercial agents who do not serve on a team.
NUMBERSFIRST QUARTER 2018*

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