Syndicated post from InmanNews.
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Tatiana Londono considers herself fortunate. In an industry where not everyone succeeds, she somehow managed to launch her own brokerage, appear on an HGTV series and go viral on TikTok.
“Because of dumb luck, all this happened,” Londono told Inman in a recent conversation. “Well, dumb luck and good decisions.”
The 20-year Montreal- and Florida-based real estate vet has come a long way since she first started her career, and today, her firm is chock full of talented agents aligned with her business mindset. She says that it’s all because she has continued to embrace social media throughout its evolution.
Hopeful career beginnings
Fewer than five years into her real estate career, Londono launched her own indie brokerage — even though everyone she knew, both within and outside of the industry, advised against it.
“Everyone laughed at me, thought I was crazy,” Londono said. “I got advice from my own family telling me, ‘Tatiana, I don’t think that’s a good idea, opening this real estate agency with your last name.’”
Londono said her enthusiasm and naivety ended up helping her, even though everyone thought she was being foolish.
“I just thought, well, big deal if nobody joins my agency. The only reason I’m opening this agency is so I’m in control of my paycheck and my commissions. So even if I just work with two or three people, I’ll be happy. So I did that.”
Londono then had her first stroke of luck — she was spotted by a talent scout for an HGTV program called The Property Shop. Although she didn’t have any experience being on TV, Londono decided to take a gamble and say ‘yes’ to the opportunity.
The program was a success, and suddenly, the show and Londono were all over the newspapers. (Facebook had only been around a few years in those days.)
The Property Shop brought Londono and her agents business, and she couldn’t believe her good fortune. But after some years, things settled down, even though the show continued to be syndicated. Still, business was good, and Londono was content.
An early social media adopter
@tatlondono Million $ flip. #realestatelife #success #realtorlife #realestate #luxuryrealestateagent #home #homeownership #4you #realestateagent #fyp ♬ original sound – Tat Londono Real Estate Coach
When Facebook started, Londono didn’t think much of it until her brother, who works in marketing, flagged the new social network for her as a potential marketing tool.
“My brother, I have to say, taught me a lot about [marketing,]” Londono told Inman. “And he told me, ‘You better start making videos to attract these people. You tell them about the TV show. You tell them, this is how I got a TV show.’ So we started following the Russell Brunson book of business — funnel marketing — and part of the funnel marketing is making videos, if you’re smart.”
Once she started making videos, Londono said that people in the industry who saw what she was doing on Facebook were critical because they didn’t understand how this budding form of marketing would transform the industry.
“And I was older, so it was even worse because I had all these mothers thinking I was crazy,” Londono said. “‘What is she saying? Oh my God, did you see Tatiana’s video today? She’s crazy.’”
But as Londono continued to make videos, incorporating real estate coaching content for agents and more, she started to gain a following. And when she decided to create an Instagram account as well, people followed her to that platform. Ultimately, she garnered a few hundred thousand followers on Facebook and about 75K on Instagram, and she was pleased with her progress.
Little did she know that a new platform — one which had the capability to catapult her career — was just around the corner.
Hopping on TikTok — with her son’s encouragement
@tatlondono Money isn’t everything BUT it sure does help😂 #millionaire #realestate #money #fyp #entrepreneur #success ♬ original sound – Tat Londono Real Estate Coach
The year was 2020, and Montreal was fairly strict about pandemic precautions, Londono said. There was a curfew in place, so people were cooped up at home.
They were looking for things to entertain themselves, and something that was growing in popularity as a result was this new dancing social platform called TikTok, one of Londono’s friends told her. He said Londono had better get on it ASAP.
“I said, ‘You’re crazy. I’m not going to dance like a fool on social media,’” Londono said.
“So he said, ‘Tatiana, you’ve grown your following to 75,000 followers on Instagram and now you’re poo-pooing this new app that everybody is talking about?’ And when I heard that, I said, ‘He’s freaking right.’”
So Londono threw herself into making TikTok videos, but was quickly put in her place by her then-17-year-old son, who told her she was going about it all wrong.
“He says, ‘Mom, this isn’t Instagram. You have to pick a niche.’”
“And he was like, ‘What are you, stupid, mom? You’re a real estate professional. Talk about real estate. People love real estate.’”
Londono’s son, who is now 23, then gave her a crash course in best practices, like using trending music and sounds, keeping videos short and quippy and using bright graphics.
Then, something incredible happened — those first few videos that Londono worked on with her son went viral within a week and have more than 10 million views today.
“TikTok just skyrocketed my career,” Londono said. She started getting attention from other like-minded entrepreneurs whom she was able to bounce ideas off of, and agents started flocking to her to ask if they could work at her brokerage.
“Since 2020, my life hasn’t been the same,” Londono said. “It propelled my career. It made me visible to an international audience, especially Americans.
“People spend money recruiting and getting coached on how to recruit … Well, guess what? When you have eyeballs on social media, you don’t need to recruit ever again,” she continued. “People are knocking on your door.”
Londono’s TikTok fame came about when she was 48 years old. She said her only regret is that she wished it could have happened 10 years earlier.
“It gives people my age hope and motivation,” Londono said. “You’re never too old to be on social media.”
Tatiana Londono takeaways
- Show off properties — even if they’re ugly.
- Develop a hook that will reel the viewer in. Londono often uses impressive figures about how much money she put down on one property and how she reinvested it years later into a new property.
- Straightforward market updates while just looking at the camera is terrible content — people find it boring.
- Make the video quick — no more than 30 to 45 seconds.
- Use trending sounds.
- Make sure the video has bright colors, the camera is steady and the content is visually pleasing.
- “Cut, cut, cut.” Do quick, short cuts between takes to transition from one point to the next.
