New Years is always a time for reflection. What will the new year bring, where are we going, and what's on the horizon. This year marks our 13th year in business and in my recent reflections, I wrote down what I've learned from this exciting, challenging, fulfilling, and sometimes difficult career. This newsletter includes a little backstory about Ken and I and our origin story in Colorado. We hope you enjoy!
Ken and I started our real estate business in the early part of 2012. We left our restaurant management jobs in Columbus, Ohio and set out on our own. We were in search of a different kind of career, one where we weren’t tied to strenuous and inflexible hours and one where we could see each other more. Ken was excited to have his own business. I wanted to get a bit closer to home. We each wanted an adventure.
When we decided to leave Ohio, we googled “sunniest, happiest place in US” and Boulder, Colorado came up as #1. San Diego came up as #2. We planned to visit both. Boulder was first on the list. I had been here before and liked it. Ken made a trip out with his dad and thought it looked pretty good. There was a big athletic community here, the sun shone bright, and there was an undeniable entrepreneurial spirit. Given that we were 29 and 27 respectively and we didn’t have much money, we decided we’d cut out our trip to San Diego. Sorry, San Diego! Boulder would do just fine. A few months later, we were officially on our way to Colorado.
We moved out the last week of 2011, which included a Christmas Eve dinner at 11 pm at a highway-side Denny’s somewhere in the middle of Missouri, without an apartment and without job or career prospects. Christmas Eve at Denny's will really make a person reflect on his or her life choices!
Once we got to Boulder, we found a rental agent who helped us find an apartment. There is no doubt this fellow was a doofus. He did help us find an apartment but he kept leaving us in traffic (we didn’t know where we were going! And believe it or not people, this was before readily available GPS in our cars or phones.) We were turned around, confused, and were figuring it out on our own. My mom planted the seed when she said "Well, jeez, you two could do a much better job than that fellow." Little did we know this would be the start to a really interesting, fulfilling, rewarding, and challenging time our in lives.
A month or two later, after lots of reading, learning, and soul-searching, we met Scott Sammons, our long-time mentor and someone who for many years was our managing broker at two different brokerages. We really liked and respected Scott. He is a hard worker, has a lot of integrity, and is a smart person. We worked with him almost daily for more than 10 years. A real estate career was born.
By now, we’ve made it through real estate ups and downs, two brokerage changes, and we started our own brokerage in the middle of a pandemic and with tiny little baby Scarlett in tow. The child has been listening to real estate talk since day 1.
So what have we learned after 13 years? What lessons has real estate taught us?
This a great career, with lots of flexibility and lots of freedom. Real estate allows people to be themselves and do what they love. Whether one is a numbers nerd, a jock, a party animal, or a musician, you can be what you want to be. In living a full and fun life in your community and in building your skills as a real estate professional you can build a great network of friends and clients. You can work with people you like and help them achieve their goals.
And, it’s a job that comes with its own built-in roller coaster ride. Business goes up and down, buyers and sellers come and go, investment strategies work better at some times than others, you pay for your experience sometimes, the market runs on vibes- good and bad. I’ve learned that as much as you can try to control this and as much as you might fight against it at times, there’s no beating the roller coaster. It’s better to hang on tight, go with the flow, and save your energy for the next up and down.
Real estate teaches you to sit with discomfort. Business takes a long time to build- there are stories of people who have fabulous 1st and 2nd years in real estate but they are few and far between. Ken and I made $11,000 together in our first year and that actually felt pretty good, believe it or not! The reality is this is a slow build that takes multiple years. There are years where things are difficult- competition is fierce and the rate of success is low. Real estate teaches you to keep putting one foot in front of another.
Keep plodding along. A year or so ago we met with a really successful, long time real estate agent and investor in our area. We wanted to run our investment strategy by him and ask him if he would recommend we make any changes. After looking at what we have done, he said no changes are needed- "Keep plodding along with your plan." I tell myself that frequently now. “Keep plodding along.” Small daily actions build up to big results over time. Consistency is boring and oh-so-important.
There is much we don’t control. And many times, when you think you are the driving force in the wins or losses you're experiencing, you are actually riding the waves of the market, consumer sentiment, and unforeseen things that have nothing to do with you.
We aren’t really selling things. We are helping people achieve what they already want to achieve. No one wants to be “sold” something. They want help doing what they want to get done. If you keep your focus on helping people achieve their goals, it all works out in the end.
Treat people well, be generous with your time and resources, help them achieve what they want to get done and the people around you will repay you many times over.
We are so thankful for all of you and we are so glad to be a part of your lives. Here is to a peaceful and productive 2025!
Allison and Ken
