From Modest Beginnings to Partner: Growth Mindset, Networking, and Homeownership Strategies with Courtney Crowder

This week Kara sat down with Courtney Crowder, part owner and partner at Phoenix Lending Group, to chat about making career moves, building connections and buying your first home. Courtney shares her incredible journey from humble beginnings in a rural area and how she navigated through various career paths to become a successful entrepreneur.

She opens up about the challenges she faced, including cutting off stagnant partnerships, making risky career moves and balancing motherhood with her professional aspirations. Throughout the episode, she emphasizes the importance of building genuine relationships, both in business and personal life, and shares her best tricks for networking.

Courtney also shares the specific steps single women can take to become first-time home buyers. She mentions the abundance of resources available, but highlights the importance of working with the right people who know how to make these resources work for you.

Whether you're making big moves on your path to financial freedom with real estate or exploring a new career, this episode is packed with tips to help you along the way.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 3:17 Courtney's Path to Partnership
• 4:11 Navigating Career Shifts
• 16:40 Building Relationships and Leveraging Networks
• 19:21 The Importance of Vulnerability
• 23:38 Navigating Motherhood and Career
• 30:29 First-Time Homebuying Strategies
• 35:23 Becoming an Equal Partner: Insights and Advice
• 36:31 Final Thoughts and Takeaways

Transcript

00:00:00.550 [Music]
00:00:13.960 welcome to the gateless podcast I'm
00:00:15.719 really glad that you're here I'm your
00:00:17.320 host Kara Kayrouz this is where you'll find
00:00:20.279 conversations with self-made women who
00:00:22.800 share their playbooks their tips their
00:00:25.800 actual experiences on the journey to
00:00:28.160 success I also chat with experts and
00:00:31.000 practitioners of mindset stress
00:00:33.480 productivity emotional and mental health
00:00:36.120 because if you're listening to this
00:00:38.040 you're somebody that bets boldly on
00:00:39.760 yourself and you care about optimizing
00:00:42.520 how you feel perform give back love and
00:00:45.520 just move through the world this podcast
00:00:47.800 is here to help you become the absolute
00:00:49.840 most incredible version of yourself in
00:00:51.920 life and in business be sure to
00:00:54.920 subscribe to the podcast so you never
00:00:56.800 miss an episode we really appreciate
00:00:58.680 your feedback and review views the only
00:01:01.120 way that we grow right now is from you
00:01:02.879 sharing your favorite episodes with your
00:01:04.959 family and friends on social media so
00:01:07.240 thank you for doing that go do that big
00:01:09.880 cool thing that you've been dreaming
00:01:11.320 about today I sat down with Courtney
00:01:13.640 Crowder who is part owner and partner at
00:01:17.280 Phoenix Lending Group we chat about
00:01:20.520 making big career moves buying your
00:01:23.159 first home betting on yourself the
00:01:26.200 importance of relationships and
00:01:28.000 networking to build a care career from
00:01:30.840 scratch literally from starting at zero
00:01:34.159 Courtney shares her journey from
00:01:37.439 extremely humble beginnings in a rural
00:01:40.399 City in Virginia and how she navigated
00:01:43.320 through various career paths to now this
00:01:46.040 point of Independence and really
00:01:49.759 impressive success she has this I'm not
00:01:54.079 going to fail I can't fail I'm going to
00:01:56.320 figure it out attitude that is truly
00:01:58.600 inspiring to me and I know will be to
00:02:01.079 you she opens up about all of the
00:02:02.799 challenges that she face making risky
00:02:05.640 career moves cutting off relationships
00:02:09.479 and shrinking her inner circle when the
00:02:12.680 people around her weren't actually
00:02:14.040 bettering her and upleveling her she
00:02:17.959 became a mother pretty young and
00:02:20.400 navigated motherhood building a career
00:02:23.440 becoming a partner at a firm all with
00:02:27.040 Grace and of course there's learnings
00:02:29.000 there and she shares very very tangible
00:02:31.120 and actionable tips she also talks about
00:02:35.680 how to become a first-time homeowner if
00:02:38.440 you are a single woman and shares a
00:02:41.920 playbook for how you can really navigate
00:02:43.959 that with the right mindset and also how
00:02:47.280 to prioritize the steps in which you do
00:02:49.920 things whether you are making big moves
00:02:53.800 on your path to Financial Freedom you
00:02:56.920 want to become a homeowner you are also
00:03:00.200 coming from a place where not many
00:03:02.519 people in your family or the people that
00:03:04.040 you grew up with are doing what you want
00:03:06.480 to do and aspire to be this episode is
00:03:09.080 packed with tangible tips to help you
00:03:11.879 along your journey if that's you then
00:03:13.519 this episode is for you and with that
00:03:15.760 welcome Courtney could you just share a
00:03:18.440 little bit about yourself and what
00:03:20.159 you're doing now and we'll get into all
00:03:22.080 the details of the background and all
00:03:23.519 that but let's hear what you're working
00:03:25.400 on right now and just tell everyone a
00:03:26.920 little bit about yourself so I am a
00:03:29.159 broker on of Phoenix Lending Group I
00:03:31.319 just became partner a few weeks ago it
00:03:33.519 was the beginning of February so super
00:03:36.280 super exciting it's something that I
00:03:38.040 knew I always wanted but kind of
00:03:40.680 whenever I was thinking about what I was
00:03:42.239 going to say here it's so funny whenever
00:03:44.200 you're you know back up all the way to
00:03:46.439 beginning in the career it you know you
00:03:48.640 where you want to go but you don't see
00:03:50.080 the clear path totally so it it was
00:03:53.439 really exciting to enter into this
00:03:55.360 chapter and honestly enter into it
00:03:57.200 relatively quickly because I started in
00:04:00.120 Mortgage in 2018 so it's not been you
00:04:03.000 know an incredible amount of time that
00:04:04.760 I've been in in the industry but hustled
