109: Sink or Swim – How Entrepreneurs Can Become Unstoppable

Behind Their Success: Episode 109

Keren: [00:00:00] Nobody else can hold you back. And I think that's what a lot of people fail to

understand. If you have a goal and it's in front of your eyes the whole time you're going to make

it, just put everything you have into it.

Just work at it every day. It's not, oh, I'll do it tomorrow. I'll do it next week. It's today. It's right

now. Let's go.

So what happens when resilience meets relentless service? Meet Keren Gonen. Who left the

international shipping world moved 29 times and turned uncertainty into impact becoming

Sussex County New Jersey's number one real estate agent in just eight years. Her story is proof

that true success isn't about transactions, but about transforming lives and building lasting

community one move at a

Paden: time.

Hearing. Good morning. Welcome on Behind Their Success.

Keren: Good morning Paden, and thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Paden: Yeah, absolutely Karen. So give us, uh, give [00:01:00] us the high level story of who

you are and kind of your journey, where you, where you came from, and how you got to where

you are today.

Keren: Well, I'll give you the cliff notes 'cause the story itself is super long.

Paden: Right.

Keren: So I was, uh, born and raised in Israel. I came to the US when I was 13 years old, right

after the Gulf War. My parents were pretty much, you know, my, my dad is a paramedic, so he

constantly kept getting, being called back into service.

Uh, and that's the type of home I grew up in, in a service, customer service type of home,

entrepreneurial. My parents were always business owners and being called to, uh, the war

every week after week didn't work out for them. And so we came to the us. We lived in

Connecticut for three years. then my senior year, my parents moved us to New Jersey, because

of a friend whose name was just like mine, Karen g.

And so, uh, I ended up moving to Fair Lawn for my senior year. Uh, stayed in Fair Lawn for a

few years, moved outta my [00:02:00] parents' house. Uh, we ended up moving to California, all

of us there. That's where my kids were born. Uh, then we came back to Jersey. Uh, I worked in

my parents' international shipping, import and export business for a really long time.

We have. Uh, we had our own company for about 20 years. My sister was in the business also.

It was a, a really good business until it wasn't. Um, and when it closed, I actually ended up

getting divorced and moving to Florida, then coming back to Jersey. and I was in between jobs

and my. Boyfriend at the time was trying to buy a flip in Vernon, New Jersey.

At the time we were living in, uh, passe County in Ringwood, New Jersey, and he wanted to do

a flip 'cause he was a contractor for over 25 years. And prices in Vernon were super low. You

could buy a bank owned property for 30, 40, $50,000. And he wanted to make that happen. But

unfortunately, real estate agents were not getting back to him.

And so [00:03:00] being that I was in between jobs, I said, you know, let me take over the

communication. 'cause I've always been in business, I've always been in customer service. My

follow up is insane because I've always done that for all of my jobs. And so I know how to text,

call, email. And do all of those fun things.

And so I took over communication, or I should rephrase. I tried to communicate, uh, and I was

getting nothing. No one was calling me back, no one was texting me. They were just. All my

calls and emails and text messages had gone unanswered and I was flabbergasted. I couldn't

understand how professional people in an industry where they need to sell something and I'm

the buyer, I'm looking for their service, and nobody called me back.

I just couldn't get it. So two weeks after trying, um, my, then he came home and, uh, all I did was

complain. Hey, how come no [00:04:00] one's calling me back? And this is ridiculous. And don't

these people need to sell a house? You know, these people don't, they need to sell a house in

order to make money. Do they get a salary?

This doesn't even make, and I'm just complaining. 'cause you know, we have to vent it out. And

who better than the person we're with? They know us. They know everything we're going

through. And so he looked at me and he said, well, you're not doing anything right now, so how

about you become an agent? I thought about it and this thought had never crossed my mind and

I said, you know what?

Okay, you know, something new. I was all about new beginnings. I never had an issue trying

something that I've never done before. I'm a, um, sink or swim baby type of girl. So I was the

same thing in the shipping industry. My dad had taught me shipping for a week, and then he

took my mom on a two week vacation. And I called him and I said, Abba, I can't believe you just

left me in the office to deal with everybody. [00:05:00] And his response was sink or swim baby

Paden: Wow.

Keren: and baby sw because I wasn't gonna drown. And so it was the same thing in real estate.

I jumped right in that night. After he made that suggestion, I signed up for class.

Um, I started class the week following, and a month later I had my license. And that's how it all

started.

Paden: Yeah. Very cool.

Very cool. Um, you know, it's, it's amazing you're talking about how nobody called you back.

What was like the time for, when, when was like, what year was this

Keren: Uh, this was in 2016, at the end of 2016, so at that time, Sussex County is behind the

rest of New Jersey and the world. For that, uh, matter, we're about six, we six months to a year

behind the rest of the state. And so for us, it was a very big bank owned property, Rios, uh, type

of business. And so not understanding, I didn't realize that agents weren't calling me back

because their [00:06:00] commission check is probably a car wash or a dental cleaning or

something like that.

So why would they waste their time? But I didn't know.

