Episode 14: Fail Forward: Lessons From Micah Bernstein

200 connections every week. Thousands of conversations. One mission: build a business through relationships. Micah Bernstein shares his first-year real estate journey, the failures that shaped him, and the mindset behind his “chase it” approach to success.

Tune in to learn how consistency, community, and taking action can turn everyday conversations into real opportunities. If you’re building something of your own, this episode is a reminder to keep showing up, keep learning, and keep chasing the goal.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome back to one-on-one with Austin One. I'm your host, KT Temple. And to talk about his first year in real estate, all the things he's learned, all the things he messed up on, we got Micah. What's up, man?

SPEAKER_01 0:14

How's it going, KT?

SPEAKER_00 0:15

How are you doing? I'm good, man. I'm good. Thanks for coming to the show.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Yeah, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

That's an honor.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

So me and Micah were talking, and he's got a lot of recording experience. So I thought he'd be a good person to bring onto the show, just talk about his business and what he's learned. But let's talk about why you have recording experience first.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Well, yes, of course. Uh I actually not only am into real estate, but I also am a musician. So have some, you know, albums and stuff, rap, you know, do some blues and this and that, all the everything in between. So I definitely have the recording experience, but the music definitely translates into real estate.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Big time.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Especially in Austin, I imagine.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

So how did you get into all this?

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Well, that's a that's a loaded question. How much time do we have?

SPEAKER_00 1:04

We've got 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Well, I mean, I think uh I've always kind of grown up being into music for sure. That's always been a driving passion of mine. And then as I got older and older, I realized another strength of mine was connection. Okay. And so through music and connection, I've just kind of been able to to go through my life. And real estate came along because I really feel like I want to help people achieve their goals. That's like a really big motivator for me. Okay. And and that showed up in my music too, because that's one of the main reasons why I got into music is to inspire, because I was inspired to make music, you know? And so that's that translates into real estate. I I want to help people get to where they are trying to go. And um, and through that, through that connection, it's it's been it's been pretty uh positive, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

So let's talk about your first year. So you you get your real estate license and then what?

SPEAKER_01 2:01

So I got my real estate license um, you know, near the end of 2025, um, and started out kind of just figuring out what to do, was solo for a few weeks, then ended up joining a team. Um and the team was was very solid, um, definitely taught me, gave me the experience I needed and in the volume, what working the volume was very helpful, and dealing with the systems that were in place and and seeing what that looks like was definitely very helpful right off the gate. Because, like they say, you're drinking from a fire hose when you start off in real estate. There's so much to learn, so much to do, so many options, and so many people that are telling you to do this and read this and study that. And it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on here? Um, so luckily I was able to find a solid team to join for a few months, and then um, you know, it uh I ended up going solo after about five or six months. So that was back in April. Um, you know, and so now that I'm solo since April, now we're about to hit Jul now we're in July, we're on July 2nd today. Um it's been quite good as a solo agent.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

What what would you have done differently during this first year?

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Um Well, I gotta tell you, Katie, I mean, I'm learning every single day. Even today, like, you know, it if you're not learning something new every day, then you're not doing it right. So to answer your question, if I could go back in time, I would do so many things differently, you know, from like getting up earlier, making more calls, saying things differently, and and acting differently in some cases, you know. So yeah, if I could go back in time, there's a lot I would change, you know. I make mistakes every day. But you gotta fail forward, you gotta learn. And in this business and in any business, really, music, real estate, life, you know, service industry, which is another thing that I do. Um you gotta just roll with the punches and and the the times that you that you fail, you have to use that as as a boost of motivation rather than something to let you sp let it get you down. Gotta use it to get you back up.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Um so what what you know things with Keller Williams has really stood out to you and made a difference during this first year to keep you on track?

