DeVante Blow - Turning His Last $50 Into A Thriving Real Estate Career
DeVante Blow is a powerhouse in the real estate world, who turned his last $50 into a thriving career as a top-producing agent and team leader. With the COVID shut downs, DeVante transitioned from the restaurant industry into real estate in 2020, where he continues to hit new ceilings of achievement each year. He is the author of the book "Just One Layup", devised to help people find success in the real estate industry. Outside of real estate, DeVante enjoys pickleball, skydiving, and music.
In this episode, you will be able to:
- Learn how DeVante was able to successfully transition from the restaurant industry to real estate during the COVID pandemic for a successful career shift.
- Unlock the secrets to building financial freedom through a career in real estate.
- Explore the benefits of joining a real estate team and leveraging collective expertise for accelerated growth.
- Discover the game-changing insights for launching your own real estate coaching program and inspiring others.
- Uncover the power of investing in real estate for a consistent stream of passive income and long-term wealth building.
The key moments in this episode are:
00:00:00 - Starting in Real Estate After a Career Change
00:08:34 - Finding Business in Real Estate
00:10:36 - Building a Real Estate Team
00:11:11 - The Value of Joining a Real Estate Team
00:13:33 - Retention and Growth Within a Real Estate Team
00:16:29 - Writing "Just One Layup" and Its Message
00:21:54 - Passion for Music, Coaching, and Investing
00:22:59 - Diversifying within Real Estate
00:23:10 - Personal Growth and Opportunities
Follow DeVante 👇
https://devanteblow.com/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063490535367
https://www.instagram.com/devanteblow/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/devante-blow/
SUBSCRIBE IF YOU'RE LOOKING TO BUILD WEALTH THROUGH OPPORTUNITIES IN THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY
✅ http://relfreedom.tv
GET STARTED INVESTING TODAY AND ACCESS OUR DEAL LIST!
📈 http://investwithelite.com
PARTNER WITH US ON BIG DEALS!
💵 https://eliteadvantagepropertieshq.com
BUILD YOUR REAL ESTATE AGENT CAREER WORKING WITH INVESTORS
👨👩👧👦 http://eliteadvantageagent.com
LEARN ABOUT REL FREEDOM & HEAR MORE REAL LIFE STORIES
🎙️ http://www.relfreedom.com
FREEBIES: DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE FREEDOM FOUNDATION BLUEPRINT
💵 https://www.relfreedom.com/blueprint
LOOKING FOR A REAL ESTATE AGENT ANYWHERE IN THE US? FIND A TOP AGENT IN YOUR COMMUNITY
🏠 http://www.eliteagentreferral.com
JOIN OUR FACEBOOK COMMUNITY
👨👩👧👦 https://www.facebook.com/groups/relfr...
SUBSCRIBE TO THE REL FREEDOM PODCAST
🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
🎧 Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0...
🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nXA5hL...
LET'S CONNECT
👉 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mswenson13
👉 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getrelfreedom/
👉 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@relfreedom
🏠 Minnesota Real Estate: https://www.eliteadvantageteam.com
Read the full transcript:
DeVante Blow
Before real estate, like, my wife and I, we started making, like, these funny videos online. And so we started to build up, like, a community. And then, like, you know, people that we went to high school with and everything, they started following us. And so when I. When we switch and I was like, hey, guys, I'm a real estate agent, I wasn't quiet about it. You know, I was. I was really loud and vocal, and, you know, I even sent out letters to everybody I knew. Like, so between online leads and diving into my soi, that's what really helped me be successful my first year. Foreign.
Mike Swenson
Welcome to the Real Freedom show, where we inspire you to pursue your passion to gain time and financial freedom through opportunities in real estate. I'm your host, Mike Swenson. Let's get some real freedom together. Hello, everybody. Welcome to Real Freedom, where we're talking about different ways that you can build time and financial freedom. I'm your host, Mike Swenson. If you want to get started in figuring out kind of what your path looks like, like, check out our website, freedom through realestate.com. we've got a lot of great information, interviews, just sharing different stories. I love being able to communicate a story of how somebody is using real estate to kind of achieve their path of entrepreneurial freedom. And that's really why we do this podcast, is to highlight that. And so for my guest Today, we've got DeVante Blow. Your background is you took your last 50, turned it into a thriving career as an agent. So as we talk about building financial freedom or kind of that path towards financial freedom, you're a great example of that. Got into real estate back in 2020 from restaurant industry. Now you're a top producing agent and team leader and also author of the book Just One Layup, which came out in October 24th. You also do coaching and other stuff on the side. So excited to hear more about your journey. Devonte, welcome to the show.
