Our Journey to Real Estate Success | LeadingLane Podcast | Ep 1

Welcome to the Leading Lane podcast for Real Estate Pros by Real Estate Pros with your hosts, Ashley Frederick and Stephen Burch. If you're looking for an honest, authentic, and raw perspective, you found it.

Hey everyone, thanks for joining us today. We're going to talk a little bit about how we got into real estate and maybe what you were doing before that and even things you've done along the way and maybe what you're looking forward to in the future. Steven, take it away.

Cool. So I got licensed in 2009. It's hard to believe that, right? But my grandmother actually owned a real estate company, Sheila. So I've had a fantastic mentor and somebody that's been there the entire time for me. And it's fantastic because roles are reversed now. She now works for me. So, ha ha. Now, now you have to deal with my stuff. But no, for real, I've had a fantastic mentor. And we started with a national franchise. Then long story short, we went independent and then we joined another national franchise in 2000. 2016. Yeah, in 2016. But my, the very early portion of my career, let's say that I was not very in tuned with the real estate world. I thought that, oh, all the freedom and flexibility I can sell, that's easy. I can do that whenever I want. But that was in 2009, so we're coming off of the crazy market like the crash. So it was way tougher than I thought. Right. Like, even though that I had a mentor, she did not hand me anything at all. I had to work for every single thing that I had to do. Right. And in there, there, there's multiple different things that we'll dive into later on. But I kind of, I knew that I did not devote the time that I needed to, to go really, truly into real estate. So I had to pay for my bills, right? And I then got a position with a wireless carrier and selling and I moved up pretty quickly through there, really just still had my license, wasn't doing too much, and I was really unfreaking happy, right? Like I went from all the freedom and flexibility in the world with no money to now making a lot of money and no freedom of flexibility. Like, it was almost like I was 8 to 8 constantly. And I had this money but no time to go do anything or enjoy it or even be with family. And really the pivotal moment in getting away from that and going back to real estate was over the fourth of July. I had to work on the fourth of July. And this was an American company that I'M working for a corporation and they're making us work on the 4th of July, which I think was. Or I still think that it was the most un American thing to freaking do. And I remember distinctly Ryan and I were on our balcony watching the fireworks and we were talking. We were both miserable. We're both, you know, making good money. But we knew that that was not the lifestyle that we wanted. I called my grandma and I said, I'm going to quit what I'm doing and I'm going to move back home to my hometown. And she was like, what in the hell are you thinking? Why would you quit a good paying job with benefits and go back into real estate? And he said, I'm just simply, I'm not happy. I'm going to give it my all. I'm going to go one more time into real estate. I'm going to work on getting my broker's license. Let's come up with a plan how then, you know, I can be a broker and kind, you know, what my next steps were. She was supportive, don't get me wrong, but definitely apprehensive. She was looking out for me and I totally know that and understand that, that she wanted the best for me. And it was in 2014, I believe, that I started working on my broker's license, got my broker's license, then became the supervising broker of the independent company that she owned. And from there really just dove everything in. I mean, I devoted everything to the company. I remember me saying, I want to be the very first one in and I want to be the last one out. I want to make sure that I'm not going to lose out on this opportunity whatsoever. And before all of this, I do also have to say, I think the reason why I am one of the reasons why I am today and making sure that I'm all in and wanting to make sure my processes and everything are in, tuned is before I actually went to go get that