Amanda Churchwell: Retiring Her Spouse Through Growing A RE Admin Company
LISTEN TO FULL EPISODE ON:
Amanda Churchill has been in real estate for 20 years and started The Churchwell Group almost 8 years ago. Since then, it has blossomed into a staff of 28 serving 10 states. Her next major milestone in the next few years is to reach $10,000,000 in revenue with a staff of 100. She also shares the success she's had being a part of Dave Ramsey's EntreLeadership program, where she was given the Momentum Award in 2019 for growing her profit by 250% in one year
In this episode, hosted by Mike Swenson, we discussed:
- How she got started in real estate and transitioned to an admin role
- Started her transaction coordination business in Georgia and currently serving 10 states with 28 people on the team
- The Churchwell Group handles transactions, listings, and marketing
- Wants to grow into a $10 million company and to grow to 100 employees
- She was able to retire her husband so he could help focus on the business and family
- She takes pride in providing staff a career that they want to stick with and for long term
- A great leader levels up in recruiting, hiring, training, and ongoing care to build a great organization.
- How she highly recommends and takes part in Dave Ramsey’s Entreleadership Master Series
- Was awarded the Momentum Award for increasing the profit in her business by 210% in one year
- Your business can grow further, faster with more people
- Look at pain points in your business, and from there, when & if you need to hire
- Her company uses a 70% capacity mark for deciding to make new hires
- Hiring and keeping the company available for growth is one of the most important things her company does
- You need a “quick win” in your business goals to build for future larger milestones
Timestamps: If You Want To Jump Ahead To Your Favorite Part
0:00 - Intro and overview on Amanda and her team
4:59 - What future looks like for Amanda
9:11- The importance of creating long term careers for her staff
12:52 - How Dave Ramsey’s program helped her career
15:37- The importance of success through others
18:47- Growing the team
24:05 - When is the right time to hire?
29:00 - Her top priorities to get financial independence
39:00 - Her company overview services they provide
Links Based On This Episode:
The Churchwell Group website: https://thechurchwellgroup.com/
Information on Dave Ramsey’s Entreleadership Master Series: https://www.entreleadership.com/
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Full transcript here:
Mike Swenson
All right, Mike Swenson here with REL freedom and today we have a special guest. We have Amanda Churchwell with the church whoa group. And she's going to share her story of how she's been able to build a large empire of real estate administrative folks that are serving real estate agents all across the country, and also how it's helping her to achieve her personal goals for her and her family, both in time and financially. And so, Amanda, welcome today. And why don't you just give us a little bit of your background before we begin?
Amanda Churchwell
Yeah, thank you. So excited to be here with you. So I have been in the real estate industry for almost 20 years started out as a licensed agent worked in new home sells, and then residential resells. And it wasn't until about 10 years ago, now, I started a family and got out of selling real estate, to you know, be home with my first daughter. And it was a year and a half later, when my former team I was on a real estate team when I went out so to speak. And they came to me with the idea of me helping them while I'm home.
Amanda Churchwell
So they needed some admin help some contract to close how and which I had not officially done as other than my own transactions. But I used to help with the brokerage contract review, teaching new agent classes, onboarding new agents, things like that I loved being involved in the brokerage. And so with that background, they came to me and you know, wanted me to help them so little did I know this was a thing out there in the world. And so as soon as I started working with my former team, or got around the office, and this was at the time about 300 agents in that office, and it really just snowballed, and then other offices nearby got wind of what I was doing, just again, having been in the industry and sort of known around the local area.
Amanda Churchwell
And it really within the first year became evident that I had a real opportunity on my hands. And so I just looked at it and said, Hmm, do I say no, because I'm full, can't take on any more clients myself, or do I start to leverage and hire people and actually build a business. And it was not long after that decision to actually build a business, I had my second baby. And then four years ago, I had a third. So we're now in year eight of my business. And you know, three kids later, a couple of moves. And we're rocking and rolling. And so that is how I came to be the church wall group that that we know it as we know it today.
