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Ryan Serhant says he has a list of all the billionaires he\u2019s met\u2014all 101 of them. For the real-estate mogul whose brokerage, Serhant., is on track to close $6 billion in sales this year, building relationships with the ultra-wealthy is his \u201cnumber one job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Serhant, 41, transformed himself from a struggling actor who only earned about $9,000 in his first year of real estate\u2014in 2008, the week Lehman Brothers collapsed\u2014into one of America\u2019s most successful brokers. He\u2019s closed more than $15 billion in real estate over his career, built a brokerage with more than 1,100 agents across 14 states, and parlayed his work into a Netflix series, Owning Manhattan<\/em>. His estimated net worth is around $40 million. And at 41, he continues to set records: In the first 35 days of 2025 alone, his brokerage Serhant. surpassed $1 billion in closed and in-contract sales.<\/p>\n In a recent TikTok interview with The School of Hard Knocks, Serhant revealed the deceptively simple networking approach that has fueled his rise from struggling actor to one of the most successful real-estate brokers in the world: \u201cEvery room I go into, I use the two C\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n The formula? \u201cYou give someone a compliment, and you find something in common.\u201d<\/p>\n Serhant doesn\u2019t stop at the initial conversation. Once he gets someone\u2019s contact info, he says he follows up within 10 minutes. \u201cI send them a quick note, a quick text. So, great meeting you seven-and-a-half minutes ago. Let\u2019s do something great together,\u201d he said.?<\/p>\n Serhant says he keeps the message unread as a visual reminder, then continues to engage \u201cuntil they buy or I die.\u201d He says he tries to meet between five and 15 new people every day, and his contact list is actually \u201ccontact currency\u201d\u2014a network built on relationships, not just transactions.?<\/p>\n Serhant said his $6 billion sales strategy revolves around approachability: \u201cPeople hate being sold, but they love shopping with friends,\u201d he said. \u201cYour number one job as a salesperson is to create relationships. It\u2019s not to sell product.\u201d?<\/p>\n This philosophy has driven some of his most significant deals. Earlier this year, Serhant said he sold properties in Palm Beach totaling $308 million over the phone, which he attributes entirely to \u201cthe trust in the relationship that I was able to create between a person who wanted to buy and a person who wanted to sell.\u201d?<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I ever actually sell apartments or sell buildings,\u201d Serhant added.?<\/p>\n Since launching Serhant. in September 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, his firm has since become one of the fastest-growing real estate companies in the U.S. Serhant boasts a 99% agent retention rate at his brokerage.?<\/p>\n When asked what message he would leave for younger people, Serhant shared wisdom gleaned from his billionaire clients: \u201cMost people are in a race against time. Time is their greatest asset. The wealthiest people are in a race against moments,\u201d he said.? With this in mind, Serhant says he\u2019d \u201crather regret the things I did than the things I never tried,\u201d recommending others similarly \u201ctake the risk or lose the chance.\u201d<\/p>\n You can watch Serhant\u2019s full interview with The School of Hard Knocks below:<\/p>\nRelationships > transactions<\/h3>\n
Advice for the next generation<\/h3>\n
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