We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cody Stepp. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cody below.
Hi Cody, thanks for joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
There are second generations’ in just about every profession from groceries, farming, home repair, global finance, and just about anything else I’d imagine. I, am second generation real estate technologist, realistically because of how new technology is (hitting its catalyst point in the 1980s), folks say something along the lines of, ‘that is a new one’. Which to me, is fun!
Some of my earliest memories are in my parents basement, my dads first office, sitting at a computer, listening to the hum of a server rack, and helping stamp labels on the CD’s I just watched the burner make. I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart, even before I knew what that word really meant, I was out there hustling – not because someone told me to, but because it was fun.
Between you and I, I would have never guessed I’d end up in real estate tech… But in 2019 I found myself taking up the torch, and starting my first corporate gig at a real estate CRM startup.
I loved solving problems. But at that startup, I kept finding myself boxed in. Traditional leadership didn’t always know what to do with someone like me – an employee who acted like an owner, because our success to me felt predicated on each team member acting as one for each and every task they took on.
I’d get frustrated, and they would too. I wasn’t trying to cause trouble. I just knew we could do better, and with the hubris of a young entrepreneur – I thought working for a startup meant we all built with the speed and veracity of a team hellbent on building something great for the agents we served.
At this point, I’ve now spent the greater part of the last decade working for real estate technology companies in just about every role from customer support, training, sales, marketing, and now innovation at my own company, Workflow Secrets.
The quiet part, I might not ever have shared, had they not fired me, I might have built Workflow Secrets under their flag… If only they had be willing to let me. Though if I were to look back at my time in those roles, the hard days, politics, and bad bosses fade away, and I’d realize just how valuable each was, because they gave me the training grounds to build the skills I would need to eventually create my own real estate software company.
This, however, all began, on a cold October weekday in 2021, when my 5am alarm went off – time to get to the gym for my 6am martial arts class. This day, I was meet with a surprise paycheck, locked out email, a note from my father when I inquired why I couldn’t log into my account, and the genesis of a risk I have embarked on, that I often try to detour the half-hearted away from.
I am many things, a problem solver, business builder, Systems Thinker, dyslexic left-hander, and a man with an anointed Calling placed over his life by my God and King. If you want to take a risk, you better know who you are, why you are doing it, and where you want to take what you are working towards. If I were to sum the mindset required, it’d best be shared as, “You want to take the island? Burn your boats,” shared with me only a month before by a mentor, Tony Robbins, which has been my mantra for the last half-decade of my life.
This phrase, alongside thousands of hours and pages of books in personal study from other mentors like Napoleon Hill, Robert Kiyosaki, Tim Ferriss, Alex Hormozi, Darren Hardy, Tim Grover, Paulo Coelho, and countless others paired with the upbringing as the son of a real estate technologist and a cereal entrepreneur during the DotCom bubble, and 2008 crash – cultivated mindset, a learned tolerance to risk, and a deep trust in your own abilities.
In 2022, ChatGPT launched publicly, and it was like the whole world shifted. I jumped in fast, seeing it on social media and creating an account within the first few days – then a few months of personal use and study later started running workshops for real estate agents, teaching them how to use AI in their business.
They were excited, inspired – but overwhelmed. I remember looking out at a sea of ‘glazed eyes’ and realizing I had made a mistake. I’d shown them how to dig, but I never gave them the shovel. More hubris to work on.
That’s when the idea for SAM (the Systems Accelerator Manager) was born.
I didn’t want to build another CRM – at that time, I didn’t think I wanted anything to do with CRM, I just knew agents needed a way to use AI – and not have to invest the months of training to be proficient, and I knew I had the ability to provide a software solution for this, agents could speak to in plain English – and it would get it.
Early on, one of the biggest struggles was internal. Like many first-time founders, I was constantly fighting imposter syndrome. I didn’t have a computer science degree. I wasn’t a classically trained engineer. I was duct-taping code together with ChatGPT, trying to make magic out of scrap parts, and oftentimes I would end my day no further than I started, and it was all on my own dime.