big corporate America position, I started a restaurant, a bar and grill named Stevie's Bar and Grill. And this was. I was actually showing the building and I was like, man, I've always wanted to do have a bar and a grill, right? Like, I've been in the hospitality world my entire life and so why not? Let's try this? Our community needs another restaurant. Very quickly did I learn it was not as easy as it looked. Very different from serving and bartending and all of that. It was the business side of things that I did not understand yet. But without that opportunity of failure it was a true failure, let me tell you. It was, it was awful. It was devastating that we had to close our doors. I didn't feel that our community was supportive enough in conjunction with me not having the knowledge and the capital to be able to continue on. So with that failure and with going out of real estate the first time and, you know, I can totally understand why my grandmother was, was so apprehensive of me coming back, you know, full time and quitting this position because she's seen me go through. Literally at the time I thought it was rock bottom for me. I was completely embarrassed. I. The, the feel, the gut wrenching feeling of having to close the door, your, the doors of the business that you, you created. And then it's very public, obviously. Like I, I posted on Facebook about us, us closing and never did we ever get any sort of support from the Art Chamber, EDC or even local newspaper. But within a matter of like 20 minutes of me making a post announcing our closure of the, the Stevie's Bar and Grill, I get a call from our EDC saying, asking if I would be able to show the bills. Yeah, our economic development, the ones that, you know, are supposed to help build businesses and bring businesses for economic development of your community. Yeah, that one. They, they called and they were like, can we show the building you're going to close? And I was like, well, yeah, I guess they're like, well, we're going to fly this restaurant owner in from Texas to be able to look at your space and see if they can take it over. Mind you, they didn't help. I asked for help. But yet they're going to spend the money to fly somebody in to take over the restaurant that we created. And they would much rather help somebody outside of our community than actually help somebody that was born and raised within the community. So on so many different levels was I completely just distraught and devastated in the gut wrenching feeling. And then very quickly after that, there goes the news article and how everybody, I mean, they're going online and this is back when you can post anonymously. And I'm sure there's still stuff that's out there, but there was some really shitty things that people were saying, very nasty, degrading stuff. So I took all of that, internalized. It felt like I was complete failure and then I didn't see it. But that was probably one of the best opportunities that I could have ever had. I would never learn from a textbook or going to school or anything. It was hard life, type of real life. You know, training. Right. Real life training, boots on the ground training. Um, and I hope that I can help somebody stay away from those feelings and prevent somebody else from going through the. Just the. The true hell of being embarrassed and upset with myself going through all of that. So anyways, long story, sorry you went kind of on a rant there. But, um, no, like, when I. When I came back and, you know, my grandma was like, are you sure? I was like, I know that I failed the. The restaurant. I'm not happy with the where. What I'm doing, where we're at. That was the first time that I missed our. Our local festival for the fourth of July. And I think forever, ever since it started, I was always there and I came back. I freaking kicked ass. I was selling. I, you know, got in the top production very, very, very quickly. And mind you, I was still in my early, early 30s. No, I was in my upper 20s when I did that. And so the. My competition that was out there selling the other realtors. Definitely, probably the average age, I think in our area at that time was about 132 years old. Everybody was freaking old and stuck in their ways.