Paden: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's kind of interesting, you know, like that's a struggle.

Even just as a consumer myself, I have, and it's so frustrated me as an entrepreneur, business

owner of like, I just, for example, I had an issue with my truck a couple weeks ago. I've called

the dealership three times, left voicemails three times, and no one, no one

Keren: you back

Paden: calls you back.

And, and, and

Keren: did that.

Paden: yeah, and it's just amazing that, like, that's, I, it's where I, you know, I, I say a lot where,

like the bar is set pretty low in my opinion, of, to be able to stand out and provide good

communication and customer

Keren: I agree. I agree with you. And that's so frustrating to me because I come from that

background, and it's not just in this industry, it's literally

Paden: my industry's terrible. I mean, as in just the tax, you know, I'm a CPA [00:07:00] and

accountant, like the tax industry, you know, half my new clients come to me because, well, no

one will like email them back. And it's, uh, it's amazing to me, um, that,

Keren: And what's funny to me, Paden, is that half of my clients come to me and they say the

agent I used did nothing for me. They didn't send me any houses. They showed me three

houses, expected me to put an offer. I have clients that I had been working with for seven years.

Before we found them a house. So it wasn't showings every single weekend.

It was maybe once a month or once every other month, but I would always send le, I always did

my job. So to stand out in this industry is not difficult because the bar is set so low, so I

completely understand what you're saying.

Paden: Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. So, you know, I, I want to turn to, you know, you, you,

you have a, um, a classic immigrant type story here. So like, how, how has that experience

shaped you, right? Like shaped your mindset as an entrepreneur?

Keren: I think for the most [00:08:00] part, all of us immigrants that come to the US and I think

it's valid for second generation, so kids that were already born here, but their parents are

immigrants, there's no other option, Peden. It's the, I came to this country and there are so many

advantages to being in this country.

That I need to take advantage of it. If I can't take advantage of it, why am I here? And overall,

we're all so grateful to be here because we have free speech, we have a home, we have a

community that accepts us. And when I first came here, and there's always, you know that

saying that they're saying the US is the melting pot.

We're not a melting pot. We are a salad bowl. The reason we are a salad bowl is because we

still keep something from our own culture while integrating into the community. So I've been in

the US for over 30 years, so that's the majority of my life. But if you ask me what I am, I

[00:09:00] will tell you I'm an Israeli.

An American. I've had my dual citizenship for years, but I'm still an Israeli at heart. If you talk to

me about Israel, you'll see my patriotism. If you talk to me about the US you'll see my patriotism.

So I'm kind of a blend. And the reason I say salad bowl is because in a salad, you know,

cucumber's, a cucumber, a tomato, a tomato, but they create this whole new flavor that's so

good because of all the flavors combined.

And that's what, what people don't realize. It's okay to be different. It's okay to be who you are.

Just be genuine. And that's, that's really important, especially here, especially in today's world.

Paden: Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Yeah. And I, yeah, I totally agree. I love the analogy you, you know, you use there as a salad

bowl and Right. you know, there's all these different cultures across the world. Everybody has

their own. Beliefs and, even traditions and whatnot. And, and it's, to me, the way I view all that is

like everybody has like little pieces [00:10:00] of the truth, right?

When you kind of blend it all together, um, I, I, I think you, you get a lot closer to what actually

the truth is in the world and, and how it works in general. Which is a great thing.

Keren: It is.

Paden: But, you know, and, and you know, you talk about, you know, to me like being an

immigrant and, and being an entrepreneur, like, to me that's, there's, there's advantage to that.

And, and the advantage to that, like you said, is like, you know, you know what it's like not to be

here, right? You know, a typical American like me that just grew up here, like, it's very easy for

me to take it for granted that, like, okay, we have a fairly safe structured environment and it's not

chaos all the time. to me it's like, you know, I just traveled internationally literally last week and

talked to a lot of people down in Brazil and just get their perceptions talking to people down in

Brazil last week, the word entitled came up several times, right. Of dis just discussing a lot of the

American culture. Right. And, It's, it's tough. I wish, um, people would realize that there's, there's

so much more out there and so much we, have [00:11:00] an amazing opportunity and to sit

back and complain about it all the time, well, it just, it just does no good.

Keren: And you know it's worse in this country. If you have a complaint, go out and change it.

You have a complaint about your local mayor, your local government, your state government,

your national go government, go out and change it. Go and be the change you can because

you're here, whereas another country is, God forbid, forbid you say something bad about the

government.

If you get thrown in jail, your family member sees you again. And that's something that we

certainly take for granted because that's how we live here

Paden: Yeah. Yeah. You dunno any different? Yeah.

Keren: and I think if Americans overall is a culture, we don't travel much, right? So my kids were

on a plane before they were a year.

Because I wanted them to have the travel bug that I have. My kids have been out of the country.

I can't even tell you how many times, can't tell you how many states they've been to, whereas

other people that I talk [00:12:00] to have never been outta Jersey. Okay, so they went to New

York and Pennsylvania, but they've never to Florida, South Carolina, Arizona, California, they've

never gone.