But then, it started to work. Agents could build resources to bring in leads, written in their writing style using a sample they provided, and work on the documents that defined their businesses infrastructure – something real estate school doesn’t really cover.
I knew the vision was sound, and the technology was the right answer, but behind the scenes, there were moments where I questioned everything – whether I had the right to be building a bootstrapped software company, whether I could carry it on my own.
Shoot! I think I kept Linkedin pulled up to apply for jobs daily, luckily, no one wanted to hire me – so I had to press on with building SAM.
I was running on empty, overloaded with toxic stress and the crushing moments that few entrepreneurs will share, but we all experience – spring of 2024, I landed in the hospital after an infection in my gut triggered a near shutdown that I let go unchecked for almost four months – almost taking me out of the game… any game actually, completely.
Physically, I was wiped. Mentally, I was questioning if I’d even be able to continue. Most people didn’t know. I still showed up, still taught classes, still pushed SAM forward, and still showed up to workouts, despite significant weight and strength loss.
It was, and has been, one of the hardest chapters of my life to date, but sometimes, the lowest moments hold the seed for the next chapter. I think the two things that helped me in those moments were the love of my life, a woman I feel is a true gift from God, and the faith in Him to see me through this trial, forging a testimony for his glory.
Then something shifted.
Summer 2024, my dad – Mark Stepp – suddenly became available. Mark’s a legend in real estate technology. He’s spent the last 35 years designing systems for some of the biggest names in the space, has coached tens-of-thousands of real estate agents to hundred+ transaction businesses, and has now (with SAM) built three successful real estate technology companies since the 1990s.
I told him, “I’ve built the bones. Now help me build your dream system.” And he did.
Together, we rebuilt SAM into what it was always meant to be: the first true AI-Native CRM for real estate. Not a digital filing cabinet like the current big-box Legacy CRM’s, holding onto all your details, but a proactive assistant that actually did something with the data.
A system that didn’t require you to be tech-savvy, or know how to use AI to get the advantages of it, or require you to stitch together ten different tools, or hire a team of consultants, just to follow up with a lead.
I wanted to build the replacement for CRM. Something that uses the relationship building you engage in, as a super power. SAM can send personalized messages, and will build in minutes entire automations – just by describing what they need to accomplish.
We soft-launched SAM 2.0 in the fall of 2024 with the contacts database – and fully launched the completed All-In-One AI-First Real Estate CRM January 1st, 2025 with the Properties, Listings, Transactions, and ‘Routines’ – a modern reimagining of workflow automation, built by your system – ready, run.
The next hurdle was the market. Real estate agents are some of the hardest-working people I’ve ever met, but they’re also among the most over-sold and under-served. They’ve been burned by shiny tools and silver-bullet promises, so earning their trust is no easy feat.
I’ve had to fight tooth and nail to even prove that my email was worth opening, my events were worth attending, and my virtuals were worth signing up for or watching on replay… Let alone the mental shift in the space that SAM wasn’t just another “CRM with AI” – the new marketing hot-word – it was something different. Something that actually worked for them, not against them.
But! Since January we’ve helped hundreds of agents and teams across North America get a clear look at their Systems using SAM to – cutting down on long days, helping them Manage their business processes and systems, and Accelerate their path to success by give them back time for the people and passions that matter most.
The truth is, SAM was born from the willingness to take Risk, and the desire to help agents solve for the things they struggle with each and every day.
We’re building something that challenges the entire foundation of how real estate technology works – and that takes time.
A first of its kind, and Category King in the Systems Accelerator space – the tools replacing Legacy CRM. That’s what we’re building. Not just software, but a new way to work.
At Workflow Secrets, we believe the right tools don’t just improve your business, they change your life for the better.
We believe that success shouldn’t come at the cost of your personal life or business. We believe the time agents spend building relationships, learning about their clients, and managing transactions shouldn’t get buried, but rather should work for them, powering the systems that run their business, allowing every interaction to feel personal, even at scale.
