S4E8: YMI Talking to Shawn Doyle from Savory Grille

The latest episode of YMI Talking is here, and we're excited to share our conversation with Shawn Doyle, owner of Savory Grille!

Shawn talks about his journey as a business owner, the incredible growth happening throughout the Lehigh Valley, and the importance of building strong relationships within the community. It was a fun conversation filled with great insights, and we're so grateful he took the time to join us.

The full episode is available now. Be sure to give it a watch and let us know what you think!

For more info on YMI insurance visit our website at ymiagency.com

Or give us a call at 610-868-8762 to see how we can better protect your business and family.

Transcript

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Audience. Fake it every single day. You pretend you put on a face because you don't have a choice sometimes. So it's it's it's it's literally just putting up the best version of yourself for people to see and hope that they don't see you shaking. Welcome to Why Am I Talking a podcast where the guests are so good? You'll wonder why the host is even talking. In each episode, you will hear one of the leaders of the Lehigh Valleys vibrant business hub. They will tell you the keys to their success, the mistakes they've made, and what they have in store for the future. Here is the host of why Am I Talking from why am I insurance? Jimi Honochick. All right, I'm Jimi Honochick, and I am joined by Modesty. Hello. How are you today? Good. How are you? I'm good. I am jazzed up after that episode. Yes. Me too. Good one. That was Yarrow is. I knew she was impressive coming into this. And now I'm blown away. Yes. She’s a strong woman. Yeah. She's been through a ton and has such an incredible business at this point with some of the best agents in the Poconos. Yes, for sure. But I just feel like I want to be her when I grow up. Me, too. I don't. Want to ride a horse now. Yeah, I am scared of horses. I feel like they wouldn't like me and they would throw me off. Oh, well. Sounds legit because. But yeah, she's she's so incredible at everything she does. Like she's. What did she say? Top eight in the world in horse riding. Yes. Dressage. I believe it's called. I don't know, but just number eight in the world rating. Which is incredible. And to do all of that and to run a business like I'm blown away. Me too. So let's not steal any of our thunder. Let's just go right into it. All right. I couldn't be more excited about this episode. We have someone who is near and dear to my family, near and dear to YMI. And just an all around absolute rock star in the Poconos, Yarrow Wilkins from Remax Crossroads. You are so busy. You are everywhere all the time. I cannot say thank you enough for making time for us, I. Love it. No problem. Talk to us about your story, your journey, kind of how you got here. Where did Yarrow get her start? Where did I get my start? Well, I grew up with a mother that told me my entire life, you can be anything that you want to be. And so I didn't know that you couldn't do everything you wanted to do. I just was told, if you want it, you do it and you'll get it, and you'll achieve it. And do it with your own two feet. Don't rely on anybody. Don't look for anybody else. So I didn't know you couldn't accomplish everything because I just thought that was what you did. Yeah. So it was a great message. And clearly you've lived that message. So talk to me about. All right? Your mom gives you that. You've built your foundation. You know. What's the next step? How do you get started in your career? Let's say. So I went to college at what was Delaware Valley College, now Delaware Valley University in Bucks County, and was on the trajectory to be a veterinarian and realized in about my third year of college that, holy crap, it's really hard to get into vet school. So, like, I could be a doctor easier than I could be a veterinarian, and I would have been an equine vet. And you spend 90% of your time in the vehicle driving from horse to horse. So I was like, well, I just I don't think that's what I want to do. So it was like, I graduated with that degree and a minor in business and a minor in English and whatever else I could throw in there, and then later on went on for my masters. But I called my father and said, I, I need a job, I'm going to be graduating, and I'm really not sure what to do. And as it turns out, they don't give you health benefits when you graduate college. Who knew that? So I reached out to him and said, you know, can I have a job? And he said, well, yeah, but you start at the very bottom. Yeah. And I was like, well, that sounds terrible, but okay. And so you started and I had to answer the phones and file the papers. And real quick though, what did dad do? What was that? My father owned a real estate company at that point. So that's that's how it started. And in our family, being a real estate family, you got your first house at 18 and it was okay, figure out how to manage that house. You didn't actually get to live in it. You just got to look at it and try to figure out how to make red turn black. And as far as the numbers, and I had no idea, but I had to figure it out and I