How a Broker Beat Fear to Launch a Real Estate Academy | Tosha Thornton

Tosha Thornton (00:00)
so it was a time where of course when the market crashed, I had a brick and mortar and I partnered with a mortgage company. what is happening here? it was a scary time for me, and I had to scale back. I decided to have a home based business at that point.

Because I’m trying to eliminate cost, So that was a scary part for me where I kind of wanted to throw in the towel and say, okay, just go back to doing a full-time job, nine to five or whatever it may be, but maybe real estate just wasn’t for me. But I couldn’t just give it up.

Meghan Escobar (01:13)
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Real Estate Pros Podcast, hosted by Investor Fuel. I am your host today, Meghan Escobar, and I have the pleasure of sitting down with an incredible woman who is out here giving her wisdom, shining down on others to impact community in the Georgia area. And I’m gonna let her tell her story, but I’m so happy to have you on the show, Tosha. Tosha Thornton, founder of Southlake Real Estate Academy.

Thank you for joining us today.

Tosha Thornton (01:41)
Thank you for having me.

Meghan Escobar (01:43)
So I definitely think the audience will walk away with some great insights from your journey and the way that you’ve built your business and how you position yourself in it. So let’s dive into that. for those who might not be familiar with who Tosha Thornton is or what Southlake Real Estate Academy is, can you give us a thirty thousand foot view of what the focus is?

Tosha Thornton (02:05)
focus is continuing to educate not just real estate agents or brokerages but to continue to educate consumers that are buying selling investing and the more that I have to provide to consumers or two other agents or two other brokerages

the wiser the decisions that they can make, giving them a full view of what I offer because it’s not just about transactions for me. It’s about educating you to make informed decisions based on the information that I’m giving.

Meghan Escobar (02:42)
And one thing that really stuck out to me when we were chatting was you had mentioned that you had been sitting on this vision and this idea for so long. And it’s kind of what brought you into the real estate world. the lack of education that you received when you purchased your home. But do you mind kind of expanding for the audience on

What it was that held you back because you said something really impactful.

Tosha Thornton (03:08)
Fear. It was really fear. It was trying to perfect what my mission was and the impact that it would have on the community or consumers. And so a lot of times we try to perfect things for fear of rejection. And at the end of the day, even if it helps just one person, I’ve helped someone because I felt like I did not have the support when it was most important, when I was making a big investment.

I vow to just continue to give back and, share whatever it is that I know. And if I don’t know something, we’re gonna find the answer together.

Meghan Escobar (03:47)
that’s so true. And I think that a lot of people can resonate with that because we try to put things together sometime. And if we feel like one little thing’s out of place, it might push us back a few steps. Talk to us a little bit about what it was that pushed you to get this thing rolling finally after, 10 years of sitting on it. And you finally just said, I gotta move.

Tosha Thornton (04:09)
going to different networking events with like-minded people and them pushing me and saying you have to start somewhere and you perfect things along the way. When you see that there’s error, you correct it at that moment. But you won’t know if you never step out there on faith and try. So I said, Okay, I’ve been sitting on this and I guess I’ll sit on it, till the day I die if I never just step out there on faith and

I talk about real estate all the time. So I need to get out there and I need to share what it is that I know in a meaningful way.

Meghan Escobar (05:20)
And what is it for you about real estate that you feel like it can be so impactful for consumers, not just people in the industry?

Tosha Thornton (05:29)
because consumers a lot of people don’t feel like that they can accomplish this goal. whether it’s buying or selling or just wanting to be informed about the real estate process, you may want to be a real estate agent. So my academy is not just teaching realtors and brokerages for continuing education. It’s educating consumers. I have this workforce ready program to say, hey, I may want to do this. So I’m giving them the ins and the outs.

The good, the bad, the ugly, the indifferent of what real estate is all about.

Meghan Escobar (06:00)
And so you’ve been in the game for a while, girl. Like you started out, I know we when we were talking, you mentioned, the lack of education that you had when you first purchased your home, which is kind of what drove you into becoming an agent, becoming a broker.

