I wrote this guide for me, because I could not find a single guide like this when i look for in internet. So if you are running a remote team like me and need to come to Dallas more often, and combine it with a mini vacation. this guide is for you
Day 1 Up Town Dallas
11:00 AM to 2:30PM Team training/ Team social event at The Common Club @ the Virgin Hotel.
I didn’t know this place until my team lead in Dallas let me know. It was such a cool place with an up beat / luxury feel and will sure get your team member excited. They do have a private room with round table setup. Good enough for about 20-30 people. All together we have a great time. If you leave Houston around 6 PM you should get here around 9:30 – 10 which will give you plenty of time to prepare.
It is a bit pricy to see if all the team leaders can chip in, or partner up with a sponsor. In our case, we run a real estate team and have a great relationship with Billy at Loan Factory in Dallas so he help us out a bit.
Drink are great. I tried my usual old fashion. Food are however not that good. The menu is very limited with just salad, raw meat burger, pasta with no meat and..nothing taste exceptional. so something to watch out for.
All in all, we have a great time. There is no projector or screen so just ted talk style, speaking panel is good. people might get distracted when the serve come in with the fancy drink so watch out on that.
Nice place to take picture. great for Social Media for sure.
Our friend Daniel has a great recording of everyone feed back here. of the event.
https://www.facebook.com/danieleng/videos/3224671444446900
our training and happy hour ended around 2:30 PM. Everyone break and continue with their day, writing offer, showing home etc.. You can go ahead and checked-in to your hotel
3:00 PM Hotel Zaza checking and accommodation
Depending on your budgets, Uptown Dallas are so vibrant. They have everything from Motel 8 Style all the way up to the Ritz Carlton. We decided to stay at the Zaza, a little bit on the high end since our past experience with the Zaza in Houston was really nice. We want to try out the location at up town Dallas
We booked the package for free breakfast, valet, and cocktail every day but ended up didn’t use the breakfast at all. Zaza is a small hotel and they don’t have breakfast buffet. It’s a-la-carte and it’s just..egg. Nothing fancy there.
The stay was over-all nice. Staff are super friendly. we got upgraded to one of the suite. The theme of the hotel is overall dark / erotic so I don’t know..you might/might not like it. But my wife and I have a great time ðŸ˜. They have Limousine that can Uber you back and forth for free to within 3 miles of the hotels. which is super nice. We very much enjoy it. Check yourself in. take a nap in their premium bed / tour the hotel and enjoy the break!
6:00 PM Malai Kitchen
Here come problem for Asian traveler: we can take only so many steak / burger. we eventually need to revert back to rice and noodle. Uptown Dallas are surrounded with fancy steak house, high end sushi bard and etc… but man, all i need is some Pho!
look hard enough and We found a restaurant call Malai Kitchen for Thai and Viet food combine. It was so good and the price is very reasonable. We have a good time here with my leader to bond, and game plan with each other for the 2nd half of the year.
Mailai Kitchen food | Uptown Dallas | Viet and Thai Food
After dinner this is a great area to walk around as well. We ended up walking around after dinner and find a nice place, order some cocktail and chill out for the night, keep brainstorming about real estate, team building, and agent attraction for our business. I forgot the name of the shop but there are plenty cool spot around the area.
Mastermind, game plan to grow the organization for the 2nd half of the year
After that, just checked in and enjoy the sense at the hotel. enjoy the drink at the bar near the pool and called it a day
Day 2 Up Town Dallas
7:30 AM The Katy Trail
Jenny is still sleeping to i head out to the Katy Trail. it is only 5 mins walk from the hotel. Very nice running and biking trail. I asked the hotel for a rental bike but they don’t have it. so next time may be book a hotel in this area and see if they have rental bike. the trail are very nice for a run in the morning.
9:00 AM La La land Kind Cafe 5626 Bell Ave
If your team are early bird, this is a perfect place to hang out as well food and drink are awesome, the place quirky fun and engage conversation and very pet friendly. The area are surrounded by good restaurant as well. We have great time over here dive deep into the topic of Agent Attraction, the eXp compensation plan with the team, and Celebrate Michael 1st Revshare check ever.
12:00 PM Ngon Vietnamese Kitchen
Everyone have to head out to take care of business except Trixie! we can tell she is not an early bird 😄 We walk to a restaurant called Ngon just down the street and boi oh boi. They have amazing Bún Bò Huế, Hu tiếu mì, phở, bún chả hà nôi. it is a high end place so expect the bill to reflect so. But i’m just glad I don’t have to eat another burger while away from home.
If you haven’t heard Trixie sing yet, check this out: This will blow your mind.
1:30 PM Free Time
your last afternoon in Dallas. It’s your time to explore the city. so do what you may like. We had no plan so just ended up walking around the block, near the hotel, landed in a very nice Starbuck reserve shop, check out the Museum of Natural Science (it look just like the one in Houston in case you wonder) and cool off with a nap at the hotel.
8:00 PM Phi Coffee 2430 E Pioneer Pkwy #213, Arlington, TX 76010
We visit Jenny friend at Richardson give her some bánh bá»™t lá»c and head off to see the team again at Phi Coffee 2430 E Pioneer Pkwy #213, Arlington, TX 76010. You have to drive to see how big Dallas is…
I have a chance to get there “early” and get to know My a little more. My is all the way down to my 5th level. I haven’t unlock my 5th level yet and actually the 5th level is the lowest paying level .9% from eXp compensation structure. But regardless, I would very much like to understand and get to know her personally. We ended up having an amazing conversation and My has a the skill and the ability to organize event, so i asked her to help Tu Anh with it.
This is a chance for me to remind myself that the number on my revshare dashboard are not a number. These numbers are human being with dream and affection. Get to know everyone and help everybody. If you get people get what they want, and eventually you get what you want.
Ok back to the food. They have variety of snail that you can select from, lots of finger food, BYOB. Green milk Tea is great. I would say the food is not that spectacular but the atmosphere is just amazing. Very Intimate, the live music with karaoke from the audience are just so good. I just somehow feel that Dallas have a younger vibe compare to Houston and everyone here are really good singer! The way Tu Anh market herself on the stage are just brilliant. No wonder why she close around 10+ homes a month.
This is the moment where i feel most connected with the city, the team, we break around mid night, head of to the hotel and head out back to houston early tomorrow morning. All in all it was a great team building trip combine with a nice mini vacation. Building an empire and having fun at the same time. I like that.
