From Ground-Zero Dreams To Dominance!

December 02, 2025•5 min read

R. Kenner French sits down with “coach of coaches” and real estate investor Eric Brewer to talk about how entrepreneurs and investors can truly take their assets and businesses to the next level. Kenner opens by asking Eric for one big piece of advice for entrepreneurs. Eric shares that at some point, if you want to scale, you must pivot from “doing the thing” (flipping homes, raising money, running projects) to developing people who do the thing—recruiting, training, and retaining a team. There’s no real owner’s manual for entrepreneurship, he says, just a lot of books and clues that you have to adapt to your own journey.

Eric then walks through his personal story. He was almost a high school dropout, had no desire to go to college, and felt lost after graduation. That led him to the U.S. Army, which gave him structure but not a clear civilian skill set afterward. Back home, he took a $7/hour job parking cars at a dealership, worked hard, got promoted into sales, and eventually became the number one salesperson for 30 consecutive months, later moving into management. After years in the car business, burnout pushed him to seek a different path. He shifted into the mortgage world, and eventually into real estate when a former boss who’d sold a major Toyota dealership invited him to partner. They started flipping houses in 2006, ramping up to hundreds of deals per year and building one of the larger real estate operations in the country.

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From there, Eric explains how surviving the 2008–2009 crash shaped his perspective. Early on, real estate “printed money,” but when the market crashed, many flashy investors disappeared. Eric’s team, backed by a liquid and gutsy mentor, bought aggressively during the downturn, learning hard lessons that made every year after feel easier by comparison. As the market evolved around 2012–2013 and cheap deals dried up, they had to reinvent themselves, investing heavily in marketing and sales systems. Today they spend around $250,000 a month on marketing, focus intensely on lead generation and conversion, and emphasize that the key to a good real estate deal isn’t just buying low—it’s knowing how to consistently generate leads and run a powerful sales process.

Eric and Kenner also dive into the coaching side of his work. Eric describes how he and his partners are often called “funnel fixers” because they diagnose and repair broken sales funnels inside companies. In one example, a client was burning cash on lots of cheap, low-quality leads, which overloaded their team, wrecked morale, and crushed conversion rates. By cutting low-quality leads, refocusing on qualified prospects, and retraining the sales team, that company cut their leads in half but doubled their income in about 90 days. Eric’s bigger vision, though, is to create curriculum, programs, and content that teach people how not to let their funnels break in the first place—so they’re proactive instead of only calling for help when they’re desperate.

One of the most meaningful parts of the conversation focuses on impact and legacy. Eric shares a powerful story about an employee, Ferdy, who came from retail management feeling unfulfilled. Eric helped him buy his first rental, taught him real estate and sales, and brought him into the company. Over a decade, Ferdy quit smoking, got in shape, built a portfolio of roughly 25 rentals, improved his finances, and created experiences—like surprising his daughter with college football tickets—that he once never imagined. For Eric, the “real awards” are his six children, the 40+ lives he’s responsible for as an employer, and being in the best physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual shape of his life at 50 in a challenging world.

To close, Eric talks about the future. On the coaching side, through RampREI, they offer sales training, leadership and business consulting, and “growth partner” arrangements where they actually run key parts of an operator’s business—marketing, leadership, and sales management—so the owner can focus on what they’re best at. On the real estate side, his company Integrity First Homebuyers plans to expand into 10 markets by 2027, targeting around 1,000 deals a year and roughly $20 million in net profit. For those who want to connect, Eric points people to social media—Eric Brewer on Facebook and @ericbrewerinvest on Instagram—and to RampREI.com for more on partnering or coaching. Throughout the conversation, the theme is clear: build people, build systems, and you can build both wealth and a meaningful life.

Takeaways

• In 2006, early challenges in real estate felt like a curse.

• Overcoming challenges has made subsequent years easier.

• The speaker has completed over 5,000 real estate deals.

• The focus is on central PA, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia markets.

• Expansion into Baltimore has broadened market reach.

• Each market has its unique characteristics and opportunities.

• Learning from setbacks is crucial for growth.

• Building a diverse portfolio is essential in real estate.

• Networking and local knowledge are key to success.

• Resilience in the face of adversity leads to long-term success.

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