Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kenyan Richardson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kenyan, appreciate you joining us today. How do you feel about asking friends and family to support your business? What’s appropriate, what’s not? Where do you draw the line?

The biggest challenge I faced as a new agent was having a “lack of experience.” Buyers and sellers want to know that you know what you are doing. Conducting a real estate transaction takes skill and knowledge and people want to know that you have their best interest at heart. I had to gain peoples’ trust so they would invest their time into my platform. I knew I had a lot to prove coming out the gate, so I approached my newfound responsibility with a drive that screamed “this guy really wants to make it!” I believe my visible determination combined with my extensive knowledge is the greatest recipe to invite in prospective clients.

I always knew that asking your friends and family for their business comes with challenges. Fortunately, I have established great friendships over the years that have continuously supported me in my business endeavors. A great deal of my success in business has come from word-of-mouth referrals from some of my biggest supporters.

The phrase “A client will turn into a friend quicker than a friend will become a client”, has been revealed in numerous relationships that I’ve built over the years as a client representative. I pride myself on being a diverse source of information that my clients can depend on for honest and transparent advising in a commonly deceptive industry.

Exploring real estate can be an overwhelming and confusing task for some individuals. That is where I come in. I am the firefighter to my clients’ transactions, putting out flames that deem alarming to their home buying or home selling experience. I work one-on-one with my clients from the initial thought process to bringing them into homeownership.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

If you asked me 5 or 10 years ago if I thought that today I’d be “K.Rich the Realtor”, I would surely laugh then proceed to say, no. I took a real estate class in college that coincided with my major. Although it appealed to my interests at the time, I didn’t categorize the class as anything more than something I needed just for credits. Reflecting now, I wish I would’ve had a more mature mindset; I earned my credits for the class and thought nothing more of it. Unbeknownst to me, that class would eventually bring me to where I am today.

I owe great thanks to every job position I’ve ever held. After advancing from manager positions at Arbys and Verizon Wireless, I took a leap at a different route working as a Talent Acquisition Specialist at Market Source and then as an Account Manager at Coyote Logistics. Both, in return, helped me perfect my craft as a sales expert.

The career leap into Corporate America post secondary education definitely helped to develop me as a person. Working in these industries taught me the importance of building and maintaining solid relationships. However, it didn’t take me long to notice a bridge-gap between myself and the corporate world. I was drawn into real estate through the roots of my passion for sales and networking with others. A desire to personally connect and build life-lasting relationships was the inspiration behind transitioning into real estate.

Just like how there are different brands of bread on the shelves there are different types of realtors. While building transactional relationships are important, I pride myself on establishing valuable personal relationships that will, in return, convert clients into friends and family.

I commit myself to being an omniscient and reliable resource for those who may be unaware of the home-buying or home-selling process. Minority home ownership percentages within the United States are at a below-average rate. Therefore, I highly value real estate knowledge because it’s not only about what I know but what I can teach the client. Everything my clients learn throughout the home buying and selling process is generational knowledge that can set one up for success and change the trajectory of their lives and families.

Not only do I offer a vast pool of real estate education but I also provide a luxury home buying and selling experience. I treat everyone with the utmost respect and indulgence to create luxury, monumental experiences because, essentially, investing in real estate is a significant life milestone.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I believe that, besides my personality, my social media presence has helped me gain more exposure and expand my visibility to a wide variety of clientele. I consistently take Continuing Education courses, for one it’s required to maintain credibility for your license but also because there’s always something to learn. Social media also helped me to remain relevant and apply all that I’ve learned to real-life scenarios. Remaining active, getting out and meeting new people that’s where I learned peer-to-peer knowledge and insider secrets.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

There are a few lessons I had to unlearn. Transitioning from the corporate world to entrepreneurship, the work day is completely different. When a person starts any new job they are fully trained for that position down to how their day should go. Real estate proved to me that if I don’t show up for anyone else, I must show up for myself. You set the pace, you set the record, you set the momentum for the day. I had to learn quickly that the phone doesn’t just ring. Social media has granted me the option to be more of a resourceful tool to my audience.

Real estate is a continuously evolving industry, from annual contract changes to daily interest rate changes; you have to be willing to absorb knowledge. As compared to Corporate America, training classes aren’t held every quarter to cover new policy changes. Constrastingly, in the real estate world, training classes are held daily to expand one’s knowledge of the industry. There’s never too much information that a person can learn; they just have to want it for themselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://beacons.ai/k.richrealtor
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/k.richrealtor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kenyan.richardson
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenyan-richardson-b82541106/

Image Credits
@jlaviiphotography @treyshotme