EP. 43 / Chicago Real Estate Agents on How to Stand Out in a Crowded Market - Jacqueline Lotzof + Stephanie Malk
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Jacqueline Lotzof and Stephanie Malk are moms and partners leading a Compass team that covers Chicago to the North Shore. They help clients buy, sell, rent, invest, and they refer top agents throughout the country via the Compass Referral Network. You'll hear about how they met, what they say is the key to their success, their tips for standing out in a saturated industry, and how they balance it all… or don't.
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In this episode you will learn:
Why a broker-to-broker relationship is important
How to stand out in a saturated industry
The importance of building a team to have work-life balance
Show Takeaways:
“You have to financially invest in yourself to get your name out there.”
“A third of our deals last year were pocket listings and essentially what that means is off-market deals.”
“It's just very important to have those strong relationships and cultivate them so that people want to share information with you and vice versa.”
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EPISODE LINKS:
-Lotzof Malk Residential Real Estate
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Kim (00:05):
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(01:19):
This is Moms exit interview, the show for moms who want to craft the career and life they want. Each episode, you'll meet inspirational moms across various industries and levels who are working and living life on their own terms, and they'll bring you actionable tips from finance to business development to happiness to crushing that imposter syndrome. I'm Kim rit. I was a burnt out media executive at Netflix, US Weekly and in TV news. I wanted a career where I was fulfilled at work but present at home with my kids. So I started working for myself and I love it, but not every day was easy or is easy. I wanted to explore with all of you how other moms were creating careers on their own terms. They're carving out flex jobs, starting their own businesses, they're taking back control. Join me and make work work for you instead of the other way around. If you are looking to grow your income and your leads through social media and you're a business owner or a real estate agent, but you feel stuck or overwhelmed, good news. I am starting up my new live coaching course. I had to close the last class early because I had so much interest. So take it from my students who had this to say.
Student (02:40):
One of the biggest things that Kim teaches you is to move away from this selling mentality to just focusing on just being creative and putting content out there that people actually want to see. After applying some of her teachings, I saw my average real view go from a hundred to actually hitting 13,000 on one of my reels.
Kim (03:03):
You will go from feeling burnt out to energized. I'll give you all of my templates secrets that I learned from 15 years at Netflix as a video executive at Pop Sugar US Weekly and a TV news journalist. Message me if you're interested, go to kim rit.com. You can drop me a line there or message me on social media at Kim rit. R I T T B E R G. Jacqueline Lozoff and Stephanie Mulk are partners and lead a Compass team that cover Chicago to the North Shore. They help clients buy, sell, rent, invest, and they refer top agents throughout the country via the Compass Referral Network. You'll hear about how they met, how they've grown their team, their tips for standing out in a saturated industry and how they balance it all or don't. We talk a lot about deciding how you decide to do what you're doing. Talk to me about what led you to real estate.
Jacqueline (03:51):
So my story is that I grew up in a real estate family. Real estate is truly all I feel like I know in a great way. My father was a luxury home builder, so I grew up on his job sites. I grew up with many of the realtors that I do business with today, and I would be on the job sites, meeting with contractors, meeting with designers, and at a very early age I fell in love with it. So when I graduated, I first went into commercial real estate, but after having kids, I knew I needed to fulfill my passion, which was always residential real estate.
Stephanie (04:23):
And I've been a broker now for six years similar to you. I was in media, I had a corporate ad sales job ever since I got out of college until I was pregnant with my third child. And I just decided I wanted to take control of my schedule and Jacqueline said, Hey, if you love sales and want to travel less and keep things local, you should get your real estate license. And I did. So here.
Kim (04:44):
So Jonathan, you started before you brought her on? Yes,
Jacqueline (04:48):
Yes. So I started as a solo agent in 2014 and at the time I was at another firm and I was starting to grow my book of business at the time. I also started my own construction company, small scale construction company. And I was helping some clients that I was helping buy and sell some completely independent that just found me and wanted me to help them renovate a bathroom, finish their floors, paint their house, build a closet in a room that didn't have one, things like that. And I was growing kind of both businesses equally. And then I got pregnant with my twins and I realized something needs to give. And I started really being introspective and thinking about where is my passion truly and what do I get most excited about when I wake up in the morning? And it was fully helping clients buy and sell and invest in real estate.
