How to Transition into a Real Estate Career with Leanne Pratt | Total Agent Access

Leanne Pratt, a realtor based in Calgary, shares her journey from a retail career to becoming a successful real estate agent. She discusses the challenges and rewards of transitioning to a new industry and the importance of organization and client care. Leanne also reflects on the impact of COVID-19 on her career and the freedom she found in working for herself. She emphasizes the joy of helping clients achieve their goals and the importance of attracting dream clients through building relationships. Leanne Pratt discusses the importance of building genuine relationships in the real estate industry and how it can lead to organic business growth. She also addresses the changing perceptions of realtors and the need for authenticity in marketing. Leanne emphasizes the importance of work-life balance and continuous learning for real estate agents. She shares her excitement for the future of her real estate business and the opportunities it presents. Leanne provides three actionable takeaways for agents, including getting involved in the community, focusing on client retention, and prioritizing continuous learning. She also discusses the challenges in organized real estate and the need for training and mentorship. Lastly, Leanne talks about her involvement in giving back to the community and shares a guiding quote that has influenced her life.

Links:
Instagram: @leanne.realestate
Website: viewcalgaryhomes.com

Takeaways

🔥Transitioning from a different career to real estate requires adaptability and a willingness to learn.
🔥Organization and client care are crucial skills for success in the real estate industry.
🔥The COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges but also opportunities for growth and adaptation.
🔥Building relationships and attracting dream clients are key to a fulfilling real estate career.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background
04:04 Transition from Retail to Real Estate
07:04 Starting a Real Estate Career
09:33 Impact of COVID-19
13:03 Lessons Learned from Retail
20:19 Finding Freedom and Happiness
22:07 Aha Moments and Personal Growth
23:51 Attracting Dream Clients
26:19 Building Genuine Relationships
28:05 Changing Perceptions of Realtors
30:15 Marketing Secrets and Being Genuine
33:57 Work-Life Balance and Continuous Learning
36:00 Excitement for the Future of Real Estate Business
38:09 Three Actionable Takeaways for Agents
41:54 Challenges in Organized Real Estate
46:32 Giving Back to the Community
50:54 Resurrecting a Real Estate Business in a New World
51:26 Guiding Quote in Life

Transcript

0:00

Welcome back to the podcast. We are here with none other than Leanne Pret. And Leanne is a new-ish realtor based in Calgary. How are you today, Leanne? I am wonderful, thanks for asking. Yeah, really good. How are you, Colin? I am, you know what, I'm having a great day today. So life is good. It is sunny out and it is not snowing, but in Calgary, here it is. Yeah, it's snowing here just really lightly, but that's okay. We're saying we're in third winter, so third spring is coming soon, and then hopefully no fourth winter, hopefully third spring just stays. Yeah. Now, like I said, Leanne's been licensed for two years and what I really like to do on this podcast is talk to an array of people and, you know, get a little flavor of where you are in the business. But first, tell us, where did you grow up? Where are you from? I'm not from Calgary originally, which is normal. There's not a lot of people born and raised in Calgary that are here, but I'm actually born in Nanaimo, so raised on Vancouver Island. Yeah, I'm a BC girl. And my spouse and I left BC, I don't know, I guess 2014, came to Alberta the first time. We went back to BC for a promotion that I took and decided that it was really not where we wanted to be. So we came back to Alberta again and we've been in Calgary ever since, so the last five years. Amazing. What do you like to do in your spare time in Calgary? Mmm, that is a really good question. I love my workout studio, so I try to go to my workout studio five times a week. It's bar, which I didn't think I would love. I do. It's just this amazing mixture of HIIT and weightlifting and yoga and Pilates and ballet. And it's, yeah, I love it. So I go there a lot. I'm part of a book club, not to make myself out to be too nerdy, but I am a nerd. So yeah, book club. Oh, I love it. I am all about geekdom. As you can, if anybody's watching this on video, you can see all my chushkies behind me. I am full on geekdom and I embrace every bit of it. And you know what, there's so many different ways to be nerdy. So I love our book club. I love to explore the city. Honestly, we I might be biased, but I think we live in the best city. So Calgary's got so much to do in terms of cafes and restaurants and, you know, hiking and outdoor amenities. And I truly love the city. And then I spend a lot of time at the dog park. Yeah, I have a staffy, so she looks like a pit bull. sweetest little baby just the one that's our child so yeah you have three Yeah, I sort of got talked into two more. They were kind of a little bit after the other. So we have a rescue, which is a Rottweiler cross. Big guy. He's 100 pounds. He is the world's best dog. And then we. We have two French Bulldogs who are sisters, but from a different litter. that's the best mix. So my partner is like, we should get a pug. No, we're not having a pit bull looking dog and a pug. He's like, it would be hilarious or a wiener dog. I was like, okay, I could get, I could do wiener dog. So that's so cute. you, yeah, you should try to say that's the best mix to my big guy, because he is, he still after a year is unimpressed with our choices. He was, he was living the dream life. He had everything he wanted. He's a big couch monster. And then along come these two yappy little dogs that like to take control over everything. So, yeah. want to get another, we've been talking about getting a puppy for six years, ours is eight now, and so we've been talking for six years, and yeah, she's, it's gonna be a reality check. She's the most spoiled, like, only dog, you know, millennial baby, you know, millennial baby, so yeah, we'll see. Yep. of course. So back onto the subject of real estate. What did you do before you were licensed? I was in retail actually for many years, which is weird to me still to say. It's never where I meant to be and it was