How to Close $100M in Real Estate by Dominating Outbound Calls & Shifting Your Mindset with Karen Defalippus
We’ve all had those moments in our real estate careers where we look at our bank accounts, see double digits, and wonder if we should go crawl back to a steady 9-to-5. When we sat down with Orlando powerhouse Karen Defalippus, she took us on a journey from surviving a life-threatening illness to building a real estate empire that has closed over $100 million in career volume. Here is exactly how she mastered outbound prospecting, survived brutal market pivots, and scaled her team by learning to think BIG.
The Warrior Mindset: Overcoming One-in-a-Million Odds
Karen calls herself a "walking statistic," but not in the way you’d expect. Diagnosed with a rare spinal cord tumor at age four and beating cancer again in her early twenties, she learned early on that you can either slip into a victim mindset or choose to be a relentless warrior.
She carried this exact "sink or swim" mentality straight into her real estate career. When challenges arise in her business today, she doesn't panic. Instead, she views them as signs that she is about to level up.
The Worst First Deal Ever: Lessons in Pure Grit
When Karen transitioned from homeowners insurance to full-time real estate at age 25, her family openly wondered when she would go get a "real job." For the first six months, she didn't close a single deal and constantly woke up with just $23 in her bank account.
When she finally snagged her first buyer, she ended up across the negotiating table from Gil Ramos—her future sponsor. Karen openly laughs about how terrible that first transaction was, recalling missing contract deadlines and showing up at the title company three times a week asking where the physical package was.
Despite her complete lack of experience, her relentless work ethic caught Gil's eye. He offered her a spot on his team with a piece of advice that changed her life forever:
"Don't mistake loyalty for comfortability. If you walk out that door today and don't sign up, you'll regret it for the rest of your life." — Gil Ramos
Tripling the Business and the Danger of the Ego
After joining Gil's team, Karen went all-in on outbound prospecting and open houses. In her first year, she closed 20 units and $6 million in volume. By year two, she tripled her business as a solo buyer's agent, closing just under $20 million in sales.
But as Karen warns, rapid success can feed a dangerous ego. When interest rates spiked from 3% to 6% in 2022, 25% of the buyer pool pulled out of the market overnight. With her business suddenly cut in half and personal bills piling up from investment properties, she realized she had to completely reinvent her business model.
The Airport Pivot: Meeting Listing Boss Hos Pratt
Sometimes, the universe forces a pivot through pure coincidence. After a flight booking error separated Karen from her business partner on the way to EXP Con, she found herself squeezed into a middle seat next to legendary real estate coach Hos Pratt.
Despite being strapped for cash, Karen pulled out her credit card and invested heavily in Hos's listing coaching. She completely shut down her old CRM activities and learned how to target the lowest-hanging fruit in the market:
- Expired Listings
- For Sale By Owners (FSBOs)
- Circle Prospecting
Within six months, Karen transitioned into a dominant listing agent, holding up to 20 active listings at a time and closing 50 units and $25 million in transactions that year alone.
Building the "Be Infinite Group" (B.I.G.) Team
Having mastered both the buyer and listing sides of the business, Karen knew it was time to scale. She partnered with Gil to launch the Be Infinite Group (B.I.G.), bringing a highly holistic, personal development-first approach to team building.
"You are the most qualified to teach the person that you used to be." — Ed Mylett
Karen treats her office like a Tony Robbins event disguised as a real estate brokerage. By copying and pasting her exact daily outbound sales systems into her agents' schedules, the team is already on track to close over 100 units in their very first year.
The Outbound Prospecting Playbook for Seasoned Agents
How does Karen take an agent struggling at $3M to $5M in volume and help them break past the $10M barrier? It all comes down to structured outbound activity and building a skill set that no algorithm or market shift can take away.
The Onboarding Boot Camp
Before any agent gets leads on Karen's team, they must prove their skills through an intensive testing phase:
- Intensive Script Training: Master the psychology of objections for expireds and FSBOs.
- The 15-Lead Test: Agents are given 10 to 15 old database leads and must treat them as if they are the only leads they have left to survive. If they can’t make those calls, they aren't a fit.
- The Block Schedule: Implementing a non-negotiable morning outbound dialing block from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM to protect their lead generation time.
Navigating the Bottom of the Market Cycle
As we navigate the tail-end of a major real estate market cycle, Karen's advice to agents is simple: stop trying to survive as a lone wolf. Stop obsessing over splits and focus on your actual net profit and the speed of collaboration.
If you are feeling stuck, surround yourself with $10 million producers. Put personal development back into your daily routine, master AI as your personal assistant, and remember that spring always follows winter.
There's always more to learn when it comes to scaling up. Check out the Agent Goldmine podcast for our latest interviews, and remember you can always book a free consultation with Five Pillars Nation to talk through your specific challenges.
