In this episode of the Generations of Wealth Podcast, Derek talks with Anton Zherelyev, founder and CEO of REI Lead Pros and host of the Still Building Podcast. Anton shares how a single comment from his girlfriend (now wife) pulled him out of a comfortable corporate career and into wholesaling, flipping, and building a rental portfolio — and how that journey eventually turned into a lead-generation company serving real estate investors nationwide.
Watch the episode here
Listen to the podcast here
Overview
Anton left a $250K corporate job after his girlfriend pointed out they “owned nothing,” pushing him into a real estate mastermind and, soon after, wholesaling. His first deal took six months of cold calling and a last-minute $20,000 renegotiation to net just $7,500 — but it taught him negotiation, underwriting, and persistence.
A later flip his wife talked him into netted $94,000 and got 1031-exchanged into more properties, snowballing into 16 rental properties today, managed remotely by his wife while Anton splits time between Miami and Medellín, Colombia. Frustrated by how slow lead generation was, Anton built a team of 150 overseas cold callers and turned it into REI Lead Pros, a company that now sources off-market deals for investors while staying carefully compliant with TCPA/do-not-call regulations. The conversation also covers his podcast, Still Building, which focuses on the unfiltered struggles behind entrepreneurship, and closes on Anton’s own current struggle: whether to pursue his dream of building wellness hotels despite warnings from people already in that business.
Key Takeaways
- The people closest to you can completely change your financial trajectory — Anton credits his wife’s offhand comment for redirecting his entire career.
- Joining a mastermind or mentorship group can dramatically shorten the learning curve in real estate.
- Taking action beats endless research — Anton calls “analysis paralysis” the biggest thing holding new investors back.
- Persistence compounds: Anton’s first deal took six months and dozens of rejected cold calls before it closed.
- Learning to negotiate under pressure (renegotiating $20,000 off a locked-up contract) can be the difference between a deal and no deal.
- Off-market deal sourcing is what allowed rapid rental portfolio growth in a competitive market like Miami.
- Building the right team — not just doing everything yourself — is what let Anton scale from solo cold caller to running 150 cold callers.
- Compliance matters: know the TCPA rules (no robocalls, no soliciting, honor do-not-call requests) before scaling cold calling.
- Give back what you were given — Anton hosts free weekly calls because mentors once did the same for him.
- Real growth stories include the “bad and the ugly,” not just the highlight reel — which is the premise of his Still Building podcast.
- Even successful investors keep facing new versions of the same fear: is it worth pursuing the next big goal despite the risk?
Relevant Topics Discussed
- Wholesaling real estate
- Off-market deal sourcing
- Real estate mentorship & masterminds
- Fix-and-flip investing
- 1031 exchanges
- Rental property portfolio management
- Cold calling & lead generation
- TCPA compliance & do-not-call regulations
- Remote/long-distance property management
- Building and scaling a team
- Entrepreneurship struggles & mindset
- Hospitality/hotel investing
- Podcasting & personal branding
Why Should You Listen?
This episode is for anyone stuck in the “analysis paralysis” stage of real estate — reading books and listening to podcasts but never making the first call. Anton’s path from a six-month drought before his first deal to a 16-property portfolio and a 150-person lead-gen company shows what happens when persistence meets the right mentorship. It’s also a candid look at the compliance side of cold calling that most investors never talk about, and a reminder — through Anton’s own unresolved hotel-investing dilemma — that even people who’ve “made it” are still wrestling with their next leap.
Important Links:
About Anton Zherelyev
Anton is a serial entrepreneur, CEO coach, and the founder of multiple businesses operating across the real estate, staffing, and AI sectors. He is the founder of REI Lead Pros, a done-for-you cold calling and lead generation company serving real estate investors nationwide, as well as Smart Hire Pros, Remote Prospect, CallFlowAI, and Invest Buyers LLC. Living a location-independent lifestyle between Miami and Medellín, Colombia, Anton has spent over seven years building systems that help entrepreneurs scale their operations with top-tier remote talent and cutting-edge AI tools. Beyond the businesses, Anton hosts the Still Building podcast, where he shares the honest realities of entrepreneurship with a growing audience of founders.
He also coaches CEOs using EOS and Scaling Up frameworks, helping leaders build companies that run without them. A devoted father and lifelong learner, Anton is currently training for an Ironman 70.3 and maintains a 200-plus day meditation streak, bringing the same discipline to his personal life that has driven his success in business.