Morgan Carey Entrepreneur, prop tech founder and father

The Compassion Equation - what our sick loved ones need to know

morgan@rew.com (Morgan Carey) — Sat, 09 Aug 2025 13:51:00 -0500

“Leave it to my autistic father to use math to explain compassion.” ~ Ariyah Carey, with a loving smile. I have rarely been able to make my words match my feelings. I know what I want to convey in my mind and from my heart, but when I try to share it with others, it often doesn’t land. My language only seems to make sense to me, and I often cannot make sense of the language of others—especially when it comes to feelings. I can’t teach people to understand how I think, nor can I seem to learn how their minds work. It’s frustrating. “Math is the language of the universe.” ~ Neil DeGrasse Tyson There is one language, however, that can be taught. That can make sense. Neil would say it is a language that is true whether you know it is true or not—a language that is not invented but discovered. (And yes, I’m aware that many folks feel about math as I feel about words and feelings.) Bear with me. I promise this math is easy. Backstory: My wife is sick. Very sick. And she is the love of my life. Eight months ago, she was diagnosed with stage 4 mantle cell lymphoma. A few months later, while awaiting clinical trials, another devastating blow—she was also diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. (We don’t even really talk about the constant skin cancer from the radiation treatments from her past bout of Hodgkin's Lymphoma.) She’s a 10/10 sick every day of the week and twice on Sunday. (Sunday is a metaphor. Any day can be a Sunday.) My wife is a good person. Those who know her think of her as kind, caring, compassionate, giving, thoughtful, patient, and considerate. (This list could go on forever, but hopefully I’m painting the picture. ) Lately, she’s been struggling with what I can only describe as a crisis of identity, and I want to help her, but I don’t have the words. So I’m turning to the language I understand best instead. Perhaps I should ramblesplain a bit more (that’s not even remotely a word, but I feel I need to explain, and I do tend to ramble on). Her crisis: She’s not herself (her healthy self) when she’s sick. Here are some examples she struggles with: She wants to make plans, but she feels really bad when she makes commitments in a moment of higher energy, only to have to cancel them the day of because she can’t even get out of bed. She gets overwhelmed by outreach. So many people love her and want to reach out (texts, calls, emails, DM's). Oftentimes, it can be way too much for her to keep up with, and she feels really bad when she does not reply. But she literally can't. Sometimes she can't even see. (I feel this way too, which is why I often make posts instead, so that people have one single spot to share love/comments, and we can engage with our amazing community and friends when we're strong enough to do so. (Note, we love your support. We love your love. Please just understand we rarely have the energy to engage these days.) She has massive anxiety during treatment due to the side effects and risks that come with R-CHOP, Ibrutinib, and DHAP. She’s afraid her hair won’t grow back, and that she will lose her hearing and her eyesight. Her anxiety manifests as impatience with the nurses and hospital staff (sometimes even anger). She’s worried I won’t love her when she’s done with treatment. We see the nurses for a few hours per day for a few days every three weeks. I’m by her side every day and night. I’m the one she loves and trusts the most. Oftentimes, that means I’m also the receiver of her panic, pain, and anger. She’s afraid to die. Of course she is Who wouldn’t be? She’s 46 years old and she loves life (more than most, I’d say). She has so much more she wants to do—places to see, people to meet, wine to drink. She wants to see our youngest graduate. She wants to hold our future grandchildren (who she insists must call her a ridiculous name like “Bon Bon” or some such thing—Grandma is too basic for this lady). We’re here for you. You don’t need to apologize Whether it’s the nurses, doctors, her mom, or me—friends, kids, or extended family—whenever she is struggling and being hard on herself because she is not 100 the person she knows she can be when she’s well, the answer is always the same: You don’t need to apologize. But no matter how many times we say it, she’s still so hard on herself. She worries that deep down, she’s done irreparable harm. And I think I know why. She’s thinking that we see her as a healthy person—her old self, the person she remembers herself to be, who she identifies with. She wants to see herself that way. The reality is she is sick, and that changes everything. The compassion equation: I’m “almost there” (just need to ramblesplain just a bit more). Here is what I’ve learned about