The Day I Joined The Best Company In The World

A lot has happened since my last life update.

First of all...

I PASSED MY REAL ESTATE EXAM!!

I am so relieved! If you've taken the exam before, you may know the feeling of walking into that situation and how intense it can be. They are very strict on what you can bring in - no jacket, no pens, no personal items at all. I was required to place my wallet, keys, and pens into a thick red bag with  a zipper and hang it on the back of my chair. Each work station is watched on a monitor where the proctor sits, so they see your every move. A word of advice for anyone who is thinking about getting their license in the future, sign up for Prep Agent! It is a great site with several videos, audio files, and practice exams. I signed up for 2 weeks worth of prep, and I would not have passed without it. The unit exams and final in both classes helped me a bit, but it was not as similar to the exam as Prep Agent. In fact, the questions on the final for my 30 hour State Licensing course were completely different than the ones on the actual exam. Without Prep Agent, I could have been up the creek without a paddle for that part of the exam. The national portion was much harder, but both Prep Agent and my 60 hour licensing course helped a lot. The only reason it was hard is that the questions were worded in a tricky way, and there always seemed to be more than one. Somehow I passed anyway, and I even surprised myself.

So...

30 hour State licensing course for Affiliate Brokers ✔
60 hour National licensing course for Affiliate Brokers ✔
State licensing exam ✔
National licensing exam ✔
Proof sent off to the state to receive license ✔
Begin on-boarding with Keller Williams ✔
Orientation with my team (11/26)

Yes, that's right. Yesterday I started my on-boarding with Keller Williams! As the title mentioned, it was the day I joined the best company in the world. I have Orientation Sunday with my team leader, and from then on it's just a waiting game. It should take 2-3 weeks to receive my actual license, and I have a few more fees to pay for insurance and marketing. I'm going to try and start lead generating in the most legal way possible. There are certain things I still can't do, but I can however have a Real Estate conversation with my sphere of influence. I know at least a few people looking to either buy a home, sell a home, or invest in real estate in 2018. From there, I hope to get more referrals and some good reviews. I wish I had my license during Bold, but maybe next time! I will still graduate Bold and I've still learned some valuable lessons and tips to have a successful business.

Working Mom Woes

Look. We get it. We’re away from our children for the majority of waking hours Monday - Friday. We’re selfishly sipping Starbucks with perfectly manicured nails, relaxing in our office, escaping from our responsibilities as a parent to gleefully go to work everyday without one concern of the wellbeing of our little one who is safely dropped off at daycare or at grandmas. Oh and those weekends and holidays off?! Let me tell ya, it’s fabulous!

I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m being sarcastic.

The reality for most working moms is much different, especially those where both parents are in the workforce - it’s not that simple. You’re fighting sleep regression while having to still wake up at a specific time so you’re not late for work. There are no naps later or sleeping when the baby sleeps, because you’re at work dealing with your CFO or interviewing candidates for a position that you’re responsible for. During a bad night of teething, you’re equal concern is sometimes how you’re going to make it through the day and not fall asleep while driving to and from work (or at your desk). When your child is sick (which luckily we’ve made it almost a year without more than a stuffy nose **knock on wood**), your concern is, “do I have the sick time to take off and still get paid?” Oh and the guilt! It’s not enough when you get updates through the day and find out your child reached a big milestone without you there, you get guilt from every mom community other than those specifically catered to those who work outside the home. Just today, I was asking for sleep advice leading with, “CiO is not an option” - the first question was, “but why?” The second was a CiO solution, and the 3rd and best comment... “Maybe he’s waking up to spend more time with you since you work FT.” Can someone pull this dagger out of my heart, because frankly my hand is tired from having to do it so often. File that under the rest of the back handed comments:

• “You’re brave, I could never trust MY kids with someone else.”
• “Must be nice getting a break from your kids every day!”
• “Oh! You work? I actually gave up a lot of luxuries so I could stay home.”
• “Can’t you work part time? Can’t you work from home?”
• “Why did you have a kid if someone else would be raising him?”
• “At least you get days off!”

