The Secret to Success in Marriage, Values & $800M Wealth | Real, Raw & Real Estate

5. Faith, Family & $800M in Real Estate: Building Legacy Beyond the 9–5

• Tenisha & Darrell Williams

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What does it take to trade overtime for ownership without losing your faith, family, or focus?

In this episode, Darrell & Tenisha Williams — founders of Elite Realty Partners ($800M+ sold) — share how they went from long nights, twin strollers in the office, and paycheck-to-paycheck beginnings to building one of the nation’s fastest-growing minority-owned brokerages.

You’ll hear:

  • Faith-first leadership: why making God the CEO changed everything
  • Marriage & business dynamics: the struggles, breakthroughs, and boundaries that made them stronger
  • Parenting without a blueprint: raising kids who value hustle, gratitude, and legacy
  • The myth of overnight success: how daily rhythms create long-term wealth
  • Proximity & discernment: protecting your vision when loyalty becomes a liability
  • Lessons from loss: a painful real estate mistake they turned into tuition for smarter investing

This is more than a highlight reel — it’s a playbook for entrepreneurs, couples, and believers ready to step beyond a W-2 into purpose-led business and generational wealth.

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🎙️ About Real, Raw & Real Estate
Hosted by Darrell & Tenisha Williams, founders of Elite Realty Partners ($800M+ sold), this podcast goes beyond real estate. It’s about marriage, faith, business, and building generational wealth. Every Sunday we share the unfiltered conversations that help entrepreneurs, couples, and leaders grow in life and business.

📌 What You’ll Get Here

  • Lessons on faith, family, marriage, and legacy
  • Real estate + business strategies for entrepreneurs
  • Insights on building wealth with purpose
  • The raw truth about scaling as a couple

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SPEAKER_01:

You're not a true millionaire until you've lost a million dollars and you're able to get it back.

SPEAKER_00:

You're working on that. That's the key. Discipline is gets you everything.

SPEAKER_01:

And you have to sacrifice your way to success.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you can't you can't get the results for the work you don't put in. That's a fact.

SPEAKER_01:

So it's like you want your kids to have certain things because you know the paycheck to paycheck lifestyle.

SPEAKER_00:

There's no blueprint to being a father. There's no blueprint to raising a child or you know, any of those things. So I'm doing the best I can.

SPEAKER_01:

You're listening to Real Raw and Real Estate, where love meets legacy, faith fuels hustle, and we turn real estate into real impact.

SPEAKER_00:

And we're your host, Daryl and Tanisha Williams, husband and wife, power couple, building generational wealth, one deal, and one deep combo at a time.

SPEAKER_01:

Let's talk faith, strategy, and the truth behind the journey.

SPEAKER_00:

Let's get into it. I don't know if everybody can experience it. I know some people out there that they're pretty alright, but no, no, no, no, no. We're not speaking directly to them.

SPEAKER_01:

Here's the thing though: even millionaires, unless people just inherited the millions, people talk about the ups and the downs and the highs and the lows. You know, they always say a true million, you're not a true millionaire until you've lost a million dollars and you're able to get it back.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's what they say. We're working on we're working on that.

SPEAKER_01:

So let's talk about it. Um, so just going back from even our nine to fives, you know, when we were receiving a W-2 paycheck.

SPEAKER_00:

A W-2, listen, from some on somebody else's job.

SPEAKER_01:

So I remember even after we first had the twins, and I used to always say that I felt like a single parent, of course, only in the sense of you were always at work. Listen, I had to do what days a week. You know, one thing about it from when I first met you, you always worked a lot of hours. You always worked a lot of days during the week. And even after we had the twins, like it was, but I didn't mind. The thing is, at the time, you didn't mind. Okay, I did.

SPEAKER_00:

So you says keep it real.

SPEAKER_01:

I did, I did, I did. No, at first, when I say I didn't mind, meaning I think you understood what I was what I was doing. I I understood. Now, sometimes it was a little frustrating because listen, having twins, yeah, shout out to all the twin moms. I salute you.

SPEAKER_00:

Shout out to you. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Listen, you gotta get a fella some love too. Shout out to all of all the uh um twin dads because you gotta go out there and go provide for them. So listen.

SPEAKER_01:

But twin moms, it's something special about us, right? We have to do everything times two, true, right? And I remember juggling, yeah. I remember juggling, um, just taking care of twins, like that was a lot. But those were our paycheck days, yes, it was right, those were our paycheck days, and here's the thing the same way we saved and we work hard for our business. Remember the dream wedding that I wanted. So here's the thing, you guys. He didn't understand what a real wedding was. He thought that we were going to cook, his family was gonna cook. We're gonna barbecue, and they were gonna barbecue at my wedding.

SPEAKER_00:

Listen, call it what you want to. I thought we was all right, man. Uh cook.

