Realty Life
Veteran realtor and industry leader Ken McLachlan talks with real people about their passions, their accomplishments and the moments that changed their lives. Realty Life is an inspirational and powerful look at how life turns and the journeys that follow.
Realty Life
The Calm Realtor: How Michael Mealia Leads Without the Noise
Is the secret to real estate success relentless hustle, or is it a calm, steady hand?
Ken McLachlan sits down with his longtime friend and experienced real estate professional, Michael Mealia, with over 45 years in the business.
Michael shares how he has navigated market highs and lows with a unique combination of leadership, patience, and creative problem-solving.
From handling a real estate office in crisis to structuring unconventional deals that benefit both buyers and sellers, Michael proves that being a great realtor isn’t about pressure—it’s about trust, strategy, and resilience.
Listen For:
03:55 Calm in the Storm – How to Lead Without Being Loud
09:37 The Power of a Point System – Michael’s Strategy for Daily Wins
19:59 Thinking Outside the Box – Michael’s Unique Deal Structuring
27:09 Why Market Downturns Are the Best Time to Grow
Guest: Michael Mealia
Ken can be reached at:
Ken McLachlan (00:05):
Hey everyone, it's Ken McLachlan and welcome to my podcast Realty Life. It's a real privilege for me to be able to spend a little bit of time with everybody every two or three weeks whenever we do this. And my focus always has been about talking to primarily real estate people, trying to get into the head of how they do their business, share their ideas, share what gets in their way, how they create opportunities in their lives, and how they focus on helping people move forward as clients and as their peers and things like that. And I get to talk to a lot of great people, and I learn a lot from spending time with 'em. Some of them are much more intense about how they do their work, systematize and things like that. And others are very calm, very relaxed about their earnest and how they believe in themselves and how they focus for the clients and how they do their work.
(00:59):
And today, I sorry, the privilege of talking to someone that I've known for many, many years, that I've been able to watch him live his life basically, and not just his real estate life, live his life as a peer, as a leader, as a person that contributes to other people. And it's really been a joy for me to be there with him and to learn from him and understand the calmness that he has in that way of being. And I'm so glad that I have the opportunity to share this with you today and share my conversation that we're going to have with my good friend because I think it matters that you don't have to be the banging on the table all the time to be a success in this business or in life. You can be the calm, gentle, personal there that really is compelling and that offers a lot to solution for people to get things going. So I'm really honored to have my friend with me, my friend Mike Mealia. Michael, welcome. Hey, Kenny. How are you doing? I'm fine. How are you doing? I'm doing
Michael Mealia (02:04):
Just great.
Ken McLachlan (02:04):
This is a real treat for me. I can actually remember, and I don't know if you remember the first time I've ever met you. I think it was the first time I ever met you, so I'm going to bring you back for a minute. It was, I don't know, the year. I have no idea. But I remember there was a situation that it was happening up in your old office and I was called into kind of help out, I guess was the better way of saying it. And that's when I saw you at action and what you demonstrated to me. There was a real crisis going on with a previous company. There was a trust issue and all that stuff. I won't go into details on it, but you stepped up and you demonstrated a calmness to the group. There were a lot of agents there that were freaking out, 40 or 50 of them, they were freaking out.
(02:51):
They were having a very difficult time because a lot of them believed, and rightfully so, that their money was ripped off. They were stolen their commission and they weren't going to get paid because they worked for the last six months on these deals and they weren't happening or even 'em longer for some of them. And there was a lot of trust issues going on. And you stepped up primarily. And there other people did it, one other person in particular, one or two. And you showed leadership and calmness and you said, listen, let's get together. Let's do this. We're rally behind Ken, and I think it was Deborah was with me at the time. Do you remember these days?
Michael Mealia (03:27):
Yes, I do.
