Mastering Real Estate: Powerful Strategies to Simplify Your Operations

Stephen Schmidt (00:02.701)

Welcome back to the show. It’s your host, Stephen Schmidt. And here we interview the nation’s leading real estate entrepreneurs and those that support the fine people doing real estate. And I got a cool one in the studio for you today, y’all. got Rhiannon Reynolds. Rhiannon is like the wizard of operations. And that’s quite fitting considering that her company is actually Ops Alchemy. So Rhiannon basically unscrews all of your processes as a business owner because

Essentially, you’ve got several different types of investors and agents. You got the people that are great at sales like myself, and then you got the people that are real analytical. But oftentimes, pretty much most of us have processes and systems that we don’t even realize are there and they’re not the most efficient. And that’s where Rhiannon comes in and she helps us unscrew our processes. So we’re going to get back at it like a back habit today. And thank you for joining us. If you’ve been here second, third or a hundredth time, thanks if it’s your first time where you’ve been at.

By the way, you’re going to get a ton of value out of the show. And just remember before we get started at Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers and real estate entrepreneurs, two to five X their businesses so they can build the businesses they’ve always wanted in order to live the lives they’ve always dreamed of. That being said, Rhiannon, welcome to the show.

Rhiannon (01:19.96)

Thank you. It’s pleasure to be here this morning. I’m excited.

Stephen Schmidt (01:26.413)

I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad you’re here. We had a really incredible pre-show conversation, one of the longest I’ve had with anybody, just diving into business and all the nerdy stuff that we both like and marketing and operations and all that kind of stuff. So Rhiannon, give us a little bit of a background. I mean, you’ve been in the operations side of real estate companies, large companies, small companies and everything in between. So what got you into the business originally and how did you get to where you’re at today now with your own company?

Rhiannon (01:54.382)

And so to be honest, I started out in the pharmacy industry and I’m you

Stephen Schmidt (02:00.566)

No kidding. She was a drug dealer, y’all.

Rhiannon (02:03.758)

I was a drug dealer. was pushing pills legally. And I came. No, it’s not as fun, I moved back here to Northern Virginia. And my best friend had been in real estate. Actually, her grandfather, one of the largest commercial real estate agents in our area for decades. And she said, you’re not going to make enough money working in pharmacy. You need to get in real estate. OK, fine. So I took this course.

Stephen Schmidt (02:05.964)

I love it. It’s not as fun, but.

Rhiannon (02:32.365)

And I had to take that test like twice. I was like, this ridiculous, right? And then…

watching her, I thought to myself, I don’t want to be an agent on that side, right? Like I love the back end. And so I took a job on a medium-sized team. I started out as an assistant, a transaction coordinator, then became the listing manager. Then I started growing and developing. I got into project management for a company in DC. I did that for a little while and thought to myself, good God, property management.

No, thank you. Let me get back into real estate. So I joined a really big team in the area and I started out like in their client care department, you know, doing quality control and whatnot and then moved into handling the full listing department for like five of their hubs in the area and in different states. And then I took on a couple other of their branches like runner services and all these other things. So effectively,

one person doing the job of like three different, three different folds into it. So from that I thought to myself, God, I love this, right? Like.

I love to be on the back end to look at the bigger picture and say, hey, right, this system needs this or we we need to fix this type of workflow. Right. Like the workflows for me are sexy. Right. Like I like to see on the back end of it. So that was really like during like the high part of like the pandemic, right. It’s very stressful. You know, you got all kinds of craziness with agents and stuff. But building like those back flows and teaching the agents about the like the back end.

Rhiannon (04:21.928)

It’s foreign, right? Like it’s foreign to many of them. They’re like, I need this, right? And I’m like, it’s simple, right? Simplicity is huge. A lot of people want to over complicate stuff in the back end. But for me, I love simplicity. Anyways.

So after being with that team for quite some time, I’m a huge people person, right? Like I love people speaks to me. You have to, value people and relationships. And that just really wasn’t a fit for me anymore. So I went to a smaller company.

