Work Hard, Play Hard, and Give Back - A Real Estate Podcast

S1E6 - Kate Conquest: From Agent to National VP of Coldwell Banker

• Coldwell Banker American Homes • Season 1 • Episode 6

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What does it take to steer a real estate company through turbulent market conditions? Learn from Kate Conquest, National Vice President at Coldwell Banker, as she shares her extraordinary journey from an 18-year-old secretary to a national vice president. Discover the strategies and insights that helped her navigate the market changes of 2006-2007 and the severe downturn of 2007-2009. Kate's compelling narrative is filled with resilience, strategic acquisitions, and the highs and lows of running a real estate company during challenging times.

Why should new real estate agents consider affiliating with a reputable brokerage like Coldwell Banker? We highlight the benefits, including Coldwell Banker's long-standing history, commitment to integrity, and modern technological integrations. By aligning with a strong brokerage, new agents can build essential skills and resilience, even in a challenging market. Kate shares invaluable advice on succeeding in the real estate industry and how the right brokerage can make all the difference.

In addition to professional triumphs, this episode delves into the personal side of Kate's life and her efforts to empower others. From founding the Long Island Board of Realtors' Young Professionals Network to supporting women in business through the "What Moves Her" movement, Kate's dedication to mentorship and community service shines through. Balancing professional responsibilities and personal life, especially as a working mother, Kate's experiences and stories provide a heartfelt discussion on the power of mentorship, family roles, and giving back. Don't miss this enriching episode filled with personal stories, professional insights, and a heartfelt conversation on balancing work and life.

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Mike Litzner:

Welcome to the Work Hard, play Hard, give Back a real estate podcast. I'm Mike Litzner, your host and broker, owner of Coldwell Banker American Homes. So remember, stay for the end for the drop the mic question, and I just want to remind our audience please like, subscribe, and thank you to everyone who's already liked and subscribed. I'm very excited to have with us today as a guest Kate Conquest. Kate is well a lifelong real estate entrepreneur, business person, senior vice president, so I love the fact that she's an executive at a world-renowned real estate franchise of Coldwell Banker.

Kate Conquest:

I'm national vice president.

Mike Litzner:

Okay, national.

Kate Conquest:

There you go. Okay, hopefully you can edit that, but I'd like an S in front of my name.

Mike Litzner:

Okay, did I say senior vice president.

Kate Conquest:

You did, but I don't have one yet.

Mike Litzner:

You don't have one? No, well, let me be the first one requesting an S in front of her title. Thank you, Thank you, Mike God knows, I lean on you for a lot and you're a wonderful, wonderful worker and a person, even a better person. So welcome to the show.

Kate Conquest:

I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

Mike Litzner:

Absolutely, absolutely so, kate, I think you really have some unique vantage points that you can share with our audience, and we'd love to really dive in so, as we start to talk about real estate, tell the audience your path, know um, when did you get into real estate?

Kate Conquest:

sure. So I was 18 years old and I graduated from high school and realized there was not a bank account waiting for me to go to a fancy school or really to any school. So I decided to work and I answered. I mean, I always worked, I've been working since I was 14, but I answered an ad in the local penny saver and it was just at a you know, looking for a secretarial position, and I went in for an interview. It was in a building where there was a step and I tripped over the step.

Mike Litzner:

I had really just so you fell into the business, I fell into the business.

Kate Conquest:

Yes, literally. And I was really lucky enough to get hired and I was lucky enough to work for a broker owner that taught me everything he knew. I learned a lot through listening to conversations. So that was 18. Worked through college, had several jobs, worked for a lawyer because I thought I wanted to be a lawyer and every single lawyer I ever worked for said don't be a lawyer. And then got my undergrad, got my license, got my real estate license, moved from being just a secretary to really managing the office. That was gosh 2004. So business was good and we were an independent, unaffiliated company and we decided to. Well, the broker owner decided to join with Coldwell Banker. Coldwell Banker was calling very interested in you know, mike Morris's company, coldwell Banker, m&d Good Life, and he decided to franchise with Coldwell Banker. So 2004.

Mike Litzner:

So what was that experience like going from an independent to transitioning into a franchise? That's got to be, you know.

Kate Conquest:

It was overwhelming.

Mike Litzner:

Eye-opening.

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, I mean we were part of a company, national Home Finders. I mean you now run the previous National Home Finders and we were a really tight-knit organization, really like a family. I bled green and white. Those were our colors. They were also my high school colors, so you know they were my colors, so moving forward.

Mike Litzner:

By the way, green and white, I'm going to stick with the blue and white.

Kate Conquest:

I've been blue ever since we joined Kildall Baker, so it was overwhelming but amazing and I really had no idea what a franchise system could offer. And I mean, I was doing everything. Mike and I were just like hustling, making PowerPoints, word documents, doing everything on our own. And when we joined Coldwell Banker, it was literally like being given keys to something that was already furnished, like to a house that was already furnished. So 2006 came along and the market changed and I was in the midst of getting my master's degree and you know, some of our competitors were going out of business 2006, 2007.

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, and he's like you know, big change in the market back then Big change, yeah, and I was recruiting and all of a sudden, you know, my recruiting pipeline slowed down. People weren't thinking about getting into the business. A lot of top agents were going out of business, losing their homes. It was devastating. And so Mike was really, you know, passionate about helping as many people he could, and that's definitely something he taught me, like, real estate is the avenue to help as many people as you can.

Kate Conquest:

So he acquired many of our competitors a Remax, a Help you Sell, an Independent, another Anywhere franchise company and fast forward. We got through the market and then continued to acquire some companies and then, in 2011, we acquired another Coldwell Banker company and I said, you know, I really want to be part of the ownership team. So he brought me on as a partner in that office, which was really great, and turned that office around. It was a great group of people, but there were some really low days. I mean, you know, running a real estate company, the highs and lows, the rollercoaster ride.

