926: From Living Off Savings to Millions in Annual Sales: Adedoyin & Amanda Adedapo

Aaron Amuchastegui: Rockstar Nation, this is Aaron Amuchastegui. I am so pumped for today’s interview, I can already tell from our pre-interviews and the conversation that I got to have with these two already that we are going to have so much fun today. This is our first couple that we’ve had on in an interview together since I’ve been a host. We reached out to them because they were part of realtors 30 under 30 but as a two-person duo. Today we get to talk to Adedoyin and Amanda Adedapo. Now that is a tongue twister. Adedoyin says I can call him AD today, so AD and Amanda, we have a lot of different stories to talk about. How are you guys?

Amanda: We’re great.

Adedoyin: We’re doing good. Thank you for having us.

Amanda: That was really awesome intro. [laughter]

Aaron: The fact that I pronounced your name right. I felt like no matter what happens now I already aced the interview.

Amanda: Yes.

[laughter]

Aaron: I got your name right under pressure. Where are you guys from? Where are you guys doing business?

Amanda: We’re actually licensed in Maryland, DC, and Virginia. It’s called the DMV; not literally like a car like DMV, where you go to get your license change. It’s called the DMV. Most people who practice in Maryland usually are licensed between those three places because it sits inside of the Beltway. Maryland, DC, Virginia. DMV.

Aaron: Yes, I’m learning that. I’m not too familiar with that. We’ve had a few people interviewed over the last probably five or six months that are big agents and big offices out there. One of the last guys I talked to out there said, during the crash, 2009, 2010, they didn’t really see a crash out there because government– Whether or not who’s in office, there’s going to be people out there.

There’s going to be real estate, there’s going to be a need. When the world is falling apart, real estate just stays steady out there. Now, you guys haven’t been in real estate all that long but what have you seen the same thing? During this pandemic, did it felt like real estate gets stronger and stronger? You felt like it slows down?

Amanda: Oh, okay. [laughter]

Adedoyin: We’ve seen actually, an increase in our area.

Amanda: Yes.

Adedoyin: Like you said, we have multiple factors, right? We have the federal government here, we have a lot of big companies migrating over here such as Amazon. We’ve seen actually an increase in demand, and also prices in the last couple of months, actually.

Amanda: Yes, honestly, the average offer, I think we on average, every weekend, about five to six offers on a look. I think this weekend, we broke three between both of us this weekend. Most offers are usually 10, maxing out at about $35,000 above list, around here.

Aaron: We are seeing a strong market, in most places right now. This time, it’s that lack of inventory is still there. We’re just now starting to see maybe some fallout with some employment numbers and things like that. At the time we’re recording this, they just extended some unemployment benefits, but a little bit less. I listed a house for sale, an investment of mine this week.

I originally was going to list it for $120,000 I was like, “You know, I think the markets strong.” I list it for $140,000. I got five offers the opening day for over asking, right? [laughter] I thought sell this thing for $120,000 and I’m going to sell it for $150,000. It’s just an average rental investment property. It definitely is a strange market, very unique. I’ve only seen a couple of markets like this since I’ve been doing real estate and we will see what happens. Pre-COVID, how many transactions did you guys do last year?

Adedoyin: Sure. Last year we did 18.5 million, 72 units.

Aaron: 18.5 million, 72 units. How much have you done so far this year?

Adedoyin: This year, we are on track against doing the same numbers. We’ve closed 38 transactions, and we are on pace to doing the same 72.

Amanda: Yes.

Aaron: All right. Before we get into how you guys got into real estate, where do you guys get most of your business now?

Amanda: Wow. Pre-COVID it was a lot of in-person events because we have a major focus on first responders, including teachers. We used to do a lot of setup for those types of events. Since post-COVID we had to– deals in-person events. What we had to do, started out with just text campaigns with loving on our database. Then also, we did a lot of online events and a lot of those online buyers consultations, online buyers classes, via social media ads, Facebook ads, Instagram ads.

Aaron: These are first-time buyers then?

Amanda: Oh, Yes, absolutely. A big part of our business honestly, is the first-time homebuyer because of our age. A lot of times when you’re working in real estate, you’re working with people who know you, love you, and like you right? We happen to be under 30, well, I happen to be still.

[laughter]

Aaron: qualified for the award.

Amanda: He just turned 30 days ago. [laughter] I saw a lot of our friends are getting into that space where they’re establishing families, getting married for the first time, those types of things. A lot of them are really raising their hands and saying, “Hey, I really want to embark upon this first-time homebuyer thing.” Then another big funnel of ours is we actually do a bit of business with Teachers Next Door and Good Neighbor Next Door. It’s like a whole Nextdoor program. We are the direct connect– When they found that we have this initiative, for first responders, they were just like, “Yes, let’s do it.” We control the majority of the territory for DMV.

Aaron: Tell me about that. Nextdoor is like a– I think that’s a website, where people can ask questions about neighborhoods? Is it a program that’s something totally different?

Adedoyin: Yes, so we work with so first responders. Teachers Next Door is pretty much like an organization that connects first responders in different areas.

Aaron: Is that everywhere in the US you think, or is it just DMV?

Amanda: It’s national. It’s a nonprofit. Essentially, what it does is, it provides incentives for first responders. There’s a Good Neighbor Next Door, there’s Teacher Next Door, there’s Nurse, I believe, Next Door. The people who always come through that funnel, they’re all medical, police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and a good amount of them are teachers, yes.

