Episode 373 - Debbi DiMaggio - Corcoran Icon Properties

00:00:00 - Debbi DiMaggio

Luxury is a service, not a price point. So whether you're a CEO or a celebrity or a contractor or a school teacher, everyone gets the same vip service. It's not about what your price is.

00:00:18 - Bill Risser

You're listening to the real estate sessions podcast and I'm your host, Bill Risser, executive vice president, strategic partnerships with Rate my agent. Rate my agent is not just for collecting reviews. It's a suite of powerful tools and features designed to help improve your online reputation and visibility while making it easier for new prospects to find you and reach out. For more information, head on over to ratemyagent.com. Listen in as I interview industry leaders and get their stories and journeys to the world of real estate. Hi everybody. Welcome to episode 373 of the Real Estate Sessions podcast. As always, thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you so much for telling a friend or two. Today we're headed to Northern California, East Bay, Piedmont if you want to be precise. And we're going to be talking to Debbi DiMaggio. Debbi and her husband formed the DiMaggio beta group. They're a part of the Corcoran icon brokerage in Northern California. And boy, she's doing a lot. I mean, she's been an agent now for over 30 years. She has written books, multiple books. She's a coach, a mentor. She has just a wonderful take on how to handle customers and clients. And she has a wonderful way of talking about relationships and their importance. She's really into marketing as well. We got a lot to talk about, so let's get this thing started. Debbi, welcome to the podcast.

00:01:38 - Debbi DiMaggio

Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here.

00:01:40 - Bill Risser

Well, it's going to be a lot of fun. You have a very interesting story. You're doing so much stuff on the world of real know. I hope we have time for everything to get it all in there, but I always start at the beginning with my guests. And so for you, I want to talk to you about growing up in the East Bay, right? I know you're born in Piedmont and that's for most people, that's going to be a city, a little town that they don't know about. So what should listeners know about your part of northern California? Because it's super close to the city, but it's way different, right?

00:02:09 - Debbi DiMaggio

It's very people. So when we go on vacation, for instance, and you're meeting people and you're talking about where are you from? I usually start with San Francisco because people don't really know our little town. So then they're you know, I know whatever. An area around there. I know San Francisco. Where? And I say, well, the East Bay near Oakland. And Berkeley. And I said, it's a town next to. If we get further, then I'll say it's. It's up in the Oakland Hills and it's surrounded by Oakland. But it's our own town. There are only 10,000, 11,000 people, 4000 structures. We have our own police, fire, community center, one little store, three elementary schools, one middle school and one high school and our real estate office. And other than that, we don't shop. Obviously. We don't shop in town. We don't have anything. So we shop in Oakland. Berkeley. San Francisco. And we are 20 minutes from San Francisco. And where I live, I actually look out to the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Marin Bridge, Mount Tam, Alcatraz, Angel island. So there's a lot of significant places, historic places, significant places I look out to from my home.

00:03:24 - Bill Risser

Wow. I like to ask this question as well. Biggest misconception about the Bay Area.

00:03:30 - Debbi DiMaggio

Yeah. Well, right now, Oakland hasn't had a great name lately. But I think there's been a lot of crime in a lot of different places. But when you live in know you're also shopping and you're right next to Oakland. And Oakland is a huge Oakland. I always compare Oakland to, if you're on the east coast, that's like covers four states on the east coast. Oakland is very vast. So I'll give you an example. I had a client come in years ago and she's like, oh, absolutely not. Absolutely not. I'm not looking in Oakland. I'm not looking in Oakland. And the reload person kept saying, you've got to open up your search. The very first day I toured her Oakland, she was like, wow, this is Oakland. Beautiful homes. I mean, multimillion dollar homes, beautiful trees, beautiful views. There's all the different little areas. Crocker Highlands, upper Rock Ridge, Claremont Pines. She was like, wow, this is Oakland. And I said, yes, oakland is very large. So when she saw it, I think we put in an offer that very day.