Kim (05:40):
Jacqueline, what you just said about having that realization totally connects with me. When I was in my twenties, which obviously was last year, I was working in media and I always loved jewelry and not jewelry, sorry, I always loved art. And so I turned that into a jewelry business and I was selling in stores on the weekends, standing in Bloomingdale's, like doing trunk shows. It was really cool. I met my husband and I could see that in not too many years I'm going to be a parent. Am I really going to have a side hustle? Am I really going to have 1.5 jobs and a kid? And that's exactly the point. And I sort of realized, all right, I got to stick to one thing that is still I like and I'll figure out a way to scratch that itch of creativity art in some other way. But you're right that you have to have that point where you're like, how is this going to look? How is this going to be a part of my life? And as it all comes together, how did you have that aha moment for you?
Stephanie (06:33):
Yeah, I was working in ad sales and I was covering 19 states and there was a lot of travel. So it really came apparent when my parents would have to drive 45 minutes into downtown Chicago at four 30 in the morning so I could catch a 6:00 AM flight to Cleveland and then I'd be rushing meetings, trying to hop a early plane back to get home in bedtime since I missed morning time. And I just thought there has to be a better way than this, that it's not taking disrupting three people's schedules and that I could be with my kid and still love what I do, but the travel just got to be too much. So was some
Jacqueline (07:08):
Nudging, nudging pressure. I
Stephanie (07:11):
Finally was like, I'm doing this. So
Kim (07:13):
Talk to me about the pros and cons about working in real estate because I feel like in some ways it's very flexible. You can make a lot of money. There's definitely, it's very competitive, but once you're in it is a really good payoff. But I do think you have to be available when people are available. Like I mentioned before, I had sold my jewelry, I'm like, well, people are shopping Friday, Saturday, Sunday. People go to open houses on the weekends. So how do you balance all of that?
Jacqueline (07:38):
So there's definitely a misconception in this industry. You need to spend money to make money and we have developed a team, there's six of us now, and even new team members will ask us those questions. You have to financially invest in yourself to get your name out there. Even being honest team, we promote our team members, we promote the brand, but we all have our own kind of niche. We all have our own sphere of influence is what we call it. And to really get out there, you have to invest. So you do have to be in a position that you can do that. My first year in the business, my husband and I knew that for me to do this full-time, which I wanted to do, I needed to hire a nanny. I needed to be able to fly by the seat of my pants and be able to have maybe a free day, but by 10:00 AM all of a sudden my day is fully booked up and I need to be able to leave the house and go. So we invested in our nanny, the greatest person that we ever hired in our life literally we're almost at 10 years while about nine and a half years with her. And that was single handling the best decision I made because I was able to be there wholeheartedly for my clients at the drop of a pin.
Kim (08:47):
Is she working Saturdays and Sundays too? No. Or do you have a different schedule?
Jacqueline (08:51):
As my kids have aged, we've changed their schedule. So there actually actually was a period of time that her hours were a little lighter during the weekdays so that she can cover Saturdays as well as my kids have gotten older and have more sporting activities and more activities that do really require parents to be there. We've just kind of shifted. And my teens also evolved, so I have more support now on the weekend. So I'm maybe not necessarily always with my client on a Saturday if I have a kid's competitive events or something like that.
Kim (09:19):
That's interesting. When I was in TV at the beginning of my career, we would have a rotating schedule. Basically I worked in news, so someone worked Saturdays and so there was a producer and a reporter on rotation on a Saturday and on a Sunday. And you kind of knew when it was your weekend. So is that the sort of thing when you're on some Saturdays and other Saturdays you're not?
