n 1968, a 19-year-old kid with no car, no suit, and his last $100 walked into a real estate office wearing a purple band uniform. He failed the license exam three times. His first six months in the business, he earned an average of $42 a month.

Six years later, Tom Hopkins had closed 1,553 real estate transactions - including 365 homes in a single year, one every single day. He became a millionaire at 27. Then he walked away from selling to do something even bigger: teach.

Over the next five decades, Tom Hopkins trained more than 5 million salespeople on 5 continents. His book How to Master the Art of Selling is still the most widely read sales book in the real estate industry.

In this episode:
- The Dodger Stadium steel worker origin story
- His last $100 investment that changed everything
- The "master asker" philosophy that still beats every AI tool
- How he closed 365 homes in one year without email, Zillow, or a CRM
- What agents in 2026 can still steal from his playbook

Ambitious Agent is brought to you by Dustin Fox of the Fox Homes Team — The DMV's top-rated real estate teams with 2,124+ five-star Google reviews. Buying or selling in the DC Metro area? Visit FoxesSellFaster.com

Email remains one of the most powerful ways to leverage our database and turn contacts into listings.

The problem is: real estate agents often make the mistake of bombarding their list with emails that aren't valuable enough to open.

In order to get listings from emails, we need to be sending content people would be crazy to ignore or tag as spam.

My team found an email formula that doesn't just get a ton of opens, it brought in 9 listings in 6 months.

What are the 4 emails we should be sending to our list consistently? Why are they so effective? In this episode, I was a guest on the Stay Paid Podcast with Luke Acree and Jason Stike. We talk about how we turned email into a lucrative source of deals.

Things You'll Learn In This Episode

-The best way to get more Google reviews

Getting our clients to review us or getting our agents to make reviews a priority is a matter of giving the right incentives. What makes people want to review you?

-Don't bombard your list with low value content

The only thing Gmail loves more than not spamming, is a reply to your email. How do you send emails people want to respond to?

-The secret listings strategy

Scarcity and exclusivity are hallmarks of good marketing. How can we use it in real estate?

Guest Bio

Luke Acree and Jason Stike are co-hosts of Stay Paid Podcast. Stay Paid tackles business-building subjects like lead generation and retention, digital marketing and social media tactics. Subscribe to the podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

About Your Host

Dustin Fox is the co-founder of the Fox Homes Team, a speaker and the author of Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Dustin and his wife Devon have grown the Fox Homes Team to $400 million in production in just 3 years. Growth that is driven by Dustin's innovative marketing that generates leads for their team of agents. If he's not split-testing his latest marketing campaign, Dustin is probably taking a long bath and reading a business biography. Yes, long baths.

Check out this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

In a competitive real estate market, agents are walking into a listing appointment with a skeptical seller. When they don't know you, you're lumped in with the other agents and that makes converting a lead a lot harder.

What if you could win the battle before you even get to the appointment? What if, instead of convincing them to work with you, they are clamoring to become your client?

That's the power of leveraging YouTube ads. Through a very simple strategy, you can become a local celebrity and convert sellers before you walk through their door.

Why are YouTube Ads more effective than Instagram/Facebook Ads? Why does organic YouTube content kill the success of this strategy?

I was recently featured on The Real Rockstars Podcast with Shelby Johnson where I revealed the YouTube strategy that grew my reach, raised my conversion and led to more closings. Today I bring you into this awesome conversation so you can implement the same strategy in your business.

Things You'll Learn In This Episode

• The power of a YouTube ad
  A lot of agents rely on Facebook/Instagram ads, but they don't position you as a local celebrity. How do YouTube ads make you micro-famous?
  
  
• Organic videos vs. video ads
  It sounds counter-intuitive, but posting organic videos and running ads at the same time can get you punished by YouTube. Why do we need to avoid doing both?
  
  
• How to build a YouTube lead funnel
  YouTube ads don't just make you a local celebrity, they can become the top of a very profitable marketing funnel. How do you get the most out of each video you post?
  
  
• Elevate your open houses
  One of the biggest mistakes agents make is not putting enough effort into their open houses. How do you turn an open house into the hottest ticket in the neighborhood?