Mike Litzner:

But especially at that time. So 40 years in the business and I will tell you ride, but especially at that time. So 40 years in the business, and I will tell you, I've seen all sorts of changes. Yeah, 2007, 8, 9 were amongst if not, they were the the definitely the deepest challenges we've ever seen. Yeah, in real estate. Yeah, current changes. Yeah, business change, life changes, the zebs and flows, everything. But that was a challenge. I can't believe that's the time. Yeah, you were. You were buying into this yeah, yeah it was.

Kate Conquest:

Um, you know I remember going into my first foreclosure and you know, like real estate is such a visual experience, right, and you, you know, you remember where you are negotiating and what house you saw and you know some of them all blur together. But there's moments in your career where you really remember and I remember seeing this. It was a house in Manorville and it was a beautiful home and I remember it was a newer construction and I walked in and there was like this huge flood in the house and there was this gorgeous baby grand piano that was just covered in molds and like my heart to sink because, you know, I thought about the family that lived there and when they bought that piano, what they thought and how they imagined their family playing on that piano, and here it was sitting in mold. So you know, you see these TV shows where real estate's so glamorous and you know, oh, nobody works in real estate. You just collect checks. No, no, that's really not how the business is Definitely not the way the business is.

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, so, anyway. So in 2013, I was at a point in my career where I realized I loved brokerage and I loved what we had built together and I was so grateful for everything that Mike had taught me and the opportunities that were presented. But I felt like I was training my whole life for a corporate career and an opportunity became available at Coldwell Banker to be a consultant. So I applied, went to New Jersey and, you know, was offered the consulting position. So I've been at corporate now for 11 years. I've been in four different roles and here I am.

Mike Litzner:

There you go, so now in your VP soon to be SVP role. So what type of responsibilities, you know, fall on the shoulders of an executive in real estate?

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, a lot. So basically my job is to oversee all of the services that all of our affiliates receive. So we have over 600 affiliates between our commercial franchise network and our residential business, commercial franchise network and our residential business. So everything that somebody signs up to get, it's up to really essentially my team to deliver and make sure that you're implementing. I'm also overseeing our what we call our seller succession strategy. So we started franchising in 1982.

Kate Conquest:

So you could probably assume that we have a broker network that many of them are saying, hey, this has been a good experience, but I'm ready to sell my business.

Mike Litzner:

Yeah, there's legacy here.

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, yeah, there's so much legacy and I'm ready to move on, so my team also helps identify strategies for owners to either sell their business, merge with another company, maybe find an independent in the market to buy the company, and then all of our contract renewals as well. So anything that the franchise promises it's really up to my team to deliver on great, great, yeah, and they do a great job, by the way so yeah, we're always trying to get better yeah, no, I hear that, I hear that.

Mike Litzner:

So what do you consider some of your biggest challenges in in delivering your role?

Kate Conquest:

yeah, that's a great question. I can say with conviction that the more engaged a franchise is with the platform of value that we provide, the better their business is. It's very, very hard to help a company that's not using any of our tools, right? So you sign up, the Coldwell Bankers sign goes up, and then it's really a partnership to make sure that you're engaging with the tools that we provide. So that's probably the biggest challenge is to really convince our franchises that, hey, in, in essence, you're paying for all these things and if you're not taking advantage of them, you're missing out.

Kate Conquest:

But I also know how hard it is, especially for an owner that's selling, running the company, doing the books, to take time out of their daily business to go learn all the tools. So it's, you know it's, it's a challenge. But when they do, you know, work with us and use our services to help them learn everything, it's so rewarding. And you know, here's the thing we have a contract, we're in a contractual relationship, so whether you use them or not is up to you, but we have done so many studies and have so much research that specifically correlates success with engagement.

Kate Conquest:

Yes, and you know, our new, our newer president, jason Wah. He has a great background in real estate and was an awesome operator, and it's so great to kind of talk shop with him, because everything we talk about is always related back to either a transaction or a relationship with an agent. And that's the exact metaphor I recently used. I said it's just like when you have all these great things for an agent to use and they don't, so it's really, you know, you could be the catalyst for change, but you can't be the change for them.

Mike Litzner:

No, no, you can lead them across the water Exactly, but we know how that turns out. So, no, that's awesome. So you've been affiliated with Coldwell Banker, now as an admin well, maybe not an admin, but an agent. You had a license with them and now into brokerage and now into corporate environment. So, from your vantage point, why Coldwell Banker?

Kate Conquest:

I mean I could go on. How much time do we have? I think that there are so many choices in our economy today, from consumer choices to personal choices, and you have so many choices as an agent of who you put your name next to, right. So I wake up every day wanting to put my name next to Coldwell Banker for so many reasons. I'll say the first. I'll try to be brief.

Kate Conquest:

But first and foremost, what the company was founded on was integrity and trust and always doing the right thing for people that own homes. I mean I know you know the story. But people that own homes, I mean I know you know the story, but it was 1906. San Francisco was in a terrible earthquake and it was Coldwell and Banker that got together, that fought for home ownership and doing the right thing. You know they had a code of ethics before the National Association of Realtors. So it stands for something that I believe in and that's always putting the customer first and advocating for homeownership. But through the years we've changed so much. I mean we're approaching on 120 years. We've been through two pandemics, we've been through the MLS changes, you know the Y2K scare. I mean we've not only survived but we've thrived and there's over 100,000 agents globally that choose to align with Coldwell Banker.

