Jessica Owings holds many titles from Director of Coaching & Primary Broker-in-Charge at Hunter Rowe to Director of Instruction at AIM School of Real Estate. After spending more than a decade in leadership and instruction in Hospitality Management, she realized she loved helping others grow. Her dynamic experience in fast paced industries where you must learn to be quick on your feet, has shaped Jessica into a leader that teaches her students how to be forward thinking and practically apply all that they learn.
Learn more about Jessica: https://www.aimschoolnc.com/meet-the-team
Jessica Owings holds many titles from Director of Coaching & Primary Broker-in-Charge at Hunter Rowe to Director of Instruction at AIM School of Real Estate. After spending more than a decade in leadership and instruction in Hospitality Management, she realized she loved helping others grow. Her dynamic experience in fast paced industries where you must learn to be quick on your feet, has shaped Jessica into a leader that teaches her students how to be forward thinking and practically apply all that they learn.
Learn more about Jessica: https://www.aimschoolnc.com/meet-the-team
Hey Triangle lovers. Welcome to Making Moves hosted by The Rachel Kendall team, where we will explore together the top restaurants, community hotspots and events in our area. Let's make some moves. Hello, everybody. Welcome to Making Moves. It's Mahala Landin, Broker-in-Charge of The Rachel Kendall Team, and I'm sitting in front of another HBIC, a brand called worth. Broker-in-Charge extraordinaire of Hunter Rowe, Jessica Owings, she's got many titles, she's had many opportunities to flourish in her real estate career. And we're really excited to have you to share a little bit about your story about real estate, about your story about working in the triangle being in the triangle. And whatever else comes about welcome.
Unknown:Yeah, I'm excited to be here. First podcast ever, so we're gonna give us a good go. I love that.
Mahala Landin:I love that. Well, we'll make it easy. It's just a conversation and you got enough stories, I'm sure to be able to make it interesting. So first and foremost, what brought you to the triangle.
Unknown:So I was an IBM family. My grandfather worked for NASA. In Texas, Houston, we did not have a problem that IBM had a better offer. So we moved here with all the IBM errs in the 90s that go round and just never left, built a house and Wake Forest loved it. And I went to school here college here and couldn't imagine anywhere else. Yeah,
Mahala Landin:no, that's a that's a reoccurring theme on Making Moves is that when a family moves into the triangle, it's pretty hard to get that family to move out of the triangle, which is why we always say that we're an entrant state. And second theme of Making Moves is a lot of the this IBM talk and I love hearing that phase of the mid 90s. Because that's when our booming Cary real estate market was Wake Forest was on the map. And and obviously North Raleigh saw a lot of that growth. And if you've ever been looking at homes and wondering why you're seeing the same colonial for, for the door, right? That's the IBM boom that brought all of that development here. So where exactly is a wake for us? But where did you ended up in college? And what was that path that got you there?
Unknown:Yeah, so I actually went to community college at Wake Tech, I had a big dream to use that to go to the PAC program and NC State but got swept up with a lot of other things. Real Estate being one of them. But I was in restaurant Hospitality Management for almost a decade prior to that, and they have a higher end, industry built out a lot of wine lists a lot of cultural alcohol lists as well. But the restaurant industry is what kind of brought me and kept me in the area, especially in the north Raleigh area. That's where the some of the best restaurants are. And I enjoyed more hands on work than I did the book work. Yeah. So I found my success out of the books and in the workforce. And that's actually where I met the owner of my current company, who brought me into real estate. And I've loved it ever since when I was in high school, I wanted to be in real estate, but that was in 2008. So that was a quick dream. So when it came to fruition, you know, a little bit later, it was nice.
Mahala Landin:So we, when we think about what we want to do when we grow up, it doesn't always look the same as what actually happens. So I think that path and that journey and what you learned in the retail, hospitality restaurant business, I mean, that's true life experience. When you think about that experience, and you think about how you how you translated that into real estate, what were some of those, you know, pivotal moments where you when you're in real estate now and you're like, Oh yeah, I've been here before, and I know what this looks like poker face.
Unknown:Poker Face was the biggest one because I I've been in the management part of the restaurants since the age of 16. My first job was at a Quiznos and then it quickly moved into more of a bar scene. Because back then you could, but I've always somehow, I guess stood out as a leader, or maybe I was just bossy enough to look like one. I'm not sure. But I took that poker face when someone says something outlandish. You're like, yes. Okay. I understand how you're failing. So that I think that was the biggest piece and then knowing how to that kind of rolls into how do you roll with the punches? How do you, you know, recalibrate when you're thrown off course, in a restaurant industry, you have to do that during dinner rush, you can't cry in the corner when your table yells at you. Right? Right, you can come get me and I can fix the situation, but I can't go cry in the corner afterwards, either. And so I think the biggest piece is being able to handle the unanticipated and learn from it right so that that doesn't happen again. Or maybe you know how to handle it a little bit better next time,
Mahala Landin:right. And those experiences with having to quickly build trust in a relationship, especially in conflict management. I mean, I can't tell you how many times working with real estate clients where you did feel that, you know, that gap and the trust that you have with your kids If you're like, Okay, I really need to address this and I can't be afraid of the response that I'm gonna get, which is really the best kind of conflict management that you can have. And what I'm hearing you say is that a lot of it was also, you know, the relationship piece of it that got you there. So, tell me more about I met my boss at
Unknown:so what happened almost a decade ago was we had just opened up, we had one kitchen, and two completely different restaurants, you know, set up for success already. And so the first night we opened up, the more laid back side, the pizzeria, the burger place where we had the higher end on the other side, Sicilian did things didn't go quite as well. And he was about 45 minutes before I got when that this table was unhappy, they still hadn't ordered their food. And so I went over there, of course, they were nice, but obviously hangry and I, you know, fix the situation, I got them their food, I entertain them. That's part of it. Right? You gotta do a little song and dance to bring the mood up. And as they were exiting, the owner said, You know what, I would love to get your name and your phone number. Nothing weird. This is my wife. This is my in laws. But I'm in an industry of hiring. And I would love to talk to you more. He says he'll tell you the story that he told me what he did. That's not the case.
