The Real Estate Networking Mindset That Can Lead to Your Next Deal Anywhere

Dr Gloria Esoimeme (00:00)
what I would advise any real estate agents, any real estate broker is to know that you never can tell where your next business is going to come from. It may come from the least likely place. I’ll tell you a real story. Real story. was working. This was here in Dubai. I just finished a meeting. I didn’t have the meeting so far from where I live. So I was walking home, and then someone just of stumbled into me. I turned around. was like, oh, you know.

had a conversation the person was looking to buy real estate in Dubai and I closed on that

Scott Bursey (02:04)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host Scott Bursey. And today we have a fantastic guest who helps agents and investors transition from just surviving to truly scaling their business. We’re sitting down with Dr. Gloria Esoimeme, the founder of Aglo Consulting. Gloria, welcome to the show.

Dr Gloria Esoimeme (02:26)
Thank you so much for having me, Scott.

Scott Bursey (02:29)
It is a pleasure to have you here. Before we dive into the how, I want to talk about the who. For those just meeting you, tell us about your path that led you to real estate and your core mission and where you are today.

Dr Gloria Esoimeme (02:44)
Okay.

So I am an internal medicine physician primarily however I got into real estate while I was still in training and My reason for getting into real estate was more for tax savings. I wasn’t even thinking about the return on investment I wasn’t thinking about capital appreciation. I was just thinking okay now I’m in training in a few months in a few years I’ll be having the fat doctor salary and I didn’t want to give all the money to Uncle Sam So I’m like, how do I save and I started looking into different

vehicles and the one that made the most sense to me was real estate. So I said, okay, I’ll get real estate while I’m still in training. And fortunately for me as a physician, there is the physician loan that gives us the opportunity to buy real estate with zero down. And at the time when I bought real estate, it was the buyer’s market. So my closing cost was paid. All I paid out of pocket was $2,000. So that’s how I broke it.

into

the market and that’s how ⁓ I got my first home. And then after residency, some people were like, are you gonna sell? I’m like, no, I’m not gonna sell. I put it out in the market and it’s one of the best decisions I ever made and then I moved to a new city and I did the same thing all over again and then I said, okay, I need to move into. ⁓

into like the short term rentals and then I started doing Airbnb’s. It was still the same process of I wasn’t looking at the return on investment per se. I was looking at tax savings because I looked at the short term rental as a physician. What I make in a month as my profit from one unit, I can make it a day. However, if I look at the long term, but what I would save in taxes, I will be better off going through that stress because we’re running short term rentals, especially if you’re running short term rentals

for you to save in taxes, it’s a lot of work. It’s like running a hotel. So if you have one, you have two, you have three, it’s a lot of work. However, I wasn’t looking at the cash flow. What I was looking at was more like the tax savings. And then everything just started compounding, and I decided to move my business to move internationally. And then I crossed over from the US, and I moved to the United Arab Emirates because the real estate market here is

just growing and I felt like since if I want to do realize the big time I might as well diversify and then I moved to the UAE I bought my first unit here and then I started helping Americans invest in the UAE as well so that’s why I am currently and at the time of this recording it’s in the we are in the middle of the Iran war so things have changed a little bit

Scott Bursey (06:19)
Well, that was a great explanation and what an exciting journey and what a worthwhile ⁓ quest that you have, Doctor. So let’s dive right in. Gloria, for a real estate pro looking to scale, what’s the single most overlooked area of their current business model, would you say?

Dr Gloria Esoimeme (06:34)
Yeah.

What most people overlook is they overlook small towns. They people look at big cities They look at houses worth like seven hundred thousand dollars a million dollars that has its utility However, if you’re someone without so much money so much free cash to invest you can start in a small town I remember where when I started when I got my third my third unit my sister who is an accountant She sat me down. She said you live in the small town There really is no tour

here so how you gonna she was looking at the numbers I wasn’t I looked at the numbers but I said what’s the words that could happen if I cannot if I don’t get a tenant I can still afford to pay this rent I’m not gonna cry I’ll be fine paying this rent and then there were factors I looked at I said we have a big hospital here it’s not a big town but there’s a big hospital so people were gonna come from other towns to this little town because I didn’t have the data at the time I said we have a college here they’re not like it’s

don’t have Harvard, we don’t have Boston University, we don’t have Mayo, but this is also, we have like three, four universities here, so people would also come into this town. So something I see most people overlook is the small town. And from that small town, I’ve been able to, it’s one of the biggest, one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’ve been lucky with my real estate decisions. Most of them, I’ve made good decisions, but investing in a small town was one of the wisest things I ever did.

