Hank Avink - Defining Success In Business And In Life

Voiceover: 0:00

This is the SUCCESS Coaching Podcast with hosts, Todd Foster, Alyssa Stanley and Kelley Skar. And today's guest, Hank Avink!

Alyssa Stanley: 0:13

Hello everyone and welcome to the SUCCESS Coaching Podcast. My name is Alyssa Stanley and I am here with Coach Todd Foster and Coach Kelley Skar. Today, we have an awesome guest whose story is going to impact you and is impacted so many over the years, we are thrilled to welcome my good friend Hank Avink.

Hank Avink: 0:33

Oh, you're so very kind, my friend. Thanks for having me.

Alyssa Stanley: 0:37

Why don't you kind of tell us a little bit about Hank 2021. And then we'll backtrack a little bit after that.

Hank Avink: 0:45

Hank 2021 is a husband, father, business coach. And those are my priorities. I've been an entrepreneur for 25 plus years, and I've had my ups and I've had my downs. And I'm about as happy as you could be. Life is really good right now.

Alyssa Stanley: 1:05

I'm gonna brag on you for just a minute, because you're too humble to do it yourself. To add to that you are the founder of the National Coaching League, you developed the 36 to Life movement, which has taken real estate by storm. And you're a renowned real estate coach. But this success of yours today has been incredibly evolutionary. So could you kind of take us back to hang the real estate agent when your life took like a really brief left turn?

Hank Avink: 1:36

Yeah, absolutely. Um, as you know, on my forearm, I have the tattoo math versus drama. So I'd like you to think about this math right now. We had a four year old, had just had another baby born on October 2, and we were one day away from my son having open heart surgery. At the time, I had probably, I don't know, 15 or 18 listings. My wife and I had been married only seven or eight years. So if you look at that math equation, how messed up do you think things were work 20 hour days. It was a it was a tough time. And when Charlie was born, we found out that he had a congenital heart condition. And everything changed. And everything in the world as I knew it, suddenly cease to matter. And so we found herself heading over to an arbor and in the reality kicked in that if I didn't show up to work, I wasn't going to get paid. So there's times where I had to make the choice of going to the hospital or going to work. And it was 12 years ago, I decided that I love real estate. I just didn't love the fact that I was only as good as my next 90 days. And I had to show up to do it. And I thought that there's got to be a better way. So over the last 12 years, I've been looking to solve that problem. How do I how do I help people and not have to work nights weekends and be beholden to trading dollars for hours for the rest of my life. And I'm happy to say on February 1, I actually semi retired, and let go of all my trading dollars for hours. And this Labor Day decided to come back because retirement isn't all what it's cracked up to be. And I love helping people.

Todd Foster: 3:15

I want to go back to you saying that you took some time off. And you semi retired? You and I had several discussions during that time. And you made it longer than I thought you would. What did you self discover during that time about yourself?

Hank Avink: 3:32

Well, it was hard. And you're absolutely right. And I forced myself to make until Labor Day One of my friends use the analogy. Sometimes you get to let the snowglobe settle. And let's face it, it's much easier to remain busy than to actually take a minute to let the snow settle and see, see what you're doing. Because it's what you've always done or what you're doing because you feel that you have to and really sitting in that. So what I wrote about myself was there's probably a lot that I did, just because I was so used to doing it. Give me an example. You know, it's interesting, one of my buddies Shaw, has he out of Canada said, you know, Hank, scarcity is much easier than abundance because when you have abundance, you have a lot of choices. And when you no longer have to make decisions based on money or cash flow. You look at things differently. So for example, it's odd, you know, me, I don't have much of a filter, and I don't do very well with bullshit. And I do a great job of one of my models is I care more about the person than I do us in the relationship. So I'm willing to call him as I see him. I'm not always right. You know, listen, I had had one of those conversations were where I called her out because there was more on the line than what she was letting on to. And, you know, we know quite a bit about switch costs. And I think a lot of times people don't realize what's happening Steak by them not doing what they need to be doing. And I think that's one of my superpowers is really helping people see what the choices are doing by not doing what they need to be doing. And I know I just realized I didn't even answer your question whatsoever.

Todd Foster: 5:17

I knew you're you're gonna do that, too. So I'm not surprised. Looking back on it, was it a mistake to take that time off?

Hank Avink: 5:24

I don't know, though, it was a mistake. One of the principles that I teach too is the success code and momentum is a sweet place to be. And in my taking that step back, he got me out of momentum. Yet, I think that's okay, you once said to me, one of the best things to happen to me was my non compete. And I think it was actually good to step back because it allowed it allowed some space allowed some room, because I think so quickly, if we have a five gallon bucket of water, we keep five gallons in there. And by doing some of that subtraction, I think it's allowed me to look and make decisions based on what can have the greatest impact. Because I think we get into entrepreneurship, as Glenn Sanford says, for freedom. And then once we obtained freedom, we move into purpose. And then from purpose, we move into legacy. And I think that it was important to move from freedom and a lot of pause, so that we can move into purpose or what I call impact and allow that transition to happen.