DeVante Blow
Hey, thank you, thank you. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Mike Swenson
So why don't you just share a little bit about your background and, you know, kind of the. The why and how of getting into real estate and we'll go from there.
DeVante Blow
Okay. Awesome. Yeah, so like you said, my background is I. I was in the restaurant industry for about eight years, but before I got into real estate and, you know, I was. I was loving it the first, like, six years. I mean, they breeze by, you know, in restaurant industry, having a great time. You. You get to know a lot of people, you get to see a lot of Things, you know, you get to know, like, people's patterns. It's really cool. You'd be surprised how many successful real estate agents started off in the restaurant industry. But so, yeah, I started off in the restaurant industry. And around year six, it's kind of when I was feeling like, you know, I've. I've reached the pinnacle of what I could reach here, and I started to feel like there's more out there. You know, I thought I was making, like, 65,000 a year, and I thought, you know, hey, man, this is. This is good, but is this the best that I can. I can achieve? And it took one of my friends coming into the restaurant with their family, and, you know, I wasn't their server, but I sat them. I hosted, and I sat them. The next day. I saw them at church and like, hey, man, that food was so good. You know, they're like. But she said. She's like, you know, but, hey, when we walked in, you kind of. You know, your head kind of went down as if you're ashamed of where you were. And so what was happening was, you know, what I was feeling on the inside started to manifest on the outside, right? That longing for, like, I want more. I. And so that moment was a pivotal moment in my life. And still I stayed for two more years, you know, because I was just stuck in, like, holy crap. Like, I know that I want to do something big, but what is it? And so I stayed to in the restaurant for another two years. And so March 17th of 2020 is when we got the shutdown order here in Washington state because of, you know, Covid. And so for the first time since sophomore year, I was jobless. I was jobless, and I was like, oh, my gosh, you know, what. What. What can I do? I was excited but nervous at the same time. I often say, you know, with respect to everybody who has lost and suffered during COVID it was the best thing that ever happened to me because it pushed me and forced me to make a. Make some crazy decisions. So June of 2020, my wife and I, we moved to Bellingham, where we are now. It's about an hour and some change away from where I grew up. And then we got into completely different careers. My wife was in the military, and she graduated with her master's degree and got into. She's a mental health therapist now. And I went from the restaurant industry to becoming a real estate agent. Right? And so a lot of the. A lot of the skills that I gained transferred over, but I'm In a completely different world. Not only completely different town or city, but completely different world of entrepreneurship. Right. And so there was a lot to learn. And so that's how my journey began. My first year I did 10, 10 sales, just shy of five and a half million. So that was a great first year. And it's been better and better each year. And 2024 is my best year in real estate as well.
Mike Swenson
So you mentioned, you know, the transferable skills because we grew a large team and recruited a lot of people and really try to look for. Everybody's looking for the magic bullet of like, what's the perfect solution of this career equals to guaranteed success in real estate. And that never happens. But, but when I think about people in the restaurant industry, you know, you're, you're working long hours, you're working hard, you're problem solving, there's people skills. And so you defin. Have a lot of great transferable skills that just naturally come into real estate because you're, you know, you've, you've had to deal with difficult people, hard conversations, moving fast. Like all of that stuff just really seems to translate well. And so I tell people, you know, that are getting into real estate, you can come from any industry and have success. It's just recognizing what are those key things that you had that worked well in your previous role that you can then parlay into success in real estate?
DeVante Blow
Absolutely. Yeah. You know, dealing with, with hangry people. Right. It's really just solving problems. You, if you can solve problems at a high clip, you know, with a smile on your face, you will be successful.