When did we get into the mentality that kid’s being isolated with one parent throughout the week was better than them experiencing a whole village of people anyway? What luxuries are these people referring to? Food and a roof? And a break from my son?! If you mean worrying and thinking about him all day, while requesting updates, then okay. And people, I’ll say it loud for those in the back - “WORKING MOMS DO NOT GET DAYS OFF!” We’re moms 24/7. Can you hear that “CEO of Stay at home Mom”?! Would that be more easily understood if I painted in on repurposed pallets via Pinterest? When I get off work from working my 8 hours, I go home and usually work for another 8 hours - caring for my son, cooking, cleaning, ect... Weekends? Those mostly involve things I couldn’t do through the week. Holidays? Still working, still taking care of my responsibilities with a baby on my hip. All those things a mom normally does is packed into half the time to assure that we have a moment to relax. I always think it’s weird when people say that a working mom gets some sort of day off from working AND from being a mom - what do they think happens when a working mom is off on any given day? Maybe they think we then send our baby to work, because we’re selfishly obsessed with money and other luxuries.

...And stop asking mom’s if they can quit, work part time, or work from home. Some of us work out of necessity, some work with certain ambitions that require us to physically be at work, and some are experiencing both at once. Don’t you think if those were options and something a mom wanted, she likely has already looked into it? **eye rolls for days**

I know the “mommy wars” (a totally exaggerated title, but okay) exist. I know it’ll never stop. I know that some moms will think that they hold the key to perfection. I know that when I roll into school events in my blazer, late because my showing ran over, eating fruit snacks that have been in my pocket since the dawn of time, with that all day make-up look, curls that didn’t make it past lunch, and a prepackaged, non-organic, GMO loaded, gluten rich bake sale item - those judgey moms will just look at me like I’m ruining Iwan’s life and eating all the steak. They will say that they don’t know how I do it sarcastically. They may make back-handed comments, and I won’t care. I won’t care, because I can’t care or I’ll make myself miserable. Besides, as of now my son is awesome, striving, surprising, and I could not have ordered a better kid off a menu. Knowing that, I have no regrets.

A Career Worth Having, a Life Worth Living, and a Business Worth Owning

Between working in customer service, hospitality, and currently for the government; I've seen my fair share of bad or non-existent training. Take right now for instance; I'm sitting in my office waiting for the CFO to arrive to tell me why she will not approve my purchase orders. I've been doing them the same way for two years and suddenly they're wrong. Was I doing them incorrectly for the past 3 years or is her way of viewing different than the way my old boss was viewing them? Ya know, the guy who had been doing his same job for 15 years? Another issue I'm dealing with in regards to training - I have a report to do, and I've never been shown how to complete it. No one on property knows, so what is the extent of my training? "Figure it out." That's it.

They won't offer any sort of promotional opportunity here, but they will 100% use you up until they can't anymore. My new boss is dealing with the same stuff - she's under-trained. It makes me miss my old boss. I really need someone to take charge and give me some guideance and advocate for us in other departments where they believe they should be first priority - I'm doing the job of 3 people; sorry, your stuff isn't always urgent. I'm well aware that it's often my job to fix someone else's mistake, but that doesn't means it's at the top of my list of priorites - I have my own work to worry about too.

It's different with Keller Williams....

I mean, I'm already taking an educational course to help me succeed and I'm not even "on board" yet. I was also invited to a career night that was helpful and two realtors have already contacted me for meetings to give me more information. There are weekly, monthly, annual, semi-annual, and even daily opportunities for education and training. You have a team of people at your disposal to ask questions to and several tools at your finger tips to help you succeed. They are a training and coaching company disguised as a real estate company. On top of that, every single person I've met has been enthusiastic about their work - I've not had to ask anyone, "do you like your job?" It's been obvious and they are always vocal about it. My favorite thing that multiple people have said is,  "we want you to have a career worth having, a life worth living, and a business worth owning."

Better than the motto at my current job: "Figure it out. You're disposable."

In Googling, I see too that KW is listed as one of the top best places to work on Glassdoor. That's very encouraging too! The company has such great energy! So much energy that it's changed my goals in regards to how many houses I want to sell my first year.

Original goal: 20

New goal: 36

I INTEND to do that!

There is no try, only do.

Boo at the Zoo

 I've been looking at this picture for a few days - I'm so lucky!

They are both so handsome.
All my love, right here <3

BOLD: Money

One lesson that was taught on Thursday's first step to Bold was something I thought seemed a bit strange; why would the instructor even need to say such a thing?

The lesson was: "It's okay to have a lot of money."

This was brought up at both the beginning and at the end of the session. When he first mentioned it, I said to myself, "Well, of course it's okay!! Why would it not be okay? What a ridiculous thing to say! Is this some sort of sales pitch, because I'm already here." He then asked us, "how are rich people portrayed in the media? How do you view them?"