Stephanie (09:38):
Yeah, for sure. My family has an O pair, so we have live in hell because it just takes three adults to care for three children. And my husband's a physician so he also works weekends. But what I kind of do is I mentally set aside four or five hours on either a Saturday or Sunday. So when clients start asking and I'll work that time block around a kid's soccer game or if I want to be at something for my kids and I'll just know when they say, Hey, I want to see this house this weekend. I'll say I'm free to 12 to four on Saturday or Sunday. So I kind of mentally save that time for them, tell my old parent advance, we're going to need you this Sunday, seven to two or whatever it is, especially if we have a new listing coming on and I'm going to be bonkers at open house. You just have to prepare. And even sometimes I set that time up and it's not till Friday at four o'clock. Cause that's how real estate is that that time is getting filled. Cause so many people contact you with a less than 24 hours until they want to see a house.
Kim (10:30):
Yeah, I think is, it's realistic to say there's pros and cons in every single job. So absolutely because hours get filled and if you even have the opportunity to say, actually for the next four hours I'm doing this, that's cool. And then yeah, sure you have to put in those hours on a Saturday because that's just how it goes. And that's a part of the
Jacqueline (10:48):
Business. It's definitely the nature of the business. There's no sugarcoating it. You do need be available for nights and weekends and you have to have some sort of flexible schedule to do that. It might limit our downtime at home. So we may be at that soccer event and then be with clients for four hours and then run home, change our clothes and go out to dinner like that or the suburbs or wherever we're going. Right? Yeah. We are oftentimes very much quick changing, figuring it out. My
Stephanie (11:14):
Clothes are on the front seat of my car. Yes. My gym clothes, my going out clothes, my leggings for being a mom. Yes, my clothes for being at a showing and I just kind of live out of my car. It's also nice to have a business partner because she'll be like, I'm walking into this house and I think my clients will want to write an offer. I have four places to go after a computer just in case. So we kind of balance each other out and give each other heads up of who can handle why and what commitments we have
Kim (11:38):
Obviously. So you have, how many people are on your team in total?
Stephanie (11:41):
Us, two plus four other agents. So there were a six person team.
Kim (11:44):
So it's a big team. Normally I would say, can I ask this, but I think everybody puts it on social media. Can I ask how much revenue or income your team took in last year?
Stephanie (11:53):
Yeah, sure. We did 65 million last year and I think that was 71 transactions. So it was a busy, busy year.
Kim (11:59):
Yeah. I would normally be like, Ooh, can I ask? But I'm like, everybody kind of puts it out there.
Jacqueline (12:05):
Yeah, it's
Stephanie (12:05):
Definitely a postcard, a social media post. That's true.
Kim (12:11):
The journalist part of me is ask it. The human part of me is like ask if you can ask it. And then the part of me that lives on social media is like, it's out there.
Stephanie (12:20):
It's true. We're very proud of that number.
Jacqueline (12:22):
Very. So
Kim (12:24):
I would like to know, I work with a lot of real estate agents from around the country and I'm actually speaking at a big real estate convention in March, which I'm really excited about at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services convention about how to grow your business with video and podcasts. I'd like to know from you all, you're doing really well, you're successful. What do you think is key to standing out in a saturated industry?
Jacqueline (12:44):
So I firmly believe that if you are a realtor and you're not on social media and doing stories and doing reels and frankly imitating or mimicking those on all your platforms, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, you are missing the boat because the newer agents are all doing it and the agents that have been are a little more senior are starting to do it and everybody is kind of infiltrating it into their marketing in a certain way. And if you have that mindset that it's just not for me or I don't want to figure it out, you will not be found. I mean there's a study from another social media realtor influencer who said 80% of millennials would hire a realtor just based on their social media. We got
Stephanie (13:28):
A listing recently based on social media DM does and said, we follow you.
Jacqueline (13:33):
And same thing with one of our team members partnered with a lender and she posted on her TikTok and he picked up a lead. Yeah, it's really, you're just missing the boat for some people. Maybe they're okay coasting where they are, but if you really want to continue to pound the pavement and get ahead, you need to be on social.
