Ash Hansom: #1 Real Estate Agent in Murarrie, Brisbane

Ash Hansom from LJ Hooker Cannon Hill joins George Sourris to reveal how she became the #1 agent in Murarrie, outselling her nearest competitor 3 times over.

We cover:

• Dominating a Brisbane suburb from scratch
• Why she outsold the competition 3:1
• Building referral pipelines that actually work
• What buyers in Murarrie and Cannon Hill should know

Full show notes + links: empirelegal.com.au/blog/news/episode-19-ash-hansom

Raising the Bar is Empire Legal's podcast for Queensland property - hosted by Brisbane-based conveyancing solicitor George Sourris. Visit empirelegal.com.au or call 07 3088 7675.

Transcript

All right. Season three of Raising the Bar Podcast. I have the lovely Ash Hansom here today. 

Thank you for having me. 

Thank you Ash, for taking the time to come to Spring Hill to record this one. 

My pleasure. Thank you for having me. 

Pleasure, pleasure. So fun fact, we met in 2019. 

Yes, we did.

I believe it was the end of 2019. Yep. 

Pre COVID. 

Yep. Yep. Uh, you sold me my first house. 

I did. I did. 

We didn't know each other beforehand. 

No, we did not.

Welcome to the Raising the Bar podcast, where we story tell excellence in Queensland Property. I'm your host, George Sourris from Empire Legal. 

Despite, uh, working in the industry close by each other, we hadn't crossed paths. 

And, um, yeah, we've been mates ever since. So the last, what, six and a bit years?

Yeah. Going on seven now.

Yep. Yep. 

A while. 

So pretty much, yeah. Since you started up Empire - you were just getting going and stars aligned, and here we are. 

I remember walking through the property and I think I was on the phone talking about a building and pest or something. Yeah. And you're like, what do you do?

Yeah. We sort of took it from there ey? 

You were so on it. I remember it was like peak summer - December. It was so hot. Yeah. There was no air con. There was no windows open. It was the pits. 

Yeah. That house had no air con Yeah. Original owner of like 60 years or something. 50-60 years. 

Yeah. She'd been there since it was built. 

And had no air con that was... 

Yeah.

First thing I did was put aircon in. 

Yeah. Yeah. 

Alright. Anyway, uh, Raising the Bar. So we're storytelling excellence in Queensland property. That's the goal. 

You are excellent. 

Thank you. So are you.

And we're going to unpack some gems today. We're going to get inside your brain and extract some things for the listener, whoever they may be.

Ready to roll? 

Ready to roll.

Alright, let's go. 

Let's do it. Alright, question one - suburb expert. How did Ash Hansom build her brand to be the number one agent in Murarrie? 

So obviously I work alongside mum. 

Yes. Deanne. 

Came the business. Yep. When we joined forces, fun fact, when I got out of school, uh, I actually worked for mum since I was 13 and when I finished high school, she wouldn't gimme a job and asked that I go elsewhere.

So I worked elsewhere for about five or six years, and when we finally joined forces, we looked at dominating a market, and it came down to rinse and repeat. It's simple, it's repetition. Every time. And you don't want to spread yourself too thin. You want to be quite dominant and persistent in a core area.

So Southeast - 10km CBD, Murarrie, Cannon Hill, Tingalpa, Morningside - that kind of southeast pocket - rinse and repeat. That's all it is. It's back to basics. It's not rocket science. 

It is funny you say that. After we met through that property transaction, I started noticing you guys had a few signs on bus stops on Wynnum Road, near the Midas there. You had a sign. Yeah. You probably still have it there. I don't even know. 

It's been there for a while. Yeah, 

yeah, yeah. And it's funny, I started seeing you guys everywhere. And I remember Murarrie was sort of on the way up back then. And looking now I did a little bit of a stalk on realestate.com just last night, and you guys have triple the sales volume of the next highest amount in Murarrie. So you're literally dominating. When I said number one, I mean literally. You guys are the number one agents in the area. Not by this much, by by triple the volume. 

Yeah. We're, we're, we're grateful to be. Yeah. 

Oh, mate, congratulations. It's an awesome achievement.

I want to try and understand, how you guys made that happen? Has your mum always been selling in that area before you started with her? Tell me, how do you guys get to be number one? Let's unpack it a bit more. 

When I went to join forces with mum, she was third in the suburb for Murarrie and probably third or fourth in Cannon Hill as well.