figured it out. Yeah. And I have all the utmost respect for my father for having started me at the the bottom, like below the bottom, like I didn't even it was nobody below me. But I also understood everyone's position in that company and what they did. And I could hire for that position and if need be. I could always jump back into that position. So I could be the receptionist. I could be the filer, I could do any of the tasks within our company. So and at one point we had grown that company to think we were at 14 offices. Wow. Close to 200 agents. We had over 100 investment properties, 20 plus entities that we owned together. So it was it was quite an experience. It was quite an experience. I learned a lot literally from the ground up. Yeah. So then when do you decide to break off and do your own thing? Oh, that's a long story. Better. Better over a glass of wine than over a cup of coffee. It's. We just went different paths. Yeah. And so I had worked. Scared at that point. Terrified? Yeah. Beyond terrified. I had $27 in the bank and two young kids to feed. Yeah. And, yeah, I'd have a car I didn't have. I didn't have anything. So it was either you pick yourself up and make something of every single day, or you pull the covers up over your head and pretend it's not happening. And my eyes, it's. Just. It just wasn't an option. It just like I wasn't I wasn't raised that way. And so it it was quite a journey to get on the other side of that. But I'm glad it happened. You know, after when things are happening, you, you look at it and go, why am I in this situation? Like I should be somewhere else, I should be doing something else. And I walked away from, you know, lots of money and a big house and a big property with horses. And but there's all a lesson in it. And if you don't take the lesson from it, then it's just what feels like a bad experience. But if you take the positives out of it and what you learned from it, that's what makes you the person that you become. So I agree 100%. I mean, if you have that difficult thing and you get through it, you look back and you see, you know what the blessings are that came out of that. Absolutely. But when you're in it. How do you find the resilience to push through that? Oh my God, you fake it every. Single day. You pretend you put on a face because you don't have a choice sometimes. So it's it's it's it's literally just putting up the best version of yourself for people to see and hope that they don't see you shaking while you're holding the piece of paper standing in front of a microphone, speaking to a group of people. Yeah. And you get done and you go, okay, I got through it. I can I can do it again. And you just keep building one day, on the next day, on the next day and speak with conviction. I was just telling my agents yesterday, just talk like you know what you're talking about. People go, oh my God. Well, it sounds like she knows what she's doing, so let's let's believe her. Yeah. And so it's a it's a big part of but you know, sometimes it's the fake it til you make it. I remember there was they come to do a, it was like the top 30 real estate agents in Pennsylvania under the age of 30. And they're in and you know, this is back when they were carrying big cameras and all that stuff. And they said, you know, how do you feel about this glass ceiling? And I was like, I'd never heard the term of my whole life. And I was like, I think, I think it's I think it's still there. And no idea. What she was even talking about. And it was. Like we didn't even have computers. Then I. Was like, I couldn't even Google it. And I was like asking around. Didn't know what this glass. Feeling thing is like. But it was just funny. And you just you make a joke of it and you put your best face on and march forward. I love that though. I feel like the glass can be clear. And for you, you didn't even see it there and you just pushed. Didn't even know what the words meant. Yeah, had no idea. I mean, it's it's just, you know, and I'm in an industry that's that's very male dominated at the top. Yeah. At the, at the, you know, at the just I want to say just realtor level level. It's predominantly females. But then as you get higher up, you know, with owners and such and of real estate companies it's predominantly men. So and especially commercial real estate you're way outnumbered in commercial real estate. So I was like, well then that's what I want to do. If nobody's doing that, then that's what I want to do. You know, I tend to pick the harder paths just to prove to myself I can do. It. And you've proven it, but when you start it so you go out on your own. Is it just you and how do you build it to become, you know, Remax Crossroads as it is today? Well. We are we are something today. You are. We are definitely something. And I'm super proud. I purchased Remax Crossroads from a woman who I greatly admire named Lorene. And I was not at a point where I was really ready. I had been doing exclusively business in the Lehigh Valley area for a number of years, just to remove myself from the Monroe County piece, just as things calmed down. And so she called me and she said, are you ready to come back? I'm thinking about selling my business. Talk about