Live From The Ninja Installation: Trust the Process, Then Watch the Results
Release Date: 01/16/2026
Ninja Selling Podcast
Eric Thompson interviews D.J. Farris of Nashville, Tennessee, who shares the mindset shift that led to his first $100,000 month after nearly 20 years in real estate. While D.J. had experienced success throughout his career, he realized he had never fully committed to becoming the best Realtor he could be. Instead, he viewed real estate as something temporary while waiting for “something bigger.” Everything changed at the beginning of 2026. Through Ninja 90 and coaching with Steve Mandelson, D.J. embraced a new identity, committed fully to his business, and eliminated distractions that...
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Eric Thompson interviews Alexis Pinter of Albuquerque, New Mexico, who shares the relationship-building strategies that helped her achieve her entire 2026 income goal by mid-June. After 12 years in real estate and two and a half years of coaching with Tracy Peterson-Nienaber, Alexis has built a business centered on authentic live flow, creative client events, and meaningful personal touches. Her signature strategy is a quarterly book swap, where clients, friends, family, and community members gather around a shared love of reading. The event naturally attracts like-minded people, creates new...
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In this episode, Eric Thompson interviews Sumina Bhatti of Austin, Texas, about how to take a truly restorative vacation without sacrificing your real estate business. Sumina shares a practical framework she has developed over years of travel, including trips lasting several weeks to several months, while maintaining strong client service and business momentum. The key is preparation. Sumina explains that successful time away begins with deciding what kind of trip you want to take: fully disconnected, partially working, or fully working from another location. Once that decision is made,...
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Rob Nelson interviews Greg Roeder of Fort Collins, Colorado, who shares how he built a thriving real estate business by creating community around his passions rather than relying on traditional prospecting. A pivotal moment came when he invited a struggling homeowner to join a pickleball game, helping him realize he could offer more than real estate services—he could create meaningful connections. Greg began organizing what he calls strategic gatherings and signature events, including pickleball leagues, wellness events, coffee tastings, and other experiences that bring people together...
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Eric Thompson interviews Cyndi Olmstead, owner of Consi Realtors in Oldsmar, Florida, about two powerful business strategies: networking like a Ninja and offering premium service for a premium fee. Cyndi shares how she built a thriving real estate business from scratch after relocating to Florida without an existing sphere. By intentionally immersing herself in networking groups and later refining her focus to the most productive relationships, she created a strong referral-based business and achieved her best year yet. A major component of Cyndi’s success is her innovative use of real...
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In this bonus episode, Rob Nelson and Larry Kendall reflect on the evolution of Ninja Selling and announce a major change to Ninja training. Larry explains that The Group Real Estate served as the original testing ground for the systems that eventually became the buyer process, seller process, and Ninja Nine. A key theme is that most agents do not struggle because they lack knowledge. They struggle because they fail to consistently apply what they already know. While the Ninja Installation has long been praised as transformational, Ninja found that many agents needed additional accountability...
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Rob Nelson and Peter Parnegg explore a question many people are asking: why does it feel like time is moving faster than ever? Rather than concluding that time itself has changed, they suggest that our perception of time has shifted because of how we spend our attention and energy. The conversation examines how distractions, obligations, and a lack of intentionality can create the feeling that life is speeding by. Peter reflects on how many professionals have become disconnected from where their time actually goes. He argues that the solution is not finding more time, but becoming more...
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Eric Thompson interviews longtime Realtor and Ninja, Brenda Fortna of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Brenda shares how a single sentence completely transformed her mindset, her business, and her life: “What if it all went right?” After stepping away from coaching and slipping into a mindset that quietly suggested her best years might be behind her, Brenda heard that phrase on a Ninja podcast and immediately adopted it as her new lens for life. What followed was a dramatic shift in both mindset and action. Brenda began preparing more intentionally for appointments, saying yes to opportunities she...
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In this episode, Eric Thompson interviews Arwa Armstrong of Heritage First Realty in Wichita, Kansas, along with her coach, Tracy Peterson-Nienaber, to explore how leaders can keep agents engaged, productive, and bought into a company culture. The centerpiece of the conversation is Heritage First’s annual anniversary review process, a highly intentional one-on-one meeting system designed to strengthen relationships, support agent growth, and improve retention. Arwa explains that each anniversary review is a face-to-face meeting held around the agent’s joining anniversary. Using a...