Can you take us back to a time where you had to pivot really fast or maybe things went sideways? a time where you felt like you were ready to throw the towel in but kept going.

just your journey in general, as an entrepreneur. And the reason I bring this up is because I think it’s important for people to see and understand that outside of social media and the highlights that we see in the world, you gotta have skin in the game.

Tosha Thornton (07:19)
so it was a time where of course when the market crashed, I had a brick and mortar and I partnered with a mortgage company. what is happening here? it was a scary time for me, and I had to scale back. I decided to have a home based business at that point.

Because I’m trying to eliminate cost, So that was a scary part for me where I kind of wanted to throw in the towel and say, okay, just go back to doing a full-time job, nine to five or whatever it may be, but maybe real estate just wasn’t for me. But I couldn’t just give it up. So I have been hanging in there through the good, the bad.

the ugly, the ups and downs. I stood in there because I love real estate. So it wasn’t just about a transaction for me or having clients. and real estate is so broad. So I think I really realized what I loved. And it’s so many different endeavors that you can accomplish under that umbrella of real estate.

Meghan Escobar (08:28)
I think that it’s the stuff that people don’t talk about enough, honestly. And is what separates folks who are here to dabble and create a transaction versus those who are like in the game long term. And clearly, Tosha, you’re in the game for the long term. Well long term win. And I love that it’s for you, you continue to mention impacting lives. I think

at a certain point of our success it becomes what can we do for other people or it always should be, right? So

What is the next big goal for Tosha and Southlake Real Estate Academy?

Tosha Thornton (09:03)
I’m working on this online distance education because everybody have different walks of life and other obligations, but they still want to learn. And so I think it’s important for me to have a self-paced course so they can learn at their own pace. So that’s kind of a big project. and trying to incorporate the new technology.

in everything that I’m doing. So that’s kind of a big one for me.

Meghan Escobar (09:33)
And so I know we also talked about networking and you’re in all the classes, doing all the things, when it comes to building your network, Tosha, what’s made the biggest difference for you? Getting in the right rooms, shaking hands.

Tosha Thornton (09:47)
getting in the right rooms. And it’s hard to determine what the right room is when you see something that kind of grabs your attention. okay, I can get something from that. And then you go and just about a mixer, about just getting together. And I’m at the point in my life where I want things more meaningful when it comes to business. When I wanna have fun, I wanna be able to separate that. especially when I have my mindset on

obtaining new information or information that will be impactful to whatever it is that I’m doing and being able to accept the advice, constructive criticism to make me better.

Meghan Escobar (10:26)
So being intentional, but being very intentional about where you’re giving your energy and where you’re getting energy from.

Think that’s really important. I think people, especially today in this digital world, as we continue to grow in the digital space, sometimes we lose sight of the human connection and relationships that you need to create to get to the next level. any business is a people business, especially real estate, right?

So important. And before we do wrap up here, Tosha, if somebody listening in wants to connect with you and learn more about what you’re doing in the academy, collab with you, learn from you, what would be the best way for them to reach you?

Tosha Thornton (11:11)
I am open. Everybody has different ways of being connected. I will take a phone call, I will take a email, I will take, a shout out on any social media platform. I’m big on LinkedIn and somewhat on Facebook. I’m getting out of my comfort zone. I am a people person. I rather meet in person for a cup of coffee, lunch or dinner.

I’m open to any way that is best for that other individual or that entity to reach out to me. I do take phone calls. I’m not that one that will send you to voicemail.

Meghan Escobar (11:47)
So we’ll be sure to drop your phone number below and your LinkedIn link and any other links. we’ll post them down below so that way folks can go ahead and just touch base that way. but outside of that, I really want to say that I appreciate your time. I appreciate your perspective. And I think we need more people in this space who are doing things the right way and are just

here to genuinely care and help people, right? Not just the transaction and the commission check. Although that’s nice, right? But it’s always bigger than that. And I think that’s what makes the difference. All right. Well, thank you for tuning in with us. Thank you for being here. I really appreciate it. And for those of you who are tuning in, if you got any value from this, please be sure to hit like and subscribe. We’ve got more conversations coming in with operators.

Just like Tosha here, who are out here building real businesses in real time with real people. We’ll see you on the next episode.