never where I was supposed to be. But I was in retail for probably seven years and then bars and restaurants and the service industry before that. But yeah, it's I actually was with Bed Bath and Beyond for seven years, which RIP that company is obviously no more. And yeah, they were really, really good to me. Just. At the end of the day was never where I was supposed to be. So I was a district manager for them at the end of it. And I loved it, honestly. Like I had multiple provinces, I traveled a lot for work and I really enjoyed the role and kind of have always been in leadership roles. And pre-COVID they eliminated that district manager role, put me back into a store as a store manager, which honestly was my worst nightmare, but wound up being. just a really incredible blessing in a lot of ways. And then I decided to get a real estate license, so. What do you think you've learned in retail that made you so good at being in real estate? That, okay, that's a really good question. There's a couple of things. I would say the organization piece is so crucial. Like, you know, as a DM or as a store manager, there's so many balls in the air all the time and you're responsible for so much that I feel like that transition to real estate was so seamless and you know better than anyone calling me how many balls are in the air at all times for real estate. I don't think people, sometimes too many to count. I don't think. people really know everything that goes on behind the scenes. So that transition was so easy because I am so meticulous and organized and diligent and, you know, in all my routines and things. So that transition was really easy. And then I suppose the other piece is client care, but not necessarily client like customers, like my team, you know, the stores that I led and the team that I had. I truly love my team so much. And that kind of... care for my team and their wellbeing, I feel like transferred over to my clients. Obviously client care too, right? Retail operates based on clients going into a store and purchasing and customers. But on a deeper level, the team that I had their wellbeing, just that was such an easy transition to then taking care of clients. And that's truly what fuels me and truly what I loved about being a store manager and district manager, I specialized in training and development. Um, so it feels just as natural progression. You know, first time home buyers, like let me. take you through the steps and guide you. Like I just, it fuels me. I love it. So lots of things actually. Yeah, yeah. along the way because for them, and we forget about it, like I've sold thousands of homes. I just. Forget what it's like to be a first time home buyer, to be perfectly honest, because we've done it so many times now, right? And scary. Yeah. First time investor who's really super worried. So. Here we are, almost in COVID, what drew you to becoming a real estate agent? And especially at that time. Honestly, nothing. And I know that sounds really odd. I never woke up and was like, hmm, I want to be a real estate agent. That never crossed my mind. My partner's best friend, you know, they've been friends for gosh years and years and years and he's a real estate agent. So I guess his broker wanted to expand his team. So, you know, my spouse came home one day and with his best friend and they were like, hey, we think you should do your real estate license. And I was like, no. It's not for me. Ha ha, truly. Was like, I know, I've never, had never thought of it, which is weird. And then they proceeded to tell me that it was weird because, you know, we've been invested in real estate for like 10 years. I am obsessed with interior design. It's one of my greatest passions. We, you know, buy older properties and we renovate them ourselves. So in terms of the building, the design, the rehab, the flips, like, I love everything about the real estate industry. and I had never considered being a real estate agent. So when they were like, especially like you said during COVID when there were so many people out of work who were frantically looking for a job, I had an incredible opportunity put in front of me to join a broker that I respect so much. I don't know that I would have done my real estate license if I wasn't going to him directly, him and his wife are incredible. So my partner was like, just try, what the heck, you are in a career that you never meant to be in. And like I said, I lost that damn role right before COVID. It's like, it's not where you wanna be. So he's like, what's the worst that can happen? You fail and you try something else. So it was really lucky to have this opportunity presented to me and have an incredible, very small team I was joining, an incredibly supportive partner. And it's been the best blessing, like truly, so yeah. Yeah, that's really funny. I also never thought about it. I was, I was, I was a chef. That's, I know, I tell people that and it's crazy. I, you know, worked in restaurants, at all things like I served, I've done everything in restaurants and I got to the age where I was like, well, you know, falling in love with a woman who doesn't work those crazy hours helps a lot too. It's very motivating that you wanna spend time with them. And I knew, you know, when I was about 34 years old, I had to make a change. And I had a couple of friends like you, who were real estate agents. They always looked like they were having a great time. And I was like, I can do that. I'm in, I'm technically in sales, owning a restaurant, you know, and running in. a restaurant? Yeah, yeah, yeah. With some partners, of course, because restaurants are big and very, very expensive. Oh man, the restaurant industry is wild. Like that's a whole, yeah. I don't know looking back at it now. I don't know why anybody would get into it to be honest, but some people love it that much 100%. Yep. That's cool. I didn't know that about you. That's so cool. There you go. I'm coming out as I would say on this podcast sharing with. I think you touched on something that I love so much that you were 34 and I think I must have been 30, maybe 29 when I was doing my license. But you know, I feel like sometimes people have this idea that like 30 is too old to start over or 40 is too old. It's not. Give your whole life ahead of you and like, wouldn't you rather do something that makes you so happy? Spend time with the person that you love, right? Change your life. I love that you said you were 34. I think I was about 30 