My Why!

I can sum up my why of real estate with two words that are super important to me. They are family and clients [that become family].

I always knew I wanted to get into community development of some sort, so I went to college and got my bachelor’s degree, but without the opportunity to move, getting involved with community development wasn’t as easy as it sounded. I ended up getting a job with our local school district as an At-Risk Interventionist helping 6th-12th graders with their reading and math scores. I. LOVED. MY. JOB! It was so incredibly rewarding, but it was burning me out. The whole point of that job, in addition to guiding the human building blocks of our community, was to supplement my photography income. It came to a point where I had to cut back on photography, which isn’t what I wanted at all.

A couple years into my job at the school (end of 2019), we were coming home from seeing my biological dad in the South End of Bay City. I looked out the car window and realized how the neighborhood looked so much different than I remembered; it looked sad and lonely. That’s when I decided I wanted to get back on the path of community development, but in a different way; getting my real estate salesperson license. I wanted to become a licensed agent in Michigan so I could: 1) provide for my family should something ever happen to my husband (he does industrial demolition and it can be very dangerous at times); 2) show my kids that it’s okay to follow your dreams and try something new no matter your age; and 3) start pouring life back into communities and neighborhoods that so desperately need it by helping clients find the home of their dreams.

Through the trials and tribulations of COVID, I was finally able to get my real estate license in 2021. At that point, I was working at the school, doing photography and trying to fit in real estate between both jobs and being a mom and wife. When your husband travels a lot for work and you’re taking care of the kids and house by yourself, it honestly doesn’t leave much time for anything else, let alone 3 jobs.

While trying to maintain normalcy within our hectic lives, a tragedy stuck our family in August, 2021. My bonus-dad, the man who raised me, was fighting stage 4 lung cancer and his health took a turn for the worst. I started back up at the school that August, but other plans were placed before me. With my mom working full-time and not able to always be there for my bonus-dad, I decided to take some time off work to help care for him. Sadly, he never recovered; his body was tired from fighting a battle that involved multi-organ failure. He ended up passing away September 25, 2021.

We buried him on a Friday and I went back to school on Monday. I thought it was the right thing to do because I missed a lot of work while helping care for him, but also because I needed normal in my life again. I was yearning for normal, whatever that looked like. Unfortunately, going back to work didn’t bring back normal. His passing rocked me to my core. I’ll be 100% honest, I was DEPRESSED and grieving hard. Couldn’t sleep, had zero appetite, barely left my bedroom when I was home, and cried all the time. I didn’t want to talk to anyone and didn’t care if I was around my family. I couldn’t keep operating like that, so in April of 2022 I had to make a decision. I needed to relieve some of the stress I was experiencing. As much as I loved all my jobs, I was no longer the same person and it was hard to pretend I was okay. The stress from everything going on in my life wasn’t worth dealing with anymore, which left me needing to take something off my plate.

I loved real estate from the very beginning of the journey and I knew it could provide my family with financial freedom, photography had always been a passion of mine and I wasn’t ready to give that up yet, so it left me with saying goodbye to my co-workers/friends and “my” kids at school. It was seriously one of the hardest decisions of my life and I balled my eyes out when I told my boss I was leaving, but a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders once I finally talked to her.

I’m now doing real estate full-time, along with photography. I’m doing this not only for me and my family, but for other families as well. My heart continues to grow and love real estate more than it ever has. Helping my clients find the home of their dreams and facilitating the start of a new chapter for them is just as rewarding as working at the school, but in a different kind of way. I couldn’t be happier with the decision I made.

Moral of my story, find your why and listen to your heart. You can still be analytical about it, but most times your heart won’t steer you wrong. Oh, and you’re never too old to make a career change if you no longer find joy in the things you used to love!

XOXO,

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