Answers included:

Self indulgent

Mean

Selfish

Rude

Uncaring

Stuck up

As I thought about it, I thought about the things said about people I've known who have found success, made money, and have enjoyed their hard earned income.

Things I've over-heard have included:

"Well, they're just showing off!

He's just blowing his money on stupid stuff!

I don't care if she's making money, but does she have to brag so much?!

They're not even the same people anymore...

They think they're better than everyone now.

How pretentious of him to post about his success!

What would THEY know about OUR struggle?!

These conversations were always followed up with, "Well, if I had that level of success and that much money I would ______."

That blank was always filled with some sort of uber responsible idea like saving money, fixing something up, or starting some sort of retirement plan. But really, is that the first thing you'd do? It's not the first thing I would do - our house needs a face lift, so that would come first. I would want to trade my car in too and maybe take a little vacation. Will people say negative things about me if I'm driving a newer car? Are they going to scoff if I'm able to take my family to Florida more often to see my in-laws? Should I REALLY have to worry about that? Why is success a bad thing?

Another reason that it's okay to have a lot of money is that you can give back. I think what people don't understand about my more recently successful friends is that they are coming from a situation where they have some catching up to do. Their money is well spent on paying off bills that we all have, while also doing some things that bring their family happiness and enjoyment. Eventually, I'm certain they'll give back to charity more often, but they have to assure their foundation is steady before giving back. You can't give back money that's already spent, and when paying off debt and securing yourself and your family in case of financial hardship - that money is definitely already out the door. Continued success allows charitable giving though, so their friends and family (and hopefully my own) should support that. Plus, who knows what's going on behind the scenes? They could be giving away half of their income for all you know. In saying that, I'm certain people would say negative things about them if they were to post things about their giving too like, "Why do they post that? Do they want a pat on the back or something?"

Bold really gets the wheels turning and makes you look within on how you approach life and how you think when it comes to certain situations. I never really noticed that I and others had such a big issue with the success of other people or their ability to make money. We're probably jealous, but I think too that we've been taught that rich people are bad when in reality that's not always true. Look at Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Michael Bloomberg, or Mark Zuckerberg - they're always involved in giving back in some capacity. Not everyone is a Scrooge McDuck.

Think about how you feel about rich people.

Is it mostly negative?

Keller Williams: BOLD

Hello, I'm Misty Bowles and I am BOLD!

Okay, I probably haven't earned the right to say that yet as I've only attended the first step to Bold, but I am now registered for the entire program thanks to my wonderful friend and soon to be team mate at Keller Williams, Corey. I'm excited and afraid of the Bold program, but the success of past attendees definitely seems worth the discomfort.

As I mentioned, I did attend the first step to Bold. I don't know what I was expecting going in, but I definitely left with new perspectives on the way I think and approach life and my career. I'm not going to lie, I almost cried at least 3 times as I took what the instructor was saying to heart - I really am my own worst enemy and I do over-analyze how I will accept defeat before even being defeated. I go into most situations expecting the worst, having a back up plan, and assuming failure; I need to change that. I need to approach things with confidence, and not be consumed with a disappointment that hasn't even happened yet.

I'll tell you right now, the thought of going into a career where I'll be considered an independent contractor terrifies me and I've been consumed with, "what if...". What if I fail, what if I have a bad month, what if I can't perform these required tasks, what if clients don't like me, what if my advertising photo is ugly, what if people don't want to work with me, what if they don't like me, what if I let everyone down? Yes, the defeatist attitude IS that intense and I know I can't change over night, but I think the Bold program will help - it already has.

We spoke about eliminating the words "but" and "try"
I'm guilty of saying, "I hope this works out for me, but if it doesn't...."
What does that "but" say?
To me, it's saying there is an option in regards to if I succeed or not, and there isn't.
I must succeed!
It's saying that I need to make a back up plan, but who needs one of those?
I'm going to succeed!

So, I need to replace that "but" with "and"
"I hope this works out, AND when it does..."
Doesn't that sound better?

"Try" will be replaced with "intend to", because there is no try.
I will not *try* to succeed.
I INTEND to succeed.

These lessons are valuable, and I will try....
No...
I INTEND to begin catching myself in conversations that are leading me into that defeatist attitude. I want my words, my tone, and my body language to appear confident.

I wasn't expecting to learn that the real key to success starts within, and not by the actions you take or the career you choose. Of course, career has a lot to do with it, but if you're not confident and you are not expecting to succeed - what's the point of a new career?

Our Iwan: Born 12/16/16