We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lyndon Jones. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lyndon below.
Lyndon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s talk about innovation. What’s the most innovative thing you’ve done in your career?
One of the most innovative things I’ve done is one I’m most proud of. My business partner and I innovated an adjustable rent-to-own program for our long-term tenants. A new tenant with AMG RLTY Solutions can select a fixed rent rate at market value, enter a standard 12 month lease, or opt into our Investments To Prosperity program which is a solution to homeownership. The Investments to Prosperity program is designed to convert a tenant into a homeowner within 12-24 months. We do this by setting the rent rate above market value however rent can decrease quarterly if the tenant completes certain tasks and passes quarterly inspections during their tenancy. Tasks include attending an AMG RLTY first-time homebuyer seminar, improving credit score by 50-100 points, and getting pre-approved by one of our preferred lenders. We also gift tenants a $100 gift card to Home Depot for Christmas to reinvest back into the property from our improved enhancements list. All of these tasks contribute towards reducing the tenant’s rent rate closer to market value, none of these tasks are an expense to the tenant, it is intended to position the tenant to become the homeowner, to develop good habits to maintain pride in homeownership, and utilize positive reinforcement to incentivize our tenants to maintain the integrity of our asset. We have successfully sold 5 houses through the Investments To Prosperity program. Thinking outside the box, serving and not selling, and creating a win-win solution is my most rewarding innovation.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hey world I’m Lyndon! I’m a real estate entrepreneur and digital creator. I believe one of my purposes in life is to serve people and that is what drives my passion. Coming from a real estate family, I began my career in college sub-leasing apartments from people during the summer. It wasn’t until much later that I realized I was Airbnb before Airbnb! In 2010, I quit my corporate job to pursue real estate at a time when real estate was in a historic crisis during the Great Recession. Where people saw losses, I noticed an opportunity. Homes were historically cheap and the mortgage industry was pretty much unregulated so I began wholesaling rental portfolios playing the middleman between an investor who was selling their rental properties and wholesaling those rental properties to a buying investor (A-B-B-C transactions). I obtained my Realtors and Managing Brokers licenses and founded, Homes From Jones. This was a one-stop shop real estate solution center designed to service every real estate need. My business represented buyer and seller clients and had a home renovation division and a property management division. I scaled my business to a $3 million annual sales volume by building a team of 5 real estate agents, 3 contracted handymen, and 1 virtual assistant. I ultimately sold this business in a multiple six-figure exit. I went on to get licensed as a mortgage loan originator in 6 states, then got into corporate real estate for a hedge fund as the Regional Director of Acquisitions, to a Senior Regional Acquisitions Manager working for an iBuyer, and founded a rental arbitrage company, Nomad Corporate Living, for traveling professionals.
Like every millennial, I have always been active on social media and began posting, sharing, and documenting my life in aesthetic pictures. I decided to monetize my social media and transition from content consumer to content creator. I founded my fitness brand, Ab Lab. I built a respectable following as a fitness influencer, I acquired the skills of a digital marketer and began selling in-person gym partner sessions, online workout plans, nutrition guides, and hosting fitness challenges. My following grew exponentially when I tore my Achilles tendon and documented my injury from the very beginning to surgery, to physical therapy. I realized then that audiences connect to your storyline and personality before they connect to the workout videos and digital products. With my newfound following, successful online business, and niche content creating ab workout, cardio, and HIIT training videos I landed on reality TV. I was casted for Season 1 of For The Love of Fitness.
Today, I invest my time running and scaling Nomad Corporate Living, producing user-generated content, athlete sponsorship, and brand deals as a fitness influencer through Ab Lab, cohosting the hottest NEW podcast, Untying Knots, which focuses on divorce, relationships, and self-discovery, and serving as a brand strategist for local businesses helping to improve their social influence and expand the enterprise.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I started building my social media audience on Instagram in January 2021. I had just survived my divorce and part of my healing towards self-discovery was self-expression. I began posting aesthetic pictures to express my creativity and then I started getting feedback from my following to show more of my fitness journey. I started an entirely separate account specifically for my fitness content. As I was posting my workout videos I realized that I wasn’t receiving much traction towards growing my following and my audience engagement was low. I then discovered my niche: ab workouts, cardio, and HIIT training. I stopped posting any fitness content unrelated to my newfound niche. I also started focusing on improving my video quality, transitions, editing skills, SEO hashtags, compelling captions, and on-screen hooks.