Aaron: Somebody as a new agent, in a new city, and they’re like, “Hey, I want to do this. I want to go start targeting first responders and helping them get in houses.” They want to try to work with some companies like Nextdoor. What advice would you give them? What steps would they try to take, to go try do that where they live?

Amanda: Well–

Adedoyin: You should talk about our

Amanda: Well, one way if you’re just getting started, one thing is to connect with your local school boards. Pick up the phone and the really cool thing about connecting with teachers is that a lot of times these teachers are actually moving from out of state. A lot of teachers are the wives of military, a lot of times they get the profession as a teacher because it’s a job that they can get in any state. That’s the same thing with nurses as well.

What they’ll do is when you get is when you– Around, I want to say around June. You can pick up the phone, you can call the school board and you could say, “Hey, do you guys have any new teachers that are moving to the area? Hey, can I come and do a Lunch and Learn?” This is, of course, in an in-person world but in a COVID world, you can pick up the phone and say, “Hey, can I do a quick Zoom call with your new teachers and let them know about the programs that are coming to this area to support them in their homeownership goals?”

Nine times out of 10 most school boards love the fact that you’re contributing because teachers love free stuff so they love the idea that you’re like, “Wow, you’re coming to contribute to our school like this? Absolutely.” They bring us in. When we were doing it in-person we would bring pizza and cookies and water. Cosco stuff, honestly. We’ll bring cookies, pizza, and water, we would sit down and we’d talk.

We would honestly bring like 13 leads. People who just they may not be ready to go right now but they raised their hand and said, “Yes, I’m in an apartment.” “Yes, I just got to the area and I definitely want to buy something in the next six months to a year.” You’re going to be their point of contact or, “Yes, I’m upgrading or downgrading.” Oh my gosh and we’ve gotten listings from it too. How you get to Nextdoor is by doing a certain amount of volume too. There’s a qualifier too.

Adedoyin: I have to

Amanda: You don’t have it off the top of your head? There’s a certain qualifier too. I think it’s like $5 million or $6 million. Once you’re in volume and a certain amount of sales, and then of course you interview and then you get into the program.

Aaron: One of the last few times that I actually interviewed Pat Hiban on here, he talked about targeting first responders and teachers and things like that too and that was a bit part of the way that he started his business. He said that it’s really like a snowball because once you get to have one teacher as a client, then he got to go to the rest of the teachers and say, “Hey, did you know that I sold a house for so and so?” Somebody says, “Oh, I’m a police officer.” He goes, “Oh, do you know this person over at that one? I sold his house.” Or a fire department.

It starts the snowball into this big business to go like, “I specialize in first responders. I did this person’s. I did this person’s.” You only have to have one or two of those to become your story that you specialize in first responders and then you get to take care of everything.

Amanda: We partnered with Disney and Marvel Entertainment. This is again pre-COVID but this is last summer. We partnered with them because the final Avengers movie was coming out. Those are the superheroes in the Marvel Universe. What they did, Disney sponsored it, Marvel sponsored it, it was actually in our 30 under 30 film too. We had 413 or 417 first responders EMTs, firefighters, police officers, we brought the county out, we also gave I think it was like $1000. We gave a big old check to a deserving nurse but it was our first responders meeting night. It was our summer event because we do something for first responders every summer.

We brought all those schools that we have been working with throughout the school year, we did this one big free event for them and filled packed. I mean it was over so we had a line around the theater, it was such a big deal.

Aaron: That’s super cool. That’s something that when the world starts to open up, I saw in the news today AMC Theaters is trying to figure out how they are going to do their new rollout. How they are going to start opening again nationwide. I didn’t see the details but they are now looking at saying, “Hey, we do want to open up theaters again.” You guys would hold a movie night and you’d reach out to a bunch of people and say, “Hey, it’s free because you’re a first responder, just come on out.”

Amanda: That’s literally it and let’s be friends.” [laughs]

Aaron: How did you reach out? Did Disney and Marvel find you? Did you guys find them?

Amanda: No. Amanda is resourceful. [laughs]

Aaron: How did you do that? That’s crazy.

Amanda: The funny this is Marvel’s phone number is actually on Google. Lie to you not, what I did, because when you start with something like that, that’s a huge undertaking because not only that, I also was able to preview Frozen 2, their trailer, in our movie. It had not circulated yet and we were able to preview it because when you do massive movie nights like that and it has like an amazing initiative, they’ll give you stuff. Disney is so supportive in that regard and they own Marvel, of course. I called the 1800 number and the secretary at Marvel Studios in New York picked up. I was like, “Oh. Hi.”

Aaron: Somebody answered the phone. You looked up Marvel on Google, somebody answered the phone and you were like [crosstalk]-

Amanda: No lie.

Aaron: I was ready to leave a message.

Amanda: Exactly. I was expecting to get nowhere, honestly. [laughs] I told her what we were trying to do and she told me that that’s actually in their sponsorship department and also licensing because you’re licensing the right to use Marvel, Avengers, and get access to their trailers or social media and advertising and all that stuff. She told me the email and the phone number. I called the phone number, of course, no one picked up.

I sent a really compelling email saying, “Hey, my name is Amanda from the DAPO Group, I own a real estate team. I’m actually wanting to host this really awesome movie night for the real heroes and we’re going to call it, The Real Heroes Avengers Movie Night. That what we called it. It’s on Eventbrite you can still search it to this day. Of course, the guy got back to me and he was just like, “Give me 48 hours. Let me run it past my superiors but I think this is awesome. I think this is a great idea.”

