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What separates real estate agents who build sustainable businesses from those who constantly find themselves starting over?

In this episode of The Realtor Who Wines, Rashelle Newmyer sits down with Jeff Wiren, President and Managing Principal Broker of Portland Premiere Property Group, for a candid conversation about building a real estate career, developing leadership skills, getting involved in the industry, choosing the right brokerage, and focusing on the activities that actually create business.

Jeff has been in real estate since 2004 and has spent much of his career serving the industry beyond his day-to-day work as a REALTOR®. His leadership experience includes serving as a past president of both the state association and PMAR, along with leadership roles involving RMLS and Oregon Real Estate Forms. 

But his path into leadership started with something surprisingly simple: Someone invited him.

🤝 Leadership Often Starts With an Invitation: Jeff shares how his managing principal broker saw leadership potential in him early in his career and encouraged him to get involved. That invitation eventually led to committee work, association leadership, forms work, and opportunities to help shape conversations affecting the real estate industry.

For REALTORS® who have considered getting involved but are waiting for someone to ask, Rashelle offers a simple message during the conversation: This is the invitation.

Jeff explains why local associations can be a great place to start and why the industry needs engaged professionals willing to bring fresh ideas, practical experience, and critical thinking into the room. 

📞 Want More Real Estate Business? Talk to People: For agents trying to grow their businesses, Jeff doesn't recommend starting with another app, website, CRM, or shiny new marketing tool. His advice is much simpler: Talk to people about real estate.

Jeff and Rashelle discuss one of the biggest challenges agents face: avoiding prospecting because they don't want to feel “salesy.” But if an agent doesn't want to talk about real estate with strangers or the people they already know, who exactly are they going to talk to?

The conversation explores how genuine relationship-building, staying connected with a sphere, and consistently having real estate conversations can create opportunities without turning every phone call into a sales pitch. 

🎢 Get Off the Real Estate Roller Coaster: Why do some agents have an incredible month followed by several months with nothing in the pipeline? Jeff and Rashelle talk about the cycle many agents experience: they prospect, get busy, stop prospecting while managing transactions, close those transactions, and suddenly realize there's no new business waiting.

Jeff explains why the prospecting an agent does today may not show up as a commission check for months, making consistency and discipline critical to building a sustainable real estate business. 

🗂️ Stop Hiding Behind the CRM: A CRM can be valuable. So can a great website, newsletter, marketing system, or beautifully organized database. But none of those tools replace conversations. Jeff makes the case that a disorganized agent who consistently talks to people about real estate may outperform a perfectly organized agent who spends all day preparing to prospect but never actually does it. His advice for agents who are excellent at prospecting but terrible at organization? Get help with the tasks that aren't their strengths. But he offers an important warning: Don't outsource the engine of the business. 

🏡 What Should Agents Look for in a Brokerage? Rashelle and Jeff also dive into a question nearly every real estate professional faces at some point: How should an agent choose a brokerage? Jeff argues the answer shouldn't come down to fees alone. Instead, agents should evaluate value. What tools, resources, support, training, culture, and opportunities does the brokerage provide? More importantly, will the agent actually use them?

A brokerage charging less isn't automatically a better choice, just as a brokerage offering more isn't necessarily more valuable. The right question is whether what the brokerage provides supports the individual agent's goals and business. 

🏛️ Why REALTOR® Leadership and Associations Matter: The conversation also goes behind the scenes of REALTOR® associations and industry leadership. Jeff discusses why agents don't have to hold a title to start paying attention to the decisions affecting their profession. He encourages REALTORS® to attend association events, learn about governance, ask questions, understand industry issues, and get involved when they see an opportunity to contribute.

He also shares how frustration with the organization and flow of Oregon's real estate sale agreement became one of his early motivations to get involved. Instead of simply complaining about something he believed could work better, he entered the room and helped improve it. 

🚂 Leadership Isn't About the Leader: One of Jeff's strongest leadership lessons comes through a simple analogy: A leader may become the conductor of the train for a period of time, but the train was already moving before that person arrived. Leadership isn't about making an organization about one individual. It's about listening, facilitating strong conversations, respecting the work already underway, and helping the organization continue moving forward.

For Jeff, a successful board meeting isn't one where the president does all the talking. It's one where the board is engaged, voices are heard, thoughtful decisions are made, and the leader primarily facilitates the process. 

🏎️ Real Estate, Family…and Auto Racing: The conversation isn't all business. Jeff shares another side of his life: auto racing with his son. What started as a COVID-era activity became an ongoing hobby that has given Jeff something even more valuable than racing itself: consistent quality time with his adult son.

From autocross courses to track nights and speeds that are definitely faster than the average trip to a listing appointment, Jeff shares why the hobby has become such a meaningful part of his life. 

🎯 What You Focus on Grows: Jeff closes the episode with a simple piece of advice that applies to business, leadership, relationships, and life:

“What you focus on is what grows.”

Focus on the negative, and negativity can consume your view.

Focus on what's positive, productive, and worth building, and that's where your energy goes. 

🎧 In This Episode: Rashelle and Jeff discuss real estate prospecting, sphere marketing, relationship-based business, REALTOR® leadership, association involvement, real estate coaching, brokerage selection, brokerage value, CRM systems, business discipline, volunteering, leadership development, industry advocacy, real estate forms, building a sustainable sales pipeline, family, auto racing, and staying focused on what matters.

Whether someone is a new REALTOR® trying to build a business, an experienced agent navigating a challenging market, a managing broker developing other agents, or a real estate professional considering industry leadership, this conversation is a reminder that growth often comes back to a few fundamentals:

Talk to people. Get involved. Do the uncomfortable work. Focus on what matters. And keep showing up.

Grab a glass or, in Jeff and Rashelle's case, some H₂O and join them for a candid conversation about real estate, leadership, business, relationships, and what it takes to build something that lasts.

Cheers! 🥂

Thank you for listening! Connect and collaborate with Realtor Rashelle on any of her social media platform pages > https://linktr.ee/RealtorRashelle