Kim (13:48):
I feel like you're walking advertisement for my business. Yeah,
Stephanie (13:52):
That's insane. The other thing, in addition to being on social media, I think also supporting your community and keeping things local is also key. So those are the two things we definitely think about on a weekly basis of what we're doing on social media and how can we give back and support our community. Yeah,
Kim (14:07):
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(15:07):
I see this for myself. I also see this for the agents I work with. People will reach out on LinkedIn, on Instagram and Facebook and they're like, Hey, I've been watching your videos. I'm looking to sell my home. And they've been in the background, they've been seeing what you're doing. So it's often that they're there, they're watching quietly and then they come. So you're increasing your awareness. And the other thing is people forget. I know I saw a fact, maybe it's related to the convention head told me. Basically there's that cycle of you're buying a home with you and then you're waiting for them to sell their home. How do you stay connected with them? And so sometimes social media does that work for you. So they're doing that work for you to stay and keep that relationship open, rekindle that relationship to someone from 10 years ago. I've seen this from my agents, I've seen this For me, I had someone from college reach out because of a LinkedIn post. Someone I had honestly not talked to in 20 years, but I liked and he liked me. And I think that that's something that people often forget because they're like, oh my reel got viewed X times, I didn't get business from it. I'm like, yeah, you don't get business from one reel. It's from strategy. It's from all a whole strategy instructor. Anyway.
Jacqueline (16:11):
So we've spent mean as being in the position you are. I mean we have spent years trying to perfect this and there is no perfect model, but when we first started kind of doing it, you're flying by the seat of your pants, you're creating a random reel with no captions and barely anything and you're just throwing it out there. But we have spent so much time working on this, we know it works. We also know that in-person client events work, we kind of have this pool of products that we now put in place throughout the year. We are very big on planning and pushing that out there so that we feel that we're doing everything we can do and making sure our team feels like we're doing everything we can do to really stay involved in our community, be on social, but create those interactions between our own clients. Because that's something that Steph and I really value is the relationships we have with our clients that live locally and that move to town or move out of town. We still are in contact with them. We have a process to do it.
Kim (17:11):
I love that reminder about in-person. Like it's the same way. It's your whole life is not online and your whole life is not offline. It's both. So you need those in-person things. And I also always recommend to people be your local expert. If there's a new bar opening, everyone who lives in your neighborhood is talking about the new bar. I live in Brooklyn, there is so much talk about this. What's going to happen to the Brooklyn Queens expressway near us? What's the construction? That's a great topic to talk about because everybody who's looking to buy in the area cares about and wants to know. So sometimes I think people, we think so big and we think national trends and whatever, but the truth is you're selling local real estate, so you have to be that local expert. It could be as small as your neighborhood or it could be as big as your city. What has been some struggles and how you've learned from it in terms of marketing yourselves?
Jacqueline (17:55):
So I think that in years past we would do one-off print ads. We would do, we try things, we would dabble in this and dabble in that. And kind of like you give feedback and you can't just do one reel, it's not going to work that way. We would try random things. Some of them were costly than others and it's not that they didn't work. We didn't feel that spending $50,000 in print ad frankly was going to be the best use of our funds. It
Stephanie (18:22):
Was a little bit of trial and error. We didn't quite know it. Were booking this business,
Jacqueline (18:26):
So
Stephanie (18:27):
Had a lot of buckets versus a few buckets that we were going deep in.
Jacqueline (18:29):
Exactly. So we have figured out a way to reel that in with reels and with more free tools, toss. We still do postcards, we still do print ads, but we're putting more in other areas that we find are giving us a better return.
Stephanie (18:44):
And I think a big part of what we focus on as well is how to stand out from other realtors and what we do in our marketing. Cause that's also something that's important.
Kim (18:52):
You just mentioned $50,000. Was there really a time where you were spending $50,000 on print ads in one year?
Jacqueline (18:57):
No, I don't. I
Stephanie (18:58):
Mean, print can, it's very costly. No, not 50, I
Jacqueline (19:02):
Don't think quite 50. But that's probably what we would've needed to spend if we were going to commit to that areas
Stephanie (19:07):
Costly. So there are some programs that a lot of agents do weekly, daily, monthly that probably they're spending that
Jacqueline (19:15):
For sure. Oh, there're absolutely agents that spend that in a year.