Long story short, he had to tell me what theater I wanted to host it in. We wanted to host it in our community, in Prince George’s County because Prince George’s County is going through a transition. We have a $500 million project and there’s a massive AMC theater that’s going to still be a part of that $500 million project. It was a big opportunity to get people from all over the community to see this huge excavation like the frame of this huge excavation at their parking.

Once I partnered with that theater and they were like, “What movie were you looking for? What trailer package do you want?” That whole nine yards. It honestly just became very simple. It was just about coordination at that point but it was the movement. That’s what they got behind because it is a superhero movie and we were supportive of real superheroes, and it worked out.

Aaron: I’ll tell you what, for listeners, I hope one of the things that you guys get out of that and one of the biggest things you guys can get out of that is we have these broad ideas. That’s a grand idea like, “Hey wouldn’t it be cool if Marvel helped us do this?” Most people go. “I know it would be cool but let’s just do our regular movie night. Most people would not look up the number or wouldn’t call or wouldn’t pursue it and so what I hope all you listeners think about right now is as you know right now there’s a lot of big ideas happening. There is COVID and quarantine it’s really changed everything. It’s made a lot of the world go a lot faster than it was supposed to.

Some changes like the amount of people that know how to use Zoom now is just through the roof. Some technology stuff has grown in a year would usually take 10 years and other stuff has fallen back. You come up with these ideas, there’s going to be some innovative ideas right now from people saying, “Hey, instead of doing this in person, we’re going to do it on Zoom. Instead of doing it this way we’re going to do it that way.”

Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and try to just call somebody like cold calling Marvel and closing that deal. All you agents out there we’re telling you to cold call buyers and sellers all the time. You’re cold calling people all the time so it’s that same skill set that you have but I think there’s a lot that people can learn from that. What a fun story.

Aaron: AD, let’s change gears a little bit and tell us about did you get to real estate and I want to hear about your first deal that you did.

Adedoyin: I got into real estate in February 2016. I didn’t close my first until actually August. It was a $22,000 property in Baltimore city. That’s not the commission, that was the sales price of the home.

Aaron: The sales price 22,000. That’s awesome.

Adedoyin: The day of the walkthrough actually I didn’t realize who Pat Hiban was but I was doing my walkthrough and I noticed that there were couple of gentlemen inside the house and because I was so brand-new, I’m asking the gentlemen are they supposed to be here. They told me, yes, of course. I asked them I said, “Hey, do you know Pat?” I didn’t know who Pat was. This is my first transaction. They realized Pat was dinner.

I said, “Hey, do you know Pat?” They say, yes, stay right here, let me go get Pat for you. I said okay I’ll be here. Wait for about 15-20 minutes and realized they weren’t coming back. Realized that they were squatters. I went inside the house myself. They tell us in real estate school get there before your client. I notice as we were doing a walkthrough that all the pipes the copper was done.

The client brought this up to my attention and I say, yes, it looks a little bit worse than when we saw it 30 days ago, but I think it’s still in great shape. He said, okay, and we went to closing. This is really where it gets interesting. At closing, he actually brings it up to the attorney that the house was a lot more damaged when we first saw it. The attorney looked at me and said, talk to your agent. It took me aback. I said, “Oh, my gosh I’m the agent.”

Aaron: Your like he looks at you and you look over the wall, like, wait.

Adedoyin: I did it. I said give me one second. I went outside I called just a couple of people; mentors, coaches. Nobody picked up. My coach called me back. He told me he said it’s 4:30 pm on a Friday. It’s the last day of the month. There’s a foreclosures. You need to tell your client that the bank is not doing anything. That’s how it is. Do you want me to say it like that? He said, yes.

Amanda: Just like that. Are you sure?

Adedoyin: I said okay. I’m very nervous. I go back in. that it’s 4:30 pm on a Friday. It’s as is. The banks are not making any repairs and this is what it is. Then he said okay and then we closed on my first transaction. Now officially became a real estate agent several months later.

Aaron: What year is that?

Adedoyin: 2016.

Aaron: It was an REO. You show up and there’s two guys hanging out at the house and they’re like, “Yes. We’re supposed to be here.” Squatters. That’s a big thing that doesn’t happen as often anymore but it happens; it happens on our house at different times. I had one recently that we went to change the lock to a vacant house.

I saw through the window there was like a giant fire inside. They had built a campfire inside the house to keep it warm. I was lucky I showed up when I did. We had a house get burned down. A new construction house get burned down from squatters that were inside just trying to keep warm at night and accidentally set the house on fire.

There’s two squatters in the house. You’re new in real estate. Sure like maybe these are the sellers. Maybe these guys work for Pat, maybe something. They’re like, yes, cool, no problem. Then you realize it. You get to go to the signing table and that really is a lesson about REOs; especially $22,000 REOs and back end.

We buy a lot of REOs and there are times when we go back to check it again like the day before closing just to make sure that it isn’t totally trashed or burnt down or gutted because sometimes that happens. You do get an Escrow on REO, you come back a week later and somebody now went and took the cabinets or something like that.

It is good to check it; then there’s other things at the last day you’re like, no, you can say no and put it back on the market and the bank can start over or we can get this house. A lot of lessons there but what I thought was really funny and really neat with that was just the fact that Pat Hiban was the listing agent your very first deal. Had you listened to Real Estate Rockstars before you– Had you listened to Pat on a podcast before you had done your first deal?

Adedoyin: No, I had no idea who Pat was. I didn’t realize he was a mega agent in I was just trying to make my first deal. I just happened to know he was the listing agent. He wasn’t even working. It was somebody from his team. I just knew it was the Pat Hiban group.

Aaron: Who was and how did you get that first client?

