October 23, 2023 • 27 mins
Uncover the secrets behind one man's unstoppable journey from a corporate finance career to a real estate dynamo in Nashville, as we sit down with Steve Frye from the Frye Group. Listen in as Steve divulges how he seamlessly transitioned into the real estate world, propelled by his wife's encouragement and his own indomitable resolve, turning a mere career switch into a remarkable success story with over 200 properties in just a span of four years.
What if you could tap into the brains of big thinkers and hustlers, would it influence your career trajectory? Steve believes it did for him, and he's ready to spill the beans. Tune in to hear Steve's vast wealth of experience and gain insightful advice on networking within the real estate realm. Hear him speak passionately about the importance of continual learning, being a valuable resource for clients, and the power of placing oneself in rooms filled with people who think bigger. Grab your headphones, this promises to be a riveting conversation that will leave you feeling inspired and ready to conquer your own real estate journey.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello everyone and welcome back to another
unstoppable podcast with yourhost, megan Farrell.
Today I have my friend, steveFry with the Fry group out of
Nashville, and Steve has donesome amazing things in this real
estate market and it's evenbrought his family in on board
as well, and I cannot wait forhim to share his story.
I don't want to go in to stealhis thunder.
(00:23):
So, steve, welcome and tell usa little bit about yourself.
Tell everybody in our audiencewho Steve Fry is.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Absolutely.
Thanks, megan, I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me on theshow first off.
Yeah, so I'm Steve Fry.
I live here in the NashvilleTennessee market, grew up here
most of my life.
I am currently married 30 yearswith my wife and we met through
our high school sweethearts.
We have two, two boys as well.
Both of them are actuallyrealtors that work under my team
(00:51):
now one's 26, his name's Logan,and one is 23, bailey.
So we have our own little asyou mentioned before, we have
our own little fry group realestate team, that that we, when
we work not only just theNashville market but kind of all
over the middle Tennessee area.
I did that initially not bydesign but also to try to just
(01:12):
get as much business as I could.
When I first got into thisworld, switched over from
corporate finance a few yearsago, but when I so I kind of
cast my net pretty wide when Ifirst got into the market, of
course, trying to get as muchbusiness as possible, and that
kind of stuck a little bit.
That's that's good and bad.
I mean we have, we've had a lotof success, we've had a lot of
(01:34):
business and but at the sametime I mean we're kind of known
now to kind of go all over themiddle Tennessee market.
So that's, like I said, goodand bad things right, right,
you're everywhere, everywhereeverywhere yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Well, yes, and we'll give people the links to how to
find you after we get throughthis podcast here too, because I
can just really read yourcredentials and what you've done
.
But some of the things thathave really stood out to me when
you say your bio over is thenfour years, I mean the amount of
you know, the money and realestate that you have done, the
amount of homes 200 plusproperties I mean that is
amazing.
And in mentorship I'm sure youget asked a lot by people,
(02:13):
especially you've been.
You know you've been whenmarkets are high, when markets
are slower, and how you pushthrough and still had a very
successful business.
One question I want to ask,because some people that I know
are thinking do I stay in realestate?
Do I get out of real estate?
Do I get my license?
What is your, what is youranalysis on what's going on in
the market today and what yougive somebody that's really not
(02:36):
been as busy or successful asyou in the market?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
sure, yeah, and I get that.
Like you said, I get thatquestion pretty often and I mean
when I first got in the marketI had a corporate finance
background.
So I do feel like that havingthat corporate experience and
organization kind of did helpgetting into the real estate
game.
I mean, from the outside,looking in real estate looks fun
and it is fun.
(03:00):
It can be fun.
There's a lot of greatnetworking you get to, you know,
you get to work with yourfriends and family sometimes and
you get to see some cool housesand you just get to experience
a lot of great things.
It's also a lot a lot of work,and I think everybody doesn't
get that until they actually getinto the business.
There's a range of things thatcan happen.
I mean, there's any which waythe deal can go to go bad.
(03:22):
It does.
So you've always got to be gotto be ready and you also have to
be really prepared andexperienced to be able to
navigate your clients kind ofthrough those areas.
So I think the first thing Ialways tell people is just soon
as you I mean, if you're goingto get into real estate, educate
yourself as much as you canbefore you get there.
If you're already in realestate, if you're, you know, new
(03:43):
to the game, just absorb asmuch information as you can.
I mean getting on listening topodcasts like yourself you've
got you've got a great podcastand I know you do some amazing
things with empowering women andjust people in general in the
national market but soaking upas much education as you can,
and not just in, not just asurface level, but kind of
(04:05):
diving in and reallyunderstanding, because you're
going to be dealing withpeople's lives, their money.
I mean we don't proclaim to theattorneys, we don't proclaim to
be mortgage lenders there's wegot amazing people for that kind
of stuff but you do need toknow your way around those areas
so that you can help to guidepeople and put them in touch
with the right folks.
(04:26):
And then, if things start to gowonky with the deal, you got to
know how to navigate out ofthat.
So that was my first, my veryfirst experience in real estate
is I just dove into the numbersand understood as much as I
could.
I literally brought mycorporate finance background
into the real estate world byjust trying to educate and dive
(04:49):
into the real information whatmarkets made, what kind of money
and when you first get intoreal estate too, it's you're
looking for.
Most people look for friendsand family to try to sell to.
That works great for maybethree to six months.
Sometimes it doesn't work great.
I didn't account on that.
I mean, coming from a corporatebackground, I wanted to make
(05:10):
sure I had a steady stream ofincome.
I was more concerned aboutkeeping the lights on as opposed
to just being a fun littlehobby.
So I educated myself.
I dove in and I figured I was asmuch as I could and then I
started pushing myself as aresource and my experience out
(05:31):
to the market for people thatwere looking to invest in the
Nashville and Middle Tennesseemarkets.
So that was my first big leapthat got me going and it was all
about the investors on thefront end and then the
residential stuff kind of camealong after that.