SPEAKER_01:

I had I should just let him know that's that's that's not the the style wedding that I was looking for, right? But guess what? You made it happen. Of course. I remember literally you sacrificing, still working hard, and you made sure that I had that dream wedding. And this is why I tell women all the time I know we're talking about paycheck to paycheck, but women, you have to, when you're looking for the right guy, do not look for the guy that you have to change. Look for the guy that has the qualities that you want, with or without you. With or without me, you're a family man. With or without me, you are a provider. So even in our paycheck to paycheck days, we didn't go without.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we won't. Listen, that's why I put in the work. You get what I'm saying? It wasn't about anything else aside from this is my family. This is, I want you guys to have everything. So it is what it is. I had to put if I gotta put it on my back, I got it.

SPEAKER_01:

So if we're talking about transitioning from paycheck, it's not that we can that we can't relate to a struggle, it's just that we were always willing to sacrifice.

SPEAKER_00:

That's the key. You get what I'm saying? Sacrifice and discipline.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I I think when that's that that goes without saying.

SPEAKER_01:

Discipline is the is gets you everything, and you have to sacrifice your way to success. So that's the whole idea that whether you're working a nine-to-five or you're heading up a business, if you're not willing to sacrifice your way to success, I mean, what do you always say? You can't, um, what is it that you always say you can't want the results?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you can't you can't get the results for the work you don't put in. Yeah. That's the that's a fact. That's a fact. And this is it rings in my head daily. I want my family to have this. I want my family to have, I can want it all day, but if I'm not putting in the work to make sure it's achieved, we can attain those things, yeah, then it's just a conversation, it's just a dream. I'm I'm I'm I've been awake a while. So I gotta make it happen.

SPEAKER_01:

And thinking about when we first started Elite, because people think that uh there's such a thing as an overnight success when really overnight means one year, two years, or even if the success did happen in one year, that you were we were staying up late two, three, four in the morning. Remember when I was at a time emails to the agents at three, four in the morning. Absolutely. I didn't know about scheduling emails, right? I didn't know you could schedule the email to send at 9 a.m.

SPEAKER_00:

the next day in the middle of the night, and it was like, listen, babe, wake up. I'm already up. I gotta send this, I gotta send this too.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. We were at the office 11 p.m., 12 a.m. 1 a.m.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, with our children, kids, yeah, sacrificing our way to success. Yeah, they saw it, they saw it, and I think it's important for them to see it. Yeah, you get what I'm saying? Not just experiencing life, and no, no, no. You were there at the office too. I remember the pictures in the post with the twins in the wagon, and y'all going door knocking, and it's 90-something degrees at night. Listen, putting it putting in the work, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

And here's the thing. So, what about that? As a parent, coming from where we come from, where it wasn't a silver spoon, right? So it's like you want your kids to have certain things because you know the paycheck to paycheck lifestyle, but yet and still they you have to teach them some type of sacrifice too, because if they're too spoiled, then they don't know how to put in the work.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, then it's unfamiliar to them.

SPEAKER_01:

As a parent, where you want to give your child so much that you didn't have, but yet you also see the need. Let's talk about DeAndre real quick for an example. DeAndre, our oldest son, where you always say he's nothing like you. Let's be real. That hustle. Number one, how does that make you feel? And number two, how are you transitioning as a dad to where he's still getting that hustle instilled in him because it's still important? Or is it even important? Or is it okay, you know, for some children to just inherit the soft life?

SPEAKER_00:

I wouldn't know. I'll be honest with you, I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know what what it's like to inherit a soft life. Granted, his his his journey is not my journey. That's why I say he's not like me. He didn't have to make the sacrifices that I made. He didn't have, he didn't, granted, he's 19, he's the same age right now that I was when he was born. So for me, it's it's it's really full circle. But to answer the question, he don't have this, he didn't have the struggle that I have.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. So how does it be?

SPEAKER_00:

So he I gotta give it to him from the ground up. He has like right now, DeAndre is not just put in a position to take off, take off where I'm left, where I left off at. He's getting the groundwork. Like right now, he's understanding the operations of it all. So he's starting from the bottom.

SPEAKER_01:

How is he on they don't the people don't?

