Live Your Extraordinary Life With Michelle Rios

Reimagined: Motherhood, Midlife & Million-Dollar Homes

• Michelle Rios

Share episode

Send us a text

What happens when two neighborhood moms completely reinvent themselves in midlife—and end up redefining the luxury real estate game?
This week on Live Your Extraordinary Life, I sit down with Carrie Spurlock and Allison Williams, friends turned business partners, who built Portland, Oregon’s premier boutique real estate brand—from scratch. With legal backgrounds, a flair for design, and deep community roots, they created more than a business. They created a movement.
From their start as school volunteers to building a white-glove, concierge-level real estate experience that transforms homes into modern sanctuaries, Carrie and Allison share how they leveraged friendship, creativity, and authenticity to disrupt the market. And they did it all while navigating motherhood, burnout, boundaries, and the bold decision to pursue what truly lights them up.
We go beyond business in this episode. You’ll hear the truth about partnership, the power of emotional intelligence in marketing, and how building a values-aligned life and business isn’t just possible—it’s the new standard.

WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME:

Speaker 1:

This episode of the Live your Extraordinary Life podcast is brought to you by Transformational Coaching with Michelle Rios. Created for high achievers just like you who've checked all the boxes yet still wonder is this really it? You've built success, but deep down, you're craving more, more meaning, more freedom, more joy. You're ready for your next chapter, one that feels fully aligned, deeply fulfilling and unapologetically yours? Through my transformational coaching, I'll help you break free from the patterns and beliefs keeping you stuck, clarify your vision for life and business in this next chapter of life, build unshakable confidence and self-trust, align your mindset, energy and actions so success feels authentic and easeful, and create extraordinary results without sacrificing yourself along the way. If you're done playing small and you're ready to rise, visit michelleriosofficialcom backslash coaching to learn more and apply your extraordinary life is waiting.

Speaker 2:

Are you ready?

Speaker 3:

If you work hard and you're nice to people, those connections that build upon each other and they lead to the magic moments. And it's brought me so much joy seeing the positive things build upon each other and come together and benefit our clients, our vendors, the team we work with. It is awesome and I didn't have any idea how much joy that would bring me.

Speaker 2:

Hi, I'm Michelle Rios, host of the Live your Extraordinary Life podcast. This podcast is built on the premise that life is meant to be joyful, but far too often we settle for less. So if you've ever thought that something is missing from your life, that you were meant for more, or you simply want to experience more joy in the everyday, then this podcast is for you. Each week, I'll bring you captivating personal stories, transformative life lessons and juicy conversations on living life to the fullest, with the hope to inspire you to create a life you love on your terms, with authenticity, purpose and connection. Together, we'll explore what it means to live an extraordinary life, the things that hold us back and the steps we all can take to start living our best lives. So come along for the journey. It's never too late to get started, and the world needs your light.

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to another episode of the Live your Extraordinary Life podcast. I'm your host, michelle Rios, and today's episode is a masterclass in reinvention, resilience and bold entrepreneurship. I'm joined by two powerhouse women, keri Spurlock and Allison Williams attorneys-turned-luxury realtors, moms and community leaders who dared to leave behind conventional success to build something extraordinary. In just over two years, they've gone from friends and neighbors to co-founders of Portland's premier real estate brand, redefining what's possible in business, motherhood and partnership. But their journey wasn't without twists, personal upheavals, some risks and some unexpected rewards. This conversation goes deep. We'll be talking about life transitions, trusting your gut, building a business with soul, the power of saying yes to a bigger vision. If you've ever wondered what it really takes to step into your next chapter, this episode is your permission slip. Ladies, welcome to the show. Thank you, michelle.

Speaker 3:

We're so happy to be here.

Speaker 1:

All right, let's delve in. I think where I'd love to start is actually a question that I start with all my guests, and that is what does it mean to you to live your extraordinary life?

Speaker 3:

I have a sense at this point in life that I am truly in alignment with what I'm supposed to be doing, what my daily actions are and how they relate to what I am supposed to be doing, and I've never felt it as strongly as I do right now. It was something I pushed up against early in my career and didn't really know what that feeling was. I wasn't quite living up to my potential or doing what was the best thing for me to do. And living up to that potential, living my authentically, what I'm good at, what brings me joy, what puts joy out into the world I think that's living my extraordinary life. I'm right.

Speaker 1:

what I'm good at, what brings me joy, what puts joy out into the world? I think that's living my extraordinary life. I'm right where I'm supposed to be.