Kelley Skar: 6:25

Do you feel like you're in the purpose part of the of the equation right now, Hank?

Hank Avink: 6:31

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's kind of it kind of feels like puberty, it feels that awkward stage, because I'm going back to being a beginner in a lot of things, where it would have been easy for me to stay in the expert mode. And I think we all need to choose when we peek in, and I'm not ready to peak. So now it's going back and learning new skill sets in time on task and experimenting, you know, we're launching a YouTube channel, doing some things with products so that we can have a little bit more scalability and margins. And yeah, so it's, it's all decisions on what can have a longer lasting impact than just short term decisions on what can fulfill us today. And so it's, it's delaying that for more of the leveraged impact versus the short term.

Todd Foster: 7:19

One thing you are awesome at is keeping a schedule and sticking to it. So what is a typical day for Hank?

Hank Avink: 7:28

Today or over the last five years? I've tracked every single hour since January 1 2016, when I when I launched my coaching company, and, and so let's start there, I, I work Monday through Wednesday, nine to five, I dropped my kids off at school. And then the day starts and every hours held to an outcome. And it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to work the full hour yet holding it to an outcome. And and then Thursdays and Fridays are flex days. So if there's something that we're working on to get off the ground or something, we'll fill that in or if we were working on a new project, we'll flux into that. Yeah, what I found was most most people try to work stupid. And the interesting thing is, the less I work, the greater results that I get, because all work will expand to the time that's allowed, right? A little bowl bought from our, from our old job there. And I think when I got real intentional on on treating the days, as if we didn't have infinite time to work, the results that really started to make a difference.

Kelley Skar: 8:34

That's deep, man. How did you come to that realization seriously, like that, like going to that place in your mind and understanding that time is not infinite? And you have to make every hour every minute, every second count? What got you there?

Hank Avink: 8:47

Well, I'm a workaholic. And I'd be the happiest guy in the world if I work 20 hours a week. And yet when I look, my my family is important to me. And it doesn't come naturally to me, I'm I have to be very intentional to probably be average at best when it comes to family. And so I remember sitting on a plane and I said, Okay, what is it that I want? And more importantly, what is it that I don't want and I wanted to be down at five o'clock, I got tired of, you know, putting the finger up to my kids saying, Hey, I just got to take this call. Or you know, Lou and Johnny said, you know, the soccer game or whatever, early because you got an appointment and I didn't want to work weekends. And you know, we only have so many summers left. I've got a 14 year old, a 12 year old and an eight year old. And I blank. The other day my wife showed me a picture of my son when he was four and we were at the hospital pushing a truck. And I turned and I could smell them. I mean he's a smelly teenager right now. And I just started I just started crying because it's gonna go by way too fast. And I think in our society, we measure success. A lot a lot of people measure it the wrong way and and at the end of the day, I want to measure success by how present I could be with family then You know, when you've gone bankrupt and you've almost lost a son to open heart surgery and the challenges that we've had, it gives you a perspective where so much of the stuff that we worry about really doesn't (bleep) matter.

Alyssa Stanley: 10:13

I know family is huge to you. And it makes me wonder, what was the moment that brought you to this realization that time is not infinite? And you have to make your real estate business work for you? Was it Charlie's diagnosis? Was it something after that? What was that moment that made you go Holy shit, I have to change things.

Hank Avink: 10:33

Whether there's layers to it, right? I think when when Charlie, when Charlie was diagnosed, I looked around I was I said, I there's got to be a better way. And I looked around, and there wasn't any real good examples of who I want it to be like, in real estate. I mean, you know, in we I don't want to dig too deep in there yet. I also grew up in a funeral home. So I mean, I saw a lot of people die before their time. I've watched people retire, you know, when they're supposed to have their golden years and then get sick. And I just didn't want to do that. I mean, life's Life's too short, sound cliche. And I just didn't want to do it. So I don't know if there's a defining defining moment where that happened. I just know that I've always been one where I've known where my time is up. So for example, my my senior year of high school, I went to play AAA hockey. Why? Because I done everything that I needed to in high school hockey in it rather than be the stud my senior year I went in I was, you know, the rookie on the team, we get that get his teeth kicked in. And I've always been one who wants to get better and push themselves and not just sit there and take the easy route.

Alyssa Stanley: 11:40

So how is Charlie?