Mike Swenson
Just to give people a little bit of perspective, then. So over the course of the eight years, where you're at today, how many states how many staff do you have just to help them get a picture of that?
Amanda Churchwell
Sure. And so we grew very organically, I will say that we have not done any outward reach other than to contact the rosters of the the offices we have a preferred relationship with but it's been by referral. And it's just been that organic growth. And so, Georgia is where we are where we started in Atlanta, Georgia. And now we are currently serving in about 10 states, we have the opportunity or the experience in 12 states. And we're looking to add two more states. By the end of this year, again, based on on the need and multiple referrals coming from those areas. My team right now, we are 28 of us, including myself.
Amanda Churchwell
On my leadership team, we have my director of operations, we have my director of talent and training. And then we have our client relationship specialist, who you know, takes care of all the incoming leads. And then once an agent becomes a client, you know, she takes care of loving on them. And then we have our coordinator. So we have transaction coordinators, and listing and marketing coordinators on our team. So we are very highly specialized in each of the areas that we operate. And so we feel like that really gives the highest level of service to our client to sort of separate that out versus, you know, one person trying to do all the services.
Mike Swenson
Wonderful, and we'll dig in a little bit more on that a little bit later. So talk to me then when you think about Your future. So as we think about financial independence or you know, retirement or you know, hitting whatever that number looks like, what do you and your family have in mind when you think about your financial future?
Amanda Churchwell
Oh, yeah. So one of the things that I love about what this business has shown me, or what this journey I should say, has shown me is that, you know, I'm gonna answer the question about what I want for my life. But before I do something that was just, it was like a lightbulb moment that happened in about year two or three of my business when I was hiring people, and learning to hire people. And learning to lead was actually the opportunity I could give to others, you know, through this company.
Amanda Churchwell
So the people who work here, you know, I'm not just concerned about what my future looks like, but also what their future looks like. And then by extension, what our services do for our clients live, right? Can they take a vacation and not worry about their business while they're gone? You know, can they actually enjoy their their work now? Because they're not, you know, mired down in the minutiae of everything. And so for me, though, to circle back to your question, you know, my number is really big.
Amanda Churchwell
But it's also really arbitrary. Because at the end of the day, I don't think I could ever determine how big this could grow. Right? I think that I would probably put limits on it. If I tried to define that. Now we have a number. You know, do you w ant to hear the number?
Mike Swenson
If you wanna share.
Amanda Churchwell
So I want my company be a $10 million revenue company. And so our goal right now is to be netting between 20 and 30%. profit. So you can do the math on that. And more so though, is the amount of people that will take to get there, that's around 100 people to be able to get there, you know, we're at 28. Now, that's sort of what I've written on paper, will it all shake out that way? We don't know.
Amanda Churchwell
But essentially, you know, for my family, it's about choices. And one of the things that this company has allowed me to do this year is to achieve a dream I've had since year one. And that is to retire my husband from his traditional job, bring him home and let him help take care of the family in our home and support this business that we have. And we were able to do that this year. Which is just I mean, huge.
Mike Swenson
That's freedom, right? We're talking about freedom to have him free to do what he wants to do and what you need him to do is freedom. A big step.
Amanda Churchwell
Absolutely. It is just, and my kids are still little. So I started having, you know, children a little later in life. So I've got a three year old, a five year old and my my oldest, she just turned in yesterday. And so it's super important for us that we're both here. And we both get to be involved, you know, in in that life, and plus actually like him, so I like to have him around. And so that's been a big future goal of ours, that you wake up, and it's all of a sudden, and it's not all of a sudden, right. It's been eight years in the making. But Chuck, Oh, my gosh, it's here.
Amanda Churchwell
And so you know, the next step is just to continue to grow the organization so that the opportunity is big for everyone, including myself and including my family. And part of that will be other businesses within you know, the umbrella of the church, small group as well. Real Estate Investing is something that I'm very much interested in having passive income in that regard. And then one day, my business will be passive income, right? Because we'll develop someone and raise someone up to take over, you know, that business day to day.
