The Small Business Safari
Have you ever sat there and wondered "What am I doing here stuck in the concrete zoo of the corporate world?" Are you itching to get out? Chris Lalomia and his co-host Alan Wyatt traverse the jungle of entrepreneurship. Together they share their stories and help you explore the wild world of SCALING your business. With many years of owning their own small businesses, they love to give insight to the aspiring entrepreneur. So, are you ready to make the jump?
The Small Business Safari
The Undercover Life: From Sex Crimes Detective to Real Estate Success | Cristi Decoufle
Christi shares her remarkable journey from military police to Phoenix PD sex crimes detective to successful real estate entrepreneur in Blue Ridge, Georgia. Her story reveals how transferable skills and authentic networking can lead to success in an entirely new field.
• Began career as Military Police after ROTC college scholarship
• Spent nearly 22 years with Phoenix Police Department, primarily in the sex crimes unit
• Featured in documentaries about sex trafficking that still air on Delta flights
• Developed coping mechanisms to deal with witnessing humanity at its worst
• Initially thought corporate America was the next logical step after law enforcement
• Found corporate world surprisingly inefficient and culturally misaligned
• Rebuilt her network from scratch through intensive community involvement
• Applied investigative and listening skills to her real estate career
• Focuses on honesty with clients rather than maximizing commissions
• Recently launched True Blue Mountain Group Realtor Group
• Recommends "Greenlights" by Matthew McConaughey for turning challenges into opportunities
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christi-decoufl%C3%A9-51a0bb85/
https://www.facebook.com/ChristiDecoufleRealtor/
https://www.instagram.com/christi_decoufle_realtor/
https://www.pbs.org/video/sex-trafficking-in-america-tptgui/
#KELLERWILLIAMS#realestate#BlueRidgeGeorgia#thetrustedtoolbox#smallbusinesssafari#bourbon
From the Zoo to Wild is a book for entrepreneurs passionate about home services, looking to move away from corporate jobs. Chris Lalomia, a former executive, shares his path, discoveries, and tools to succeed as a small business owner in home improvement retail. The book provides the mindset, habits, leadership style, and customer-oriented processes necessary to succeed as a small business owner in home services.
a little more tease, Christy. What are some of the places you actually had to frequent in your public service career?
Speaker 2:I don't know A lot of strip clubs and massage parlors. You know what most people do when they're law enforcement.
Speaker 1:Awesome Guys, we're not only going to the sex area Sex crimes unit, we're going to be true crimes and sex.
Speaker 1:I mean, we're going to roll off the charts at this point. Welcome to the Small Business Safari, where I help guide you to avoid those traps, pitfalls and dangers that lurk when navigating the wild world of small business ownership. I'll share those gold nuggets of information and invite guests to help accelerate your ascent to that mountaintop of success. Bike guests to help accelerate your ascent to that mountaintop of success. It's a jungle out there and I want to help you traverse through the levels of owning your own business that can get you bogged down and distract you from hitting your own personal and professional goals. So strap in Adventure Team and let's take a ride through the safari and get you to the mountaintop. We'll see you next time.
Speaker 1:We've got an episode today that you're going to make sure you get your first up on. We're gonna make sure the sound is pristine, alan. That's what we've been working on. We were supposed to have started this podcast, oh, about 48 minutes ago, but don't worry about that, everybody. You are here on minute one and you are. You get ready to listen all this stuff, but before we go talk about our guests, I've just got to do this I'm not supposed to give. Give your time stamp. You're not supposed to do this.
Speaker 4:I know where you're going with this.
Speaker 1:That's right, baby. My faith has a new shepherd. The flock has a new leader.
Speaker 3:And you lost your betting pool.
Speaker 4:He didn't bet on the home team.
Speaker 1:That is a disgrace that people who bet on the Pope yeah how many pools were you in?
Speaker 1:I lost. That's right, and nobody I did not. I'm telling you, man, I did not have an american on grandma's bingo card. I just didn't see that coming. Don't know what the hell happened, but when it happened, I have to say I welled up and then I started to really think about what the rest of the world thinks about us. Do you care about that? I'm smiling. So, guys, it's, it's a great thing for all of us. Uh, this guy, uh been researching the heck out of him. Uh, good guy, man of the people, man of the world, just so excited, and I I hope that he continues with uh, with what Pope Francis had done and keeping us going on a progressive path. But that's enough of the religion, let's go back to church.
Speaker 4:I did hear kind of a cool little thing about when they're in their session. What do they call that? Yeah, and there's restrictions on the food they can have. Oh, I did not hear that one. Yeah, so they can't have things like ravioli. You know why? No, because in the past somebody would put a secret message inside the ravioli. Oh wow, yeah, so it's got to be food that you can't hide, like instructions in.
Speaker 1:Really yeah.
Speaker 4:That's wild. No, I didn't hear that. Now I did hear this one You're more Catholic than you are right now.
Speaker 1:You are, you know what. Actually, a lot of my non-Catholic friends reached out to me to tell me congratulations which is kind of fun.
Speaker 4:Were they patronizing you, or did they All?
Speaker 1:right, gosh, you know. One thing I did hear, though, is the guy the guy Pope Leo, is from Chicago right, and he's a Cubs fan, and so guess what? He doesn't like curtains. You know where you heard that.
Speaker 4:Was that you? Yeah, it was Dang it Once again. Once again Did I do that again?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's where.
Speaker 4:I actually was going to start, but I get something and it comes out as his great.
Speaker 1:That's exactly where I was going to start this, but brace for it, alan, because we got to get started, guys. A special episode. Uh, today we're going to talk to christy and we actually have her husband, michael, in the studio with us, and our studio is just rocking. This thing is state-of-the-art. This has got to be one of the highest and podcast recording studios anybody's ever seen this fabulous recordings.
Speaker 4:This makes Rogan John's.
Speaker 1:Creek, georgia. This makes Rogan's thing look like apps. No dog shit, that's right. Oh, I'm up one. So we did have a a pool because Christy has an incredible background. We've got to get into that. She is a real estate agent in Blue Ridge, georgia. It sounds like that. But wait, guys. Wait, it gets better, christy, we got to go back. We got to go back to the beginning because she didn't start that way.
Speaker 4:Gee huge career in public service in a way that's going to blow your mind. Did a little bit of time in the private sector. Did a?
Speaker 1:little time in the private sector.
Speaker 3:I can't say that Go ahead, just get it out of the way.
Speaker 4:No pun intended, beautiful.
Speaker 1:So public service and public service.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and private sector, private sector, and then entrepreneur and now entrepreneur. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And let's give a little more tease, Christy. What are some of the places you actually had to frequent in your public service career?
Speaker 2:I don't know A lot of clubs and massage parlors and you know what most people do when they're law enforcement awesome guys, we're not only going.
Speaker 1:We're not only going, we're finally going to the sex area we're going to go to crimes unit. Sex crimes unit. We're going to be true crimes and sex. I mean we're going to blow off the church with this one did you know?
Speaker 4:entrepreneurs I told you this is not just real estate. Baby, They've got her documentary is on Delta. Still.
Speaker 2:Is it still yeah? Is it yeah?
Speaker 4:that's what I was on. It's the Phoenix PD sex crimes unit and there's Christy busting bitch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't even know they were going to do that. I just got random calls from people like I saw you on Delta. I didn't even know they were putting that.
Speaker 1:So we have a true sex crimes star, I think you're putting it together a little incorrectly, but she was busting, as you said, pimps, pimps and huggins. All right, christy, we teased a little bit. Why don't you give us a little bit of what your background and your career were?
Speaker 2:Oh goodness, I don't know where to start Before that she's ex-army.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right, let's start. How about we started from? I was born in. Let's go. I was born in a small town, kansas City.
Speaker 2:She's from Kansas.
Speaker 4:Most people hate me now.
Speaker 1:Let's start right there. We already knew that, did you enlist in the Army right out of?
Speaker 2:high school I was actually in ROTC. That was how I paid for college, nice.
Speaker 1:And then, what did you do in the Army? I went Army, thank you for your service.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Military police and went immediately into the Guard so I could get into my actual full-time career as a police officer. So I did the. I was a police officer in Phoenix and in National Guard in Arizona Did you choose to be military police, or was it in the army?
Speaker 4:in those days they're like, hey, this is where we're going to put you I.
Speaker 2:My actual original choice was military intelligence, but at the time they were really backed up getting us into the school. So I went through the whole rigmarole of a year and a half background check and um, and then they weren't getting us into the school in time. And you were gonna I was gonna lose my commission if we didn't get into it so they were like pick something else because the school isn't open, and so that was my next choice.
Speaker 4:So, as an MP, you're busting trunks and breaking up fights, and what are you doing?
Speaker 2:No, the unit that I was in was like Dignitary Protection. That was that.
Speaker 1:Dignitary Protection, oh, protection, oh, I heard Dignitary protection, dignitary protection, protection, oh, I heard dignitary production.
Speaker 2:Oh, hello, hello, Darlene, who are you?
Speaker 1:I am a diplomat.
Speaker 2:Oh, and who are you? Well, I'm somebody really important. That's what we prepared for, and then I ended up getting out of my guard unit right before they started.
Speaker 4:So do you practice jumping in front of a bullet?
Speaker 2:Kind of like moving moving dignitaries from one location to the other and then protecting them when that says all right.
Speaker 1:So it's like also the plan to move people around and make sure you had a security plan and have that safety and all the briefings done, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then you know, flying in front of them like trump.
Speaker 1:No, I'm just kidding yeah, okay and jump, everybody all right. Yeah, and jump again. Chris and ellen's self-defense and uh, protection program. Yeah, call us all right, so you get away, we started drinking bourbon by the way thank you for this fine bottle of russell's reserve russell's reserve shout out to russell, and so it's sponsored by Russell's, as I understand Michael's favorite bourbon.
Speaker 4:You might want to chime in, because I don't know if it's your favorite, but Michael is such a bourbon snot he doesn't even like flammables.
Speaker 3:No, it's not worth the drive, the hunt or the price.
Speaker 1:Well, there you go, and they're not a gold nugget. That is definitely funny words, but he is right, I mean because, remember, I mean Bland started out like a $20, $25 bottle, yeah, but now you know.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and so I think that's interesting. Did it change when they put the little horsey on top?
Speaker 1:I don't know. I just know the history of it. Uh is that it was decent, but it wasn't even as good as buffalo trace in my mind. Still, all right, let's get back to christy shelly. All right, so we go back, we're in phoenix pd, and so you got what you wanted. You wanted to be in police and law enforcement, so that's something you actually said hey, I want to do that, I want to jump in front of bullets.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I started out as a probation officer but, um, I was following people around like checking in on them, but we didn't have guns or vests and I was driving around in my own personal car and it was really kind of unsafe. So I thought the police also would be safer because you'd have a gun yeah, and invest and back up. You know a radio all right.
Speaker 1:So how many years did you serve on the the phoenix pd? Uh, almost 22 22 years, yeah, and when you first started.
Speaker 2:They don't just plop you right in the sex crime unit no, I was in patrol for about five years and then just switched over, got me, you know, became a detective and and got my certification and you can, you can pick where you want to go. I mean, you have to apply, but that's where I wanted to go.
