2019 has been a year of change.
Today, as I look back on January 1, 2019 and where I was in my life, I barely recognize it. One lesson I’ve learned this year, is that your new life will cost you your old one.
In the past ten months my life, both personally, and professionally, has made a complete 180. And, I can honestly say, I cannot imagine being anywhere else today than right where I am in this moment.
Growing up in a conservative household, I was always taught to play it safe; don’t ever take too much risk. Always play by the rules, be a decent human, and be grateful for the opportunities given to you.
In November of 2016 as I finished my Capstone and applied for graduation, it hit me. I had just spent 9 years (four colleges, and two major changes will put ya behind..) working towards a degree that I “needed” because I was stuck in the societal norm. Nine years spent on late nights, hundreds of pages of papers written, and admittedly too much Red Bull. All for a career I already had, and wasn’t even happy with. So, I did what any other normal twenty something college kid would do after two glasses of wine, and turned to Google to figure out where my life was headed; what was my next move?
After about an hour on every job recruiting site you can think of, I ended up on a job posting on Craigslist, of all places, for a company called Keller Williams; they were looking for real estate agents.
Now, let me give you a quick little backstory.. in 2012 at the ripe age of 23 I was making decent money, and living with four friends, so I thought, I’m going to buy a house and start start building some passive income, because, why not? Being ignorant to adulting, I was not aware that I was able to have my own representation, a Buyers Agent, and just contacted the listing agent of the home I wanted. A short sale, of all things. As you can imagine, that experience was tragic, exhausting, and devastating, but that was the start of my passion for real estate. Feeling unguided by an agent who had a fiduciary duty to the Seller, I spent many hours researching the process, talking with other homeowners, my lender, etc. and became low-key obsessed with real estate. Like, HGTV on the TV all the time, crazy Pintrest boards full of homes that I thought I’d never be able to afford, obsessed. And, after seeing this Craigslist job post, something just clicked. Real estate. That’s it. That second glass of Cabernet gave me the courage to reply to the post, and I thought, psh.. Why the hell not, right?
Flash forward 48 hours, and I had forgotten about the whole thing, until I received an email back asking me to come in for a real estate chat. PANIC ENSUED. I was a shy introvert, with a great job, who was about to graduate with a great degree.. What was I thinking? It must have been the wine talking that night.
After a few days of thinking over where I was in my life, and how I wanted so much more out of life, I replied to that email, and set up a meeting. The night I met the Team Lead of that Keller Williams office, my entire mindset changed. That meeting lasted three hours; so long that all of my roomates had text me asking if I was alive. No joke. That night, I signed up for my real estate classes. That was the first time in my professional career that I felt empowered to take a chance on myself.
January of 2017 , after walking graduation to receive my Bachelors Degree in Law Enforcement, I decided to leave my career. A safe job where I was making a decent wage, with great benefits and even better retirement package. But I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t challenged. I was simply punching a clock to afford my mortgage, car payment, student loans, and a mediocre lifestyle that was more survival based. I was content. Accomplishing my Bachelor Degree in the midst of many adversities over 9 years allowed me to prove to myself that I could do anything I set my mind to, and that day, graduation day, my life changed.
The very next day after graduation I started classes to get my real estate license. Three weeks later I took the real estate exam. One week after that my brokerage received my license. Talk about an “oh shit” moment. This was real. I was now looking down the barrel of a completely 100% commission based career with zero experience, zero idea what I was doing, and everyone in my life thinking I had gone off the deep end.
My first thirty days of my real estate career was the most epic, yet most tragic, thirty days to date. I joined an office where I knew no one, in an industry that I knew nothing, and signed up for a Mastery Coaching program that Keller Williams offers called BOLD. In that first month I put 7 homes into contract. SEVEN. I thought I was panicking when I got that email from the team lead.. HA! I quickly realized that I knew so much about Real Estate Ethics, Finances, Principles and Practices, Acreage, etc… but I knew NOTHING about the actual process of listing and selling a house, the real estate contract, inspections, appraisals, and everything else that goes into actually selling Real Estate.
Luckily, for me, I had chosen a brokerage that had a Productivity Coach who was an amazing mentor for me. I cannot tell you how many times DJ talked me off of a very steep ledge, taught me how to focus on focusing on the plan and not the problem, and answered my phone calls late at night when I needed a voice of reason.
Y’all… selling real estate is no joke.
Enough about 2016 and 2017. In 2018 I decided to start a team.. The Lucas Team.. and failed miserably. From that point on, I was bound and determined this real estate career of mine a one man band. Until, in March of 2019, I took a class on Career Visioning with a few agents in my office. It was at that 3 day conference that we were asked to write down our strengths and weaknesses; something that is very hard to do when you are a hard headed, independent, introvert, but I digress. Anyways, Jennifer, an agent in my office was sitting next to me during this exercise. When we finished, we were asked to turn to our neighbor and talk about what the next hire in our business needed to be. We quickly realized that our lists of strengths and weakness were THE. EXACT. OPPOSITE. Holy crap, not only had we found the characteristics of who we needed to hire to propel our business, but we were literally sitting next to the perfect person we each needed. It was that day that she somehow talked me into partnering with her, and growing a real estate team. Again, I’ll blame the wine.
In May of 2019, after countless meetings with CPA’s, attorney’s and again, all of the adulting things, we merged together and formed the LKW Home Team.
Since inception in May of 2019, mind you.. We are only 5 months in.. we have grown the team to five agents, a branding director, and gained great momentum in the market of Columbus, Ohio recently entering into the top 2% of agents in Central Ohio.
As a team, our goal is to help change lives. We are here to educate and advocate for your real estate needs, whether you are buying, selling, or investing, and guide you through the process every step of the way.
Through this blog, I intend to provide you as much value from my experiences and education of myself and the team, educate you on all things real estate, answer any questions you may have on real estate and the home buying process, and give you a good laugh here and there.
So sit back, and buckle up.. LKW is rolling full steam ahead towards 2020. Enjoy the ride.