You, everything.

Oh, my God, it was awful. Like, have you ever heard of an email, like, let's get to the, you know, the new century here? But yeah, so anyways, the being able to go through all of that and realizing that I had to overcome in my community my failure, and I had to step back into another, quote, unquote, public figure role, get out there and sell. And now I have my competition that has this leverage, if you will, that they. They think that they're better than me. They think they know all of it. They didn't want to listen or do anything whatsoever. So I got damn good at what I was doing. I knew the contract from front to back, left to right. I can read it upside down. I knew the laws, like, to the T. And I started to make sure that I would not allow these other agents to bully me. I bullied myself long enough. I don't need other people to do it for me. And I became an aggressive bulldog and I was ready to negotiate. Let's go. And I got in. I think I was in the top, like 1 or 2% of our market of sales very, very quickly. So, yeah, that was crazy to think. That is crazy to think all of that shit that we went through and in where we're at now, all at.

The independent franchise, right?

Yeah, that was all at the independent.

And so what led you to the broker part of it.

Yeah, well, I mean my grandmother was getting older and so she, I think she finally got that light, that aha moment that okay, I am, I am doing, I'm here, I'm doing good. So we started talking about like her exit plan. What does that look like? What does she want to do to go enjoy her life now? And because she's devoted so much to real estate into our community as well. And that's where we really started looking around at different brands of who we wanted to associate with. And at the time I, I really didn't know who I wanted to go with. But I knew being an independent was not for me. I needed to surround myself around other people and I needed to learn from other people. Yes, my grandmother is fantastic. She's a great mentor teacher. But I needed to be able to grow more. And I love my analogy that back in the day, you know you used to not have power steering, right. But you can still turn the corner. But it was pretty damn hard. And so what I like to think is I was the power steering fluid that came into this and power steering to the business added to it and what still can turn the corner. But it was going to be so much easier with the processes and technology and everything else that I was absolutely. So yeah. Then we joined a national franchise which has then led me to other relationships across the nation which has been absolutely freaking fantastic. We it has led me to consulting and doing one on one consulting, coaching work with clients and helping them basically duplicate and replicate everything that I'm doing in my business and be able to hand that over for them to do whatever they, they're choosing to do with their business and growing their business. We have now purchased a laundromat and since then we, we've have sold it. It was pretty quick turnaround but we purchased, kind of flipped a laundromat, sold that out. We're now launching leading lane which is still encompassing the one on one consulting. But obviously it's doing other things of still within the learning world of helping people in getting them there to their business. Let it be within real estate or not. So the door has opened. Once I saw my potential and truly stepped into the role and owned it, there was so many different opportunities and doors that opened up for me that led to other opportunities and not all of it is within directly the real estate realm, but has some sort of connection or I made some sort of connection through real estate, through the national franchise, through other high producing individuals across the nation that now has skyrocketed. In open doors that I never thought I would be able to do. So very limited belief that at the very beginning. But now I know that I'm ready to go. So yeah, there is me long winded.

And how many offices do you have?

So I have currently have four brick and mortar offices. We went from the first year or the year before we joined the national franchise, we did 67 units and then we're now well over 500 units. So the growth and scaling definitely is there.

Awesome.

For sure. So enough about me. Let me stop talking.

We can talk about that.

What about you? Yeah, I probably can. You have to shut me up. So that's okay. What about you? When did you get into real estate?