So the business is starting nowto come from different
(05:51):
directions.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
I'm a pretty heavy referral based agent after four
and a half years, which is whereyou want to be.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I mean, you don't want to be chasing leads all the
time.
So but education?
I know that's a long way ofsaying education, but it's
education.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, I agree with that.
I always tell people all thetime because, like when I first
went into, you know I would helpthem bell with their marketing.
I didn't know anything abouttitle and I'm like, why would
John Delano want to bring me onwhen I didn't know anything
about title?
But what they saw was a newrelationship and I knew people.
And I think that's within anybusiness that you're in.
You have to be a relationshipbuilder and like that, you know
(06:27):
you came to one of our happyhours.
You have to be out innetworking and I think so many
people forget that sometimes.
And it's so important becauseeven if you are successful, you
know as you, you still chose tocome to networking events from
time to time when you can makeit, because you never know who
you're going to meet.
That could be the next big deal.
Or when the market goes slow Ifit does hopefully it never does
(06:48):
, but if it does, you know youhave those connections because
people are always going to be byhouses.
They're always going to be outthere with a form of business.
It's how are they going toconnect with you to do that?
So I love what you said aboutrelationships are safe.
That's good.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, and that's amazing advice too about the
networking piece.
I get lazy about it sometimes.
I think everybody does a littlebit.
But you know, because you dohave to, I enjoy it.
I'm a pretty extroverted person.
I like getting out there andtalking, but after you've been
out all day and then you comehome at four and there's a,
there's a networking meetingacross down at six.
(07:22):
You know you just have to.
You have to make sure you can.
You know you keep theirmotivation and energy up for
those types of events.
Every time I network, I go tosocial events and these meetups.
My business, my businessprospers from it.
I mean it's always I meet greatpeople, I get good information.
Sometimes I just learn newinformation and it's not always
(07:46):
an instant gratification thing.
Sometimes it's people that I'mconnected with that connect me
to other people and you start tosee that after a couple of
years in real estate I mean realestate is definitely not an
instant gratification kind ofbusiness.
You definitely have to createthose relationships, foster them
over time and it all startscoming to you.
(08:07):
But it does take several yearsusually for most people to kind
of get going.
I got lucky in the fact that Iwent after investors and it
worked and anybody can do that.
I mean I recommend that toeverybody.
I mean, learn the investorworld, know what the because
they're smart folks, know whatthey're going to be asking about
and just be a resource.
And then it's not as much of asales game, it's more of a match
(08:32):
game.
It's like let's connect youwith the right properties and if
you've got enough of a buyernetwork, then if the right
property comes along, let'sthrow it out to 20 guys and I do
that all the time.
I throw it out to 15, 20 peopleand say who wants this?
Effectively, and it's workedover the years.
It doesn't always work, but itworks.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, absolutely.
I love that part of it too,because I find with the
meat-throwing networking eventsnow, a lot of the ones that
don't show up are like, well,things are slow, I don't really
have the money to get out, andthings like that.
I encourage you to takeseasoned advice.
If you're listening to this, ifyou're an agent that's in a
(09:14):
slump, or if you're just gettinginto the industry or just take
real estate out, whatever you'redoing, if you're in sales and
at all point you're in sales atsome part of your job get out
and make new friends, make newconnections.
You're not always going to feellike it.
There's times where I'm like,man, I could really go home and
get some extra sleep or get somehousework done myself, and I'm
like, no, I cheese to do thatand, like you said, you always
(09:36):
benefit from it.
And not even that.
You leave like you feel likeyou've accomplished something.
So let's say, if you're anagent and you're slowing down
and you're not having thatbusiness, you're still going to
feel like you're getting somewins.
Sometimes it starts by gettinga little bit of win to get your
confidence back up, to get youback on the journey of like
succeeding again and stuff inthe market.
So I really hope you guys thatare listening, or really
(09:58):
listening to what Steve's saying.
This is the man that knows hisstuff.
He's all about educatinghimself and getting out and
networking.
That's what it is, no matterwhat level that you're on.
So let me ask you this, stevelet's go back, let's back up
2018.
When you decided to make theswitch I know they kind of did
that had to be a little scaryright To leave something that
you were so familiar with, to goin and be like, okay, I'm
(10:21):
leaving this guaranteed salaryfor me working for myself as an
agent, 100%.
What gave you the motivation todo that, to go through that?
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, and it was.
So I had a nice.
I got a nice long career, 20plus years in the corporate
finance, always in thehealthcare side, and I had some
great jobs that were long termjobs.
Then I had a couple of jobsright there, right around.
So I was 48 years old when Iswitched over in 2018.
I had a couple of jobs in a rowthat went away, one due to
(10:53):
acquisition, and then I got thenew gig and then that went away
because I moved operations andit was like, oh my gosh, here I
am, 48.
And I mean, unfortunately,ageism is real and the corporate
side, I mean you get to acertain age, you know like you
just feel the pressure of, hey,this 25 year old maybe not have
the experience, I do, but he's alot cheaper and you just know
(11:16):
that the potential writing is onthe table.
So I was just tired of havingmy employment dictated to me at
that point.
So my wife, lisa one of themmarried two for 30 years, by the
way, high school sweetheart shetold me.
She said why don't you try realestate while you're looking for
(11:36):
the next job in finance?
So I took her advice becauseI'd been talking about it for a
while.
So I took her advice, took theexam, got lucky, got through it
the first time and literallyfrom the time she said hey, why
don't you try this?
Within a month I had my, Ipassed the exam, had my license
(11:56):
and I was working at a brokerageand from there it was just game
on.
I was just head down on it andI was still kind of looking for
a job at corporate finance side,but I was so excited about the
real estate edge to it.
And again, even on the frontend it's tough.
I mean I got lucky by gettingsuccessful pretty early on.
(12:20):
But even then I had and this isa great story my very first day
as a realtor I did an openhouse and I just crushed open
houses when I was on the frontend.
I did two every week.
And for anybody who's on theopen house and that's another
thing I would recommend just goto open houses.
Not only are you, does it giveyou an opportunity to
(12:41):
potentially meet anunrepresented buyer, which is
the whole point of open houses.
