Open The Gate
Breaking down Sacramento Real Estate: Our Favorite People, Places and Mindsets
Open The Gate
Ep. 4: Katie MacDiarmid - Building Relationships & Embracing Authenticity
Victory chants for the University of Washington Huskies echo in the background as we welcome the magnetic Katie, the dynamic force behind Sacramento Real Producers. Peeling back the layers of the real estate industry, Katie unveils the intricate web of connections and insights she's fostered. Her vivacious spirit guides us through the highs and lows of podcasting novelties, embracing authenticity in our professional lives, and the jittery thrills of fresh endeavors. As the conversation ebbs and flows, we're reminded that life, much like real estate, is about building relationships brick by brick, with a hearty laugh along the way.
Striking up the band, Blake and I riff on the psychological power of walkup songs in sports, a prelude to the dance of personal reinvention—no matter the decade of one's life. Our whimsical banter hops from my own leap into new beginnings at the ripe age of 40, to the cultural quirks nestled within California's real estate markets, to the shared chuckles when "Kaelee" somehow becomes my unintended moniker. This melodious chapter is as much a narrative about self-discovery as it is a candid snapshot of the regional rivalries that make our corner of the world uniquely charming.
Diving into the dual tides of work and parenthood, this episode doesn't shy away from the reality of juggling a real estate career with a bustling family life. We celebrate the tenacity of working parents, marvel at the power of small, intimate industry events to spark connection, and tackle the specter of imposter syndrome that haunts even the most seasoned professionals. And just when you think we've anchored ourselves in the all-too-serious, we daydream about stepping into the shoes of someone else, with fantasies ranging from hitting the links as Charlie Woods to commanding the screen like Tom Hanks. Join us for a heartwarming, laughter-laced sojourn through the personal narratives and professional insights that unite us all.
What's up, dan? Happy to be here with you. Hey, buddy, what's good? Oh man, I'll tell you what's good is. My University of Washington Huskies pounded the Texas Long Horns and we're going to the National Championship, so I'm pretty pumped about that. Fingers crossed, yeah, fingers crossed. That might be a projection into the future, but I'm just putting it out there, so it happens. Hey, if you don't put out there, it can't happen. Absolutely Pretty stoked for our guest today.
Speaker 2:Super excited about her, super excited for our guest today. She was one of the initial conversations that we had when we were just toying with this idea of even getting this thing up off the ground.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think she might even been the first person that came to mind.
Speaker 2:She was definitely one of the one of the first people that came to mind, absolutely.
Speaker 1:We say that every week for every guest, but that's okay.
Speaker 2:Breaks the ice Absolutely. So tell our listeners, tell us a little bit about who we got coming on this week.
Speaker 1:We're going to start fully introduce yourself in a minute here after we play her song, but we have Katie with us today, who is the owner and publisher of Sacramento Real Producers. We're going to get into that a little bit more, but she pretty much knows more people in this industry than most people who work full time in this industry because of the nature of her job, and so we're going to delve into that a little bit. She also lives and works in this area, and we were going to find out a little bit more about what Sacramento Real Producers has got in store for this upcoming year. So let's get her out here in just a minute. Oh, oh, oh oh. Everything's going to be alright. Everything's going to be alright. Gotta brand new gotta, brand new. Gotta, brand new lease on life. Everything's going to be alright, all right, katie, welcome.
Speaker 1:Hey, thanks for having me, you're welcome, so we'll just, you know, go over the ground rules. Here there are really no rules and pretty much everything goes, and if you're nervous then you're right, along with every guest that we've had, including Dan and I, every single week that we're here.
Speaker 3:Perfect and I feel right at home, even though full disclosure I have never done anything like this before, that's you know it's gonna be super fun. I'm super excited to be here.
Speaker 1:Or stoked to have you. It's good to try to do things here in the new year and really until a couple of weeks ago, Dan and I had never been on a podcast. Have you ever been on a podcast?
Speaker 2:before I had done the Sacramento association of realtors, the house keys podcast.
Speaker 1:Okay, so Dan is you know he was already a seasoned veteran. Yeah seasoned veteran myself, as you know. From not being able to press the buttons hit, record or edit anything, you can tell that this is my first four into this world.
Speaker 3:So I have to say, you look very professional. This setup here is very professional, very intimidating.
Speaker 1:Good, so we've got somebody fooled.
Speaker 3:And that's why they're doing guys. They're just lying to you.
Speaker 1:That's why we don't have this on video, because we can just show up, look however we want and just work on the radio voice and that's all you need to do.
Speaker 2:So let's jump right in. So so we say every every, with every guest, we ask them to give us a walkup song. Blake and I are both jocks by trade, so songs and music and introduction stuff is very important to athletes. We put a lot of thought into it, whether that be to get our our mental focus going in the right direction or to get us pumped up or something. So tell us, tell us about why, at least on life, why was that? Why is that your walkup song?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I do have to say I love that you did that. I have huge baseball background. As you know, my dad played for the A's. I played softball all my life. But softball we don't do walkup songs. At least we didn't back in the day. So, but I have chosen, or helped my boys choose, lots of walkup songs for their own baseball, so it's kind of fun to get to that, do that myself. They all laughed at me as I was trying to think through what I was going to choose.
Speaker 2:So I'm sure they were very supportive Well my son changes his every third at bats. Yeah, it's just a constant battle.
Speaker 1:I think that's his generation. Right, there's nothing timeless.
Speaker 3:My 11 year old has kept his steady because he does all the pretty girls walk like this.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love it. I love it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he gets to laugh every time and that's all he wants.