Let's see, it was 2012. Not, not quite what I ever thought where I would be. So I originally went to college for nursing and I'm not there. And that quickly changed into healthcare administration, which at that school it was basically focused on like running nursing home or assisted living. So I met my husband, we moved back to town and I worked at an insurance company. So I sold like Medicare programs. Uh, and I mean I enjoy the people. It's good to be home. But you know, you kind of feel bad if you're not using your degree because. Right. We're so all so pushed on. You have to go to college, you have to use your degree. And a new assisted living was opening in town and I was like, perfect, I can use my degree. And in the meantime I'd been getting my master's in business. So I was like, I'll run it. It all goes perfect together. So I did run the 60 bed assisted living facility for two years. Anybody that knows that world knows that it's not for the faint of heart. There are a lot of politics. It is really hard to, you know, take care of people. And you know, CNAs are probably one of the, you know, least paid, but have the hardest type of jobs. You get close to the residents and their families and they pass away. And it's just kind of this cycle that I wasn't enjoying as much, you know, and I can relate. I think you Talked about the 4th of July weekend. I was at a friend's bachelorette party and I had 37 phone calls that weekend because I was on call for whatever was going on. And it could even be simple as like, where are the plastic gloves? You know, those types of things. And my, my girlfriends were like, Ashley, like no girlfriend, like you gotta find something else. And you know, I'm like, I can't. And I remember I had come home and I had begged Ben for me to quit, to let me quit, and he wouldn't. He was waiting for a big. Yeah, he was waiting for a big house to come through. And he's like, not till I get the house. Well, kind of, you know, in that meantime, if you will. So there's like a four month lull. We had bought our first house in 2008, and our realtor, we stayed close with Charles and every time we'd see him, you know, he'd be like, oh, I like. You just like seem to know more about houses than the average mayor. And I'm like, just, I enjoy it, you know. And then Ben started his construction company in 2012, early 2012, I think then that's where I started realizing, like, I do know a lot about houses. I help him with projects on the side. And then it was probably just another fate, but I think we went to look at a house and then again, Charles was like, thought anymore about real estate? And mind you, this was like probably three weeks after this situation happened, I was like, you know what? I think I should look into it. So I took the course and left that job. Didn't really have a plan, but, you know, I think sometimes you get to a place where you're just so not happy that it's better than that situation, you know, and it's nothing that really anybody did. I think it was just internally I realized that wasn't for me, you know, and again, like, you don't plan to be like, what, what is the backup plan? How are you going to pay our bills? Right? We, we lived on ramen, we lived on Easy Mac, which I can never eat again to this day. But so I kept my insurance license. So I actually continued to sell insurance on the side while I was kind of getting up and, and running. And so I actually started with, as a, as a team with Charles at a national franchise and super grateful for that because it is really helpful. I always tell people that's the other thing about real estate is I just never know how somebody can just like turn around and get their license if they're not part of a franchise or a brokerage that offers training because it is vast. I mean, 11 years in and things still come up that have never happened in 11 years, you know, so I'm just thankful that I had, you know, Charles to be a great mentor. And as things progressed, you know, I worked in an office. Same thing. Like, young female, blonde. Like, they're like, who the hell is this Girl and what is she doing here? And that was tough. I'm sure we'll get into it, you know, and more. But like my self confidence was like a negative 100, you know, like there was body shaming, there was, you know, certain clothes that I wore that got picked on on a regular basis and it was miserable. I actually thought about quitting just because I was like, this isn't worth it. I could find another job and you know, be respected, but right there's like that little thing in the back of your head that goes back to this, like people not believing in you or telling you you can't do something. So this like little competitive spirit came out of nowhere. Granted, if I look back to like high school sports, it was probably there, but it must have got buried somewhere. And you know, then I was like, you know what? Screw that. Like watch, watch me. And things started to pick up and it really was. I mean, it does help. I grew up in this town, so, you know, being able to have those connections and still see people and then people realize that you're in real estate obviously helps tremendously. But it also, I mean, as you can relate, you know, you also become successful by doing a good job. You do the things behind the scenes that no one ever knows about. You don't tell them when things are shitty. They just think it was like fantastic transaction, they nailed it. You know, like times I've cleaned out properties on the day of closing that people will never know about because it was just the experience that I wanted them to have. Right? Nobody talks about those toilet bowls you've cleaned and get you've picked up out of the yard and all that other stuff just to make you go to closing. But a lot of people don't understand that, that that's what it takes to be that extra edge. So I really started focusing on those types of things. And Carls and I had just kind of decided through time that the team part of it didn't work. And we decided just to be single agents in that office and always stayed true to one another, bounced ideas off each other all the time. But I think it probably got things a little bit worse in that environment too, because things were going