Cracking the Success Vault Podcast with Spectre Group

Epsiode 33 - Milena Simsic - From Nursing to Real Estate

• Spectre Financial

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In this episode of Cracking the Success Vault, Sean Penhale sits down with Milena Simsic, Windsor-based real estate investor, agent, and founder of WindSocial Realty, to unpack a journey built on discipline, strategy, and relentless execution.

Milena didn’t start in real estate.

She started as an ICU nurse — working long shifts, crossing the border for work, and using her income to invest in properties on the side. Within a few years, she built a portfolio that replaced her nursing income and made the leap into real estate full-time. 

This episode dives into how she turned that foundation into a fast-growing business — leveraging social media, data-driven marketing, and education-first content to stand out in a competitive industry.

Milena shares:
 • How she transitioned from healthcare to real estate
 • The risks, challenges, and mindset shifts along the way
 • How she built authority through social media and content
 • Why educating your audience is the ultimate growth strategy
 • The realities of scaling a real estate business

Today, Milena leads a high-performance team, runs one of the largest real estate investor communities in Windsor, and reaches tens of thousands through her content — all by combining strategy with consistency. 

If you’re an entrepreneur, content creator, or business owner looking to grow your brand, generate leads, and build real authority — this episode is packed with practical insights and real-world lessons.

🔑 Topics Covered

🏡 From ICU nurse to full-time real estate entrepreneur
 📈 Building a real estate business from the ground up
 📱 Leveraging social media to generate leads and authority
 🧠 Mindset, risk-taking, and career pivots
 🎯 Content strategy and educating your audience
 🤝 Scaling a team and building a community

SPEAKER_01

So I was on TikTok first, which a lot of people don't know. Well, my clients know because that's where they found me. But um, so what the three months before I got my real estate license, like as I was um getting, you know, the the registration done, I started a a TikTok basically talking about my investment properties in Windsor and my experience with it. So this is something I've just recently learned within the past year, sharing what you're going through with the team. And this is something I've I've kind of hid from them where it's like, okay, you know, as leaders, we go through a lot. Uh they they have no idea what's going on in the background and you know, everything we're doing to hold up the team, right? I'm like, well, if I can learn this, then I can learn how to do a few numbers on a on a property, right?

SPEAKER_04

Today's guest is Milena Simsic, a Windsor-based real estate broker, investor, and entrepreneur who has built a million-dollar net worth before the age of 25, starting on a nurse's salary. While working as an ICU nurse, commuting back and forth to Detroit, she independently acquired eight rental properties with no family wealth or outside capital. She left nursing at 26, broke into real estate, and generated$300,000 in GCI in her first year, even in a down market. Today, she leads Win Social Realty, runs a 9,000 plus subscriber market intelligence platform, and built one of the largest real estate investor communities in Windsor. Known for her unconventional approach and massive social presence, Milena is redefining how real estate is done by combining content, data, and community. Welcome back to another episode of Cracking the Success Vault here with Spectre Group. Uh today we're joined with uh by Milena Simsic. Um she was a nurse, gave that up to get into real estate, uh, has had lots of success over the last few years. Uh, and I'm super excited that you're here to join us today on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, thank you for having me, Sean. I'm super excited to be here as well. Uh, this is a a beautiful studio. So uh yeah, finally, you know, happy to to to get on the podcast.

SPEAKER_04

Yes, luckily it's not mine. I don't have to do anything with it, which is great. Um but yeah, let's uh uh your story is so interesting. Um, as I mentioned uh when when we met for coffee there that first time, I kind of saw the the one uh social post you made about like what you did prior and how you got where you got now. Why don't you kind of run the the the viewers or the listeners through sort of where you grew up, how you grew up, because I know you know your family comes from a pretty challenging past. Um and you know, and then we'll get into a little bit more about kind of like where you're at right now.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, for sure. So um, yeah, a bit about my past. I was I was born and raised in Windsor. My parents uh escaped the war from four more Yugoslavia, so they came to Canada to give a better life for their kids. Um, I'm the eldest daughter in a Serbian family. So uh I'm sure like, you know, when I say that, a lot of people in Windsor can relate because we have a lot of Serbian immigrants here. Um, so yeah, I I grew up in, you know, initially, you know, government housing. I grew up in an apartment my entire life. Uh nobody in my family owned real estate. Uh when I turned 18, I worked full-time in a seatbelt factory, TRQSS, for four years through university and nursing school, graduated with zero debt there, um, and actually saved some money through like scholarships and everything. Uh, and then from there worked as a nurse and bought investment properties. And then after that, I started a few businesses and and here I am on this podcast. That's kind of the gist.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and right, and we'll get into all the businesses there. Um, and so it's funny you say that talk, you know, growing up in a Serbian family, lots of people in Windsor, very familiar with that. Yes. Um, but what kind of growing up in that family though? Obviously, your parents probably taught you a lot of hard work, dedication, perseverance, consistency, etc. Are there any like one or two things that you think stand out that your parents taught you um from a young age that's actually helped you do what you've done in the last few years?

