I have a friend who only does one thing.
She is a real estate agent and helps international buyers purchase homes in Los Angeles over $10 million.
Not homes under $10 million.
Not local buyers.
Not rentals.
Not investments.
Not commercial properties.
Just international buyers. Just LA. Just $10 million and up.
That’s it.
Also, she has no website and she definitely does not have any business cards. You cannot find her online.
Her only business expense is her Range Rover.
Because if you are a real estate agent in LA, you have to drive a Range Rover.
She’s been doing this for 20 years and works entirely by referral.
Here’s how it started.
She began as a regular real estate agent. Then she helped one international client buy a home in LA. That one deal taught her something most agents miss: international buyers have completely different problems.
They need help with wire transfers across currencies.
They need someone who can walk properties and FaceTime them at 3 AM California time.
They need tax guidance for foreign nationals.
They need property managers they can trust from 6,000 miles away.
Most agents see these complications and run.
But, she saw them and built a business around them.
The progression was simple.
Here is how it happened for her:
Started with one international client. Got good at solving their problems. Started only taking international clients.
Raised her minimum from $1 million to $3 million.
Got better. Raised it to $5 million.
Kept raising it until she hit $10 million.
Now she turns down everything under $10 million.
I asked her once why she doesn’t just take the occasional $7 million deal. I mean, its “easy money,” right?
She said: “Every time I say yes to something outside my thing, I dilute what makes me valuable. I’d rather be the best at one thing than decent at ten.”
Here’s what most people miss…
Most agents are a 6 out of 10 at residential sales, a 5 out of 10 at commercial, a 6 out of 10 at rentals, and a 4 out of 10 at international deals.
She’s a 10 out of 10 at one thing.
When someone in Dubai or Shanghai or London needs to buy a $15 million home in LA, there’s one person their wealth advisor calls. They don’t Google “LA real estate agent.” They ask, “Who’s the best at this specific thing?”
The same name comes up every time.
And since she is not on any TV show, or have fancy marketing, or have any social media… most of the agents in LA don’t even now who she is.
That’s what 20 years of saying no to everything else gets you.
The math works.
She closes 8-10 deals per year. At $10 million and up, her commission per deal is $300K to $500K.
8 deals. $3 million per year. One Range Rover. No website. No marketing budget. No staff.
Most agents close 30 deals per year at $500K each and make $450K. They’re exhausted. She’s not.
In fact, one of her clients actually bought her new Range Rover as a “closing gift” for doing a great job.
The focus isn’t just about income.
It’s about insane leverage.
She knows exactly which neighborhoods international buyers care about. She knows which escrow officers handle complex international transactions. She knows which property managers won’t steal. She knows which CPAs specialize in foreign national tax law.
That knowledge took 20 years to build. You cannot Google it. You cannot replicate it in 6 months.
Here’s the part nobody wants to hear.
This has nothing to do with being a real estate agent in Los Angeles.
This has everything to do with being really really good at what you do.
In fact, this only works if you actually get super good.
She spent 20 years getting good. She paid for her expertise with time, with turned-down deals, with learning Mandarin real estate terminology, with 3 AM property tours.
Most people want to pick something narrow and hope it works. That’s unfortunately not how this works.
Here is the formula:
You have to get good first.
Then you get specific.
Then you charge more.
Then you do it for a long time.
The lesson isn’t about real estate.
Most people want to keep their options open. They want to do branding and strategy and consulting and coaching. They want to serve startups and enterprises and nonprofits.
Extreme specialization feels risky. It feels like you’re turning down opportunity.
But here’s what actually happens: when you do one thing extremely well for a long time, you stop competing.
My friend doesn’t compete with 50,000 LA real estate agents. She competes with maybe 3 people in the world who do exactly what she does.
At that level, there’s no competition.
There’s just: are you good or not?
She’s good.
So she wins.
If you take one thing from this:
Stop trying to be good at 10 things.
Pick one thing.
Get extremely good at it.
Charge a lot for it.
Do it for a long time.
Specialization is the whole game.
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Thanks Sharran for reading!
She has definitely defined her ONE thing at work.
In your case, what is that ONE thing at work where you score 10/10?
I'm so guilty of doing too many things because I'm good at a lot, but know I need to focus on what I'm best at.
Thanks for the reminder and great example.