Adedoyin: It actually came from my little sister’s friend’s brother. I know that’s a tongue twister there. He wanted to get in real estate. He wanted to get his first investment and I told him that I was the man for the job. He was going to buy it cash, and we went around Baltimore City and he finally picked a house and 30 days later. It was so hilarious because I was working another job at that time. Actually, I had to take of from work from my full-time job to write that contract. I still got it wrong. It took me eight hours and I still got it wrong.

Aaron: Those contracts are hard when you first get started but doing it as a side job, very cool it got there, but also you got your first client it was in a kind of a friends and family type thing. I guess from really letting him know that you’re a real estate agent now. We tell people all the time. That’s the biggest thing that people saying about social media and everything else.

Make sure everybody that you’ve ever met knows you’re a real estate agent and I used to assume that everybody I know is a real estate agent. Everybody already has a real estate. What we get to find out is some people do and some people don’t. Some people see also sorts of them. They’re trying to see who’s hungry.

They might know 10 real estate agents but the one’s that’s posting every day about being a real estate agent is going to be the one that they call to be their real estate agent. I love it that was the first one. Remind me what year was that?

Adedoyin: That was 2016 August.

Aaron: When did you start listening to Real estate Rockstars’ podcast?

Adedoyin: Just to walk you through. 16 I did three units really excited. 17 was like 18 units. 17 was a big year. I proposed to my wife now, Amanda. We bought our first house. I was thinking about leaving my job. I started my MBA program along the same time in 2016. Then in the end of the two-year journey, I was going to make a decision. Come 2017, I had a pretty good year. Like 5 million in 18, 20 units. Then I started listening to the podcast when I was going to leave the job at the beginning of 18.

Aaron: Real estate was a side job at the time?

Adedoyin: Exactly.

Aaron: You had your normal job and you had real estate and you started listening to the podcast.

Adedoyin: Yes, I wanted to get myself every motivation and encouragement I could since I was about to leave the job and just get my mentality right. That’s important. That’s half the battle. As in you believe you can and you can.

Aaron: People can make money in real estate as a side job. They will make more money in real estate as a full-time job. It does say especially if you have to take off your normal job just to go write a contract or show houses. Amanda, so 2017 you marry AD. What job were you doing at the time?

Amanda: Say it again.

Adedoyin: We got married at 2018.

Amanda: Because we’ve been together for ever, like eight years. We’re college sweethearts sort of in a weird way. Not really college but around college.

Aaron: College needs.

Amanda: I was working at a physical therapy office as a physical trainer. I really love the idea of this therapist because they did the medical stuff but they also did the exercise too and the nutrition bit I did it all. I was working out a patient who had just gotten a new hip and knee replacement. I had to put her into a 90-degree angle and Put her on the leg press and I had to give her exercising. A lot of the other trainers and therapies didn’t want to work with her just because she just had a really negative way about her, I guess. She was just really unhappy in her size and her body and things like that. She was upwards of like 300.

I can understand a number of things that happened. I just want to be your friend. I was like, you know what, I’ll work her up, no big deal. Put her on the leg press meanwhile outside of that, AD is like Real Estate Rockstar right now. Like he’s showing me checks. He’s like, “Yes, Amanda, I did another deal. 8,000.” I’m like, “Oh, okay.”

Amanda: Exactly. I had to put her to a 90-degree angle but the back of a leg press is actually facing a wall. I’m small and I’m about 50 during COVID. I was out of COVID like 140. I

Aaron: Pre-COVID life

Amanda: Yes. I do because I’ve been eating so many carbs.

Aaron: How many carbs did they eat, everything.

Amanda: Thank you. I slid myself in-between the wall and the back of this leg press. Like Spiderman. My feet are against the back of her leg press, and my back is against the wall to get her into this 90-degree angle because she doesn’t have the strength to do it herself. I push into the back of my feet using the balls of my feet because you know when you use your hips, I’m going into so much calisthenics right now, I’m pushing into the back of the leg press, and when I push, I go inside the drywall. [laughs]

Amanda: Yes.

Aaron: You’re at your job. Your husband’s killing the real estate. You are loving physical therapy but then you have a moment where all of a sudden you push yourself and you fall through the drywall at work. What did your bosses say?

Amanda: Usually my hair– I have a curly afro or straightened with extensions or something like that. At that time, it was a really big curl. Imagine– I didn’t know. To my understanding, I did not know that drywall was powdery. I was all covered in powder and my hair just like Pillsbury Doughboy levels. I looked like I got into a fight with flour.

I’m covered in powder and I come out, limped out the thing. The customer was just like, “Are you okay?” Trying to turn her head around but she can’t because she that much mobility. My other co-worker was like– You hear a whole body through the drywall. Oh my god. My co-worker was like, “Yo. Is she all right?” I’m like, “I’m fine,” but immediately– I’m sorry I immediately just started crying like, “I’m okay.”

My boss lets me go home immediately. He was like, “God. Let’s just go home. Get some rest.” Instead of going home to– because I wasn’t living with AD. I went to my mom. I was living with my mom. Instead of going to Mom’s house and my mom to remind me that I wasn’t using my great degree and she’s like, “I’m surprised you’re not using your Digital Media degree. You got a degree in Advertising. Why are you not using You should be in a marketing firm.”

No. Instead of hearing that, I went up to my boyfriend because I wanted to be comforted. I was on the phone with him telling him what happened. It’s like he’s, “Come on over.” I was like, “Can I stay here for the day?” He’s like, “Yes. Whatever.” I took a shower and put a shirt on. I was just like, “I’m just going to get some rest. All is quiet and things like that. He’s just like all super Batman levels. Black Batman, of course. [laughs] He was just big, big, “You’re not going back to work. You’re going to do real estate.” He’s like, “You have an advertising degree.” I’m like, “Oh God. He sounds like my mom.”

