I found a Gary Vaynerchuk video that completely transformed my business. His concept was simple- titans of every industry have a wealth of knowledge, and everyone has a skill to offer in exchange for it. By filling a need as an intern or apprentice under an industry expert, you can scale your business without reinventing the wheel on your own. I picked 5 agents I thought I would work well with and made an offer to work on anything they needed help with, in exchange for the opportunity to learn from them. Within days I secured a partnership with Samantha Curry and was brought on to Douglas Elliman Palm Beach to work for her.

I learned from her and built my own business simultaneously. I handled Samantha’s social media accounts, covered showings, helped with admin work and prepped property photoshoots. In exchange, Samantha allowed me to shadow her in all aspects of the business. She was consistently listing properties in The Bristol, The Plaza (formerly Trump Plaza of West Palm Beach), The Cove, and sold many single-family estates on Palm Beach Island. As I quietly tagged along for showings and appointments, I learned the ins and outs of the high-end market.

Samantha had an elevated way of listing and selling property down to the smallest detail. She taught me to bring white linens and faux flowers to every listing photoshoot to enhance the property’s aesthetic. She taught me to stage the existing furniture in a way that made the spaces look expansive and enhanced water views. I spent hours before listing photoshoots running around property alongside her assistant at the time, Lacey Ross, making sure every piece of clutter was carefully stowed away, every bed perfectly made, and every outdated piece of linen swapped out for the crisp white replacements we brought along. In addition to Samantha’s advice, Lacey taught me every line of the sales contract, how to negotiate competitive deals, how to find the most elusive pieces of data, and the best ways to present property information to clients. Within a few months of this exchange, I’d learned more than I had in an entire year on my own.

Around the same time, my marketing skills landed me a second mentor, Ann P. Cusa of Douglas Elliman Jupiter. Ann had closed more than $1 Billion in sales and was one of the top agents within our neighboring market to the north. While Samantha and Lacey taught me everything I know about the Palm Beach Market, Ann Cusa added the missing pieces I needed to understand the complete landscape of our area. I hosted open houses on beautiful listings, designed marketing material and covered showings, all while continuing to grow my personal network of clients in my own social circles.

During this learning phase, I worked tirelessly on building my own clientele through referrals and social media. I was putting all of the lessons I learned from the other agents into practice and soon I was working with a handful of my own clients. One client purchased a new construction property for just over $1,000,000 (my first ‘big sale’). Then another leased a property from me for the winter season before returning to purchase a $3,000,000 condo from me. Both clients were wonderful to work with and referred me to several of their friends, growing my book of business organically. At the same time, my friends began coming to me to sell their personal property, then referred me to their coworkers and family. My business was growing through referrals from other agents, clients and friends. 

I’d always loved social media, and I’d known for a while that it was becoming more and more crucial to exposure our industry. Over time, my Instagram built connections that lead to my closed transactions with investors, families and even rentals for MLB players in town for Spring Training. By this time the skillset I learned from the other agents early on combined with the consistent referrals, and social media marketing to scale my career from nothing to a six-figure business at one of the most well-respected brokerages in the nation.