00:04:07.400 hard and I've made the right connection
00:04:09.079 so worked out it is really impressive
00:04:12.840 and hustle is part of it of course but
00:04:15.239 there's so much more that I'm sure like
00:04:17.680 a lot more strategy that went into it
00:04:20.279 than just hustle so I want to hear about
00:04:22.079 it but can we go back to just sharing a
00:04:26.240 little bit about your background and
00:04:29.800 upbringing and how you even started like
00:04:32.960 you can do a quick summary of just where
00:04:35.039 you started in life and a little bit
00:04:37.680 about how you started your career
00:04:39.639 because you were doing something
00:04:41.000 different right at the beginning well
00:04:43.520 kind of okay so we both know we majored
00:04:46.080 in business together and I always had an
00:04:47.680 affinity for finance I thought I was
00:04:50.400 going to go to New York and work as a
00:04:52.120 finance gallon in New York whenever I
00:04:54.039 was postgrad and so fortunately for me I
00:04:57.000 had sweet Tucker and relocated here to
00:04:59.919 Phoenix Scottdale so when I first moved
00:05:04.039 here I worked in marketing and that just
00:05:06.479 really wasn't the thing for me I am much
00:05:09.080 more analytical I was running reports on
00:05:11.479 the analytics of everything and that's
00:05:13.800 really wasn't even my role so I stepped
00:05:15.919 back and was a stay-at-home mom for like
00:05:17.840 18 months during that time I opened
00:05:20.280 numerous llc's I did all kinds of crazy
00:05:22.800 stuff and I was like you know I just I
00:05:24.639 can't be still I need to do more so T's
00:05:28.360 dad and I started applying to every
00:05:30.319 mortgage company that would take my
00:05:33.280 application and I ended up getting a job
00:05:37.080 at this really small startup and I
00:05:39.560 worked at the front desk I literally
00:05:41.280 worked at the front desk of this place
00:05:43.280 and kind of worked into doing more of a
00:05:45.520 processing role then from the processing
00:05:48.039 role did the sales and then I ended up
00:05:51.039 being a key employee for this company I
00:05:52.960 was doing all of the new agent
00:05:54.880 recruitment for referral I was doing HR
00:05:57.680 strangely you know me I not a not a rule
00:06:00.880 following type so that was very funny
00:06:03.360 amazing and so I realized how
00:06:06.560 undercompensated I was in that role for
00:06:08.520 how much I was doing so one of my
00:06:10.080 girlfriends and I actually started our
00:06:12.599 own thing but then 2020 hit and we just
00:06:16.000 did not have the capacity for the volume
00:06:18.160 of business that we were receiving which
00:06:19.919 was a great problem to have but also
00:06:22.479 really challenging and a friendship
00:06:25.280 dynamic because how do we move this what
00:06:27.560 do we do and that's when I started work
00:06:29.560 with my partner now and had I mean just
00:06:32.680 absolutely incredible mentorship from
00:06:34.319 him he was fantastic truly like a
00:06:37.440 blessing to me in my life and then after
00:06:41.120 a little bit of time he decided he was
00:06:42.520 going to take a year sabatical so it
00:06:45.479 happened to fall in the worst time in
00:06:48.759 mortgage history other than maybe 2008
00:06:51.639 and somehow I still kept my production
00:06:54.400 so he comes back and he's like I'm ready
00:06:56.639 to go just start my own company and
00:06:58.680 we're going to leave this bigger
00:07:00.120 institution and I something in my gut
00:07:02.280 just said no I'm not going I'm not I'm
00:07:04.400 not going to do this I'm going to
00:07:05.960 continue to stay in what's called retail
00:07:07.560 lending where you have big overarching
00:07:10.000 company and smaller branches and I
00:07:12.039 joined a friend of mine at a branch and
00:07:15.199 it wasn't the place for me and my
00:07:16.680 clients but leaving Tom my partner now
00:07:20.440 made us both realize the value we had in
00:07:23.440 each other and what a perfect synergetic
00:07:25.599 partnership we had together so leaving
00:07:28.160 was ultimately the best thing even
00:07:29.800 though it wasn't necessarily the best
00:07:31.240 place for me to be so we re-engaged and
00:07:34.120 started conversations about how this
00:07:36.479 would look for a partnership and I came
00:07:39.639 on in October understanding that the
00:07:42.120 ultimate goal was to be partner but you
00:07:45.360 know you want to kind of date before you
00:07:46.639 get married so we we took a little bit
00:07:48.520 of time and you know structuring that
00:07:50.440 really going through the process of
00:07:52.000 strong operating agreement and that's
00:07:54.440 that's ultimately how that happened
00:07:56.159 that's amazing so a few things that you
00:07:59.479 said were kind of lending themselves to
00:08:02.759 the fact that you always had an
00:08:04.440 entrepreneurial Spirit like you just
00:08:06.800 decided that you and your friend were
00:08:08.199 going to start your own thing can you
00:08:10.240 say more about that maybe say more about
00:08:12.479 the entrepreneur inside of you and that
00:08:15.879 isn't necessarily the same as wanting to
00:08:17.919 go be a finance girl on Wall Street in
00:08:20.080 New York and to be totally honest that
00:08:22.440 is exactly what I thought I was going to
00:08:23.680 do leaving College as well and like I
00:08:25.280 got the job at Morgan Stanley and I
00:08:27.199 moved to do it and I quit after three
00:08:29.039 months because I hated it so much I'm
00:08:30.479 like this is not me this is this is not
00:08:32.640 me what am I doing I don't want to climb
00:08:34.360 some ladder here and it was because of
00:08:36.880 that inner entrepreneur that I just
00:08:39.360 needed to figure out how to feed so
00:08:41.479 absolutely yes I am 100% there with you
00:08:44.680 and being in those cycles of essentially
00:08:47.440 feeling underpaid undervalued and having
00:08:49.440 to climb the ladder and constantly prove
00:08:51.279 wor like that has never resonated with
00:08:54.040 me nor have the roles that I was just
00:08:56.399 talking about before some things that
00:08:57.880 don't make sense to me I just can't do
00:08:59.680 it like if it doesn't make sense I can't