When I hit 300 followers, I began monetizing my fitness page by offering in-person workouts as a gym partner, selling online workout plans and nutrition guides, and hosting several fitness challenges. Shortly after I tore my Achilles tendon which forced me into a season of stillness to re-strategize and re-brand but I documented my entire journey from surgery to rehabilitation. It was this specific injury that exploded my audience. I realized that people connected more to my journey than they did my workouts. I recorded the entire journey from the day I sustained the injury, to the day of surgery, getting my stitches removed and going to the gym against doctor’s orders, working out in a boot, and my weekly PT sessions.
People connect to your storyline and your personality before they connect with your brand. If you want to increase your social influence then you can’t be afraid to document your trials and setbacks, be authentic to express your true personality and all its quirks, and don’t discredit the boring and mundane parts of your life/day as “nobody wants to see this” because we watch GRWM videos all the time for a reason! The newer generation of clients and consumers invest in people, not businesses so the more you present yourself as a personal brand, and become a creator founder, the more you will influence people toward your products and services.
Can you talk to us about your experience with selling businesses?
In 2013, I was practicing real estate, became a licensed managing broker, and founded my first firm, Homes From Jones. My business model was simple, be a one-stop shop solution center for every real estate service need. I was able to successfully scale my business by onboarding 5 Realtors who serviced all buyer and seller leads. I then identified a new problem, which was sellers who wanted to sell for top dollar but the interior condition of the home needed cosmetic renovations. My solution was developing an extension to my business by providing home improvements so I contracted 3 craftsman/handyman to do minor renovation projects. The goal was to provide budget-conscious pricing and deliver a quick turnaround. The lesson I learned is that I compromised quality for cheap and fast. Nonetheless, I found a way to get my home improvements division profitable while simultaneously managing and directing a team of 5 Realtors. But my next problem presented itself, what about the listings we are trying to sell, and did improvements on, but aren’t selling? My solution was to start another division for property management. If a Homes From Jones listing did not sell then we pitched the owner on leasing the home and cash flowing. I added a virtual assistant to my operation to manage the day-to-day tasks.
It took me 2 years to fully build out and scale this business operation. At the time of sale, I had 5 agents, 3 contracted handymen, a virtual assistant, and a pipeline of pending contracts, producing $3 million annually in real estate sales volume. In 2015, I was approached by an investor in my network to sell my business as he was looking to expand his enterprise. This was a difficult decision because Homes From Jones was my baby, it was a passion, and I had invested so much energy, time, resources, tears, and blood into this venture.
I had never sold a business before and with the guidance of my mentor, he introduced me to a business acquisition attorney. I learned that selling a business is nothing like selling a house. It was an extensive and exhaustive process of due diligence that was more like a federal investigation. You must have all legal business operating documents updated and organized, all payroll, tax filings, P&L balance sheets, open contracts, any litigation/legal matters, etc professionally organized and on hand. Many business owners just operate without organizing their back-of-house operations and it complicates, delays, or even inhibits businesses from selling. Always hire a reputable and trusted attorney to facilitate the merger/acquisition. And know when it is time to step away from the business you built. Although selling my business was emotionally difficult, it was financially rewarding. I was a young 20 something year old rising mogul who just completed a multiple six-figure exit paid out over a 5-year term. That is when I knew I was a conqueror.
Contact Info:
- Website: MrLyndonJ.com
- Instagram: @MrLyndonJ | @Ab._Lab | @UntyingKnotsPod
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndon-jones/
- Youtube: @MrLyndonJ
- Other: @MrLyndonJ (Threads) @MrLyndonJ (Tiktok)
Image Credits
Chris Jones Visuals