Speaker 1:So you're okay dealing with the seedy side and the underbelly of people, because you see the worst. I mean that's really bad.
Speaker 4:I can tell you how long have we known each other A long time 12 years.
Speaker 4:She's one of those you they like in the, the books that you read about people that you kind of hope it actually exists. She's one that sort of runs towards the noise, runs towards the bullets, runs towards the action, and it's kind of funny. I always joke. Michael and I've been friends for so long and uh, and I'm like it's kind of must be kind of comforting for you to have christy go. You know, check out all the scary noises. Okay, cindy, cut that out, she never does.
Speaker 2:So you enjoy that but that takes a toll on people, doesn't it? It does take a toll, but it was interesting to me to start with Because my degree was in psychology. So to start with it was very interesting. But once I got going in it and once I started interviewing victims and like really understanding what was going on, that kind of became a passion, because I just, you know, just really helping the victims and getting involved in with the attorneys and, like you know, developing programs to help victims and developing programs to help change the laws, to make laws stricter, and it just became more of a passion.
Speaker 1:So it was so, as you did that one of the things that we did joke about is that you spent time in massage centers but you actually were undercover.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the entire time you're undercover. It was in an undercover position.
Speaker 1:So how are you able to compartmentalize that? That here's my job, eight, 10 hours a. I'm gonna be dealing with them, but then I'm gonna turn it off and go work with the regular community and be an upstanding citizen and realize that not everybody's a bunch of shit I think it's the stuff that makes the normal public mad is humor.
Speaker 2:I mean, you have to kind of um, you have to kind of turn it off and make fun of things, make fun of yourself, make fun of other things and um, and to be able to compartmentalize it, because if you really truly like thought about it and like really dealt with it all the time, then it's too much. So if you, if you don't compartmentalize it and make you know light of it in some sense or have humor about it, um, that's the only really way to survive it, I think, which, to the general public, I think, makes us look insensitive.
Speaker 1:But, um, it's really just a survival technique, I think but I just, I mean again, it's so hard, you know, when people have to see the worst of the worst of people. Uh, I equate that to what I do alan and um.
Speaker 1:It's not like being a real estate agent and then going to watch hctv nope not gonna watch it, because I don't deal with hctv, I deal with the general public and they're horrible but not as horrible as what you saw. So that's why I said all right, we teased it a little bit, but let's talk about this documentary that people can go check out. So how do we find it and what is?
Speaker 2:it. Um, well, there's a couple different ones, but, um, I would say the one that came out uh, the one that came out a few years ago was 2019 was the most recent a really good one that it's called sex trafficking in america and, um, the, a group from pbs and bbc followed us around our unit for like three years and they created two different documentaries, one that came out in london and the one that came out here. Um, but that's the one that's real easy to find in the us, um, sex trafficking america, and you can just google it wow, yeah.
Speaker 1:So if they did that, do you feel like they did you justice? Did they do? Did they portray what really went down as well as you thought they could have?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think so. I think the the difference is really, you know, production at how you know in the united states, and pbs wanted to focus a little bit more on the court system and so that it's more court system heavy and and but they're they're portraying the real trafficking in our unit and then on on the BBC side, they were focusing more kind of on our unit and on the detectives, a little bit more and less on the court system. So it was just a lot of overlap of the same material, but what they focused on was a little bit different.
Speaker 4:Michael, what did it feel like to have Christy head out into some sort of sting operation to nail him.
Speaker 3:That's so funny. I used to keep a list of things. I didn't think my wife would ever say Like I can't talk to you now, I'm on the phone with my pimp, or I can't believe I'm only getting $20 for a blood job yeah.
Speaker 3:But mostly it was I've gotten more sleep in the last few years. She comes home every night, right, so I come home more sleep in the last few years. This she comes home every night, right so come home at 3 in the morning and they're like undercover job has no gun, no vest. It's kind of tough deal.
Speaker 4:Well, I remember you were like, yeah, she heads out and I got to worry about her, but then again she is dressed like a stripper.
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, we'll deal with this with humor, but there are pros to it. I love this podcast. Every genre man. We're gonna skyrocket after this talking about?
Speaker 1:is this? Are we true crime?
Speaker 4:again. We're true crime.
Speaker 1:Nice, let's go so what are the stuff we can't talk about? Yeah, all right, so you did that for 22 years yeah, uh, and yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's five years in. And then I started doing vice and then I did that pretty much the rest of my career. I, at the very end of my career, I decided I was like, oh, I'm gonna learn something new, trying to figure out what I because I was thinking about like the next steps after retirement and I went and became a background investigator for like the last few years of my career, um, that last couple years, but that was for like the last few years of my career, um that last couple years, but that was. I think I had high hopes of doing that in the like federal, like a federal background investigator or doing that.
Speaker 1:That quickly went away, so never along the lines of thinking about being an entrepreneur you were always no, not at that time you're staying, I'm staying in the, I'm doing this and I'm doing the right thing for people. I'm keeping all these, these entrepreneurs, safe by doing all the things I'm doing throwing bad people in jail. I mean, yeah, she's a very good investigator.
Speaker 4:I can tell you a personal story when those two started dating you know, michael, I'm sure you talk on the phone with Troy pretty regularly, right, I do? Yeah, same thing, michael and me. The next thing, you know, there's this girl, christine same thing, michael and me. The next thing, you know, there's this girl, christine, on the phone with me too, and I'm like what's that all about? And then one time I get a phone call and she's like hey, I've got a layover in the Atlanta airport. I want you to come meet me. And I'm like you know how far away we are from the Atlanta airport, atlanta traffic, so it's a hell. No to anybody. And all of a sudden I'm like okay, and so I drive down there and we had 45 minutes and what was it?
