Am I really good enough?

For the longest time I thought I wasn’t good enough to be a real estate agent.

I’m not a REALTOR or member of the realtor association or an employee of a large brokerage. I was. I paid the $800/year dues and took the 4 hour ethics class they require. Ethics isn’t learned, it’s how you are built. But the fact they even need to require that class says something about the members. My associates, I hate to say it. You are either ethical or you’re not. It’s these unethical people in the news that shame the real estate and finance professions. There are also plenty of people that have been taken advantage of, but maybe not in a so newsworthy fashion. Maybe these people don’t even know they were scammed.

So, I decided not to be a Realtor, to take on that title, because it doesn’t mean anything.

I also worked at Keller Williams and Fuller Sothebys. Not one of them offered me any type of real estate training or advice or even client leads that actually made a difference. They all kept pushing me in a direction of “sell sell sell!” Cold Call. Door knock. Contact friends and family. Use a bait and switch guaranty program. Form a team or join a team so you can do more cold calling.  I will admit I was probably brainwashed with the rest of them, thinking that I’m just not cut out to “sell!” How did Jane over there do it? She seems to make decent money. Looking back, the way Jane came into the office, not happy, not motivated, that’s not the way a successful agent should look. The big companies really don’t care how you get business. They will overlook many agent discretions as long as you bring in business.

I remember sitting at my desk during that time, looking at the phone, scared to pick up the phone, to dial a number. There was this uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I now know it was guilt. So nervous, afraid I would be bothering the person I’m calling. Maybe they would hate me, maybe they would tell all their friends this Darla agent is too pushy! I was right to have that feeling, and to have those fears. But I didn’t know any other way. It was ingrained in my real estate career, in every agent I worked with, in every company I worked for, to cold call, cold call, and more cold calls. I would make excuses to avoid making cold calls, then I would do research on the client to make sure I knew enough about them to make it seem natural. As if that would help them appreciate me interrupting their day to sell them something. Not!

Finally, when I was out of stalling tactics and no-one was around to hear me stumble through a cold call.. I dialed the phone. My script in front of me. No answer.  Hang Up. “Who are you?” What do you want again?” “Do I know you?” “Why are you calling me?” All valid responses to my calling up a complete stranger. Good thing I had a sweet voice or I would probably have gotten some nasty words thrown at me. The people at the other end of the phone probably felt sorry for me… as they should. I was pathetic, along with all those other rookie agents doing the same thing.

I was a SOLICITOR! We all hate solicitors. Almost everyone in my suburban neighborhood today has those No Soliciting signs on their front door.

Good thing life always has something else waiting around the corner. One of the brokers I worked for in the past told me I don’t need an MBA for real estate. I was paying for Colorado University MBA program myself, so I stopped mid-stream. I met my now husband during this time I was starting out in residential real estate and decided to finish my MBA. With encouragement from school-mates and professors, I then got a job as a Director for a telecom company… well I got a job as an administrator and when my boss couldn’t handle the start-up atmosphere six months later, I took over. So, I didn’t give up work, I gave up real estate. Or so, I thought.

I got married and had my daughter. I owned three homes, all by myself at that time. My life changed. My priorities changed. Life wasn’t about making money anymore. I was 32 when my daughter taught me about real love, real giving, a sense of purpose in life. I would do anything for her. I decided right then that I would teach her women can do anything. I would give her what I never had as a child. That was my vow. I have carried that vow with me through the corporate layoffs in 2007 and again in 2009, my almost fatal illness and birth of my son in 2010, fighting to try to make a corporate job work with two kids under five in childcare.

It was 2012. I was spinning my wheels. Pay the daycare to work. Work to pay the daycare. While I was at home with the kids, I wanted to be at work. While I was at work, I wanted to be home with my kids.

So, I made a decision. I still had my real estate company that I had started back in 2000 and it kept calling me to come back full time. Over the years I had purchased my own properties and averaged 4 sales per year from loyal friends and clients. The corporate world wasn’t my thing. Some people would think I was crazy to give it up. But, I was bored. I wasn’t in control.

I decided if I was going to work, it would have to be something that called me to the office every day and called me away from my children. Something I felt was important. Also, I wanted flexibility to spend more time with my kids and not have to pay for a nanny if I didn’t need to. I started demanding to work from home. When I was there I would leave at 3PM to pick up my kids. My co-workers made comments; but I didn’t care. What they didn’t know was that I was building my real estate business back up. I wanted to be fired. In the end I started telling people. I actually got a few clients from the office. I wasn’t trying to get business,  I was trying to get fired!

Then it happened. Was I fired? No. I was offered a promotion and more benefits. What!? What is the world telling me. My husband was not going to like me turning this down. But I had to follow my heart and my passion. I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives, in the community, in my children’s lives, and in my own life.

So, fast forward to 2016, and a complete 180 degree turn from my first real estate experience.

Today, I want to protect others from being taken advantage of by unethical agents. I want to bring all the scams out there to light. To me, real estate is about relationships, it’s about people, and most importantly it’s a way for me to give back to the community and show my children how to run a business. It’s about doing the right thing. Doing real estate the way it should be done.

I thought for a long time I wasn’t cut out to do real estate. I wasn’t good enough. In reality, most agents out there are not good enough. They feed into the large brokerage model and continue to pay for coaches and training that gets them quick short term sales at the expense of the client. I don’t have to be like that. I can serve a higher purpose. I can bring success to my clients and the community. I can do something better than make cold calls.