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, that's impressive yeah, and, and you know, we're growing every day. So, with that being said, when a customer trusts an agent to buy or sell a home, it's usually the biggest investment of their lives, and when you can align yourself with people that you trust, there's so many less things that you have to worry about. I travel all across the country and people tell me when they see Coldwell Banker agents on the other side of a transaction, they're relieved because they don't have to do as much work because the Cold or banker agent knows what they're doing. They usually have a good reputation in the market and they don't have to babysit the transaction. They can actually just focus on who their fiduciary is too.

Kate Conquest:

Yes, so you know, I think that there's a lot of choices. I'm never going to align myself with a company that's racing to the bottom. I'm not interested in, you know, being an avatar on a screen when people are trusting us with the biggest investment of their lives. So I think trust, integrity and nevertheless, we just integrated AI into a lot of our platforms. We have a DIY service platform, so cbappointmentcom Now all of our affiliates can go on and just schedule service calls. We've really evolved in how we provide service to our affiliates too. So, but I always think about the customer and I want to be with the brands that customers can trust and, time after time, customers trust Coldwell Banker.

Mike Litzner:

Yeah, no, it's fundamental. It's one of the most important factors hands down. Yeah, no, it's great. What advice do you have for people getting into the industry now? Well, I would say that there's never it's great.

Kate Conquest:

What advice do you have for people getting into the industry now? Well, I would say that there's never. It's like buying real estate. It's really hard to time the market Right. Real estate can change your life, whether it's owning a home or creating a career in real estate. So my advice to anyone that's thinking about getting into real estate is it doesn't matter what market cycle we're in. Anyone that's thinking about getting into real estate is it doesn't matter what market cycle we're in. Some of the best agents I know that are in the business got into the business on what would be considered a slower market. Yeah Right, you agree, right.

Mike Litzner:

I actually to expand on that just for one second, if you would is that I feel those agents succeed at a higher rate because if you can come in at a difficult market, you know you're not coasting.

Mike Litzner:

So you know you have to dig in and work and put the effort in and if you survive through that they tend to be some of the most successful agents. You know there are high-flying markets like 21 where when you know all you need is a balloon and an open house to sell a house, you know the skill set of an agent, or even a broker. You'll say house, you know the skill set of an agent, or even a broker. Do you say, all right, how much do I need? I mean, I, I believe you always need a quality broker and a quality agent, because there's a lot you can screw up, as you know, right, but but you can still do transactions in a hot market. But it takes a determined agent to commit to the training and bring the skill set to succeed in a tough market. So that's my second point. Right, you need a strong broker.

Kate Conquest:

You need somebody that is going to commit to the training and bring the skill set to succeed in a tough market. That's my second point. Right, you need a strong broker.

Kate Conquest:

You need somebody that is going to look at you and say I'm going to be your business partner, I'll teach you everything I know. Here's my success track and whatever you want in your life you can achieve through real estate. Yes, so I think, not worrying about what time of the market it is picking a good broker to be your business partner. And then the final thing you know to anybody thinking about a career in real estate, it's one of the only careers that I've seen that what you put in is exactly what you get out.

Kate Conquest:

So a lot of I'll talk to a lot of people, some people very close to me in my life that will say you know, I did all the things, I did everything and I didn't get the results. And I just really haven't ever seen that it turns when you put in the activities, the results come. So I mean, do you get better with time? You know your batting average, like, let's say, you go on ten listing appointments and in the beginning you get five, to later in your career get six, seven, eight, absolutely yeah, I think you improve.

Mike Litzner:

Obviously, skill, um, training, experience will come into play. But, like you said, if you don't put the time and effort in, you know there's there's too many jobs. You feel like you get paid just to show up. Yeah, so, and here you, you're not gonna get paid to show up, you're gonna get paid to produce. But the exciting part and this is what the why someone you know, someone out there, could say, you know audience might say well, why would I go into a place then if you know they're going to raise the bar or make it that challenging the beauty is is that there's no glass ceiling. There's no waiting for someone to retire. You're not waiting for some business to tell you the timeline that you could increase your income or potentially be promoted. You control your own destiny and that's the exciting part. So if you do put the time in, it's a wonderful opportunity. Yeah.

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, it's not easy. I mean you know we compromise a lot as realtors, right. Yes, it's not easy. I mean you know we compromise a lot as realtors, right. And I'm not saying that's good or bad, but the successful realtors I know have made a lot of compromises to attain their success. So when you see a Brian Karp, a Gail Carrillo, you know, when you see those agents and their extreme success, don't think that that has been because they've been, you know, coasting for the last few years. They've put blood, sweat and tears into their careers and that's why they're successful.

Mike Litzner:

I have a front row seat so I can attest to that. They have a commonality, a great work ethic in each one of them. A little bit more about you, so can you share maybe a recent success story that you've had and maybe how you, how you helped client, customer or however you define in your role? Maybe there's a client achieve you know their real estate goals oh gosh, yeah.

Kate Conquest:

So we have an IO program. Io, yeah, sorry. Inclusive Ownership Program. Okay. So Coldwell Banker is very passionate about creating opportunities for people that wouldn't necessarily be able to afford our franchise affiliation fee, right. So we have a really great program. We're dedicated to concreting our footprint for the next 120 years and through the IO IO program, there's mentorship offered. So I'm one of the mentors in the program because I've real estate experience. I've run a brokerage and Somebody that I was mentoring started out with nothing. I mean, she literally had no agents, no GCI, and she's been in a business in the business for about a year and I think she's cresting on 700,000 in GCI. So she wanted to be a million in her first year. But if you haven't checked our market, our units are down a little bit. But to really-.

Mike Litzner:

As an industry.