Mahala Landin:Because I remember thinking, we're going Cutco and selling knives. Yeah,
Unknown:I was. Actually I was like, I'm gonna go to warehouse and I'm never going to come back. Right. And so I when he asked me, he says it's three days later, I'll tell you, it was three weeks. And so when he asked me to come in and talk with him about the hiring opportunities, I of course, Googled his phone number to make sure that I was gonna, you know, come back in one piece, right. And I did, obviously, and I saw that it was a real estate company. So then of course, I started getting really nervous cuz I was like, I wanted to do this at some point. And so I went in, took a three hour long test, he originally wanted me there for marketing, I don't know why. And I ended up in more of a service role. But me the real estate school, and Best decision of my life. Yeah.
Mahala Landin:And the the lesson there. And when one thing that resonates a lot with me, I, I had to do a paper on my dad in college, this is I'll get there, I promise. And it's something I'm the most proud about. Because number one, it it gave me an opportunity to interview my father, and really dive into his life in a way that as an adult, and in college I never would have ever experienced if I hadn't had that assignment. And the second piece of that was throughout his entire story. One thing that he kept reiterating to me was, whenever you see an opportunity, especially when that scares you, you always have to go for it. Right, you always have to take that not necessarily a leap of faith, because most of us that are entrepreneurial, or most of us that are, you know, high performers, they we will take calculated risks all day long, right? Because we we have a way of quickly processing information. But it's that one opportunity where like you did let me Google this and figure out really what this is right? You didn't say no. You said yes. And I'm moving forward. And even though it took you three weeks, you still put all the energy into actually moving you forward. Right? And those are things that like you said, I mean, I can go to college. And you know, I hope my children get this impression, too, as we get closer and closer to you know, making those types of life decisions is there is no path that is a straight line, right? And Community College four year degree, it wouldn't matter because the opportunity was presented and you took it
Unknown:right? Well, then we were talking about, you know, you mentioned relationships, and that's what we were talking about, you know, you have to look at every interaction that you have as a possible opportunity to something different, maybe not something better, because nothing is always going to be positive, but you're going to learn from it, you're gonna get positive. But had I gotten over there after a long day at work? You know, as a Friday night, I'd already worked 70 hours at that point, and just been like, okay, what can I do to make you happy? Instead, I did a horse and pony show, entertain them until their food got there. And I created a relationship that now you know, almost 10 years later, I have the best life. I mean, it's not perfect, right? But looking back, I'm like, I would never want to go back to that life again. Yeah.
Mahala Landin:100% Okay, so I got hired into a real estate firm, more in a service role. Tell me a little bit about what that look like. Because another huge component of what drives me as a real estate professional is that we don't have enough information to new agents coming out of school on the opportunities that are available in real estate like yeah, of course sales is amazing. But that's not all you can do with your real estate license. Right. So what what did you do when you came into Hunter row?
Unknown:So I was more in a support role. Think of it more of like a buyer's agent almost. But without the risk of where my money was coming from. I had to get Indeed, I was on salary back when our company did that. And so I had a guaranteed role, I wasn't worried about whether I was lead converting or generating at that time, which was actually great because it took the pressure off me to be able to observe some of our top performers, and see what they were doing, instead of having to run around like with my chicken, a chicken with my 100 off, right. And so I more did the backend stuff like, once by the owner of my company actually worked with him directly, which was a blessing. So I learned a lot. He would bring the client in, and I would make sure that the in the business stuff got taken care of while he worked on the business, I got to shadow all of that, so that that was a great opportunity. And then it morphed into more roles as I was able to pick up what he was putting down, so to speak,
Mahala Landin:right, that crash course in real estate, working with a high performer working with a top producer is something that is not available to every new agent that is coming out of school. And I don't know if any new agents would even know to ask for an opportunity like that, because we are only programmed to know what we learned in the book, which what we learned in the book is not necessarily anything to do with what we do on a day to day basis. Like of course there is the logistics of the contract. And there is the understanding of performance, both for you as the agent and the buyer or the seller. But then there's all of these other things. And I go back to like your experience with hospitality and retail and management. There's all of that, that contributes to what makes a successful real estate agent,
Unknown:right? Well, you know, look, smartsolar gets you so far. And that's with any industry, right, you have to be a little bit more forward thinking. But you can't always have that right out of the gate, because you don't know what's forward and what's backwards. So a lot of companies don't provide that opportunity and that collaboration. And I think there's there are several teams in the triangle that offer that. But they're the 1%. And I think it's important for people new in the industry to understand that. And if they're so lucky to be in the 1% of companies that provide such good mentorship and training, that they need to be a little bit more grateful, I find that my new agents sometimes will hit a little bump in their career where they are find themselves a little ungrateful. And I welcome them to go to the 99% and then then come back to mama. Right.