To have someone come in thedoor and to go into a million
dollar open houses usuallydoesn't get it for you, because
every one of those guys knows,15 guys like me.
So sometimes at like half, youknow, half $500,000 and under,
open house is the perfect spotto try to meet somebody who
(13:02):
doesn't, who's not representedor they're new to town.
So but anyway, very first openhouse at a condo I had met a
client and they, a month laterwe got them a house.
So first day, first open house,I met a client.
It wasn't that house but it wasa different house that we got
(13:23):
them in and I thought I'm hooked, I'm addicted.
Now I didn't have anotherclosing for five more months
after that, but the snowballthings were snowballing in the
background.
I had a lot of things that werehappening.
I knew I was making tons ofconnections, I had some
potential offers that didn'twork through and then five
months later, you know, I hadthat next closing and then after
(13:45):
that it was a million bucks amonth and then the next year two
million a month and then threemillion a month and it, but it
was all.
You know, it all just kind offell off, snowballed off from
each other.
So again it's, you know, eventhough it looks easy sometimes,
you know people put up a lot ofstuff on social media, you know,
saying just sold this to putthis under contract.
(14:07):
I do the same thing.
There's a lot that goes behindit and there's a lot of, there's
a lot of things that aren'tsuccesses behind the scenes.
You know there's a lot offailures behind the scenes and
you learn from all of those.
It does frustrating.
And this year is a year lastyear and this year, because of
the interest rates going up is ayear where you start to see
(14:28):
some more of those failures.
You got to have thick skin andyou got to have, and that's why
I cast my net as wide aspossible.
You know I try to go to as bigof an area as I can.
I work not only in residentialand with investors, but I also
work some commercial deals inland development and starting to
do my own builds here in thenext few months that we've been
(14:49):
working on for a while, and Ialso work the Smoky Mountains,
which is three hours from here,but I've got and now it's just
them set up in that market.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Very smart.
Yes, put yourself in hotmarkets like that too.
You know you got to startsomewhere.
People, come on, listen tothese gold nuggets here that
he's selling out at you.
You know, looking for things,looking for wins Sometimes, like
you said.
I mean like when you startedyou said it might have been what
was?
You said five months until yournext commission check or your
(15:19):
first one.
I mean there have to be timeswhere you're like man, you know,
is that my right decision ornot?
But you stick with it.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
And.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
I think so many people see they get so close to
like almost getting there andthen, they get so discouraged
that they just don't stick itout a little bit longer to get
them through the finish line.
And that's where all theabundance is and the abundance
mindset I'm all about thatversus scarcity bouncer.
But you know not only that.
You have brought your twochildren on with you now that is
helping the fry group, whichthat has to be a proud dad
(15:51):
moment, like a full circlemoment, to have your kids on
board with you.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
It's great, yeah, and I don't take nearly as much
advantage of having everybodytogether as I should.
My wife is just a dynamo.
She's great at operations andshe's great at organizations.
You know she's always on meabout Did you check back with
that person?
And you get so busy.
It's difficult sometimes tojust stay on top of everything.
(16:19):
But I've got amazing resourcesaround me and it's my fault for
not always leveraging them theway I should.
But, yeah, it is cool.
It's cool to be all sitting in.
We have like an apartmentbehind our house where we have a
family office.
Everybody's got their desk andwe'll all be there at the same
time.
You get the whiteboard up,we'll have the TV, your music
(16:40):
going on the background.
But it's cool that that is whatour work life is.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
That is so cool and yeah, and again, it's not always
easy, but it beats thealternative definitely.
Absolutely.
Well, you are a family.
I mean, it's not always easy.
Yeah, see, sometimes, even whenyou don't work with family,
it's always easy.
But let me go back to your wifehere too, because I want to
hone in on this.
I'm all about intentionalcongruence and I think if you
(17:06):
choose to be married, you haveto have a spouse that is going
to support you and you got tosupport them and you have to
have that full circle and I'mall about mind, body, soul and
spirit.
You know you have to make sureeverything's sped in that area.
It sounds like your wife fromday one was just a hard not go
get her supporter for you, Likewe're going to get bare heads
down, we're going to work hard,we're going to make this work.
And she believed in you becauseif you had somebody in the
(17:29):
background saying, well, youbetter not make it fail or you
doing leaving.
you may have not been asinclined to be as successful as
you are, but I would say a lotof that will come from having a
supportive spouse at home.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Oh yeah, 100% yeah.
And if it's whether it's aspouse, a friend, a kid, I mean
whoever it is, an uncle, agrandmother, whatever you've got
somebody that helps to kind of,because it's tough, I mean you
find yourself feeling likeyou're just like banging your
head against a wall and justrunning the marathon every time.
(18:01):
So it's nice to have somebodythat's there to kind of continue
to push you and say just keepgoing, Just keep going, because
everybody's got that mindset towhere they feel like boy, should
I look to do something else?
Is this the right thing for me?
And, like you said, I had afive-month spell between my
(18:22):
first closing and my second one.
But during that time I wasworking 100 hours a week and I
was just going and going andgoing to try to push towards
that.
And I don't want anybody toburn out in this industry.
It's easy to do it.
But guess what?
In your first year you can work100 hours a week or 80 hours a
week or 60 hours a week,whatever it is, but you can put
(18:43):
the time in to make thissuccessful, because it has just
about like any, not just realestate, but any industry and any
company.
I mean, you're an entrepreneur,You're starting your own
business and it has huge rewardson the back end.
I will say to my wife I wish Iwould listen to her more,
(19:03):
Because usually she'll give meadvice on something and I'm like
you don't understand, I'm onthe front line, You're not wrong
, You're wrong.
And then I think about it or Icome back and I'm like she's
right, and she's usually rightand I know that's a woman thing,
but she's, I can support it.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
You can listen to this anytime she wants to now.
Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
But yeah, and if you've got a spouse there that's
kind of giving yougood-sounding advice who's not
emotionally tied to things likeyou, like you are, when you're
in the middle of it, it's alwaysgood to stop and listen to what
they're saying and you kind ofgo through that.