Kate Conquest:

As an industry, thank you, but I liken it to two other things that I love. I love helping a first time. I used to love helping a first time home buyer become a home owner. I love helping a first time. I used to love helping a first time home buyer become a homeowner. And then when you are able to take a brand new agent and help them achieve success and change their lives I have many stories about that how real estate has changed so many people's lives. It's in the franchise world. That's the closest thing that I've got to, when you have somebody with a startup and then they actually achieve success through some of your coaching and mentoring and their own activities. I'm not taking credit for their success, yeah, but that's been very, very rewarding to see someone start their business and in a year basically almost hit 700,000 in GCI, which is pretty good.

Mike Litzner:

That's a great first first year yeah, it's not bad no congratulations that to that broker. So that's perfect. So, kate, one of the legacies you can take credit for and you should certainly take a bow for it in the industry is you are the founder of the LIBOR YPN network group, which is the Young Professionals Network. Why don't you share a little bit of the experience and the goal of what it was like and you know what the purpose of of um champion that cause.

Kate Conquest:

So, being Mike, you were 19 when you got into the business, right?

Mike Litzner:

Yeah, I started real estate school at 18 and 19 when I sold my first house.

Kate Conquest:

Wow, okay. So, um, to any 18 or 19 year olds out there listening, you can do it too. Yes, so you know. So I also. I got into the business at 18 and I walked. You know, I was, I was in the company and I was the youngest person, probably by about 15 years. I had another. There was another admin working that was younger, but all the agents were significantly older. So as I got licensed and started to get into the business more, I looked around and I was just flabbergasted that everybody was significantly older.

Mike Litzner:

Can I share one thing in the middle of this? I've been licensed 40 years and with all the change I've seen in 40 years, from technology to rules changes etc. Price changes, god knows, price changes, god knows right. The one thing that's interesting is the average age of a realtor. When I started in 1983, 84 was 54 years old and today the average age right 54, right, yeah, it hasn't changed.

Mike Litzner:

That's the one thing that hasn't changed, so I'm finally above average. I've been striving with that for the rest of my whole career, so it's interesting when you see that as an industry. So I think as an audience member who may not realize the, you know, when you're in an industry, the average age is 54 and you're 18, 19, 20 years old, you're playing on their turf and you want to be taken seriously. So it creates that void right.

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, and Mike and I were talking. We were talking about you know, like I always wore suits, I wore pearls, I was always very buttoned up. I worked really hard at looking older. I know you did too. Um, and it's so weird because we live in a world where youth is praised and here you are starting a career in an industry where it's really not, it doesn't help you at all. It's actually a disadvantage. Um, so back to YPN. So I went to an NAR conference in 2008, I would say, and on the agenda there was a YPN networking event. Okay, what's that? So nobody in my company wanted to go and I said I'm gonna go by myself. So I went to the first YPN event it was in Orlando and I looked around. I was like wow, there's other young people. I couldn't believe it. Yeah, event, it was in Orlando and I looked around. I was like wow, there's other young people.

Mike Litzner:

I couldn't believe it.

Kate Conquest:

I mean it was probably in my career one of the top five networking events I've ever been to, because I mean it was electric. Everybody was so excited to be with each other and the ideas that we were sharing and the things we were talking about were so relevant to one another. So I got back home to Long Island and I reached out to the organizer of the event and I said you know, I need to know more about this. Then I learned that there was a chapter we could start. So I took all the notes, I got all the information and then I was.

Mike Litzner:

You took the initiative. I took the initiative correct and I was not received that?

Kate Conquest:

well, really no. Who'd you have to go to the LIBOR, to the board? So you went to the board. I took the initiative correct, and I was not received that well, really no.

Mike Litzner:

Who'd you have to go to Libor?

Kate Conquest:

To the board. So you went to the board, I went to the board, I went to the president, not the president. Let me go back to the CEO of the board at that time. And it was just like ignored a little bit. And I was so lucky, so lucky that the president, who's a volunteer position, Liz English at the time- oh yeah, I know Liz, yeah, liz.

Kate Conquest:

Yep, I love Liz and she saw me for what I was trying to do and said Kate, I'll help you. I believe in what you're trying to do. I know all the people you need to get approval from and I can't tell you how I have chills, because when you have somebody else that sees how passionate you are about something and the vision and what you really want to accomplish being for the greater good, when you get that advocate alongside you, yeah, you could do so much more empowerment yes, yeah.

Kate Conquest:

So she really empowered me. She, behind the scenes, really worked the board to show the value that bringing this to the board could could mean um, and it took us about two years to get it approved and launched. And we launched YPN. Our first event was all donations and you know we had probably about a hundred people and everybody believed in it and now you know it's up, it's thriving, it's doing you know it's got a totally different team. I don't know many people there anymore. I was heavily involved for about five years. But the biggest thing I'll say is, especially in leadership, in brokerage, is to replace yourself, and that's for anybody listening that's at a point in their career where they're, you know they're maybe ready to retire. Look at the young people and think about what a great opportunity that you can give them, to teach them and show them how to be successful.

Mike Litzner:

You know, what's interesting is, you know, society sometimes can get into this trap almost of like oh, the young people today, you know, and and yet, just like when we were younger, there's people that are going to coast as people are gonna have passion and want to achieve. Yeah, and that same is true today. And those young people thriving from mentors yes, and it's really exciting when you get someone with that energy because I know we have some of them in the company and when they come to you and and they're just thirsting for knowledge, yes, and and that's why I always said why pianist for young people that are young in age, young people in minds and young people at heart.

Kate Conquest:

Young in the business too. There's so much pass-through knowledge and wisdom that experienced realtors and brokers can pass through that they're not even aware of.

