Starting a Real Estate Business? Build These 3 Systems First

Ebony Vick (00:00)

There’s no business out here that you’re going to be successful without systems and tools. That’s just how it works, that’s how you scale.

That’s how you’re able to run. That’s how you’re able to take off a little bit when you’re tired and exhausted because your system’s running. That’s how I’m able to get rental leads that come into my system right now and my AI assistants already reaching out and qualifying the lead and getting all the things done for me. And then I get the ping that says, this person’s qualified. They like to do a showing. Okay, great. Push a button and we keep it moving.

Cody Crabb (02:02)

Welcome back to the *Real Estate Pros* podcast by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Cody Crabb, and today I’m joined by Ebony Vick, a Dallas Fort Worth realtor and entrepreneur who brings a systems and technology driven approach to building her real estate business. Ebony, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for joining us today.

Ebony Vick (02:19)

Thank you. Thank you for having me, Cody. I’m honored to be here and looking forward to our segment today.

Cody Crabb (02:23)

Yeah, so I we appreciate you having you on. so you mentioned that you’ve got a background in technology and business, but recently you’ve kind of looked at real estate as something you wanted to move into. Tell us the story of how you kind of came to that realization and kind of why you’re starting now as opposed to, when you started in business.

Ebony Vick (02:43)

Well, a few years ago, I would always find myself watching real estate shows or, home cleaning videos on YouTube, real estate tours. And at first I was like, man, I want a house like that, and then I got a house like that. And then I was like,

I can’t stop watching these shows. and I noticed that I really loved interior design and architecture of the homes. But one of the things that stood out to me most was seeing people be able to find homes. And no matter what situation, no matter what area of life they’re in, it was just that moment of happiness for those people really stood out to me. And then you have.

just in general life in general, right? I was like, man, I’ve got this going on. I’m working full time. I have always, wanted to be an entrepreneur. I’ve always known I would be an entrepreneur. And so as I started to think about my passions and what can I do that would give me some sort of security and I would enjoy doing it. because those are kind of hard to come by and I think they’re very synonymous with each other. And so I said, well maybe I could

be a realtor. And I thought, that’s probably hard. There’s so much to it. You have to get licensed. You’ve got all this stuff to do. So I started doing research. I started looking at Day in the Lives on YouTube. I started reading everything you could possibly find online about what it takes to become a realtor. And as I’m looking at things and I’m you have to do this and you need to market and you need and I’m like I’m already doing those anyway with my other businesses. I should be able to do this. And so

I decided to enroll online in real estate school. I went through a fast track realty and I had to do it online because I’m a busy person. I need to have control over my time. So that was a big thing as well. I needed to be in an industry or in a role that would allow me more control over my business, my time, my flexibility. And I felt like real estate would do that for me. So

The more I watch the shows, the more I got inspired. one of my mentors actually is Kiana Watson. and Kiana Shantae now. fun fact, we actually shared middle name. That’s my middle name, Shantae. But anyway, I got inspired by watching these shows, watching people get happy. Then I started to learn about the industry and how it works.

And I started to learn about wealth building and I started to learn all of these things and I’m like, why am I not doing this? So I enrolled in line on school online in school and then funny thing, I was renting at the time that I was in school and I was coming up on my lease signing and I’m like, I’ll just sign another three year lease. only to get a letter that says, Hey, we’re selling the home. You have sixty days to leave.

You and your whole family, the kids, the four dogs, you all have sixty days to find somewhere to leave to live. And that was right around the time that everybody’s rent skyrocketed like three times the amount.

Cody Crabb (05:37)

Great timing, yes. Well just perfect timing. Yeah.

Ebony Vick (05:39)

Perfect timing. And I’m just like, I’m in real estate school, I’m working, what the heck do I do? and so in that moment, I think in real life, in real time, I felt

the very thing that I want to help others navigate through. And it was that panic of do I spend $4,000 for rent every month for something I don’t own and something I’m not going to get any equity in and just give my money away? Or do I take a chance and own something and pay the same amount, maybe possibly even less, and have some sort of ownership and start that journey. And I was terrified because

What the heck? I’m in school, I’m learning, but I’m like, I don’t know what I’m doing. so literally, applied for a home, got to deny technically, or I gotta not yet. Here’s some things you need to do. and so I was like, Whoa, okay, wasn’t expecting that, but give me the checklist, let’s get it done. Four months later, I was able to get an approval. I’m in a hotel this entire time.

with me, my significant other, my kids, and all of our dogs. we were there for about four months, five months, and then we moved to an apartment for about three months and the home was being built. All types of things were just kind of going on in real time. And so long story short, because it’s a very long story, long story short, I was able to purchase my first home and feel the security. I’m paying less than what I would have been paying had I rented.

and that peace of mind is what really catapulted me. I literally finished Realty School the month after moving in and went to go take my license exam, passed it on the first try. but yeah, that that’s my story. That’s the that’s the inspiration behind why I got started. And then there’s so much more behind why I decided to stick with it and why I’m really putting all my effort behind it now to even to take it even further.