Workflow Secrets was born from a deep belief that real estate agents deserve better.
Better training.
Better systems.
Better tools.
Better time freedom.
Better lives.
A new way to live. A future where real estate agents don’t have to choose between their business and their life. A future where technology works for people – not the other way around.
SAM is the platform. Workflow Secrets is the company. This is our story of taking a risk, and betting on yourself.
But the mission? That’s personal. Because I’ve lived the grind. I’ve seen the burnout. I’ve felt the frustration of knowing things could be better, if only someone would build it.
So, I did. And now, the agents and teams we get to help each and every day are my friends, a Community of the best among us, working tirelessly using these tools to help themselves succeed in an industry that is difficult to get ahead in to help folks prepare for, find, and ultimately achieve what could be among their most significant life milestones.
I get the opportunity to help carry the load.
If you want to risk it all, and you have a dream too big for your station, position, or any companies willingness to help you reach, just remember, “You want to take the island? Burn your boats!”
Progress is slower than you could ever imagine, but the coolest part looking back? It all happens in a flash. The market takes notice, efforts compound till a fire is flamed. Growth happens overnight, and suddenly goals like, “Helping 1000 agents each month” which once felt bigger than you could have ever imagine, start to materialize.
All I am, all I have, and all I know is a product of those who have seeded into me the desire to learn, the willingness to take risks, and the Vision big enough to dream.
The rest is grace, action, prayers answered, wisdom won and a little help from my friends – among whose likes, I now count you.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m Cody Stepp, a second-generation real estate technologist, technology futurist, systems builder, one of the co-founders of the AI-native real estate software company, Workflow Secrets, and architect of SAM (the Systems Accelerator Manager), built to replace the outdated CRMs that slow agents down.
I grew up around real estate software long before it was normal to say those words in the same sentence. Some of my earliest memories are sitting at a computer in my parents’ basement office, hearing the hum of servers, and helping package software when the “product” was literally burned onto CDs. That environment gave me an early belief that technology, when done right, doesn’t just improve work, it changes what’s possible.
Professionally, I’ve spent the better part of the last decade inside real estate technology across customer support, training, sales, marketing, and product/innovation. That variety matters, because it gave me a rare view of the full loop: what agents buy, what they actually use, what they abandon, and why.
And the pattern was consistent: most agents don’t fail from lack of effort. They struggle because the business depends on memory and manual follow-up – two things that break the moment real life happens.
That’s why we built Workflow Secrets.
Workflow Secrets is a systems company built for real estate agents and teams who want more consistency, more closings, and more time back, without needing to become “tech people.” We provide training, frameworks, and software that help agents build a business that runs like a machine while still feeling personal to clients.
Our flagship platform is SAM: the Systems Accelerator Manager, the AI-native System that answers the questions ‘what comes after the CRM of the last 20+ years’ designed to be proactive, not passive.
Most Legacy CRMs function like digital filing cabinets. They store data, but the agent still has to be the system: remember follow-up, write messages, create tasks, trigger workflows, and keep everything moving.
As a Systems Accelerator, SAM flips that. It uses your contact, property, listing, and transaction data to fuel execution, so the system helps carry the load.
At a high level, SAM helps agents:
follow up consistently with leads and clients without sounding automated or spammy
run repeatable workflows using “Routines” that trigger based on important dates and objectives
communicate in their own voice with messaging personalized from their real context
always know who to call next with Dynamic Call Lists based on activity and priority
measure what matters (conversations, appointments, pipeline movement) rather than vanity metrics
What sets Workflow Secrets apart is that we’re not just duct-taping in AI to outdated systems with millions of lines of incompatible code, relying on marketing to do the heavy lifting. We’ve built a new category of real estate tech focused on outcomes: Conversions, Operations, Retention, and Experience.