00:09:01.240 do it and there's so many nuan and
00:09:03.279 performance reviews and things that
00:09:05.240 ultimately just didn't resonate with me
00:09:07.760 as a human I saw what I could do if I
00:09:10.200 operated with more autonomy and that's
00:09:12.560 where I always wanted to be even whether
00:09:15.240 I knew it or not well and you've also
00:09:18.240 had a I don't even know how to describe
00:09:20.920 this but kind of a I'm GNA do it but I'm
00:09:22.880 going to do it my way mentality and like
00:09:25.720 trust me it's going to work out kind of
00:09:27.920 thing and it feels like that holds true
00:09:31.600 with what you've done professionally too
00:09:33.920 like okay I get that there's a playbook
00:09:35.480 for this or I get that there's a path
00:09:36.680 but guess what I'm going to do it my way
00:09:38.320 because that's authentic to me and it's
00:09:39.760 going to work do you have I don't know
00:09:41.880 how conscious or subconscious that is to
00:09:44.040 you but do you have some way that you
00:09:49.079 find and maintain the confidence to do
00:09:51.560 that like is it just confidence in
00:09:53.760 yourself that you've always had or did
00:09:55.200 it come from something or I want to hear
00:09:57.640 more about that and so really good
00:09:59.720 question because I truly have always had
00:10:02.320 that and I don't know what it is I took
00:10:04.120 an inag test and it said it was an inag
00:10:06.279 7 and we are like crazy optimistic even
00:10:10.880 like a little bit delusional if you
00:10:12.839 might say
00:10:14.279 yeah yeah and so even like having Tucker
00:10:16.959 in college I was just like this is going
00:10:18.320 to be fine like everything's going to be
00:10:19.760 okay it's all going to work out I just
00:10:21.240 had this belief in myself that I would
00:10:22.760 navigate it and ultimately even going to
00:10:25.440 college from you know my family's
00:10:27.160 lineage was something that no one had
00:10:29.440 done so I just always believed it would
00:10:31.279 happen and then it just does so yeah a
00:10:33.560 little Delo conserver girl I completely
00:10:36.680 agree I think it's hard sometimes for
00:10:38.360 people to understand exactly what that
00:10:40.399 is though and I think to break it down
00:10:42.000 it's really just a confidence in
00:10:44.720 yourself that you know you're going to
00:10:45.760 do it and it doesn't mean you have to
00:10:47.079 have the exact steps laid out it's just
00:10:49.399 a feeling of I I believe I somebody else
00:10:52.519 could do this I can do this is that
00:10:54.440 right right and success is never linear
00:10:56.880 like I don't know about you but for me
00:10:58.760 it it's not going like this like every
00:11:01.160 time that something would happen that
00:11:02.920 would be a little bit of setback there's
00:11:04.560 something in me also that was fueled by
00:11:06.760 that like anytime something happened it
00:11:08.560 was like well I'm going to go do
00:11:09.639 something bigger and batter bigger and
00:11:11.279 batter bigger and batter every single
00:11:13.160 time yeah I totally agree with that are
00:11:16.079 there moments in your life that you can
00:11:19.639 recall or pinpoint as pivotal moments
00:11:22.839 maybe they were challenges maybe they
00:11:24.200 weren't challenges but just pivotal
00:11:25.800 moments that got you closer to who you
00:11:28.399 actually are
00:11:30.079 yeah so that very first mortgage company
00:11:31.800 I worked for I alluded to being
00:11:34.160 underpaid and honestly undervalued for
00:11:36.760 what I was doing I was doing heck of a
00:11:38.519 lot for them and I could see because I
00:11:41.200 had insight into the business operation
00:11:44.079 what I was bringing in and the actual
00:11:45.720 Revenue that this was generating so I
00:11:47.880 didn't come to them and ask for a raise
00:11:49.880 based on an arbitrary number I came
00:11:52.240 based on sax and data and truly seeing
00:11:54.920 my value and their nod to me wasn't
00:11:57.519 explicitly said this way but more or
00:11:59.680 less said can't your husband or your
00:12:01.240 father take care of you oo yeah that was
00:12:04.880 kind of the gist of the conversation and
00:12:08.639 for me that was incredibly insulting
00:12:13.920 like I am a girls girl to the core I
00:12:17.199 truly value my female relationships and
00:12:20.199 so taking myself out of it but thinking
00:12:22.360 of was like you know my best friend my
00:12:24.240 sister someone else sitting in that seat
00:12:26.279 what I would have wanted them to do
00:12:27.720 would be leave start Your Own Thing
00:12:30.120 those relationships you have will follow
00:12:32.160 you and that's what
00:12:34.519 happened dang not only insulting but
00:12:38.519 like so triggering to being living like
00:12:43.000 living in today's world and still be
00:12:44.920 it's obviously we've come a little bit
00:12:46.800 far but that type of thing is still all
00:12:49.079 over the place oh it is and it's so
00:12:51.480 prevalent in this industry because it's
00:12:53.800 absolutely male dominated it is a male
00:12:56.160 dominated space without doubt so so
00:12:59.000 being me and who I am just as my
00:13:01.839 personality I feel like is so different
00:13:04.279 and I think a lot of the time I have
00:13:06.399 like people haven't know what to do with
00:13:07.560 me because I'm so different than I love
00:13:09.720 it nobody knows what to do with wellb
00:13:12.120 behaved women or yeah with with women
00:13:14.480 that aren't well behaved but you know
00:13:15.680 what you're always the ones that are
00:13:17.120 going to achieve the most and have the
00:13:18.399 most fulfilling life so you you
00:13:21.480 mentioned that you took it wasn't based
00:13:23.600 on feeling or emotion that you were able
00:13:25.720 to articulate your value and you were
00:13:27.360 asking for a raise but I think this is
00:13:29.240 something that actually a lot of people
00:13:30.800 can take something away from can you
00:13:33.160 talk about your approach to use data to
00:13:36.600 in facts to articulate your value maybe
00:13:39.320 you compared it to other numbers that
00:13:41.240 you could get in the market or like
00:13:42.560 comparative salaries and then how you
00:13:44.959 actually formulated your pitch to The
00:13:47.240 Boss to say like I'm I'm worth X and
00:13:50.240 you're paying me why in my role there
00:13:53.160 wasn't another person doing what I was
00:13:55.040 doing in the industry I was doing so
00:13:57.560 many different roles it was so intricate
00:13:59.279 so I couldn't actually go out and shop
00:14:01.199 for a comparative salary but what I had
00:14:02.920 to do was look at the numbers Revenue
00:14:05.440 that was coming in I knew because I was
00:14:07.759 operating at an HR level how much we
00:14:09.920 were compensating people who were
00:14:12.800 performing duties on each file and then
00:14:15.199 I also knew overhead I know what the
00:14:17.160 rent was I knew a lot of the employee
00:14:19.639 cost you know payroll tax is a real
00:14:21.440 thing so there was a lot that went into
00:14:24.120 that that I'm like you're still making x
00:14:26.399 amount above and beyond all the expenses
00:14:30.000 so it's not like I was just looking at a
00:14:31.680 number and thinking like well you know
00:14:33.360 we may do $20,000 I deserve half of it
00:14:35.959 it was truly analyzed from the top down
00:14:39.040 to see what that that bottom number
00:14:40.800 would be smart so the and how did that
00:14:44.959 conversation go like how do you argue
00:14:46.680 with the data well they were trying to
00:14:49.519 grow and they were ultimately trying to
00:14:51.800 hire a few other positions so they
00:14:54.079 wanted to essentially say that they
00:14:56.720 wanted to budget to pay more people
00:14:58.720 people those people weren't there yet
00:15:01.000 and I was still doing all of the jobs
00:15:02.959 that they were trying to ultimately hire
00:15:04.759 to you know have me delegate and it it
00:15:08.320 didn't make sense I'm like well once
00:15:09.560 they get here certainly that's a
00:15:10.920 conversation we can have but if you're
00:15:12.199 willing to pay them X while I'm doing
00:15:14.360 that role right now and shouldn't I be
00:15:17.040 given a piece of that pod I mean makes
00:15:20.000 total sense and then what was your
00:15:22.639 thought process or how did you know when
00:15:24.120 it was time to
00:15:25.240 leave the day I knew that it was time to
00:15:28.279 leave
00:15:29.160 um so my my partner back then she went
00:15:32.759 and got her broker's license so she had
00:15:34.639 the ability to do it she was already
00:15:36.079 operating in that type of role I had a
00:15:38.560 meeting with them where literally I was
00:15:40.680 crying I mean early in my career I feel
00:15:42.440 like I cried a
00:15:43.560 lot we all did we all did I was crying I
00:15:47.600 made the most juvenile mistake I
00:15:50.600 transposed two numbers and they acted
00:15:53.040 like I had like completely demolished
00:15:55.800 the business and I'm like you know what
00:15:57.920 like of all all the things that I do
00:15:59.920 here and how undervalued I already am
00:16:02.600 like you critiquing me for this super
00:16:04.800 super minuscule mistake that's actually
00:16:07.240 not going to cause anyone any um push
00:16:10.000 back or or Revenue loss I was like I I'm
00:16:13.399 just going to go where I'm valued and
00:16:15.000 I'm going to go start this thing with my
00:16:16.800 friend so it was just the feeling of not
00:16:20.040 being valued to your to the potential in
00:16:23.680 which you knew you should be and then
00:16:26.040 also having confidence that you could go
00:16:27.839 do it again and better yeah and I knew
00:16:31.000 that the relationships that I had made
00:16:32.759 were going to follow me they aren't
00:16:34.959 working with a company because of the
00:16:36.240 name they're working with them because
00:16:37.920 who you are who the people are who the
00:16:39.720 players are I would love to hear more
00:16:42.440 about hear more on your take about
00:16:44.519 client relationships and just the
00:16:46.199 importance of the relationships that you
00:16:48.680 develop with people and obviously you've
00:16:50.360 always been a relationship focused
00:16:52.399 person but now you've made that skill
00:16:55.199 set into your career and I'm sure you
00:16:57.040 have tons of hot takes on how to
00:16:59.000 approach relationships and being genuine
00:17:00.720 and authentic and all of that but can
00:17:01.959 you just go off on that yeah I'll go off
00:17:04.359 on it so I mean even not even referral
00:17:06.559 partner relationships but truly just
00:17:08.640 relationships in general are what I
00:17:10.359 attribute and free outs of success I've
00:17:12.439 had I mean even back I keep going back
00:17:14.559 to this even being in the sority with
00:17:15.919 you like I was so unrefined and just
00:17:18.280 people like teaching me proper grammar
00:17:20.439 and proper etiquette things that maybe
00:17:22.679 are natural to some based on the
00:17:24.240 environment they grew up in it wasn't to
00:17:25.839 me and so having that continuous
00:17:27.880 elevation based on the people I've
00:17:29.320 surrounding myself with was rly
00:17:31.559 instrumental and creating me to be the
00:17:34.160 woman that I am and relationships now
00:17:36.799 not all of them have been real estate
00:17:38.679 specific some of them were board members
00:17:41.000 that I have met and made connection with
00:17:43.160 that have helped me Elevate who I am and
00:17:46.120 make introductions to other people who
00:17:48.120 full circle have ended up supporting me
00:17:50.120 in business somehow but I mean I truly
00:17:52.679 think network is the absolute most
00:17:54.480 important piece to to elevating on self
00:17:58.039 so you have you are a natural in terms
00:18:01.360 of a like conversation and approaching
00:18:04.400 people and talking to people but I think
00:18:07.320 and and why you chose a the type of
00:18:10.080 career that you have like obviously if
00:18:11.320 you were somebody that just can't
00:18:12.960 Converse you're not going to do what you
00:18:14.360 do but I do think that some people
00:18:16.600 listening are curious if they do like to
00:18:21.679 focus on relationships and relationships
00:18:23.280 mean a lot to them and they can be
00:18:24.720 authentic but they're shy or they don't
00:18:26.440 have the confidence to approach somebody
00:18:28.000 in a networking event or things like