And look, owning a business as you would know, and trying to be Director and sell and manage staff and whatnot, can spread you thin. So when we sat down, and we kind of looked at our marketing plan and what we had to do. We came up with a bit of a pie chart on basics - rinse and repeat calls, get in front of people our marketing strategy.

So we just split it up. And again, with that we just, it was just rinse and repeat. With the dynamic duo that we have, because obviously mum's a little bit more, well, she's older, and she appeals to the more mature audience. Whereas I would go more towards the young audience.

Whenever we sit in front of people, there's always someone to relate to. 

Yeah, great. 

I think what I will also praise us on is that we're quite genuine, and we'll call things as they are. You always know where we stand. There's no beating around the bush, and I think transparency and being genuine in this industry is rare and people recognise that.

Because at the end of the day, for some reason real estate in Australia or in Brisbane or, in the market that I'm in, at least, a lot of agents tend to glorify themselves and almost think that they're movie stars. And at the end of the day, everyone else outside of the industry, they don't care.

They don't care what you do, what car you drive, what you wear, anything like that. They just don't care. You to them - you sell houses. So I think being genuine and being transparent goes a long way in the industry. And I think if you look at some of the most successful people in the industry, they probably are very genuine, very transparent, and very black and white.

It's funny, pretty much what you've just said is a whole section i've dedicated to almost your superpower that we, we'll unpack even deeper. So yeah, you're, you're spot on the money there. You're spot on. Tom Panos says it doesn't he, I know he talks about, you know, saying a dentist doesn't go, did three root canals today, like hashtag winning or whatever.

Whereas it's funny, these, there is this subsect of agents that do that. Which we, we might park that, because I do want to unpack that a little bit more later, but I just find it fascinating, where they hold up the form six with the steering wheel and all that stuff. And I hate that. I hate that. 

I just couldn't imagine like us being like, got 20 contracts today. 

No, never. 

We did get 20 contracts, but that's just the business, and we don't need to show that off. It's... 

Who cares? 

You know what yet? Well said. Who cares? No one actually cares, do they? 

I can't imagine anyone scrolling on Instagram that is outside the industry and going, that's so cool.

Wow. 

Yeah. It's more like "what a flog, next". 

Yeah. Yeah. 

No one cares. 

Yeah. Yeah let's, we'll continue that shortly. Let's go back to being number one in the suburb, Murarrie in particular. I know you guys service those satellite suburbs as well. Your office is in Cannon Hill, right next to the shopping centre there.

So say I'm a new agent or maybe an agent that's certainly not a top performer, but I want to be. You've gone through it from, you know, starting green to how, how many years in industry are you now? 

This will be my 13th year. 

There you go. 

Yeah. 

So yeah, over a decade of experience. Mm-hmm. And you guys have been dominating Murarrie, pretty much as long as I can remember. 

Yeah. 

You've been there for a while. A while, 

yeah. 

Having the crown there. If you were to try and explain the strategy, the processes, what you go through, what does that look like? I know you've spoken about rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. Had Ethan Petrie on the podcast last season and his whole thing was like, yeah man, you just got to do that basic stuff often.

A hundred percent. So I'm keen to hear how you guys have built that success and what that looks like for team Hansom.

How do you do it? 

Is it relationships? Is it calling people? Is it door knocking?

Gone hard on dominating that patch, but also I've bought and sold in there twice. I live in the area. We're always around, whether it be at the shops, whether it be down the park, down at the dog park, our presence is extremely strong.

And we live in the area, we own in the area. So, it comes down to, again, rinse and repeat. It is very rare for us to not know an owner in the area. Yeah, like we've, we've pretty much been, I'd be pretty confident to say that we've been through at least 95% of the houses in there. We know them, they come to the open homes.

We have great rapport with them. Even just - it's never like a waste of our time to talk to anybody, even if it's about renovating their house and they're going to be there for the next 10 years. I always say to owners, look, you're never wasting our time because if a neighbour or an owner is willing to invest back in the house, it's only going to do one thing.

It's going to lift the suburb. Street appeal, prices, the whole lot. So I think Dee and I give a lot of our time to the community. 

Yes. 

Even if it doesn't transact for us immediately. Because it, it will in, in some shape or or form, whether it be, you know, through, they actually sell with us down the line or they're just improving their house, which brings up the street and the area.

Or they recommend someone else. It's swings and roundabouts. It'll always come backaround. We give a lot of our time to people in the area.