Aaron: Digital Marketing degree. in drywall dust.

Amanda: Exactly.

Aaron: You’re like, “Let me call my mom really quick.”

Amanda: Exactly. He’s like, “You’re so good in advertising, so good with people.” He’s like, “Yes. ‘You know what? I’m going to write the letter for you right now.” I’m crying as I’m typing my resignation letter.

Adedoyin: I had to help her type it up. I had to show her the numbers. I said, “Hey, this is what we would make per transaction. This is what you make at your job.” I understood where she was coming from. We were getting married in two months. This was in ’18. This all happened February or March. We were getting married in May.

Aaron: You weren’t together yet. A couple of months before you were getting married, you have these moments. You help her type up her resignation letter where she’s going to say, “I’m not going to do physical therapy anymore. I’m going to use my Digital Marketing degree.”

Amanda: [laughs]

Amanda: Exactly.

Aaron: How quick was it? Did you jump right into going to get? Did you start studying test?

Amanda: No. Oh my god. Okay, yes. Absolutely. That’s a yes. Immediately, I started studying for my test. Help me with the timeline.

Adedoyin: She got her license in April, like a month before we got married.

Amanda: Yes. It took me what?

Adedoyin: It took her maybe a month to

Amanda: That’s because that was all I was doing. I was

Aaron: That’s real estate though. Really, whoever is out there listening, if you don’t have a license yet, you can get a license just about anywhere in a month or two.

Amanda: Yes, you can.

Aaron: You can go ahead and do it. A month later, you’ve got your license.

Amanda: Yes, exactly. I did fail my test once. It took me two times to pass the test. That was all I was doing. I was jamming, literally studying everything that had to do with real estate. This was a brand new industry. Then from there, we had the wedding. We are two different cultures. He’s Nigerian. Nigerian weddings are huge and expensive. We wanted something small. They wanted something big. We met in the middle at 200 people. Yes, that’s small in Nigerian weddings. We were so broke, so broke. After the honeymoon and everything, we ran up the credit cards, the whole nine yards.

Adedoyin: I’m a planner. What I didn’t realize then weddings actually cost money because I was the first in family who was to get married. For everybody out there, don’t laugh at me. I was budgeting $10 per head for food. I don’t know where I got that from.

Amanda: It was about $110. We went to Las Vegas. We came back from our honeymoon in June. I was in my cousin’s wedding by July.

Amanda: We had to go to Texas right after that.

Adedoyin: Yes, right after that. The agreement that we made was that when we came down to a month or two months I will have a conversation with Amanda.

Amanda: You didn’t do that.

Adedoyin: You know about me. You’re not going to a job. We were down to one to two month’s savings. I remember this. I think it was mid-August.

Amanda: Yes, it was.

Adedoyin: I finally sat Amanda down in the house. We were three months married, got a new wife. I told her mama I was going to take care of her. I’m sorry, my first wedding. [laughs]

Amanda: It’s like you got me from a store. “This is my new wife.”

[laughter]

Adedoyin: When I told that we are down to a month’s saving. I think that–

Amanda: We had furniture and everything in our house but we were sitting on the floor. We just had to hit a really low level

Adedoyin: It was a really serious conversation. I felt horrible because I was two weeks so I wasn’t really upfront with her. I was a train wreck. I had this MBA. Two weeks applying on the job still hadn’t gotten any response. I finally sat her down and I said, “Hey, we have x money in the account. This is how much we can go. I think we may have to go to our jobs again. Meanwhile, I just left my job eight months ago.

Amanda: And told me to leave mine.

Adedoyin: I told her to leave hers confidently, maybe overconfidently. We told all these people we’re leaving our jobs, going full-time real state and here we are broke. This was August. We also I think maybe 30-minute, 40-minute conversation.

Amanda: Then I was like, “All right. I’ve heard every story from Keller Williams. I’ve listened to all the black ass including yours, Mr. Pat, if you’re out there listening.” [laughs] I have heard all the stories of people losing everything. I’m talking about Hurricane Katrina levels and coming back and being on Gary Keller stage level. I’ve been trainings for people who’ve had stories. I’m like, “What’s the difference between them and us besides good old-fashioned work ethic and faith? Let’s pick up our big boy and big girl pants and let’s go to work.” Period. That was the conversation. It was we decided that we were going to do this. We decided.

Adedoyin: We’re going to it on a higher level.

Amanda: We’re going to do it on a higher level. We are not going to be average because I don’t do anything average. Let’s do this. We picked up the phone that following day and we hit those calls like a telemarketer. Guess who rescued us out of our– Literally rescued us. My mom.

[laughter]

Aaron: She was your first client or she was like, “Hey, I’ll loan you money until you sell a house?”

Amanda: My mom was my first client. She did not give me money. No one gave us money. I finally mustered the guts and said, “Yes, mom. No, mom. Mom, no. I’m not doing digital media but I’m doing real estate.” “Real estate?” [laughs]

Amanda: After we got through the conversation with real state. “Aren’t real estate agents like car salesmen?” “No mom. I’m with this awesome company named Keller Williams.” “Who’s Keller?” We’re having that conversation but then I explained to her everything that’s going on. Then she paused for a second. She was like, “Well, Amanda, I’ve been in this condo for six years. It is a nice condo, two-floor condo.” She’s on the top floor. She had a loft, and a fireplace, and a beautiful deck. It was really nice in a really nice community too. She was just like, “I’m just tired of sharing walls.” She was like, “Can you take me to see houses?” I was like, “I don’t see why not. I don’t see why not.”