taking a leap of faith. I was like, I don't even know. I don't have any money. I don't have any anything. I don't really even I'm sure. Yeah, it looks do it. I mean, let's sure. Absolutely. I would love to. And so we kind of put a plan together. And I signed the papers one day, and the next day I got rushed into the hospital because they had found that my spine was beginning to collapse in on itself. And so my risk of parallelization was like through the roof. So I literally signed on a Tuesday and went to the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday and had emergency spine surgery, and that turned into one one thing after the next. And yeah. Subsequently, now eight more spine surgeries after that, two hip replacements. And yeah. It's been a. Year strong. Yeah.. I don't know. I just thought I thought that's what you did. Yeah. You want to do it, you. Do it. But plenty of people could have quit at any point during that and kind of thrown their hands up. And yeah, I could probably. Count on one hand the amount of days that that crossed my mind, but it really just I just I'm not built that way. I'm not built. That way. And so crossroads itself today, I mean, tell us about it. It's, you know, a real institution here in the Poconos. But tell us kind of about the agency's size, how many real estate agents you have and things like that. We have. Over 5000ft² of real estate office in a in a time where a lot of people are there calling them real estate boutique offices, which just means I only have 400ft²and I just never could embrace that model. And so my model is still kind of the old school real estate model of you get up, you get dressed, you brush. Your. Teeth, you go into. Work. Which and I have a lot of agents who are in their 20s and 30s and that's not what they're used to. And they're like, well, but we could go work down the street and they got to have to go into the office, and that's great. And that might be the model for you, but that's not I quite intentionally build an environment where you want to come to work. It's warm, it's cozy. Our conference rooms are old tables that are chipping paint with a piece of glass on it. And I've been there. It feels like home that someone's house that you're walking into. That's awesome. Because that's that's exactly what we try to to create. And we've got 30 plus realtors there every age, every everything. It's they're a beautiful, beautiful group of people that just are so passionate about helping people. And that's really what real estate comes down to is, is helping people, whether it's an investor finding finding another investment property, whether it's first time buyers who are terrified and their hands are shaking as they're trying to sign the papers for their first home. It's beautiful. Yeah. Just beautiful. Talk to me about the transition, because the skills that made you successful as a realtor, as an agent yourself, probably are not the same skills that help you run. You know, your brokerage as it is today. Not even close. And I didn't do a tremendous amount of general real estate when I first started my first 20 years in the business, 15 years in the business, I was more supervisory, so I would oversee it. And so then when I purchased Remax Crossroads, I had to I had to sell because I didn't. I mean, I had always sold houses over the years, but I didn't really focus on it. And so when I purchased Remax Crossroads, I needed to really bring that skill set back in and reach out to people who I had just referred business to. I mean, people always, you know, would look at you and say, oh, you're synonymous with real estate. You know, your last name just is real estate. And so it definitely was a different skill set because, yeah, selling, selling a piece of property and managing an office. Not the same. Not the same. Yes. All good but not the same. And what makes Remax Crossroads unique? What makes it different than the other brokerage down the street? Like why would someone go to a crossroads? One I think. It's it's the level of training. I mean, one Remax is, you know, the known brand in real estate. So that the brand kind of speaks for itself. But we do tremendous amount of training. We do a tremendous amount of I mean, anybody can just fill out the paperwork, but it's a matter of how do I fill out the paperwork to best benefit my client? How how am I going to do the best job I can for them? We never put the money before the transaction. It's the people that will make the transaction. And as long as you keep that in mind, you know, everybody in my office will roll up their sleeves and help the next person. If you're new, if you've been there for you can be selling real estate for 30 years. But this transaction is completely different than anything else you've ever dealt with. So, you know, the team itself just and I've worked very hard to get the best people I can, my roof to have 100 people, just to say I have 100 people isn't isn't what makes you successful? Yeah. Is it hard to kind of create that team? So you had 100 or you're heading towards 100 to really say, look, these are the people who get what I'm about and what I'm doing. Like, how do you make that happen? I can't make it happen. It's