This week, I am interviewing Feng Shui consultant Steve Kodad. In this episode, we discuss and define Feng Shui, and how it can be utilized in the real estate industry as well as in the home.
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CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
1:13 Steve’s introduction & definition of Feng Shui
15:44 Feng Shui in Real Estate | Most Important Rooms
24:17 The Psychology of Feng Shui & Basketball
37:00 Steve’s Coaching Past & The Future of Technology
46:33 Fears that Stifle Passion & Creativity for Success
1:04:00 Teaching Others About Feng Shui | What To Implement
1:16:06 Conversation Takeaways | Closings
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Steve: [00:00:00] People become enlightened about the whole situation and, uh, find it enjoyable. I, I, I do really push the idea that, you know, there's a, there's joy to this lifestyle and, uh, you know, why not try to be an entrepreneur? Why not? Mm-hmm. , try to see what you can do by yourself.
Jordan: Hey everyone, thanks for coming back for yet another week. Today we're talking to Steve COEs. What he is is a Feng Shui consultant. And to me that sounded really interesting because I'd heard that term before but never really understood what it was or how someone could consult for it. So this conversation, um, was really exciting for me cause we dive into a little bit of what that means in real estate and in construction.
Jordan: Um, how to make your home more funk. Um, we're going to his backstory of everything [00:01:00] from coaching to his work in the real estate business. So I know there's going be a lot of things that you can get out of this. So remember to like, subscribe wherever you're watching or listening. But let's dive into the conversation with Steve.
Jordan: Uh,
Steve: hi. This is Steve. Um, I started with, uh, Feng, um, over 18 years ago. At that point I was actually a realtor and the owner of a 34 agent real estate company in Charlotte, North Carolina. Uh, I was always looking for ways to actually sell my homes as fast as possible, get to a closing, go to the next one.
Steve: And, um, I had something sent to me through email about something that I couldn't even pronounce at that point.
Steve: And, um, it intrigued me. And so I sent away for the materials, just some, some tapes and listened to them for, uh, quite a long time, [00:02:00] over a couple day period. And, uh, I ended up getting a listing at this point in my neighborhood that was only a, a few blocks away. And it decided, well, okay, you know, they've had problems.
Steve: They're, they're not present. They had already left for, believe it or not, Winston-Salem. And, uh, . And, uh, at this point I figured, well, why not? Let's see what I can do according to this tape, I can actually make a big difference by changing a few things. So I brought some items from my house, much to my wife's pleasure, and, uh, we, uh, set it up.
Steve: I held an open house that weekend and got an offer right away. Uh, they had been on the market with other real estate agents for months and months and were frustrated, which a lot of people do get very frustrated in this business. So, you know, it just seemed [00:03:00] to, to really have, well, maybe it has something to it.
Steve: And then I started using it for my other listings and they became very enamored with it and very enthusiastic, and they enjoyed it. They enjoyed working with it and making sure that certain things were taken care of before there was a showing. And, uh, so it really. Really piqued my interest that, you know, maybe I've really got something here that really might really work and also is very unique and can set me apart.
Steve: So I decided, uh, again, about 18 years ago to get certified, and I got certified in Knoxville, Tennessee with a, a well known Feng Schweik couple by the name of Helen James, j j a y. And, uh, one thing led to another, and then after two or three years of having success with real, uh, real estate and shui, I just decided I wanted to pursue a different pathway at that point.
Steve: So I went to my partner and said, Hey, look, David, I'm, [00:04:00] I'm going be selling to you at this point, and I'm gonna pursue a passion, a funk at this point. And even though a lot of people said I was really crazy, uh, it worked out and, uh, I've never looked back. So I, I left real estate at that point. During that period of time, uh, we moved from the Charlotte, North Carolina to Florida into the Sarasota area.
Steve: And that area, if anything, has probably even got more interest in it. So, uh, you know, one thing led to another, and my company at that point was called The Fun Cure. It's still in existence. I do evaluations and all that kind of stuff, but, uh, I always knew that I really wanted to have my own school. So I, I met my partner, uh, Lisa Albin at this point, about six years ago because she was having difficulty [00:05:00] selling her home.
Steve: And she found me on Google, uh, and said, well, let me, let me bring him in because we've been on the market now for six months and we're not getting anywhere. So I met her at that point. She took all my stuff to heart. Did all these things over the weekend, and then a couple days later sold her house. And we've been friends since then.
Steve: And, uh, she at that point, uh, was, uh, working as an executive producer for the Home Shopping Network. And frankly, I never thought I'd ever hear from her again, . But she, uh, she contacted me, uh, four years ago, wanted to talk to me about what I did. And so we met halfway between where I am and where she is in St.
Steve: Petersburg. And, uh, one thing led to another and we decided to start a school that actually, [00:06:00] um, certified new consultants. So we've been at it now for four years, a gold standard school ranked by the governing board, the International Fun Guild. And as you can see behind me, it's called the Intrinsic School of Funk.
Steve: So, That's how I got started. No, that's
Jordan: awesome. So what is Feng shui? Maybe that's too broad of a question, but what is it?
Steve: Well, it depends on who you talk to. The simplistic definition is the art of placement. And as I, I'm very fond of telling people there's so much more to it than where the bed and where the couch goes and all that kinda stuff.
Steve: Very important, very important. But there's so much more to it. And if that was all there was to it, I probably wouldn't been so passionate and intrigued by it. To me it's really sort of connecting with nature. You wanna make things come off as natural as possible, and you do want to connect with the outside.
Steve: You do want to bring some of that [00:07:00] feeling inside. So Al is a lot about getting the correct feeling inside and outside and making people feel. It or not, not only comfortable, very comfortable, but also secure on a subconscious level. A lot of us, uh, have things that we run into, whether it's somebody that's cutting us off on the freeway or whatever, that irritates us.
Steve: And, uh, you know, we we're built this way to actually lash out somewhat. And the idea of flight or fight kind of thing is something that needs to be, to be worked on. And FEI handles that on a subconscious level, makes us feel a little bit more in control, secure and all those kinds of things. And if those things happen, then all of a sudden we, we are a lot more comfortable in our setting.
Steve: And when we're comfortable, we can really start to focus on [00:08:00] what's important to us and therefore get better and better on those things. So there's a lot of success behind the whole thing. You know, you certainly want. To increase your wealth, you wanna be healthier. All those things are part of Feng shui.
Steve: But to me it all comes back to the idea of feeling very comfortable in your setting and knowing that you can really, really do your best. Whatever really turns you off it.
Jordan: So you said it's the art of placement, but is there a science to it or is it kind of personalized, right? Like, cuz something that may, may make me feel comfortable in my environment could be different for somebody else?
Jordan: Or is there a true science behind the way you should set up a room or a house?
Steve: You know, the way people define it in books, uh, is that it's an art or a science and uh, it's certainly there's an art to it, uh, figuring out things individually for people. But yeah, there, there's a science behind it. And one of [00:09:00] the things that.
Steve: The intrinsic school ofk sort of apart, and that I wanted to incorporate was to be able to back up some of these things. I wanted to make sure people understood that these were real, really true. So, for example, you know, I, I back up the idea that how important natural light is for an individual. So, you know, we have a lot of people that stay inside quite a bit, especially over the last few years, and it's important for them to reconnect with the, with the outside every day.
