Fuel Growth with Grit

Speaker 1: hi welcome to the sheo fit experience with Melanie you're here because you want to scale and grow your business Master business strategy and learn about new tech Innovation join me and my inspiring guests as we dive into the topic of how how to create build scale and operate the business of your dreams in addition to being an entrepreneur I'm also a twin mom and Optimist who loves empowering you to experience the life that you crave Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so grab a coffee or cocktail get comfy and let's dive in parissa can't remember a time when she wasn't interested in real estate growing up she often found herself reading magazines with homes for sale and scouring the listings after college she spent time in banking where she oversaw branch operations and managed teams of people Karissa realized she wanted to own her own business and decided to take her management customer service and business skills and turn to her lifelong interest in real estate today she is a real estate broker with Beach City Brokers I am so happy to welcome Carissa right Carissa welcome hi

Speaker 2: thank you thanks for having me please

Speaker 1: share with us more about who you are and about the leaps that you made throughout your career before going into real

Speaker 2: estate yes so I have had quite an interesting stream of jobs prior to getting into real estate I have been working almost every day since I was 16 years old I started working at a small local family-owned ice cream and Candy Store to pay for my gas for my car and I waitressed my way through college to pay for my college and my living expenses then after college graduation I got into banking I just fell into it I was actually Premed but long story short I got into Banking and and I worked my way into management I learned a lot in all of my different careers prior to real estate there was a lot of customer service and sales and operations management all of these different business experiences really helped give me a strong foundation for what was going to come later on for me I remember asking my dad for a car when I was 16 and he said do you have a job yes which I went out and got one shortly after

Speaker 1: that and from what I know about you you have grit and tenacity that's really

Speaker 2: what it takes to succeed absolutely and whatever you do you have to stick through it through the good times and the bad times any business that's number

Speaker 1: one so tell us about your business now what gave you the courage to decide to

Speaker 2: make the leap into real estate I had always been very intrigued by real estate I loved looking at the housing magazines growing up I love going to open houses I'd always make my mom take me when I saw the signs when my daughter was six months old my firstborn like most new mothers do I had some time to re-evaluate what I was doing with my life and what I wanted to do I really wanted to have my own business where I

Speaker 1: could create my hours and still be present for the things that I wanted to be present for when she started school and so on I decided to go for it I was working at the time in a different industry but I received my real estate license and I was very fortunate I had some really great friends who needed to sell a investment property of theirs the day after I got my license they signed my first listing agreement with me the rest

Speaker 2: of History how has the real estate market been for you during this time and have your clients been able to see an increase in profit or have you been able

Speaker 1: to see an increase in profit So Co has definitely been interesting in real estate back in March the market was doing great we were moving into the spring and summer months which is our busiest time and covid hit a lot of deals fell apart we were all really scared we didn't know what was going to happen so I had about four escrow cancel clients were just terrified fast forward three or four months later it all started to shift with interest rates staying as low as they have been and everyone kind of adjusting to life in covid I started to see a really big increase in business again and it's continued the rest of the year we've seen in LA county an increase of 11% since last year in sales the market is crazy and really what it comes down to is the fact that interest rates are at historic lows and on top of that we've all been stuck inside of our houses for almost a year now we all are looking around saying

Speaker 1: evaluate right it's made us evaluate everything and on top of that with people working from home now it's given a lot of people the flexibility to move somewhere where they weren't able to before I've had a lot of clients come in from out of state and I've had clients leave to move out of state but in many ways I think it's been a blessing for a

Speaker 2: lot of people how has it been for you as a working mom through this time I mean I'm a mom of twins I'm homeschooling so I know what that's like and you mentioned after you first born evaluating where you wanted to take your career and I think every mother goes through that before I was working in sports where I was working at a Stadium 12 to 15 hour days and I just had this reality that I couldn't continue to live that way if I wanted to like you said be there for those special moments how has working through this time as a mom been

