“20 Minutes of Successful Niche Secrets – EPISODE 54,”
Where I help Jhannell Edwards find her Niche so that she can build her Legacy in Real Estate
Glenn: Hi! It’s Glenn McQueenie, and thanks for tuning in today to my 25-Minute Success Series Podcast. Today we have Jhannell Edwards from CITY Realty Point Realty in beautiful Toronto, Ontario. How are you doing, Jhannell?
Jhannell: I’m doing awesome, Glenn! Thank you so much for having me.
Glenn: Oh, my pleasure. So can you just tell me a little bit about yourself so far Jhannell – how long you’ve been in the business, what have you done so far, and maybe where you want to go right now?
Jhannell: Yeah, absolutely! I have been in the business going on two years now. I primarily do a lot of my transactions in the Toronto area – a lot of condos, and a couple of freehold properties as well. My first year – like some people have experienced – my first year was okay. I was able to get a lot of lease deals, which really helped propel my career and allowed me to meet a lot of really, really neat people, which then ultimately transitioned into actual closed sales. And this year I’ve been able to sell two properties, as well as help with a few purchases. So far, my career has been fairly okay, but I’m really looking to ramp it up. I’m really looking to make some more noise, particularly within my neighbourhood where I reside, as well as with two other niche markets I’m really trying to gain some traction with as well. I’m hoping in the next year, I can double (if not triple) my income.
Glenn: Okay.
Jhannell: And my three to five-year plan is to also be looking to hire other agents as well – so put on a broker hat so that I can leverage some opportunity to other realtors, as well.
Glenn: Perfect. So can you describe to me, either through past experience or just where you’d like to go, who’s your perfect fit, dream-come-true client? If I had a magic wand and I was booking your appointments for tomorrow and you said, “Glenn, only look for these people,” can you paint a picture for us on who that perfect client would be for you?
Jhannell: Yeah. Well, the one person that comes to mind is a recent client of mine. It was a family, and they were looking to purchase for their daughter. They were so easy to deal with. They had all their ducks in a row in terms of their financing and everything. He is a CEO of a company. He does do a lot of traveling. He’s very, very quick in terms of, he wants responses, but he’s also quite cool and understanding as well. It was really a pleasure working with him. So he was one of my ideal clients. I also would say another ideal client of mine would be women within the age group of perhaps Millennial to a little bit under Generation X (so maybe mid-late 20s, 30s) who are professionals, entrepreneurs, who are looking to really make a mark in their life in terms of purpose. They enjoy lifestyle, so they enjoy traveling, they enjoy eating out, perhaps attending really cool conferences. They’re movers and shakers in their own industry and they understand how real estate can impact their lives financially. They’re looking to develop a community and utilize real estate to build their own wealth, and generational wealth at that.
Glenn: Okay. So if you had to hold both of those clients, one in either hand – the CEO type, decision-maker, or the empower women, build wealth through real estate – which gives you the most energy right now?
Jhannell: I would say the empower women, because it’s much closer to who I am.
Glenn: Okay. So what’s important about empowering women to you then?
Jhannell: Yeah. Not to mention there’s this huge movement globally that’s going on right now, and it’s a testament to how women can really, once you work together, there’s incredible synergy, and the sky’s the limit. But we’re also noticing women are graduating with incredible degrees. They’re walking away getting great jobs. They’re earning much more money. They have a lot more say in their finances and what they want to do and where they want to go with their own lives. So that is something that is very compelling, and my own story is a testament to that as well. So there’s a lot of common ground, and there’s a lot of common ground that I can have with women who are looking to grow their wealth and grow their lifestyle so that they can live on purpose.
Glenn: Right. So are you open to sharing a bit of your story just so we can understand? I’m trying to find your big “why,” because we’re going to match everything else, and your tribe has to come up and feed back to your big “why.” So share whatever you want, or nothing. It’s completely up to you on just your own journey.