Stephen Schmidt (04:45.388)

Hmm.

Rhiannon (04:52.118)

which I had the most amazing opportunities from that company in two years. And we worked part of Keller Williams International for a little bit, and one of their side sections. Meeting different people and having the opportunity to work with so many different people really gives you a broader outlook on the types of agents and investors and stuff you’ll work with.

Knowing how to work with different people and how they work their back end and how messy everybody’s back ends on Right really was like a thought for me when I started my own company because it’s not a one-size-fits-all I Do right start with some templates, but just about everything for each of my agents is customized. They’re all different. They all have different personalities and I like quality over quantity

Stephen Schmidt (05:27.116)

Sure.

Stephen Schmidt (05:40.14)

Hmm.

Stephen Schmidt (05:46.252)

Hmm.

Rhiannon (05:46.798)

So I’m not a fit for everybody. And I do have a wait list. I’ve had a wait list before. And part of me thinks, do I want to continue to add more people to my team, right, so that I could serve more people, maybe? Or do I just look to, you know, continue to elevate the services that I have for each of the agents, right, and then to grow my business in that way as well? So maybe it’s a combination both.

Stephen Schmidt (06:00.139)

Mm-hmm.

Stephen Schmidt (06:14.923)

Right. Sure. So what do you prefer in all your experience now? Do you prefer working with agents or investors? What’s your favorite?

Rhiannon (06:24.346)

you know what? That’s a toss up. I like investors sometimes. It depends. It depends what we’re working on, what project we’re working on. For agents, I love when they want to do events or they’re actually really focused on growing in their area. The messaging comes out different. What I like about working with investors is I learn a lot more.

Right? Like I learn a lot more about how even to build my business on the back end and and some of the investors that I’ve worked with, they treat people amazing. Right. And they value people. Right. It’s relationships. That’s what like about real estate, too, though, as a whole. It’s relationships. Investors also, they really they are much more entrepreneurial than a regular real estate agent is.

Stephen Schmidt (07:21.931)

Yeah.

Rhiannon (07:22.316)

We are willing to take chances that agents aren’t.

Investors, they’ll do the homework on a project they like, and they’ll say, hey, this is what I want. And they’ll come to you and say, how do you help me make this happen, right, is what I love about that. Whereas sometimes you get with agents, and agents are like, well, this is what I want, and this is how I want you to do it, right? And it’s not always the case. What I love is investors, the mindset’s maybe a little bit more visionary and gives you a little bit more reign.

Stephen Schmidt (07:53.226)

Which is where somebody like you, which I think it’d be fair to say is like way more integrator in terms of your thinking style and execution style. That’s kind of a perfect blend for you, isn’t it? When you have that visionary, because then you’re able to come and actually support that.

Rhiannon (08:06.007)

Yeah.

Rhiannon (08:09.6)

It is, it is. And I appreciate like that notice of that.

Stephen Schmidt (08:14.569)

Yeah, 100%. That’s ultimately, well, I mean, I notice it because I’m a hardcore visionary and usually I need, like my perfect business partner is the one that goes, I’m the one that goes, we can take over the world. And they look at me and they go, yeah, but have you thought about this, this, this, this, this, this, and this? And I’m like, yes. And I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just go do it. Figure it out. Like, that’s my perfect.

Rhiannon (08:33.39)

Thank you.

Stephen Schmidt (08:42.795)

My perfect business partner so I’ve had partners like that in the past and we always work well together It’s kind of the gang to the gang, right? So what?

Rhiannon (08:50.862)

great.

Stephen Schmidt (08:54.975)

What’s the dream for you with this business? mean, you’ve been in business two years now. Where are you headed?

Rhiannon (09:03.65)

That’s a fair question. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. And things have changed a little bit, right? Like, am mostly like 95 % remote. And I want to take this and build off more of like my training and coaching for admin. I’d like to be less operator and more

Stephen Schmidt (09:16.863)

Mm-hmm.

