The girls did A LOT this year. And not in a “humble-brag” kind of way, more like “here’s what they learned the hard way so you don’t have to” kind of way.

Chelsea and Kayla are covering everything that went into building Modern Agent Social Club this year — launching the podcast, completely rebuilding their website (twice), hiring new team members, running ads, and hosting Camp Modern Agent.

But more importantly, they’re breaking down what all of this means for YOU.

Building a Business Around Your Life

This whole year was successful AND fun. We believe those two things should never be mutually exclusive.

Our whole motto is: build your business around your life, not the other way around. This means you’re not glued to your phone 24/7 or spending hours creating content or your whole weekend at open houses.

You’re a business owner — you’re always going to have ideas and want to improve your systems — but at the core, you should feel at home in your brand, so much so that you see yourself as the brand.

You have to pour into yourself to show up as your best. When you view yourself that way, the guilt about taking time for fun goes away because you know you have to pour into yourself in order to show up as your best.

The Podcast: Why Consistency Beats Everything

We started Modern Agent Marketing Girls podcast this year, and it’s become one of our favorite things to do every week. Everything about it is fun — especially when we get to hear from actual listeners tagging us on Instagram or sending DMs about what resonated.

When you start something like a podcast, you don’t know for sure how it’s going to go. You can’t expect results instantaneously because the magic happens in the consistency.

And this applies to everything! Nothing happens from doing something once. One email, one reel, or one post won’t accomplish much. It’s the constant showing up where the magic happens.

Yes, you can analyze why one episode performed better or why you had a bunch of new followers after a certain topic, but you still have to keep showing up.

One of the biggest reasons podcasting works so well is because it’s intimate. As you listen to our podcast, maybe you’re in the shower, driving to showings, or doing dishes.

Even more powerful, a podcast gets people off the apps and into a space where they’re not distracted by every ad, reel, or notification. They’re intentionally opening their podcast app, hitting play, and listening for as long as it takes to get to the next house.

People are saying offline is the new luxury. They’re bricking their phones. So how do you leverage that? You work with user behavior instead of fighting it. You don’t fight it and say “no, keep scrolling because you’re going to see my post.” You create content that meets them where they actually want to be.

Your Website Messaging Has to Sound Like Your Clients

We redid our front-facing website this year, and, funny enough, we already need to revise it again! Messaging is always evolving because we’re hearing the words agents are saying, and that’s what we want to reflect on our website.

The power of having conversations on Instagram is that you’re not just talking to potential future clients but gathering intel. When you talk about a home feature or interest rates, when you ask “would you consider me?” or post a poll — you’re hearing what people say and how they say it.

Then, you can include that language in your next email, caption, or even your website copy.

When someone comes across your content and you’re saying exactly what they say, they’re going to think “how did she know? How is she in my head?” That’s the power of using their language instead of industry jargon.

The Brand Refresh: Never Look Like Your Competitors

All while we were redoing the front-facing website and preparing the podcast, we also decided we needed a brand refresh, and we chose to do it ourselves this time.

Mostly because we were so busy doing these other things that we didn’t have time to do a whole brand deep dive. But also because we really just leaned into what colors and style felt natural to us.

What we did NOT do was look at what other real estate memberships are doing and try to replicate that.

In fact, our philosophy was that we wanted to look nothing like our competitors. We envisioned what we want to be, who we are, and what reflects that. We say “build your business around your life, not the other way around.” We talk about having fun, romanticizing your everyday. So what color and style represents that vision?

We’re not brand designers, but we know enough to have worked with multiple brand designers who do that for a living, and the result never felt like us. So it was time to go internal.

Hiring out something doesn’t always magically turn into the perfect version of what you’re looking for. If you don’t really know what you want first, outsourcing it isn’t going to give you the result you were hoping for.

Instead of creating content that looks and sounds like everyone else, prove that you’re an industry leader by doing it differently.

The New Backend Website: Our Biggest Project

This was our biggest, longest, most expensive project of the year. It took as long as being pregnant, so we basically birthed a website baby!

We decided to redo our website because we needed to align our members’ experience with our vision for them. We wanted a custom experience where people log in and feel like “this is mine.”

We love how now you can favorite content, add it to your calendar, drag and drop it, and map out what you want to share this week. Everyone can have their own version of how they’re using Modern Agent.