It's trust. It's trust. I think about you guys. 

Yeah. 

For example, that house that you sold me. You gave me renovation tips and I rung you a few times and asked for advice - you gave it.

That was awesome. I remember another time, I was driving down Garrett Street, gosh, must have been about four or five years ago now. Mm. I think I saw your guys sign like, at least four times. Yeah. In the one, it was crazy. In the one street you guys were just Absolutely. Well, you, you always are, crushing it in that area.

And I'm like, Ash, you got four signs on Garrett Street. And yet you knew. This guy's doing this, this guy's doing that, this guy's doing this. And I'm like, man, you're on it. Yeah, you're on it. 

Yeah. 

And even when we go to the coffee shop, like, you know, the people there. You are living and breathing the suburb, right?

Yeah. 

Is that the secret? Certainly one of the secrets, right? Being present in the suburb's important? A hundred percent. Being present and  relevant. A lot of the owners know the harder we push, they benefit, we benefit - because I'm a local. Mm-hmm. Um, but I think it's it, to answer it simply, it really comes down to the time we give back to the community, and rinse and repeat, and the interest we have in the area as well. And again, Just being genuine and transparent. If you're a good person, good things will happen. 

Yeah. People want to do business with people they know, like, and trust. 

Correct. 

Yeah. 

Yeah.

Yeah. And I think that that trust piece, I harp on about it on this show that that's the most important piece I believe in building longevity in business. Mm-hmm. And even the, the relationship we've built, was built off trust. Because at the end of the day, you were working for the vendor when I bought that house off you.

Mm-hmm. 

But you were honest, you were transparent. I told you what I wanted out of the property and we worked through it. And off the back of that I'm like, yep, I like this lady. And then I remember I met your mum and I'm like, I like this lady as well. Yeah. And here we go. Yeah. Years down the track, and it doesn't matter if we represent the vendor or the buyer, we've got that trust there, that you're professional and yet you're doing it for the right reasons.

Correct. 

Yeah. 

Alright, last thing then, just to wrap up, because I guess we're talking hyper-local now with the Murarrie and surrounds. Why not outside of your core area? Just to play devil's advocate. 

If you look at most successful agents, they're strong in their core areas. 

It's not to say that we don't sell outside the area or other agents don't. We definitely do, especially for clients that we've got good rapport with. You can't be the expert of all. For example, within Murarrie, there's almost four separate suburbs within the one suburb, right? So as an agent, you can't just walk into a suburb, and know it off the back of your hand. If someone looked at Murarrie for example, they're going to have no idea that one side's an actual full estate that was built 35 years ago, and one side is built back in the 1960's; and they used to perform completely set like on two different levels. 

Now they've caught up.

But as an agent coming into that area, you'd have no idea. Same with Cannon Hill, right? Cannon Hill's a completely different beast. It used to be, preference to be on west side of Wynnum Road and not so much near CHAC because of flight path, flooding and whatnot. Then you have the Minnippi estate - completely...

The American dream, right? It's own little bubble, right?  

That occurs in every single suburb, and you can't spread yourself too thin. Knowledge is everything in this industry. If I walk into an appraisal and I don't know everything off the back of my hand, especially being a female, you've already, you're already on, on the back foot. So knowledge is everything and you can't know. I'm not a teacher, I'm not going to walk into a classroom and pretend I know how to teach kids.

I'm just not the jack of all trades. So be knowledgeable in your areas, know it back to front, and do it well. 

You said four areas in Murarrie. I don't even know what they are exactly. 

Yeah, 

There's a bit near the train station that's probably different to the bit with the city views. And then I don't even know what the other two, like one's near industrial area. 

It's so different. 

And I, and I, and I lived just next door at Carina for years. Yeah. So like, I should know. Yeah. So that's the difference between being like hyper-focused and specialised in an area, right? 

A hundred percent.

Yeah. Like even if you went into Carina, you know, you've got Billan Street and whatnot, which, half the street floods, and then you've got up near Foxmont, which is stunning. And then you've got the other side. Every suburb is completely different and you're better off being knowledgeable in a small area and dominating it, rather than spreading yourself really thin. If you go through all of the top agents, they dominate in their patch. 

Yes. 

It's never spread thin. 

Yep. 

Yep. 

So I guess the tips to the guys wanting to work their way up the ranks and end up in position one, I don't want to take the words out of your mouth... 

