How I Closed 650 Homes by Living in Balance (Sharing My Story on the Stay Paid Podcast)

If you’ve ever felt like real estate was pulling you away from the life you’re trying to build, this episode is for you.

I’m sharing a recent conversation I had on the Stay Paid podcast, where I walked through how I built my business by keeping faith, family, and alignment at the center. In this interview, I unpack what it really means to define your own scoreboard for success, why “balance” is ultimately about priorities, and how mastering one simple system — my Rule of 8 and the PDA Formula — helped me sell 650 homes without losing what mattered most.

Register for my FREE Zoom training: Cut the Chaos, Keep the Closings: A 2026 Lead Gen Workshop here - https://www.garrettmaroon.com/plan

👉 You'll learn:

• How to create your own definition of success
• The Rule of 8 that keeps your business focused and balanced
• The PDA Formula for building a predictable, profitable business
• Why authenticity beats hustle every time
• How faith and alignment create sustainable success

👉 Chapters:

• 00:00 – Intro & Garrett’s Story
• 02:18 – Redefining the Scoreboard of Success
• 06:29 – The Dash on the Headstone & What Really Matters
• 10:11 – The Tension: Providing vs. Being Present
• 16:24 – The PDA Formula: Predictable, Profitable, Aligned
• 19:49 – Holding Every Dollar Accountable
• 21:07 – Alignment, Authenticity, and Energy Audits
• 31:43 – Laziness, Calling, and Who Shouldn’t Be in Real Estate
• 38:22 – Don’t Grow Weary: Faith, Perseverance, and the Long Game
• 40:50 – Defining Your Own Success & Final Challenge

Cut the Chaos, Keep the Closings: 2026 Lead Gen Workshop - https://www.garrettmaroon.com/plan

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Resources & Opportunities:

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🔗 https://calendly.com/garrettmaroon/210collective

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➡️ Pre-order Garrett's Book - The Balanced Breakthrough - HERE

Transcript

0:00

In the book, you talk about creating a scoreboard in life and business. How can agents redefine what winning looks like? Salespeople often ask the wrong questions, like “How do I sell 30 homes?” But that’s not the best starting point.

If you only ask, “How do I sell X homes?” the answer becomes simple: 0:10

work 120 hours a week and spend a ton of money. A better question includes your real priorities—faith, family, and time freedom.

My scoreboard was: 0:20

How do I sell 50 homes a year while taking my wife on two day-dates a month……and taking every seventh week off to spend with my kids? That question forced a completely different strategy. The only way to hit that scoreboard was mastering working by referral. It made the business predictable and sane.

Agents can do the same: 0:35

ask what you value, then build the business around it, not the other way around. Most of the industry measures success by deals and GCI, but those aren’t the things that matter when life ends. My mom passed away in 2022. When I visit her headstone, it reminds me our lives aren’t graded by production. What matters is being a faithful follower of Jesus, a loving spouse, and a present parent. Yet most agents live like their tombstone will list transactions. We miss family dinners to take calls we didn’t need to take. We brag on social media about writing offers on the beach, but that’s nothing to be proud of. You can provide for your family AND protect your family. But you have to define success intentionally.

Agents feel torn: 1:10

they want to be with their kids, but they also feel pressure to grind endlessly. Much of that pressure exists because agents chase strategies that aren’t aligned with who they are.

That’s why I created the Rule of 8: 1:20

master one lead generation system to an 8 out of 10 before adding anything else. Most agents spread their energy across five or six methods, but they’re only average at all of them. Your business grows when you become excellent at the one thing that actually produces the majority of your results.

That’s where the PDA Formula comes in: 1:35

building a Predictable, Profitable, Aligned business. Predictability starts with a “lead generation recipe”—a repeatable plan you test and tweak until it works every time. Most agents say something “doesn’t work,” but they didn’t follow the full recipe consistently. Profitability means holding every dollar accountable. You don’t have to overspend to grow. I cut client event costs from $2,500 to $800 and still closed the same 50 deals. Alignment is the final piece. Build the business that matches how God wired you, not the one the industry pressures you into. A fish isn’t meant to climb a tree. Many agents feel like failures simply because they’re in the wrong system. Your job isn’t to become someone you're not. Your job is to become excellent at who you already are. Use tools like time audits and energy audits to discover your lane. What drains you? What gives you life? When you operate in the lane God designed for you, you show up with more peace, more energy, more presence.

Galatians 6:9 says: 2:25

“Do not grow weary in doing good.” Success comes to those who refuse to give up. The market has been hard these last two years. But if you’re still here, you’re winning. Real estate rewards the agent who stays consistent, keeps the faith, and plays the long game. Your business doesn’t need to cost you your family. Success is far more than sales volume. Define your scoreboard. Choose what matters. Then build your business around the life you want to live.