She was like, “‘You know what? Maybe I should talk to a bank. Should I talk to a bank to get a mortgage and stuff?” I was just like, “‘You know what? Let me find out if you should talk to a bank.” “Absolutely.”

Adedoyin: I called my mentor too.

Amanda: [laughter] Exactly. It was like she got pre-approved. Then also the agreement she made with me. Before she hung up the phone, I remember that, before she hung up she was like, “Amanda, whatever you put yourself into, you go hard at it. You love hard, you work hard. You do everything on an excellent level,” to the point that I put a little bit too much pressure on myself. He can attest to that so much. He’s like, “Amanda, take it off. You’re not Wonderwoman. Take it off.”

She was like, “It’s okay to bump your head with me. Learn with me so when you get to your next customer, you’d be super awesome. Don’t feel like you have to be perfect for me. Learn with me.” That was really awesome. I bumped my head so much with my mom. I learned negotiations. I got my mom– This is the only time and this is not normal. In Prince George’s County, you cannot buy a house $5,000, $10,000 from a list.

I went hard for her. I was able to negotiate the price down for her in the DMV. That was my first deal, and here we are.

Aaron: What a gift she gave you by even giving you permission to be honest and open and say, “Hey, it’s your first deal. You don’t have to be perfect.” I try to encourage people when they’re new, to tell people, “Hey, I’m new. Hey, this is my first deal. I will give you a whole bunch of my effort, but I’m not going to do it perfect yet, but I promise, I’m going to work harder than anyone else because this is my first deal,” and being able to communicate that. There were so many parts of that story.

My wife and I didn’t pay off our wedding until three or four years after we got married. We had that debt forever because we had some similar things that pushed us into a large wedding. At the time, I was an employee. I wasn’t an entrepreneur yet, so we had that fixed income. We could pay a certain amount towards those credit cards every month, but we weren’t really going anywhere with that. It took us a few years to do that. I love that part of your story, and I really love the part where– every great success story, every great anyone that you see on stage anywhere gets to say, “I hit rock bottom doing this,” or “This is how bad it got, and I brought it back.”

You guys getting to sit in that moment and go, “Now we have more debt, we’ve tried all these different things. Let’s come up with new goals and do it. We’re going to jump up, and we’re going to hit the phones tomorrow.” If you’re a listener out there that through COVID hasn’t jumped up yet, this can also be that moment, where you realize, hey other people are getting up and doing it. I’ve talked to a lot of people lately that have been depressed for five months.

They still haven’t been able to snap themselves out of it. It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with them. It just means different people are affected profoundly different through quarantine and everything else. If you’re listening and that’s you, and it’s time to say, “Hey, I’m going to commit to this new goal.” The other really cool thing that Amanda and AD talked about there and something that I’ve experienced is, sometimes you write down a goal. Your goal can be crazy. I want to make $5,000 this month. I’ll make $10,000 this month. I want to make $100,000 this month. Whatever it is. Then getting into massive action right after.

They said, “Hey, we’re going to do this.” Their massive action was, they got on the phone and called everybody in the world. One of the funny things I like to say the way that God does it is, you put forth the effort. In that goal, you say, “Hey, I want to get my first deal.” You call everybody out there. That first deal doesn’t come from that phone call, but as a result of that effort, it gets delivered. That happened to me recently. I had a new goal of a certain amount of money I wanted to make. I was like, “You know what, I’m going to do it the old-fashioned way. I’m going to actually reach out to some of those people myself instead of having my team do it and say, “Hey, I want to buy your house.”

I spent three days really digging into that, working around the clock, trying to get myself back into that. I had a couple of big deals fall in my lap that were totally unrelated. It was that reminder of having a goal, stepping up, and putting forth massive action. It might come from that action. It might be somebody answers that phone and gives you the listing. Or it might be just the result of the world saying, “Hey, you’ve put in massive action so now I’m going to send something your way.”

Amanda: Can I add a gem to that?

Aaron: Yes.

Amanda: Also, for listeners out there, just copying you, don’t block off opportunities. A lot of people don’t call the person that may say, yes. A lot of people may have in their mind, “Oh, it’s her mom, duh, she’s going to help her.” No. My mom was the last person, the absolute last person that I would think that would use me as a real estate agent to buy her a house, a newbie. She’s a caring, giving, wonderful mom, but she also believes in work ethic. She raised us that way, hardcore, you will earn it, type of thing. It blew my mind. Don’t block off. Don’t skip. When you’re going and you’re dialing and you’re like, “Oh, I had a bad interaction with that person.” That person may have had a bad day. Call them again and bring some joy to their day. Have a conversation about something that’s totally is different, that has nothing to do with real estate, and then drive the conversation back to real estate towards the end.

Don’t knock off any opportunity, don’t block any opportunity because there is someone there that’s going to say, yes, and they may come from the most rare person that you wouldn’t expect it from, honestly.

Aaron: Don’t assume that there’s a no. Don’t block off the opportunity for it. Before we got onto this call, we talked a little bit about traveling. Pre-COVID, quarantine, I used to travel the world. You guys used to travel the world. Where’s the first place you’re going to try to go when you’re allowed to go again? Do you have some stuff in mind? Right now, my family, we’re living in an RV in a week to go do the cross country trip and we’ll find places we can go, and places that are closed, and places that are open. Where are you guys going to go first?