Ken McLachlan (03:28):
Yeah. And it was a very difficult time and your leadership, you showed, I don't mean that your leadership, that you got people to stay with the company, but the calmness you demonstrated to these people, these agents that were in the room at the time to get them to really focus on what was going on, demonstrate a complete leadership of what was going on for the situation. And I commend you for that. I think I've talked to you about this before, but that really stuck with me. That was the biggest thing I got from that whole day. And
Michael Mealia (03:55):
That was, that's very kind of,
Ken McLachlan (03:56):
That was what, 20 years? 15, 20? I don't know how long ago it was, but I was going to tell you something. I'm going to call you on this. You still have to help me with my golf game after all these years of knowing you. I mean, you take a sweet swing at golf and you are going to, we were just talking off air before about how you are competing with the seniors and you're going to whip these younger guys into shape and we're going to hold you to it. But God damn, I like your swing, man. You are so calm. Well, Kenny,
Michael Mealia (04:26):
You're a lot better than you think you are.
Ken McLachlan (04:29):
Okay, I'm listening.
Michael Mealia (04:30):
You just have to believe in yourself.
Ken McLachlan (04:32):
Yeah, I know.
Michael Mealia (04:33):
And not be tentative going through the ball. That's all.
Ken McLachlan (04:38):
Not tentative going through the
Michael Mealia (04:40):
Ball. Just believe in what you're doing. Just believe in what you're doing. And honestly, you're a lot better than you think
Ken McLachlan (04:52):
You're, you're very kind. And I'm going to put those words in my brain and keep refocusing and what do they call that in tm? What you do, the mantra. And I'm going to keep repeating that over and over again. And here you're boys doing that. How long have you been in this business real estate?
Michael Mealia (05:09):
45 years. Oh my God. I was licensed in 1979, became a broker in 1982. My mother and I had a real estate company, and we joined re max in 1992 after we sold the company.
Ken McLachlan (05:28):
So which company was it?
Michael Mealia (05:31):
It was Triam Realty. Triam Realty. And we were located at Young and Shepherd, and then we
Ken McLachlan (05:42):
Changed. Name was that your first entry into real estate was with your mother's company?
Michael Mealia (05:49):
My first entry into real estate was with Dell Realty, which was owned by Tridell.
Ken McLachlan (05:54):
Yeah, that's right.
Michael Mealia (05:55):
And then we bought, that was the 1979, and my mom and I bought Dell Realty from Tridel and called the name Triumph.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Okay. Now
Michael Mealia (06:05):
My mother's name was Angel. My name was Michael. So listen,
Ken McLachlan (06:09):
I remember your mother. Well, she was a saint. She was gentle, kind, beautiful, and very loving. I remember spending time with her and I had the privilege of actually working with her in the company and stuff. And she was very special and worked for years and we're getting into how longevity of this business. But she was in it until, how old was she until,
Michael Mealia (06:32):
I think she retired when she was 87. Oh God. I think the last deal she made was when she was
Ken McLachlan (06:38):
88. Wow. Can you imagine?
Michael Mealia (06:41):
Well, she built, it's interesting when you come to leadership, when you mention leadership is, and I saw that in my mother, and I see that in some people, you really have to earn the right to lead, right?
Ken McLachlan (06:57):
Absolutely.
Michael Mealia (06:58):
And too many times people will try to lead without earning the right, and mom always put that time in with people and never tried to lead until she made that connection, until she earned the right. And then once she earned the right and she led, then there was never any issue people never any question.
Ken McLachlan (07:22):
Well, spending time with her and I actually got to experience her interacting with clients and how she demonstrated what really a real estate agent was all about. It wasn't about the actual, I mean, the deal is we make a living by helping people buy and sell real estate, but her focus wasn't on, I'm going to get this commission. Her focus was on being of service to people, having this interaction with people and the learning I got from that and watching you become, a lot of the traits you have now are from your mother angel back then, which is a compliment to you. And
Michael Mealia (07:59):
I would take that as a compliment. Thanks,
Ken McLachlan (08:01):
Kate.
Michael Mealia (08:01):
No, you're absolutely right.