We also wanted it to be easy. After seven and a half years in business, we have data about what people struggled with, so we created the website to fill those gaps.

We positioned ourselves as the go-to hub — the ultimate resource for marketing. And that’s what we want YOU to be in your own community too. The go-to agent.

Anytime someone thinks about buying a house, interest rates, housing prices — they think of you. When their coworker says “my house is too small,” they can’t help but say “call Chelsea.”

This isn’t about making us look good. It’s about changing agents’ lives so they can help people in their community buy homes with confidence.

Kayla, for instance, has fed 2,000 people in her home over the years. 2,000 people left full and hopefully having had a good day.

That makes the community better and stronger.

You’re doing more than selling houses. You’re changing lives in your community through this ripple effect.

Hiring a New Team Member: When to Get Support

Kayla came on the podcast with Chelsea almost four years ago. She’s obviously really creative and good with marketing, which made her excellent at creating content. But we were in a place where Kayla could help so much with the growth and with member-facing stuff.

Randi, who has been a member for a really long time and loves Modern Agent, started creating content for us in the summer and was very quick to learn. She took over Kayla’s main role, which has allowed Kayla to do more fun stuff with Chelsea — working on growth projects, member experience, and all the strategic things we’ve been wanting to tackle.

If you feel like there’s not enough time in your day, consider where you can bring in support, and it doesn’t even mean you have to hire someone.

For instance, Kayla has raved about Instacart for the last several years because it has saved her so much time. Yes, it costs money, but she always feels like she saves money. She spends less when she orders on Instacart versus when she goes to the grocery store because she can look at her cart and see how much she’s spending and make decisions in real time.

It can be something as little as that — just having help with groceries. It can be hiring a house cleaner. Maybe it’s hiring some kind of virtual assistant or transaction coordinator.

Wherever you’re at in life and business, you can only do so much. At some point, something has to give or something has to be sacrificed to be able to maintain what you’re doing, to keep growing, to support the life you want to live at the same time.

Kayla remembers one of the first times her house cleaner ever came to their house. She kind of felt like “I work from home, I can clean my house.” But the very first time she came over, Kayla went to a closing and came home with $10,000. She remembered thinking “that was a better use of my time. I am better off going and showing houses than cleaning my house and sweeping the stairs and picking up toys.”

That was worth the investment.

Something is always going to cost you something. Think about who you can bring on board, what support you need, and what would give you back the most time to do the things that actually grow your business.

Freebies and Ads: What We Learned About Investing in Growth

We created new freebies this year and started running ads again. We also invested in an ads company to help.

But we did this because we already had proof of concept. You need proof that what you’re paying the ad to do actually works.

Is your messaging clear? Are you speaking to the right person? Are you honed in on an area?

If you have content that already gets people on your email list, you’ve proved that lead magnet moves the needle. If you already have content that gets you consults and people DMing you asking for buyer meetings — then you have proof of concept, and an ad might make sense.

But if you think, “I don’t want to do social media, I’m just going to pay for ads” — it won’t work. People see the ad, go to your account, and check you out. If that doesn’t align with what they’re looking for, it makes no sense.

The company we’re working with is professional, and we’re happy with their service, but we now want to be more involved and have the capacity to take it back on.

You have to be clear on what you have capacity for. Maybe there’s a season where you need extra help, and maybe there’s a season where you can take it back on.

Pick Your North Star for 2026

Out of everything we talked about, pick your North Star, just one thing to focus on.

Maybe it’s longer-form content. Getting people off Instagram. Getting clear on your messaging. Joining Camp Modern Agent for clarity on your personal brand. Or simply listening to one of our most downloaded episodes.

Review your year. What worked best? What could you improve?

You have the ability to make next year better!

Chelsea just read a newsletter comparing Home Alone 1 and 2. Home Alone 1 is cute. He’s home and does tricks, but in Home Alone 2, he stays at the Plaza, rides in a limo, has cheese pizza, goes to the toy store, and gets ice cream room service.

Why would you want Home Alone 1? Home Alone 2 is a luxury vacation!

Most sequels aren’t good. But how can we make 2026 the sequel to our brand and elevate it?

We did a lot in 2025. Now we can refine, take a step back, and go deeper instead of wider.

Make 2026 your Home Alone 2.

This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz.