(Accredited and Certified Buyer Representative)
Years later after getting my MBA from SUNY Albany (and considering a second Masters Degree in Psychology), I began work in corporate accounting. It was a job with decent pay, tedious hours and routine after routine after routine. The people I worked with were great but I felt completely trapped. After giving birth to my first child in December, I was scheduled to return to work in February. The alarm clock rang that day and I was paralyzed. I just couldn’t go back–I picked up the phone and told my boss that I was terribly sorry but I was going to stay home with my daughter.
My husband and I bought our forever home, I had one more child and I was a stay-at-home-mom for almost three years. At that point routine began to set in again and I needed a plan. I was doing the routine grocery shop a few weeks later and bumped into a high school friend—Kellie Kieley. We began talking and she said “You should try Real Estate; I think you would like it”. Again, I had to voice my skepticism about selling; I am simply not a sales person. She said ‘it’s really not like sales, there is sales involved, but it’s more about the people’. I nodded my head and said I would give it some thought, which I had no intention of doing.
Despite my intent, I did give it some thought. A TON of thought. I couldn’t stop thinking about it all night. I picked up my computer, searched for Real Estate Licensing in Albany and what do you know–there was a class starting in 4 days! My fantastic in-laws agreed to watch the children and I began my class. That was in 2009 and I have not complained about routine since!
Real Estate has truly been a blessing in my life. I have been able to flex my schedule around my children’s needs and be there for important milestones. I meet wonderful people and their families on a regular basis. I can pursue my love of business and business transactions. I can explore my affinity for psychology by dealing with my own stress and the stress of others in complicated transactions. I have felt the satisfaction and joy of fighting for my clients and pulling deals together that seemed like lost causes. The most unbelievable of all–I’ve gotten over my fear of ‘salesmanship’. I no longer view my profession as a slick, sales-y job. I believe that the majority of my colleagues are facilitators of the dream of home-ownership. At the end of the day, we all want happy clients and we feel fortunate to be part of such a momentous event in their lives!
The best part of all is that 15 years later, after running into Kellie, I am able to work closely with her, as an intricate part of her team, and witness her love of the Real Estate industry as it evolves. It has been exciting to watch Kellie transition from an advocate and recruiter for our industry, into a business owner and tremendous success in the field. I feel extremely fortunate to have found a broker whose professional values align perfectly with mine and I am thrilled to be a part of the founding of Kellie Kieley Realty!