Ken McLachlan (08:03):
So the longevity of this business, I've been in the business in 79 as well, and I know I want to get into what you have experienced, the ups and downs, the different recessions we've had, the different things that we are put in front of us as this business we're doing. And how have you dealt with them, Michael? What has been your strength other than your family?
Michael Mealia (08:25):
Well, there's been a few things is whenever you have a daunting task in front of you is you really have to break it down into bite-sized chunks. You have to really focus on having a good hour, just focus on having a good hour. And then when the hour's over, focus on having another good hour and another good hour and your good hours turn into good days, good weeks, good months. And the other thing too is sometimes, you know what? It's a baseball analogy. Baseball, they play 160 few days a year. And you can't be excited each and every day. I mean, for every game, you can't play your best 162, you're going to have your ups and downs, and they call it the dog days of August because the season's over halfway over the playoffs aren't really that close. And so you have to find a way as an agent to win every day. You have to find a way to win every day. And how I like to do it is I have a little point system.
Ken McLachlan (09:37):
Tell us about that.
Michael Mealia (09:38):
And Well, for every decision making adult I talk to, it's one point for every time I show a house, it's five points for every house I show, it's five points for every appraisal I go on, it's 15 points. For every deal I make, it's 30 points. So I have a point total that I have to get to every day or week. And it's great because every day I'm winning, every I'm winning. Now the other thing to that is you go through ups and downs is I can go through a day obviously and not sell a house, but I go through a day and sell three houses. The point is, is they affect you. The same way is when you sell three houses in a day, or if you do, it can knock you off your course. It can knock you off your plan. And the same thing is if you don't sell anything for a while and knock you off your plan. So you just have to find a way to win every day. How do you, little things you can do to motivate yourself, that type of thing.
Ken McLachlan (10:44):
Does the market, how much does the market affect you and how you are your mental state of things?
Michael Mealia (10:52):
Well, I look at my business card all the time, and nowhere on my business card does it say economist, does it say Future teller? I look on it and I says, it says real estate broker, right? Ka salesperson. I said, well, I'm a salesperson. So dealing with the market, the ups and downs and the bankruptcies is if you get into the minutia of it, it's really what is the market? The market's really, how does all the information we're gathering, how does it affect people's
Ken McLachlan (11:29):
Minds?
Michael Mealia (11:30):
How does it affect their attitudes, their minds, that type of thing, really. And that gives you a good idea on the state of people. So if my job is to push people forward into making good decisions, then I have to understand that mindset and my approach has to integrate with that mindset in order to a positive result. So the study of that is I find very fascinating.
Ken McLachlan (12:03):
Yeah, I do too.
Michael Mealia (12:03):
Extremely fascinating. And I'm always asking people, I'm always asking my clients, that type of thing. I'm saying after conversation, I'll say, this is what I meant to say. Did that come across the right way? How did you take that? Because I'm really, really interested to see how if people are receiving what I'm trying to send them, and when they start to explain that, they just give me a bigger insight into what they're going through in their mind, which helps me to achieve positive results with people.
Ken McLachlan (12:43):
So what does it that inspires you? What is it that, do you, you have a go-to book. Do you have a pattern of discipline every day that you follow, when you get up, you journal, you write you whatever it is, is there a pattern? Keeps you inspired, think and Grow Rich, you're showing me the book
Michael Mealia (13:06):
By Napoleon Hill, right? And the Greatest Salesman in the World by OG
Ken McLachlan (13:12):
Mandino. Yeah, I know.
Michael Mealia (13:13):
And those are two books that we all have. We all think, but they're priceless to me.
Ken McLachlan (13:19):
Do you read them now still?
Michael Mealia (13:21):
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I read them. I read them all the time. I find that I'm constantly filling my mind or try to fill my mind with things that are proactive, positive, that type of thing. I think you said what inspires me. What inspires me is moving people along in their life. I mean, the job that we have as realtors, we're talking about millions and millions and millions of dollars in people's lives. It's the largest decision they make, and we are an integral part of that. And the depths of relationships that you get into people when they're selling their house or that type of thing is very, very gratifying to me. Isn't gratifying.