00:04:28 - Bill Risser

Wow, that's great. Yeah. I think that the, you know, compared to the, it's just, it's so different. And there's diversity like you wouldn't imagine. I think it's just incredible. Yeah, I love know it's funny. So I grew up in San Diego and when I found out you lived in the, I just, I want to ask you about this because in San Diego we had the Santana winds that would just show up in the fall. It's winds that would come out of the desert over the mountains and be offshore. Winds in San Diego that were really super heated and it was this dry heat, and we had some fires that kicked up, know out in the east county that would go through the mountains, do some damage. But there was something that happened for you, and I think you call them Diablo winds. But were you in Piedmont during that time when the Oakland Hills had that issue?

00:05:16 - Debbi DiMaggio

Yes. So I was living in San Francisco, just over the bridge, and I was working at Union Square. And I remember looking outside and the sky was not, I couldn't see the sky, but the air and area around me was just low, but it was black. And so I wasn't. My mom and dad were still in Piedmont at the time, and they packed up their belongings, even though it was Oakland, it wasn't far, but it did hop a freeway. But the weirdest thing is, I grew up in Piedmont, but I wasn't in real estate at the time. So when it happened, it didn't touch Piedmont, but it know, the Claremont resort, almost the Claremont resort, they saved it down the street and a lot of other areas close by. But when the whole town, the whole area, the Oakland Hills, was completely burned down, a part of it, I never saw it after. I never drove through it, or I didn't realize it was that close to in. You were talking about your don't remember. I don't know if we have a name specifically for it, but in October, that's when we get these dry, hot winds that you get, and not always, but it's, know the eucalyptus trees all came down where we live now in the Oakland Berkeley hills, this whole community was gone, and it's been rebuilt since the.

00:06:44 - Bill Risser

Wow. Yeah, it's. It's something you just kind of dread.

00:06:48 - Debbi DiMaggio

It's so scary. And you see there's, at the bottom of my hill, there's a sign, and it says, fire hazard, low, medium, high. And when you. When you start to feel that hot and the wind just all of a sudden, you start to just clam up. You're just like, oh, please don't make this happen. And then, I don't know about mean. I grew up here. I grew up in Piedmont all my. So I am used to it, but clients aren't so used to have. We have earthquakes. They happen all the time now. Knock on wood. We haven't had any big ones lately, but we're used to, like, you'll be sitting there watching tv, and you're like, oh, did you feel that? Know, you kind of get used to. I, again, I wasn't here. I was living in LA at the time. We had the big Loma Prieta earthquake up here where part of the bay bridge came down. My parents were at their office and they were under their desk, and I was actually in LA, so I missed that as well. That was probably the biggest one that in my, you know, buyers come and they ask about that, and I always say, well, if you're from, let's say, Florida or other places where they have hurricanes, they live through massive tornadoes and hurricanes and all these different places and flooding. We were on vacation in Miami and South beach during Hurricane Charlie. I'd never experienced such a thing. I was actually in awe. I was very intrigued by the whole thing. And everyone was coming into the Ritz Carlton, where we were staying, to kind of hunker down. But these people experience this all the time. So, yes, we get a few earthquakes here and there and know there's a few fires here and there, but there's things happening around the know. Nowhere is perfect.

00:08:37 - Bill Risser

Yeah, no, you're. When I grew up in San Diego and you just got used to it. You just knew it was there. It was fall part of the game, and it's part of living in a state that just has amazing weather and everything you could ever need. Yeah. So it's part of the cost. Yeah. That earthquake was during the World Series. I remember I was watching the World Series and that thing started shaking. And that brings me to this next question I want to ask you, because I'm a baseball fan and I saw your name and I saw what part of the country you lived in. I went, she has got to be related to jolt and Joe, because, I mean, you're in that area. You're right. So are you related to Joe Dimaggio?

00:09:14 - Debbi DiMaggio

Yes, we are. So Dimaggio is my maiden name. I kept DiMaggio and we are related. Joe Dimaggio and my grandfather and Joe DiMaggio's grandfather were first cousins. I'm probably a third cousin, but I always like to say that makes me related to marilyn Monroe.

00:09:34 - Bill Risser

That's true. Think that's really cool. That is a name for anyone. You don't even have to be a sports fan. It just instantly goes, really DiMaggio. Wow, that's awesome. And I just happen to know was he grew up in the Bay area and that's where his got his game going and before he headed off to the Yankees. So that's very cool. All right. I'll leave that alone. I could talk about that forever, but I want to ask you this question. Real estate is very rarely when I talk to a guest, it's very rarely their first career. Right? There are a few people, and generally it was this family thing that they grew up with it, so they continued. What was your path to the world of real estate? What did that look like?

