Pave Her Way
Our mission is highlighting women trailblazers who pave the path for others as they climb. Our hope is that listening to these interviews will motivate, inspire, and empower women to explore opportunities in fields where they haven't seen many that look like them.
Pave Her Way
Interview with Carmen Reese, Supply Chain Analyst to Real Estate Business Owner Trailblazer
Seven years ago, Carmen started her real estate business from scratch. Within her first year, she ranked in the top 1% of her field, brought her engineer husband on full-time, and grew her team to four full-time employees. Her success came from embracing challenges, leveraging smart strategies, and surrounding herself with a goal-driven community. By focusing on community engagement, social media, and the high-contact nature of real estate, she has built a powerful brand and become a top choice for clients—always delivering value, building relationships, and helping everyone win together.
You can connect with Carmen Reese on Instagram @closewithclr. Here is the list of resources that she mentioned during her interview:
-Book recommendations: Ninja Selling and Exactly What To Say For Real Estate Agents
Follow Pave Her Way on Facebook and on Instagram @paveherwaypodcast. Subscribe to Pave Her Way on your favorite streaming platform such as Apple, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
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SPEAKER_01:Welcome to Pave Her Way podcast. This is Crystal Howard. And I'm Anna McDonough. And we will be highlighting women trailblazers who pave the path for others as they climb.
SPEAKER_03:Our mission is to shine a light on women who are often the first or the only in their field, especially those who work to lift others as
SPEAKER_01:they climb. Our hope is that these interviews will motivate, inspire, and empower other women, especially young women, to explore opportunities in fields where they haven't seen many that look like them.
SPEAKER_03:If you know someone who you think should be highlighted email us at contact at payforaway.com. Today, we're thrilled to welcome our guest, Carmen Reese. Seven years ago, Carmen started her real estate business from scratch. Within her first year, she ranked in the top 1% of her field, brought her engineer husband on full-time, and grew her team to four full-time employees. Her success came from embracing challenges, leveraging smart strategies, and surrounding herself with a goal-driven community. By focusing on community engagement, social media, and the high contact nature of real estate, she has built a powerful brand and become a top choice for clients, always delivering value, building relationships, and helping everyone win together.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome, Carmen. Thank you for joining Paper Away and sharing your journey with others. Tell us a little bit about how you got to where you are today.
SPEAKER_02:Well, hello, Crystal and Ana. I really appreciate you all. So how I got to where I am today will grew up in Austin, Texas, so a hometown, stayed there for high school, and then went to Texas A&M for supply chain and got my supply chain degree there and moved to Houston, Texas, where I worked in oil and gas for a few years before wanting to move back to Austin and working in supply chain for 3M for a couple of years. But when I was there, and when I was in corporate America, so to speak, ultimately, I did have a dream and a vision of being an real estate and And I also saw from the companies that I was at, especially when I moved back to Austin, that a lot of people had been there at the same company for, you know, 30, 40 plus years. And for me, I just couldn't see myself walking down that same hallway for a few decades. So I wanted to transition into something that I was actually passionate about and not give into my fears. Because I think that fear is a big thing that can keep people where they are. And so for me, It was a leap of faith thing to get into real estate, kind of a back yourself in the corner type of a situation where I gave myself a particular amount of time to reach that success. And
SPEAKER_01:thankfully, it worked out for me. Absolutely. I love your story. And you didn't only just get into real estate, you own your own real estate company. So tell me, tell our audience a little bit about how you went about that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, absolutely. So ultimately... My first couple of years were a grind, right? So when I hit year two, it was to the point where I needed my husband to come on and help out with the business because it seemed as if we were leaving money on the table. But I did everything that was necessary. Essentially, the hard work first, the hardest thing I could possibly do, I went after. So for me, I didn't go directly to, you know, my sphere of influence. I didn't try to buy leads. I did expired listings. I did for sale by owners. I door knocked. I was like, if I can do the scariest thing and do it well, then I'll be successful. That was just my, that was my mindset and kind of how I attack things in life is like, okay, what's the hardest thing I can do? Let me eat the frog, so to speak. And with that, with mentorship and coaching, which I immediately immersed myself into, I got to a place where I needed more support, right. And so from there, I brought on, you know, my husband was able to leave his job come on full time, we hired our first assistant, which we went through three assistants before we found the right one. And then from there, it just made sense for us to get incorporated, protect our business and bring on more support in terms of agents and in terms of Um, And it wasn't an easy journey, right? It was something where we're continuing to learn along the way what we want and what we want our business to look like in the future. It's not like, hey, we just had a plan and executed it beautifully. It's something that we've learned a lot about ourselves along the way. I mean, I'd say that for anybody starting an entrepreneurial role, that's kind of how your first five years are going to be. There's going to be a lot of things that are going to milestones you're going to hit and things that you're like, wow, you know, do I really want my business to look like this? Or should I shift and pivot in another way? And the market will do that too in real estate. So the market shifts and pivots and you have to kind of do that dance with it as well. So I think now in our business, we're at the place where we're looking at sustainably, what do we want our business to look like? Especially for us wanting to you know, maybe have a child in the future. And of course, we're not getting any younger as well. So what is it that is sustainable for us is kind of where we are right now in our journey.