Speaker 1: for you it's been really hard I am a single mom I have two kids who are three and six my daughter is in first grade and so she's at a really crucial age which I know you understand my twins are in first grade also yeah exactly so she's trying to learn to read and to write and do all of these things that are going to carry her for the rest of her life I don't have a lot of support at home I'm a single mom running my own

Speaker 2: business taking care of these kids good

Speaker 1: for you thank you it was really tough in the beginning but I feel we're starting to get into our groove my daughter has her room with her desk set up she has really great teachers at school and my son gets his Legos out and he sits he plays and I set up shop at the kitchen table I am fortunate that they do have time with their father as well and so the days that they're with their father I maximize my business hours I come into my office I close the door and I put in 12 to 15 hour days to make up for any hours I lost trying to help them with their schooling and other activities at

Speaker 2: home I definitely admire and I know that the listeners admire you for taking that on too and I admire any working mom or woman that is homeschooling kids because

Speaker 1: I do know you know we can all add that to our resumees at least for a little while now oh absolutely yep and that's

Speaker 2: the nice thing is we're all in the same boat right now everyone's experiencing it you are busy caring for your family and running a business what management tips can you give us for staying

Speaker 1: organized I am a big believer in time blocking I have multiple planners and notebooks and I create lists every single day for my personal life as well as my business and I time block my time so I break it down into four different categories and then I a lot myself different times throughout the day to work on each category it's the best way that I can make sure I'm being efficient with the time that I do have it's great

Speaker 2: advice because how can we really be 100% efficient in anything that we do if we don't separate out the times when we're with our kids it's like 100% with our kids or when we're working on our work or our business it's like giving it that 100% attention just makes us that much more successful exactly and as working

Speaker 1: moms we all find ourselves having the mom guilt where we're working and we feel that we need to be spending more time with the kids and so I find that time blocking really allows me to give them time where it's when 100% for them I'm turning off my phone for an hour two hours whatever it is and we're going to spend this quality time I did give them some time and attention and presence

Speaker 2: today it's so hard too with everything that we've taken on and I just joke that the twins took my multitasking skills to an entirely new level I think this year done that again absolutely we are all shifting and pivoting at such a rapid speed today I love how we can learn from others about how to overcome obstacles can you share with us a business challenge that you came up against recently and how you were able

Speaker 1: to overcome it the one that is top of mine right now is the way my business has changed through covid real estate is such a high contact business where I need to be face Toof face with people and I lost that I'm no longer meeting clients and people I know for coffee like I was before I was seeing people three different people a day to get coffee or lunch and making sure that I was doing a lot of face to face and open houses I was always working open houses on my listings and it was a great way for me to meet with new clients and that's all been taken away I've really had to re-evaluate and I would say one of the biggest things I've been working on doing and I'm still working on it actively is finding more creative ways to interact with my clients such as social media I've been trying to have more of a video presence I find that when I see other people using video and social media I connect with them whether I know them or not and that been really interesting to see that I'm having the same type of reaction from people who I know and don't know and they reach out to me and they feel comfortable with me because I am putting myself out there and I'm talking about things that are relevant to them and important to them and it just creates that trust again that I was speaking of it creates trust between you and me because I see you and I feel like I know you I understand you and now it's creating this relationship that that was put on hold while we can't be face to

Speaker 2: face I saw your last video it was great and it seemed to get really good traction and it's hard to do these things but I think to your point a lot of businesses wanted to be more present on social and do more videos and Co was just kind of the push to get us all to

Speaker 1: go there absolutely and I had actually I was trying to use a program two years ago that was a video program and you email it out and I maybe did one or two I just was never able to do it and so Co has 100% pushed me to move more in that direction it's also perfect as the enemy of the good too we want to do it we want to do it perfect but the point is to really get the message out there and

Speaker 2: just to do it yes yes yes yes just to do it embarrass yourself go for it just take that leap and put yourself out there and you'll be amazed at how many people really appreciate it and give you props and it makes you feel good you're like oh I can do this it's not that bad and the more you do it the easy easier it gets that's true have you been able to meet with clients on Zoom or do kind of virtual tours or anything like that

