Alicia Holmquist on Building a Real Estate Empire from Zero Network in Myrtle Beach

What does it really take to build a real estate empire in a market where you do not know a single person? Alicia Holmquist is the answer. On this episode of The REI Agent Podcast, hosts Mattias and Erica Clymer welcome the top producing Myrtle Beach Realtor to share an unfiltered story of relocating from Maine, driving Uber to survive, working “bad” leads everyone else ignored, and turning consistent follow up into a multi million dollar production engine.

This is not a glossy success story. It is a step by step blueprint for any new agent, relocating agent, or stuck agent who is staring at a blank pipeline and wondering whether the breakthrough will ever come. Alicia’s journey makes one thing clear. The work nobody else wants to do is exactly the work that builds an unstoppable real estate business.

From Maine to Myrtle Beach With Zero Network

Alicia Holmquist did not move to Myrtle Beach with a sphere of influence, a referral pipeline, or a famous mentor on speed dial. She moved with her family, a willingness to start over, and a problem most new agents never solve. How do you build a real estate business in a market where nobody has ever heard your name?

Many agents in that situation hide behind theory. They take more classes, redesign their logo, and refresh their social media bio while the bills stack up. Alicia did the opposite. She got her license, picked a brokerage, and immediately started looking for any door she could pry open. The brokerage she chose mattered, not because of the brand but because of the early support and structure it gave her, which is a key lesson any new agent should pay attention to when interviewing companies.

What separated Alicia from most new agents was a refusal to treat her license like a finished product. Passing the exam was the entry ticket. Learning the actual business of real estate, contracts, lead conversion, follow up systems, market knowledge, and investor relationships, was the real curriculum. That mindset shift changed everything that came next.

Quitting Her Job and Driving Uber to Survive

In one of the most relatable moments of the episode, Alicia talks about the financial reality of going full time as a brand new agent. She quit her job, the safety net disappeared, and the income from real estate was not yet there. So she drove Uber.

Most agents would treat that detail as a footnote, or hide it from clients altogether. Alicia turned it into a lead generation strategy. Every Uber ride became a rolling open house for her market. She learned the neighborhoods. She learned which schools mattered to which families. She learned where buyers actually wanted to live, and just as important, why. Riders started asking what she did, and that gave her natural openings to mention real estate without the awkward pitch every new agent dreads.

The lesson for any agent stuck between “real job” and “real producer” is profound. Bridge income is not a sign of failure. It is a tool. Used correctly, the side hustle that pays the bills can also build the market knowledge, the local awareness, and the conversational repetitions that make the real estate side of the business explode. Alicia drove until she did not have to anymore, and the business she built in the meantime is exactly why.

Turning “Bad” Leads Into a Real Business

Every agent has heard the complaint. The leads from this platform are garbage. They never answer. They never close. They are tire kickers. Alicia had every excuse in the world available to her, and she refused to use any of them.

Instead, she became a student of the leads other agents threw away. Third party platforms gave her a constant flow of new opportunities. Most agents called once, left a voicemail, and gave up. Alicia called, texted, emailed, followed up, and called again. She figured out which leads were truly cold, which were merely impatient, and which were just waiting for an agent willing to actually do the work. The conversion rates that resulted were not magic. They were math, applied with relentless consistency.

For any agent listening who has paid for leads and felt burned, Alicia’s approach is the antidote. Bad leads are usually just leads that have not been worked. The agent who is willing to make the seventh call, send the twelfth follow up, and stay top of mind for six months is the agent who eventually gets the closing while everyone else complains on Facebook.

That discipline also fed an even more powerful flywheel. Every closed transaction created a relationship. Every relationship created a referral or a repeat client. And many of those clients turned into investor relationships that produced multiple deals over time. Alicia stopped chasing one off transactions and started building a book of business that compounded.

The Follow Up System That Built an Empire

Alicia is direct about the central skill that drives her production. It is not closing. It is not negotiation. It is follow up. Every other skill matters, but follow up is the multiplier that decides who actually wins in a market full of agents with the same license and similar training.

The episode dives into the practical side of how she stays in front of clients month after month. CRM systems do the heavy lifting, but the creative layer is where most agents fail. Generic newsletters get deleted. Forced check ins feel awkward. Alicia describes follow up touches that stand out, mix value with personality, and remind clients she is a real human, not a marketing automation. That is the difference between being remembered and being forgotten when the next transaction shows up.

