Episode 25 of the Agents of Innovation podcast features the first repeat guest we’ve had — we caught up with Dan Lesniak, co-founder of Orange Line Living, the hottest real estate company in Arlington, Virginia. Since we last spoke to Dan in June 2015, a lot has happened in his life. His first child was born in the fall of 2015 and he and his wife Keri are expecting their second child later this fall.
He’s also competed in a number of marathons, triathlons, and even an Iron Man. To date, Dan has completed 12 marathons and he is now intensely training for his second Iron Man, with a goal to qualify for the Iron Man World Championships in Kona.
These are some lofty goals — all while growing his family and growing his business. Back in 2015, Orange Line Living had about 30 employees. Today they have 35 employees. They sell about 360-370 homes per year, selling 3-4 times the amount of homes as their closest competitor in Arlington. In 2016, they were #1 in Virginia in terms of total volume of homes sold. So how does Dan do it?
First, he doesn’t do it alone. He and his wife combined their teams and have two brands under one roof: Orange Line Living and the Keri Shull team. Dan is also intensely committed to not only setting goals but planning “the why” behind his goals.
He gives our listeners this advice:
- Plan the “why” behind your goals
- Find motivation to get them done
- Write down your goals and review them daily
- Spend time at the beginning of each day planning
Dan wakes up around 5:30am-6am each day. He journals, reads, works out, and plans for the day. He hasn’t seen such quick success with others in the real estate market as he has with himself. So, he decided to write a book to help those just getting into real estate navigate their way through — and for those agents already in the business, this is a way for them to learn how to break into new markets — whether that be geographic or socioeconomic.
His book, The Hyperlocal Hyperfast Real Estate Agent, is now on available on Kindle and Amazon. A military veteran himself, Dan is donating all proceeds of the book to the Folded Flag Foundation, which helps spouses and dependents of deceased veterans.
When asked if he was afraid that his book would be sharing his strategy with the competition, he replied that is not something that bothers him. “I like sharing success and hope to learn from (my competition) too. I believe that the more that you give, the more comes back to you.”
He says that writing this book is not only helping others, it’s also helping expand his brand. He’s already had people in other geographic areas send business his way for people they know who are moving into the Arlington area. Dan’s even had several other agents reach out to apply to work for him. In addition, he says that Arlington is such a fragmented market. Even though they dominate the market, Orange Line Living and the Keri Shull team only sell about 4% of the market. Their greatest competition is not usually one of the other big agents, but people who sell on their own or through the help of a family member or friend.
Dan also feels that writing this book might be his first foray into coaching. He and his wife have been helped a lot by coaches. They’ve attended seminars and they are interested in coaching others in the future. He’s already been doing some of this online through Facebook Live and YouTube videos. You can also follow Orange Line Living on Instagam, Twitter, and Facebook. And you can hear our full interview with Dan on the Agents of Innovation podcast, which can be found on iTunes, Stitcher, or Soundcloud.