myself and observed in others through this process. Whenever anyone I love has been sick—be it my wife, my kids, my friends—it is not “tolerance” that I feel or that I see in others. It is true compassion. As I reflect on my life, I’m somewhat surprised. I don’t see myself as a particularly compassionate person. Hell, I’m barely a tolerant person at times. I expect a lot from those around me, and I don’t tolerate abuse of any kind. But when someone I love is sick, it’s like I’m able to access a completely different modality. None of my rules or my boundaries apply. And so I’ve come up with this equation to make sense of this phenomenon. It’s helped me to reconcile what seemed at first to be a dichotomy, but as I’ve thought through it, is a lot simpler than I realized. Here is the equation: C = 1 - (1 / S / L) Where: C = Compassion (the amount of compassion a person is capable of having towards another) S = Sickness (a 1–10 scale of how sick you understand someone to be) L = Love (1–10 scale reflecting the amount of love in your heart, which can change based on the person you are engaging with) Expressed as a . Example: Carly is at a 10/10 level of sick. Morgan loves Carly 10/10. Plug it into the compassion equation: C = 1 - (1 / 10 / 10) = .99 What this says is simple: Because of how sick Carly is and how much Morgan loves her, Morgan is capable of 99 compassion. Put another way, there is quite literally nothing Carly can do or say that won’t be met with compassion. What about your healthy kids? How are we so capable of putting up with SO MUCH SHIT from them on a daily basis, you might ask? Well, let’s use the compassion equation. Baseline compassion for our kids: Our kids aren’t sick at all: 1. We love our kids unconditionally: 10. Plug it into the compassion formula: C = 1 - (1 / S / L) Compassion for our kids: 1 - (1 / 1 / 10) = 90 Thus, no matter what these little stinkers do, we somehow put up with them. We have no choice (though my kids have definitely tested my last 10—how about you?). These are extreme examples (wife and kids), but this works in understanding other interactions in the world too. Take, for example, the nurses at the hospital. I like to think that human beings, on average, have some baseline of love within their hearts. Let’s say it averages a 5. But what made a nurse become a nurse? It’s likely because they want to help people, which means they likely have more than average love in their hearts. So we’ll call nurses a 6 on the love scale (assuming you’re a stranger). Taking my wife's case, they for sure know her level of sickness is a 10, and thus we get this equation: Compassion for my wife (no matter what she does) = 1 - (1 / 10 / 6) = 83 What does this suggest? You would have to do something pretty darn awful to cross the line of compassion with these nurses. They understand where you’re at, how you feel, and they have love in their hearts. You don’t need to worry that they can’t handle you being impatient or snappy for 5 minutes of a terrifying 3-hour chemo appointment. So when Rachel (or Rachel) or Jennifer or any one of those amazing, loving people say, “Don’t worry about it, we understand, and we’re here for you,” you can believe them. :) (Is it possible that you get a nurse who isn’t compassionate?) Sure, you can Let’s do the math. Someone comes in all the time faking sickness, and you’re really not sick (they know it), so you’re a 1 on the sick scale, if that. And they have been dealing with folks like this all day (rude, aggressive, inappropriate)—maybe their love meter for these folks is worn down to a 2. What happens then? C = 1 - (1 / 1 / 2) = 50 They half want to help you and probably half want to punch you in the face. :) (Any of my nurses out there relate? (You don't need to say anything, I got you) The extreme opposite And finally, let’s test the most extreme opposite: the hateful people in this world. To them, everyone is 1/10 sick (they don’t care to know). And they are 1/10 in terms of love in their heart. For them: C = 1 - (1 / 1 / 1) = 0 People like this, while rare, exist (the “Donald” or “Vladimirs” of this world). If it’s not about them, they don’t care. They have zero compassion or capacity for compassion for others. So that’s the math—for me it works. It helps me understand why, in some circumstances, I am less tolerant and compassionate than others. I don’t love everyone the same, and I expect more from someone who is otherwise of sound mind and body. But when it comes to those who are sick, I truly believe that we are wired for compassion. Will this article help my wife understand just how “okay” it is for her to be whatever she needs to be right now (and that we will love her just the same, no matter what)? I sure hope so. Final thought: In this equation, compassion can be 0 but it can never be 100. We’re all human—but that’s what makes human equations so beautiful.