And I'm sitting here and I'm just thinking, there's so much in this country. Even if you don't

wanna leave the continent, there are so many things to see within the us. There's so much

beauty. Whatever you're into, it's here. Go travel.

Paden: Yeah. and

to me, like I didn't have that as a kid, right? I think the, the first time I ever got on a plane was my

honeymoon,

Keren: Wow. See typical American

Paden: Yeah. And I, so I grew up in rural Missouri and like that's what I knew, right? And, I think

traveling and experience and then talking to a lot of people, a lot of the prejudice and ignorance

and just all the BS around the world would go away.

Um, because once you it, it's really hard to hate somebody when you're up next to them talking

to them, right? Really easy to hate somebody from far away when you don't know them.

Keren: Yeah, we call them my keyboard ninjas.[00:13:00]

Paden: Yeah. Which really easy to do on the internet now too, right? Like, and it's, it's, I I really,

you know, I totally agree with you.

I really wish people would get out and explore and, and meet different cultures and, and then a

lot of the ignorance around the world would, uh, plummet quickly and, and hopefully wars and

everything, right? Like, it's just, it, it's so hard to hate somebody when you're standing face to

face with.

Keren: And I think you hit the nail on the head. It's hard to hate someone when you're standing

next to them. go and look for yourself before you try to advocate for another group of people

who you're not part of their culture and not part of their country.

Go out and look at what's actually being done in that country, in that situation, and then

advocate if you still feel the same. Go for it. Good for you. You know, firsthand, this is what's

going on. But if you don't and all you're doing is looking on social media or the news, 'cause I

have a bone to pick with the news also, you know?

'cause why

Paden: I mean, they're there to en [00:14:00] rage is all they're there too.

Keren: Yeah. And that's the problem. We, we have so much information thrown at us at once

with today's technology, but there's nothing to guarantee. This is the truth. Because they're only

showing you what they want you to see.

Paden: A hundred percent. And and by the way, they all have sponsors. They all have people

Keren: sure do.

Paden: whose they have to play to, certain narratives. And that's just a fact. and the more you

realize that, the more you realize, okay, I'm being fed a a story. Someone's perception of the

world doesn't necessarily make it true.

Keren: Correct. And people can twist the truth and you

Paden: Oh, very easily.

Keren: You can show people the tiny, tiny picture and say, this is what's going on. But if you go

out to the mainframe, that's not the story and you can't control that. What you can control is how

you react. We can't control what's being thrown at us generally in life, right?

But we can control our reaction. We can't control our feelings. [00:15:00] We can control all

those things. So I talk to a lot of people because our area is very rural, literally, lakes and

forests. And people can feel very secluded, but all you have to do is just reach out. And I'm very

grateful to live in an area where people actually care about each other in town.

God forbid something happens, everybody comes together. And because I moved 29 times in

my life, I never had that before. But I knew that Vernon was the place for me to be from the

second I crossed over the border. It just, this feeling came over me of peace and serenity, and I

said, I have to live here.

Paden: And I, I, I love the point you made there of like, you know, we can't control the stuff that's

thrown at us, but we can control our reaction to it, right? And the most famous, you know,

famous book about that is Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, right? Where you know the

man, you know, the guy went through the holocaust and the worst, most imaginable things, and

realize that.

[00:16:00] You can control your reactions to, to anything, right? And there's, there's a stimulus

that comes at you and then you have a moment to decide how you react. And that is literally the

only thing you can control right? In the world. and yeah, just an amazing book and story there.

Keren: what it's, I think if people took a moment and took a breath before they reacted, you

know, we are all made out of love. Right. We should come from a place of love. If someone's

coming at you or information's coming at you, you need to step back, take a breath, and

remember where your root is. If you come always from a place of love, your reaction to anything

that happens will be different.

When people scream and holler and curse at me and behave inappropriately, my reaction is, I

pity you. I'm sorry you went through whatever you went

Paden: right? Yeah.

Keren: Yeah, because you don't know what they dealt with. God forbid someone in a family is

sick, uh, their loved one passed away, their [00:17:00] dog died this morning.

You don't know. And that's what I teach my agents. If you wanna do, well be ready to do your

job. The other sides, because if you're gonna point fingers, they know what they're supposed to

do, they're clearly not doing it. So if you wanna sell a house, be ready to do your job and their

job, and what's gonna happen as a result of that is that they will remember that you were kind,

when everybody else gave them the same type of attitude that they were projecting you were

different.

And they'll remember that.

Paden: Yeah. And you, I love you bring that up in real estate. I, I work with a lot of real estate

agents

Keren: so you should know.

Paden: It's like, and not to trash on a bunch of real estate agents, but yeah, I mean, in, in my

opinion, my experience, it's like 20% of 'em do 95% of the stuff, and, and it often that 20% is

making sure all the deals come together, even from both sides of the, both sides of the table.

Keren: and that's, that's what makes people successful. If you wanna sit back and say, well,

that's not my [00:18:00] job. I'm not doing it, you'll always be mediocre.

Paden: Yeah. And you'll lose out on, you know, more.