00:18:29.760 that do you have any tips that you might
00:18:32.400 share to building confidence or just
00:18:35.000 having like a couple go-to things to
00:18:37.240 talk about that help in situations like
00:18:39.840 that because I think it's about putting
00:18:41.039 yourself out there and having the
00:18:42.080 confidence to be vulnerable and
00:18:43.200 authentic but that's really hard oh my
00:18:45.280 gosh it's so hard and being authentic I
00:18:47.840 think is even really a challenge for a
00:18:49.880 lot of people it feels vulnerable and
00:18:52.960 scary and even though I am super
00:18:55.000 outgoing and bubbly I have anxiety and I
00:18:59.000 can certainly speak to social anxiety
00:19:02.240 and social anxiety can sometimes make
00:19:03.880 word vomit and things just kind of come
00:19:05.360 out which sometimes serves you and
00:19:07.400 sometimes doesn't I look back and
00:19:08.679 reflect and I'm like why did I say that
00:19:11.440 but the reality is and something I
00:19:13.080 remind myself of often people aren't
00:19:15.799 really paying that much attention to you
00:19:17.360 they remember how you make them feel but
00:19:19.320 they don't always remember what you say
00:19:21.440 so when you are being vulnerable and
00:19:23.039 authentic like you're going to make
00:19:24.480 these connections because you're going
00:19:25.720 to bring the root of who you are to the
00:19:28.520 conversation or to the situation and
00:19:31.360 people like that people can connect with
00:19:33.440 that if you're reserved or shy it's not
00:19:35.960 quite as
00:19:37.320 connecting it's so true you think about
00:19:40.159 what you say so much more than anybody
00:19:41.720 else is thinking about what you say they
00:19:43.520 just know if you were fun to hang out
00:19:45.720 with or if you were kind made them feel
00:19:48.240 good complimented them whatever they
00:19:50.559 remember the feeling not whatever he
00:19:52.600 said and I think that's something I've
00:19:54.159 always done all like complimenting
00:19:55.720 because I'm an observer and I like love
00:19:57.880 to compliment people and that your right
00:19:59.760 is so connecting so so connecting so you
00:20:04.559 in my opinion have and I feel like I
00:20:06.720 have a lot of opinions about you on this
00:20:08.200 they're all positive um thank you you
00:20:11.559 you have always had a growth mindset and
00:20:13.919 I don't think that I had the vocabulary
00:20:15.880 to identify that 15 years ago when we
00:20:18.159 met
00:20:19.559 but now I see that I can't actually
00:20:23.520 imagine how hard it might have been for
00:20:27.520 you in certain circumstances to grow up
00:20:30.720 the way that you grew up come to still
00:20:33.440 another town in Virginia but it was a
00:20:35.559 private school full of a lot of people
00:20:37.960 with a lot of money who came from very
00:20:40.440 different backgrounds than you and had a
00:20:43.640 specific way their Norm was just
00:20:46.559 completely different and looking back
00:20:49.600 now I I not I noticed it in real time of
00:20:52.320 like she doesn't seem to care she is
00:20:55.120 just like going to be herself and I
00:20:57.559 remember having thoughts of like I'm so
00:20:59.919 jealous CU like I didn't grow up the way
00:21:01.679 that you grew up but I still didn't have
00:21:04.480 the confidence in a room of people that
00:21:06.840 I was probably more similar to that you
00:21:08.960 had and I loved that and admired that
00:21:12.000 and I think it's why you have such an
00:21:13.520 infectious energy in Behavior or in
00:21:15.840 personality like in just generally
00:21:18.080 speaking but where did the growth
00:21:21.120 mindset come from does that do you feel
00:21:22.880 like it came from necessity or was it
00:21:25.520 that you genuinely just like love to
00:21:27.440 absorb knowled and get better and evolve
00:21:29.840 and I'd love your perspective on that
00:21:32.200 thank you I think it's a little bit of
00:21:34.520 both I mean I I definitely felt like
00:21:36.799 there was a level of just again that
00:21:39.360 delusion where I was like not really
00:21:41.279 paying attention I was like oh what is
00:21:43.440 that bracelet David your menu all have
00:21:45.320 that oh that's $300 and to me at that
00:21:48.000 time was like wow that's $1,000 yeah to
00:21:52.600 to me now and so I was like cruly a
00:21:55.159 little bit just dilutional I didn't
00:21:57.159 understand how different I was was but
00:21:58.840 then I also was there and I was in those
00:22:01.360 rooms I was doing those things and
00:22:03.080 continuing to elevate even just
00:22:05.480 academically because I knew I always
00:22:07.240 wanted more there was multiple times in
00:22:09.600 my childhood I mean I can remember
00:22:11.240 vividly like the the filings of
00:22:13.080 bankruptcy and even just having to
00:22:15.640 monitor what we were purchasing at the
00:22:17.400 grocery store and I knew that that
00:22:18.840 wasn't the life that I was going to have
00:22:20.760 and I was damn determined that that
00:22:22.960 wasn't going to be it for me and it
00:22:24.559 wasn't going to be it for the children
00:22:26.279 that I met and so yeah it's just like
00:22:30.159 pure determination and also not really
00:22:33.520 realizing who I was in the room I was in
00:22:36.760 I love it I mean I feel like you have so
00:22:39.039 many just tricks up your sleeve of how
00:22:42.039 to navigate these situations that are
00:22:44.000 new and like you haven't done before I
00:22:46.000 want to hear them all like I'm trying to
00:22:47.760 figure out what questions I'm going to
00:22:49.159 pull them out of you what is the secret
00:22:51.120 how do you walk into a room of a bunch
00:22:52.640 of people that went to prep schools in
00:22:55.240 high school and grew up in New England
00:22:58.400 and in an hour make them all love you I
00:23:01.200 just don't know most people could do
00:23:03.640 that yeah I don't know I think I was
00:23:06.480 like kind of funny and interesting to
00:23:08.480 people and I think that's another thing
00:23:10.000 that made people a little bit
00:23:12.520 more yeah like they they're like we
00:23:14.799 different like what is this girl like I
00:23:16.720 remember puppy painting my blow dryer