well. You know, we kind of always talk about for whatever reason, it's kind of lonely on top, if that's what we want to say, which I've never understood. To me it's more of like, why are we not scooping up everyone with us? And there is no top and there's no bottom. We're Just all successful. We're all happy because success is different to some people. Some people are driven by numbers. Some. Some people are driven by having food on the table for their family. Right. So however that success looks for you, like, we should be helping one another. And I was missing that. That link there. And it was just like a weird events, you know, probably some self confidence started to kick in. So I worked. I think we worked at actually the same national franchise. We didn't know each other then, but I'll keep it real short. But as you know, like, super strange. I get this phone call that I need to fly out to California. Nobody will tell me why. We get down to the roots and like, here they're rebranding and they wanted me to be, like, the face of their rebrand and same thing. I was like, I don't deserve this. I am not pretty enough. Like, nope. What are we doing? So I actually told them no to begin with, really. And then I came home and I told Ben, and he literally looked at me and said I was absolutely nuts and that real estate was my life and I needed to make that phone call back. But the big part of that was that we were supposed to be in Jamaica that week with our friends, and we had been on vacation, like, three years. And I was like, I have to give up Jamaica for California. So we actually worked it out, and then we went to Jamaica and then we cut ourselves short. That's a really fun story, too. Like, I thought I was sitting next to a terrorist. I'm actually pretty sure that I don't see that jokingly, but, like, this guy was watching planes crash on his phone next to me. So it was a whole situation that turned into the airplane that I got involved in. And then Ben got off and almost got arrested. And I was like, this is fantastic that we came to California. So we go. And I'll be honest, like, I still remember to this day, you know, they do your hair and they do your makeup. And I really struggled with it because it wasn't how I do my hair and my makeup. And I also, like, I had the discussion with them that, like, I wasn't looking to be somebody else, so at least I'd come along that far, you know? But they were like, well, this is our shoot, and this is the shoot that we're looking for, so. And I don't, like, have hair like mine, but you'll appreciate this. They wanted me to. Women will appreciate this. They wanted me to split it down the middle. And I was like, I like you see this? It doesn't go down the middle. And it's like dye to go to the side. And so they split it down the middle. And I have freckles. And they absolutely loved it. Well, normally when I put makeup on you, my freckles are covered. So I actually, like went into this room and I started crying because I was like, this isn't me, I can't do it. And I was gonna leave, and then there's a girl there. And then she was like, you're in a room with other models. Like, what is your deal? And I was just like, you know, it's hard to see yourself that way or whatnot. And then I was like, okay, you gotta get your shit together because these people are gonna be like, the woman that was a photographer, like, had photographed JLO and Adele. So I'm literally sure she's like, what the is this girl's problem? So I pulled it together and funny story, that actually looks like for today. I had never worn lipstick. And everyone, there's. There's actually this picture of me and there's like four different people, like, working on me at the same time. And then everyone came to an agreement, like, that something was missing. And then the one girl was like, oh my God, it's lipstick. And so I put lipstick on and like, I've been. That was like, I don't know, five years ago. And I'm a firm believer of lipstick. I mean, look at Taylor Swift. But anyway, so I think I just saw something yesterday. Like, if you're having a bad day, you should just wear lipstick. I don't know if that will work for you, but it tends to work for me. We could try it one day. I'd love to see it on you. Like, why? Right in the middle of podcasts. Anyway, so I came back and to be honest, that made the target on my back, like, this much bigger. Like, I was expecting it to be, like, fantastic and actually, like, I think it made things worse. And again, like, it was such an awkward place to be in, in your mind. And when you're not surrounded by like minded people, like, where do you go from there? You know, and so, like, downward spirals, if you will, mentally. But another agent in that office was like, very aware, you know, I had had that broker, you know, tell me that I would never have what it took to be a broker. Like, you take. You take things and you put them in your back pocket and you kind of keep them there when you need them. And sometimes you use them for motivation. We Went to a conference and we both were like, either like, we're done in real estate or, or we're going out on our own. And bless Stephanie's heart, she was a lot more on the we're going out on our own than I was. And so same thing, like we interviewed companies and we found a national franchise due to a local, you know, independently owned was part of that same franchise. That made us really understand what they had to offer for what we were looking for. And I had gone to Thailand for a 10 days with my sister. And I think when you remove yourself, sometimes it's when you have a reality check. And not being here for 10 days in the midst of all of that craziness, I was on my way back to the office and I started dry heaving in the car. Just do the like, sheer thought of what I was walking back into. And then I called Stephanie. I was like, we're done. Like, we're like, we're moving on. Like, we're going. Like, yep, I'll sign the papers tomorrow. And lo and behold, here we are. So, yeah, we opened our doors March 1st of 2020, you know, blazing. We're gonna kill this. And two weeks later, the world shut down. But what I want to circle that back to too, is that our very first hire was Charles. So it was the day that we.