We believe the future of real estate isn’t “more tools.” It’s fewer tools, and better systems. Systems that protect and reinforce human-to-human relationship building efforts, reduce mental load, and make use of AI to cover your back when it makes sense for more consistency, be it with 1 client or 1,000 at once.
What I’m most proud of is the impact we’re seeing in the real world: agents who have removed +20hrs of work each week, finally caught up for the first time, while juggling the role of caregiver to their spouse recovering from a neuro-surgery. Teams that are running three separate real estate business models through SAM: sales, design-build, and property management. And even brokerages that are growing, without having to hire a small army of VAs, and still able to shrink their tech-bill each month.
At Workflow Secrets, we believe the right systems don’t just improve your business, they change your life for the better. SAM is doing just that, free up time for the things that matter most: friends, family, hobbies, and growing your business.
If someone is hearing about us for the first time, the main thing I’d want them to know is simple: There are companies out there that are innovating the tech world for you. Workflow Secrets exists because real estate agents deserve better – better systems, better tools, and better time freedom. While big-box systems are worried about ROI, we are worried about the agents making it all happen.
We are smaller, for now, but we are scrappy, bootstrapped, and growing – and we’d love your help getting the message out!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Workflow Secrets didn’t begin as a software company, it began as a systems coaching company.
Mark, a 36 year vet of real estate technology, has spent years coaching tens-of-thousands of real estate agents while building two of the most-used systems in the space.
Distilling down all his best teaching philosophies, he created the C.O.R.E. Strategies Framework (Conversions, Operations, Retention, and Experience) covering the four areas real estate agents need to build good systems.
The framework is simple, but it’s brutal in the best way: it forces agents to stop guessing and start building a business that’s balanced and sustainable. We took that framework and started offering coaching and training virtually, helping agents identify what was missing in their business and what to build next. (That C.O.R.E. foundation has been part of Workflow Secrets from the beginning.)
At the same time, I was building custom dashboards for agents, because we kept seeing the same problem: most agents don’t lack motivation; they lack understanding. They’re working hard, but they can’t see what’s working, what’s breaking, or what needs attention next. Dashboards became a way to turn a messy reality into a clear scoreboard for their lead pipeline, commissions, important dates (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.), and the bottlenecks keeping them from growing.
In these early days, Workflow Secrets was about a single idea: Systems create freedom.
On the heels of taking all of Marks best frameworks, philosophies, and everything I had learned from him and compiling it all into a book, we never really found the traction we had expected to find in the incredibly crowded coaching space, and custom dashboards space.
This was part of the first pivot. With the public launch of ChatGPT, Mark and I saw the writing on the wall, and it felt like the ground moved.
Like a lot of people, I went all in fast. We started adapting these workshops for real estate agents interested in learning about AI, teaching them how to use it to write follow-ups, building content, creating resources, tightening sales scripts, and producing operational documents in minutes instead of hours.
Agents were excited. They were inspired. But then I started noticing something that became the turning point:
I often affectionately refer to it as, ‘the glazed eyes’ moment, not because the agents we were teaching weren’t smart, in fact they are among the smartest for seeing AI as a tool off the cuff, but because they were overwhelmed.
Real estate is emotionally and operationally demanding. Agents are juggling clients, inspections, lenders, repairs, timelines, and constant lead generation. And what I was teaching (even though it was powerful) still required something unrealistic: that agents become part-time technologists and prompt engineers on top of everything else.
That’s when the pivot happened.
I realized: we didn’t just need to teach agents how to use AI, we needed to offer them the tools that made AI usable without them having to take on months of study, or needing what felt like advanced degrees in computer engineering.
In other words: I had shown them how to dig, but I hadn’t given them the shovel.
That insight reframed everything. Workflow Secrets had started with Mark offering coaching and I building dashboards, helping agents create their business infrastructure, and see it clearly.
I took a step back from the under-performing dashboards business, with a nearly $400 CAC on a $39/m product, to set my sights on the obvious next step: What if the system didn’t just show you what to do… but actually helped do it?