What glamorous work travel actually looks like - PS Air Canada Sucks

morgan@rew.com (Morgan Carey) — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 07:41:00 -0600

This is my most recent itinerary: I've been invited to speak at the Luxury Real Estate Conference in Cannes France. The conference is on Wednesday, with an evening cocktail on Tuesday. Living on Vancouver Island, and having to contend with the horrendous service of Air Canada, I decided it was safer to go over to Vancouver (YVR)the day before. I should not have to do this (in an ideal world I would just fly from Nanaimo at 6:30 AM the day of but Air Canada from Nanaimo is just so unreliable I can't risk it. So I'm forced to go an entire day before and pay an extra $500 for a hotel room in the airport. The weather is not great, so I am taking an early harbor air flight. My flight leaves at 11:30 AM PST On "Sunday".For the rest of my itinerary, I tried to make sure I booked flights that had good gaps / layovers to avoid stress and also ensure even if there were delays, I should be ok right? My first flight should have border at 9AM and I would have landed in Toronto around 4PMMy Toronto flight boarded for Munich at 6:45PM (I had 2:45 mins to work with and it only takes 30 mins max to walk from domestic to international) There is minimal security. Should be fine right? Then my Munich flight, I am flying to Nice, which is in the same terminal (no real security) so it's 10 mins away. I had almost 2 hours between landing time and departure time in Munich. I should have landed in Nice, France around noon n Tuesday. (My cocktail hour was at 6) Solid itinerary, right?

Duo Lingo Challenge Pays Child $5,580 and teaches valuable lessons

morgan@rew.com (Morgan Carey) — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 09:51:00 -0500

Lessons from a $5,580 Duo Lingo Challenge Do you love to learn languages? I know I do It's fun, challenging and since my family travels so much it also makes visiting other countries even more fun. I use Duo Lingo... it's hands down the best app out there (currently studying Spanish). It was actually my youngest daughter Ariyah that turned me on to the app. Many of her friends at her school were using it and they were bragging about how many days their streak was, what their ranking was, and all sorts of other really healthy and positive sentiments. Gamification really works When I saw how into Duo Lingo these kids were I thought to myself... hmmm I think there might be an opportunity here to take advantage of this fun trend and use it to sneakily teach my daughter some additional life lessons, build some really good habits and have some fun at the same time. How the duo lingo challenge works: The rules are pretty simple... You have to complete at least 1 lesson on Duo Lingo every day. For each day that is completed within a 30-day period, you get the dollar value of that day. Day 1 is worth $1, day 14 is worth $14 dollars all the way up to day 30 is worth $30. At the end of a month if she can stay consistent and never miss a day she ends up earning $465 If you miss a day, that is where the "streak" ends, and you get paid whatever amount you made it to. For example, if you only made 5 days and you broke the streak you would get paid: 1+2+3+4+5 = $15. If she is successful and makes all 30 days the counter starts back at 1 (day 31 = $1 and it starts all over again). I helped her create a spreadsheet and over the course of the year (the BIG goal) is she could earn $5,580 if she never misses a day. What I'm really trying to teach my daughter using Duo Lingo She's learning languages... which is AWESOME And she's having a lot of fun doing it. Comparing with her friends, sharing her results, giving out little rewards via the app. It's already pretty great. But there are some additional lessons that I've built into this challenge (lessons about entrepreneurship) that are the real end game for me. Valuable business and life lessons like: Time blocking / Time management Consistency drives results The value of compounding Being accountable How to forecast

