This weather has me hunkered down and working from home, surrounded by sweet, sleeping dogs and cats. I’m so lucky to have a career that allows me to work this way when I feel like it. But it wasn’t so very long ago that I sat in a sterile gray cubicle, watching the clock. My job was soul extinguishing. This is personal so it’s a little hard for me to write. But if I can help one person in a similar situation to the one I found myself in six years ago, it will have been worth it.
I used to be a freelance writer, self employed and widely published. But when 23 years of marriage to a tenured professor ended in divorce, I needed a stable job with health insurance. I landed a good position in marketing and worked my way up to director. Then my boss retired and I found myself reporting to a narcissistic bully and sexual predator. I resigned.
There weren’t many openings at my level. I was overqualified for everything. I edited my resume to downplay my accomplishments and managed to find a job as an assistant. I knew it wasn’t a good fit but at least I’d have health insurance. As I sat bored and useless in my depressing cubicle I told myself I was lucky to have a job, but dear Lord how I hated it. After a $50,000 pay cut, one unexpected bill could throw everything out of whack. A cracked heat exchanger meant a whole new furnace. Better put it on the card. The dog needs an emergency vet visit. Better put it on the card. Health insurance won’t pay for that dental work. Better put it on the card. Suffice it to say I was no stranger to the Coinstar machine.
The gods must have been smiling on us the night my best friend and wife Jamie suggested that we become real estate agents. It seemed like a nutty idea. She’s an artist, I’m a writer. What the heck are we doing? On the other hand, we were addicted to HGTV so why not give it a go? We both went to Real Estate school, got our licenses, and joined a brokerage.
Soon I was madly in love with real estate. I was never bored, I felt useful and productive, and, above all, for the first time in my life there was a direct correlation between how hard I worked and how much money I could make. After our first few busy months we asked ourselves: Do we stay at our jobs for the insurance or do we take the plunge and do real estate full time? MLK Jr. said “faith is taking the first step even if you don’t see the whole staircase.” If we had faith in anything it was in our ability to hustle. We decided we were ready.
The last six years have been metamorphic. We’ve helped hundreds of people buy and sell homes all over Indianapolis. We started our own brokerage. We’ve welcomed new agents to our team and now we get to help nurture their careers, truly a joy. The success has been a little surreal (in a good way).
We’re at a new crossroads today. Our small but mighty Gallery of Homes Real Estate is expanding and we are inviting agents (and agents-to-be) to join our supportive, collaborative, creative team. We offer generous splits and flat fee plans, lots of opportunities for learning, mentorship, and breakthrough technology. Some of our agents have done well enough to buy their first homes, pay off all their debt, and leave their own soul-crushing full time jobs. If you’re ready for a change and you’re wondering if even a part-time career in real estate might be right for you, let’s grab a cup of coffee and talk about it. Reach me at deb@debkent.com or at 317-225-2253.