Mike Swenson
So talk about figuring out how to find business in real estate. I think a lot of people right now, it's, it's a very tough time in real estate. And so people that might be interested are thinking like, shoot, I don't know if I want to do that. That seems pretty hard. But in terms of kind of finding business, how did you build that to where you had those 10 sales in the first year?
DeVante Blow
Yeah. So, you know, the first, I'd say the first year and a half were completely different than where I am today. The first year and a half, I, I was taking team lead, so I joined a team. I thought that that was probably the best decision that I made early on is joining a team because I did not know anything about real estate. I didn't know a lot about where I, you know, had just moved. And so I got a lot of online leads and back in 2020, online leads were converting very well compared to what's happening today? Right, yeah.
Mike Swenson
Little different environment that'll always have an asterisk on that season of life, but yeah.
DeVante Blow
Yeah. And so online leads, and then I really. I started to delve deeper into my sphere of influence, so people who, you know, already knew, like, and trusted me. So before, before real estate, like, my wife and I, we started making, like, these funny videos online. And so we started to build up like a, you know, a community. And then, like, you know, people that we went to high school with and everything, they started following us. And so when I. When we switched and I was like, hey, guys, I'm a real estate agent, I wasn't quiet about it. You know, I was. I was really loud and vocal and, you know, I even sent out letters to everybody I knew. Like, so between online leads and diving into my soi, that's what really helped me be successful my first year. First, first year and a half. And then things absolutely clicked. So I would say in year two, going into year three, I had some adversity, and I had to find out, okay, hey, listen, I am not converting these online leads like I was before. And how do I. How do I replicate the cells that I, you know, that I've achieved the years prior? And it just clicked, like, build the community, you know, be a part of the community, go out there and do community events. I'm a high eye on the disc profile, so I like, you know, you got to feel me. You got to feel my energy. I got to be out there. And then that's what I did. I mean, I do community events, community and client events at least four times a year. And then I'm actively a part of my community as well. So.
Mike Swenson
Well, and I think that's the other key thing for people to understand, too, is there's so many ways to get business and then recognizing what. What's good for your personality. And so, you know, we talk about that, you know, in terms of maybe somebody who's a high I. They like, maybe open houses, right? Because you're in front of people, you know, right. Where people that, you know, maybe aren't as high and I are okay pounding the phones or, you know, cold calling or whatever that might look like. And so there's so many different ways to get business. And you just have to look at. Brings you energy and what drains you and focus more on what brings you energy. And yeah, for a high, I. Those community events and. And being out there in person. And I think, too, some people come across really well over the phone. Some People don't. And some people come across really well in person and you as a high. I, you know, with a great smile. People love to see that. And so how would they not be drawn in face to face? And so you probably convert better face to face.
DeVante Blow
Absolutely. Belly to belly is the best way for my business to thrive.
Mike Swenson
So talk about then kind of that process of building a team, how that works, because everybody has a different story. Why, why they want to do it, and kind of the how of how that worked for you.
DeVante Blow
Yeah. So, you know, I. I think that I was inspired by the levels of success that I reached pretty early on in my career. And I understand why there's such a high failure rate. I just wanted to give back. You know, there, when people get into real estate, oftentimes you'll hear, oh, I. I wanted to have the weekends or I wanted to be free. You know, I wanted to create financial freedom. Right. Like, amazing aspirations. But when the rubber meets the road, it's hard as heck. Right? And so if I could, you know, pour back into some people who really wanted to be amazing at real estate, I mean, why not do it? You know? And so that's. That's why I started a team. So I. I left Tim's team right at the beginning, like, this time last year, honestly, and. And just went headstrong into building a community. And so I partnered with another real estate agent out here named John Rockwood, who's been doing it for 25 years. At first, he. He was like, hey, man, I would love for you to be part of my team. I'm like, you know what I mean? I'm not. Not long in the tooth in real estate.
Mike Swenson
Right.
DeVante Blow
I'm not 20 years in, but I don't want to be.
Mike Swenson
I always joke that it's kind of like dog years. Like, a year in real estate is like six years in real life. So. Right.