SPEAKER_00:

DeAndre right now is in operations, meaning he's working the front counter at the office. Everything real estate. When he leaves there, he pulls up to the properties either through the week if I'm having inspections done, checking up on property, checking up on work with the contractors, giving orders, oh, giving my orders and being my being my uh extend extension of myself. I think he takes pride more in that, but it's important for him to be well-rounded. I'm not sugarcoating it, I'm not talking to you soft. I mean, granted, it's my son and I love him, but I gotta give it to him wrong because he has a he has a different lifestyle right now than I have. So I'm I'm doing the best I can, just like we say all the time. There's no blueprint to being a father, there's no blueprint to raising a child or any of those any of those things. So I'm doing the best I can with um with who I am, honestly, and I believe that's where it really starts. Raising a kid while being a kid is confusing. You get what I'm saying? Granted, I'm gonna do what I want to do. I know I got my responsibilities and I handled my responsibilities early on, but I still, my mindset was still I was a 19, 20-year-old kid. You get what I'm saying? So it was just I thought I was dope. I thought I did the best I could, but I really realized you spoke about me being at work all the time. It was thought I had to handle my responsibility, but the time that I I didn't spend with him very early on, some of those things he doesn't like what I like. You get what I'm you get what I mean? Well, then he didn't take the sports like I took the sports very early on. But right now, for I don't know where it came from, he's telling me about certain football teams. He's telling me about, yeah, I guess it comes full circle at some point, but maturity-wise, as a parent, I wasn't there. I think it was, I think it was before I turned 30 that I actually told you, I said, Man, I don't think I was a good father to DeAndre earlier on because I didn't put in a lot of time with him. I paid for everything I needed to be paid for. But as far as having him on my hip or always having him right here with me when I was doing whatever, but I was at work. I had to do what I had to do.

SPEAKER_01:

Which I guess that's why I see the transition now, right? Where you are spending all the time, you know, with the twins and making sure that even with DeAndre that the time is spent there. So going back from paycheck to paycheck and then just receiving the blessings that we have from Elite, I think it's important to know that from the beginning, our mission was never money.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it was impact.

SPEAKER_01:

The model for Elite was passion over paychecks, right? Correct. And focusing on the people, but and let the profit be the byproduct, right? And we were able to experience success quickly, if you consider two, three years quickly, right? Where we were able to move into a different property, have a certain amount of savings, start investing in properties. How was that transition for you going from a paycheck from a company to now as the head of the household, really being able to lead in business and for the family? And now it's not a thought to where, hey, if this is where you want to take the family or this is where you want to go, like how do you still remain responsible and not too prideful, staying humble all at the same time?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, I'll be honest with you, it it's it's surreal at times. But again, it goes I I I can't help but to go back to where I was. I think we spoke about this on the last episode, meaning I mean my mindset was to provide, to provide, to provide, and just remaining, I guess, disciplined, wanting to wanting to get the family to a certain place, but and understanding in order for us to get there, I had to do what I had to do.

SPEAKER_01:

What is that?

SPEAKER_00:

What is how I had to I had to be disciplined. Um we like to say success is in your routine. So developing a successful routine, remaining disciplined, not not not listening to the outside noise and the distractions, just just being diligent, doing the work, being consistent. Consistency is key. Consistency is key. Those things have allowed us to transition from where we were to another level, to another level, to the next level. And again, people may see where we are now and think, oh, hey, well, we may have made it, but in actuality, you and I both know we're nowhere near where we think we should be, or nowhere near where we plan on being. I remember when we got the first office in Davy, Florida, signed that lease, took that picture, shaking those keys in front of the door. I remember, I remember all of that. And before, and before anybody even came in that office, any agents came to the office. I remember you sweeping the floor. I'm putting I'm assembling either a desk or something, and you're praying, walking around in that office, praying for not just the business, you were praying for the agents and their families and their success. So faith has always faith and God has always been in the forefront of business, of elite realty partners, and not just elite realty partners, it's been the it's been in the forefront of our lives and our lives personally. So again, I just think how you do anything is how you do everything. If you're rooted in God and and and you have good intentions, and it really be good intentions, it's blessings. There's only blessings that can come out of that, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01:

One thing I like to always say is that who you are personally spills over into who you are in business. And I think that because both of us were brought up knowing who God is, being faith-based, it has spilled over into our business. And there's research that shows that most successful people have some form of faith in their foundation because it's so important. And thankfully, we we we put our time and effort and having faith in God, and we know that our help comes from there. There was one time in particular before elite royalty partners even started. Remember, I was a real estate agent, and it's like I heard him clearly, and it he said, Um, I'm going to enlarge your territory so big because I know I could trust you with it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And I think that with the elite real, matter of fact, I know that with elite realty partners, no matter from where we are now to where he's taken us, not just elite, whether it's our investment properties, whether it's our personal relationships, whether it's the success of the success of our children, he can trust us with it. That trust means that's why the Bible says, to whom much is given, much is required. And that second part says, and then to whom he trusts, much more shall be required. And that basically means that when he knows that he can trust you, meaning that you're not going to be honored, that you're not going to take advantage of people, that you're not just going to frivolous frivolous frivolously spend the blessings that he gives you. For example, there's a lot of things that we could have done with our money, right? And even though we've made mistakes, we immediately identify those mistakes and don't ever want to make the mistakes again. True. Let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_00:

Let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_01:

Even going from paycheck to paycheck, where you start making money, and then what do people, young people, generally want to do? Spend money on clothes, want to go show that money may buy cars and this, that, and third. And even though we did uh experience those luxuries, proximity.