SPEAKER_03:You talk about facing your fears head on and diving in and taking that leap of faith. And I wonder, you know, what could you talk a bit more about what some of those fears were? And if you could talk to your younger self, what is something that you wish you had known getting into it that you would want to tell women out there who are listening and who might be also facing fears of going into this field?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Like going into real estate in particular, is that what you're speaking on?
SPEAKER_03:I think in general, if you could talk to the fears that you had in the beginning, right? I think maybe even addressing the journey, because maybe your fear wasn't around going into real estate. Maybe it was around starting your own business. Would love to hear a bit more about those fears and really what, with the gift of hindsight, you wish you could tell yourself.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. So I guess, you know, when you're talking about the field that I was entering, the first thing they tell you in real estate school, so you do go to school, right? You get your license, you have to become licensed, you get all of this knowledge, and then you kind of go into a new agent program, typically at a brokerage, right? And the first thing that I heard over and over and over is that 89% of realtors are going to be out of the business in two years, right? And so my focus was on not being that, right? My focus was on, hey, how do I back myself in the corner and succeed? And so for me, it was by being extremely hyper focused and not allowing, for me personally, anything into my brain or into my time space that didn't add value, right? For me, I did create a lot of content. I still do create content. When I was new though, it was so that I could learn, right? And so I'm putting in hours in my business and also putting in hours on my business. And so really being organized in that and evaluating how I spend my time was very important because I guess the fear that you could have is the fear of failure, right? But for me, the fear was, hey, what's the scariest thing as well that I can do? How do I face my fear, right? Because if I can do something that really scares me, then I can do everything else. One of the things that salespeople, so to speak, real estate agents deal with is the fear of the phone, fear of making calls. What if they say no, right? And so it's kind of that mindset of go for no that I really embraced. But I also made sure that I was surrounded by people who were doing it at a 10 out of 10 level so that hopefully some osmosis could transfer for me. And so I would say... I love that. Yeah, yeah. I'd say to my younger self, I'd say just believe in yourself and go for it because you really can do anything. That's what I think is so funny about, you know, a lot of CEOs and people in big, big positions. Like they're not always the greatest people, right? They're not always the nicest people, but they believe in themselves. Maybe they were crazy enough to believe in themselves, right? I mean, so I think that a lot of times we can be our own worst enemies and we shouldn't. We should believe in ourselves, be our biggest cheerleaders.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I mean, I think that is true too. And Crystal and I met while being in sales. So when you talk about like lean into the no and just eat the frog, that's really where we, you can really also see within sales. And I think real estate and sales are essentially very similar type of roles. Yeah, absolutely. You know, what you're doing or what you're selling might be very different. That mindset shift is really important is just know that the no is coming and be okay with that. And then, and if you can do the scariest thing first, then everything else doesn't quite look so scary anymore in comparison.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Yeah. And that comes to from me being a runner as well. I was a runner throughout high school. I ran everywhere in college, like didn't even hardly use my car, just run to my friend's house. And, you know, I just sign up for races without training for them. But that was kind of my motivation to get ready for that race. That's how my brain operates in certain ways. It's like, hey, just do it. You can do it, but you have to apply that pressure. I know a lot of people, they do not operate that way, but I operate very well
SPEAKER_01:under pressure. I love that, Carmen. You almost force yourself to have to go through with it by making that commitment versus I'm not going to sign up for the marathon until I actually am ready to do it. What advice do you have for those who may be interested in this career path? What are the key trainings and traits necessary to be successful
SPEAKER_02:yeah absolutely um i would say a hundred percent have a coach and do research on the coach that you wanted to have because you know um NBA players have a coach. Psychologists have coaches. Everybody at the top of their field has a coach. And what that will do is that'll actually keep you on track to the things that you need to do to be successful because success is math, right? Real estate is math. Sales is math, right? So being able to develop that skill if you aren't coming from a sales background of tracking and measuring, right? Or time blocking or scripting or practicing Those things are important. And so coaching to me, or joining a brokerage where there is a good amount of coaching is essential, right? And not just, you know, real estate 101, real estate 102, like, you're going to need to surround yourself with people who are if you're looking to be a agent who gets a lot of business on social, who are doing that at a high level, if you're an agent who wants to market in a particular niche, making sure that you are surrounding yourself with that kind of education. So there are a million ways you can do real estate, right? You can flip houses, you can be a landlord, you can do multifamily, you can do commercial. So really understanding and narrowing down on what it is that you're passionate about, and then going deep on it is important. But also you have to like people, you have to like people, you have to connect with people. A lot of what you do is just having conversations and meeting new people, right? Because you have to build that database. You have to have that skill set and that desire to help people. You can't just like houses. A lot of people come into real estate. I'm like, why are you in real estate? And they say, well, I really like houses. I'm like, I think everybody likes houses. Never heard anybody say they hate houses.