I mean, one of the things she'salways beyond that on me about
is to create better systems andbetter processes, and I'm not
(19:52):
that great about that stuff.
I'm good at talking to people,I'm good at the real estate side
, I'm good at looking forproperties, finding deals,
negotiating, contracting, allthat stuff.
But there's a whole big bag ofworms behind you as far as
setting up the right CRMs, theright systems and just follow up
(20:12):
and all that stuff, whetherit's client follow up, whether
it's marketing social media.
I'm trying to get a little bitbetter at, definitely like
everyone else is.
But if I were to listen to herearlier on, it would have been,
I think, an easier ride for metoo, because you find yourself
and you don't have good systemsyou find yourself scrambling and
(20:34):
always having to be the pointperson on stuff or recreating
the will, as opposed to alreadyhaving a system.
That's kind of creating thewill for you.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Oh yeah, yeah and that, and it keeps you, like you
said, on track as well.
But what I'm hearing too,though you also know your
strengths, and then you alsoknow what are not your strengths
, too, either.
So you could delegate it out,or you could.
You said you're always havingto look like what can I fix,
what can I?
You know, but one thing thatI've learned by being around
(21:05):
successful people is they don'tspend a lot of time worrying
about stuff Like shoot or aimshoot, then readjust target as
needed, and I think that that'stotally fine.
People don't have to have it allfigured out to get started.
It doesn't have to be perfect.
You can tweak as you go, youcan put systems in place as you
go, you can learn as you go, andI think that you truly are at a
(21:26):
place now where people did lookat you as a mentor because
you've been so successful, and Iknow when I tell people that I
was going to have you on thepodcast, they're like oh man, I
can't wait to hear that.
I can't wait to say you know,get some nuggets from him and
stuff.
So you know kudos to you andwhat you're building with your
brand and your family and yourlegacy in general, and I'm not
(21:47):
sure really why the lots havewent off in here, but I guess it
just did.
So I look angelic on here withyou today, steve, I know on time
we're running closer to it, butlet me, let me ask you this.
I think it would be some advicethat you would give somebody in
the next six months in realestate.
(22:09):
What do you need to do toposition yourself within the
next six months?
What's going on in the markettoday?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Well, I think it does go back to the networking and
getting out and connecting withpeople.
I mean, you know, you have awhole big world out there
telling you how to do somethingby people that have never done
it, and that's frustrating tolisten to you because you have
all these experts out there thatdon't have any experience in
(22:38):
what they're saying to do.
I mean, that's what socialmedia is full of, but there's
some really good, there's some,there's some really good folks
out there, really good mentors,good advice to take, but a lot
of it is just getting out andconnecting with people that have
that's better way moreexperience than you are.
And when you again when youwhether you're getting into real
estate or you're getting intoanother industry when you start
(22:59):
out, I mean you're thinking, ok,let me just get to this point
and then let me just get to thatpoint, and you start just kind
of those building blocks up.
But I wish I would have donethis earlier on.
But if you start hanging outwith and connecting with folks
that are way higher up the chartthan you are, all of a sudden
your goals just getincrementally larger.
(23:20):
But you're also around peoplethat are giving you the right
advice so you don't spend sixmonths, you know, doing the
wrong thing or taking bad adviceor doing lead generation where
you shouldn't have done it,because it's easier to do it
this way.
So there's plenty of people outthere that aren't always up for
sharing information, butthere's a whole lot more people
(23:42):
that are willing to give youadvice and, you know, kind of be
a mentor.
And it doesn't have to be aformal setting, it could just be
a friend group and it could behey, can you, can you introduce
me to this guy?
I know you know this person.
Can you introduce me to thatguy and let's get together and
talk shop that there's so muchto learn from that and I feel
like that advances everyone'slearning curve and in business.
(24:08):
So so much.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I love that you always got to be in frames of
bigger people.
That is when I think my mycareer, like has really took off
, or really helped me would bewhen I got in rooms where these
people were making, you know,easily a million a week, Some of
them but some of them lost on.
I looked at their hustle and Ilooked at what they did and my
(24:33):
question to them was like, tellme your routine, like what is
your morning routine look like?
What is your daily routine looklike?
Because I knew that thesepeople want to play around and
by doing that it kind of exposedme and made me think bigger,
because so many people we don'tknow what we don't know and
we're like I grew up in a smalltown and there's nothing wrong
with that.
There's nothing wrong withhaving a nine to five job at the
(24:55):
electric company.
That's what you want to do.
That's awesome.
It takes everybody to doeverything.
Yeah ones that are in that areentrepreneurs and they work
crazy hours and they do things.
You kind of need to have thatguidance and by being in rooms
with people if you're thesmartest one in the room, I
totally disagree with that.
I think that you need to belike you said put yourself in
rings, that people that arethinking bigger, that are doing
(25:15):
things, because there's alwaysgoing to be somebody that is and
it's going to keep you learningand eager to grow as well.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Absolutely, yeah, I love that Well, steve.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
I appreciate you always at the end of the podcast
with.
What does it mean for you to beunstoppable?
What does unstoppable mean toyou?
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Oh, I mean great question, and I've seen some of
your podcasts and there's beensome really great answers on
that.
But so, but I think for me it'sto be able to create an
environment with my business anda structure, so though I'm in
control of it and it I couldtake it as far as I want to.
I don't have.
There's always going to bepoints where there's going to be
(25:56):
roadblocks or people that tryto push you down.
But if you've got your goodsystem in place, good people
around you, then you can go asfar as you want to, and just a
matter of how much you want.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
I love that.
That is really a really goodanswer.
Well everyone, this is SteveFra, and how can they find you
online?
Can you tell them how to get toyour website and your socials?
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Yep, absolutely so.
Our website isfragroupnashfieldcom.
We're actually just actuallychanging it over and so we're
updating it even more than wehad before, but please go visit
it.
It's got some some really coolanimation to it and some good
search features on it forlooking at properties.
