Episode 315 – Bennett Clark, RE/MAX Creative Realty

  Today’s guest knows a thing or two about overcoming challenges as an aspiring figure in the real estate industry. Bennett Clark is a Realtor with RE/MAX Creative Realty and the Owner of Bennett Clark Properties, LLC. In this episode, he joins Bill Risser to share anecdotes of his career journey, their shared love of sports, his life in Kentucky, and how he got his start in real estate. Bennet shares the obstacles he faced as a young realtor and offers advice for those aspiring to enter the business. Tune in for expert tips and insights to help you get ahead! --- Bennett Clark, RE/MAX Creative Realty In this episode, I get to talk to somebody going back to my Inman days. I've had hundreds of guests on this show that I met through the Inman world. For this one, it was someone I ran into at an Inman in Vegas when they first were in Las Vegas. It's Bennett Clark. He is with RE/MAX Creative Realty in Lexington, Kentucky. He got some very interesting stories. I love sports. We're going to talk a little about sports. We're also going to talk about how he got into the business and one of his advantages with a little bit of extra knowledge. We'll share that when we get in there. Let's get this thing going. --- Bennett, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. You and I are Vegas buddies because every time we’ve ever met in person or seeing you in person we're in Las Vegas in multiple events. We ran into each other for the first time at an Inman conference. I saw you there in the last couple of years. COVID hits, and we lost touch with you. Sure enough, I'm back in Vegas. We're at the R4 RE/MAX Conference. I hear someone say, "Bill," and it's you. That was cool. I love being able to walk through those aisles with people left and right and be able to pick out people, especially from years past. It's because you've been in RE/MAX your whole career. I've been with RE/MAX and licensed for many years. You got a lot of connections and referral partners you've built at those conferences, right? Absolutely. The more you can go to those conferences and spread out your network, the better. You live in Lexington, Kentucky. I think you're a native Kentuckian. Yes. I grew up in Danville, Kentucky and I've lived in Lexington since 2006. I like asking people this question. I've had a guest or two from Kentucky before. Give me the pros about living in Lexington or growing up in Danville. What are the negatives, if there are any? Lexington in Central Kentucky is one of the most beautiful places around. A lot of times, I tell people who don't know much about Kentucky that it's like Scotland or Ireland of North America. Around here, we have four very distinct and full seasons. You get that changing every couple of months. It's always pretty, no matter what time of year it is. In general, it's a nice area with friendly people. We've got a lot of big businesses coming in. It's a great place for investors and homeowners. We have a lot of fun additional things that come along with being in Kentucky. A lot of that is around the University of Kentucky and the horse racing industry. There's a huge bourbon industry that dominates tourism here. I can vouch for that because I was in Louisville for another conference and had my first bourbon tasting. It was very cool. I'm a convert. I had a couple of different ways to drink it, whether it was neat, on the rocks or old-fashioned. It's pretty cool. There's no wrong way to enjoy bourbon. You just need to enjoy it. I’ve got to ask you the question. You're in Kentucky and there are two big schools in Kentucky. One of them is you mentioned the UK and there's also Louisville. Where do you fall? Not many people like Loserville. We've been trying to give it away to Indiana for years, but I guess they don't want them either. The state, in general, is heavily Kentucky fans. It’s probably 90%. The Louisville fans are either in Louisville or scattered here and there. Even in Louisville, it's probably 50/50. I know the Wildcats, but the Blue is everywhere. I know that. I got to see that myself firsthand. I have to ask you this because this will lead to the next question. For you, is it Djokovic, Federer or Nadal? You’ve got to tell me because I know you're into tennis. Which one? [bctt tweet="The power of before and after pictures is huge. People love that. Even from a marketing standpoint, that helps." username="billrisser"] It's Nadal all the way. Primarily that's because he reminds me of Andre Agassi. That was my idol growing up. It's the playing style, like long points, hustling to every ball and wearing people down. I've always either had Agassi equipment. I always use those head rackets, or later I started using any of the Babolat rackets that Nadal used. I did start liking Federer a little bit more over the years, but I've never liked Djokovic. Let's talk about you. You went to college. Where did you go to school? Centre College in Danville. You played tennis in college and did some coaching right after. It's a big sport for you. It ended up being my favorite sport there at the Centre. I played three, so it was a lot on my plate, but tennis ended up being the primary one of the three. Shortly after graduating, I ended up going back and coaching for another five years. What are the other two sports you played besides tennis? Football and basketball. I'm going to guess you're the only guy at the time you were in school that played those three sports. Yes. There are a couple of two-sport athletes and there's only one other guy that I knew that did three at some point. He was a football, basketball and baseball. You're talking about a full year when you're going in early before everybody else in August. You don't get finished until about a week before finals and maybe in May. Not a lot of days off, weekends off and a fair amount of travel. It was fun. It was great. I wouldn't change it. You're either playing, practicing or studying. It’s one of the three all the time. Before I wrap up on the history of Bennett Clark, give me your favorite distillery. There are so many that I get to see. I looked at a map and it's incredible. What's happening there? Do you have one you like the best? There are many to visit on the Bourbon Trail that I haven't been able to go to all of them. We take for granted being from here not visiting some of them. I became a bourbon steward, which is to help educate on the truths behind bourbon and what it is, the different variations of practicing whatever Bourbonism, if you can call it. If I were going to tell anybody coming here, I would make a stop at Maker's Mark and Woodford Reserve because you're going to get a little bit of sense of the true history. It takes you back in time. You see how it was done. If you go to Maker's Mark, it's like a little Sherwood Forest type of place and you get to dip your own bottle. It's very different. It's a pretty unexpected experience for most people. It's well-known. Maker's Mark and Woodford Reserve are two of the most commercialized and marketed. In my opinion, they may not be the best, as far as taste or profile, but there are so many popping up. Luckily, I've been a part of a new one that was resurrected by RD1 Spirits, the first registered distillery in Lexington. The first product they put out is Old William Tarr, one of the original owners. [caption id="attachment_4217" align="aligncenter" width="600"] RE/MAX Creative Realty: We have an obligation as fiduciary to do our clients right by what a fiduciary is. We have an ethical commitment to other agents to do the right thing.[/caption]   That has since been backed by Coach Mark Stoops, the Kentucky football coach. With his backing, the team doing well and the fanfare that goes with it, that has taken off. It's also a good bourbon. They're coming out with new variations as much as possible. There are so many good ones. Willett is one of my favorites. I like good rye. There are so many. It's hard to pick one. Buffalo Trace is awfully popular. I learned so much. It's hard to have enough twelve-year-old bourbon on hand because years ago, who knew it was going to blow up like it's blown up now? Some of those things are hard to find. When you find them, they're not cheap. People need to watch the Bourbon Heist on Netflix. Tell me, what is your first gig out of college? I always like to ask my guests that. I was sitting around my senior year, wondering what in the world I was going to do. At the time, it was on Yahoo, not Google. I put in sports and development. On the third page, I came across the Golf Course Architects of America website. There was one guy in Kentucky. I called him up and said, "How do you get going in this business?" He said, "You have interesting timing. I want you to come up and interview." For a little bit less than a year, I did an apprenticeship for that guy and was able to work on some interesting courses and at least see him work on...