Hank Avink: 11:42

He is getting I don't know how much I could say he his father's dream and his passion. I was a hockey player. And you know, none of my kids play contact sports. So it's interesting and Charlie's a dancer and actor and he just got picked up for a SAG film. He's going to Utah. It's a it's a big picture film. He was just at the allergist today and we can put beef into his into his diet. Currently, he was allergic to beef, egg, dairy, pork, and gelatin. I mean, basically anything you can't go anywhere and the kid the kid can't eat anything so um, there's a victory there. Tessa is a spitting image of me, she's eight years old, she's fierce, she's strong. She's a little entrepreneur, she can out negotiate me every single time and then you've got Henry who looks just like me, but he's a kind soul. He's he's, you know, got that engineering type mentality. He's done awesome in gymnastics in band in. And just just a good kid, like, parenting is the most humbling thing I've ever done. And we decided, even though we're probably just figured out we would throw an exchange student a 17 year old from Azerbaijan. I still can't say, right? She's 17. She's Muslim. And she's our exchange student. And it's been awesome. Speaking of time, one thing we love about having an exchange student is we don't waste any time every weekend. We're doing something to have her experience it and selfishly The reason I said yes to it was, I know that we take advantage of opportunities much more when we have an exchange student, so I'm probably doing it selfishly because it makes us be intentional.

Alyssa Stanley: 13:40

Does Tessa love having a sister in the house?

Hank Avink: 13:45

Oh, my gosh, so much so that I have to check in with her. It's like, is she being too much? It was interesting. I went to get our basement finished for her because I think a girl having her own space is 17 was important. And I went to get a quote on it. And the quote was a huge and so my dad and I, we ended up finishing it off. And you know, it's not perfect yet. Being able to finish out that base with my dad, you know, he's getting older, he can still do it. And, and it's neat having having enough awareness that I don't know how many more private projects I'm going to get to do with my dad or my father in law. And rather than choosing more money, so for example, every Friday, my dad comes over and we do projects, well, you know that a lot of entrepreneurs would be like, well, I can't give up a whole workday that could be X amount in revenue. Well, I don't think I'm gonna look back and you know, regret doing another project with my dad or asking my father in law for help. And reality is do I need their help half the time? Probably not. yet. I love a reason to spend time with them.

Alyssa Stanley: 14:52

And I think that goes back to your personal definition of success and how you want your life to be panned out and how you want to remember it. That's huge. So what do you think helped you get through that as far as tools and because you seem like someone that doesn't, like leaned on people and run to people for advice, you seem like a self learner. What contributed to being able to get to this point now, like the number one thing?

Hank Avink: 15:23

Uh, books. I mean, when you look at, you get 10 to 20 years people's experience in Audible that you can put on one and a half times the speed. And I mean, I went back, I read The Four Hour Work Week shortly after Charlie's diagnosis, and they got 224 titles on Audible that I've listened to multiple times. I mean, when you when, you know, I'd like everyone to challenge something, whatever it is that you make per hour, write that down. And the biggest differences is, what are you doing outside of those hours that you're trading dollars for hours? Well, 12 years ago, I decided to choose all my hours outside of trading dollars for hours, to make an investment in myself. So for example, if you're making $40 an hour, and you change that to 24 hours a day, what I find is if you make the investment in yourself, and you start making better choices, with the hours outside of when you're trading dollars for hours, that can be your income within five to 10 years. I'm just doing that math real quick. So 40 times 24 times 365. That's $350,000 a year. And I don't think people understand that time on task over time, I'll be telling every single time back to what you said earlier, the show or less. A lot of people say well, yeah, but your Hank, I said, well know how much you say I'm not willing to do what Hanks did. And I had 600 flights in three years. I've tracked every single hour that I've worked since 2016. I have ADHD, I barely graduated high school. I drop F bombs, I wear my hat backwards. I'm an I don't have much of a filter, but I'm committed and I'm consistent in in that's why I win. And I help people help enough people get what you want to screw that up. Help me help enough people get what they want. You'll get everything that you want. I mean, we all know that quote, right?

Alyssa Stanley: 17:11

Yep.

Todd Foster: 17:11

How does someone win with Hank?

Hank Avink: 17:14

They're true to themselves. They just they are one with me is just be honest. Do the work. Be transparent, have real conversations. I don't do I don't do surface level? Well, I, I you know, it's funny, I'm much more of an introvert than I ever realized. And I know Todd, you argue with me on this? Yeah. At the end of the day, I just want people to win, like I get fueled by people winning. And, and how people lose with me is just by being full of shit. I can't handle that.

Alyssa Stanley: 17:45

How do you define winning?

Hank Avink: 17:47

Um, it all depends on the context that we're talking from. I mean, let's face it, adulting can throw a lot of stuff at you. So, you know, I've heard success has been defined as progress. And at the end of the day, it all comes down to an attitude. You know, even even when I'm suffering a loss, I smile, because there's a lot more growth and losses than there are wins. So I mean, learning is just having the right attitude and knowing that none of us are getting out alive. And don't take it that seriously good God, like, life's too short.

Kelley Skar: 18:21

So, for those that are listening to the podcast, or, you know, on Spotify or iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts from, right, Todd, they can't see the 36 to Life sign behind you there maybe can we dive into that just a little bit, maybe explain what that is, and get some get some questions rolling around that that program that you've got put together there.