SPEAKER_01

A lot. Yeah. Base, I think like I I couldn't have done it with every without everything they've taught me throughout my childhood. So they were very hard workers. Like they both worked in factories here in Windsor as I was growing up. They worked full-time. Uh, you know, my mother sustained an injury while working through a factory. And I saw them doing that and working so hard, and they seemed to like really not like they were surviving. That's what it was. Like they were surviving. And I I told myself, like, I'm going to do better for their sake as well as mine. Um, so yeah, I I grew up kind of like watching them do that. And and then on top of that, uh, my my mom and my dad, they're I they're very good people. Like, you know, they believe in doing the right thing no matter what happens or you know, what you're offered. Like they're they're they're very much the type of people that are like, don't sell yourself for anything. Like always maintain your your groundedness and your soul. Do not ever give it up. And, you know, being in in this business as well, I'm sure, you know, you have some experience as well. There's lots of ways to make quick and easy money. And I've been offered opportunities for it, like, you know, uh hundreds of thousands of dollars for you know, some people that wanted to take advantage of my communities. And I have turned it down every single time because I'm like, I like the money, it's it's never about the money for us. Same with with my parents, it was never about the money, it was like just a way of of living, essentially. So I like that. It's almost I forget the the word for it in Serbian, but it's like this stubbornness that's that's you know been instilled in us throughout the centuries of oppression. It's like literally this like will to live right. Yeah. So that's what I've I've learned growing up, and that's helped me a lot in my business.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I mean, and I think that that resonates with a lot of people because I think there's a very small group of people that can really do something uh wrong, illegal, whatever, and like somehow manage to like continue to live life day to day without actually like being brought down by that, right? So real estate, financial services for myself, like there's so many businesses out there where you kind of have people's livelihood in the palm of your hand and you have a choice. Do I do the right thing or do I do the wrong thing to make more money? Yes. And you know, there's you know, it's very hard for people to tow that line where I could make more money, but maybe that hurts the client. And if everything goes right and they don't make make uh they don't have like contingency plans of if something goes wrong, what if, right? So we do have a lot of things kind of in our in our hands and our control.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we have a lot of responsibility. And um, you know, this is something I think about a lot. It's like if if you don't run your business correctly, can you succeed despite that? And I've I've, you know, and I, you know, there's always we could get into the nitty-gritty of like what's right and what's wrong, but I feel like we know, you know, we always know, right? So in my experience, I've seen a lot of people rise incredibly quickly in this industry. And and you've seen probably real estate investors on the news that have risen very quickly and have had very quick downfalls because they didn't manage other people's money correctly. So I, you know, I'm of the belief that, you know, habits will catch up to you, even if there's no such, you know, if you don't believe in karma or anything, it's just statistics at this point. Yeah, you keep doing bad things to a lot of people. It's a small industry, like in the financial service and in real estate, very small industry. You screw one person over, everybody's gonna know. So yeah, I I think like, you know, I I make sure to to run my business uh properly, have all the paperwork in place, keep my my clients' best interests at heart, and have a team around me that'll do the same thing. And you know, I've been cons it's been difficult, but I've been consistently growing.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and and we're gonna talk about some of the reasons why it's been difficult. Uh, I think the the story behind it is kind of wild, but um, before we get into that, you told me when we sat down for coffee that real estate and this whole getting into real estate, like maybe you always wanted to buy a house because you were, you know, your family never did, but you never had these like giant wild goals of getting into real estate and running these big multifamily properties until you were an ICU nurse during COVID and were like, is this the only like is this what my life is gonna be like for the next 40 years? Yes. So, like, talk about that story a little bit and sort of what made you decide real estate was for you, and more importantly, like why were some of the reasons you wanted to get out of the day-to-day, call it rat race uh that you know we talk about um and get into something like real estate?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, for sure. Um, so I I was in nursing and I I had colleagues around me that were around the same age as me uh and just a few years older. So, you know, there were nurses in their late 20s, the the age I'm at now, early 30s, that were taking steroids for the back issues that they've had. I was in my early to mid-20s with already developing back issues. I had to have like regular chiropractic appointments, um, and I could just see where it was heading. And I've I've always been the type of person, no matter what position I'm in, even if I was in the factory or working an assistant job, I always, always try to excel at my job or my career or whatever I did. So, you know, I was working in nursing and I was doing the same thing, but while I was trying to excel, it was breaking me down. And, you know, the patients weren't getting any better because of the system around it. So I thought to myself, if if I'm gonna stay in this career, I have to like do something about the system, which I don't think I I could do, right? Especially I worked in the States and I worked in Canada. So I saw both sides of the coin there. And I said to myself, well, you know, if I find another career where if I put even half the amount of effort I'm putting in here and I can make a bigger difference and, you know, make more for myself and my family, I'm gonna jump on it. And so I started going to real estate investing events, and I've I've seen, you know, people like myself that bought properties on a regular income and then eventually retired off of it. And that inspired me to, you know, start listening to more podcasts like the Andrew Hines podcast, the Canadian Real Estate uh podcast. And I I said, you know what, this is what I'm gonna get into. If I put in half the amount of hours as I do as a nurse into this, I'm sure I could get somewhere with it. And uh that's what happened essentially.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and it's interesting because it's I think the two things that most people don't do is they don't um look five or ten years out in a job that they're currently doing and go, if I stay here for the next five or ten years, I'm gonna have a life very similar to the people that are still here that have been doing it for five or ten years.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04

And when you look at that person's life, it's not to say right or wrong for that person, but the question becomes does that lifestyle meet the goals and the things that you want for you? Exactly. And if it doesn't, then you gotta make a change. Yeah. Or at least you should want to make a change because then you're gonna be giving up the things you do want for that career. Yes. Um, so I love that part of it. And then obviously the consistent learning, right? Like I know and we're gonna talk a little bit about kind of how you got started in real estate in the first place, but that learning. So, what do you think some of those podcasts sort of taught you when it came to like, okay, I'm a nurse, I'm making good money, yeah, I've saved some money. But what were some of the things or lessons you might have taken from those podcasts or from courses you took or whatever that were like, uh, you know, I know I can do this, or I just gotta know the numbers, or like, what were some lessons you took that were like made that push to go, okay, I'm gonna actually go do this?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I I think like the main thing I took a away from it overall is it's not hard to learn. You know, I learned chemistry. Even nursing, you know, compared to med school is it I I was I was planning on going for like my MCATs. So I was like, you know, doing the the biochemistry and and all of that. I'm like, well, if I can learn this, then I can learn how to do a a few numbers on a on a property, right? Um, and yeah, I I just think like it was something that really anybody could do if with the right consistency and just having the audacity to to get into it. So it again, it's not rocket science. Like it's literally, it's not med school. So I figured, yeah, if if any if that's the main thing I took from it, like listening to those podcasts and these books, I'm like, this is something that I can I can learn relatively easily. It's just something I I have to force myself to execute.

