[0:05]Well, hello folks, I am so excited to be interviewing our rockstar guests today, Tobi Oluwafemi. I'm honored to have Toby here, Toby is a real estate professional in the last 12 months, he crushed real estate. 46 transactions, 38 sales, 8 rentals, this guy is a rockstar and he's just getting started. Toby, say hello everybody. I'm looking forward to chatting with you guys, I've seen Tom a lot, I've not had time to speak with him as long, but anytime he speaks, he speaks not get out, I love talking to you. I'm excited, I'm excited myself, Toby's coming to us from Houston, Texas. He is a father of two, happily married, his last child was just back in October, so this guy doesn't get much sleep, man. pretty sure of that, but he still gets the job done of the world who Toby is. My previous broker was based in Houston, but I was living in Dallas since 2014. Married with two kids, uh the baby second child in October of last year. We have a boy and a girl, that's my world right now. Concer myself easy going and right now we're very busy with the kids in the house. So when I'm not home, I'm outside bustling and talking to clients, you know, doing real estate, so last year was amazing. And and I'm looking forward to building on this year and my spare time, I like to run. When I'm running, I'm meditating, thinking about love ideas and it's just my way of connecting with nature, so I like running, running outside there, not on the treadmill. And sometime I run with people too and that's fun, so much fun. You're not just a runner, Toby, you run your 40 half marathon, right? Yes. That is incredible, talk about stamina and discipline, right? And I bet you that right back into your real estate business. Yes, and I wasn't very athletic in high school or even college. I around 2014, I decided to renegotiate my attitude towards food and health and workout, I changed my diet. And I joined a running club. And since then, I've just kept the habit as much as I can, especially when it comes to running. Food not as much, so I'm working on that this year, it's one of my goals. entrepreneurship was a huge driver. Growing up, my parents were not really into business, so I didn't know a lot of people into business, you know, working at a five was seen as the safe thing to do. And I like the counting, and that's just where I found my calling at the time. As I started getting older, and you start learning, the good thing about I was on audit, and I audited many businesses, right? I look at payroll, and I see people doing a little bit of work and making a lot of money, man. When you're doing, you're supposed to severants, you're supposed to lay off. I started realizing that what I thought was safe was actually not safe. The safest thing in life was to bet on myself, not on any company or anything like that. So I started thinking about these six, seven years, I'm into, okay, I have to figure out a way to do my own business. I came to America in 06, and shortly after that, I was living in Sacramento, California. There was a crash, and every street I walked in Sacramento, I saw the foreclosure sign. So like when people say there's a crash now, I just laugh at them because what I saw that time, I like, you guys don't know what you're talking. This is not a crash compared to 06 and 07. This is not a crash, this is not an adjustment. There's not, there's no crash going on. Do you know like people are losing thousands of jobs every day, people are walking out of their house, crazy, you know, um there was shut down everywhere. So anyways, around that time, shortly after that time, you know, I got a house and, you know, just two years after college. And I started seeing the power of real estate with leverage, so actually got into real estate first as an investor. Then I got my license as a way to save some costs and increase my margin as an investor. Then COVID happened and there were less motivated sellers in the marketplace. interest rate was super low, so I was a secret agent for the first year, because I was an accountant, like we're conservative, supposed to mind our business, we're not supposed to do anything on the side. So I didn't advertise, and nobody knew me, so my first two years I've done zero deals. Right. So, but when I started putting myself out there, I started calling, I didn't even put myself out there like that. I was just like calling my calls friends. Now, sometimes it's not the very straightforward argument to make that renting is uh more expensive than buying. But when it was 2%, almost every time, you just numbers were clear that it doesn't make sense renting. With 2% you're getting, it's just by, right? So that time, people are just buying right, left and center. And that's when I got into real estate and I think in 2021, made almost what I made after working 11 years as an accountant, and I was a manager. I was like, what's going on here? Hey, I should have done this earlier. It was so impactful a couple of my friends just got married, having kids and and they look forward to me to advise them. And a couple of years later, I made them for this equity in the house. So, I just felt more, um personally satisfied and rewarded. And I just felt what I was doing was more impactful. I do business, you're impacting businesses, but you don't really see it. It's really you just talk about it from a financial standpoint, but this one you see the lives you impact and you build those strong