Ken McLachlan (14:13):
Isn't it amazing to be involved with them for that decision making that they come to that you don't? I always tell people that I've never sold a house to anybody in my life. I've never talked you into or her into buying a property ever. It's always been about helping them get to the decision for them to make really, not for me to make, it's their house. They have to live there, but to give them all the information and make it a compelling reason to say yes or say no. And I think you're the same way. We're information providers for most of the time, and I'm not, as you said, I'm not an accountant. I don't have a fortune tower ball in front of me, these things. And I'm just there to help them make decisions. And you do that expertly all the time without question.
Michael Mealia (15:06):
So true. And now you can say the same word a hundred times, but there's always one or two times when it's most effective. And that really comes from listening.
Ken McLachlan (15:21):
Yeah, it does,
Michael Mealia (15:25):
Because we provide information all the time and we're helping people make a decision. But at some point, they're going to ask you, what do you think?
Ken McLachlan (15:37):
What's your opinion?
Michael Mealia (15:38):
And you have to, if you've done the groundwork ahead of time in listening, understanding your client, you'll know when to close. You'll know when to make that decision. You'll know when to use those words.
Ken McLachlan (15:55):
To me, what you're saying is when to close is when to ask them for if they want to move forward, if they don't want to move forward, basically, do they have enough information to make a decision is what to me is a close is.
Michael Mealia (16:10):
Well, people, I find mean we all find they're afraid to make a mistake. They're really afraid to make mistakes. So they need that reassurance
Ken McLachlan (16:21):
From you. Of course,
Michael Mealia (16:21):
They need that reassurance from you, and it's very, very important to them. It's very, very important to them, whether they admit it or not. But for you to say, this is the right move, what do you think? You just say, this is the right move. I think your decision is the right decision.
Ken McLachlan (16:39):
And you actually, you told me about, we don't have to go into great detail about it, Michael, but you told me about a deal you did recently, which is really compelling and very unique. And I thought that was what, that's the strength of being able to think on your feet, to be able to adjust to help the client come to solution on this thing. And I'll tell you a quick story about me, and this isn't about me, but I think it reinforces to who you are in my life. So I remember when I was selling real estate years ago, I had a client that had a house to sell, and it was a really good house. He did some work on it, he paid it, cleaned it up, and he was going to sell it. And I had this young couple that wanted to buy it and the market price that the property was with X at the time.
(17:29):
And I remember I bought the seller, my seller, my buyer. I brought them, the seller, the price that was market price for it and the most that these people would pay or could pay. And I was compelled that it was the right thing for both parties. And I remember saying to the man, he says, no, I want X 20,000 more or whatever the number was. I said, I can't get you that. It's not worth that based on the market, I won't appraise for that. It won't do anything else. And I was persistent with him. And finally he said to me, Mike, that my son, we'll do it like we do back home. And he was a NFI guy from Newfoundland, I guess I should say. But he was a nfi, lovely, lovely guy. And I says, what are you talking about? He says, well, we're flip a coin.
(18:18):
And I says, we can't flip a coin and sell your house. He says, well, we will if you feel so strongly about it. And he had an accent, which I'm not going to pretend to do. He said to me, we're flipping a coin like we do back home. If it's heads, I'll take the offer. If it's tails, I'll sign back at my price. And I said, after a while, I said, okay, so let's do it. And I flipped the coin and he won. And immediately out of my mouth, I said, best to three. And he looked at me and he says, okay, and I flipped the coin and I won Beth next two. And he says, okay, I'm selling it. And it was just the persistence of what I did and what the story you're telling about how you do business is that I was sure that was the best decision for them, and it was the best decision for them at the time, but I had to get them to completion and I had to think on my feet. Now the deal that you just told me about, I don't know how much detail you want to get into. It was to me is thinking on your feet. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Michael Mealia (19:21):
Well, what we can only share so much.