Jhannell: Yeah. I’m a little bit of an open book, so no problem. Prior to real estate, I was in hospitality and tourism, so I worked with quite a lot of companies and organizations planning events globally (or sorry, nationally, I should say), but was able to take some events outside of the country. And then I transitioned into real estate, and then I gave birth to my beautiful daughter, which made me solidify my “why” as to why I wanted to choose real estate. Hospitality and tourism, as much as I enjoyed it, the hours were just crazy, and I knew I wanted to be the best mom that I could be. But then unfortunately, unfortunate circumstances led me to become a single mother. So I’m a single mother of now a toddler, and that has also given me the drive and the energy to learn more about financial literacy and real estate, and create a lifestyle or help build something that my daughter can eventually enjoy as well.
Glenn: Wow. That’s amazing. So who would be your target market? I know you talked about the Millennial, Generation X, but would it be single mothers, too? Is there a way that we could take it down, or does that not matter right now? It’s really just, we’re just going to build a tribe of super strong women.
Jhannell: Yeah, and I think that’s it. I think it’s building a tribe of super strong women, because as of recently, the fear of the universe has brought forth women, but they weren’t necessarily single. I’ve worked with women who do have partners or are married or are engaged to be married, and then I have also worked with single women, whether they’re divorced or single women with children. It’s been kind of a great salad bowl of women, but the commonality is that they have this huge, massive desire to really have a lasting impact on this world. Helping people is definitely something that they want to do, create a lifestyle, like I said, where finances are no longer an issue, and philanthropy work. I’ve talked to some of the women that have come in my sphere, and philanthropy work tends to be something that arises as well for them. So I would say not necessarily just single moms, but professional, go-getting women.
Glenn: Okay. And where? What marketplace? What part of the city do you think you would love to focus most of your time?
Jhannell: Absolutely. I tend to do a lot of my transactions in the West End of Toronto and downtown (so everywhere from Toronto-North York, Etobicoke, Mississauga, Brampton, and then of course the downtown core). Parts of Scarborough as well.
Glenn: Okay. And what’s your perfect property to be selling, if we had to paint
that picture? What would you like to be selling 80% of the time?
Jhannell: 80% of the time I would like to be selling condos. I would like to be selling re-sale condos. Based on who I’ve been talking to – a lot of condos, or smaller, semi-detached properties as well, in areas like Brampton, Richmond Hill, and Vaughan.
Glenn: Okay. So I’m going to just ask you to be open to what I’m thinking about right now. And then it’s your choice, your power. You decide what you want. So single mothers or women who want to buy a condo and build their wealth. I’m just wondering if there’s a faster way that we can accomplish that. My son is now, he’ll be 22 soon, and let’s say eventually he will want to probably buy his own condo. What I’ve said to him is, “You should get three or four of your friends together and buy a fourplex, and it’ll be cheaper than the four of you buying condos, you’ll be able to make more money off of it, you’ll be able to keep it for the rest of your life and re-finance it to find your own home.” So I’m wondering if you’re maybe open to that? What if we created the “Women’s Investment Network,” where you gathered groups of women who lived in certain areas together. They had a fourplex. They all had their own place. It was cheaper than them buying a condo. They could live in it, and then whenever they wanted to, they could move out and probably rent it for more than they could their condo. And then re-finance it and build wealth from there. Does that interest you at all? Do you understand that?
Jhannell: I 100% understand that and I’m very interested. That’s actually a direction that I was considering taking my business and hoping to implement. So yeah, I 100% agree.
Glenn: Yeah. If I was going to build wealth in Toronto, I could buy a condo like everybody else is doing. It’s kind of like the easy button for most people. But I’ve still never found a condo in the last couple years in Toronto that if I bought and went and moved in, and then if something happened and I had to move out and rent it, that I could ever get it to cover and build wealth. Do you know what I mean?
Jhannell: Absolutely. And then not to mention rising costs with maintenance fees and everything like that. That is something to consider.
