I've always known I was resilient and that I'd be successful, it was just a matter of figuring out at what. Passing that exam felt like the first real answer.

Two months into being an agent, I had no idea how to get a lead, let alone close one. So I took a new role instead, working as my broker's assistant. The job was emails, calendar, bills, the usual assistant stuff, plus one warm lead handed to me at a time, no training beyond "here's the deal, go run it." I was Googling terms mid-negotiation and taking calls with the buyer's broker at one in the morning. Then I ran the discovery calls, did the tours, wrote the LOIs, handled the negotiations, ordered the inspections, negotiated the due diligence asks, referred my own favorite people (bookkeepers, property management, electricians, GCs, the ones I still use today), did the final walkthroughs, and uploaded every document to ADRE myself. My name wasn't on about 80% of those deals. I got 5% of my broker's 3%.

About a year and a half in, a few close friends heard the math out loud and told me flat out that was insane and I deserved a lot more. They weren't wrong. Staying meant building her business first, mine second, and my family third, working ten times harder than the average agent to make what an average agent makes. Over those two years and more than $20 million in sales, my total take-home for the year was under $30,000.

For five months I planned my exit. I built this website, started posting on social media consistently in a way that actually felt like me, and it ended up branding the pillars of my business (cue people preordering me an old fashioned before I even walk into the meeting).

Then God Blew It Up

I was in the middle of two deals, not wanting to leave my clients hanging, and not able to stay in a toxic environment anymore either. It was eating away at every part of me. I wasn’t eating right, I wasn’t patient with my kids or my boyfriend, and I wasn’t being the disciple of God I wanted to be. He knew it too. I had five months of planning, but it wasn’t until I was mid-deal that everything actually blew up and I left the brokerage with quite literally nothing to my name but two months of debt. Then I joined The Broker Reserve, and I finally understood why I chose this job in the first place.

I didn’t realize how stunted I’d been until the moment I made the move and everything changed. The brand exploded. I’m starting a BNI group with my broker now, and getting to cowork in such a collaborative environment, supporting each other in business and in life, is something special to me. Am I the only woman at the brokerage? Yes. But if you know anything about ACOTAR, these guys are my Cassian and Azriel.

What sets this brokerage apart: the collaboration, the way we build each other up instead of competing, and knowing exactly how to service our clients differently than your average broker (hello, overcommunication). The best referral partners out there, the ones who don’t feed you fluff and won’t change their answer based on your budget, because we’re all just people trying to make it out here. Lenders who can get deals to the finish line that everyone else already said no to. And we have a genuinely good time doing it, celebrating your wins, not ours.

Today I have full custody of my kids, an amazing partner I prayed my entire life for, a God who is good and just, a team of amazing people, joy even in the rock-bottom times, and passions and interests that will take a lifetime to finish.

So here we are: servicing new businesses, expanding businesses, sellers, landlords, homeschooling, pursuing archery and piloting, dabbling with the idea of worldschooling and safaris with my family, snowy winter nights, and giving to His kingdom!