Keren: what.

Paden: Yeah. I mean, you'll close a quarter of the deals you would've closed. Right. Or

something like

that. Right? Yeah.

Keren: Exactly, and, and I think that's what agents need to remember. They need to remember

that we are a dime a dozen. What makes you different? Why are they gonna come to you for

service and not the other 58,000 agents?

Paden: there's 10 million realtors. I mean, like just everywhere,

Keren: It's true. What makes you different. That's why if you go on my page, if you go on my

Facebook or my Instagram, you'll see that I'm different. I don't. I'm unique. I I'm me a hundred

percent of the time. If you're buying a $50,000 house for a flip or if you're buying a million dollar

house for your family, you're getting the same type of service.

I'm just me all the time. I'm not a mysterious woman. I'm not a, uh, a conceited woman. I'm, I

don't keep the cards to [00:19:00] myself. I lay it all out, and if you like it, let's do it. And if you

don't see you next time.

Paden: Yeah.

I love that. I love that. I love that mindset. Um, I agree like especially in a, you know, you're in a

somewhat commoditized, you know, service, right? Like, because it's hard for the, the consumer

to tell the difference between, you know, one realtor or another. Right. And. By being authentic

and being yourself.

Just by doing that, you stand out because you're your unique self. Right. And you care and you

come from a place of service. Right. And that's, unfortunately pretty rare in today's world.

Keren: And that's what I teach my agents, Hey, just be you. I have an agent who's a drummer

and a dj. Hey, let's

Paden: Lean into it.

Keren: I have another one who's a real estate investor. Hey, you have all the knowledge you

can help other flippers. Let's lean into that. Let's, I have another agent whose parents are

immigrants just like me.

Let's lean into that 'cause that's a community that only you can serve because I [00:20:00] don't

speak the language. I'm a really good agent, but I don't speak Macedonian,

Paden: Well, they, they, they can reach people that you can, and you can reach people that they

can't. Right. Because you're, you know, certain people are gonna relate to you and certain

people are gonna relate to, your other agents and that's fine. Right. You know, and it's, I, you

know, I have a very similar stance.

It's like, Hey, you know, this is what we do. This is the service we provide. This is how we do it.

Do you wanna work together or not? And my second favorite answer is no. Right.

Keren: What's the worst that could happen? They're gonna say no. Okay. To me, so see no to

most people is a no. You close the door to me. It's a beginning of a negotiation.

Paden: Yeah.

Keren: You said no. Okay. Let's try this way. Let's try the other way. One of the really good

things about my culture is that we think outside the box.

So when there's an issue in real estate, just like there's an issue in every single industry, I'm

really good about saying, okay, these are all the components. [00:21:00] How can I make it

work? How can I bring it together? And that's one of the reasons that I am successful. 'cause no

is just the beginning. It is not the end.

And if there's a problem, that means there's a solution. I'm going to find it.

Paden: Yeah, I love that. I love that attitude. So I got a question for you. How do you, how do

you balance, obviously you're, the number one producing agent and you know, in your area,

how do you balance like aggressive growth goals with that high level of customer service?

'cause you know, at times you feel like those pool against each other, right?

Keren: Right, so I am very. Very dedicated to my clients. I will not work more with more than

eight buyers at a time. After eight buyers, I lose the type of service that I want to give because I

only have 24 hours in a day. I have a husband, I have children, I have dogs, I have chickens. I

have plants like

Paden: Responsibilities.

Keren: Lots of responsibilities, so I make sure [00:22:00] that I don't stretch myself too thin

because when you do, you burn out and I can't afford to burn out, and I actually love, love, love

what I do. So when I get up in the morning, it's always, I'm so excited to get started on work.

And if it's four 30 in the morning, five 30 in the morning, or six 30 in the morning, I'm excited to

be up and ready to go.

So the balancing is really with saying, listen, I would love to work with you, but at this time my

plate is full and as soon as it clears, if you're still in the market, I'm happy to help you. And I think

that's something a lot of professionals do. They just take, take, take, take, take. Not realizing we

all have only 24 hours in a day.

I only have one mouth, but two ears, you know? So I can only speak to one person at a time,

which is what people don't realize. But when you don't, if you don't pass clients to other people

that can handle it, you lose out because that person is gonna give you a bad review and they're

gonna say. [00:23:00] Paden wasn't available to me every time I called and Paden didn't answer

my emails within five seconds of me sending it because I sent an email and I'm the only person

on this planet, so now I don't wanna work with him.

You know, it's, it shouldn't be like that, but in

Paden: Yeah. I mean, I mean, yeah. yeah, it's reality to some degree, You know, there's, there's

a push and pull there, right? Where, you know, I am, that's how I've grown my business. Well,

like being very responsive, very communicative, very transparent. Um, and I built my business

that way a hundred percent.

And as I've grown and, and, and gotten too many clients, right? And I've made a lot of different

adjustments to, to trim that down and get really focused on what I do and, and way more

importantly, what I don't do. That has allowed us to zero in and, and, and really we've gotten a

lot better at setting expectations where it's just like, we bring on a new, you know, planning, tax

planning client and it's like, Hey, we have a kickoff call we take 45 minutes with every new client

and, and three people on a call with them [00:24:00] to literally lay out expectations in how we

work.