Hank Avink: 18:42

You know, I was fortunate enough to fly all over North America coaching some of the top real estate agents for industry leader. And I read the Red Book and and I was like, Oh my gosh, this thing's awesome. Yet I kept seeing people fail time and time again with it, you know, they they'd be getting the awards, they'd be getting it. But I knew they didn't pay their taxes in two years, or I knew that their their marriage was a complete shit show. And I thought there's got to be a better way. So I started studying choices, because when you look back and connect the dots on people, you can see where they're winning and where things kind of slid off the tracks. And through doing math and a lot of different spreadsheets, I realized that the most profitable real real estate model is 24 listings 12 of which that are going to be buyers. That's 36 deals, you can do that without an assistant without a transaction coordinator. Therefore the service level never drops because you've got your hand in at all. Yeah, it's not scalable and leveraged yet. I look at everybody, you got to think big and all that stuff. But at the end of the day, I'd be happy to compare my net p&l to any of these big teams. I mean, here's the challenge with real estate is it's tough to keep things equitable for all parties on an ongoing consistent basis and 36 to life is just saying you know what? I'm going to do something that's ordinary which just selling 36 transactions, yet I can make my life extraordinary because if if you do a better job, you can raise your average sale price. And what I find is when people just really are okay with more isn't better, you raise your average sale price 10 to 25% a year, you freeze your lifestyle. And now you can start building some, some actual wealth because most real estate agents that I know they're their high income, low net worth. And it's because they get on that lifestyle wheel. They're not watching their numbers. And really, it was just a way to simplify. Getting stability to the reason why most of us got in real estate in the first place, which was freedom, wealth and flexibility. That was a long answer for your question, Kelley.

Kelley Skar: 20:46

No, it was it was perfect. And you're absolutely right man, I've coached a lot of teams, I've had a team, I've had a brokerage, I totally get that, you know, the whole idea of the you know, the the net p&l versus, you know, the GCI, which a lot of teams like to like to measure off of a measure success and stuff like that. And, you know, some of the most successful teams, it's it's really unfortunate that the business, people in business look to business leaders based on you know, real estate is the only industry that that I know of where people look to leaders in the industry based on how much they make, right? I don't you don't look at junior lawyers in a law firm, and they don't look up to the leaders within that law firm based on the money that they that they charge per hour, right? It just it this never made any sense to me and in business or real estate. And so I think when you pull back

Hank Avink: 21:36

What if we measured success at how often times we the curtain... get to say yes to our loved ones?

Kelley Skar: 21:37

Yeah, exactly.

Alyssa Stanley: 21:37

That's huge.

Hank Avink: 21:38

I mean, I can tell you the last time I said no to one of my kids, when they're like, Hey, Dad, you want to go do this? Or Hey, Dad, can we do this? Or? Or hey, I mean, at the end of the day, I look, I think our I think our values or celebrations are all screwed up in real estate, because ordinary isn't celebrated at all. And sorry, for jumping in there, Kelley.

Kelley Skar: 22:03

No, it's totally fine. I think in business overall, I mean, you know, doesn't really matter what industry you're in, if you're an entrepreneur, the problem with entrepreneur ism is that, you know, the hustle, The grind is celebrated, you know, working 20-22 hours a day is celebrated. You're not You're not winning, unless you're working umpteen hours to to, you know, fulfill whatever project whatever deadline, whatever goal you have, and, and I 100% agree with you, Hank, man, you know, my success is being able to go be fully present at my kids ball game, be fully present in the dugout while I'm coaching the kids at baseball, being able to go and sit down and watch a soccer game and not have to worry about my phone going off because it's shut off. And I'm fully present. Right. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs really should take a you know, a good listen to what you're what you're talking about here in terms of measuring success. Alyssa, I thought that was a great, a great question like, how do you measure success? Right? How do you measure success in business and life and entrepreneurs. Um, and I think it's, it's a tough thing to do when you don't know what your values are.

Hank Avink: 23:06

But I think when you when you figure out your standards, and then you create boundaries around them, and I think too many entrepreneurs are thinking too much. I think that's one reason I've been able to be successful is I don't, I don't think all that much I, I just had an outcome that I want. And then I put standards in place. And then and then when I don't get an outcome that I want to put a new standard in place, and then create boundaries around that and just rinse and repeat. And and it's really not that hard if you're willing to just put in the work and be consistent. And I think people are looking for the easy button. And they're always looking for an easier way. How would you just do the work? I mean, there's nothing easy about success, otherwise everybody would have it, it's just you got to commit to it.

Voiceover: 23:49

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Alyssa Stanley: 23:58

You know, something you taught me early on was part of part of being successful and part of success is the people that are around you. You know, when I started my business, I was like, Oh, well, I'll talk to whoever and I will take in whoever because that's what I need to do because I'm new. So tell me a little bit about that. About the people that you surround yourself with and kind of what brought you to that point of well, I'm going to surround myself with only these people that match my goal.

