š§± How the Queen of TikTok ACTUALLY Became the Most Recognizable Face in Real Estate Video
This issue I complete breakdown how Glennda actually grew BEFORE TikTok. And YES... her content strategy too..
š„ How the Queen of TikTok ACTUALLY Became the Most Recognizable Face in Real Estate Video
āOh, my stars & stripesā¦ā If you donāt know who Glennda Baker is, then either you've been living under a rock for the past few years or you donāt have a TikTok account.
Whatās even crazier than her ārecent massiveā claim to fame is that sheās ābeen selling real estate since Jesus was a baby,ā most of us only see her 881,000 followers on TikTok and ask how she did it?
We all see the flashy āfinish line.ā
Being known as the āRealtor of Rappers,ā working with legendary people like selling Robin Meade & Hines Wardās homes, plus selling the 2 most expensive homes in Cobb County in 2022.
But few of us ask, "How did she overcome everything & become successful in the first 26-28 years to get where she is today?ā
Hereās how she became the Michael Jordan of real estate:
The road to success is paved with dead squirrels that failed to make a decision. Donāt be roadkill.
- Glennda
Glennda grew up humbly in a wealthy part of Cobb County (Atlanta), Druid Hills, but bounced around apartments with her single mother. Her mom would drive by Glenndaās, now dream home & tell her, āone dayā¦.ā Growing up around wealth was an early inspiration.
But her life wasnāt all glitter & rainbowsā¦ She was last picked on the playground and bullied as a kid. However, this, unknowingly at the time, helped shape Glennda into who she is today.
- Authentic.
- Empathic.
- Resilient.
- And unapologetically herself.
She barely got out of high school.
Didnāt go to college.
So she went into modeling it Atlanta.
She was always into fashion, so she would make her own clothes and sell them to her friends. Working and selling shoes at department stores since 16.
Her clothing was recognized when she went to model, the owner of the showroom asked, āWho made that?ā
She responds, āI made this in my bedroom.ā
And the owner said āI think we could sell these!ā
Glennda responded, āNo, no, no. Iām here to model.ā The modeling money was good.
But the lady insisted, āLetās sell them. Put 10 more together and lets sell them if you donāt make as much as you would make being a model then Iāll pay you the money you wouldāve made as a model and weāll call it a day.ā
Glennda, āOkay!ā
And at the first show, she sold over $45,000 worth of clothes in 1 day. Wholesale.
After doing 2 years of designing & manufacturing clothes, she ran into a situation where a NY buyer purposely bounced his check back in the ā90s because it would cost her more to fly up there and deal with it than just let it go.
She told her mom, and her mom said, āPumpkin, you need to sell real estate.ā So to this day, Glennda credits her mother's dream of homeownership for inspiring her career in real estate.
That happened in July, and by September 13th, she decided to join, but with a new baby. She needed a paycheck.
So she said, āIāll go and be a real estate assistant.ā
Modeling Success to Find Your Own
And her unconventional real estate journey started in 1992 when she followed Mike Ferryās book, How to Develop a Six-Figure Income in Real Estate, which told her to seek out the best agents to work with.
In the first interview, she met with the Relo queens, but they told her they āhated her.ā She was ātoo bouncy for us, and we donāt want anyone that bubbly.'ā
She thought retail was meanā¦
In the second interview, she loved them! The interview went great. Their rapport and they loved Glenndaā¦
But they denied her a real estate assistant job because they knew she wouldnāt be an assistant for long because of her personality, and they didnāt want to train their ācompetition.ā
The third broker she interviewed was someone she met through the development company her mom worked with.
So Glennda tells her she has been reading this book and following everything it says.
She doesnāt have her license.
But she had 5 listingsā¦
Confused and surprised, she asks, āHow?ā
The book says, to call everybody you know and ask them, "Do you want to buy a house or sell a house?ā
So Glennda did, and 5 people said they would list with her.
So while she may be the only agent in history to have 5 listings before she started, she carried that same relentless drive to find a way into the industry.