That’s when SAM (the Systems Accelerator Manager) was born, and with his permission, I (Cody) used Workflow Secrets to brand the product.
At first, it was just me building SAM, turning the HTML/CSS I knew how to read and write into JSON files using ChatGPT (Now considered ‘Vibe Coding’ because I am not a computer engineer), essentially duct-taping things together, trying to make something that could help the agents I cared about get the best out of AI.
As Workflow Secrets grew, I started to see the exact problems nearly all new agents face. Leads left un-managed, and potential customers slipped away as manual processes broke.
This is when the next pivot started to take root, as things shifted the Summer of 2024, when the real estate tech legend himself, Mark Stepp, suddenly became available. I told him, “I’ve built the bones. Now help me build your dream system.” And he did.
The pivot didn’t just change the products we offered, it changed the company evolving from coaching and dashboards into marketing tools, which formed the foundation of something bigger.
Looking back, the pivot wasn’t “we found AI and built a tool.” It was, “AI opens the door to completely reimagine what software can and should do for a real estate agent.”
We decided that Workflow Secrets wins by creating a product built from the ground-up using AI to create a tool that is too good not to want to use, too well built not to work, and at every turn, if AI can be used to make the task easier, it should be.
And that’s the lesson I’d share with any founder: If your audience is inspired but overwhelmed, it’s not a motivation problem – it’s a design problem. The pivot is usually simplifying something powerful into something usable on a busy Tuesday.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
People usually think resilience is about intensity thanks the ‘hustle culture’ – grinding harder, pushing longer, muscling through. For me, the clearest picture of resilience came when I physically couldn’t do that anymore.
By nature, I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart, even before I knew what that word really meant, I was always scheming up ways to create value – not because someone told me to, but because it was fun. In 5th grade, I had a Power Seller account on eBay, in middle school a candy racket, in college a freelance graphic design business, but adulthood made it real.
When Mark and I started Workflow Secrets, it wasn’t software at first, it was systems coaching built around Mark’s C.O.R.E. Strategies Framework: Conversions, Operations, Retention, and Experience (the four areas agents need good systems). At the same time, I was building custom dashboards for agents because we kept seeing the same issue: agents were buried by tasks, and falling behind because of it.
They needed clarity. They needed to see what was working, what was breaking, and what to do next.
Then ChatGPT launched publicly, and everything changed. We pivoted fast into workshops for agents, how to use AI to write follow-ups, build content, create lead resources, tighten scripts, and generate the docs real estate school never teaches you to build.
Agents were inspired… but overwhelmed.
I’ll never forget what I call the “glazed eyes moment.” It wasn’t because agents weren’t smart – if anything, the ones showing up were the sharp ones. But real estate is emotionally and operationally demanding. You’re managing timelines, lenders, inspections, repairs, client emotions, and lead generation all at once. And what I was teaching (even though it was powerful) still required something unrealistic: that agents become part-time technologists and prompt engineers on top of everything else.
That moment forced a hard truth: I had shown them how to dig… but I hadn’t given them the shovel.
So I started building the shovel.
That became SAM (the Systems Accelerator Manager) the AI-native platform designed to make AI usable for agents without requiring months of study or a stack of tools stitched together. At first, it was just me. Late nights. Bootstrapping. Duct-taping things together with the skills I had, and filling the gaps with AI. I’m not a classically trained engineer. I was converting what I knew (design, systems thinking, business operations) into product through sheer will and a lot of iteration.
And it started to work, but behind the scenes, I wasn’t working – I was letting myself break down, overloaded with toxic stress, fighting obvious health signs, and trying to outwill major red flags.
December 2023 I ended up in the hospital, and then in the spring of 2024, after not being able to eat anything for 10 days, culminating in the loss of more than 40lbs, I landed back in the hospital when an infection in my gut spiraled into something near fatal. The scary part is that I ignored it for months.
Day to day, I kept showing up anyway (taking meetings, teaching, and building SAM by night) sometimes doing it through real pain, telling myself I’d deal with it later.
