🎙️ Episode 65: More Than Real Estate Podcast — Building a Real Estate Career You Love 

Karina Akouka graduated Socially Sold in May, became a single mom shortly after, and kept going anyway. Year three in real estate. Already 12 million closed this year. Pipeline sitting at 20 million. Primary custody of her kids. No videographer. No cold calls. No open houses she didn't want to do. This episode is for the mom who is looking at her life and thinking there has to be a different way to build a real estate business. There is. Karina is it.

✨ Single Mom. Primary Custody. 20 Million in Pipeline. — Karina's life changed significantly after graduating Socially Sold. She became a single mom with primary custody of her kids and kept building anyway, from home, around her children, on her own terms. "I can do that from home. I'm not needing to take time away from my children." Her tax person's reaction at the end of her first full year said it all: "What the heck did you do?" She doubled her GCI. Year three in real estate and she is on track to close 20 million.

✨ From Zero Closings to 12 Million Already This Year — Karina did not sell a single property her first year in real estate. She enrolled in Socially Sold in March of her second year, got traction within three months, and her first full calendar year after graduating she doubled her income. This year she has already closed 12 million with another 8 million in pipeline. She did it by posting relocation content from Cary, North Carolina, showing her life as a mom who relocated herself, and speaking directly to the anxiety and emotion that every relocating family feels.

✨ The Connection Strategy That Turns Followers Into Buyer Consults — Once a week, usually on Mondays, Karina sits down and sends a personal message to every new follower. Not a pitch. Just a hello. "Thank you so much for following me. Are you interested in this area?" Out of every 30 new followers, three or four conversations start. Some of them book a buyer consult that week. Some fill out her form six months later. Some never respond but are silently warming up every time she posts. "People are actually very grateful for the reach out."

✨ Multiple Ways In: DM, Form, Calendar, Guide — One of Karina's biggest aha moments in the course was learning that different buyers reach out differently. Engineers fill out forms. Creative types send a DM. Busy moms book a call. So she built every entry point into her Assist link in bio and stopped expecting people to reach out only one way. "I try to create as many avenues for people to reach out to me in whatever way works for them." Every avenue leads to the same place: her pipeline.

✨ Neighborhood Drive-Throughs in 10 Minutes Flat — When she has 10 minutes and needs content, Karina gets in the car and films a neighborhood. No videographer. No script. Just her iPhone, a neighborhood she knows, and a caption that makes a relocating mom feel like she can already picture her family there. "People love to see a neighborhood." That B-roll plus a caption speaking directly to the relocation mom's anxiety and excitement is what fills her pipeline week after week.

✨ Aligned Clients Who Feel Like Friends — Karina is not chasing production for its own sake. Her goal coming into Socially Sold was simple: aligned clients, a business that feels like ease, and a vacation once a year. What she got was all of that plus a following of people who message her saying her content feels like it was written directly to them. "A lot of my clients end up having a lot of things in common with me." That is what a personal brand built on authenticity does over time.

Karina Akouka is a real estate agent based in Cary, North Carolina, in her third year in the business and a Socially Sold graduate and Agent Collective member. She specializes in relocation and lifestyle content for families moving to the Cary area. She is a single mom of three and on track to close 20 million this year. [VERIFY: Karina's last name]

Ashley Walker is the host of the More Than Real Estate Podcast and the founder of Socially Sold, where she helps real estate agents build their personal brand on Instagram and generate qualified leads organically. She is a top-producing agent, mama of three, and wife to her best friend.

🎓 Ready to build your real estate business on Instagram? Join Ashley's 5-day live Instagram for Realtors Bootcamp and grab your Platinum Ticket for five more hours of coaching and direct feedback from Ashley. bootcamp.socially-sold.com/podcast