00:23:18.720 and going up to all the girls in DG like
00:23:20.600 guess what I done last night I puppy
00:23:22.279 ping and my blow dryer like
00:23:26.520 what are
00:23:29.520 oh I just love it you were just
00:23:32.159 unapologetically yourself who cares yeah
00:23:34.600 authentically me and like again not even
00:23:37.120 phased by it so you have accomplished a
00:23:41.080 ton in your career and you did have
00:23:43.799 Tucker at a time that was a bit
00:23:45.720 unexpected I would imagine um yeah and
00:23:49.400 but you like you said you just like okay
00:23:51.279 I'm gonna keep doing it I'm gonna have
00:23:53.640 the baby go finish school do the career
00:23:56.760 thing and just keep it moving basically
00:23:59.720 but I am curious to hear how navigating
00:24:03.559 your career through everything that
00:24:06.919 comes with being a mom and a single mom
00:24:09.320 at some point that's a lot and I know
00:24:12.520 that there's many people that can really
00:24:13.919 to that but what's your experience with
00:24:16.039 that I think and I'm sure you can speak
00:24:18.600 to this too balancing motherhood with
00:24:21.600 being a professional is so challenging
00:24:25.320 there they always talk about work life
00:24:26.880 balance that's not real like there's no
00:24:29.279 there's no balance like you're
00:24:30.640 constantly seawing one towards more than
00:24:33.840 the other like it's never going to be a
00:24:35.919 a perfect balance at least it hasn't
00:24:37.880 been in my experience and so it's really
00:24:40.720 truly finding who needs you in the
00:24:42.279 moment my kids need me right now so
00:24:43.960 that's where all the weight's going to
00:24:45.480 go I need to focus on business and
00:24:47.120 production so that's where my weight's
00:24:48.559 going to go and just really being truly
00:24:51.320 aware of what and where you're needed
00:24:54.200 and I think that that's really the only
00:24:55.799 way that it can be managed I'm just
00:24:58.000 being okay with the fact that it isn't
00:24:59.520 going to be balanced for any amount of
00:25:01.360 time has to be okay with it and I can't
00:25:03.559 tell you how many times that Tupper even
00:25:05.919 pointed that out to me he's like you
00:25:07.399 work a lot or he's asked me you know can
00:25:10.000 we not have a phone conversation in the
00:25:12.080 car today I want you to I want you to
00:25:14.200 talk to me about something like he's
00:25:15.600 very aware which helps me stay in touch
00:25:17.760 with him too but I can't tell you I mean
00:25:19.440 there's so many times that I've picked
00:25:20.600 him up from school and immediately I'm
00:25:23.120 on the phone with either a client or an
00:25:24.840 agent and he knows like I I'd be quiet
00:25:26.880 during this time
00:25:28.919 sounds like he's a good communicator
00:25:30.360 though and tells you what he needs he
00:25:33.159 does he's he's very emotionally aware
00:25:35.440 which I am so happy about that's
00:25:38.120 incredible my son is a lot younger than
00:25:40.760 gray but or sorry my son gray is younger
00:25:42.880 than Tucker but I do think about the
00:25:45.279 fact that I love that he is going to
00:25:47.559 grow up seeing his mom work and have a
00:25:49.679 big career and be successful because I
00:25:51.880 feel like it's something one day he'll
00:25:53.919 be proud of and want to brag about like
00:25:55.799 my mom's a badass totally M this is a
00:25:58.679 funny story Tucker goes to a friend's
00:26:01.039 house and he sees open house signs in
00:26:03.720 the family's garage so he's smart enough
00:26:06.520 to put together that this parent is a
00:26:08.440 real estate agent so then he goes and
00:26:10.399 pitches my business to her stop yeah
00:26:13.720 he's like you should really work with my
00:26:15.080 mom that a boy I that a boy he's so
00:26:20.080 proud and he's such a champion and
00:26:21.640 cheerleader for me it's awesome that's
00:26:23.840 so great I love that it's so cute do you
00:26:27.159 feel like there are things that you
00:26:29.000 would have done differently or things
00:26:30.760 you maybe not that you've done
00:26:31.919 differently but things you wish you knew
00:26:34.000 when you were starting your career that
00:26:36.159 you know now you know I think in
00:26:38.440 starting my career I tried to hold on to
00:26:42.520 a lot of relationships that weren't
00:26:44.880 serving me and there's all these saying
00:26:48.600 like it's lonely at the top and you're a
00:26:50.679 product of who you spend your time with
00:26:52.279 and I really didn't realize how true
00:26:53.960 that was if you're looking around and
00:26:55.520 seeing that maybe I don't want to be
00:26:56.720 like all these people in my circle you
00:26:59.240 have the circle for you and it's not
00:27:00.399 that you you have to hate them or be
00:27:02.279 their friend anymore but you have to
00:27:03.600 kind of let go in order to grow and I
00:27:06.760 had a really hard time with that at the
00:27:08.679 beginning of my career like really
00:27:09.919 wanting to hold on to relationships that
00:27:11.799 weren't
00:27:26.520 gross-neveu
00:27:29.000 like it can absolutely be emotionally I
00:27:31.960 saw on um we like to say I read an
00:27:34.120 article but I saw Tik
00:27:36.200 Tok I was talking about being the
00:27:38.159 product of the people you spend time
00:27:39.960 with but in actuality you're more like
00:27:42.640 the least producing person in the group
00:27:45.279 like the lowest caliber that's where you
00:27:48.159 reverred to and so it's really
00:27:50.480 challenging because it's not just
00:27:52.159 friends or relationships or it can be
00:27:55.399 family that can be holding you back if
00:27:57.360 you're you're if you're allowing too
00:27:58.600 much of their energy to really kind of
00:28:01.120 penetrate into your lives it's so true
00:28:03.840 there's some saying about that being
00:28:05.559 true with parents too like you're only
00:28:07.080 as happy as your most unhappy child it's
00:28:09.080 that same thing except for like as
00:28:10.960 translated to your friend group or the
00:28:13.000 people that you hang out with with
00:28:14.320 respect to energy and growth mindset and
00:28:17.440 accomplishments and all of that yeah