when I quit. And this was life changing, right? Yep. And then at that point, you're like, okay, why didn't I do this sooner? This is so great. I love it. You know, it was all of a sudden I had this freedom. Because when I made that decision, I knew a couple things that I wanted to do. I once you work for yourself, you can never not work for yourself. No. The autonomy you have over your life in your day is life-changing. Yep. Mm-hmm. Yeah. people don't and they need the structure. And those people, if they're really into real estate, just join a team. That's like having a job because you have somebody that can give you the structure. But I knew that I wanted to work for myself and I knew that I didn't wanna have any staff. Last restaurant, I had 60 people. It was like herding cats. I feel that so hard. Obviously coming from a district manager role, I had 15 stores across three provinces. And then when I was in a store, I think we had 30 staff, we had a small store. You are responsible for everyone. Your success is their success. Primarily their failures are your failures, right? It's a lot of work and not everybody is made to lead teams and those who are, I think that's a really special breed. So like you running a restaurant or myself, like I loved it. It really gave me life, but at the end of the day, not doing that anymore. Yeah. just like, it's a whole new world. You are responsible for you and your clients, of course, but like one person is, yep. Yeah. So eventually, yep. Yeah, I'm always looking to scale like I can't stay stagnant. I always am looking to scale and yeah, so yeah, anyways, you was it pretty scary when you got your license, everything shut down because I know for the March of 2020, my phone didn't ring. And then April came around and it didn't stop ringing. But when you got licensed, were you worried at that time? Like, holy smokes, the whole world is shutting down. How did you overcome that? I, so I started, I think I started my license in 2021. Isn't it crazy? This one's been a couple of years and I already don't remember timeframes, but COVID is just like, I think a black spot for so many of us. Yeah, I think I did my, I started my license in 2021. Yeah, and then I quit my full-time career summer, 2022. So now I wasn't licensed during COVID, but I do remember we bought our fourplex. March 2020, like you said, the whole world shut down and March 17th, we closed on our four-plex property and we thought, what have we done? We just, and I lost my job at the same time at my district manager role. So we had just closed on this four-plex and I walked into work a week later and they said, we're so sorry, we're eliminating your role and not because of COVID, because the company was struggling, which now clearly, you know, they're no longer, but so. I'd be so interested to hear how your experience during COVID was, because like I said, for me, I was still working. I actually still went to work every single day during COVID, but it wasn't in real estate Yeah, I, you know, during that time, I guess it would really, you know, I was in Hawaii for the February of 2020. And then comes March, we come home and literally, luckily, everything didn't shut down while we were still in Hawaii, but March of 2020, everything shut down. And I got on the phone and I just started a phone and everybody that I knew. I started phoning people that maybe were a little older and maybe were scared and frightened to get out. And I just let them know, hey, if you need anything, I'm healthy, I got a car, give me a shout, I can go and I can get you something. Because when they locked everything down, we didn't know that we could even leave the house. You know, you just didn't know. None of us had ever been in it, but you know, funny enough, my parents who are 90, they just shrugged it off and kept going because they had been through World War Two and they had been through, you know, my dad had polio and they were just like, look, whatever, we're still going and doing the stuff. But We've seen some things in their lifetime. Holy. and our you know our generation. We didn't know what to expect so you know i got on the phone and i just started talking to people started talking to people not about real estate just about what can i do for my community. And helping others and letting them know that they're not alone because for a lot of us we're stuck in our houses. What people were afraid to go out the front door and i just wanna let them know that they weren't. alone. And you know, about a month and a half after doing that, all of a sudden, my phone just took off. I had my best year ever in 2022, ever, like, and I've been selling for, it'll be almost 18 years this year. And it was, it was literally nuts. And that's when I had to make the decision, okay, I need to leverage other people's time. So, you know, I didn't have an assistant before because I'm the type of guy that likes to do everything himself And I learned that during COVID that you can't do everything yourself. You have to leverage other people's time or years. Oh It is It is it is and you believe in the self-made man and the self-made man is not self-made Everybody has the help of other people so I had to let that sort of portion go and then bringing on a couple of buyer and seller agents and stuff like that and just enabled us to scale from there. So that was basically my experience. 2022 for me is a big blur. I don't even know where it went. I literally worked every single day of that year, every day. And you know what? It was great. I learned a lot. And most importantly, I helped a lot of people during that time. So let's look back. Sorry, go ahead. a huge piece. No, I just, I love that you said you helped a lot of people and I think, you know, not everyone is in real estate for that reason. And I get it, right? Different people are fueled by different things, but for me, it's the same, just this ability to help and guide and get people, you know, to accomplish these incredible goals that they have. There's something so powerful about that. And I love that. Yeah, you know what, I think I've said this on every podcast episode so far, but those of us that have worked with the public in previous, I think we're a different breed where we have the heart of a servant. And we'd love to serve. That's what we love to do. And I think that is what makes a very, very good real estate agent. I agree with that. I agree. This ability, you know, not even ability, but the desire to want