Guest Bio

Shelby is a real estate agent and co-host of Real Estate Rockstars Podcast. She served in the Army for 6 years and got out as a Captain in the beginning of 2018 to dive into real estate full time as both a broker and investor. Out the gate, Shelby was recognized as the Keller Williams Rookie of the Year for all of North & South Carolina with 48 transactions closed. She moved on to create a traditional team, Five Pillars Realty Group, which closed 500+ transactions in the first 2.5 years. Subscribe to Real Estate Rockstars on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

About Your Host

Dustin Fox is the co-founder of the Fox Homes Team, a speaker and the author of Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Dustin and his wife Devon have grown the Fox Homes Team to $400 million in production in just 3 years. Growth that is driven by Dustin's innovative marketing that generates leads for their team of agents. If he's not split-testing his latest marketing campaign, Dustin is probably taking a long bath and reading a business biography. Yes, long baths.

Check out this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

Want to master persuasive marketing and set yourself apart from every other agent in your market? Get my book, Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Available on Amazon. And if you send me a screenshot of an Amazon review, you'll get my 100 top split tested headlines for Facebook and Instagram ads. Just DM that screenshot to me on Instagram, @dustinmfox.

Nothing intimidates a real estate agent more than the notion of selling a luxury listing. Even the most seasoned professionals shudder at the thought of a home with a high price tag.

Luxury listings may spend more days on market and have a higher marketing demand, but they aren't as difficult to sell as we think. Because here's the thing: if you can sell a $500,000 home, you can certainly sell a $5 million home - especially if you use the following approach.

Treat the listing like it's an online dating profile. Focus on capturing the interest of a buyer swiping through photos of many homes. A sale is ultimately one swipe away, and the better the home looks, the more likely it is to get a "date".

How do we showcase a luxury listing to attract the right buyer? How do you tap into an often overlooked source of business? In this episode, I'm joined by luxury specialist and the founder of Frontgate Real Estate, Jeff Biebuyck. We talk about how to break into luxury, and the strategy that will bring in hundreds of buyers.

Things You'll Learn In This Episode

• One swipe away from a motivated buyer
  Buyers are swiping through listings like an online dating app. How do you make sure your listing appeals to them and makes them want to view the property?
  
  
• Don't be afraid of more zeros
  A lot of highly experienced agents get nervous when an extra 0 is added to the price of a listing. Is selling a luxury listing as intimidating as we make it out to be?
  
  
• How to delight luxury sellers
  Luxury listings require more marketing and the clients often compare their home to other high end homes that have sold. How do we talk to them and set the right expectations?
  
  
• The most overlooked lead source in real estate
  Having a sphere of local businesses is just as important as a sphere of past clients. How do we build relationships with other businesses and how will this bring in more deals?
  

Guest Bio

Jeff Biebuyck is a luxury specialist and the founder and director of technology and internet marketing at Frontgate Real Estate. The reputation Jeff has crafted for himself has earned him and his partner Dana local and national recognition as premier luxury Southern California real estate agents. A top producer who cements his status with his supreme integrity, professionalism, and negotiation skills, Jeff generates much of his business from past clients and referrals and ranks among the top 1% of agents in the country. In Calabasas for more than 20 years now, Jeff services a diverse and sophisticated clientele, including corporate and entertainment executives, attorneys, and well-known celebrities. Additionally, Jeff belongs to the Exclusive Referral Group to The World's Best Realtors®, which unites an elite network of nationally recognized agents who represent the highest echelon of the industry. To learn more, visit https://frontgaterealestate.com/.

About Your Host

Dustin Fox is the co-founder of the Fox Homes Team, a speaker and the author of Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Dustin and his wife Devon have grown the Fox Homes Team to $400 million in production in just 3 years. Growth that is driven by Dustin's innovative marketing that generates leads for their team of agents. If he's not split-testing his latest marketing campaign, Dustin is probably taking a long bath and reading a business biography. Yes, long baths.

Check out this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

Want to master persuasive marketing and set yourself apart from every other agent in your market? Get my book, Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Available on Amazon. And if you send me a screenshot of an Amazon review, you'll get my 100 top split tested headlines for Facebook and Instagram ads. Just DM that screenshot to me on Instagram, @dustinmfox.

Ever since covid, everyone has embraced online review-based shopping and that includes the average home seller. Before people choose to work with you, they're going to search for you on Google, and the more reviews you have, the higher the likelihood that they'll hire you.

