When real estate author Sam DeBord, who wrote the newly released Map Tools: The Strategy Sequence, floated the idea of giving a day of book profits to Wounded Warrior Project, his industry colleague — and fellow author — Kevin Hawkins agreed on the spot. Hawkins hadn’t yet told DeBord that both of his parents served in World War II.
DeBord launched his first book on Sept. 30, the same day Hawkins released a new edition of his. Fellow author Greg Robertson, who published a second edition of his book earlier this year, joined them, and the three donated the proceeds from that day’s book sales to the veterans service organization. The campaign raised $1,200, DeBord told Inman, and USAA matched the donations.
The three authors are running the drive again this week. All profits from sales of their books from Veterans Day, Nov. 11, through Saturday, Nov. 14, will go to Wounded Warrior Project, the authors told Inman. The books are collected on a shared Amazon list.
DeBord, CEO of the Real Estate Standards Organization, said the idea came out of conversations with Robertson, of Giant Steps Advisors and Vendor Alley, and Hawkins, a partner at WAV Group, about marketing their books together.
“We’re asking people who are our friends and associates in our industry to buy a book, and we didn’t just want to do it for self-promotion,” DeBord said. “We all have strong connections to the military through our families, and we thought it’d be a great opportunity to support the Wounded Warrior Project.”
Gratitude handed down
Kevin Hawkins
Hawkins’ mother served in the Navy’s WAVES program during World War II, and his father was an Army technical sergeant in Okinawa, Japan, Hawkins told Inman. When Hawkins was 10, a neighbor told his parents their VA benefits would let them buy a home with no money down. Neither had owned a home before. Hawkins helped them search the classified ads, and they bought a house in Hollywood, Florida.
“Never could have done it without that program,” Hawkins said. “So I’ve always been deeply appreciative.”
His oldest brother earned a Purple Heart in Vietnam, and his middle name, France, traces to a great-uncle’s World War I service in France. Hawkins later worked as a loan officer near Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington, where he helped military officers buy homes.
“One of the greatest feelings I ever had was when I got a first-time homebuyer in a house,” he said. “The only better feeling is when they were a veteran.”
Hawkins said he researched Wounded Warrior Project after DeBord suggested it. “I had never donated to that before, and now I will never find myself not donating,” he said.
Greg Robertson
‘That’s how come I’m here’
Robertson’s parents met while serving in the Army. “That’s how come I’m here, in a sense,” he told Inman. He said he grew up proud of their service and carries some guilt that he never served himself. “When he first presented the idea, I’m like, that’s a great idea,” Robertson said of DeBord’s pitch. “That’s where all the feels came for me.”
DeBord’s grandfathers served, and two of his brothers-in-law serve in the Air Force and the Navy.
Support beyond the thank-you
The drive comes as veteran suicide remains a central concern for veterans groups. In 2023, 6,398 veterans died by suicide, an average of 17.5 a day, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ most recent annual report, released in February.
Wounded Warrior Project’s mental health programs include WWP Talk, which calls warriors and family members each week, and Warrior Care Network, which provides intensive outpatient treatment through four academic medical centers, according to the organization.
DeBord said veterans leaving the service look for help with employment, housing, medical care and mental health services. “These are just basic necessities of life that we’d like to be able to help provide support for the people who’ve made that kind of sacrifice,” he said.
Giving back as part of the pitch
Sam DeBord
DeBord’s Map Tools: The Strategy Sequence is written for real estate boards and leadership teams. It gives boards an order of operations and a common language to agree on before planning begins, he said. “When they get in the same room, they can focus on the important things and not try to align on general concepts.”
Robertson’s second edition of The Art of the CMA focuses on how agents use comparative market analyses to win business. “The oldest call to action in real estate is ‘find out what your home is worth,'” he said. “You see that on bus stop benches everywhere, and behind that is a CMA.”
Hawkins said the third edition of The Real AI Guide for Real Estate Agents runs about 20 percent longer and adds material on AI safety and agentic AI. He writes that agents should stay involved as AI handles more tasks on their behalf. “We want people involved in these very important tasks in real estate because we’re in the trust business,” he said.
Robertson said every promotion needs a hook, and a cause can be that hook.
“A lot of times it’s a coupon you get, or you get a Yeti mug or something,” he said. “Bringing promotion toward a good cause is, I think, a great way of doing it.”
“Marketing is such a powerful weapon, and it’s used so often in a cynical, self-serving way,” DeBord said. “If we can help people build better business, it’s gratifying to us. If we can do that and help with an important cause as well, both those things fit really well together.”
“It’s a noisy, distracted, fragmented industry right now,” DeBord added. “Being able to focus people on small impacts to their business and big impacts to bigger causes, it’s nice to be able to put some energy into that.”
Veterans in crisis and their families can reach the Veterans Crisis Line by dialing 988 and pressing 1, texting 838255 or chatting at VeteransCrisisLine.net.
Veterans who served on or after Sept. 11, 2001, and their families and caregivers can sign up for WWP Talk, Wounded Warrior Project’s free, weekly phone support program, after registering with the organization.