Speaker 1:So at least on life, yeah.
Speaker 3:At least on life. So love Andy Grammer. He's super pop, like positive happy. I like his upbeat songs but at least on life. I picked that because this whole experience, even just being on the podcast with you guys, it kind of fits with the song, like doing something brand new at having, you know, turned 40 a couple years ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 40. You know, right in there, I just, I, just what's your crest that you're just 40. I'm just 40. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so started real producers. Right at the cusp of that, I think I was 38, about to turn 39. And having launched this whole new kind of season at 40 is really inspiring to me. It's just it feels like I've got a brand new lease on life. It feels like I get to do a whole new thing that I never dreamed of doing, that I never saw in my future. And it's super fun and it just inspires me for, like, what other things are coming down the pipe in my life that I don't even know to dream about yet? That could be. You know, we're not done. I think I was one of the worst at 20.
Speaker 2:40 is the new 20.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, thank you. Yeah, botox, and you know testosterone pretty much. It is the new 20 for all of us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, stay current on your yoga and you'll really feel.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I feel amazing, dude, I had the worst attitude when I was 20, about, you know, 40 year olds. 50 year olds. I just thought they were old and done and you know you got to accomplish things by 20, 25 or, you know, life's over or something. Yeah.
Speaker 2:LA, la. We talked about that on the Kaylee episode, how LA can skew the way that people view other people and all that. No offense to LA or anything.
Speaker 1:We ripped on LA pretty good for one week. We got to go easy on those guys. Yeah, now that they have two players worth a billion dollars, we got to you know. That pretty much sums it up.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:Fortunately this is a greater Sacramento area real estate and lifestyle podcast, so you're going to find a lot of fans up here about the ripping on LA. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, good, especially in real estate, right? So if there's somebody that we dislike more than San Franciscans moving here, then it would be LA, and I can't say we, because I moved here too.
Speaker 3:I think I was the only yeah, I was going to say Take it easy over there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, couple of these Bay Area cohorts sitting at the table right now. So, uh, so awesome, kaylee, I love it. Love that the song got you in the space and I can. I can already see that you're relaxing a little bit and dance.
Speaker 1:So relax that he just called you Kaylee, but it's okay.
Speaker 2:Did I really Sorry. I'll take it. I like her a lot. Yeah, I know she is awesome. So so, like you said you mentioned, you grew up in the Bay Area. Tell us a little bit about that. How did you end up? How'd you end up in here?
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, I mean, it's not an exciting story. I grew up in Danville but went to college at Cal Poly. San Luis met my now husband. Mustangs Um yeah, we both went to Cal Poly, met there, got married right after. We were literal babies and he grew up up here. He grew up in Roseville.
Speaker 3:So, we lived in LA for a little while, lived in Bakersfield for a while, made our way back up, but knew that once we were starting to really raise the kids, we wanted to be back home, closer to family, and the Bay Area was not an option for us, buying wise, so we made our way to Roseville.
Speaker 1:And you guys live now in Loomis, okay, yeah, so about what was it?
Speaker 3:I guess it's got to be almost eight years, seven, eight years ago we well, we moved to Roseville and we had two kids and thought that was probably how many we would have.
Speaker 1:Okay, yes.
Speaker 3:So we bought a two kid house in Roseville and with like no backyard, and then I ended up having three more boys. So I have four boys total and a girl, five kids if you can't count and so that quickly did not work. In the Roseville no backyard setting can't let your kids run around. So we started looking at the country when we ended up having the family that we did and it was the perfect, perfect move for us to have boys who could throw a rock and not break a window? That's perfect.
Speaker 2:We don't hear very many people who don't love living in Loomis.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's. I call it country light only because I'm jealous, because I don't live there.
Speaker 3:Well, we call it pretend country. It is not real country. I never pictured myself in the country. No, I'm going to offend some people.
Speaker 3:I was going to say there's a guy there's we don't know, our biggest listeners probably writing a tractor, right now, and this is a thick skin show- so the reason why we call it pretend country is because I can like live out on the country roads and my boys have land that they can throw rocks, but I can drive to Starbucks in five minutes. That is not real country. I'm not having to, like you know, wear my cowboy boots and take care of cows.
Speaker 1:I got to be honest, though. I feel like I am the only person that lives in this county that doesn't own cowboy boots.
Speaker 2:I do not, you don't either. No, oh my gosh, look at us. It's the three of us. I'm white tennis shoes. Yeah, I was like I was checking out Katie's.
Speaker 1:Like, if I go to the liberal bull, those are looking good. I feel like I should be wearing those or I'm going to get killed.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, no no no, not as, not as you.
Speaker 2:You can consider the crowd. Yeah, not if you start singing karaoke. They don't.
Speaker 1:I feel like I could be wearing cowboy boots and walk in there and sing karaoke and I still would get. Then I would definitely get killed.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, we last time we were in there we were it was all wrapped. We actually went Bay Area wrapped. I mean the liberal bull was rolling E40.
Speaker 1:I love it. It was Represent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Well, katie, you're kind of like a real estate agent's dream right now, because in this last couple years, as the market is tightened down, inventories change so much like that's exactly who they're looking for. The person that has two kids and is like, okay, we bought our two kid house and we're good to go. And bam, now I have five kids and regardless of what I want to do or how much I like my interest rate, I can't, I must move. I can't raise seven of us under this roof. So yeah, that's what they say.
Speaker 3:Life goes on yeah.