I would always recommend to, if you're just getting into the industry, I would research where you want to be and who you want to be under.

It's really important to choose your mentor. Mm-hmm. And that's how I would come through - is choosing your mentor to bring you up. A good agent understands that anyone that is coming into the industry and has true, genuine drive to be their own agent one day, an associate's going to be with you for maybe two years and spread their wings.

So a good mentor knows that, that that's your goal. 

The life cycle. 

Correct. 

Yeah. 

Correct. And they're going to bring you up teach you what they know and, and wish you well. So I would be focusing on what area I want to get into. I'd be very, very, very specific on who I want to work for. 

Yes. 

Instead of just going cold Turkey, there's so many agencies that'll just sit you in front of a desk with a phone and a book and say, good luck. You'll choke.

There's no way. 

Oh, you'd be, you just, you won't stay there. No. No one. Cold calling, door knocking. Unless you've been shown by someone that's a pro at it and can work through the, the feeling of rejection. Most people wouldn't even last a, a, a day probably without the right coach. 

Yeah. 

Yeah. 

Uh, joining a team is probably the thing I would encourage most.

And joining the right team. A hundred percent you will go further in a team than you will by yourself. A lot of agents over the last five years are doing that. They're all noticing that they can do more, they can go further in teams. I like to think of our team as almost, you know, I play football, so, um, you've got your defense, you've got your midfield, and you've got your strikers, and everyone does their job to get the ball from one end to the other.

And if it works seamlessly, you score goals. And that's how I think of our team. So, yeah, I would encourage, choose your mentor, and go from there. And it's just rinse and repeat. It's hard work. Ah, but it can be very rewarding. It is the one, one of few jobs in the world where you don't need a degree. It's the harder you work, the more consistent you are, the more you earn. 

Yes, but it is, it's, there is another side to it, which we'll pick up in our last point for the day, which is, it's what you see on Instagram versus reality, are chalk and cheese. 

The image that is created for our industry is totally different to reality.

You know, the, the thought of this long lunches, the long lunches, and the booze. And don't get me wrong, every now and then there are events. But to be honest with you, I don't have a lunch break. I'm flat out trying to eat lunch between appointments. A lot of the time, the reality is eating lunch in your car.

Yeah. 

Or just not having lunch at all. That's the reality of it. It's not glitz and glam. It's not, you know, running around the photo shoots and being the star or the video and, and walking past the bathtub or touching the tap and turning the water on. No, it's actually scramming around the house to try and get everything together for the photo shoot, because it's not ready. Or last minute hiccups with stylists or, there's so much stuff that goes on. 

Yeah. You're not at Hellenika. No. And then, yeah. Yeah. 

Absolutely not. Would I love to be? Absolutely. But it's just not. 

Wouldn't we all? 

It's just not the reality.

And the reality is you're always on. There's always owners that are calling your phone. You can't turn off. You do put boundaries in place. I think that the further into the industry you go along, you put boundaries in place. But it's not glitz and glam. And it's definitely not how we operate either.

It's, it's hard work. It can be very rewarding, but it is extremely hard work. 

Yeah. If you, if you want to be a top performer, the behind the scenes is hard work. 

A hundred percent. 

Yeah. 

Yeah. Yep. I think anyone who watches shows like Selling Sunset and whatnot, and they get into the industry because of that perception,

are grossly mistaken. It is. 

They won't last. 

No. No, they won't last. It's completely different. 

So wrapping up that point, then. I reckon picking a patch, picking a mentor. We've spoken about mentorship a few times, over the past seasons. That's so, so, so, so important. I've seen associates in the real estate world who have had great mentors.

Who are high performers, and I've seen ones that don't.  

And the ones that do are still around, and they're either a lead agent in their own right, or they've chosen to stay in that team environment like you are saying. And they're happy there. 

Yeah. 

Because then you've got a bit of comradery. You can maybe try and take a bit of a holiday and lean on the other person.

That's the thing. Yeah. You are a product of your environment, whether it be as you were growing up, or where you choose to put your time into with work. And I think it's very relevant in real estate. You are a product of your environment. So choose very carefully. It's the most important thing.

Because it, it'll set you up for success or you're completely crash and burn. 

This is a perfect segue to Point 2, which is talking about you and your mum. 

Originally you said you were somewhere else. Yes. Spent a few years before your mum, and ended up with her. 

Yep. 

So let's go to that point in time.