Mike Litzner:

They should.

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, they bring just as much to the table as someone with energy that's young. They bring way as much to the table as someone with energy that's young. They bring way more actually. Yeah.

Mike Litzner:

I find that the young group of agents that are out there, they're not only thirsting for knowledge that again, 30, 40 years' worth of experience but they're constantly asking questions about investing, wealth building and what have you. So these are all great questions and intelligent questions, and young people should not be afraid to go out there and start talking about building wealth today, because if you start when you're 20 years old, it's way easier, because you don't want to wake up and be 54 years old and say should I start building wealth? What's my retirement Right? So, yeah, I think it's great we embrace the youth who bring the right passion and work ethic into it. So good, great, awesome. I think that's. You should always keep that as one of your highest achievements. I love that story it's a good.

Kate Conquest:

I'm really proud of it. It was a lot of work and I think it helped change a lot of young people's careers yes, good, good for you, good for you.

Mike Litzner:

So I want to pivot a little bit, a little bit more to the personal side of kate, you know. So you know, you're a senior, or soon to be senior, vice president.

Mike Litzner:

Yes, exactly find it in your mind's eye? Yeah, it's so. Shall it be absolutely exactly so sure? So you're a senior vice president and you can't. You carry a tremendous amount of responsibilities, no doubt on that. But then you're also a wife, you're also a mom, so tell us a little bit about how, how you know what that looks like and how do you balance all that?

Kate Conquest:

Oh gosh, I don't know if anyone's figured that out yet, but the best thing about becoming a mom is it put work into perspective. I mean, I became a mom, I guess, later in life, at 35.

Mike Litzner:

My daughter's seven now, and you have one and I have a son too. Yeah, he's five, don't forget him. Yeah, oops, sorry, john.

Kate Conquest:

But the best thing about becoming a mom for me was it put work into perspective, because my whole life I've been striving and yearning for career success and, you know, going to going to bed at night like so upset if I didn't accomplish something, or so, you know, mad at myself if I didn't make a phone call, and then when you become a parent, it's like wow, you know, work is amazing but, goodness gracious, it's a lot easier than it is being a parent.

Kate Conquest:

So, um, I think it becoming a mom made me so much better in my life in my career rather, and my life, but in my career because, um, it it puts work into perspective, because you, just you realize that it is work but, like life is more, there's more to life than work, and becoming a mother really changed that for me. I never really wanted to become a mom until I was later in life as well, so it's forced me to slow down a little bit and in turn, that makes me better at work, because I'm not chasing my tail all the time, and super reactive I'm more. I'm much more responsive than reactive where I know take a minute, take a breath. I guess it's also with maturity and age and being in the business a while.

Mike Litzner:

Well, kids will mature, you.

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, not, they'll weigh you down. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Mike Litzner:

So don't you have to travel a lot with your position, which is part of the responsibility. So how do you reconcile a lot with the kids?

Kate Conquest:

It's hard. As they get older it's become harder because now they're like, they love the guilt trip.

Mike Litzner:

I mean, you know that's amazing how they learn that real fast yeah.

Kate Conquest:

Real, real quick. And I'm a I'm a recovering Catholic, um, and so I grew up with the guilts, right, like the constant guilts, and so I struggle with that in general. But, um, before COVID I was probably traveling about 70 or 80% of the time, and now it's about 50 percent that makes a little bit easier, right but I do remind myself my mom always worked.

Kate Conquest:

She worked at night when we were young, so I didn't really feel it, and when I was in third grade she went back to work and I always looked up to her and thought, wow, you know my mom, she's an awesome mom and she works. And I have to remind myself that I'm setting the example for my daughter that you can be a mom, you can go to work, and there's going to be days where you know work is harder than being a mom and being a mom is harder than work, but that you can do both and you know you can do whatever you want in your life.

Mike Litzner:

And you know, fortunately, I've never been held back by, you know, being a female in my life. Good yeah, that's awesome. I think that you're you're a fantastic role model. So congratulations with that. Keep, keep, keep up doing what you're doing.

Kate Conquest:

And and when I hear stories about um women that you know haven't had the same, you know opportunities, and you know I feel, feel terrible because every, every man I've ever worked for, every you know I'll say, like college professor or who, I've always been really empowered by men, yeah, and actually in corporate was the first time I've ever worked for a woman.

Mike Litzner:

So isn't that, isn't that like interesting, like what's harder to work for a woman or a man? That's what does it, oh definitely a woman definitely, absolutely Absolutely.

Kate Conquest:

Yes, her yes, and it's one woman that I've worked for. She pushes me, it's. We challenge each other. She expects the best all the time but on the personal front, is so unbelievably supportive of you know, anything that's going on in my life, but when it comes to work, it's you know it's work and we work really hard. We push each other and, um, I really appreciate that and I think it takes it takes. It takes work to to to have a good, strong relationship with who you're working with.

Mike Litzner:

Absolutely. So I want to pivot to something that's interesting because, um, I'm not sure who came up with this, but I this movement, but it's the what, what moves her movement, yeah, so, which we're very impressed, we're trying to follow your lead on it, or and Colwell's lead, and we have performing our own chapter. That's one that's been Headed up by Laurie Koyosi, who manages our Franklin Square office, so so we're trying to follow that, but it's a great story. Could you share, for our audience, a little bit about what moves her?

Kate Conquest:

Absolutely, and I think, a male I think Chris Monteria was the one that brought it to the company.

Mike Litzner:

the initiative right yes.

Kate Conquest:

So I think that's important.

Mike Litzner:

He called it to our attention in case we missed it, because sometimes there's a lot coming at you. Yeah, yeah, he did and I love that.

