This may or may not come as a surprise to some, but I literally had a dream about real estate. I woke up the next morning, jumped on Google, and signed up for real estate classes that day.
I will preface that by saying I did have a couple of good friends and a sister who were real estate agents, and they were all very successful in their own ways, so perhaps the idea slipped into my subconscious because I knew people in the industry (not locally). However it happened, I thank God for it every day.
Table of Contents
FEELING OVERWHELMED
In the time leading up to my decision to jump headfirst into real estate, I was working in Dallas. My teaching contract had just ended and I decided not to renew (that’s another story – teaching, that is), and I had gone back to work for my previous employer. He had sent me to work for a Production Company in Dallas to help with their Operations & Accounting. At first, I loved it. But I started seeing cracks in the company and knew the fallout was coming.
A part of me feels like (looking back, of course), that the writing was on the wall long before I even realized it. All I knew was that I was coming home from work more and more overwhelmed and stressed out than I should have been. I couldn’t quite figure out what it was, and then the day came.
THE FALLOUT
In a meeting one day, in our beautiful office in Dallas, I was blindsided by my boss. He completely threw me under the bus in front of our entire managerial staff. In the days leading up to this day, there were a lot of rumors going around the company that people were trying to sort out. In short, a huge bomb was going to be dropped, and unfortunately, I was the collateral damage that would take the bomb. To hide the rumors, he decided to try and blast me for something I wasn’t even involved in.
Now, listen. This man was someone I looked up to. But I had seen him sabotage so many people in my years with him, and it wasn’t really a surprise when he did it to me.
I believe he had some master plan concocted that day, but he didn’t anticipate my reaction. I was shocked. I was sick. I walked out. And I never returned.
He tried to call me to come back; that we would work it out.
But integrity is one thing I try my very best to hold myself to, and I expect it from the people around me. So I left.
Good thing I had that dream because I had already completed about 90% of my real estate courses and it took me just a couple of weeks to finish up and get my license.
THE BEGINNING
I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe that everything happens for a reason. I was meant to be devastated and broken by someone I trusted in business. It wouldn’t be the last time…
It prepared me. It hardened me. It made me cautious.
And are all qualities that a real estate professional must have. Preparation is key. Standing your ground is a must. Being cautious about who to trust will lead you to the trustworthy.
I took all of my hard lessons learned and vowed to apply them to my new career. I wouldn’t go down without a fight, and I was on a mission to prove to myself that I was worthy in what can sometimes feel like an unworthy world.
So, I did the only thing I could do.
I started.
Being Courageous Enough to Follow Your Path
Everyone is on their own journey, and I think we lose sight of that sometimes. You may be in someone’s life for a short while, or you may be in their lives for the long haul. But there is one thing that is certain… the only person you are with for the rest of your life is… You.
When I started in real estate, I joined an amazing company and instantly felt right at home. So much so, that I did everything I could to help them grow their business by offering up the skills I’ve learned along the way.
Unfortunately, when it was time for me to pursue a dream of opening my own business and was given the opportunity to do so long before I ever imagined it would be possible, was not supported by the people I truly considered family at the time. But, I knew in my heart that I had helped their company and put in my resignation in the kindest way possible. Halfway through my discussion, my Broker got up, walked away from me, and terminated my license within 10 minutes of the conversation. It just goes to show you, that no one really has your best interests in mind.
No one believed I could do it. Who was I? I had only been in the business for less than a year and I dared to go against the grain and start my own business? I was talked about. I was laughed at. And I knew deep down people were hoping I’d fail.
I was hurt. Again.
But I knew in my soul that I was on my own path to greatness, and nothing was going to get in my way. So, I endured. I put my head down. Let the dust settle while I silently went about my business and worked on my dream.
You have to have enough courage to stand up to the adversity you face in life. If you don’t, you will always feel stuck.
So, shake things up. Be a disrupter. The successful people usually are.
I have been on my own path and my own journey, finding great people along the way who want to build their own paths. Sometimes you find people who are on the same path as you, and sometimes, they are only there for a period of time before they veer off. I will never be the person who stands in the way of anyone pursuing their dreams. Rather, my goal is to help people get to theirs.
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