Welcome to CRE Broker Playbook.

Why would a successful 35-year-old leave a thriving business he helped build, move his family to a new state, and voluntarily go 15 months without income? For David Hill, it was the combination of following his calling and betting on himself in the land brokerage business.

David is a friend and has a story that resonates with me deeply. It’s about risk taking and answering the call. I wrote about my story here.

He helped build a recruiting business from 1 to 70 employees and $10MM in revenue before leaving to become the Managing Director at Saunders Real Estate in Arkansas. He's building the brokerage's presence in a state where nobody had heard of them while recruiting and managing a growing team of land brokers. After 15 months of grinding with essentially no income, he recently went from zero listings to 10 listings in a single month.

INTRO

Jake: Why did you do this, David?

David: I ask myself that question a lot, actually. It was a multifaceted decision made in two parts. First, we looked around at our friends in Dallas who were all starting to have kids, and pretty much every single one had family in Dallas to help out. We realized this is really hard to do with a kid and no family support.

So that was the catalyst behind wanting to move either back to Niceville, where I'm from, or to Arkansas, where my wife, Alex is from.

Around COVID, one of my really close friends - who's now the president of Saunders - went to work for Saunders Real Estate as CFO. As soon as he started, he said, "Dude, you would love this job and you'd be really good at it." That was 2020, and I started thinking about it. The more I considered it, the more it made sense - I love the outdoors, I love land, I'm curious about land. It's probably why I'm a nerd when it comes to golf course architecture.

Plus I'm also gifted in sales and being around people, so it seemed like the perfect combination.

I felt like my work was done at Pursuit. I poured my heart and soul into that company and gave it everything I had. But I was never passionate about recruiting, to be honest. I was passionate about sales and people, and I love the culture and people at Pursuit. But I don't get excited about recruiting necessarily. I got to a point where I said, "Man, I think it's time for a change."

Editor note: David also works with Kyle Porter at Normal Sport, a golf newsletter that makes me happy each time I read it.

STARTING OVER

Jake: Walk me through the financial logistics of a move like this.

David: I started with Saunders in May 2024. That's the part that probably makes me pretty crazy and maybe a little dumb, because it has been hard, dude. I haven't really made any money for like 15 months.

The timeline matters though because Alex and I decided in early 2023 that we were definitely going to do this. So we started planning and saving aggressively. She was going to quit her job when our baby came and I was going to quit mine. We went from dual income, no kids to one kid, no income, which is crazy in a brand new state, in a brand new industry for me. Plus, the brokerage has been around for 30 years in Florida, but no one in Arkansas had ever heard of Saunders.

I was probably a little overconfident. I knew it was going to be hard but didn't know it was going to be this hard. We had saved more money than we ever had before, and when we sold our house in Richardson, we made out really well because we bought at a good time with a low interest rate.

But now, watching my life savings go down every month with nothing being replenished is pretty haunting.

FAITH

Jake: How has your faith played a role in this move?

David: That's a huge part of my story - trusting in the Lord for provision and for my sanity every single day. The last year has been the most spiritually refining year of my entire life. I've never really gone through trials where I feel helpless without God. It's easy when things are going well to convince yourself you're not helpless until they aren't.

So it's been a lot of really hard work, grinding as hard as I can, and a lot of prayer and trust that the Lord will provide. And He has continuously provided in very physical and tangible ways when we needed it.

WHERE YOU ARE NOW

Jake: What does the pipeline look like 15 months in?

David: So, I got my first listing in December, and quite frankly, it was pretty much impossible to sell. I still have it listed. It was listed by three other brokers before me, if that tells you anything. So it's been super dry, and I took it because I needed it.

But, in the last month I've gone from basically zero listings to 10 listings. That's the result of a ton of work, grinding, cold calling, trying different approaches. Some things work and I keep doing them, others don't work and I stop.

For 12 months I was pushing a boulder straight up a mountain by myself. Now we've at least reached the plateau where I'm not pushing it uphill anymore. The business is starting to ramp up, and I'm a firm believer that business creates more business.

I don't want to make it seem like it was all on me. Our support system at headquarters in Florida is awesome. Our marketing team has invested their time and our owners are investing money to help me get our name out there. A year ago, no one had heard of Saunders Real Estate in Arkansas. That's changed a lot.

Jake: What has worked for getting listings?

David: The biggest thing that worked was hiring two college interns last fall. Their job was to research every single land sale over 50 acres in the state, verify they were arm's length transactions, and create a market report that we sent to 12,000 landowners. That's an example of our marketing team and owners investing to make this work. It looks like a publication people would keep on their coffee table, and it has helped us tremendously.

Outside of that, mailers have worked big time. Good old fashioned snail mail.

And then I would add, relationships. I've never really met a stranger and genuinely get energized by meeting new people, though I know that's not everyone's case. Even on days where I don't feel like talking, you have to push through. It's a relationship business - that's a cliche, but it's so true.

Just ask for help. Meet somebody and don't be afraid to ask who else you should talk to. That web of your network multiplies. Now when I go to conferences with 150 people, it's like a reunion because I know most of them from previous conferences.

ADVICE

Jake: Any advice for career switchers?

David: I know it's going to be really hard. This is the hardest job I've ever had, but it's so much fun. Even when I feel like I want to cry, the job is still super fun.

Maybe I'm insane for doing this when my wife and I had a baby and she quit her job. It's probably not the most sane timing to start something without making any money. But I felt called to do this and felt like I was being obedient to God's calling. That's where I want to be - where the Lord wants me.

Thanks for reading!