Speaker 2:uh where were we little bakery?
Speaker 4:yeah, it's a little bakery and she's just freaking drilling me. You know questions, and I'm kind of doing the same because it's one of my best friends and you know who's this woman and but that's, that's the way she is, you know and she I guarantee it. She, chris, if you're on facebook, she's gonna get you to friend some little fake entity, whoa, and she's gonna know everything about you. So you better tighten up, buddy, listen here to check well, you are still my best friend.
Speaker 2:You said, you liked me and the only one I couldn't get through was step daughters, because I'm going to try to get in and just see what she was doing is usually.
Speaker 1:I know that you're undercover, looking at me, I'm not gonna front. Oh I, I was like got me again. So all right, so you do the sex crimes. Did you do you feel that you had an adrenaline thing? Was this an adrenaline type thing for you, or was it not?
Speaker 4:For.
Speaker 1:Do the undercover work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes and no. I mean I think it takes a certain kind of person to be a police officer and do all that kind of stuff. I mean I think you have to be a little bit adrenaline chucky. But I think I've learned now as I progressed through these different phases of trying to figure out where I was going to go. After the fact. I've learned now that I'm just a master of trying to figure out whatever I'm going to do.
Speaker 2:So when I became undercover, I was all in on learning how to do that and then and I didn't realize it at the time but then now that I've gone through all these stages of figuring out like what to do next, because you know, when you're in the government for so long, it was a process to move to where I am now. Um, it was a process to move to where I am now. I became a master student at a lot of things and now that I go back I can see that I was a master student on learning how to be undercover and then a master student on learning how to be an investigator and a master student on how to interview and how to help the prosecutors and how to prosecute you know, help the prosecutors and and and how to testify in trial, and you know. So I just like. I think that's more my my thing than than anything. Just be like that, master student.
Speaker 4:Do you, do you feel like you guys were making a difference and I know you have to hold onto that or is it just this endless treadmill dealing with sex?
Speaker 2:crimes. A little bit of both. A little bit of both. I think we definitely, especially our unit and Phoenix in general not just our unit, but a combination of the attorneys and the nonprofits and the churches and everybody that got together, I think, made a big difference in Phoenix and the and and the movement across the united states. But it's also true people talk about it a lot more and I know that you, you also work with the fbi, right?
Speaker 4:yeah, and then you, you would go on this speaking tour. Um, who were you speaking to?
Speaker 2:everybody, a lot of people just for awareness or um I taught um. Well, I did some awareness and then I also taught a lot of law enforcement. I taught um attorneys. I taught social workers, nurses, doctors, specifically around sex trafficking.
Speaker 1:How do I identify it? Because you're right, uh, it has become uh like it's now. I guess they're talking human trafficking.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they say atlanta's one of the worst places, by the way.
Speaker 1:Um yeah, I don't want to hear about a list that stuff just creates anything.
Speaker 2:It's in our backyard here in john street big time yeah I will say atlanta was right, along with phoenix, without being at the forefront of, like being on top of things and and putting it out there, giving out, you know, putting stuff out in the air force, having safe homes and and being on top of things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean again, it's just something you don't want to hear about it. And then when you do hear about it, you're like, no, that can't be possible, that can't be possible. And then, as Alan just said, literally one neighborhood away from where we're doing the podcast was a big human trafficking ring got busted there and you're like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's everywhere. People just don't want to see it. We don't want to see it, you're right.
Speaker 1:All right, so you said it takes a certain kind of person, but you mentioned something that I thought was really interesting. Is you love the educational part, that I love getting myself so informed on things to take on that next challenge. Do you feel like a lot of the other people in your profession have that same kind of mentality?
Speaker 2:I do. I learned a lot. So when I so, when I decided I was like, when I decided I was like, when I just thought I was retiring I was gonna go on to the next step, I found and you know, I think I learned from Michael and Alan to join LinkedIn and create a profile and start looking and I had 14 profiles now just me, just one one we can profile.
Speaker 2:but it started working late then and figuring out how to like work LinkedIn and that kind of became my job and but. But in LinkedIn there is a whole community of law enforcement helping law enforcement leave law enforcement and move on to like the next step. And yeah, and I didn't, I didn't know that. You know, and everybody's there helping each other educate. And how do you get, what do you do next and how do you get out of government, and how to do that and what to do next.
Speaker 1:So it just shows you again when you think you're alone, you're really not. There's a lot of support.
Speaker 4:You don't have to be, I guess, is maybe a way. Yeah, you don't have to be.
Speaker 1:Go seek that fly. Go seek the group you want to be with.
Speaker 2:I kind of wish I would have found that group a little earlier.
Speaker 4:in my quest I did a lot of work on my own before I found that group. You want instant results and I mean there is some value through going through the process and the journey and you just can't get from here to there with a snap of a finger. You have to go through the process, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, learning LinkedIn and talking to people, and that became my job. I became obsessed with it?
Speaker 4:Are you using your interrogation skills with them?
Speaker 2:You do more than you realize Not just naturally, you can't help it.
Speaker 1:All right, we jumped quick, so I want to know. We'll get back to that in a minute, but let's go back. I want to know how the hell she got into real estate in Blue Ridge, georgia busting pimps in Phoenix, Tennessee.
Speaker 4:You don't see the straight line correlation.
Speaker 1:No, not really. It's just not connecting Kind of like my entire career not connecting.
Speaker 2:Well, I have this imaginary I don't know what I'd call it Bread, yeah, no, but in my mind I thought when I left law enforcement, I needed to go into the corporate world because I thought that was what you're supposed to do and that's, you know, that's the golden egg. Like that's the end, all be all. Like I needed to be corporate because that was so opposite of everything I knew and what I'd done before. So that was what I was striving for. And so I did everything I could to get into the corporate world and I did. I got in there and which was great you could say, not really, I mean, I did it. It was great because I did it.