00:10:11 - Debbi DiMaggio

Yeah. So I always knew all my life I wanted to do something, and the only thing I knew I did not want to do was real estate, because my father was a syndicator. He would buy and sell properties. He was putting partnerships together again. There were no cell phones 60 years ago, so he was always on the phone, always working, tied to that phone, tied to his meetings. He did have shopping centers and a lot of things. And I was always dragged up to the shopping centers after school to go meet with the managers. And I was like, this is the only thing I don't want to do. So I knew that. So then I kind of thought maybe a lawyer. And then I was like, no, I don't like the system. So then I was living in LA, and I worked for a couple of magazines, and I learned early on it seemed like it was delayed, but I was probably. I worked for La magazine, then I worked for California Home and Design magazine, and I wanted to be promoted from classified sales to display ads. And I remember the manager saying, I was too young and I wasn't ready, and it made me mad. So I quit. I was like, I don't like having a boss. I like working hard. So I ended up getting my real estate license just to try it out, because I wanted to be my own boss. I got a job right away, I think because of the name DiMaggio. The manager's name was Maggio. I was brand new. I was like, 25, 26 years old. But I was working in Hancock park in LA, and I was young, and I didn't have any roots there, so I ended up moving to northern California, got into lending for a very short time, didn't like that. And then I worked as a fragrance model, and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. And then a friend of my husband's, who I've been working with Adam for 35 years now, his friend said, I think Debbi would be really good in rentals. So I started in San Francisco doing rentals, and it was fast, and you were meeting new people all the time, and people weren't so committed to the rental because they weren't buying it. And there were so many people coming into San Francisco and a lot of relocation business. So I got connected with the relocation. I was doing rentals like so many, so fast. There was no craigslist at the time, so we were representing the owners and the tenants, and it was good money. And I'm like, I like this. I can work. Really know, no boss. And so then my husband Adam ended up coming into the rental business with me. And then we started a rental company within a firm. And then when we moved over to Piedmont, that wasn't planned, but my dad had a hand in that. We moved over to Piedmont from San Francisco to raise our first child, and then our second was on the way. And then we got into residential sales, and I said, I'll go part time while I was watching my kids. And then I was like, I need to go full time. I just need to work. And so I just kind of went from there. So I was pretty young. I guess I was, like, 29, 30 when I started in sales. I was about 30. Yeah.

00:13:17 - Bill Risser

Okay. The result is the DiMaggio beta group. Right. Which is exactly a family affair. It's you, Adam, and my son.

00:13:24 - Debbi DiMaggio

Yeah, my son just. It was a Covid fallout. Chase joined us. He was going to go back after he went to school in Boulder. My daughter went to school in Boulder, and then Chase was going to move back after Covid, and then he got his license while he was waiting for Covid to finish up. And once he passed his test, he decided to stay. And we never asked him to. We didn't want to force the children to do what they didn't want to do. We wanted them to find their own way. And he decided to work with us. And we were so excited. And it's been amazing. He's been so helpful, and he's young, and he's techie, and he fixes things that we'd call a handyman to fix something. And he's like, oh, no, mom, don't call. I'll look on YouTube and we'll figure it.

00:14:07 - Bill Risser

He sounds like he has that drive mom had at about the same age, so that's pretty good. Yeah, that's pretty. Now you're part of Corcoran real estate icon.

00:14:15 - Debbi DiMaggio

I think that's the name of the Corcoran icon.

00:14:18 - Bill Risser

I'm sorry. Yeah. So you're part of Corcoran icon. How did that relationship come together?