Kate Conquest:

I love that. It was Chris saying we need this in our company, and it's not me, but you know we need this. So what moves her was uh, it was Sue Yannikone. She has a great story and she's just built this platform of what moves her to unite women to talk about the struggles and opportunities that they've had in business, in life, how to balance it all like what a joke but and also for professional development as well. So it's really it's. It's a place for for women and men, because you know, men are, are supportive of if you're, if you're a male and you're going to what moves her events. I mean that's because you have strong women in your life. You want to help them and they're trying to figure out how to be allies with them as well.

Mike Litzner:

So you know if we're being true to ourselves. Yeah, there's a lot of men that take non-traditional roles, you know. I mean they're in the house, they're maybe, you know, working from home and taking, you know responsibility that you know for children and tasks and activities that traditionally may be falling more on the mother.

Kate Conquest:

Absolutely. I mean, you know it should be a people empowerment.

Mike Litzner:

We should, you know, ultimately when we get to a truest spot. But I do understand why so much falls on the mothers and we have women in business and they struggle with this work life, you know balance.

Kate Conquest:

It's like this constant struggle between self-love and self-improvement. And you know, I'll just say you know, when you talk about traditional roles, you know you hear super mom all the time I say to my husband super dad, I'm, I'm. I was in Santa Fe last week for four days. I mean, he's doing baths, he's doing everything and he's working too. So I look at where we are as a society in terms of traditional roles and I'm so grateful because, uh, we do, as women have opportunities to work and be mothers, but also men have stepped up yeah you know, to like my dad was not changing diapers, my husband changed, you know, probably not as many honey, but you know, yeah, but he changed.

Kate Conquest:

You know lots and lots of diapers and you know did feedings and I'm so proud of the advancement of both sexes in where we are in raising our families.

Mike Litzner:

Yeah, so do we have to get a what moves him movement going too? Oh gosh, so people maybe.

Kate Conquest:

So when I started YPN I got so much hate mail and calls Really yes, a lot of people called me and said, well, what about OPN? I said Old People's Network. And I said you know what, if you're really passionate about you know, supporting older people in the business, start it, do it. Go through what I've gone through for the last two years and you should start it too. I talk about SRES, I talk about you know all the ways that our business has band together to support senior citizens as well. So, but I think you know, if there is a passion for somebody to match it or do something different, do it.

Mike Litzner:

Yeah Well, we're going to keep you posted on how our in-house what Moves Her committee develops and continues to expand. We've had a couple of meetings and sessions and they've really been well-received. I think the last session we had, we had almost 70 people at. That's awesome. It was great Was it live. It was live. Wow cool, that's great, it was great.

Kate Conquest:

And you have your own YPN network too.

Mike Litzner:

Yes, we do, I love that. Well, I don't have to be the smartest guy in the room. I just got to be smart enough to see a good idea. You're the founding member of YPN. We see what you're doing, we love the idea, same thing with what Moves Her, and we have a great team over here and we're running with it. So thank you for sharing all that stuff, absolutely. So what's your favorite way to unwind?

Kate Conquest:

Or do you ever it's like the second I unwind. I fall asleep these days, but I'm an audio book junkie. I love to take my mind into another world.

Mike Litzner:

Okay, what type of books, what type of genre are we looking at?

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, so I am a business book junkie. I am just so addicted to self-improvement in business, in health, in life. But I also find that I get burnt out. So my mantra is for every three business books I read, I read a chiclet which is like a room, like like chasing Harry Winston, like that kind of that kind of genre like uh, emily Giffen, um, but uh, I reward myself with something mindless and like a romance, a romantic escape or something along those lines.

Kate Conquest:

Um, but uh gosh, yeah, I'm an audio book junkie. Um, I love the beach, I love being on boats.

Mike Litzner:

You have a boat, don't you?

Kate Conquest:

I don't no, but I've got lots of friends with boats.

Mike Litzner:

That might even be better.

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, yeah, we're thinking about getting a boat. But once you get a boat for living on Long Island, you have three months and we like outdoor activities, so we like driving on the beach. We do that a lot. We feel like if we got a boat, that's all we do and we're not prepared to, you know, forego the rest of our lives.

Mike Litzner:

So, yes, yeah so what other things would that? But does that encompass who it's? What does that look like?

Kate Conquest:

we love to travel. Before, before children, my husband and I had gone to about 14 different countries, spent a lot of time in Europe. We love to travel, just new experiences, love to eat, love going to good restaurants, obviously, um, you know, we uh love going to. Oar is our favorite band, so very exciting. For years we've always talked about going to a cold war banker oar yes I wish. No, oh, you're thinking about um? Oh, my goodness.

Mike Litzner:

AJR, ajr. Okay, I was close. Yeah, they were really good. They were good, they were a lot of fun.

Kate Conquest:

They were fun. Oer is kind of in that similar genre.

Mike Litzner:

Is it?

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, but we're taking, I'll say, only our second getaway. We're going to Red Rocks in Colorado in a couple weeks to go see them. So we love going to shows.

Mike Litzner:

We love Great. So tell us something you know about, maybe something funny about, maybe your childhood. You talked about your parents and growing up and a little bit. Why don't you share for our audience? You have to have a funny childhood story.

Kate Conquest:

I have so many funny. More embarrassing than funny.

Mike Litzner:

What's your comfort level? Yeah, yeah, let's challenge. Come on, our audience wants to know.

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, so my uncle is something that people maybe interesting don't know about me. My uncle is a Byzantine monk. Okay, but growing up like a Catholic priest.