SPEAKER_04

Right. And that's and that's the key part of it, right? Is the forcing yourself to execute it. Because I think today with AI, with uh even just before AI, just social media in general, there's always been somebody willing to teach somebody to do something that they haven't done. Yes. But you have to actually go do the work. And I was talking the other day with somebody about like Tony Robbins courses, or uh I actually I think it was with Tina actually on a different podcast, but uh there's like these career learners that all they do is go to the seminars and all they do is go to these courses, but their life never changes because they actually don't go and like implement the thing that they were taught. Yes. Right. Um, and so once you started implementing these things, where did you sort of start?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so um I the first thing I did was find the right team for it. So I found a good mortgage broker, uh a good realtor that had investment property experience himself. Um, and I, you know, I got my pre-approval and I try to find the best building I could in a B-class area that I could house hack. Um my initial plan was a duplex. So I just wanted to house hack a duplex. I ended up finding a sixplex and um bought that as my first property. Uh that that was a jump. Like, you know, we had to work through a few things with the mortgage that we weren't expecting, and um, you know, more money had to be put down. But luckily, like, you know, I had that safety net. Like I made sure I had 20%. Um, but I was able to put 15% down on the sixplex with a CMHC mortgage. I house hacked that. So I lived in one unit, fixed up the unit, up the rents, um, up the rents in a couple of other units as tenants moved out. And it was like cash flowing about 3,000 a month by like after mortgage, after repairs, after everything, after all was said and done. So um, yeah, that was like my first introduction into it, and I was hooked. And then a few years later, the Windsor market boomed, and now all of a sudden I, you know, got on top of the forced appreciation, I got the appreciation of the market. So I was hooked from there.

SPEAKER_04

And so when you say house hack, you're like I kind of understand what people do in real estate. You're talking about either buying a building that has like uh say a fourplex and turning it into a five, or living in one while you rent the other three, fix it up, and then live in another one, fix that one up and go back. Like, is that what you mean when you say house hack?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, so I was living in one of the units. So I was living in one of the six existing units with my tenants. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Got it. And so when you were looking for the deal, for those people that are out here listening to this podcast or that are gonna see this on your social or my social, what are some of the things that you looked for when you were looking for the right deal? Because I I heard you say uh B class.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. I don't know what that means. Sorry.

SPEAKER_04

What do you mean when you say that?

SPEAKER_01

That's a good question. I I get into jargons sometimes. I forget like how part of the podcast, it's fine. So um there's uh different areas of like what when a real estate investor looks at a city to invest in, there's A to D class areas within the city. So A class is your typical like luxury single family homes. Uh B to C class is kind of like that sweet spot for tenants. Uh, but the the higher you get up in the letters, the more crime there normally is, the um, the more turnover you get. So it's it's kind of like quality of the neighborhood to keep it short. So A is the best, and then D is the worst in terms of crime rate. But um, that being said, A isn't necessarily the best one to invest in, depending on the type of strategy you're going for. So if you want like a long-term rental, B or C class would be better because you you would be spending like a million dollars on a single family in Windsor and getting maybe$3,000 a month in rents, which would be ridiculous. But if you get, you know, a$500,000 duplex in a B class area, you could get$4,000 a month in rent. So uh I uh so that's why I chose B to C class there. Um and I I actually have a breakdown in my my magazine of all of the Windsor neighborhoods and the A to D classes here from from my experience investing, buying for you know my clients, and um also being born and raised here. I I know the city like the back of my hand.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah. And so for people who are looking into it, I mean, in this area right now, is there a lot of opportunity still with where the market's at? I mean, the market's kind of soft right now. I know you and I have been talking about that um a little bit, but is there still lots of uh opportunity for people?

