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Sometimes a success story comes along that inspires us and reminds us why we’re in this business. Taley Hunt’s is exactly that. Her story is a case study in grit, consistency and “leading with value” that catapulted a brand new mom from zero to more than 400 transactions in her first five years.
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Hunt arrived in Columbia, South Carolina, in 2019 with no sphere, no budget and no roadmap. What she did have was a $41,000 higher-ed salary she wanted to replace, a baby on the way, and a willingness to “go in blind and messy until something clicked.”
“People keep telling new agents to ‘hustle,’” Hunt told me. “For me, that just meant taking whatever tiny thing I had, whether it was one client, one inspection, one model-home visit or whatever else I had, and turning it into content that let the world know I was in the game.”
That decision produced 28 closings her first year (with a newborn baby), 86 the next, 145 the next and — by early June of this year — she had 110 homes closed or pending on the board. Her team is tracking toward 200 sides and more than $1 million GCI this year, with virtually no paid leads.
Below is the exact framework she follows — a seven-point system any agent can model, no matter how modest the starting point.
She shows — then shows again
Hunt has built much of her success through social media and her authenticity on the platforms. Her first viral post was as raw as it gets: She wedged her newborn’s rocker between a monitor and a stack of listing agreements, snapped the scene and captioned it:
“Writing my first offer while my assistant naps.”
She never stopped. Day after day, she gave her followers a front-row seat to the building of her business. These posts have included:
- Selfies at model homes (“Touring new construction—come with me”)
- An eight-month-pregnant belly in a spec house
- A two-minute car video after an inspection (“Here’s what we found and how we’ll negotiate it”)
“I didn’t wait until I ‘deserved’ to post,” she says. “I documented everything — previewing homes no one asked me to preview, searching the MLS for six hours — because that shows you’re active in the market, not just posing in front of a sold sign.”
Why it works
When you are looking for your ideal audience, the fastest path to success is showing up as your most authentic self. Hunt’s success breaks down to three key components.
- Relatability: Clients saw a real mom juggling real life, not a flawless billboard.
- Visibility: Every Story went to Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. As she put it, “I try to double-dip everything.”
- Searchability: Hunt Googled “questions first-time buyers ask,” answered them on video and created evergreen SEO content that still circulates.
She always turns 1 deal into 2 … or 3
Hunt’s very first buyer came from a Facebook group where an out-of-state agent needed a Columbia referral partner. She snagged it, executed flawlessly and — before closing — asked that buyer a simple question:
“Who else do you know who might be buying this year?”
Sixty days later, she closed her first referral from that first client. “That was my lightbulb moment,” she says, “realizing every transaction is a tree with more fruit — you just have to water it.”
Hunt has built what she calls her “3-R flywheel,” a relationship-driven strategy that fuels consistent business without cold calls or heavy ad spend. The first “R” stands for relationships. She stays close to past clients through personal texts, interactive Instagram polls and behind-the-scenes Reels that keep her top of mind in a way that feels natural.
From there, her second “R” stands for referrals. She plants a simple but powerful seed at closing: “Can I count on you to introduce me to one person I can help this year?” That one ask, followed by a handwritten thank-you note, helped drive 32 percent of her sales in 2024.
Finally, her last “R” stands for reputation. By tagging vendors, lenders and referring agents in her social posts and Reels, she shines a light on others in a way that earns reshares and multiplies her reach.
She practices database discipline: DTD2 + weekly value emails
Hunt is fanatical about DTD2, a tagging schedule popularized by The CORE Training. Week 1 of every quarter? Call (or, in her case, text) everyone whose last name starts with A or W. Week 2: B & X, and so on. Result: Four personal touches per contact per year, baked into the calendar.
“I text; I don’t call,” she emphasizes. “Nobody wants surprise calls anymore. A quick check-in text feels respectful.”
She also does a weekly newsletter to her database every Friday. That Friday newsletter has a 48 percent open rate. The newsletter has three key components: Local life (farmer’s markets, festivals, 5Ks, etc.), a market snapshot (clear and simple updates on the market) and ICYMI (links to her top Reels so they stay relevant with the algorithm).
“I’m not trying to convert via email,” she says. “I’m staying relevant. If they see my name weekly and hear from me quarterly, we’re golden.”
She hosts client appreciation events regularly
She hosted her first client event in Year 2. It was a photo with Santa event, and 15 families showed up. “It wasn’t the turnout,” she notes. “It was the triple touch: invite, reminder, thank-you.”
Today, her team runs five signature events, all co-sponsored by lenders, inspectors and insurance reps. These include a spring egg hunt (300 attendees in March), a summer movie day (buys out the theater), a fall festival (food trucks, inflatables and vendor booths), Thanksgiving pie pickup (apple or pumpkin as options), and Santa photo and toy drive (her favorite and a great way to end the year).
If you’re a new agent or someone who has never hosted a client event, you may be feeling overwhelmed hearing all she does for client appreciation events. But she encouraged agents to “Start with one annual anchor event. As you master the process, layer in a second, then a third.”
She’s a digital farmer — for other Realtors
Out-of-state agents are her second farm. She nurtures them exactly like a neighborhood. She’s built an email list of agents in other markets, and she consistently adds agents to that list. Her approach to digitally farming for agent referrals includes:
- A monthly value email: “Steal my six highest-converting postcards.”
- Posting daily in group searches: She types “Columbia, SC agent?” into national Facebook groups twice a day to snag live referrals.
- Handwritten notes: She sends 10-15 cards weekly to top producers in feeder markets (Atlanta, Nashville, Dallas, Houston and Memphis): “I love paying 30 percent for buyers headed to Columbia. Here’s my cell.”
Forty percent of her 2025 pipeline now originates from agent referrals. Every closing triggers a public Reel thanking the referring agent and reiterating that 30 percent split. “I make the agent the hero,” she laughs, “because heroes get sequels.”
She posts with purpose: The ‘little help’ strategy
Scroll her feed and you’ll spot templated “buyer-need” graphics like:
- “VA buyer, $450K, needs 3/2 near Fort Jackson — know anyone?”
- “Investor hunting duplex under $300K in Cayce — DM me.”
Each ends with two clear calls to action: Share or direct message me. One spring listing that she was able to track came straight from an owner whose neighbor shared the post.
She also stated that sneak-peek posts of “coming soon” listings, which she shoots green-screen style in front of a map, spark the same fear of missing out and occasionally turn into double-ended deals.
She’s found that leverage beats burnout
When you’re barreling toward 200 sides, leverage isn’t optional. Once Hunt realized this, she hired showing assistants at $25 per hour to help out with buyers. She now leans on a transaction coordinator and automates everything she can. But she still answers her own Instagram DMs.
“That’s my trust channel,” she says. “People feel like they know me; I’m not handing that off.”
Her advice to rookies is equally direct: “Start documenting now — even if you’re juggling a stroller and a Supra key. Ask every client for the intro to the next one. Systematize your follow-up, and celebrate gratitude loudly.”
She tells new agents what she’d tell her year-one self: “The things you struggle with today will be what you help someone else through tomorrow. Keep going. Winners are the ones who don’t stop when everyone else would.”
Four years ago, her stretch goal was matching her husband’s Army salary. She surpassed it tenfold this spring. “I couldn’t have dreamed this big,” Hunt admits. “Authenticity did the heavy lifting. I just kept showing up.”
Taley Hunt can be found on Instagram and on Facebook.