Scott Bursey (08:11)
That’s a critical distinction. Focusing on systemized lead management is definitely where the high leverage work happens. And Gloria, interested to know, Aglo Consulting focuses on growth. Can you share one high impact marketing strategy that is currently working for real estate agents right now that isn’t just relying on, let’s say, social media?

Dr Gloria Esoimeme (08:20)
Yes.

Correct.

Well social media is the way to go now I can’t even deny that so two things you need so two things word of mouth that works well I just haven’t

Okay, so let me take steps back before we look at the medium in which we are going to advertise Let’s look at who is advertising so you as a person you need to be a person of integrity You need you know Well, some people have offered me so much money to advertise some of the markets that are not stable And I said no, can’t do that I want the money because it’s I’m not like I can do with more money But I said this does not go with my value system I cannot advertise this because I would not buy this myself or at this point in time

So being a person of integrity like when I moved to the UAE many people who bought through me It was some of them didn’t even understand what I was saying, but it trusted my judgment They knew I would not lie so you as a person You just develop being that person of integrity when you know when your word is your bond ⁓ I think that’s the first thing because you have to be that first before you show the world who you are and to show the world who you are it’s word of mouth one person buys through you or

you’re scaling, one person comes into your circle, another person brings another person, nothing beats word of mouth. However, for you to really scale in 2026 and beyond, you need to have a social media presence. ⁓

It’s it’s you need to build your brand you need to be visible before people would go on TV They would go on the different networks But 2026 has made it so easy that you can be your own TV station You can you can broadcast whenever you want to broadcast and you can advertise for more people to see but you have so much more control So I think social media and word of mouth Those are one of the biggest ways to scale once you’ve already developed who you are your brand your reputation

Scott Bursey (11:10)
Excellent point, doctor. What I’m taking away from what you just said, building lasting authority over fleeting trends. That’s powerful. And Gloria.

Dr Gloria Esoimeme (11:20)
yeah. Yeah.

Scott Bursey (11:24)
Interested to also know this has been on my mind since ⁓ We booked you when should a successful individual agent know it’s time to transition from being a solo operator to building a team and what’s the biggest challenge they should prepare for

Dr Gloria Esoimeme (11:41)
So that’s a loaded question because that it’s to you asked me two questions like when and then the challenge and for me personally ⁓ If you run depends on how it depends on your business model, so mine I have like short-term rentals. I have long-term rentals I help people I do advisement so if you have a short-term rental by all means you have to start developing your team because you need to have reliable cleaners you need to have reliable handyman so that you do from

day one. However, if you’re doing it full time, you may still have time to do the booking, take care of things like that, but if you’re doing it part time, then from day two, once you’ve bought your property, then you need to start having team members and then gradually scale. So for me, I have a team in the US, they manage my short term rentals, they’ve been with me for years. I don’t have to micromanage, they know how I think, they know what the standards are, and they live up to the

expectation and then here because I do a lot of social media marketing I had to develop a team here and so that was Initially, I was subcontracting my services I would have one agent work one agency do some parts But now I’ve gotten to the stage where I have everything done in house. I have someone who manages operations I have someone who is the creative director, so I’ve built a team so I would say it depends on how much

revenue you’re making because if you’re just starting you don’t want to

Hiring takes a lot of money so you don’t want to put everything out there But at same time to scale you need to have people support you That’s the only way you can scale fast and some of the challenges is finding the right the right fit and What I look for so I’ll start with the very basics, right? So when I was running my so with my short-term rental before I found this team that I work with now I went through maybe seven eight different people. I don’t sweat naturally because I’m Christian. I’m very

I was throwing like, you know, words coming out of my mouth. I’m like, did I just say that? But that’s how upset they made me. Yes. finding, so how I knew I had found the right, ⁓

team back in the US was when I was interviewing the lady, said, you know what, the better we take care of this property for you, the more you’re going to get guests. And then the more you’re going to give us more money. was like, I found the right person. We have the same vision at this point in time. And it’s still the same principle I have carried with me the whole time that I need people who would buy into the vision that we have that they know, fine, it’s my business. however, if this business thrives, you thrive along with the business. We are all

growing together. So just having people who have the same lens, who can see, who have the same vision as I have, that’s one of the most important ways in scaling when you’re building a team.

Scott Bursey (14:46)
Outstanding breakdown, doctor. Understanding the difference between being busy and being productive is key to that transition. Delegation is a must. It is a must. And curious to know, Gloria.

Dr Gloria Esoimeme (14:55)
ski yes

It is.