Glenn: Yeah. So I think it’s been a good run with condos. They’ve appreciated pretty well in Toronto. The rents have suddenly moved up pretty good, but I still think it’s hard. Whereas I think if you were to find a three-unit or four-unit (or up to six units, because once you go up to six units, you start paying, in Toronto, the commercial tax rates). So the difference is, for a six-unit for $2 million, you might pay $14,000 in tax. A 7-unit for $2 million, you pay $30,000 in tax. It’s just that dramatic on a cash flow basis. So I would probably focus most of my efforts on being under six units. And then what if you almost created a bit of an investment club, where not only could they buy together, but they could also pool their money together to come in with other women who are buying it? So they would be putting up the capital, or they put up half the capital. Your other group of women would put up the other half of the capital, but they would run the place. And then they would share the proceeds somewhere down the line, or they would just keep it and be building wealth over the long term.
Jhannell: I love it. Yeah, absolutely. And something else that I was also considering is adding in a property management component – so have my company come in and property manage it in the instance that they’re not living in the actual unit and if they have renters. And then ultimately being the preferred agent to sell if they do decide to sell, or help them refinance and purchase more properties. I can see how there would be several different transactions along the line.
Glenn: Yeah. And you know what the most important transaction would be? You’re an automatic partner on every property as the joint venture, because you are the one who finds the property, makes sure it’s the right property, and will assist them in renting and property managing the property. So you have a share on every single property that you buy with these women. So they’re bringing the money. You’re bringing your experience, your skill, the technical expertise. What if you could be a partner in two properties every year for the next 10 years? That doesn’t seem that crazy to me, that 10 years from now, you could be partner in 20 properties.
Jhannell: Yeah, that’s awesome. I think that that would be fantastic.
Glenn: The big challenge I always see with agents is, whenever they’re in the investment property world, some of them will buy properties, but a lot of them just go and find great deals and give them to their clients. And they get a small commission for each time they do that, but they never get to build long-term wealth. What if we just changed the game? The game is, “The reason you’re working with me is I know this marketplace, and I’m going to go and find it.” So let’s say you found a triplex. Then there would be four equal partners on it: the three people who are going to be putting in the capital and the mortgage in their name, and you’re the fourth one, the fourth partner. You’re all 25% partners, because you found the property, you manage it, you rent it, and you’ll take care of the entire property for them.
Jhannell: Yeah, love it! Yeah. Absolutely. And then that’s a win-win situation for everybody.
Glenn: Absolutely! And the whole joint venture model for investment properties is really, I think, where it’s at now, where other people bring capital, and you bring your knowledge and experience. And what if the three didn’t want to move in? What if it was just the three of you, plus you, and you were just going to be committing to buy one investment property every year? Their job was go, work hard, make more money and raise the capital, and you, in the meantime, will constantly be out there trying to find the best deals and bringing them to the group? And then you could do separate joint ventures. You could have one group that you’re partners with here, one group here, one group here. If you got really good at this, at some point, it would be so big that you could create your own real estate investment trust that would then run the whole operation, right? Now you corporate structure the thing, and now you might have 25 properties with 25 shareholders. And now you’ve got a real estate investment trust for the rest of your life.
Jhannell: Awesome! Brilliant!
Glenn: Wouldn’t that be fun?
Jhannell: Yeah, it would be fun! However, I am so curious to know, how would you suggest I now begin my marketing strategy to find these women who are willing to joint venture? It would be great if you know each other already, but in circumstances where you potentially may not know the other women, and because this, for me, is a brand new organization, what would you suggest are some strategies now that I can use to really find them, and find qualified people?
Glenn: Okay. So there are three things that have to get done here. Number one is you have to know the product better than anybody else. That’s going to be maybe 10% of your week now. Just know the product, which means in each area that you’re planning on working, you should be printing off everything that’s sold in the last three months, getting in your car, driving by, and watching the correlation between income and value, because you need to just know your product. You don’t need to know it all right now, but you need to know enough, because when you know the product, you’ll be more confident in talking about it. We all are more confident when we know what we’re talking about.