Mike Swenson
Yeah, and I like what you are focusing on, you know, you're focusing on the right things, because it's at the beginning, just how do I give great service to clients? And then for here, it's, it's how do you give great opportunities to staff and as we both know, in the admin industry, there tends to be a lot of turnover, there tends to be a lot of burnout. And when you and I first have had a conversation, probably almost a year ago now, you said you know, something that you pride yourself on is that you are providing your staff a career where they can stay in it, and they stay with you long term. And so we know life happens we know things come up, and we know people move on from jobs.
Mike Swenson
And so that's naturally going to happen and yet for you, the people that you have in your organization have stuck around because they want to be a part of it. They like being a part of it, and you're providing that environment for them and so you know, things that tend to to wear admin staff out nights and weekends and on call and now Having things well planned out, and you're just throwing stuff on their plate, like you're very intentional about removing a lot of those barriers.
Mike Swenson
So people like what they do, and they want to do it long term. And then from that you're gonna have people that are in mastery. And in mastery for longer, you know, it's, it's great to get to mastery, but if you get there and you're burnt out, then you're not gonna stay there very long. And so you've had some people on your team that have been there consistently a long time, and they love what they do, and they love being a part of your organization.
Amanda Churchwell
It's, you know, that's something that is an ongoing quest. to, to not only manage and monitor, but to continue to achieve that. And it's not like we haven't had turnover. But I like how Dave Ramsey says it were the people that leave or it's your fault, they left. So you, he was talking about when people exit, you know how to treat people and treat them just as good on the way out as you did when you brought them in, because it's really your fault that they left, right. And so whether it doesn't matter if they were incompetent, or if whatever the reason was, you hired them, you made that choice.
Amanda Churchwell
So it's ultimately your fault. You know, it's an oversimplification simplification of that concept. But I'm very proud that I've had people here for years, some of my first hires are, you know, still here, and that was, like I said, your two it was, you know, your one was me, your two sort of hiring, so got people here over six years, which is awesome. And so, you know, when you talk about people, it's my responsibility to continue to level up when it comes to recruiting ability, hiring, ability, training, ability, and ongoing care of your team. And, you know, sometimes we do a really good job of that. And other times, you know, we make mistakes with that.
Amanda Churchwell
And the key, I think, is to learn from that. So that you can just continue to get better, because a, it takes a lot of time to recruit, hire, and train people, but then you also don't want to waste their time, either, you know, want it to be the right fit. But yes, creating opportunity is literally what gets me out of bed every day, I was listening to a podcast this morning, they were like, you know, in order to coach your team, you need to figure out what gets them out of bed every day. And it's very clear to me like if I didn't have these people, depending on me, you know, I may not still be doing this, as hard as it is to grow a business like this. But it's also fun.
Amanda Churchwell
So I can't say whether I wouldn't if it was just me, but having everyone else here is truly what gets me going. It gives me, you know, purpose, in the sense of the again, being able to create opportunity, I'm employing people. How cool is that?
Mike Swenson
You had mentioned Dave Ramsey, and I know that you're plugged in with with some of Dave's stuff. Can you talk a little bit about that? where you're at, and I know you've you know, attended some of his conferences and things like that, I'd like to hear how, how some of his philosophies, both just personally but also in business have kind of rubbed off on you and how you operate.
Amanda Churchwell
Absolutely. So he has a division called entree leadership, and it is small business coaching, I could not recommend it more. If you are just starting out, or maybe you're not just starting. But if you are hiring people just starting to hire people, or maybe you've got a few people on your team and you're struggling and you're really having difficulty leading. That's the sweet spot of where entree leadership will truly help you in in your business. And so I really attribute master series, which is the the week long course I went to and it is intense. And it's I've been twice now. And actually last year was my second time going and they awarded me the momentum award for that year.
