My early work experience
We are all told to pick a path in high school, one that is clear cut and pays the bills. I started off that way, wanting to follow the ‘normal’ 9-5 pm job in the telecommunications industry selling cell phones in a local shopping mall. It wasn’t a bad start looking back. I received invaluable experience in dealing with every personality under the sun. Whether you were rich, broke, happy, down in the dumps, had no job, or were the CEO of a big company, I knew in order to get a sale, I needed to be your best friend. I developed skills beginning at the age of sixteen for navigating through difficult situations.
”I was quick to shake off rejection and if someone treated me poorly (which happens in customer service industries across the board) I would use it as inner fuel to do that much better.”
I had amazing bosses and managers, but I also had horrible ones. The types who have that condescending undertone even when they say something positive about you, it still comes across as if they never want you to succeed. It is imperative you use this as fuel.
Don’t feel sparked up at work?
If you are currently in a situation at work where you don’t feel sparked up, I hope my story ignites you. Perhaps you work alongside a co-worker who is a terror (yes, I had my fair share of those). Perhaps your boss is an ego-maniac (I cringe, knowing all too well). My advice is – look past all of that and focus on your end goal. They don’t matter. And they definitely won’t matter later on when you are where you are meant to be. Think of the naysayers as a small blip in life, where you had to put in your time to soul search, build the proper skill sets, understand how companies work, how businesses are built, how employees interact. I realize I was like a little downloading machine of information during my past jobs because I knew I wouldn’t be there forever. I knew there was something bigger for me, I just didn’t know what it would be.
”Instead of wallowing in my mundane 9-5 pm job wasting precious time, I was a sponge and investigator of everyone I came in contact with.”
What makes them amazing at their job? What makes them terrible? Why is this customer treating me like garbage? Why is this lady waiting for hours just to speak to me and won’t let anyone else help her? If you want to be the best of the best, you must learn from the best or surround yourself with the best. And what happens if you don’t have those people in your life yet? BE A SPONGE. Because every human being on this planet has some good in them, find out where that is, why that is, and use it as fuel, my dear. And when you’ve soaked up enough of the good stuff, do not be afraid to fail. That will be the true death of your dreams if you step outside of your mundane job, try your passion or business, and then quit the minute it doesn’t work. Successful people don’t do that. They fail time and time again until it works. They learn, they research, they adjust, they prevail. Why do I know this? I am the definition of this.
Did I come from money?
I am a thirty-five-year-old entrepreneur and top real estate investor/advisor who owns over eight properties, three of which I bought before the age of thirty. I own and run a modular home company that is currently building a supercharged Air BnB recreational home for passive income. This model makes over $50,000 per year in passive income, which can help those in 9-5pm jobs get out FAST. Did I come from money? Not at all. Perhaps that is why I am borderline obsessed with creating passive income. I grew up in a low-income suburb and both my middle school and high school were just as much known for gangs and fights as they were for academics. I rented six different basement suites while working full time selling cell phones to put myself through University. It wasn’t easy. But when I saw a successful or wealthy person, it never made me feel inferior, it made me motivated. I just wanted to know how can I be like them? What makes them so special?
We’re now selling over $150,000,000
Last year, my business partner, Ally Ballam, and I made the TOP 100 real estate agents in Greater Vancouver out of over 13,000 agents and made the TOP 25 for Engel Volkers out of 8000 agents including Canada, US, and Mexico. This year, we are on pace to do the same, selling over $150,000,000 in real estate since January 2018. We are known as the ‘bossbabes’, and some joke that we are superhuman. I like to call us ‘energizer bunnies’.
What I have realized over the past ten years of growing from zero to the top 1% is why there is such a slim bunch of us at the top. The ‘rest’ let things consume them. The ‘rest’ don’t brush things off as quickly as they should. The ‘rest’ don’t wake up every day and ask “How do I make more, sell more, create more, be more”. It’s crucial to being a boss babe or boss man, I’ll tell you that much. If I let the people in my life who told me I couldn’t do something get to me, I wouldn’t be where I am now. And where is now, you ask?
I’m currently sitting at my marble oval table surrounded by candles in one of the wealthiest waterfront neighborhoods in Vancouver. I get to make my own hours, curate the best marketing and sales programs, teach and speak on real estate investing to lawyers, doctors, teachers, firefighters, police officers, and bankers. Ally and I are taking our two amazing team members to a luxury hotel and residences in Kauai in January for a goal planning and 2020 sales retreat. My mind is constantly firing on all cylinders, and for those who work alongside me, I am the queen of multi-tasking and micromanaging. My days are long, but I wouldn’t have it any other way because I’m doing what I absolutely love. Ally is an amazing business partner who has the same values and visions and that dire hunger to build something bigger than ourselves. Those visions include owning multiple properties in beautiful travel destinations, building a modular home empire, and teaching people to retire early or become financially free through creative real estate investing. I have a special someone in my life that doesn’t mind the long hours, or that I don’t cook or that I’m always on the go wheeling and dealing.
”I can’t stress enough how important it is to have people in your life that light you UP. Friendships, team members, life partners, it is possible to curate your life with the best of the best.”
As I sit here, my hope is that you trust yourself and your path. There is an inner boss babe inside of all of us. She might be buried right now, but if you search for her, spark her and let her out, there will be the best kind of passion, and the best kind of work-life waiting for you. I promise. Until then, may you sponge the most valuable knowledge from every co-worker, boss, business environment, meet up group, seminar, book, and more. Cheers to wealth building and being authentically you.
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