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. Yeah, I you know, I I have a a duplex up right now that's for 470, completely turnkey in Walkerville, and you could get about 2,000 a month rents in each unit. So you're talking like 4,000, like do the math on the mortgage, right? Like the mortgage would be around 20 off the top of my head, I could be wrong, but 2,200 for 20% down, right? Um, and then the rest of that goes towards property taxes, minor maintenance. You're looking at at least like a thousand cash flow a month off of that property. So that's something that's on market. There's a lot of opportunities like this on market at the moment. I I think there's six last I checked this morning, 62 duplexes on yeah, on market in Windsor. So it's gotten soft because everybody's afraid of the tariff situation. But our vacancy rates are still under 4%. Our population is still growing. Uh and as soon as like that situation with the border flips around, Windsor's gonna boom. So it's just fear at this point. But there's good deals.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I mean, I talk about that all the time. I mean, fear in the market, fear and everything. I mean, my I mean, Jason and I were literally just talking about like, okay, if markets do continue to go down, what should we be doing with clients' money? Everybody's pretty nervous. And then yesterday we saw an uptick of like 2.9% in the market, and today it was up this morning when I checked. I don't know what it's at right now. I haven't checked in the last little hour or so. Um, but things can turn around fast because it is just more fear and emotion. It's not like real numbers, right? And so um, you look at company valuations or you look at you know unemployment rates or all that kind of stuff, like they aren't astronomically out of proportion to where they try to kind of keep things, right? So there's a lot of just fear in the market, which is causing things to kind of be a little turmoil right now for sure. Using all of that and all of that knowledge that you have. I mean, I've been doing financial services for 15 years, and there are you know warm market prospects and cold market prospects, and you can get them from family, friends, referrals, you can go meet them at networking events. You kind of have this unique little story that we talked about where you so you were nursing, you left, you got your real estate license, then you decided to start a social, I'll call it meetup club. We'll call it that for now. Uh, because I forget the name of it on the top of my head. And then you also started a magazine, and the three things kind of all feed each other, which is kind of unique. So talk about a little bit where did you start? Which one of those did you start first? And then what was the idea behind having all three things just kind of help each one out?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I actually initially started on social media, so I was on TikTok first, which a lot of people don't know. Well, my clients know because that's where they found me, but um, so what the three months before I got my real estate license, like as I was um getting, you know, the registration done, I started a TikTok basically talking about my investment properties in Windsor and my experience with it. And I grew to over 20,000 followers. And I was already ready with client leads by the time I got my real estate license. So in my first month, this was uh February 2022, right when the market was going to crash, I sold five properties my first month. Um, so and it was purely TikTok leads. So from from there, I I know as I can't believe it either. And you know, the agents, agents make fun of TikTok all the time, but man, like so many of my leads come from there. Um, so yeah, I um yeah, I started off with social media, and then as I was getting my leads in, I just saw what they needed from me. So a lot of them were from out of town, from Toronto, they didn't know when. Windsor at all. And we still had bid wars at the time. So, you know, it's hard to explain to an out-of-town client why a property listed at$199 is going for$550. So what I did is I created a guide. It wasn't even the magazine then, a guide of every single neighborhood in Windsor. It was 20 pages long. And I took the stats from every single neighborhood and told them here's the average price, average list price, here's the average sold price. This is the number of properties that was sold in this particular neighborhood. And this was the price difference from bid war to um from list price to sold price in the bid war. So I literally gave them this 20-page sheet. So I didn't have to explain a single month. Yes, exactly. So I updated it every single month and just sent it out to my database. And then they started sharing it. And then realtors started getting a hold of it and sharing it with their clients. And I'm like, well, I might as well make it an official publication at this point. So I launched the magazine and now we're at like 9,000 subscribers for it, like purely organic. There were no ads run to obtain any of this.

SPEAKER_04

Wow. And then uh and then where did the social when when social real?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, when social real Windsor REI social. I forget. So um yeah, the Windsor Real Estate Investor Social. That's when did that even start? I think it started the that summer. Um, I initially I just talked with like a local mortgage broker I worked with frequently, and I said, you know, we don't really have any meetups after COVID came, you know, it was just finishing up there. Uh and I would love to get back into the meetups because that's how I originally got into real estate, like when I was in nursing. So I'm like, yeah, let's just start this. And two weeks we planned one and a hundred people showed up. So from from there, I was running them monthly. Um, unfortunately, the you know, the the guy I was working with left the business eventually. That's what happens a lot of the time, the turnover.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, it's kind of unique how it all started. And I'm gonna have to ask because I don't uh I don't know anything about TikTok. I am not on it, I don't know anything about it. People share it to me, and it's like if I want to watch it, I have to download it. So I just don't download it. I just don't care. Um what kind of things were you doing on TikTok? I'm assuming you weren't like doing the whole dance stuff.

SPEAKER_01

No, I couldn't dance.

SPEAKER_04

What kind of stuff uh what kind of stuff would you as a as a real estate person sort of show on TikTok? Because it's not really the I again, maybe my ignorance is um it's not really the place for like full professional type videos. So it obviously had to have some kind of creativity within it.

SPEAKER_01

Not really. I was doing talking head videos like this. Like literally, I I had a setup like almost exact to this here. It was like I had the nice background, and all I would do is sit down and talk about Windsor Real Estate. Like my most popular video out of million views was um, it started off the hook was don't work with a Windsor Realtor until they give you these things. And then I listed the the magazine, um, the events that I run, and then kind of like showcase like you know, the the education that I give. So that was like one of my most viral videos, just talking head. I I really didn't do anything else other than talking head on TikTok and then it got into property tours and then some event videos. But no, I I didn't dance. I didn't know how to dance at the time. I actually just got into salsa and ballet like last year, but I I nobody knows this. Like no one knows it outside of fun, just for fun, yeah. I don't do it. I if I was dancing online, I'd have more followers than this, that's for sure. But I wouldn't have clients, I think. Who knows? We're not the right clients. Not the right clients. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04