She was hired. Again, she found the best agent in the office, āMurray Park,ā and asked if she could move her desk next to her.
So by sitting next to her, she listened and observed everything so she could model success.
Every time Murray needed copies, Glennda would offer to make them and print 26 when Murray needed 25, so she could keep 1.
When Murray needed help setting up open houses, Glennda would offer to help as well.
So after a few weeks, she finally got her license, and she had all her collateral templates ready to go.
After learning everything she could, she started executing Mike Ferryās book.
1) Know your market. Develop a farm.šļø
Living in an apartment with a baby, Glennda knew that she wouldnāt be able to farm her area, so she found the nicest neighborhoods in the area. She decided she was going to āsell in these neighborhoods with these fancy houses.ā
She makes a book with a picture, the tax records, and details of EVERY SINGLE house. She studied them. Every single oneā¦
āKnowing the product inside out. Thereās no substitute for preparation. Nothing accelerates credibility faster than proofā
- Glennda
2) Be visible in your community.š
She didnāt live in a fancy neighborhood, so āno lie,ā she drove her car, took her baby, and parked her car at the pool at the clubhouse. And every night when she knew people would be outside walking their dogs or the neighborhood, she took her kid for a stroll through all of those neighborhoods at 7 pm.
She would wave and say hi to everyone. Smile. Stroll.
3) Market to your farm.š¬
She listened to a presentation from her office and started sending newsletters to her farm.
4) Preview houses on the farm.šļø
She went and previewed all of the houses before everyone else. And it was even better with the seller home. Remember, there were no fancy showing services. So she called and made appointments.
She told the sellers, āI want to preview your house at 123 Banana Street. Iām not going to be with my client, Iām just coming because thereās a lot of homes in your neighborhood, and Iām the expert in your neighborhood, and I just wanted to make sure I know whatās available. Itās fine if youāre home.ā
And while sheās there, she would say, āNobody knows the home better than you.ā
So the homeowners gave her the tour.
As a result, listings would expire and they would call and say theyād love to list their house with her.
From September to December, she became the #1 agent in the officeā¦
"I just watched her, I mean there's no reason to reinvent the wheel. She was the number one agent, that's what I wanted to be, so I watched her and copied what she did."
- Glennda
She continued:
- Studying the homes
- Getting to know the homeowners deeply
- Mailers / Newsletters
- School events
- Community events
- Branded water bottles
- Swag
- Gifting & Baked Goods
- Tipping waiters, valet, door people, etc. $2 bills to be memorable
Over the years, she has handled many notable transactions and sold over $70M in 2022.
- Become an expert in your market. Knowledge = Expertise = Power
- Be visible in your market.
- Work your market.
Glenndaās unique value propositions š
Glennda emphatically expresses her unique difference in why & how she sold Hines Ward's home when other agents couldnāt.
"You never asked me what should I do, you told me exactly what you were going to do step by step, and I could tell that you believed in what you were doing to the point that you were willing to die on the sword."
- Hines Ward on why he trusted Glennda Baker
1) Pricing.š°
Other agents promised Hines $5,000,000 but Glennda knew that was too high. They told him whatever he needed to hear just to get the listing.
She does the research and discovery before and then asks the homeowner what they think, āwhat do you think its worth?ā because if you never ask you can never unpack it and address the elephant in the room that will only go larger.
And then you never get the listing.
2) Packaging. š
Glennda and her team have a 113-point checklist from listing to live launch.
Similar to a few other agents I know and some Iāve learned from like Tim Smith, Glennda makes sure that the home is the best it can be before itās listed.
This means managing core things so the seller doesnāt need to:
- improvements
- contractors
- cleaning
- decluttering
- staging, etc.
This is crucial because the only way to get ātop dollarā, which most promise but few follow through on, is by having a premium product.
Premium products command premium prices when theyāre in a tier of their own.
Having a systemized checklist helps her operationalize the process to produce a high standard of excellence.
So while Glennda is an expert with marketing and packaging homesā¦
But whatās even more important to her is finding the buyer who will pay the most money.