SPEAKER_00:

You get what I mean? Proximity, and who has um I guess your biggest assets are those around you, those people around you. It's important that that you gotta understand everybody that that started with you most times is not gonna finish with you, or not gonna you can't take them on a journey. I find that your day ones, if they're not in an alignment, if they're not in alignment with what God or where God is trying to take you to, you can't pull them along.

SPEAKER_01:

Can't pull them along, and when you try to hold on to them for too long, your disobedience leads to destruction.

SPEAKER_00:

True.

SPEAKER_01:

Facts disobedience leads to destruction. I heard Tyler Perry say the other day that when you're trying to take people on this journey with you that started with you, you don't realize that the altitude sometimes gets gets so high that they can't breathe. And because we're heart people, I know one thing for me, you know, I want everybody can't have access.

SPEAKER_00:

Everybody can't have access.

SPEAKER_01:

I heard a pastor say the other day that yes, love everyone, but that does not mean that everybody gets access, access to your heart, man. Access, right, to your time, access to your home, access to just your personal space, access to your thoughts, access to your plans.

SPEAKER_00:

You don't know who's plotting and planning against you. I don't care who it is.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, access to your plans.

SPEAKER_00:

You can't get access to these plans. Who are you? Why are you here?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It's important that you guard your heart.

SPEAKER_01:

And sadly enough, if we're talking about proximity, it's important for you entrepreneurs and upcoming entrepreneurs to understand that it is your job to be on alert. The the day you become successful is the day that your alert should heighten. Some people only want to be around you to learn how you think, how you talk, how you breathe, how you move, so they can duplicate, rob you, and try to become you. My mom always remember how my mom used to always say it's a difference between when someone wants to be like you and when someone wants to be you. And I've and I've experienced I've witnessed it.

SPEAKER_00:

I've witnessed it.

SPEAKER_01:

Listen, what do we call it? It's like a lot, my life is like a lifetime movie sometimes, right?

SPEAKER_00:

And it's it's unfortunate because the sacrifice and and and the calling that God has on your life ain't everybody's calling. But people see and they want. It is extremely important to have that circle tight. And don't be, don't be I didn't understand. You can't be too, you can't, you you can be loyal to a fault. I've been I've been there, I've I've done that, I've experienced that. It doesn't end well.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And one thing about it that I've learned is that when somebody loves you and when somebody rocks with you, there is nothing that you can do that's going to make them stop rocking with you. Right. But when somebody doesn't rock with you or has ill intentions, there is nothing that you can do to make them rock with you. And oftentimes we become people pleasers in business and we become people pleasers in our personal lives, not realizing that we can bend over backwards for people, but that's not going to make them like you anymore. You know, TD Jakes says that people don't make an announcement when their admiration turns into envy. Ooh, there's not an announcement made. So it's up to you to ensure that you are spiritually inclined to discern those things.

SPEAKER_02:

Discernment.

SPEAKER_01:

And when you don't activate on a discernment long enough, it's it's going to lie dormant or or deactivate. You know, how do you make sure that your discernment is continuously activated by reading the word, by ensuring that what you're listening to, you know, is positive and not steering you away from your spiritual foundation, you know, your emotional foundation. Like you have to be emotionally, spiritually, physically equipped to not just sustain in business, but thrive. But thrive in business.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

Speaking of discernment, you know, discernment is so important when identifying when it's time to leave that nine to nine to five.

SPEAKER_00:

Go into full-time entrepreneurship, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Full-time entrepreneurship.

SPEAKER_00:

It discernment is definitely needed. Because you gotta you gotta know, well, at least for us, for us, I wanted to make sure that we were ordering, um, I'm following God's orders. You get what I mean? Yeah, I wanted to ensure I knew we had God with us, but is this really what God wanted us to do? If this is what God wants you to do, then you need to go ahead and and and and and be obedient.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's a and here's the thing: feeling fearful is normal.

SPEAKER_00:

It is.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, there's a saying that goes if it doesn't scare you, you're not thinking or dreaming big enough. So we want to ensure that for all of you who are thinking of turning your nine to five into full-blown entrepreneurship, this podcast is for you. We sold that house because of misinformation. We sold that property for I think, what, 225,000? We we barely made a profit. We made a profit, and what happened that next year?

SPEAKER_00:

The value of that house went through the roof.

SPEAKER_01:

He sold the house for probably maybe like three years ago, at least 450 or something like that.

SPEAKER_00:

Magically, they all, hey, come on inside, how you doing? I said, hey, I just bought this house. What do you mean you just bought this house? This is my house. My stomach, my throat went down to my stomach. The person who I bought the home from acquired the home fraudulently.