Steve: And sadly, a lot of people don't do that. But again, that science backs that up. But it also backs it up with respect to being involved with, with nature, with trees and all, uh, that, uh, brings into account. If we don't have that, we find, again, human beings have a real problem with, we really do have connection to the outside.[00:10:00]
Steve: Since we started thousands and thousands of years ago. And so when you cut that off, when you don't have a park to go to or you don't have a backyard to play in or whatever, it does affect us to a degree that, again, doesn't make us as secure and as comfortable as possible. And again, once that happens, then pretty much everything falls apart.
Steve: We just don't succeed where we should. We should be better than that. But yeah, I think it's a science. We try to back up an awful lot of things. I mean, there's a, a funny term in funk that some people like to laugh about. And I, I've been on podcasts where they thought the, the term poison arrow was, uh, was funny.
Steve: And, uh, well, it, it sounds funny, I guess, but there are scientific backups that it really does affect human being when we have these kind of sharp edges that are pointing at us at particular times, especially for long periods. So again, [00:11:00] It is a science, to me, it's an environmental science that was developed, started three to 4,000 years ago, and it's just been improved and built on.
Jordan: I think what I find interesting is that you talk about it being almost on a subconscious level, right? So I think that mindset is one of the most important things. It, it kind of controls our happiness, our mood, and things like that. So how does, or do you have stories about how. , you can change your environment through feng shui and then without even realizing it, because it does kind of comfort you on a subconscious level, you, you start to see personal or, you know, professional growth.
Steve: Sure. Um, and certainly I do run into doubters. Yeah. And, uh, you know, quite often when I'm called in for a real estate situation, for example, that they've had difficulty and maybe they've changed agents several times, [00:12:00] so they call me in like in the, the last resort kinda thing, and, uh, I'm not trying to pick on males here, but quite often the male is a little bit more doubtful about the situation and the female in, in quite a, quite a few cases is more prone to the idea that it might work.
Steve: So I've had several of those situations where, you know, where I come in and yes, I do a few things that, you know, maybe they're not really sure about, but. They become believers afterwards because the house then does within a week or two get, get some offers or get some more traffic or whatever. So, you know, one of, one of the things about FEI to me that is so, so nice is that it really makes the, uh, MLS photos, uh, really pop.
Steve: And, uh, we're now in a situation where people actually, [00:13:00] you know, have an awful lot of access to what's out there now. Didn't used to be that way when I started, but, uh, now with realtor.com, Trulia, in all of those different websites, you have access to what's out there. And so they're speeding through a lot of these houses and, nope, no, I don't like the look of it.
Steve: And sometimes they haven't given it a chance. They really haven't even really taken a real good look at it. So you've gotta catch them really quickly. To make them look at it. So one of the things that we do an awful lot of is to make sure that the, the curb appeal photo is really compelling. And, uh, so using color and softening poison arrows in the picture and all those kinds of things can make it look like a more comforting situation.
Steve: You know, one of the things that I, I now advocate to real estate agents is we're gonna start off with what we call a, a yang or a yawn [00:14:00] photo of the outside. And then we, uh, follow it up with a yin photo. And then what I mean by that is yawn is, is more active, aggressive, more daylight kind of situation. So you're gonna show it, you know, with brilliant sun sunshine, and you hopefully catch them at that point, and then they go to the next photo, and it's now a night photo with the lights turned on.
Steve: So you're catching them emotionally both ways with thinking yon and thinking in. And so the photos are really important, as you probably can imagine, George, that uh, if the photos don't really catch their interest, they're never going to come back to it. And if they go and they drive by a house, just because maybe the realtor gave them a list of things to look at, at least from the outside.
Steve: And if the outside doesn't look that compelling to them, they're not gonna bother. [00:15:00] Even though inside might be perfect for them, maybe the neighborhood is perfect for them. We make quick snap decisions. So, um, punctual really does influence the subconscious. And the subconscious really affects 95% of all of our decisions.
Steve: And that shocks a lot of people. You know, we, we make decisions at that level. Because this is our experience, our, our template of life back there and you know, yeah, 5% we're, we're looking at the house real quickly at this point, but if we don't have these, the subconscious feeling positive about the situation, we're not going to get an or, or you know, we're, we're not gonna be really happy with our house.
Jordan: No, that's super fascinating cuz it's funny. The subconscious of whoever we're talking to or trying to sell something to has such an impact on that transaction. Whether it's how you present yourself in a conversation or like you said, that quick [00:16:00] judgment in a photo. Like one of my favorite books is Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
Jordan: And it talks about that, where it's like most of your decisions happen immediately without you thinking about it, cuz it's too slow for your conscious brain to do. Yeah. Um, so that's super fascinating that, so it, would you say that it goes beyond like a typical house staging, right? Like there's all kind of people that stage houses, but that might be to make it look aesthetically pleasing in the sense of stylish or fashionable, but not necessarily subconsciously make someone feel at home when they walk in.
Steve: Right, right. I mean, again, I've, I've been at selling houses or helping people sell houses for a long, and there are times that I get asking me about how handle vacant. You know, you certainly can spend a lot of, uh, a lot of money to try to dial it up in a lot of cases using, uh, a home stager. The thing about FEI is extremely [00:17:00] inexpensive to get a better feeling.
Steve: And so we take into account things, for example, a run very subtly, but that's something that we, we work on. So we work on particular senses to make sure that it comes across as very comfortable and, and doable. So, you know, for example, I can remember a situation where I had a house that was vacant in, uh, Charlotte, North Carolina.
Steve: It was the middle of the winter and uh, it gets surprisingly, and you know this, it does get a little cold in the Carolinas. Yeah. Most people probably are surprised by that, but it can get pretty cold in the middle of the winter. Definitely not like Boston or New York, but still. Right. So anyway, they had turned off all the utilities and they wanted me to do an open house
Steve: So, you know, it was actually a lot warmer outside, even though it was only like 35, [00:18:00] 40 degrees. But there was some sun out there. I would much rather have been outside than inside. So the, the idea, uh, is to make sure that a person, when they walk into an open house or into a house that they're viewing with their significant other is compelling in a lot of ways.
Steve: So you wanna make sure you take care of the temperature, you wanna make sure you take care of how it smells, you wanna make sure it's super clean and, um, We really advocate the idea of a deep cleaning, and most people don't do deep cleanings at all. I promise you. Hmm. A deep cleaning in feng shui is more like this, where you, you know, you go from baseboard up to the ceiling, all the corners, you know, every, every inch, including behind the refrigerator and in the oven.
Steve: You know, so, you know, you're, it, it, it is a totally different animal about how you take care of things. And if you come across that way, just by doing something like that and, and getting rid of clutter, all of a sudden it's a different situation. It's open up to the [00:19:00] possible potential opportunities that they're looking for.
Steve: They can see themselves, okay, yeah, this, this might work. You know, I, it feels comfort. It's really clean, it smells really good, all those kind things. So an open house, I mean, a vacant house can be done and I've done quite a few of them. And if it comes down to it, I only then work on two rooms, especially make it come across really well.
Steve: The two important in the kitchen and the master bedroom. So I, I pay special attention to them. The kitchen, of course, decluttering, deep cleaning, make sure everything works, blah, blah, blah. But then the master bedroom can become, you know, a little more difficult because you have to sort of show where the bed is going to go.
Steve: The location of the bed is very pivotal to people on a subconscious level. They wanna feel safe and secure that they're gonna get a great night's sleep. So spends a lot of time on making sure that the master [00:20:00] bedroom comes off in a particular way. We wanna show that it's perfect for a couple. And I can promise you there's a lot of folks out there that are not doing that, even if they are in a relationship or not.