Cody Crabb (08:16)

Yeah, and it sounds like, you went from being den I mean, I love this, you went from denied being denied for mortgage to and living in a hotel with your family to buying this house. What exper what did that experience teach you that you now bring to clients who feel like homeownership is not something that they are they’ll be able to do?

Ebony Vick (08:33)

what it taught me that we can plan and we can plan and we can plan because the plan was to go through the lease one more time and then plan to buy a home, right? Because I’m not ready yet. That was that was my thought process. And what it taught me was that you’re ready whenever your circumstance calls for you to be ready. You don’t have a choice but to be ready sometimes,

Cody Crabb (08:55)

A little bit like someone trying to start a business and they’re like kinda waiting, done, waiting and waiting and then they get laid off. And you’re like, All right, I guess we’re doing it right now. Yeah.

Ebony Vick (09:02)

I guess we’re doing it now, right? And that’s the thing. And so it actually taught me to, I wouldn’t say, I would say always to expect the best, but prepare for the worst. And the worst could be the best, right? Buying a home was the best decision that I’ve made thus far. when it comes to that. And I think even though the struggle behind it was stressful, it was the perfect time for me to do it.

literally was when it was supposed to happen. I was ready before I knew I was ready because then I was able to navigate through it. it helped me even through school because I’m like real time doing it right on the other.

Cody Crabb (09:37)

Yeah,

seriously. Yeah, you’re raising hands in cla you’re raising your hand in class to be like Yeah actually Yeah, I need I need help with this application. Yeah.

Ebony Vick (09:44)

So I think it just taught me that the time is now. The time is now. If that’s what you want right now and that’s what you need, the time is now. You don’t have to wait for everything to fall into place. You’re not gonna get a yes all the time immediately. So what? Try again. Keep going. Figure it out as you go along and it’s okay. That’s what it taught me. It’s okay. You can do it.

Cody Crabb (10:06)

I love that. I think when I when I hear people talk about this kind of journey, I always kind of think they say keep trying, keep trying. But what is it that you what are what are some of the things that you did that like actually did? Like let’s kind of talk to the people who are in this situation of like they are they’re kind of stuck between. Like what are some real things that really moved the needle for you to be able to get closer to that goal?

Ebony Vick (10:29)

So I will tell you, and it’s probably the biggest question we hear as realtors and anyone in real estate and investing. What does your credit score have to be? Right. It’s always the credit, right? It’s I’ve always had a high income. and not always, wait, I’m lying. Not always. I’ve gone through the trenches, but I’ve had a high income for quite some time now. And so the income was never the issue. And

Sometimes we forget it’s like, I make enough money, I should get approved. And it’s like, no, it’s your credit.

Cody Crabb (10:58)

Yeah, I there have been times when my credit score, if you’d if you’d seen it, you’d be like, Wow, that’s amazing and you look at my bank account and be like, That’s not the story that credit score tells. Yeah.

Ebony Vick (11:08)

Like, whoa. And so I’m like, man, okay. So I what happened was that the lender said, Hey, here’s a list of things that you can do to improve your credit score, right? Here’s what you can pay off. You don’t have to pay this one all the way off. Maybe just pay it down, like very specific instructions and a plan. And I sat there and I said, All right, look, what do you spend money on that you don’t have to spend money on? Right.

I literally sat down and I looked at the amount of money that I spent on freaking fast food every month in DoorDash and ordering it and I was like, that’s my credit card. I could pay that card off right now.

Cody Crabb (12:27)

And really like I think another thing too, I mean, this is something I that comes up often. Like it doesn’t even necessarily have to be I’m gonna cut this out of my life. Like a good example is let let’s say you DoorDash everything. instead of that, I’m gonna just go get the food myself. Yeah. Like if you just do that, like that is already a huge step in the right direction. Yeah. So stuff like that. Like if even if it’s even if it’s not like a huge change, if you’re moving in the right direction, I mean that’s sometimes all that you need to do is kind of make some small steps.