Jhannell: Right.
Glenn: So number one would be the product research. You’ve got to make sure that you know this market better than anybody else. But even if you know 10% of what you need to know right now, you’re still going to know more than the rest of the women that you’re going to be collecting, because it’s not their game. You don’t have to know everything, but you have to know enough that you could actually get this done, right? So product. Number two is, where are the women now, and what’s keeping them up at night? That’s our marketing strategy. Put yourself in the position of that woman who is sitting at home right now or lying awake at night. What’s keeping them awake at night if they’re interested in investing in real estate?
Jhannell: Yeah.
Glenn: They might be like, “Oh, well, I’m really enjoying my job now, and I think that’s great, but I also know the corporate culture, where you come and go. There’s a whole corporate dynamic that sits behind it. So what I’d like to do is take the extra money I’m making right now and start building more passive income streams.” And they’re lying awake at night, going, “How am I going to do that?”
Jhannell: Yeah.
Glenn: And then you come along. You have to plan everything not from what we think they want, but you have to go be them. And more importantly, you have to research it. So over the next month, every single woman you talk to, I want you to just share this idea with them. So they’re like, “Oh, how’s real estate?” I want you to say, “You know what? Here’s what I’m thinking about creating right now. I am going to create the Women’s Investment Network, (which is “WIN” by the way – how good is that?) and what I want to do is I really want to empower women to be as strong financially as possible so that they can serve their purpose of their life. And the way I’m going to do that is I want to get a Mastermind group of women together who are interested in investing in property and buying property together and providing for their families and their children and their future so that they can change the world at an even higher level.” And then just listen to what they say.
Jhannell: Love it! Yeah! That’s the best way to get on the ground level information, is really ask them what they are looking for and see whether or not this is something that they would be interested in.
Glenn: Exactly! And they will tell you exactly what they’re looking for. And then all we have to do is package it and give it right back to them. It’s pretty easy in the desert to sell water to somebody, because they’re always looking for water. So what’s their water? We have to find their water. And they’re going to be, “Well, I don’t really know how to do it. How much money do you need? I hear investing’s really risky.” I think they’re normal concerns for any person thinking about buying a property. “Is now a good time to buy? Are rents going to go up? What’s going to happen to the market?” That’s all just normal stuff that we can handle more in a group seminar. Or you could do webinars, or we’re recording this on Zoom right now. You could do Zoom video meetings, and you can easily have all 27 people right on your screen, all talking and sharing their insights. It doesn’t have to be formal get-togethers, but it could be also. So the market research would be number two. And number three would be to start to now target our message to gather all of those people into your tribe.
Jhannell: Right.
Glenn: So the first part is, what are you passionate about? Who are you? Bring your natural strengths to a target market, which is now going to be women between 35 and 45 (or whatever). What’s keeping them up at night is, “I want to make sure that I’m financially secure so I get more freedom of time, more freedom of money, more freedom of relationships to spend time with my kids or my family members or the people I really care about. But the most important freedom you’re going to be giving them, if we can pull this off, is the freedom of purpose and legacy, where they’re actually making a true difference in the world because their life is funded in such a way that they don’t have to work for money anymore. They can spend their life doing exactly what they were probably meant to be put on this planet to do.
Jhannell: Right. Absolutely. Oh, I love it!
Glenn: Isn’t it fun!?
Jhannell: Yeah! It is so much fun! I love that, especially because legacy-building, generational wealth is something that is just dear to my heart, so if I can incorporate that as a message, I’m sure there are going to be tons and tons of women who at least would be very, very intrigued and interested by what I have to say. So we hit the nail right on that head!
