The journey from solopreneur to mega team leader is never an easy one, but Holly Meyer Lucas makes it feel effortless. In a recent live recording of The Luxury Presence Podcast at Social Summit 2.0 in Los Angeles, this dynamic powerhouse of an entrepreneur pulled back the curtain on what it takes and how to leverage media, shifts in technology, and the strengths of others to build an authentic real estate empire.
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The team-building playbook
While Lucas is now the leader of a 40-agent team based in Jupiter, Florida, she didn’t start out with that plan. In fact, she told conference attendees that she started her team “by accident” when she used “we” terminology during a listing appointment as a new agent and then had to produce a team.
Now, she’s a firm believer that modern real estate transactions are best accomplished when entrepreneurs join forces. “I would never hire a solo agent. Full stop,” she said. “I firmly, firmly believe that real estate is a team sport.”
While she stresses that agents must wear multiple hats — from content creator to operations manager — she also believes that many agents need to learn that they can’t do it all themselves. “I learned really early on that delegating is the name of the game,” she said. “There’s this vortex that entrepreneurs get caught up in, [thinking], ‘Nevermind I’ll just do it.’”
Lucas advised real estate professionals who find themselves in this situation to build a system around that supposedly unassignable task. She even launched a separate company, called The Chief Code, which specializes in helping entrepreneurs recruit chiefs of staff.
Authentic branding through video
While many real estate professionals see the power of video, Lucas framed the need to engage in this medium as the beginning of a new era in marketing. “The pandemic really drew a line in the sand for a number of reasons in terms of what you have to do as a real estate agent to be successful,” she said. “That was the dawn of … short-form video really becoming a thing.”
Lucas emphasized that the strength of short-form videos comes from the value that platforms such as TikTok place on authentic content over highly produced material. She described her substantial following as coming from “literally putting out thoughts into the ether.”
“I am who I am and I’m not who I’m not. Take it or leave it. And that’s been my approach to my personal brand,” she said, adding that she “accidentally created this authentic brand by just being unapologetically me.”
While the brand may have started organically, Lucas has since thought very deeply about how her authenticity translates to a company that specializes in selling very high-end luxury homes. “[In] my real estate company, the branding is loud, and it’s emojis, and its neon,” she said. “So for me, branding, it’s such an interesting word because it’s such a part of your marketing mix, but as a real estate agent, as an entrepreneur, branding should equal just being yourself in an amplified way.”
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Pivoting to PR
Perhaps the best way to amplify one’s brand is through public relations. Lucas credits news coverage as a catalyst for her career, beginning with selling a home to a celebrity.
“Getting on your local news station is one of the most impactful, powerful things you can do. And they’re always looking for real estate takeaways. You could pitch pretty much anything about what’s happening in real estate right now to your local news station,” she said.
Of course, just appearing on the news isn’t the end of the journey. Lucas stressed the importance of leveraging press opportunities by consistently promoting these media appearances across social media platforms. She also emphasized the fact that PR is only valuable when your brand aligns with the story being told.
And though she’s always had a strong sense of self, Lucas recognized her limits and hired a PR professional to help her clarify her own brand. In fact, Lucas embraced this belief in a characteristically entrepreneurial way by launching Hype Boss, a PR and creative agency focused on real estate professionals.
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Embracing technology
During a quick overrated vs underrated segment, Lucas emphasized that AI is “way underrated” for real estate, noting that the most successful marketing pieces will be the items that large language models such as ChatGPT use to inform their query results. To take advantage of this shift, she encouraged agents to focus on “answer engine optimization over search engine optimization” when creating content.
When asked about her website strategies, Lucas explained that she built and managed her own website for over a decade, first on Wix and then on Squarespace. The site generated significant organic traffic and high-quality leads that contributed to her success. But once again, she had to learn a very important lesson about delegation and teamwork.
Despite her strong SEO strategy, maintaining the website became overwhelming as her business grew. She decided to migrate her real estate website to Luxury Presence, prioritizing a seamless transition without compromising her established SEO. The results were immediate — within hours of the migration, her inbox filled with new leads, validating her decision to trust a platform with a stronger backend and dedicated support.
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If you’re inspired by Lucas’s approach to real estate entrepreneurship and are ready for a website that elevates your authentic brand and generates consistent leads, schedule a consultation with our expert team today. Luxury Presence combines stunning design with powerful SEO capabilities to help you build a digital presence that works as hard as you do.
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Learn how we can help take your real estate business to the next level. Schedule a time to speak with one of our branding experts today.