Maintaining those Google reviews isn't always smooth sailing. Google's review filter is getting stricter, and that sometimes means your reviews vanish. How do you make your reviews less prone to deletion? How do you get your reviews reinstated?

In this episode, I talk about how to deal with your reviews disappearing.

Read the full article: Why Your Google Reviews Keep Disappearing (And How to Fix It)

About Your Host

Dustin Fox is the co-founder of the Fox Homes Team, a speaker and the author of Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Dustin and his wife Devon have grown the Fox Homes Team to $400 million in production in just 3 years. Growth that is driven by Dustin's innovative marketing that generates leads for their team of agents. If he's not split-testing his latest marketing campaign, Dustin is probably taking a long bath and reading a business biography. Yes, long baths.

Want to master persuasive marketing and set yourself apart from every other agent in your market? Get my book, Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Available on Amazon. And if you send me a screenshot of an Amazon review, you'll get my 100 top split tested headlines for Facebook and Instagram ads. Just DM that screenshot to me on Instagram, @dustinmfox.

Check out this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

Over the last 5 years, direct mail has made a real comeback as a lead generation strategy in real estate. The problem is, now that more people are competing for mailbox space, it's really easy for your letter to end up at the bottom of a trash pile.

That is unless you do something to make sure your mail stands out in a sea of sales letters.

My secret? The lumpy mail strategy or sending mail with small gifts you can get at the Dollar Store.

It's hard to believe that a cheap trinket can get you a listing, but we've been able to get $5 million dollar listings with this strategy.

What kind of gifts should we send? How do we make sure the mail actually gets opened?

In this episode, I share a strategy that will get your phone ringing off the hook with motivated sellers.

Things You'll Learn In This Episode

-Think trinket, not bribe

Most agents think winning a million dollar listing requires an expensive gift, but would a high price tag actually work against you?

-How to package the letter so it gets opened

With more people sending direct mail to your target audience, how do we make it impossible for them to throw it into the trash without reading it first?

-Persistence, originality and expertise

The lumpy mail strategy isn't actually about the gifts. What should we aim to do with it?

Read the full article here.

Want to master persuasive marketing and set yourself apart from every other agent in your market? Get my book, Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Available on Amazon. And if you send me a screenshot of an Amazon review, you'll get my 100 top split tested headlines for Facebook and Instagram ads. Just DM that screenshot to me on Instagram, @dustinmfox.

About Your Host

Dustin Fox is the co-founder of the Fox Homes Team, a speaker and the author of Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Dustin and his wife Devon have grown the Fox Homes Team to $400 million in production in just 3 years. Growth that is driven by Dustin's innovative marketing that generates leads for their team of agents. If he's not split-testing his latest marketing campaign, Dustin is probably taking a long bath and reading a business biography. Yes, long baths.

Check out this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

As a new agent in the middle of a buyer's market, I quickly noticed that my seller clients were frustrated.

• Why weren't their homes selling?
• Was it price or something else?
• Was I doing enough to find them a buyer?

This led me down a rabbit hole, and I discovered all the ways I could be using tech to market listings or even get new ones.

Tech in real estate isn't just a buzzword or a list of shiny objects. If you're leveraging the right platforms, your listings will sell faster, your business will run more efficiently, and you'll impress your clients.

What tech tools that will make you more credible, add polish to your content and help you generate a steady flow of leads?

In this episode, I share 5 resources every agent should be taking advantage of plus one extra one that will elevate everything you do online.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

• Advertise like a pro
  A huge number of real estate agents will never tap into Facebook ads because the process feels too involved. Is there a way to simplify this?

• Stop sharing third-party links
  Many real estate agents are losing business because of the links to their listings. How can one simple change make us stop handing business over to the competition?

• Revolutionize client engagement
  Every agent worth their salt is doing market stats and reports. How can you create elevated reports that stand out, boost your brand and position you as an authority?

Read the full article:

Mastering Real Estate Tech: The Five Essential Tools For The Modern Agent

About Your Host

Dustin Fox is the co-founder of the Fox Homes Team, a speaker and the author of Six Weeks to Real Estate Success. Dustin and his wife Devon have grown the Fox Homes Team to $400 million in production in just 3 years. Growth that is driven by Dustin's innovative marketing that generates leads for their team of agents. If he's not split-testing his latest marketing campaign, Dustin is probably taking a long bath and reading a business biography. Yes, long baths.

Check out this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!