Ebony Vick (12:55)

make some small steps. The funny thing is, I had like a bonus coming up that work. I had bonuses that I got every quarter and I had this huge bonus coming up. And it was it always hits right around my daughter’s birthday in September. And then my son’s is in October. And we’re literally by I think October we were in the apartment and I’m like

Dude, they’re like sleeping. We have like this one bedroom in the living room and we’re all like camped out and we got the dogs and all type of stuff. And I’m like, okay, what subscriptions can I cancel? Right. let me cancel internet. I’m not gonna have that till I need to move in again, right? I don’t need Hulu and Netflix, I feel like I do, but I don’t need the

Cody Crabb (13:36)

Really need it. Yeah.

Ebony Vick (13:37)

really need it, little small things like that. When I get the bonus.

It’s not a bonus. It goes towards the house. It goes toward so I really sat down and I mapped out where my money from each check was going. If it’s a hundred dollars to this credit card to pay it down, that’s what it’s allocated for. It’s already gone. You don’t have it. Like don’t touch it. Don’t look at your life like, I’ve got money in the bank. So let’s just I got money. No, that money is accounted for. It’s a tool. So we’re

Cody Crabb (14:04)

Yeah,

well said. Yeah. So okay, so as far as like your your experience in your career, you mentioned earlier you’re big into like systems and kind of tech and things like that. So when you entered real estate, what did you immediately look at and kind of go, Okay, there’s gotta be a better way to do this? Like when there’s what I mean? Like there’s gotta be an app for that or something like that. And then kind of generation. Yeah, I was gonna say, so is what problems did you solve?

Right away ’cause you just knew there gotta be a better way.

Ebony Vick (14:32)

So right away, I think the biggest thing that I wanted to solve for was organization, a CRM tool and really lead management, right? Because I also have a background many, years ago working in call centers, right? I have ample customer service experience.

Cody Crabb (14:48)

So I’m very I’m

very familiar. Yeah. I we I vibe with that very much.

Ebony Vick (14:50)

Me, all of the things that you have to do and keep up with. and then as a customer, the things that suck, right? That you that you have to go through on the other end. And so my very first thought was when I passed this exam and my license is hosted somewhere, I did not expect to come out of the gate.

getting closings, getting leads everywhere. I already I did enough research to know that is not going to be your year one and that is okay. So I decided year one, I’m going to work on organization. I’m going to work on what system would give me the best ability to manage leads from having one to the time I scale up to having 300 and a million, whatever. Right. Yeah.

Cody Crabb (15:38)

Well that

that’s a great way to think about it because a lot of people kind of don’t think about think bigger than that at first. So they’re like, Okay, so I’ll just y I’ll use my contacts app in my phone and then they hit two hundred and fifty contacts and they’re like, Okay, this is starting to not work anymore. But I like the idea that you kind of chose something right away that would scale well that you could kind of adopt later too.

Ebony Vick (15:59)

And I had to balance out, it’s an investment because there’s lots of free tools and affordable tools, but for me, I’m a little bit more advanced when it comes to technology and using it. So for me, I had to look at, hey, I know how to do this, and this. I need something that’s gonna allow me to do that. So my first year was literally not even a whole year, probably the first few months. I had templates created.

I had social media set up. I had a scheduling system that I was going to use. What I was trying to solve for was being able to quickly respond to leads efficiently and really, organize my time because I still work full time and I’m still a mom and I still have other business ventures. So my first problem to solve was how does this business run when you can’t touch it 24-7?

Cody Crabb (16:52)

Yeah, love that. Yeah, you need to kind of develop some ways for it to kind of roll on its own. Yeah.

Ebony Vick (16:57)

And the answer to that is technology. That’s just that’s just the truth of the matter. I can’t

Cody Crabb (17:03)

Or

a big team, but if starting out, I mean it’s gotta be technology. It has to be, yeah. For sure.

Ebony Vick (17:08)

Starting out, you don’t have a team like being a part of a smaller brokerage or what we call boutique brokerages and things like that, you have the support that’s close to you, which I think is very valuable. I knew starting out, I didn’t want to go under a huge brokerage because number one, I like my money. I want I want the most of my commission. Number two, I don’t have the time for a lot of the extra things that comes with that.

I don’t really need a lot of help in certain areas. I would tell my broker all the time, I don’t need help understanding how to market. I don’t need help understanding how to reach out and do emails. I don’t need that.

Cody Crabb (17:43)

Yeah, like the real estate part’s new, but the rest of this is not

Ebony Vick (17:45)

Right, the rest of it isn’t, So I was like, I just need the knowledge of the experience, the resources, etc. So I really had to tailor everything that I’m doing to my life to be able to make sure that I’m successful, and that comes from systems and tools. There’s no business out here that you’re going to be successful without systems and tools. That’s just how it works, that’s how you scale.