Steve: And so when you're trying to sell a house, if that's the case, you're already throwing up a red flag that is maybe not gonna work for me and my significant other. So you try to show a table on both sides. You try to show the same lamp on both sides. You don't wanna shove it up against a wall. You wanna make sure everybody has, shows equality and you see your, this is the only room that you're showing pairs of anything.
Steve: So in a vacant house, I do what I can using boxes or crates and put pretty bedding over top of it. Hopefully nobody's gonna try to go to sleep there, , that's interesting. But, uh, I wanna show the location cuz it needs to have a solid wall behind it and it needs to have a direct view of the [00:21:00] door entering.
Steve: So those are very pivotal to show off on a psychological, uh, level. If, and if you're not seeing that, then there's the possibility you might think, I'm not sure I'm gonna be ready for the next day. I'm not gonna be restored. That's
Jordan: crazy to me. Well, I mean, it's something that you, we've all thought of when we walked in the house or even someone else's house or, um, but you don't think that you're thinking about it, right?
Jordan: So, right. Um, the, even for someone that is looking to remodel or maybe potentially sell their house or maybe just make their house more, um, you know, comfortable for them, is, are those still the two rooms that someone should focus on, like the kitchen and the ma and the master bedroom?
Steve: I, I, I definitely think so.
Steve: You know, I mean, I know a lot of people. Really hung up on the, on the living room for example. And there's, it's certainly very important in a lot of ways cause that's where you bring the family, you might say, together. [00:22:00] So it definitely has its purpose for a lot of reasons. And it ne definitely needs to be worked on, but the person that lives in the master bedroom uses that bedroom is very important with respect to, because we've gotta keep them healthy and happy and successful.
Steve: You can imagine if they're not, a whole fabric of the family can fall apart at that point. So there is some reasoning behind it to make sure that they are really taking care of perfectly. And it's the same in, in, uh, parts of the far east. You know, for example of everybody, the family sits around the, take the grandparents in a more.
Steve: Auspicious or, uh, position where they have their back stool wall and they can see who's coming into the dining room. This is called the classic armchair, and it's, it's something [00:23:00] that is very important in all schools of, and, uh, my, my son who, uh, still lives in Charlotte is a policeman. And so I would get together with him for lunch, you know, even though he doesn't know how to say FEI and he certainly doesn't believe in fei.
Steve: You know, he would always sit in the same place. He would always sit with his back tool wall mm-hmm. , and he could see who was entering the restaurant. So he had more of a, a scope of the whole area and we're, we're just wired that way. So the classic armchair, again, I think of it as a science, you know, it makes sense to me that you want to be as protected as you possibly can wherever you sit.
Steve: So, yeah, it's, it's definitely conducive to whether you're selling or not and you, you wanna feel as comfortable as possible in your setting. And once that happens, then a lot of really good things can [00:24:00] happen in your life. Whatever your passions are, whatever your job is, things can get a little bit better, a little easier.
Steve: And, you know, the promotions are gonna come and those kinda things. Once you start to feel not quite right in an environment, then things sort of go the other direction.
Jordan: When did you start incorporating it in your own life? Was it always there, you just didn't know what to call it? Or was it once you started doing it professionally and kind of staging it in houses?
Steve: I've never had anybody ask me that question. That's a good one. I, you know, I've always really been into the idea of how the, the human mind works always. And, uh, all the way back into the, into the late seventies. So it is, it is always been something that I, intrigues me and I've always wondered what makes a person safe, secure, successful.
Steve: So, you know, I, I guess in some ways I've always been [00:25:00] searching and searching for something like that. So maybe that's one of the reasons why FEI right away sort of hit me saying, Hey, wow, I never heard of this before, and I, I like what it's telling me. So, uh, I found out in real estate color is a huge bonus or a huge problem when you're selling a house.
Steve: And funk has a lot to do with color. So, you know, I had been into it for a long time. I, I am a certified homer myself over 20 years. So I knew there was an awful lot to this whole thing. But I think with respect, Toi, I found an easier, less expensive way of doing. .
Jordan: Um, it, I wonder, and the, and kind of what prompted me for that question is, you know, and look and doing some research in, in your past and in your life, you see the coaching and, you know, the helping of your, so is it, you think it's that [00:26:00] search for, you know, you talked about how the mind works, so kind of that, whether it be subconscious or conscious, that mental clarity in yourself and in others, that kinda led you to identifying that as, as mm-hmm.
Jordan: as a career. Mm-hmm. . Yeah.
Steve: That, that's, that's a great connection. You know, I, I, when I was, uh, a varsity basketball coach in New Jersey, I was doing something that probably no other coach in the state was doing. I was individualization at that point. So, you know, um, some people have trouble shooting free throws, , and you can sometimes practice and practice and practice, and it still doesn't quite, um, , you don't quite get where you wanted to get.
Steve: So I would have them visualize their eyes closed, you know, going through the process of doing this. I'm sure they went home and talked to their parents and they probably thought that, you know, coaches really lost it, . But, uh, I [00:27:00] believe there's a lot to it, how you use your mind to get from one direction, from one place to another.
Steve: So, you know, I never thought about that part of that connection, but that's, that again, is sort of, uh, exciting that just brought that up. But I've always been into the idea that, you know, you can, you can do things in a lot of different ways, even the way we, uh, we practiced. I think I was a very good practice.
Steve: And, uh, so we, we would go through sta uh, stage after stage working on a particular skill. Somebody across the court would be doing something different. So I, I wanted to try to be as in inventive as I could, but at the same time not, not put 'em through two hours of grueling practice. Especially as the, as the season got longer and longer.
Steve: Let's face it, the season can be very, very long and at times [00:28:00] sort of bring you down healthwise and stuff like that. So I was always trying to limit certain things and trying to make the, the practice fun. I think I'm a very, um, detailed person, , and so, uh, because of that, uh, you know, I think I had success in that field and in other fields too.
Steve: Now that's,
Jordan: how did you, and I'm so. . I, I was an athlete. I played basketball as well, and I had a coach in college that you don't app I didn't appreciate until later. But he was very successful and it's, there was a lot of details in practice. So everything in college, it becomes a lot more. So it's a three hour block every day.
Jordan: Mm-hmm. . But everything we, he had it on the, um, you know, the scoreboard, like it would be a timer. So every drill, every stage was already planned out and it was set on a timer. Even the water breaks. So then that would go up for a minute or whatever and everybody would go get their drinks. So how did you set up your practice?
Jordan: You were working with a [00:29:00] younger group of kids and maybe not taking it as serious as, as a college coach, but how did you set that up and, and what were those details that you used to, to train them?
Steve: Well, I'm not sure. I didn't take it as seriously and probably . That's probably why you were good. One of the reason, you know, one of the reasons why I finally ended up getting out, um, When I, when I then moved to the Carolinas and I, I was teaching for a while.
Steve: Uh, I was hired by a prep school to teach mathematics in computer science. And at the same time, they insisted that I had to also be the assistant coach for this program. And, uh, that worried me until I found out that he had been a Duke assistant. , and that he had been the head coach at George Washington.
Steve: Wow. And so, alright. I think it was American. I'm sorry, American. Oh. But, uh, you know, definitely he [00:30:00] did things a little differently than I did. Uh, I tried to definitely have every five minutes pretty much scheduled how I was gonna do things. And, uh, he was sort of the same way. So it was pretty easy to, to do that.
Steve: I, I, I tried to make sure that, again, every minute meant something. That, you know, whether we had to work on getting the ball from under the basket on their end or our end or whatever. And there were certain things that I really wanted to work on depending on who we were gonna play. For example, I, I had a lot of successful full court pressing, and I, I, I en enjoyed that kind of thing at that point in the seventies.