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Yeah, so I really like Keller Williams. I um truly think it's it's a solid brokerage. Um you know, not only does it did it start in Austin, and you know, we're in Austin, that's a great thing, but it's and not only does it have a global impact, there's Keller Williams offices all over the world. Uh when I visited Israel back in February, I actually met up with some Keller Williams agents in Israel. There's nine offices out there. Um, but to your point, the there's a sense of community within KW where it's like it's it's like everyone kinda is watching looking out for each other a little bit, you know. Um sure, you know, it's still a competitive industry, and everyone's trying to look out for themselves as well, of course. You know, but I hear stories from some other friends that I have in other brokerages and how, you know, they don't give a in fill in the blank about you, uh, you know, and stuff like that. And I feel like here, you know, especially in this market center, that I could go to general manager or I could go to the receptionist or our compliance person or our head broker, you know, and I can talk to them and they'll talk to me and and I feel comfortable doing that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

So it's it's really great that we built a culture off of profit share. And because it's built off profit share, we all have an incentive to make sure all of us are successful. And that really does change the way we interact with our peers within the company.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Incentivize like people to work harder.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Absolutely. And and work for each other, right? Look out for each other. What is your plan for for the next year? You know, what now that we've gone through this year of failing forward, we've we've tackled obstacles, we've changed a lot. What are you gonna do now, now that you have this foundation?

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Well, I think it's really gonna be about building this foundation and building this pipeline. Um, I plan on trying to stay solo for the time being. Um, I don't that's that's that's my plan for the next year is to build my solo brand and build my solo business.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Yeah. Um and what does that look like? What does building your brand mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Yeah, so great question. So there's a lot that's going into that on many fronts. Um, first we got the social media. Uh, you know, I started real estate accounts for Instagram, Facebook, Threads, YouTube, um Reddit, uh, next door. I mean, every pretty much all TikTok, all of them. And I'm starting to post like just little, I'm calling kind of calling them mica's murmurs. Just one of them was about how to keep flies out of your house. One of them was about how to keep your AC bill lower, you know. One of them was just a m a boost of motivation, you know, telling people to go chase it. Because that's kind of been my my motto lately, chase it. Uh, but yeah, so I'm posting these every day to try to build my social media presence. Um, I also am gonna try to get a podcast up and running soon um to build the the long form presence, you know.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Um what's gonna be really easy about that is that your market center built a whole podcast studio for you to use anytime you want to. That's really cool. Yeah.

unknown 8:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Whoever did that might be shout out to the that might be a little plug right there for anybody listening wanting to do the same.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Yeah. Um, but then really just could sticking to the to the model, sticking to the plan, uh, sticking to the one thing. You know, I don't know if you've ever read the one thing, but everything you do in life should be for the one thing, even some if it's in some roundabout way. Yeah. You know? So I'm trying to make 200 connections every week. 800 connections a month. What are you doing to do that? So we can get into it. Then we can get into brass tacks. I mean, there's um if you we want to break it down, that's 40 a day if I'm counting the five business days. 200 connections a week, 40 a day. Okay, how do you get 40 a day? So I would say about 10 to 15 of them every day is gonna come from natural, from that just natural living. Like go to the gas station, you go to the supermarket, you go to um, you walk your dog, you go to the bar, you go to the restaurant. Everybody you interact with is a is a lead, somebody you can talk to, somebody you can give them your business card, ask them what they do or whatever. And so I would say at least at least five to fifteen a day, you can you can have make connections that way. Okay. Now there's also the uh the the sushi place I sometimes work at. So, and and and although since the real estate's been picking up a little bit, I've kind of been cutting my hours a little bit with that, but I still do work at a sushi place called Machi Sushi. Yeah. Uh shout out. And uh, and I get leads there. Every single table that comes in, I tell them about my real estate. My last closing on a house in San Marcos a couple weeks ago was from somebody that I met at Machi Sushi. Okay, so you can't rule that out.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Yeah, I I I I like that you say that because I think it's important for new agents to know that that is okay to be dual career. I delivered pizzas for two years when I started. I didn't get any leads from Domino's Pizza because it was just mostly me and my car drinking soda, driving around Charlotte, North Carolina. So I think you're in a better dual career situation than I was in where you're actually in front of people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