Mahala Landin:Right. I was actually rereading a great one of my favorite books, leaders eat last by Simon Sinek. And it was actually one of those things that, you know, leaders within a company are they do take on a parental role, not parental like in a scolding or disciplinary form, a parental and a nurturing right and interesting in an interesting way. So I think it's funny that you called yourself, Mama.
Unknown:Oh, yeah. So so the owner of my company leave and say that to she, she's like your real estate mom, you know, and it does go quite that far. But you know, obviously, we're talking about this prior I don't I'm not gonna tell you to brush your hair. That's not the kind of mom raised, I need to be yes, yeah. But I can nurture you to get you, you know, your natural talents, to where those were shine, right? A parent is someone who uses their kids natural abilities to make them great. So I can't make you into something that you're not. That's the one thing that I think some people will come into thinking, Well, I have no ambition, but you're gonna give it to me. That's not how that works.
Mahala Landin:Can't want it more than you. Right? Can't want more than you. I also love. And so now you're in a role of training as the broker in charge. But I love and I hope it was pronounced enough when you said it. I love that you are collaborative enough with other teams in the triangle to recognize, you know, what your firm does, as well as what other you know, really strong and supportive firms do for new agents. And that's my my advice always, when I meet somebody new sitting in front of them is if you haven't had the opportunity to go sit at different firms to learn what is happening out there in the real estate, you should immunity you need to, you
Unknown:know, we pre pandemic, we had many open trainings that we would invite other agents to and you know, not going to name any names, but I had some other top teams, their owner come and sit in our bring their broker in charge him sit in one of our class grades, and things like that. And so we're totally open for that. Because if, if we're not in it together, then we're apart. And that makes it so tough when we get in times of struggle, right? You know, and the markets always going to be in a forward fashion. But sometimes it's going to be slower than others. And if we're going to struggle, a struggle together, right, and not try and bump heads, right? Every moment of the way. Right. This isn't bumper cars.
Mahala Landin:Right? That's right. So you mentioned the pandemic. What were some of the biggest struggles that you saw as the broker in charge and just your real estate experience of surviving? You mentioned 2008. And I think that's very interesting, because in 2008, being a consumer thinking about getting into real estate, you saw that as well. Not today. Yep. And now we're living another one of those moments where either real estate, you know, as aspiring real estate agents were saying, maybe not today. or maybe they were saying, well, maybe this is the right time, right? I know, we saw a flood of new agents coming through pre licensing in 2020, because of just the shift in the availability. But what what were some of the things that you observed in the last two years? That, you know, we hope that we can take forward with us?
Unknown:Yeah. So one thing I'll lead with is I have one agent who she did her first 10 million in a 12 month period, which in our market makes her a top producer. And she'll tell you she grew up in the pandemic, she doesn't know how to do real estate. And I think those are the pieces that were missing because you couldn't shadow as much. Right? You can only have so many people in a house and even in some in Durham, we weren't
Mahala Landin:right. We didn't we weren't essential for almost a month,
Unknown:I felt like a fugitive driving from the office home just to grab my I didn't
Mahala Landin:realize we were fugitive. The memo didn't get to me and I definitely got a call from Durham, you know, association to let me know that I was misinformed. And that was a whole navigation process for me as a broker in charge is the the inconsistencies and lack of continuity between you know, the different counties, realtors associations, and actually that's the reason I got very involved in the Realtors Association the last two years is because I wanted to understand that more be in the know a little bit. Yeah. And just be able to actually see what our advocacy has been doing for smaller associations because we Raleigh, or the triangle was the reason that Durham became essential, right? I lobbied with them. So anyway, I think that's a side note.
