I still remember my first day in real estate. I showed up to the office overdressed, with my hair styled in a way I thought made me look older, carrying the same anxiety as a kid walking into his first day of high school. I was trying so hard to be someone I wasn’t because I had convinced myself that was what success looked like.
At the time, I believed success in real estate came from age, experience, and the number of years you had spent building relationships in a community. As a young broker entering an industry whose average age is 57 years old, I couldn’t help but wonder how I was ever going to compete.
What I didn’t realize was that the very thing I thought was holding me back would eventually become my greatest advantage.
Today, at 24 years old, I’ve closed $15 million in real estate sales in 2026 alone, with more than half of that business coming directly from social media. But the most important thing I’ve learned along the way has very little to do with sales volume.
Success in this industry doesn’t have a single blueprint, and sometimes the best thing you can do is stop trying to follow someone else’s path.
When I first entered real estate, the market was unlike anything we had seen before. Interest rates were historically low, the pandemic changed where people wanted to live, and Bend was experiencing incredible growth. You could put a sign in someone’s front yard, and before you knew it, in came multiple offers, sometimes well above asking price.
I was incredibly fortunate to start my career during that time. I was surrounded by successful brokers, learning from people with decades of experience, and getting exposure to transactions at a pace that would have been difficult in a normal market.
But looking back, that market was both a blessing and a curse.
It created opportunity, but it also created a false sense of what it really took to sell real estate. When interest rates climbed, buyer demand slowed, and the market began to shift, the strategies that had worked for years weren’t necessarily producing the same results.
For the first time, I started questioning what made someone successful in this business. I had spent so much time looking at how other people built their businesses that I hadn’t really considered how I could build mine.
I grew up in a generation where technology, social media, and digital storytelling were second nature. Yet I was working in an industry where so much of the business was still being conducted the same way it had been
for decades.
I began to see an opportunity.
Real estate marketing didn’t have to be limited to professional photos, a listing description, and a sign in the yard. We had the ability to reach thousands, sometimes millions, of people through platforms we carried around in our pockets every day. What’s more, buyers and sellers almost exclusively begin their home searches via the internet and social media.
So I started creating content. A lot of it.
I began showcasing properties, talking about Bend, and putting myself out there in ways that were completely outside my comfort zone.
At first, I didn’t have the sales volume or years of experience competing with the biggest names in town. But I realized I could compete for something
else: attention.
And in today’s world, attention is incredibly valuable.
Over time, the market began to recognize me as a realtor, even if the introduction was only virtual. My videos were reaching buyers and sellers across the country, and I was building relationships with people long before they ever needed to buy or sell a home.
Eventually, that attention turned into opportunities.
A few transactions came directly from social media, giving me the chance to prove that this approach to marketing could produce real results for my clients. Those successes led to referrals, more listings, and opportunities to continue growing.
Today, more than half of my $15 million in closed sales this year can be traced back to social media. That’s something I’m incredibly proud of, not simply because of the volume, but because it represents taking a chance on something I believed in, even when I wasn’t sure it would work.
I also recognize that none of this happened on my own. I’ve been fortunate to learn from incredible people, work alongside talented partners, and have clients who trusted a young broker to represent them in some of the biggest financial decisions of their lives. That trust is something I will never take
for granted.
Looking back at that first day in the office, I wish I could tell that nervous kid to stop worrying so much about looking older, sounding more experienced, or fitting the mold of what he thought a successful real estate broker should be.
Because the moment I stopped trying to be someone else was the moment I really started finding success.
I’m only 24, and I know I have an incredible amount left to learn. Real estate will always be a business built on relationships and trust, but the way we connect with people is changing faster than ever.
I’m grateful for where this journey has taken me, but even more excited about where it’s going.
