Ryan Serhant started selling real estate on September 15, 2008.
The same day Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.
His first year he made $9,000.
Today he runs over $6.5 billion in sales and leads his own firm with 1,000+ agents.
But what got me wasn't his success story. It was how he thinks.
After going through 70+ hours of his interviews, podcasts, and talks, plus all three of his books, I pulled out 46 principles behind how this guy operates.
Out of those 46, there are 5 that I believe can change the way you work starting today.
Here they are.
— Andrew
Your brand isn't your design, your website, or your business card. It's your reputation.
Ryan backs this up with a real story.
His client put down a $1.8 million deposit on a New York apartment... then went completely dark. No calls, no emails. The deal was dead.
What did Ryan do? He flew to Shanghai on 18 hours' notice.
He ended up stranded at 6am on a golf course in Pudong with a dead phone, after a chaotic night out with Wing's associate, Tony Chow.
He made it back to his hotel thanks to a fake Ferrari flip phone he'd bought at a Shanghai street market.
He showed up to the meeting. He closed the deal.
His takeaway: "That's my reputation. That's my brand. Your ability to go above and beyond for your clients in a way that everybody else won't."
→ Ask yourself: if your last 5 clients were in a room talking about you, what would they say?
Your brand gets built every time you do something nobody expected.
Ryan treats his time like a bank account. $1,000 fresh dollars every morning.
Every wasted minute is a dollar you're never getting back.
"Someone's mad for 10 minutes and I'm like, you're in my day now. Am I going to throw away the other $990 because you took $10 from me?"
His day starts the night before. He's up at 4am with zero decisions to make.
Just execution. And he runs a daily structure he never breaks, the Finder, Keeper, Doer system:
8 to 10am: Find business (prospecting, outreach).
10:30am to 1:30pm: Keep business (follow-ups, current clients).
2 to 7pm: Do business (showings, closings, execution).
Three hats. Every single day. No exceptions.
Do this tonight: Plan tomorrow before you go to bed. Block at least 90 minutes of "Finder Time" on your calendar this week. If you're not looking for new business, your pipeline dies.
Ryan doesn't just practice this. He made it a hiring requirement. If you can't respond within an hour, you can't work at his firm.
"Speed to lead, above all else. Do not let perfect be the enemy of good."
While you're crafting the perfect email, your lead already talked to three agents who got back to them first.
A fast, imperfect response beats a slow, polished one every time.
Start today: Every lead gets a response within 60 minutes. Build 2-3 quick-reply templates for your most common scenarios. Stop reinventing every message from scratch.
When Ryan launched his firm in September 2020, middle of the pandemic, he put his name on the building. Literally.
"There's no backing out when your name's on the building. It's always going to be Serhant hired or Serhant fired."
He didn't hide behind a corporate structure. Every decision carries his name. That pressure is on purpose.
And he takes it further: when his budget for his first apartment was $1.5 million, he bought one for $3.7 million. He deliberately puts himself in financial corners to force himself to grow.
Be honest with yourself: do you have a comfortable "Plan B" that's keeping you from going all-in? Put your name on something this week. Your newsletter, your content, your outreach. When your name's on the line, the quality of your work changes.
This might be the most powerful mindset shift Ryan teaches:
"Once you click that, then you don't have Sunday Scaries. You have Friday Scaries... because you're stressed out that people won't respond to you over the weekend."
If failing is your job, then every rejection is productivity.
Every "no" is a KPI you just hit. And the fear isn't about Monday anymore.
It's about Friday, because the weekend slows you down.
Before he was an agent, Ryan spent two years as an actor in New York.
He got rejected "to his face, because of his face." When he switched to real estate, rejection stopped being personal. It was about the apartment, not about him”
Try this week: Instead of counting deals, count how many "no's" you got. If you're not getting enough "no's," you're not playing hard enough.
The Close
After studying 46 principles behind how Ryan Serhant operates…
There's one thread that ties everything together:
He never waited until he was ready to take action.
He didn't wait to feel confident before projecting confidence. He didn't wait for the perfect market. He started the day Lehman Brothers collapsed.
Your "One Thing": Messy action beats perfect paralysis. Every single time.
Which of these 5 lessons did you need to hear today?
WANT THE FULL STRATEGY?
Search How Ryan Serhant Did $6.5B Without Chasing Sales on YouTube or your favorite podcast app to watch the complete episode now!
Justin Landis, the founder of a billion-dollar real estate brokerage, reveals how one face-to-face meeting a day built his entire business, why most agents plateau at 30 deals, and the charity campaign that accidentally launched a whole new company!
He built the Justin Landis Group and Bolst, an independent benefit corporation brokerage in Atlanta. He's helped 38 agents reach $100K in GCI and grown an organization of 300+ agents rooted in relationships, generosity, and purpose-driven business.
He explains:
The daily habit that took him from zero to 100 closings a year
Why hiring an assistant made him more money, not less
The charity that raised $270,000 and accidentally started a brokerage
What 2 employees told him to stop doing and they were right
The 2008 moment that nearly wiped him out completely
Here's what's inside:
The exact content framework we use across 55+ newsletters. 80% local value, 20% real estate. Six sections. No fluff.
The growth playbook from 0 to 10,000+ subscribers. How Alec Kreins got to 4,000 subscribers spending under $3,000. How Ryan Sneden built 21,000 subscribers in a city of 40,000.
Four ways to monetize, and which one actually matters for agents. Spoiler: it's not sponsorships.
The weekly operating system so you don't burn out. Cadence, team, content sources, and hiring.
Here are 12 new ideas to inspire your next video:
6x - These {CITY/AREA} Suburbs Will Explode in {YEAR} (Get In Early)
30.4x - Something Weird Is Happening in {CITY/AREA} Real Estate
37.9x - Why This {CITY/AREA} Project Will Change the City Forever
6.6x - 8 Most Underrated Places to Live in {CITY/AREA}
2.9x - {CITY/AREA}’s ${PROJECT VALUE} {PROJECT NAME}: Years in the Making, Bigger Than {LANDMARK}
5.9x - Moving to {STATE/AREA}? These Are the BEST Commuter Towns
3.7x - {NUMBER} Projects — NEW and Coming SOON to {CITY/AREA} in {YEAR}
37.7x - I’ve Lived in {CITY/AREA} My Whole Life… My Honest Thoughts
4x - Where the OLD Money Lives in {CITY/AREA}
14.2x - {CITY/AREA} Neighborhoods Everyone is LEAVING
5.2x - The Quiet Rise of Million-Dollar Neighborhoods in {CITY/AREA}
2.1x - If You’re Thinking About Moving to {CITY/AREA}, Watch This First
I hope this helps inspire your next video!
Rapid Fire For Your Consumption:
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Instagram GENIUS Explains The Fastest Way To Become Famous In Your Industry - YouTube
Use this listing strategy - Instagram
Which content did you like BEST?
I appreciate you reading,
Andrew Bayon
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