Hank Avink: 24:31

Well I think it started with you know Facebook is going to change what we look at as friends you can't have 5000 friends I mean when you look at I look at when a friends in need. You jump into action. And I started studying how many relationships you could actually have and all the people way smarter than me said about 120 and we've all heard this you are who you surround yourself with. So I just made decisions. I said you know, what is it that I want in life? Who do I want to be what do I want to represent and and I started to on I know you can't see this, but I have these right here. And what I do is I look at every relationship that I have and say what do they bring to the table, I don't want anybody around me who's not working on their relationship, why? Relationships are hard, it's hard. It's a lot of work to stay married and stay happy. So I want other people. And it's not that, you know, people around me can't go through a divorce yet, I want people who are willing to put in the work and, and want to be good dads and want to be good financial stewards. So another standard that I have is, if you're in my top 36 people, I can ask to see your p&l, I can ask to see your financial numbers. Because if you don't know your financial numbers, you're not gonna be able to make decisions from the right place, or be willing to take some risks when an opportunity comes up. And so every time I have a new pillar post, what I do is I look around and say, Okay, do I have the right team around me, I need a certain number of people around me when we won a national championship playing hockey. And then when I went bought 42 rental properties, but at age 22, I needed a completely different team. And I think some people allow people to stick around longer than what they were meant to. And they romanticize about relationships and what they are, what they aren't. And I think I've just got real intentional on what I want out of life and make sure that 36 of my 96 people that I'm surrounding myself with, that I bet that I can get the outcomes that I'm looking for, you know, And Todd is, Todd Todd is one of those people where we don't we talk, you know, random randomly yet. I appreciate Todd, he's, he's someone that if I have something that I'm thinking about doing or making a chess move, I reached out to him because he does know me so well. And he'll ask great questions and and I value the relationship with and you know, if you know me, I don't I don't blow a lot of smoke yet. It's it's good to have you as a friend, man.

Todd Foster: 26:48

Is that my cue to also say the same they about you?

Hank Avink: 26:50

No.

Todd Foster: 26:51

Okay. I want to get back to your struggles, we know you've had struggles. And it's easy for him to do this now. I'm not Hank.

Hank Avink: 26:58

Well, let's talk about when I realize that I can no longer be the team leader at in the market center. And I need to jump back in sales. I was I was circle prospecting on the west coast at nine o'clock at night, because I didn't, we needed to make more money because the team had a role wasn't doing it. And so I put kids down and I'd go circle prospect for Chris Heller's team. And I realized that I just wasn't going to be effective. doing that. So I decided to jump back in skate sales, and then an opportunity came my way. And it was a, it was a great opportunity. And I remember when they asked me to fly out to Austin, Texas, I didn't even have room on my credit card to buy the ticket. I mean, it was it was a struggle. And, you know, I ended up getting passed through, and they asked me to go to North Carolina, and in. So here I am faced with I'm leaving a job because I don't have I don't have the resources. And now I'm going to go travel week to week with no income. And so, you know, that was June of 2012. So from June of 2012, till January 1, I mean, I was traveling every single week. robbing Peter to pay Paul, I borrowed $20,000, from a family member maxed out every single credit card. And then I was asked to go to Fargo, North Dakota in January and launch a class. I mean, when you look at it, knowing what I know now there's no way that I should have been able to figure that out. Yet failure wasn't an option. And and I did whatever needed to be done. And I think that's what a lot of people miss is, you know, walking through the front door. In your father in law said hold on a second. And he goes and gets he goes and gets his checkbook, and he goes, How much do you need? And I remember being pissed because I thought my wife called him and he goes, No, I'm watching I have no clue how you're doing this. And he wrote me a check. I mean, he's you know what it's like one of your father in law has confer $20,000 When I mean, talk about swallowing your pride and in your your eating as much as you can when you're teaching class because you don't want to put anything else in your credit card because you're not sure if you're going to be able to book the next flight. I've been talking about doing within while doing without and, and then my my wife calling me and her saying, Hey, we got Henry deodorant today. I said, I'm done. She goes, What do you mean, you're done? I said, I'm not missing out on another life experience. And she was we just built her dream home. I said, I don't care. I gotta get home. This is crazy being on the road, and we had a one year non compete. So everything that I knew, I just start fresh and in it. And I think what pisses me off is, is people want to make excuses to why they're not doing something. Therefore they point out all the stupid things you've ever done. I've done a lot of stupid things that you know, I learned from them. And then I got I got back And, you know, I like who I am today have I did I like myself in my 20s when I was probably an alcoholic and womanizer. And, and not really. You know, in my 30s, I was doing the best that I could yet Hank, today, I'm pretty proud of who I

Kelley Skar: 30:18

You mentioned borrowing that money. That must am today. have been a either extreme confidence or extreme stubbornness, or a mixture of both in yourself. Right, not being able to rub two dimes together to even really, you know, get across the country yet you had you you had this, this vision of what it is that you wanted to do. And just so what was it Hank? Was it it? Was it a combination of both? Was it stupidity, like, what was it? To be clear, I'm not calling you stupid, I'm just saying, like...