Unknown:Yeah, well, so during the pandemic, one thing that our firm did was obviously everyone was utilizing zoom. And so we actually met every single morning so that we could all sort out what what are the rules today, right? What are we struggling with? How are we talking to our clients, and that turned into a long term thing that we do. Even now today. Now, it's not every day, it's more like once or twice a week or as speakers become available. But they really became our morning, huddles, and we had a living document and Google Drive and keeping up with, you know, what you can do where, you know, so that you're not staring in your rearview, wondering if you're gonna get pulled over and eat a letter for why I'm driving in the city. Right. And so I think that, as far as the struggle part goes, our newer agents don't know how to operate right now. Yeah. And to them a shift in the market, or a normalizing of the market is scary to them, because it's unknown. And they don't have the practical experience to handle certain situations, because they've never had to do it. Yeah. In person, or totally agree
Mahala Landin:with you. Yeah, I started as a buyer's agent in 2014. And even in a lot of areas of our triangle, it was still, I mean, our recovery was so minimal at most, but there were some areas I do remember foreclosures, I do remember working with short sales, from the 2008, recession, even in 2014. And, you know, it's, it's actually so comforting to me that we are getting back to some of those traditional, you know, aspects of what makes real estate professionals really great. The fact that we're hunters, the fact that we you know, know how to create stabilized business. I mean, that's, that's something our firm is super focused in on is how do you create careers in real estate and not ride a market shift or ride a market wave? I mean,
Unknown:good agents will always make it in any markets, right? It's just, you know, maybe some of the hours or maybe, you know, you sell more homes, it's volume, not, you know, quality, quantity over quality sometimes, you know, and if you're a good person doing the right things, it's, you're going to survive. Yeah, right. If you're an agent that's fly by night and wants to yell at everybody, when things don't go your way. You're not going to like it here soon, you know. So yeah, you're gonna get burnt out if it's not easy, because you are used to getting your way or you're not ambitious enough to make your own way. You're not going to survive.
Mahala Landin:Well, we talked about that. And I don't know how you feel about this. But we actually talked about it on our Tuesday meeting yesterday, this idea of this word, intrinsic, right, and the opera, the reasons that we're doing the things that we do as a real estate professional, is not about our own tunnel vision of our goals. It is literally about the fact that we're going to do what's right for this family. And the good news is, is they win, and the cherry on top is that we get something from that as well.
Unknown:It's a give, Ask, Receive mentality, give good service, give good value, give a good heart. And then you can ask for the same from them in return and gratefulness of them helping more of their family and then you'll receive it Yeah, you can't just ask and ask and ask if someone to just listen to you and to give to you without giving back to them. Right. A good heart. Yeah, at the very least
Mahala Landin:goosebumps definitely not something on the real estate exam.
Unknown:I should definitely have a personality tests associated with it. Maybe what's the new thing now in Enneagram? Eight, nine.
Mahala Landin:So what When did you become the broker in charge?
Unknown:So I, it was my, was it 2017? Yeah, it was like, the day that I was allowed to come, like, be a broker in charge was the day we filed paperwork.
Mahala Landin:Okay, so what was the biggest shift in terms of what you had been doing as a salesperson to working as a broker in charge? And what exactly is a broker in charge? I mean, what a fun title. But what is an
Unknown:AI, you know, being the broker in charge I get, like I said, to get caught a lot of things good and bad. I definitely have some fun stories, maybe we can do a podcast on you know, picking it has begun about it. But it's, you know, it's been rewarding, because I've been able to spend so much great time with other brokerage charges, but also some of our newer agents to the route any team and get to get to know them and help them and I learn when I teach others, you know, if you are going into every situation, and you don't learn something out of it, you probably did not have that conversation in the right manner, you didn't have that transaction in the right manner. And so transitioning from more of a traditional agent role in support of agent role into the broker and charge role, it, it honestly didn't feel like a huge change. Because I was always salaried, so that the money was not always the motivator, my motivators always been teaching and helping and uplifting others, you know, make an impact. And so the transition just kind of happened naturally. And progressively I you know, I took a lot of people under my wing. And so all of a sudden, it was just, I don't work with clients, I just take people in my wing. So I have a different set of client. That's right.
Mahala Landin:I see that a lot, too. It's, I still sell, I just sell to a different clientele. But how important has it been to have had that sales experience to be able to be a successful broker in charge to a large, firm,
Unknown:first person stories so that my newbies can take them with them, you know, because they don't have any stories of their own to help either alleviate their concerns or their clients concerns. So being able to utilize my experiences, and give it to them that I think has been the best part of of having that experience prior. Yeah, right. Not just jumping into the role. Yeah, and feeling their heartache if I can, if I know the pain that they've been through or similar pain, they can trust me more when I tell them just do it, right. I promise you, if you cannot find an hour out of your day to do outbound work of just calls and notes, then you don't have this is not what you want to do.
Mahala Landin:I said the other day, there is nothing on this team that I'm going to ask you to do that I either haven't already done or that I wouldn't do myself tomorrow, right? I mean, even I put out signs from one of my agents yesterday, because I was like, I mean, yeah, like I get it, we're all we've already made a commitment, we needed to get that open house going, right. And we're
Unknown:playing Frogger for a few signs. And I'm literally to the cancer near the dash all the time.
Mahala Landin:Oh my gosh. So as the broker in charge there, I think what I'm hearing you say is there we can't we have to walk before we run. There are amazing careers in real estate. And even I love that one of my transaction coordinators started as a salesperson on our team, we train every single person as a salesperson, our marketing specialists was trained as a real estate salesperson. And I think that's important because like you said, we have to have, even if we're not going to exercise it, we have to have the perspective of what our agents are doing and what kind of experience our clients are receiving. If we are truly going to perform as a team or if we are going to be consistent in how that training is even implemented and applied.