Um, that's interesting. Um, so let's uh so let's kind of change topic slightly here. You have an interesting story when it comes to like sort of how you got started, and we don't have to like name names or anything like that, but you've kind of started with um no real support. Like you have had to struggle and I'm assuming lots of phone calls to lots of other people, lots of professionals, lots of probably real estate boards to find information because you've had like zero support.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um and so kind of walk us through. I mean, most people would just like uh this is too hard, right? Where does the obviously you have a desire to do this, but like that um the word I'm looking for, um resourcefulness to just go find the answer when there's something that either either isn't going right or is going real wrong.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's a good question. Um, you know, I came from an ICU nursing background, and that very, very much stretched me and prepared me for this. Um, yeah, when when I got into this field, I I joined an online brokerage as well, which was a poor decision on my end, and I didn't have any local resources on top of that. Luckily, I had my own, you know, experience from buying my own properties that honestly like uh I want to say about 90% of realtors in Windsor don't own their own investment properties or even their own properties. I know that's not a real stat, but there's a a lot of people, yeah. I mean, 50% don't make a single sale in a year. So you can imagine like how much that are producing that don't own any properties. Um, so I I had that experience to back me up. Um, in terms of resourcefulness, yeah, it was it was honestly like that mentality in ICU nursing. It's like nobody's dying in this field. In ICU, they're gonna die if you don't figure it out, right? So I'm like, you know, I just took that same mentality. It's like, well, I I know how to research, I know how to learn, um, I know how to find answers. I know that I have to talk to people more experienced than me if I run into trouble. So I just took that into this field. And um my community, like the Windsor REI community and my social media helped me find the type of people that I needed to connect with to learn what I needed to learn. Um, I even like I paid mentors as well. I probably spent like over 20,000 on mentors to teach me the fundamentals of the business and how to run it properly. So yeah, lots of um, lots of searching and yeah, cold calling.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I mean, listen, uh the thing I love about that story is like you you just started. And I think that that's the thing that so many people don't do is they just even in my field, they're like, well, I wanna save money. I just don't know where, so I'm just not gonna save. And you're like, okay, but like saving money somewhere is better than not saving money at all. At least you're gonna build the habit, at least you're gonna um start to understand that it's the long game, not the short game.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04

And once you get started, then you can say, okay, maybe, you know, this equity fund wasn't the best thing, or this thing wasn't the best thing. Let's go search out some information so that I can learn and and grow. Uh I love the fact that you were just like, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna get this license, I need a brokerage. Okay, cool. Could you have researched? Yeah, sure. But if you had researched, you wouldn't have closed, you know, five deals in the first month either. Because they would have gone to somebody else. Right. So I think a lot of people need to just like, I'm gonna go just go start. And when I say that, I don't mean like go quit, go quit your job right away and go start something different. Obviously, you need to take some like, you know, uh inventory of what your bills are and what you need to live and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um, but I love the fact that you were just like, I'm just gonna go learn. Yeah. Is that something you think came from your parents? Is that something just you really dictate just uh coming from ICU and just having to learn it and problem solve?

SPEAKER_01

I I think I changed a lot as a person in in ICU and in university. Um it's it's taught me how to learn and how to act under pressure. I don't know if I have like something innate in me or if I grew up with something specific that that caused me to seek this. Um, I'm sure that's like something I can speak with with my therapists, but um, yeah, I mean, if I had to like think about from from my childhood something that would drive me, it's it's probably like I had pressure in my childhood too, because I was the eldest daughter and um, you know, a family that escaped from war. I'm like, how privileged am I to be here? Um, I better make the most out of it. And then having that ICU experience, it's like, well, I worked through that through COVID, by the way. Like people were dying every single day around me. Uh, if if I can do that, then this is like this is nothing, right? Like, I'm so privileged to be able to work in a career like this. Not to say that it's not difficult, it is very difficult and I've lost my mind some days, but uh it's uh still like I I always kind of like bring myself back. It's like, okay, well, I I did this already with less tools and resources than where I am right now. So it almost feels like things are kind of flowing a little more naturally, but I had to go through like all of that in order to get to this point.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, listen, you have to kind of go through the ups and downs and the turmoil of things to learn the lesson to also feel like I'm the one who did the work, I'm the one who and it and it makes it just like better. I don't you don't need to go through all of the garbage. No. I wish some of the garbage wouldn't happen. Yeah. But you got to go through bad to get the good. Yes. Right? It does it makes the good feel that much better.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04

Um, you said something kind of important that you had the experience that other people don't have. Obviously, the statistic is whatever the statistic is. It's interesting you say that because I was literally just asked something very similar to that last night. I was with a client last night, and the person was like, That's like this plan all sounds great, but like, what do you do? And I had to be like, This is my financial plan. This is what I do. Yes, I have this home Aquilina credit, yes, I save money here, etc. And they were like, Okay, cool. Thank you for showing me that, right? And I think that that's a huge factor when talking to people because it's kind of the like, you know, most people will um oh what's what's the what's the thing? It's like uh do do what I say, not what I do.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_04

Um, how important do you think that is not just from a real estate perspective, but just from like a life experience perspective of like working with people who are actually doing what they say they're doing?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, you can tell. Like you can really tell. It's uh I've I've run into people that pretend um they're doing what they're say they what they say they're doing, but when you have the experience to back it up, you can sniff them out immediately. And people that are more experienced than myself or as experienced can also sniff that out immediately. So I've always um I've I've learned this as well to not act like I'm bigger than I am. You know, I'm really I'm you know, we're all human at the end of the day, right? Um I I lay out my story pretty like you you you hear me reiterating yeah, all the time. Like I say this story every single day because you know, people do question me. I I look like a young woman in in real estate and I own a team and all of this. So obviously there would be questions. Um so understand understandably or not, that's up, you know, that's another topic, but you know, that's the situation I'm in right now. So I've had to learn to not be a hypocrite. And in order to um to get people to trust me, I have to know what I'm saying times 10 before I ever present it, right? And that that's the kind of pressure that's that's on, you know. Uh I like I feel like that that pressure's on women all the time to kind of prove themselves to higher level in male-dominated fields. That's normally how it is.

SPEAKER_04

So is that something that somebody taught you or told you to do?

SPEAKER_01

Uh like to to not to tell the truth?

SPEAKER_04

No, to um have to know your information like 10 times more than the next person next to you.