Speaker 2:And I got a job as a law enforcement liaison for a tech company and, um, I was making good money and I was working from home, which is exactly what I wanted to do. I was like, oh, I can make my own schedule and I can make good money and I don't have to go into the office every day and I just sign on the computer and I'll hop on meetings and this is great. This is like a perfect, like it checked all my boxes of what I thought I wanted. Right.
Speaker 1:You're safe. You get a check every two weeks. You get 401k.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, Health care benefits, Friends of theirs. They're very different than a lot of people. I mean they want to spend their money on travel yeah, as opposed to experiences yeah so for the two of them to have Careers that would allow them to to travel was important.
Speaker 1:So that's being part of the why right? I mean we talked about that. So you love to travel, like to travel?
Speaker 2:and that is what Led us to be at we. We were rich, you know, I was retired in quotes, you know, and so we knew when we retired, because the kids were out of high school and we were like we want to move to mountains and having both of us having jobs where we can work from home and virtual jobs that afforded us the ability to be able to buy a home in the mountains and get out of Phoenix and have be able to do that. So that's how we got from, from phoenix to blue ridge. So that was that jump flying right over the rockies right not those mountains, not those mountains, right, right.
Speaker 4:So you got here overrated.
Speaker 1:I want to go back to that, that corporate stuff you said you know what. It sounded really attractive, it sounded so sexy, it sounded so much like what I wanted to do, and al and I I talk about this all the time when- I when I left everybody's like, oh, I wish I could do what you did.
Speaker 1:I'm like no, you don't, because being an entrepreneur is hard as balls man. No, you can. You guys like getting your check, don't, don't lie. You like getting your your health care. You like going your eight to five and if you're having a bad day you still get paid. I have a bad day, I don't get paid, so so you got into it you're like, oh, it's gonna be great, but what just drove you insane?
Speaker 2:a couple things. One I thought the government was like slow and messed up.
Speaker 2:I mean the corporate room was worse, like really people could not, one hand couldn't talk to the other, everybody, like it was so messed up, it was so backwards, like nothing could get done. Um, and I just felt like I, I was so frustrated, like I just I felt things seemed like they should be so easy and it just wasn't and I could not understand why things were like and I and I feel like it was because people were just lying in their pockets and purposely doing it so they could just, I don't know it just justified their existence justify their existence, yeah, yeah and just to get paid and things were just not happening and that was frustrating and um, and then you know, without being too political or not political, but whatever, it was a little too.
Speaker 2:It was a tech company, so it was just a little too, a little too woke, woke for me and it was. It didn't align with um. I mean, I know I came from government, um, but it was, couldn't be more, it was just extremely opposite so you, but you had all this money, you were making a good traveler, you did your thing, you got the problem, but you could have stayed there.
Speaker 1:So what drove you to say that's enough?
Speaker 2:I got an adult.
Speaker 1:There we go. Was she miserable.
Speaker 3:Oh gosh, yeah, let's just talk about miserable. She got laid off the day we closed on her house in Blue Ridge, oh boy, so there's an inflection point, right.
Speaker 2:What decision do you make? Well, yeah, we took a leap. Yeah, we, we were deciding if I should you know, if we should even move, or if I should go try to find another corporate job, another online job, if I should, and and I just was like I'm not, I'm not going to go through that again, I'm not going to. You know, I had, I had, a steady job for so long that I wasn't gonna get fired from, and then I was already so unhappy I was, I had to. It was a blessing in disguise, as frustrated as I was and as angry as I was that I got laid off. It was, it was really a blessing, because I was so unhappy and I hated it. And so then I was just like okay, but what do I do? Because now I'm in this small town. I came from this big city where there was like all these opportunities, and now I'm in this small town and I'm like, okay, and you don't know anybody, I don't know.
Speaker 4:It's a complete reset.
Speaker 2:I don't know anybody. I'm in a tiny town and I was making good money. I'm like, how am I going to make a semi-equivalent kind of money in this small little town? Like how do I? I've always, I've always made my own money. I've always, like felt like I could contribute, like so you know, I've been an independent woman my whole life, you know.
Speaker 1:In that sense, I've always had my own income let's talk about that, because I think a lot of people say well, you know, it's not always about the money. Well, clearly, because that's what I do, is always around me. But, um, it is about the money a little bit, because doesn't that give you a little bit more of your self-worth, your self-value? You said something that was really important. I've always been my own woman.
Speaker 4:Right. Do you define yourself by how much money you make? Is that what I'm?
Speaker 1:hearing. Well, if I did On the day they elect the Pope and you come up with something like that I was never. I wasn't. There's a long list. There's 1.6 billion capex, I think.
Speaker 2:I'm 1.6.12. But I think you have to know in head that it's about the money, but it's for me. It's for a woman maybe not all women, but for me it was more about my self-worth. The money equaled my self-worth.
Speaker 1:Right, because I had always been able to take care of myself. I don't think a lot of people will probably say that, yeah, you know. I think a lot of people say no, no, it's not about the money, it's about happiness and true finding, true joy and doing all this oh, screw that. It's when you have a ton of money and then you can do all that stuff and travel around you know it, alan, I know you know it.
Speaker 2:That's why we do it. I felt really guilty for my husband like having to like take care of me. I just I'm not, not never been that person, and that made me really uncomfortable and really depressed. I just I didn't, I couldn't do that. So I quickly was like what the heck am I?