SPEAKER_03:I think that's such good advice, too, because you touch on two things, right? One is the what, you know, what type of things you should be looking out for. But the other is also know yourself well enough. Yeah. and know if you want to go into real estate, you should like people. I think of the three of us on this, in this conversation, I know the least about real estate. I have purchased one home and I plan on, I always joke that the only way I'm leaving that home is feed first, right? So if someone is listening to this and everything you're saying so far resonates with them, is there something concrete that you would recommend them looking at? So you, for but also looking for brokerage that maybe has the type of realtors that are doing what you're looking to do. How do you tactically or practically speaking go about finding the right fit for your style? Or how did you go about that?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I'm more than happy to talk to anyone. So if anybody wants to reach out to me, they can reach out via my social media, which is Instagram would be closed So at close with CLR, feel free to ask me a question at any point in time. But ultimately, when it comes to education and coaching, there are many brokerages and it kind of depends too on what their location is, right? If they are somebody who resonates with coming to the office every day, or if they prefer to be with a cloud brokerage, where they are able to learn by hopping on a Zoom call, hopping on a meet, learning through more of an at home as opposed to being an in person brick and mortar type brokerage. So it really just depends on them and how they learn as well. Because some some agents who I talked to, they really need to physically go into a classroom every day. For me, that would drive me crazy. I'm very efficient. So you know, for me, I'd rather work from home and get my education from home. But there's a different fit for for everyone who is interested. But I think that the big thing is what is your coaching program? What is your training program when you're talking to different brokerages?
SPEAKER_03:That's amazing. And thank you for offering to connect with the folks who are listening. We hear all the time, and I think Crystal and I can attest to, building your network, asking the people who are doing what you want to do, how they got there. This pod is really just an entry point to open up the world of possibilities but really encouraging our listeners to go and find the people that inspire them that are doing what they want to be doing. Ask for help. Most people I know are more than happy to help others. And that actually brings us to our next question, which is, you know, one of the ways in which we want to highlight trailblazers like you is also understanding and sharing how you're helping pave the way for other women as you continue to build Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:No, I really, I really appreciate that. And I really appreciate you both as well. I'd say in terms of paving the way, I do teach classes. So that's another way to connect. So if you want to hop on to any of my master classes, they're really about going deeper in with the connections that you have and creating those raving fans. That's something that's really important in our business is that we are 80 years old. And that's because we go super deep in our relationships, go super deep into client nurture. And so that is something that I want to share with others. Because you know, as women, we are a lot of us are naturally in that nurturing space where we want to take care of others where we want to help others. And my entire business is is built on at this point, nurturing, it is not eating the frog anymore. I haven't called an expired, I haven't door knocked, I did that hard work upfront. So that I could build the business that I want long term. And so yeah, if anybody would be interested, I will be hosting a monthly class that is free to anyone. And that will be on ultimately creating raving fans, creating a sustainable business powered by the ones that you know, love and trust you. I
SPEAKER_01:love that. That's a great way of leading the market, Carmen. So you could have more women like you doing what you're doing. Yeah. We would like to make sure that we can cover actions that a person can take now to get started after listening to this pod. So like, you know, if I was listening to you and I'm like, I'm interested in real estate, do you have any specific resources or tools you can share that we can share with our audience? I know you said get a business coach, but do you have a website on where they would find that information or?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. So I personally, I've loved Tom Ferry coaching. There's a book too, a really good book called Ninja Selling They also do have a coaching installation, which that coaching is more of like a three-day coaching than an ongoing, you know, every single month type of coach. Tom Ferry coaching is like every couple of weeks. That can be a little bit pricier, right? For a new agent. So unless you have that nest egg, you might want to start off with some... A book. Yeah, you might want to start off with some good books. And there's a lot of good books out there. That's awesome. One that I have that helped me get over the fear of the phones, right, is Exactly What to Say. It's by Phil Jones. Exactly What to Say for real estate agents in specific. So they have one just for sales and then they have a version specifically for real estate agents. And so that can help. But I mean, ultimately, having a bunch of conversations is going to be important. Learning to track and measure those. For me, I still have 10 conversations per day. For a new agent, they're going to really need to have Yeah. I guess the sales mindset of like, hey, I feel like I did a lot today. It's like, well, how many people did you talk to? How many people did you help?
SPEAKER_01:That's awesome. And just so everyone knows, we will be sharing these tools and resources in our transcripts below. So you'll be able to have access to the links to both these books, as well as Time Fairy Business Coaching, which I'll just provide the website for. So now just want to thank you for joining us today, Carmen. If you've made it this far, you're clearly one of our people. Even if this makes just one woman believe that she can achieve her dreams as crazy as it may seem, that we consider this a success. And in the meantime, we plan on enjoying learning from and highlighting amazing trailblazers. Thank you for listening to Pave Her Way podcast today. To follow us and hear about the amazing lineup of future guests we will have, please follow us on Instagram at paveherway2024 or subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon Music. If you enjoyed this episode today, please share with your friends.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, you can Yes, she can Yes, she can