Steve: I know you're too young, uh, to remember John Wooden maybe too much, but John Wooden was, um, one of my heroes, you know, and he was sort of the one that used a full court press. So we would work on a full [00:31:00] court zone, press and, uh, how it would be effective in particular ways with particular teams. Mm-hmm. . And so, depending on who we're playing, you know, you, you change it up a little bit.
Steve: So I try to again, be very, very specific and very detail oriented. I try not to waste their time. You know, and, uh, you know, it can, it, like I said, it can be a long season and in the middle of the winter, you know, you know, , you know, it can be, uh, a little depressing outside too. So this was in New Jersey. So anyway,
Jordan: No, I, um, that's interesting. So I, it prompts something in my mind. Whenever I was growing up, my dad was always, uh, now I kind of look back and see that he did things in a way that wasn't like overt, telling you how to do things was just like, here, you need to figure it out for yourself. So one of the things that he got was a, it was a V H S and it was the John.
Jordan: He had like, some John Wooden had some sort of like basketball fundamentals [00:32:00] video, yeah. Mm-hmm. . I used to watch it on a loop, but I remember him talking about the press. So the one thing I tried to get really good at when I was young was ball handling. So that a press couldn't affect. Oh. Or at least me, but that's funny that you, uh, so yeah, John was before my time, but I did see his fundamentals to basketball video.
Jordan: You know, it's
Steve: funny, if I, if I ever went back in time as a player, yeah. Nothing would've been more important than being able to the ball on your weak. Yeah. And uh, you know, my team's played man to man and we'd always pretty much run up against people who only basically go Right . Cause there's not a lot of left lefthanders.
Steve: So to me that that's, that's a very important thing. But yeah, if I, if I went back when I was 15, whatever I tell you, I'd be working on my left hand until I bled . It was really that important. But you're talking about wooden, you know, he had this pyramids of success, maybe you, you saw that. And so, you know, he had a lot [00:33:00] of little things that he would say, you know, I, I like this one.
Steve: Especially where he would say, you know, be quick, but don't be fast, you know, kinda thing, you know, you want to, some people speed up too much and therefore they're not gonna see the open man, you know, they're just going a hundred miles an hour. Mm-hmm. , you wanna be quick, but you don't want to be blazing fast.
Steve: That's just not gonna work very well on the court or really anywhere. So, yeah.
Jordan: Yeah. There's some, I don't know who said it, but there's one that's like, uh, slow is smooth and smooth as fast. Like you slow things down because you can be more precise and that in and of itself makes you faster. How did, so I want, I'm sorry, I'm diving into basketball.
Jordan: It's just a, uh, you talked about that free throw thing. So when you said you would have 'em go home and prac, like it wasn't actually shooting free throws, it was like a mindset thing, or was it actually shooting in blindfolded?
Steve: Oh no, they weren't shooting. They were right. I, I would've them stand at the free throw line.[00:34:00]
Steve: You know, of course all courts have like eight to 12 baskets around it. And so we there and, and just visualize going through the motion of being successful, you know, holding and they would hold the ball. But I, I didn't want them shooting it so much. I just want them to get the field, the idea, the, the correct arc and to get it over that darn front rim and, and to put it in, you know.
Steve: So, I mean, I, I knew early on that certain things I could control more than others. As a coach, I couldn't control, shoot, I, I didn't coach in the three point system. So , even though that probably would've helped me cause I was a good shooter, but, uh, to me, the only thing I could control was their defense to, to a degree, their rebound.
Steve: And they're free ery, . So I wanted to make sure they were really on top of those three things. [00:35:00] If that's the case. And they had an off shooting night, we still had a good shot, you know, at putting a W up. So, you know, those were the things that I stressed an offline, and we had some high scoring teams, but, you know, I, I also knew that that could go, I knew my, my office would go from night to night sometimes.
Steve: So yeah, I tried to stress what was as controllable as possible.
Jordan: Did you grow up in New Jersey? I know you said you, that's where you were teaching early on. Is that where
Steve: you're from? No, no. I grew up in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania, central Pennsylvania, between Williamsport and State College, where Penn State is, yeah.
Steve: Know, real cold, , lots of shoveling of snow. And uh, you know, I, I played all three sports off and on. I'm, and I'm a huge baseball fan too, so, I mean, I tried a lot of different things, but, uh, yeah, that's where I grew up. It's a beautiful area. It was not an awful lot of, uh, employment in those areas, but, uh, it was a beautiful [00:36:00] area and I, I told everybody, I took the big bucks and moved to New Jersey when they offered me a position in a, a little town in, uh, central New Jersey.
Steve: Uh, the difference was like $1,200, but that was a lot of money back then. .
Jordan: So that's, and that was in teaching that, that you got that offer?
Steve: Yeah. Yeah. I was offered a, I still remember, $7,500 to start New Jersey in 6,300 . Nice. You know, a little town called Tyrone, Pennsylvania. And I, you know, Believe it or not, I really wanted to get outta, uh, central Pennsylvania at this point and start a new life.
Steve: Uh, I needed to see more of the world. So it was an easy decision. It wasn't just because they paid me off. Right. ?
Jordan: No, I think that perspective's important. Like I grew up in a very rural town in West Virginia and you can lose sight of how big the world really is when you're only in contact with a few people.
Jordan: Um, [00:37:00] did is teaching and coaching what you wanted to do?
Steve: Frankly, uh, you know, that goes back to actually a philosophy I have about education. I think education is really not, uh, done very well in some cases. Uh, we don't teach a lot of the things that we should be teaching, like good citizenship and all that kinda stuff. But, you know, guidance counselors, at least when I grew up, really didn't do much guiding
Steve: Yeah. So I had no idea what was out there. None. And the school that I went to, Jordan was a, a small school that had started as a teacher's college and in Lock Haven. And it was close enough that I could, um, commute. So my family really couldn't afford at that point, me to go to Penn State or some of the other schools.
Steve: I just couldn't afford it. So I went there. They only had, uh, [00:38:00] uh, education courses and a liberal arts program at that point. They now, believe it or not, even they have a graduate program now, W Haven University. But at that point, I didn't have a lot of choices and uh, a lot of kids nowadays still don't know that there are so many possibilities out there.
Steve: I think we need to open up their eyes that, you know, you don't need to go to college, you don't need to do this. You know, there's so many possibilities. If you're good with your hands or you like to problem solve, whatever, That goes back to my philosophy. I just think that a lot of things need to be changed.
Steve: And guidance counselors, instead of being, uh, paper pushers and test, uh, givers need to be guiding us. I mean, that to me, that's, that's what's important. And, and I still remember, I still remember, even though I was in the college prep, uh, situation, my guidance counselor said, well, your science scores are not good enough.
Steve: Cause I said, well, I, I guess I'll be an engineer, said, oh, your science scores are not good enough, [00:39:00] so, you know, whatever. And, uh, so I went into it. I majored in mathematics. It started me off. Well, you know, I was at least in demand to teach mathematics. And, uh, so that's what I did. And, uh, coaching, it wasn't even something I'd considered.
Steve: But then after my first year in, in this middle school, uh, an opening happened at that point for seventh and eighth grade. And, uh, I applied for it and they gave it to me and I had great success to start with. So I was totally, totally into it at this point. And then they promoted me to the freshman level.
Steve: And one thing led to another. No, not all. I had no idea. I never go that route, so it turned out well.