And. and all of that's done. It's like, Hey, this is how we, you know, this is our main mode of

communication. If you need us, you know, you go here first, here, here, here. You know, um, this

is exactly how you get us information. And, and you know, if you need something immediately,

how you get ahold of somebody,

right?

And, and so just by laying that all out, it makes everybody on the same page. Everybody has the

same expectations, and it just works out a whole lot better.

Keren: And I think that's one of the problems when you're an entrepreneur, you have to pay

your bills. And so you make the choice of taking on more business, not realizing that if you're, if

you're not top notch on top of your game, it's going to backfire. And it takes a while to learn that

because, hey, I can handle.

Everything that comes my way, I am a woman. Hear me roar. I can do it and I could be on this

board and on this charity and I can volunteer here and I could be on 20 committees in my town

and also be on my board of [00:25:00] realtors and I could volunteer and you know, you just take

on so many things, not realizing life is short.

So if you're not focused on what you're doing right now, you are missing out on everything else

in your life. Like in the morning, I get up in the morning, my dogs come to me. If I'm on my

phone and I'm distracted, I'm not enjoying the fact that I have fur babies and I love my fur babies

and I'm not giving them the attention.

So when my dog comes over and she puts her head on my lap, I put my phone down and I give

her those five, 10 minutes to just be her. And I. Because my dogs take away a lot of my control

is, and anxiety and all that stuff, but I have to be present in the moment in order to reap the

benefits of that. And that's what a lot of professionals and a lot of entrepreneurs miss out on.

Paden: Yeah, struggle. It's a huge struggle in

entrepreneurial

community because you, you're right, like, you know, you talked about anxiety and like that's.

That's the typical [00:26:00] personality of an entrepreneur, right? Like, and that's what you are

successful, or at least part of it, whatever drives them, at least in the beginning, right?

Of that, um, you know, just general anxiety. I gotta accomplish, I gotta prove something, you

know, all I, I suffer with that myself. Um,

Keren: all do Paden. We do. If someone's telling you they're not, they're lying. There's no way

they're not dealing with it.

Paden: it's such a struggle for, you know, a person like you, a person like me, to, set still, to be

present, to, um, just, yeah, I mean, like, the present moment is really all you have.

you know, and I say this a lot on here, it's like, okay, you're your past, you know, your past is all

in your head. and studies show like most of it's wrong. you make up stories and, it's not.

Technically accurate, right? So it's not even real. Yeah.

Keren: reality to be.

Paden: and your future is the same, right?

Like you just make it up. So really the only thing you have is, is just the present moment. And,

that's the only thing you can interact with and have control of and, all those [00:27:00] things.

And. it's something I've struggled with, especially growing my business of taking that time to

disconnect and, and just be present.

Um, but it's something I really leaned into, especially in the home life. You know, I have three

small children, um, wife and, and all the things, and, um,

Keren: Enjoy them Paden while they're still small. Mine are 17 and 18 and they were just born

yesterday. So the best advice anyone ever gave me was don't blink,

Paden: Yeah.

Keren: I didn't, but they still

Paden: They still moved fast, didn't they?

Keren: it didn't help, but I made sure that I, I. those moments carefully and I took the time to

enjoy them.

And when I go away with my kids, my phone is on silent. I have a team that covers all of my

transaction. Of course, when I come back, they tell me their significant others hate me because

of the amount of calls and showing and things that they've had to do. But [00:28:00] thank God I

only

Paden: That's my normal Tuesday. What are you complaining about?

Keren: And that's what I say all the time.

They're like, oh man, I'm so happy I'm not a top producer. I'm like, okay, but have you seen my

house? Have you seen my kids have I live on 21

Paden: be nice. Alright.

Keren: Yeah. Yeah. And that's a part that kills me. Oh, you're so lucky. You are so lucky to have

all this business. And then I say, The harder I work, the luckier I get.

Paden: Yeah. And, and it's like, well, sure, sure, yes. I mean, luck is, we're like, okay,

preparedness, you know, runs into opportunity, but like, you can't even spot the opportunity if

you're not prepared doing the work. Right. people don't understand that Yes, You gotta be in the

game working your butt off.

And then opportunities show up and you have the ability to take advantage of it. People just

want to sit on the sidelines, not do the work, and be like, oh man, I didn't get that opportunity.

'cause you weren't ready for it. You weren't prepared. And the people that are in the game every

day, they are prepared and they get to see [00:29:00] that fat pitch come down the middle of the

plate and smash a home run because they're ready for it.

Um.

Keren: And you know it's funny 'cause in real estate every brokerage has like a different setup. I

don't know how familiar you are with the setup of real estate, but I had an agent that came to me

from another brokerage. She said to me, oh, I can do your inspections and your showings and

your appraisals.

And I looked at her and I said, the brokerage you came from, did you do your brokers?