What do you reckon you've learned from working with your mum? As in your core skills? Because I, I've got my opinion on Deanne, which I'm happy to share. Just super genuine, straight shooter. See what you get. 

Yeah. 

Yeah. No flashy Instagram jazz. Happy to do a bit of tongue in cheek, and a bit of a laugh.

Yeah. 

And just, I just keep coming back to the word genuine. Genuine. 

Yeah. 

And that's how I feel with you as well. Like obviously you guys are in the same team. 

Maybe we'll just kick off from there. 

Yeah. Dee AKA mum is probably the best person I know. She's patient, she's kind, she's upfront, she's trustworthy.

So working with mum has really balanced me out. It also helps that she's my best mate. Yeah. It's not to say that like in any team, you know, you don't have your ups and downs, but as long as you can move forward, and work towards a solution together. But I think the biggest thing mum's taught me is patience and kindness.

She's leveled me out in that way, and that things can be dealt with sugar rather than spice, is always what she says. In a hard situation or with a fiery client or whatever comes at you, you know, you always deal with it, with grace and kindness. You just don't get anywhere with the alternative. 

And professionalism, right? Correct. That's another thing to add into the, the Hansom "pot" here. Yeah. Is it's, there's a whole lot of professionalism in there, which is, it's a cliche, throwaway word, but in this instance, it's actually not. Like I can recall a few times over the years where your mum's called me and we've spoken through situations where it needs a bit of, you know, heavy thinking to work out a solution.

Never raised her voice. Even when we've had, over the time, we've had a few clients over the time where, you know, we've picked up the phone, we're like, what's going on? 

Mm. 

We've worked through it. 

No yelling, no accusations. No. Just to chat. And it's been, some of the chats have been pretty, pretty full on.

Yeah. 

Where you're like, mate, I don't agree with this. 

Yeah. 

And I'm like, well, that's okay. Let me tell you why we're here. And we've always worked through it. 

Again, you catch more flies with honey. Similar thing, right? Yeah. Same thing. Like at the end of the day, we've got a job to do. First and foremost, we've got a duty of the client, then we've got a job to do.

And then we've got all those partners, be it yourselves, the building and pest guys, the bankers, the brokers, whatever. And the clients, of course. We're all in this together, and we've got to get a solution. So what I love about you guys is in what, over six years, not once has there been a bust up where I'm like, man, I don't want to work with these guys anymore.

Mm. It's always been professional. 

Yeah. 

Yeah. And it hasn't always been rosy. There have been a few pretty rough deals. We've gotten through them and we settled them. 

We spoke about it like adults. 

Yeah. 

So that, that's what I see as the superpower for you guys, is that composure piece, that professionalism piece.

Yeah. It's definitely come down from her. I call her the velvet sledgehammer. You know, if it's harsh, she makes it seem nice. Yeah. So, I think to answer the question, that's probably the thing I've learned most from working alongside her. Very grateful to have the opportunity to work with your family every day.

This is third generation, so my grandparents have done it. My auntie has LJ Port Douglas, and mum. So we've all been in it. And 

and your dad's around too. 

He was, yeah. He was for 10 years. Yep. He's, he's gone back to science. But, um, yeah, it's gone through the family. And I think the entire family has always carried, you know, being genuine and trustworthy. And none of our family are about the big flashy cars or, or any of that stuff. So it's kind of just gone through the generations and, yeah, I'm very grateful to be in the position I am today. 

I reckon that's perfect, Ash. I reckon we leave that one right there. That's great.

Shout out to Deanne. 

What a legend. 

And Ash, 

thank you very much for having me. Appreciate it. It's been an honor. 

Oh, we've got one more point to go. 

Yep. 

All right. We're on to the last point, which I reckon is going to be a good one. Relatability. 

Yes. 

So we spoke a bit earlier about genuine, trustworthy, relatable.

They all sort of fit into the same bucket. 

And we're talking about your Instagrams with all the flashy stuff. And all of that jazz. You don't subscribe to that. 

No. 

In fact, what I find really cool is you guys have, over the last few years, I've seen you put a lot more energy into, call it your marketing, I guess. Where there's a few videos that have popped up, where you're almost tongue in cheek debunking that that's the way real estate is. Certainly, at least in, in the suburbs of Brisbane. 

Correct? Yes. 

Yeah. Let's talk through that a little bit. because I, it really resonates with me and what we're trying to achieve here with Raising the Bar. This is because we want the industry to improve.