Eventually, “later” came with as many pain killers as I needed, a week in the hospital, and non-stop IVs.
That season tested me in a way business never had. Physically, I was depleted. Shifting from the healthiest I have ever been, to literal days from a ‘unfavorable outcome’.
Mentally, I was wrestling with the question founders don’t like to say out loud: What if I can’t keep going? Not “what if the product fails,” but “what if I fail” – as a person, as a builder, as the engine behind the whole thing.
The complete destruction of ego, often comes with a sobering look in the mirror.
Here’s what resilience looked like in that moment:
It wasn’t heroic. It wasn’t dramatic.
It was choosing not to disappear.
I didn’t announce it. Most people never knew, and have only learned about it years later as I’ve decided to share about it more openly. But I kept showing up in the ways I could – small, consistent actions. I rebuilt my strength. I simplified priorities. I learned to ask, “What’s the next right step?” instead of trying to carry the entire future in one week.
And I learned something that changed how I build everything now:
If your business only works when you’re exhausted, your business is broken. (mine was)
That was the real gift of that low moment. It didn’t just force recovery, it forced clarity.
Then, in the summer of 2024, something shifted. Mark Stepp, my dad, mentor, and one of the most respected names in real estate technology, became available to build with me. Mark has spent three decades engineering two of the most-used systems, and coaching tens of thousands of agents.
When he joined, I told him, “I’ve built the bones. Now help me build your dream system.” it wasn’t just “help.” It was alignment on what we were working towards.
And he did.
Together, we rebuilt SAM into what it was always meant to be: a modern system that reduces mental load, protects relationships, and makes follow-up and operations actually sustainable.
And in a full-circle moment of the resilience required to do something big in this word, I had the honor of pitching SAM on stage at the Startup World Cup AI/ML semi-finals during St. Louis TechWeek.
What made that moment emotional wasn’t the stage, it was the contrast. A year earlier, I was still recovering, unsure, barely hanging on, pitching the earliest version of an idea.
This time, I stood there clear, confident, and strong, because the story wasn’t theoretical anymore. We had built something real. We had survived the hard parts you can’t shortcut.
To me, that’s resilience: staying in the game long enough for the work to compound.
Baseball legend Babe Ruth said, “You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.” It’s the decision to keep building when the market is skeptical, when the product isn’t finished, when you’re bootstrapped and have to eat and make rent, when your confidence wobbles, and even when your body forces you to slow down.
If there’s a lesson I’d share with anyone building something hard, it’s this, resilience isn’t just enduring pain. It’s redesigning your life and your business with crystal clear understanding of who you serve, why you are seeing to take the harder path, and what a reasonable expectation of yourself has to be.
Then, rather than needing pain as fuel, as so many do, you can hold space for a little grace, a lot of peace, and a tolerance for the hard things that are required when seeing to do great things.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://workflowsecrets.info
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/workflowsecrets
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorkflowSecrets
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/codystepp/
- Twitter: https://x.com/WorkflowSecret
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@workflowsecrets
- Other: Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/SystemsAccelerator/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4SyLw5Q0ucQYJlPtIuZFyl?si=2tLb4CAHQ5SXqWHWDLR4yAOur Story: https://workflowsecrets.info/ourstory
White Paper: https://workflowsecrets.info/wfswhitepaper
Learn More About SAM: https://workflowsecrets.info/samtrialEvents, Keynotes, Workshops, & Demo Day Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD1P_mL-gw951evLuv8Cx_9v_fJh_wOjg
(3Min) Demo Of SAM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC-lUXcVjk0
Try SAM For 14-Days On Me! https://sam.workflowsecrets.info/Contact Us: Cody@workflowsecrets.info, Mark@workflowsecrets.info, or Help@workflowsecrets.info
Image Credits
Photos credited to 2026 Winter Businesses Conference
by Missouri REALTORS, as well as Mark, Kathy & Cody Stepp