Unknown:Yeah, you have to be relatable. Right? That's the whole point. Yeah, there's a book called The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Oh, one of my favorites. Yeah. And Katherine in the book even talks about you know, someone doesn't have to have five years experience to be able to be great in a role. So I think when people second guess themselves and say, but I only have so many transactions, I've never had a transaction before. And that's where, you know, starting from the bottom and, and coming up, you can, you know, say as someone who's been through the trenches, look, this is what I utilized to start and no one knew after my first month that I was new. Right, right. Right. And you use the success of your team.
Mahala Landin:Yeah, definitely. Um, where are you now within Hunter row and how you're interacting with your team and, and the firm itself?
Unknown:Yeah. So all right now I do a lot of our coaching and our business coaching for our agents at all different levels, and facilitate trainings. As well as new agents come in, you know, make sure that they know where they need to be what the expectations of our company are, and kind of help them uphold that or help them not uphold that and see themselves to a team that might be a little bit more fitted for them. Yeah. So it's my day to day really just looks like you know, I am tell laying, keeping keeping people accountable and telling them hey, well, this is your struggle, this is how you get over it. I may not always have the answer for them. Sometimes they have to find that for themselves, but I'll definitely try and lead them to water. It's their choice whether they drink it or not. Yeah, yeah.
Mahala Landin:I love that. Training and Education. How do you feel like your experiences and the career that you've had have prepared you to be a trainer and an educator?
Unknown:Well, my prior career, I wrote a ton of training manuals for various companies. So you know, the the book piece of the training, like, here's the information that you can watch and review and read, you know, that that comes easy. It's like today, I have a live training on how to write offers and pull comps, you would think that sounds really easy, but you have to give them other tips and tricks. So, you know, I find as much as I would like to do more training and have more time, you know, I do outsource that a little bit. But it's what really gives me passion, to make sure because it's making an impact. And they can ask questions that you can't get out of a textbook. And so my my prior career in training and development and management of restaurants and the hospitality, it's, you know, I'm teaching them how to think on their feet, I try and give all of the agents when I train them, or when I'm just meeting with them one on one, you're having a bad day, and we're talking about it, it's okay, well, this is what I foresee, you're going to need in two steps. Here's what you're telling me you need. Now, this is where I kind of foresee and that's where my background, prior to becoming the bid comes into hand comes in handy. I know what they're probably about to face net, right? Right.
Mahala Landin:It's a, it's a formula. And it's the hardest part about working in real estate is not to rely 100% on Well, I did it that way last time. So it should happen again, those same way this time, because we're dealing with people, right, and we don't have control over people, which means we don't have control over the reaction, and we don't have the control over their understanding to your point is if you're if as salespeople we are educating every day, and if they are, if our clients or our agents are not receiving that information, well, that's a communication error on my part as the, you know, the person facilitating all of that. And so I think there's a huge, you know, bridge between education and sales. And being able to do that in a really great way, which, you know, spoiler alert, that's actually how you and I have come into each other's world outside of being, you know, very similar in terms of our roles within our teams. But um, you know, when, when we decided to start our real estate, school and school of real estate, what, you were a mutual friend, and also the minute you were suggested to be our Director of Education and instruction. I was like, well, that's a no brainer, right? Like, it just makes so much sense. And it was so you know, organic in the sense that you were already on the path to getting, you know, certified from the Commission to be an instructor. So what was that light bulb moment for you where you were like, not only am I going to work with licensed agents, but I really want to be part of the process from the very beginning. Yeah,
Unknown:well, so we sit through our update courses every year, every year. And there's other industries that have to do the same to so hopefully, anybody listening that's not in the real estate industry, but maybe lending and things like that you have to do every year, your
Mahala Landin:education requirements to be, you know, a professional in an industry,
Unknown:right, your your right to work each year. And, you know, those are mandated by the state. So the schools don't write the curriculum, but the the teacher makes the curriculum, if that makes sense. And so I wanted to be an instructor because in my firm, I'm the one that engages and I've gotten, you know, numerous agents that have flourished. And I wanted to say, Okay, I make an impact where I am now, I want to make an impact outside of just my firm, and I want to be an instructor that people gravitate towards and truly learn from, because I can talk at you for four hours or 475 hours, but I want to be able to talk with you. And that way, you are a better professional for not only other agents, but my agents as well, right? Because as the broker in charge, I have to mitigate, you know, outside issues, not just inside. And so I want to help impact and breed for lack of better words, great agents that we either work with, or work with work for us. That's right, that makes sense. It does.
Mahala Landin:And it was so in line with you know, I was frustrated, not in terms of agent attraction or recruiting or however you want to say that, but I was very frustrated in this idea that there was a lack of education offered for new agents to figure out where they wanted to be right because it was either the school was associated with a franchise model, or you know, were it was just it was independent, but it was also like You're so independent that it was like, Well, best of luck, you either pass or you don't pass. And in the state of North Carolina, our pass rates coming out of pre licensing are dismal at bat, right? And then you take it so far as the ones that actually do complete the class, their survival rate, their survival rate, right is terrible. And I think it's because there's a lack of community that is taking those agents in and nurturing them to the place where they can succeed, right.