A 3 year path to the rule of 40 for Proptech (get realistic or fail)

morgan@rew.com (Morgan Carey) — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 11:02:00 -0500

How to think about your next 3 years in pro-tech if you want to raise or sell. I wrote this blog in the hope that I can help some of the emerging prop-tech companies understand the current cycle of real estate and how they might want to think about their business over the next 3 years. This article is especially relevant for entrepreneurs looking to raise funding or secure an exit (ie, sell) their prop tech businesses in the next few years. The real estate market SUCKS right now Sales volume and units sold are down pretty much everywhere. High-interest rates and no inventory are creating the perfect storm of terrible for Realtors® and this is leading to many agents leaving the business. For those that remain, (agents, teams, and brokerages) they are battening down the hatches to weather the storm. What this means for prop-tech companies is that right now it is going to be EXTREMELY hard to demonstrate much growth since the spending profile of Realtors® on tech tends to almost perfectly match the market. When times are good, they spend When times are bad, they look for cheaper solutions and stop spending on anything but critical infrastructure. In short, now is a really bad time to be a start-up or struggling company in prop tech, as things are only going to get harder for the next 1-2 years. The rule of 40 - a must-hit metric to maximize your exit or fundraise. Anyone who is at all serious about raising funds or existing their business needs to understand the rule of 40. It's where you need to get to if you want to sell your business or raise money at a good valuation. I'm placing this first since not everyone is familiar, and for those that are, it's a reminder that if you're not there, you should not be thinking of selling or raising funds. Simply put, the rule of 40 states that the combination of your growth rate and profit margin (typically we use EBITDA). Investors in prop tech will look for companies who can achieve this metric as it indicates a healthy and sustainable business that is well run and has achieved product/market fit. If you're small (say under $5M in revenue) then the rule of 40 should be much easier to hit (since any growth will show us a much higher of revenue) but you may be re-investing all your profits into that growth. My recommendation is to have a small operating profit ie 5-10, show that you can pay yourself, and then crank the growth as high as possible wise since this is what investors or acquirers will look for. If you're starting to build up some size/scale (let's say $5-$10M which is a decent size for a non-funded prop-tech company) then growth can be a bit harder. When I say growth I mean organic growth, not growth through acquisition. So maybe you're able to get 25-50 top-line growth YOY. In this case, if you're over 40 growth, it's fine if your EBITDA is low to nothing since the reason for it will be obvious: you're re-investing those profits to drive the growth. Perfectly natural. But if you're not well north of 40 growth, you better be showing a profit that makes up for it. Now if you're larger (north of $10M annual revenue) like my company Real Estate Webmasters Inc, the numbers get a bit trickier. At this size, adding what would be considered a large amount of net new revenue (let's say $1-$2M in net new after churn revenue) might only amount to a 5-10 lift in growth. So at this level, you really need to be able to demonstrate that you are running a strong business that has a healthy margin established. It's the inverse of the small scenario - you need to make up the vast majority of the rule of 40 in profits. My advice: Tank your revenue now and stabilize profits Tank your revenue? Sounds crazy right? Not if you think it through. Let me explain. If we can agree that prop tech spending follows the trend line in real estate AND that real estate is going to continue to suffer through 2024 then it makes sense that we adopt a strategy that not only allows us to survive a down market, but also that we look towards the future and work towards where we want to be 3-4 years down the line when the market has recovered. And where is that? We want to be at the rule of 40 Here are the steps I think prop-tech companies should take: These are the actual steps I'm going to take with my own business, so hopefully you know I'm right here with you. I've thought a lot about this (and spent a lot of time speaking with our own leadership, other leaders, and advisers. Tank (BAD) Revenue: I know, I know I said "tank revenue" but I think we all know that's not what I meant. What I really meant was tanking "bad revenue" which I will define here as revenue that was gained at low to no profit (or worse actually "costs" you money to have on the books). We all have bad revenue: Sometimes it's a partnership with too high of a rev share. Sometimes it's a quid pro quo advertising deal or sometimes it's a high profile customer who promised to promote the heck of you and help you grow (and they haven't) and they have such a discount and are such a drain on resources that they actually cost you money. LET THEM GO You need to get rid of any bad revenue. Now is the time. If it's not profitable then it should go. Full stop. There is actually an important reason I'm suggesting this and it's not just because it's a smart idea to make sure you get paid for your work. Think about it. The goal here is to intelligently get rid of as much revenue in 2023 as you can so that your revenue is as LOW as possible as a "starting point" for the next cycle. You want 2025 or 2026 to show "high growth" right? It's a lot easier percentage-wise to pull it off if you start with a lower number. That's just math. Now is the time (you have an excuse, the market took a dive, and so did your revenue). It's a good story. But when you look at my planning graph below, you'll see why this makes sense. I want to reach the rule of 40 when it's realistic (3-4 years from now) and if I start at a much lower number, then it is much easier to show steady increases in revenue over the period. (BTW investors will really only be looking at 2023-2026 by the time 2026 rolls around. (screenshot of my actual forecast graph) Eliminate bad vendor contracts/partnerships: Do you have any contracts that you can cancel (without penalty) or that have expired that are not generating a positive ROI both financially and from your time? I know I do. These often come about because we entrepreneurs are mad scientists and we want to "try everything" We also don't always pay attention to every dollar when times are good (does this sound like you?). The net effect of this can sometimes mean a lot of partnerships or platforms that we're paying for (in either time or money) that we aren't even using, let alone profiting from. Start from the top (the most expensive) and work your way down. Software is a great place to start. For me, this was salesforce.com - it sucks (we had big ideas for it, but once we started using it, we realized it was just a big, expensive, complicated POS and our own CRM is actually better for our needs). Our contract is up this summer, we served notice and did not renew. boom $50k+ straight to the bottom line. And I save on all the salary (programmers, sales admins, etc that I needed to have on staff just to run the damned thing. So overall, I'm likely putting $150k in pure profit back to the EBITDA line. I am willing to bet there are a bunch of small, medium (and large) software expenses that you're not leveraging well and could easily be replaced by something cheaper (or don't need to be replaced at all). Get into the weeds (And do it now, monthly savings compound). Another example? Rent Do you have too much space for your business? Do you even need an office at all? We own our own buildings (and almost everyone now works from home), yet my company is still paying rent and expenses for these buildings (at one point around 25,000 square feet). Sure it's me paying me (kind of a passthrough). But you know what would be MUCH better? If a third party was actually renting the space and they were actually paying the expenses and we realized a net profit on rents in my other company AND removed an expense on REW's P & L. I already completely leased out one of our buildings (reducing REW's expenses by over $300k per year AND generating a net profit of over $225,000 for our real estate company) and I'm about to put another one up for