to help. And like you said, a servant heart and the desire to give. And I agree. I it's also really cool to hear that 2020 was such an incredible year for you, because I think obviously for so many people, 2020, 2021 and 2022 were some really tough years. And I had a very different year in 2020, but it's true. I'm sorry, 2022, but truly one of the best years of my life. Like I quit my corporate role of seven years. started real estate had like to come back to what we were talking about earlier that freedom I had never had a summer off like that before. I lived my best life that summer and And know what? There is nothing wrong with that. You know what? Like you only live once. Yes, the memories I have from that summer and the freedom, it was intoxicating. Like I think, and I know you can attest this too, when you've worked for someone else your whole life, right? I've always, especially those last years, I've always been in leadership roles, I've always been in high level roles, I've always been responsible for so many people. To have all that taken away, it was intoxicating. You know, we went home to Vancouver for two weeks at Christmas time. I've never done that before. You know, bars and restaurants and retail, they operate 364 days of the year. every day all day. So it's just like, yeah, 2022 is a really special year and 2023 also one of the best years of my life. So it's so cool to hear the positive for you as well. Yeah, being able to get away at Christmas time was an absolute novelty for me because in the restaurant and I've worked in hotels and other things too. That's our busy time like leading up to Christmas. You are jam packed and you're working from the morning to the night and Yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. You have Christmas day off and then know what we're open for brunch on Boxing Day. So if you could now look back and give yourself a piece of advice for when you started out, what would you say to yourself? That's a deep question. You know, truly I know what I love. I'm excited. Um, truly, I wouldn't change a thing. Honestly, I would all of the years that I spent with that company, you know, the moves I've made for them, like I've, like I said, I've been back and forth BC and Alberta a few times because of the promotions that they've offered me and that companies moved me a couple times and I truly wouldn't change a thing. The the last couple of years, especially. that I was with that company. And like I said, I was in that district manager role and that I was put back into a store as a store manager, especially the last two years I was in a store. The learning was invaluable that, like it's hard to articulate sometimes, but I basically, I went into such a broken store, such a broken space, like to be able to turn it around, lead a team on that level, it's very different when you're a district manager, you're very far removed, right? You sit in your little office. You pop into stores, everyone smiles. So anyway, I truly wouldn't change a thing. What my team taught me, what I learned in the last year is like, was profound for me, honestly. So I wouldn't have changed a thing. Everything happened exactly as I was supposed to. love that. I really do. So, you know, in life and in work, we've all had those moments. And I think we've touched a little bit on a few of them here where you have those moments of clarity. And it all makes sense. You know, I call it the aha moment. What aha moment do you have that sticks out for you that helps push you forward? Mmmm I don't know if it's necessarily but like one really profound moment but there's been so many little moments along the way where it's just like, this is where I'm supposed to be. This is 100% where I'm supposed to be and it took me a long time to find that. But this, like we talked about, you know, waking up every day and having the freedom and autonomy over my life and my schedule and my day, working with the clients that I wanna work with. I swear I work with Dream Clients every single day and it's so rewarding. Let's talk about that for a second here. Working with dream clients and how incredible it is. How do you attract your dream client though? Because everybody gets stuck with some that are just absolute nightmares. And then the dreams come along. What was that? I said, I don't know. I don't know where they come from. I like, okay, sorry, keep going, keep going because you do you hear horror stories, right? You totally hear horror stories. Yep. had some. I've had some and it makes all the difference. And now, I guess 18 years later, I know how to go about it and get those dream clients. And more so, if a client comes that just isn't the right mix, we just don't work with them. It's just plain and simple. Going back to this is your life and you get to make the decisions and... live a life where you're happy and fulfilled. You can't spend your time with those clients. And it's really hard when you first start, trust me. Yeah, it is super hard because it is very difficult to start getting clients and build upon that. 18 years later, I don't have to worry about that. We have systems, we have people coming, we have lots of referrals, but. How do you do that at the beginning? you know, okay, first, I feel like you touched on something so important, which is, it's true when you're a new agent, right, any business coming your way, you're like, please, I will help anyone, like, I feel like I didn't have that experience and we can talk about this. I'm sure it'll come up, you know, more and more as we talk where it's like, I was so fortunate with everything that was provided to me when I started in real estate. Like, I was given such a start that Most agents do not get and we can dive deeper into that later. And I'm so aware of that and so grateful for that. I have a hard time articulating how grateful I am for everything that was done for me when I was starting out. But funnily enough, like 40% of my business last year came from my workout studio. 