Jordan: Yeah, no, so I. I, I always find it interesting how, uh, our paths can change [00:40:00] just based on circumstances or finding interests. You know, I always struggled with what I wanted to be when I got older, and I, I always thought that people had it figured out like you had an interest and that's just, you went into it.
Jordan: And I was kind of envious of that. But you don't know things until you try them. Right. And that's one of the things I like to talk about. And, and one of the things I'm passionate about is getting young people interested and my businesses are in the trades. Um, you know, we've talked a little bit about before and kind of removing that stigma from blue collar careers, um, and trying to, you know, educate young people that you can do fun things.
Jordan: I mean, it can be hard work. It, it sh all work should be, you know, rewarding and, and, but, um, there's opportunities there outside of just the, the standard thoughts of, of what that work looks like.
Steve: You know, I, when I was, um, when I was, uh, in, uh, undergraduate school, Uh, I do remember learning about certain things like apprenticeship, [00:41:00] apprenticeships in Germany, for example, and to me that we still need those kind of things.
Steve: We need to have people apprentice under people and become, you know, hopefully almost as good as they are. We, we, we seem to put those things to the side now they're, to me, very important. And I remember doing, doing my dissertation for my master's degree, and I, again, that that was a, something that we're just lagging behind, it seems like to me.
Steve: So I, I, I definitely have some feelings about the whole thing. As I was saying, I think kids need to learn how to be good citizens, good neighbors, and all those kinda things. And even though I love teaching algebra and geometry and trig, most of that stuff is probably unnecessary for most people. I think.
Steve: I really do think algebra probably is something that everybody should. Get involved with. But after that, even though I enjoyed that stuff, we could certainly replace that with something [00:42:00] that is more helpful. I think nowadays there's an awful lot of folks that, uh, are divided and, uh, they, they feel like maybe they're, they're not getting their fair share.
Steve: And I, I think in some ways it's because of our educational system not really serving them very well.
Jordan: What if there's ways to teach, um, maybe it's interpersonal skills, but to me that that divide is that we don't have enough dialogue because I think we all agree on a lot more things than we disagree on.
Jordan: Um, but a lot of times the media tells us otherwise. But maybe it's, there's ways to train kids on, hey, let, let, there's appropriate ways to have open dialogue about beliefs or whatever it is. Uh, and constructively talk about it with others.
Steve: Right. No, I totally agree. You know, with social media nowadays, and even though, you know, I, I, I really spend [00:43:00] time on LinkedIn, but mm-hmm.
Steve: you know, they're, there's a lot that goes on on social media that I am really, really quite offensive and I'm against, and, uh, they, they're giving people the wrong ideas. They're, they're lying to people in some cases. And, you know, I still, I remember actually just last week, one of the ministers in, in Russia said, sure, yeah, we definitely did get involved with the, the election, and that was the first time that they actually admitted it.
Steve: And I, I know that they did well. I don't know that I did, but you know, as far as I'm concerned, why wouldn't, I think they did And, um, so I would like to keep this kind of stuff out. I mean, I, I want to be able to make a decision on my vote. How I feel, you know, by myself and, and you know, it, it seems like, again, social media is really something that's sort of hurting us in some ways.
Steve: So, you know, whether it's Twitter or [00:44:00] Facebook or whatever, you know, I, you need to take that with a grain salt. And a lot of people, a lot of people don't, you know, they think it's, they think it's the truth, always the truth. Yeah. Yeah. I think
Jordan: it's, w in my mind we've, we're still young and. , even the internet as a whole, right?
Jordan: That's only been around for 30 years. We, we were not ev we didn't evolve in a way that allowed us to process this much in information to know this much about people that fast. You know, the example, I don't know where I heard this, but, um, like the printing press was invented, you know, 400 years before we got to the actual, the first newspapers for 400 years.
Jordan: They played with it in printed bibles, in, in schools, and in churches are. So how it took 'em 400 years to realize that we could make an entire population literate, what will 400 years of the internet or social connections look like? Like our, the 20 years we've had is such a small sample size of [00:45:00] what, you know, what it should become and what it can become.
Jordan: But I think we're all just kind of learning the, the scope of what it is
Steve: at this point. You know, I, I, I was thinking when you were talking about that, that. Back in, in classical Greece, you know, it was potential. You had the potential to actually know everything basically at that point. Now there's no way, right?
Steve: You can't, you can't, you can even take one area and you wouldn't know everything about that area. You're right about all the information that this comes pounding at us. It's, it's overwhelming at times, and I know some people will just shut it off. Totally. There are times that I felt like doing that, uh, you know, the news can sometimes really sort of very upsetting and I definitely have eliminated some of it at this point.
Steve: But, you know, I, I also feel like I need to know what's going on in the world. And, um, so I [00:46:00] find that really remarkable that, uh, you know, at one time in our, in our lives, it was very, very possible to know pretty much everything and, uh, You know, to me it's can be very scary. All the information is out there and we're giving all this information to a lot of people who sometimes don't really totally use that correctly.
Steve: And, uh, and, uh, you know, it's very easy to maneuver it a little bit and say something that's really not the truth. And that's where, that's where I have a problem with some social.
Jordan: How so? And I'm gonna try and tie this back to, uh, decision making. Cause I think that's the, the crux of what we've been with talking about when we're processing all this, how.
Jordan: Does someone go about finding their passion or what it is? Because I think it's really interesting that you were successful in, in real estate and you certainly could have kept doing [00:47:00] that, right? I mean, but you decided to follow this passion that you had, sell your business and go this route. So how did you come to that decision and how do you think other people can identify that and, and, and go forward with it?
Steve: Well, I think one of the things that stops us is that we get frightened about making a change. And we, we want, all we worry about is the security part of it and not giving ourselves enough credit that, you know, we can do this. But I can back up to, um, when I was teaching solely teaching and coaching, I didn't think that I was, uh, able to do anything else.
Steve: Hmm. Primarily because I didn't have my eyes opened and I, I didn't, I just didn't have any idea what I was capable of doing. Sure, I had a couple of degrees, but, you know, what is that gonna do for me? And then moved to the Carolinas and, [00:48:00] uh, was one thinking very seriously about getting out of it. Thank God for my wife.
Steve: You know, she, uh, she uh, was, uh, an assistant superintendent, you know, a fairly large school district in, in the Carolinas. So she had been in education, actually almost everybody in my family was an . And so she, she knew that I was at a crossroads and she supported me. Sometimes the sign significant other can really stop you in your track.
Steve: yes, security's important, but you gotta believe in yourself. And so she said, well, what do you wanna do? And I said, well, I wanna do something that's not inside four walls. Mm-hmm. . And so I wanna get outside somehow. And uh, she said, well how about realistic? And you know, I had really had never thought much about, uh, and one thing led to another and I just ran into the right [00:49:00] mentor, you might say, my former partner.
Steve: And, uh, he gave me the ideas that, you know, you could do this, do that, and potentially be able to pick up some steam in the first year or so. You know, real estate the first year it can be miserable or almost anybody, unless you have an awful lot of a large network. And most of real estate agents don't really, so, um, At first year, Jordan, I really, I did anything I could to not go back into the classroom.
Steve: I was tutoring , uh, I was doing a few other little things, but I was putting up probably more time into my real estate business than anybody else under the office. You know, I was thinking in a lot of creative ways, you know, I mean, you know, we could get into that if you want to, but there, there are a lot of creative things that I did [00:50:00] to try to make sure that icontinue to be semi successsful efforts in real estate.