least in order to do the same thing again. We still need "some" space since we have staff who really do love to put on the suit and come to work. But if I'm honest with myself (and I check my ego at the door) we only need 1 floor of 1 of our buildings since only 8 or so people really ever come in anymore. So we'll go down to around 5000 sq ft which on the books should save REW another $175,000 per year AND generate that same $175,000 for our real estate company in actual revenue. Did I just "increase" Real Estate Webmasters profits by $475,000 AND increase true net profits for my commercial real estate company by that same amount? You bet I did Don't lose your great people (trade-in advertising instead) A huge mistake many companies make is they automatically start looking at their staff costs as the first place to cut. Now I am all for cutting "non-productive" people who are not engaged (that should always be done, regardless of the market conditions) but if you have amazing staff that know your business inside and out and they work hard - no matter what you need to protect them They are your best asset and you will need them more than ever now. They are also critical to taking advantage of the upswing once the market turns around. So my advice is to cover their salaries with advertising/marketing dollars. Advertising is easy to get back. You can always write a cheque and get exposure/leads. Great people are irreplaceable. So right now, if there is no one spending money anyways (because let's face it there isn't) then cut the advertising spend That will free up the budget for you to be able to retain your awesome people AND it will also increase your EBITDA since you are now saving on your P & L. Less advertising does mean less business though, and so it's important to have a conversation with your leaders and individual contributors about why you're doing this, and that you're going to need to lean on them and their talents to help generate new business (or new revenue from existing business) by using sweat equity and relationship building. If you do it right and are transparent with the current state and what the plan is (show them a post like this perhaps) they will be excited to be a part of a well-thought-out plan, and they can end up generating as much (or more) revenue than the advertising spend that was cut. It's critical not to scare your people though. They need to feel safe and that these changes are part of a well-thought-out plan, not because the company is in trouble and their jobs are on the line. < If they think that, no matter how much they love you and working for you, they have to start looking for a new role out of self-preservation. So make sure you let them in on the plan. Lean into ROI: DOUBLE SPEND, QUADROUPLE TIME This post is not just about cost-cutting. There are things you absolutely should NOT cut. And that is anything that gives you a minimum of your target ROI. Let's say you are targeting a 20-25 EBITDA margin (like my example below). If you have anything that has that ROI or better, you really should be doing "more" of it. (not less). Examples of this for me are things like: PPC (Pay Per Click): We get a great ROI on Adwords (I'm going to double our budget) SEO (Search Engine Optimization): < Here is where I use my people since we're an SEO company, so we don't have a third-party cost AND our talented people can be contributing to our success as per my recommendation above. (screenshot of REW's SEO report for tracked keywords) Social (not paid social): Once again, my people are awesome and so having them help promote the business on social gets us a great return with regard to exposure and new business. Events: (Only certain ones) - there are a few really great events that are a must-attend for us that give us great exposure and ROI. But do not (I repeat do NOT buy their sponsorship packages). There is not a single event in real estate right now that provides a high enough ROI right now to justify their ridiculous sponsorship costs. Let the big companies buy the sponsorships (and waste their money), you should be spending to bring 1-2 of your very best people (best networkers, outgoing connectors, salespeople whomever that is for you). Get cheap flights, look for hotel deals and spend as little as possible. Some additional tips on events: - Don't spend on dinner when coffee with a client is just as effective. - Commit to 12-16 hour "work days" (and have that talk with your staff). Conferences are not paid vacations and every person there must understand it's a marathon and you must take every opportunity you can. If they aren't "default positive" about making the most of an event, and they take off for "me time" during the conference, you have the wrong person on the team. Conferences are expenses and you need to get an ROI. Besides, there is plenty of fun to be had "in conference" (the prospects and clients are already wicked fun). - Stay away from other vendors: there is nothing worse than your staff having all their time taken being "pitched" on partnerships by other vendors. Train them to politely say "I'm here to generate x client opportunities. I'm sure your product is amazing but I hope you can understand I'm required to go work the room. Feel free to email me details on your product, here's my card". - Get creative (on a budget): At Inman Las Vegas, the team went to Target and for less than $100 we were able to create our own photo booth that clients and prospects loved. We received many likes, social shares, and comments and we also are tagged along with very influential people in the business. Fun right? It showed effort and cost almost nothing. Try to think along these lines. (Stacie Staub and Greg Fischer at REW Homemade Photo Booth) What happens when you lean into ROI with the double spend / quadruple time method? You'll actually find that this process ends up completely replacing any of the value and revenue you were worried about losing by canceling bad contracts and reducing low ROI advertising. That's how you are going to stabilize your growth for 2024, and create enough cash on the balance sheet to re-invest in 2025. That takes care of 2023-2024 (tank the revenue, strengthen the profits) Now let's talk about recovery and growth. If you've done as I've suggested above and you continue that process throughout 2023 and 2024 (while the real estate market is down) then you should be sitting on a healthy pile of cash (from EBITDA). Sure, you're growth has flatlined, but remember, that was intentional and is as per the model. You did that in order to be able to make it through the downturn and be in the position you are going into 2025. And what is that position? A company that retained all its great people, accumulated cash, eliminated any waste or non-ROI relationships and patiently waited for greener pastures. All while building a much stronger business based on best-in-class fundamentals and discipline. So where are we in 2025? There is likely a LOT less competition for your product as many companies will have failed in your space (they didn't read this blog and take this advice) AND since it's not a start-up / investor-friendly market, new startups are likely not much of an issue. You've survived and continued to build your name and your brand. The real estate market is shifting in the right direction. Now that the downturn is shifting, there will be an automatic lift to your business since Realtors® will once again be on the hunt for positive ROI services of their own in order to take advantage of the changing tides. Now is the time for you to start leaning back in Remember that process of identifying the best ROI advertising. We're going to double down again The next step (at the same time really) is slowly, but methodically adding to your sales force so that you can not only handle all the additional inquiries that are coming from the market shift, but also you need to go back through your database that you have been slowly building during the downturn. Those that were "great product, but not right now". Go close them Bit of a brain dump I know (I will probably come back and clean it up later). But I do hope it's helped some of the up-and-coming prop tech folks (or maybe even the veterans out there) think through the coming market. If you saw this on social somewhere, by all means, share your thoughts (and the post while you're at it). And if you're in prop-tech and needing some advice (or looking to sell) I'm always up for a quite chat on social, or perhaps a call schedules permitting. Just let me know :)