Correct. 

There's a lot of cowboys, there's a lot of rubbish. There's a lot of smoke and mirrors. 

Yep. 

I want to show whoever's listening out there that it, it doesn't, it, that stuff's not real. 

No. 

And it doesn't have to be that way. And there's a, a better way of doing things. 

A hundred percent. A hundred percent.

All right, so I am a young agent. I've been watching Selling Sunset and the blokes down in Sydney that are doing all that jazz. All the fun stuff. Maserati's and G-Wagons and whatnot. 

Yep. 

And I'm in real estate now. 

If you are having an honest chat with these people, they may be listening. What are you saying to them as a agent that's not only survived a decade in real estate, but is at the top of her game and number one position in a suburb. But what are you saying to these people? Honest advice to them. 

Don't fall in to the trap of the smoke mirror. Work hard. It'll come back around. Yeah, it's interesting what's out there, um, and what people are, are portraying of themselves. But I think to go far, you've got to go far in a team, and a genuine team that you trust. And good people as well. You will burn out. What you see on, on those shows or on Instagram and the flashy cars and the lunches or whatever else you see. Whatever the per perception is, it's not real and you will burn out.

That's not reality and that's, it's not how you make money. It's, it's just, it's just not, you know, the agents that are out there that have their associate walking behind them, filming them, go through a property or, you know, the glitz and the glam or the lunches and the cocktails or the cars or what they get out and the watches.

That doesn't make you money. 

And an owner will never look at that and go, you are the agent for me. 

Rocking up in the Ferrari. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It just doesn't happen like that. It's not how you transact. It comes down to hard work.

And did that just feeds into, I know we've, we've sort of hued on this point, but I believe it is the key - being genuine builds trust. 

Every day of the week. Yeah. 

Yeah. You've Almost got these two camps, which is, I'd say the camp that we live in. Which is just genuine people doing our job, doing the best possible job we can. And then there's the, the other guys that are playing that game. 

Mm-hmm. 

I don't know, are you going to build heaps of trust with someone that comes out with all that stuff?

You just wouldn't trust it a little bit, right? 

No, no. Look, I'd say 90% of the human population or anyone that owns a home, can see through that.

You know, it's transparent. It, it, it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make money.

And look to play devil's advocate, there may be a position in, say, a real estate agent's career. Say you've been doing it a long time and maybe you've got a nice car or a nice watch and the nice suits and stuff, I'd say, that probably makes a bit more sense. I know it's a different angle, but if you are a junior that's just started and you've got a, you know, I don't know, rented G wagon and all that stuff, it's like, man, you haven't even done your time yet.

When you're the number one agent in a suburb and you want to have a few nice things, I'd probably give that a bit more leniency. Whereas someone that sold nothing pretending they're the, the bee's knees, he just... 

It will work against you as well. 

Yeah. Yeah. 

And that's area and patch dependent as well.

If I went down and sold in Cornubia or whatnot, as a younger person and had all the flashy stuff, it could really work against me, compared to some of the inner city suburbs. So I think you've got to be mindful of your demographic. 

Mm. 

But of course, if you are a long standing agent and you work hard and you want to reward yourself, absolutely.

So we're not trying to, we're not vilifying it, we're just saying it's, it's not necessarily what it may see him on television or... 

No. 

Or social media. 

No, absolutely not. No. And when you come into the industry, it's almost like a uni degree, right? You almost go through four to five years until you're really running on your feet.

There are still scenarios that pop up weekly, and you would get the same, that I have never seen before. 

Oh, of course. 

It's the nature. Forever. It's the nature of the beast. There's always weird creative things that that the human race are coming up with that, they're throwing at us. So you can't know it all.

You can only be willing to keep evolving with the industry. 

Seller's disclosure. That was a shake up. 

Yep. 

We've got anti-money laundering coming yeah, in a quarter's time. We're going to all be responsible. Not only lawyers, but agents as well. 

Yep. We're constantly evolving in the industry and getting on board and if you don't, you get left behind.

And there's some of my favorite times. I reflect upon all the different roles that I do in the business, in property law. And I love coming to say, your office. 

Maybe what, once a year, we get out there and we talk about what's coming up and how do we tackle it. And what you guys do really well, I remember we had this chat with Seller's Disclosure is, you extract that information and you build a process.  

So kudos to you and your mum. You guys built a process. And I remember, like I was involved in providing the information, and you guys went away and built your process.

