Justin Stoddart 0:00
Hey, welcome back to the Think Bigger Real Estate Show. I'm your host Justin Stoddart, fired up excited to be with you here today. As you know, my my passion and my mission is to help you think bigger, so that you can build the kind of business that will produce the kind of life that you want, giving you the options and the impact that you really want. I'm very excited to have returning guests with me today, someone who's locally famous and probably becoming nationally famous at this point. But the topic today is contribution. And so I have just the right person who spends his life contributing to the real estate industry, helping agents get better. So I want to thank first and foremost, Mr. Joe Fustolo, for being on the show today. Thanks, Joe.
Joe Fustolo 0:36
Thank you so much. I have to start every compliment with a compliment back from the place of contribution Justin you're doing an amazing job given great media, great content to people. It's a selfless act. And we all appreciate these videos and the knowledge and the people you interview. So thank you, the spirit of contribution. You're up there with a lot of people.
Justin Stoddart 1:02
Well, thank you. That's very kind of you, Joe, I appreciate that coming from a guy who, again gives so much so let's delve into some of these topics. And let me kind of build some like him a frame of reference for those who maybe need a little more background on on Joe. So Joe is the owner of Soldera Property Group, which I understand just turned 11 on St. Patrick's Day Happy Birthday to Soldera properties.
Joe Fustolo 1:24
Yes. Soldera turned 11 years old on St. Patrick's Day. And I own it with my business partner, Patrick Kraus. And we're having so much fun is just a ball.
Justin Stoddart 1:37
You know, it's funny, because today actually is my son's 11th birthday today. So after this, I've got a birthday date. With my 11 year old so 11 years ago was a very special year apparently. And it was fun, actually, I got a chance to see Patrick and Joe in action at their big Easter event. And it was a blast. And that's maybe kind of a lead in a fight. Let me get to that here in a second. Let me finish my bio on Joe. So for those that don't know, Joe, been in the business for 28 years, just been a great producer, and a great, great contributor. In addition to his his success within his own business and his own brokerage. He's served on about every board you can imagine. And that is the founder of the well known Real Estate Group called Masters in Real Estate. So if you by chance are an agent, whether you're inside the Portland metro area, or in the state of Oregon, or even nationally, I would really encourage you to search Masters in Real Estate. I'll put it up here on the screen here a little bit later in the episode. But search this out, Joe does such an amazing job of just helping real estate agents get very, very good at the business of real estate of being great real estate agents. So huge thanks to Joe. I know so many people are so appreciative of the work and sacrifice that you make to make that happen. Joe, it's just great stuff.
Joe Fustolo 2:50
Thank you.
Justin Stoddart 2:52
So let's talk a little about this great community event that you held. You know, I've been invited as you can imagine to a number of events. I'll tell you what, my wife and I and our little kids were amazed, we rounded the corner at the Soldera Properties Easter egg hunt, like there were oceans of people and I thought yeah, goodness, and you guys were prepared like you're like totally handling it with with cool calm. I think I'd be like choking like oh my goodness, what are they going to stop the Stoddarts are coming, they had six kids just in love themselves. And you guys handled it handled it so well. And the cool part that ties back into our theme today is this topic of contribution. Talk to us a little bit, Joe about the cause that you guys were supporting and kind of what came of from that event to this cause that you care deeply about?
Joe Fustolo 3:39
Well, so what a fun day, that was the mother nature shown down on us. We had room for about 600 people, we had about 1200 RSVP. So as comfortable and collected as we looked, there was a little freak out earlier in the day, but we're pretty passionate about contribution and giving back and this year was Embrace Oregon, which helps foster kids and foster families. And I can't think of anything better than you know, foster kids and their families out there. We did an Easter egg hunt. We had face painting, we had a guy doing balloons, we had, you know, temporary tattoos. People were playing cornhole, the adults were wine tasting. And then this massive Easter egg hunt where out of the 5000 easter eggs, there were a good couple hundred golden eggs that had extra special treats in there and we had two different photo booths and the Easter Bunny, and it was an absolute ball. everybody was appreciative and and we just filled up with, you know, they say when you give, you get back tenfold. And it was really great to see people having a good time. And I sent it out to friends and family and past clients and it was just a great day talking with people that I haven't seen in a long time. And I don't know the actual numbers, but we raised a heck of a lot of money for Embrace Oregon, and let me tell you a little bit about them. So it's for foster kids and foster parents. And they usually are pretty heavy on financial contributions. And then clothes, boots, school supplies, you name it. It's normally around Thanksgiving, Christmas, right? When everyone feels like giving. They're pretty heavy on donation. But come January through October, they're a little lean. And so we specifically wanted to make sure that they have all their needs met, if you get called. And you have to pick up foster kids overnight and bring him back. It's nice to have, you know, toiletries and clothes. And so that's what we did. It was a it was a huge success. So we plan on doing it again next year, I don't know if we're, if it's the same place or same charity, but we plan on doing for a quarter, or for a year, every quarter quarter.
Justin Stoddart 6:25
You know, it's interesting, Joe actually met a new agent yesterday. And she came out of the foster care program. And she said from a young age, she found herself grabbing like the free home magazines, in grocery stores. And she said for her it was a way to like fill that void that she didn't quite have the home that she wanted. And so later in life now here, she is a real estate agent, she said it brings me great joy to know they'll be able to help people have what I always wanted as a kid, and I thought was pretty touching. And so I think there's definitely this tie to those of us that have been blessed by the real estate industry to give back those who maybe don't have the ideal home setting.
Joe Fustolo 7:03
Absolutely, you know, it's interesting, it's like, the more you work in, the more money you you make, it allows you to do more things for other people and put on events and and donate. And you know, if you look at the balance of life, you know, your, what you have, socially, your family and inside your four walls, you know, spiritually, physically, charitably, all these other things. The stuff you do for others is one of those things that just sort of feeds you and keeps you going. So it's a you know, I'm not selflessly given to other people I'm getting a lot in return my cup is full, let me tell you.
Justin Stoddart 7:43
I think you know, that's how I feel is as selfless as some of this contribution may look, there's so much value that comes when you just give and I think that's, ...