AD: We’re going to go to Bora Bora. When we met at 22 years old, this was one of the places we’ve always wanted to go to. We saw the price tag and obviously– [crosstalk]

Amanda: We found a specific place.

Aaron: That’s where we went on our honeymoon. Our Costco honeymoon was Bora Bora. It put us into debt, but–

Amanda: He said Costco honeymoon.

[laughter]

Aaron: We didn’t know how to travel back then. Sorry, keep going.

AD: That’s where we’re going to go next. We were going to actually do it this year for our 30th.

Amanda: It’s our anniversary trip.

AD: Exactly. That’s going to be the first place we’re going to go.

Amanda: It’s the Four Seasons. Overwater bungalows in Bora Bora. That is the one for us. We wanted to get sweet, and we wanted to face the mountains, and we can get patient, we’re not being adventurous type. We’re the relaxation, extreme relaxation. I want to melt into the sand, and my DNA becomes part of the ocean.

Aaron: You guys will love Bora Bora. We stayed in overwater bungalows. It was our first time we’d ever left the country gone anywhere, and you’ve got the fish underneath you. There was no internet either. If you want relaxation– maybe they’ve come a long way since then, but back then, there was no internet. If you wanted to be connected, you just couldn’t. There was nothing more relaxing in the world than actually going to a place where there was literally no way to stay connected.

Amanda: I’d love that.

AD: That’s awesome.

Aaron: Maybe I did it to myself, and it’s impossible. There’s only seven COVID cases in Tahiti, so that’s pretty darn good. I saw that was one of the places that was going to be opening sooner than later. I just got back from Cancun. I told you guys ahead of time that was a little bit different but start checking it out. I hope the next time I chat with you guys, you’re like, “We booked our trip. We’re on our way to Bora Bora, and we’re going to go live while we can.” What are some of the lessons you guys have learned through quarantine and COVID and all the craziness?

AD: For me, I would say is just being consistent in everything, whether it’s in professional or in your business life. Going back to the interview, how we talked about taking massive action, you just don’t take massive action for one day. It’s being able to do it consistently every day because eventually, that’s what’s going to give you the results, not just the one time.

For me, again, it’s working out steadily, doing my lead generation, doing my lead follow-up. Still understanding that we have to get through. We know when the end is coming, but for a lot of people is just the process. Because they don’t know when it’s going to be over. It’s sometimes difficult, but if you just keep pushing through every day, and you keep going consistently, the actions to get the results, then eventually you’ll get the results you’re looking for.

Aaron: Such a good point that people get so overwhelmed by not knowing. They’re so overwhelmed by the unknown. You’re saying, “Hey, you can get overwhelmed by the unknown, too, but just focus on your habits. Stay consistent with your habits. Don’t focus on what we don’t know. How about you, Amanda? What have you learned during all this?

Amanda: It’s okay to pivot, and relationships matter. A lot of times, a lot of people are like, “Are you concerned about doing the same amount of volume or doing more or hitting all these big goals?” There’s so many ways to hit those exact same goals. The pivot part in relationship matters is twofold for me because when we were doing those hardcore text campaigns, we were staying present with the vendors and the people that loved us the most last year, and we got a massive lead from it.

We have a new project in Baltimore that is stressful and the bane of my existence, but still great. It is a 200-unit lease. It’s a 7-year project and 3000 units in total. We are their agents. We did that listing presentation, we had to do it in person with masks and gloves and everything like that, but we are the listing agents or leasing agents for that project. Imagine 200 units running under you.

That came just by hitting the phones, just by staying connected to my title company. She picked up the phone, and she was like, “Amanda, do you do rentals?” Me and AD are like, “No, not really.” She’s so sweet and so– [crosstalk]

Aaron: You’re like, yes.

Amanda: I said it like, “Sometimes. It depends on the client.” She says, “I have this client, commercial, who has these new apartments, 200 units. They just opened in March at the heat of COVID. They were supposed to kill it. Home run it. This will be so easy for them, but the building just opened, brand new building. He said it’s desolate. It’s empty in there, and they need some help. We came through the doors. We had a conversation, and just doing the basics, because a lot of times, property managers don’t have the sales mindset, the outreach mindset. Just by doing the basics, we were able to just start getting the momentum, start booking appointments, start getting people through the door. Now we’re like his lucky charm or something like that.

Aaron: Now you’re the team.

Amanda: Now we’re the team.

Aaron: Not because of the pivot. One of the things that I’ve learned through it is diversification. Whether that’s being a leasing agent and a buyer’s agent and a seller’s agent. Some of my businesses through COVID have crashed. Ones that I would have expected not to. There’s other’s that I would have expected to crash that have thrived, and more than made up for the others. One of the biggest things that I’ve learned through this is kind of that diversification. In order to really succeed and be successful, we’ll say, “Focus on one thing and make it your niche, and crush it,” but having some backup plans, we’ve learned now that everybody needs a backup plan.

Who would have thought that really successful restaurant would be going out of business, or that really successful nightclub would be going out of business? There’s all sorts of things that there was no way to guess like, “Oh, if I were to guess they were going to shut down the world per se, then I would have saw it,” but nobody saw this coming. Having some of that on there. You’ve got my last question. You guys are husband and wife, you’re team partners, you’re business partners. Who does what? How do you guys balance it? Is it easy to work with your spouse? Is it difficult to work with your spouse? Who’s smarter?

AD: Amanda is definitely smarter.

Amanda: No way.

[laughter]

Amanda: You’re definitely smarter.