40%. Those are girls. It's primarily a women's studio. There's a couple of odd guys there too, some husbands. But I love that studio. I love that community. I love those women. Like those are my dream clients. People like me at that workout studio, you know? So it's like that was a huge portion of my business last year and I'm forever grateful to everyone at that studio. I totally get that because you're putting yourself out there into situations doing things that you like and It's public so the other people there are just like you and you start forming relationships with them I Tell everybody the key to this business is forming relationships and deepening them That's it more. Yeah, I could not agree more. So get yourself out there doing stuff. Like I used to CrossFit a lot. And guess where a lot of my business came from? And it's so organic. Cause you're not there, you're not there like, okay, that guy needs a house. That's not the intention. You're truly there because it's something you love that fulfills and drives you every morning or day or whatever it is. And then you meet like-minded people. So yes. Absolutely. And I swear, like, it's sometimes hard to say this stuff without sounding like very... I don't want to say like woo or millennial Gen Z, but truly I think you and I are very similar in our mindset. We're like, you know, the energy you put out is the energy you attract. And the way I've seen that in my business and with my clients is wild to me. And I don't know. It's a lot of my business comes from our website as well, right? We've got a website, our leads come in and even there I'm like, how do I keep getting connected? with the most incredible people. I don't know. And it doesn't matter their age. I've helped clients that are in their 60s and 70s downsizing who I truly love and I still go over and I have dinner with them and they have me over for wine so I can see the renovations they're doing in their condo. I love those too. And I've helped people my age and then the early 20s. It doesn't matter the age. They could be in their mid 50s. I still love them. Like the way that I'm connected with people, I'm still not sure. I've only really had one experience where I was like, oh, those people were not my people. And it didn't come out to the very end of the deal and their buying process, but I don't know. I just think that good people get connected with good people and the energy you put out is the energy you receive. And it's been really powerful. So I don't have any mathematical formula. I don't know. you just keep doing what you're doing, being out there, being genuine and attracting organically because nobody wants to be sold to, right? No, and in this day and age, you know, I think real estate has changed so much from what it was, maybe 10 or 20 years ago. And again, you'll really be able to speak to this. And for me, like even not a girlfriend said to me when I was doing my license, she was like, oh, do you really want to be like a realtor? They're so slimy. They have this bad reputation, you know, used car salesman kind of thing. And I was like, oh, I hope no one thinks of me that way. And now that I'm in it, I feel like the agents I encounter, again, there's always gonna be one-off where you're like, ooh, that person was not my five, that's okay. Everyone's different personality type, but for the most part, the agents that I meet are incredible. Like, blow me away the best people. And I think that this, I hope the perception of realtors is changing because inside the industry, I truly feel like are these incredible people. I just got so side-reeled. Where were we going with this? What were we talking about? No, that's okay because I fully agree with you on that. I think the bad reputation came like pre-internet. And I do hope that it's changing. Of course, there is gonna be bad, you know, there's bad doctors, there's bad dentists, there's bad lawyers, there's bad, there's all kinds of bad professionals that shouldn't be in the career that they are. And it's the same with ours. It just is what it is. So. no, being genuine, sorry, yes. Keep going, go ahead. here's one of my other deep questions. Can you open up your toolbox and share with our listeners, what are your marketing secrets? What has worked for you when you first started and what is working for you right now? That's a very good question. I kind of alluded to this a little bit in a previous question, but I genuinely was just set up to be so successful in ways that it's not the norm. And that's a very, I feel like that's a very corporate thing for me to say to be like, be set up for success. And I came from a very corporate world, but I really was like, so I joined a very small team, husband and wife, and they have a couple agents and they're including my spouse's best friend, right, which is how we got connected and They just, I don't know if they saw something in me or they wanted to build out a team in Calgary. They're actually based out of Kelowna now. So they were in Alberta for many years, moved their family to Kelowna. And they did so much for me when I first started that, like again, I don't have enough thank yous and gratitude till the end of time to thank them, but they built this incredible website for me when I first started for Calgary and that generated a lot of business for me. Like they took care of the marketing and things like that. We had a real estate coach that they like there. Yeah, I could go into the depths of it, but they I don't feel like personally, I've done a lot up until this last year where I've taken over more and more. And even then, I think our website, like I don't have my face on a billboard. I don't have my face on a bus station. I don't think that I will. Social media, obviously, is this incredible way to connect people. And and while I don't always love social media, it is this like necessary evil for real estate. I'm sure you feel the same way. But it's also so powerful because people really get an idea of you and who you are authentically. And to come back to what you said, Colin, about being genuine, people don't want to be sold to and they don't want to work with someone who they feel is disingenuous. And people smell that, they sense it. It's so... We call it commission breath. Oh, yeah, I kind of like that. I like that. It's just like you can Know so I don't personally don't feel you do a lot of marketing. Honestly, I somehow get these dream clients off our website I'd skagging I still don't understand but I suppose like social media is really it and Being out in the community like I am My marketing everywhere I go and just the way I interact with people and how and how I am and how I serve and you know How I show up every day for other people? I don't feel like I have any marketing secrets. That's okay. That's okay, because I think showing up being out in the public, you know, being at your workout place, I think that is, yeah, it's, it's all marketing in a