Hank Avink: 30:50

Let's face it, there's probably a little bit of narcissism, and they're thinking that I could pull it off. And I think all entrepreneurs have a little bit of that. And, and yet, the way I looked at it was, um, either way, so what's another $20,000, but I don't want to end up, you know, I'm this close, I've got Ali said, did it all. And my father in law, you know, knowing a little bit more of the story. He been on my side more than he had been on his side. And he actually thanked me, he goes, Hank, there's, he ran a worldwide company before he sold it. And he goes, there's times we can make payroll. And there is a, there's ladies there that just wrote us checks. He goes, it was nice to be able to be on the other side and see somebody working their butt off and go for it. Man, I think it was, it was fun for him to be able to pay it back. And I mean, my father in law's like, my best friend. And so it's just, it's neat. You know, sometimes people don't want to help, but I don't know about you, one of the best feelings in the world is helping someone. And in some, you know, sometimes I asked myself, do I do it? Because I actually want to help people? Or do I do it? Because it feels really good. I mean, who cares? I mean, if you're helping people who cares what the reasoning is. And so, at the end of the day, I think if you like helping people, you also have to be willing to let people help you.

Todd Foster: 32:04

I knew you during this time. And most people around Hank, at this time would have no idea any of this was going on in his life. I mean, he, you know, we fake it till we make it right. And and So Hank, was a very good actor in this time portraying that everything was okay.

Hank Avink: 32:22

The reality was, I had super high anxiety and didn't even realize it. And through lots of therapy, and through being diagnosed with ADHD and getting on Ritalin. I mean, I was faking it, because I wanted to explode on the inside of my anxiety was making me want to have an anxiety attack. And so a lot of times, I showed up as an extrovert, because, I mean, I was like, wanting to crawl through my skin.

Todd Foster: 32:43

Yet, you also had a goal, and you saw an end to the struggle, you know, I had the same journey as you did, right? You left the job that wasn't paying the bills. And you somehow hired me to take that for you. I'm a good salesman. And looking back on that one. And, and we have a lot of the same path there yet, the struggles that you went through, when you could see the prize at the end and knew that you were good enough to get there. And so for people out there that are in the same situation, Hank, you had idea where you're going, you knew how to get there, you know what it took, many times people get lost, and don't know where they're going, or they don't believe in it, what would your advice be to them?

Hank Avink: 33:26

Um, get clear on what, what you want and then commit, you never know what the right decision is just make the right decision. So, you know, understand the math, like, I knew that being a real estate agent full time wasn't gonna give me the life that I wanted. And so it was no longer an option to be the traditional real estate agent. And so when you get real clear on what you don't want, and you don't settle, so for example, when I was done whoring around, I decided what I wanted, in a way, if I knew that I wanted somebody that can make me a better person, and someone that would be a great mom. So if I ever met someone, and they didn't have those standards, I didn't go on a second date. And so I think you get real clear and, and make decisions and then make the next right decision, and then make the next right decision, and then that make the next one and, and just do the work. I mean, I got tattooed on my hand here, we got skill, set time on task experimentation till you get a victory. And then once you get a victory, you get confidence. And then and then you just keep repeating that. And when you keep repeating that at some point, you get to momentum and you got a solid foundation yet I think people want to want to skip important parts of it like experimenting, you're going to spend 90% of your time to get 10% of the results until that switches and now here's the other challenge that people do is once it switches and they've identified the 10% that gets 90% of the results. They keep doing the 90% Why Why not build a new success code and get some leveraged income and and I think that's one thing I've I've been able to do is rather than peak and be at good. I've been willing to go backwards and that's why I have this other tattoo on here patients have a sense of urgency. I think a lot of us, I was really good with urgency yet, I often lead times like patients. And once I found patients with a sense of urgency, that's when my world really started to get huge momentum. And it's been pretty exciting.

Alyssa Stanley: 35:15

If I could be completely honest with you the first time that you showed me that arrow and the patience with sense of urgency, I could have reached through the computer and strangled your neck because I felt like, I didn't have time to be patient. Like I had family. I had a business I was trying to create. I can't be patient, I just have to be urgent. So people that feel like I felt right now, how do you like can we dive a little bit deeper into what you mean by patients with a sense of urgency? Because I think that's huge.