Open houses, postcards, and social media all play supporting roles in her marketing stack, but none of them replace the core discipline of consistent communication with the people already in her database. For any agent who has ever wondered whether to spend the next dollar on lead generation or follow up, Alicia’s results make a strong case. Lead generation creates opportunities. Follow up turns them into a real business.

One Client, Multiple Transactions, and the Investor Multiplier

Once a client trusts you, the question stops being whether they will work with you again and starts being how often. Alicia’s story is full of clients who started as one transaction and turned into long term relationships, multiple closings, and a steady drumbeat of referrals.

Investor relationships supercharge that effect. A single investor client can buy several properties a year, refer other investors, and feed the agent a steady mix of acquisition and disposition opportunities. Alicia leaned into this dynamic, learning what her investor clients actually cared about, providing market data they trusted, and treating their portfolios like long term partnerships rather than one off commissions. That posture pays off in a way most retail focused agents never quite see.

This is one of the most important lessons of the episode for agents thinking about adding investor business to their practice. You do not have to chase a hundred new leads to scale. Sometimes the better move is to deepen the handful of relationships you already have, especially the ones with buyers and sellers who repeat.

A Wild Deal Story: Selling the Same House Twice

Every veteran agent has at least one story that reminds them how unpredictable real estate can be. Alicia delivers a memorable one. She walks listeners through a deal where she ended up selling the same house twice, a saga that involves shifting buyer circumstances, sharp negotiation, and a level of persistence that turned what could have been a lost commission into a double win for her client and her business.

Beyond the entertainment value, the story is a great lesson in resilience. Deals fall apart. Buyers change their minds. Markets shift. The agents who win are the ones who treat a fall through as a setup, not a setback. With the right follow up systems and the right relationships, even a collapsed transaction can become the foundation for the next one.

Risks of Relying on Paid Leads Alone

The conversation does not romanticize paid leads. Alicia is honest about the risks of building an entire business on third party platforms whose algorithms, pricing, and quality can change overnight. A pipeline that lives or dies by another company’s pricing model is a fragile pipeline, no matter how well you work it.

Her solution is diversification. Paid leads remain a tool, but they sit alongside open houses, postcards, social media, investor relationships, and an aggressive past client and sphere of influence strategy. The result is a business that does not panic when one channel slows down because the other channels are already producing. That is a useful template for any agent considering whether to double down on a single lead source or build a more durable mix.

Myrtle Beach Market Insights and Investor Trends

Toward the end of the episode, Alicia gives listeners a current view of the Myrtle Beach market, including what investors are actually buying, what kinds of properties are working for short term and long term rental strategies, and where price action and inventory are creating opportunity. For agents and investors with their eye on the Carolinas, those insights alone are worth the listen.

More broadly, her market commentary is a reminder that local knowledge is a moat. National headlines and big picture data only go so far. The agent who can speak intelligently about specific neighborhoods, specific price bands, and specific investor strategies is the agent who wins the call when a relocating buyer or a portfolio investor needs help on the ground.

Why This Episode Matters for REI Agents

Alicia Holmquist’s story is a direct challenge to anyone who believes a great real estate career requires a perfect setup. She did not have a network. She did not have a famous mentor. She did not have a luxury database handed to her on day one. What she had was the willingness to move first, work harder than the agents around her, and stay consistent long after most people would have quit.

For new agents, her playbook is gold. Pick the right brokerage for support, treat your license as the start rather than the finish, take whatever bridge income you need without shame, and obsess over the work nobody else wants to do. For experienced agents, her story is a reminder that the fundamentals still win. Lead generation, follow up, and relationship building outperform any shortcut over a long enough timeline.

Most of all, Alicia’s journey is proof that your breakthrough is closer than you think. You do not need permission, the perfect market, or a fully filled pipeline to start. You need the willingness to move, the discipline to stay consistent, and the commitment to do the work when nobody else is watching.

Listen to the full episode to hear Alicia’s complete story, her unfiltered take on lead conversion, and the specific follow up strategies that built her empire. Then connect with her work, study her example, and visit reiagent.com for more conversations like this one.