Speaker 1:See, these people are out there.
Speaker 3:I always need to move.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So, talking about that transition a little bit, you have five kids, correct? You are in your 30s.
Speaker 3:Totally.
Speaker 1:You are probably pretty busy with those five kids I am. And then let's fast forward a few years. Now you have a highly successful brand and you connect a ton of people that add a ton of value to each other's lives. Talk about that transition a little bit and how that even happened.
Speaker 3:Oh geez, let's see. Yeah, I definitely was majority home with the kids for a good chunk of years good 10 to 15 years, I would say I was primary stay-at-home mom. I had little jobs here and there. I've always been interested in entrepreneurship and doing different stuff, so we actually owned a store in the Fountains retail boutique. When I was having babies, I opened a maternity and baby shop with a best friend of mine and my sister-in-law. We did that in the Fountains for a couple years, but majority I was home and not really, I would say, in the career space or out in the business world.
Speaker 3:But when we moved to Loomis, my husband also was I won't get into this on the podcast, but he was really looking for a change in career himself and being the primary breadwinner. That would mean, necessarily, that I was going to need to figure out how to go back to work, which was always the plan when my youngest went to kindergarten anyways, which was coming up. But it needed to be a more significant jump than that so that he could really look into getting out of what he was doing and move into a different space. So I was looking around for a lot of different stuff and LinkedIn and Indeed and all that and I really I do feel like it was chance and maybe a little bit of miraculous if you're spiritual and believe in that kind of stuff. But I found real producers on LinkedIn on Indeed and was really fascinated by the concept. Don't have any background in real estate at all.
Speaker 3:Don't know anything about real estate? I didn't.
Speaker 1:Own a house that counts. But, I would say that's all I did and there's simply enough. I was focused on the kids.
Speaker 3:My husband did all of. I just really didn't know a lot about the process at all. I knew he had a great realtor that we trusted. That's about all that I knew about real estate, so I actually reached out to her when I was thinking about real producers.
Speaker 1:See realtors, you guys add more value than just opening doors.
Speaker 3:Right there, absolutely yeah. First trusted friend I went and talked to.
Speaker 1:There you go. I love that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but anyway, I was interested in it, mostly because it was a publication about people and it was a community about people and storytelling and that caught my eye and that was what I was like. Well, that I'm all in on I'm very interested in that, and so I went and learned more about it. It's a national company. It's a cross-country country.
Speaker 1:Tell us a little bit more about it, because Dan and I are pretty familiar and I think that three of us sitting in this room were pretty familiar with the value that it adds to the people in this industry. But for those of you who are listening, mom, they don't know what this is yeah. Tell us just a quick your elevator pitch of what yeah?
Speaker 3:Real producers is, so it's a national company. It's essentially like a protected space and community for the top top performers in the industry in a given region.
Speaker 1:I'm holding a copy of one of your publications right here. I know, but Dan honestly did not put out because you were coming. He keeps these out here all the time. Liar, yeah, absolutely, they're always there. They're always there. I totally thought they were staged?
Speaker 2:Absolutely no. They're always there. They're always there. They're always there. Yeah.
Speaker 3:That's really funny. Yeah, it's a networking platform. It's exclusive. It gives the top performers in a region a place to communicate, get to know each other on a little bit more deeper, human level, because I think the concept behind Real Producers is that business really does thrive when people can develop trust and know each other as a little bit more than just what they do. Yeah, and all work and life is more enjoyable when you can do it with people that you have genuine relationships with right 100%.
Speaker 3:So when we're talking about people that are at the top of their industry and their high performers, they already know how to do their job. Now, how can we make it more enjoyable? How can we actually deepen the experience and help the community thrive? So that's the concept and idea behind Real Producers. It started on the East Coast in 2015. A guy named Remington Ramsey.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a sweet name. It's a Goodness gracious yeah.
Speaker 3:He started it, he's the founder, and I think that the concept is beautiful and it's made its way across the country pretty quickly.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I'm just really like I'm honored that I found out about it and was given the opportunity to bring it here to Sacramento.
Speaker 2:Oh, and you've embraced it and you're now looking to expand beyond Sacramento as well, correct?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we actually I now own the Silicon Valley Real Producers territory as well. That's been in print, but I'm kind of taking it over under new ownership and we're rebranding right now and that's been really fun. I've just spent like two months in but announcing a rebrand and having our first event in January.
Speaker 2:So I'm sure there will be a handful of people that are very interested in some collaboration between those two networks.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely, and I think that's not smaller and smaller these days the distance between. See, that's why I don't knock on East Bay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know Well, my wife's from the East Bay. So I and I did tell her, you know full disclosure, I'm never going to move there. So she said I'm never going to live in Seattle with you.
Speaker 2:So here we are.
Speaker 1:We made our way to God's country. So, besides the publication, I think that which is awesome, beautiful If you guys haven't seen it, especially in a day and age where, like, everything is digital it's really nice to like hold something I really like to read a book and I like to be like visually stimulated by an actual Well, this is going to sound really poor.
Speaker 1:I won't say visually stimulated by an actual magazine, because that's the wrong connotation. This is a great magazine but it's not going to give you that kind of fun. But yeah, it's just really cool. But the events themselves so Dan and I just got to go to one of your events. In fact, I think truly, Dan, we met through P-Car, but I think through like real producers is actually how we kind of started to get to network a little bit better. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And the cool thing was I think everybody goes there and knows, especially as partners, that you're going to network, but it really doesn't feel that way.
Speaker 1:It doesn't feel like the structure in which a lot of other organizations run to make you all kind of learn together, and I don't mean to knock on any of those. It's just a really fun place to go. The events you throw are fun parties and the food is awesome and the events are creative and you make it really fun and people just let their guard down. I don't think everybody's talking about their production.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:And I think one of the things that we've talked about a little bit, Dan and I have talked about in other episodes, is people start to be a little bit more authentic.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a really tough industry where there's this imposter syndrome that, even surprisingly, getting to know people better, some of the most successful people still have 100%. They're afraid of losing what they've had. They still feel like they're fooling everybody. Yep, and you get into these really great events where people can kind of hang out, have fun, network a little bit and then even branch out. Even off this last event there was a really good opportunity to meet up after the event with people down the line and continue to forge those relationships. So that's what I think is pretty unique about it, plus the food.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You're really nailing that?
Speaker 3:Awesome. I love hearing that and that is really the goal of the events. That's why they are exclusive to. It's not to be like better than anybody or be snobby, but I do think that a smaller in comparison, some smaller environment, but then also everybody there is there because not because they've, like, bought in or just got a license, but they are performing at a certain level. And then even our partners I really do like to stress, our partners are affiliates, but they're really there as peer business owners.
Speaker 3:Everybody there is operating at a high level and they've been invited in based on referrals and recommendations. And so I do kind of stress both to our realtors and our partners when we're here at this party, there's not like a star and an affiliate. There's peer business owners all here trying to do a really good job at what they do and we can benefit from knowing each other and relationships and encouraging each other. The tagline of real producers is also connect, elevate, inspire, and so I knew early on that was going to be really key for the events. They needed to be a place that felt like it was elevated beyond what your normal event might feel like, and then it should inspire everybody in this industry our event throwers.
Speaker 3:You all have to do your own either office parties or client appreciation parties or things like that. So when I work with my event coordinator and my team, I'm always saying we need some piece of this event, whether it be the venue or the takeaway or the Instagrammable moment. We need something that inspires those that are attending this event to be like oh, I want to do that at my next event. And if we can do that, then we've hit the nail on the head. It's supposed to inspire you about the area that we live in and what cool things we can do when we're here.
Speaker 2:So just let me know, because I've got a connection to a mechanical bull company.
Speaker 3:So if you're looking for something like that, maybe at our next fall kickoff. We try to keep this a little bit more casual and fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I might have to sign another waiver for those ones. And I think another cool thing, like just this last event that we were at, is that not only are you highlighting people in this industry, but you're actually highlighting a lot of the local businesses, because through that I've been to venues that I would have not gone to in my like day to day personal life with three small children. I mean, to me as a dad with three little kids, these events are like a pretty fun. Well, I don't have my wife with me.
Speaker 3:You should bring her, I know.
Speaker 1:I gotta do that, but it's a pretty fun, awesome place to go and learn more about some of the awesome places in this area, because, being an outsider and moving here a couple years ago, this is a pretty cool place and the more that I get to discover it, it just continues to be a place I love more and more. And the really cool thing about real producers is I've got to go to some venues that I just probably wouldn't have found my way to yet.
Speaker 3:Totally yeah.
Speaker 2:I love it yeah that's the goal. Very cool.
Speaker 1:So we're uh see, see, this is how this goes. We're just figuring it out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so as you've, as you've kind of spent some time now the last five or seven years in the real estate industry, you've gotten to see people kind of come up. You guys have recognized some rising stars. Some you know some, some of the major players that have been doing it for a long time. Any advice that you would give someone new to the industry or new to the area, what, what?
Speaker 2:what what do you see? What do you see people doing that that land? You know in the magazine or on the cover of the magazine that that separates them from from others.
Speaker 1:Yeah, especially since you're not a realtor or a true affiliate yourself. I think the perspective you get of you know that that fly on the wall a little bit of all of the real kind of key performers in this industry has got to be a really unique perspective to see without having to produce yourself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, well, I definitely that's. It's good that you point that out, because I definitely feel like if you want to talk about imposter syndrome, that's where I'm going to get, that's where I'm going to come into the imposter syndrome spaces. Even though I guess you could technically say I'm in the real estate industry, I def, I don't identify like that way. I don't feel like I'm in the industry. I feel like I'm a little bit more of a fly on the wall observer of the industry, which I, yeah, so I I do enjoy my kind of unique perspective of getting to watch all these really smart people just crush it at what they do. But as far as giving advice, that starts to feel like, oh man, who am I? I don't have, I don't know if I have any advice, except that it is fascinating to me as I sit down with all of these different types of people who are all successful in their own right but very different from each other, and from the stars on their eyes to the ones that are on the cover, there are so many consistent threads to their stories that all are in the space of insecurity, of a deep like love and passion for things that are completely outside of real estate, a feeling of why do you want to talk to me? What am I going to say? Even I mean, our cover agents are just as unsure for the most part. There are some that are very confident and sure that they deserve to be on the cover and have a story to tell, and those, those are great actually to listen to them as well.
Speaker 3:But there are so many. It's shocking to me that when I call them and say, hey, I want to interview you, hey, you've been recommended, we'd love to you know, put you on the cover or feature you in the magazine, where they're like, oh, I don't, I don't really know, like what's, what am I going to say?
Speaker 2:And you mean like being invited onto the podcast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, maybe like that. Yeah Interesting.
Speaker 1:Interesting. Yeah, Tana, I get to feel like the most powerful people in the world because you're like you want me to come on your podcast that has nine listeners. Oh my God.