Out of her 137 transactions last year, ONLY 2 transactions fell throughā¦
A 98.5% success rate on high volume is a testament to her high standards.
Glennda believes strongly, āWhy do top attorneys get paid more than new attorneys?ā
Why does Michael Jordan and Tom Brady get paid more than the rest of their competition?
Tom Brady gets paid for execution. Glennda gets paid to carry the ball to the end zone.
So while Glennda is an expert with:
- Building relationships at scale
- Knowing her farm better than everyone else
- Executing real estate with the highest standard of excellence
Glenndaās secret sauce is gifting š
āSurprise and Delight.ā 10% of her yearly GCI is invested in her gifting program.
One of her āgo-to giftsā is food from Baked by Melissa (Cookies, Cupcakes & Brownies). She emphasizes the human connection formed when someone accepts food from you.
Itās easy to overwhelm yourself, but if you have a āSuite of 5 giftsā for example, then you make it easier on yourself.
āWe donāt accept food from strangers. So once someone accepts food you automatically build trust.ā
- Glennda
Her āDiamond Squadā team is the backbone and the structure is uniquely set up for this luxury client experience. '
She built out a ānavy seal teamā operationally, even with a full time Client experience liason.
Regardless of price point, Glennda says often that most luxury agents only want to sell the luxury homes.
She sells everything from a few hundred thousand dollar homes and rentals to multi-million dollar estates.
The reason most rappers, celebrities, etc. use her is that she helps with the dirt (rentals and low-value homes, not just the sexy ones). This is a common theme that Ben Moss (600+ celebrity/athlete clients) talks about too.
Glennda believes in lifelong learning and constantly evolving to keep pace with the dynamic real estate landscape. These lessons of lifelong learning and modeling success helped her join multiple different coaching programs learning from other top agents.
āYou canāt teach an old dog new tricksā¦ā or can you?
The Rise of the Queen of TikTok: Glennda Baker š±
By the numbers:
- 344,000 views a day
- 2.5 mil views a week
- Over 23 million total views
- 881,000 followers
This is all free thanks to her content.
At the beginning, Glennda told one her business coaches, āIām not a TikToker.ā
So how in the world could an āolderā individual in Atlanta who sells luxury homes find success on a ākidsā app?
Modeling Success Again āļø
She met with a local videographer, Denver, to help film her videos.
Denver told her, āYou know you can shoot from your phone?ā
Glenndaās response was, āYea but thatās not an extension of my brand.ā
The financial commitment for 6 months meant h*ll or high water, she was committed.
She started by doing traditional videos looking at the camera, but they realized that was unnatural for her.
So instead, she modeled Matthew Husseyās style of looking slightly off-camera to another person, so it looked more like a conversation.
And on camera, she embraced her āalter egoā the real estate goddess by learning to let go of the past traumas she now owns it.
Once upon a time I sold a big ass houseā¦š°
Sheās come a long way since her posts in a Porsche on Facebookā¦
The āOnce upon a time a sold a big ass houseā was her first MAJOR viral hit.
She started TikTok in October 2020, and by May 2021, she had 30,000 followers.
She posted the video in the morning at 8:30 am:
- The first few hours she got 200,000 views
- By 11 am she had 800,000 views
- Now it has over 10.5M views, and cross all platforms it has over 120M views
1) Authenticity ā¤ļø
āI work with Tik Tok directly and they said to me you are very intriguing to us because you don't do anything on videoā¦
So they're like you don't really do anything and you have the stickiest
audience once somebody follows you they do not unfollow and you have the highest engagement of any person in your demographic in your field!ā
People love her imperfections.
- Iām just myself (Real)
- People, now theyāll get the truth.
- They know theyāll see behind the scenes (Raw)
A few may be saying, but Iām in luxuryā¦.
But her 3.5M listing and buyer found her on TikTok.
She listed a $3M house from TikTok.
Plus a $5M House from Instagram.
The owner of the Hawks recognized her voice from TikTok.
Itās because sheās
- Refreshing.