00:14:23 - Debbi DiMaggio

Sure. So in the downturn of 28209, we started a firm called Highland Partners with my husband Adam, and our partner, Heidi Marcusodi. So there was an opportunity, an office wasn't doing well in Piedmont and beautiful location, but it wasn't being managed properly. So we took that over and we completely gutted it and rebranded it. And so we started Highland partners. People were like, don't you know, it's a recession and you're starting a new company? And we said, well, we wouldn't have a chance and the opportunity in a higher market. So we started. It did very well. And then when my kids left for college, I was very depressed with the empty nest because we were working all the time, but we also went to every activity, every sport. We were very involved with the kids. So when Bianca left and Chase left, I was like, oh, my God, who am I now? What am I going to do other than just sell real? So. And I don't golf, so I don't have that hobby. I always say I don't golf. So I started going to LA to build my business there. And so I wanted to have an office that was the same brand. So I wanted whatever office was there that was up there that, you know, one card, one business card, one company. So one of my friends started working with Corcoran, and he says, they're under your same umbrella. Would you speak with us? So long. And the short of it, it was a good so. And I've always loved the brand. The brand. Barbara Corcoran started Corcoran, and when my daughter was six years old, we went to the New York office and they gave us a tour of these beautiful flats with beautiful views of Central park. It was always, I've always loved their brand. And so it ended up, after a year of negotiation, we merged with them, and it's been really great. They have a really great company. I just spoke at their marketing, on the marketing panel, I spoke at our conference, our national conference, and met so many wonderful agents from around the country. Well, around the globe. We are outside of the United States as well. And I was one of the five speakers on marketing, and it was really a great experience. And it was in Nashville, Tennessee. I'd never been. It was a very cool place.

00:16:42 - Bill Risser

Yeah, that Broadway is amazing. Nashville is a lot of fun. Yeah, that's great. I mean, look, that, you know, luxury brand. So those kind. I'm sure that conference is important every year for you to just keep those referral relationships strong, right. Because generally speaking, your clients are going to own more than one property, so it's going to be important. Yeah, I think that's awesome.

00:17:04 - Debbi DiMaggio

We are just from. There were five of us on the marketing panel. I met many great agents, but there were five of us that were obviously really dynamic. And one of the gals I referred to my client here in Oakland because she has a house in Southampton she's selling. So in September, we went to Southampton. I referred her, my client, and we're now in escrow. So it's the importance of referrals, I just like to point out.

00:17:31 - Bill Risser

Yeah, it's the relationship part of the business, which is really what you preach. It's who you are. It's how you handle your clients. Let's talk about. I think it's called the vip philosophy, right? That you and Adam Embrace. What does that mean?

00:17:46 - Debbi DiMaggio

Yeah, I was just writing that down today because I'm going to have one of my team members speak about the vip philosophy and the importance of all of our service providers, all of the people on our team, all of the people that are auxiliary to our team. First of all, it takes a village. Second of all, we treat everyone like a vip, whether they're a plumber, an electrician, a carpet cleaner, they're all on our team. We need all these different people. A designer, a stager. We need so many people to help us be successful in our business. I mean, we get clients calling all the time. Do you have a roofer? Let me connect you directly. Do you have XYZ? So we treat everyone kindly so they'll come for us, come for our client. We're only as good as the team that we have. That also goes for clients. Luxury is a service, not a price point. So whether you're a CEO or a celebrity or a contractor or a school teacher, everyone gets the same vip service. It's not about what your price is. People will say, and we came up with that tagline because people would say, oh, you only do luxury? I say, yes, we do luxury, but we just sold a house. I mean, we're in a higher end area than a lot of. We just sold a house for, like, 600 and 800,000. We'll sell them for 8 million, too. But we're also servicing other people. Those other clients will also move up or have clients. You never know where the referral is going to come from. A gardener could have a very high end referral. So you want to treat everyone the same?

00:19:27 - Bill Risser

Yeah, I think that's great. I think people think different things about luxury agents and what you're saying. There is no. It's the same thing that everyone in real estate should be doing. Take care of the people that you're working with. Provide exemplary service that works all the time for everybody, right? Yeah. You're a coach, you're a mentor, an author many times over. Talk about that and you have agents and connections all around the country. One of the things I found out about you is that you talk about positioning first time buyers for success. I think that's a really interesting topic. And I've always been a fan of agents who think about and work with first time home buyers because it's such a massive step, one of the biggest things they're ever going to do in their lives. So I'd love for you to talk about that a little bit. Maybe the main points of that strategy.