SPEAKER_01

On it, I think I got that from Jordan Peterson. I probably, and then my parents uh as well. Like my my dad's a my both of my parents are very intelligent, but my my dad went through engineering and he's he almost even now hyperanalytical. Yeah, hyper analytical, and he always seems to know like everything, even now. You know, you have that when you're a kid, but like as I get older, I'm like, wow, he actually knows a lot. And um, you know, he's he's the kind of person that's constantly learning as well. So maybe I got that from him. You know, I listened to Jordan Peterson a lot when I was in nursing. Even now, like I've read his book 12. He's amazing. Yeah, 12 rules for life. I have it.

SPEAKER_04

He needs to write another book. If he ever sees this, yeah, he needs to write another book.

SPEAKER_01

I think he's ill right now. I've been like, he's been, yeah, I I hope he, you know, God willing, he gets better. But um, yeah, so he's he's amazing. But I do remember him mentioning something like that. Like, if you want to speak eloquently, you have to know 10 times more than than what you're saying. And even as he speaks, like when you listen to him, it's like you know there's like this depth of knowledge, even as he's communicating, it's like he it's almost like he can't say it all, but he's trying to.

SPEAKER_04

When someone asks him a question and he pauses for like minutes and everyone's sitting in silence and you're waiting for this answer, you know that he's gone through like a thousand different scenarios in his head to like pick out the one thing that is the most impactful to the question that he was just asked. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Uh and the reason I asked that question is I was taught the ex I was taught early on that I started at 21 years old in financial services in a company that was part-time, right? So I'm young, I don't have money, no success, uh, I didn't have a job besides that one. I was part-time at that at best. And the guy who taught me the business said, if you're gonna close, you know, and help people that are 30, 40, 50 years old with their life savings, you can't be able to uh you you can't use the word I don't know, and I get back to you because you're not the seasoned professional yet that's get been given the courtesy to be able to do that. You have to know the answer.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

Because as a 21, 22 year old kid going, I don't know the answer, they go, well, he doesn't know stuff. But if you're the 22-year-old kid who's like, this is the answer, this is why, they're like, Okay, maybe the kid knows his stuff because all the factors were against me.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And I would probably say the same thing for you, like you just mentioned, you're female, you're young, in a fairly male-dominated industry still. Like, you have to know the things that someone's asking you because the moment you say I don't know, they might give you the chance, but they might just go find somebody else.

SPEAKER_01

If if I can combat that, um, something I learned that was very important in nursing that I've taken into this field as well. Um, I the confidence, super important, super, super important. But um, I've learned this phrase, I don't know, but I will find out for you. That I don't, I always don't know stuff, but I I will find out for you. That's uh that's what I always say. Like I I could be in this business for for 20, 50 years and I will say the same thing because we there's always something we run into that we don't know. And it's it's almost comforting for the clients. Um, because when you get to more experienced clients, if you don't know and you say some BS, they will know that you're BSing. They will know. And I will, I will never put myself in that situation. Like if I don't know something, I will tell them I don't know, but I will find the appropriate person and find out for you. And that's incredibly comforting to them because it it puts a level of of trust. It's like, okay, well, what she's telling me is truthful. And if she doesn't know something, she'll she'll tell me. Um, I've I've been like, you know, I've learned this from like Jordan Peterson as well. It's like the truth is is so, so important. And it's difficult. I know like when you're young in your 20s and people don't take you seriously. And I've seen this with like a lot of realtors as well. They try to make themselves seem more knowledgeable than they actually are or uh puff themselves up, but it always, always comes back to bite them. Always. So uh I would I would like combat it with that, but I do think there's like some some there's it's very important to to have confidence in yourself, but the truth will give you confidence.

SPEAKER_04

I can't I can't remember the title of that chapter, but it's like uh if you can't tell the truth, at least at least don't lie, yes, or something. Yeah, uh super, super important. Um and so if you're if you're giving um let's say uh someone comes to you and says, Um, I'm looking to get into real estate, um, you know, I want to get into into sales, etc. What three say three things, two, three things would you give them as advice as they're getting into that industry?

SPEAKER_01

First one would be treat it like a full-time job. People, the first thing I hear every single time, they think they think it's easy money. They think it's it's easy. And I, you know, I started with a following, you know, th 20,000 people. I had the ICU background, I had the real estate investment background, and my first year was like hell. It was so hard. Um, so I would say don't underestimate it. Put your all into it, treat it like a full-time job. You like you're literally buying the one of the most important assets of people's lives, and you have to treat it with the respect that it deserves. I wish that real estate had better education, but unfortunately, we have a low bar to entry. Um, yeah, so treat it with the respect it deserves. Secondly, uh get a mentor, get somebody, you know, work on a team if you're brand new. Like you need to learn from somebody else if you don't have any experience. I've learned from I've had to pay people to learn from, right? I had to get, I had to pay to get into rooms to learn this stuff. Third, always keep learning. Like never think that you're you know everything. And that this is something I learned that in nursing as well. Um, if the minute you think that you know everything, someone's gonna die. Like that's how that's how it is. And it's the same thing with real estate. The minute you think you know everything, you're gonna lose somebody else a lot of money. So that those are the main three things I would tell someone.