Yes, the one that you were on the team with.

Correct. The day after we left, he called and said, I'm coming. And I think what I want people to understand is that just because, like, partnerships don't work out or you have, you know, things like, right. Some bridges need to be burned and you're never going back there. But there are some that, you know, things just don't work out. And that doesn't make anybody a bad person. It doesn't make them a bad partner. And that always speaks volumes to me that, you know, we were able to keep that friendship. You know, he's been with us almost four years now. Now he's our director of training. To me, it's just like a full circle thing of the right people in the right room. And, you know, yeah, we did about, I think it was 250 transactions. We have eight agents in our office. But, you know, had I given up in those moments of weakness, you know, and didn't have someone to pull you through, like, we would have never met. We wouldn't be doing the fun, crazy things, you know, traveling to Mexico. I mean, can we do that in the future?

Yes, please. Maybe we should down there. I don't know how Ryan would feel about that but that we can get a.

Probably like do their own about hunting or I don't even know. I'm not sure. Yeah, that's my brief narrative.

Okay. Like I think that's absolutely amazing of being able to have that relationship still with, with Charles and that that truly shows a true testament testimony of who you are. Being able to continue that relationship and working with people like minded that would be able to lift one another up. And it's true. I mean the saying that says you're. You're one fifth of the people that you surround yourself with and Charles knew that he wanted to continue to be around you and obviously you allowed him to come into your brand new company. So you had that same mutual respect as well. So I think that that is huge for, for both of you guys of being able to continue to work with one another so.

Well, like what a risk take for him, right? Like, well these girls are opening this company. Hope it turns out.

But he wanted to be, I mean a.

He believed, he saw it right? He's. He was able to see what they're gonna do.

He, he knew your production and your capability. So he believed in you. And I'm sure he wanted to be a part of something bigger than where he, he was. And that goes back to, you know, I said before about, you know, leadership. The only time we ever hear about from or from leadership is when something's wrong and or you know, something's going awry within the company that you're going to get reprimanded for. And so now he no longer wanted to surround himself, you know, with that. So that's great. I think you kind of passed up just a little bit of information of that you still are producing and you still are selling. So can you tell me how many units on average that you're. You're producing yourself as an independent agent, not your brokerage, you as an independent agent.

Yeah, I mean it's been strange, right, because we have some interesting markets but like 80 to 100 transactions a year is my average and I.

All by yourself. I mean like not a team, not anything else. Growing a company, growing. You know, you and your, your husband have the construction company doing the homes. I mean, look how many other opportunities have grown and you have on your plates your rentals that you have like how many doors were open for you and still opening for you and you're still able to manage all of it and keep that same level of production. Like kudos to you.

I think you said that. Right. All these opportunities. I think that a lot of times people, if they've been hurt in the past or jaded, I think that sometimes they have their guards up all the time, which is understandable. But there are so many doors to be opened, and not all of them are meant for you or I or other people, but I think you have to be willing to open the door. A little peek. What does that look like? You're right. I think that's one nice thing about real estate is, you know, it can lead to wealth building. And I, you know, I hope that other people can look at that. And it doesn't mean, you know, you need to own 100 rentals, but, you know, starting out with one or two, and that helps you and your family and that end of the, you know, little extra income, you know, down the road, you can sell it for more equity. So, yeah, it's something that I think, you know, again, as you're educating people, I don't think that people talk about that enough. You know, like, what does buying a second home look like? Can I do that? And so I think that that's an area that, you know, people can definitely. We can share more information on that.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, I think, needless to say, both of us are in a very unique position right now. Right. And I know that both of us are extremely blessed to have everything that we have had. But with that, it's not a bad thing to be able to say. I worked damn hard to get where I'm at. I'm proud of where I'm at. And one of my biggest frustrations in. In success is people saying, that must be nice. I hate that. And my response. And we can go into this. I think this probably is our next topic. Right? It must be nice. And you know what? It is nice. And it. I worked hard. We both have worked extremely hard. We've surrounded ourselves around positive people and. And we. We continue to push each other. So it is nice. So congrats to you and to my friend. Perfect. All right, well, we're up on the time here, so I'm excited. So I think, yeah, I think we just determined our. Our next topic, and hopefully you listeners will. Will jump in and listen in about the it must be nice. Wonderful phrases. So. And I know you have a great story about or Cadillac, but I want you to tell. So.

Yes. Thank you.

All right, well, thanks for listening and everybody, and looking forward to. To have you at our next podcast.

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