You can reach all of us,naturally, through that website.
(26:38):
I'm on Instagram as well SteveFry Nashville and Facebook, so
all the socials and if you wantto reach me by email at Steve at
frygroupnashfieldcom, and priceF R Y E.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Awesome, and you've got your active properties on
there.
I was looking at them today Iwas like well nice, very nice,
very nice.
But well, thank you so much andyou guys take tuned to our next
episode coming soon.
Thank you.
Hello everyone and welcome back to another
unstoppable podcast with yourhost, megan Farrell.
Today I have my friend, steveFry with the Fry group out of
Nashville, and Steve has donesome amazing things in this real
estate market and it's evenbrought his family in on board
as well, and I cannot wait forhim to share his story.
I don't want to go in to stealhis thunder.
(00:23):
So, steve, welcome and tell usa little bit about yourself.
Tell everybody in our audiencewho Steve Fry is.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Absolutely.
Thanks, megan, I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me on theshow first off.
Yeah, so I'm Steve Fry.
I live here in the NashvilleTennessee market, grew up here
most of my life.
I am currently married 30 yearswith my wife and we met through
our high school sweethearts.
We have two, two boys as well.
Both of them are actuallyrealtors that work under my team
(00:51):
now one's 26, his name's Logan,and one is 23, bailey.
So we have our own little asyou mentioned before, we have
our own little fry group realestate team, that that we, when
we work not only just theNashville market but kind of all
over the middle Tennessee area.
I did that initially not bydesign but also to try to just
(01:12):
get as much business as I could.
When I first got into thisworld, switched over from
corporate finance a few yearsago, but when I so I kind of
cast my net pretty wide when Ifirst got into the market, of
course, trying to get as muchbusiness as possible, and that
kind of stuck a little bit.
That's that's good and bad.
I mean we have, we've had a lotof success, we've had a lot of
(01:34):
business and but at the sametime I mean we're kind of known
now to kind of go all over themiddle Tennessee market.
So that's, like I said, goodand bad things right, right,
you're everywhere, everywhereeverywhere yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Well, yes, and we'll give people the links to how to
find you after we get throughthis podcast here too, because I
can just really read yourcredentials and what you've done
.
But some of the things thathave really stood out to me when
you say your bio over is thenfour years, I mean the amount of
you know, the money and realestate that you have done, the
amount of homes 200 plusproperties I mean that is
amazing.
And in mentorship I'm sure youget asked a lot by people,
(02:13):
especially you've been.
You know you've been whenmarkets are high, when markets
are slower, and how you pushthrough and still had a very
successful business.
One question I want to ask,because some people that I know
are thinking do I stay in realestate?
Do I get out of real estate?
Do I get my license?
What is your, what is youranalysis on what's going on in
the market today and what yougive somebody that's really not
(02:36):
been as busy or successful asyou in the market?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
sure, yeah, and I get that.
Like you said, I get thatquestion pretty often and I mean
when I first got in the marketI had a corporate finance
background.
So I do feel like that havingthat corporate experience and
organization kind of did helpgetting into the real estate
game.
I mean, from the outside,looking in real estate looks fun
and it is fun.
(03:00):
It can be fun.
There's a lot of greatnetworking you get to, you know,
you get to work with yourfriends and family sometimes and
you get to see some cool housesand you just get to experience
a lot of great things.
It's also a lot a lot of work,and I think everybody doesn't
get that until they actually getinto the business.
There's a range of things thatcan happen.
I mean, there's any which waythe deal can go to go bad.
(03:22):
It does.
So you've always got to be gotto be ready and you also have to
be really prepared andexperienced to be able to
navigate your clients kind ofthrough those areas.
So I think the first thing Ialways tell people is just soon
as you I mean, if you're goingto get into real estate, educate
yourself as much as you canbefore you get there.
If you're already in realestate, if you're, you know, new
(03:43):
to the game, just absorb asmuch information as you can.
I mean getting on listening topodcasts like yourself you've
got you've got a great podcastand I know you do some amazing
things with empowering women andjust people in general in the
national market but soaking upas much education as you can,
and not just in, not just asurface level, but kind of
(04:05):
diving in and reallyunderstanding, because you're
going to be dealing withpeople's lives, their money.
I mean we don't proclaim to theattorneys, we don't proclaim to
be mortgage lenders there's wegot amazing people for that kind
of stuff but you do need toknow your way around those areas
so that you can help to guidepeople and put them in touch
with the right folks.
(04:26):
And then, if things start to gowonky with the deal, you got to
know how to navigate out ofthat.
So that was my first, my veryfirst experience in real estate
is I just dove into the numbersand understood as much as I
could.
I literally brought mycorporate finance background
into the real estate world byjust trying to educate and dive
(04:49):
into the real information whatmarkets made, what kind of money
and when you first get intoreal estate too, it's you're
looking for.
Most people look for friendsand family to try to sell to.
That works great for maybethree to six months.
Sometimes it doesn't work great.
I didn't account on that.
I mean, coming from a corporatebackground, I wanted to make
(05:10):
sure I had a steady stream ofincome.
I was more concerned aboutkeeping the lights on as opposed
to just being a fun littlehobby.
So I educated myself.
I dove in and I figured I was asmuch as I could and then I
started pushing myself as aresource and my experience out
(05:31):
to the market for people thatwere looking to invest in the
Nashville and Middle Tennesseemarkets.
So that was my first big leapthat got me going and it was all
about the investors on thefront end and then the
residential stuff kind of camealong after that.
So the business is starting nowto come from different
(05:51):
directions.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
I'm a pretty heavy referral based agent after four
and a half years, which is whereyou want to be.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I mean, you don't want to be chasing leads all the
time.
So but education?
I know that's a long way ofsaying education, but it's
education.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, I agree with that.
I always tell people all thetime because, like when I first
went into, you know I would helpthem bell with their marketing.
I didn't know anything abouttitle and I'm like, why would
John Delano want to bring me onwhen I didn't know anything
about title?
But what they saw was a newrelationship and I knew people.