Speaker 4:

I love it. Alison, you want to add anything to that? Yeah, I do want to add a little bit. Joy is a big component of me because there are many jobs and professions out there and I've had some that didn't bring me joy. So when just looking at the career that I wanted to have, I wanted something that was additive to my life and fun and additive to the lives of the people that I work with, and I think that's probably good.

Speaker 1:

I think that point around joy Allison is so important because so many of us and Carrie and I have had this conversation before start out with the premise that life is hard and so if you pick the hard career, that's going to be more rewarding on multiple fronts. And this idea that you can pick something that brings you joy, you can choose to step into joy and have that be what leads, is not usually what we're taught. Certainly it's not what we were taught. I think it's something we're trying to instill in our children now, but it is somewhat novel for women of a certain age and I really appreciate you reminding us just that.

Speaker 1:

The essence of if you're not having fun doing it, you're probably not going to be great at it, or if you're really good at it but you're not enjoying it, what is the point? Right? Yeah, absolutely All right. So you both were very successful before you got together. You both are attorneys by training, you're moms, and now you're in this real estate journey. When did you first feel this nudge, that, okay, we're ready to explore something new. Go down this path, work together. Even when did that all come about and how did it all come about?

Speaker 4:

Oh, it's a bit of a long story. Carrie and I met about 10 years ago and we were. She had just moved into the neighborhood. I had been in our neighborhood for a couple of years already. Our children our oldest were going into kindergarten and we met in our local play group and we became best friends, as pretty much everybody who meets Carrie becomes her friend.

Speaker 4:

And I had been kind of roped into taking a board position on our local PTC and Carrie seemed willing, so I roped her in with me and we became co-volunteers together that year and over the next several years we worked together in volunteer roles very often and so we knew that we were very different people and that we had very different personalities and sets of strengths and weaknesses, but that those that our personalities were very complementary and our skill set was very complementary. And then COVID hit and we, like everybody else, were in our homes and a couple things were going on for me A, my kids were getting a little bit older and so I was starting to face that I have twins, so I have two the same age. I was starting to face that transition of they're not going to be here always. What is my life going to look like after they're gone, and I think that is for many mothers kind of a long process, you know with there's some grieving in it and just the questions that we have to answer about our own selves.

Speaker 4:

But I had been feeling very stuck professionally and wanted to figure out what was the next step going to be? Something that was beyond the scope of, you know, raising my children and being in my household, just something that was for myself, as I kind of look to A get out of my house and do something that was joyful, and then to also think about, you know, the future.

Speaker 1:

I love that I have a 18 year old that is graduating high school this year, so the emptiness feelings are deep and big, but probably not unlike you. Right around middle school it started to really hit me hard, like these years are flying and I'm really grateful to have that sort of epiphany of what are you building for you? You've put all this time into your children, what are you building for you. So it resonates deeply. All right, tell me how you guys decide, of all the things you could do, that real estate was going to be it and that you're going to do it together, that you weren't going on these individual paths, that you decided to partner. Tell me a little bit about that.

Speaker 3:

So Allison roped me into our PTC board, but I roped her into real estate so adding on the journey to getting here I had. I hit this point in my life where I had so many things going on that were growth directed. So I was doing a lot. I served on the school board, was elected there. Being the board chair during a pandemic on a school board was not the most fun thing. I was doing a lot of therapy and counseling. My marriage was not thriving. There were some health things going on with my parents. It was just like everything was hard but everything was something I was learning from. So it was this period of growth for myself where I hit this point and realized that I had been living my life for other people. I had always done the thing that I thought that somebody wanted me to do, whether it was going to law school because my dad wanted me to, or being a stay-at-home mom for the most part because I felt like I was supposed to do that for a while. And I just hit this point where a few personal things came together and I was done and it was around the time that my marriage really hit its roughest patch and out, like Allison said she and I have done some really hard things together and we had also been talking about the fact that, hey, why don't we do something we get paid for, that brings us joy, that we can continue to serve our community and we can really kick ass at like, what is it that we're going to have fun doing and that we can make really big. So then we started a spreadsheet which we look back on occasionally because we didn't know what the thing was. We were confident that our partnership and the way our brains work together. One thing about our relationship is that it is incredibly trusting and respectful and challenging, which it's like a securely attached marriage should be, which I actually think I learned a lot about interpersonal relationships, even like, hopefully, a future spouse relationship, with my relationship with Allison, because when you know that somebody sees you and respects you, you can really challenge each other in a healthy way and it both grow from the process. It might look awkward to some people because she and I get a little feisty sometimes, but that's just our process. Anyway, I had somebody come into my life on another board I was serving on. I serve on.

Speaker 3:

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry board was set up with this woman, yonette. Fine, she's a realtor in the area. We didn't know each other at all and she was like, lady, what do you do with your life? And I'm like, you know, I don't know. I do a lot of things, but I'm like there's something I'm supposed to do. I don't know what it is. And she looks me dead in the eyes and said you're supposed to be a realtor or something like that. And I was like, really, that's what I'm thinking. I've thought about it before. I love you know, I've bought and sold and been very involved in many real estate transactions of my own and I'm a take the bull by the horns kind of person and did a couple off market sales of my own house. And so it was just this lightning moment where I was stalking the Yonet. I'm like, yeah, man, I'm going to be a realtor.

Speaker 3:

And so in the car ride home, yonette and I had this amazing conversation just talking about dreams and how to manifest what you want and how to get it by just dreaming it into an existence. She was talking about journaling things and she was like you're going to think I'm crazy, but just listen to this and do it. I just be authentic to yourself and what you're feeling. Write down all your feelings and follow it. So I call Allison in the car ride home and I'm like Allison, dude, guess what? We're going to be realtors. And she was like we are and I said yeah, she's like okay. And so it was November or December and we started studying for our exam in January and we just kind of took it off from there.

Speaker 1:

Amazing. So, Allison, that was, it was just okay, we're doing this.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, it was. I mean, if you look back at our other ideas, it was dog boarding God, what else was there? Realtor was our best idea by far.

Speaker 3:

Funeral industry was a big one. I'd had I think I'd been very closely involved in about five funerals in the years leading up to this, and it's another industry if you've been involved in one that is very inefficient and could be just so much better.

Speaker 1:

Less cheery than real estate, I'd say the design aspects are limited. All right, let's talk about the fact that you are two very different women, which adds to a lot of, I think, the strength of the partnership. But how do you divide the roles in a business partnership like this? What makes it work behind the scenes? Tell me a little bit about the dynamic.

Speaker 4:

So that has evolved over the last few years. It wasn't something that was clear cut from the beginning and it's something that we're still tweaking as we go. I tend to take on more of the organizational aspects, process-based aspects of the business, and Carrie does more of the creative. She does all of our social media, et cetera. That said, either of us can do anything. It's just that those are the roles that we seem to be more comfortable in, and then we each share the actual real estate work. So one of us will be the primary listing agent on every house. However, we are both in the loop on every transaction all the time.

Speaker 4:

I think there is something to be said for having a partnership where both people can do all the things, because one of the things that I loved the very, very most about our business is that I can take a vacation, I can take a day off and there's somebody always to cover for me. If somebody gets sick, it's not a catastrophe because there's always one of us, and that having a partner I mean it is. It's like Carrie said, it's a lot like a marriage. There are challenges in it, but I can't imagine doing it alone. I love that.

Speaker 1:

All right. So tell me a little bit about the values or the vision that you use as an anchor from the beginning, that you believe, with sort of non-negotiables and building your brand. What are the things that you walked into this, knowing about yourselves and how you wanted to build this business, that have become your non-negotiables?

Speaker 3:

highest level of integrity was so important to us. We will always put our clients first. We always wanted to do things the right way. We're rule followers mostly. I mean everybody's got a little wiggle room. But being good people and being super ethical in an industry where there's a lot of buzz around those topics was really important to us. And I love this about our partnership too is that if one of us gets kind of out of alignment on any value, the other one is like so quick to remember, like no, that is not who we are, we don't operate this way. And then also, we were deeply committed to our community.

Speaker 3:

We started as volunteers on different boards and things and as volunteers on different boards and things, and nothing brings me greater joy than serving Portland through my science museum board and my smaller community and our school community and our neighborhood and continuing to find authentic ways to partner with people that we value and we can help support through our business was really important to us.

Speaker 3:

And being the absolute best at what we do, we were committed to doing this better than anyone and we knew that that was going to take cost up front and be a heavy lift to get going, because before you get good at something, you have to just say here is what I am doing, but you haven't actually done it yet. Right? You're like this is what white glove service looks like, and we're just kind of making this up as we go. But those were our values and I think it was really important for us to spell that out at the beginning, because it was fun when we described what our level and caliber of client care looks like. And after we had done a few transactions and we went into a listing appointment and Allison's like wow, I'm like talking the talk here, but we've actually done it now, and so it was like we spoke what we wanted value wise into existence in our business and it's it's really important to know what drives you.

Speaker 1:

I love this and we have a funny story that we'll save for another day of how we met. But essentially, a friend of ours, a mutual friend, sent me one of your listings and said this just seems like you. And I saw the house and I was like, oh my God, this is where I need to live next. So now I'm going around with this photo on my vision board, going don't sell that one yet, Wait for me.

Speaker 3:

We'd love to sell it to you, Michelle. Yeah, are you?