Showings inspections. She's like, yeah, he paid me for my time. I said, is that what you're

expecting me to do? Because I love doing my business. When I do home inspections, that

means I can show my clients my expertise and the knowledge of the house, and I can make

sure the inspectors covering what he's supposed to, and I can make sure that my.

Clients are comfortable buying this house. Same thing for sellers. I'm there because I want to

represent my sellers. I had an inspection this weekend and my seller called and said, is the

buyer coming? She had no idea. She had never sold a house [00:30:00] before. Is the buyer

coming? I said, yes, they are. Is their agent absolutely.

Well, I'm not comfortable with them being in my house alone. I said, totally get it if you'd like, I

can be there all day. I just prefer not to because I don't wanna step on the buyer agent's. Toes

because this is their time to connect with their client and cement the relationship. You're in a

house for two and a half hours, you're gonna be talking about different things that are not

necessarily just about the house.

I said, but if you are uncomfortable in any way, I. I'll be there. And she said, well, no, I, I kind of

don't wanna do that. And I said, is there something really valuable in the house that you're

concerned that it'll be in danger? She said, no. I said, let's do this. I will stop by the house mid

inspection to make sure everything is okay.

I'll see if they have any questions and I'll just walk around the house, make sure everything's

okay. And she said, you know what? I'm comfortable enough with everything you told me, you

don't even have to do that,

Paden: it was your great communication there that, that was all of that in, [00:31:00] in my

opinion, right? Like you, you just had an open, transparent conversation with your client, right?

Like, if, if you were, you know, maybe a new agent and scared and didn't wanna upset your

client, you'd be like, uh, you would've just like jumped and like, oh, I want to do that.

You know, I want to do that or be there. And, and, but like, you took the time and you're like,

okay, hey, this is why. You know, this is the pro of me going there. This is the con of me going

there. And this is why I think, why am might not want to go there. You know what I mean? And

like you just had an open conversation.

Most people can't communicate at that level, right? Or just haven't had those deep of

conversations. Right.

Keren: Yeah. And you know, very often people ask me, what's your secret? How come you are

so successful? Like, what are you doing different? And I'm an open book. All my agents get all

my tools and I've always been that way. Even when I first started in real estate, I, there were

certain things that I did that no one else in my brokerage did.

And my partner at the time said, don't teach them. Don't tell them what works for you, because

then they're gonna be like you. And I said, look, if it works for me. I, [00:32:00] I wanna spread

the knowledge. If I'm doing better and they're doing better, the whole industry will do better and

we will just be better for the consumer.

And that's what we're supposed to do. And I'm also not afraid of competition. I thrive on

competition. So yes, I wanna teach everybody else to be just like me. What they do with those

tools is a totally different story,

Paden: Yeah. Yeah. And.

Keren: help.

Paden: for one, no one can be just like you. Um, but two, you give all those tools. Like, I, I have

a close friend, he's the number one agent in Kansas City, um, the Kansas City market. And he is

always frustrated where like.

Top producing, you know, great, great hustling guy. And like, he's like, I give all my, everybody

the team, they just like all the tools. It's like, I can bring you in here and if you're willing to do

everything, I say, you'll make 200 grand like in a year. And he's like, and here's the thing, no one

does. Like no one will follow it.

Keren: And you know that's the problem. Like you [00:33:00] expect things to fall in your lap.

They're not gonna fall in your lap. You know? It's not God giving us mana in the desert. It's not

gonna fall. You need to go out and do the work. So for instance, in New Jersey, we're supposed

to have 12 credits every cycle. So every two years we have 12 credits.

Do you know how many credits I had last cycle? 64. Why? Because I wanna learn as much as I

can. And just because I took that class two years ago, it's totally different now. We've had

lawsuits with the National Association of Realtors, we've had issues within brokerages. We've,

oh, if you are alive, you have an issue.

Why would I not wanna learn more and get more tools and be better at my job for my clients?

Why not?

Paden: that's another big separator of successful people and not successful people is, the

continuous learning. And, and I would say even more importantly is the humility to continuously

learn, right? Like, it would be so easy [00:34:00] for you to be like, oh, well, I'm. I'm the big dog

here.

I don't have to do any of this stuff. I mean, like seriously, right? Like it would be very easy for you

to say that or take that stance. but then that would be the beginning of your downfall. Like it

absolutely would be

Keren: And you know, that's really funny because my husband, very often I tell him, oh, I wanna

go see Jared James. I wanna go see this person. I wanna go listen to that person talk. And he

looks at me and he's like. But you're perfect. You don't need to do anything. Look how well

you're doing with the tools you have.

And I say to him all the time, there's always more I can learn. I'm like the eternal student. Give

me a book. I will have it read in no time at all. And I'm so stubborn, and even if the book is

boring, I will finish because I can't leave it unfinished because it'll be in my head that I don't

know the ending.

Paden: I have no problem. I, I read a lot of books and listen to a lot of podcasts. I have no

problem trashing a book early if I'm like, no, this thing's not worth, yeah. Yeah. I get what you're

saying.

