Orlando Spicer was, by most measures, a successful realtor. Working out of Brockville, Ontario, he was consistently in the top 10% of his market, growing his transaction count every single year, and landing in the high-20s to low-30s range annually. From the outside, it looked like everything was working.
But behind the numbers was a different story.
“But what people wouldn’t have seen behind the scenes is the amount of hours I was putting into it because I was trying to do everything myself,” he recalled. “I didn’t have any type of system or support to make it more efficient.”
A Mindset Shift at One Event
Everything began to change when Orlando attended a one-day Buffini & Company event in Toronto.
“I’d already been using Referral Maker Pro, but I wasn’t using it religiously by any means. So I thought, ‘I’ll learn some more tools and tricks and I’ll add that into my bag,’” he said.
The moment that hit hardest for him, he recalled, was watching another Buffini member’s Good Life Story.
“I saw the person on the screen talking about their family life and talking about their business thriving and how they had delegated different tasks. And it just looked like the life I wanted to lead,” he said. “I saw myself, or my future self, in that video and I wanted to do anything I could to make that happen.”
Within a month, he signed up for One2One coaching.
Getting Honest About Systems
Orlando’s first coach asked him a simple question: what were his systems and processes for buyer pathways, seller pathways, marketing, lead generation?
“My initial answer was, ‘I just do what I do,’” Orlando admitted. “And he’s like, ‘no, what’s your system? What’s your process?’ I kind of had to say, ‘I don’t have any.’”
His first year in coaching was dedicated to documenting everything, starting with the administrative tasks Orlando liked least. He brought on his sister Brenda as his first administrator. The transformation was immediate. Tasks he’d been doing slowly and reluctantly were now offloaded to someone who genuinely loved that kind of work. His calendar opened up. And with that freedom, Orlando leaned into what he did best: being with people.
“By shifting [admin tasks] into systems and being able to replace myself with other people doing those tasks, it really freed me up to do the things that I like doing and that were more income-generating,” he added.
He started hosting monthly client appreciation events, which have now become a cornerstone of his referral-based business.
Leveling Up to Leadership!
After nailing the fundamentals, Orlando’s One2One coach told him he was ready for Leadership Coaching. The jump came with a bigger price tag and some nerves — but also a clear sense that it was time.
His Leadership Coach, Peggy, helped him build buyer agent contracts, compensation plans, and an “agent avatar” defining exactly who he was looking for. She showed him how to run team meetings, craft a value proposition for incoming agents, and how to build capacity before bringing on new team members.
“Getting into Leadership Coaching was massive for me,” he added. “And being in a Leadership Group, learning from other high performers, really set me up for the exponential growth I had over the last two years.”
Orlando’s Good Life
Today, his team has two administrators and two buyer agents. Orlando coaches his daughter’s soccer and basketball, does the school drop-off every morning, takes daddy-daughter days to Ottawa, and has weekly date nights with his wife.
“To me, the good life is having the freedom to prioritize the things that need to be prioritized. When I’m present in my business, I’m there and I’m present in it. And when I’m at home with my family on a Sunday afternoon, I’m there. It’s really about being present where I am and being the best version of myself,” he said.
As far as his career goes, Orlando noted that the “biggest thing I’m excited about right now is my team feels like a bit of a startup. We’re all growing and learning together. We all have this mindset of excitement about what could be.
“Without the leadership group, and without Peggy guiding me on how to build this team, I just don’t think any of that would have been possible.”