Kim (19:18):
What is a average marketing budget for a real estate team?
Jacqueline (19:22):
They say you're supposed to set spend about 10% of what you bring in. I think we're somewhere in that range. Yeah, I think we, because of social media, have tried our best to keep those costs down, but frankly we then spend that in our in-person events. So we're probably spending it in a certain capacity anyway.
Kim (19:40):
Do you have a social media manager or you do it all yourself?
Jacqueline (19:42):
We do it all ourselves.
Kim (19:44):
Oh, that's a heavy lift. It's a heavy lift.
Jacqueline (19:48):
I think there's just something about being authentically yourself on social media that is hard to do when you have someone managing it. I think it's great that someone can give you ideas and keep you on track, but I think at the end of the day you need to tell your story. And I always say to staff, I'm not the most eloquent writer. There's definitely areas that I could use someone to edit, maybe my captions, but my clients and our followers, they don't expect that. They see what we write and it makes sense to them and they feel connected to us. And the amount of dms we get do prove that. Every time we post something, people are so supportive. Or we're posting a story promoting a local business and people are commenting and we just try to be as a, I mean half the time we're not in makeup, we're just very real. We
Stephanie (20:30):
Post silly things about our kids. I posted this Valentine's Day thing I made with my kid and we heard about it. Right? 15 times the next day. So
Kim (20:39):
It's interesting. I think there are pros and cons because I have both had someone helping me and then done it myself. I work with agents who have people helping them. I've worked with the age agents of do it themselves. I feel like if you can commit to doing it and you can be consistent and you don't feel like it's a chore, great. When you're drowning in work and then you don't find the time for social media, I think that's when you outsource. But I agree, it's very tricky. And this is something like I teach to my agents who have people working for them. This is something I learned in tv. You have to be very communicative when you delegate out tasks, especially things that relate to your voice. So if you're having, and this is for anyone listening, if you're having someone do your social media, you need to edit every single caption.
(21:18):
That's the truth. You will end up sounding like a robot and every other real estate agent in your area who's also using that social media manager. So I think it's very important to, basically whenever I had a social media manager, I would still write every post or they would write it and I would edit it. I'd be like, I would never say that or don't not how I live. Or of course I drink wine. Things like that. I'm very much, I think you can delegate out some of the heavy lifting, but you still need to be filming. You still need to know how to film. You still need to have the strategy and you still need your voice in it because once you lose your voice, it's you. That it? That's it. What's the point? You're not yourself, you're just
Jacqueline (21:56):
Human. Yeah, I mean we definitely are the first to admit we probably take on more than we need to. I mean there was a point we've tried hiring assistants and we have someone that helps us, but there's just so much that we we're good at multitasking. This is why we found each other. This is why our team works. We have a team of multitaskers that to take on a lot and do a lot and we have a hard time letting go. So that's obviously could be to our detriment. But you know what? We're able to travel, we're able to bring our work with us. We do it wherever we are.
Kim (22:30):
Talk to me about what did you realize about your job now being so many years into it that you didn't realize at first?
Stephanie (22:37):
I think the emotional component of being a realtor was not something I was thinking about ever when I went into this. But truly, we're not just here for a real estate transaction, we joke, we're part therapist, but it's true. People are making the biggest decision of their life. There's a big emotional load to that. So we become friends and therapists or clients, but the emotional component of this is so huge and I've never thought about that before I went into real estate.
Kim (23:01):
That's a good point. We bought three times and sold twice. And it's true. And how people speak to you, how people handle you, how they listen to your problems and how they help you sort through. Because I think one of you, somebody's post anyway, it's just about you're there as the expert, but you're also there to help them listen to their gut. And sometimes we get wrapped up in the emotion of, I love this place, but then you have to be like, but you said these were priorities. You, I'm sure you want to protect people from themselves. We've got
Stephanie (23:29):
Reel back lot. Yes, they're spiraling.
