My name is Mike.

Today my real estate business runs almost entirely on referrals and inbound inquiries

But it didn’t start that way.

For years I chased every shiny object in real estate.

I believed the lie.

Get enough leads and you’ll be successful.

Early on, open houses were my source. Then the market flooded with agents and access dried up. Most of the people walking through already had an agent.

My income suffered.

So I did what any rational agent would.

I switched brokerages.

This one promised training.

After a DISC personality test and separating my database into neat little “buckets”…

No leads.

My income dropped again.

I’d stumble into a good year here and there thanks to referrals and repeat clients. But mostly I was stuck on the rollercoaster of inconsistent income.

I felt like a disappointment to my wife and kids.

So I did what anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit would do.

I copied the successful agents.

Again.

I bought into everything.

• Facebook neighbourhood farming
• Facebook ads
• Google ads
•  Instagram lipsyncing and pointing
•  Handwritten notes to strangers (so cringe)
•  Done-for-you social posting
•  Preprinted flyers and postcards nobody asked for

And let’s not forget the real estate coach.

For only a couple thousand dollars, you too can have someone call every week to ask if you remembered to call your sphere.

It all felt contrived.
Inauthentic.
Douche-y.

Faced with the possibility of losing my house, my car, and the roof over my family’s head, I stopped listening to everyone else and started trusting my instincts.

In 2016 I did something so radical and unique I was invited on a guest speaking tour.

Not.

What I actually did was far less glamorous.

I started being of service.

I offered value instead of statistics. I sent a monthly update about my real life, sprinkled with honest opinions about the real estate industry.

No hot listings.
No market reports nobody asked for.

Just real perspective from someone who gave a shit.

It worked.

I ditched the IDX website and built one I actually owned. Then I started blogging and sharing those posts on social media.

Turns out that’s far more effective than dancing on Instagram.

Business became steady.

So did my income.

Then 2020 arrived and derailed everything.

No, not COVID.

I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

MS goes under the radar until it doesn’t.

It changed everything.

My lifestyle.
My diet.
My relationships.
My business.

I spent the better part of two years on the sidelines taking it all in.

And somewhere in that stillness something became painfully clear.

Most of my struggles had come from being reliant on others for business.

The gurus call that leverage.

I call it borrowing.

And borrowing comes with interest.

Had I known then what I know now, years of frustration and income rollercoasters could have been avoided.

No done-for-you services.

No advice from a guy on a VHS tape with five pleats in his pants telling me how to prospect.

Thousands of dollars saved on courses and coaches where the only person consistently earning business was the charlatan selling them.

That’s why I built Unbrokered HQ.

And before you ask…

If my real estate business is so good, why build something like this?

Two reasons.

First, every Ikigai test I’ve ever taken points to the same thing: teaching, leadership, and mentoring.

Apparently explaining things and helping people think differently is just how my brain works.

Second, MS changed the math.

I still love real estate, but I don’t have the same energy I once did to chase as many deals as possible.

So instead of grinding harder, I decided to share what I know with confused and struggling agents.

Something that helps them stop buying leads and being dependent on systems they don’t own to run their business the way I did.

Not another course.

Not another coaching program.

Not another done-for-you system that borrows your trust and charges you interest.

Just honest guidance and mentorship from someone who built it, lost it, rebuilt it, and learned what actually works.

If any of this sounds familiar,

you’re in the right place.

And if you’re tired of borrowing your business from other people,

I’ll show you how to own it.