SPEAKER_04

The first two or the last two we've talked about already. The first one I love. I don't think a lot of people understand that when you're making that change, whether it's real estate, financial services, car sales, whatever, you have to treat it like a full-time job. Yes. Yes, you get some control of time, some control of income, some flexibility. But in the beginning, you don't. Yeah. Your your um I would say that your boss is your bank account. Yeah. And if that bank account's not getting paid, uh, then you gotta put in more time. You gotta learn, you gotta keep growing, and you have to treat it like a full-time job. Yes, it's got some perks. Unfortunately, those perks come later. They don't get to come right away.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um, so I love that. Um what's it like growing uh growing a team in the real estate world? I'm it's difficult, you know. We we we grow a team on the financial services side, and man, is it difficult? I'm assuming it's very similar on the real estate side.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's it's difficult. I uh I've made you know some mistakes in the past with hiring because I I literally started this team like six months when I first became a realtor because I had an overload of leads from social media. So the leads caused me to create the team so I could have help underneath. Um, turns out it was more work than just working the leads myself. Um, I had to like fire a couple of uh realtors already. And uh, but you know what? It was worth it. It was, I don't regret a single thing because uh I was able to find like three really good realtors that I have on the team right now. All of them are producing, like one of my newest realtors is consistently making three sales a month when the majority of realtors in Windsor aren't making a single one in a year. So um, and he was actually one of my previous clients on top of it. Yeah, so one of my clients became one of my realtors, and now he's killing it. Uh so I've I've had to really prioritize culture in the team. That's something I've learned. Um, I think culture, um, morality, all of that will be experience or hustle anytime because one bad apple in a team literally ruins sales for everybody else, right? So uh it's hard, but I'm still learning. I'm still learning.

SPEAKER_04

When you say culture, it's interesting you say that that you had to kind of focus on culture. I was literally having a conversation with somebody yesterday and they said culture, some it was it was an interesting conversation. He said culture is not something they talk about, it's just something that they do. Correct. And I was like, that's so good. But at the same time, and he's gonna be a podcast guest later, um, because there's just so much to unpack there because it's all when you're when you are bringing in team members, you kind of like, yeah, you're operating at your level and you're doing the things that you say you're doing, but at the same time, you kind of have to talk about it at the same time. Of like, I guess it's more expectations than culture, I guess. What would you kind of say to that as that you have to live it versus talk about it?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I I listen to Layla Hermosy a lot for culture. Yeah, for this stuff. I was literally listening to her podcast in the car on the way here. So the main thing that I would take away from culture is the leader has to set the standard. That's the main thing. Vulnerability. So this is something I've just recently learned within the past year. Sharing what you're going through with the team. And this is something I've I've kind of hid from them where it's like, okay, you know, as leaders, we go through a lot. Uh they they have no idea what's going on in the background. And, you know, everything we're doing to hold up the team, right? I don't share everything with them, but I keep them in the loop with everything that's going on. It's like, okay, this is the direction I'm heading in right now. For this next week, I'm going to be focusing on these things. So if you need anything from me, like it's, it's likely I'm going to be on short notice here. So just keeping that open communication, it's almost like a relationship, right? So first thing is setting the standards. So what you're doing and how you're acting is how your team's going to act. Like when I come into the office, I'm always wearing like this as professional clothing. And my team comes into the office, like what my one guy, he comes in a suit every day, you know? So seriously. And this is like, you know, when you dress like this, you you feel better. And then another thing that um we do is also keep track of our personal lives. So uh we we have a group chat where we, you know, we we put in our gym pictures every day. It's like, okay, we went to the gym today. Uh, this is the healthy stuff that we're eating today. Like a couple of my realtors have lost 20 pounds. Yeah. So, um, and you know, when the team is healthy and they're in an environment that helps their home life on top of their career, they're likely to stay longer and likely to succeed. So, yep, set your own standards and then keep open communication with the team have been the main things that I've learned the past couple of years.

SPEAKER_04

I would agree with that. I mean, I think the biggest challenge that I've had with leaders in the past is it's again, it's always been the do what I say, not what I do. They're not at the office, not making calls, not closing business, but then there's the expectation that for some reason you're gonna be the one to do it and you're like, Exactly. But I'm following you. And at the same time, you have to lead yourself. I completely understand that. Like there's my goals are not tied to everybody else's goals, but at the same time, if my team sees me slacking off, I mean, other than what expectation is there besides my team is gonna slack off.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04

So um, and on that topic, I decided to ask one of your realtors. What uh so I asked him um if you had to sum up what Milena has meant to you as a mentor and why she's a good leader in two or three sentences, what would you say? And this person said, Um, Melena's kind as a team lead who makes you feel like anything is possible. Her mentorship, encouragement, and energy are truly one of a kind. She draws on her experience an incredible network to open doors for the team that we wouldn't have found on our own. Working under her leadership for the last year has been both personally and professionally transformative for me.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my God. I'm gonna cry right now. That's so sweet. Well, how does that make you feel?

SPEAKER_04

Like you're growing this team, you're building this business, you know, let's say five or six years ago, you probably weren't, you know, uh thinking that this is how things were gonna turn out. How does that make you feel?

SPEAKER_01

Very happy. Um, I I wasn't expecting anything less, but it it's it feels good to hear it, I'll be frank. Like, you know, it there's a I I'm very happy to hear that the the you know that that he thinks that of me. And I I do try to think it's a guy. I I only have one you said he. You said you slipped. I know. I um I only got one guy on the team, so I do know. But um, I'm very happy to to hear that because like I've I feel like I've you know, I've I've worked very hard to to help the team. Like I always put the team first, I've always been the type of person to to make sure that everybody else is taken care of before myself. And that that was a mistake earlier on in my career. So like what I've done recently is, you know, take care of myself first, and then I've had the capacity to to help other people more. So uh when when I hear stuff like that, that makes me incredibly happy. Like I was literally going to cry after you said that.

