It was August 2024 when I first spoke with Ricky Carruth. At the time, Canada was deep in conversation, not just politically or economically, but culturally. We were asking ourselves what it meant to support Canadian businesses, Canadian voices, Canadian stages. Those discussions naturally wove themselves into our work at BUZZ as we carefully selected speakers for our conferences. Every decision felt weighty. Intentional. Strategic. Patriotic, even.
And yet, looking back, I can say it plainly, I blew it.
Not because the intention was wrong, it wasn’t. We were proud of our choices. Supporting our own matters. But somewhere in the process, I allowed noise to cloud discernment. I allowed optics to sit too close to opportunity. I allowed fear of perception to compete with instinct. Leadership will do that to you if you’re not vigilant. It will make you overthink what once felt simple.
Yesterday, I had what I can only describe as a bloody mindset shift and it was beautiful.
I sat inside the MGM Forum in MGM Grand Conference Center at REMAX R4 2026, surrounded by thousands of real estate professionals from around the world, and listened to keynote speaker and coach Ricky Carruth, the superhuman or should I say ‘ The Million Dollar Man ‘.
His talk, From $0 to $1,000,000, was not extravagant. There were no flashing lights. No over-produced intro video. No complicated tech stack diagrams. No ‘ seven-figure secret formula. No exaggerated ‘ 30, 40, 50 billion – dollar ‘ sales revenue claims that no one can vet and verify… ‘ No magic pill.
It was real. Raw. Ridiculously riveting…and it was all about YOU…
And in a world addicted to noise, real feels revolutionary.
He stood there and calmly dismantled the fantasy many agents are still chasing, that success comes from hacks, funnels, branding tricks, scaling tips, viral reels, or the next shiny platform. Instead, he walked us through the unsexy truth, conversations, consistency, patience, and valuing people over paycheques.
No assistants. No massive team. No complicated automation.
Just daily contact. Database nurture. Follow-up without pressure. Long-term thinking.
Reality sunk in and people were having their ‘ ahha moments. ‘
Ricky Carruth has been in the real estate industry since 2002 and has closed over 1,000 deals as a single agent without a team. He was the #1 REMAX agent in Alabama in 2014, 2018 & 2019. He has built multiple 8 figure businesses and generated over 650 million views on social media. His coaching program for real estate agents, Diamond+, is the fastest growing in the US.
I remember speaking with Ricky Carruth over the telephone for about thirty minutes back in 2024. During our scheduled call, all I could think was, there is no way a guy has more energy and passion than me. Just no way.
I was wrong.
He spoke quickly, but not carelessly. There was conviction in every sentence. He wasn’t trying to impress me; he was trying to compress decades of lessons into half an hour. He shared so much I could barely keep up. And somewhere in the middle of it, I realized something uncomfortable, he had found a way to make real estate work, and then built a system so other agents could too.
In 2002, a 20-year-old from the Gulf Coast of Alabama dropped out of college after failing a history class and walked into real estate with no safety net, no connections, and no idea what he was doing. Eight months passed before he closed his first deal, a modest condo, sold to his grandmother.
That was enough.
One deal turned into dozens. The housing market was surging, and Carruth learned quickly. By the time he turned 23, he was a self-made millionaire, selling beachfront properties in one of the hottest markets in the country.
Then the crash came.
And here is where the story matters most.
“I failed because I chased the commission. I didn’t value the people.”
By 25, he had lost everything. Bankruptcy. Roofing houses. Sleeping in his car, with a ‘ magic blanket ‘, the only thing that comforted him. Taking a job on an oil rig just to survive. The collapse wasn’t abstract, it was personal. It stripped him of ego, income, and identity. It would take nearly three years before he returned to real estate.
But when he did, everything was different.
He didn’t just rebuild his business. He rewired the way he thought about it.
The lesson, earned, not borrowed, became his foundation. You see, real estate is not a transaction business, it is a trust business.
Over the next decade, Ricky quietly built one of the most productive solo real estate operations in the country. No team. No assistants. No flashy infrastructure. Just calls, emails, follow-up, and consistency. From 2014 onward, Carruth closed more than 100 deals a year on his own.
Let that sink in.
While the industry chased teams, expansion models, and complex funnels, he focused on relationships and communication.
Then, in 2017, he did something radical. He began coaching, without charging. He launched Zero to Diamond, the first completely open-access real estate coaching platform. No paywall. No upsells. No monthly fee. He simply gave away the exact systems he used, scripts, templates, routines, mindsets.
It caught on. Fast.
More than 100,000 agents have joined his platform. His coaching calls, weekly emails, and social content reach agents across nearly every market. He has interviewed industry powerhouses like Grant Cardone and Patrick Bet-David, spoken on stages across the country, and built one of the most engaged agent communities in real estate.
And yet, none of it has changed how he operates. He still wakes up early. He still answers DMs. He still records weekly videos without a production crew. No theatrics. No overproduction. Just strategy, in real time.
Looking back at our call, I realize why I felt overwhelmed. It wasn’t just his energy. It was alignment. He knows exactly what he stands for. He has clarity. And clarity creates momentum.
Most agents believe success comes from closing more deals. Ricky believes success comes from creating more relationships.
Most see real estate as a sales job. He sees it as a trust business.
That is the difference.
And perhaps that was my lesson in that 30-minute conversation, passion is powerful, but principle is permanent.
WOW, was the only thing I said after he walked off the stage.
To learn more, visit RICKY CARRUTH
To learn more about Real Estate, visit REMAX
Virginia Munden
