Today we’d like to introduce you to Emmitt Combs.
Emmitt, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
There is no short story to my process and there was no overnight success!
For you to truly understand where the passion originated, I’d have to take you back to 2005 when I lived in Atlanta where I was raised. 2005 is significant because a lot of events happened that year that made me change directions in my life. The main awakening event was the home invasion and kidnapping. That caused me to drop out of college and start a career on the road in the oil field. The oil field experience allowed me to find out who I was as an individual and discover my real passion. I knew from the first day of working in the oil field, that wasn’t the life for me. My brother and I was dropped off in a helicopter in the middle of a field and all we could see was snow which came up to our thighs. We made a promise to each other that we wouldn’t quit no matter how hard it got and we didn’t. The working conditions was unbearable and most people quit within a week or two. From there, I began reading books and tapping into what I had learned from school because I knew there had to be an easier way of making a living. Shortly after, I began doing taxes for the employees in the oil field and close friends as I began to move up into management. From the extra money I was making, it allowed me the opportunity to save up and buy my first investment property.
As my vision became clearer, I began planning for my transition into the entrepreneur world. I opened a tax office in Miami in 2013 that allowed me to make a full transition out of the oil field. Before leaving the oil field completely, I purchased my second investment property. After fully leaving the oil field, I got my real estate license and began my transition from taxes and accounting into a full-time real estate agent. My plans were way too big for any brokerage that I met with but decided to start my career with Keller Williams. I knew from the very first day with KW that after my 2 years of being licensed, I’d get my brokers license and open my own brokerage. I was already used to running a big operation from the oil company and that experience changed the way I viewed life and opportunities. Today marks year three of me running my own brokerage.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. Struggles came from not being a Florida native and not having any family in Miami. My wife and kids lived in Orlando, while I was commuting back and forth to build my real estate business because my tax clients were all the people I knew in Florida at that time. It was tough spending four days in Miami and three days in Orlando every week. The first year I opened my brokerage, I decided to relocate back to Orlando full time with my family and start all over. That was extremely hard because I had to hit the ground running again and didn’t know anyone in Orlando and my only clients were in Miami. Eventually, I was able to convince one of my past clients to leave their job and come to work with me as a real estate agent. That was more pressure than anything I had ever faced before in my life because this was my friend with a family that trusted me enough to walk away from his job and jeopardize his lively hood. I couldn’t let him and his family down and I didn’t. Now, his wife is also on our team as an agent.
Please tell us about Combs Premier Realty Group – what should we know?
Combs Premier Realty Group started out as Emmitt Combs & Co Realty. We specialize in residential and luxury real estate buying and selling from Central Florida to South Florida. We are known for our marketing and our Homebuyer workshop tours across the state of Florida. We started out doing one home buyer workshop three years ago and only had two people to show up. In my next home buyer workshop, we had around 12 people to show up but two of the clients were from the first workshop. When asked why they came back again, they replied, the last workshop was so good and so much information, they needed to come back to hear it again. One also gave me a testimonial and mentioned that they had been to several home buyer workshops before but none of them were as informative as ours. I realized that more people needed real information so we started the Emmitt Combs home buyer workshop tours going from Orlando, Lakeland, Tampa, Ft Lauderdale and ending in Miami four times a year. I’m proud of the number of people we have impacted and assisted to become homeowners and I’m proud of the agent’s lives we’ve changed within our brokerage.
The fact that I’m hands-on with all of our agents and we teach them how to become entrepreneurs and how to build their brand is what sets us apart. We create playbooks for each agent that matches their personality and resources and create the environment for them to be successful.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I love people and love helping people. I’ve been judged ever since I was a little kid and was actually told by my elementary school assistant principal that I wasn’t going to be anything in life and would probably be dead or in jail before I turned 18. All those negative comments stuck with me throughout my life and it drives me to prove people wrong. It also drives me to find more people like me, who only need someone to believe in them and give them an opportunity to prove people wrong. The motto I live by is “to dig a well before I’m thirsty” and teach my agents to do the same. Always look to add value to other people’s lives and if you can’t add value, be humble enough to reach out and ask for help so you can learn how.
Contact Info:
- Address: 8201 Peters Road Unit 100
Plantation, FL 33324 - Website: http://www.combspremier.com/
- Phone: 4076148336
- Email: iadoreflorida@gmail.com
- Instagram: emmittcombs
- Facebook: Combs Premier Realty Group
Image Credit:
twright@wrightchoicefl.com
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