DeVante Blow
So it's like, dude, I. I've done a lot of transactions. Like, I. I have a lot of experience. I just don't have a lot of time. But I know that I have a lot to bring to a team. And so I don't want to be a part of somebody's team. I want to build up someone's team. And so we got the team up to 13 agents at our. At our peak, I believe 14 agents at our peak. And honestly, it was just. Why do we do it? To give back and to put a lot, Put. Put a better product out there. I would say about 75% of the agents in My area are probably not the best, you know, are just like, you know, maybe have part, part time or, you know, have as needed or whatever have you. Why not put a better product out there so that we're not viewed as like, you know, used car salesman anymore.
Mike Swenson
What's the message that you give in terms of attracting agents or what are you putting out there? If it's like, hey, I want to go solo versus hey, why would I join your team? What's that message you share?
DeVante Blow
Yeah, the message I share is, listen, as real estate agents and entrepreneurship in general, we like to wear so many different hats, right? Well, our value add proposition is let us take all these hats away from you so that all you have to do is convert, you know, go to, go to, go to meetings, go to, you know, your consultations and convert those. Sell the houses that we put in front of you. And then we also have a system to where we optimize your soi as well. We oftentimes I say, listen, if, if, if I were but paying for all the leads and you're getting all the leads that I'm paying for an hour to pass away or John were to pass away, me and him were in the same flight and it goes down. Are you still going to be able to create business? And so our value add is, hey, we want to be able to help you build your business to where now you have a team under you and it's just, you know, building umbrellas and building teams. And that's our value add proposition. So it works.
Mike Swenson
And I know that, I mean, agents get stuck in so many spots where for somebody newer, you don't realize how you can get sucked into these black holes of time where it's, I don't know what to do, I don't know how to generate leads. Even the accountability piece of I, you know, having somebody help you and accountability is a good thing, not a bad thing. And then the admin systems and processes like being able to operate in your skill set, some people just, it's just not their thing and it sucks the life out of them trying to figure out how to do that stuff. And so that's where a great transaction coordinator or marketing person can help. And, and even, you know, just having the, the software with lead plans and different things like that can really help out. And it's like, well, do you want to be the person that has to build all that or can you be the person that walks into that and when everything's humming well, it's, it's kind of like that one plus one equals three. Where, you know, yes, part of the money goes to the team, part of the money sticks with me. But I'm able to create more because I'm on the team versus trying to do it by myself.
DeVante Blow
That's so true. And a lot of the conversations we have, you know, when somebody brings up, well, what, you know, what are your splits? What are your splits? We talk about splits, sure, we can talk about splits, but in the absence of value, that's when people bring it up more. Right. When we show people like our tech stack and what we're going to do for them and everything like that. The split conversation is a very quick conversation. Hey, this is what we offer, you know, now if we weren't offering all that and I was on a team that, you know, wanted 5050, but they're not giving me a whole bunch, then yeah, hey buddy, you know, how are you going to add to my bottom line?
Mike Swenson
That's certainly a challenge. And then the retention too, because as people start to stick on the team longer now it's not. I'm learning new things. Like you joined a team right away, there was so much to learn. You had somebody showing you how to do it, but how do you try to keep people on the team long term as well? And so obviously, you know, valuing people, the relationships is really big as well because it's one thing to get people in the door, keep them early on, but then to be able to retain them long term and also recognizing that, you know, just like you, right, you started on a team and you blossomed somewhere else. It's okay for people to leave a team. It doesn't have to be drama filled about so and so left a team. It doesn't have to be a bad situation like, oh, they left and now we're all mad at each other. It can be a good thing because you're going off and kind of building your own thing too. And so I think sometimes people feel like, you know, leaving a team is a bad thing and it doesn't have to be that way.
DeVante Blow
You know, I think of it as, I have a 12 year old son and I cannot wait for him to go out into the world and just be an amazing representation of, you know, the, the love and the discipline that he, my wife and I instilled in him. Right. It's not saying, hey, I want you to be, I want you to live with us forever. No, go out there and be amazing. You know, and if there's an agent that comes from Our, our organization that goes out there and they're on their own and they're absolutely crushing it. That still puts a smile on my face because you know what, I had a part of that, you know, and they're making the community better.