Speaker 2:What would I add? What if all nine of them listen?
Speaker 1:Well, my mom will love you no matter what, so that would be good.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I find that that connecting thread is really humanizing and that is the first thing that started to calm me down about my role in this was seeing oh man, we're all. We're all really the same as far as our insecurities, and especially you can see it come out when the pictures come back from the photo shoots and we're trying to pick a cover and we're trying to pick the images that go inside. And the phone calls that I have had with some of these agents, you know, and I tell each one of them, you're not unique, you're not alone in this. I've had this conversation over and over and over again. So it can't really be that the photos are that bad. It's actually that we're the worst critics of ourself and your insecurities are all coming out, and so let's just talk through this. We're going to make you look awesome, but everybody who holds this magazine in their hands are not going to be thinking the worst things about you, like you're imagining that they are.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it's so important and I think we've touched on it so many times. I think, in the first episode. We talked about if you don't like the way you look and sound. Well, given modern technology, you're going to have to deal with it.
Speaker 2:How you look and sound unfortunately the technology's gotten so good, but it is. It's such a common thread I feel like it comes up on kind of every podcast. We touch on with Ryan, we touch on with Kaylee. It's coming up here, it is, but it's fascinating and it's how people kind of persevere and get past that or work around it or whatever they're doing that's always been super, super neat to watch.
Speaker 3:I will say that, if you're talking advice for somebody who's just coming in, though, I find that there are so many different kinds of people that are successful in the real estate industry and the ones that really lean into their own personality and what makes them them genuinely and authentically that ends up it just comes through Like you can't fake it, but it comes through, and so stop trying to copy other people. Don't be a carbon copy. That will also come through. Be like figure out what you actually are passionate about, what you actually care about, what makes you quirky or funny or, can I say, badass.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can say badass.
Speaker 3:Or a badass professional. Lean into it and just honestly be you, and that will shine through, and that's way more interesting than trying to copy somebody else's formula.
Speaker 1:So you know, it's so crazy about that, though, and I think we're going to probably touch on this in every episode, because we have so far in our long tenure- of show here, this is a really really tough industry to do that in. I think we all have the spotlight syndrome, which is, you know you think more people are looking at you than they really are.
Speaker 1:And we sell on a brand, which is often our image, and so in it you know Dan just talked about it like we're in an age where everything is digital, everything's almost instantaneous, everything is a filter on it.
Speaker 1:Now and I will just speak for my own self like getting into the real estate industry only four years ago the tendency to feel like you don't know anything when you don't know everything for me was really tough to get over, and it was this thought of man I don't know everything, so I have no value. And the truth is there are some really skilled and tenured people in this industry, especially regionally. There's just some OGs that have done this for a long time, but also this industry has changed a ton too, so those people that are continuing to perfect their craft like they're having to learn how to use Instagram or how to have a digital listing, or long into the MLS, or there's changes, so everybody is learning, but I feel like there's this huge disconnect where everybody feels like they're alone in in the fact that I'm the one that's having a tough year, or I'm the one that you know.
Speaker 1:everybody else is posting their pictures of their family in Hawaii, and they must be crushing it and I think there's there really is a discord between reality, people's emotions, and then what they, what they project, and so I think one thing that I like about real producers a lot is, you know, just at the event we were at, is people were candidly talking about man. This has been a really different year in real estate. This has been tough.
Speaker 2:Everyone's got stories of perseverance, which is, which is huge, because that's so motivating for, for, for those behind them, or those behind us whatever, but those, those stories can really make a difference in people's careers. And seeing someone struggles and then being open with it and saying, oh gosh, I'm same thing Like yeah now I can. I can. Oh, you made it. I can make it through this as well. That's super cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that was a big goal for Dan and I on the show is just to have people on here to you know, not fully break down all the barriers, because I think we're just all going to have them in this industry. You're still, you're always going to fight against projecting an image of what you want to project, but to get to know people a little bit better so that hopefully you hear a tidbit of like man, that that person's going to go into this too. Or Dan and I had an episode a couple of weeks ago. We talked about the fact that even if it's hard or you're feeling like you're having to do a lot of hard work or there's uncertain, tier anxiety like that doesn't mean you're failing. That just probably means you're, we're working really hard in that. You might not see that in other people, but that's probably constant and even really successful people for sure to talk to them and hear like I feel like it's all going to fall apart at any minute.
Speaker 1:It's. I've been in a pot. I faked it until I made it and I kept making it and I keep faking it, and I've felt that way even in this industry, as the the mortgage industry has changed. Been like man. I still had a pretty good year, but it was a fluke.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and how many people feel that way? These pure sales environments lead to that. That's why you see, so many companies they're subscription based or you know, have a have a a predictable revenue stream in real estate and in mortgage, even on our, for our business, on the inspection side of things like you finish one that's unless you have another one scheduled, you're starting at zero as soon as you complete the task.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, there's always that pressure, but it's, you know, it's the purest, one of the purest forms of sales, next to scalping tickets out in front of us. There is, you know, because it's it. When it's done, it's done unless you've got something else lined up.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, and I would say, like I mean so we talked about people that are just getting into the industry, but I would encourage since a lot of what I deal with is people that have been in the industry for a long time like advice. Encouragement to you is like being that abundance mindset, being that person who's willing to tell your story and go first and share that there are ref times is incredibly encouraging, I will say it was a huge game changer for me getting started.
