Trusting the Process: How Tonya Built a Thriving Real Estate Career in Just Two Years

Tonya Knight sits down with broker Maria Quattrone to celebrate a remarkable milestone – her second anniversary as a real estate professional with MQA. What makes this achievement extraordinary? Tonya transitioned from a cosmetology background with zero sales experience after spending seven years as her mother's caregiver.

The raw, emotional conversation reveals how TO\onya built her business from scratch, including the moment she broke down crying when overwhelmed by new systems and processes. Rather than receiving comfort, Maria's straight-talk approach – "You're not going to get it in one night" – became the catalyst for Tonya's determination. This authentic exchange highlights the significant gap between HGTV's glamorized portrayal of real estate and the gritty reality of building a sustainable business.

Most compelling is Tonya's methodical approach to growth. She details how she expanded from 20 personal contacts to nurturing relationships with 649 clients through consistent follow-up, leveraging MQA's database of over 50,000 opportunities. The disciplined three-point contact system (text, call, email) combined with daily accountability huddles transformed her into a confident agent on track to serve 50 families in just her second year – a testament to the power of trusting the process.

Beyond statistics lies the heart of Tonya's motivation: "Changing my life allows me to change lives for others." Her joy in helping first-time homebuyers across generations reveals what truly drives sustainable success in real estate – genuine care for clients paired with unwavering persistence. Whether you're considering a career change or seeking inspiration to overcome professional challenges, Tonya's journey proves that with the right support system and consistent effort, extraordinary transformations are possible.

💡 Key Takeaways:

• Success doesn't happen overnight—it’s about consistency, faith, and showing up daily.
• Learning the systems is tough at first, but with support and grit, you grow.
• Building a pipeline means building relationships—every person is an opportunity.
• Morning accountability huddles and weekly training drive Tonya’s performance.
• Trusting in God and the process has been Tonya’s guiding light.

📚 Books/Tools Mentioned:

• Follow-Up Boss CRM
• “Be The Solution” methodology
• “F.O.R.D.” framework for conversation (Family, Occupation, Recreation, Dreams)

🗣️ Quotes:

“What you gave me is what I needed.” – Tonya Knight
 “It’s not about leads. It’s about opportunities.” – Maria Quattrone
 “Changing my life allows me to change the lives of others.” – Tonya Knight
 “Most people think real estate is HGTV—it’s not.” – Maria Quattrone
 “Every devil has its level.” – Maria Quattrone

Connect with Maria Quattrone:
Facebook: Maria Quattrone
Facebook Page: REMAX at Home Facebook
Facebook Page: Rise in Real Estate Facebook
LinkedIn: Maria Quattrone
YouTube: Maria Quattrone
Instagram: @maria_quattrone
TikTok: mariaquattronerealestate
Website: MQrealesate.com
Office number: 215- 607-3535

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tanya morning everybody.
Good morning.
This is Tanya Knight.
I'm Maria Quattrone, mariaQuattrone Real Estate Experts at
Remax at Home and I want tocongratulate Tanya on her two
years as being a professionalrealtor here at MQA.

(00:21):
In fact, tanya started herjourney two years ago with us
and, tanya, I want to ask youwhy did you decide to become a
professional real estate agent?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, my husband.
He was always promoting me,wanting me to be a real estate
agent.
However, I come from acosmetology background.
A real estate agent, however, Icome from a cosmetology
background, so I had to takecare of my mom she for seven and
a half years and I was hometaking care of my mom and I woke
up one day and said I'm goingto go online and I'm going to

(00:57):
look into the real estate plan.
So that's what I did and Isurprised them and I did it.
It took me a little longerbecause I had cobwebs in my head
and it was so much informationand I did it.
I'm now a real estate agent.
So it was like I can't believeit.
I'm really good.
Every time I think about it, Iget really emotional about it.

(01:22):
It was quite the journey for you, wasn't it?

Speaker 1 (01:26):
And was it an easy one?