Hank Avink: 35:47

Well, yeah, you know, people usually have one of two things, they have too much patience, and they're getting ready to get ready, or they have too much urgency, and they're always on to the next shiny thing looking for an easier away. And you know, Alyssa, your experiences like a lot of experiences with me, as a lot of people, their first impression of me is negative because I am pretty raw and unfiltered. And I cut through the mix. And, you know, that's where the 50-20-5-1 came from was, I just needed people to not be neutral with me. And so if they weren't neutral, I was at least able to help them think or cause pause. And so when we're looking at the patient's, his time on task will be talent every single time. And yet, people quit. I mean, I look at eXp, I was there 18 months before I got my first victory, spending three to five hours a week, we were less than 1000 agents. And I just kept saying myself, I got three to five hours a week, just keep the time on task, keep experimenting. And if this thing works, it could completely change your world. And so fast forward, I mean, we've hit our freedom number, and then some, it took less than 400 hours over the course of three years to make over a million bucks. Yet, I couldn't have done that in a short amount of time, what it was was time on task over time, three to five hours a week of being intentional. And in most people are willing to wait 18 months for something to actually hit or have any sort of evidence of success. So I mean, in your situation, you say didn't have time, well, what are you gonna do if it's not working anyways?

Alyssa Stanley: 37:18

Well, it's that that feeling of instant gratification that I feel like our society all has right now. And when you start a business, you want that success, right, then when you start as a real estate agent, you want to sell that first house for a million dollars right then. And so it's really hard to imagine sitting and waiting. And but then when you put it into perspective, it took you three years to reach your goal. That's nothing. But you could have quit within 12 months, because you didn't have the patience, and then you would really have nothing. So that's huge.

Hank Avink: 37:51

Well I think that's where it goes back to the 90% or 80% they were talking about is once you identify the 20%, that makes 80% of the money bringing a new success code, bring in something new, where you don't screw up what's working, because you're going for significance, go be a beginner again. And I think that's what oftentimes people don't want to do is they don't want to go back to it being a beginner. And so yeah, it's it's fun when you start to put the equations together, it gets pretty frustrating when when you know what someone's capable of you and I talked a little bit about this yesterday is I'm having a tough time putting up with bullshit because I know what's at stake if people don't pull their head out of their rear end.

Alyssa Stanley: 38:29

Yeah. And you're very good at and I mentioned this yesterday it at allowing conversation to paint the picture of what if you don't put the work in? What's going to happen? If you stop right now? No longer do the work? What's that picture going to look like? And just in conversation, you paint that picture and it opens your clients eyes to the point of Oh, my gosh, if I don't do this is going to be detrimental. And what I need to do is really not that hard, I just need to do it. And I think that comes back to you're tracking your time and being accountable for your hours so that you can look back and say, I'm not fulfilling what I need to because I'm not doing what I need to.

Hank Avink: 39:11

And I think a lot of people don't realize that their game plan doesn't work. Any when they do the math on their game plan, it's not going to, for example, I was talking to a guy the other day was making $80,000 a year. And when we did the math and why he wants out of life like it's not gonna work. It's not going to pay for his kids weddings or college or whatever the case may be. So why don't I change something to a different occupation that has scalability and margins, and has the ability to even give yourself a chance to win? And I think so many people don't really realize that they're they're screwed before they even get started or I'm gonna go sell 60 houses this year. Okay, well, let's look at the math. You're gonna work 2000 hours go to 60 closings, which is 60 times two. So you get 120 hours, they're going to go to inspections, which is four hours four times 60. You know, you start looking at the math, and their whole game plan doesn't work for you before they even get started, because they haven't slowed down enough to see if it even makes sense.

Alyssa Stanley: 40:05

So Hank, if someone is interested in talking to you, or going over their hours 36 to life coaching, where do they go? Where can they find Hank?

Unknown: 40:17

That's an excellent question. And I'm not really sure. I'm a little bit of a mess right now. So Facebook is where I direct everybody. From a message standpoint, right now, a lot of what I'm doing is separating myself from having access in I believe that information is a commodity. So my goal right now is to give away all the information that I can. And then what people pay for is proximity or implementation. And the reasoning for that is, I'm looking for people to do life with business partners. So you know, I guess if you find yourself as someone who feels there's got to be a better way, you are willing to cut against the grain and think for yourself, and you're looking for recurring income, not just trading dollars for hours, you're looking for some leveraged income, and you're willing to draw the arrow backwards. And you think that you'd like to do business with me reach out? We'll set up a calendar link. And here's, here's my philosophy on life. If you're in relationship with me, you'll never be able to say I wasn't there for you. Alyssa or Todd, have you ever reached out to me and not found myself available?

Alyssa Stanley: 41:29

No.

Todd Foster: 41:29

No.

Hank Avink: 41:30

Never. You will not produce me. I used to say you want to work me but a lot of people I'll work me get you on I'll produce me because I think results matter. First me waste my time. I'll give you a heads up hey, this doesn't work. I'm not Google. Don't ask me that question. That's a you know, Google that stuff. I mean, that's a complete waste of our time. And some people think I'm an asked for that. yet. I want to higher level conversations a second time, I'll warn you in third time, I just want to never talk to you again. And what I find is, if you have that sort of standards, people show up a certain way when you are going to be in communication. And I found that the level of relationships that I have, because people don't waste my time. People don't message me after five o'clock, because they know that family's important to me, and it's easier for me to work.