Glenn: But then we can add to it, too, which gets even better, right? You can start going, “You know what I really want to do? Part of funding all these properties and getting properties is, I want to raise $1 million a year to give females scholarships to university who might not otherwise be able to afford it. Let’s not rely on the government. We’re entrepreneurs. We’re tough entrepreneurs who are going to create more value in this world than relying on anybody else. We can control our own destiny by building wealth, and through that wealth, we can just clear that path and make it even easier for women in the future to just reach their goals, their dreams, and their aspirations. And one of the ways we’re going to do that is by either funding their university or funding their calling or funding their tech start-up. Whatever it is they’re going to be funding, the real mission of this is, we build enough wealth that we have enough to fund this, which then can change the world.”
Jhannell: Love it! Brilliant! Brilliant. Okay!
Glenn: I think that’s a bit of a worthy cause, isn’t it?
Jhannell: Oh, 100%! And I think that that also ties into what I mentioned (the whole philanthropical aspect, too). Having spoken to many women, there are women who really, really want to help in a grander way, and to present this option to them is phenomenal. You mentioned that the first thing that I should be doing, of course, is knowing my product better than anyone else, so taking the time to really go and vet some of the product and make sure I understand the income probabilities. What would you say would be my next step – my step number two? Once I am very, very confident in the product, what would you say would be my next step? Obviously speaking to women and getting some research, but perhaps some of the more logistical elements, like utilizing Facebook and social media, or starting a website, or going ahead and booking a hall to start a seminar. What would you suggest would be the next step?
Glenn: Well, I would suggest two things. One is really, in order for these things to work, you have to lead with revenue. It can’t be high cost-based at the beginning, because most realtors are under funded, so they’ll always be getting ready, building, building, building, and never actually doing it. So I would probably just rush to the second step right now, which is just start offering a weekly tour of investment properties for women. “Hey, it’s Saturday at 10am, and from 10am to 12 noon, we’re going to go out and look at five investment properties. And by the way, we know your kids are good for one of them, so I’ve got my babysitter here who’s going to take care of them, and we’re going to grab a home inspector to come along with us. Now we’re just going to go out and start touring properties, and none of you are allowed to buy that day. We’re just going out to look.”
Jhannell: Yeah. Wow.
Glenn: So the weekly tour will become a staple of your lead generation platform. “Hey, it’s a weekly tour. We do it all the time.” If you get really good at it, you might start doing three or four tours on a weekend. And it’s a social thing to do, right? Everyone’s out there, chit-chatty. Everyone grabs their coffee. “Let’s go, let’s have fun. We’ll talk about these properties.” And as you’re driving them on that tour, you’re like, “See this investment property? This one just sold for this, and this is what the rents were. Okay, now let’s go and see that property. By the way, that one just sold for this.” And as you’re doing that drive, you’re building the credibility inside, that everyone goes, “Oh my God. Jhannell knows what she’s talking about.”
Jhannell: Right.
Glenn: So then the third thing is, now how do we go after them? How do we get them? So I think you can create the Facebook business page called the “Women’s Investment Network” if it’s still available. The “Toronto Women’s Investment Network” (now we’re a “TWIN.”) Whatever the name is, just claim your naming rights right now, because whoever picks the name claims the naming rights. I would then start offering the tour. I would start talking about investment properties. I would start researching, almost like “Jhannell Edwards’ Guide to Women Building Wealth.” I mean, there are so many resources out there that you can honestly go out and find content anywhere on the web, but do your own research and produce your own content. You want it to be that if those women, or that lady who is lying awake at night thinking about investment properties, decides to pull out their iPad and search “buying investment property Toronto,” that yours comes up.
Jhannell: Right.
