You can’t unsee it once you have seen it

I thought that as we close out 2025, I might spend the next couple of Thursdays going over some of the why and how come of my journey into my new role, and see if we can tease out learnings and ideas to reflect on. 

There is an often bandied about phrase that I hear in eXp Realty circles, and it goes:

‘You can’t unsee it once you have seen it’ 

It can take a while to actually see it for sure, but once you do you need to make a decision. 

This little series is going to be more about decision making but sitting in this is an emotional rollercoaster, a communication challenge, as well as great moves and some mistakes on my part as well that can only be spotted with the benefit of hindsight. 

The story begins on Linkedin where I reached out to Jasmine Rohland and complimented her on her branding, it actually looks great – a lot of own-brands don’t – and she suggested that we meet. And I saw she was licensed by some outfit called eXp. I was confident that I could do better.

I suited up and turned up at the Pullman lobby ready to pitch IA to Jasmine. She brought along some backup in the form of Carl McNulty. I did a pretty great job, however I could not anywhere near match the deal that Jasmine was on. All of the tech tools we offered, plus a few more, and a much better financial offering.

There have only been a handful of times that I have been pitched back. This was one of them. They thought that I (we) should join them. 

Well, that is not going to happen I said to myself… 

I was a bit deflated, concerned and confused when I left the meeting, and thought that was the end of it. Knowing me I will have made a few calls on the drive home to start creating a few wins to overcome the one that I had just missed. 

That of course was not the end of it. 

Somehow, in fairly short order, and against my nature, I was booking plane tickets to Miami to attend a conference and take a look at this company eXp. 

I am well aware that immersive environments are very persuasive so I was on guard. I was going in with walls up, extreme scepticism, but balanced with a real willingness to learn. I am always willing to change my mind in the face of compelling evidence. 

Of course, a large-scale event like this is pretty cool. Located at the Miami Convention Center and jammed full of people in Miami Business Casual – which ranges from suits, to cowboy hats and boots, to shorts, denim skirts, and short sleeved shirts…. with lots of relentless positivity…. You get the idea. We are not in Auckland anymore Mr Jones!

The speakers from within the organisation and those brought in were really top notch. And I heard how entrepreneurial real estate agents had used the platform to grow large teams, orn just grow their own brand. Many who were making insane incomes.

I noticed really strong growth and expansion, and of course, this really excited me. The leadership – humble, relatable, and genuine. 

I left Miami and the conference with mixed feelings. 

It was all very exciting. I knew that if I was to ‘throw my lot in’ with them my whole ‘growth’ passion would be unleashed. But I could not really see how I would make it work financially for myself.

What I could see is that my team would for the most part be much better off than they were now. There would be a lot more money for them.

I also felt that I would really want to understand what kind of service we could offer. 

So I was sitting on a great opportunity, not just for me. I could clearly see that, however there were some real gaps that I would need to close, and there were more questions than answers, and at this point the decision was probably not for me. 

But I really and genuinely had seen something that I was struggling to unsee.