LeadingRE APAC in Bali, Indonesia - Morgan Carey

morgan@rew.com (Morgan Carey) — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 18:49:00 -0500

As I head home from a fantastic visit here in Bali Indonesia I am filled with gratitude. The country is so beautiful and its people are simply the kindest most attentive culture I have encountered. I was fortunate to have my wife Carly Carey join me on this adventure and we have seen so many epic places. Pristine beaches, a monkey forest and a Hindu statue that seemed to touch the sky. This great adventure was made possible by an invitation for me to speak here in Nusa Dua by Leading Real Estate Companies Of The World (LeadingRE). My topic: Human Assisted Artificial Intelligence and search engine marketing for real estate. One of my favorite subjects. LeadingRE Global Events: (A must-attend) If you have not attended a LeadingRe Global event you are missing out on one of the most amazing networking opportunities in the industry. Every event I have been to so far I have left feeling the same way. "That was the best global networking I've experienced anywhere". The people are so friendly and engaging, and they are clearly here to make connections to further their business. Far more than other global events for brands that I attend which seem to be more about having an excuse to have a "good time" and write off a trip. I think it might be because LeadingRE is a referral network and so connecting in meaningful ways is in their DNA. It's also a credit to my friend Chris Dietz, LeadingRE's president of global operations, and his all-star team. What you can expect to learn at APAC (and other Leading RE Events) Networking, Networking, Networking I can't stress this enough. People are here to learn about your market and to truly do business with you. That means sending you referrals Global market education: This is one of the main highlights for me. There is a tonne of content on the various markets. How they are performing, when to invest there, challenges and most importantly you get the inside track on investment opportunities and how to leverage them. (I'll be buying in Cyprus now....) Coaching: There is great content on sales and marketing. Specifically focused on working with a global audience. This is critical in my mind as anyone with experience will tell you, cross-border real estate transactions are a different breed and handling them well from contact to close is critical. Friendship: I have made so many great friends through LeadingRE (and I make new ones every time I attend). Epic locations: Bali? Ummmm yes, please I've also been with them to Amsterdam, Lisbon, and several other epic locations. Next we're headed to Dubai A lot of fun We take ourselves seriously during the day. Yes. But make no mistake... once the learning is over for the day, we go out and HAVE FUN We played beach volleyball, soccer, went for beach walks and went dancing. The bottom line. You need to come (It's so worth it) Like many of you, I travel a lot and need to prioritize which conferences I go to. - How many people will attend? - What will the ROI be? - How long are the flights? - What is the monetary cost? And there are certainly far less expensive conferences to attend that are much closer. BUT....... This conference is worth 10 or more lesser conferences in terms of value. Not just for monetary value (but you WILL get referrals if you engage), but also for how the content will expand your mind (and skills), what the connecting does for your heart, and what the traveling does for your soul. And if you're fortunate enough to have a spouse you love (as I do), it's an amazing way to share the real estate portion of your life with them and they will truly enjoy it as well. I hope to see you in Dubai

