John Kitchens Coach Podcast Experience
The John Kitchens Podcast Experience is your essential guide to unlocking 7-figure success in your real estate journey. Hosted by one of the most sought-after real estate coaches, John Kitchens. He brings over 20+ years of experience and insights to help you create significant breakthroughs in the real estate market. With a blend of inspiring personal stories and enlightening interviews with industry leaders, this podcast aims to spark your ambition and equip you with the knowledge to elevate your real estate business. Each episode is packed with clarity, confidence, and the tools to turn your real estate business into a thriving...
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#822: Building Bridges:Team Dynamics and Market Challenges with Blake Berfelz
<p>Blake Berfelz is one of the five owners behind the Benson Crew, an Ontario team formed just over a year ago when three businesses merged into one. In this Coffee and Coaching hot seat, Blake joins me to unpack what it really takes to lead a merged real estate team through a market nobody in Ontario has seen before.</p><p>Blake came into real estate from the restaurant industry 14 years ago and helped build the residential side of his original team from the ground up. Today he helps run one of the most advanced AI-powered agent infrastructures we...
#821: The 4 Fundamentals That Decide Who Wins in This Market with DJ Fairley
<p>Most agents and team leaders are chasing tactics, tools, and the latest shiny object. In this Expert Mentors Live conversation, I sit down with DJ Fairley, who closed $93 million in production last year, finished number one in Pennsylvania for eXp Realty, and is on pace to top it this year, to break down the four fundamentals that decide who wins in this market: clarity, consistency, relationships, and accountability.</p><p>We are in the final stretch of Q4, and the momentum you build now carries straight into Q1. We talk about who you have to become for the outcomes...
#820: From Paramedic to Team Leader: The Skills That Give You an Edge in Real Estate with Jerry Van Leeuwen
<p>Your background is not a liability. In this episode, I sit down with Jerry Van Leeuwen, a former paramedic turned real estate team leader out of Waterloo, Canada, who took every skill he built on the hardest days of other people’s lives and turned it into a serious competitive advantage in this business.</p><p>We get into Jerry’s origin story, from growing up on a farm to running EMS calls to walking into his very first closing and having to run full conflict resolution between a buyer and a seller. We talk about why the best mark...
#819: Systems, Leverage, and Leadership with Laura Justice
<p>Laura Justice has done just about every job real estate has to offer. She has spent over 30 years in this business, 17 of them in leadership and coaching. Today she leads the Incorvaia Team, 69 agents on pace to close over 600 units this year, with a goal of 100 agents by the end of next year.</p><p>But this hot seat isn’t about the growth. It’s about what that growth is costing her. Laura’s constraint is time. She’s still the source instead of the resource, saying yes to everything and no to nothing. In this episode of Coffee a...
#818: From Addiction to Top Producer: How Taking Action Changed My Life and Business with Travis Wright
<p>Travis Wright came from 14 years of meth addiction, two shootings, and a rehab program in Cache, Oklahoma, where he started over from nothing. Three and a half years after getting his real estate license, he is an eXp ICON agent, a Top 250 producer nationally, and closed 47 transactions in 2025.</p><p>In this episode, I sit down with Travis Wright, a fellow Lawton, Oklahoma native, to unpack what taking action in real estate really looks like when you start with no experience, no marketing background, and a lot to prove. He shares how he got four deals under contract in...
#817: Maximizing Opportunities in a Hybrid Real Estate Market with Stacey Lambright
<p>This market isn’t moving in one direction, and that’s exactly what’s catching agents off guard. In this episode, I sit down with Stacey Lambright, a 29-year veteran, eight-time ICON Agent at eXp, and one of the most connected operators in the Midwest, to talk about what’s really happening on the ground right now.</p><p>Stacey is seeing listings that still sell in 30 days with multiple offers sitting right alongside REOs, short sales, and climbing days on market. We dig into why the COVID buyer bubble is quietly creating distressed inventory, how she uses absorption rate and...
#816: The Broccoli Business: Building a Niche Everyone Needs but Nobody Talks About with Renee Velasquez
<p>What do you do when you have all the pieces of a great business but no clear horizon to aim them at?</p><p>On this episode of Coffee and Coaching, Renee Velasquez is back on the hot seat. Renee has been in real estate since 2008 and has built an 18-plus year sphere-based business, plus an investment portfolio of seven short-term rental properties with an eighth potentially on the way. After caring for both of her parents through the end of their lives, she discovered a huge underserved opportunity: educating families through one of the most necessary, least talked...
#815: From Zero to Hero: Transforming Real Estate with Discipline and Consistency with Rodolfo Carvalho and Nuno Batista
<p>In this episode, I sit down again with Rodolfo Carvalho and Nuno Batista, the first eXp Icon agents out of Portugal, for a five-year check-in on the discipline, consistency, and marketing obsession that took them from 35,000 in GCI to a projected 10X this year. Rodolfo and Nuno break down exactly what changed in their mindset and their daily habits, why they call it the honey badger approach, and how shifting from “best agent” to “best marketer” unlocked a level of growth most teams never reach. We also get into what real estate looks like outside the US and Canada, and why...
#814: Leverage and Growth in Real Estate Teams: Insights with Lindsay Carducci
<p>In this episode, Lindsay and I dig into the balancing act of running a team while staying in production, why quality of hire matters more than headcount, and how leverage, not more hustle, is the answer when you’re stretched too thin. Lindsay opens up about her struggle to delegate, the ego that gets in the way of letting go, and the shift from one-on-one coaching to small group “pods” that’s freeing up her time without losing her culture.</p><p>Key Topics Covered</p><p>Lindsay’s path into real estate, from bartending and door-to-door sales to building a...
#813: Adversity Doesn't End: Leadership Lessons from 20 Years and 4,000 Transactions with Ryan Smith
<p>In this episode of the John Kitchens Coach Podcast Experience, John sits down with Ryan Smith, combat veteran and CEO of the Ryan Smith Home Selling Team, for a conversation on leading through adversity, hiring for grit, and why AI is about to separate the agents who thrive from the ones who get left behind. With nearly 20 years in the business and close to 4,000 transactions, Ryan brings a rare dual perspective — balancing an active military career with running a growing real estate team — and doesn’t hold back on what it actually takes to build (and rebuild) a winning cultur...