Ken McLachlan (19:26):
Yeah, that's what I mean.
Michael Mealia (19:28):
You had a client who wanted to buy a property but didn't have the funds available, and you had a seller that wanted to sell a property and didn't need the money right away, did not need the money. So we worked out basically a deal where the buyer moved into the property and made payments to the seller, escalating payments over time with a closing date down the road to
Ken McLachlan (19:59):
Get the closing date. Represents title to the property, yeah,
Michael Mealia (20:04):
Yeah, the closing date down the road. And so it was a question of just matching the needs of the buyer with the needs of the seller and finding out a way to satisfy both parties in an unusual way. We also use things like if we had that situation where you were 20,000 or $50,000 apart and nobody's budging, the next question that we ask now is to the seller is what are you going to do with the funds once you sell? A lot of times they'll say, well, if they say, I'm going to buy another house, I say, well, I'm going to invest it. Well, what return are you going to get? Well, I don't like to gamble. I'm going to get 5% return. I said, well, after tax, how much is that? And they said, well, I'll end up getting two and a half to 3%. I said, well, I'll get you. So then what you'll say is something like, I'll get you the $50,000 mortgage, but I need you to take back an interest free mortgage for two years. I need you to take back whatever, 200,000 interest free for two years or something like that. Anyway, we just look for different ways to think.
Ken McLachlan (21:19):
Well, it's being creative at the time that it's necessary to be creative and thinking on your feet is the point that I've learned from you and others to do that way and not being afraid to do it. I think I see a lot of people, and I was guilty of it at time that I was afraid to give opportunity to though it's got to be a different solution to that than there's got to. It's not just a B, it could be a c, d or whatever it is to get there. And you demonstrate that all the time. You don't just let that one thing go by and you create different ways to do it as you go forward with it.
Michael Mealia (21:57):
When you start doing that and you start throwing these different ideas at people, it opens up the conversation. Rather than having somebody rigid here and somebody rigid here, it's a way of breaking through that to open up a discussion. And once you open up the discussion and you start showing different ideas at other different ideas come and then people have a tendency to get off their hard places. They tend to move because now they're looking for a solution also.
Ken McLachlan (22:28):
Well, I think you have to offer them an opportunity to get off that hard place, which you do. They have to find an off ramp at times to make it easier for them to come to conclusion. Having that conversation, which you just described, and working with them gives them that opportunity to do that stuff, which is brilliant. And it's not overreacting, which I see a lot of us doing is overreacting with being too deal hungry, if that makes sense. Rather than let's get the solution, let's figure something out. And they call it commission breath, don't they? At times where you can smell, you
Michael Mealia (23:04):
Can smell it a mile away. Can't
Ken McLachlan (23:06):
Smell it away. You can smell
Michael Mealia (23:08):
It. Here he comes. Jeff. No,
Ken McLachlan (23:11):
Michael, do you have a lot of newer agents come to you and ask for advice? I'm sure you do.
Michael Mealia (23:19):
Well, I mean a lot of agents now. When we were in the office, when we were in the office all the time, it happened all the time. It was wonderful. But since Covid and that type of thing, a lot of people are working from home. We're working from home and that type of thing. And hopefully we get back to going into the office a little bit more.
Ken McLachlan (23:41):
A hybrid model. Yeah,
Michael Mealia (23:43):
A hybrid, that type of thing. But yeah, we have an hour power group that we meet with every Friday morning and we bat around ideas, that type thing. We've been doing that for
Ken McLachlan (23:53):
Years, which, what would you advise to the device be to someone fairly new in this business? If you had to do the Mike meal of 1979 all over again, what would you tell somebody to get in?