connections. And um that's what I love about real estate. Isn't that so cool, man, you've been able to impact people's lives, help them get their first home, help them start creating generational wealth through real estate, that's incredible. When they think about that, they think about you, so like that's so cool. 46 deals, assuming you take three, four weeks of vacation, that's a closing a week. What tips do you give for the real estate agent who's been banging their head against the wall, trying to figure it out, they've been at it for three, four, five years, and they're not doing, you know, 40 to 50 deals a year, Toby? Oh, it's a tough balance. I would definitely not say I've figured it out. I would say that you got to genuinely care about people. You have to, right? And if you don't, if you don't generally care about people, you have to figure out what makes you care about people, and you have to connect to that because people can see through. And you really generally care about people when you talk to them, you connect and when you generally care about people, you listen better. So when you listen better, you close faster, because you're just not going there to get a deal done. And people don't like being pressured, so when you generally care about people, you actually don't pressure them, you just listen to them, and it actually turns out that the more you listen to people, the more people want to work with you. So to me, it's, it seems very straightforward, but sometimes people just don't get it. I'm like, just care about people, how hard is that? Most, you have to have your systems and good habits. You know, every morning I drop my son, I just take care, I come to work, I stay away from the house because people in the house sometime, they don't understand that if I'm working at home, I'm working. You get distracted, there's a little refrigerator, there's the TV, there's something else. I'm like, I'm working, so I have to get out of the house. Right.
[6:54]And um, you know, I make my calls, I try to have like 10, at least 10 connections every day, either by texting or calling. I try to consistent on social media, I follow up. I think a lot of agents make that first connection, and maybe not a lot is coming out of them, and they don't follow up. And that's why I'm saying you actually have to care about people because if you don't care about people, it might be hard to follow up. Like a lot of things that you do or just figure out what you care about, right? Or be passionate about your goal. And um, and that definitely helps. So I also have some great mentees that help me with showing. Some when I'm out of the country because, yeah, I did go on vacation last year, I did go to Nigeria, I did go on a cruise, yeah, but I know I did good to place. You took time for yourself, you took time for the family, your business didn't stop, right? Exactly. Yes, yes, but you can leverage people. There's so much resources out there. There's not this is 2026, there's nothing new under the sun. There's nothing I'm trying to do that nobody has done. Are you willing to talk to people that have done it before, are you willing to ask for help, right? So I get help with people that need experience with real estate, I give them opportunities to do open houses, help showing, come with me, my car. And people that are doing better than me, I set up lunch with them, what are you doing, help me, get on Zoom, you know, things like that. But you have systems and consistency and caring about people to me. You mentioned leverage, systems, tools, CRMs and all of that. Prior to coming to EXP, you were with a very good boutique agency. Why did you make the move and how has it been so far? Yes, you know, coming from public accounting, I always thought about my career and where I wanted to be. You know, I started as a junior auditor, then senior, then manager, then the goal is to become partner and all that, so I had that in myself with real estate. I'm like, where exactly am I going with my real estate career? And the more I thought about it, the more I felt like I need to be in an environment that I had unlimited opportunities, right? I like that EXP was in multiple countries and I could leverage that. Um because corporate world, you're in a multi-national company, let's say your company could be in multiple countries. So I just said, you know what, it'd be good, like real estate is everywhere. I met Daniel, I was actually shopping around for three months. I talked to different brokers. Daniel Eng, for those who are listening in from Dallas, Texas. Daniel and, yeah, Daniel and was awesome and explained the model. I talked to different agents in EXP. So I was looking for, um somebody in the EXP that some commercial experience, because I wanted to start learning more about that. Because my first time, second time, those that want to own buyers that don't want to invest in business, and I was like, whoa, I have a CPA background. I probably can understand these numbers and be of value to them. Daniel and I have done a couple of commercial transactions since I joined Daniel, and I'm still learning. Um that's but why I wanted someone that really understood the EXP system, I could explain it well to me. And I think Daniel did the best job and since then, I've talked to EXP people in South Africa, I've talked to people in Canada. I've done deals all over the states, easy, because we're really like one company.
