We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jeremy Smith. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jeremy below.
Jeremy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission the drives your brand?
I initially choose to pursue a real estate business to have some additional income to supplement my full time corporate career. After seeing how well some of the classmates in my coaching program were doing I decided to step up my efforts and replace my salary with real estate commissions and eventually make it a full time endeavor. The light for my fire was that I got into a situation where I was financially not able to help my oldest child with college expenses. It felt horrible knowing that he needed me and I was not able to show up and be there for him. We found a way around it but I vowed that I would never find my self in that situation again. I was determined to master every aspect of the real estate business and create something so big that no matter the market, we would always thrive.
Jeremy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
On “paper” I am probably one of the least likely individuals to have a successful career in anything, let alone real estate. My name is Jeremy Smith and I am the Team leader of The Smith Team. A quickly growing real estate team with eXp Realty. I had my first child at 17, barely graduated high school, had a troubled childhood and found myself in the juvenile justice system in California as a teenager and never went to college. I did enlist in the US Navy prior to graduating high school and shipped out to boot camp 27 days after my 18th birthday, leaving my son and then girlfriend behind. Life was crazy and very hard. Venessa and I got married the day after I graduated from bootcamp and our adventure together officially began. Over the next 10 years we would have 3 more children, I would seperate from the Navy and we moved back home to Rancho Cucamonga, CA. We had odds and ends jobs and barely scraped a living for our family of 6. In 2007, after a failed attempt at real estate, I landed a coveted job with a major railroad but the road got tougher. In 2008 there were massive layoffs and although all my classmates were furloughed I barely held on by promoting from a Conductor to a Train Dispatcher. In 2012 we decided to leave California and relocated with the railroad in Fort Worth, Texas. In 2015 I decided to give real estate another try and vowed to do things differently. I had a lot more riding on it this time. It was important to get good coaching so I spent $1,000 of my $2,000 savings on a coaching program that turned out to be the best business investment of my career. In 2016, my first full year in the business and with a full time career, I close 41 transactions and reach a goal that I had originally given myself 5 years to reach. I did that in 10 months. I resigned from my position at the railroad in November of 2016 and dedicated all of my efforts to building a business and changing my families lives. In 2017 I close 78 transactions as a single agent. Today I am the team leader of The Smith Team. We are rapidly growing and blessed to be partnered with some very talented and caring agents all over the country. What sets me a part from the rest of the agents and team leaders out there is my work ethic. Nothing has ever been given to me and throughout my life if I wanted something I had to make it happen. Even as a child I had to take on responsibilities that were way beyond what a normal child would have to take on. Although tough at the time, and seemingly unfair when I look back on it, it molded me into the man I am today. It helped me to develop a very strong sense of pride in my work, a desire to be the best me that I can be at all times and a grit that most just don’t have. I am committed to excellence and the highest levels of integrity and my team embodies those traits as well. Leadership has been a position I have always found myself to gravitate to and now being out of production and solely running the team, I know that I am in the perfect place for me at this time in my life.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
We have a very unique corporate structure. My business partner is my wife. My wife and I actually met in high school. We were 14 when we met but didn’t start talking on a more intimate level until we were 16. We have been through so much and beat all of the ods as we he had our first of 4 children while we were still in high school. In fact, our oldest son was at our high school graduation. Venessa and I have grown up together and while most young relationships don’t make it, and don’t get me wrong…it hasn’t been easy…we will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary this year.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The best way that I can illustrate my resilience is to describe my first year in the business here in Texas. It was 2016 and I had spent the last half of 2015 just learning about the business. How things work, what the forms mean, how to talk to potential clients and conduct consultations, etc…I turned up my efforts in 2016 and it got crazy! My job at the railroad was very challenging. I worked 12 hour shifts that rotated from 5am – 5pm to 5pm-5am every month. We also had a 3 on 4 off, 4 on 3 off schedule so that helped a little. My responsibilities were to manage up to 9 dispatchers and many more field employees who we communicated with through email and phone calls. It was a very decision heavy position and we were middle management so we caught a lot of slack from the poor leadership that was in place at the time. Injecting a “full time” real estate schedule into an already challenging lifestyle was a lot more than I anticipated. It got to a point mentally where I didn’t even want to choose what I was going to eat, wear, watch or listen to on the radio. Decision fatigue stayed with me for months. In June of 2016 I closed 7 transactions and it almost drove me mad. If it wasn’t for Venessa stepping in and starting to help around April of that year, I probably would have folded. Keeping sight of the big picture kept me going. As a family we no longer wanted to be enslaved to the employment of the railroad. We wanted our holidays back and needed a better environment so I knew giving up was never an option. We pressed on full force and accomplished something in 1o months, with a full time job, that most real estate agents will never accomplish in a year…
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.smithteamdfw.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smithteamdfw/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmithTeamDFW
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-EnrAp2b1d2LPvHG9sqnQA
Image Credits
Shelly Foster