Steve: That the turnover is ama amazing. Every year, a quarter of the people leave every year replaced by another quarter, thinking that it's, you know, fairly easy, fairly simple, you know, look at those big commission, uh, checks. Well, it's not quite like that. It's, it's takes a lot of work, a lot of time. And then when you finally get successful, you're now juggling four or five or six different people at the same time.
Steve: And, uh, you know, it can be, it can be very, uh, stressful, but, uh, you have to believe in yourself . And you have to have your, your loved ones support you too. And, and sometimes all they'll wanna worry about is, look, you got a paycheck that comes in every, every couple of weeks, you really wanna let that go, you know?
Steve: And thank God, thank [00:51:00] God I, uh, met her, married her and , I met her on a blind date set up by my sister. And, uh, it just, you know, we knew probably two months in that we were gonna get married, that it was, that, that kind of situation. But if I hadn't met somebody like that, And I had met somebody before and it didn't work out after eight years.
Steve: Uh, you know, you, you gotta meet people that really believe in each other and, uh, and not be frightened, I think is really important. You gotta believe in yourself. No, that's
Jordan: powerful. I think that, that even, you know, for, for myself, it, it's been that fear of putting yourself out there cuz you're afraid of judgment from others.
Jordan: But a common theme from talking to people is that idea that whether it be a specific mentorship or just the fact that sometimes other people in your life can tell you what you're good at. Um, and that's kind of powerful that I [00:52:00] don't, you know, you may not know what it is, but by doing things that you like and then other people will identify a lot of times what you can be successful at.
Jordan: And it sounds like that kind of happened with you.
Steve: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, you know, I, I found out when I started pursuing the idea that, uh, Who knew that school teachers actually make good real estate agents. Cause they're used to prepping, being prepared for situations, you know, and being creative. You know, I mean I, yeah, I was a high school teacher the last three years, four years, but even then I was using my bulletin
Steve: Most high school teachers are not using their bulletin boards, if you get my drift. It's just, they're not being very creative. They're not trying to show possibilities, you know? So I guess it was to my benefit to start middle school. And, uh, but, uh, they were, you know, teachers just sort of were used to prepping and preparing for situations [00:53:00] and, and talking to people and getting people to do what they want them to do, you know, kinda thing.
Steve: So, you know, when you have a classroom of 30. It can be very overwhelming at times. And there's a lot of different personalities in there, and then you turn it over five times in a day, you know, so it's, uh, it's not an easy job and, but it's a great, great field to prepare for almost anything. Tell you the truth.
Jordan: Now, you talked about the creativity and, and teaching and lesson plans, and also that creativity to make yourself successful, those first year of being a real estate agent. So let, let's dive into that. What, what were some of those things that you used creatively, creatively, I don't know, word I was trying to say to, uh, to kind of help make sure you were successful.
Steve: Okay, . I, I, here's one that's really sort of, uh, out there, I guess you might say. And my, my wife still likes to joke about this situation, but [00:54:00] you know, I didn't have an awful of money for advertising agent.
Steve: So, uh, right away I was picking up listings cause I knew that was the route to go. And, uh, so I was in what, what's called the real estate book. You know, you've heard of, heard of Homes and Land and all those things. Mm-hmm. , they have the color pictures of the, of the things. So I even at that point, the other agents in my office, and I wasn't the owner at this point, thought, who the heck does he think he is?
Steve: So, you know, I , I had a page in the real estate book pretty quickly, but what I'm getting at is that I also knew that a lot of people picked these up. And Charlotte has a, a big downtown. So, and a lot of other areas are, uh, very wealthy. So I knew where these books were being picked up. So I would go to [00:55:00] these places.
Steve: I would walk into the grocery store, for example, pick up about 30 of them, take 'em out to my car. Staple my card in each one of
Steve: Then I take the 30 back in, you know, and put it back in. I did this place after place after place and on Sundays I would go downtown Charlotte and do this and all these little racks all over the place. You know, and it, it's funny, a lot of the other agents were, you know, saying, ah, this is a tough market.
Steve: This is that, and this is that. And they couldn't see any potential possibilities. I could see with a lot of potential possibilities, you know? I mean, for example, in the newspaper, lot of people's lives that were changing drastically. So you needed to look at the newspaper and look at what was happening, whether there was births, people getting married, why couldn't I send them a note?
Steve: Okay. [00:56:00] I mean, I don't know them. They don't know me, but why not? What am I gonna do? Sit around and just drink coffee, which is what some of them did. , or went home very early, you know, and turned on, I don't know, judge Judy, I don't know, . So I spent a lot of time on the road doing these things. I also went to a, we, we built a, in the Charlotte area, there's a lot of new homes that were built, a lot of different communities.
Steve: So some days that was what I would, did. I would drive to the new community, introduce myself to that person, pick up their, pick up their floor plans to make myself, Hey, look, I got all the floor plans and throughout the whole city, you know, I can, I can tell you what is possible. This is what you need. Okay, look, here's a place that has them.
Steve: They're also fairly close to your job. Nobody else would do somebody's thing. I just [00:57:00] outworked people in a lot of ways and. But you know, I, I also found it so enjoyable, Jordan, because I, I'm in my car instead of in a classroom. I've got my, my music on and I'm just driving and it's sunny out. Hey, this was heaven to me because I was being creative, productive, and thinking further ahead than a lot of other people.
Steve: And to me that, that was so much fun, you know? So I really, the, the hunt as I would call it, was very, very fun to me. And if you know what a, a FSBO is for sale by owner mm-hmm. , that also is another way that I made a fair amount of money from, is that I would drive around other days picking up FSBOs, writing down their address.
Steve: Cause not all of 'em were in the paper. But in Charlotte, the pa, the Charlotte [00:58:00] observer of the paper would have it in on Saturdays. I scoured those every, every Saturday and wrote letters to them. Okay. So I had routines. There were routines I, whether it was to hit the, uh, for sale by, for sale by owners or hit the, uh, boxes where the magazines were or whatever.
Steve: I was never in the office. When you're a real estate agent and you're in the office, you're not doing much really, in a lot of cases, you're not really prospecting. You're not working at, at the job. And again, I, I found that out and, and, uh, so I did a lot of, lot of strange things, you might say, but they were, another part of it be, before I stop on this particular subject, was there already expired Vista That happened every day, all over the city.
Steve: And Charlotte is a big area, so there were certain ones that were. Much more, um, attractive to me [00:59:00] than others. So I would drive out to their house with a notebook, with their name in it, with what I was all about, with maybe 10, 12 pages in it and prop it in front of their door. I wouldn't bother them, but I would put the notebook right there.
Steve: And so, you know, at least they knew who I was after a while. , they kinda,
Jordan: that's very impressive. Uh, that's, I don't know. That's really cool to see how you found niches to, to, to target and to maximize. But mainly it's just like, let me just be productive. Let me get out there and actually do something rather than sit and wait for someone to call me and want me to sell their house.
Steve: That's right. I'd rather listen to music than listen to somebody talking bad . Yeah. In the office.
Jordan: So then, You know, you made the switch from, uh, this successful business to the FEI consultancy, but then what [01:00:00] drives you? So it's funny to me, I don't know why, but you want it out of the classroom. So now you've started a school, right?
Jordan: Yeah. . So it's like you went from there, it's kind of full circle, right? You want it out, but now you're back to it.
Steve: Yeah, I mean, if you think about all the different steps, Jordan, you know, I mean I, I was a teacher for basically 15 years in public and private schools. And then I went into real estate and was in that for about 19 years.