Michael Mealia (24:07):
Well, what I would tell people, first of all is when you're in a little bit slower market like we've been through, it creates a tremendous opportunity. The opportunity is when the market is going well, it's very hard to make inroads into markets. Agents are spending a lot of money. They're on advertising and this, and everybody's got a friend, that type of thing. But when the market's slower, now's the time to plant the seeds. Now's the time that you can really change. You can change your whole business right now. And I'm not talking about spending thousands of dollars in advertising. Find a way to connect with people now. And really what you want to accomplish with people is you want to go away from the conversation knowing that if they sell their house, they're going to deal with you, not that they're going to sell right now. Because if the more times you can establish that with people in this market, the more times that I can connect with people I don't know now, and I walk away going, because my goal of that meeting is just for them to come out of the percent, Mike's my realtor, that's what I want. That's all I want.
(25:25):
I don't want you to sell right now. I just want you to go and say, Mike's my realtor, because the media is going to sell them over the next six months of the year. This market is going to turn around pretty quickly here. It's going to turn around pretty quickly. It's going to get very, very active again, and the media is going to sell those people that now is the time to do something in real estate. I don't have to call,
Ken McLachlan (25:47):
You're right.
Michael Mealia (25:48):
All I have to establish is I'm your realtor. I'm your realtor, right? So it excites the hell out of me. Excuse me. It just excites the hell out of me right now this market because not only can I get creative and people really need a realtor now, but the amount of people that I'm talking to and I'm connecting with, and my list is growing, that type of thing. I'm just going yipe, Yahoo. I mean, as this thing turns around,
Ken McLachlan (26:21):
And I think it is turning around too, I'm very optimistic about it. And the story about having people, the time to buy is when no one else is buying really. And selling the clients that I had when I was selling real estate was that I would say, listen, you may be selling in a down market, but you're going to be buying in a down market at the same time. So as long as you're in the same segment, your money's going to be valued the same. And to treat it that way, don't be afraid to, maybe you're selling it for 10,000 less than you think you should, but you're can't be buying for 10,000 less. So it's just a matter of accommodating what's important to you out
Michael Mealia (26:57):
There. Yeah. If you're moving up in price, right? In a hot market, a person in one area could never dream about buying in another area. It was too
Ken McLachlan (27:08):
Expensive. Yeah, it's too much. Yeah.
Michael Mealia (27:09):
And if the difference was 500,000 from the house they had to the house they wanted, well, now guess what? It's 400,000, the difference 400,000. And so would you rather be paying 7% on 400,000 or 4% on 500,000? Give me the 7% on 400,000 for a year.
Ken McLachlan (27:33):
Absolutely.
Michael Mealia (27:34):
I'd rather pay a little interest, more interest and then owe a hundred thousand less than paying less interest and owe a hundred thousand more when the mortgage comes due. Right?
Ken McLachlan (27:45):
Makes sense.
Michael Mealia (27:48):
So it's a tremendous opportunity to go to, and I'll do this, I have people who I sold three years ago, I'm on the phone with, I'm saying, guys, now it's time to move. And they go, what do you mean? I just thought you're going to self over this, but look, you remember we were looking in this area, you couldn't afford it. She says, look at the prices now.
Ken McLachlan (28:08):
Yeah, I know.
Michael Mealia (28:09):
And they
Ken McLachlan (28:09):
Go, wow. It's creating opportunity for them is what you want to do. And being aware of what your client's needs are and connecting with. Do you have a program that you're always connecting with your database at all times and your system?
Michael Mealia (28:21):
Yeah. We have a program that we connect all the time with the database, and we're actually working on a brand new program
Ken McLachlan (28:29):
That
Michael Mealia (28:30):
Not only connects with our database, but anyway, it's kind of, what can I tell you? I have a young man who is very, very cool, knows exactly what he's doing. I tell him what I want, and he's creating it.
Ken McLachlan (28:48):
He puts it together for you.
Michael Mealia (28:49):
And so it's really exciting. And once it's finished, I'm going to share it
Ken McLachlan (28:53):
With you. Yeah, I'm excited to see that.