Speaker 4:

moving Are. Wait for me. We'd love to sell it to you, michelle. Yeah, are you moving? Are you moving here? Yeah, I'm moving to Riverwood.

Speaker 1:

But things in perspective. Reminding everyone, I live in Northern Virginia, right outside of Washington DC, the nation's capital. These ladies are living in Dunthorpe, right outside of downtown Portland, and it's a beautiful part of the country and I had the opportunity to go and lead an entrepreneurial retreat out there not too long ago and I just fell in love with it. It's absolutely gorgeous. So I understand why you guys love it, and I didn't know initially that you weren't from there originally, carrie. You're actually from California, correct?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I was born in California, in Central Valley, allison's from Central Valley, the Bay Area, and Allison's from Texas.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's a beautiful part of the country, and so I had visions that it rained every single day. And, of course, carrie now jokes and says it's sunny for the entire week and DC has rained for the entire week ahead. Y'all just pretend to keep all of us away. All right, let's talk a little bit about your marketing, because what really pulled me in when I saw that listing was how you were doing your marketing, which I think is emotional, it's creative, it's detail oriented, the music was very compelling, it's a very sophisticated look and feel and, frankly, it's so such a departure from what you see, typical real estate advertising and marketing. So I don't know who got the idea, but it was so on brand for me that I was like, oh my God, I have to follow these ladies and see what they're doing. But what brought that about? And was that just something that you both, being much more luxury oriented, said we're going to bring this into the business field? What just made you decide that that was the route to go? I think it was.

Speaker 4:

Maybe Carrie has a different thought. We both love houses and real estate in general, so before we decided to go down this path, we both looked at many listings probably every house that came up in our area. We put eyes on it, at least online. God, there's just so much room for improvement, right. And so we went into this thinking we want our listings to look like they just came out of Architectural Digest, and finding the vendors to make that happen has been a challenge. At times. We have had some swings and misses, but we have worked really hard and are always reassessing and evaluating. We have worked very hard to find the people that can give us make what's in our heads actually materialize in our work.

Speaker 1:

Tell us a little bit about the team, because I know that you don't pull something off like this without help and I have a little bit of an inkling of all the different things in the pipeline. But give our listeners an understanding of what it takes when you have a premier property, a luxury listing, to really bring it to life for the potential buyer. What is it that you do and how do you enlist the help of really this extensive team that you've identified, that's sort of available to you as you need, and how do you decide to bring these folks together? Tell us a little bit about who's on that extensive team.

Speaker 3:

It ties back to what is our goal, what is the end product. Back to the marketing point. And a house is not a house. I think about this sometimes when we're writing listing descriptions. You're interchanging the word house from home. They're different words and a home is like one of your safest, most emotionally connective place. You live your life with your family and there is this emotional connection that we really want people to have to a house. That makes it feel like a home, and so we try to do that. We build a story around each house and property. This is on the listing side. We do both listing and help buyers.

Speaker 3:

You want the person, when they walk in this house, to have an emotional connection and a wow feeling, and it takes a whole lot to get to that point with most houses. So if you, michelle, I, walk in your house, it's going to feel like you and you will probably have some things you've put off because nobody likes to do all the minutia around their house. You know garbage disposal, broken, that sort of stuff. So, allison and I, when we walk in, we do this mostly on our second, like after we've signed a listing agreement. We look for the things that are you may not notice, for example, that your light bulbs are not all the same. Kelvin and Allison gets real tired of me talking about Kelvins but there are little things in your house that are not. They're changing the way you perceive it or a stranger would perceive it that you can't quite put your finger on. But we've gotten pretty good at identifying those things that distract you from that falling in love with the house feeling. So we have a team of people I mean it's kind of like a three ring circus at this point and we have dozens and dozens of people on our team that are contractors. We have a true general contractor and we have had him remodel 3,000 square feet of a house once we can pull that off in a couple of weeks and we are good at finding inexpensive ways to completely change the feel of a space and make it feel from 80s to now.

Speaker 3:

We do landscape. We partner with one of the best landscape designers in Oregon, I would say on the West Coast and he just has fun working with us and while he absolutely should not be helping us with our small projects because he does like billionaire winery, huge estates and we're just here like, hey, can you help us with some pots or zhuzh things up, and we, instead of staging, we've gotten creative. Of when you're working with an ultra luxury home that's already been designed by a renowned interior designer, you have to figure out how to make that translate to real estate. And so we found this amazing stylist who does major magazine shoots and she happens to live locally and travels for her shoots. And so Kira had never done real estate before. We're like what would you think about coming in and like moving things around and doing what you do for magazines, but helping us get that shoot in real estate? And she was like I've never done this before, but we'll try.