Speaker: Are you looking for a new tax [00:35:00] experience, looking for an advisor that

actually brings you high level ideas and proactively plan so you aren't overpaying your taxes? Or

how about one that even just responds and communicates in a timely fashion? If any of that

resonates with you, you probably just have a tax preparer and not a tax planner.

And it is through the tax planning process where all the value is found. And when Tax Planning's

done right, it has a positive return on investment. I'm Paden Squires, I'm a CPA and owner of

Squires Tax Planning. We work alongside entrepreneurs and high income earners, helping them

pay the least amount of income taxes, both legally and ethically.

We have saved our clients hundreds of thousands of dollars through specific strategies, and we

guarantee we can find multiple tax strategies that your current tax preparer hasn't told you

about. If that interests you, head over to squire's tax planning.com. There you can take our free

assessment to see how likely it is that you are overpaying on your income taxes.

From [00:36:00] there, you can also book a free tax discovery call with our team to see what it

would look like to have us working for you.

Paden: So, you know, are there any like daily habits or routines that you would credit that, that

really help you stay aligned and focused?

Keren: Yeah, so I exercise daily. Let me just say I hate exercise. I just wanna be clear. I don't

like it at all. But at 48 years old, I have plans to live till I'm 120. Because my mom died when I

was 29, and I'm not doing that to my kids. And I tell them all the time, I'm gonna be that old

decrepit woman with skin like leather and you're gonna be like, die already.

Why are you Exactly. So I have to exercise because. It clears my mind, it keeps me more

focused. It keeps my body working a certain way, which is what I enjoy. It allows me to run

around with, doesn't matter who you know, and that's important. It's really, really [00:37:00]

important. Plus, what I do every morning is I do my, my morning prayers because I wanna

connect to a higher power.

I, that's, that's my belief system. I believe. So I. Talk to him every morning and every night, and I

start with my gratitude. I'm grateful, and I start with really simple things. Like I lay down in bed

and I'm like, I love my bed. Thank you for my bed. And then I go on to my family and their health

and my house and my town and my countries, and I'm grateful.

And then I ask for things that. I think are meaningful for the world, not for me. It's never, oh, I

really want a big sale next month. It's never that. It's always on a bigger scale because I have

concerns. I have major concerns for my children and their generation, and the fact that they

have the attention span of a goldfish.

Like three seconds. seconds. If I don't catch your

Paden: Well, we've been trained to take dopamine hits [00:38:00] all day long on our

Keren: Exactly. and that's why I said, until the power goes out, because what are my kids gonna

do? So we play board games, we read books together, we do all these things because I want

them to have both sides of their brains developed, not just the one with the immediate instant

gratification.

Paden: the person that can delay the gratification the longest without seeing any results from

their actions win the biggest right. it's the person that can work on a project for years with

nothing telling them that like this is even working out.

and the people that can delay it forever and ever and ever, those are the people that are

successful in today's world. It's designed to train everybody to be the completely the opposite.

It's like, what, what do I get now? What do I get now? And you can't take, like you said. 10

seconds to focus on literally anything.

Everybody is so damn distracted all the time. And I'm me, like, I'm, I'm the same way. Um, what,

you know, I [00:39:00] I, I feel like I'm, you know, I've trained myself better than most, but even

now I'm like, you're not focused enough. You have to be more focused. Like you have way too

much junk going on and it's like, it's not, what's the one goal you're going after and, filter

everything through that.

Right. and that's. Something I'm really trying to work on right now.

Keren: And Paden, if we're talking about goals, I just wanna tell you, I sit down with my agents

the beginning of every year and I make them write out their goals. And the reason for that is

because if you don't write down a goal, it's a dream. If you write down a goal, you can now come

up with a plan of how to

Paden: yeah. Back into it. Yeah,

Keren: Exactly.

And if your goal doesn't scare you, it's not big enough. Not big enough. I, I wanna see you

scared, 'cause that's gonna make you run around like crazy and getting things done.

Paden: you know, I'm reading a book right now, It's called The Science of Scaling by Ben Har,

Dr. Benjamin Hardy, which is one of his newest books. And his books are amazing. But, it's talks

about setting impossible goals and, and the reason to set of impossible goals, there's a

[00:40:00] science behind it, is that it forces your brain to filter out all the noise.

That doesn't matter, right? It gets you extremely focused. if you set this huge goal, it's like, okay,

everything you're doing, probably, you know, 90% of what you're doing needs to go away for you

to reach that goal, right? You have to get that laser focus, and that's kind of the whole point of

setting those massive goals.

It makes everything else look unimportant and falls away. Right? And because, like we said, the

biggest issue is that you're not focused, you're distracted on 10,000 different things.

Keren: Right, and I think that's also part of the problem. We set up goals, but they're not high

enough. Oh, I could do that on weekends. Like whatever. Right. I don't need to work on it now.

Like for me.

Paden: Yeah. It doesn't force you to do it. Yeah.

Keren: Exactly for me, my goals are always so big where everybody around me, they're like,

you're insane. I don't know how you set up this goal.

Like

Failure is not an option.