AD: I’m more the numbers person. I do all the tracking for our business, so daily tracking, and weekly tracking to our coach. Then Amanda really hires everything that makes us look good, like the marketing, the branding. That was the really big benefit when she came on board. That’s when we really, I would say, we took off. Working at this is a team sport. Amanda really does her part well. It took us a couple of months, we were in each other’s kitchen. Because I think I built the business at like $5 million. I thought I was doing okay. Amanda’s like, “No. We go to change that. We got to change this. We got to change that.” I felt some type of way, but I had to allow her to come in, help her grow into that role. Actually, it’s what has helped us almost quadruple our business since that point.

Amanda: Aw.

[laughter]

Aaron: I tell you what, from spouses working together, I think that is a big part of it and being able to separate work life and family life, and going, “Hey, who’s part is this? Who’s department is this?” Just like running a business, too. In business, we have to figure out when we hire, who’s going to do what role and it shifts a little bit. It’s a lot more personal when it’s your spouse. Amanda, anything that you would add for the advice that you would give to somebody if they’re working with their spouse or going to work with their spouse, something they should think about, or something that would help them?

Amanda: Yes. Take an opportunity to understand your unique gifts. Also, don’t try to change each other. The only person that can change someone is that person. You can only change you. You can’t change anyone. Sitting there and saying, “If I can coach them and do this and do that,” but do they have the affinity? Do they have the motivation? Do they have the behavioral type to be able to do that? Before I decided to get my license, I first came in to say AD’s admin. I don’t have admin behaviors at all. I’m a hunter, period. I would say, maybe. [laughs] I like to close. I like the behavior of sales.

We needed to figure that out. Him trying to make me sit at a desk, it wouldn’t work. He had the openness to, “What are you good at? What do you like doing?” “I like talking to people. I like making friends.” He’s like, “You need to get your license, then, babe. Because that’s how you get to talk to people. That’s how you get to know people. That’s how you get to market and sales.”

AD: You could even sit in a small part of our business. Before Amanda came in, I was reaching out to the first responders. How can I get into schools? How can we get in contact with the fire chief, the police chief? Then Amanda came to this grand idea with the movie. That really took us through the map, because now when we’re talking to people we’re like, “Oh, yes. We’re you’re local first responder agency and community.” We gave dictionaries. We gave money to parents.

Amanda: We gave the dictionary project. That, too.

AD: It’s like she amplifies what I’m already doing on a regular level. She makes it even better. Again, it took us time to be able to figure that out. It took us months. Again, it goes back to the process. I’m a big delayed gratification guy.

Amanda: I learned to be that way.

AD: I understand that I cannot be a mega-agent tomorrow. I understand it’s going to take a process. That’s when you really learn. It’s not about the destination, because whatever number you’re thinking about that you think you’re going to feel great once you get there, you’re just going to move it again. It could be $5 million, and once you get there you’re like, “I want to do 10.” Then once you do 10, you want to do 20. Once you do 20–

Amanda: You want to do 30.

AD: Right. You want to do 40. It just keeps going up. Learn to enjoy the process and learn to be present. That’s why it’s called the present, right? [chuckles]

Aaron: Yes.

Amanda: Ooh.

Aaron: I can see Amanda’s ready to change our world, go ahead.

Amanda: [chuckles] Love your partner. If it is actually your spouse, take time to cheer them on. I noticed that a lot in marital relationship things. They see everything as an expectation and not a gift. When he does the numbers for me, or when he reminds me of my appointments, because I’m horrible with calendar management, I take the time to say, “Thank you.” It is not an expectation for him to do that. He’s doing that because he understands that Amanda sucks at this, but also he’s doing it for the business. It is my duty to remind this man every single time he helps me, that he is great, that he is a great husband, that he is a great business partner. Partners, even if it’s not your spouse, take the time to vocalize to the people that make your business grow that they are awesome. Use your words to do it. Take the time out, even if it’s an e-mail or text. Take the time to say thank you, because nothing is an expectation. Everything is a gift.

Aaron: That is amazing advice. I don’t know how we could keep going and be able to top that. You’re absolutely right. As spouses, it can be a competition, it can be other things, but remembering to just say, thank you and care. One of the things I really that you said, too was, figure out your own gifts. Usually, people get married because they have complementary gifts. Because one has an outgoing personality and one has less, or one likes this personality, or we balance each other out. Being able to take that inside a business and saying, “This is your strength. We’re going to have you do this. Then we’re going to root each other on. Instead of competing, we’re going to root each other on and know where we are.”

That was such a fun interview, guys. There’s nothing I like more than getting to interview people that were previous listeners of the podcast. You were listening to the podcast when you were just getting into real estate. You were a few years in, but it wasn’t your full-time job yet. When we get to call you guys and reach out and say, “Hey, we’d love to have you on the podcast.” There’s nothing that more exciting when they say, “Oh my gosh. I’ve been a listener of this podcast.” Thank you for coming on. Thank you for reassuring us that we’re doing the right thing on here, as we continue to try to add value to agents; new and veterans, and everywhere else out there. If somebody wants to reach out to you guys, what’s the best way they can reach out to you?

AD: I’ve very Instagram heavy. An Instagram handle is ADDaRealtor. Another way is our website, and for Amanda– [crosstalk]

Amanda: I think really Instagram heavy. Daily poster, story poster, [laughs] AmandaOurRealtor.

Aaron: AmandaOurRelator and AD. Thanks, guys for coming on. That was such a fun interview. I should have you on here to do the news with me one of the days. It should be some exciting stuff. Thanks, guys for coming on.

AD: Thank you, Aaron.

Amanda: Thanks.