Kate Conquest:

So, for holidays he would give mass in our home. Okay, so that's interesting. I did work for Disney when I got out of high school so I did an internship at Disney, which was really cool, great experience and awesome to have on your resume. For anybody that ever wants to go to do the Walt Disney World College program, I'm a big advocate. I was like an ambassador for them for a while. So you know Disney was a great company to work for and get on your resume. I'm trying to think about what's funny. I sang with the Beach Boys. That was pretty cool.

Kate Conquest:

You sang with the beach boys. That was pretty cool. You sang with, I sang with the beach boys. I was at a concert and they just like called me up on stage and I got up on stage and sang with the beach boys out of the out of the audience.

Mike Litzner:

I don't know plucked you out of the audience. Yeah, yeah, pretty cool right yeah, um, did you, did you actually? Can you, can you sing? Yeah, I can really come on sing a couple of uh oh my uh, so I'll go back so. I'm musical, I am musical.

Kate Conquest:

So I play piano. I played the clarinet first chair. I played the bassoon, I was drum, I played the trips in the drum corps, I was drum corps major and, yeah, I was in chorus my whole life and I consider myself very musical. I don't know about how good anymore, but I'm pretty, I'm a musical person. Slightly out of practice, very out of practice.

Mike Litzner:

I mean.

Kate Conquest:

I sing lots of. I'm trying to think of the Bluey theme. Right now I can't think of it, but I could sing the Bluey theme really well.

Mike Litzner:

Should we wait?

Kate Conquest:

I'm trying to think Mom, dad, no, I think that's really all I know, right now. Yeah, that's about it.

Mike Litzner:

All right. Well, I've definitely learned something new about you today. Yeah, certainly so. Music All right, I'm going to have to yeah, very into music One of these events. I'm going to find a piano and oh, I DJ too, I'm a really good DJ.

Kate Conquest:

All right Now can navigate my own DJ equipment, but if you like, put me in front of the boards. I probably would embarrass myself, but this is kind of cool too. So at my church they're looking for people to learn the sound board and the sound system.

Mike Litzner:

Yeah.

Kate Conquest:

So I told them I'm interested, so I'm like on a waiting list and hopefully going to be able to learn some of the sound system so I might help my DJ skills.

Mike Litzner:

Because you're not busy enough already.

Kate Conquest:

Exactly, exactly, all right.

Mike Litzner:

So which one of the kids is going to be the musical one?

Kate Conquest:

I think Sienna, my daughter, yeah, she's got a beautiful voice. I mean, I'm a mom but like she could match pitch and we sing every night and now she's singing like the same song, but she can go in different octaves so she can drop octaves like really easy. So if you're like, ah, she could go, ah, if you're going, ah, she'd go, ah, so she could do octaves really well, which is pretty cool, yeah.

Mike Litzner:

I've done karaoke and I've learned one thing.

Kate Conquest:

Don't do karaoke.

Mike Litzner:

Yes, no. Find a song with no range that's in your natural key. You can do that Then. Then it's half the job is over.

Kate Conquest:

So what's your karaoke go-to song?

Mike Litzner:

American Woman.

Kate Conquest:

Oh, that's a good one. Yeah, that's a good one, exactly, yeah, exactly.

Mike Litzner:

I can kind of grunt it and yell it. That's right up my alley. I love it, no range.

Kate Conquest:

That's good. That's a very good one.

Mike Litzner:

Yes, so it's good. We're finding out really good stuff today, which is great. I really appreciate your sharing. Yeah, I kind of want to pivot, because a really important part of what we do is is to give back, and we don't want to look at that yeah and um. So we always say work hard, play hard and give back. So what does giving back really mean to you, katie?

Kate Conquest:

yeah, um, that's a great question. So, and I think that when you really do have a heart to serve, you know servant leadership. I believe in servant leadership. I have been in just being really transparent for since I became a mom, really struggling with my own desires to give back more, and several people have told me, like you're just giving everything you can right now to your children, to your job, to your family. So I'm probably at a place where I'm just getting back to giving back, because there is something that just fulfills me by volunteering my time and helping other people. I've been involved with Habitat for Humanity Meals on Wheels such a great story. When I was running the brokerage, I was trying to figure a way to get more involved and I started doing Meals on Wheels. So are you familiar with Meals on Wheels?

Mike Litzner:

Yeah.

Kate Conquest:

So I only did the Meals on Wheels program for like a year, and then it's when I went over to the new office where I became partner. My mom took over the route, and my mom is still doing it.

Mike Litzner:

Really, and she brings my children. So you're such a good influence? Instead of just being an influence on your children, you're an influence on your mom, my mom, yeah, yeah.

Kate Conquest:

Back to giving back. You know, in my career right now, I feel very fulfilled doing the mentoring calls. You know, helping young. You know, not necessarily young, but new entrepreneurs navigate the real estate business. I mean, it's hard to be an agent, yeah, owning a brokerage and I know like it's a lot of guts and not a lot of glory owning a brokerage. But you see behind the scenes of what it takes to run a successful brokerage and how much you pour into your agents, agents are such unique creatures and they're unbelievable entrepreneurs and what they deal with day to day is so challenging sometimes. But what broker owners? I mean there's 50 people in your office doing the same thing. So it's like it's a lot and I mean, I think it's noble work, mike, um and uh. I would say that teaching and sharing with entrepreneurs that don't have that experience is a great way that I give to get to share my knowledge and my pastor knowledge.

Mike Litzner:

No, that's great, I love that. I love that. Can I touch on one thing, cause I know the franchise? Coldwell Banker has their own uh go-to, you know uh charitable organization. It's St Jude's, you know. And and actually when I heard that, I love that because we um, we already have we're on a monthly donation to them. And one of the things I always look for if I'm going to a charitable organization, I want to know what percentage is actually going to the charity, because there's too many organizations out there. If you're giving 15 cents to the charity out of every dollar, it's no good. But I know they give. I think the number was 92% actually winds up, which is fantastic. And if you understand the story of St Jude and what they do for people talk about people in need I think that's a wonderful story. How did Coldwell Banker get into that? Or were they already aligned with them when you came into the franchise?