Scott Bursey (15:05)
What’s your advice for real estate investors on navigating the volatile interest rate environment? Should they be pivoting for their investment strategy?

Dr Gloria Esoimeme (15:58)
That’s a tricky one because initially when the interest rates started going up, we thought it was gonna come down, but it’s been sustained over time. And since it’s now sustained, then all you need to do is work your numbers because you don’t want your cash just lying under your pillow or in the bank without it working for you. it’s to be a little bit more, look at the numbers a little bit more, but I would still say invest, because I bought properties at 7 % interest

and I’m cash flowing. So it’s for you to look at the numbers, look at the markets. I would not say do not invest, but I would just say invest cautiously. At some point we had rates of like 2. something percent, but now it’s seven, but I’m still cash flowing from both the one that was like two, three percent to the one that’s seven. So it’s looking at the numbers critically. Be cautious, but still invest.

Scott Bursey (16:54)
That makes sense. Focusing on creative financing options and value add properties offers a necessary hedge against market uncertainty. Doctor, last question. Before we let you go, what’s the one piece of consulting advice from Aglo that you believe every real estate professional should implement this quarter to see measurable returns?

Dr Gloria Esoimeme (17:20)
you

That’s a good question.

what I would advise any real estate agents, any real estate broker is to know that you never can tell where your next business is going to come from. It may come from the least likely place. I’ll tell you a real story. Real story. was working. This was here in Dubai. I just finished a meeting. I didn’t have the meeting so far from where I live. So I was walking home, and then someone just of stumbled into me. I turned around. was like, oh, you know.

had a conversation the person was looking to buy real estate in Dubai and I closed on that

right so you you never can tell you never can tell where your next business is coming from so just be just just be polite be friendly you know you’re always selling you’re always marketing you always advertise in a way you’re not so it’s just just know you don’t know where your next business is going to come from so that that’s what that’s what I’ll say

Scott Bursey (18:18)
Absolutely, that makes perfect sense. we also wanted to give you any opportunity to convey any message to our audience as well. Any takeaways or golden nuggets that you’d like to share?

Dr Gloria Esoimeme (18:32)
Yes, I do. So I want to speak to three sets of people, four. So the first set of people would be, if you have enough, we kind of touched on it a little bit. I think real estate is one of the most secure investments you could ever do. And if you’re not doing it, think about it critically. Because the beauty of real estate is that you could cash flow. And even when you’re not cash flowing a lot, you can also get equity over time. So that’s one.

Message then the second is that there’s so many people who are interested in investing in real estate But it’s ⁓ make I make hundred thousand dollars a year. I make sixty thousand dollars a year I can never get enough cash to invest so something you could do is find people who you trust and then you guys can start together and Then gradually you can start to scale. Okay, then another group of people I want to speak to is people who are younger who are thinking of joining the military just so many reasons to

join

the military. I’m not asking anyone to join the military, especially at this time where there’s a war going on, you know, but just listen and then you can take my advice if you, you know, if you want to. But there’s benefit in joining the military. They may not pay you a lot of money. However, there’s so many benefits that could lead to wealth if you take advantage of the situation, because I know a physician who used the, he had the VA benefits and then he had the physician loan and he paid $200 for his first home that he bought. I’ve had

siblings who are in the military, they bought houses just because they were in the military. They had the V.A. loan, which you don’t have to put anything down. ⁓ but yeah, let me see what other advice, ⁓ then this part, like my fellow doctors, if you are a physician and you…

I think you should take advantage of the physician loan. That’s one low entry way where you could buy a home, you don’t have to put anything down, and then you can buy your first home, buy your second, and then scale from there. So those are the words of advice I have for our listeners.

Scott Bursey (20:37)
That is some excellent advice, doctor. And thank you so much for that. So we covered a lot of ground here today, and I know people are going to want to tap into your brain specifically. For the listeners who want to build with you or just follow your play-by-play of your journey, your unique journey, what’s the best way for them to reach you?

Dr Gloria Esoimeme (21:01)
I’m on Instagram, it’s same name Gloria Esoimeme I’m on Facebook, I’m on TikTok, I’m on YouTube. You can find me, I’m not hard to find. You can find me on LinkedIn, I’m everywhere.

Scott Bursey (21:14)
Gloria, thank you for joining us today and for sharing your vital insights. This has been a pleasure.

Dr Gloria Esoimeme (21:22)
Thank you for having me, Scott.

Scott Bursey (21:24)
And for our listeners, we appreciate you. If you got value out of today’s episode, please subscribe. We have more conversations coming up with exceptional operators just like Gloria. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you in the next episode, everyone.