Unknown:And they're not asking the right questions if I got, so I did recruiting, which is not my strength or my passion for a little while for our firm. And if I got asked from new agents the same same five questions all the time, and it was I was like the the questions that you're asking me, don't help you know, whether you're aligning with a good company. So let me go ahead and tell you what you should be asking. So that you can take this to your next interview. That's right.
Mahala Landin:And although let me be clear, because ame School of real estate is 100%, approved by the Commission, we follow approved curriculum, we get all of our electives, and our general updates and everything. Ethics, we everything goes through the requirements set forth by the commission. So in the sense of the curriculum that we're providing, it is onboard, it's on par, right. But what I love about hearing your vision and how it aligns with ame school is that because I get to meet you, because I get to have the opportunity to build a relationship with you. Yes, I'm providing this service, which is education. But I want to have something beyond you, you in my classroom. And that is the piece that I believe we just need more of, and the thing that has made me so I'm so like, confirmed that this was a good decision is because as we've been exploring curriculum, we've been able to build that community to whether it was Chris Barnett, or Travis Everett or Matt Davies. Being able to say, Yeah, you're right, we need more. We need more of this in our industry, in order for us to be more successful in the long run.
Unknown:Well, we live in the industry and not all instructors do. They have at some point, I remember, bringing in someone is probably four or five years ago, maybe five years ago, pandemic kind of merges thing. We lost. We lost a little bit of time there. I brought in someone to do code of ethics. And you know, always super exhilarating, although I think the one that we teach is
Mahala Landin:super phenomenal. It is phenomenal. I've sat through it, it was amazing. I laughed, I cried. It was all that yeah,
Unknown:you know, there was you know, cards and stand up, sit down and try to keep you awake, moving. Yeah, gotta keep it. But the one we had come in, she was really just talking at us rather than with us. And a lot of the things that she would share and say, were completely outdated. She's talking about at the time, I think it was like, I can't believe you know, $2,500 and due diligence, that is just blasphemy. And that is I shouldn't use the word blackmail. What is she use? extortion, extortion, that is what she used. And I was like, Oh, I just couldn't look at the rest of because I had brought this woman in off of referral. And so I just couldn't make eye contact with the rest of my team. Right? during that entire thing. I just kept my head down. And I was like, I paid for it. Just so y'all know why we're here. You know, shoot me don't, ya know, she came highly recommended. But I didn't want to be that type of instructor right. And if you're not working in the industry on a daily basis, even if it's just for, you know, a couple transactions or a few transactions a year, or if you're not keeping a pulse on what's going on right now. It makes it so much harder for you to relate to students, which is why I I feel like being the broker in charge at a firm. And being an instructor gives me just a different level of perspective on how to interact with students. And that experience is definitely one that it was always ingrained in my mind. So my first gen AP class, I was like, Don't do it. Don't do it.
Mahala Landin:Don't. You don't I mean, you're an absolute natural. And aim school has been providing zoom courses now for a full season. I call it a season that me too. I think that makes sense. Yeah, the season because it starts and it ends. And it's not really a year. But we had our first season we saw 180 students at Ames school in our first year and and we did that responsibly. And we did that at a scalable level, because we wanted to make sure that the quality of our instruction, the quality of the experience that each and every student was able to receive was exactly to our our standards, our core values and and like what you said you want to you want you're so conscientious about being prepared. And yeah,
Unknown:I'm about 4am Yeah, did the whole course before I got to the course.
Mahala Landin:So I mean, everybody that walked through, you know, either our Zoom Room or our actual room because we do office visits, which I was really excited about. Everybody that walked away felt the energy and that in itself is what you want because you're right like it is it is something that we have to do. It is a requirement. Have our license. But that doesn't mean we don't have to make it fun, right? It doesn't mean that we don't have to create an experience where they're going to be like, I want to come back to that. Yeah. And that is something that I'm so thrilled with.
Unknown:So I took the initiative to shadow a couple other instructors just to see, you know, the engagement and interaction. And so I would flip through the screen. And I would look, and I always wanted to make sure that when I flipped through my Brady Bunch squares, as I like to call them that everyone was engaged and active, there's always gonna be that one or two, that really just don't care, right. But I felt like we had a really good level of engagement this year, compared to some of the courses that I shadowed, you know, and do I want to get to the 300. And a room, that would be nice, but I actually really like the more you know, under 50, people intimate because we can share stories. As long as I'm keeping on time, you can raise your hand and give a first person story right for your fellow agents to take with them as well.
Mahala Landin:And those, those are always the best classes, even when I would do you know, before aim school at other schools was when it was interactive, when you did actually have a chance to know who was in the room with you. And I don't ever want to lose that, which is why I'm happy that we did it the way we did it. And it gave us a chance to grow the business in a way that is, you know, it is responsible. So we know, we now know how to make sure that, you know notifications for courses are provided in a more timely manner. I mean, we are from a culture of feedback, right. But if we don't give ourselves the space to receive that feedback and take action on it, then we're not really listening to the feedback. And so Marty and Rebecca, my partners and your feedback about how we can make this be better for our clients, or our students, and also us the way we work as a team. I think it's been really, really cool. So this year, we actually have pre licensing on our way coming up on the books. And are you excited or
Unknown:what I am super excited, you know, I get to see my Wila lads and lasses from the very beginning, as I like to call them. And so it's it'll be fun. You know, obviously, there's a little nerves that go with it, because you know, we have industry terms that we got to bring back the dictionary term. Budget, right? Yeah, yes, you know, but I use it a little bit of accountability for my team say, you know, don't end up as a story, one of my pre licensing classes.