Glenn: And that’s where you get your lead. You can do the seminar thing. The thing is, everyone’s doing seminars, so it’s not really a big novelty right now. But there is a great opportunity to do a “Wine, Women, and Wealth” on the third or fourth Thursday of every month. That’s when you get everybody together to chat. You could, if you want to throw in some fitness, it could be the “Women’s Wealth-building Walking Tour of Homes,” right? I mean, there are so many things you could do with this. That’s what makes it so exciting. So I would be doing that. I would be trying to get your network together. So we’ve got a Facebook page that we can start doing. Instagram – a lot more Instagram, where it’s you talking, or a photo of you with a big banner: “Women Building Wealth,” and here’s the property, here’s the income, here’s the cash flow. “Retire young.” You can be doing that kind of visual, conveying your message to get people, so that when people look at it, they comment on it. And then you can do your offer right on Instagram, right? “Hey, if you want to see these five properties, the tour’s on Saturday, 10am” (or whatever the night is).
Jhannell: Perfect.
Glenn: So you’re just entering that whole zone right now of content creation and content marketing, but it’s useless unless you’re going to put some type of offer for them to reach out. Maybe they reach out to you to go on a tour. Maybe they reach out to you to meet up for a coffee at Starbucks. Maybe they join you for the Women’s Investment Network webinar that you record, and then they can listen to it at any time.
Jhannell: Oh, I love it!
Glenn: Does that make sense?
Jhannell: Absolutely. And then I do know, with Facebook, the next biggest thing (or the biggest thing right now) is, of course, creating Facebook ads, so I’m assuming I could also even venture into that a little bit to help provide more outreach?
Glenn: Yeah, and you can target them. So you have to create a business page, and then you go to advertising. You can target by age group. You can target by a postal code. But more importantly, I would be targeting their interests more than the demographic. They’re interested in Robert Kiyosaki, the guy who wrote Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant. They’re interested in REIN (the Real Estate Investment Network). There’s got to be a young woman’s professional network that you could go and talk to. You can even create your own network right now. There’s the Young Presidents Organization. There’s so many of those little groups that you can target, that if they like that, and it’s part of their profile on Facebook, your ad will go to them. So, I mean, we’ve got to wrap up. We’ve just got a minute or two so I can’t do a whole course on Facebook targeting, but you can Google it. And also, there are a lot better experts out there on Facebook targeted ads than I am, but I think this is a start. The whole point is, we know our market, and what I love about this, Jhannell, is it’s you! Who you’re looking for is you.
Jhannell: Yeah. Absolutely. Fantastic!
Glenn: You’re looking for someone who’s got the same values, the same mindset. You’re growth-driven, you come from contribution, you want to help others, you want to give back, you’re professional, you’re committed, you’re driven. Once you understand – and I think you already are pretty clear on who you are – but once you find that woman, that’ll be exactly your mindset match, and your tribe will just be a whole bunch of women who are exactly like you. And when that works, then the whole tribe grows really quick.
Jhannell: Awesome. Yeah, I love it. Absolutely. Niche marketing at its best! I think that this is awesome. I know that you have maybe 30 seconds. You don’t need to name names, but is this something that you’re seeing a lot of realtors do right now? Or is there a huge void with it currently?
Glenn: I think there are some people who are dipping their feet in it. I think there are some people who are starting it. I think there’s a massive available market. And here’s the real thing that we didn’t even talk about, is when you nail it once in Toronto, you duplicate this model in every major city in North America, because this model is completely duplicable. You just have to build the system first. So I don’t think you have a whole lot of competition out there, and you’re going to nail this. And just watch! It’s so much fun when you get into a niche. And here’s the great thing: the definition of a niche is you don’t have competition.
Jhannell: Yeah, that’s true.
Glenn: Pretty cool, eh?
Jhannell: Very much so. Well, I’ve got a lot of work to do! Holy moly! I need to go jump in my car and drive around Toronto.
Glenn: I’m very confident you’re going to pull this off and I just can’t wait to
see the results. It’s going to be so awesome!
Jhannell: Awesome. Thank you so much! I really appreciate your help and for really clearing my mind as to how to target this market, so thank you!
Glenn: My pleasure, Jhannell. Have a great day, okay?
Jhannell: You too, Glenn! I appreciate it.
Glenn: Okay, bye!
Jhannell: Bye!
