Selling with Meaning

Most people do not dream of becoming real-estate agents. Sometimes, they stumble into that role by accident. And other times, something in them just clicks, and they develop a love for the game. That’s how Ryan Serhant, a former soap-opera actor, got started in the business. “I got into the business because I was living in New York after college. I came to the city to be an actor, I ran out of money and college savings, and I didn’t want to get a ‘survival job,’ so I had a friend that told me, ‘Get your real-estate license. It’s great, and the market is amazing.’ I got [it] because I didn’t know what else to do and I figured I could maybe rent an apartment a month and pay for the majority of my bills,” recalls Serhant, who is now one of the most successful real-estate brokers in the country.

In an unlikely twist of fate, Serhant began his career as a real-estate broker on September 15th, 2008 – the day that Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States back then, filed for bankruptcy, therefore kick-starting the 2008 financial crisis. However, his newfound career was not derailed by the global financial meltdown. “It was a really tough time for people who had been in the business already,” he shares. “I was an out-of-work actor with no money getting into this business with no notion of what to expect at all. So I didn’t lose any money when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy because I had none. Everyone was just having a really hard time. I just thought that real estate was the hardest thing ever. It was actually a pretty good time to get started because I learned the business as the market was slowly coming back to life.”

Serhant started working on his own at what was then a relatively small brokerage – without a team or a mentor to guide him in his first foray into a rapidly-imploding market, and without wealthy clients to lean on; however, he refused to limit himself in a niche. “I had to teach myself,” he says. “My first clients were pregnant women I met in line at Starbucks, and [I] tried to get them to rent a bigger apartment because I thought their family needed more space. I would meet people on the street. Those were my first clients, and I had to work my way up.”

Now, almost a decade later, Serhant runs The Serhant Team, one of the most successful and highest-ranked real-estate groups in the country, but he’s best known for starring in Bravo’s television series Million Dollar Listing New York, and its spin-off, Sell It Like Serhant, and for being the author of last year’s best-selling book Sell It Like Serhant: How to Sell More, Earn More, and Become the Ultimate Sales Machine. “Hard work triumphs all,” says Serhant, who is an avid supporter of many charities, too, such as Project Sunshine, a non-profit that meets the psychosocial and developmental needs of pediatric patients and families living with all medical challenges. “You have to have empathy. You have to be able to empathize with your clients in the good and the bad. Good salespeople are able to delve into the details of emotion. And you need enthusiasm. You must. It’s a really hard business, it’s a rewarding business, and you must be enthusiastic when you wake up every day. It’s rewarding to do deals. It’s rewarding to know that the time and effort you put in will directly influence the outcome of your life, income-wise and happiness-wise.”

Additionally, he is ready to impart his wisdom and knowledge to a new generation of would-be brokers with his online class. “It’s really just how I taught myself how to sell, and the fact that everybody can teach themselves how to sell if they want to,” adds Serhant. “If you don’t want to, then you’re not going to be able to do it, but if you want to, it’s 100% possible. Anybody can be a salesperson.”

Writer: Monica Dias

Photographers: Jamie & Grayson Hoffman

Stylist: Lassalle (@stylebylassalle & @stevenlassalle_ - www.stevenlassalle.com)

Stylist Assistants: Beatrice Figueroa (@beatricefigueroa) & Ike Essilfie-Obeng (@iii.gov.x.c.i)

Men’s Grooming: Amanda Wilson (for Opus Beauty - using Drunk Elephant & Oribe)

Videographer: Jesse Ovalles

Videographer Assistant: Adam Brett Schnee

Editor: Eiko Watanabe

Special thanks to Irving Farm New York (@irvingfarm - irvingfarm.com) & EPK Media (@myepk & @epkmedia - epkmedia.com)