Amanda Churchwell
And it was because from the year before, where I went to the to the second year I went I had increased the profit in my business by 250% 2%. In one year, it was amazing. And so, you know, they asked a lot of questions, what attributed to that and truly, we spent a lot of time, you know, on hiring, and the leadership aspect, you know, they do they go over financials and, you know, operations and things like that, and I felt I had a pretty good handle. But when it came to actually, you know, diving into the leadership portion and how to really succeed through others. We hear about that a lot. And you're not using others, it's succeeding through others.
Amanda Churchwell
So, again, our heart of this organization is as we grow and as we achieve, everyone gets to grow and everyone gets to achieve right along with us and so on. It is fantastic. The heart of the people at entree leadership is just so deep, so warm. And they really do care about the success of your business. And it was extremely instrumental, you can get a coach, if you're a part of all access, and I'm firm believer in coaching, I have multiple coaches. And for different things, of course, and it, they've been amazing to me. And they're just, they're also just good fun people too. So I enjoy being around those type of people.
Mike Swenson
Yeah, and talking about success through others. You know, one of the things that, like you talked about, it's not like you're, you're using your employees for your gain, it's in a lot of ways, you're believing in them more than they probably believe in themselves, and you're taking a stand for their greatness more than they might be taking a stand for themselves. And so that's just, you know, coaching coaching one on one, right, like, if I was, you know, thinking back to my days, in high school sports, I wasn't a great athlete by any means, but, but my favorite coach was the coach, that was the hardest on me. But it was also the coach that encouraged me the most.
Mike Swenson
And it was that balance that really got the best out of me, and not that you're, you know, harping on your employees, but you're believing in them, and you're believing in their future, and their future happens to be in your company. And yet, they really love it, right. And so it's not like, it's something they don't want to do they really see their best vehicle for success in life is through the church, Walgreens, and through the opportunity that you're providing. And that's really opening up a different world for them. And that's how you see your business growing more quickly than maybe you had ideally thought.
Amanda Churchwell
And somewhere in our culture sometime back at it, it seemed to be sort of taboo to talk about succeeding and succeeding at a high level. And, you know, people were made to feel either greedy or guilty, because they really wanted to go after this, at least, that's sort of what I've experienced. And it really took, honestly, you know, entree leadership showing me you know, not to continue to promote them, but they're fantastic. But it really took them showing me that it's actually selfish, to just keep it all to yourself. So like, in year one had, I just said, you know, what, I'm gonna stop, and I'm just gonna do what I can do. And that's it. It's not right or wrong, it's just the selfish thinking, like, you're really, you have this opportunity that you can provide.
Amanda Churchwell
And if you want to make an impact on the world, then you know, you take the opportunity that you have, and you share it with others. And so, you know, one of the things that I remind myself, and we've all heard it, right, help enough people get what they want. And you'll always have what you want. And the way that works, though, is if you actually have a genuine care, and a genuine desire, desire for the people to get what they want, right? And so we have these conversations often, you know, on a monthly basis, you know, what do you want? What's your goal? How can I support you? what's not working? Well, what is working?
Amanda Churchwell
Well, those kinds of things. And so and you can go farther, faster, with more people. So it just again, I keep talking about opening up that world and that opportunity, and it's nowhere near as big as I want it to be. So I'm excited to see where we go, and just making sure that you're keeping your heart and your priorities, you know, in the right place as you grow and succeed.
Mike Swenson
Yeah, so let's, let's back up a little bit and talk about that that journey. You know, for a lot of people, let's just say all kind of the sales industry, we talk about how the way that they can get leverage in their business is through leverage, right through admin staff, and for you, like you said, you, you could have just been one person, but you would have had clients that you'd have to turn away clients that really need good service, right. And so in some ways, you have to allow yourself to grow, to be able to support the needs of the people that want to be a part of, of your organization.
