4 minute read
Rising Star: Tyree Tobler
Let Your “Why” Create Your Hustle
By Michelle Williamson
St. Augustine native, Tyree Tobler, is already on his way to real estate stardom. In the first quarter of 2022, this month’s Rising Star had already closed 80 percent of his total 2021 closings.
“It’s my hustle,” he says when pressed to share the seeds of his success. “And my ‘why,’” he says. This driven twenty-something REALTOR® keeps his goals before him. “I want to retire my grandmother,” he says, and he’s well on his way to achieving his goal.
A JOB ON THE TRACKS
Right after high school, an acquaintance led Tyree to a job with Florida Railroad. “Someone I knew worked on the tracks and said they could get me a job,” he explains. And not interested in college, Tyree decided to jump on the opportunity. So, for three years, he traveled throughout Florida working on the “bolt crew,” replacing old bolts and parts in the blazing sun for fifteen or sixteen hours a day, six days a week.
After three years of draining travel and physical work, Tyree grew increasingly unsatisfied with his job and
decided it was time to “elevate.” So he Googled what jobs pay the most without a college degree. “Real estate kept coming up,” he laughs. “I literally Googled which career makes the most millionaires.” Time and again, real estate topped the list. Eventually, as his interest grew, he bought a book on real estate and read it at night while he was on the road with his job.
Finally, after considering the change for four years, he jumped in. Tyree left his job, took a real estate course, and got his license. He became a REALTOR® at age 23. That was three years ago.
TIME TO LEARN REAL ESTATE
For the first year after getting his real estate license, Tyree focused on learning, as he worked both as a real estate agent and part-time at St. Augustine’s Viola’s Pizza, Pasta and Seafood on the beach. “Everyone in St. Augustine eats there,” says Tyree. “I had to take time to really learn before I could excel. It really took the first two years to just learn from agents who had been in real estate for ten, twenty, some even thirty years. I spent the first two years ‘picking brains.’”
Even today, Tyree remains focused on continued learning and growth. I am “constantly learning and building myself up and growing at the same time,” he says. “Every year is different. It’s always a battle against yourself to grow and elevate. I think that’s the feeling that propels me to succeed. I will never become complacent; I will never stay the same.”
Tyree’s constant push toward growth is paying off. “I thought last year was my best year, but now I think 2022 is going to be my best year.” Those two years of learning have paid off for Tyree. “It was like going to college without the college,” he says.
FAMILY BLESSINGS—TYREE’S “WHY”
Tyree and his large family are St. Augustine natives. Tyree attended R.B. Hunt Elementary, Sebastian Middle School, and St. Augustine High. He graduated in 2013.
“My mom and grandmother raised me,” Tyree says. “They took care of me. I am blessed, for sure. And my great-grandmother is still living.” He is part of a big, fun family. “Holidays are crazy,” Tyree says. “Everyone gets together. I go to like ten houses on Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
Tyree’s greatest influence—his hustle motivator and his “why”—is his grandmother. In her 60s, she worked two nursing home jobs. “She worked like 18 hours a day as a CNA, which is one of the hardest jobs there,” Tyree says. One day, when Tyree was 13 and standing in front of Winn-Dixie with his grandmother, she said to him, “You should never want to work for anybody else but yourself.”
“I remember her words to this day,” says Tyree. “I wanted to be an entrepreneur from that day.”
Tyree’s hustle and “why” are rooted in helping those who helped him, and so is his determination to never stop growing, improving, elevating, and working to succeed.
Tyree is well on his way to accomplishing his goals.
Tyree’s first real estate photo taken in 2018