Stephen Schmidt (09:25.067)

Hmm.

Rhiannon (09:30.414)

more facilitator, Like I’d like to teach more people to do what I do and do it well.

Stephen Schmidt (09:35.359)

Hmm, okay.

Rhiannon (09:37.07)

So for me, I have been building a coaching program. I’ve been writing a book for admin. It’s like operational magic. That explains a lot of that. It’s mundane stuff I do, day in and day out, and what most admin do. But.

having a passion and a fuel for it to do it well every day, do it the best that you can every day, and the results come. And then when you see the results and then other people see the results, it continues to fuel that. I’d like to teach that to other people.

Stephen Schmidt (10:14.986)

Yeah.

Stephen Schmidt (10:18.515)

Mmm.

Rhiannon (10:18.766)

Somewhere there’s a lost art of that has gone away, right? Like a good customer service. And I’m not saying bend over backwards and say yes to people all the time. I’m saying give them your best the first time so they don’t come back and continue to ask for stuff.

Stephen Schmidt (10:34.281)

Yeah, 100%. Because ultimately, if you give it all out there on the line, then you have to do, it’s like in the construction space, right? Like the more you do the job the right way the first time, the less go backs you have in sending your crew back out there to fix things.

Rhiannon (10:49.054)

Absolutely, right? Like absolutely. So for me, it’s really expanding into the teaching others how to do what I do, like mentoring and coaching for that.

Stephen Schmidt (11:00.267)

Yeah, 100%. Do know who Cameron Harrold is by any chance? Okay, he’s basically the guy behind 1-800-JUNK. He’s got a really great mastermind for COOs because he noticed the need that there’s like everything for the CEO, YPO, Vision Alliance.

Rhiannon (11:04.942)

I do not.

Stephen Schmidt (11:24.139)

whatever other things that are out there for them. Some of the more popular one, but he started the COO. I was a friend of mine just interviewed him on his podcast. It was a fascinating episode to me because my brain works the complete opposite of how y’all’s works. Like I’m just give me all the people and let me talk to them all day long. Like I’ll do that. Admin, what’s that? I’ll have someone else do that. It’s my favorite word. I’m going to delegate that.

Rhiannon (11:45.102)

Right. Right.

Rhiannon (11:49.87)

Right. And that’s so, you know.

Right? And I’m that someone else. And that’s what I love. Because, right, like perfect example, I’ve got an agent who’s doing an event and she just said, this is how I’d like this. Can you make this happen? And I’m like, sure, great. You give me two weeks for it, right? So like I’m doing all this stuff in the background and she was like, how’d you do this? And I said, well, if I tell you, then it’s just going to overwhelm you. You just do what you do.

and you just talk to people. Let me do all of your inviting and all of your other stuff and updating your database in the process, right? Also, same thing like transaction coordination, right? The workflows, right? Even investors need workflows, right? They get these deals. They need people to help manage the deal in the back end and then have them come out looking like the rock star, right? Like, I think that’s the other part of value that I have too is I’m not in the back end saying, look at me. It’s more,

Stephen Schmidt (12:25.194)

Hmm.

Rhiannon (12:52.784)

Hey, look at my investor. Hey, look at my agent, right? Like, they have a quiet team support in the back. I don’t need that, you know, look, look, look, I’ve done this. I think that also comes from like mastery, right? Like, not ego in that part, right? So I know what I do well, and I don’t need to go out and say, hey, I do this well, right? That focus stays on the investor and the agent to keep that relationship.

Stephen Schmidt (13:21.066)

Hmm. What’s I’ll ask that question later. With your coaching versus business, like how much of each do you see? Because those are two completely different verticals. Related, but completely different verticals. So how much do you see of yourself coaching in the future versus running your company?