Mike Swenson
And then at the same time, you also can't do at all so like you mentioned, all the staff that you had early on, you were all those staff, right. And so you had to do the recruiting and the hiring and and figure out the operations and do the listings and do the transactions and all that stuff. And so it's just naturally you figuring out Where's your niche? How can you best serve the company and then you're hiring other people to support you. Can you talk a little bit about that journey about not only is the listings and transaction staff grown, but thinking about kind of the leadership and you see other opportunities, how is that developed for people overtime?
Amanda Churchwell
For sure. So it's actually really simple. It was about pain. Where was I experiencing the most pain? What did I hate to do? That was not my strong suit, because quite frankly, whatever that is, it's not because those tasks are beneath me, there's some of the most important pieces of our organization today. And I should be nowhere near them, right? Because there are other people who were way more qualified to manage the finances to manage the bookkeeping, to really manage our clients.
Amanda Churchwell
Because a lot of times we as entrepreneurs, you know, we don't really stop to think like, Okay, well, what does that really mean? What is an entrepreneur? It's a visionary, right? It's someone who has, you know, 100 ideas a day? What about this? What about that? What about this? And so the implementation portion, usually suffers when you have a solo entrepreneur, right? Not always. But you know, in my experience, when you try to do so many things, you you have to have help, because what's going to happen is, you're going to either start making mistakes, or maybe the service level is going to go down.
Amanda Churchwell
And so you really need people to help. And so for me, I tried to look outward and go, Okay, what am I supposed to do? Right? What is my next hire supposed to be? And I settled on an assistant. And, you know, I hired an assistant didn't work. So well, I had taken zero classes at that time on how to hire. And so I found out really quickly, I needed to take a class on how to hire and you know, I've taken it three times, and I'm going to take it again. Next month, October. So, um, I think I think I remember exactly what your question is. But, you know, when you look at that leverage piece, it was what is most painful to me. And what is not my strong suit. And so I needed an and I did, I did have admin help.
Amanda Churchwell
So the first assistant didn't work out, we did a hybrid where it was actually my mom, she was an MCA, or market center administrator for Keller Williams office. And she was sort of working with me behind the scenes on some things, and then she came fully into the organization. So we did, you know, a little bit of piecemeal there, but you start with, you know, your pain point. Now, I will say, Do not hire out of pain, if you can get to 70% capacity, and then say, Okay, before I get to 100%, let's hire that next leverage piece. And you you look and say, okay, is it a system that I'm missing?
Amanda Churchwell
Is it a tool, or is it a person, and that's really how we approach every single pain point that we have, or pain points that I know, are coming. I know what it's like to be at capacity, and things are dropping around you, because everybody's so slammed, and I hate being in that position. So I really try to protect that capacity level, meaning, you know, our ability to take on new business. And I try to always be ahead of that when it comes to leveraging and hiring more people. But in the beginning, it was, what do I hate doing? We're gonna pass that off.
Mike Swenson
Yeah. And I like how, you know, that's something as we think about real estate business. So for you, you're responding to all the clients that you have when they take listings, or when they have purchase agreements that come in. And so you're kind of half a half a step removed from knowing what the volume is truly going to be. And so you have to get out ahead of that curve. Because you know, you know, when it gets to be busy season, that's not the right time to hire somebody because you need to have hired set well taken time to search for somebody decided, who's the best person, hire them, get them trained, and up and running for when the busy season hits.
Mike Swenson
And so you always have to be forward looking. So how have you developed that over time to really know when's the right time to make those hires so that your staff continue to love working for you and continue to want to be around versus saying, forget this. I'm overwhelmed. Right now I'm quitting, and I'm figuring something else out. So that's really your responsibility to look ahead and pave that road before the cars get to it.
Amanda Churchwell
It truly is. And it is an interesting dance, if you will. You You need to have a lot of data, a lot of insights into your business. So what's going on and then you can see the trends year over year. Now 2020 goes in the record books a year of its own right, but let's take 2020 I made the mistake of stopping our recruiting during the pandemic when it first started it was in April. So we started shutting down in March. And so then April, I was like, Okay, we've got to stop I just because we had three new coordinators that were sitting there with nothing, all of a sudden, because they just came out of training, we were getting ready to load them up and then fume but literally within a month, I mean, it just Boomerang came back.