Learning to play music - Looking back at how far

morgan@rew.com (Morgan Carey) — Sat, 04 Feb 2023 09:53:00 -0600

I often talk about how much I value social media platforms like Youtube or Facebook because they allow us to publish a record of where we were at that time in our lives. You can always go back and find an amazing memory, a kind moment, a feeling. It's like an online gratitude journal. Memories show us how far we've come. The other thing I love about social media memories is we can look back at where we were and see how far we've come. I was never a piano player but decided to pick it up late in life. I came across this memory from 4 years ago (learning the song Zombie by the cranberries) and it made me happy. Not only does music have the gift of instantly being able to transport you back to a moment, but I am reminded of just how far I have come in my journey learning piano. Back then I remember being frustrated that I was not "good enough" "fast enough". I just wanted to be able to play If I am to compare my playing now to then it is significantly different (I've gotten much better because I kept playing and did not give up). But I do remember wanting to sometimes (because learning a new instrument is hard). This post is a reminder to myself (in all the things I'm struggling to learn now) that if I keep at it, and put in the effort I WILL get better. And you can too. So if you love the vision of yourself being amazing at something.... You'll get there So keep it up

AI For Real Estate - will artificial intelligence change how we market?

morgan@rew.com (Morgan Carey) — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 12:40:00 -0600

Will AI Change How We Market In Real Estate? Does anyone else feel like AI's moment has finally arrived? Will artificial intelligence finally become a valuable tool in marketing and in our lives? With all of the hype around ChatCPT, it certainly seems that way. As I sit down to write this post, I am reminded of Morpheus in the Matrix when he said ... "We marveled at our own magnificence as we gave birth to AI" It was an epic moment that captivated a generation. If you've seen the movie though, you know how that ended up for them. Is AI about to end the world of marketing as we know it? Definitely not. But this seems to be the fear of so many marketers out there. AI is somehow going to replace humans and our place in the marketing ecosystem. "AI will not replace your role in real estate marketing, a human USING AI will". Without a doubt, this is a far more likely scenario. The appeal of AI is undeniable and its use cases are so vast that it has already created such gravity, it is now unstoppable. So for real estate marketers (and marketers in general), the race is on to understand this powerful new technology and leverage its capabilities in order to beat the competition in a whole new game. AI is an almost level playing field Because AI is so new (especially leveraging applications like ChatGPT) the clock has been somewhat reset in terms of competition. Everyone has a new chance to be first to market in terms of leveraging artificial intelligence. The David Vs Goliath Challenge / Opportunity in AI Intuitively most readers would assume that larger more well-capitalized vendors/companies would have a significant advantage when it comes to the adoption of artificial intelligence since (in general) they have more sophisticated technology & marketing teams and much larger budgets than individual agents or small teams/brokerage. Keller Williams or EXP is certainly Goliath in this sense. However, their size is also their weakness. Historically large companies are bogged down in bureaucracy and incredibly slow to implement anything (let alone a brand-new, poorly understood type o marketing). An imperfect plan that is actually executed is better than a perfect plan that never happens. This is where agents, teams, and smaller brokers have their opportunity to win. The decision tree is typically a department of one And so all you need to do is decide to do it, then do it Easy enough right? Where do you get started with AI in real estate? That is the million-dollar question, isn't it? First, you do need to learn a little more about AI and how it works. More importantly, you need to understand its risks and limitations so that you are prepared to properly implement the use of AI without making major blunders that could impact you negatively down the line. Risks of using AI for your marketing. The following is a list of risks you must be aware of when using AI in marketing AI's information is often time limited. This means it is not necessarily as current or accurate as you might hope. ChatGPT for instance is mostly trained on data gathered before 2021 and so certain statistics or data points it might render may no longer be valid or accurate. So be sure to check any stats or numbers suggested. May generate incorrect information: This is especially true when you ask it to generate articles or writeups with limited information. It is CRITICAL (especially if you're using AI for generating listing writeups and the like, that you review and correct all inaccuracies. They will happen and this can lead to some serious compliance issues or even lawsuits. May violate search engine TOS: Search engines such as Google have publicly stated that relying solely on AI-generated content for your website, blog or any other online publication IS a violation of their spam guidelines. They consider it machine generate content (spam) just like any other machine-generated content. So if you are planning on using AI as a quick fix for you SEO, just know that a heft penalty could be on your way. And this could be quite difficult to recover from. AI-generated content IS detectable: While an individual piece of content looks well written and is quite impressive... you only need to run AI a few times before you start to see the duplication, the repetition, and the obvious patterns emerge in the content. It's really not as slick as you think. As such, it stands to reason that if YOU can easily spot the repetition, a search engine can easily do the same with their billions of dollars worth of data parsing technology. Also, AI programs themselves have stated they often plan to embed a digital signature in order to detect use (and abuse) of their platform. 5 great ways to use AI in real estate marketing Now that you know some of the ways you should "not" us AI / artificial intelligence in real estate marketing it's time to start thinking about some ways you "can" use it. Here are some great ways to get started: 1: Create an email campaign: If I had to guess, this has been on your list for a long time. Am I right? And you probably haven't done it because you don't feel you're a great writer, a perfectionist, or you don't have time... or (insert excuse here). With ChatGPT you can have it done for you Just tell it what you want it to do. For example: "Write me a series of follow-up emails. These emails should be friendly in tone and no more than 200 words per email. These emails talk about how I (Morgan Carey) am a real estate agent. I specialize in helping people get their homes sold for the most money in the least amount of time." - That's it Let it do its thing. Your mind will be blown 2: Do research (Save time): In real estate, one of the most important content categories is area pages. And half of the time it takes to write/produce high-quality pages is researching each area in detail and coming up with interesting points to talk about. Have ChatGPT do this for you. "provide me a list of 10 interesting things related to the city of Nanaimo for an article I'm writing on Nanaimo Real Estate." You can then take this content and rewrite it in your own words (careful not to copy and paste). Ensure you add your own flavor and local expertise or commentary to the content so that it comes across as authoritative and has your own unique voice. 3: Suggest FAQs: You're sleeping on FAQs, aren't you? I bet you are FAQ or "Frequently Asked Questions" are a content type that google LOVES It's also a really easy way to flesh out your content and make it more helpful. These can be a huge boost in search engines. So what do you do? ChatGPT, please suggest 10 FAQs about the town of Youbou in British Columbia. BAM you get a list. Now again, this is all about getting research and ideas. (Do NOT copy-paste). What you should do is pick the best FAQs you think are relevant, and then rewrite them in your own words. The same with the answers. Take the time to write it out in your voice, in your words, and add any additional information you feel would be helpful and relevant. 4: Write better listing descriptions: Some agents are REALLY bad at writing descriptions for their listings. You can use ChatGPT and other AI tools (openAI or other) to write, or rewrite your property descriptions. We need to be honest here. AI is "generally" a better writer than most of us. So go ahead and use it for listings. But be sure to check for accuracy (this is bold for a reason), and of course, ensure you provide it with all the most important details of the property so that it can include it in the listing description. "ChatGPT please write me a description of this property. It is a single-family home in the neighborhood of South Jingle Pot, it is listed at $5,000,000 and has 6 beds and 9 baths. It is just over 10,000 square feet and has a gym, a music room, and 2 epic kitchens." 5: Edit/fix your articles: Don't have a masters in English? To be honest, we ALL should use Grammarly.com (and pay for the full edition, it's such an amazing tool. (I get nothing from them, but they deserve a shout-out because it is one of the best products in the world for marketing. But if you don't want to spring for Grammarly just yet, you can use ChatGPT or other services to give you feedback and help you edit your content for spelling, and punctuation, make grammar recommendations, etc. Example: "ChatGPT, please check this article for spelling errors, correct punctuation, and suggest edits that can make it flow better" And there you have it You've started to explore the exciting world of AI Because it's new, PLEASE use it with caution. Don't take an inch of awesome and spread it into a mile of spam. You don't want a million blogs or a billion area pages. You want 10 really good content pillars, well supported and "AI-enabled" not AI produced. And remember this quote: "AI will not replace your role in real estate marketing, a Realtor® USING AI will". If you'd like to discuss this article, join our forums. I've started a thread on AI for real estate marketing here.