Speaker 2:gonna do right now and Michael, coming from working in the entrepreneurial world. Um, you know like talked with him I and I was just like you know what, let's, let's try real estate. You know, let me just try. You know, I I didn't want to try to buy into one of the businesses that he was related to or something like that. So I was like let's try something different. But I will tell you, he coached me a lot. If I didn't have him coaching me through, because he was like okay, we're going to give it 18 months, which 18 months seems like a lifetime, because I was just like no, we still have a paycheck every two weeks and 18 months seems like forever. Because I felt like I was working my ass off and getting with money and time every day, all day long, with zero income coming in, and it that it took me almost a year before I had like my first any paycheck at all, which was like 400.
Speaker 1:I mean, it was just stupid, I think that the the profession of real estate agents kind of changed drastically over the next. You know, here we are in and they changed the law last year. But the way, the way everything is going and the way the internet gives you so much information, say don't make the same. No, we're not going to add. You know, do you want to bring? Up no no that's not where I'm going.
Speaker 1:I'm going this way, I think um, we're going to build my next deck it is not, and it is beautiful and that deck is not going on anyway. Back to that. I think what's going to happen though because I'm seeing it happen now is that, hey, I'm a stay-at-home mom and I'm going to piddle at real estate and I'm just going to pick off my ladies at church and my friends and pta. Those people are gone and I'm watching them go out of the market very quickly, because people realize you can get so much information so quickly. But then the people who really want a professional involved know what a professional looks like, and I think that. But you hit on something. Let's talk about this. It's hard to build a book of business in anything in a brand new market. You didn't know anybody. You plop into blue ridge georgia allen, and how do you deal with people like allen from blue ridge georgia? And how did you, how did you get into that?
Speaker 2:network. I immediately joined, of course, you know school person right, so I did the real estate school, did that part. But I immediately joined everything that I could possibly join. I joined the Chamber of Commerce, became an ambassador, joined the Kiwanis Club, joined I got on a board of the local girls' home, because that's what is part of the passion of human trafficking. So that was still a passion. So, like immediately just started networking with anybody and everybody I could network with, and you were building fences for people with dogs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they didn't have dogs?
Speaker 4:Yeah, they can't afford to have a dog there was a, but that's another part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was freedom for FIDO. There was a any volunteer group that? I can join. I was joining and meeting people and just getting out of the house and you know I'm just working and meeting the people that own them.
Speaker 4:But I gotta say You're the rare example of people that.
Speaker 3:Oh, wow, thanks Alan, I'll just stay here. I had home office for that first eight months, 12 months and those first 12 months of home office, and Christy did let me out of the house, not once, and I was just grinding at work by the time I got to get out of the house and network myself. Oh, you're Christy's husband. You're Christy's husband. Oh, I don't know you, but I know Christy. I mean, you did such a great job.
Speaker 4:I've never seen anything like it. I mean, you did such a great job. I've never seen anything like it. And you know me, Mr Networker. I've been on the cover of your magazine for networking and then she, in six months, knows freaking everybody in the town of Blue Ridge. And not just knows them, but they're like ooh, christy, yeah, you're not jealous, are you?
Speaker 1:You do you have a little?
Speaker 3:networking.
Speaker 2:A little bit, I think. So, yeah, I'm gonna come on, I'm gonna confess that, come on about you.
Speaker 1:I will hear your confession, thank you we're gonna need to do this from number 1.6 million and one, yes, ah ah yes, confession. So all right, so you network.
Speaker 2:We talk about that all the time, people with dogs because everybody has dogs in point, rich people of dogs that you have dogs in plate ranch is just way too many people, as well as the places where dogs are allowed.
Speaker 4:Everybody had a dog. You know, one time we met a place called grumpy old man brewery would say no dogs because we're grumpy.
Speaker 1:Yeah but they realize that they soften the up a little bit, and just a little tidbit of networking.
Speaker 2:The people that own Grumpy Old man also are the head of the Humane Society in Blue Ridge.
Speaker 1:Ah, look at that. Look who's got a man you don't want to know.
Speaker 4:It was going to be an awful statement. I won't put it out there. Yeah, if you've ever been to Blue Ridge.
Speaker 1:it is a beautiful place and it's growing around the Blue Ridge. It is a beautiful place and it's growing. You guys obviously picked an incredible place to move to. But, going back to again, it's hard to get into those established places. And how did you do it? You made the beachhead through networking, I mean that's. We talk about this all the time, even if you absolutely hate it. You got to do it, man, you have to. And you know, alan and I have talked about this a lot. In fact, one of the best guys that we think is a good networker admittedly doesn't like doing it, but he knows it's important for him to do it and he puts himself out there and goes after it. So I think that's been great. But now you have to prove your way.
Speaker 4:I want to throw in one more thing. Through her networking, she also leaned into the network she already had, which I think is pretty shrewd.
Speaker 2:So talk, leaned into the network she already had, which I think is pretty shrewd. So talk about that a little bit. I don't know in what sense. What are you talking about?
Speaker 1:the fact that your pension holds out of arizona former military, former law enforcement, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:So when she had a prospect, well, yeah, I mean, I just I made a bio that I put online and talked about my bio a little bit. Are you talking about, like, people that have found me through? Yeah, yeah, well, I've had people find me through my bio, like ex law enforcement or ex military who are just searching for people who are military or law enforcement, and they found me that way and and then they have been amazing clients and then have been referred me to other military and law enforcement and that that has been a great, a great network for me yeah, it's not necessarily a niche, but she's taking advantage of the network or the skills that she already had and is using it to her advantage.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, and just instinctively, or maybe a little help from Michael, but you know as there was.
Speaker 3:I did tell Christy about the Alabama leg humpers. Can we go there? Yeah, yeah. So I had this expression that Alan taught me the people that go around networking and they go from one network group to another, right, Just ask for business and you never see them them again. Yeah, those are like numbers.