Paden: you have to trust it, right? You have to have that faith and that trust, right?

That it's like[00:41:00]

Keren: because you know the only one that could hold you back is you. Nobody else can hold

you back. And I think that's what a lot of people fail to understand. If you have a goal and it's in

front of your eyes the whole time you're going to make it, just put everything you have into it.

Just work at it every day. It's not, oh, I'll do it tomorrow. I'll do it next week. It's today. It's right

now. Let's go.

Paden: So last final question for you, Karen. Talking about legacy, you know, what kind of

legacy do you wanna leave, you know, for your community, your area, your county, right?

Sussex County, um, and you know your children and family.

Keren: So my children are my legacy, and I tell them that all the time. When I die, what I want is

for people to come to my kids and say. Your mom helped me do this. Your mom helped me do

that. Your mom did this for me. When my mom passed away and we were sitting Shiva on her,

people came from all across the country and actually from Israel too, and they came up to my

sister and I and said, your mom helped me get out of an [00:42:00] abusive relationship.

Your mom helped me start a business. Your mom helped me ask for that promotion that I didn't

want to, I didn't think I could. Your mom, your mom, your mom. And that's what I want for my

kids. I want my kids. When they're mourning the fact that I've gone further for them to say, I

didn't know my mom did that.

My mom was so cool. I have to be just like her. I have to do the same exact thing and, and my

legacy. So I have big plans for this area when I'm done with real estate. My plan is to create

several businesses. Well, real estate's gonna pay for that. It's gonna be a charity in my mother's

name, and it's going to teach people in the area how to run a business.

Because in Israel there are a lot of entrepreneurs, A lot of us grow up in entrepreneurial homes

because we're always thinking, we're always trying to come up with something new, something

exciting, something that can benefit the world's community, not just us. The culture here is a little

different, and that's [00:43:00] okay.

It's okay to be however you are, but what do you want? What do you wanna leave behind? I

wanna leave behind people saying. I now know how to start my own business. I know how to do

bookkeeping. I know the legalities. I know I can do marketing. That's what I wanna leave behind

for people to know how to be entrepreneurs.

Paden: I will agree with everything you say there and, you know, you talk about your, legacy.

Mine is very similar to that and my kids just know who I was and what I did and all the stories

that, you know, certainly aren't public and things like that, that I, you know, we don't really even

talk about it, but, and same with this. I mean, this is what this podcast is about really. It's like,

you know, I've developed myself from, you know, tiny, single mom kid into what I am today. and I

want to share the story so people can be empowered by that and realize, you know, whatever

excuses or stories they have in their head.

It's like, it's just made up. Like you can literally do whatever you want [00:44:00] to do. And

that's, um, that's, that's really the whole point of this podcast and everything that's, um, goes in

behind it.

Keren: that's great. And I think that's the most important thing to remember. We set things up in

our minds, these invisible walls. There's no need for that. The world out there is gonna try and

stop you no matter what you're doing. Anyway. Because that's just, you know, you're doing well.

I'm not, so you must be the reason that I'm not doing well, you know, 'cause you took the

business for me, which is not the right way to look at it.

The way to look at it is, what is that person doing differently that I'm not doing? How do I get

better? And when I, for instance, don't get a listing, I ask the seller, what did that agent offer you

that I didn't? Because I wanna be better.

Paden: to learn. Yeah.

Keren: And it's not, I'm not coming from a negative place. It's the exact opposite.

They must have offered you something that I didn't, or something that they said you liked it

better. I just want to understand, and that's okay. I love learning new things 'cause how am I

gonna get better at what I do? I

Paden: [00:45:00] And and

Keren: don't even know everything.

Paden: people wouldn't ask that question 'cause they'd be too scared to know the answer.

Right. And they would take

Keren: have no

fear.

Paden: Right. They would be too scared to get the answer. I, I, I know that. And

Keren: Yeah.

Paden: this has been a great conversation. I really, I really appreciate you.

You're, you're obviously a rock star up there. So what's the best way people can connect with

you, get to know more about you, or just follow, you know, the good stuff you got out there?

Keren: So they can always get me on my cell phone. It's on 24 hours a day. I do turn into a

pumpkin around 10 o'clock at night, but I light back up right around five 30 every morning. Uh,

my cell phone number is (551) 262-4062 or they can look me up on Facebook or Instagram at

Keren Gonen and Real Estate Broker.

Or they can go by my hashtag, which is hashtag Keren Cares.

Paden: Love it. Keren any, uh, last words of advice before you sign off here?

Keren: you know what my favorite saying, be like Nike, and just do it.

Paden: Keren thank you very much and listeners, we'll catch you next time.[00:46:00]

Keren: Thank you Paden.

Speaker 2: Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. If you found it valuable, please rate,

review, and share it. That is the best way to help us build this and reach more people as we're

trying to accomplish our goal of help creating more healthy, wealthy, and wise entrepreneurs.

You can follow us on social media by searching for me Paden Squires.

Or going to padensquires.com on the website and social media. We're always sharing tips of

personal growth and there we can actually interact. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks guys.