Inman New York 2023... Will it ever be the same after COVID?

morgan@rew.com (Morgan Carey) — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 02:56:00 -0600

As I prepare to leave my hotel room here in Barcelona Spain after speaking at the luxury real estate symposium (which was AWESOME) my thoughts turn to my next event. Inman New York 2023 It's a bit of a grind to there this time (no idea why I did it this way, I guess I'm just a travel masochist) My route to New York is: From Barcelona to Frankfurt > Frankfurt to Vancouver > Vancouver to Nanaimo I land in Nanaimo around 3 PM, and I fly out at 6 AM the next day (15 hours to change suitcases, kiss my wife, snuggle my dogs, give my daughter the Manga I bought her in Spain) and... hopefully sleep a few hours before I have to leave again. Inman New York, will it ever be the same again? That is the question I'm asking myself.Inman used to be one of the best events in the industry. EXPENSIVE.... But awesome When you went there, you were guaranteed to meet hundreds (maybe even thousands) of really great people in real estate, and maybe (just maybe) if you put in enough effort building your brand and relationships you might end up on the big stage where the exposure (used to be) HUGE I think my most significant moment in Inman New York was taking the stage with the one and only Barbara Corcoran and Brad Inman. (What a wild ride) It was clear there were thousands of attendees there, everyone was engaged and the value as a partner and sponsor was huge for our company. Fast forward to post COVID Inman: I have attended 2 Inman events post-COVID. Inman NY 2022 (though we stayed off the property and did mostly meetings) and Inman Las Vegas 2022. Inman was NOT the same Inman New York was the first time I had been to the new location (The Hilton New York). I didn't stay there, but I visited the hotel. I didn't love it... (great location though). My perception was Inman New York was clearly a shadow of what it once was. There seemed to be almost no people around, and the feedback from my friends and colleagues was that it seemed to be the worst-attended Inman they had been to. On the sponsor side, one of my competitors (who is also a friend) shared that he even sent his team home early as it was so dead. Not a great start.... but since it was post-COVID, I thought perhaps it was just that people are still afraid, or not traveling. Maybe all events would be like this in 2022? Not so.. many real estate events were AWESOME in 2022 Some of my favorites were LeadingRE (Vegas and Portugal), RISMedia CEO Exchange (Washington DC), RE/MAX Europe (Canne France) even NAR in Orlando (which got hit by a hurricane) still ended up pretty good for us. So I can't say 2022 was "lame" for events or seemed to suffer too much from Covid. But Inman's hangover seemed to persist. Since I did not sponsor or attend much of anything in NY, I thought let's give Vegas a shot. We decided to sponsor a small booth (again VERY expensive compared to other conferences) and we attended Las Vegas. First, let me say that I HATE that Inman is in Las Vegas in July / August. Who does an event in Las Vegas in the summer??? Gross And Vegas is super overdone... but I get it. Cheap hotels, easy to get to, cheap flights, etc. But why I really don't like events in Vegas is because there is way too much distraction. Vegas is fun (especially at night) and it tends to lead to conference folks sleeping in late, showing up late.... or not at all. Inman Las Vegas was DEAD I am so glad that we did not do a bigger sponsorship. The vendor showcase floor was so dead that literally, the only people we talked to were other vendors (and the only conversations we had were with each other about how quiet it was and what a huge waste of money the overpriced sponsorships were). I told myself then and there, unless something changes, I will never sponsor Inman again. (At least not Vegas... PLEASE move it from Vegas) Headed To New York with hope in my heart. If Inman was so bad in Vegas, why are you going to New York? You might be asking that (or you might have already left thinking I'm just an Inman-hating rage monster and left already) but please don't misunderstand. Hating on Inman is not the purpose of this post. Truly Inman has in the past had a major (positive) impact on my business and has been great for making friends and connections. And New York has been (in the past, not more recently) THE kickoff event of the year for real estate. So as myself and my team travel to Inman NYC, we have great hope in our hearts that it will be far more like the Inman of old. Where people are engaged. They are motivated to connect. Where they "attend" the showroom floor and meet with the vendors (those people pay WAY too much money, please visit their booths, you might just find exactly what you need). As I said, we're not a sponsor (and we won't be until we see sustained change and Inman adjusts their prices to be more in line with their competitors and the diminished value of the events of late). But we are attending. And we have a plan B: (Let's lock ourselves in a room and map out our entire year of marketing) Our core marketing group Myself, Amy and Elianna have rented a suite, and we have committed to spending our entire time (plan B) working on our digital assets, planning out our events, redesigning parts of the website, and a bunch more important marketing items. So we'll "make the most of it" if Inman NYC sucks as hard as Inman Las Vegas did. But plan A? It's to network the s@t out of New York. I'm hoping that Realtors® will be back I am hoping the Inman will be back (As I said, Inman NYC used to be "the best") But either way, myself, Amy Perlman Pye, and Elliana Fajilan are going to make the most of it We have a suite at the Hilton and we are looking forward to having client meetings, having friends drop by, meeting with prospects, and using this event as an opportunity to plan and kick off 2023's marketing right If you're down with a meeting, want to a do a new professional headshot, want to shoot some great video content or you just want to hang.... hit me up on LinkedIn or Facebook and let's connect. I'll be posting a recap of our experience post-Inman NYC for those vendors interested or thinking of attending/sponsoring future Inman Events. And for the Inman folks who may be reading this (and did not ask for my advice lol) Here are a few things I'd love to see change... 1: The luxury event was awesome when it was in Beverly Hills and stand-alone. It should go back that way. Combining it was Vegas is no Bueno. 2: Reduce ticket prices. 2023 is going to be a HARD year for Realtors® Now more than ever they need to save money and reinvest in their business. If you do this, way more Realtors® will attend which will make the event much better for the Realtors® and the vendors. 3: Same goes for vendors. The price needs to change. Sponsoring is way out of reach for struggling vendors (especially when no one attends the floor). Do 2 and then 3 and you'll bring massive value back to the Vendors and they will start sponsoring again. 4: Find ways to ensure the Realtors® actually engage with the vendors. Doesn't have to be rocket science. But make it fun. Offer a raffle for free tickets to the next event for people who sign in at the vendor booths. Have some of your "celebrities" available on the show floor to draw people in (remember the Gary V signing? That was great But do it ON the show floor Make it a benefit to the vendors. 5: Change up your speaking lineup Ryan Serhant is awesome But how many times is he going to be on the stage? Compass Compass Compass? They have a hard road ahead. Rifkin's a great guy too. But Inman covers them to death, and they are circling the drain. Sends the wrong message. Realtors® need leadership, encouragement, actionable ideas, and inspiration. Anyways, that's my rant. I'm cautiously optimistic, looking forward to spending time with my marketing team either way, and I can't WAIT to see so many of our Realtor® friends this week. To connect: Morgan Carey FacebookMorgan Carey LinkedIn

Barcelona Spain My first conference of the year. LRE Luxury Symposium

morgan@rew.com (Morgan Carey) — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 09:57:00 -0600

What a way to start the year Barcelona, Spain BLogs Blogs Blogs Tomorrow I take the stage to deliver a talk to the Luxury Real Estate global group of partners on real estate SEO. But before that, I get to explore one of my favorite cities in the whole world. Barcelona Why is Barcelona so special to me? When my son turned 18 I told him... "Pick anywhere in the world that you can have a legal beer" (it was still 19 in BC where we live, so we needed to hit the road) The trip he chose ended up being (and still is to this day) the best trip of my life. We went to Paris, France. We went to Rome, Italy. But we STARTED in Barcelona What a trip we had.....We ate amazing meals.We danced. We sang. We got lost at 4AM It was an epic trip (truly one for the record books) I'll never forget there was this beautiful woman at a bar we went to. Every man was staring at her. She was "the lady in the red dress" (if you're a nerd, you'll get it)About an hour in, I look around and my son is gone. I go looking for him, and where do I find him? He is CRUSHING IT on the dance floor And do you know who he's dancing with? The most beautiful woman in Spain Talk about a proud dad moment :) Barcelona, you will always have my heart :)