Speaker 3:The couple people that were wildly successful and did not need to take the time to sit down with me, who nobody knew and take my phone call and take my meeting Kelly Griggs, lisa Paragari. Steve Davies was one of my very first meetings and he was just wonderful and didn't push me out of his office. And you know, these people that take the time to do that, they don't know the kind of impact that they have on people in their lives that they can change just by being genuine and taking that time, which can also be hard to remember as you get busy and up and high. So I will say like I think, even though it was a terrible time during COVID, we launched so real producers. The very first issue that went out was March 2020, with Nick Sadek on the cover. It was probably about eight pages thick at that time and it went to all closed offices.
Speaker 1:So talk about adversity right off the bat.
Speaker 3:It was a wild time and I was not doing well. Most people would not know that I would still call you with my confident voice. But I was not doing well and I remember Kendra Bishop called me. She wasn't featuring her yet, I'd only had an interview with her. She called me out of the blue and just said hey, are you okay? I've been thinking about you Like this must be really hard on you and I can't even believe that I was on her radar at all. I was a random phone call and we had a great meeting and she was wonderful.
Speaker 3:But the fact that she just called to check in on me, it actually changed my whole trajectory of like maybe I'm not just going to drown here in my home, but people actually will take my phone call if I call them and check in. I just thought I would like fade into oblivion now that we were all locked in our homes and it gave me the confidence to call out some other people and check on them. And it started the conversation going and I found that a ton of agents at that time were all locked in their homes and feeling like who can I talk to? How am I going to be okay? What are we going to do? And real producers ended up being able to be a caveat, a place that we could all gather and talk about what we were going to do and how things we're going to be, and you know that was awesome.
Speaker 1:Very cool, very cool. Yeah, that is really cool and I think that just goes to show you. Like Dan talked about it, you said they get to sing for yourself all the time. The only thing that helps you through that is you know your reputation, that you've done well in the past, or, just as important, like the relationships that you've built.
Speaker 3:And so.
Speaker 1:I think through these times that's, you know, more important than ever and it's got to be crazy. So you talk about launch during COVID, during the height of the insanity of a real estate market, that influx of people into this area, then to go, you know, two years doing that into the faucet turns off in this industry and people are having really a tough time.
Speaker 1:Can you talk about that at all? How that's been as a person in this industry, that's that's you know realistically had to watch a lot of people really struggle and change the way that they do business. Yeah, I mean talk about what you on the spot.
Speaker 3:I know you definitely on the spot. I'm trying to think what I can say. That's true. I definitely have had some agents and partners be real and say this is, this is a you know, tough time. But and I don't know, like I don't know if it's the the still a little bit of that, I'm afraid to say what's really going on.
Speaker 3:But to me at least, I get mostly positive conversations. Still, they're not positive like oh, everything's great and I'm not feeling it, but they are of the mindset of hey, we I've done this before, I'm not new to this we're going to push through. This is when you get strategic, you get small, you consolidate and you keep pushing through. But I think there is a little bit of the who you surround yourself with keeps your narrative going and there's a lot of strong individuals in the real producers network that I think, even if they can, they can acknowledge they're not like blind to it. They can acknowledge this as a hard time in the industry, but they're all almost like banding together like we know what to do. We can get through this, it will be fine.
Speaker 3:People always still need to move. They have more kids, they get married, they get divorced, they, you know. So I would say I try in my position to keep those kind of positive perspective conversations flowing, and I get that a lot from people too, but it is interesting to watch the difference. I do get a lot more calls now myself about, you know, people that would really like to be a part of the network, that would like to be in the magazine both partners and agents because I think that people recognize at this time it really is key to have valuable relationships in a valuable networking space. And so for real producers, I think it's almost made our space a little bit more valuable, because people are like I really this isn't just fun events, now I actually really need to be here and surrounding myself with the people that are going to keep me going and keep me positive and, you know, keep collaborating and pushing through.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think what you know a lot of realtors or or I know Dan's fantastic at this too, I've tried to do this myself is we want to be your one stop shop for you know anybody that you need, whether it's I've got a home inspection guy or I've got an electrician or I've got whatever, and like that's really a big role of what a realtor is is they've got their sheet of their preferred contractors and vendors and people that they go to. But a lot of times they're also like I know the best place to take your date for Valentine's. There, I know the awesome place to get flowers, or, oh, your mom's coming in town, here's this cool little coffee shop or this thing that's happening this weekend, and so I think that that's really cool because you start to build these relationships with people that add a ton of value. But for those of you who don't know, I moved to California just two and a half three years ago.
Speaker 1:I stayed affiliated with a mortgage company that was in Washington at the time and when I was trying to make a move to get a more local feel, to be, you know, even just shoulder to shoulder after a couple years of COVID and the isolation of that with people I could actually work with. It was Katie that actually sat down and talked to me about a few people that I might want to talk to in an interview for where I ended up working. So I think sometimes those conversations of knowing who in your network is going to be the person that you can turn to can be super valuable.
Speaker 3:Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 1:So can we talk about being a mom for a sec?
Speaker 3:Oh gosh, yeah, Now I can Early on. I didn't want anybody to know.
Speaker 1:I know right, we're trying to take the middle age white, 40 year old dad from Placer County out of this little bit. But you talk about a transition from being not just a mom, like the hardest job that doesn't really come with a resume or promotion, a thank you card or a company party that you're not throwing and moving into probably pretty quickly. It sounds like the fires of full-time real estate while still being a mom and a wife. Can you tell me a little bit about how that has been a challenge or how you've managed that through? Because there's a lot of our listeners all of them out there. I'm sure that are working moms too, right, or working parents in general, but I think they're. You know, I saw one of realtor posts earlier this year about there's like nothing more powerful than the efficiency of a mom who's also working right, like the amount you can get done in 10 minutes is amazing.