Speaker 2 (01:30):
No, it wasn't easy it wasn't easy at all.
As a matter of fact, I wasthinking how, when I first
started here, I was trying toget used to all the different
systems that we have to workwith.
And I was in the corner crying.
And you came over to me and youwere like what's wrong with you

(01:51):
, these systems?
I don't know what to do, Idon't know how to do it.
And I was expecting a hugsaying, oh baby's going to be OK
.
And you were like get yourselftogether.
It doesn't happen in one night.
You're not going to get it inone night.
So I just turned around andwiped my eyes hey, I needed that

(02:14):
.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
That's what.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
I needed.
I wanted the hug, but I neededthat because that's who I am.
I never give up.
I'm not really I am emotionallya prior, but about good things,
not about not being able to dosomething.
That's not even who I am, so Ineeded.
What you gave me is what Ineeded.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
So, and you did, and I remember that day very clearly
.
I remember that day.
So what the heck is going onover here?
You can't figure this out in aweek or a month.
It takes much longer than thatto get everything down.
It's something new.
It's not like when you went tocosmetology school.

(02:54):
When you were there, did thepeople learn how to cut hair in
a month?
No, no, took a long time.
It's a process and we trust theprocess.
Yes, we do.
There's a process that you gothrough and I always say most
people, even people that startedthis year, they quit and they
weren't even here a week Someweren't here in a day.

(03:16):
I say one day it's not HGTV, isit?
No, people think it's HGTV.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
It really isn't Not very glamorous either is it no.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
People think it's HGTV.
It really isn't.
No, not very glamorous eitheris it no.
Most days it's not.
We put a little makeup on thismorning for y'all yeah.
But most days.
We're hustling, we're hustling,we're hustling and we're
putting good vibes out there andbeing in contribution.
So why did you decide to joinMQA, our community?

(03:48):
Tanya?

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, I had a friend who was a real estate agent that
I knew from years back and theyworked for Remax and I had done
my homework.
I Googled a couple of companiesand I just said, well, I'm just
going to try Remax, so I goonline and I put my information

(04:11):
in the online site and I got allthese like texts and not text
emails from different you knowRemax entities here in the city.
Ms Helen called me and she saidthat she was from Remaxing Home
, maria Patron Associates, and Iwas like, oh wow, they actually
called me.
So I was able to have aconversation with her and ask

(04:32):
questions, because at that timeI was taking care of my mom and
I wanted to know, like, how thatwould work out, with me being
able to take care of my mom andbe a real estate agent as well.
Like, did I have to be in theoffice, you know, like every
single day?
How does that work?
And she said, well, come in and, you know, meet with us and
have the interview.
And she said that, you know,there are some people that

(04:55):
actually have a schedule wherethey can, you know, for the
taking care of their parents andthings like that.
And I was like, oh really, Iwas so excited about that just
to be able to have thatconversation with her.
When I came in, I actually hadan interview somewhere else,
when I met with you, back in thekitchen, which was an
experience in itself, because Icouldn't believe that I was

(05:16):
actually sitting down with theowner and CEO of the company we
do the work, tanya.
I couldn't believe it.
So I was really excited aboutthat and I called and canceled
the other appointment and Istayed here and I'm so glad that
I did.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
We're so glad that you did too.
You're a beacon of sunshine,always with a positive spirit,
and you take constructivecriticism well to help you grow
Right, right, because we're hereto help you grow Right.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
Right.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
And to the next level , and then we talk about that
right.
Every devil has its levels,right, right, right.
There was a beginning devil,right, and then the mid devil.
So tell me about your currentpipeline of business and where
did it come from?

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Well, let me just say that when I realized I was a
real estate agent, I said I hadto go out there and get some
people because I didn't haveanybody to talk to.
Right, I'm a people person, Ican talk to you anywhere.
But when I came here and I wasintroduced to the follow-up boss
, it was so many people in thesystem, so all of my people.

(06:27):
We have over 50,000, maybe 55now.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
It's more than 55.
We'll say 50,000 people in thedatabase.
And we know 7% of them willtransact this year.
So that's like 2,800 sales.
But if we don't get to callthem all, business is going to

(06:54):
go somewhere else.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Tons of opportunity, right?
Absolutely so.
The thing is that when I firststarted, I had to realize that I
needed to put a system in placebecause it was so overwhelming
people and, at first, because Ilike to talk.
You probably could tell that Ilike to talk, so I was talking a
long time to these clients anda lot of them were long-term
nurture.
Some of them were short-termnurture.
However, it created theserelationships it's like family

(07:16):
now pretty much and I had tocreate the system to tap Like in
the pub.
You're system to tap like in thepub.
You're able to text.
You have to be able to followup with them to know who you're
talking to and where they are inthe process and reach back out.
We have the three points ofcontact with the.
You know, we do the text, we dothe phone call and we do the

(07:38):
email.
So I went from my own sphere ofinfluence, which was like 20
people, to 649 people, right?
So now this is who I'm talkingto on a monthly basis, and it
got to the point where I had togo buy a post-it A big post-it,

(08:02):
a big post--it.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
So how many families do you think, based on your
current pipeline, that you willserve this year, in your second
year, this year so you're goinginto your third?
I would say 50.
You're on track for about 50sales.
50 families served for somebodywho's been in the business just

(08:24):
two years.
What do we do every Friday?
For about 50 sales, 50 familiesserved for somebody who's been
in the business just two years.
What do we do every Friday?