00:20:15 - Debbi DiMaggio

Sure. Okay. So the first thing is, this is not what they do every day. So my son was about to write an offer for these first time home buyers, and even though he explained every component of it, they got really overwhelmed. So I said, let me write a blog for you that you can give to every first time home buyer, and I will share that with you so you can share with your guest. But basically, you need to deconstruct the deal. Right. First of all, the very first thing is you need to set them up with a mortgage broker who can meet where they are, not someone to send out an email and say, fill this out. You need to have someone, I have my mortgage people who will sit down and review things with them, the financing process. So that's number one. And I always say it's never too early to begin the conversation. So let's say they're not ready to buy for six months or year. Meet with the mortgage broker. Now, he can help you. He or she can help you with your credit score. He will help you understand the financing process so you're not overwhelmed when the time comes because it's a big amount of money you're putting down. So you need to feel really comfortable with the financing part. And then we go on to explain what a contingency is, a financing contingency, an appraisal contingency, a home inspection contingency. In California, we have, well, northern California, we have title companies. Who's the neutral third party? I know in New York it's very different. Attorneys write the deals. Here, the agents write the, you know, people, if they're not from California, they think, well, do I need an attorney? No, you don't need an attorney. Here we have the title company as the neutral third party. So we break down the whole deal. We talk about close of escrow, when they'll sign, when they'll actually get the keys to the house. We'll talk about a home warranty. We go into all the nuts and bolts to make sure that they're completely comfortable.

00:22:18 - Bill Risser

Yeah. We're recording this episode in December in one of the trainings you created. As soon as I saw the title, and this is just me being goofy. But that age that there was a certain holiday special where the winter warlock had to learn how to change his ways, which was basically putting 1ft in front of the other. But that is one of your trainings. Let's talk about that. This is agent Driven. This is to help them, right? Better.

00:22:45 - Debbi DiMaggio

Yes. This is for agents. So agents, they put up so many blocks that they get so overwhelmed. So when I meet with an agent and I have a training program, foundation for success right now, you can go to coachwithdebbie debi.com. So it's a course that talks about the five platforms of marketing. And I go through each one with the agents, but, oh, I'm too busy or I don't have time, or that's hard. Or how they just put so many blocks in front of them. It does make me a little crazy. So I just say, just put 1ft in front of the other. Just do a little bit at a time. Let's say we're going to get you set up on all your social media platforms. Let's go audit it. Let's make sure your name, your cell phone is on it, your dre number is on it, make sure they can get in touch. Make sure it says realtor. We need to make sure people know who you are. Let's just audit all your social media to make sure it's consistent. And let's just do that. And then maybe I say post once a day or a couple of times a week, just put it on your calendar. Put 1ft in front of the other, put it on your calendar. I'm going to do this Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 08:00 or 09:00 I just try to get them to do baby steps and not to be overwhelmed. And if they have questions, they can call me. But people just get so overwhelmed that they don't do anything.

00:24:18 - Bill Risser

It's just a fear, like, oh, I'm not going to be able to make this go all the way through. Yeah, I think that's great. I love that I mentioned you're an author. You've written four books. First of all, that's amazing. I can't even imagine how much work that takes. But second, for me, that's got to be a massive time commitment. And so I know we can time block and do some other things to make everything happen in our lives that we want to make happen, but talk about how you handled that. And secondly, what drove you to put pen to paper? What was that thing inside you that said, I'm going to be an author?

00:24:55 - Debbi DiMaggio

Well, I will say it was other people encouraging me. So the first book was a coffee table is a coffee table book, contain beauty, photographs, reflections, and swimming pools? That was always something. I wanted to have a coffee table book at my open houses, and I love to travel, and I love beautiful places. So I had it in my mind I had a client. She said, all you do is talk about your kids all the time. You never talk about you. What do you want to do? And I'm like, I don't know. I just live through my kids. I love my kids. And I'm like, well, so she made me think. I said, I'd like to write a coffee table book. And I have all the idea what I want to do, but I have no idea where to start. Well, things just fell into place.

00:25:35 - Debbi DiMaggio

She said she would handle. We had to get. Because there were photographs involved. She said she would handle a lot of the paperwork and signatures where we got some of these photographs. And then the thing that happened was, once I put it out there, I went to a party. My daughter had just gotten back from freshman year for Christmas, and so I was kind of waiting for her to come before I went to this party. And I thought the charity party was for everyone in our group. I didn't think we were one of the select few invited to this Christmas party. So we showed up late, thinking it was going to be a huge. We wouldn't be missed. Well, I got there. It was towards the end of the party, and I saw this person I knew who was a publisher. I said, oh, my God. This person was placed in front of me. I don't even know him. I know his wife from my charity, but I don't know him.