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In this episode of the Ninja Selling Podcast, Rob Nelson sits down with Ninja Selling Instructor Jessika Mayer to discuss why today’s real estate market may actually be the most exciting opportunity agents have seen in years. Despite industry change, media noise, and consumer uncertainty, Jessica explains why relationship-based agents are thriving by focusing on what they can control: trust, conversations, systems, and service. Rob and Jessika explore how the Ninja Scorecard, live flow, FORD conversations, and proven systems are helping agents dramatically shift their businesses in just...
info_outlineEpisode Summary
In this special live episode of the Ninja Selling Podcast, Eric Thompson records in front of a live audience at the first Ninja Installation of 2026 in Fort Collins, Colorado. Eric is joined by Denver agent Dave Hettrick of RE/MAX Professionals and Dave’s Ninja Coach, Julie WIll. Dave had his best year yet in 2025, growing his business 62% year over year in a market that was essentially flat, and he broke through a major income milestone by earning just over $300,000 for the year.
The central theme of the conversation is flow, specifically hyper flow, and how Dave creates massive results without asking for referrals. Dave is known in the coaching community as Mr. Gratitude, and he shares how leading every coaching call with wins and gratitude keeps him in a powerful mindset that helps him see opportunities, stay positive, and show up better for clients. Eric and Julie highlight that Dave’s breakthrough came as he learned to trust the process, lean into consistency, and stay committed to incremental progress rather than perfection.
Dave explains how he has structured his life around live flow through intentional networking groups, coffees, lunches, and social time with friends, turning everyday connection into a predictable business engine. He shares how he built clarity and focus by knowing his numbers, maintaining a database of 426 people, and identifying a top 100 “client base” who receive extra attention and meaningful experiences such as an intimate annual pie party. He also shares the strategy that made his pie party so effective, emphasizing that the real power is in the touches before and after the event, including calls, texts, handwritten notes, and personal deliveries.
Julie shares how Dave’s growth accelerated when he stopped rushing out of conversations to handle lower value tasks, and instead stayed present in relationship building while delegating operational and marketing tasks to his wife, Christine, who now works full time in the business. Dave closes by sharing his 2026 goal of 95 transactions, along with the visual accountability anchors he is using, and the creation of a “President’s Club” travel reward system that celebrates their success and reinforces the life they are building.
Key Takeaways
Gratitude is a performance advantage and Dave uses it intentionally to fuel mindset, energy, and opportunity awareness
Trusting the process creates momentum and Dave’s results grew when he stopped forcing what he thought he should do and committed to what works consistently
Flow fixes everything and live flow in particular becomes a predictable engine when it is scheduled and protected on the calendar
Hyper flow does not require asking for referrals when relationships are nurtured with genuine care and consistent connection
Incremental progress beats perfection and Dave does not miss twice because anything missed gets scheduled and corrected the following week
Know your numbers because your database is your primary asset and Dave can immediately state his database size and what matters most within it
Focus on a top 100 client base and give them extra love through deeper experiences and more intentional touches
Events work best when you maximize the before and after touches because invitations, reminders, thank you calls, notes, and follow up visits create multiple flow opportunities
Personal delivery creates outsized impact and Dave generated seven referrals from delivering cookies and handwritten notes to people who could not attend his event
Networking groups are only the beginning and the real value comes from turning brief interactions into coffees, lunches, dinners, and deeper relationships
Delegation increases flow capacity and Dave’s wife took over tasks that do not require a license, freeing Dave to stay in high value conversations
A strong warm list is built by listening for change in FORD and Dave is consistently adding people each week because he is in frequent live conversation
Anchors increase accountability and a simple visual reminder can keep a goal present and actionable every day
Coaching becomes leverage when it shifts from cost thinking to value thinking and when the cadence is customized to what keeps momentum alive
Memorable Quotes
It was not a strategy. It was a way of life
Trust the process
The most powerful form of flow is live flow
Consistency and just doing the same things every week
If you miss it once it is a mistake, miss it twice it is the start of a new habit
Consistency brings power
It is not just about the event, it is about what happens before and after the event
What is it worth, not what does it cost
Links:
- Website: https://ninjaselling.com/ninja-podcast/
- Email: TSW@NinjaSelling.com
- Phone: 1-800-254-1650
- Podcast Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/TheNinjaSellingPodcast
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NinjaSelling
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ninjasellingofficial/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ninjaselling
- Upcoming Public Ninja Installations: https://NinjaSelling.com/events/list/?tribe_eventcategory%5B0%5D=183&tribe__ecp_custom_2%5B0%5D=Public
- Ninja Coaching: http://www.NinjaSelling.com/course/ninja-coaching/
- Dave Hettrick: https://david-hettrick.remax.com/