00:28:19.880 absolutely I've definitely experienced
00:28:22.080 that in my life so can you share a
00:28:25.240 little bit about how you navigated
00:28:28.159 the deal or agreement whatever you want
00:28:30.760 to call it with your now partner to
00:28:33.440 become equal Partners in this firm
00:28:35.120 because I don't even know how to begin
00:28:36.960 thinking about something like that so I
00:28:39.440 like I said it was really valuable for
00:28:42.120 me to leave him because for him he'd
00:28:44.279 always been the branch manager he'd
00:28:45.720 always been like kind of the guy in
00:28:47.080 charge and I was still producing at a
00:28:50.399 really high level when the rest of the
00:28:51.840 market was tanking and leaving during
00:28:55.519 that time and him having to come in and
00:28:57.080 see actually how hard that was to
00:28:59.000 produce at that level and me leaving him
00:29:01.840 and releasing his role as mentor to me
00:29:04.600 releasing him as someone to to bounce
00:29:06.679 things off of that I truly valued and
00:29:08.720 respected I think brought us both to
00:29:11.000 like okay we're here we're meant to be
00:29:13.039 together we're meant to do this together
00:29:14.679 so whenever I engaged in conversation
00:29:16.480 with him to start this it was kind of
00:29:18.840 like I'll come back CU I know you need
00:29:21.760 me you know I need you but here's how
00:29:24.559 we're going to do this because it's not
00:29:26.559 something that I feel like I can just be
00:29:29.200 in an employee role for anymore sadly
00:29:32.120 that's probably not the case for
00:29:33.480 everyone that they have the opportunity
00:29:34.840 to leave and then come back as partner
00:29:36.559 but it was necessary in my situation and
00:29:40.200 you again just had the confidence to be
00:29:43.240 like here's the deal and here's how
00:29:44.799 we're going to do it and I'm only coming
00:29:47.440 back if I'm a
00:29:48.600 partner well so I'll tell you talk about
00:29:51.440 Network I have an incredible financial
00:29:53.960 planner who kind of serves in like a
00:29:55.880 life coach role and all kinds of other
00:29:57.880 things as well and she helped me so it
00:30:00.840 was a group effort with her to try and
00:30:03.200 come to some sort of agreement that
00:30:04.919 would make sense because I mean in this
00:30:07.159 type of role you can go company to
00:30:09.200 company and get signing bonus after
00:30:10.799 signing bonus and then you're married to
00:30:12.679 them for a certain amount of time but
00:30:14.399 forgoing that to go in and actually pay
00:30:17.320 money because I paid in to be a partner
00:30:19.720 was certainly a risk but even in the
00:30:21.440 month that we've had that's Revenue
00:30:23.399 coming back to me already that I paid in
00:30:25.279 so it's been incredibly successful
00:30:28.080 that's really impressive so being an
00:30:30.679 expert in the market and being able to
00:30:34.039 guide people on how to make smart
00:30:35.880 decisions with the like the biggest
00:30:38.279 investment most people make do you have
00:30:40.279 an Outlook or tips that you can share
00:30:42.279 for this audience which is mostly women
00:30:44.399 in their 20s 30s that maybe haven't
00:30:47.519 purchased a first home yet but know that
00:30:49.399 they want to and I think there's just so
00:30:52.360 much information out there is this a
00:30:53.760 good time is this a bad time what do
00:30:55.600 they need to know oh my gosh there's so
00:30:57.519 many complexities to home purchasing and
00:30:59.799 home financing it should absolutely be
00:31:02.080 taught in high school and
00:31:04.760 is it's incredibly just not known in in
00:31:09.480 the everyday average American um skill
00:31:11.679 set so to me there's no denying that
00:31:15.279 we're in an affordability crisis for a
00:31:18.120 single home purchaser it's challenging
00:31:21.200 to purchase a home by oneself and a
00:31:24.000 predominant part of my business single
00:31:26.240 women as home purchasers so to me I
00:31:29.320 think the most important thing that
00:31:30.799 anyone can do is create a partnership
00:31:33.559 with a great local real estate agent who
00:31:36.279 serves the community that they're in and
00:31:38.519 a local lender who has expertise in
00:31:41.519 actually working with single home
00:31:42.960 purchasers to create strategic plans
00:31:45.559 because sometimes people come in they're
00:31:47.039 already ready and we're good to go and
00:31:48.559 we just have to kind of review numbers
00:31:49.880 and make sure that everything fits into
00:31:51.679 their budget appropriately but sometimes
00:31:54.159 they're a year plus off I've had
00:31:57.159 multiple people come to me that have
00:31:58.960 actually had to create a strategic plan
00:32:01.480 with their agent partner and with their
00:32:02.880 lender in order to obtain homeownership
00:32:05.559 because there are things that happen on
00:32:06.919 both sides there seller concession that
00:32:08.799 can help buy down interest rates to
00:32:10.279 create more affordability and then on
00:32:12.000 the lender side maybe it's a credit
00:32:13.799 challenge maybe they need to change jobs
00:32:15.799 I mean I've literally had clients that
00:32:17.399 have had to get different jobs in order
00:32:19.200 to reach their goals of Financial
00:32:21.919 Freedom hopefully one day by creating an
00:32:24.559 Investment Portfolio in housing I
00:32:27.320 honestly didn't even know that that was
00:32:30.200 something that A lender would do with
00:32:32.240 you create a strategic plan to get you
00:32:34.480 there I kind of thought that lenders
00:32:35.559 only wanted to talk to you if you were
00:32:36.880 already there no oh my gosh I like to
00:32:39.600 talk to people well before they're ready
00:32:41.320 to purchase because there are things to
00:32:43.360 to do even someone who has let's say a
00:32:45.399 720 credit score that's a great credit
00:32:47.559 score but you're going to receive
00:32:49.440 incentives and reduction in mortgage
00:32:51.399 insurance if you're out putting 20% down
00:32:53.080 in a reduced rate if we get you higher
00:32:55.639 and there's really simple ways to do
00:32:57.120 that by paying a little bit down on your
00:32:58.440 credit cards to increase your your