either it's either innate of them to be that type of person or not. And so what I found is those that are not it's probably not the best fit for them. And that's that's fine. Sometimes they realize it, sometimes I realize it. But it's you. You want that cohesiveness. You want that team environment. You want all the right people on the. Bus that that want to be there and love to be there. And, you know, that's that's what makes this amazingly fun. What makes a good real estate agent. Oh my gosh, it is. It is the biggest melting pot of individuals that. You can possibly. It is everyone from the retired police officer that is done working to the guy on Wall Street who now wants to come and sell real estate to the mom with, you know, twins at home and a full time job. And you know, so it's it's all of those different personalities and backgrounds. And that's probably the toughest part of running a real estate. Office. Managing because it is so many different personalities and backgrounds. You know, everybody's background brings different skills. So I try to have each person share their unique skill set with the rest of the crew. Because you know what, what you have from Wall Street and what I have from being, you know, a mom at home. They're both great skill sets, but one can compliment the other if done correctly. Yeah. Does that make sense? No, absolutely. So, Yarrow, you have sold homes for my family. And I know when my dad was looking to sell the family home, he didn't even bat an eye about who he was going to pick for his realtor. And so what do you think? I know the reasons he picked you, but what do you think it is about Yarrow specifically that makes you unique and that you bring to the table? It's probably just the straightforwardness. I don't want to tell people just what they want to hear. I don't want to be told just what I want to hear. I think I think when you're genuine and honest and straightforward, people have much more respect for you. To just tell someone what they want to hear is not is not going to gain you any friends? Probably more enemies if it were anything but. And that's tough in real estate, right? People come. It's absolutely. Emotion tied in that home and they say worth X and you have to be the one to say it might be. Why, yes. When you tell me you put $70,000 into your retaining wall, I go, well that's amazing. Now it's not going to fall down. However, that does not mean it's worth 70. Thousand more. Because of the retaining wall that does not bring back the value. So yeah, it can be very difficult. And it's hard at first. It's very hard to walk into someone's house and say, okay, this is great. Now fix this, change this. Do this. You know, and give them a laundry list of honey do lists. Yeah. So you know, but but honesty, if it's meant to be, it will be. If it's not, it will not. Yeah I would say that was one of the things they said. And then tenacity you are. Oh yeah. You are 100% behind your clients. Like a mama. Bear with a cost is. The truth. And I am that way with my my realtors as well. It's I am I am fiercely protective of of those close to me and on my team. So absolutely. Yeah. That was that was the report that I got. So what's that. They're amazing individuals as well. I do like them. Yes. So what's next for you. Where do you see Remax Crossroads going? Where does Yarrow want it to go and where does Yarrow want to be? You know, it's. There's a million directions that can go. I'm very involved at my local board office, the Pocono Mountains Association of Realtors, 2027. I am president again for the third time. Yeah. We are glutton for punishment or doing a great job. I'm not sure which one. Maybe a combo because I am so passionate about this industry. I it's it's my whole world. It's what I've, what I've done my whole life. I ride horses and I do real estate. That's that's my life. Both are great. And so I will remain active with my local association for sure. A lot of my realtors are also very active on different committees because again, you can't expect change if you don't expect to be part of the change. So you know, if you don't like something, become involved and make it different. So, you know, I'm a very firm believer in that. So we will continue on that path. I will continue to grow the business to where it needs to be, not just to grow it, to grow it. That's that's easy to do. I don't at this point in my life. I really don't just need the self-esteem to say, I can. I can do it. I want to do the right transactions. I want I want that warm and fuzzy feeling when people walk away from a closing table that if you're a seller, you've got the most that you could possibly get. And if you're a buyer, that it was a great experience and you want to tell all your friends about how great it is to own a home as opposed to rent a home. So, you know, I'm very, very passionate about those those pieces of it. So the right people, that's what it comes down to. I love that you have Pocono experience. And then you went to the Lehigh Valley and now you're back in the Poconos. Talk to me about what makes the Poconos unique and special. Well. I'm from the Poconos. My grandfather actually invented the heart shaped tub. No. So swear to