Humble Beginnings
Life has a funny way of turning up the volume until you make the change you’ve been afraid to make. At least that’s how my life has gone in the 2020s. While I had been extremely interested in real estate for years prior to making the switch, let’s be real. I was making excuses. While, yes, I was exhausted from working so much and, yes, finances were a little tight at times… I could have gotten my licensures and associated with a real estate firm earlier than October 17, 2020. I was afraid to fail and had a mostly comfortable career path.
Turning Up the Volume
Well, no worries y’all because the universe just got louder and louder until I was forced to follow my path. 2020 sucked. For those that know me well, you know that words like “suck” and “hate” aren’t ones I throw around lightly at all. Well, 2020 sucked! My partner at the time and I had just lost our twins during her second trimester and while a few months had passed, we were nowhere close to out of the grieving stage. 2020 said hold my beer and gave us a freakin’ pandemic to contend with.
It can’t get much worse right? I was laid off in late spring/early summer of 2020 and I’m not gonna lie it hurt and it hurt a lot. I went from being “part of the family” to trying to figure out how to support my family as we quietly passed the time during my previous partners first trimester with our rainbow baby. No pressure right?
I wasn’t afforded the luxury of taking the time to sit with my grief for much more than a week. I purchased an online course bundle and got to work on my real estate license. I’d love to say that it all came so naturally to me and was a really exciting time. It wasn’t. While the job itself has been such an amazing fit for me and I am SO in my element now… Let’s call it what it is! Studying, taking the test, and building the foundation of the business all while having to compartmentalize the grief of losing the twins, the grief of losing the job I thought was my career, and spending most of my days alone was really heavy.
With the help of dogs, Fleetwood Mac, home projects, and coffee I did manage to put one foot in front of the other and passed my real estate exam in late September. I associated with Coldwell Banker Central and officially received my licensure on October 17, 2020.
From there it took me almost exactly five months to get my first deal under contract and seven months until my first closing. Then? Then we were off to the races! I built my business and skill set fairly quietly and methodically. Debra Clerf, Michelle Castle (Clerf at the time), and Stacey Tutor were all extremely gracious during my “can I ask you a question?!” season. Friends and family trusted me during a very high stakes, fast paced time in real estate. I’m very proud to say being humble enough to say “I don’t know, but I’ll find out!” paid off. I’m still proud of how I walked through that season of real estate and know I did right by my clients while also learning so many new things every day.
Becoming the 13%
All of this is to say that “celebrating” feels more like “acknowledging.” It’s a chance to tip my hat at the previous version of myself (and heck even “current me:). I possessed so much resilience as I navigated rock bottom moments, joy, strife, sacrifice, grit, tears of delight, tears of frustration, and a million other full-spectrum emotions. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 87% of real estate agents fail within five years of entering the industry. To put that into a different perspective, only 13% of real estate agents make it past their fifth year. Barring disaster, I’m looking forward to being part of that 13% in another 360 days. Help me make good on that? If you’re still with me, thank you so much for the support, reading my story, and being a bright light in my days!