And although it's kind of tricky to to do to do the machi because especially during the weekdays, you know, because if I have to go there during the weekday, then now I'm cutting out of my time to do real estate. So, but at the same time, it could be a good form of lead gen. So you you gotta find the balance there.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Um you're purposeful about it.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Uh and I try to go to like a music event once a week. A music or social event once a week where I know I'm gonna meet like a large amount of people, like 30 to 50 people at this event, you know, and so I'll average that out. It's 50 divided by five. That's about 10, you know, about 10 per day from that. Um if you go to one big social event or one big music event a week, you know, even if it's like a party, you know, you could be you're not on the clock, but you still could be making connections, you know. And you'd be surprised. People love to let loose a little bit at a at a party or at a bar, and that's what they'll tell you, hey, I'm selling my house. Yeah. You know? Um, and then the last big, big bucket, this is the main bucket, is uh I'm actually starting a program called the Ready to Sell program. I don't know if I've told you about it at all, but we utilize uh KW offerings. Okay. Um it's me and uh Jason spearheading this, uh Jason Denny, and we basically are able to take any address um and we are able to generate 20 to 25 offers for you. And these offers, you know, they come from KWO and they range from cash offers to fix and sales to two-step solutions, basically creative options that are catered to the seller's need. It's a concierge service. It's almost like a buffet, I like to say. The seller decides what they want to do and we'd make it happen. Yeah. So that's where a big amount of my leads are coming from these days. Um kind of we have a system where, you know, we get my partner he finds the expireds and the for sale by owners, loads them up into our shared database. And I, as I told you, I'm the connector, I'm the talker, the schmoozer, so I'm the closer. I go in, I call these leads, and I set appointments with them. We tell I tell them about ready to sell, and I ask them if they're ready to sell, you know, and we get we get it going.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

And um it it gives you the reason to have the conversation to get started, right? Figure out who's gonna raise their hand after that. So any last thoughts before I make an announcement, as half the reason I wanted you on the show today, but any final thoughts for someone new listening to this that that might give them some encouragement to keep going? Chase it.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Just figure out what you what you want to do and chase it. And uh, and it might take you a minute to figure out what you want to do. So, in that I would say try it. Yeah, you know, and just keep going.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

So, part of the reason I want to have Micah on is just because he's just so young. And we have a new thing here at Keller Williams where we're launching for Southwest. It's not new to Keller Williams, and it's not new to this office. You guys did have it. Uh, but part of what me and Jess are working on is launching the KWYP community for the South Texas region. Uh, and so we are going to be reaching out. If you're under the age of 40, you're probably gonna get a phone call from either myself or Jess inviting you to come join this. And one of the things that Mike has said quite a few times is the communities that he's in and going to those different things to meet with new people. And what we're gonna be setting up here is a young professionals group for agents under 40 who are looking for that community. I don't know if you know this, but the average age of a home buyer, uh first-time home buyer just keeps going up and up. And I know when I started in real estate, I was when I got first licensed, I was 21 and I went to bold and they just kept telling me to call my database. Well, my database, uh uh 11 years later, still doesn't own a home, right? You know, that it's it's sometimes the money's not in your database the way other agents talk about it who are older. And so we want to give a spot for people in this age range to find other opportunities to help inspire people in these age groups to buy a home and what that can do for their future. And so look out for that. We'll be setting that up in the near future. Micah, how can people follow you if they want to follow you and learn more about your journey?

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Yeah, great. So um you can follow my Instagram, Micah Bernstein Realty. So that's my you know, my first and last name with Realty on the end. Uh, you know, and if you want to find my music, that's M-Y-Q-E, Mike, Mike, Mike, you know. It's not Hebrew Hot Boy. No, Hot Boy Hebrew is one of my nicknames. Yeah. There's a song out there called Hebrew. Um, but yeah, you know, there's be shows coming soon and and uh and and a lot of big stuff coming soon. Actually, I'm working on an album that I'm gonna be recording this weekend. Um, and I'm pretty excited about that.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Awesome, man. Well, thank you so much for joining the show, man. We'll have you back on again after the album drops and see how it goes. Okay. Best of luck, guys. If you like this episode, you found this interesting, please leave us a review. It really does help us a lot, helps us get in front of more agents and change more lives. Uh, we'll be back again next week with another episode, uh, and we'll see you guys around. Thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Peace.