A Tight Grip on the Wheel

by Maegan Carrasquillo, Staff Writer

Kel Williams, Franchisee of EXIT Realty Elite in Nashville, TN, joined EXIT as a “favor” to Kenny Lynn and Stacy Strobl, Regional Owners of EXIT Southeast. They had all worked together in the mortgage industry prior to joining EXIT and after opening their brokerage, Kenny and Stacy asked their top producer, Kel, to get his real estate license and come aboard to make some extra money. “Within about a year or so we closed down the mortgage company and everybody switched to EXIT. Our little side job became our real job and then it became our life,” recalls Kel.

“What really made me decide to quit that other job and go one hundred percent EXIT was the residual plan. You know, the sponsorship, 10-7-5. It was just a game changer,” Kel says about the EXIT Formula.  Things never really slowed down after that. Shortly after joining EXIT he opened his own office and continues to steadily recruit agents.

Kel’s office recently celebrated its fifth anniversary and he offers this sage advice for those just starting out. “Pick and choose which tools and technology you want to learn and put into place. Try one or two things at a time because EXIT has so much to offer that there’s little chance you’re going to understand it all and do it all correctly at first. I like to think if you can take back about 10% of what they offer at Broker/Owner Training each time you’ll be doing great.”

While he’s become fairly well known for sponsoring, it’s what he does with his residual income that really gets people talking. Kel is an explorer at heart. He doesn’t just travel, he takes trips that most people only dream of. A few years back he used his residual income to take his brother to Bolivia to visit ruins they’d seen on a TV show.  They were enjoying their first-class adventure so much they decided to continue on to Peru to hike Machu Picchu.

Last December Kel traveled to California to watch a meteor shower from Joshua Tree National Park where he was able to camp out under the stars in the desert. He also planned an amazing 15-day trip to Egypt for him and his dad last November that would have included a three-day Nile River cruise, but due to Covid-19, that excursion has been delayed.

Though the pandemic affected his travel plans, workwise, business has been taking off. Thanks to a booming real estate market he’s busier than ever. “Since Covid-19 started, I feel like I’m going 90 miles per hour around a curve and I’m just barely holding on to the steering wheel while flying out the window, but somehow I keep managing to hold on as I come around the bend,” Kel says.

Looking to the future, he’d love to have 100 producing agents in his office by the end of 2021; a realistic goal in the current market.  Even while Kel was being interviewed for this story, a new agent came onboard bringing his agent count from 62 to 63. Pausing our conversation, he said to the newcomer, “All signed up? Great! Well, welcome to EXIT and welcome to our family!” Kel is doing a great job holding tight to that wheel.