And I think that's within anybusiness that you're in.
You have to be a relationshipbuilder and like that, you know
(06:27):
you came to one of our happyhours.
You have to be out innetworking and I think so many
people forget that sometimes.
And it's so important becauseeven if you are successful, you
know as you, you still chose tocome to networking events from
time to time when you can makeit, because you never know who
you're going to meet.
That could be the next big deal.
Or when the market goes slow Ifit does hopefully it never does
(06:48):
, but if it does, you know youhave those connections because
people are always going to be byhouses.
They're always going to be outthere with a form of business.
It's how are they going toconnect with you to do that?
So I love what you said aboutrelationships are safe.
That's good.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, and that's amazing advice too about the
networking piece.
I get lazy about it sometimes.
I think everybody does a littlebit.
But you know, because you dohave to, I enjoy it.
I'm a pretty extroverted person.
I like getting out there andtalking, but after you've been
out all day and then you comehome at four and there's a,
there's a networking meetingacross down at six.
(07:22):
You know you just have to.
You have to make sure you can.
You know you keep theirmotivation and energy up for
those types of events.
Every time I network, I go tosocial events and these meetups.
My business, my businessprospers from it.
I mean it's always I meet greatpeople, I get good information.
Sometimes I just learn newinformation and it's not always
(07:46):
an instant gratification thing.
Sometimes it's people that I'mconnected with that connect me
to other people and you start tosee that after a couple of
years in real estate I mean realestate is definitely not an
instant gratification kind ofbusiness.
You definitely have to createthose relationships, foster them
over time and it all startscoming to you.
(08:07):
But it does take several yearsusually for most people to kind
of get going.
I got lucky in the fact that Iwent after investors and it
worked and anybody can do that.
I mean I recommend that toeverybody.
I mean, learn the investorworld, know what the because
they're smart folks, know whatthey're going to be asking about
and just be a resource.
And then it's not as much of asales game, it's more of a match
(08:32):
game.
It's like let's connect youwith the right properties and if
you've got enough of a buyernetwork, then if the right
property comes along, let'sthrow it out to 20 guys and I do
that all the time.
I throw it out to 15, 20 peopleand say who wants this?
Effectively, and it's workedover the years.
It doesn't always work, but itworks.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, absolutely.
I love that part of it too,because I find with the
meat-throwing networking eventsnow, a lot of the ones that
don't show up are like, well,things are slow, I don't really
have the money to get out, andthings like that.
I encourage you to takeseasoned advice.
If you're listening to this, ifyou're an agent that's in a
(09:14):
slump, or if you're just gettinginto the industry or just take
real estate out, whatever you'redoing, if you're in sales and
at all point you're in sales atsome part of your job get out
and make new friends, make newconnections.
You're not always going to feellike it.
There's times where I'm like,man, I could really go home and
get some extra sleep or get somehousework done myself, and I'm
like, no, I cheese to do thatand, like you said, you always
(09:36):
benefit from it.
And not even that.
You leave like you feel likeyou've accomplished something.
So let's say, if you're anagent and you're slowing down
and you're not having thatbusiness, you're still going to
feel like you're getting somewins.
Sometimes it starts by gettinga little bit of win to get your
confidence back up, to get youback on the journey of like
succeeding again and stuff inthe market.
So I really hope you guys thatare listening, or really
(09:58):
listening to what Steve's saying.
This is the man that knows hisstuff.
He's all about educatinghimself and getting out and
networking.
That's what it is, no matterwhat level that you're on.
So let me ask you this, stevelet's go back, let's back up
2018.
When you decided to make theswitch I know they kind of did
that had to be a little scaryright To leave something that
you were so familiar with, to goin and be like, okay, I'm
(10:21):
leaving this guaranteed salaryfor me working for myself as an
agent, 100%.
What gave you the motivation todo that, to go through that?
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, and it was.
So I had a nice.
I got a nice long career, 20plus years in the corporate
finance, always in thehealthcare side, and I had some
great jobs that were long termjobs.
Then I had a couple of jobsright there, right around.
So I was 48 years old when Iswitched over in 2018.
I had a couple of jobs in a rowthat went away, one due to
(10:53):
acquisition, and then I got thenew gig and then that went away
because I moved operations andit was like, oh my gosh, here I
am, 48.
And I mean, unfortunately,ageism is real and the corporate
side, I mean you get to acertain age, you know like you
just feel the pressure of, hey,this 25 year old maybe not have
the experience, I do, but he's alot cheaper and you just know
(11:16):
that the potential writing is onthe table.
So I was just tired of havingmy employment dictated to me at
that point.
So my wife, lisa one of themmarried two for 30 years, by the
way, high school sweetheart shetold me.
She said why don't you try realestate while you're looking for
(11:36):
the next job in finance?
So I took her advice becauseI'd been talking about it for a
while.
So I took her advice, took theexam, got lucky, got through it
the first time and literallyfrom the time she said hey, why
don't you try this?
Within a month I had my, Ipassed the exam, had my license
(11:56):
and I was working at a brokerageand from there it was just game
on.
I was just head down on it andI was still kind of looking for
a job at corporate finance side,but I was so excited about the
real estate edge to it.
And again, even on the frontend it's tough.
I mean I got lucky by gettingsuccessful pretty early on.
(12:20):
But even then I had and this isa great story my very first day
as a realtor I did an openhouse and I just crushed open
houses when I was on the frontend.
I did two every week.
And for anybody who's on theopen house and that's another
thing I would recommend just goto open houses.
Not only are you, does it giveyou an opportunity to
(12:41):
potentially meet anunrepresented buyer, which is
the whole point of open houses.
To have someone come in thedoor and to go into a million
dollar open houses usuallydoesn't get it for you, because
every one of those guys knows,15 guys like me.
So sometimes at like half, youknow, half $500,000 and under,
open house is the perfect spotto try to meet somebody who
(13:02):
doesn't, who's not representedor they're new to town.
So but anyway, very first openhouse at a condo I had met a
client and they, a month laterwe got them a house.
