In this episode, we cover real estate business growth, leadership development, hiring strategy, and marketing at scale — including lessons from live events, real-world hiring decisions, and long-term SEO investments.

James shares his experience speaking at Investor Fuel Live in Dallas, overcoming his fear of public speaking, and why being pushed by the right community matters. He also talks about upcoming events and reflects on his unique journey, including his time overseas as a volunteer firefighter in Iraq and his final day in the fire service.

What We Cover in This Episode

Travel, Speaking & Personal Growth
- Speaking at Investor Fuel Live in Dallas
- Overcoming the fear of public speaking
- The role of high-level masterminds in personal growth
- Upcoming event in Spring Hill, Tennessee hosted by Bill Allen
- James’ personal story as a volunteer firefighter overseas and why he made that sacrifice

Hiring & Scaling a Real Estate Business
- Why feeling overwhelmed is often a sign it’s time to hire
-When to hire your first acquisitions agent
-The importance of hiring and training before hitting a breaking point
-Early hires that made the biggest impact (admin + inside sales)
-Why five appointments per week is the “sweet spot” per acquisitions rep
-Building strong follow-up systems early to avoid wasting leads

Leads, Marketing & Technology
-Switching CRMs from Podio and PowerBI to Pete.io
-How seasonality affects real estate markets like Minnesota
-Exploring national TV advertising and lead monetization strategies
-Why national advertising can be significantly cheaper than local ads
-Handling national leads through partnerships and brokerages
-Using multiple websites for local and national lead flow

SEO & Long-Term Strategy
-Why SEO is critical for long-term real estate lead generation
-The importance of domain age, trust, and user behavior
-An eight-year, seven-figure investment in SEO
-The value of owning an established, trusted domain
-Providing partners with systems and SOPs so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel

This episode is packed with real-world insights for real estate investors, wholesalers, and business owners focused on scaling systems, making smarter hires, and thinking long-term.

📲 Interested in learning more about licensing or mentorship?
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This week’s episode is a re-upload from our podcast archives, originally recorded some time ago, but still extremely relevant for real estate investors, wholesalers, and small business owners looking to scale their operations.

In this episode, we break down how fractional leadership and data-driven marketing systems can help real estate businesses grow without the overhead of full-time executive hires.

What Real Estate Investors & Business Owners Will Learn:

Fractional COO & CFO for Real Estate Businesses
- When to hire a fractional COO vs a full-time COO
- Using a COO to implement systems, processes, and EOS / Traction
- Preparing a real estate business to scale beyond $1M in revenue
- How a fractional CFO supports bookkeeping, accounting, tax strategy, and forecasting
- Transitioning internal team members into leadership roles

Real Estate Lead Generation & Pay-Per-Lead Services
- How pay-per-lead real estate marketing works
- Pros and cons of buying motivated seller leads
- Why lead quality varies and how bidding systems affect cost
- How to properly test pay-per-lead services with real data
- Insights from “Need to Sell My House Fast” lead platforms

Motivated Seller Data & List Building
- Using pre-foreclosure lists and courthouse data
- Testing data providers like Leadvine
- Differences between manually sourced data vs resold lists
- Reducing wasted spend on low-quality real estate leads

Follow-Up Systems & KPIs
- Building a No Lead Left Behind follow-up system
- Multi-touch follow-up strategies for motivated sellers
- Using VAs and agents to maximize contact rates
- Incentivizing acquisitions agents through appointment ownership
- Tracking marketing performance with real-time KPIs and CRM dashboards

Even though this episode comes from the archives, the strategies discussed are still highly effective for anyone running or scaling a real estate investing business today.

🎧 If you’re focused on lead generation, operations, or scaling your real estate company, this throwback episode is packed with value.

📲 Interested in learning more about licensing or mentorship?
Connect with our team here: homeguys.com

🔗 Connect With Us

Website:
https://www.homeguys.com/

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TikTok:
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#RealEstate #BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #Mentorship #RealEstateInvesting

This episode is a re-upload from our podcast archives, recorded quite a while back but still packed with valuable conversation.

In this throwback episode, Ben Allgeyer sits down with James Kolde for an in-depth discussion covering James’ experiences, insights, and perspective at the time. Ben leads the conversation, asking thoughtful questions and letting James dive deep into his story and lessons learned.

While this episode was recorded years ago, many of the topics and takeaways remain relevant today. Whether you’re a long-time listener or discovering this conversation for the first time, we’re excited to bring it back from the vault.

🎧 Thanks for listening, and stay tuned for more new episodes alongside these classic throwbacks.

📲 Interested in learning more about licensing or mentorship?
Connect with our team here: homeguys.com

🔗 Connect With Us

Website:
https://www.homeguys.com/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/minnesotahomeguys/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570489073765

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqRZdKG4PO88XSeXOTet05A

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@homeguys_usa

#RealEstate #BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #Mentorship #RealEstateInvesting