Speaker 1:So, from your perspective, you've always been busy. Yeah, probably have never been busier than you are now, with kids in sports and and husband that's working and you're working and building a brand. Tell me a little bit about, like, how do you balance that or are you balancing that? Okay?
Speaker 3:No, there is no such thing as balance. I wholeheartedly reject that because I think that that just makes everybody out there think, oh no, if I haven't found it, then I am failing. So I think that's a myth. I also think that you can have it. All is a little bit of a myth, but this is the hardest thing I've ever done, for sure. I'm so glad that I did it because I think I realized and learned just how much capacity I actually have. It's very empowering to be like oh, I didn't die from this, I'm still not dying, I can do this. But it is the hardest thing. And I would say balance.
Speaker 3:It's much more like a, where you choose to put your focus at different times and what you choose to release and what you choose to give yourself grace about.
Speaker 3:I feel like if I am focusing 100% on real producers, I am just letting balls drop in the mom world. And when I take a second and I am focusing on crushing it in the mom world, I feel like I am dropping balls in the real producers world, which is why strategic hires are really important, and I've been trying to learn about that and get better at that as a business owner. But yeah, it's really hard. The guilt is unbelievable on both sides because I do take my job and real producers really seriously and I know that I have people that I'm accountable to in that role as well. So it's not like an easy thing to just be like, oh, I'm gonna focus on the mom side and crush that. Yeah, and honestly, sometimes it is really fun to be in the career space and feel like there are company parties and there are people who say thank you and there are some rewards.
Speaker 1:I can get dressed up. A little bit I can get dressed up and no one is gonna puke on me or throw on somebody or ask me for more ketchup.
Speaker 3:That doesn't really happen in the mom world as much, but I will say, getting to be done at the end of a day, take off my heels and go sit and watch my kids baseball games, or, on Saturday mornings, get coffee, go with my husband and watch seven hours of football is actually like it's all I wanna do. It's so enjoyable. I love it. I love it more than I did when all I was doing was being a mom. It's such a easy, no anxiety space to get to just sit and enjoy my kids. So I love both spaces. I don't know how you find a happy medium. I think you just seek for contentment in both and know that there's gonna be guilt on both sides, but there's also like incredibly rewarding joy.
Speaker 2:That's so good. I love how you say that. I just hear priority management and it's such a fluid situation where, yeah, I mean there's gonna be times when you know, as a mom, as a parent, your kid's stuff, your family stuff is more important. There's gonna be times when you know the business stuff is really important and really pressing and balancing that is such an important piece of the entrepreneurial total and lifestyle.
Speaker 3:And I'm super thankful that I got to be more majority home when my kids were littler. Doing this with them older, I have to definitely admit is a little bit easier because communication is there and I can actually communicate with my kids. Hey, I'm working hard right now. I'm doing something that's scary for me. I need a little bit of grace or I need a little bit of partnership. I'm not sure how much they respond and actually go. You're right, mom, I'll do the dishes. That doesn't really have it.
Speaker 1:I'd love to make myself sound like a great parent. I mean, that's not just my home. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:But I do see it in them. I mean they are thinking and gathering information as they watch their dad and I, like, work our tails off. They are thinking about what they wanna do and they're asking questions about being a business owner and what they wanna do after college and I am really thankful that their picture is of both their dad and I working and what they could be both for my daughter and my boys.
Speaker 2:They could be picture the lens that they're getting to view the world through is one of productivity, and success, and mom can do anything that dad can do too. Absolutely for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, I think that obviously we had so much value in this podcast, but the last like five minutes alone the fact that you'd share that with us here is pretty huge, because I just feel like that's what we wanted. I'm super stoked that you're here and you're sharing that. Can I ask you one more thing about your kids, if you care to share, because you do something really cool with your family my kids are not quite there yet, but you guys have some awesome traditions with some Hallmark birthdays. Can you tell us about that? Because if you're not doing something like this, then you I think I don't know it's one of the coolest things I've heard.
Speaker 3:So if you care to share, okay, because I'm big on the mom guilt, so don't like. I just feel like we can as moms. We see somebody else doing something and then we're like, oh my gosh, I'm the worst, I'm not doing anything like that. So I'm big on like not projecting that other moms out there are crushing it and all of these things. And you should try to do them, but this is one that and I will say begin as you mean to go.
Speaker 3:So if you don't feel like you can sustain this, maybe just don't even try it from the beginning, because kids are big on like reminding you of like you promised in traditions.
Speaker 1:If you have 11 kids, maybe just pump the brakes Right.
Speaker 3:But no, so I read a book early, early on in parenting, when I was still trying to be really good at it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, You've given up. Now I have.
Speaker 3:My fourth and fifth, third, fourth and fifth. They kind of you know killed that side of me.
Speaker 3:No, but the idea was that if you give your kids certain rights of passage and meaningful, like markers in their life, when you acknowledge to them, hey, you're getting older and you're moving to a new phase of life, it gives them some sort of rooting and grounding of like oh, it's an opportunity for them to evaluate and be intentional about growing up and moving into different phases of their life and it just helps them kind of look back at markers and train them in the idea of being intentional with who they want to be as they continue to grow. So we wanted to do that with our kids. It started really simple at five they got a trip to Disneyland with just mom and dad because we could never afford to take all five of our children at the same time to Disneyland?
