We were lucky to catch up with Willie & Tikila Adolph recently and have shared our conversation below.
Willie & Tikila, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a fun one – what’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?
Knowledge. We started in the real estate industry in 2003 as Licensed Loan Officers and we decided then that we were not going to allow the public to be uneducated about purchasing their home, starting with helping them with the mortgage process. When we decided to be “real” with our relationship we wanted to purchase a home. So we went to a builder, picked out our home, paid our earnest money, filled out some paperwork, went home, and waited. We turned in our 60-day notice to our apartment and we were ready to move! We went to the builder a month out, to get the status of our home. The sales agent rudely told us that our loan was not approved and we no longer had a home. Shock, confusion, and sadness filled our world. We asked what happens next, and we were told that “Our Home” was sold to a qualified buyer, please leave. Tikila was a hotel manager and I was working with an oil and gas company. We were living in a two-bedroom apartment in the south of Houston, with our two children. Tikila was pregnant with twins. With the last 30 days quickly approaching, we no longer had a place to live and became homeless. Scrambling for approval or a place to stay, we were not able to find a living environment for our family. With the favor of God, my mother took us in. And this was one of the major events, in our lives, that led us into our education in real estate.
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?
We are Willie and Tikila Adolph happily married with four adult children, one grandchild, and two furbabies. We live in the Katy-Houston area and we are Real Estate Professionals. Throughout the years, we have become Authors, Ordained Ministers, Talk Show Hosts, Philanthropists & Couples’ Motivational Speakers. We are so grateful for our life and each other and we are thankful to be able to help and share with others. We are prominent in the real estate industry because we have empowered so many people to become homeowners, improve their credit, and have greater respect for acquiring real estate. We started as loan officers, later, real estate agents, and then credit restoration counselors. We have a team of real estate agents that share the same core values as we have. Accountability, Determination, Optimistic, Loyalty, Persistence, and Honesty are what the Adolphs stand for, it’s our name. We got into the industry because we were homeless several times and are determined to never have anyone in that same situation. When we acquired our real estate licenses, we chose to help anyone who wanted to get into a home. We became Credit Restoration Specialists to encourage everyone that there is a better way to live a wealthy lifestyle with great credit. We are also Real Estate Instructors helping to educate new real estate agents on how to help others in homeownership. Through our television network, The RES TV Network, and our various television shows, we promote our community and their businesses. We recently became Ordained Ministers and use our experience as Motivational Speakers to encourage couples to stay together and some to even work together through our Couples Ministry. And we have donated our time and finances to many organizations in the Houston community and surrounding areas. We are grateful to consistently pour back into others’ lives.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
We are both self-employed entrepreneurs and have been that way since 2001. There have been major pivots in our life, but a major pivot in our lives started in 2007. We were very successful as loan officers and in real estate, but a strange incident occurred – the market crashed! Literally, it came as a surprise and turned our world into a whirlwind! We had accumalated close to $100,000 in debt and could not dig ourselves out of the hole we created. Surely lenders will stand by their loans for these clients, who they had approved… no way people were not getting into a home. But it happened; not slowly, but with the quickness! We were at the closing table and our borrowers no longer had a loan to close on their homes. No more loans were getting approved and our pipeline was washed away! We were robbing Jessica to pay Paul, but Jessica and Paul had run away and we were left empty, broke, and destroyed. We filed for bankruptcy, lost one of our homes, and all of our cars, and filed for food stamps. The pivot came when we decided what really mattered was the health of our children, our primary residence, and each other. We humbled ourselves and took jobs for a local church in Katy, Texas. I was a janitor and Tikila was a preschool teacher. We purchased a suburban with cash and we focused more on our children by starting a youth basketball and sports organization. After a few months, we left our jobs and open our childcare company in 2009. We continued serving our community through youth sports and being child care owners. In 2015-2016, we went through a turbulent time in our marriage and decided to go to counseling. Through prayer and counseling, we decided to go back into real estate full-time. We sold a thriving childcare business and decided to move on. I went to work as a loan officer at a bank and Tikila stayed as a real estate agent and we created the brand – The Adolph Group. I later received my real estate license and Tikila received her broker’s license. And today, we have a team of REALTORS ® under our name in the Katy Area, west of Houston, We have a diverse team spread throughout Houston and surrounding areas. The best thing to derive from this pivot is to know when to change, accept it, and move forward. At each stage, we did not sit in “Pityville”, but we adjusted and we did it together.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Affectionately known as the “Matching Couple”, we stayed present on social media together and consistently. Tikila was recognized as one of the first Facebookers to go live and be her true self. So we have continued to use social media to educate, have fun and inspire others. Through our television series and network, we are promoting others to build their business as well. We think that having what you stand for and promoting it. Being yourself is also a big plus because eventually someone will meet you and they will want to believe in what you are portraying online. We started matching our outfits in 2003 when Tikila was uncomfortable with her weight. She had postpartum depression and it was affecting our lives in business and personally. One day I took her shopping with me and we purchased men’s clothing to match together I told her that we were a team and I will always have her back and stand beside her, And being on a team, we were one. We will dress alike and work together. Tikila hates to shop, so she was excited about the fact that I took on that duty. Later, when she was comfortable with her weight, we increased our “matchiness” by matching colors with our whole wardrobe, especially in our business and personal activities. Our advice is to be consistent on what you want your audience to know you by. Actually go on the different social media platforms and post. Not only post, but give your advice, support others and post videos. We post videos and different types of social media posts and we put our name and business on EVERYTHING and we are not afraid to show it! From the childcare business to the sports organizations and now our real estate business; we have our name and logo on whatever we do! Tikila wants to also say that staying on top of trends is a plus and use hashtags. These little things will help you build your presence and increase your audience. And an easy way to see if you are winning is to go online and “Google” yourself!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/theadolphs
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theadolphgroup_realestate/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theadolphgroup/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willie-adolph-64181079
- Twitter: @TheAdolphGroup
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQsoEJATrxlyuhcGRpGVXqg
- Other: Real Estate Website: https://theadolphgroup.com/
Image Credits
Terry Thomas Photography, B2ful Photography, Pisces310 Photography, OJ Images of Essence, Jamaica with Photo Island Photography