Mike Swenson
So one other thing you just mentioned, you know, with, with wife and kids to having a team, the benefit is that other people can help you, right? So maybe, you know, a showing pops up last minute or something contract related pops up last minute and people don't recognize like having been on a team also helps you to have a little bit more of a life because there's people that you can lean on to help you and you don't have to get sucked into everything and whatever it might be at all hours of the day and weekends and when your kids are in sports or whatever activities that might be, you can rely on other people on the team to help. And I think there's so much value there as well.
DeVante Blow
Absolutely agree. It's, it's learning through osmosis, right? Like there's been so many transactions that I personally haven't gone through, but somebody close to me has gone through. I'm like, okay, I learned a lesson on that one. Right. So yeah, of course.
Mike Swenson
Are you looking to get started or scale in real estate investing but don't know your next step? Are you overwhelmed thinking about finding deals, analyzing deals, doing due diligence and managing properties on top of it? Go ahead and push the easy button and invest with us. Real estate investing is what we do full time. We've done dozens of deals with hundreds of doors. We have the knowledge and experience to hand pick the best deals that most investors can't find. We've at large off market deals all the time where you can hopefully find returns and economies of scale that you just can't find on your own. The best thing is it's 100% passive to you for less capital than you put down trying to acquire a property on your own. Don't let this year go by where you don't make the leap, add to your portfolio or you just sit in analysis by paralysis. To find out more, visit freedomthroughrealestate.com and click on Invest. You can book a call and learn more there. So get to scaling your portfolio now with us by your side. So you've got your book. Just one layup that came out. Why go through the process of writing a book? What about the idea, you know, what, what does the book cover?
DeVante Blow
So the process behind the book, honestly, it came into my mind about 10 years ago. And the book is titled Just One Layup. And the premise behind the book is a layup in basketball is the easiest shot you can take. The highest percentage shot that you can take. Right? And so how do we do that in real estate? What is the layup in real estate? And what's beautiful is the building. The playbook for success looks different for everybody. There's no one size fits all. That's. I believe that there is no one size fits all. Right, like, if you want to be Ryan Serhant, great, go do that. But we already have a Ryan Sirhan, right? And so what I do and what I teach in this book is, okay, what's you at your highest and best use? You could be. You can be Steph Curry, right? And Steph Curry has a beautiful three point shot that to him is almost like a layup. Or you could be Shaq. And we want you down low, right? We don't want you shooting the threes. So what we want to do is we want to build a system based around your strengths so that you can build momentum by hitting a consistent shot or hitting a consistent five calls a day or five video texts a day or whatever have you so that now you can take the big shot. And so this book was really, it was supposed to come out for college athletes, athletes that are about to get out of, you know, their profession and come join us back in the civilian world. And then when I got into real estate, I was like, wow, that applies so much here, right? So building the Playbook to success and a lot of the book, I'd say the first eight chapters are my story. It's how I implemented these things first. So that you're not just saying, you know, I'm not just trying to tell you what to do is like, no, I did this and this was the result. And, and this is what happened early on in my life. And this is how it actually impacted me in a positive or negative way, where I'm at today. And then the last four or five chapters are like, okay, hey, let's build your playbook. And so I help you walk through who you are, your highest and best use, right? The things that you're kind of weak at so that you can hire that out or delegate that so that you can stay at your highest and best. And then, you know, a couple of, couple of different ways that you can optimize your day. So it's been really cool.
Mike Swenson
How is that process of, of writing it then? How long did it take you to kind of go through that and publishing or, you know, promoting it. Would love to hear kind of that backstory because there's so many people in real estate that, you know, have books or have ideas that they'd like to into books. And so I'd love to hear kind of your experience having just gone through it.