way. Right. And I think it's much more genuine. Right. talking about the way the real estate industry has changed, I think back in the day it's like if you didn't work for a big brand name brokerage you were nobody. People wanted to work with you because you worked for you know this certain brokerage. That's not the case today. For in so many ways like people want to work with you because they trust you, they know you, they like you, they know that you're going to take care of them through this insane thing that they're going through. So at the end of the day it's who you are as a person that that's selling yourself not. the team that you work for, not the brokerage, not the office, not the car you drive. People know, like, and trust humans. They don't do business with brands. A brand can maybe pull in some trust or, you know, have some sort of recognition, but that's all, it's all changing. It's all about you. You as a human, as a real estate agent. Yeah, for a lot of us, you know, success doesn't come easy. and for a lot of us, we sacrifice time for success. How do you work on keeping a work-life balance? What advice could you share? Find yourself a spouse that reigns you in. I am so grateful for the partner that I have. Like he's the most incredible guy and we've been together a long time. You know, we've been together 10 years and he's not in the real estate industry. And for that I'm very grateful. I think it would be really hard to have two partners as agents because if you are programmed to work and I am someone who will work day and night, you know. My team used to make fun of me back in the day because I would work a 10 hour day at the time by baby when I was a store manager, I'd work 10 hours there. I would come home and I would renovate and work in one of our units that we were building for four or five hours. Like I just, if I don't have someone to stop me, I won't sleep. So real estate is not the best industry for that because you can't operate 24 hours a day. So I'm very, very grateful to have a partner that will just sometimes say to me, hey, put your phone away for an hour. You know, put it on silent or hey, we're gonna go away on a trip and. And he is the best reminder for me that it is so important to be present with the people that you love because it's so easy to get involved in real estate and in this industry and work every minute and be so glued to our phones. And like that's a part I really don't like. And then I suppose the other thing too is like, I really try to take the mornings for myself. And by mornings, I mean like, like 5.30 in the morning, I'm a 5 a.m kind of gal. So I get up and I meditate and I journal and I write in my... gratitude journal and I read for a little bit every morning and like truly I don't have kids. I don't know how people with kids operate on a daily basis. Like your whole day is given to someone else and even as an adult with no kids like I feel like that morning time is the only time I get to ourselves. So I really try to take that for me and then I go to my work out class at 6 30 and we start our day. So that's it. Otherwise I would work myself. yeah, no, that's really good that you have the boundaries to set because I fully agree with you. If you let this career run, it will take over your life. You will work every minute of the day and eventually you have to pump the brakes or, you know, your spouse leaves you, you know, if you're never around, right? Seen seen that happen way too many times. So And in any industry, yeah. Yeah, in any industry. Absolutely. What is the one thing that has you most excited about the future of your real estate business? Honestly, this is maybe like the cheesiest answer, I'm sure everybody says it, but just that there is endless opportunity in real estate. Like it's so, I think that's why a lot of people get into this industry is, you know, you have no boss and you make your own hours and you make infinite commission and all these things, which is not true for some of those things, right? But it's like, for me, the opportunity is endless, which is also simultaneously incredibly overwhelming. Where can I go? What can I do? Yeah, and where should I not go? And yeah, oh my gosh, and shiny outback syndrome and all these things, but for me, it's this ability to help people and build a future for myself and my partner and travel world and this idea that maybe we don't have to work forever. Like real estate is so powerful, so powerful, whether you're buying your first home or you're buying your first investment or you're building your investment portfolio, whatever it might be, real estate for me really just offers this opportunity to work hard now in hopes that... we don't have to work forever. We have this whole life to live and we have loved ones who wanna spend time with, we have more countries we wanna see. So for me, it's just this idea of the freedom that we can work towards and work hard now for. So, I get so inspired by that. Yeah, yeah. Give our listeners three actionable takeaways that you think that every agent should be doing in their business right now. Ooh, okay. I've got to say the first one is get out in the community. And right, we talked about that too, Colin, whether it's a workout studio or, I don't know, a hip hop class or a cooking lesson, like get out in the community, meet people, build those relationships, volunteering as well. Like I just think it's such a good way to give back. I'm not, there are three things people should be doing. I think this maybe goes hand in hand, but somewhere along the lines of client retention. You know, there are relationship-based agents and there are transactional agents. And for me, like you said, this whole industry's relationships. So what are we doing for the clients that we have and the clients that have worked with us and trusted us in the past? You know, how are we fostering those relationships and keeping that relationship alive? So to me, I think there's so much focus on. How do we meet new people? How do we generate new leads? But it's like, okay, well, what about the people that we've worked with who've trusted us with such as massive decisions? I think a greater focus on the relationships that we've already built, like that's a really big one for me. And maybe unpopular opinion on this last one, but continuous learning, like we, well. The only thing constant has changed, we all know that, but especially in this world that we live in, things change so fast and things