00:33:00.600 credit score by lowering credit
00:33:01.960 utilization there's simple things that
00:33:04.600 go into that that are strategic it's not
00:33:06.720 just like check boxes check boxes here's
00:33:09.120 your Deb income you have money for down
00:33:10.799 payment let's go it needs to be more of
00:33:13.080 a well thought out process okay so let's
00:33:16.159 summarize that in like a couple steps or
00:33:18.399 just summarize the tips if you're
00:33:20.200 somebody that is a single home buyer for
00:33:23.080 the first time where do you start and
00:33:25.200 what are the steps you should go through
00:33:27.080 in making sure you're working with the
00:33:28.960 right people and buying at the right
00:33:31.039 time and getting a good deal absolutely
00:33:34.080 so most people go to real estate agents
00:33:36.600 first it's the more shiny fun object you
00:33:38.840 find your real estate agent you can go
00:33:40.279 to lenders first and actually that
00:33:41.760 should probably be the way that the
00:33:43.720 process works so you find who you want
00:33:46.440 to work with locally I think that
00:33:48.480 there's a great resource in social media
00:33:51.600 by seeing who's active and present in
00:33:53.360 your area you can literally look on tags
00:33:55.519 and hashtags and things like that to
00:33:57.200 find them or you can see who's producing
00:33:59.399 at a high level just by looking at open
00:34:01.600 house signes to be honest with you or
00:34:03.360 getting a referral from a friend so find
00:34:05.159 those professional make sure you're
00:34:06.840 working with a strong partnership
00:34:08.800 because those of us who work together I
00:34:10.599 mean not even just me but my Affiliates
00:34:12.280 in the mortgage industry they're
00:34:13.480 Partners too we collaborate in a way
00:34:16.520 when we have experience in working
00:34:18.199 together that best serves the client
00:34:19.960 there's no Kickbacks there's no reason
00:34:21.639 to fear that it's truly in the client's
00:34:24.239 best interest to work with a partnership
00:34:26.639 from from there having the lender do a
00:34:28.639 full analysis with a full application of
00:34:31.359 we can do soft credit pull and those are
00:34:33.040 just fine but the credit anal and L them
00:34:35.719 as well we need to make sure we go
00:34:37.239 through all of that to create the
00:34:39.719 because credit's such an important piece
00:34:41.960 submit all your documents and then
00:34:44.079 between the two we create a structured
00:34:46.599 plan for the buyer that's awesome that I
00:34:49.839 think is a lot less intimidating than
00:34:51.520 the way most people think about it like
00:34:53.760 oh I just have to have a ton of money
00:34:55.239 before I can even reach out to anybody
00:34:56.639 because
00:34:57.640 nobody's going to want to talk to me if
00:34:58.720 not there's so many programs for folks
00:35:01.760 to have low down payment housing options
00:35:04.000 it's it's insane truly there's so many
00:35:06.119 grants there's so many government
00:35:07.800 incentives and things that people just
00:35:09.839 are unaware of and yeah honestly it's
00:35:11.920 not something that I trust Google for so
00:35:13.599 I don't actually trust clients to ask
00:35:15.839 Google these things because there's so
00:35:17.400 much misinformation but talking to a
00:35:19.440 true professional that's the rout to go
00:35:21.720 makes total sense so do you have any
00:35:25.359 anti- gatekeeping advice
00:35:27.440 for someone maybe not somebody that is
00:35:29.880 going to follow your exact path but just
00:35:32.359 wants to become an equal partner in
00:35:34.680 something or wants to start something of
00:35:36.280 their own and they haven't taken that
00:35:39.640 leap yet and they're working for
00:35:41.160 somebody else at the moment yeah my
00:35:44.920 advice is to soak up as much as you
00:35:47.720 possibly can in whatever Arena you're in
00:35:50.560 I mean I started literally at the front
00:35:52.720 desk of a mortgage company and work
00:35:54.560 through the process and I think in doing
00:35:57.160 that not saying everyone needs to start
00:35:58.599 as a front de position because that's
00:36:00.119 not true but learning all of the the
00:36:02.280 aspects and the inner workings of an
00:36:03.880 organization before you actually decide
00:36:06.160 that you want to create one of your all
00:36:08.400 is incredibly important it's almost dang
00:36:11.400 near impossible to hire someone to do a
00:36:13.680 role that you know nothing about and
00:36:15.480 they're probably not going to respect
00:36:16.760 you if you don't know you know what
00:36:18.200 they're doing either so that to me is
00:36:20.960 probably the the biggest thing for
00:36:22.520 someone who wants to become an
00:36:23.800 entrepreneur is in an industry now that
00:36:26.240 is similar to what they would want to
00:36:28.000 open that's really good advice so true
00:36:31.640 where can everybody find you on social
00:36:34.880 connect with you work with you if
00:36:36.560 they're in your local area or can you
00:36:38.119 work with people anywhere I can work
00:36:40.000 with anyone in Arizona soon to be
00:36:42.000 California I am thinking about doing
00:36:45.359 North Carolina Virginia but that's not
00:36:47.440 that's not live yet so okay well let me
00:36:49.680 know if you decide on Florida because
00:36:51.440 there's lots of homes to be slung in
00:36:53.920 Florida that's for sure okay so I have a
00:36:56.760 really great connection in Florida I
00:36:58.200 should introduce you to but you can find
00:37:00.880 me on Instagram courtne Crowder and then
00:37:04.359 actually have a lot of my my initial
00:37:05.960 conversations with folks on the phone
00:37:07.480 and I still have my Virginia area code
00:37:09.280 so I'm 276 733
00:37:12.280 3591 love it thank you so much for your
00:37:14.880 time this was wonderful thank you cara
00:37:17.359 are you somebody that loves to listen to
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00:37:26.000 of picking the episodes that are really
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00:37:29.640 challenging am I right you're busy I get
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00:38:11.930 [Music]
00:38:25.520 enjoy