A 'Million Dollar Listing' star who filmed two TV shows, wrote a book, and ran a real-estate team at the same time figured out the key to his schedule after a reality check from his wife
- Last year, "Million Dollar Listing" star Ryan Serhant filmed two reality shows, wrote a book, and ran a real-estate team that closed deals worth more than $838 million.
- When his real-estate business first took off six years ago, he complained to his now-wife about being busy and she replied: "You know who's busy? Obama."
- Serhant said he's learned to manage his time by hiring more staff and delegating tasks to people who can do them better than him.
Starring in two reality shows, writing a book, and leading a real-estate team that is ranked No. 2 in America by sales volume was a lot to handle for "Million Dollar Listing" star Ryan Serhant - and some of his employees left because of the demands on his time. But a nonstop 2017 served as a reminder to recommit to a lesson he learned when he was just starting out.
Serhant got his New York City real-estate license in 2008 and was stressed when his business starting taking off six years ago, he said on an episode of Business Insider's podcast "This Is Success."
"I was busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, and I think I was complaining to my wife, Amelia, who was my girlfriend at the time, and just saying, like, 'I can't just do this right now. I'm so busy, busy, busy, busy, busy,'" Serhant said. "And she was like, 'You know what, you say that all the time. You know who's busy? Obama. You're a real-estate agent. You're not that busy.'"
Serhant continued: "And when people say they're busy, it just means that they're really bad at time management. I know people say that all the time, but it really is true. And they try to do too much by themselves, which is what I was trying to do, because I thought that that's what I was supposed to do."
In the past year, Serhant taped full seasons of his two TV shows, "Million Dollar Listing" and "Sell Like Serhant"; wrote his book "Sell It Like Serhant"; and led his New York City-based real-estate team to close deals worth more than $838 million.
Serhant brought in more administrative staff to help with the workload, bringing the total to six. Serhant said hired team members that are "better" than him at certain tasks so he could do other projects without hurting his business.
But Serhant admitted that his absence from the office for various commitments last year did upset some of his team members.
"My TV career did get in the way a little bit, because, I mean, in 2017 I filmed one season of 'Million Dollar Listing,' I filmed an entire season of 'Sell Like Serhant,' which took a lot of time, and I wrote a book all at the same time. It was tough on certain members of the team who are used to me being around a lot more," he said. Four of his brokers left.
But, he continued, he wants his team to not have to be reliant on his constant presence in the office.
Serhant said: "I still sold more than anybody else last year, so that's kind of that discipline that I've built into the team, that it's not surviving or succeeding based on any one person; it's everyone working together to sell as much as possible."