Kate Conquest:

No, it's a newer partnership, so I would say we've been aligned with St Jude for about four or five years.

Mike Litzner:

Yeah.

Kate Conquest:

So David Marine, our former CMO, brought you know, brought them to our organization, and you know, it's really, it's really. Everybody has their own passions, right. Whether you donate to Sloan or you donate to Habitat or you donate to whoever, there's so many ways to, you know, donate to causes. I mean, america is the most charitable country in the world, so we're constantly giving and people are giving when they shouldn't be giving or can't be giving, but they still give. I mean, you know, americans are good, you know, donators. So, with that being said, we, you know, I know that we really wanted to find an organization that everyone could support, and St Jude is dedicated to helping children fight cancer and we felt like that was really a unifying cause, a unifying initiative last convention, when you're having thousands of people and they had the saint jude, the person, the mother, came out and 15 minute uh, introduction to to the, to saint jude and what they do.

Mike Litzner:

I don't know if there was a dry eye in the whole place.

Kate Conquest:

It was so touching mike, that was in phoenix and, um, we were. So what you're describing is we had somebody come to talk about saint jude, but really to talk about where your money goes yeah right because to your you know you give all the money and you're like okay, great, like where does it go?

Kate Conquest:

What does it do? St Jude is dedicated to making sure you see where your money is going and how it's helping families and what that moment. So she stopped and she said we're going to open the polls for five minutes and, um, you know, and whatever you can give, if you feel compelled to give, give and in I think it was 180 seconds. Our network donated $100,000. I mean $100,000. And one of my colleagues was like I can't get through.

Mike Litzner:

I can't get through it's too busy, I just wanna give them.

Kate Conquest:

And I mean when you really see it. It's just through, it's too busy. I just want to give them.

Mike Litzner:

And I mean when you and when you really see it, it's just um, it's amazing and wow, yeah, I I felt the chill because I was there, um it was. I was on the app that day right.

Kate Conquest:

How do you explain what that feels?

Kate Conquest:

like it was just you know, especially when there's so many words, polarizing moments in our country. Yeah, right right now, like everywhere you look it's, it's like everybody's trying to divide us from one another. And when you get in that room and you can, even if you're giving $2. You can feel it. Yes, everyone come together. It was an overwhelming feeling. I was sobbing, I mean, it was unbelievable. But all for a good cause. And at Coldwell Baker we also have a program where you can automatically say I want five dollars to come out of every commission check I have, and I mean whatever it is, and then you could brand all your listings, all your sales with seen jude and your customers have that option too. And again, it's optional. Everybody has their own charity, we understand, but if you don't, we strongly support and believe in seen jude. That's awesome.

Mike Litzner:

yeah, that's great, I it. So, kate, we're going to move to the drop the mic question. We try to kind of come out of left field and try to have a little bit of fun with this, so all right. So here's our drop the mic question. What's a secret ambition or guilty pleasure that nobody knows anything about?

Kate Conquest:

I go to the guilty pleasure first. Yeah, I watched all three seasons of Bridgerton by myself when my husband fell asleep. I mean, I just love that show.

Mike Litzner:

You do know he's going to see this right.

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, now I know and my secret ambition? Yeah. So I mean, I don't know how secret it is Real estate's in my blood, it's in my, my DNA, like I feel like at some point I'll probably be back in brokerage. At some point in my career I just feel called to it, I love it and at some point, like later in my life, I feel like I will probably lands back into real estate. One other secret ambition is yeah, I, I really go ahead.

Mike Litzner:

I have a secret ambition now I want to share for the audience. I'm recruiting Kate right now. So, Sue Yannick, if you're watching this, I'm recruiting right now.

Kate Conquest:

Mike, it's like once it's in you. Like you know, it's just I love real estate and I love home ownership and I love people, so to help people. And then my secret ambition is probably to work in a fishing boat. So I grew up with a lot of fishing boats in my life, like it's. You know another story, but I kind of made it a little bit on a boat and I'd love to go back to it.

Mike Litzner:

I just got this whole visual. I literally was just watched Forrest Gump, like two nights ago, on a shrimp boat.

Kate Conquest:

Yes, I'm picturing that shrimp boat coming by and Kate working shrimping, you know, on the boat called Jenny.

Mike Litzner:

Yes, I'm picturing that shrimp boat coming by and Kate working shrimp and you know?

Kate Conquest:

Yeah, I'd love to.

Mike Litzner:

I'm salty On the boat called Jenny.

Kate Conquest:

Yes, I'm salty, I love fishing. So yeah, I would love, I'd love to get back on a fishing boat.

Mike Litzner:

Yeah, that's pretty cool. Yeah, that's pretty cool. Well, kate, I really appreciate you sharing everything with our audience. And great story. I hope there's many people who feel empowered and relate to your story, because I think it's a great story. So I appreciate you sharing with the audience today. So, just if anyone is interested in reaching out to you, whether it's about Coldwell Banker or franchises, I'm sure you're just a wealth of information. How does someone reach or find Kate Conquest?

Kate Conquest:

Absolutely, and I love if you're thinking about getting into real estate as a career and you really are. You have questions? That's my favorite call to get. Yeah, so you could reach out to me at katy K-A-T-Y at cbhomeofficecom.

Mike Litzner:

That's great. That's great. I appreciate so much of sharing and your great interview and wealth of information. Thank you so much for being here today.