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Every Friday we train .
Well, that's another thing Iforgot.
So Not only did I have theinterview with the CEO, we have
meetings every week with Mariaand Dara, which is our broker,
and they would teach us.

(08:51):
Two times a week we had ameeting and they would role play
with us and they would give usinspiration on how to grow, and
sometimes the stories that weretold were kind of tough to hear.
However, we needed that to beable to move past our fears.
And, of course, if you haveconfidence in yourself, you just

(09:12):
got to have, which is actuallyextra, because you need
confidence in the process, right?

Speaker 1 (09:19):
Confidence in the process.
Confidence in the process,trust that if you do the work
and you work the pipeline, youwork the opportunities.
I don't like to call anybody alead.
It's an opportunity.
We have past clients, repeatclients, expired or sell by
owners.
We have investors, we havedevelopers, we have buyers, we

(09:40):
have regular home sellers, allwithin.
I've developed over a 21-yearcareer.
So there's a tremendousopportunity and you took that
opportunity and,step-by-step-by-step, created
your pipeline within ourpipeline of business by making
the calls, doing the follow-up,being consistent, and we meet

(10:04):
every morning right right on thephone with her we have a
morning huddle every morning,our MQA success huddle and
that's where we actually, in ourSlack system, we have to put
our commitment for that day andwe talk about the commitments we
made for the prior day.
How does that?

Speaker 2 (10:21):
help keep you accountable.
That's holding yourselfaccountable, because when you go
in the next morning, prior day,how does that help keep you
accountable?
Holding yourself accountableBecause when you go in the next
morning and you have yourmorning huddle and you're not
able to say, well, I met mycommitment, usually that
shouldn't make you feel goodabout the fact that you didn't
meet it?

Speaker 1 (10:37):
What happens when you meet your commitment?
What does it provide you whenyou do the commitment?

Speaker 2 (10:43):
For one confidence in the process, um overall success
, knowing that you met yourcommitment, because we don't
think oh, we say commitment, soI learned that early as well and
that you can actually do it,that it can be done.
So that means that you, itgives you confidence to know
that go do it again, do it againand do it again.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
So let's look at this right.
You had no experience in realestate.
Did you ever sell any otherproducts before?
So no real sales experience.
And here you are at the end ofyour second year.
Today's your second anniversary.
You're going to serve 50families this year.
That's amazing.
That's amazing.
It's amazing.

(11:26):
And you are a beautiful humanand you have a beautiful soul
and your energy brings positiveenergy into our MQA community.
So I'm so excited for you.
Tanya, how has this changed?

Speaker 2 (11:41):
your life.
Wow, it really has.
It's not only changing my life.
I'm changing lives of otherswho are looking to purchase
their home their first time homebuyers.
And you have your seniorcitizens that are first time

(12:02):
home buyers, that are buyingtheir home for the first time.
And then you have the youngpeople that I talk to all the
time.
They're so excited about buyingtheir home, so that makes me
excited to be able to assistthem.
So it does change Me.
Changing my life allows me tochange lives for others, and

(12:23):
that's what it's all about.
That's what it's all about atthe end of the day Be the
solution Be the solution.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
Right Be the solution .
So, before we wrap up, Tanyawhat are you most excited about
for your personal future?

Speaker 2 (12:37):
Just being able to trust in God and know that he
has the process and he is a partof this process and I am where
I am because this is where heplaced me.
So I have high expectationsthat I put on God and he puts
high expectations on myself, andthen I look forward to just

(13:00):
making sure that I meet at theend, that I know that I did well
.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
And you are.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Love you Happy anniversary.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
Thank you, I'm so happy and I'm so proud of you
and all that you've accomplishedin the last two years.
And it's onward enough for ayear, amen.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Thank you, let's be this relationship.