evolve so quickly. So what are we doing to keep up? I don't know, I feel very lucky to live in Calgary. Our real estate board's incredible and we have a little baby realtor university here in the city that our real estate board has and they offer different courses, whether it's online webinars or in person. And I just think we have this incredible opportunity to learn all the time and so many people don't. They're just stagnant day to day. And that's... That's just not good enough for this, especially this industry. Yeah, I don't understand people who can be stagnant. I love to learn and I'm obsessed with it. Like, just talk to my wife, I spend a little bit too much on books. I love to read and I don't know how many courses I've bought, I don't know how many books I've read, but I'll just consume everything, and keep growing because I think that is... That's what life is about really, is to be growing as an individual. There's so much to learn. If I could go back to school and do a second degree and a third degree, 100% I would. There's so much to learn, it's infinite. Like you said, how do we grow and continue to be a better person? How do we grow and be better in our trade and our craft? And how do we help people? How do we understand them better? It's just, there's so much to learn and not enough time to learn it. But again, maybe you and I are just nerdy in the same way. I think so. I think listeners of this episode are gonna be like, yeah, you guys are a little nerdy. Hey, I'm good with that. I will be a nerd all day. I own a Tesla and people always assume that I'm some kind of environmental guy. And I remind them all the time, I didn't buy this to save the environment. I bought it because it's the closest thing to the Millennium Falcon. that I could find. I feel like my partner is the same way. Yeah, he's like electric vehicles. He's like, it's just forward thinking a new type of technology Yeah, he's nerdy and such a different way him and I Yeah, not the same nerds So what do you see in the future for organized real estate and what are our challenges? I think speaking of learning and development, that to me is like one of the greatest policies of the real estate industry is that, again, I do think it's changing thankfully, but you know, this idea that so many agents, they do their license and they're just given a desk and, okay, go. There's no training. There's no mentorship. There's no development. There's no onboarding. This is an industry where we're handling the biggest purchase of most people's lives. The barrier to enter is very low. You can do a $20,000 bachelor degree, or you can do a $2,500 real estate license and make infinite commission. There's a lot of people that do their license to come full circle. Maybe that shouldn't, right? There's a lot of people in certain industries that that's just not the industry they should be in, and real estate is one of them. So I think maybe this threshold to enter, but also to, if we are having so many people doing their license and getting into real estate, How are we supporting them? How are we training them? How are we onboarding them so that they can be as successful as possible? You know, I feel like that's why I had the most incredible first year and an incredible start to my second year is so much was done for me to be set up that way and that's just not the norm. And I feel like, you know, from all my girlfriends that are in real estate and the people that I'm meeting and this kind of new generation coming in, they do want more. They want to be part of a team. They want this training. They want mentorship. They want to make sure that they know what they're doing because it's scary as hell out there trying to be a real estate agent without any of the above. So I think a huge fallacy is lack of training and development and mentorship. But I do feel like that's changing and that makes me really, really happy to see. And then, I mean, obviously, this huge lawsuit with NAR in the States and Commission, you know, I feel like that's going to trickle down to college officials. Absolutely. it's going to go as well. Just one thing that you talked about training and stuff like that. That's one thing that I could never understand about our business is the amount of people that get into it and they just are so they want to be a solo agent. And I don't understand why when you begin, why not find? somebody to mentor you and or join a team and it doesn't have to be forever. If you want to be the big dog, eventually, be the big dog, but you can't. It's really, really difficult to be the big dog right out of the gate. I come from a background being a chef. I apprenticed for four years. Imagine if they had the same sort of thing in real estate where you had to apprentice for four years, but I always say, you know, like find somebody that will take you under their wing and help you along and show you the ropes. Or join a team where they feed you business because that's the hardest thing to do at the beginning is to get leads. Get leads and know how to convert them. That knowing how to convert, yeah, knowing how to convert them is probably the harder, harder than getting the leads. But converting them into real clients is probably the hardest. to answer your questions. Like, again, I agree. Now, I feel like I had a leg up getting into real estate because like I said, we invested for 10 years, which makes me feel so old to say, but we've invested in 10 years before I did my license. Well, I have a huge background in real estate to start with. And, you know, like in terms of building, renovations, investment, the buying process, like that was all very familiar to me. Though even if you've bought a couple properties, it's different to go through that process versus helping a client on the selling side. So anyway, but to your point, yeah, like, to me, someone that's never purchased a home in their life or sold a home or been through anything real estate related, to do your license and then wanna go solo, even for someone that had a better background, absolutely not. There's so much risk, there's so much legality. Not having someone to be able to call and be like, hey, Colin, I'm doing X, Y, Z. What am I supposed to do? Where am I going? What form do I need? You know what I mean? Like not having someone ask those questions. super scary to me. I, yep. All the power, all the power to you and not it was all for me. Yeah, I totally hear you. So in general, and we touched on