Speaker 1: in the beginning of Co I would say we were doing a lot of virtual tours and a lot of Zoom we are an essential business we have many health and safety guidelines in place to allow us to meet with our clients in person 95% of the time I'm meeting in person with clients now I

Speaker 2: would think you would have to it is possible to buy a home virtually but kind of scary it's a little scary I want to see it absolutely know what I was getting into exactly I mean for I can't imagine buying a $3 million do house and never actually stepping foot into it not

Speaker 1: as much virtual as we were in the beginning initially you can do a virtual tour on the listing and that's a good way for someone to look at a home and pre-screen it yeah see if they might want to come take the tour and and do a full meeting exactly

Speaker 2: with the recent shift in technology

Speaker 1: today as we were talking about are there any technology platforms or apps that you use for Real Estate or your personal life that help you to be and stay successful or to stay connected with

Speaker 2: your clients yes I use social media a lot so Facebook and Instagram I'd say are are top for my business I always am using a CRM which is a contact relationship manager and it helps me to keep track of all of my clients and and people I've met through business over the years and make sure I'm staying in touch I've been using Boomtown I believe it is exclusively for Real Estate I've tried probably 10 crms and I just always go back to Boomtown I like the interface on it once you get comfortable with something it's so hard to change over right I just started a new one and I was on the call for this morning there's a new service that's being launched for consumers next week and it's really exciting it's called the PLS and it's similar to the MLS which is the multiple listing service where we input all of our listings but this PLS gives consumers as well as real estate agents a little bit more control over listings this is a one that I'm really excited about for my business and my clients because they can now go on to the PLS and search and see if somebody has something coming up that may not be on the market yet and you're put in touch directly with the listing agent not somebody who's paying for that listing if that makes sense right it's

Speaker 1: so fun to see all the new technologies that have come out in different Industries so I'm always so curious curious to know what's new since we are all dreaming of travel right now I know I am I know some people are traveling we haven't done it yet hopefully we will soon what is a favorite trip that you've been on and what was your favorite place you visited and why

Speaker 2: my favorite place in the world is Spain I love the culture and the food and the people I find that everyone is just so warm and I I love how the whole culture there just revolves around food and you get to take a nap during the day I just I find it's a slower pace of life and people really have appreciation for the small things which I think we lack sometimes where we are absolutely 100% a lot of times when we want to get to know someone we share a meal it's what you do exactly and taking a nap especially now at the pace for living today doesn't sound so bad either the thought of slowing down a little bit and really enjoying every second sounds really

Speaker 1: great magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy what is one tip that you can leave with us today about how you find and live your joy my tip is

Speaker 2: realizing how short life really is I try to wake up every day with a fresh start and a fresh head and be appreciative for all that I do have in my life I look at the challenges that I'm facing in both my personal life and my business as opportunities for me to grow and better myself I really am trying to teach my children the same thing you know they're struggling so much right now with not being in school in person if you can stay optimistic in life and and just find the blessings in everything it's going to be a much easier Road for you

Speaker 1: such a great perspective to have and I keep going back to grit you know do you think that having the jobs as early as you did and finding Pride kind of in what you were doing at such an early age

Speaker 2: helped you to take on that mindset yeah absolutely my mother forced me to take accountability and really held me responsible for myself at an early age I didn't have an option and I learned the value of a dollar and I learned the value of having a work ethic it makes you feel good to accomplish things and

Speaker 1: to make progress absolutely and I love that you say you're teaching that to your kids too because it's going to do the same for them and you know that's all that we can hope for we take the lessons that we learn in our life and we try to hand them over to our children so hopefully they don't have to learn the hard way but just try to wake up every day with a smile and get out there and do it such a great way to be thank you for being with us today Karissa can you please tell our listeners how they can

Speaker 2: find you yes my website is SB as in boy La homes.com SB homes.com and my email is Carissa sah homes.com and you can also find me on Instagram at south. bay. homes I'm much more active on in Instagram these

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