Laid off from his job, flat broke, and “scared to death” in a depressed Detroit economy, DiPasquale decided real estate sales was his one shot. He sold his vintage guitar to pay for advertising and worked six days a week prospecting, networking, and taking every free real estate class he could find. Two years later, he’d racked up $5.3 million in individual sales, selling 35 homes in 2006.

Challenging himself: Too young and baby-faced to appeal to the white-collar engineers and managers of Detroit—who were getting laid off in droves anyway—DiPasquale focused on renters. He promised apartment dwellers he’d find at least three homes with mortgage payments less than their rent and met his self-imposed goal.

Tied to tech: DiPasquale worked with a loan officer to develop a free First-Time Home Buyers Kit (complete with a CD of forms and a mortgage calculator); soon it was netting him two or three sales a month. He even gives Apple iPods as closing gifts. And although he’s going to stick with real estate as his day job, he just bought a replacement for his beloved Paul Reed Smith Custom 24 guitar on eBay.