Amanda Churchwell
And we had more business than we've ever had. This is our most profitable year ever. And so we had to scramble, and we were, we were two months behind. And we had clients on a waiting list. And I hate that sounds all grown on a waiting list. But it's a good problem to have. And also one that I just I don't like I don't like not being able to serve the clients.
Mike Swenson
Those agents are there. They're up a creek right now because they know they want to use you you're seeing not yet well, then what are they going to do in the meantime, they're not going to find a full time employee that they're going to say, Well, actually, in two months, we're gonna go with the church, well, that puts them in a tough spot. So you're bearing that responsibility, and kind of the, the, the the weight of that decision, and just waiting for them to be ready for you. So yeah, that's a tough spot.
Amanda Churchwell
And so I will tell you that, traditionally, again, we do use that 70% capacity mark, we know what our coordinators can manage. And not every coordinator is created equal. Some of that is due to the coordinator. And some of that is due to the client makeup that each coordinator has, right. So it's not like, okay, every coordinator has the exact client, same client count, with the same contract count, you could have one coordinator with 17 clients, and you could have one coordinator, you know, with 10, or, you know, what have you the makeup because it could be teams, it could be high volume agents.
Amanda Churchwell
So we base it on contract volume, not the number of agents that a coordinator has. So we just watch it. So we know our numbers every week, we know how many contracts, we have active with each coordinator, how many listings each listing coordinators doing, and we're just watching it. Now, I will tell you, at the level that we are now, we are always recruiting, save the, you know, April, where I made the wrong call would have known but I can accept responsibility for that.
Amanda Churchwell
Other than that, like we will never not be recruiting and building out our bench. And sometimes that looks like just having conversations with people letting them know about the opportunity, maybe we don't have a place for them right now. And then sometimes it's go ahead and and hiring because you know, our our lag time from hire, to being active is, you know, weeks long. And so by the time we get them into production, so to speak, and we've got the clients for them. So it's just a balancing act. That is you're just doing the best that you can. With the real data, though, it's not necessarily guessing it's an educated guess, if you will, but the you're looking at all the data in your company, you know, the actives, the terminations, did you lose any clients?
Amanda Churchwell
Why do we have a ton of referrals coming in? Why was there just some big class? That happens, right? Or you've got a particular coach, you know, that refers you. So that's just how we do it. It's not complicated, but you must vote. It's it's our top priority. I mean, hiring and keeping our company available. And lower than max capacity is one of the most important things that we do. So we spend a lot of time on that.
Mike Swenson
Yep, sure. Okay, so then thinking about now into the future, so you're at 28 staff, you want to get to 100, you want to get to that $10 million. Mark, what do you see between now and then as being some of your top priorities or at some of the things you're going to focus on to get that ultimate financial independence?
Amanda Churchwell
Yeah, I'm so excited about that. So we mapped it out for a goal of 2024 seven there. So it's, you know, pretty aggressive but means bringing in, you know, between 15 and 16 people a year, because we already have the 28. But, you know, what we're focused on is moving people around. So one of my mentors and coaches Adam Hogan, Rother, he, they he and Halle, his chief of staff call it just reorganizing. Right? You're just reorganizing people. And so what we're doing literally right now as we look at who we are And who in the organization wants leadership opportunity. And then we start to interview them for that I also give them on the job training, if you will.
Amanda Churchwell
So someone that we have in mind for a leadership role they're being copied on internal communication from me, so they can see what would it mean to do in this role. And then they're also, you know, asked to do certain things. So develop certain aspects of the role and send it to me, whether that's a, you know, something on an outline, or some sort of checklist or some sort of system. So we're sort of testing them out in those roles. So I think if you want to grow wherever that is, if you're looking out, then you have to do that org chart where you say, Okay, well, who will I need?