Steve: And in there there was an overlap with funk, which is related to real estate to some degree. You know, a lot of people think of it that way. So, and I was used to speaking in front of people, used to, so it just seemed like, okay, well gee, I like being creative. I like looking at houses. I love funk, you know?
Steve: So it just, putting the whole thing together made total sense to me so that, that first year, [01:01:00] even though I was still in real estate at this point, Tuesdays , I was going to a business meeting in some office, uh, real estate office to speak for whatever time they'd give me 15, 20 minutes. And, uh, you know, that just, it grew out that, and then I created my own, uh, certification program called Thei Staging Professional, which is still going strong.
Steve: And, uh, I was picking that on the road. Uh, so it was, again, one thing led to another, and I'm in this for good, is I tell people this is my fourth career change and I'm not going anywhere after this. .
Jordan: Uh, so is it. You know, what's next? Right? So you've, you've done all these things. You have this school, you've written at least three books, uh, about it.
Jordan: So is it, is it still just [01:02:00] kind of training the real estate agents and staging professionals in this art? Or is it, how, how do you get that message out there to home buyers even that this is an important thing or does that matter?
Steve: Well, you know, four years ago when I started the school, the Intrinsic School of Swei, I wanted to branch out and work with everybody.
Steve: So, uh, it was no longer just real estate agents, even though I still do that. I actually even have two classes, two courses where I give three hours of continuing education to realtors in Florida. So I'm driving around Florida doing this, um, giving three hours on ONI for. and a lot of people love the class, love the course, and all that kinda stuff.
Steve: But, uh, I still have that avenue and I still work with real estate agents here and there. And I'm now wor , I'm now going into mentoring where I'm gonna [01:03:00] mentor real estate agents for X number of weeks, as long as they want to, um, to use the same system that I was using in real estate in, uh, in Charlotte and in South Carolina.
Steve: So, um, yeah, I'm, I'm now branching into mentoring , who knows what's after that? I don't. But, uh, yeah, I mean, it's just, you just, you gotta keep as young as possible. You know, I'm in my seventies now and I just wanna continue to do something where I feel blessed and, and content and, uh, many people quit too quickly.
Steve: Without thinking about what's, what's possible out there, there are so many things you can do even to into your retirement years. Mm-hmm. , keep your mind going, your body going, you know, I, I pride myself in both those areas that I'm trying not to deteriorate too quick, [01:04:00] is,
Jordan: is this a, um, is it a passion project for, like, is it, is giving back part of the reward for you that you're kind of sharing this success that you've found and that can help you both, you know, not even on a professional level, but you know, almost spiritually?
Jordan: Is it that, that giving back what you find most rewarding?
Steve: Yeah, I, I think so. I think so. You know, I didn't tell my partner, Lisa, that, you know, yeah, we, we wanna keep scoring, we wanna make some money, but I, I'm not at the stage where, That is the thing that's really pushing me. Mm-hmm. . Okay. I enjoy people, uh, their, their, um, light bulb comes out, up or out above their head when they say, oh, yeah.
Steve: Wow. I never thought about that. I do. I like that. I like people [01:05:00] discovering fei. I like the idea of being able to, uh, to help some people. You know, I, it's not, it's not just about the money at all. And, uh, you know, tho those years were before this, you know, I, I, I definitely, you know, I want to keep going, but, uh, it really turns me on that people become enlightened about the whole situation and, uh, find it enjoyable.
Steve: I, I, I do really push the idea that, you know, there's a, there's joy to this lifestyle and, uh, You know, why not try to be an entrepreneur? Why not? Mm-hmm. , try to see what you can do by yourself. You know, I mean, I rush hour is something that I stay away from. I mean, when I make a, make an appointment with somebody, I'm sorry, I am not gonna meet you at nine o'clock or eight 30, and I am not gonna be on the road at 4 30, 5 o'clock.
Steve: I'm just not gonna [01:06:00] do that. So if you want what I have to offer, that's fine, but it's not gonna be during rush hour. I hate rush hour at this point. Yeah. And, um, I don't wanna do anything that stresses me . So, um, you know, certainly I get stressed at times because I put a lot of pressure on myself to, to develop things and get better.
Steve: But, uh, you know, I'm gonna do what I can to control my, my, uh, my stress and frustration.
Jordan: Ken, we, myself included, Because you've enlightened me. Just so that you know, I I, and that was one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you, cuz it's something that, a, you've heard the word before, but don't really dive in or understand the meaning.
Jordan: But is it something where I have to go out and buy things to change my decorations in my home? Or can I become, can I make it more feng shui just by adjusting things at my house?
Steve: Yeah. Actually, the neat thing about FEI is that you really take a lot more out than you put [01:07:00] in. Ah, and, um, in a lot of cases, what you already have, you can use.
Steve: So it's a very inexpensive way of changing the feeling. You know, I, I developed the system many, many years ago about taking care of what I refer to as the four big Ds. I had to make up some words to make sure they were Ds . But, uh, but, uh, as I tell people, this is like a way, like a way of doing a space clearing.
Steve: You know, basically, but not everybody is into the idea of doing a space clearing, a formal one. So, yeah, I mean, you can do the four big Ds, which is just basically smell boies. Okay, you're gonna declutter, of course, that's a big thing. And so basically you're getting rid of some stuff, or least packing it away in some shit or something,
Steve: So you're, you're decluttering, you're detailing, which makes sure, and you make sure everything works. You know, when I would go into houses at times something didn't work. [01:08:00] It would cause frustration to a degree for me and for my client. I turn this light on, nothing happens, you know, or so detailing is another thing.
Steve: You wanna make sure that things work problem. And then another one is, uh, depersonalizing, which, uh, might sound a little out there, but the idea of, of. Not making it so much just you, but making less of the, the predecessor energy showing through everywhere. And we've all been in houses where you certainly know who lives there and you can't see yourself there, you know, and it's very hard, very hard to, may even get comfortable sometimes when you're visiting.
Steve: And then the deep cleaning, as we've already talked about, is very, very pivotal. And most people don't do it. Uh, I mean, I'm, I'm very fond to saying that, you know, certain, uh, businesses that are well known for [01:09:00] coming out and cleaning a place, franchises, they don't do that, you know? But indeed cleaning done once or twice a year really changes the feeling of a place tremendously.
Steve: So doing those four, you know, is elbow breweries. And so, you know, okay, maybe, maybe you think that's beneath you in some cases for some people. Well, if it is, then, you know, go ahead and go the expensive route, you know, so we take care of the four big Ds. Uh, the way I do it, I do an evaluation. I'm gonna come through what needs to be changed with respect to what I call the four tools, and probably heard the five elements and all those kinda things that I'm trying to get the right balance and harmony with respect to and everything.
Steve: So, yeah, in a lot of cases, uh, you really don't need to buy stuff. Some people do it anyway because they think, okay, I'm gonna my [01:10:00] house, let me go on Google and buy, you know, couple hundred dollars worth of worthless stuff. Mm-hmm. . So there is a worthless stuff out there. To me that does not help you. I'm all about making it.
Steve: Easy to live in, be very comfortable, you know, enjoy coming home to it. But if you have an awful lot of junk all over the place, you know, that's just not gonna do it. So, yeah. Yeah, you can do it very inexpensively and you don't have to spend hardly, hardly anything. Yeah. You might have to get a little dirty
Jordan: Oh, and then, uh, you talked a little bit before about the, the poison arrows, right? So is that the idea that like the right angles and all the man-made things is, is what those are? Or tell me a little bit
Steve: about that. Sure. Um, you can think of a lot of pointy things. Basically, you know, for example, you go into the city, you know, you're gonna see some buildings that are got a lot of shark edges on them.