So first day, first open house,I met a client.
It wasn't that house but it wasa different house that we got
(13:23):
them in and I thought I'm hooked, I'm addicted.
Now I didn't have anotherclosing for five more months
after that, but the snowballthings were snowballing in the
background.
I had a lot of things that werehappening.
I knew I was making tons ofconnections, I had some
potential offers that didn'twork through and then five
months later, you know, I hadthat next closing and then after
(13:45):
that it was a million bucks amonth and then the next year two
million a month and then threemillion a month and it, but it
was all.
You know, it all just kind offell off, snowballed off from
each other.
So again it's, you know, eventhough it looks easy sometimes,
you know people put up a lot ofstuff on social media, you know,
saying just sold this to putthis under contract.
(14:07):
I do the same thing.
There's a lot that goes behindit and there's a lot of, there's
a lot of things that aren'tsuccesses behind the scenes.
You know there's a lot offailures behind the scenes and
you learn from all of those.
It does frustrating.
And this year is a year lastyear and this year, because of
the interest rates going up is ayear where you start to see
(14:28):
some more of those failures.
You got to have thick skin andyou got to have, and that's why
I cast my net as wide aspossible.
You know I try to go to as bigof an area as I can.
I work not only in residentialand with investors, but I also
work some commercial deals inland development and starting to
do my own builds here in thenext few months that we've been
(14:49):
working on for a while, and Ialso work the Smoky Mountains,
which is three hours from here,but I've got and now it's just
them set up in that market.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Very smart.
Yes, put yourself in hotmarkets like that too.
You know you got to startsomewhere.
People, come on, listen tothese gold nuggets here that
he's selling out at you.
You know, looking for things,looking for wins Sometimes, like
you said.
I mean like when you startedyou said it might have been what
was?
You said five months until yournext commission check or your
(15:19):
first one.
I mean there have to be timeswhere you're like man, you know,
is that my right decision ornot?
But you stick with it.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
And.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
I think so many people see they get so close to
like almost getting there andthen, they get so discouraged
that they just don't stick itout a little bit longer to get
them through the finish line.
And that's where all theabundance is and the abundance
mindset I'm all about thatversus scarcity bouncer.
But you know not only that.
You have brought your twochildren on with you now that is
helping the fry group, whichthat has to be a proud dad
(15:51):
moment, like a full circlemoment, to have your kids on
board with you.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
It's great, yeah, and I don't take nearly as much
advantage of having everybodytogether as I should.
My wife is just a dynamo.
She's great at operations andshe's great at organizations.
You know she's always on meabout Did you check back with
that person?
And you get so busy.
It's difficult sometimes tojust stay on top of everything.
(16:19):
But I've got amazing resourcesaround me and it's my fault for
not always leveraging them theway I should.
But, yeah, it is cool.
It's cool to be all sitting in.
We have like an apartmentbehind our house where we have a
family office.
Everybody's got their desk andwe'll all be there at the same
time.
You get the whiteboard up,we'll have the TV, your music
(16:40):
going on the background.
But it's cool that that is whatour work life is.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
That is so cool and yeah, and again, it's not always
easy, but it beats thealternative definitely.
Absolutely.
Well, you are a family.
I mean, it's not always easy.
Yeah, see, sometimes, even whenyou don't work with family,
it's always easy.
But let me go back to your wifehere too, because I want to
hone in on this.
I'm all about intentionalcongruence and I think if you
(17:06):
choose to be married, you haveto have a spouse that is going
to support you and you got tosupport them and you have to
have that full circle and I'mall about mind, body, soul and
spirit.
You know you have to make sureeverything's sped in that area.
It sounds like your wife fromday one was just a hard not go
get her supporter for you, Likewe're going to get bare heads
down, we're going to work hard,we're going to make this work.
And she believed in you becauseif you had somebody in the
(17:29):
background saying, well, youbetter not make it fail or you
doing leaving.
you may have not been asinclined to be as successful as
you are, but I would say a lotof that will come from having a
supportive spouse at home.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Oh yeah, 100% yeah.
And if it's whether it's aspouse, a friend, a kid, I mean
whoever it is, an uncle, agrandmother, whatever you've got
somebody that helps to kind of,because it's tough, I mean you
find yourself feeling likeyou're just like banging your
head against a wall and justrunning the marathon every time.
(18:01):
So it's nice to have somebodythat's there to kind of continue
to push you and say just keepgoing, Just keep going, because
everybody's got that mindset towhere they feel like boy, should
I look to do something else?
Is this the right thing for me?
And, like you said, I had afive-month spell between my
(18:22):
first closing and my second one.
But during that time I wasworking 100 hours a week and I
was just going and going andgoing to try to push towards
that.
And I don't want anybody toburn out in this industry.
It's easy to do it.
But guess what?
In your first year you can work100 hours a week or 80 hours a
week or 60 hours a week,whatever it is, but you can put
(18:43):
the time in to make thissuccessful, because it has just
about like any, not just realestate, but any industry and any
company.
I mean, you're an entrepreneur,You're starting your own
business and it has huge rewardson the back end.
I will say to my wife I wish Iwould listen to her more,
(19:03):
Because usually she'll give meadvice on something and I'm like
you don't understand, I'm onthe front line, You're not wrong
, You're wrong.
And then I think about it or Icome back and I'm like she's
right, and she's usually rightand I know that's a woman thing,
but she's, I can support it.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
You can listen to this anytime she wants to now.
Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
But yeah, and if you've got a spouse there that's
kind of giving yougood-sounding advice who's not
emotionally tied to things likeyou, like you are, when you're
in the middle of it, it's alwaysgood to stop and listen to what
they're saying and you kind ofgo through that.
I mean, one of the things she'salways beyond that on me about
is to create better systems andbetter processes, and I'm not
(19:52):
that great about that stuff.
I'm good at talking to people,I'm good at the real estate side
, I'm good at looking forproperties, finding deals,
negotiating, contracting, allthat stuff.
