A broker, coach and investor, Nick Libert earned a spot among RISMedia’s 2025 Real Estate Newsmakers through his experience in all three roles.
He saw an industry going through changes throughout 2024 and wanted to be a positive force for that change. At his Chicago-based brokerage, EXIT Strategy Realty, he launched the coaching program #ProjectX to give his agents the right tools—especially ones for automation, and that give his agents the gift of being able to prioritize the tasks (and personal touch) that can’t be automated.
EXIT Strategy Realty was ranked as the EXIT Realty International’s No. 1 most productive office group for the year of 2024. Libert himself took home a spot (and not his first) among the Chicago Association of REALTORS®’ Top Producers.
RISMedia recently spoke with Libert to recap the philosophy that drove his success in 2024, and how he continues to coach others to excel.
Devin Meenan: How do you feel about being named a first-time Real Estate Newsmaker?
Nick Libert: I’m really excited for the opportunity to be a Newsmaker. I see a lot of shifts in our industry right now, a lot of chaos, and I believe it’s a time where we’re looking for people to lead, innovate and step up to the plate. I’m delighted to be a part of a group that is doing that. There’s a lot of innovation and leadership that’s needed in the marketplace right now in terms of the private listing network, marketing and disclosures—the real estate industry is in a world of mess, and I really want to be one of the people that is bringing positive energy and good things to the table.
DM: Which industry changes that are happening now are you most emphasizing in your coaching?
NL: One of the things that we’re focusing on is the damage the private listing network can do to a listing in terms of visibility. If it’s not going to go on Zillow, if it’s not going to go on Redfin, there’s a lack of visibility and transparency. We are a brokerage that thrives on equal opportunity for everyone—fair housing—and I believe the private listing network is something that is potentially damaging that. The technology that I’m using with #Project X is trying to break through that and get the private listing network out to everyone. One of the components that I use is Zenlist, an agent-to-client home search platform. We are excited about bringing transparency and openness to the consumer and to the marketplace.
DM: How do your roles as a coach, investor and broker connect or intermingle?
NL: I think that wearing multiple hats gives me the opportunity to be in the shoes of both the consumer, the agent and the investor, and truly live out their lives and their value propositions, ultimately understanding what’s important to them. Being in their shoes allows me to look for the best technology, tools and strategies that are out there that are going to most positively affect their performance.
DM: Can you work through the origins of #ProjectX and how it’s kept growing since last year?
NL: EXIT Realty, as a franchise, has a great baseline of tools, but I was really looking for something on top of that. Something to bring more tools and transparency to the marketplace; to make it easier for the consumer to find properties; to make it easier for the consumer to understand the process of purchasing or building generational wealth. With #ProjectX, we want to make everything more simplified and also build in what’s coming from AI. We want to talk about sustainability. There’s a lot of opportunity to streamline operations and quite frankly, make this a more efficient and a better process for the Earth in terms of the way we buy and sell houses, and the way we use our homes and our properties in the future.
DM: What would you say are the specific tools that most attract professionals to #ProjectX?
NL: Right now one of the big tools is Zenlists. Also, Wise Agent CRM, because the technology of Wise Agent CRM—having the ability to mass text—has been a big differential room view, which is our AI component that helps build out and automate their social media content. The Geolocational Smart Signage that EXIT Realty uses now works with our CRM so that those things are talking to each other, allowing us to automate some processes. So when you do an open house, there’s some follow-up after that can be automated. A lot of this can be done not only through AI, but also through the geolocational tools. Having all of these tools talk to each other allows for the agent to be able to work smarter, not harder, and they can get more information on a digital platform than ever before.
DM: How do you balance embracing automation to work smarter with making sure you keep that personal touch as an agent?
NL: The core of this is that AI should be able to free up more of your time as an agent to build out, deepen and strengthen those personal relationships. AI gives you an upper hand, like automations, that offer you more time to build deeper and more personal connections with your communities, and educate and empower your clients. You have more time to be out in the field building those personal connections that AI can’t replicate.
DM: What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned in building a coaching brand? How do you get people to trust you to help them succeed?
NL: I think what makes my coaching different is the transparency that “everyone fails.” Everyone tries and fails, everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has bad habits, everyone has a bad day. I think it makes it much more of a relatable coaching program where we all fail forward. Sometimes, we have to take a step back or life gets in the way, and then sometimes we have to do what I call “control, alt, delete” and reset.
Especially in the world we live in right now, there’s so much uncertainty and chaos out there. You’ve got to give yourself some grace and be transparent that, ‘Hey, I’m trying my best to better myself.” I’m a big fan of a book called The Compound Effect. It describes how small incremental changes every day doesn’t mean that you have to overnight transform your life, and sometimes you’ll need to take a day off from having those small incremental changes. Just give yourself some grace and be transparent. I think that’s the difference in my coaching program.
DM: You and EXIT Realty received many other accolades last year, what stands out specifically about being named an RISMedia Newsmaker?
NL: What I enjoy about that award is looking at the depth of other people’s different opinions, successes and strategies. It’s exciting to be in a field of people that are maybe not always agreeing with me or thinking in the same manner or using the same strategies. There’s different thought leaders on this list that are doing things in a different manner. So I was excited to be a part of a bigger group that is doing things in a variety of different ways, hopefully all to better the industry.
RISMedia’s 2025 Real Estate Newsmakers showcase is sponsored by:
Gold Sponsor
Real Estate Webmasters
Bronze Sponsors
American Home Shield
HouseAmp
Lofty
RPR®
Stay tuned to RISMedia.com for ongoing coverage and close-up interviews with our 2025 Real Estate Newsmakers.
