How a 20-Year-Old Investor Does 700 Outbound Touches a Week Solo with Elias Harris
In this episode of The PETE Podcast, host Jon Nolen sits down with Elias Harris, a 20-year-old investor out of Dayton, Ohio who has already built a portfolio of rentals and closed wholesale and seller-finance deals as a one-person operation. Elias isn't a tech guy by trade, but he's leaned hard into automation to punch far above his weight.
They get into how Elias went from running zero systems to automating nearly every stage of his pipeline inside PETE, hitting 700 outbound texts and calls in a single week solo. Elias shares his take on where AI is headed for wholesalers, why he switched from phone closes to in-person appointments, and how the lessons he learned in sales carry into youth ministry and the rest of his life. This one's for newer investors who want to scale with technology instead of headcount.
Timeline Summary
[0:00] – Jon introduces Elias Harris, a 20-year-old investor from Dayton doing wholesale, owner finance, and rentals
[0:50] – Elias shares his origin story, from a Christian summer camp at 16 to a calling toward ministry and business
[2:18] – Landing his first wholesale deal at 18 and building his foundation reading Never Split the Difference
[2:43] – How Elias got connected to PETE and started learning the CRM from scratch
[3:36] – The numbers so far: 12 rentals and a couple of wholesales in about 18 months
[4:15] – Walking through his tech stack and the two months he ran with no workflows or systems
[4:53] – Discovering long-term follow-up automation and calling it life-changing
[5:17] – Running a follow-up AI agent, a front desk agent, and a workflow on nearly every status
[6:20] – The quantitative jump: 700 outbound texts and calls in his highest week, solo
[7:13] – Using technology instead of staff to free up time and keep overhead low
[8:05] – Mid-roll: the Lead to Close Health Check assessment
[8:51] – The Steve Trang appointment strategy that threw Elias off when he dropped his phone script
[10:07] – Weighing phone closes versus in-person appointments and the rapport tradeoff
[11:11] – How PETE replaced printing and emailing contracts with one-click e-signatures
[12:39] – Where tech still falls short for Elias and his wish for a simpler CRM interface
[13:39] – His prediction that elite wholesalers will separate from the pack by going all-in on AI
[14:54] – What Elias says to investors who are nervous or dead-set against AI talking to sellers
[16:19] – Why an AI agent never takes a sick day and where world models could take things next
[17:00] – How the sales lessons Elias learned carry into youth ministry and the rest of life
[18:48] – Rapid fire: tech tips, the one tool he can't live without, and a bandit sign regret
[22:47] – Where to find Elias and the seller-finance deal on the house he and his fiancée will live in
5 Key Takeaways
Automation Lets One Person Scale— Running solo with a follow-up agent, a front desk agent, and workflows on nearly every status, Elias hit 700 outbound texts and calls in a single week. Automation handled the repetition so he could focus on live seller calls.
Tech Aids Action, It Doesn't Replace It— Elias is clear that automation only works if you know how to run the system underneath it. You still have to audit it, understand your statuses, and put in the reps talking to sellers.
AI Will Separate Elite Investors From The Rest— His prediction is that the wholesalers who shove AI into everything will pull far ahead. He frames AI not as a way to treat sellers like numbers but as a tool to help more people solve real problems.
In-Person Appointments Build Deeper Rapport— Phone closes are easier and let you reach more sellers, but Elias sees in-person appointments as the less risky long game once you have the experience and the script down.
Good Sales Is Diagnosing Pain, Not Convincing— Elias reframes selling as pulling out the need a person already has rather than pushing them. It's the same approach whether he's talking to a motivated seller or a student in youth group.
Links & Resources
The Lead to Close Health Check (free 6-minute assessment):https://peterei.com
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss:https://www.blackswanltd.com/never-split-the-difference
Elias Harris on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/elias_harris24
Elias Harris on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com
Enjoyed This Episode?
If Elias doing 700 outbound touches a week as a solo operator got your attention, this one is worth a share with any newer investor who thinks they need to hire before they can scale. Follow The PETE Podcast, leave a rating, and drop a quick review so more investors building with technology can find the show.