Rhiannon (13:43.36)

So I really, I would say in the next three to five years, I’d like to be fully removed from the day to day in the, in the business, right. And coaching and teaching people how I went from that, right? Like what that transition looks like to build the systems and hire people who, who can do what I do and not, you know, I don’t have to micromanage. I don’t have to look into that, right? Like, because I’ve personally trained

I’ve helped them build this system. We’ve perfected it and then get out of it and I can teach people how to do that. So I would say like three to five years like I don’t plan to be operator in my own business.

Stephen Schmidt (14:25.354)

Yeah, 100%. So favorite book on operations that I’m not gonna go read. I’m kidding, kinda, kinda not.

Rhiannon (14:33.454)

You know what? I don’t have a favorite book on operations. And you know why? There’s not enough good books out there for operations. And that’s why I started writing my own. So there, I’ve read and I’ve got books here. I’ve got books there. I’ve got books in every single room in my house, right? Like reading huge, right? Every year I set a goal.

Stephen Schmidt (14:40.35)

Bye.

Stephen Schmidt (14:43.817)

Hmm.

Stephen Schmidt (14:47.402)

Hmm, interesting.

Rhiannon (15:01.696)

I don’t find one book that encompasses everything for operations. So many different types of books. People write books on flow, the flow in the back end, and it’s all woo-woo. No, it’s not all woo-woo. But then people talk about systems, but then they don’t talk about, for me, operational alchemy. The magic behind it is the flows and your mindset.

Because like I said, it’s mundane. I wake up every day and I look and I’m like, all right, great. All right, this is what we’ve got to do today. And then I’ve got some different things. I end up on a fancy podcast, all these things. But like.

going through to elevate it. And how can I look at that system one day on a Monday and then Thursday say, hey, let me make this improvement. What’s going to make this better? What is going to make a difference for the agent or investor or the lender or whoever I’m working with on the other side? What is going to improve that? And they aren’t going to notice what I do in the back end, but they are going to feel the effect of that improvement.

Right, so for me, I don’t have a specific operational book, but I have read just about, I’ve read a large portion of books, real estate wise, leadership wise, administrative wise, right? Like time management, all of these things, right? So I haven’t found a book that I could say is the Holy Grail. So I’m writing my own Holy Grail.

Stephen Schmidt (16:37.918)

Love that. So your book is your favorite book on operations.

Rhiannon (16:41.806)

going to be yes. It is. It is. Unfortunately, I’ve got a good friend who’s a broker, and he is editing my book. He was actually a journalist. And so I know quite a few people. I’m I’m quiet, right? Like, I guess what I’m taking from this is I need to be much louder.

about certain things and because I know I know what I do in the background and I know that I’m damn good at what I do right like and so trying to I’m just not one to get out there and like sell it But I do know that what I do works. I have seen it. I’ve grown agents

who were doing, you know, average amount of deals, 20, 25 deals, regular agents, and we implement some things, right? They release the reins, implement a few things, and then now their business has almost doubled in the past year for consistent stuff, right? Like having a system.

doing client events, sending client mailings, all of these things, right, like that have to be done. Like I have seen it, I’ve watched it, I’ve lived it, and it’s in the testimonies. So for me, that’s kind of where I’m at.

Stephen Schmidt (17:57.63)

Well, Rhiannon, where can these fine folks find you, connect with you for more? Where should they go for that?

Rhiannon (18:04.12)

So I am on IG, OpsAlchemy. And you can find me on my website, opsalchemy.org. I serve DC metro area. However, I have worked in many other different states, too. So.

Stephen Schmidt (18:23.582)

What’s the furthest you go out?

Rhiannon (18:26.094)

Well, I used to handle contracts out in California, so I would say nation book. I am everywhere. When that book drops, I really will be everywhere.

Stephen Schmidt (18:31.572)

So you’re everywhere.

Awesome sounds good You bet 100 % Well, we appreciate you coming on here sharing your story and we’re looking forward to your continued success And for those of you that got a back end that’s messed up now, you know who to call. Thanks again for being here hope you guys got a ton of value out of this and I’m sure you did and we’ll see y’all in the next episode

Rhiannon (18:58.274)

Wonderful. Thank you.