Mahala Landin:I use, I use, this has
Unknown:not actually you this is not your what is a true crime? I will use you as an example. public shaming, I'm for it.
Mahala Landin:On our team, we do social media jail. Oh, yeah.
Unknown:He cracks me up every give me more ideas,
Mahala Landin:we put the agent up on the screen with like, the bars in front of them and do social media jail, because you know, even even we have to be responsible in that capacity to like, how are we advertising? Not using blind ads?
Unknown:Well, how are you? How are you heard each individual agents advertising themselves? Yeah, that's also really important. Yeah.
Mahala Landin:Because there is a right and wrong way to do
Unknown:it. Right? Yeah. One thing I took away from Becca years ago, was, don't take a picture with a drink with, you know, drink in your hand early on in your career, especially, you know, keep it as professional as possible while still showing your personality. So you don't need to, to have a cocktail in your hand. Absolutely. Like, you're just one big party rather than a professional.
Mahala Landin:That's true. That's true. And, you know, I loved the interaction that I would have with my clients, and social media in general. And so, but it's funny, because I was actually the agent that would end up talking about breweries and beer with my clients on a regular basis. But for me, it was just that commonality. And, you know, like, kind, you know, generates like, kind. But, yeah,
Unknown:they got to know you once you get to know them. Because, I mean, I'll tell you, we had one agent that she delivered a pot by thanking her client for getting the house ready, and brought them something that was more alcohol related. And what she didn't know ahead of time was that they had been sober for so minors. Yep. So we, that was a learning lesson to keep it as generic as possible until you truly know the person is
Mahala Landin:so true. And one of those things as a broker in charge that we are constantly, again, that's one of those, I'm going to teach you how to think I'm not going to tell you what to do, right? Because there is no navigating the ins and outs of relationships. With, you know, a black and white perspective, it has to have a little bit of gray in there, too. Yeah. Um, so now that you're on your path to instruction and to, you know, growing this side of your career, where where do you see yourself in terms of how that's going to be that impactful, passionate drive that you've had since the beginning?
Unknown:Well, I'm I mean, you're sorry, asking how do I feel like I'm going to impact the community? Yeah. How do you think my life is gonna change? Oh, yeah. Well, that will impact in the community. We've talked a lot about it. I really hope that we can start doing bigger events that are obviously fun and in gauging but also educational. You know, I am a I love going to seminars and conferences, one of my favorite ones to go to pre pandemic was like the Brian Buffini conferences. And if you go there, you just see the energy and the engagement. And it's the same people that go every year, even though he says a lot of the same things might have a slight deviation. You know, I could sit next to someone this year, and next year, I'll sit next to them likely again, even though there's 1000s of people. Yeah, at the Richmond arena. And so I want to be able to get that level of engagement. Now will we have a, you know, a national brand, who knows, right? But the the excitement and energy goes far beyond that conference, you don't just get hyped up for those three days, or I guess now it's more of a day, right? Maybe there's a conference, but you're not just hyped up for that day you are leaving impacted and full of zest and full of ambition that goes throughout the rest of the year and into your goal setting for the next year. Yeah, and that's what I hope when the the agents are coming through, not just our pre licensing, but any of our update courses that they're going on going, Okay, I remember why I'm in this industry, or why I want to be in this industry, I need to seek more education. And maybe they take another one of our classes or something like that. And so I think that'll only make me as I see that progression. And hopefully, that change and others in the industry will furnish a better instructor out of me as well, because I can definitely go leaps and bounds. And I think being in the instructional business will help me continue to be that better. And that better Bic right, you know, so I can pass that down. It's about loss and
Mahala Landin:losses. So true. It's like we are actually in the arena, when we're when we're educating about what is happening with the Commission. And then we take that and we can take that into our broker in charge rule as well with the firm.
Unknown:Yeah. And it's all about practicality. You know, if you have agents that don't have, you know, our job is to lead and not command and the Commission's job is to command right, right, right. And sometimes they do it in such a way that you have, you're so scared, you're like, I don't know how to practically use what they just yelled at me about, or what they yelled at the general population about. And so part of instruction and leading as a broker in charge is I have to take what they've commanded. and lead by example, and lead them down a path of this is what they mean. And this is what they're intending for you to do. Right, not scare you that you're gonna have the back of the bulletin because there's something that you know, had a typo in it or something like that, you know? Yeah,
Mahala Landin:I know. I do. I do. I love those updates every year. Just don't end
Unknown:up on the back of the bulletin. That's all I ask. That's all we Yeah.