00:26:24 - Debbi DiMaggio

I said, I was sweating. I was like, I have to go up to him. I go, I have to go say something. This is like, whether it was God or divine intervention put him in my path, as close as you are to me right now. So I went over to him. I said, hi, rob. My name is Debbi DiMaggio. Oh, I know who you are. My wife adores you.

00:26:43 - Debbi DiMaggio

I go, well, I had this idea for a book, and I was wondering if you might speak to me after the holiday. And he said, sure, give me a call in January. Well, I have to over plan in real estate, it's what I do innately. It just flies off. I don't have to think about it. So I wrote everything out. I was very organized by the time we met at my office in January.

00:27:02 - Debbi DiMaggio

He said, wow, this is the fastest book I've ever seen written in my life. I had the outline of everything I wanted, long and the short of it. He was amazing. He's a publisher. He connected me to the person who put all the photos together. I had a list of everything I wanted. I had two people who were very active in getting what I needed. And then I took a block of time off to write, and I had to condense very small because it's more inspirational. And so, anyway, it all happened. It was really amazing. And I spent. I was either doing my real estate, and then I was very involved in getting this book published. I don't think it took but a couple of months, and it's a beautiful book. And then I had a big party where my daughter and her friends, who were freshmen in college, came to this party.

00:27:54 - Debbi DiMaggio

As I read my speech, I was crying because it was such a labor of love, and people couldn't understand why I used to not be able to talk about contained beauty, because I would just get welled up crying because it was what I was going through at the time. Now I'm like, oh, my God, that's so. Was just, it was like a therapy thing for me. It was really an amazing experience that I worked through with the empty nest.

00:28:22 - Debbi DiMaggio

And then the second book was because that publisher, we worked with him to sell his house, and he said, oh, you have to write a real estate book. I said, oh, rob, one day I will. I said, I don't have the mean, because that's a book. A lot of writing, a lot of research, getting it exactly right, making sure you don't mess up the words, and it has to be so. And he says, no, I'm going to send someone with you. She can attend shadow you. So what we did is this girl came with me, and we'd be at a home inspection.

00:28:53 - Debbi DiMaggio

And then because I had to sit still for a couple of hours, so I would talk and I would dictate to her. She would write, then we'd go back and review it. But it took a lot of time. Many nights, up till two, three in the morning, just editing and the quietness and re editing and rereading. Oh, my gosh, that took a lot of work. And then that was the art of real estate. And then a publisher saw the art of real estate out of, I think, Maine.

00:29:21 - Debbi DiMaggio

And she called me and said, I'd like you to write 52 rules to achieve success in real estate. And I said, oh, my gosh. She says, no, you have all the content. You have a whole book. Now we just need to really condense what you have into 52 rules. So I wrote out the 52 rules, and then she had to condense, condense, condense, because I could be so wordy.

00:29:42 - Debbi DiMaggio

And that happened. And then during COVID I always want to help people, whether it's in real estate or just in life. And I have older clients, too, or friends. Older friends, clients. So I wrote beauty at any age, because age is just an attitude. And where I'm going with that is that when you're older, you need community. It's very important. I even notice people who are divorced. They need community to be around people. So mental, spiritual, beauty secrets, whether it's getting Botox or getting facials or taking care of yourself. So I just had to write this book because it was in my head. If something comes in my head, I have to do it. I have to share.

00:30:27 - Bill Risser

I love that you talk about your final book, and I think that it ties in nicely with the fact that philanthropy is a big part of your master plan. Right? Let's talk about that a little bit. And I think you think every agent should do this, right?