Speaker 1:

So dozens and dozens of people. Sometimes we've got 40 people on a job site at once, pulling it all together, the surrounding areas and then swooping in. It was pretty spectacular and you don't see a lot of folks doing that. So it really adds to the ambiance of understanding what the potential of that. I think of it as modern sanctuary. Every time I see something that you guys put together, it's like Erica is another modern sanctuary. I love that.

Speaker 3:

The other thing we've learned is that you have to we pay for it. I mean, you should have a realtor who is willing to put some bucks on the table because it's expensive. We hire the best videographer. We'll hire the stylist. I would say that we put a lot of our own capital on the line to make things the very best and pulled off as they should be, and we could be making more money. But we also think that that's our brand and it will pay off in the long run. This is why I'm not the numbers person in our business.

Speaker 4:

No, but I agree, I do agree, we do it better and you do have to pay for that.

Speaker 1:

So talk about maybe an obstacle or two that you didn't envision coming down the road with this business, and how did you adapt or grow through it?

Speaker 4:

I think that if I had to do it over from the, or if I got to do it over from the very beginning, one of the things that I would have sat down with Carrie and brainstormed was what are our boundaries and how can we communicate those to everybody our clients, our vendors, other brokers, people on other sides of transactions and we want to do everything for everybody. But there has to be space for us each day and we have to maintain our mental health or we aren't good for anybody. So at times maybe it has been an obstacle, but maybe more of like a growth opportunity and learning experience over the course of being a business owner. But just making sure that nothing is depleting my emotional and mental resources and what is the best way to do that and to meet everybody's needs, but while keeping an actual focus on exercising, eating well, getting enough sleep, having mindfulness, practice all of those things that I want to do every day. Maybe I don't exactly, but just keeping space for myself and my family, of course.

Speaker 1:

I love that and I can only imagine, having bought and sold a few homes of my own, the stress that happens, not just with all of the people that you have helping you, but with buyers and sellers, the emotion around that transaction, and you're absorbing that as the person who is really at the center of all of it.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, and Carrie and I are both more sensitive people and when our clients get stressed which everybody does in every real estate transaction there comes a point where it gets a little bit spicy. And we have had to work and, I think, remind each other to separate that from our own emotions.

Speaker 3:

One of the things we talk about and we say this all the time and I think it's so true in life and it's one of the ways that I think back on how therapy and marriage counseling and my experience on the school board relates back is that you have to know that when somebody in front of you is having a panic attack or they're angry, I just always remind myself it's not about me and it is.

Speaker 3:

Everybody's dealing with stuff. It's really interesting, it holds true a lot and we work with a lot of friends or clients who become friends and all just as they're saying what they need to say and I'm listening, I'm thinking back how I know this person has a baby at home who's not sleeping. Or if somebody texts first thing in the morning with something they're frustrated about or anger, I always think back to oh well, I wonder if the baby wasn't sleeping last night and I'm just trying to think of what that thing is and not taking offense to it, but being empathetic to everybody's got something and I am the face of something. That's really hard for them to do right now. You know, I'm with them a lot. It's inconvenient, but keeping that perspective is important.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's so good. You just hit on something, allison, I want to go back to, and that is about what is it that keeps you grounded. How is it about what is it that keeps you grounded? How is it and what is it that you do on a regular basis that becomes part of again what keeps you centered in the middle of what is a really chaotic business at times? I'm sure, and I think you know, we all sort of understand the real estate market is cyclical and when people buy I'm assuming right now is a heavier time typically right, spring time is when a lot of people buy summers what right now is a heavier time, typically right, springtime is where a lot of people buy summers. What is it that you are practicing? You mentioned a few things exercise. I'd love to hear more about what it is that you all lean into.

Speaker 3:

Oh man, this is my favorite topic. I love this. So this is something I also wish I had done more of for the last 20 years. And it is being okay with not doing everything, and so I have gotten really disciplined, which is a complete 180 for me this year. Like, I don't do my laundry, I don't take out my dry cleaning, I don't go pick up my prescriptions, I don't grocery shop Anything that takes away from the things that are most important in my life that I can outsource and is taking away from either my kids, my business or my volunteer work and, to some extent, my friends. It's not worth it. And our business coach that we hired right when we started which was a wonderful thing I suggest to anybody he said that you guys, you have to outsource more, and I'm a DIY watch too much HGTV. I can do anything and it doesn't matter if you can. It's not worth it if it's taking away from things that you value more. Oh, I love that.

Speaker 1:

Allison. Anything else you want to add, I love that. So, carrie, tell me what you're doing to outsource all of this stuff.