SPEAKER_04

It looked like you were gonna tear up a little bit. Um, but I think that's kind of like it's kind of why we do it, right? I mean, the the the businesses that we have or that we grow or the things that we do, they change our lives. And as the entrepreneurial type person, we want to extend that to people who want to have that same lifestyle and flexibility in their own life. Um and I think most people try to do that. Um, but at the same time, growing a team is really hard.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_04

Like not everybody sticks around. Yes. And um, Jason and I have gone through many people um where whether it was market, whether it was age, whether it was experience, whether it was just desire in general, like there's so many reasons why people quit. Um, and if they just stuck it out a little bit longer, they probably would have been very successful.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, right.

SPEAKER_04

Um, but that's kind of what we want. I mean, we don't want to be most people in in our roles, don't want to be the only person selling. We want to have people that are growing, that are feeding their families and going on vacations and doing all the things that we get to do because that's what makes life enjoyable.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04

Right. So um, yeah, it was kind of cool. I asked, I asked some of your other realtors, but they never got back to me.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, um they're busy.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, she's like, good thing you're busy selling. Um so what's next for you guys? Obviously, uh you've got the social events that are coming up. Uh you said you were planning one in the summer.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um, I know that there's one big change on the horizon, and I don't know if you want to talk about that now or not. You can talk about it cool. So, what's coming up in the next like couple months then if you want to talk about it?

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so uh um all right, the let's start with the event. So I I do have one coming up in June. I'm still hashing out details on location, but it's gonna be at a winery, uh, classic car meetup, and we're gonna have about 200 investors at this. So, yeah, big, big meetup in the summer. That's that's outdoors. We're just like wanting to get everybody together. There's gonna be cigars and whiskey, like one of our last ones. And yeah, so um, I'll I'll I'll send you a date. Like once we we get that down.

SPEAKER_04

You're definitely I found somebody else with a classic car. It was a client of mine I met, and he was pretty interested in uh in doing that. So as long as it's a nice day, he said he'd take it out.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, amazing. So um, yeah, so so I have that, and then I am looking at a brokerage change. I haven't decided which one yet, but I'm between three here in Windsor.

SPEAKER_04

So it's grown since we talked.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Okay. Yes. So um, yeah, I want to set like a really good foundation for the team. Um, I I was with exp for a while and they're okay as an online brokerage, but I I need something like a little more local here where we can get a little bit more support. So um yeah, so brokerage change coming end of April, and then after that, we're looking at hiring more team members. Um, and then the magazine is you know continuing to to grow and and do its thing. Other than that, it's just kind of like slow and steady stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Awesome. And so right now you and your team uh have a bunch of listings going on. I keep seeing you guys posting a bunch of stuff right now.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so uh we're getting a lot of um opportunities for investors at the moment, some power of sale opportunities. I have a few off-markets, like over 10 units. So if anybody's looking for multi-families, I I do have a lot of opportunities in that space. Uh Alyssa, Nikki, and Preet, they're dealing with the single family aspect of it. They have a couple of flip opportunities in their back pocket there. So um, yeah, I mean, if you guys, if anyone needs anything real estate related, I don't do industrial yet or greenhouses or anything big like that, but uh multifamilies up to 30 units, like we have stuff in our back pocket. Awesome.

SPEAKER_04

That's exciting. We always finish the podcast asking the person one question, and I never prepare anybody for the question. Um, so for yourself, Melena, what does success mean to you?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that's a hard one. What does success mean to me? Uh being being happy, healthy, having a good family and good people around me. That's pretty much it. It almost feels like everything I'm doing is kind of not towards that, but you know, because I work so hard, but that that has been like the base for everything I'm doing. Like literally my my family and the people that I have around me and the good team that I have around me. And I want to continue doing that and helping others. And um, yeah, maybe helping others would probably be the main thing. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So yeah, it's interesting. I mean, everybody's answer is always a little like different, a little unique. Uh, I think that answer sometimes changes for people. Uh, because I think all those things are important, right? Health, happiness, family, people around you, they're all super important, yet at the same time, you know, we have to go do this thing, we have to go build this thing because it's something we're passionate about, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um, so I I love that answer. Right. I and it's gonna change over time. Uh, I don't know how many times, you know, my definition of success has changed from, you know, as a as a as a competitive athlete and then retiring and getting into this business and changing and growing, and it just changes. Yeah. Right. So uh listen, we've talked about a lot of different things about the experience, your experience, growing, changing. Uh, is there anything else you want to let any of the viewers, any of the listeners know about you, your events, your team, where they can find you, any of that stuff?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, for sure. Um, if if anybody wants to reach out to me, just Google Melena Simsic. I have my I I answer on Instagram most of the time. So if if you wanted to talk personally, feel free to reach out there. Otherwise, all of my stuff is everywhere on the internet. Just Melena Simsic, you'll you'll find me somehow. So um, yeah. And if you wanted to sign up for the magazine that does give a breakdown of of everything in Windsor, it's uh Windsor Real Estate Insider.com. Uh and again, search up my name or or that, and it'll pop up on Google. I'm I'm pretty easy to find. I'm always wearing red too. So if you see like a yeah, red photo, red nail.

SPEAKER_04

I thought about wearing a red shirt today, and I was like, I think she's gonna wear red.

SPEAKER_01

We're gonna clash.

SPEAKER_04

So I didn't want that to happen. Um well, Milena, I really appreciate the last hour. Uh it's been a really fun conversation to expand on what we talked about on at Coffee there. Um hopefully I get to see you around a bunch of different events. Absolutely. Um, you're gonna have to let me know when the classic car event comes up because that's uh that would be super fun. Um, but yeah, everybody, that's another episode of Cracking the Success Vault uh today with Milena Simsich. Um and if you guys uh you know want to find us, you know where to, whether it's uh YouTube, uh Apple Music, Spotify, you know where to find us. Until next time.