Speaker 3:No way. So everybody knows, at five you get to go to Disneyland. The next one is at 10, you get a 10 year old adventure with dad. The kid has to. They get given a budget. They have to make the plans for the adventure. You get to go anywhere. You can drive in a car three days with dad, but you got to pay for it all within the budget. So they're thinking through how do we want to pay for transportation, gas, food, staying, and you got to go someplace you've never been before and you got to try a food that you've never tried. Anyway, that's also when dad takes the opportunity to have some of those dad conversations with the kids.
Speaker 3:So that's the 10 year old adventure. That's been the biggest marker one. All the kids look forward to it. They're all excited for the younger kids when they get to go on the 10 year old adventure. It's a really neat thing. So one of the other ones we've got a couple in there, but one of the next ones that's really big is we want to take each of our kids out of the country to a third world country to serve people that are less fortunate than them before they go to high school. In our former life my husband was a pastor. We had a lot of opportunities to get to do that and serve and it just really is ingrained in us. It's important to us to expose our kids to that and help them see the world as a little bit bigger than their egocentric selves.
Speaker 1:So Maybe more important now than ever.
Speaker 3:Yes, totally so. Our first two kids we were able to take to Cambodia when they were getting ready to go into high school, and so now I've got twin 14 year olds that are gonna be freshmen next year and we're trying to get them to Uganda this summer to serve at a children's home there with some people that you may know. But we support a second grade teacher out there at that school and so we want to get our kids out there. So that's one of the main traditions is, before they go to high school, get them seeing a bigger world than they're used to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. I mean I feel like that's probably existed in humankind for a long time in tribal societies and other things that. Maybe that has fallen off a little bit here, at least in an American sense of the modern day child but that's really cool way that you put it too is like it's an opportunity for them to reflect on their own growth and market for themselves, like, oh, I am maybe getting some more responsibility and having an active yeah, who do I want to be now?
Speaker 3:And you see it, kids do it. They do it when they go to junior high. They do it when they go to high school. They go to college. I'm gonna reinvent myself, but maybe giving them a little bit more positive space to do that, with a little bit more guidance, is a better place than around your squirrely prepubescent junior high peers.
Speaker 2:What could go wrong? Sometimes, just kidding, you don't put deodorant on. It's still weird.
Speaker 1:How has that been cool for you and your husband as well, to see obviously it's an awesome experience for the kids, but what's one of the cooler things that you guys have got to experience is the parents watching your kid do those things.
Speaker 3:The out of the country. One or any of them, really any of them.
Speaker 1:I mean Disneyland's awesome right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally, but other than that, I was just thinking of how well your husband handles eating chicken nuggets for three days at the 10-day trip.
Speaker 3:Oh no, he makes it so they have to try a food they've never tried, so he gets to be like let's try sushi.
Speaker 2:Let's try. You know, there's the hook behind the crust. I love it.
Speaker 3:No, it's really fun. I think that we both my husband and I, are huge on communication. We really like to kind of try to stretch the conversations with our kids and help them be a little bit more introspective, and we are fascinated by that. So it gives those opportunities because they know there's intention behind these traditions. So I think they are willing to lean into them a little bit more and, yeah, and having five kids, I would imagine it's a pretty rarity.
Speaker 1:I'm just projecting a little bit to have one-on-one time with a kid for that much time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's probably pretty special for everybody. Yeah totally, it's awesome.
Speaker 2:All right, katie, we've had you for almost 50 minutes, so we are going to wrap this thing up, but we have a tradition that we've started here on the Open the Gate podcast, and it is the final question that we will ask all of our guests. And the question is if you could be anybody alive or past for one day, who would it be?
Speaker 3:See, that's a terrible question. I have no idea. I knew you were going to ask me this.
Speaker 1:You're not alone. So your imposter syndrome. Everybody hesitates on this one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, shoot, I'm freaking out Alive or past any one person, oh gosh.
Speaker 2:I don't want to give you examples because I don't want to feel like I'm skewing.
Speaker 3:You do? You need to give me an example. I'm going to ask you, dan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what about you, Dan? Who would you be?
Speaker 2:A low note here Charlie Woods.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:I would be Tiger Woods' kid for a day yeah 100%.
Speaker 1:Then you know what I would like without.
Speaker 2:I heard that somebody answered that on where I got this question from another podcast and I was like that's absolutely 100%. There's so many Michael Jordan's and you know, gandhi, and I'm like nah man, I'd be.
Speaker 1:Charlie, if it was going to be the same exact day, then I would want to be Tiger Woods. I could be your daddy officially. Yeah, it might be the only time I ever beat you on a golf course too, so, although I don't know what that kid these days- that's hilarious, I'm going to say so.
Speaker 3:I love performing and I've never had the voice to do that. I'm not a singer, but I watch movies and storytelling. Acting was a deep passion of mine when I was younger. So when I watch, it's not for the fame, it's not for the like oh my gosh, it'd be amazing to be rich and famous but I genuinely think it looks so fun to get to act and perform in like and bring to life somebody else's story through a movie, and so I would do that, because I just think it would be so fun to get to fully embody another person's story and bring it to life through a movie.
Speaker 1:So I don't know. So, tom Hanks, awesome, I love it. You make a great time.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to put my name on anyone. Actress that's not what I'm trying to be, but I would get to be an actress.
Speaker 1:I get it. I love it. Well, thanks for Katie for joining us today and it's been awesome. Appreciate it.
Speaker 3:You are welcome and thanks for having me on guys.
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