Speaker 3:

I don't know it's going to sound a little embarrassing, but you've got to own it. Like you know, I have a family who helps keep my house clean. I've had them for a long time, but I was spending half a day the day before because I'm not a tidy person Allison knows this and I was like you know I need somebody to actually help me around the house on a daily basis, and so now I have Caroline, who is the most wonderful person, who is like my right hand that keeps my house in order, which also keeps my brain in order, because I'm not thinking about having to do the things, but also I'm not distracted or stressed out about the mess in the corner and the laundry that hasn't been put away. But yeah, keeping your car clean. Everybody likes a clean car. It's not that expensive to have a detailer come and keep it clean. Also important when you're driving people around Food service delivery. It's pretty easy now with DoorDash and all of the online delivery things.

Speaker 3:

I don't go to Costco anymore. I love going to Costco, but it takes a long time and then you've got to unpack all this stuff. I do Instagram. There's a lot of things you didn't really need. That's. The other thing is I think you end up saving money because I'm not buying like whatever beauty cream is on the end dial, you know. But if you there are so many things like that, allison, what else am I doing? Self-care is huge. I have a masseuse that comes once every couple of weeks, and having somebody that is going to show up and do these things for you, that you don't have to call and book and just have another task to get the thing to happen, is amazing, and that self-care that I need.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, another thing that you do that I'd also do, is therapy, which I think is really important.

Speaker 4:

We happen to see the same therapist, but on different days no-transcript but it's funny and I would just like to add in that exercise is really important for me and because if I'm not exercising enough, I'm not sleeping well and something about being like mid-40s age. It's like if I don't sleep I am worthless, and even worse than worthless. Sometimes you know like you're so grumpy and it's so negative. So doing what I need to do to just kind of get that peace is really important to me.

Speaker 1:

I love that. Yeah, we talk a lot about the importance of just maintaining your body's physical fitness, whether it's just going for a walk, exercising, eating healthy, all of these things therapy. They all add to your ability to think clearly, function better, and all of the work that we're doing on one level or another requires great executive function. A lot of people don't realize the ability to make a decision is predicated on your ability to rest and be able to be sharp and to be able to see clearly, and if you are not sleeping or moving enough, you're not. None of those things are happening. So amen to that. All right, what's something you wish someone would have told you at the start of this journey? Allison, you sort of talked a little bit about it with boundaries. I think boundaries are a big one for sure.

Speaker 3:

Boundaries. I was going to say we have learned that you do not have to take every client and sometimes you meet with people and we have a process. We think we know we have a lot of proof at this point that our process works really well when people don't value what our company is, the values that we have as business owners, and doing things a certain way, which is the right way, not the right way, but it is like the right way to sell a house Everything from pricing strategies and how we consider what improvements need to be made. You can tell right off the bat if you're going to be fighting an uphill battle with somebody, and the amount of emotional bandwidth it takes when you're not gelling with a client isn't worth it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, have you had to fire a client?

Speaker 4:

We have not had to fire a client, but we have had a client's contract expire and decided that that was enough for us. Yeah, it felt good actually to make that decision.

Speaker 1:

Yeah and to walk away. You did what you could. All right For women. You may be feeling stuck in their career currently, but craving something more. What's your message to them?

Speaker 3:

It's never too late. I mean, it's kind of like the Julia Child story, right. I mean, how old was she when she started chefing? It was like in her 40s or 50s and you can do anything. And I think at this age and you can do anything. And I think at this age we know who we are and people trust us more than you would trust a 22-year-old. So there's some value in that.

Speaker 3:

Find something that brings you joy and that you are good at, because I've always heard this thing. It was like it doesn't matter. The old thing of find a career that isn't something that you really like doesn't matter because you have to be good at it. I think it is both. And, as in, something that you really like doesn't matter because you have to be good at it, I think it is both. And just don't be afraid to start something totally different.

Speaker 3:

And Allison and I have had she's a very successful prosecutor and had her own law practice and you have to also be confident in not caring what people think about what your selection is. If it brings you joy, go after it. You know, taking Allison's fancy legal career and then becoming a realtor, which everybody has feelings about realtors, and whether we add value or not, and is it a serious career or not. And you just have to not care what people think, and that's part of the joy about being 46. One of the things I love the most. I really don't care what other people think. It takes a long time to get here, but just think about what you want, what drives you, have confidence in yourself and go for it.