Michael Mealia (28:55):
We'll see it. But I'm quite excited by that. But we have that. But really what I find is you're a product of your habits. You had said in 1979, what would you tell Mike in 1979? You're a product of your habits. If your habits are great, you don't have to worry about your income or your future in real estate. You're going to have a tremendous future in real estate if your habits are good.
Ken McLachlan (29:20):
The habits and the discipline, I always tell people and get out of your head. The mind games, we play with ourself all the time, and we create the negativity. We create the obstacles out there. And a lot of my podcasts have been around, and this one's no different about clearing your head of obstacles that you create, that we create ourself, and we have in there. It's just do the work. Your game that you described. There is the actions. Do the work, do the work, focus on that and stuff will happen. Now I'm going to ask you a question, and when I ask you this question, it's not assuming that you would ever retire, okay? But in our industry, one of the things I love about our industry is that, and maybe it's one of the things that I find difficult about it as well. You don't often see realtors retire from this business.
(30:12):
They don't see your mother lived, God bless her, lived, worked till she was 87 or 88. And there are a lot of realtors out there that tend to work. And you have 20 years ahead of you, Mike, no question. This is not about you, but is there ever an end to it? We have the privilege of actually working all our life in this business until we don't want to. We don't retire from it, and I don't think we can sell our business. We can collaborate with other people and be code sharing ideas and things like that. But do you ever think of that at all? Not for you, but
Michael Mealia (30:47):
Well, I tried to retire about five years ago. I was spending the winter in Florida, that type of thing. And after about 17 days, I said to my wife, I said, I got to go home. What do you mean?
Ken McLachlan (31:09):
I remember these
Michael Mealia (31:10):
Days. Yeah, I can't play golf every day. I can't. So I guess it depends on how you're wired. I think two things is one, the good Lord above gave us all abilities. And there's genius in all of us. Everyone has genius in 'em, and it's a criminal, it's a sin to me to waste that. So as long as you have something to give, as long as you have something to give, give, right? So that would be the first thing. The other thing too is that you have a wealth of knowledge to share not only with your clients, but with your fellow agents,
Ken McLachlan (32:01):
Peers.
Michael Mealia (32:03):
And to be relevant is a blessing. To be relevant is a blessing. It's really is a blessing. So as long as I'm relevant, as long as I'm relevant and my clients still call me, then I'll be working in this business. I already play, as you know, Kenny, when I plan my year, there's a hundred days for golf. That's first. And then there's birthdays, there's anniversaries, there's holidays, and whatever's left. That's what we work. And I would suggest anybody to make their whatever you like to do is when you're making your only plan, put your holidays first, put your family first, your time away, all of that stuff. And then what's left? Work your
Ken McLachlan (32:51):
Schedule. You have such a calmness about you that, and I'm not the first person in your life that has ever said this to you. I know that I know you well enough that the calmness about you, that you know what? Anything can be done. Anything can be handled. Just you know what? Be calm about it. Relax about it. Do the work. Just do the work. Don't overreact. Enjoy the journey. Be engaged. Keep engaged. And what you want in this world will turn out. That's the lesson I get from this conversation, is that if you're really true to what you're doing and you help people and you're engaging with people and you're engaging with yourself, you know what? It's going to happen. Right? And be honest about it.
Michael Mealia (33:36):
Well, think about the markets you're in. Think about the Toronto real estate market. Is it the best over the last 20 years? Has it been the best market in the world?
Ken McLachlan (33:52):
Absolutely.
Michael Mealia (33:55):
I guess somebody could say one. I don't know.
Ken McLachlan (33:58):
Yeah, I think there'd be an argument for it. Anyway,
Michael Mealia (34:01):
You have such a blessing. You're actually building a city here. You're building a city. The city can only grow in three directions. And so the growth is amortized over three directions versus four. You see areas where there's bungalows that are 50 years old being torn down, and now condominiums are being built. If you look at New York, which is maybe a hundred years ahead of Toronto, as far as development is concerned, you don't see any houses downtown.
