Gary Keller lost everything in his 20s. Twice. Those moments shaped how he went on to build the largest real estate company in the world, Keller Williams.
In this issue, I share Gary’s story and unpack what makes him an exceptional storyteller. He combines the clarity of a science teacher, the cadence of a preacher, the urgency of a motivational speaker, and the credibility of a seasoned leader. When Gary speaks, ideas land, stick, and move people to act.
In this issue, you’ll get:
3 techniques you can borrow from Gary to improve your storytelling and decision-making
A fun fact showing how small actions can compound into massive results
A short video where Gary shares the origin story of Keller Williams
Enjoy learning about the ONE thing that can change everything…LG
P.S. I filmed Gary Keller speaking right after he released The ONE Thing. Inspired by it, I committed to writing every morning for 40 days. That habit didn’t just make me a better writer. It changed my life and pushed me deeper into entrepreneurial storytelling, a path I’m still on ten years later. Shout out to Gary & Jay Pasasan for this spark.
Founder Story: Gary Keller, Keller Williams
Gary Keller master plan growing up was to be a rock musician.
He didn’t picture himself following the same academic path as the rest of his family, even though teaching ran deep in his blood. His mother was a teacher. His father was a teacher who later became a high school administrator. Aunts, uncles, siblings. Education surrounded him.
After high school, he gave music an honest attempt. By mid-summer, it wasn’t working so he went to his parents and admitted it.
Their response surprised him. They had already applied to college for him at Baylor University and he had already been accepted.
“Would you like to go?” they asked. He said yes.
DISCOVERING REAL ESTATE
At Baylor, Gary didn’t arrive with a master plan. He was still figuring out who he was and where he fit.
Near the end of his sophomore year, his father gave him practical advice. He needed a major. But before choosing one, he should experience real professions.
That summer, Gary spent a day with four people. A lawyer. A banker. An accountant. And a real estate agent named Mr. Mosley.
The difference was immediate. The lawyer followed rules. The banker followed systems. The accountant followed numbers.
The real estate agent followed opportunity.
There was something entrepreneurial about it that Gary couldn’t ignore. It wasn’t just about houses. It was about initiative. About building something from your own effort. About owning your results.
That same year, Baylor launched a new real estate major. Gary enrolled and majored in marketing and real estate. For the first time, business didn’t feel theoretical. It felt personal.
He graduated in 1979, convinced real estate offered the clearest path to independence.
THE FIRST REAL ESTATE LESSON
What Gary didn’t understand when he graduated was how real estate actually worked. At his first interview, the sales manager asked a question that quickly opened Gary’s eyes.
“How much would you like to make your first year?”
It was 1979. A good first-year sales income was considered $18,000 to $22,000. Gary answered honestly, “I’d like to make at least $18,000.”
The manager stood up, shook his hand, and said, “Good luck. It will cost you $1,000 to get into the business.”
Gary drove back to Waco in his Volkswagen Beetle confused. He called his father.
“Did you know this is a 100% commission job?” he asked. “This is nuts.” He borrowed $1,000 from his father to get started.
And for 30 days, it looked like he had made the right choice. He sold six houses. Five closed. He felt unstoppable.
WHEN THE MARKET COLLAPSED
Then the market crashed. Interest rates spiked. Transactions froze. For five straight months, Gary failed to close a single deal.
He was 22 years old. Out of money. Living on borrowed confidence.
But his day planner told a different story. It was full of appointments. Full of leads. Full of effort.
So he went back to his father and borrowed another $500.
Over the next six months, he hit every financial goal he had set. The setback didn’t break him. It trained him. Gary learned two things early:
Markets move in cycles
Effort alone isn’t enough without systems.
He was no longer just selling houses. He was studying how sales actually worked.
THE SECOND CRASH AND A HARD LINE
Texas real estate didn’t stabilize. It worsened. Usury laws capped interest rates at 10%, while national rates surged past 18% and even 21%. Deals collapsed under their own math.
Gary found himself explaining painful truths to sellers. That after interest, taxes, and commissions, they would lose over 20% of their equity.
He didn’t own a home himself. He later said ignorance was bliss.
By Christmas, he was broke again. His mother suggested he get a part-time job at 7-Eleven. His response was firm: “No, Mother. I’m either going to make it at this full-time or not at all.”
Once again, he returned to his father. He showed him his day planner. Still full. Still moving. Another $500 check. Another six months. Another recovery.
Had he kept going without pause, he likely would have won rookie of the year. Instead, he took a month off to reset.
By then, something else had taken root.
DISCOVERING A LOVE FOR TEACHING
Gary realized he loved helping other agents succeed.
He enjoyed teaching. Coaching. Breaking down what worked and why. Helping people reach both business and life goals.
Management felt natural. He moved into leadership roles and was eventually hired as Vice President of Expansion at one of Austin’s largest real estate firms.
By his mid-twenties, Gary was helping grow a dominant company. But inside, he was restless.
WALKING AWAY FROM SUCCESS
The company structure bothered him.
Everyone worked for the owner. Agents generated the value, but ownership captured the upside. Training was secondary. Transparency was limited.
Gary believed the logic was backward. Companies are nothing more than people. People create everything inside organizations.
If you build the agents, the agents build the company. He voiced this belief repeatedly. Eventually, it became clear it wouldn’t change. So he quit.
