We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Diego Correa Bravo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Diego below.
Diego, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had started you own firm sooner?
If I could do it all over again, I would have definitely done it differently. I would have started this career a lot sooner! I actually almost did. Let’s go back to when I was 18 years old. I did not know what to do in life yet, what I did know however is that I wanted to find a career where I could make a lot of money, but did not require a degree as I have never been a school person and I just never saw myself going through college. I actually did try to go through college, TWICE, and I dropped out both times 5 months later. Anyway, coming back to my 18 year-old self. My mom had started her classes for Real Estate, I wondered if maybe this is something I could do, but I never liked sales, all my family does sales one way or another and I was the black sheep per se who did not like sales at all. I still went through it and took the classes, and I actually learned a lot about the business in these classes, so I was starting to get excited. Then, exam time came along and I failed it 3 times. I was only 18 with not a clear purpose in life, so to me that was my sign that this Real Estate thing was not for me. Boy was I wrong hahaha. I turned 20 and at this point I was working in car dealership doing light maintenance in their cars, and I really thought I was going to become a mechanic, surprise! I didn’t. I actually ended up taking a course to get my Commercial Real Estate License and I got it actually quite easily. I started driving semi-trucks all over the country and I loved it, you know, I miss it every once in a while. I did that for 2 years and a half and I made very good money doing so, I bought my house, I bought a house for investment with my mom. I started investing in stocks, and learning all about investing. By this time, my mom had already been a Realtor for I maybe 4 years? I kept on seeing her succeed more and more year over year. My career was starting to get very very lonely, and I started to realize by learning from the big finance guys that my pay, even though I made such good money, was capped by the amount of time I can drive as I was paid by mile. If the wheels were not moving, I was not making money. This got me thinking again, maybe I can actually do it right this time and do this Real Estate Thing. I started taking the classes again, this time I did it online while I was on the road. While I did my classes, I was thinking what I can do once I start this new venture, and I decided, what I really want is to surround myself with business owners, with people who likes numbers like I do. I knew right then and then that Commercial Real Estate is where I wanted to be. I finished my classes and took the test and this time I passed. I put my license with RE/MAX Results and did not look back. Now I have been doing this for 8 months and I am absolutely in love with this career, I can’t believe I did not keep pushing back when I was 18 and failed the test 3 times. Looking back, I definitely needed to keep pushing, but you know what they say; you learn from your mistakes! and it’s so true.
Diego, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Diego; I was initially born in Colombia. I came to the US about 7 years ago, in May of 2016, and went to high school immediately, which helped me quickly boost my English learning. From there, I had a typical young guy life; I graduated in 2018 and wanted to go to college immediately, which I did. I was majoring in Computer Science, and I did not like it at all! So I just decided to stop college and live my best life (typical young guy’s answer to everything). In 2019, I decided to go back to school as a Nursing Assistant and become an RN after, but 4 months into school, already I wouldn’t say I liked it again. So, I decided to find a career where I did not need to attend college; I never liked school anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I love learning a lot! I am currently learning a third language, Italian, but something other than I like the school system of learning. So, at the end of 2020, with my mom’s help, I went and did some courses to get my Commercial Driver’s License; it took me about 4 months to go through the whole process, and by May 2021, I was taking the test and passed, by then I had turned 21, and had secured a job of a truck driver with a fantastic company! I had been driving from MN to CA and back or from MN to CA and then NY and back to MN for two years. It was long days away from home, but the money was perfect; I bought a house I currently live in and a second house with my mom for investment. So, how did I become a Realtor? My mom has been a realtor since 2019, and I always see her happy. She loves what she does, and I have seen the whole time. Still, I wanted to stay away from sales, as my family always has told me, “Sales is in your blood like in everyone’s blood of the family” since every single person in my family has been in sales one way or another. by the second year of driving trucks, I was starting to feel very lonely On The Road. I was first thinking of driving locally, but I was still looking for a job that even got near the amount of money I was making; even though I kept trying to find one, I couldn’t. While I was doing this, I kept on seeing my mom succeed more and more to the point she was going to hire an assistant because she had so much work overload, so without telling anybody, I started taking classes online to get my Real Estate License, once I finished my first 30 hours and passed the National test, I told everyone, so I am going to do my last trip to CA and then NY (My company was based out of NY) and I am quitting to become a Realtor like my mom. My mom and girlfriend supported me a lot while I finished the other 60 hours and passed the MN test. Of course, I saved substantial money to survive the change when I started selling. Now, here we are 4 months later and completely loving it. I have already closed on my first deal, and now I am focusing more on the commercial side of real estate, but it has been a fantastic journey!
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Being persistent! Making new relationships and networking are very important to keep on growing.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
I want to say the best source for me is networking and a website called Costar which is where I get all the information I need for my Commercial Real Estate side of the business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ylrrealestate.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diegocorrea.re/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555049830160
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diego-correa-bravo-a90613289/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DiegoCorrea-REALTOR/featured
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/diego-correa-bravo-remax-results-rochester-2
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hat.realtor
