Tyler Brummett has achieved more professional success in his 20s than most people hope to achieve over the course of their entire career.
As the former Director of Mortgage Banking for Quicken Loans, Tyler was one of the youngest directors ever for a Fortune 500 company. Currently, Tyler works as the Vice-President of Business Development for Freeland Ventures, which provides residential and commercial private loans and equity investments for investors and real estate entrepreneurs nationwide. He’s also an experienced real estate investor, with more than 40 properties (mainly multi-family) currently in his portfolio.
Yet, despite his impressive resume, Tyler remains humble and grounded. For him, the success isn’t about the money – it’s about doing what he enjoys, and helping others find their own unique versions of success along the way.
A SOLID FOUNDATION
Raised by his single mother, Tyler grew up watching his mom’s strong work ethic as she devoted much of her time to multiple jobs. When she started her own landscaping business, he was often at her side, helping her with the work. During college, Tyler found success as a used car salesperson and was on track to be promoted to management.
But, little did he know, his career would take quite a different turn.
At that time, Tyler’s girlfriend was an intern at Quicken Loans, and he decided to pursue a position there. In his first month as a mortgage banker, he wrote 37 loans, totaling over $7 million. (That’s an insanely high number, even for the most elite, experienced loan officers).
Roughly a year into his career at Quicken, Tyler was promoted to the Director of Mortgage Banking. In his early 20s at that time, he was responsible for recruiting and training a large unit of sales and business development professionals, and he excelled in his new position. Most of all, he loved leading and mentoring others in their careers.
VENTURING INTO REI
Feeling confident with his professional life, Tyler decided it was a great time to buy his first home with his girlfriend. He found an awesome property, worked with the owner (who was also an attorney), signed the paperwork, and got excited to move in.
Little did he know, the property he had just purchased was a duplex, and both units had current tenants who had already signed leases for the next year. The seller had been deceptive, leaving Tyler with a big mess to sort out… and nowhere to live, in the meantime.
It was that scenario that inspired Tyler to get into real estate investing. He saw a need for good, honest people in the business, and he decided to take a leap of faith. Ever since then, he’s invested in about one property ever other month, building his rental portfolio to include mostly duplexes and other multi-family properties.
FINDING HIS TRUE PASSION
Despite his success as a salesperson, loan originator, and sales manager, Tyler discovered at a young age that he found the greatest joy in coaching, mentoring, and leading others to capitalize on their strengths and grow in their professional pursuits.
As someone with extensive experience managing teams, Tyler believes there are two essential goals that you must meet for the team to succeed.
First, as a leader, you need to make sure everyone on the team has a clear and specific vision of the end goal. If people don’t understand what they’re working toward, they can’t tailor their efforts to that goal. Second, each team member must have a purpose. When someone feels like their role is unclear or unimportant, they won’t be emotionally invested in achieving the team’s end goal.
Overall, his experience at Quicken made Tyler realize how much he loved working with teams and helping others become successful. Without having that joy and passion in his work, the 10-12 hour days would have taken their toll.
WORK + PASSION = FULFILLMENT
While many business owners talk about retiring, living on a beach, and doing basically nothing with their time, Tyler can’t picture that life for himself. For him, the joy of investing in real estate and seeing how it impacts others is too good to pass up.
In Cleveland, specifically, he’s bought several properties in the same rundown neighborhoods, renovated those properties, and brought new life to those communities. Hearing from the local people who are grateful for how he rejuvenated their neighborhood is one of the most rewarding things for Tyler. And, he hopes to repeat this work in other economically depressed communities around the nation.
“Work’s not work when you love what you’re doing, and I’m just going to follow what I love doing,” Tyler says. “And, at the same time, I’m going to be successful and help make other people around successful. There’s going to be challenges and I’m going to learn a lot as I go.”
Tyler is also passionate about his current work at Freeland Ventures, and hopes to expand the company’s brand and reputation in the coming years. “When you think of a hamburger, you think of McDonald’s,” he says. “When you think of real estate or lending, I want it to be Freeland Ventures.”
In the end, Tyler’s best advice for any entrepreneur, business owner, or real estate investor is that you simply need to find what you love to do. And, you’ll often discover what you love to do at the most unlikely time… like Tyler did when he bought his first property. While that situation was a disaster, he discovered his love for investing in real estate at that time.
He also says that it’s very important to consider the people around you – whether family, people you’re doing business with, etc. – and always have their best interests in mind.
As Tyler sees it, if you don’t love what you’re doing and don’t have integrity while doing it, you won’t be successful – no matter how many properties you buy, deals you close, or businesses you start.
And that’s pretty inspiring, I’d say.
Be Daring,
Josh
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