Not because he failed. Because the vision didn’t match his.
PLANNING A DIFFERENT KIND OF COMPANY
Gary partnered with Joe Williams, a like-minded entrepreneur with deep real estate experience.
Together, they spent much of 1982 planning a new kind of firm. One that treated agents as partners. One built on collaboration, training, and fairness.
They scraped together $42,000.
In 1983, they launched Keller Williams Realty.
LAUNCHING INTO A RECESSION
The timing was brutal. Texas was entering one of the worst real estate downturns in its history. Oil prices collapsed. Firms folded.
Keller Williams survived by staying disciplined. No debt. Tight costs. Revenue before expansion.
In their first year, they made $100,000. Within two years, they grew to over 70 associates and became one of the top firms in Austin.
Then the market turned again.
THE MOMENT THAT FORCED REINVENTION
In 1986, Keller Williams lost half its staff in weeks.
A new competitor entered the market. Five of the top ten agents left. The entire administrative staff walked out.
Gary was still in his twenties. Broke. Now carrying heavy debt. Facing the possibility that his model wasn’t strong enough.
So he did what he had always done. He asked questions. He gathered his top associates and posed one challenge.
“How can we run this company in a way where you achieve everything you want, and at the same time, we achieve everything we want?”
THE BIRTH OF PROFIT SHARING
The answers reshaped the business.
They redesigned the commission structure. They treated agents as business partners. They opened the books. They created formal leadership input. They invested heavily in training and consulting-style management.
Profit sharing was introduced. Agents now shared in the profits they helped create. Recruiting and developing others became a wealth-building activity, not a threat.
Over time, Keller Williams scaled deliberately. Franchising began in the early 1990s. Growth followed strict rules. No debt. Local ownership. Heavy training.
Today Keller Williams is the largest real estate company in the world by agent count and operates in more than 50 countries with over 190,000 agents and over $490 billion in annual sales volume.
Gary Keller authored multiple best‑selling books including The ONE Thing.
#1 on the Wall Street Journal business bestseller list and also becoming a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.
His real estate titles have collectively sold more than 1 million copies worldwide.
Storytelling Lessons: One Thing Wins
Gary Keller’s story works because it reflects how real companies are built. Under pressure. Through focus, connection, and failure. He didn’t rely on polish. He earned trust by simplifying what mattered, speaking clearly, and using setbacks as fuel. Those same principles apply directly to how founders should tell their own stories.
Focus on the Biggest Lever
When Keller Williams struggled to stand out, he forced a hard choice. If only one idea could move the company forward, what would it be? That discipline led to writing The Millionaire Real Estate Agent. One book. One idea. One lever point that reshaped the company’s position and attracted top talent. Gary applied the same approach across business and writing by identifying what mattered most and going all in.
ACTION: Strip your story down to its core lever. Identify the single decision, belief, or moment that changed everything. Lead with that and remove anything that doesn’t support it. Doing less makes your story clearer and stronger.
Speak Like You’re Teaching Your Child
Gary connects by teaching, not performing. His stories are simple, visual, and easy to remember. He speaks with clarity because he cares that people understand. This style creates trust. It invites listeners in rather than talking over them.
ACTION: Tell your story as if you’re explaining it to someone you care about. Use plain language and concrete examples. If your audience can retell your story the next day, you did it right.Fail Your Way Forward
Gary never hid failure. He lost money early, faced market crashes, and watched teams walk out. Instead of avoiding those moments, he treated them as lessons that forced reinvention. Failure stopped being something to fear and became information. Each setback made the next decision sharper.
ACTION: Use failure as structure, not confession. Share what went wrong, what you learned, and what changed because of it. Stories rooted in honest failure build trust faster than polished success stories.
Fun Fact: It Takes 57 Dominos to Reach the Moon
One of the reasons Gary Keller is such a compelling storyteller is that he doesn’t argue for focus. He shows it.
In The ONE Thing, Gary uses the Domino Effect to make a simple but sticky point. Extraordinary results don’t come from doing everything. They come from lining up the right thing and tipping it first.
Physics shows us that a single domino can knock over another domino that’s 50% larger. Not double. Just 50% bigger. Repeat that pattern and something surprising happens.
Start with a domino just 2 inches tall. By the 10th domino, you’re knocking over something about the height of an NFL quarterback. By the 18th, it’s as tall as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. By the 23rd, the Eiffel Tower. By the 31st, taller than Mount Everest.
Keep going and around the 57th domino, you’ve reached the distance from Earth to the moon.
That’s the point Gary Keller makes.
Extraordinary results don’t come from massive effort all at once. They come from doing the right small thing first, then letting momentum do the heavy lifting.
Videos to Watch:
In this video with Gary Keller sharing the history of Keller Williams, you get a great look at how he thinks, teaches, and leads. He walks you through the origin story of Keller Williams, why he chose real estate, and the moment he stepped away from the industry to rebuild it differently. You see his storytelling style up close. Simple. Direct. Honest about the ups, downs, and reinventions that shaped the company. It helps you understand how lived experience, reflection, and clear thinking turn into stories that actually move people. Watch here:
The Keller Williams Story- Our History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNsDkER30ao
Need help with your story? I got you.
Send an email to [email protected] and someone from my team will circle back with you.