Speaker 1:They're like numbers well, I, I think you know what, alan, I will give you that I use it all the time.
Speaker 4:I can't remember where I heard god, where are you hurt? Yeah, and michael, I didn't appreciate that. I don't.
Speaker 1:I like to be confident, of course too, but yeah you know what, similar to the dog syndrome, I I like to beat my dog. Leave in the corner.
Speaker 3:Alan About that comment, but I won't jump on that one. One of the things that I felt Christie is that if you're gonna join a networking group, if you're doing any organization, you go don't know play. They want to see you every week. I want to say they want to see you being productive and, for the most part, at the Blue Ridge, there's a lot of people that are not from Blue Ridge in Blue Ridge because they want to invest in the community and you showed up like they want to invest in the community.
Speaker 1:They saw that that's huge. That's a great lesson for anybody in any business is that if you want to sit in your office and wait for the business to come to you, odds is that if you want to sit in your office, and wait for the business to come to you.
Speaker 2:Odds are it's not going to happen. Well, don't just go there to promote yourself. Go there and actually do part of the campaign. Go there and actually volunteer. Go there and actually participate in things. There's a difference between going there and just promoting yourself and actually going there and participating.
Speaker 4:So let me ask you about that. So you haven't been classically trained in sales? Not at you haven't been classically trained in sales no, not at all no.
Speaker 1:And uh, well, I mean let's go back again. Okay, well, she can sell.
Speaker 2:She was selling the oldest, uh professional, that's right baby, and I did call alan about that because there was something I heard on your podcast oh, remember that. No, okay there was uh, there was something I heard on your podcast one day of um gosh, what was that? It was, oh, what was that? How it was talking about um. Somebody was talking about um, the I'm not going to say the right, the words right, but the acting like you don't need it oh right, oh yeah, what's the?
Speaker 2:word. I'm looking for the um. Oh no, you sexy indifference.
Speaker 3:You don't want to be selling like you need. The paycheck on friday is that not right?
Speaker 1:yeah, that's not, I don't remember I don't remember you saying that.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, it was the point.
Speaker 1:There was somebody that was talking about there's a term for it and, um, you know, actually I heard that from somebody once and let me tell you about it.
Speaker 4:I don't want to hear about it. Give me a second.
Speaker 2:But if you, oh man, it's going to kill me. But anyway when you don't act like you're hungry for it. If you don't, if you're not acting, like you can't sell desperate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can't sell desperate. You had something, what's that? Long ago it was. Somebody was talking about you. You act like you're desperate. Then, um, people smell that, they feel that and and I've I've listened to that podcast. I call alan, I said so. Maybe I did learn something about sales like on the street, because we would, as prostitutes, we would stand on the street and guys would come up to us and be like uh, I think you're, I think you're a cop, I think you're too clean or your teeth are too white or something. You know, I think you're a police officer and then I would just be like and I would be like, okay, fine, well then leave, just leave them, you know.
Speaker 2:And and then they would be like, oh, because they would expect me to like try. And if I just told them to leave me alone, then they would be like, oh, okay, well then, how much, how much you know? They would turn around immediately like ask for it well, there was a tissue roll pop involved well, yeah, I used to also suck on to see pops a lot then a sucker's.
Speaker 4:That's definitely a little bit baby yeah we got babies, superman, dude, I'm going.
Speaker 1:I'm good, you know what I have. Definitely, I am definitely leaving that one out hard Dude, I was baited.
Speaker 3:She had a.
Speaker 1:Tootsie Roll John.
Speaker 3:There is an answer. Oh my God.
Speaker 1:All right, this is a great segue to how to sell real estate. So let's see what did we learn. If you want to be a good real estate agent, suck a Tootsie Pop, keep, keep dirty teeth and don't look too clean.
Speaker 2:The interview, not the same interview skills, a little bit interview skills, but listening skills. It's the real estate overlaps so much Like if you aren't listening to your clients, if you aren't listening to the people of like what they actually want to your clients, if you aren't listening to the people of like what they actually want. So I think so many real estate agents just do what they want to do instead of actually listening to their clients and really truly helping them find what they want to find. And I think those listening skills have helped me be successful. I think it helps anybody.
Speaker 1:You're right, because when you talk to somebody in a real estate transaction, what is the very first thing they say? How much is my house worth and how fast can you sell it? Right, that's one, two. So what are their pain points? Uh, they want as much money as they can, they want to pay you as least as possible and they want it done as fast as possible. Well, there's, there's another and the same thing in selling, uh, remodeling, what do you want? I want as much as I can get for as little as I can pay, and I want it done in 22 minutes, just like hgtp. So, but really, you start digging in under those pain points. Right, but why are you moving here now? So is that what you're really?
Speaker 2:digging for yes, that. And and I think the third thing that I I seem to be doing well on is that I, um, I'm just bluntly honest with people and I I if you didn't pick that up in the park but I think they appreciate it.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think people are, um, they're, they're tired of being snowed all the time and I, I don't come in and pretend to be this, I, I don't know. I think many people think they're expecting real estate agents to be this big person on tv. And I'm just really. And if I think a house is good for them, I'll let them know, and if I think it's not, and I tell them all the reasons that something's good and what's not. And I'm right. From the get-go I followed inspectors around and learned as much as I could again that student part so I could then, when I'm showing houses, I can say, before they even want to put an offer in, I'm like, look, this isn't going to be good, this is inspector's going to find this, this is you know. And I can add that value and be very blunt with them when they're like oh my god, I love this house and I'm like you know no no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2:I don't know how many people I've talked into homes that are way cheaper than what they've come to me with their budget on, because I'm not. It's not about that. It's trying to find the right thing for them and I think they appreciate.