Mahala Landin:So okay, we've we've talked a lot about you know, your career in real estate and how about you, you know, like, let's get down into a couple of quick questions that just allows us to get to know you a little bit more boy. So what do you like to do in the triangle? What what's your what's your bread and butter when it comes to like, having a little bit of fun? And oh, you know,
Unknown:I think it depends on the crowd I'm with for sure. I can drink wine and be at a vineyard with some of the best of them. But honestly, I really love and where I get my energy from is I have three stepkids and a husband we've married for a couple years now together for a few and we're water people Yeah, so we live in Chapel Hill so we're 10 minutes from Jordan Lake so we love going to the lake love kayaking love my say this with like a little hesitation love camping as long as there's a facility for me. You know, like I've definitely just some cute campers Raven
Mahala Landin:woman than me. So I can you're living that boy life which I commend you for Yeah,
Unknown:but I love enjoying the triangle in the surrounding areas with them with the things that we all love to do. That's more get him away from the Xbox, things like that. So that being around the lakes and even venturing out of the triangle and going to the beaches, like that is where we find and I find a lot of my fun but I also like to bring them to what is it two roosters? Oh yeah, like we did last summer
Mahala Landin:with Graystone shopping and now I know they have one on P street or yeah P street over there by standard food and I feel like there's another one and carry Yeah, Lake Boone thanks Hannah. She doesn't normally contribute but she
Unknown:today you got to help get help wherever you can take right yeah
Mahala Landin:I love to roosters what a great local ice cream company right
Unknown:especially when it's right next to a beer and wine it's right that's right and it's right nice to tables
Mahala Landin:and God says It's amazing all the things in one
Unknown:yeah and so we were able to it was It wasn't even on purpose it was organically that we just started having more and more of us you know working real estate moms come together and even non because all the kids are there you know I was known for bringing the chalk and the juice and the bubbles and and if I didn't food line had it write that way. Yeah. So that's that's always a really good piece of enjoying the triangle is the the activities with the family. But then you know, things with the husband too.
Mahala Landin:There is a whole culture of working real estate moms out there. It's a whole nother adventure. We can go on another time. When you what's your favorite restaurant?
Unknown:Oh, it's kind of be gone says is it? Yeah, really? Yeah, I've been going there for so long and all their different locations. I mean, my grandfather passed away in 2015. But for years, we would have we'd sit in the same booth every year. And that's where we'd have my birthday. And so it's always been a special place for Yeah,
Mahala Landin:it's great. I mean, their margaritas are amazing. I'll tell it Pepe. No, no, I'll tell you the best thing there is the the loaded nachos with the tinga chicken.
Unknown:I see. I'm a creature of habit. So I've always just kind of gotten the same things get the CV J and like,
Mahala Landin:I mean, I think it's probably in the top five for nachos for me. Yeah. 10. Good. Chicken is also good, all of it. So good, hungry. So one of the things I like to end with on Making Moves, and you are very like me in terms of books and things like that. And you've already mentioned two outstanding books today. And Patrick Lencioni is a huge piece of our culture of our team. But when you think about books that you've read, or quotes that you've heard, what has been that, you know, Northstar, you know that that you lean back to over and over and over again, either in your personal or in your business. Yeah.
Unknown:For me, I think it's, there's many different places that you can find what what resonates with you. But honestly, what resonates with me most and what I remind myself in my head is no one else's quote, other than what I have to tell myself every morning, like today, what am I going to do differently than I did yesterday? Because I learned what from yesterday, right? And so that's what I continually tell myself when I get up in the morning personal mantras, right, exactly. You know, and you can read all the books you want, like I said, and listen all the podcasts, and I totally, I encourage it. So that way, you can have your own kind of inner mantra,
Mahala Landin:for sure. And what I hear from that statement that you say to yourself every day is that there is gratitude. Somewhere in there. There's a lesson that we can learn. And I was even making this comment the other day, or and it and it really reminds me it's like, we go into this thing like, well, you know, are we better? And I'm like, why wasn't bad the day before? Right? You know, so this idea of like, creating, you know, am I better than I was yesterday? Well, probably, but there was nothing wrong with who I was yesterday there. Right? Well, what
Unknown:can I take him keep or I'm gonna take him throw away. And you know, the other thing that always reads in my mind, and I learned this, this is something that was said to me very early on, because early on in my career, I definitely wanted, I was young, I want it to be liked. Right. And unfortunately, that doesn't foster respect from everybody, or trust. And so I tried to lead the day with being respected before I'm liked. Because if you gain respect in the right way, you will naturally be liked or at least liked enough to be trusted. And it makes everything just a little bit easier.
Mahala Landin:Yeah. Well, good notes to go out on. I appreciate that. You made some moves with us and shared your story. And most of all, I am so thankful for the partnership that we have on AIM school. Yes. And what that's helped us create in terms of bridging that gap between firms and and like you said, beckon it together. Yeah,
Unknown:yep. Yeah, I'm so happy you had me here.
Mahala Landin:Thank you for joining us on this episode of Making Moves. We want to deliver the highlights of the Triangle that you want to hear. Let us know your feedback, comment on our social media, like and of course subscribe to continue and discover why we love where we live. Until next time with Making Moves hosted by The Rachel Kendall Team.