That’s how you’re able to run. That’s how you’re able to take off a little bit when you’re tired and exhausted because your system’s running. That’s how I’m able to get rental leads that come into my system right now and my AI assistants already reaching out and qualifying the lead and getting all the things done for me. And then I get the ping that says, this person’s qualified. They like to do a showing. Okay, great. Push a button and we keep it moving.

Cody Crabb (18:32)

And the opposite

of that is, I mean, everyone has the they’ve heard of like, my neighbor’s a mechanic, he’s never had any c he’s never had a computer, he does everything in his head, like because the minute he steps out, nothing can be done. Like it’s even if he did have a team that was helping him, it’s just all in his head. So that I like the idea that you kind of are planning for way in advance, yeah. Like this has to be something that can be self sustaining because I’m not gonna be able to babysitter.

Ebony Vick (18:59)

Right. And that comes with when you’re trying to start a business, and that’s the other part of my passion, right? It’s just starting a business. When it comes to starting a business, you have to do the research first and the planning first. It’s the most important part.

Of any story of success is your planning. So when you’re doing the planning up front, the thinking up front, the questions up front, the wondering, when you’re doing all of those things, that eventually I’m gonna need an assistant. I may need a transaction coordinator. I’m not gonna be able to show every single home, right? So I can learn all of these things and keep them in my head, which I can, but what good would that do me when I need to hire someone?

because I don’t have time right to do that job, where am I going to find time to teach them to do that job? Right.

Cody Crabb (19:46)

If I don’t have time to write stuff down, you really, don’t have time to write stuff down and to teach someone how to do it. Yeah, exactly. No, that’s true. Yeah.

Ebony Vick (19:56)

Absolutely.

Cody Crabb (19:57)

So for somebody starting a real estate business, whether they’re a realtor or getting into their own investments or things, what are the first two or three systems that you think would be the most important? You mentioned CRMs is like way, high up there. Is there anything else that you would recommend as well?

Ebony Vick (20:12)

So document retention. You need to have whether it’s Google Drive, whether it’s your iCloud, whether it’s OneDrive, you need to have a document retention system where you keep everything, all of your documents, where everything is housed, where everything is stored and organized. That is probably that may be more important than your CRM because you can export.

leads from your CRM and whatever, but where are you going store it? Okay. So the document retention is very important. Figure out early on where are you going to store all of your contracts? What is your naming convention? Are you going to put Ebony Vick? sales, such and such. Like how are you? need to work those things out of how you’re going to identify what documents you have and where you’re going to keep them. Very, important. So that you don’t end up with

documents in iCloud and some in Google and some in trust me I’ve made all those mistakes already. It’s not fun doing the cleanup. So we’ve got our CRM document retention, very important. And then I would say honestly your communication channels. people change brokerages, people change,

CRMs, for example, my CRM came with a sending domain. So I’m landenrealtygroup.com and it came with a domain that I can use. ebonyvick@landenrealtygroup.com. Great, right? But if I leave that CRM, if I don’t have that email hosted on my own domain, or if I don’t own that domain, I lose that. Then I have to go change it. Right? Or

All of that. So I no, I switched it over. It said, transfer my domain over to me. I’ll own it from here on out. Thanks. Set up my Microsoft Outlook with it. It’s mine. So if I decide to use another CRM, I still have that email. So I would say, CRM, you need to manage your leads and all your information.

Document retention, you need to be able to find everything, keep it, be able to reference it and get back to it, and then communication. You need to have a set communication channel. That email needs to be set, your phone number needs to be set. If you’ve got to get a different phone or separate phone for business, do so. But you need to make sure you have here’s the phone number I’m using.

Here’s the email I’m using. Here’s the website I’m using. Here’s how people will contact me. And you need to know that because the minute you start talking about real estate, they’re gonna ask how to contact you and you need to be ready to provide it.

Cody Crabb (22:37)

So true, so true. so all right. that thank you. So we’re running low on time, but this has been really a re great conversation. so when you look at everything that you’ve built right now, I mean, what does success look for you in five years? You mentioned that you’re you have a long term plan that very much involves real estate. And I’d be curious to know why was it that was what you landed on?

Ebony Vick (22:57)

what? Not only because I loved it, if you just think logically, there’s only so many areas that will never fail. People will always need somewhere to live.

always people will always move, they will move to you, from you, they pass things down. Real estate is not only just having somewhere to live, but it’s an asset that gets passed down to generations and families. So there’s so many moving pieces to real estate that I won’t get bored.