00:30:45 - Debbi DiMaggio

Well, when I'm coaching agents, it's different. So I fell into philanthropy early. At an early. Well, I just had my kids, so I was pretty busy with young ones, but someone asked me to do something, and I said, sure. And it was for the first charity I started working with, and I loved the people. It wasn't social in a like, let's just chat about what you're doing tonight. It was a very meaningful social interaction, and we were doing it for a cause, so it hit my heart. So I was doing it. It was authentic and loved it and continued to work with many charities. And I'm still working today with. I was children's support league East Bam pack for children, a number of other charities. I still work today with UCF Benioff Children's Hospital, Oakland. So I like it because I like the people. We're like minded. So you're working with people who want to give back, but I can't say so when I'm coaching agents, if they like to golf or they like to cook or they like to do x, y, or z, they should do that because that's where they will show their authentic self so, yes, I agree. People should give back where they can and when they can. But I also think when you're doing something you love, you're going to connect with people who are like minded. So I don't want to say, go do charity work because you're going to get the next deal. When I was doing charity work, I didn't think there was any. I wasn't even thinking about a deal. And then later I was like, because I was young and I knew all these people had their own agents, and when people started calling me for business, I was like, oh, my God, I'm so grateful. But that's not why I did it. I did it because I was just being my authentic self. But when people see you being your authentic self, it's where you connect.

00:32:37 - Bill Risser

Yeah. You have a wonderful tagline. Follow your passion. Live your purpose. Where'd that come from?

00:32:45 - Debbi DiMaggio

When I was 25, I was before real estate, I didn't know what I wanted to do, but one of the things I wrote on my list was I wanted to do something I was passionate about. I wanted to do something that was purposeful and meaningful. I wanted to interact with people from different cultures. I wanted to meet new people all the time. I didn't know that was real estate. It all ended up turning into real estate, which is really cool because I didn't say the word real estate. It was just all the components that made up what I do today. And I was struggling. At 25, I was engaged to be married and I was sad. And I'm like, oh, my God, why am I sad? I'm engaged to be married. I don't have a wedding. I'm living in LA. It's like my husband to be was supporting me to get my real estate license, but I felt so empty. And so I just don't want people to feel empty, that you just have to figure out what you want to do. So you might not know what it is yet, but write those things out of what you love in life and talk to people. I help a lot of people through my coaching. Talk to a friend or a confidant. I know people who do find success and are happy because they're living what they're passionate about. Tennis pros, for instance, out of. One of our agents was a tennis pro. He was always so happy when he was playing tennis, and he was connecting with people that were like minded like him. So I want people to follow their passion so they can live their purpose. I coached a friend of mine who had been working on a book for 15 years during COVID I said, maritza, I am going to coach you to get this book done. It was 15 to 20 years she was working on this book. We worked together. She published her book. She went on she was afraid of Facebook group page to talk about her book. I mean, she is now working on her second book. She is just flying. And she is a completely new person. Completely new. And so she'd been wanting to do this all her life, and she finally did it. And now she's living her purpose and she's touching people and making a difference.

00:35:01 - Bill Risser

Wow. Debbi, we've reached the end of the time that we talked about. So I'm going to wrap this up with the same final question I've asked every guest going back to 2015. And that's what one piece of advice would you give a new agent? Just getting started.

00:35:19 - Debbi DiMaggio

I always say, get to know your colleagues. We're colleagues, not competitors. Get to know your colleagues in your own office. Get to know your colleagues outside of your own office. Get to know your colleagues around the. It's very, very important for your business.

00:35:37 - Bill Risser

Nice. Debbi, if somebody wants to reach out to you, I'm sure there's lots of ways to do that. What would you like to. We'll have all the links to all the things you do in the show notes, but what's a simple way for them to reach out to just.

00:35:50 - Debbi DiMaggio

My name is Debbi. D-E-B-B-I no e. So you can pretty much put in Debbi DiMaggio and you'll find me. But Debbi dimaggio.org, coachwithdebbie.com and there's many others, but you'll connect through those.

00:36:03 - Bill Risser

Yeah. This was wonderful. I really appreciate your time today and what a wonderful story. And the dimaggio thing is super cool. I'm just telling you, there's a lot of people that think that's super cool. Thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it.

00:36:17 - Debbi DiMaggio

Thank you so much. It was an honor.

00:36:19 - Bill Risser

Thank you for listening to the real estate sessions. Please head over to ratethispodcast.com resessions to leave a review or a rating and subscribe to the Real estate Sessions podcast at your favorite podcast listening app.