Amanda Churchwell
If we're a $10 million, you know, organization that's 18,000, you know, contracts a year, not including, you know, the listings, and how many people it take to do that, okay, then, how many peoples are going to take to manage 78, T, C's and 18? listing, you know what I mean? So you just start to build that out and back into it. And then you start developing the roles, like, it really is you a lot of times we as again, entrepreneurs or business owners, we say why don't have time, I just don't have time to do that, because I'm still doing this. Well, you're never going to get out of this unless you actually schedule time in your calendar to work on and people talk about on the business in the business.
Amanda Churchwell
I don't want to be a cliche, but you you need to be very literal about that. So where are you going? What is it going to take you to get there, and you take one piece at a time, and you develop it? Or three pieces at a time, depending on how many staff you have, we're developing two different roles right now that are that are going to be in our top leadership level. So that's really I mean, maybe that sounds super simple. But that's really all it is. It is not complicated. It's just more of what we're already doing.
Mike Swenson
So when you're planning for the future, what does that what does that time look like for you? Is it Hey, guys, I'm taking the afternoon off? Or is it I'm taking two days off from taking a week off to get away? Like when do you schedule in that time to be able to plan and look ahead for your business? Because you're I mean, you're rattling off numbers, you know, what 2024 is gonna look like? How many TCS? How many listing managers and all that.
Mike Swenson
So it's not like, Whoa, 10 million would be a nice number of revenue to have? And we'll probably get there. It's no, here's what 10 million is, and, and here's all the things that we have to do to get there. So how did you come up with that plan? Or kind of When did you find bits and pieces in your schedule? Or did you just say, I'm taking a week, and you figure that out?
Amanda Churchwell
So it actually started with that arbitrary number i a coach asked me a few years ago, you know, what's your number? What do you want? Now? I personally want to million dollars in the bank for my, my personal and that will come? That's not going to come in 2024? necessarily? I mean, I get, you know, look, I don't know, I'm not gonna know, universe. But, but no, so there will be a, you know, 20 year plan to build that personally. But in my business, for me to get personally to 10 million, I, you know, I think my business or at least you know, the amount of cash that comes from the business and whatever other business I develop, and create, you know, it's gonna fund investments and real estate investments and things like that, right.
Amanda Churchwell
But specifically, the business, a coach asked me the number and I just liked 10 million, it really was arbitrary. So I would encourage everyone not to get necessarily caught up in that. It's just, I needed to pick something to calculate on. And I just really liked that number. I felt it was attainable within a few years time. And so that's how we did it. And then from there, you know, I just looked at it and said, Okay, what is that going to take? And how much do you actually want to keep? Have that 10 million, right? So when it comes to planning, all of that was done, probably over a couple of coaching sessions, I have this legal sheet of paper where I actually hand drew it out.
Amanda Churchwell
There's like lines and circles of all the people and boxes and all that now we have it, you know, on a pretty little org chart digitally, but I plan that out a few years ago, and then got really serious about it, you know, in the last two years, to be honest. And so now my director of operations and I, we meet every single day, in the morning, we do what's called a huddle, but it ends up being usually about an hour. And we use some of that time, most days of the week to plan our future. It's so we started off by she goes first, what questions do you have?
Amanda Churchwell
What are the immediate needs for today? What can I answer for you today? We get that out of the way. And then it's Alright, here's the big picture here. The conversations I'm having this week here the opportunities that are coming to us. Here are the roles that we need to fill. And then from there, she takes us and organize it takes it and organizes it, and disperses, you know, various tasks to where they need to go, some of those stay on my plate, and she has to really, you know, smack me around a good bit and make sure that I'm staying on on my priority there.
Amanda Churchwell
It is a con, it's not a don't, we are talking about clearing some time for me to just do. But quite frankly, I personally, the way that I accomplish things is when I have someone and we are bouncing things off of each other, and we just check it off right then and there. So that's whether it's Megan, my my director of Ops, or whether that's a coach, I'm doing things in real time, pretty much on a daily basis.