It’s almost like job security in a sense because at some point, whether you’re investing in it, whether you’re a realtor on the other side of it, or whether you just need it to secure your place, you’re going to need real estate.

It’s in everybody’s lives. So that’s why I landed on it because I was like, it’s foolproof and it’s fun. Those are the two big things for me that will allow me to keep moving and keep going and stay motivated with it. so that’s why I landed on that. My long term goal, I would love to have multiple, investment properties and have a whole business running behind that. People can, rent out whatever they’re gonna rent out. I’ll have homes in this state. I’ll do want to be multi state.

Definitely working toward getting my license in some other states. Atlanta being one of those. But yeah, definitely I would say long term plan, investment properties, and then teaching others what I know. That’s

If anything, it’s learning everything, expanding, and then teaching the next person. My motto is that I don’t know everything, but I can learn anything. And I think that’s one of the most beautiful parts of life is our mind being able to learn and pass down everything that we’re doing. I think it’s the most exhilarating thing. So special

Cody Crabb (24:37)

Nowadays, I mean

we are one we are one click away from the world’s repository of knowledge on literally any subject. Like anything. It’s an amazing time to be alive because and especially now with AI, there’s no there’s no problem that you shouldn’t be able to solve and learn how to do yourself now. Like it’s amazing. So it’s

Ebony Vick (24:55)

The

thing that technology does, it literally has removed barriers and excuses. Yeah. It’s removed it for you. There’s no more, I don’t know how. Go find it. It’s right there.

Cody Crabb (25:07)

Great example of this. I was I’m not a handy person at all. Like I do not do the fixing of stuff. there was a whole there was like a an issue with one of our walls and I took a picture of it and I sent it to my ChatGPT. And I just was kind of like, So what do I do about this? And it literally not only did it give me instructions, it said, So here’s the exact thing you need to buy, here’s the listing at Home Depot. Go it’s there’s one available at the Home Depot next to your house. Like I was just like, I don’t have any re I have to go do this now.

Like ’cause I don’t literally, what am I am I just not gonna do it? I have everything right here. So it

Ebony Vick (25:39)

And some people are threatened by that. They feel like, especially in real estate, well, you’ve got AI that can do everything. Take that and make it work for you. Just like you mentioned how it shows you listings of this and that. Do people not know when someone’s looking for a realtor or looking for a home? ChatGPT can recommend your business. They can recommend you as realtors. Dive

Cody Crabb (25:57)

It does.

Ebony Vick (26:00)

in there and take advantage of it and let it work for you. That’s what it’s all about. It had me doing

All type of wiring and stuff for my AC.

Cody Crabb (26:08)

Awesome. No, but that’s so cool. And obviously, the as everybody knows, AIs are not the most reliable for everything. But the fact that it gives you somewhere to start is just incredible and it allows you to just do so much. I love this. Thank you so much for all these insights here. and we really appreciate your time here. if people want to kind of get in touch with you, they want to communicate with you, who should be getting in touch with you? who would you love to reach out and where can they do that?

Ebony Vick (26:34)

Absolutely. So if you are looking to buy a home, if you’re looking to sell a home, if you would like to invest in any way in real estate, if you are looking for your next lease, or if you simply just need more information on how to enter into real estate, how to scale your business, you can contact me first off, landenrealtygroup.com That is my website. You have all of those things available to you. You’re able to get your home estimates and more. It links you directly to me. you can also reach

out to me at ebonyvick@landenrealtygroup.com and you can find me on all social media, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok at Ebony Vick. And I will be there to assist you. I’m looking forward to it.

Cody Crabb (27:14)

Fantastic. Well, thanks again. I th this has been a great conversation. Sometimes we get we get a little bit like too in the weeds, like you have to really know your stuff to be on this podcast sometimes. But I love when we just can be like someone that is really literally just starting out like day one of being a realtor, what you do? What do you do? Yeah. And I love that. I love that they’ve got some.

Ebony Vick (27:36)

is

what do you not do about

Cody Crabb (27:38)

Right, yeah. Day it’s like day one. I have ninety four things I could do. So what do you start with? Yeah. well thanks again. and audience, thanks so much for giving us some of your time today. If you liked this episode, make sure you don’t miss the next one. And Ebony has been a pleasure. Thank you for hopping on today and we’ll see you next time.

Ebony Vick (27:54)

Thank

you so much for having me. Bye guys.