Speaker 4:I did not expect that though which part I expected that you know. As a result of talking to them, I'm I'm getting into buy stuff that's a lot more than what their budget was.
Speaker 1:That's interesting she did. She actually put somebody in the right house cheaper than what I expected because, uh, because, alan, uh, you, you have a very blunt person who is also very blunt that he has got to make more money. I don't have to come up with materials though you don't need it that's true, you know.
Speaker 1:I know we're coming to the end of this podcast and where we are right now in the story of this is that I assume you're working for a real estate and you're not on your own just yet. You went out there, you networked, did you? Did you start on your own?
Speaker 2:right there we go well, because I didn't know what I was doing. I started with a team because I needed to learn um, but that I'm a quick learner and so I, after about a year, I decided to go off independent and so just launching, with some other partners, our own partnership. So we just start our own partnership. We're we're under Keller Williams as a brokerage, but we started our own group called true blue mountain group all right, let's plug it.
Speaker 1:Yeah sure you blew, that little cop reference there.
Speaker 2:Yeah a little cop reference, a little Blue Ridge reference, a little honesty reference, a little bit of all of it Nice.
Speaker 4:What were some of the ones that you turned down?
Speaker 2:Gosh, now, I can't remember man, we spent some hours in a car driving together coming up with we ate pimps and hoes. I know we did have a lot of things we were throwing out the window lots of dogs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, true, true blue really stuck for us and I think it just yeah, there's four, there's four of us and we're, we're there to just make sure that between between the four of us, we want to make sure that everybody's always taking care of that network. And that's what really stuck with us for those, because that to our core, um, our we're, we're just honest, the four of us, we're just like it's, that's our. We want to give back, we're honest, we want to give back our community and that's that's kind of our true group jules true blue mountain group true blue mountain group.
Speaker 1:Are we gonna make a song out of that? There's a jingle.
Speaker 2:No, I tried to say that too fast the other day and somebody thought I said true, blue mountain dew, that's live down group.
Speaker 1:Chris, this has been awesome. Michael, this has been great. What we're going to do, though, guys, is we're going to go ahead and just say we're done.
Speaker 4:Right now, we're going to flip seats, we're going to flip seats and we're going to put Michael in the hot seat and take him out of the chamber.
Speaker 1:We have him in the chamber you want to remind me.
Speaker 2:I get to see my wife. At least give me one, one of the four questions, because I want to share one book. All right, no, let's do. Oh no, we're doing all four questions.
Speaker 1:You want to do that. I'm already doing all four questions. Oh oh, I know we do because I want, I want diy shit oh well, I have no diy shit.
Speaker 2:That's the one thing. All right, let's say all right so we'll split them up.
Speaker 1:you get to give us your favorite book You'd recommend to our audience of people trying to scale their business or start.
Speaker 2:I don't really read a lot, but it's an audio book. But the reason I love this book so much- I want to tell my book but I don't really read them.
Speaker 4:But but it's green light and I know's a name, but it's. Green.
Speaker 2:Light and I know it sounds silly, but it's Green Light by Matthew McConaughey and I read it.
Speaker 3:Or listened to it, all right.
Speaker 2:No, I listened to it, but it was before I went through this whole journey and I didn't understand how important it was going to be to me until after the fact. But the whole concept, the main concept of the book is he talks about how you take bad situations and you turn into good things. It calls it the green light. So when something you know, when it's like a bad, it's like a red light and you turn it into a green light and it's um. Listening to audiobook is really entertaining because it's him narrating it, so that just makes it that much better. But I'm sure it's just a great read. But I I went through so many ups and downs, leaving um, the police department and trying to figure out where I belonged and what was going to work for me, and it was such such a journey for me to do that, to get to where I am now, which is where I needed to be, and it just it just resonates with me so much and so what?
Speaker 1:a great endorsement yeah, it was an awesome book and it I didn't know, it didn't know it didn't know it then, but it's perfect, now do it all right. Yeah, but you were too late and michael jumped in.
Speaker 2:He went, there was no pause said yeah, but you were too late. Michael jumped in.
Speaker 1:He went. You were still positive.
Speaker 2:I'm waiting all right no no, pregnant pause is over let's go all right. What's the favorite feature of your current home? Okay, um, our deck. Uh, we have it like. So we have a part of our deck is screened in and it's indoor with a grill, inside with a vent and everything. And then you go to the outside part that we just built that wraps around. It's got this whole big outdoor wrap around part that we just finished between the indoor and the outdoor part it wraps around.
Speaker 1:It's awesome and great views got views.
Speaker 2:We need to cut down a few more. I like dogs and the outdoor part it wraps around. It's awesome, sorry, and great views, oh views, yeah, got views. We need to cut down a few more trees. I like dogs. I like dogs.
Speaker 4:You can talk about cutting down the bushes to make your deck look bigger.
Speaker 1:I said I love it. I love it when chicks come out here and talk about my deck.
Speaker 2:I mean they're dead.
Speaker 1:So this has been fun. Guys, if you can learn something, you learn a lot. First of all, human trafficking. That sucks. You know anything about it. Do something about it. Get back in there and help people out. If you don't want to see the underside, see the belly of what happens with crappy people, help somebody else out. Who can, who can, has the stomach to do this stuff. So don't forget to get back to blue. Do all that. I think that part is amazing. Love what you did. Thank you for your service, christy. This has been great, but we got to go because we got to do this one more time with Michael Go.
Speaker 1:check this next one out, because we're going to get going faster. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Small Business Safari. Remember your positive attitude will help you achieve that higher altitude you're looking for in a wild world of small business ownership. And until next time, make it a great day.
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