Speaker 4:

So even before I don't even know if I've ever told Carrie this so even before she and I started talking about starting a business together, it would have been actually I remember exactly when it was. It would have been just before COVID hit. So, like in the first months in 2020, I was in my therapist's office and I was a new client at the time. I still see him now and I was crying because I felt stuck in my life and I think I was having, after some digging down, a crisis of confidence and maybe self-worth. For many years I was an attorney and then I had my own practice and I wound that down for a few reasons, and so at that time that I was crying in his office, I was, we were working just a little bit, but I wasn't living up to my professional potential and I wasn't sure why. I didn't feel like I could, which was such a departure for me in my 20s, where I felt like I could do a lot of things and all of a sudden, I should have been super confident in my life, but I just didn't feel good enough.

Speaker 4:

And so I think, if you're feeling stuck, I would say, really dig into the why, because we all have, maybe, things that we can point to like oh well, I'm stuck in this job because I need to make this money, for whatever reason.

Speaker 4:

But I do think that there can be bigger reasons and things that we can address with just introspection and really getting down into the why. Like, why do we need to feel like we are committed to a job or a career that doesn't bring us joy? Like to your earlier point, it doesn't have to be so hard. What are the things that we are kind of assuming as true inputs that might not be true? And what if we did decide to do something different? And so actually I really appreciate Carrie for this, because she is an eternal optimist and idea haver, and so I don't know if I would have gotten into real estate without her. But just being in that stuck position, having somebody that helped me to kind of think outside the box and to say, yeah, like maybe we can't do it, but maybe we can, we should try, and reframing my mindset really helped me to get unstuck.

Speaker 1:

That is really powerful, allison, thank you for sharing that. I think when people understand, particularly in this entrepreneurial journey, and you've done something else, and people are going to look at the two of you and say, oh my God, they're so uber successful, these are women that are very highly educated. They figured out what they wanted To be able to like, break it down and say not every day of my life has felt like certain. There are moments where I got stuck too. It's just so powerful and a tumbling, so thank you for sharing that.

Speaker 1:

I want to talk a little bit about the unexpected gifts, rewards, things that you didn't expect on this journey, moments of surprise that you didn't anticipate. Obviously, I think one of the things that I and I don't know you as well, allison, but one of the things I get to observe and carry as a new friend is just this space to envision what's possible, which is really nice to witness. I would love to hear from both of you, though, over the last few years, what are some of those unexpected gifts that have arisen for you that maybe you didn't anticipate were even going to come at this point in life.

Speaker 3:

Well, you, for example, it's like real estate brought us together. Well, you, for example, it's like real estate brought us together. We're sitting here talking because of my listing and our mutual friend.

Speaker 1:

And our love of houses and all things luxury. Let's just be clear. I was like I think, and one of my skill sets is I really, truly love people.

Speaker 3:

Allison knows this. My friends always tell me I like people a little too much and give people too much benefit of the doubt sometimes. But I do. I like seeing the positive in everyone and everything. I think you can choose to see the positive and try to understand why something has happened or why something is going on in your life, and if you can think about the what am I learning from this, it'll lead to something else If you take that minute to think about okay, well, this isn't ideal, but I'm learning from it. But kind of following these little breadcrumbs of life that I don't know come your way and building upon them. For example, I found this piece of furniture.

Speaker 3:

Alison's heard this story a million times on Facebook Marketplace that I loved and I went and met this woman in Northeast Portland and bought this credenza from her and we had a lovely chat in her basement and we, let's see, a month later we sold her house.

Speaker 3:

She's a very talented interior designer. We ended up building a relationship where she helps our clients envision what's possible in houses before they buy them, which is great, because you know, I'm not a designer. I can say, hey, if you paint that blue wall over there, white, you're going to like it more, but I'm not seeing that we're to move the walls and that sort of stuff. But Sarah will meet with our clients and do that sort of work and then how each of these relationships that we have and things that aren't obvious and how they're going to benefit you in your business. But if you're, if you work hard and you're nice to people, those connections that build upon each other and they lead to the magic moments. And it's brought me so much joy seeing the positive things build upon each other and come together and benefit our clients, our vendors, the team we work with. It is awesome and I didn't have any idea how much joy that would bring me.

Speaker 1:

I love that. Yeah, People don't know Carrie. She is a people person. No one will ever deny that at meeting her instantaneously. All right, well, let's talk about the flip side of that. So the unexpected rewards of this what were some of the avoidable or maybe unavoidable pitfalls and how did you learn from them?

Speaker 4:

I think one of the biggest pitfalls I think that I can think of right now is which Carrie hit on a little bit earlier is not having enough help in the beginning because we were afraid to spend the money to get that help conservative with finances, and that wasn't a great idea. It was mentally exhausting and I think that in all cases our business would have been better had we hired an assistant, hired a good accounting firm, hired a business coach, hired all the people that we need to keep the wheels turning and not worried as much about the money to keep the lights on, because at the end of the day, we can do a better job with the things that we do if we have that base of support.