Voiceover: 42:14

Hold up. It's time for the lightning round.

Kelley Skar: 42:21

I'm going to throw four or five questions at Hank. He's going to answer these questions as quickly as you can without thinking I know it's tough for a guy that's so cerebral, but ask him to do his best. So when are you most productive?

Hank Avink: 42:33

In the morning?

Kelley Skar: 42:35

That's what everybody says. What's your what's your favorite? Favorite season?

Hank Avink: 42:41

Football fall.

Kelley Skar: 42:43

Perfect. I like this guy already. Name one thing that you would change about yourself

Hank Avink: 42:48

My yellow teeth. I don't know why that just came to mind. Because anything that's needed changed. I just I've been working on so yellow teeth is the only thing I really haven't addressed.

Kelley Skar: 43:04

What was your worst subject in school?

Hank Avink: 43:08

All of them.

Kelley Skar: 43:09

What's your favorite cake flavor?

Hank Avink: 43:11

Ice cream cake.

Kelley Skar: 43:13

Oh, that's a good one. So good. With crushed Butter Fingers on top the ice cream sandwiches. It's so good.

Alyssa Stanley: 43:20

Yes.

Hank Avink: 43:20

Oh, but give me a steak over dessert any day.

Kelley Skar: 43:23

Yeah, I hear you there.

Todd Foster: 43:24

If you had a boat, what would the name be?

Hank Avink: 43:29

Most likely would have to do with revenue share because I think in branding, so it'd be Rev Boat or something along those lines.

Todd Foster: 43:36

What quote or saying do people spout yet is completely BS?

Hank Avink: 43:41

Hmm. I like that question. I'm gonna actually do do some journaling around this. I think that's a that's a great question. I think so many people's audio doesn't match video. In most of the people that I made their audio actually doesn't match their video.

Todd Foster: 43:56

Where is the worst smelling place you've been?

Hank Avink: 43:59

My upstairs this morning? Smelled awful. We got a cat up there? And I thought Good god, what's happened? No, actually, the worst place was I was working for the funeral home and a guy had been dead an apartment complex for over two weeks. And I was supposed to go up there. And I refused to my dad said, Well, you might not have a job. And I said, that's fine. And a firefighter on his first day got to go up and help remove this person. And they came down and threw up and it was the most god awful ride home I've ever had in my life. And I think it was at that moment I decided not to be a mortician.

Alyssa Stanley: 44:32

Understandable. Ugh.

Todd Foster: 44:34

What was going through your mind when you were speaking two years ago, and you decided to disrobe?

Alyssa Stanley: 44:41

Oh, that's a good question.

Hank Avink: 44:43

So we're at shareholders and I was gonna go up and do do a speech and then 10 minutes before I'm like no, because earlier in that day, like everybody is putting on this front they want to look good and be right beside just do the work. So Kelley, it was hilarious. I went up in front of I don't know, there's three or 500 people there. And I took off my hat and I said, Well, I've gone bankrupt, took off my shirt. I said, I've been through years of marriage therapy, took off my pants, and I had my swimsuits on. And I said, I had a kid go through open heart surgery. And then I took off my sandals. And I said, if all of you could give up looking good and being right, you'd have a much better chance of having success. And I did a 20 minute speech up there. And it was it was hilarious. It was probably one of the my best speeches that I ever. And nobody remembers anything that I said yet, they can remember being there that day. And to this day, I have not been invited back to speak.

Kelley Skar: 45:42

Oh, man, sorry, I missed that.

Todd Foster: 45:45

True story.

Alyssa Stanley: 45:46

Oh, I've just seen pictures.

Hank Avink: 45:47

It was classic.

Alyssa Stanley: 45:49

So if someone just wants to dip their toes into what you teach and what you've created, do you have courses that they can purchase?

Hank Avink: 45:59

We will, you know, if you say yes to this, you're saying no to something else. Frankly, we've put put some courses together and I haven't put them up yet. The biggest thing would be just go to YouTube. Go to YouTube. If you like the videos in you're actually gonna watch them all the way through, hit the like button, subscribe. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I I think that real estate's gonna change when, when you look at the consumer basis, I don't make any consumer super excited about paying 6% out there. And when you have an industry where the consumer doesn't love paying for the services. That's a that's a challenge. And so one of the things that I am doing is looking to build other skill sets that can transfer and YouTube is one of the things that I'm focused on. So I'm putting all my stuff on there for free. I don't think that I'm going to monetize the courses. I think I'm just better off giving the information away. And then because I mean, let's face it, you can YouTube and get the answer for anything now. Yet proximity in implementation is what people pay for.

Voiceover: 47:06

Thanks for listening. Make sure to follow or subscribe to the SUCCESS Coaching Podcast and like us on Facebook at successmagazinecoaching.