And your clients had a great experience. Because you worked with the partner to get a result. 

Whereas I, I have other agents that I begged to go to their office. I actually begged them, because these guys have supported our business over the years and I know it's a showstopper if you get it wrong. And they just weren't interested. Yeah. And it was really disappointing, because, you know, we are trying to raise the bar, we're trying to do better, and I don't charge for my time for good referrers.

I'm, I'm just going to come and help you build a process, because it'll make your life easier, it'll make your client's life easier, it'll make our life easier, and everyone will have a good experience. 

And you guys nailed that. So props to you guys for.building that. 

And for your help too. Thank you.

Happy to help. Alright, let's wrap this up. One more question for you. It's called the Golden Nugget. Do you know about the golden nugget? 

No, I do not. I'm going to tell you about the golden nugget. So the golden nugget is if you could only give one piece of advice to the audience out there, keeping in mind they may be agents, they may just be interested in property.

They may not even have a property. It doesn't matter. Just Ash Hansom, your life experience. What would you want to tell the people? And you can take your time, have a bit of a think. Just one golden nugget that you'd like to share with the world at large. 

Hmm. 

Beyond all the awesome tips you've already given us.

Just to put you on the spot at the end here.

I think it would come down to you're product of your environment. 

Let's talk about it. 

Yeah. I definitely think I'm lucky in who I've surrounded myself with. And I'm, I'm lucky for the support I have, but I've also built it. I've been very decisive with who I've surrounded myself with, like-minded  people. I think you are a product of your environment, so I'm very grateful to have the people I have around me. And I'm grateful that I, I chose them. You know, you are the CEO of your own life, right? You get to hire, fire and promote whoever you want in your life. And that's how I always look at it.

Higher and fire. So fire anything that's not, you know, adding value. 

Adding value, you know, picking you up, supporting you. Yeah. I love this. 

Hire who you need. What do I need in my life? And promote the people who deserve it. You know, that show up for you, that give you that energy.

I think I'm a product of my environment, and I'm grateful for it. I'm also grateful to myself for creating that. So I think if I've got anything to give to anyone 

out there is you are a product of your environment, so be very careful in how you choose it. Hire, fire and promote.

I love that you have said a much more elegant version of a saying that my dad says that I love, which is, you lie with dogs and you get fleas. My dad says the same. Yours is more elegant. I like your one - the hire, fire, promote. That's great. 

Because, yeah, it's true. I think about younger times in my life, people that were around me and then you sort of have that light bulb moment. Usually comes from a a good coach or a mentor. In my case, my parents. I have been very lucky. I've got a great relationship with them and they've guided me. They still guide me. As a 35 year old adult, they still guide me all the time. And there have been times in life where you just have to sort of sack or fire the people that are trying to drag you down.

Yeah. 

Yeah, and it's just so important. And now. It's so important. 

I've surrounded myself with amazing people, not only in these walls here at Empire, but like my friendship circle and my beautiful wife just, it's just amazing. And I think, man, like my life's awesome. 

Yep. 

But it's not by chance. No. It's engineered that way.

It's a lot of work to, you know. Maybe you've been friends with someone from primary school, and they're no good anymore. They're not. You just got to make a call. 

A hundred percent. And if you surround yourself with like-minded people that have that, like, that drive for life to get the most out of it, it's going to reflect around you.

Whatever is important to you or whatever drive you have to get out of life, surround yourself with similar people that are like-minded. As I said, you're a product of your environment. Make it a good one. 

That is a good golden nugget. 

I like that, Ash.

Thank you. 

We are done. Thank you. I guess for whoever's out there, if you are on the southeast side around suburbs like Murarrie, Cannon Hill, Tingalpa, they are your core areas? 

Yep. 

Yep. That sort of little pocket there. Um. Uh, Ash is amazing. Deanne's amazing. These ladies know the area like no one else. I strongly suggest you get in touch with them.

They've got a nice little office right across the road from the Cannon Hill shops that you can't miss. And, um, yeah, thanks for your time. Thanks for your advice and looking forward to see this come life. 

Thank you for the honor and um, to George and Abi. The best there are out there. So thank you very much.

You've built something that you should be very proud of. 

Thanks. Thanks. It'd be cool to have you in the seat in a few years and see where we're at. 

I would love to. 

Thanks Ash. 

Alright. 

Rock on mate. Done.