Jacqueline (23:31):
That happens a lot. You know, might be referencing a testimonial I might have posted the other day, but we've had clients that will be very specific about what they want and then they'll see the dream house 30 minutes from the school they want to be at. And I'm like, okay, let's talk this through. Let's talk through, you have an option for an amazing school two minutes away. But if we buy that house 30 minutes away, what's the day in the life going to look like? And we kind of go and honestly oftentimes those houses may be more expensive because they're so beautiful, they're so done. And we're talking our clients out of them because we're so invested in helping them make the right choice for themselves and their future.
Kim (24:13):
Talk to me about the broker to broker relationships. So I know it's very important, I see it for my agents, but can you expand upon that? Why is a broker to broker relationship so important?
Jacqueline (24:23):
Yes. So I think a third of our deals last year were pocket listings. And essentially what that means is off market deals. Some of them are on the private section of the M l s and some of them are word of mouth. And the way that we are told about word of mouth listings and vice versa, us giving word of mouth listings is our relationships with other brokers and cultivating those relationships. And at the end of the day, the brokers, we all just want to get to the closing table. We want to do the right thing to get to the closing table. There's a lot of stuff that happens from seeing the house and making a contract and accept, have an offer accepted to closing tons of deals fall apart. And when you have strong relationships with brokers, they know that you're not trying to do something off the books or undercutting somebody or being unethical. And so it's just very important to have those strong relationships and cultivate them so that people want to share information with you and vice versa.
Stephanie (25:18):
And they want to work with you. Because in the last couple years there's been multiple offers, situations on many, many houses our clients have went after. And you want other agents to want to do business with you.
Kim (25:27):
Yeah, that's interesting. That's something I have learned and I have been like, oh that is interesting. Cause I always think people just looking for clients, but actually as I've learned more about the industry, it's not just about that.
Jacqueline (25:38):
Oh yeah. I mean yesterday at our team meeting, one of our topics was actually how to communicate to all the other agents in a multiple offer scenario of how to kind of let them down. So how to communicate that because we've been on the receiving end of, sometimes you don't even know, sometimes you just see it go contingent online and you're like, wait I, I just filled my life story to you to get this offer in place or my client's offer in place and you don't even let us know. So it's the feedback, the strategy. There's often there's agents in the community that write hand and written notes to the other agents that they work with thanking them for the deal. It's just being very gracious and generous and just, I think treating them, you would treat a hi any client.
Kim (26:23):
And you think that that putting more thought into building those relationships especially helps. You're saying with those off market deals, is there other situations in which it helps because I feel like maybe it's just me thinking this, but that agent kind of wants the best situation for their buyer generally. So is the broker to broker is most important for off market listings or when is it else important? When else is it important?
Jacqueline (26:46):
Well, I think it depends on the seller. There are many sellers. I mean, I had a client last year who they could have had multiple offers on their homes and probably had 25 people in their house over the course of a weekend at minimum. They said to me, we don't want that. We want to keep this very private. If you know of a few people with clients looking, bring them in, bring an offer. If we get our number, we're good.
Stephanie (27:08):
And then there's other people on the flip side who want to know that they didn't leave a single dollar or single something on the table. So they do open it up to the masses. So when we meet with sellers, we kind of talk through the pros and cons of which way you want to go.
Jacqueline (27:18):
So the seller always determines we will share all different strategies. There's not one way to sell a home is kind of our opening line. We will share all of our strategies with our sellers and they have to choose what route they want to go in.
Kim (27:31):
Yeah. Okay. Shifting gears, talk to me about work-life balance. Do you have it?
Jacqueline (27:37):
I've listened to your other podcasts, so I know this is a topic. No, yeah, definitely not in the spring market, but yes, in the sense that I do have things that I wholeheartedly enjoy doing with my family and I make those priorities and we schedule those kind of early in the year and sometimes we schedule 'em in the middle of the year whenever we do it. But our work is also coming with us. I mean, we are, it's very rare that Steph and I do travel, for example, where we are 100% disconnected because it's not in our nature to kind of not want to have one foot in the door to know what's going on. Now if I'm away and she's in person, certainly I'm going to follow this text thread and I might not chime in for a few days If I notice it's like going great. It's usually it is. But your clients hire you, us for us. And we have many shared clients, but when they're hiring me, they're hiring me. When they're hiring staff, they're hiring staff and we don't just want to fully pass them off to somebody else and not be at all involved. Some agents have completely different models. Everyone does it differently. We do like to stay connected to a certain extent.