- Relatable.
Even when she curses it adds to her authenticity.
"People are afraid to be themselves, and we have found success being unapologetically true to ourselves."
- Glennda
2) Glenndaās Content š¤³
Focus on the content, not the camera, quantity, etc.
- What would you tell YOUR BEST FRIEND?
- What would you tell YOUR BEST CLIENT?
- What would you tell YOUR THERAPIST?
THOSE are the THINGS people want to hear.
Consumers donāt know the business. They want to know the behind-the-scenes. The nuts and bolts of the business.
Zillow is real estate porn.
Realtors are brokers of knowledge.
They want intel they CANāT GET on the internet. Period.
Glenndaās Content buckets šŖ£
- Sugar & Spice Real Estate Advice
- Storytime. Real-time stories.
3) Her secret sauce: storytelling š
Glennda grew up around storytelling so whether she intentionally does this or not, she has become a master storyteller:
- Start with a bang. The story āideaā up front.
- Shock & awe
- Failure & mistakes
- Lessons
She believes content (video) is crucial in real estate because agents get to:
- Create the narrative
- Control the narrative of your community
Glenndaās System & Structure āļø
Thereās no content calendar. And no schedule.
She used to text Denver all the time or make notes in her phone, but that changed when Jewel set up a Google Form on her phone.
So thereās not a lot of prep.
Google form ā spreadsheet ā go over & knock out the spreadsheet
These are her 3 questions:
- Idea
- Link / Reference / Source
- How will I Glendify it?
Glenndaās Day in the Life: 60 videos in 1 day šļø
She only shoots 1 day a month, but for 11 hours. Filming at her home makes her feel more comfortable and allows her to change outfits. This helps make the process easier.
Shoot Day Schedule:
- 7:00 am - getting ready
- 8:00 to 8:10 am - morning Coaching Call with Sharran
- 8:10 to 8:30 am - frame out the morning
- 8:30 to 11:30 am - shoot straight
- 11:30 to 12:30 pm - break for lunch
- 12:30 to 1:00 pm - frame out the afternoon
- 1:00 to 7:00 or 7:30 - shoot
This is how she gets 50-60 videos in 1 day. 11 hours. 9 hours of straight filming. So about 5-6+ videos an hour
Then posts every morning anytime from 6:30 to 9:30 am to all platforms.
But she didnāt with 60 videos or posting daily. You eat the elephant 1 bite at a time. She only started with posting 2x per week. Aka 8 videos a month.
Glennda is busy, so by limiting shooting to 1 day a month, that lets her focus on her business the rest of the time.
āLiving the dream selling houses everyday.ā
- Glennda
So whatās next?
Even though she already posts a ton of content, sheās now added:
- Glitter and Gay (with Tyler Whitman Season 2)
- Glenndaās Gazetta (newsletter)
- Glenndaās Gurus (her own interview series with her gurus in real estate)
- Masterclasses (like her 1 day Storytelling Bootcamp), Masterminds, Events and way more.
From the outside, it looks like sheās taking her brand to an even higher level. The future is bright for this star.š
ā
š§± An Unfiltered Conversation with NY's #1 Mortgage Lender (Top 10 in US) | Brian Scott Cohen
Meet Brian Scott Cohen. This is an unfiltered conversation with Brian Scott Cohen, NY's #1 mortgage lender, top 10 in the US, and the most reachable mortgage lender in NY with over $6 billion in loans & 9,000 homeowners served.
In this conversation, we discuss:
- 00:00 - intro
- 02:15 - his story after 19 years
- 07:34 - 19,000+ TikTok followers: embracing digital
- 10:25 - overcoming tough markets
- 16:54 - high volume but high touch
- 22:55 - work life integration as a high performer
- 25:38 - over prioritizing communication
- 32:08 - becoming the knowledge broker
- 34:36 - meeting & working with Ryan Serhant for 15 years
- 40:25 - Brian's secrets for long lasting relationships
- 46:23 - educating & expanding into new markets
- 57:06 - world class leadership