(34:36):
No landfill.
(34:37):
And the realtors, we shape this. We're part of this. So that's one thing. And if I may say one of the things, sorry, Kenny,
Ken McLachlan (34:50):
Go on. Now.
Michael Mealia (34:52):
When you're 95 years old and you're sitting back on your rocking chair, looking back at your life, you're going to remember the tough deals that you did. You're going to remember the times that the market tested you and you dug down deep and found something, and you found something and you made it happen. That's what you remember. You're not going to remember that easy deal you made and made easy money, right? I'm telling you right now, this market is going to turn around before you know it, if we're going to pick, I'll pick timeframes. But the agents that are working their ass off now, expanding their base, expanding, the people that they're talking are going to make an absolute fortune as it turns around. And so I would say to all our hallmarks out there, all our beautiful hallmarks out there, now's the time, guys. Now's the time to put the effort in. Really step up your effort right now. It'll pay you back tenfold down the
Ken McLachlan (35:59):
Road. Yeah. You know what? From your lips to God's ears, it's really just do the work. It's important to do that and keep growing and keep engaging and keep living in this business. And don't get too wrapped up in the consequences of things that happen on a day-to-day basis. Don't get overwhelmed with things. And the lessons that you've talked about today, Michael, have been so will be transforming for people that listen to it. I know it. I know people will listen to that and say, you know what? I get the calmness. I get the consistency. I get the discipline. I get to do the work. And if you do the work and you trust it, things will happen in the end. So Michael, I want to thank you. I know that this was been probably something you hadn't thought you were going to do two weeks ago, but I'm so pleased that you said yes when I asked you, because I knew that you'd have a lot to share and a lot would be gained from it. I can't thank you enough for spending your time with us today. If people had to get ahold of you, Michael, how would they do it?
Michael Mealia (37:09):
Well, mike neely.com, or you can call me on myself. It's four six six one seven seven nine nine eight.
Ken McLachlan (37:17):
And there you go. And that's how you get the hold of Michael. And
Michael Mealia (37:21):
The other thing that I would just say, there's no better leader than Ken McLaughlin goes, okay. Oh, you were sweet. Look, this isn't a love fest. I could just tell you that there is no better leader. This guy believes in his heart what he's saying, and he cares so much about you guys. He wants to see each and every one of you succeed, each and every one of us succeed. So you're working for the greatest company out there. You really are.
Ken McLachlan (37:51):
I can't, wow, that's,
Michael Mealia (37:54):
And Kenny's here to help you guys like me, are here to help you just reach out. And
Ken McLachlan (37:59):
Not only we're going to do a program, Michael, you and I, to do a continuous program with agents and stuff. We talked a bit about that before you
Michael Mealia (38:07):
And I. Let's do it.
Ken McLachlan (38:09):
Thank you, sir. And good luck this week coming up with your golf match. I know you're going to do it. Let us know how it's done and can't thank you enough. We've been here with Mike Melia from re max Hallmark in Toronto, a veteran of the business, and he's shared a lot of us stuff with us. And if you like this podcast, please click, like, share, subscribe, tell your friends about it, and we look forward to seeing you all next time. Michael, thanks again.
Michael Mealia (38:37):
It's a pleasure, Kenny. Anytime.
Ken McLachlan (38:41):
One of the questions that I ask many of my guests, and again, I start asking all of them going forward, is that what's their favorite song? Because music means so much to me, and music is something that I rely on to drive me forward, to suit the fears, to comfort me, to make me more inspired, or whatever it is. And my favorite song of all time is Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow by Fleetwood Mac. And I think that song sings so much to me when I listen to it. And I asked Michael, and I didn't get it on tape, but I want to share with you what he said to me. He said a song by journey that was really important to him. He said other songs as well, but Journey is Don't Stop Believing By Journey. And that to me says a lot about who Michael is out there. So Michael, congratulations. I love that song, and thanks for sharing that with us.