Kim (28:44):
So how does that work when you're like, I really, either something happens and someone's in the hospital or I really need to be on this anniversary with my husband.
Jacqueline (28:52):
That's why we have a team, we
Stephanie (28:54):
Have a team and we have each other
Jacqueline (28:56):
And clients know that.
Stephanie (28:58):
And most of the time if I'm pull side with my husband, I have my laptop there and drinking one hand, writing an offer. On the other hand, let's make it work.
Jacqueline (29:06):
We do.
Kim (29:07):
I think the biggest thing for me, I feel like the thing I've learned the most about both shifting my life and to running my own business is being aware of how you are I how you're like, well the truth is this is how we are and I'm the same. I realize that a lot of what I struggled with disconnecting from work, some of it was work and some of it was me. And I would have to, when I work for a company, when you're off, you should be off. There's someone else who can do that work.
Stephanie (29:31):
I don't think we're ever fully
Kim (29:32):
Off, but it's different. But I'm saying that is a part of what you do. I remember I removed my mail app from my phone or a vacation because I couldn't control myself. And that's not necessarily the company's fault. That's me. And so I have to monitor myself where if I want the afternoon with my kids or whatever and I have to balance my time, then I'm working at night. But that's my choice. And
Jacqueline (29:58):
Our work is our life and our life is our work. It is honestly very blended and we like it like that. And we chose this field for that reason. And we like our kids seeing us as working mothers. That is very much a part of our story. Sometimes a
Stephanie (30:11):
Part with us, we're like, Hey, just got to go open this door for someone and they think it's cool, they're clean with the house, they like to see
Jacqueline (30:17):
What we're doing. So it's, it's just become an extension of who we are as human beings and giving back to our community and promoting local brands and promoting local designers. We're doing a whole designer feature right now. So that's been a lot of fun for me to kind of tap into the creative side where maybe I was doing that when I was in construction and I'm not doing that now, but clients value that opinion of ours is helping them with design. So it's just who we are. And it might not be for everybody, but it really works for us.
Kim (30:44):
I do love design. First of all, Stephanie, I saw that you are a listener of Mom's exit interview, so thank you. Yeah. Before we go, I would love for you to share with listeners how they connect with you, you know, what areas you cover and all of that.
Stephanie (30:58):
Sure. We cover everything. Chicago up through the North Shore. They can find us on social media at lots of mall residential. Jacqueline lives in Highland Park. I live in Deerfield and we both lived in the city and owned places in the city prior to this. So we feel well versed in all of the neighborhoods running up the north shore of Chicago.
Jacqueline (31:17):
And we'll also mention that working with a Compass agent, if you are looking to relocate outside of Chicago, or frankly if you live anywhere around the country and are looking for an agent, compass agents work and live everywhere. And we have this incredible, incredible robust app where we're able to connect you with various top agents throughout your markets. So it's just another added value.
Kim (31:40):
Awesome. Well thank you so much. This is such a great conversation. Thank
Jacqueline (31:43):
You. Thank you. It was a lot of fun. We
Stephanie (31:45):
Love connecting with other working bombs, so this was great.
Kim (31:51):
Thank you for listening. Please follow the show in Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. And if you could please drop a five star rating. And I love getting feedback. This is not like at work when everybody hates feedback. I actually love getting letters from you. Tell me what you loved hearing about any ideas for shows in the future. You can find me@kimrit.com or mom's exit interview.com and you just hit that contact button. And if you run a business and need to level up your content and social media, hit your thinking. I really want to get more leads and more clients through video and podcast. Drop me a line that is exactly what I do for businesses and professionals. My newsletter sign up and more info is@kimrit.com. You to find me on social at Kim rit, R I T T B E R G. This is Mom's Exit interview. I'm your host at executive producer Kim Berg. The show is produced by Henry Street Media. Jillian Grover edited the show. I'll see you next time.
(32:54):
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