DeVante Blow
Yeah. You know, so it was, it, it was, it took about a year. It took about a year to write this book, actually write this book. I hired a company to come in and coach me on writing this book because honestly, like, I tried it for about a week. I was like, write a book. And man, when I tell you I couldn't get past one page, you know, because you just overthink. Right. It's like, it's super hard. But again, to the, to the premise of the book is my highest and best is not writing a book. That's not my highest and best use. And so I bring on a company that helps me, you know, during the journey. And while I was writing the book, you know, I'm talking to other people about the processes and the mindsets of the book to make sure that I actually am giving somebody something that is worth value. And so it's almost like, you know, before building out a coaching program, you want to have like four or five or six one on one coaching clients before you have a group coaching client just to make sure that what you're doing actually feeds a need. And so it took about a year and then when we launched in October of last year, it was, we hit bestseller within the first two weeks in two different categories. So yeah, it was really fun. It was nerve wracking. You know, as a creative, you know, we're, we're probably our biggest critics, our worst critics. So you're like, oh, this is super vulnerable. But it was well received.
Mike Swenson
Awesome. Well, congrats with that. As you think about your future here, you know, you're still pretty new to real estate, even though, like we talked about, you know, dog years and you've got a lot of experience in these few years. But thinking about, you know, the rest of your career, what are some ideas or maybe some ambitions that you have as you continue to, to grow and build in the real estate space.
DeVante Blow
Yeah. So real estate, you know what? And just to encourage people who are thinking about getting in real estate, real estate has worked as like a shoehorn, if you will. It has, it has opened up so many doors and opportunities for me, you know, that I get to express myself in my other passions. You know, I love Music, I sing and I play the piano at my church here locally, but I also write music. And so it's been able to like, I've been able to travel to Chicago to record music. Something that probably would have never happened, you know, if I, if I never had the freedom to do this. But then also, you know, coaching, I cannot wait. My coaching program is launching in the next 34 days and I cannot wait to sit one on one with somebody and just deep dive into how we can make their, their life and their career just amazing, right? And then investing, you know, I was part of a, of a LLC and we bought this 10 unit apartment complex and ever since we did that, and that was about three years ago, I've gotten the itch. I'm like, oh my gosh, like just seeing, you know, the residuals that come through every month and it's like, wow. And not to say it was that easy, but it was that easy. You know, a lot of people think that this is probably like one of the hardest things you'll ever do, when in fact it's like, no, if you don't have the money, use opm, right, Other people's money and go buy something that will give you money so that now you can go and do it yourself. So I would say those are my three ventures. I love music, I love coaching, and then I love investing.
Mike Swenson
Well, yeah, I know for me that's where the investing piece kind of came in is I, I'm more of an analytical thinker and so I love being able kind of take a look at spreadsheets and analyze things. And so what started for me was, you know, analyzing deals for investor clients. And then it turned into, oh, here's, here's a deal that's so good that I think we should try to partner with somebody on it. And that continues to grow. And so I think the beautiful thing is, you know, I talk about how real estate is just an entrepreneurial playground where there's so much stuff that you can do. You can start out as an agent and that grows and blossoms somewhere else, or you can start somewhere else. And so there's so many things that you can do inside of real estate that, yeah, as your passions changes, your income changes, as your, your goals change, you can move within real estate. But I just really encourage people to get in and get started, pick up some skills and kind of see where that path may take you. Because yeah, you may decide like, oh, I'm going to be an agent, but that doesn't mean you have to be an agent for 40 years, you know, solo, by yourself. Right. You can join a team, you can build a team, you can add different things. You can do coaching, you can write books, you can travel, you can speak and invest. So there's a lot of different things out there. And so I'm excited to see kind of what you've already accomplished here in just a few short years.
DeVante Blow
Thank you. It's been amazing. I can't believe it's been four years and some change. Honestly, it has flown by, but, you know, the things that you learn and the opportunities and the things that you're exposed to. I'd be silly if I just stayed just an agent, you know, and not to say just an agent, but just an agent by, you know, all the opportunities that have popped up.
Mike Swenson
Well, DeVante, for people that want to reach out to you, how can they do?
DeVante Blow
So, yeah, you know what? You can find me on Instagram. It's really easy. Devonte D E V A N T E Blow B L O W that's my last name. Or you can email [email protected] awesome.
Mike Swenson
Well, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story. Excited to see what you've done, and best of luck as you continue to grow in the future.