this, realtors are a fairly giving bunch. What are you doing to give back to your community? that question. Like I said I feel really lucky to be a real estate agent here in Calgary. We have a phenomenal real estate board so CREB, the Calgary real estate board, they put out all kinds of volunteer opportunities for us. I love it so I volunteer a few times whenever it pops up with Habitat for Humanity. If you know me or have ever followed along my real estate journey, like as we have rental properties, I love building. put me in steel toe boots and coveralls, I am actually the happiest there. Kicking down drywall, putting it back up, framing, mudding, taping, laying tile flooring, that is my absolute favorite. We're in the process of just finishing mudding and taping one of our units. So I love volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. It's just such a well aligned partnership with Craig and Habitat, so I love to volunteer there. Ronald McDonald House, you know, we were there over Christmas, which was really special. I really do love the... volunteering opportunities when they come up. And then my girlfriend and my co-host, a women's real estate meetup, which I love, and it's for female investors. We just found in Calgary that there's lots of real estate investing meetups and things offered, but they're mixed and it's primarily men, right? Real estate investing, even though a lot of women are involved with it, it's primarily men, kind of like running the show or it's spouses of the men. So right, like us women didn't really feel like we had a space. I co-host, it's called WYNC, so the Women's Investor Network of Canada. And we've just built this incredible community of women here that invest. And it's a free thing that we offer. Some months there's a charge, but mostly free. And it's just a service that we wanted to provide to the community here in Calgary because we felt like it was missing for women. And it's just an incredible space. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. So, are you ready for it? The rapid fire round. I'm bit nervous. Okay, you're ready. prepared. What is the one piece of technology that you couldn't do without and why, and you can't say the MLS or your cell phone? Am I allowed to say my Surface Pro? It's like a giant cell phone. Oh, GPS. There you go. What is the best book you've ever read and why? Oh my gosh, can I pick a couple? Business books, Kate Business Books, The Compound Effect and The Go Giver, love them. For life books, Miracle Morning by Hell, oh, it's such a good one. The Miracle Morning by Hell Elrod, that book really changed my life. And The Mountain is You by Brianna Weist. If you want a real slap in the face that you weren't expecting, The Mountain is You. And then my favorite type of books are like human behavior and relationships. So. We just recently read Mating in Captivity by Esther Prelner Book Club. So good. I love Attached. I love Enneagram and Personality Testing. So I think it's called The Road Back to You. Fantastic book on Enneagram numbers. Yep. Love to read. Okay, next. Totally. the best business advice you've ever received? Ooh, you know what, actually from my friend who got me into real estate, he said something along the lines of, you know, don't sit and wait around. And what he meant by that was I was, oh, I was sitting by my computer, waiting, waiting for the contract to come back, signed waiting, waiting to get this. And he was like, no, go live your life. Go for the hike. Go see your clients. It's going to come when it's going to come. He said, you sitting and waiting, it's not going to make any difference. And that it's so simple, but it was. true and I feel like I see a lot of new agents do that where they just sit and wait or no I can't do that this weekend because I might have a showing. You can book your clients around your life so that was super powerful for me and just that permissive no yeah it's okay like do your thing and it's gonna come when it's gonna come. Okay next yeah same. this is probably my favorite question here. Imagine you woke up tomorrow morning in a brand new world, identical to earth, but you knew no one. You still have all the experience, knowledge you currently have. Your food and shelter is taken care of, but all you have is a laptop and $500. What would you do to resurrect your real estate business in the next seven days? Okay, well I can't, I'm not gonna be a boutique workout studio, because that $500 is not gonna go that far. Probably get a website started, company like Real or EXV that's super affordable to be into, that have systems set up for you internally for your website, get your website leads going, and then social media, which doesn't really cost you much. So I would say, yeah, website leads and social media. Give us a quote that has guided you in your life, and then we'll wrap this up. Okay, a quote that I love is there are far greater things ahead than any we've left behind by CS Lewis. It's a common one, but it's so true. It's, you know, you asked me if I could go back, what would I change? Nothing. That was all there for a reason. There's far more things ahead. I said if I could go back and change anything, I wouldn't. You know, it happened exactly the way it was supposed to. Exactly. And a lot of people need to pay heed to that. Leanne, thank you so much for being on the podcast. This was an amazing chat. I loved every minute of it. We we went in other directions than I normally go in. But hey, it was a lot of fun. One of the big things we like to do here on Total Agent Access is we'd like to be a conduit for referrals. So. If anybody listening who's an agent and is referring in or out of Calgary and they want to get a hold of you, Leanne, how do they do that? You can find me on Instagram, of course. So lian.realestate or at lian.realestate, you can find me on my website, which is www. And then you can also reach me by email, lian, L-E-A-N-N-E, at view And I would be so honored to connect with agents, people needing help anywhere. Would be so honored. Colin, thank you. of that information in the show notes. So if you want to get ahold of Leanne, please just check out the show notes on the podcast and she will be more than happy to take care of any amazing clients in Calgary. Awesome, Leanne, once again, thank you so much. It was a real, real pleasure. Colin, I could talk to you all day, so thank you. You are truly an incredible guy. It was an honor. Thank you. I'm blushing. Hahaha!