Speaker 3:

Another thing that has been challenging is drawing the boundaries in our personal lives. For me, it's friends, as you mentioned, michelle. I love people. I love saying yes to people. I will always tell people that I'm going to this event or I'm going to do the thing, and I always have the intention to do it. And then life piles up and I don't feel good when I cancel things, and it's still something I'm working on is saying no to things I really want to do because I have to, things I really want to do because I have to, and it's it doesn't leave me feeling my best to say no down the road after committing to something, and it's hard. We have limited time. There's only so much bandwidth we have to give, and it's been challenging to balance that.

Speaker 1:

You know I appreciate you saying that like my former life was, you know, as an executive and a public relations firm on a global basis for 20 some odd years and I was always traveling and I got invited to a lot of things. You know, when you're in that business it's inevitable. You're just always on and always going. And people didn't really understand that after being on the road and being with clients and being in front and presenting all day and being on my feet and talking in front of people, that when I got home I actually wanted to turn it off and I didn't want to go to the next party all the time. It just seemed that was part of my personality. And it's been an interesting journey.

Speaker 1:

Now where people are like you say no. Often I was like, yeah, I've gotten very good at it because I recognize that my time is finite. In a way, I didn't even have the ability to do when I was running 24-7, 150 miles an hour. Now that I've taken a step back and have a much more intentional business set up, it sometimes is heartbreaking because you're saying no to things that you actually might want to do, but you're like I can't be in all places and I know right now I need to conserve some of that energy for the next thing. So I appreciate that it's hard, but then you know when you show up and when you're present you're giving all and you're pouring in to everyone. That's there. So I think people will forgive you.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk about the legacy you're building. I love your brand. I love everything you stand for. I love all the work that you're pouring into the real estate market in Portland and beyond. But talk about the bigger picture. You know, not just as realtors, but as women, as mothers of boys and girls and community leaders as mothers of boys and girls and community leaders, I know you love your town. I know you guys have given a lot. That's, I think, not a given for everybody. Not everybody has that spirit and heart of being of community.

Speaker 1:

What do you think and have you given any?

Speaker 3:

thought to the bigger legacy that you are creating.

Speaker 3:

Part of the answer is that we don't know yet.

Speaker 3:

We're kind of at a growth phase in our on the business side where we want to do something really big and something really different and we want to make a lasting change in our industry, because there are so many inefficiencies and ways, things that could be done better. It feels a lot like we're still plugging along in AOL mode and could be so much more efficient. We haven't figured out what that big thing is, but stay tuned because we're constantly trying to figure that out and we hope we leave some kind of legacy in our industry and our focus and dedication and genuine care for our community. I think as business owners, is really important. We watch a lot of people in our industry focus more on the bottom line and less on how you get there, and we're literally giving people houses in a community and if they value where they live, they're happier and they're moving here, oftentimes not knowing how they can get plugged in. There are just so many natural connections between giving back and community and home, and we will always work towards bettering our communities.

Speaker 1:

I love that. All right, what are you most excited about right now? I know there are a lot of things that you're working on, and then I know you're sort of at that inflection point. You just hinted to that, carrie, but what do you think is next? What's the next level for Spurlock and Williams? I'm excited about this one because I have so many ideas for you. I can't wait to be out there brainstorming with you.

Speaker 4:

I think we have a fledgling idea right now that involves getting a group of really awesome, primarily women but it doesn't have to only be women brokers together and maybe setting up some kind of collective or collaboration and just doing our business a little bit better. I think the servants level and the product that we turn out will stay the same, although that's always on an upward trajectory. I hope that we're always improving our process, but doing our business in a way that is better for us personally, and collaborating and drawing inspiration from other people. I think that's what's our immediate next.

Speaker 1:

I've loved all of this conversation. I really appreciate both of you just coming on and sharing this journey. It is really inspiring what you've been able to do in just a few years' time. What other people have taken really lifetimes to get to, you've done in a very short amount of time and I think that really speaks to both of you as individuals, but also to the specialness of your partnership. That can't really be overstated here. So thank you for coming on, for sharing journey, for inspiring all of us to really go out and live our extraordinary lives and take that chance and understand what it's taken for you to go on this journey together. Thank you so much, michelle. All right, until next time, everyone, go and live your extraordinary life.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to rate and review. If you have recommendations for future topics, please reach out to me at michelleriosofficialcom. Lastly, please consider supporting this podcast by sharing it. Together, we can reach, inspire and positively impact more people. Thank you.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Michelle Rios

Host