[10:09]Um so it's just the power of leverage and collaboration. I'm going to um South Africa the EXP Con next there's also opportunities, the the market is growing rapidly. Look at South Africa, look at Kenya, look at Nigeria, and I'm very curious to um to learn my market, but more importantly, meet people in that space and um I just start to build something. What can't you live without in terms of the EXP platform? I really love the slack, all right? I really like that. I think it's underutilized. Yes, I know that. I communication too. Yes, and even when I've referred deals out, everybody has done amazing. I really like that about, and other companies have that, but it's just not as global. It's not as global, and it's not easy to use. It's not as global, it's not as fast. I had a deal in Canada, I just text that in a second, I'm talking to an agent in Canada. And the good thing is I just I talk about plates, yeah, that I wanted to do. So you so you've already love, you're just talking about getting to know them, and you can research their resume, research their social media. So I really love that. Um and just the ability to meet people and get things done for clients and be confident that the person you're working with is going to do a great job. What are your daily, weekly, monthly habits that you have on your calendar, because I know your time blocked, right? You showed up on this appointment on time, I did not have to remind you and you were there. Yes, I think you have to start by protecting your mind, right? In the morning, I wake up, I say a little prayer. I go to the gym, for something I like about my gym experience, I'm reading books, I'm reading audio books, um I'm listening to books because I don't really have time to sit down and read. And that's my myself time, my very, I really want to guide that and after I get after I'm done with that, I try to get back home. Yeah, when I get to the office, I catch up with my team, I have about your assistance, and I have a couple of mentees that are more actively involved with my team. Talk about goals, operations, stuff like that, and just um production sometimes, how many calls I got to make. And uh we just get to work, then there's there goals and I have a coaches that I catch up with by weekly that keeps me accountable. Not just about, you know, real estate goals, but how is finances, am I tracking my numbers in terms of my expenses, things like that. That's pretty much my every days, and I um I think Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I do most strength workouts, Tuesday and Thursday, I try to run, and on Saturday, I do the long distance run. I run with the McKinney running club, sometimes I run with the friends, sometimes people see me running, they're like out on the join you. So I like, come with me and sometimes we wait and we stop and all that for me, running is fun. I even if you're slow, I don't mind teaching you and hanging in there with you as long as you can show up at 6:00 because by 8:00, I'm ready to go. to do open houses and, so yeah, 6:00, if you can make up at 6:00, I can help you. If you make up at 6:00, even if you walk, I'll walk with you. That is such discipline, Toby, I love it. So Toby, how do people get in touch with you? I'm on Facebook, I'm on Instagram, I'm on YouTube, I'm on LinkedIn, I'm on TikTok. I am most active on Instagram. Many of all those other places, it's more what it is on Instagram. I try to doing a little bit more on on TikTok, figuring out stuff out there. I'm still learning social media, but but yeah, I'm most active on Instagram. We'll go follow me on any social media platform. Just protect your mind, everything in life comes from your mind. So make sure you have great people around you like Tom, like Daniel, people like with so much positivity about the future and with good habits, and that's just rubs on you. And um, and be consistent, you know, we all have, it doesn't mean I have bad days, but I just show up. I know that when I get to the office, something happens. Sometimes I don't want to wake up in the morning and go to the gym, just be honest with yourself, you know, we're all humans and set up yourself for success that you have a good chance of achieving what you promised yourself to do. Well, that's it, folks. Thank you, Toby, for this beautiful interview, man. I am wishing you the best. I know you're going to grow your team, I know you're going to serve your clients at the highest level possible and I thank you for that. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Great talking to you, Tom.