Steve: And in a, in a city like Hong Kong, [01:11:00] there's actually a, a bustling business for lawyers there. They sue people over poison eras. Hmm. On a building goes up in Hong Kong, for example. You can bet right behind it there's gonna be somebody that's gonna be upset. Cause the corner of your new building that is maybe 30 stories high is pointed at their, their apartment.
Steve: So it's a very big deal in parts of the world. And, uh, so when I, when I work with an environment, I am looking for those kind of things. Here's a prime example that I always run into in the bed, in the Beth bedroom, the important master bedroom where they might have a dresser. The edge of a dresser is pointer, right where they lay their head.
Steve: Overnight. So they're spending eight hours possibly without moving with this poison arrow, pointing arrow. Now again, this is a little bit out there for some people. I understand that. But there are studies in research that point, [01:12:00] point out that this does actually have an adverse affection effect on people.
Steve: So where your favorite sitting area is, you know, you might have a corner that protrudes and points right at you, or a column that is behind your back or whatever, or a piece of furniture. So you move them or you move where you're sitting a little bit. Sometimes it's just an adjustment. And so with respect to the bed, for example, I'm gonna move the bed a little bit, maybe only six inches, maybe a, maybe a couple of feet.
Steve: But again, I keep in mind the, the, uh, classic arm chair. I wanna make sure I have a solid foundation stability behind me. And then I can see the entrance. Those are pivotal, but at the same time, I can adjust moving things a little bit, whether it's the dresser or the bed, to make sure that we don't have a poison arrow pointing at them all night long.
Steve: It's not such a big thing, Jordan, if you, if you're gonna be there for 15, 20 [01:13:00] minutes, but, but still, it gets worse and worse. And we're talking about duration. So I, you just don't want that. Now with respect to selling a house, we get right down to the point of how you, uh, present the front door. The front door.
Steve: You don't want a lot of pointy things pointing at the person walking up to the door because right away it's causing a little bit of stress. And we, we wanna make sure they come in feeling good and comfortable and not thinking there's anything to worry about. So we take away pointy objects are we, uh, soften them, is the word I use.
Steve: So, so for example, Framing of the door, you know, I want to use rounded pots instead of pots that have edges on. Okay. No big deal. Okay. And I want to have some particular color in there and all that kind of stuff, but I do what I can by using landscaping or pots around the front [01:14:00] door to soften the entrance.
Steve: So it's a more welcoming person. Is
Jordan: the idea behind that, the subconscious fear of something sharp or
like
Steve: a danger? I think so. I, I do think so. Um, uh, and again, the subconscious is so powerful. Mm-hmm. that, you know, you can, uh, you can actually put yourself to, you know, to die if you, if you really wanna go that route.
Steve: Our mind just are so powerful that we sometimes don't have much control over what's going on. So yeah, the subconscious is involved with all of these decisions. How is this going to affect me? How's it. How's it gonna make this worse than it should be? You know? So we take away a lot of pointy things. We don't wanna have any kind of briars or needles, you know, in a plant close to the door, you know, anything that might catch somebody, we away all that stuff.
Steve: So we smooth the outside or soften the outside by [01:15:00] using, like, hanging plants or bushes or trees. So we make it softer. I mean, I've got a, I've got a picture that I've been using now for probably 15 years now of, of, um, of a ranch home that was built like in the fifties, sixties, which were very prevalent back then at that point.
Steve: Not at all comfortable or attractive. Okay. But they're, they're all over this country, I promise you. Cause I, I've been in a lot of places, . So I take it and then I, I'm able with PowerPoint to bring in things to show, okay, here's a good place for a plant. Here's a good place for Bush. I'm gonna put a tree over here on this corner.
Steve: So I bring them in and then I show, I'm showing 'em the after at that point that shows them how I might go about softening a very poorly, uh, looking 1956 ranch, you know, in Colorado or in New Hampshire or wherever. It's, that makes it [01:16:00] more a little more comfortable and actually more attractive for a person that's, uh,
Jordan: I don't know.
Jordan: That's very interesting. Um, so what's, and it doesn't have to be necessarily related to funk, but what's one piece of advice you'd want people to take from our, from our conversation today?
Steve: Well, believe it or not, he'd probably used to say, you know, be open-minded, . There are a lot of things out there that.
Steve: You don't possibly know about that actually do work. You know, a lot of people at one time or another thought that something like acupuncture was crazy, you know? And it's now become more and more accepted. It's working with chi, just like I'm working with Chi also. There is a lot to it. Anything that's been developed so long ago and has stuck around for so long, there's gotta be something really to it.
Steve: There's a lot of common sense to function with. [01:17:00] So there are a lot of different schools, a lot of different thoughts. Our school is maybe more practical minded than maybe some, but I think that's important because what happens is that you need to be able to speak to people on a particular wavelength to explain things to them.
Steve: So we, we talk a lot about how you talk to people about it. Cause let's face it, there are people that are, think it's. Again, a little bit far out there, but it does work. And um, you know, it's something to me that really everybody should at least consider looking into, whether they read a book or whatever.
Steve: It really makes an environment a lot more attractive, more comfortable, and more secure. Well,
Jordan: we're, um, you know, we talked a little bit about the lack of dialogue, but I think people can be quick to dismiss something they don't understand, right? Yeah. So I think of being open-minded is really important cuz I mean, all this stuff is [01:18:00] really based on, uh, I mean, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but like energy, right?
Jordan: And, um, I just like that idea of there's forces in nature and within ourselves that truly have an impact on us. So, like you said, be open-minded. Learn how to tap into those things, right? Mm-hmm. , make yourself, make yourself a better
Steve: person. Definitely, definitely. I mean, it, it's been proven, you know, I don't know how many, hundreds of years ago, but everything is energy.
Steve: We're nothing but energy too. Yeah. You know, I, I tell people, you know, look, look at your coffee table. It's created by the same kind of thing. You know, it's just vibrating at a very different pace right now. Everything is energy. It's fine. It, it's, it's finite. You know, there's, there's a certain amount of energy, you know, sometimes it's destroyed being comes, comes back in a different look or a different way.
Steve: But everything is energy on this planet. [01:19:00] And, uh, you know, I, I think more and more people are understanding that, that that is what it is. And so really what any FEI practitioner does is they're really manipulating energy to come off as a positive in a setting. And, uh, so there's a lot of ways to do it, but, uh, I guess basically that's really what a practitioner does.
Jordan: That's awesome. What's the best way that somebody can find you or, or learn more about, you know, what
Steve: you're doing? Well, the, the best, uh, site, I have a couple, but, you know, you can, you can type in my name and you'll find out there's a lot of things that come up. Most of them are, are good
Steve: actually. I think they all are, but, ok, that's good . But, uh, the, the website is www.intrinsicschoolofngwe.com and, uh, you can definitely contact myself or my partner [01:20:00] Lisa Alban there if you'd like to, if you'd like more information about what we do, would love to send you stuff, um, with no pressure. I promise you that we're, neither one of us are that kinda individual or, you know, if we were, I guess we'd be in a different business.
Steve: There you go.
Jordan: No, I appreciate it and I, I really appreciate your time today coming on here. You know, uh, very well, taking a chance and, and, and doing this with me, uh, since you know, you didn't know me and I just kind of cold, cold or cold email Jen asked. Um, but I find your stuff interesting and I'm really glad we had a chance to
Steve: talk.
Steve: Oh, yeah, same here, Jordan. It's nice talking to you too. I, I enjoyed it very much.