But there's a whole big bag ofworms behind you as far as
setting up the right CRMs, theright systems and just follow up
(20:12):
and all that stuff, whetherit's client follow up, whether
it's marketing social media.
I'm trying to get a little bitbetter at, definitely like
everyone else is.
But if I were to listen to herearlier on, it would have been,
I think, an easier ride for metoo, because you find yourself
and you don't have good systemsyou find yourself scrambling and
(20:34):
always having to be the pointperson on stuff or recreating
the will, as opposed to alreadyhaving a system.
That's kind of creating thewill for you.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Oh yeah, yeah and that, and it keeps you, like you
said, on track as well.
But what I'm hearing too,though you also know your
strengths, and then you alsoknow what are not your strengths
, too, either.
So you could delegate it out,or you could.
You said you're always havingto look like what can I fix,
what can I?
You know, but one thing thatI've learned by being around
(21:05):
successful people is they don'tspend a lot of time worrying
about stuff Like shoot or aimshoot, then readjust target as
needed, and I think that that'stotally fine.
People don't have to have it allfigured out to get started.
It doesn't have to be perfect.
You can tweak as you go, youcan put systems in place as you
go, you can learn as you go, andI think that you truly are at a
(21:26):
place now where people did lookat you as a mentor because
you've been so successful, and Iknow when I tell people that I
was going to have you on thepodcast, they're like oh man, I
can't wait to hear that.
I can't wait to say you know,get some nuggets from him and
stuff.
So you know kudos to you andwhat you're building with your
brand and your family and yourlegacy in general, and I'm not
(21:47):
sure really why the lots havewent off in here, but I guess it
just did.
So I look angelic on here withyou today, steve, I know on time
we're running closer to it, butlet me, let me ask you this.
I think it would be some advicethat you would give somebody in
the next six months in realestate.
(22:09):
What do you need to do toposition yourself within the
next six months?
What's going on in the markettoday?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Well, I think it does go back to the networking and
getting out and connecting withpeople.
I mean, you know, you have awhole big world out there
telling you how to do somethingby people that have never done
it, and that's frustrating tolisten to you because you have
all these experts out there thatdon't have any experience in
(22:38):
what they're saying to do.
I mean, that's what socialmedia is full of, but there's
some really good, there's some,there's some really good folks
out there, really good mentors,good advice to take, but a lot
of it is just getting out andconnecting with people that have
that's better way moreexperience than you are.
And when you again when youwhether you're getting into real
estate or you're getting intoanother industry when you start
(22:59):
out, I mean you're thinking, ok,let me just get to this point
and then let me just get to thatpoint, and you start just kind
of those building blocks up.
But I wish I would have donethis earlier on.
But if you start hanging outwith and connecting with folks
that are way higher up the chartthan you are, all of a sudden
your goals just getincrementally larger.
(23:20):
But you're also around peoplethat are giving you the right
advice so you don't spend sixmonths, you know, doing the
wrong thing or taking bad adviceor doing lead generation where
you shouldn't have done it,because it's easier to do it
this way.
So there's plenty of people outthere that aren't always up for
sharing information, butthere's a whole lot more people
(23:42):
that are willing to give youadvice and, you know, kind of be
a mentor.
And it doesn't have to be aformal setting, it could just be
a friend group and it could behey, can you, can you introduce
me to this guy?
I know you know this person.
Can you introduce me to thatguy and let's get together and
talk shop that there's so muchto learn from that and I feel
like that advances everyone'slearning curve and in business.
(24:08):
So so much.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I love that you always got to be in frames of
bigger people.
That is when I think my mycareer, like has really took off
, or really helped me would bewhen I got in rooms where these
people were making, you know,easily a million a week, Some of
them but some of them lost on.
I looked at their hustle and Ilooked at what they did and my
(24:33):
question to them was like, tellme your routine, like what is
your morning routine look like?
What is your daily routine looklike?
Because I knew that thesepeople want to play around and
by doing that it kind of exposedme and made me think bigger,
because so many people we don'tknow what we don't know and
we're like I grew up in a smalltown and there's nothing wrong
with that.
There's nothing wrong withhaving a nine to five job at the
(24:55):
electric company.
That's what you want to do.
That's awesome.
It takes everybody to doeverything.
Yeah ones that are in that areentrepreneurs and they work
crazy hours and they do things.
You kind of need to have thatguidance and by being in rooms
with people if you're thesmartest one in the room, I
totally disagree with that.
I think that you need to belike you said put yourself in
rings, that people that arethinking bigger, that are doing
(25:15):
things, because there's alwaysgoing to be somebody that is and
it's going to keep you learningand eager to grow as well.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Absolutely, yeah, I love that Well, steve.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
I appreciate you always at the end of the podcast
with.
What does it mean for you to beunstoppable?
What does unstoppable mean toyou?
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Oh, I mean great question, and I've seen some of
your podcasts and there's beensome really great answers on
that.
But so, but I think for me it'sto be able to create an
environment with my business anda structure, so though I'm in
control of it and it I couldtake it as far as I want to.
I don't have.
There's always going to bepoints where there's going to be
(25:56):
roadblocks or people that tryto push you down.
But if you've got your goodsystem in place, good people
around you, then you can go asfar as you want to, and just a
matter of how much you want.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
I love that.
That is really a really goodanswer.
Well everyone, this is SteveFra, and how can they find you
online?
Can you tell them how to get toyour website and your socials?
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Yep, absolutely so.
Our website isfragroupnashfieldcom.
We're actually just actuallychanging it over and so we're
updating it even more than wehad before, but please go visit
it.
It's got some some really coolanimation to it and some good
search features on it forlooking at properties.
You can reach all of us,naturally, through that website.
(26:38):
I'm on Instagram as well SteveFry Nashville and Facebook, so
all the socials and if you wantto reach me by email at Steve at
frygroupnashfieldcom, and priceF R Y E.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Awesome, and you've got your active properties on
there.
I was looking at them today Iwas like well nice, very nice,
very nice.
But well, thank you so much andyou guys take tuned to our next
episode coming soon.
Thank you.
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