Mike Swenson
And as we say, done is better than perfect. So it starts with the $10 million number, then you're sprinkling in some other things. And then worst case scenario, you can always adjust it, you know, you could make it 20, if you want, you could make it five if you want. But if you don't have the 10, you don't really know where you're gonna go. So you just got to come up with something adjusted. And obviously, the something you're not just, you know, throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks.
Mike Swenson
You know, you're you're thinking realistically, and what I like you saying is it was attainable within a few years, you know, because sometimes, you know, we may have this plan for world domination, where it's, you know, a bajillion staff and to bajillion dollar, three bajillion to this, and then all sudden, it's, it's you, it's hard to connect the now to the future. And it just seems so unattainable not that you can't get there. But But picking something five years from now that it's like, Okay, I think we can hit that. And, and if it takes, if it's a year sooner, it's a year or two later, that's less relevant in the long run.
Mike Swenson
Because then you can always make a new goal, when you hit 10 million, you could then look up and say, Okay, how do we get to 100? million? Or how do we get to 20 million, but at least you're starting with something, and it's helping you to see the future ahead of you versus being completely foggy? and not knowing where you want to go?
Amanda Churchwell
Yeah, I think so it's not about limiting it at all, I'm not limited to 10 million, I want to get to 10 million by 2024. Okay, so you need to have some wins is the same thing, going back to Dave Ramsey, when he coaches on personal finance, the reason he tells you don't worry about the interest rates on your debt, just worry about the smallest balance first, because you need a quick win, right? So for me, it was having a director of operations in place that would leverage me, this year, we got our client relationship specialist, aka salesperson in place, so that I am not the one now taking care of all the cells.
Amanda Churchwell
And then we of course, have our trainer and recruiter already in place. You know, and that next level will be another, you know, a coordinator, manager, if you will, and then we'll have a director of expansion and growth. And so it is those winds that I can see, okay, that got when I made those key moves. You know, last year, it put us in place for what we were able to accomplish this year, which is our best year ever. And, you know, you just take something that, you know, in my mind that you can achieve, but it still scares you and makes you you know, really have to work for it. I mean, 10 million or 18,000 contracts a year. I mean, that's who can fathom that, you know, in one place, but it's scary and exciting all at the same time. And I just cannot wait to see know what we're able to do.
Mike Swenson
So yeah. Wonderful. So before we close here, how can folks get a hold of you? What's your your plug that you want to give to people that might be watching this and looking for that administrative leverage or people that just resonate with your story and want to create something within real estate that's not in listings and transaction management? What, you know, how can we how can we get ahold of you and how can we support you?
Amanda Churchwell
Yeah, thank you for that. So the Churchwell group provides leverage to realtors to increase their business. And the way we do that, sort of our core belief around that is taking as much of the agents played as we can, so that they can continue doing their, you know, revenue producing activities, going on appointments, writing contracts, you know, getting to closing right. And so, we handle transactions listings marketing, our website is thechurchwellgroup.com, thechurchwellgroup.com and you'll see the church wall group and then you know, if you want to reach us, there's the email address their info.
Amanda Churchwell
If you want to talk about business and schedule a call with me, [email protected] you can reach out. I do encourage you to use the info email as much as possible in case you don't get me as quickly that way. If you if you send it to info, my team will pick that up. But certainly would make room. You know, for someone who was looking to grow a business, reach that next level. And if you want our services, just reach out. We'd love love to help you.
Mike Swenson
Yeah. And if they're if they're not in a state right now that you currently serve, you're certainly open to the conversation and figuring out.
Amanda Churchwell
Absolutely, yeah, we have a very detailed process of launching a new state. So don't be put off by that. If you know, and quite frankly, I don't even know if all of the states are listed on our website that we do. But just reach out no matter what state that you're in. And if it's something that's an immediate need, and we don't serve, we have a huge network of other transaction coordinators and listing coordinators around the country that we would handpick someone to refer to you.
Mike Swenson
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate it.
Amanda Churchwell
I loved it. Thank you for having me.
Mike Swenson
All right. Thank you.