God. Yep. Yep, yep, he was on the cover. I believe it was time magazine timer. Newsweek. Yeah. So that was my grandfather, Maurice Wilkins. So we have deep, deep roots in the Poconos from that. And I just, you know, I still walk into the bank and they still say, good morning, Yarrow. How are you? And you don't get that a lot of places. And I have lived other places and I've traveled to lots of places, but there's there's really nothing like home. Are there things I would love to have here? Absolutely. Mainly restaurants, I would say be a great thing because I go down to the Lehigh Valley for that. Yeah, but I'm still very active in the Lehigh Valley real estate. I, you know, we our territory tends to cover multiple counties. Just that's just geographically what ends up happening. So I'm still very involved in Lehigh Valley, particularly with commercial real estate. But you know, the Poconos will always be home I love it. Graduated from Stroudsburg High School and it's a it's home. Both my kids went to school here. So I'm always outnumbered on these trails. The Cavaliers came to try to get it out the other day. I was like, oh no, no no no. Yeah. No way. I can't do that. Leap. Bleed maroon. Not purple. Because many years later I was still Cameron myself to do it. So, you know, real estate is such a local focused thing. And the Poconos, we talked about kind of what makes it unique, you know, what would you like to see improved in the Poconos? What would make it truly that special, special place? We need to preserve some of the the nature that made the Poconos, the Poconos, you know, one of the, you know, again, going back to my grandfather with the heart shaped tub, you know, we were a honeymoon destination. We were a vacation destination. I don't want to see that go away just because to build more condos, you know, that's that's what our area was started on. You know, geographically, we're right between Philadelphia and Manhattan. So we have so much to offer. And I will never lose the mountains. We'll never lose our rivers. But we do need to be conscientious about saving some of them. And as much as you know, I am in real estate and you know, I do developments and industrial projects, we still need to preserve that piece of it. But we could get some more restaurants. Just drove that out there for a second time if any wants to hear it. Again. I love that talk about you've mentioned it a couple of times, your love of horses and riding horses. It seems like you are go go go go go. And so this is maybe your chance to kind of step back and kind of be with yourself. Talk to me about it. Well, that sounds lovely. I'm not sure that will ever happen, but my schedule is one that I am up by about five. I drive an hour into new Jersey to go ride my horse horses, drive an hour back home, take a shower, and I'm in the office by ten. Wow. So. And that's pretty much six days a week. Yeah. So it's. What is it about horses that calls you back? I just set these ridiculously high goals for myself, and I. I ride my competition scores. I lost my show horse in the fall, and we were at our scores were international scores. We weren't even at US levels anymore. We were showing for the United States. So, you know, at a high, high level, which is if you're not dedicated, you don't get to that level. So Grand Prix is the top part is the top of the dressage world, which is what I do. And we were there. So you don't mess around, mess around. If I'm in, I'm. In, you're in. I and singer. So let's talk about taking a step back, which we are sponsored to the season by the Swiftwater Hotel in Swiftwater. It's beautiful. It's brand new. And you can go there. You can get it's not a heart shaped tub, but you can get a tub in your room. And it's just a really great vacation. Love that. What was the best vacation actually? Have you ever taken a vacation? I have taken a vacation. I do not take a lot of vacations, and my daughter and her two foster sons live in Kentucky. Okay, so I tend that tends to be my my new vacation spot, which, you know, Winchester, Kentucky is not where you want to be. Yeah, yeah. But no. Anywhere with a beach and a drink with an umbrella in it. And I'm in that I can put in some AirPods and listen to a book or podcast and just listen to the water. Yes, absolutely. So we are almost out of time, but I want to give you a chance to talk about anything that we didn't hit. Anything that you think is important to you. Your story to crossroads to the Poconos. Before we wrap this up. I think we covered a lot. Yeah, yeah. It was it was very fun. I was impressed with you coming into this. And that has just increased leaps bounds. Thank you. I didn't know really your story. I just kind of know you and through the business. But you truly are an incredibly impressive person. Thank you. And. Yeah. And you do so much for the area. So thank you for coming on here. But thank you for everything you do. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. Absolutely. All right. Thanks. Thanks for listening to another episode of the Why Am I talking podcast. If you enjoyed this and want to hear more content from amazing personalities in the Valley, please subscribe, leave a rating and drop us a quick review.